u/NinjaDaLua

Hey there! Yesterday I posted one of the characters of the TTRPG based on Trails I'm going to GM. I promised my players I'd make portraits for them in the style of Cold Steel (the oneshot will be set at the Nords trip) and it was a good challenge to try and replicate the game's artstyle. It was hard, I still got ways to go, but I'm satisfied on how it turned out.

In order they are: Silas, a wild orbal gunslinger that loves to use a horse mask for some reason; Jude, a noble swordsman that just thought that he'd be a good fit for the army because he doesn't have much aspiration in life; Vitoria, a drunken orbal gunslinger that's living her best life at the army (and hiding that she's part of the Witches clan)

I'm excited to narrate the adventure since none of them knows shit about Trails XD

This is Jude, a friend's character. I decided on doing the three player characters on the game artstyle but hoo boy, I think I'm in trouble XD

Yo, this is kind of a long post, so tl;dr: I think it'll be a very intimate game, with a theme of self-discovery.

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First off, I wanna say it almost feels like half the "theories" posted here are fanfics or wishlists disguised as theories, some of them totally out there. I'm not talking about the theories that dig into specific trailer details, symbolism, visuals, even leaks and all that. I'm talking more about the really out-there ones where I finish reading and think, "Wait... was there actually anything in the trailer that led us here?" lol.

But hey, imagining the game in your head is fun, so I can't really blame anyone for it. Here's mine too, and you can decide whether it's more in line with a theory or a fanfic XD

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One of the main things I got from the trailer is the idea of self-discovery. Not in an amnesia way, as some people have suggested, though. I know a lot of people connected the "Who are you?" line to memory loss, but personally that feels a little too on the nose. My interpretation is that the protagonist (or maybe another major character) struggles with not really knowing who they are as a person. Not because they've forgotten, but because they've never truly figured it out. The story would then be less about recovering an identity and more about discovering one.

A lot of the imagery gives me that feeling too. The cemetery, the collage-like visuals, and some of the other symbolism make me think about social pressure, expectations, and maybe even a fear of standing out (which could tie into the horror motifs). Not necessarily rebellion in the same way as the Phantom Thieves, but more about self-discovery and learning to express yourself without being crushed by what others expect you to be. Even some of the leaks, especially the seemingly rich girl, give me that impression. Maybe an arc where she's expected to be the perfect girl but she wants to be more rebellious and not so polite.

So my bet is that the story will be something along those lines. A constant pressure in a depressed or apathetic world, but then the group comes together and starts dealing with whatever is happening in the background, hunting the rumors/ghosts/yokais on the new "other world" derivative of the human psyche, maybe the urban legends giving birth to the shadows in there of what society sees the things as. They then get a comfort place where they can be themselves among each other, instead of just becoming what society expects them to be and that strenghts their power and resolve to fight. So instead of being a commentary on changing society, it'll be more about changing (or even better, discovering) yourself in the process and not being shaped by the pressure around you. Now what's happening in the city (like strange murders, accidents or whatever) that will bring them together is beyond me.

Even the occult stuff that's been teased could integrate into this, since it's a niche interest in Japan as far as I'm aware, and it's usually depicted as something associated with the "weirdos." So even joining a group like that could be a starting point for the protagonist beginning to figure out who he really is. And if he really is a foreigner (or at least a descendant of one) as he appears to be in the leaks, the expectations placed on him to act a certain way would already be pretty significant (see Ginko's story in P2, something like that).

And of course, the big baddie is an ancient god who wants humanity to become an empty husk, and we'll beat the hell out of it to stop that from happening.

Now for an actual wish of mine: I really want an antagonistic Persona-user team, something akin to Strega but, obviously, much more developed. Damn I can already imagine they fighting and using the same mechanics as the player!

Obviously, we're all working with a trailer and a dream at this point, so who knows. Maybe the next trailer reveals the real theme is aliens, the theme of the game is "eat your vegetables" and the final boss is the protagonist of P1 corrupted by Lucifer XD

I really loved the remake's artstyle and was eager to try and replicate it. Now I have drawn in the styles of P3R, P4R and P5R XD

Gotta do a mock-up with her drawn in all games artstyles

It was commissioned on twitter/x. Don't tell the client the arcana I've put on her XD