Persona series

Moon takes level 3 courage to begin, if I recall. I can't remember whether Justice takes Understanding or Expression

 ^*, but whichever one it takes, you'll want to work on that one too, just because Justice is a lot more erratic than most of your other S-Links, and there's a shorter amount of time to finish it.

Hmm. . . It's been a while. I can't remember what exactly each S-Link needs.

edited 24th Jun '09 9:25:50 AM by Theoneknownasme

It's mostly the bits about the responses to Social Link questions needing a certain level in whatever stat.

For example, in the rank 2 Sun link (for the Symphonic Band version), I was told that I did not have a high enough Understanding to answer a question in a certain way. So I picked what I figured was the second-best answer... ding, Understanding level up. Well, thank you, if that had happened earlier.

Those don't really matter all that much except for more interesting dialouge choices and possibly more points towards the social link. But for certain S-links- points at Dojima and Nanako require levels of expression, Naoto needs max courage and knowledge, apparently Ai as well (She's a total bitch at the start, so I never bothered to even start the S-link), plus all 3 jobs that have S-links (the Nurse requires Diligence Level 3, I think, Single Mom- daycare- is understanding, I think, and Tutor requires max understanding.), and I can't really think of too many others. So it depends who you want to focus on. I ground Expression pretty heavily, and Knowledge is the easiest to rank up since there are a lot of opportunities- study for finals with your friends for both a double-tap of knowledge and an S-link boost.

edited 24th Jun '09 9:34:45 AM by Rogue 7

My Blog thing

I don't think Ai needs max courage, only three ranks. I only say this because I remember starting her S-Link pretty early, like May sometime.

And yeah, don't worry too much about the different options, they're like a difference of two points; might save you a day or two, but not overall required. Just make sure you have enough Expression for the various Hierophant and Justice conversations (Dojima and Nanako, respectively), 'cause those are some of the better ones, in my opinion.

Also, make sure you do your best to complete the Investigation Team S-Links. You get some good battle effects for it, and once you reach Rank 10, all of them except the healers will lose their elemental weakness.

Also, a little off-topic, but I love that every member of your team gets an S-Link now, not just the ladies.

edited 24th Jun '09 11:05:47 AM by Theoneknownasme

So far I'm liking most of the (playable) P4 characters compared to P3. Probably because Yosuke is like a non-annoying Junpei.

Weirdly I latched almost immediately on Yukiko as the Girl On The Team I'd Like To Socially Link With. I'm not sure why; in P3 I went for Yukari (before New Game Plus and the full maxed social link run) due to the girl-next-door feel, but here Chie is a little too... I don't know. She seems like she's best paired off with someone else, for some reason.

I admit that I prefer the Big City feel of P3 to the Countryside feel of P4. Must be something about how I've lived in big cities all my life.

I do like the little touches during battle, though. I find Chie's bouncing around fascinating, although real martial artists probably have problems with that. And Yukiko fights with fans.

. . . You're gonna love Kanji, at least when it comes to battles.

I'm not sure, really; I see Kanji being referred to everywhere with the male pronoun, and I usually mostly pay attention to female characters, because I'm a Horny Young Guy. (Well, moe fanboy, too.)

So he'd have to be amazingly awesome to even catch my attention. I mean, even Yosuke's dual-wielding kind of lost its attraction for me after a while.

Yes, I'm shallow. It's entertainment; I'm allowed.

Honest admission: I pegged Yukiko as either the dedicated healer or the backup replacement for Teddie. The idea that she could be on the front lines with her Agi spells tossing fans took me entirely by surprise. So much for Genre Savvy.

I still say Adachi (rookie cop guy) looks so incredibly suspicious I swear he's up to something.

edited 24th Jun '09 11:22:43 AM by dkellis

Kanji is amazing, and I say this as a (mostly) straight guy who also tends to pay more attention to the lady folk in games. Also, he's hilarious.

Re: Yukiko, near end-game, she does fall more into the dedicated healer role, largely because at that point, she's the only one (besides the main character) who has a both the spells and good enough magic stat to take care of the amounts of damage you'll be taking.

edited 24th Jun '09 11:26:09 AM by Theoneknownasme

Kanji is pretty okay in battle once you get past his magictile dysfunction(his SP count is shitty). He has the highest health and defense and a really good critical rate with his physical skills.

If you wanna get a persona with good physical skills at this point(where are you now?), try to get a persona with "Brain Shake"(Medium damage, chance of 2 hits, and chance of exaustion). Rakshasa (lvl 23) is a good one, try to fuse it into something with elemental magic two double the new persona's usefulness(I fused mine into a Gdon).

Umbran Climax◊

Make sure to work on the Fox's social link. It's the Hermit Arcana, by the way. When you establish the S.Link, the Fox will wait for you at the TV's entrance, and will restore your SP for a fee. The fee will become more reasonable as you level up the Hermit S.Link.

Also, if you somehow get "Spirit Drain" after a persona tries to change a skill, register that persona right away, and use it in as many fusions as possible. Having Spirit Drain allows you to draw SP from Shadows, and makes it possible to grind more.

edited 24th Jun '09 5:23:38 PM by Eddie Van Helsing

"I kind of pegged EVH as sounding like Jack Nicholson's alcoholic Anglophile dad." —Furiko Maru

I always use Yukiko. She's a great healer, and since I make sure she gets Fire Boost and Fire Amp, she does excellent damage with Agi-class spells. Besides, she reminds me a little of my wife, personality-wise.

"I kind of pegged EVH as sounding like Jack Nicholson's alcoholic Anglophile dad." —Furiko Maru

Here's my two cents on the game.

Pay attention to the fusion forecasts whenever you're trying to fuse Persona in the Velvet Room (I love how it's a limo in this game). On some days, you can get extra stat bonuses, or other nice stuff. Like mentioned earlier, on some days a Persona is given the option to change one of its skills after fusion; I haven't tried it myself yet, but I'm going to keep an eye on it after hearing about Soul Drain.

^

Victory cry at level 27, go go go!

Basicly Kawian can get lucky with skill change and have one of his inante skills become victory cry, very helpful.

edited 24th Jun '09 9:43:11 PM by deuxhero

How do you get that particular Persona? Inquiring minds (who want to whallop the shadows a good one) want to know!

Here is a list of every way to make every persona. It's big. The best way to use it, I've found, is to search for something you have, and then search for something you want in that section.

And on another note, here is a list of (relatively) simple ways to fulfill each of Margaret's requests, which, like in P3, may be the biggest Guide Dang It! in the game. Do yourself a favor and register each and every one of these once you successfully fuse them, and never overwrite them.

And yes, if you manage to get a Persona with Spirit Drain, endeavor to keep that as long as you can. Victory Cry is awesome if you can manage to get it, but Cool Breeze is worth holding onto too. A tactic I used a bit once I got something with Cool Breeze was to bamf back to an easy dungeon and fight weak things to recover my SP.

Finally, here's something each player should be aware of that is not, in my opinion, completely obvious (spoilered for people who like to figure everything out on their own): At the top of each dungeon, after you've cleared it, there's a good weapon for a character, usually the one whose dungeon it was. There's one for Yosuke in the liquor store. It's usually found by checking the back wall after defeating the optional boss (or before, if you return to the TV World before it appears).

...so yeah, I'm a big fan of this game and its predecessor.

edited 25th Jun '09 9:22:43 PM by GG Crono

https://angelskingsandweirdos.com ''Where imagination takes wing... and then gets sucked into a jet turbine."

These links are quite win, sir. Thanks!

I am currently on May 19, exploring Kanji's Bathhouse (although I got kicked out thanks to an Upright Death Arcana Draw; I'm trying to decide if it was worth it for my SP) and most of my crew are at level 21 (with Yukiko at 20). I'm quickly running out of cash, not because of the fox (I only used its services once, costing me about 4k at Hermit rank 2), but because of Persona fusion and resummoning from the compendium. At least now I have a nice collection of elemental choices at levels 18 and above, preferably with Dia or Media.

I've been trying to get Resist Physical on as many fused Persona as I can. Sadly the only one with Resist Physical and Dia is Shiisaa.

Contrarian King (the bonus boss at Yukiko's Castle) is still kicking my arse. I fight it by having the MC (and his Resist Physical) attack, and everyone else Guard or heal. Which fails to work when the Contrarian King does the Rampage thing consecutively. I'm not sure what the problem is; too low level, maybe?

edited 27th Jun '09 12:15:38 AM by dkellis

Try attacking with two people each turn. Worked for me.

I did, one try. The MC and Yosuke, although Yosuke's accuracy was really really bad.

One Rampage later, Yosuke's down and everyone else is almost dead.

Did both attacks connect? If so, then I'm not sure what else to try.

For those Bonus Bosses I just waited till I cleared the dungeon after it, and that kind of is a signal that you can kill the Bonus Boss. But, that's just me.

Speaking of bosses did anyone else have as much trouble with the Heaven Paradise boss as I did? I only won with some heavy grinding, crazy overpreparedness, trial/error and a little luck.

Dear... gods... I have found the truth! I am lazy.

I haven't gotten that far myself. I'm just on the verge of unlocking Rise's dungeon (and I still haven't decided on who to pair the MC with yet). Though as far as the Contrarian King went, I was level 24 when I took him on, and rampage STILL killed Yosuke outright for some reason, but everything else bounced off for the most part. It was really odd. The best I can recommend to you is to level up a little more just to be sure.

On an unrelated note, can the MC maintain multiple girlfriends without consequence, or can the links reverse like in 3 if you're seen with another girl?

There is a few scenes that you lose points (the kind you gain when you select the right anwser and they have a ding above there head) with both characters (but I never saw any, but it may be because I finished each link quickly after starting a romantic relationship.), but if you select the right options you generally have more than enough points anyways. Only 2 links (Fortune and Moon) can be reversed, and the conversation option that causes Fortune to reverse is pretty obvious.

edited 27th Jun '09 7:44:30 AM by deuxhero

Lvl 24? Get Brain Shake now. You'll be able to use it for a good time until heavy attacks become the norm.

On a post game note, has anybody done a New Game+ yet? I'm currently Pringle-Grinding to prepare for it.

edited 27th Jun '09 1:51:03 PM by Jotun of Boredom

Umbran Climax◊

Levelled to 27 (thanks to completing Kanji's dungeon), finally kicked Contrarian King's arse.

The difference is profound.

Also I keep running out of cash upgrading equipment.

I'm way out of whack with what the "first round max social link" FAQ suggests. I think I'll just concentrate on the ones I want to upgrade (teammates plus maybe Nanako and Dojima).