Persona 3

Since we have a thread for Four, here's one for Three.

To start, has anyone here tried out maniac mode for the PSP release? Which gender would have an easier time of it?

Maniac mode.... Yeah thats a complete bitch.... The Answer is still harder though.

However FMC is slightly easier due to her more relaxed S-Link system (easier starting Persona requirements and stat requirements). but combat wise its all the same.

Good ol The Answer. Where (almost) every boss who has a weakness also has a passive skill that allows them to dodge said weakness, and how eventually you have to grind until most of the enemies in the floors run from you if you want to stand a chance against the upcoming boss.

Although I am having more fun with it than my third go through of the Journey. I miss the social links, Elizabeth requests and the Persona Compendium, but I actually am having more fun with the dungeon crawling somehow.

I know The Answer is not in P 3 P, but how do you think it'd work there anyway? You have to unlock it by completing the Journey, and there would be two, one for each MC?

You don't have to unlock The Answer. It's in the FES main menu from the beginning.

ANYWAY. Playing P 3 P for the third time now. Started a new game on Hard with Fe MC. I'm doing rather well so far.

...I know. I have the game. I meant if it was in P 3 P. (You'd have to unlock it since there would be one for each MC. You beat the game as Ma MC, you get The Answer with references to Ma MC. Beat it with Fe MC, you get the Answer with references to Fe MC)

oh derp. Now I get it. Sorryyyy.

If they did P 3 P The Answer I would say just make a quick load original option and only check for the sex of the MC and completed S-links. (I would of loved a few changed lines here and there if you maxed their S-link... even more so if you reversed it )

They really would not of had to change much for the FMC though.

I'm glad they took out The Answer. The Answer seriously pissed me off towards the designers, after what was an absolutely wonderful game. It was pretty much nothing but hours and hours of boring grinding, all just to finally see a completely unnecessary ending.

I actually liked the Answer. Sure, the bosses are needlessly hard and full of eff yous (bosses who can evade their only weakness, bosses who reflect or outright absorb the element that another enemy in the battle is weak to, bosses who can summon reinforcements who absorb the thing they are weak to/are weak to the thing they absorb, etc), but I found it actually kinda fun to be able to just go through the dungeon crawling without having to worry about Social Links or having to choose between fighting and working up the social stats (as I call them), or having to worry about the chance, no matter how slim, that you or your allies will get tired. Sure, I liked the "social" aspect of the main game, but sometimes I just want to kill Shadows.

And the plot, while not as "deep" as the plot of The Journey, is decent enough IMO, but I can see why some may think it is unnecessary.

I don't enjoy dungeon crawling. For me, it wasn't the bosses that were the problem, I enjoy a difficult challenge, especially since most JRP Gs are way too easy. It was the fact that I had to spend hours grinding to level up before each boss fight that annoyed me. Probably wouldn't have taken as long if I didn't make sure to level up every single character.

The ending though... Persona 3 already established that the MC made his sacrifice of his own free will and saved the entire world doing it. I can't see any reason why someone should think that is a bad ending and want to undo it. Everyone dies eventually, MC got to die in the best possible way.

Also, I always found Aigis to be the most boring character in the game so I wasn't really happy to have her as the protagonist. It was cool to get a new party member though, especially since she was so useful (I never took her out of my party the whole game).

Probably the worst possible aspect of The Answer though, was the Personas. All the Personas were designed to be leveled via Social Links. Since there were no Social Links in the Answer, you had to work them up manually, which takes forever and typically isn't worth it. Which means you have to deal with subpar personas for the whole game.

I remember when I encountered some Japanese text in this game. I was playing the male MC, on a date with Yuko. When I was fairly far into her social link, she said something that showed up in Japanese. Also, apparently the PSP can only display kana, because the kanji were just white boxes. Has anyone else encountered something like this?

Considering Yukari's reaction to the MC's death in the answer, they might have to change that if the protagonist was female instead. Which character do you think would be most likely to go nuts over her death?

edited 22nd Aug '11 11:00:30 PM by SpellBlade

Akihiko. He pretty much gets infatuated with her if you just do his Social Link like normal and he reversed me for turning him down.

So, got myself a copy of Persona 3 Portable today and I'm enjoying playing as the female so far (I named her Kurae Hamuko by the way). How different is the female's route from the males though?

edited 4th Jan '12 10:27:55 PM by Chariot

The difference is mostly in the S.Links. Some are switched out - most notably, she has links with all SEES members instead of only the girls, but some others like the Chariot and Hermit are also with new characters. She also has the option of Theodore instead of Elizabeth as Velvet Room attendant, which the male PC does not have.

One of the new S.Links allows the female protagonist to prevent a certain Plotline Death, although the character in question remains in the hospital in a coma in order to avoid disrupting the storyline. (Now there's something I'd expect to see have an effect on a female PC version of The Answer.)

Edit: I'm kind of torn on the idea of Akihiko filling that role, since his whole character arc - including his S.Link - is about learning to cope with loss in something resembling a mature manner and actually move on instead of obsessing endlessly about the past. While I don't think it'd be unrealistic for him to backslide some on that at the prospect of being able to bring the PC back, it'd still be kind of jarring when compared to his reaction to what happened to Shinjiro, especially if the Moon link wasn't completed.

edited 5th Jan '12 10:46:48 AM by JoieDeCombat

Okay, I give up. Does anyone have a successful strategy for fighting Theodore?

The strategies I've found via Google searches involve whittling him down to just above 10k HP and waiting for him to catch a counterattack, then finishing him off with an Armageddon. No matter how carefully I track damage, though, he just heals himself back up to full. Some sources I've seen indicate that after he heals the first time he goes below 10,000, he's not supposed to full-heal again until he gets below 9,000, but if I try it that way, he starts randomly healing himself and dropping out-of-sequence Megidolaons until I'm dead.

What am I doing wrong here?

Started my first-ever playthrough of Persona 3 Portable a while back, with a male MC named Akira Watanabe.

The game seems pretty easy, at least compared to Persona 4. I don't think I've died even once to the end-of-the-month bosses.

I am currently at the part where That Gothic Lolita (I forgot her name) is in the hospital and being questioned.

I have a question: is there any consequence to failing to reach your Tartarus goal, besides being under leveled?

I think you miss out on the Elizabeth/Theo quests concerning the Old Documents. You can still get the documents, but you can't show them to Liz/Theo for the quests.

(EDIT: Some of these spoiler tags aren't working and I have no idea why, so I'll just say here that everything in the middle was meant to be tagged. Don't read it if you don't want any hints)

If he's attacking out of sequence, it means you've broken one of his many unwritten rules of the battle. I'll just go look up what they are...

As I quote (and paraphrase) from a guide on Game FAQS-

He will use Megidolaon with terrifying 9999 damage instantly if:

you have any party members with you

you equip Omnipotent Orb

[[spoiler:you equip a persona with any nullify,reflect or absorb passive skills and that passive skill protects you from the skill Theodore is about to use]]

[[spoiler:*You're equipped with a persona with Nullify Ice passive skill and he's about to use Mabufudyne.]]

[[spoiler:you equip a persona with any nullify, reflect or absorb affinities and that affinity protects you from the skill Theodore is about to use]]

[[spoiler:*Persona you're equipped with have natural Reflect Dark affinity and he's about to use Mamudoon.]]

you use Attack Mirror or Magic Mirror item, or Tetrakarn or Makarakarn skill

you use Armageddon without it being the final blow

you take too much time fighting him - about 80 turns

This guide I'm reading also says to make the attack which sends him below 10,000HP to be High Counter, so that you can immediately use Armageddon without him healing himself.

edited 20th Jan '12 3:46:48 PM by Sabbo

Persona 3 is much easier than P4, yes. Especially P3P, with its direct commands. You probably won't ever fall behind in terms of levels unless you, like, never go into Tartarus ever.

@Sabbo: Thanks for the information. Looks like I might have just been taking too long; nothing for it but to give it another try, I suppose.

Hm. I didn't really like Junpei at first, but he's grown on me through his interactions with Chidori.

Woo, first social link (Kenji) maxed out!

Just curious, are Keisuke or Kenji dateable for the female MC?

No.

Keisuke is limited to a one-scene cameo in the female PC's route. Kenji shows up pretty often, but he's no longer a Social Link, and anyway the PC is too young for his tastes.

Aww, I liked both their social links. :[

Thanks for the knowledge.