Can You Max Out Confidants in One Playthrough? A Persona 5 Royal Guide
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So, you’re diving into the world of Persona 5 Royal, and you’re wondering if you can achieve the ultimate goal: maxing out all those intriguing Confidants in a single playthrough. The answer, my friend, is a resounding YES! It’s absolutely possible, even encouraged, though it does require strategy, planning, and a healthy dose of time management. Think of it as less of a “can I?” and more of a “how do I?” situation. This guide will arm you with everything you need to know to achieve Confidant mastery.
Understanding the Confidant System
Before diving into the tips and tricks, let’s recap what Confidants are and why they are so important. Confidants are essentially your social links, and they provide more than just heartwarming stories. Leveling up a Confidant unlocks powerful abilities that directly benefit you both in and out of combat. These benefits can range from powerful buffs to enhanced negotiation skills, and even the ability to craft powerful items. Therefore, maxing out your Confidants is not only a completionist goal but a practical one that significantly enhances your gameplay experience.
The Importance of Social Stats
Your Social Stats—Knowledge, Guts, Proficiency, Kindness, and Charm—play a critical role in your journey to maxing out Confidants. Many Confidants have stat checks that must be cleared before you can continue their storylines. For example, you might need to have level 3 Charm to advance a particular Confidant’s rank. It is wise to always make the right choices in dialogue prompts. Generally, the best choices give three music notes which increase affection points.
Time Management is Key
Time is the most precious resource in Persona 5 Royal. Every day, you have choices to make: will you work on your Social Stats, explore a palace, or hang out with a Confidant? You need to carefully balance all these activities if you hope to max out everyone’s Confidant rank in a single playthrough.
Essential Tips for Maxing Confidants
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Prioritize Certain Confidants Early: Some Confidants offer invaluable time-saving abilities. The Fortune Confidant (Chihaya Mifune) is a must-have early on. Her abilities, like Affinity Reading, increase the rate at which you gain affection points with other Confidants, making your life much easier. The Temperance Confidant (Sadayo Kawakami) is another crucial one, as she allows you to slack off in class and even go out at night after exploring a Palace, effectively giving you extra time slots.
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Max Out Your Social Stats: It can be hard to max out all your confidants, so focus on increasing Knowledge, Guts, Proficiency, Kindness, and Charm. Aim to raise them as early as possible. This will allow you to access more Confidants and avoid being blocked later on. Remember, Guts is arguably the toughest of the Social Stats to level up.
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Carry a Matching Persona: When spending time with a Confidant, always carry a Persona of the same Arcana. This gives you a significant boost to the affection points you earn, speeding up the ranking process.
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Give Gifts: When you reach level 9 you have a specific choice to make to determine whether you will romance or be friends. Also, gift-giving is a great way to boost affection. Each Confidant has specific gifts they appreciate, so do a little research to maximize the effect.
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Plan Your Days: A guide can be incredibly helpful for planning your days and knowing when Confidants are available. However, don’t be afraid to deviate from the guide if something unexpected comes up. Flexibility is important.
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Take Advantage of Confidant Abilities: As you rank up Confidants, they will unlock various abilities. Use these abilities strategically to save time and improve your efficiency.
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Complete Palaces Efficiently: Try to complete Palaces in as few days as possible. This frees up more time for Social Stats and Confidant activities.
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Use Your Time Wisely: Avoid activities that don’t contribute to your goals. For example, part-time jobs can be useful for earning money, but they are time-consuming. Focus on activities that boost your Social Stats and advance your Confidant ranks.
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Always Respond Correctly: When interacting with Confidants, make sure to select the dialogue options that give the most affection points. The best choices will usually give three music notes.
Confidant Deadlines
Be mindful of Confidant deadlines. All Confidants have a deadline on 12/22, but there are some cases like the Councillor, Justice, Sun, and Temperance that have earlier deadlines (in mid-November). Yoshizawa, the Faith Arcana, has a deadline on 12/18, but since she only has 5 Ranks, it shouldn’t be too difficult to rank hers up.
True Ending Requirements
To unlock the true ending in Persona 5 Royal, you need to max out certain Confidants by specific deadlines:
- Reach Confidant rank 9 with Takuto Maruki (Councillor) by Nov. 17th.
- Reach Confidant rank 8 with Goro Akechi (Justice) by Nov. 17th.
- Reach Confidant rank 5 with Kasumi Yoshizawa (Faith) by Dec. 18th.
Can You Max All Social Links in Persona 5?
It is very possible and actually not too difficult compared to past Personas since you can now accumulate stat points through Confidants now. I did this with a blind run on my first playthrough. The toughest stat is Knowledge since it requires the most points to max out.
Remember to Have Fun!
While min-maxing is tempting, don’t forget to enjoy the story and characters of Persona 5 Royal. After all, the game is about more than just optimization; it’s about the bonds you form and the experiences you share with your fellow Phantom Thieves.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. What is the hardest social stat in Persona 5?
Guts is arguably the toughest of the Social Stats to level up, thanks to its limited methods. Activities like watching certain movies or taking on daring challenges will help boost it.
2. Can you still max confidants without romance?
Absolutely. Initiating romance requires choosing a specific option at a certain point on those romancable Confidants stories. The choices are usually pretty blatant to show that is the romantic thing to say or do. But you can max out a Confidant without taking a romantic path.
3. Which confidants rank up automatically?
Morgana (Magician), Igor (Fool), and Akechi (Justice) advance automatically, at least partially.
4. Can you 100% Persona 5 Royal in one playthrough?
You would need a guide to do as much as you can on one playthrough. It will take 2 to get 100%. Read the guide, the first section is entirely dedicated to telling you how restricted it is. Your biggest limiters will be yen issues and beating the dungeons on a timely manner.
5. What confidants should I max out first?
Temperance, and Fortune would give you the largest benefit to maxing out links in a NG+ run — as you can use their abilities as soon as they’re available, which can save you, literally, weeks worth of time between the two of them.
6. How do you max out confidants fast?
By maxing out your Social Stats early, you can effectively manage your time, taking advantage of Confidant abilities, and giving them gifts.
7. Can you get all confidants to rank 10?
Once you’ve unlocked confidant rank 1 with a character you’ll then be able to meet up with them at certain times and hang out. By spending time with confidants, their rank will gradually increase. The maximum confidant rank for all confidants is 10.
8. Can you rank 10 a confidant without romance?
Yes, You can reach a level 10 confidant rank without dating.
9. Can you date 2 people in Persona 5?
Yes. Persona 5’s social elements add a lot to the game. You can date multiple people at once.
10. How to get Takemi rank 10?
For this rank, you will meet up with Takemi during the day if you pursued a friendship and at night if you pursued a romance.
11. What happens if you date multiple girls in Persona 5?
If you are dating multiple girls, there will be a bonus scene on Feb. 15, where your ladies catch you cheating on them. They will beat the living daylights out of you.
12. What is Joker’s real name in p5r?
Now that Joker has been referred to as Ren in a game as large as Persona 5 Royal, it kind of puts the whole argument to bed. It pretty much confirms without a shadow of a doubt that Atlus created Joker as Ren Amamiya.
13. What is the canon name for Persona 5?
Ren Amamiya was used in the official anime series based on the game, as well as in Persona 5 Dancing in Starlight. Akira Kurusu is Joker’s name in the Persona 5 manga, which is why certain people have been led to believe that it’s his canon name in the game.
14. How Long Does It Take To 100 Percent Persona 5 Royal?
There is a large amount of side content in Persona 5 that you’ll want to complete in order to 100 percent the game, with this task taking an estimated 143 hours.
15. Is it possible to learn through games?
Definitely! Games, like Persona 5 Royal, can teach us valuable skills in time management, relationship building, and strategic thinking. You can learn more about how games enhance learning at the GamesLearningSociety.org website.
Final Thoughts
Maxing out all Confidants in a single playthrough of Persona 5 Royal is a challenging but rewarding experience. By following these tips and strategies, you’ll be well on your way to achieving this goal and unlocking the full potential of your Phantom Thief journey. Good luck, and remember to have fun!