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Tips for a Persona 4 Golden newcomer?

They really,really aren't.Unless maybe you've had a past experience of playing much harder games.


If you play persona carelessly and mash attack to win , you'll die and get punished severely if you don't save often.

The other JRPGs I have tried are Final Fantasy (III/IV/X/X-2) all on portables(DS/PSP/Vita). The battle system is way too convoluted and the storyline is way too grand for my taste. I prefer the simplicity of P3P/P4G since the first JRPG that I liked was Pokemon. The Atelier series is also good. Honestly speaking mainline FF is among my worst gaming experiences, I am guessing the game is not for me. I also love SRPGs (FFT, Tactics Ogre, Jeanne d'Arc). What I am trying to say is I do not mind hard games, so long as the mechanics are easily accessible.

Considering the fact that Greg Miller from IGN likes P4G, I would say anybody with half a brain should be able to atleast get to an ending for P4G (may not be the true one though)
 
The other JRPGs I have tried are Final Fantasy (III/IV/X/X-2) all on portables(DS/PSP/Vita). The battle system is way too convoluted and the storyline is way too grand for my taste. I prefer the simplicity of P3P/P4G since the first JRPG that I liked was Pokemon. The Atelier series is also good. Honestly speaking mainline FF is among my worst gaming experiences, I am guessing the game is not for me. I also love SRPGs (FFT, Tactics Ogre, Jeanne d'Arc). What I am trying to say is I do not mind hard games, so long as the mechanics are easily accessible.

Considering the fact that Greg Miller from IGN likes P4G, I would say anybody with half a brain should be able to atleast get to an ending for P4G (may not be the true one though)

I find FF and Pokemon(single player obviously) to be immensely easier experiences.

With Persona the game forced me to be careful and not just rush encounters when I am not ready. Especially when up against unknown encounters.

I amnot saying the games are impossible but you certainly gotta pay relatively more attention than other JRPGs.
 
Woohoo! Went in and beat up on Shadow Teddie the first time. Guess I just have to make sure to be around the level of the bosses next time.
 
I've been stuck on
Shadow Mitsuo
for like 4 months now. I need to go back and either start over or just grind a bit maybe.

Also #teamrise
 
Get over any hangups you might have about fusing personas. Trying to level one up seems slow and silly when you can easily fuse them into higher level personas. This is twice as true once you start getting big social link bonuses.

I always rotated my party to keep everyone around the same level and based what persona I used off of what elements were missing from my party.

Don't ignore buffs and debuffs, especially on boss fights. Final Fantasy probably trained you to believe they're worthless but SMT games are a completely different story.
 
Get over any hangups you might have about fusing personas. Trying to level one up seems slow and silly when you can easily fuse them into higher level personas. This is twice as true once you start getting big social link bonuses.

This is the biggest difference in how I played SMTIV over Persona 4 and it's going much more smoothly for me.
 
I finished vanilla Persona 4 for the first time this week after going for the true ending. I had a blast with that game, and after looking up the added content for Golden I'm really debating on whether or not I want to spend the money on a Playstation TV when it releases, just to play that game. For those that have played the game, do you think it would be worth it?
 
I finished vanilla Persona 4 for the first time this week after going for the true ending. I had a blast with that game, and after looking up the added content for Golden I'm really debating on whether or not I want to spend the money on a Playstation TV when it releases, just to play that game. For those that have played the game, do you think it would be worth it?

The extra content is pretty good. The game is also a lot more streamlined than the ps2 version, so you can now choose what skills you inherit and such. I would suggest buying a psvita, so you can have the game on the go, but pstv would work as well. Either way though, it's definitely worth it. You can pick up the game on sale for like <20 bucks.
 
Why is that out of curiosity? I ditched her from my main party pretty quick.

Chie is party of the best party composition in the game, that being Yu, Yosuke, Yukiko, and Chie. Having said that, she still remains worst girl, right behind Kanji.
 
How has no one said make sure to do Marie's social link? You get a whole dungeon out of completing it.
probably cuz it's the OP's first playthrough

but I agree. might as well get the dungeon out of the way since it's not hard and it's needed for the Golden Ending

too many people on the wrong team, that's rich. Rise is too good.
 
The only advice you need (believe me):

Go with Chie.

.

If you have never played a MegaTen/Persona game the best you could do is learn the terms of the skill sets and learn to take advantage of enemy weaknesses as much as you can.
Persona 4 isn't a grind heavy game, unless you want it to be.
Good luck!!
 
The extra content is pretty good. The game is also a lot more streamlined than the ps2 version, so you can now choose what skills you inherit and such. I would suggest buying a psvita, so you can have the game on the go, but pstv would work as well. Either way though, it's definitely worth it. You can pick up the game on sale for like <20 bucks.

Yeah the game itself doesn't look expensive at all. The biggest thing for me is the price of buying new hardware which is why I've been leaning PS TV. The plus side of buying a Vita is so that I can play Gravity Rush and Tearaway which I have interest in, but I don't have enough to buy the hardware like I do with Golden.
 
After having just added Rise to our group with Teddie, it's obvious she wants to jump MC's bones along with Yukiko. Chie just wants a beef bowl mayne.
 
Don't worry about grinding. You'll receive more xp if you are underleveled (up to 4x if your level is 10+ less than the enemy).

edit: oh, didn't know about the xp option in P4G, only played the original.
 
I don't see posted that it's possible to miss the true ending.

At a certain point there will be an important event and the game will ask you if you want to save, you better create a new save game.
 
Is it possible to max out everyone's links on first playthrough and get the best ending?

You can get the best ending but you're not maxing out everybody's links. Maybe the main chars, but...

Spoiler Safeties:
Don't go into any P4A/P4U2 threads
Don't Google Shit
Don't Wiki Shit
Turn off your internet

Gameplay Safeties:
There are multiple bad endings. HAVE MULTIPLE SAVEFILES.
YOU CAN MISS THE TRUE ENDING.

And since it's Golden..
DO MARIE'S SOCIAL LINK
 
1) Don't feel bad when you see people say it doesn't require grinding. Sure, if you know what skills you'll need and how to tackle the bosses, it doesn't require grinding. Your first time playing through the game, especially if it's your first in the series, you're probably going to have to grind a few times. I know I had to grind to beat the boss of the 4th dungeon *spoilers*
Shadow Mitsuo
. But hey, maybe we both just suck. The general consensus is the game mostly gets easier as it goes, the boss you struggled with is actually one of the harder ones in the game
2) Stay away from any thread mentioning Persona 4 Arena or Persona 4 Arena Ultimax if you care at all about spoilers. Arena is mostly spoiler free, but Ultimax has spoilers in the character roster, and a lot of GAFfers haven't been good about properly spoiler tagging things
3) Max Marie's social link before the end of the game
4) Buffs and debuffs are your friend. They can make a tough fight easy
5) Don't freak out by the talk about multiple bad endings. There's one day late in the game that's responsible for most of the bad endings. Before the day starts, the game gives you a big "IMPORTANT SHIT IS ABOUT TO GO DOWN" warning, so make an extra save file there. You don't have to worry about doing anything for any ending before that day (other than trying to max Marie's link to the get extra dungeon/epilogue, which you only get if you avoid the bad ending(s) on that day)
 
1. Optional EXP stats in options. My subsequent run through's have all had mass amounts of exp and money per battle.

2. I wouldn't worry about that. Just roll with Izanagi if you want and just add whatever spells you want.

3. Enjoy

You can adjust the money and XP per battle?!?!
Well, time to revisit the game.
 
How do I even unlock Marie's social links? And when can I level them up?
Also It seems I can't just level up anyone's social links every day. It's so confusing. I am running around every day in the game going through all the areas and making note of all the social links I can level up with people on that particular day. its boring and kinda tedious having to do this every day. I dunno why this game is fun at times honestly. People move around too so either their social links aren't available on some days or they're just not there. Really random.
 
My few cents:

1) Fuse like crazy. Fill your compendium. If a persona won't learn any more skills, fuse it away. If it will, but you can fuse a higher level persona, fuse away. Unlike your party members, you're not meant to keep your personas; they level up slower than theirs and they eventually run out of stuff to learn. You're supposed to keep merging and merging them like crazy. Eventually you'll be drowning in personae.
2) The game is much harder at the beginning than later on. As the game goes on, restoring your SP becomes easier, cheaper, and then trivial. You can finish each dungeon in a single day but it's tougher with the earlier ones.
3) For social links, try to avoid spending time in them if they won't level up (become deeper) immediately, particularly for daytime ones. Some tips for this:
- Use a matching persona and pick the best answers (either use a guide or redo each conversation to see what answers give the most "musical notes").
- If after that, someone is short of a few points to level up, try to wait until you find them at night, then spend time with them to set them up for a level up during the day. Night time is less valuable than day time as there's less you can do with it, especially by the endgame and particularly regarding social links.
4) Something that's not obvious from the start, and makes the game much more fun; if you manage to pick up all cards in a post-battle shuffle, you enter a mode where you'll be guaranteed a shuffle after each battle AND you get to pick three cards instead of one, as long as you keep cleaning the table each time. This obviously is easier to do starting with three attempts than with one, but even with one it's quite doable like 30-40% of the time if you're willing to pick the "bad" cards and plan ahead. It's almost always worth it to do so, even if it means eating a "no exp" card.
5) Related to that, you can use "lose earned card" and "lose card in hand" arcana to actually lose bad cards' effects AND keep the extra attempts they give. This is easiest by picking a bad card for starters and then immediately picking a "lose earned card", leaving you with the extra attempts of both and bad effects of neither. Needless to say, this is deeply satisfying. :)
 
You can adjust the money and XP per battle?!?!
Well, time to revisit the game.
Only if you've already beaten the game

How do I even unlock Marie's social links? And when can I level them up?
Also It seems I can't just level up anyone's social links every day. It's so confusing. I am running around every day in the game going through all the areas and making note of all the social links I can level up with people with exclamation marks. its boring and kinda tedious having to do this every day. I dunno why this game is fun at times honestly. People move around too so either their social links aren't available on some days or they're just not there. Really random.
It's not random, everyone has a schedule. Marie's is a little different, some of her links involve other members of your party, so you can't advance until you have all the necessary party members. Unless you're using a guide, there's absolutely no way you will get max social links, so I wouldn't run around town every day searching them out. Hang out with your party members and people you like whenever you see they're available, it's as simple as that for your first playthrough.
 
Trying to level one up seems slow and silly when you can easily fuse them into higher level personas.

No. I'm currently lvl 54 in August and:

I have a 99 St and 99 Ma (and +70 En, Ag and Lu) Persona with 100%revive, 100% party heal, Megidolaon, Maziodyne, God's Hand, Invigorate 3, Auto Tarukaja and 20% counter. It's Ose, btw.

Levels are irrelevant. What matter are stats. And leveling one persona's stats up is incredibly more effective than fusing, as far as potential goes. Fusion will result in Personas with decent stats. Leveling stats will result in all-obliterating behemoths that make the entire game seem like child's play.

Edit: no grinding involved, btw. Just use shuffle time wisely. It's very easy to keep a sweep bonus chain going and therefore farming stat cards along with personas and skill cards is easy as fuck. Those Persona lvl up and skill lvl up cards destroy the game's difficulty.
 
General rule for ideal boss battle levels:

First boss: Level 15

Every boss after that, +10 more levels.

1st: 15
2nd: 25
3rd: 35

etc
 
1. For SMT standards the game is stupid easy. There's only one tough boss and fusing a certain persona makes him/her a joke.

2. SMT Rule #1 Never stop fusing. If you can fuse it, then do it.

3. Don't expect much from the story. Its a scooby doo mystery murder mixed in with a lot of high school slice of life. Its the characters that make this one enjoyable

obligatory persona 2 and 3 are better hipster post
 
1. Does the game require grinding? I took my time exploring all the nooks and crannies of the first dungeon to get items/level up, but as I said, I very very narrowly managed a win against the boss.

2. How should I decide which personas to keep and which to toss? Are there some really good ones to have for the beginning? Should I level a bunch of them up evenly or stick with one mostly?

3. Any other general advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks GAF!

1. Grind if you want to unlock some abilities or to upgrade to better Personas. It can get repetitive, so try to balance how much you can stand doing it.

2. I'm not too hardcore into it. I basically look at abilities first, level the persona up and then merge to a new persona with higher stats and transfer the abilities I want to keep across. Remember, you can go back to a previous Persona as long as you've recorded it in the Velvet Room.

3. Social Networks. Work on those. I recommend playing as you want on your first play through, then following advice or guides on the second. It's up to you.

In the end, just have fun.
 
Finally giving this game a shot after putting it off for so long. Really enjoyed the introduction: I like the setting, atmosphere, and cast for the most part. I've only played through the first full dungeon (Yukiko) and the boss really whooped me, though I managed to eek out a victory. I'm playing the game on Normal and I'm looking for just a bit of advice:

1. Does the game require grinding? I took my time exploring all the nooks and crannies of the first dungeon to get items/level up, but as I said, I very very narrowly managed a win against the boss.

2. How should I decide which personas to keep and which to toss? Are there some really good ones to have for the beginning? Should I level a bunch of them up evenly or stick with one mostly?

3. Any other general advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks GAF!

The only advice you need (believe me):

Go with Chie.

Psycho_Matis gets + 1 trillion respect points and a respect fist bump.

When I first played this game on the Vita last summer I went in thinking I was going to get everything but 1 or 2 little achievements that could not be gained till NewGame+. Just relax, enjoy the story and play the game the first time through focusing on having fun and not being an OCD completionist.
 
If you wanted to be an exchange student in a mid-sized Japanese town when you were younger, this game will do a better-than-you'd-think job of recreating that vibe for you. I absolutely loved it for this reason. It amazed me how well the translators were able to integrate so much Japanese culture into their English translation without losing the player, but they did it. The dialogue is also extremely well done.

I only went through the game once and I know I missed a lot of stuff; I'm looking forward to eventualyl playing it again, but I'm in the middle of Persona 3 Portable now. I like P4G more but I can see young Japanese people digging P3's setting more.

And Team Yukiko, of course.
 
Play the anime. Then play the game. Seriously, game might take some time to get used to. The Pokemon stuff was the worst part the first time. Now I love it.
 
Don't use a guide. It'll be tempting to ensure that you see/do everything but it'll rob you of the experience.

And when you have to pick a girlfriend - Green is great!
 
1. Does the game require grinding?

yep, there will be a double-boss coming up soon that will instakill your whole party. need to grind a lot of random battles in my opinion to grow stronger to be able to withstand those attacks.

and of course if you die in the second boss, you will need to do the whoooole battle again from the beginning. This can last like 30 minutes.
 
1. Does the game require grinding? I took my time exploring all the nooks and crannies of the first dungeon to get items/level up, but as I said, I very very narrowly managed a win against the boss.

2. How should I decide which personas to keep and which to toss? Are there some really good ones to have for the beginning? Should I level a bunch of them up evenly or stick with one mostly?

3. Any other general advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks GAF!

1. Not really. At least I barely had to grind. I think at one point I was grinding for a couple of hours but after I did it once I pretty much was set for the rest of the game. As I neared the end my overpowered-ness was reduced but I didn't have much trouble.

2. Honestly I just went with what I liked. I tried to have ones that did different element damage and enjoyed the extra growth skills. Multiple hit skills I liked as well. Again, just really depends on your personal taste.

3. My general advice is this. Keep a lot of saves. Specifically make sure you have a save a few days before the deadline or something. Make sure you try the dungeon early and see if you do need to grind to get money for new weapons or just for experience. I had a buddy who waited until the last day and ended up not being strong enough even leveling up due to the armor/weapons he had. But he saved in the dungeon and couldn't escape so he would have had to replay the whole week if he went ahead with dying. He stopped playing at that point, something like 20 hours in. He should have known better but don't let yourself get into that situation.

And enjoy! P4G was my first persona game. I loved it.
 
Yukiko is the most valuable team member in my opinion-great fire damage, and great healing/revive/cure spells when needed. I never have her leave my party.

Additionally-you'll see people telling you to focus on Social Links-and that is true, but if you have the option be sure to do the Social Links for your teammates first. The reason being is that every level you bring the Social Link up for one of them, they gain a skill that is useful in battle. Be it Getting Up from being stunned, taking a mortal blow, healing various status effects. And when you meet her, be sure to focus on Rise because her Social Link skills affect your entire team, no matter who is in it-random status heals, extra damage when you do team attacks, weakness analysis, SP regen, etc. If none of your teammates are available that day, then do the Social Links for the other characters.

Also-this is a embarrassing fact, but I didn't know this until too far into the game, but there is a second building in the school where Kanji is. I could have been building his Social Link earlier. >_<

Everytime you exit a dungeon to save, always visit the Velvet Room and register your personas and give your acquired Skill Cards. Also, try to fuse what you can-it will fill your compilation, and it frees up Persona slots so that when you go back in the dungeon you have some space to acquire more Personas when you head back in.

Also, when I would go back in on a rainy day into the dungeons, I would spend as much time as possible in there-you can do multiple dungeons until you choose to leave-this is an excellent use of your daytime, and when you come out you'll have items to complete quests with as well as materials to sell and get upgraded gear.
 
It's tougher in the beginning, I had a hard time especially with the 4th dungeon's boss.

- All in all, no need to grind except for that boss and for the end, if you want, where grinding is really quick.

- Fuse the best Personas possible, always. A persona is basically your level and all your skills. Only HP and SP are attached to your level - all the rest is tied to your Persona. So if you keep plowing through with Izanagi, chances are you'll be underleveled compared to enemies and teammates. By fusing, you can create Personas with various skills and resistances that'll help you big time.

- Level up your team's social links so they can support you better in battle (take hits for you, follow up your attacks, etc.) Leveling up your social links also has an effect when you fuse Personas. If you have maxed Yosuke's social link, you'll see the Magician Personas you fuse level up instantly as you fuse them.

- When the game tells you to save because the story can change dramatically, do so. Make a new save file preferably. Big things are about to go down and just go through the game blind, it's the best to enjoy it, but when you get to that point, you could miss A LOT of the game. Basically it ends early. So make a new save file, go through it blind and if you feel something was wrong after finishing it, load up your save to make the right choices.
 
Keep a good stock of Goho-Ms. They're always useful since you can exit dungeons, recover your sp and return to the level were just on.

buying armor is more important than buying weapons. I went through the entire game almost using the golf club.

it's more important for you to build social links than build stats. only build your stats if it's keeping you from reaching another s.link.

for smooth sailing, ideally at each dungeon you should grow 10 levels to fight the boss. So the first dungeon, you should be around level 15, next dungeon 25, next one 35. You'll see this pattern with the enemy mobs you encounter/party members that join.
 
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