Summary
It’s been nearly eight years since the 2016 release ofPersona 5in Japan, and yet official details on the next mainline installment in the hit JRPG series, presumably titledPersona 6, are still incredibly scarce. Although Atlus has confirmed that it is indeed working on a new mainlinePersonagame, much of the information the developer has provided so far has amounted to nothing more than minor teases here and there. As such, fans have mostly had to rely on leaks and rumors from unverified sources to get a general idea of whatPersona 6may end up looking like, but even with this in mind, specifics about the game have largely been left to speculation.
No matter what the final product might shape up to be, it’s very likely thatPersona 6will take direct cues from previous installments in the series to some extent, namely when it comes to gameplay elements. One such feature in the upcoming title that may be heavily influenced by recentPersonaentries is the gardening mechanic. Though this optional side activity doesn’t play a huge role inPersona 3 Reload,Persona 4 Golden, andPersona 5 Royal, it can be of great use to players looking to gather resources to help them grind through challenging dungeons. Out of these aforementioned titles, though,Persona 6should take inspiration fromP3Rthe most when it comes to gardening, as it arguably offers the best iteration of this mechanic so far, especially when compared toP5.
How Gardening Works in Persona 4 Golden and Persona 5 Royal
InPersona 5and itsRoyalre-release, gardening is only unlocked after startingHaru Okumura’s social link, or confidant, as it’s called in the game. After initiating this optional story route, players are given the opportunity to plant vegetables on Shujin Academy’s rooftop during the afternoon, save for on rainy and snowy days. Though Moonlight Carrots and Sun Tomatoes were the only crops that players could harvest in the originalPersona 5, theRoyalre-release added Earth Beans and Star Onions to the game. All of these vegetables come in quite handy, as some of them can restore players' SP in battle, while others can double the damage of their attacks. As useful as these resources may be, gardening’s practicality inPersona 5is severely limited by the fact that the feature isn’t made accessible until halfway through the game, since players are unable to start Haru’s confidant until the end of October.
This problem wasn’t present in the series' previous installment,Persona 4 Golden. Even though it was the first game in the franchise to incorporate the mechanic, cultivation inP4Gwas vastly superior in most respects compared toP5. Not only did the game offer players far more plantable crops to choose from, but it also didn’t lock the gardening feature behind a social link that wasn’t accessible until 50 hours in. Instead, the mechanic was automatically unlocked on May 22, after players helped Nanako Dojima grow some vegetables at the Dojima Residence. Gardening inP4Gdid have some quirks that weren’t present in later entries, though. For one, crops could wither away if they weren’t attended to, meaning that players' seeds could go to waste if they weren’t careful. On top of that, players were unable to use the garden during the winter months of the game.
How Gardening Works in Persona 3 Reload
While gardening inPersona 4Goldenwas better for the most part compared toPersona 5, the feature still had its pros and cons in both games. Fortunately, a lot of the issues regarding the mechanic were addressed in the franchise’s latest entry,Persona 3 Reload.Gardening inP3Ris not only unlockable early on in the game, but it’s also significantly more accessible than in previousPersonatitles. As a matter of fact, from May 26 onwards, players are given the ability to harvest vegetables on the Iwatodai Dorm rooftop virtually any day when free time is provided, since factors like weather, seasons, and time of day don’t play a role in determining the availability of the activity, like they did inP4GandP5.
On top of making it less restrictive, Atlus also added an interesting wrinkle to gardening inPersona 3 Reloadthat gave the feature considerably more depth, something that was sorely needed after the missteps made inPersona 5. When players make it to June 16 in-game, they unlock the option to havecertain S.E.E.S. membershelp them tend to the rooftop garden. Junpei, Fuuka, Aigis, and Shinjiro are sadly the only characters that players can grow vegetables with, but each of them provide their own unique stat boosts depending on which seeds are cultivated. If players grow a tomato sprout with Junpei, for instance, they are rewarded with a Tiny Healthy Tomato, which, when used, restores up to 50 health points. Meanwhile, if players grow the exact same plant with Fuuka, they receive Big Healthy Tomatoes instead. These, as the name suggests, restore up to 3 times the amount of HP than the tiny tomatoes can.
That’s not all, though, as harvesting vegetables with any of the four aforementioned characters three times will help them gain additional passive abilities to use in battle, often referred to as Persona Traits. These, however, can be collected through other means besides gardening, such as dorm hangouts and the like. Overall, this addition to the gardening mechanic inP3Ris quite significant, as it gives players an incentive to use the feature when they may not have otherwise, just to see moreslice-of-life interactionswith their favorite characters.
Persona 6 Should Make Gardening as Accessible as It is in Persona 3 Reload
If there’s one thing thatPersona 3 Reloadhas arguably proved, it’s that letting players access useful features like gardening early on in a game is the ideal way to go about things. This approach is far better than locking activities behind optional content that isn’t available until 50+ hours in and arbitrarily restricting where and when said activities can take place. Therefore, if cultivation does make a return inPersona 6, Atlus should build on the gardening mechanics that it established inPersona 3 Reload,and it shouldatone forPersona 5’s sinsby making this feature easily accessible from the beginning of the game.
