Each mainlinePersonagame has made high school experiences crucial to the story, and odds are thatPersona 6will be no different. While Atlus will presumably whip up a new Japanese high school attended by its protagonists, it’ll balance out the supernatural, demon-battling narrative with slice-of-life classroom elements. As the seventh central game, however,Persona 6needs to make its educational side feel new. Perhaps the best way to do so would actually be to double down onPersona 6’s high school and focus even more closely on the protagonists' relationships with students and teachers than ever before.
Personagames feature no shortage of memorable high school characters, fromPersona 4’s belligerent Morooka toPersona 5 Royal’s gentle and complicated Dr. Maruki, but the school system is still often secondary to the supernatural threat. Atlus could try to elevate the school to be more on par with the supernatural this time.Personagames often strengthen the real world through a highly detailed town or city, likePersona 5’s elaborate rendition of Tokyo, butPersona 6could focus more on a unique school than the city. An acute, complicated school life on a level above Shujin or any otherPersonaschool could be just whatPersona 6needs to establish unique characters and storylines.
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Learning From Persona’s Recent Schools
InPersona 5 Royal,Shujin Academy is quite important. The entire opening arc of the game which results in the founding of the Phantom Thieves happens due to the cruel and scandalous actions ofShujin’s gym teacher, Kamoshida, which Joker and company hope to bring to light. In total, most of the Phantom Thieves stem from Shujin Academy, and the group’s actions at the start ofPersona 5come back to haunt them in various ways. The school even provides a few non-playable Confidants for Joker, namely Kawakami and Mishima.
However,Persona 5 Royalalso could’ve made significantly more use of Shujin. While it’s important to the Phantom Thieves' origin story, most of their escapades from then on have little to do with the school and much more to do with their vigilante lives. Few recurring characters emerge from the school after the start of the game, and only a couple major plot beats take place at Shujin itself. Despite its well of controversies, Shujin ironically acts as a reprieve for the Phantom Thieves, since mundane events like exams and a school festival often break up their major heists, giving them time to breathe and lie low. In this way, Shujin is helpful toPersona 5 Royal,but always secondary.
Persona 4 Goldenfinds a little more success in making the player feel closely connected to their school. Except for Teddie, all ofPersona 4 Golden’s party memberscome from Yasogami High; several Social Links have to do with the school as well, including Ai Ebihara, Naoki Konishi, and the two members of the Sun Arcana in the school clubs. Naoki is a particularly important character from Yasogami, since his sister’s death kicks off the events ofPersona 4 Golden,and so his Social Link helps ensure that the game’s plot looms heavily over Yasogami. In these ways,Persona 4 Goldencould help inspirePersona 6’s school.
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How Persona 6 Can Improve School Life
Atlus can easily flesh out its next high school by adding lots of important characters to it, especially if they aren’t part of the protagonist’s party. Past Social Links and Confidants all provide good examples of ConfidantsPersona 6could feature, although it could certainly innovate. Beyond tragic teachers and complicated students,Persona 6Confidantscould focus on other kinds of staff, like the school nurse, a janitor, or even the principal. Beyond this,Persona 6could use more named tertiary characters from the school, like siblings or friends of the playable characters. All of these characters could make the player feel more closely connected to the school itself.
With these characters in place,Persona 6could draw a lot more plot elements out of the school itself. For instance, if it features lots of human antagonists likePersona 5did, it could establish their reach through these high school NPCs. Kaneshiro might have felt more menacing inPersona 5if more named characters than justMakoto and the Phantom Thieveswere threatened by his influence. Similarly, supernatural events might feel more tangible and impactful if they affect the player’s school, or even come from the school itself, much like in the earlierPersonagames.
Aside from tying the plot and cast into the school more closely,Persona 6could add a lot more activities to its school.Persona 5 Royallets players borrow books and meet up with Confidants at school, but otherwisethePersona 5overworld is mostly spread across Tokyo. To make the school more interactive, the next game could bring backPersona 4 Golden’s school clubs while building on top of them. Rather than making them Confidant avenues, school clubs could evolve into minigames that offer Social Stats and other rewards based on the player’s participation. Similarly, if the protagonist could join the student council, Atlus could give players some control over the school’s look and amenities, which would be a refreshing new level of customization.
Why Persona 6’s High School Should Matter
Coming-of-age stories have always been central tothePersonafranchise, but the importance of the player’s school in the story has waned over the years, which has made the importance of the high school trope itself questionable. In response to this decline,Persona 6could focus more closely on what high school life is like. A strong mixture of everyday high school drama and high-stakes supernatural battles at the core of the game’s story could justify this franchise’s conventions better than some recent games have. If Atlus is determined to stick to high school settings, then it needs to make the most of this part of the protagonists' lives.
Leaning into school elements as hard as possible opens up a lot of new story opportunities.Persona 6could take place at a boarding school, for instance, making all the player characters into fish out of water, rather than just the protagonist. A long-term antagonist who comes from the school could also add some great tension to the game. Whichever way Atlus goes, the more it leans on school, the better.The nextPersonaprotagonistcould become a worthy rival to predecessors like Joker if they establish a special relationship with their school.
Persona 6is in development.
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