Improving ranks with non-party Confidants grant other bonuses, such as giving access to new items and equipment and boosting experience point and yen gain. Improving Confidant ranks with party members unlocks various abilities for use in combat, such as the “Baton Pass” ability, which allows the player to directly select another character after a critical hit while granting a temporary attack boost. Each relationship is symbolized by one of the Major Arcana of the Tarot card deck. With this system, the main protagonist can converse with and improve his relationship with other characters he meets, with some leading to possible romances. When in the real world, the main protagonist can develop character relationships known as Confidants an evolution of the Social Link system from Persona 3 and Persona 4. These various activities raise character attributes, which grant passive buffing effects during battle. He can perform part-time jobs and pursue leisure activities or create battle items. The year is punctuated by both scripted and random events as Joker attends school. The game is governed by a day-night cycle and weather systems that determine general behavior similar to a social simulation game. There are twenty-one Confidants to develop, and although four develop automatically over the course of the story and one isnt. Persona 5 is a role-playing video game where the player takes on the role of a high school student, codenamed Joker, who lives out a single year while attending school in modern-day Tokyo. While functionally identical, Persona 5s Confidants are portrayed as mutually beneficial partnerships as opposed to friendships, though they all develop into them by the time the Confidant rank reaches its maximum.
![persona 5 confidants persona 5 confidants](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/megamitensei/images/5/5b/Persona_5_Confidant_Guides_Icon_(Lovers)_-_Ann_Takamaki.png)
Joker, the game’s protagonist, has two alternating lifestyles: a normal student life (top), and adventures into otherworldly locations (bottom). The game incorporates role-playing and dungeon crawling elements alongside social simulation scenarios. As with previous games in the series, the party battles enemies known as Shadows using physical manifestations of their psyche known as the Persona. They explore the Metaverse, a supernatural realm born from humanity’s subconscious desires, to steal malevolent intent from the hearts of adults. During the course of a school year, he and other students awaken to special powers, becoming a group of secret vigilantes known as the Phantom Thieves of Hearts. Persona 5 takes place in modern-day Tokyo and follows the protagonist Joker following his transfer to Shujin Academy after being put on probation for an assault of which he was falsely accused.