Persona series

Persona 4 is a lot harder than Persona 3.

Please tell me it gets easier after Yukiko's Shadow.

edited 8th Mar '12 3:50:11 PM by MetaFour

Much, much easier. That one's a serious wake-up, but after that, the game says "just kidding, go back to dozing". About the only one that's gonna give you problems after that is the fifth boss, and maybe one of the ones near endgame.

Part of what makes me think it's difficult is that I'm too used to Persona 3, like HP and MP being reset to full whenever I go back to the lobby. Here, I'm limited by how much MP I have, and I get the feeling I'm neglecting my social links and social skills in favour of grinding in the TV world.

I mean, in P3, I didn't have to grind at Tartarus to get past the next story boss. (Up until the end, at least, but by then I learned about Armageddon/Victory Cry.) Here, Yukiko's Shadow nearly kicked my arse. The bonus boss after that scene, where Yukiko's Shadow was, is kicking my arse.

Yukiko is more Early Bird than wake up.

You really need crazy fusions to take her on without struggling. Everything after her is a lot easier (Except the void quest boss, bring a null fear Persona if you can).

edited 24th Jun '09 7:10:43 AM by deuxhero

Once you get past the first dungeon, leveling normally will generally be enough to get you through most levels. And later on you'll have a way to replenish SP in-dungeon (Although it's dreadfully expensive), so you won't have to be leaving the TV World quite so often.

Also, on the Contrarian King? I don't know if this is what you're supposed to do, but from my experience, if you only attack him twice each turn, he'll never Rampage. Makes things a lot easier.

edited 24th Jun '09 7:13:41 AM by Theoneknownasme

Should I restart the game? I'm at May 1st, and I haven't gotten any amazing items or Personas or anything, so restarting is no big loss. I have the distinct feeling that I'm on entirely the wrong track with regards to balancing social stats and grinding.

And I never have enough SP to last through a dungeon.

My party is currently on the 8th Floor Save Point of Yukiko's Castle, since I game-overed when I went in to face the bonus boss. (Rampage was the killer; one-shot KO of the entire party.) Level 18 for all, except Yukiko, who's level 16 (joined the party at level 15).

What's a good levelling method anyway? In P3, I found myself relying on the immense experience boost from the storyline bosses more than actually going through Tartarus.

edited 24th Jun '09 7:18:37 AM by dkellis

You actually should be good for levels at this point (I'm assuming you're playing on Easy or Normal?). Generally, fighting most of the shadows on every floor should be enough. You don't get a really good opportunity for massive grinding until the final levels, sadly, but in all honesty, you don't really need to.

You're not too far into the game, but the thing about Social Links is that they're a lot more forgiving this time around. In P3 (and even FES, to a slightly lesser extent), you had to be very, very strict about when you used your time to advance a Social Link or not. In P4, it's possible to max out your S-Links with a full month left to spare. It's probably safe to keep playing at this point.

Once you meet the fox, SP isn't a huge issue, so long as you're willing to grind easy monsters for quick cash.

I'm getting near the end of the game, and I never had a problem with levelling up. What I'd do is get through the dungeon as fast as reasonably practical (ditching the TV if there were good social links to be had) and then just wait until the next kidnapping, where I'd tackle both that dungeon and the one I had just cleared. Once I had enough people, I'd bring in my backups for the re-runs of the dungeons (my main team was Yosuke, Chie, and Yukiko). Never had a problem, and if I really wanted to, I could use the fox to restore SP. There's also a bunch of arcana chances (Judgment and Death) that'll restore your SP, so if you get lucky you can go a lot farther than you might think. The only thing I'd advise is not to worry about clearing the dungeon in 1 day. Especially if it means going up against the boss with anything less than full stats. Sure, they're a lot easier than Shadow Yukiko (I personally didn't have too much trouble with the Void Quest boss, he just took forever), but they aren't pushovers. Shadow Kanji's easy, though- just make sure to target the "Nice Guy" to the exclusion of all else to eliminate the buffs (and have Yosuke cancel out those he does get off) and compleltely ignore the "Tough Guy", as he's pathetically weak in the damage-dealing department.

I'm playing on Easy (or Beginner, I think the game calls it). Which is why I was worried that Yukiko's Shadow was really hard even on this mode.

I'm fighting every Shadow I come across on each floor, but I don't repeat floors (at least, not until now, when I was afraid of being underlevelled). This is a change from P3, when I only fought Shadows I met on the way to the stairs, since I tried it the other way and kept getting Tired before I got to the checkpoint.

Don't be afraid to break that habit. There's no fatigue system in P4, so there's no real reason to avoid battles unless you're about dead. Also, repeating floors is also generally not required. You're actually at the recommended level for the beginning of the second dungeon, at this point. Now you might want to think about fusing some more powerful personae. You don't have access to anything completely amazing at this point, but there are some fairly decent ones you can get.

Also, don't be afraid to rely on purely physical attacks a little more against normal mooks; they're more reliable than they used to be.

edited 24th Jun '09 7:44:49 AM by Theoneknownasme

Hm, what do I have? I remember I fused Titan, Cu Sith, and... something else of around that level. I remember using Saki Mitama to fuse... something.

I do have a Senri just for the Agi, though.

Basically every time I fill up on Persona (after Shuffle) I visit the Velvet Room at the first opportunity to go fuse Persona at the highest level I can summon. I'm just filling up the Compendium at this point, although I hear that levels don't carry over in a New Game Plus, unlike in P3.

I also completely suck at getting skills onto new Persona. I mean, all I do is keep trying until I see the skill I want get into the inherited list, which I assume is not really how it's done.

edited 24th Jun '09 7:50:05 AM by dkellis

Levels don't, but money and your compendium do, and you can pull anything out of the compendium, even if it's a higher level as you. Wanna make Lucifer your main Persona from the get-go

You should probably find a list on what persona types can inherit what powers. If you already know that, then yeah, backing out and retrying actually is one of the easier ways to change what skills your Persona will inherit.

edited 24th Jun '09 7:54:02 AM by Theoneknownasme

I thought you had to be of at least that Persona's level in order to summon it (in battle) in the first place? Then again, I've never really tried.

Also, Shuffle Time is at least an order of magnitude more difficult than in P3. I didn't need twitch-reflexes there...

edited 24th Jun '09 7:55:29 AM by dkellis

Not in this one. You have to be at least that level to fuse it, but you can pull it from the compendium any time you want to, and once you've got it, you can use it. It's why you can fuse a Persona at the same level as you, have it level up from Bonus EXP, and still be able to use it.

edited 24th Jun '09 7:55:37 AM by Theoneknownasme

Persona 3 did teach me one thing: the original Persona the protagonist starts with, the one in the cutscenes and promo art and with all the story significance? Gameplay-wise, useless after the first few boss battles. Fuse it away.

Which should I be focusing on with regards to spending my days: Stats (as in, Courage/Academics/Understanding/whatever), Social Links, or level grinding?

Days should generally be spent on S-Links, outside of one or two days where you power through the most recent dungeon. Nights are generally best for stats (Have you been regularly collecting the books from the book store? If not, start doing so), since outside of a couple specific S-Links (Hierophant and Justice), you have a lot more wiggle room at night.

EDIT: Also, do your best to always have a corresponding Persona before attempting a S-Link. It makes things move much smoother.

edited 24th Jun '09 8:08:37 AM by Theoneknownasme

Also keep in mind the Aoi-ya in the north part of town. On rainy days, for 3,000 yen, it'll raise 3 stats, which is one of the best ways to level stats in the game. Since almost no one is ever available for social links when it's raining, it's generally a good idea. Also keep in mind that levelling up Hermit (Fox, at the shrine once you've completed the quest), should be done on rainy days.

I'll also draw your attention to the Social links that level up stats as well- Strength (Diligence), Sun (Expression- needed for Dojima and Nanako's S-links), and Devil (Courage) are the ones I know of, can't think of any others.

And when I finish my first runthrough of the game, I'm actually planning on going back and starting fresh- none of the new game + for me, because the temptation to summon all those personas would be too tempting and I want some sort of challenge. Maybe if I'm feely ballsy, I'll try hard mode. And then I'll go on the new game+ run and max all the social links. I'm gonna get a lot of mileage out of this game.

Temperance levels Understanding. I'm not sure on any others.

EDIT: I'm one of those kind of guys who has to do everything on the first playthrough, so I maxed stats, maxed S-Links, finished the Compendium, took care of all the quests. . . Yeah, I had about 130 hours logged after beating the final boss.

There's a LOT to do in this game.

edited 24th Jun '09 8:18:02 AM by Theoneknownasme

I picked up the first book, "A Great Man", and finished reading it. The next one is apparently due on May 7.

There are five stats, right? Um... Knowledge, Courage, Expression, Diligence, Understanding. Knowledge I increase through study... how about the others? Expression through the cultural club and Diligence through the sports club?

There are also jobs that can help with some of the stats; paper crane folding, for example, works on Diligence. And there's always little things that'll crop up throughout the game.

The best thing, though, is definitely the books, since they level two stats at once. Always make sure you read them thoroughly rather than skimming. You get more out of them that way.

EDIT: Courage, you level up by eating the random things you sometimes find in the fridge. Be warned that this generally will lock out anything else you may do at night, since "you aren't feeling too well" afterward.

edited 24th Jun '09 8:21:03 AM by Theoneknownasme

My problem with the books is now that I'm late in the game, I've maxed out all but Diligence and Understanding (yeah...not getting Tower on this run) and the book I'm reading boosts...knowledge and expression. And you can't change, so I'm reluctant to waste a night pointlessly levelling stats just so I can get access to other books.

I'm not sure you won't be getting Tower. I didn't start until, like, late October-early November, and I still finished by the end of December. Also, that's the point where you skim it, just to get it out of the way in two nights instead of four.

edited 24th Jun '09 8:44:32 AM by Theoneknownasme

I've not taken a part-time job yet. I assume that if I do take and apply for one, I work on it at night?

Yes, I know that I can just fire up the game and play it myself, but I'm still quite tempted to start over and do things right this time, in the completionist sense. (Like the fridge thing. I didn't know about the fridge thing.)

If I remember correctly, all but one of the jobs (Daycare/babysitter/whatever it's called) are done at night, yes. Three of them (Daycare, tutor, hospital) are S-Links, the other three are just for money/stats.

Also, you can have as many of the jobs as you want. Take all of them, if you feel so inclined (and you probably should, anyway).

EDIT: Me English good, really.

edited 24th Jun '09 9:09:54 AM by Theoneknownasme

Which stat should I work on first? I remember in P3 it was Courage (for Fuuka), Academics (for exams), then Charm (for Yukari).

I've somehow managed to get to level 2 for Courage, Understanding, and Knowledge in P4. Everything else is still at level 1.

edited 24th Jun '09 9:12:59 AM by dkellis