Persona 4 Golden Catch-All

I'm starting to have the urge to check the weather on my phone more often for some reason.

Edit: Uh oh. Three rainy days in a row coming up.

HELL YES! Suck it, fire-boss, I shut you down!

Spoiler:

After going back and grinding my party up to 13, and then fully restoring HP/SP via SOS and floors 1/2, I went to face Shadow Yukiko for the 4th time. Senri with Nul Fire meant I only had to heal Yu twice, Yosuke died once, and Chie got silenced once. After I got the Prince to flee, she went down with no trouble. I finished the fight with 100% HP and 50% SP. I just needed those extra couple levels to be able to survive Double Fangs, which she did indeed land on Yu once.

Now it's back to reading the fishing book, and finally getting Chie's s-link up to 3 so she can do partner attacks.

+1 to caring for Nanako. There was no way that I would

Spoiler:

say no to the family vacation

even if I really didn't want to partake.

EDIT: The most interesting thing to come out of the SOS system is discovering what people name their MC. By far the most people who send me aid are named Yu, one was Narukami, one was ZERO (megaman fan perhaps), and one was Derek. Obviously P4 Arena coming to the US before this game is the reason for this, but it's still interesting.

How does the level thing work exactly? For example, I went from level 8 back down to level 1 to grind. From there, I went up to level 4 or so, went back, and I only had the option to go to level 4 or 1. If you leave the dungeon and start it over at level 1 from there, then leave, will the option to go back up to level 8 reappear? It was a little easier in P3P to get to the highest level where you've been.

Also, is there anything that's always an item you should sell? I haven't been selling much for fear I might need it later on. So far, I'm just selling old weapons, armor, and accessories.

It does seem that you are going to want to clone every skill card that you get, at least starting out.

Last question, I haven't been developing social links with party members from what I can tell. How do you initialize Chie's? It seemed that all she ever wanted to do was dive into the TVs. Maybe I haven't gotten that far yet.

ahrezmendi wrote:

EDIT: The most interesting thing to come out of the SOS system is discovering what people name their MC. By far the most people who send me aid are named Yu, one was Narukami, one was ZERO (megaman fan perhaps), and one was Derek. Obviously P4 Arena coming to the US before this game is the reason for this, but it's still interesting.

Noticed this too. I guess the prevalence of Yu's means the game has a sort of niche audience here -- most people playing it already know what the "right" name for the protagonist is, even though there is no default or suggested name in the game itself.

I personally like to make up random Japanese names for this kind of thing, based on what sounds cool. Pretty dorky but that's how I roll.

ahrezmendi wrote:

EDIT: The most interesting thing to come out of the SOS system is discovering what people name their MC. By far the most people who send me aid are named Yu, one was Narukami, one was ZERO (megaman fan perhaps), and one was Derek. Obviously P4 Arena coming to the US before this game is the reason for this, but it's still interesting.

Mine is Power Max. Do they take your last name to display in the SOS system, as in mine would display as "Power"? I would imagine that's how they do it, although looking from the examples above, and from what I've seen, it seems like they just take your first name.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:

Also, is there anything that's always an item you should sell? I haven't been selling much for fear I might need it later on. So far, I'm just selling old weapons, armor, and accessories.

I think "Materials" are the only thing you can safely sell. (They are the most common drop from monsters. Daidara will offer new weapons and armor when you sell him certain materials.) Other stuff all has some other use.

Quick question for the veterans of this game. After the first dungeon boss...

Spoiler:

I went back with Chie (she called) into the TV and ignored Marie. There was a boss that dealt 1000 points of damage each turn. Is this someone I can return to? Is this NG+ stuff?

1 - Teddie can always send you the highest floor you have *cleared*, so if you return to the entrance you can either start at 1 or that floor. When you are on a floor, Teddie can warp you to either the stairs up or down if you've found them already. I've never encountered what you describe.

2 - You should always sell materials, the weapon/armor vendor tells you this, and there's even an option under Sell to instantly sell all materials. They aren't good for anything except money and unlocking new things to buy from him.

3 - I don't know where to find Chie after school yet, but I've seen from Voice that you can do it. You absolutely should get those s-links up as soon as you can, level 2 and 3 each unlock new abilities for your party members, some of which are incredibly useful (Partner Attack notably).

grobstein wrote:
tuffalobuffalo wrote:

Also, is there anything that's always an item you should sell? I haven't been selling much for fear I might need it later on. So far, I'm just selling old weapons, armor, and accessories.

I think "Materials" are the only thing you can safely sell. (They are the most common drop from monsters. Daidara will offer new weapons and armor when you sell him certain materials.) Other stuff all has some other use.

Oh man, thanks for that. I thought there was going to be an option later for him to craft stuff. I'm going to have so much money now! Even if they don't make a lot of money, I'll at least now have options for new weapons.

Thanks, ahrezmendi!

DSGamer wrote:

Quick question for the veterans of this game. After the first dungeon boss...

Spoiler:

I went back with Chie (she called) into the TV and ignored Marie. There was a boss that dealt 1000 points of damage each turn. Is this someone I can return to? Is this NG+ stuff?

If you mean the new boss at Castle 8F, I am a little further on but just revisited the Castle and died to that boss. Based on the fight I had, though, think he is probably beatable well before NG+.

Yes, you can return to previous dungeons after you move on. (So far anyway -- I am on the baths and can return to the castle and the shops.)

DSGamer wrote:

Quick question for the veterans of this game. After the first dungeon boss...

Spoiler:

I went back with Chie (she called) into the TV and ignored Marie. There was a boss that dealt 1000 points of damage each turn. Is this someone I can return to? Is this NG+ stuff?

Oh, you probably ran into Death. He'll randomly appear on any dungeon floor and wander around for a bit. In P3 you got a warning when he showed up, but I haven't seen that so far in P4. If you listen closely, you can hear his chains rattling and his whisper breath when he's around. He can be defeated in your first game, but not at the levels we're at.

EDIT: I thought you meant an earlier boss, so I guess it wasn't Death.

ahrezmendi wrote:

3 - I don't know where to find Chie after school yet, but I've seen from Voice that you can do it. You absolutely should get those s-links up as soon as you can, level 2 and 3 each unlock new abilities for your party members, some of which are incredibly useful (Partner Attack notably).

[spoiler]Quite often she is in the class sat behind you when you are standing after the end of lessons, aside from that try the roof and more recently for me (I'm at the end of June) she is standing near the bookstore in the shopping district.

I found her in the classroom, but when she's there you can't initiate spending time with her. I found her on the high street once at night, but you can't actually progress a link at night. I'll look at the other place next time.

ahrezmendi wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

Quick question for the veterans of this game. After the first dungeon boss...

Spoiler:

I went back with Chie (she called) into the TV and ignored Marie. There was a boss that dealt 1000 points of damage each turn. Is this someone I can return to? Is this NG+ stuff?

Oh, you probably ran into Death. He'll randomly appear on any dungeon floor and wander around for a bit. In P3 you got a warning when he showed up, but I haven't seen that so far in P4. If you listen closely, you can hear his chains rattling and his whisper breath when he's around. He can be defeated in your first game, but not at the levels we're at.

EDIT: I thought you meant an earlier boss, so I guess it wasn't Death. :D

No no, that's who I meant. Death. I didn't know if that was a spoiler, though. Plus I forgot the exact name.

DSGamer wrote:

No no, that's who I meant. Death. I didn't know if that was a spoiler, though. Plus I forgot the exact name.

I remember running into him playing P3P early on. Dead, dead, dead. I never sat still in a dungeon after that. It seems I will have to do the same in P4G.

I guess it's a bit of a spoiler? I don't know, I ran into Death early in P3P and he whupped me, so he's something you're bound to run into at some point, might be earlier might be later. He is completely optional, if you leave the floor he'll disappear, so my approach is to explore until I actually see him, and then call Teddie and warp to the entrance/exit.

DSGamer wrote:
ahrezmendi wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

Quick question for the veterans of this game. After the first dungeon boss...

Spoiler:

I went back with Chie (she called) into the TV and ignored Marie. There was a boss that dealt 1000 points of damage each turn. Is this someone I can return to? Is this NG+ stuff?

Oh, you probably ran into Death. He'll randomly appear on any dungeon floor and wander around for a bit. In P3 you got a warning when he showed up, but I haven't seen that so far in P4. If you listen closely, you can hear his chains rattling and his whisper breath when he's around. He can be defeated in your first game, but not at the levels we're at.

EDIT: I thought you meant an earlier boss, so I guess it wasn't Death. :D

No no, that's who I meant. Death. I didn't know if that was a spoiler, though. Plus I forgot the exact name.

If it's the same as P4 for PS2,

Spoiler:

each dungeon has an optional boss that appears once you've opened the next dungeon. So if you go back to the previous one and get back to the top you can face them for lots of XP and good items. Typically you're powerful enough to face them right around the time you can beat the next boss, so once you clear dungeon B you can go back to dungeon A and pop off the 2nd big boss there. Give or take a bit.

My character is related to my character in P3P. They share the same last name, Totowa. I thought it sounded Japanese.

I like how it let's you know if a social link is going to progress or not. I hunt around to all my characters looking for the one that will progress.

Oh man, I want to cry now:

Spoiler:

Dojima just had to cancel the Golden Week trip. Poor Nanako. :(

EDIT: And now I'm happier, the next day made things better. Man, no wonder Yu has a sister complex.

So this game... I really love it. Contemplating selling Paper Mario: Sticker Star because I don't see when I'll get back to that game. Persona 4 owns me now and I understand it's long.

You have no idea. I think P3P took me 70 hours to finish, I'm expecting just as much from this, especially given there's even more reason to do NG+.

Minarchist wrote:
EverythingsTentative wrote:

It concerns me how much the game is making me care for Nanako.

Hehehehe

That's not ominous at all.

Spoiler:

Yukiko likes me

I haven't been this giddy about a video game since...ever.

I chuckle every time I reach a class question or mid-term in a Persona game, because they actually teach me some things I didn't know before.

EDIT: Jeez, how high does your Courage need to be in this game to do the 3rd conversation options with Chie? I've been eating every rotten thing in the fridge, and I'm still not high enough.

ahrezmendi wrote:

I chuckle every time I reach a class question or mid-term in a Persona game, because they actually teach me some things I didn't know before.

EDIT: Jeez, how high does your Courage need to be in this game to do the 3rd conversation options with Chie? I've been eating every rotten thing in the fridge, and I'm still not high enough.

I don't know how high your courage is but if you buy the only book available to purchase at the book store (at this point in the game anyway, can't remember the name) it will raise your courage to reliable.

EverythingsTentative wrote:
ahrezmendi wrote:

I chuckle every time I reach a class question or mid-term in a Persona game, because they actually teach me some things I didn't know before.

EDIT: Jeez, how high does your Courage need to be in this game to do the 3rd conversation options with Chie? I've been eating every rotten thing in the fridge, and I'm still not high enough.

I don't know how high your courage is but if you buy the only book available to purchase at the book store (at this point in the game anyway, can't remember the name) it will raise your courage to reliable.

Yeah, I read that book and was able to study with Chie. I also read that knowledge book which is making my studying much more efficient.

I was able to fuse a Jack Frost at level 16 on the day where you get bonus stats for doing that. I had to grind a lot, but I feel more confident going into the next dungeon. I had the twin dragons thing happen between Chie and Yukiko while doing that once. I'm not really sure how that works yet, but it was pretty epic looking. This was before I studied with Chie.

Other thought at the moment: I hate the style of the boy's uniform. Yuck. The style of your character in P3P was actually pretty cool. It was sort of a sloppy classy. These uniforms are some weird mutant Three Amigos costume. It's not a big deal, but I figured I would mention it to see if anyone agreed.

Question: I spent time studying with Chie and it gave me the "Your relationship has improved; you will become even closer the next time." In P3P, the next social event would trigger the social link rank up. However, I just met Chie in the evening, and it says that I won't be able to rank up in the evenings. Should I just not spend time with her? It seems like it will be wasted, and I should just wait till the next day.

I don't want to be a stickler, this game's almost four years old and I like reading people's journeys, but I'd rather not know who I'm going to get to socialize with, or how to do a certain thing. It seems like the spoiler tags were used well most of this thread, but the past couple pages are rife with open game talk. Let's use those spoiler tags again. If you don't agree, at least give a heads up, or say what point in the game you're talking about so people who aren't that far can look away.

cyrax wrote:

I don't want to be a stickler, this game's almost four years old and I like reading people's journeys, but I'd rather not know who I'm going to get to socialize with, or how to do a certain thing. It seems like the spoiler tags were used well most of this thread, but the past couple pages are rife with open game talk. Let's use those spoiler tags again. If you don't agree, at least give a heads up, or say what point in the game you're talking about so people who aren't that far can look away.

Hrmmm... I can see how stuff I was talking about is sort of spoilerish, but if I go as per the request, I'm going to have to spoiler tag pretty much everything I say. Is there an old Persona 4 thread we can use? Maybe we should make a spoiler thread. As someone who doesn't mind little spoilers regarding this game, I wouldn't mind doing that. I just don't want the big plot points to be spoiled (which I think everyone has avoided to a decent degree). Anyways, I don't mind if we make a new spoiler thread because I like discussing characters, strategies, social links, and optimizing everything. This game is going to take forever, and I would like to discuss it before the end. Anyways, I'll wait to post anything for now until we get more input.

I'd like to keep this one spoiler light, personally. Seeing as this is my first time playing it.