Topic: Persona 3/4/5 for Nintendo Switch

You know there's a few crazy fans out there that would try and summon their Persona in public with that Evoker toy.

I'm playing Persona 5 at the moment, and I have a question that maybe some of you might be able to answer. I did the initial sidequest with Mishima which is supposed to unlock Ms. Kawakami (the protagonist's homeroom teacher) as a confidant, but I haven't been able to start her actual confidant sidequest. According to all the guides I've read, you're supposed to have level 3 in Guts (which I do have), and the on a Friday or Saturday evening use the payphone in Cafe Leblanc to call her, and this would initiate her confidant scenes.

However, I've tried many times to use the phone in Leblanc on a Friday and Saturday night, but all I get is the regular dialogue line from Morgana, where he wonders who would use a payphone at this day and age. There's no option to call Kawakami or anyone else. So what am I doing wrong? I'm currently at the part in the game where everyone is on summer vacation, so is that the problem? Can you only call Kawakami when the school semester is on?

@Polvasti It’s been a bit since I played so allow to try and remember. I think there’s a scene you have to trigger at Shujin with Kawakami and one of the other teachers. It doesn’t happen automatically, you actually have to seek it out. After that she’ll tell you to call her. If it’s summer vacation then you’re kinda screwed, you just have to wait till the school year starts again

@SplatRay001 Ok, that would explain it, thanks! Would you happen to remember how this scene with another teacher is triggered?

I did eventually find how to trigger the scene, you simply have to go the isle next to the teachers' room and listen to a conversation Kawakami and the other teacher are having there. So thanks for the tip!

I do have another question relating to differences between the Persona series and its parent series... I've been playing Persona 3 and 5 on the Switch and I quite like them, but I've never played any of the Shin Megami Tensei games, and I've been wondering whether I should give something like SMT V a go. However, what I like most about the these two Persona games are interesting characters and the whole social sim aspect of them. The battles and the demon collecting are fine, but that side of the games doesn't interest me as much. But from what I've understood, the SMT games put more focus on fighting demons and collecting/raising them, and characters and their relationships are less important in them. Is this true, or have I misunderstood it?

@Polvasti It sounds like SMT isn't for you in that case - you're correct in understanding that the appeal of SMT is moreso the combat and demon collecting.

If you are looking for something similar to Persona however I'd recommend giving Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE a look, or even Fire Emblem: Three Houses if you haven't played that. I'm currently playing Tokyo Xanadu also, which borrows a lot of elements from the Persona series.

@Buizel Sorry for the belated answer. I have played Three Houses and it's one of my favourite video games of all time, largely because of the social sim aspect and the interesting individual stories it has for most of your team and supporting characters.

I remember being interested in Tokyo Mirage Sessions, but then I read some review which said that it doesn't have Support/Social Link/Confidant scenes for your team members like Three Houses and the Persona games have. Is that true? How are the character arcs done in that game?

@Polvasti No worries!

It's been a good 5 years since I played it, but from my memory TMS #FE doesn't quite have "social links", but its equivalent is a series of side stories for each of the party members. The benefit of these is some character development for your party, but also new abilities for their weapons (the Fire Emblem characters, which are akin to Personas in that game).

@Buizel Okay, so it does still build up individual character arcs for your party members even if it doesn't have the same Social Link/Support mechanic as Persona/Fire Emblem? Having three-dimensional party members with their own interesting stories is what I really like in these games (and in RPGs in general), so in that case I might look into Tokyo Mirage Sessions too.

@Polvasti Yep, the idea is that they all have their own character arcs which are established in the main story (much like Persona the characters are introduced chapter-by-chapter), and resolved to a greater extent in the side stories.

Whether you find these character arcs satisfying is a subjective matter. It is a shallower game than e.g. Persona 5, but still worth a look IMO.

Word round the campfire is that a domain has been registered for a Persona 4 remake.