When compared to its base version, Persona 5 Royal is, according to many fans of the series, the definitive way to play Persona 5. The title refines the P5 experience by making some pretty major changes, but the real selling point for P5R is its three new confidants and extended story that adds to the overall arc of Joker and his party of Phantom Thieves. The three new confidants add a lot to the game, but one falls flat in an unsatisfying way. Kasumi Yoshizawa, while being a compelling character that should be a natural addition to Persona 5, never actually feels like an integrated part of Persona 5 Royal.
P5R covers a lot of ground and, for a JRPG that can easily run 120-hours of playtime, it feels like something of a miracle that the game is able to have a relatively straightforward story full of deep characters with plot beats that feel earned. Because the game is juggling so much, it's only natural that some of those characters might not get the payoff that they deserve, but it's unfortunate that Yoshizawa, one of the biggest parts of Persona 5 Royal's marketing, gets the short end of the stick despite being perceived as a major player in the narrative. Note: This article contains major plot spoilers for Persona 5 Royal.
Kasumi's Overall Plot Integration
Anyone who's finished Persona 5 Royal should be able to see some of the differences between the way Kasumi, or rather Sumire, is handled compared to the way the game presents much of the rest of its high school cast. Often, Yoshizawa has scenes alone with Joker without ever gathering with the rest of the Phantom Thieves, and the scenes where she is with other characters are usually with Dr. Maruki or Akechi, the other two major confidant additions.
It isn't until the very final hours of Persona 5 Royal that she shares scenes with the rest of the Phantom Thieves, giving this odd sense of isolation to all of her earlier appearances in the game. This is likely caused by the fact that she's a new character for P5R, and adding lengthy scenes with her and the other high schoolers might be too complicated or expensive, so Atlus opted to make her scenes more isolated than those that the rest of the characters have. Unfortunately, that results in Yoshizawa's integration into the overall game feeling disconnected and a little jarring; almost as if there are two games being played simultaneously, the original Persona 5 and small DLC scenes setting up the Persona 5 Royal section of the game.
Yoshizawa's Late Addition to the Phantom Thieves
One of the major elements that contributes to Yoshizawa's overall isolation from the rest of the story is that she isn't added as a member of the Phantom Thieves until after the events of the original game, well over 90 hours into its playtime. Although she has a persona awakening mid-way through, she turns down Morgana's offer to join the group and her persona doesn't make any major appearances again until Persona 5 Royal's final palace. Sumire requests to join the Phantom Thieves before they enter Shido's palace, but this time Morgana turns her down saying that it'd be too dangerous for her first mission.
Essentially, Persona 5 Royal spends nearly 100 hours hyping up the introduction of Yoshizawa as a member of the Phantom Thieves, but doesn't include her in much of the game, leaving her storyline feeling imbalanced and unsatisfying. She feels a little bit like Haru Okumura in that regard, added a little too late to truly feel like a member of the team because, while they both clearly care about the Phantom Thieves' cause, they don't end up being major elements to the game's overall story outside of their relation to their respective antagonists' palaces.
Persona 5 Royal is available now for PlayStation 4.