#zenkichi hasegawatoshiro kasukabe

[trifargo]

Persona 5 Kitchenette (Cooking)

is a P5 game idea i came up with... instead of the main PT, the stars here are the auxiliary phantom thieves instead (and joker): akechi, sumire, sophia, zenkichi, and toshiro. this came be because i'm annoyed at how zenkichi (and sophia) are not in P5T, so i thought "you know what, because i am complaining about the lack of P5S guys in P5T, and the royal trio fans complain about the lack of P5R guys in P5S, what if i merge the left out folks in a game. world peace???"

it's basically cooking mama, but a bit more elaborate. the game will be split in 3 parts: shopping, teaching, and cooking. more below (VERY LONG)

storyline

winter holiday is coming up. joker and the gang plans another reunion in leblanc. but then, joker remembers something: the team was bigger, sometimes. there are some of the PT comrades that have yet to chat and meet with them, or even with each of them. so he decided to whip up a surprise: he'll invite not only the main PT, but also the auxiliaries, to meet with each other and the main team.

so joker invited the auxiliary gang ahead of the D-Day. and to make the smaller mini reunion more fun, he decides to do a cooking lesson with them, and they have to cook this on the real reunion day - for the main PT gang.

for the mini reunion, they'll be cooking in sojiro's house, instead of leblanc because of course, leblanc will be filled by customers, duh! they'll have some chats - the awkward one, funny one, annoying one... some character developments and look deeper on the ideals and meanings from the journeys each aux members have gone through. exploring the possible paralels in each characters, contrasts, and what they have been doing while they're off the game.

gameplay

the game is basially visual novel with minigames. it has 2 modes:

story mode: follows the story above. the story itself won't be long, probably like... 3 hours? 5? i dunno. it will play like P5T format: gameplay - dialogue - repeat. i personally find this format to be monotonous to enjoy, so the break sections (the one with menus) will probably allow you to walk around the house and outside? still, all you can do here is talk, so probably there'll be reward for talking. maybe bonuses to ease your next minigame. the character you'll be playing as is scripted.

free mode: you can cook whatever you want in here. it's off from the main story, so treat it like an "what if" (like joker's wedding scenarios in P5T). you can cook whatever you want - there are even new recipes in this mode! complete all the recipes perfectly to achieve platinum. you can pick anyone you'd like to play as (though they determine the kind of minigame you'll be playing, being shopping/teaching/cooking - except joker, he can play all these three).

meanwhile, the game parts are as below. these aren't super fixed or anything, could be changed.

shopping: you'll be playing as sophia. retaining her role in PT as a vendor, your job is to shop the items joker is asking you. joker will give you some items to buy. each item are bought by playing 2 minigames: maze and "find the difference".

maze: sophia has to find the right website to buy the item... by donig code blocks, because she's an AI. code it right, so sophia won't get lost among the sea of websites... the most monotonous one i guess, as there isn't many varieties to it...

find the difference: joker wants these items precise, so you gotta pick the right shop and item based on joker's note. plays like papers, please!, where there are details you can inspect deeper to match and make sure you get the right one (like fake customer reviews, for example)

2. teaching: you'll be playing as sumire and toshiro. each of them will do 1 recipe (so 2 recipes in total). they can cook well, so joker would like you to teach akechi and zenkichi how! teaching is kinda half-half on cooking and "pick the right one" game.

cooking: your job is to prepare the ingredients. these are too advanced for those bad cooks, so hopefully this will ease their process (like preparing fish from the bones, or whole chicken).

"pick the right one": basically making sure those bad cooks do the instructions properly (example, placing the right step to do in the progress bar in stirring process), with a timer.

3. cooking: you'll be playing as akechi and zenkichi. each of them will do 1 recipe (so 2 recipes in total). they're confirmed to be bad at cooking, so joker wants them to learn cooking better... for akechi so he can stop buying take outs, and for zenkichi so he can cook for akane better. this one is full cooking a la cooking mama, so their mingame depends on the recipe they're cooking.

for the mini reunion, you'll be playing shopping and teaching. sophia will shop the ingredients for both mini reunion and reunion day, while sumire and toshiro will teach you how to cook in mini reunion day. in the real reunion day, you'll be playing cooking only.

i was thinking to pair sumire-zenkichi and toshiro-akechi, because pairing sumire-akechi will probably develop less new things from them, as they've met in P5R. but i'm sure that developing new things isn't everything - i think akechi-sumire is a lacking connection in the royal trio triangle, and i'm sure this game will also be about getting new interactions from the established character dynamics. so probably, first half of the teaching/cooking section will be sumire-zenkichi and toshiro-akechi, while the second half is the opposite (or you can swap the order). so you get all.

as for morgana (because morgana is always next to joker), he'll be there as emotional support commentary cat during the gameplay. sophia can also be one during teaching/cooking.

as for the recipes, some will be taken from joker's kitchen in P5S. the ultimate recipes, leblanc coffee and curry, will only be unlockable in free play.

costume

i approached this one with functionality & "what would atlus do", even when i don't know what people wear at winter!!! otherwise, i'd take joker's glasses off and all that... though i believe i can be better at the color picks - i don't think atlus does color coding that much, judging the costume variants in the game. everyone who has long hairs will be tied, because like futaba said:

joker: i observed that his wardrobe is mostly plain, no pattern or peculiar detail. so i gave him shirt with not too much decor other than the buttons and black lines on end, and jeans to make it homey, but still kinda formal for guest visits. joker's appron is the appron he use in leblanc. nothing fancy behind it...

akechi: i noticed a running joke about akechi and plaid patterns when i was doing scramble zine and ya. all his wardrobe has that. so i gave him yellow plaid outer. he sorta has earthy color and his party color is brown. but his pants are already beige, so it's... yellow. his appron is kinda fancy, but still clean sleek. has metallic accents (pocket pins and harness) to give a bit boldness to it, vibing his loki side. i came up that shido facilitated him the appron if he wants to cook himself, but too bad he doesn't know that akechi can't cook...

sumire: she starts to feel more comfortable living as sumire again, so she wears the glasses back. i left her hairstyle as is, as it has lore. her fit is mostly opposite of kasumi, being more modest. color is from the violet dress she bought with joker in 3rd semester. her appron is... this wasn't really the plan (i think of picture printed appron), but i can't come up with a design yet!!! so i think she'd just have normal appron, but with patterns. kinda looks aunty/mom vibes... i think of the tora shirt she picked with joker. it's pretty mom/aunty vibes and sumire wasn't actually sure when she picked that, but i think she eventually developed a slight interest in those kind of patterns. i'm still considering to change the design, though... not 100% fixed.

sophia: she's a unique case, as her role/game is not cook, but shopper! so she becomes a delivery girl. ichinose came up with her look. so i gave her delivery jacket. her design is the most difficult, as i don't usually like drawing overdecorated anime fits, and how sophia is meant to evoke friendliness according to soejima & kanda, plus keeping her minimalistic aesthetics. then i combined the details it with puffer jackets, while making sure it's not overdecorated and making it as similar as sophia's original shilouette. IMO it became a bit too playful, as i slapped colors that are not in her original design. the blue green red accent is taken from sophia's shop UI. treat it like sophia's shop employee jacket! her footwear is a bit taller and is a shoe now. she's travelling the net, so...

zenkichi: the adults are tricky. they still wear the suit, so i could only change the shirt and tie. zenkichi's design is pretty normal common, even his design uniqueness is logical: when people's shirt button are usually similar colored to the shirt, his is a peculiar black. so i gave him pocket with black lining... he'll mostly be off suit, so there's no problem with suit obscuring pocket. his tie is also off. his appron is new. but because he doesn't know much cooking, he bought an overkill appron, AKA a barista appron with many pockets...

toshiro: i'm not really sure what is his job after P5T... but i assume he still wears suit around. so he wears a pale purple shirt. his tie is still purple, but grid pattern. he doesn't wear gloves anymore too, of course. i don't know toshiro's icon. we need to think that... his appron is plain, simple, and functional. the best that works with his housechores, something he excels at.

bonus contents

i'm thinking of a DLC with another character that have big impact to the story, but also too out of the picture to come back: maruki. i haven't decided how it will be like though. for now, i'm thinking either of these:

a separate day in the story, where you just cook with maruki. no shopping section in this DLC, just cooking and teaching. they both will teach a recipe to each other, and talk a bit more about how's maruki been doing.

a dream section or something? comes down to whether i can come up with a reason to summon the other PT auxes to this story. basically, besides maruki, you can invite 1 more guy from the list of PT auxes to cook with him. so each character will have their own storyline. more on this option:

sumire will be about reflecting their past relationship and how things are now, akechi about 2/2 (but pretending they don't meet, so it fits both who do the akechi and normal versions) and probably shido ties, toshiro and zenkichi about what happened to them in 3rd semester and how they feel when they found out, and sophia about learning maruki's heart research.

i assume toshiro is immune to maruki's influence in a way for now, because erina was born to protect him from godly influence... or maybe because salmael has taken place? i dunno. could be he's not immune either though, if erina's meant to only protect from salmael and not maruki.