We’ve gotten a more in-depth look at Persona 5 from this week’s Famitsu magazine (via Sokuho@Hokanko), following our first report on the game.

The staff confirmed to be working on the game include:

• Director: Katsura Hashino
• Character Designer: Shigenori Soejima
• Composer: Shoji Meguro

The characters detailed thus far:

• Protagonist – A second year high-schooler who moves to Tokyo in the spring. Instead of living with family, he lives with friends of his parents in their coffee shop on the outskirts of the city. He makes friends with others who have also lost a home, in one way or another.
• Arsène (persona) – The new persona, which is exclusive to the protagonist, is a clear nod to the infamous thief, although this is not a confirmed source of inspiration.

Interview with Katsura Hashino (Producer and Director)

• The protagonist of Persona 5 is different from those seen in previous games, in that he is harboring some kind of problem that, if left unchecked, will create lots of trouble in the future. You can see hints of this in the latest trailer, when he’s trapped inside a prison of sorts.
• The protagonist and two other characters are introduced to the cat creature (also seen in the trailer) towards the beginning of the game. It’s mentioned that both the other characters have their own issues, as well, and that the cat is able to transform. The cat is integral to the story.
• The characters that you see shifting around during the anime portion of the new trailer were actually suggested by the anime director. The production studio behind the anime scenes in the games is confirmed to be I.G.
• Battles in the game are still turn-based, although there are reportedly lots of new changes to make it play better and be more enjoyable.
• Personas are being rendered completely in high-definition for the very first time, meaning the development staff are working extra hard in that regard.
• Hashino has purposely stayed quiet when asked why, during the protagonist’s battles, personas have shown up as enemies. There is a reason behind this, but details are coming later.
• As mentioned in our previous report, there are still randomly generated sections of dungeons; however, there are setpieces that are built to showcase the thievery motifs.
• All of the protagonists have a unique gun for their long distance attack/weapon, although they have close range weapons as well. These are not guns, but they’re just as powerful as traditional weapons.
• If you work for the citizens around the city, you’ll have some advantages when you get into combat.
• Social Links, or something similar to them, are in the game with some new changes. Details on this are coming later.

Interview with Shigenori Soejima (Character Designer)

• Don’t let the protagonist’s humble appearance mislead you; it’s a bit of a facade.
• The logo of the game is designed to reflect the younger perspective of both the characters and the story, while also portraying quickness and uniqueness.
• The persona Arsène is designed to feel more old-school in nature, right down to his name. Bringing everything together and making it all feel stylish was definitely challenging, and both the cape/wings are designed to show a thief who sneaks around places where regular people shouldn’t be.

Persona 5 is coming to both Playstation 3 and Playstation 4 sometime later this year.