The situation is tense. You’ve been battling away at the game for hours on end. Finally, the trophy pops and then there’s a massive sigh of relief.

When it comes to PlayStation games I’m one of those people that refer to themselves as trophy hunters or completionists. I’m in by no means a professional but I love the grind that comes with achieving a Platinum trophy.

Persona 5 was the latest Platinum trophy that I earned and because it’s such a lengthy game, what it required was a mixture of patience and pure organisation. I also made a lot of mistakes along the way and so I’m in prime position to warn you of these in advance. I recommend you read this guide in full, so you can get a feel for what’s needed. I link to a lot of exterior pages, but I can vouch for them as they are the ones that helped me achieve my goal. I achieved the Platinum trophy in one normal playthrough (100+ hours while getting almost every trophy) and about 10 hours of New Game Plus (NG+) for the remaining two trophies.

BIGGEST TIP: Use every single save file available to you. I saved after every few days and at Palaces. If you mess up it means you don’t have to go too far back. I made a mistake towards the end of the game which cost me an extra 10 hours but I was at least able to rectify it using a previous save file.

SECOND TIP: There is no shame in reloading a file. You can save time by getting, for example, the video game trophy and then reloading back a few days to finish a confidant or finish books. Pretty much everything costs time in this game and it’s important to utilise your time effectively.

THIRD TIP: Start on “Easy” or “Normal”, otherwise it will be harder to get the “Passionate Listener” trophy (mentioned below). You can drop down to “Safety” for the Reaper exploit (also mentioned below) if you so wish but I’d recommend holding off until you get the “Passionate Listener”.

Where to start:

Check out the main trophy list while avoiding major spoilers. Contrary to what it sounds like, this is not too bad and the linked guide does its best to hide spoilers. You must be mindful of the missable trophies and because of this, you must be super organised.

There are 14 missable trophies as every non-story-based trophy is missable and you also need to get the “True Ending”. The two hardest trophies, in my opinion, are hearing Futaba’s navigational lines for the “Passionate Listener” trophy (You can’t start tackling this until the end of August in-game so when you’re at that point click this) and also the trophy for completing the video game mini-game (“Golden Finger”).

Anubit3Blad3, has created a Google Docs checklist for tracking progress with trophies. It can be found here.

A day-by-day guide:

I started my Persona 5 Platinum journey following the day-to-day guide by KillScottKill and his outline is fantastic. There are a few issues with it (you can max out your confidants faster using this method), however, I chose to stick with his as I only had to concentrate on his guide and got all the trophies I needed. I even messed up slightly on the “Star” confidant, but he accounts for free time in the game around December where you can catch up on missed opportunities.

The guide is straightforward and has minimum spoilers for those wanting to experience the whole game. It lists the opportunities where you can get missable trophies too.

N.B. read his introduction on his guide because it contains invaluable information. Note that his guide doesn’t cover how to beat bosses, so I headed over to IGN for tips on boss battle guides here.

Get cracking on that day-by-day guide.

During your journey watch out for:

Strength Confidant

Like previous Persona games, this is the fusion confidant. The “Strength” confidant requires you to fuse specific Personas with specific skills. Unlike other confidants, technically you can complete the “Strength” confidant in one sitting, but you wouldn’t be able to do this until close to the end game due to cost and fusion levels. Below is a guide on how to fuse each Persona needed to level up as swiftly as possible.

WARNING: If you bought the DLC Personas in advance, which I did, this will mess up the fusion calculator, so you won’t get all the same results. I had this happen to me twice once with Rank 5: “Ame no Uzume” with “Dodge Psy” and then Rank 7: “Lachesis” with “Tetraja” – my solution here was not to follow the guide.

Instead: For “Ame-no-Uzume”, I fused the “Kaguya” DLC Persona with “Kin-Ki” and if you’re level 37, fuse “Principality” with “Arsene” to make a “Fuu-Ki”. Fuse “Fuu-Ki” with “Anubis” (“Angel” and “Pixie”) to make “Lachesis”. If you didn’t buy them, the guide will work no problem.

Easy levelling using the Reaper exploit

If you want to easily level up and claim the “Reaper” trophy using this method. The “Reaper” is an incredibly strong shadow that appears if you stay too long (around five minutes) on a level in Mementos. You will hear the rattling of chains and Morgana will warn you of the oncoming threat. If you stand still it can ambush you and probably kill you if you’re not prepared.

If you want to beat him early you have one straightforward option. Drop down to “Safety” difficulty and when you face the “Reaper” you will get unlimited revives when you die. It’s a long battle but press O to put on “rush” and tap away at it.

The second and late game option is to wait until “Flu” Season (not “Pollen”) which happens on 11/13, 11/14, 11/15, 12/8 and 12/9. Trigger the fight with the “Reaper” and make sure he’s under the influence of the flu. Simply wait for three turns and the “Reaper” will succumb to “Despair” and die – the trophy is then yours!

If you want, you can use this to raise your funds and many levels easily. “Divine Pillar” is an item that you should get from the “Reaper” which is useful as it halves all damage. I got seven of them which was ideal for my party, especially for the boss in NG+.

Warning: Do not raise your level too much or you will be too overpowered and miss out on the “Passionate Listener” trophy because you’ll end up ploughing through enemies instead of hearing the navigational lines.

The True Ending

There’s a good and a “True Ending” which you need for the trophy. There are two dates when these choices occur: 11/20 and 12/24. Here’s a spoiler-free guide to the “True Ending” and what you need to do.

Preparation for the Super Mega Boss

There is a secret boss only available in NG+ and to prepare you will need a LOT of money because you will need a specific Persona to get through the battle. During your first playthrough, there are mini-bosses that you can exploit for funds. You will need a Persona with the skill “Pulinpa” and “Confuse Boost” with high luck (over 50). Follow this guide to find out more on how to get it and read through the comments for extra tips.

The most important Persona to fuse for this battle is an almost invincible “Yoshitsune” – this will be the Persona that will clinch the super mega boss victory and you’ll only be able to fuse it towards the End Game. The boss is level 99 and it’s not an easy fight. To fuse this amazing Persona that’s resistant to almost everything apart from gunfire you need to follow this guide and do it towards the end-game when you can afford to do so (hence why all the money is needed).

Make sure that you also have the best equipment possible for your characters as these carry onto NG+ too.

Preparation for the final Persona fusion

The end game is very clear when you get there but it’s at this stage you need to get your compendium up to 99% complete. There should only be ONE Persona left to fuse and you can’t get that until NG+.

N.B. You should bring at least 1.2 Million Yen over with you into NG+

New Game Plus

Congratulations you can now start New Game Plus! At this stage, you should have two things left to do, fuse the ultimate Persona and beat the mega boss.

Provided you have the funds, you can fuse the ultimate persona as soon as the “Velvet Room” becomes available. This can be very expensive, but you should be covered provided you brought enough yen with you into NG+. If not, use the money boost exploit as mentioned earlier.

Super-Secret Boss

Provided you have a “Yoshitsune”, brought over your best equipment and got the “Divine Pillar” you’ll be in great shape. You can face the secret boss as soon as “Mementos” opens properly around 5/9 and your boss will be standing at the entrance of the “Velvet Room”. You’re probably going to be between level 10 – 17 at this stage and while it’s possible to beat the boss I would recommend is popping on “Safety” mode and defeating the “Reaper” to gain quick levels so that you get more skills for your party and also will not be killed easily in battle.

When you’re ready, summon “Yoshitsune” and equip your best equipment. Keep on rotating with “Charge” and then “Hassou Tobi” (hits both targets for eight hits) and make sure that your main character’s health is kept up. The boss uses two full heals and you NEED to kill both targets at the same time or they revive each other (thankfully not for full health but still annoying).

Beat them and CONGRATULATIONS the Platinum trophy is YOURS.