Persona 5 Royal: Negotiation Guide (2024)

One of the operative parts of Persona 5 Royal is going through the different palaces, kicking ass and expanding your own stock of Personas as you go. And while other Persona titles left shadow recruitment to chance, Persona 5 Royal makes you negotiate with shadows instead.

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With items, money, and even new Personas on the line, you’ll need to tailor your shadow negotiation style to what the shadows want to hear, basing your choices on their personalities. For a full breakdown on P5R's negotiations, how to start them, shadow personalities, and how to negotiate better, check out our guide below.

This guide may contain slight spoilers for elements of Persona 5 Royal.

Negotiation Basics

What Is Negotiation?

While older Persona titles yielded their post-battle rewards in a system of shuffling cards, known as Shuffle Time, P5R has changed the formula.

Now, instead of choosing cards, you’ll be negotiating directly with shadows for additional prizes during your battles.

There are plenty of things you can earn from negotiations, like additional yen or items. These will be in addition to what you normally earn.

One of the main prizes, though, and arguably the central focus of negotiations, is that a successful negotiation after a battle results in the shadow joining your stock.

You'll receive the trophy"I Am Thou..." following your first successful negotiation.

How To Start A Negotiation

To begin a negotiation with a shadow in P5R, you’ll need to rely on elemental weaknesses in battle, or critical hits.

Early in the game, Morgana teaches you all about affinities, including how to knock down a shadow using an element to which they areweak.

The process is simple enough if there’s only one shadow in the fight, but if there are multiple shadows, you’ll need to down each one before negotiations can begin.

Once the shadows have all been downed, you’ll have two choices for how to proceed: commit to performing an All-Out Attack with the Phantom Thieves, likely to finish the battle, or choose to negotiate with them instead.

During negotiations, you’ll have three things you’re able to ask for:

• Money
• Items
• “Lend me your power.”

By selecting either money or items, you’re able to negotiate a handful of times in a single negotiation. When the shadow initially gives you the things you’ve asked for, you have the option to tell them that it's not enough.

From there, the shadow will either give you more money or items or will become fed up and get back to its feet to continue the battle.

How To Negotiate With Shadows

See Also

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Negotiating for money or items is as simple as asking for them. Choose the request from the menu screen during negotiation and watch as the shadows empty their pockets.

Recruiting new Personas through negotiations, however, requires a bit more effort than just persistence.

You’ll need to answer a few questions the shadows ask before they yield, though, whatever your request may be. And forget honesty in your answers: tailor your answers to the shadow’s attitude.

Each shadow asks you two questions. You'll need to get both correct in order to recruit them.

When you’re in a negotiation, you’ll notice a bubble on screen that describes the shadow in with one of four words.

Shadows in Persona 5 Royal can be:

• Gloomy
• Irritable
• Upbeat
• Timid

These adjectives advise you on the answers the shadows want to hear.

If you choose good answers for each question, the shadow will then join your stock. If not, the shadow will get back up to start fighting once again.

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All Shadow Types And The Answers They Like

Below, we've got a complete list of each kind of shadow, keeping track of what kind of answers each likes and dislikes.

Instead of specific answers, the shadows tend to read mostly into your tone. Choose answers that match what they want to hear according to the table below.

Persona 5 Royal Shadows: Negotiation Likes And Dislikes

Shadows react immediately when you choose a response, so there's no guessing whether they liked it.

Befriend Toranosuke Yoshida To Get Better At Negotiating

The political candidate campaigning at Shibuya Station on Sunday nights, Toranosuke Yoshida is trying to regain public trust after a scandal that detailed his career.

Yoshida is one of your Confidants in Persona 5 Royal, representing the Sun arcana.

Like with all your P5R Confidants, Yoshida’s confidant comes with a series of perks that offer new possibilities the closer you become to him.

All of Yoshida’s Confidant perks have to do with shadow negotiations. If you find yourself using negotiations more often than not, ranking up Yoshida’s Confidant will progressively allow you better styles of negation.

Toranosuke Yoshida’s Sun Confidant Negotiation Perks

After unlocking these perks, any money or items that are increased by having the perk active will be written in red instead of white.

This means you’ll get either more money or a rare item instead of the normal spread from choosing that response.

Ranking up Yoshida’s Confidant will dramatically improve your negotiations, so it doesn’t hurt to spend some time on the campaign trail to reap these better rewards.

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