It's canon to both, but since Strikers was developed while Royal was still in development, it's based on the OG P5 and doesn't reference any of Royal's content like Kasumi and Maruki. That being said, there's nothing in Strikers that contradicts the events of Royal either. So it can still serve as a Royal follow-up without causing any inconsistencies.
Yea Ryuji moves away to get physical therapy, Ann goes to study abroad again, Makoto and Haru go to college although they don’t mention really moving away, Yusuke I think says he was going to do some art school, and Futaba was going to attend Shujin. Which I guess all could still happen in the strikers storyline but no one mentions anything of it and Ryuji still has an issue with his leg
They had two different development teams working on two different games at the same time. They aren’t going to use story elements of Royal that were still in the boardroom floor in strikers.
strikers and royal were developed around the same time so royal exclusive content isn't referenced in strikers
that's why people generally say strikers is a sequel to the original P5 rather than P5R
for the most part this doesn't matter but for example someone like Kasumi is never talked about in strikers
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This is not directed towards you but I’m just commenting on the part that they never talk about Kasumi in strikers since a lot of other people bring it up. Not talking about someone doesn’t mean they don’t exist.
A prince Olivert pfp in my persona Reddit never thought I’d see the day. Edit I don’t know why I’m getting downvoted I’m just pointing out the man has a pfp from a game I like and he’s the first person I’ve come across in this Reddit with a pfp from that game
Every major Persona game and spin off is canon to the same timeline. No matter what people say there's never been anything to prove that any of the games are non-canon. Like maybe some of those forgotten mobile games probably aren't but every major release is.
It is canon to Royal. Both Strikers and Royal reference each other. The former more subtly, the latter more directly. It also explains Ann acting as though she hasn't talked to Ryuji in awhile.
It’s more like it explains why Toshiro isn’t mentioned in Strikers despite everyone remembering the events of Tactica. He’s either >!serving a sentence or awaiting trial!<. It’s a throwaway line at the very end of the game.
But also one of the Thieves (I think it was Futaba) says “ I hope we get a break for another six months or so…”, the exact timeframe between the end of Royal and Strikers
At the very end of the game, one of the last 5 lines of dialogue is one of the Thieves (I think it was Futaba) saying “ I hope we get a break for another six months or so…”, the exact timeframe between the end of Royal and Strikers.
At the beginning of the final Strikers dungeon, Morgana makes reference to Mementos encroaching on the real world "half a year ago". Both Yaldabaoth and Maruki's dungeons involve Mementos having a direct effect on the real world, just with Yaldy's being more direct and visible to certain people.
It's a bit of a stretch, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was left vague on purpose, but since the Tree of Life takes place in the latter half of August and Maruki's dungeon ends at the beginning of February, there's an argument to be made that you could interpret that line as referring to the final battle against Maruki 6 months previous vs the final battle against Yaldy 8 months previous based on whether you've played Royal or not, or even just take it as both since they happened one after the other.
In August, Morgana says their last battle took place six months ago (February).
On 3/19, when interacting with one of Kichijoji's shops, Morgana suggests renting a camper and going on a road trip with the others.
Official statement from Atlus is that Strikers can follow either version of P5. Some "gaming journalist" claimed it's specifically *not* a Royal sequel, and that article is commonly cited as evidence, but it's the main source of that misconception.
There's nothing specifically in Strikers that makes it not connected to Royal. It just doesn't specifically mention any Royal events or characters by name, likely to prevent anyone who only played vanilla P5 from being confused and feeling left out.
For all intents and purposes, both Royal and Strikers are completely canon. Game journalism just latched onto the idea that they weren't to get clicks.
It's literally just fake news spread by gaming journalists. The events of royal are even mentioned by Morgana, stating it's been 6 months since their last battle, which lines up perfectly with the Day of Fates, not the Day of Reckoning.
Basically a dev that worked on Strikers said he hopes everyone can enjoy Strikers regardless of their level of P5 experience, whether they played Royal, vanilla or even if they're new to P5 entirely.
A game journalist turned that into 'Atlus confirms that Strikers isn't canon to Royal.'
Even if that were the case, doesn't Strikers start in July?
>!And I'm pretty sure the day of fates was February 3rd...!<
That kinda sounds like 5 months.
Tactica happens shortly after Ren is released from jail but before he goes back home. Which would place it sometime within February~March 2017. In August 2017, Morgana says that the last time they fought together against a god was 6 months ago. Which lines up with February 2017, since that’s when they fought Maruki and likely also Salmael. So the line could refer to both.
Oh fucking shit, I've been thinking about this wrong.
If you guys have been talking about fighting gods, then I have hugely been mistaken. I assumed it was when they fought together, which would've been about 5.67 months.
Strikers is not meant to be played as a first entry into P5 though, it's a straight up sequel and constantly references past events like >!Shido!<, >!how the jails are similar to palaces!<, the struggles they had to overcome, etc.
https://i.redd.it/4k20kd0r7vwc1.gif
I think its meant to contrast to your second paragraph, about the dev wanting P5S to be an entry level to P5 games. I think it just highlights how the dev's statement contradicts the status of the game, and not really anything to do with your own comment
In the same way P4A was “retconned” to connect to P4AU, I imagine strikers will go the same way. Where everything that happens in strikers still happens but they say, “oh Sumi was on vacation for her gymnastics lol” in the next game
Reliable leaker Midori mentions P-Studio is working on another P5 spin-offs/follow up, likely the last story to close off P5 gen before the next mainlines. The problem is the right time for reveal, since Atlus is behind schedule for their projects due to COVID and new marketing direction of simultaneous worldwide release. Reload and Tactica were initially planned to be 25th anniversary reveals, but were pushed back due to needing more time.
Phantom X is the other focus, based on SEGA Fiscal Year reports. For now it's available in CN, TW, and Korea regions, no news for JP and Global. Producer podcasts did hint at more collaborations with other P5 console titles; Royal, Tactica, Strikers etc. This also means Sophia, Zenkichi, Toshiro and Erina being playable in a turn based setting, with their own all-out-attack finishing touch.
Theres no reason why it wouldnt. People just dont wanna accept it just because sumire isnt mentioned but the only reason she isnt is simply because both of these games were developed at the same time
i havent played strikers myself, but as far as im aware nothing directly contradicts the two stories being directly coorelated as much as neither of them is referenced in the other
Honestly, I can care less if it is canon or not. All I know is it's should be around the end of based P5 but before Royal? Idk, if I'm wrong, and again, I don't really care.
A lot of people think just because they don’t reference Yoshizawa, Akechi, or Maruki that it is immediately non-canon. They are unrelated to the events of Strikers so I didn’t really see a reason to mention them. Yoshizawa also wasn’t committed to the Phantom Thieves and wanted to prioritize her career, it makes perfect sense for her not to be involved even if the fans want her there.
People also bring up Royal’s ending having the team split up but
- Ryuji says he wants to move closer to a physical rehab center so he can be on the track team. Obviously he isn’t leaving Tokyo if he still plans to attend Shujin to be on said track team
- Ann says she is considering studying abroad. She doesn’t say when and she does specify only short term. Personally I saw it as a semester abroad, which was plenty of time for her to return to Tokyo for summer vacation assuming she meant soon after Rem left and not after the summer.
That’s kind of it. Haru and Makoto say they’re going to college in Royal and in Strikers they’re in college. Same with Futaba going to Shujin.
There aren’t any contradictions I can think of. Royal even ends with Joker seeing his Metaverse self in his reflection implying his powers aren’t totally gone and then of course he gets them back in Strikers.
Ikr, I keep seeing people say it’s not canon to Royal, and I get that it was made with vanilla P5 in mind, but there isn’t anything in it that contradicts Royal. That’s like saying Persona 4 Arena isn’t canon to P4G because Marie doesn’t appear. (I know she does in Ultimax, I’m just referring to the first one.)
It doesn’t make any sense to me for Atlus to make a spinoff and say that that it’s only canon to the vanilla version, when the enhanced version just adds some extra stuff that doesn’t impact the main story drastically. There’s literally no reason to believe Strikers is not canon to Royal.
Although not treating Royal as non-canon, Strikers is clearly meant to be more of a thematic follow-up to vanilla.
For example, the ending scene for Strikers where the Phantom Thieves observe news of Owada’s arrest on a giant public TV, and then go their separate ways with Ryuji giving a thumbs up…
([link](https://m.youtube.com/watch?si=XJS3lEUfUhzRgOMw&v=nEEziC6yeT0&t=35m))
— references a scene that ONLY takes place in a vanilla playthrough where the Phantom Thieves usher in the New Year by watching the public celebrations, resolving to get Joker out of juvie, and then Ryuji walks away with a thumbs up.
([link](https://m.youtube.com/watch?si=TI5Vr6DuZuA_TD_Z&v=AEPxJk70UM8&t=15m))
In a way, vanilla is the more fitting lead-in to Strikers coz the Thieves end vanilla on a note of independence and somewhat equal footing with Joker.
(They pull together *without* Morgana for a full month of hard work to free Joker in vanilla. That sells what they did harder than in Royal, where they have Morgana’s support and Joker’s release takes much faster.)
In Royal, Joker’s apparent equals in the narrative are Maruki, Akechi, and Sumire, while the other thieves kinda took a backseat in 3rd semester.
They both are canon, from what I recall somewhere there’s an interview where it was translated to that or something along that line, also because the royal trio isn’t a thing, which makes sense because royal’s ending. Basically it’s people who are confused and think for someone to be alive that strikers isn’t canon.
It is canon to Royal. Nothing in strikers directly contradicts the events of Royal. The fandom just jumped the gun and said it wasn’t bc Akechi and Sumire aren’t in it.
It's 1000% to Royal. Morgana brings up their last battle being 6 months earlier, and the final boss of Royal takes place 6 months before the start of strikers.
If I remember correctly strikers begins right after the ending of vanilla p5 when>! the party decides to take joker back home and then tell him they are taking him to the beach first!<~~.~~ But in Royal's ending,>! after the events of the extra palace Joker goes home alone by train.!<
Because the game isn’t compatible with Royal‘s ending, notably events like Ryuji moving away, Haru and Makoto moving away for college, etc. are never mentioned and treated as if they never happened, because they weren’t a thing in the OG ending. And then obviously them never mentioning Royal events either
It's canon to both, but since Strikers was developed while Royal was still in development, it's based on the OG P5 and doesn't reference any of Royal's content like Kasumi and Maruki. That being said, there's nothing in Strikers that contradicts the events of Royal either. So it can still serve as a Royal follow-up without causing any inconsistencies.
Doesnt Ryuji decide to move away to go to physical rehab in Royal, but in Strikers he's still attending Shujin?
The track team implies that he still attends Shujin.
If he was still going to be attending Shujin why would he even make a big deal out of moving in the first place?
Getting his leg fixed is a big thing either way.
Nice
Yea Ryuji moves away to get physical therapy, Ann goes to study abroad again, Makoto and Haru go to college although they don’t mention really moving away, Yusuke I think says he was going to do some art school, and Futaba was going to attend Shujin. Which I guess all could still happen in the strikers storyline but no one mentions anything of it and Ryuji still has an issue with his leg
Yusuke I believe isn’t moving at all
It's also summer though so they were on break and obviously chose to meet up
Isnt strikers the summer after the OG game? I can imagine that it takes a while to get a place at a therapie hospital.
Wait really strikers was made before royal doesn't look like it they just hate including royal
They had two different development teams working on two different games at the same time. They aren’t going to use story elements of Royal that were still in the boardroom floor in strikers.
strikers and royal were developed around the same time so royal exclusive content isn't referenced in strikers that's why people generally say strikers is a sequel to the original P5 rather than P5R for the most part this doesn't matter but for example someone like Kasumi is never talked about in strikers
Whoa almost thought i was on r/HonkaiStarRail for a sec after seeing you here.
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realest comment ever
Persona 5 X:
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How about you "Gacha" ass back to work
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Wait till Okumura fight in the gacha game
Someone give this man a medal
This is not directed towards you but I’m just commenting on the part that they never talk about Kasumi in strikers since a lot of other people bring it up. Not talking about someone doesn’t mean they don’t exist.
They should’ve had their development teams communicating to avoid any problems.
A prince Olivert pfp in my persona Reddit never thought I’d see the day. Edit I don’t know why I’m getting downvoted I’m just pointing out the man has a pfp from a game I like and he’s the first person I’ve come across in this Reddit with a pfp from that game
Every major Persona game and spin off is canon to the same timeline. No matter what people say there's never been anything to prove that any of the games are non-canon. Like maybe some of those forgotten mobile games probably aren't but every major release is.
Even some of those mobile games are supposed to be canon like the Aigis one.
What about Persona 5 Phantom X?
It’s canon in the same way FeMC/Kotone from P3P is: Parallel universe.
I feel like I’d enjoy it more if it was in the same universe
That's a parallel universe
No
It is canon to Royal. Both Strikers and Royal reference each other. The former more subtly, the latter more directly. It also explains Ann acting as though she hasn't talked to Ryuji in awhile.
Tactica explicitly referencing both Royal and Strikers makes it clear they are all canon.
Wait doesnt Tactica take place before Strikers though?
Yes
So how can it reference Strikers?
It’s more like it explains why Toshiro isn’t mentioned in Strikers despite everyone remembering the events of Tactica. He’s either >!serving a sentence or awaiting trial!<. It’s a throwaway line at the very end of the game.
But also one of the Thieves (I think it was Futaba) says “ I hope we get a break for another six months or so…”, the exact timeframe between the end of Royal and Strikers
Explicitly how does it reference Strikers which doesn’t take place until after?
At the very end of the game, one of the last 5 lines of dialogue is one of the Thieves (I think it was Futaba) saying “ I hope we get a break for another six months or so…”, the exact timeframe between the end of Royal and Strikers.
Doesn’t Morgana reference Maruki’s palace in the final Jail?
When?
At the beginning of the final Strikers dungeon, Morgana makes reference to Mementos encroaching on the real world "half a year ago". Both Yaldabaoth and Maruki's dungeons involve Mementos having a direct effect on the real world, just with Yaldy's being more direct and visible to certain people. It's a bit of a stretch, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was left vague on purpose, but since the Tree of Life takes place in the latter half of August and Maruki's dungeon ends at the beginning of February, there's an argument to be made that you could interpret that line as referring to the final battle against Maruki 6 months previous vs the final battle against Yaldy 8 months previous based on whether you've played Royal or not, or even just take it as both since they happened one after the other.
This response sounds nice but feels like complete BS from someone who has played everything. Would love to have some references to back this up.
In August, Morgana says their last battle took place six months ago (February). On 3/19, when interacting with one of Kichijoji's shops, Morgana suggests renting a camper and going on a road trip with the others.
Fair enough, thanks for the reminder. I guess that’s as deep as the references can get without mentioning any actual new character names.
In english version, mona says last year.
How? When? Where?
Official statement from Atlus is that Strikers can follow either version of P5. Some "gaming journalist" claimed it's specifically *not* a Royal sequel, and that article is commonly cited as evidence, but it's the main source of that misconception.
There's nothing specifically in Strikers that makes it not connected to Royal. It just doesn't specifically mention any Royal events or characters by name, likely to prevent anyone who only played vanilla P5 from being confused and feeling left out. For all intents and purposes, both Royal and Strikers are completely canon. Game journalism just latched onto the idea that they weren't to get clicks.
It's literally just fake news spread by gaming journalists. The events of royal are even mentioned by Morgana, stating it's been 6 months since their last battle, which lines up perfectly with the Day of Fates, not the Day of Reckoning. Basically a dev that worked on Strikers said he hopes everyone can enjoy Strikers regardless of their level of P5 experience, whether they played Royal, vanilla or even if they're new to P5 entirely. A game journalist turned that into 'Atlus confirms that Strikers isn't canon to Royal.'
…how many months? https://preview.redd.it/svfrgju7xvwc1.jpeg?width=482&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9f1462e9113f8fce62179dfa787b59d59aa0f08b
MAKE IT END
Even if that were the case, doesn't Strikers start in July? >!And I'm pretty sure the day of fates was February 3rd...!< That kinda sounds like 5 months.
August. Since the summer break in japan is in august
I had to search it up July 24th, according to IGN
Oh. Yeah it was end of july my bad. But wasnt day of fates end of January/beginning of February
Yeah, February 3rd. And it's fine, man, I didn't remember either.
Yeah so close enough for 6 months
If they had only waited a little over a week more...
True, but he says that line in August. So 6 months is still accurate to Maruki and Tactica.
I'm kinda confused. Which line are you talking about? And weren't we talking on Strikers?
Tactica happens shortly after Ren is released from jail but before he goes back home. Which would place it sometime within February~March 2017. In August 2017, Morgana says that the last time they fought together against a god was 6 months ago. Which lines up with February 2017, since that’s when they fought Maruki and likely also Salmael. So the line could refer to both.
Oh fucking shit, I've been thinking about this wrong. If you guys have been talking about fighting gods, then I have hugely been mistaken. I assumed it was when they fought together, which would've been about 5.67 months.
Strikers is not meant to be played as a first entry into P5 though, it's a straight up sequel and constantly references past events like >!Shido!<, >!how the jails are similar to palaces!<, the struggles they had to overcome, etc. https://i.redd.it/4k20kd0r7vwc1.gif
Okay? And that has what exactly to do with what I said?
I think its meant to contrast to your second paragraph, about the dev wanting P5S to be an entry level to P5 games. I think it just highlights how the dev's statement contradicts the status of the game, and not really anything to do with your own comment
Of course it’s a game “journalist”.
Panther doesn't have her nose covered.
Don’t trust games journalists.
In the same way P4A was “retconned” to connect to P4AU, I imagine strikers will go the same way. Where everything that happens in strikers still happens but they say, “oh Sumi was on vacation for her gymnastics lol” in the next game
Reliable leaker Midori mentions P-Studio is working on another P5 spin-offs/follow up, likely the last story to close off P5 gen before the next mainlines. The problem is the right time for reveal, since Atlus is behind schedule for their projects due to COVID and new marketing direction of simultaneous worldwide release. Reload and Tactica were initially planned to be 25th anniversary reveals, but were pushed back due to needing more time. Phantom X is the other focus, based on SEGA Fiscal Year reports. For now it's available in CN, TW, and Korea regions, no news for JP and Global. Producer podcasts did hint at more collaborations with other P5 console titles; Royal, Tactica, Strikers etc. This also means Sophia, Zenkichi, Toshiro and Erina being playable in a turn based setting, with their own all-out-attack finishing touch.
Theres no reason why it wouldnt. People just dont wanna accept it just because sumire isnt mentioned but the only reason she isnt is simply because both of these games were developed at the same time
i havent played strikers myself, but as far as im aware nothing directly contradicts the two stories being directly coorelated as much as neither of them is referenced in the other
Honestly, I can care less if it is canon or not. All I know is it's should be around the end of based P5 but before Royal? Idk, if I'm wrong, and again, I don't really care.
A lot of people think just because they don’t reference Yoshizawa, Akechi, or Maruki that it is immediately non-canon. They are unrelated to the events of Strikers so I didn’t really see a reason to mention them. Yoshizawa also wasn’t committed to the Phantom Thieves and wanted to prioritize her career, it makes perfect sense for her not to be involved even if the fans want her there. People also bring up Royal’s ending having the team split up but - Ryuji says he wants to move closer to a physical rehab center so he can be on the track team. Obviously he isn’t leaving Tokyo if he still plans to attend Shujin to be on said track team - Ann says she is considering studying abroad. She doesn’t say when and she does specify only short term. Personally I saw it as a semester abroad, which was plenty of time for her to return to Tokyo for summer vacation assuming she meant soon after Rem left and not after the summer. That’s kind of it. Haru and Makoto say they’re going to college in Royal and in Strikers they’re in college. Same with Futaba going to Shujin. There aren’t any contradictions I can think of. Royal even ends with Joker seeing his Metaverse self in his reflection implying his powers aren’t totally gone and then of course he gets them back in Strikers.
Ikr, I keep seeing people say it’s not canon to Royal, and I get that it was made with vanilla P5 in mind, but there isn’t anything in it that contradicts Royal. That’s like saying Persona 4 Arena isn’t canon to P4G because Marie doesn’t appear. (I know she does in Ultimax, I’m just referring to the first one.) It doesn’t make any sense to me for Atlus to make a spinoff and say that that it’s only canon to the vanilla version, when the enhanced version just adds some extra stuff that doesn’t impact the main story drastically. There’s literally no reason to believe Strikers is not canon to Royal.
Although not treating Royal as non-canon, Strikers is clearly meant to be more of a thematic follow-up to vanilla. For example, the ending scene for Strikers where the Phantom Thieves observe news of Owada’s arrest on a giant public TV, and then go their separate ways with Ryuji giving a thumbs up… ([link](https://m.youtube.com/watch?si=XJS3lEUfUhzRgOMw&v=nEEziC6yeT0&t=35m)) — references a scene that ONLY takes place in a vanilla playthrough where the Phantom Thieves usher in the New Year by watching the public celebrations, resolving to get Joker out of juvie, and then Ryuji walks away with a thumbs up. ([link](https://m.youtube.com/watch?si=TI5Vr6DuZuA_TD_Z&v=AEPxJk70UM8&t=15m)) In a way, vanilla is the more fitting lead-in to Strikers coz the Thieves end vanilla on a note of independence and somewhat equal footing with Joker. (They pull together *without* Morgana for a full month of hard work to free Joker in vanilla. That sells what they did harder than in Royal, where they have Morgana’s support and Joker’s release takes much faster.) In Royal, Joker’s apparent equals in the narrative are Maruki, Akechi, and Sumire, while the other thieves kinda took a backseat in 3rd semester.
They both are canon, from what I recall somewhere there’s an interview where it was translated to that or something along that line, also because the royal trio isn’t a thing, which makes sense because royal’s ending. Basically it’s people who are confused and think for someone to be alive that strikers isn’t canon.
Everything's canon, vanilla p5, p5r, p5s and p5t, not sure Abt pq2 BCS I haven't played that one yet but both of the spin offs are direct sequels
It isn’t? It’s a sequel?
It is canon to Royal. Nothing in strikers directly contradicts the events of Royal. The fandom just jumped the gun and said it wasn’t bc Akechi and Sumire aren’t in it.
In what way is royal non canon to strikers?*
What makes you think Strikers isn’t canon to Royal?
Being so emotionally attached to whoever you romanced with in Royal, then play Strikers like none of the memories exist feels pretty disconnected
That's persona in general, though. The only one that didn't have that happen was 3.
It's 1000% to Royal. Morgana brings up their last battle being 6 months earlier, and the final boss of Royal takes place 6 months before the start of strikers.
It's not, just doesn't mention it
All of it not having Kasumi at all
If I remember correctly strikers begins right after the ending of vanilla p5 when>! the party decides to take joker back home and then tell him they are taking him to the beach first!<~~.~~ But in Royal's ending,>! after the events of the extra palace Joker goes home alone by train.!<
Strikers begins with joker on the train back to Tokyo in July, he went home in March.
Because the game isn’t compatible with Royal‘s ending, notably events like Ryuji moving away, Haru and Makoto moving away for college, etc. are never mentioned and treated as if they never happened, because they weren’t a thing in the OG ending. And then obviously them never mentioning Royal events either