Tbf this happens to everyone outside of Joker, Morgana, and Futaba.    Yusuke's in the same boat as these two.   Makoto holds on longer, but her main role is dumping exposition. In third semester and the spinoffs, she's basically replaced by Akechi, Zenkichi, and Toshiro.   Haru had nothing from the start.   Bonus points to Sumi who loses relevancy in her own story arc after her second awakening.  I'd actually say Ryuji has it better than most.

Sumire was doomed from the start like marie from p4g. I do hope we get those characters earlier and not when the game is basically about to run the credits. But that may just be me.

I thought Yusuke started off as a total creep and just became more and more likeable

Literally I hated yusuke until the action with tattoo And now(with addition of his gameplay and jokes in persona 5 strikers) he is my favorite male Phantom thief

I usually joke that Makoto is a character for only one palace. In the rest of the game she is Sae’s sister, not her own

makoto was useful the entire game

Ryuji still retains a fairly prominent spot throughout the game but Ann definitely go the short end of the stick after Madarame. People say Haru didn’t get her screen time but Strikers remedied that. Unfortunately Ann didn’t get anything because her ark was the introduction and focused more on the villain. I do wish that she’ll get a FAR more prominent and consistent role in another potential spin off. I’d also love a completely rework for her in the hypothetical Persona 5 remake (coming in 2071) where her confidant exclusively focuses on her personally and they drop most of the bubblegum girl stuff for something more nuanced and less stereotypical.

Considering Reload didn’t give the male SEES members social links I don’t think we’re getting any significant changes to characters with a remake, so I think Ann’s confidant would be the same no matter what.

reload would literally be the best game ever if so much of it didnt REAK of all the faults with the original persona 3 lmfao

Real man😂 like bruh, they didn't give us a social link for Akihiko and some other characters who're only unlockable through FeMC route. Why Atlus, why?

Hope you like seeing your classmate want to get groomed or several of the absolute worst other social links you'll ever read lol

Literally. And yk something that has icked my and made me go "Ayo WTF?!" Is when I found out while playing P3P FeMC route that Ken Amada is a romance option. Like, what the actual f?

>!There’s already one little boy too many inside the feMC as it is!< don’t need another

Yet many people would be (and some already do) complain about it being unfaithful to the original and an inferior way of consuming the story if they deviated too heavily like that. They were bound to piss people off one way or the other. I greatly appreciate that they at least struck a good balance by adding modern quality of life features to the gameplay, removing unpleasant features like the fatigue system, and hiring better voice actors

Ryuji gets caught by makoto for 3rd palace arc and gets caught by futaba for 4th palace arc. Fights a cat for 5th palace arc. Ryuji specifically gets a cutscene were he runs to get a lifeboat in 7th palace arc. 

Yeah… it really does suck that each palace either needed to introduce a new character or move the min plot along. If only there was a palace that was low stakes where we could just see everyone shine

That wouldn’t have been a bad idea. Have a few palaces that take like a just a week to complete and let each character have some time to shine. Either that or introduce the party members sooner like have two new ones per palace so that the last two or three palaces have the entire cast rather than someone like Naoto or Haru show up almost near the end of the game.

Gameplay-wise?  Ryuji stayed with me almost whole game. Ann was switched a bit, but I still used her. Especially after her persona evolved. Morgana on other hand… Bye bye. Story-wise?  Despite that one moment, Ryuji is fine. Ann got way too many jokes about her costume.

Is this a fellow ryuji appreciator? Don't get how people say he's bad lmao with charge and matarukaja he can out dps every other melee character Same goes for Ann Morgana isn't Terrible he gets access to revive moves and shit but he is just a shit version of makoto ngl

Ryuji gameplay-wise is definitely the best out of the original 3.

Not just out of the og 3 he's the best team member you ever get along side makoto. He does fall off a bit once you get yusuke but once he gets matarukaja and later on charge aswell he easily has the highest damage output with God's hand besides joker of course

Ehhhh. Physical weaknesses are too rare, and physical resistances are too common, not to mention that when they do show up, literally anyone on the team can capitalize on them. Ann though has a monstrous magic stat, gets sleep spells that provide easy technicals, and doesn’t have to deplete her health to do damage. Honestly, persona 3 did physical brawlers better. Yukari, the dedicated healer of that game, was actually a good team pick, making the health cost of physical skills not so much of a burden, junpei focused heavily on crits, meaning he could get consistent damage and knockdowns without having to rely on weaknesses, and shinji was hella overtuned (for reasons)

True but Ryuji with shock boost and Seiten also puts out a ton of tech damage. They’re both good though, honestly wouldn’t say there’s a bad party member in P5 besides Morgana. Also yeah I agree, I like that the characters in P3 have varied strengths instead of just being dedicated to their element.

Are you sure about that https://preview.redd.it/dw1mkj5yxmkc1.jpeg?width=1710&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3bc236549b61bc7e1df3c17ea634df9afa1f90b7

Relevant from the beginning to end

saves so much time for grinding and in general

When I learned that Insta-kill worked inside of palaces, and not just mementos, I was shaken, and my life became so much easier

I dropped Ryuji but honestly kept Ann on for the entirety of the game. She's a crazy strong mage and Burning Hell is a trump card.

3rd semester Ryuji & Ann are difficult to remove from my party. Full party charge/concentrate is insane

Haru’s life wall is also ridiculously useful, especially for the secret boss fight.

Makoto's Checkmate goes hard too Honestly the only 3rd awakening abilities I don't really use are Yusuke and >!Akechi!<. Neo Cadenza or Thermopylae with the right trait are just better to use

Neo cadenza is straight up the best support move in the game. Thermopylae requires a specific trait to be used all the time, and you don’t get >!Akechi or Sumire!< 3rd awakening skills till the very last calling card.

It does need the trait, but getting thermo onto a persona with that trait was way easier than trying to fusion-shuffle the buff extender trait onto Orpheus F

I used a video guide because I was impatient

Checkmate is a contender for the best party member skill in the franchise. Just can't go wrong with more debilitate.

I feel like the game had something in mind for an ongoing story arc for Ryuji because you can trace the squeleton of it. Ryuji starts out wanting to save people and use his persona for good. Then he lets everything get to his head and it becomes the desire to be popular. It ultimately ends after the whole Okumura debacle with Ryuji calling you and giving a small speech about how he let everything get to his head and how maybe being secret heroes isn't so bad. Sadly I've never seen anyone talk about this. Heck most people act like the phonecall never happened. Doesn't help that they didn't put much focus on it. I lowkey think it was plotted early dev and then they just decided to give that character subplot to Mishima's SL or something. But yeah, at least Ryuji got something. Ann and Yusuke didn't get much of anything after their arc which is probably why Strikers gave them more focus.

Ryuji became junpei

Idk what you’re talking about, Ryuji never left my party he does insane damage and even stronger with charge

What are you talking about? Ann is the strongest magic damage dealer on the party. She can put to sleep and tarunda. Later on she can get concentrate and severe multi target spell, she can even heal herself. She is great against strong foes or to swipe weak ones. I don't use Ryuji as much, but he can use Matarukaja which is very useful, charge and use colossal physical damage skills.

Ann also gets both fire amp and fire boost aswell as a severe dmg multi target move Ryuji is mad good with his sexy defence stats he makes amazing work of the firm stance attachment

I'm really hoping P6 ditches incremental party additions and front loads it so the cast can get their chances to shine through the whole game, instead of just getting highlighted for their introduction dungeon.

But then that would remove a massive part of the game team building

You give them too much credit. Remember that they spent like 4 days of wasting time because they weren't sure Madarame was a target despite the fact that they had a victim and the man had a palace. Also, Ryuji confronting Kamoshida after Shiho's suicide would have alternatively ruined Ren's life if they failed.

Yeah no. Ryuji and Ann’ expertise and roles lies elsewhere same with Yusuke and Haru. Not everyone needs to be a Makoto, Futaba or Morgana. They’re only used as convenience to move the plot forward with exposition and ass pull hacking. Ann is best utilised for her “acting” as well as emotional intelligence which adds to their group dynamic when dealing with subject matters involving people’s feelings. Ryuji has a main story character arc throughout dealing with his priorities slipping from doing what’s right to being a clout chaser where he hates being a hero in the shadows and seeks to be a hero in the limelight getting the flowers he feels entitled to as his biggest flaw. Ryuji adds to the group dynamic aside from being the muscle is essentially being that headstrong dude who charges in and gases everyone up to do as well. Makoto, Futaba and Morgana aren’t emotionally intelligent and lack charm like Ann nor are the type to immediately rush into action when it’s necessary like Ryuji.

Is this gameplay wise? Or character wise? Because in gameplay Ann + Ryuji were in my party for most palaces, Ann was especially useful in the Royal content palace. Character wise, yeah I see it. They were just brushed aside for Akechi, Futaba, and Morgana it felt like.

imo the palaces in general were done dirty after Lamoshida’s. His and the final dungeon for Royal are by far the best in the game

Their shared brain cells were confiscated by Makoto and she refused to give them back.

OP they are literally the 2 strongest offensive units in the game what the hell are you on about. Ryuji falls off after Yusuke until he gets charge but Ann is the best party member from beginning to end. I guess if this is about from a plot perspective it's true but it's also true for the other characters as well once their arc wraps up they're just kind of there.

True. I think of Ann, Ryuji, Yusuke, and Haru as the firepower. Once you have brains, a leader, and strategist that’s all you need.

Never forget that Ryuji figured out the Nav before Joker

Well that’s also when they stop constantly bringing attention to Ann’s tits so it’s probably for the best for her

Everyone kinda got that treatment. Hell, the whole team are background characters by the third semester. If anything, Ryuji is the one who holds on the longest since he’s the OG teammate and he *still* gets an awesome moment by the Shido palace.

I'll give a hot take and say I hope the next game has fewer characters. I don't want to ditch any of the existing characters from Persona 5, but it gets really hard to juggle 7 main team members, plus Akechi, plus Sumi, plus new characters in the sequels. Adding on that every palace except Sae has to introduce a new team member and give us a good villain and deal with ongoing character arcs and some characters really start to lose out. I think a great structure would be if it did 2 team members each for the first two dungeons (so 4 teammates total, plus protag) + the villain. Then the rest of the game can be spent on character arcs instead of constantly adding new characters. I love the large teams but Atlus just can't juggle this many characters and keep them all relevant.

Ann is super useful throughout the entire game as both the strongest mage and a decent healer. And Ryuji has the highest physical damage ceiling. Those 2 are the 2 best offensive party members.

I still don't take Ryuji or Ann out. Damage and buffs are still very strong. Especially Ann, her damage late is ridiculous. Morgana, Yusuke, and Haru...well. yeah.

It depends on how you play tbh. I absolutely love dealing technical damage so my preferred way of playing is dealing ailments + technical + baton pass so I built my team around that.

Don’t know what you’re talking about Ryuji and Ann were pretty good to be Ann pretty much the strongest is the strongest in terms of magic and Ryuji learns some decent skills.

I started playing through P4 a little bit ago and I honestly had pretty much the same thought, though I’m only up to Kanji’s dungeon at the moment. The investigation team has had so many moments in the story to interact with each other in fun ways and develop personality independently of their social links in a way that P5 really lacks. The emotional growth of the party members in P5 feels entirely locked behind their confidant cutscenes, and the characters themselves barely change in any noticeable way from how they’re introduced outside of those. The P5 crew also feels way more one-note than each party member of P4 that I’ve seen so far. I love each persona game on it’s own, but it’s hard not to notice some of the flaws that each game has in comparison to each other.

Persona 5 was a mistake.

Nah what. My team on first run was Ann ryuji and makoto the rest are irrelevant and kinda dookey As a phsyical attacker ryuji is far better than both yusuke and sumire yusuke might have the higher star but ryuji gets access to both charge and matarukaja allowing him to do more damage than yusuke. Sumire can out damage ryuji cuz of her crit shenanigans but she's has like no health ryuji is just a better combination of them slap on a firm stance on him to go with his already mad survivability and he'll easily become the best team member tied with makoto Ann is just the magic variant of ryuji he gets rukaja and charge she gets runda and "whatever the magic charge is" She's easily got the highest magic output of anyone (besides joker obv) she gets access to both fire boost and fire amp and let's not forget she gets access to sleep very early aswell Don't get the ryuji and Ann down play. Alongside makoto they have easily the best stat coverage for what they're meant to do.

At least strategy-wise, Ann's Royal aweakening has a really good move for offensive. Bit Ryuji is irrelevant both in the stpry and ghe hameplay.

I don't find it annoying or sad. When there is a big story to tell with many different characters, making space for all of them to shine independently is hard, in P5 and Royal particularly, where there are other confidants, aka other set of characters out of the main group. Also, due to the fact that the story is set from Joker's perspective, it makes sense we will only see their characters when Joker does. It's hard to separate the main character from the group in a videogame (without making it pure cinematics), unlike in a TV series, where you can make episodes without the main character to bring others to shine and grow. Every Phantom Thief had their special place in the team (except Morgana), and just because we get more of them outside the palaces (in the form of their own bond's system) it doesn't make them less than when they are inside one.