Persona 5 Royal has a strong start for a number of reasons. Building from its in-media-res introduction to Sae's palace, the title is able to show off its stylish aesthetics and tease the full extent of thieves that Joker will come to ally with. Returning to the beginning of its story soon after, Royal centers its party through Kamoshida's palace, serving as the jumping off point for the player's adventure. Ann Takamaki and Ryuji Sakamoto have clear ties to Royal's starting villain, while Morgana acts as both a navigator and an active participant in combat, helping to keep the party in the know about the intricacies of the Metaverse. The game's introduction is well-rounded, though it also leaves Persona 6 with a few choices to make.

The central theme of time is a recurring motif in Persona 5 Royal, much like its predecessors, with its first palace being an example of "taking its time" to build up proper tension. This results in a palace that takes longer to get through, but is able to establish the party's motivations quite well from a storytelling perspective. While the team starts off as a trio, with Joker and Ryuji effectively learning the ins and outs of palace exploration by Morgana, the party grows with the inclusion of Ann before the palace infiltration truly begins. This leads to a party of four, rather than the starting group of three in past games.

Persona 5 Royal nervous-looking Kasumi Sumire glancing at a smartphone in January
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Persona 6's Starting Party Has a Few Decisions to Make in its Numbers

The Starting Party's Focus

Joker, Ryuji, and Ann are arguably the party's focus in this case, with Morgana being an outlier both in his elusive past and his greater knowledge of palace infiltration. With other Persona titles like Persona 3 focusing on a starting trio formula, Morgana makes an interesting change in how active he is as a participant both in and outside battle from the start. Having him work to introduce Joker and Ryuji to the Metaverse gives the chance to build up the mystery surrounding his character, while having the palace later introduce Ann helps to round out the team from both a gameplay and story perspective. The four-person approach to the starting party setup in this case works well, while still giving the central trio of Joker, Ryuji, and Ann a chance to shine.

Given the time it takes for Persona 5 Royal to get through its first palace, having a four-person starting party also helps to establish the general conventions of its combat. Because of the mixed reception to the title's runtime, however, Persona 6's story might not spend as much time in its beginning area as its predecessor did. The same applies to how quickly it might introduce its main characters, or how 'in the know' the party will be at first. There's something to be said for having the protagonist learn as they go along, which would be an interesting approach if the title began without a character like Morgana to tutorialize the player from both a story and combat perspective.

Changing the Starting Party Setup

Persona 6 could always go with a starting party comprised of three active participants and a navigator acting from afar, similar to Mitsuru's role as a stand-in navi at the beginning of Persona 3. Alternatively, it could follow the Persona 5 route by starting with three active participants and adding a fourth member during its first area, if P6 continues with having elaborate, individualized dungeons like P5. With rumors of a dual protagonist approach to Persona 6, it could even be interesting to consider a two-person party with a smaller starting dungeon, which would give Atlus the opportunity to have one of them act as a guide/navigator figure, or even to have them both be 'fish-out-of-the-water' characters.

Ultimately, the directions that Persona 6 will take are still up in the air, with little known about the title besides rumors over its potential color theme. How quickly it will introduce its party members remains to be seen, though it has the opportunity to shake up the conventions of its starting party in a number of ways. The number of party members in its beginning setup will undoubtedly impact its narrative introduction, which could up the stakes with having fewer teammates from the get-go. Regardless, whatever Persona 6 ends up landing on, it's likely to be effective given the series' track record.