One of the mechanics that separates Persona 5 Royal from other JRPGs is its social link system where players can develop bonds between teammates and NPCs in order to gain unique perks or abilities in battle. In Persona 5 Royal, the social link system is called Confidants, and there are over 20 different ones for players to rank up. Each Confidant has a unique storyline and offers different bonuses but some Confidants are better than others.
While each of the storylines for the Confidants in Persona 5 Royal will appeal to different players, their perks aren't always worth the investment. Ranking up certain Confidants might be gated behind money, stat requirements, or inaccessibility. As a result, ranking up all of the Confidants and seeing their storylines isn't usually feasible in a single playthrough and players will need to prioritize certain Confidant abilities over others. While players will have varying opinions on the stories of the Confidants here, the bonuses they offer are usually negligible or underwhelming when compared to others.
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Iwai has one of the more interesting storylines in Persona 5 Royal as his mysterious background is captivating and surprisingly touching. Iwai allows players to customize their gun and install upgrades to help them in combat. However, players must have a high level of Guts to begin befriending Iwai and his bonuses aren't particularly special.
While guns were overhauled in Persona 5 Royal to reload their ammo after every battle, this was balanced by removing some gun weaknesses on enemies. Furthermore, guns are still relatively bad at taking down bosses so they're more of an SP saving mechanic rather than a major source of damage. Similar to like Persona 5, it seems that Persona 5 Royal doesn't place too much emphasis on gun combat and as a result, Iwai's abilities don't feel necessary. Although Iwai isn't the worst Confidant to level in Persona 5 Royal, he's fairly underwhelming when compared to other Confidants with combat perks.
Akechi gets his Confidant overhauled in Persona 5 Royal as players are able to manually level his Confidant through spending time with him instead of the automatic progression from the original Persona 5. While Akechi's character arc and his Confidant storyline are executed well, the perks he offers are unfortunately mediocre.
Aside from the typical party member abilities, he has a unique ability which has a small chance of revealing enemy affinities at the start of a battle. However, this ability is only really useful if it activates during the first encounter of an enemy as it's likely that players will discover the weakness by the next encounter. Furthermore, levelling Akechi's Confidant is necessary for seeing the true ending of Persona 5 Royal which only makes his mediocre abilities more disappointing.
In the original Persona 5, Ohya had a reputation as the worst Confidant to invest in and this remains the same for Persona 5 Royal. While her storyline can be a little boring when it's stuck at Crossroads Bar, she does have a compelling narrative arc on censorship. Unfortunately, since her utility as a Confidant is basically non-existent, players will usually skip on levelling her during their initial playthroughs.
Ohya's abilities all center around the security level of Palaces and while this sounds useful on paper, there are more than enough options for players to decrease security levels in the first place. While she can provide beginners more room for error when they start out with the stealth mechanics, she serves little purpose beyond the first few Palaces and players should be going for ambushes on most enemies anyways. She does have some utility in the late game or past the first playthrough of Persona 5 Royal, especially for players who want to use Beelzebub, but she's by far the worst Confidant to invest in.
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Despite being one of the most important characters in Persona 5 Royal, Makoto's unique abilities pale in comparison to her fellow party members. While Ryuji's dreaded insta-kill ability made him a liability in Persona 5, this has been fixed in Persona 5 Royal which leaves Makoto's underwhelming abilities to be the worst of all Phantom Thieves. Makoto allows players to see the skills and item drops on enemies which has some utility for players trying to guess the weaknesses of an enemy or defending against strong attacks. However, the overall utility of this ability is fairly mediocre and it's made worse by the fact that Makoto also has the worst Confidant storyline of all Phantom Thieves.
Makoto's Confidant is gated by a steep charm requirement and this means that players won't have access to some of her abilities until later into the game. Furthermore, while Makoto has a great character arc and a lot of screentime during the main story, her Confidant storyline is extremely underwhelming and doesn't develop her character well. Players who spend time with Makoto in Persona 5 Royal might be disappointed to find that her Confidant storyline and unique abilities aren't worth the investment.
Sojiro is certainly not the worst Confidant to invest in for Persona 5 Royal players but some of his abilities aren't available until later in the game and are gated by stat requirements as well. He has unique abilities which allow players to make coffee and curry that can restore SP for party members. While Sojiro offers a solid selection of SP restoration items, the timing of his Confidant unlocks are a little awkward. In general, Persona 5 Royal makes SP management easier as players will need to rely on SP items less than they did in Persona 5's Palaces. As a result, Confidants like Sojiro or Takemi aren't as important as they used to be for the early and late game.
In particular, Sojiro's Confidant abilities are unlocked at a time where most of the recovery items available to players will eclipse the coffee and curry that can be made. While Takemi is still extremely useful due to the regen and SP recovery patches she sells, by the time players unlock the best abilities that Sojiro has to offer, they are outclassed by other items.
Furthermore, Sojiro is also difficult to level during the initial stages of Persona 5 Royal where his items would actually be useful which only makes the investment more disappointing. Although Sojiro has a fantastic, heartfelt Confidant storyline, players will likely find his items underwhelming by the time they unlock them.
Persona 5 Royal is available now on PS4.