[HarveyQ]

This is the worst possible situation! As their leader, you have to...

>"Hold the line!"

You lack the Courage to give that order.

:(

I also lack the Courage to hang out with Naoto and her awesome hat. Dammit.
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[HarveyQ]

OH NO HE FUCKING DIDN'T.

FUCK YOU CULPRIT GUY

I AM GOING TO KICK YOUR ASS D:<

...

;_;
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[HarveyQ]

I ripped through this dungeon in record time. No fucking way am I S. Linking and dicking around town while *spoiler* is in mortal peril!!

This boss is going to be a bitch isn't he.

...

(The music in this dungeon is smoooooooth)
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[HarveyQ]

The music at home is so sad :(

I'm underleveled because the enemies in this dungeon are utterly ridiculous at times and they all seem to like using Hama or Mudo (which I guess is thematically appropriate but it's also really annoying). However, I can already tell a little leveling and Persona-fusing will make this boss go down pretty quick.
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[HarveyQ]

The scene before the boss fight made me seriously feel kind of ill. I was actually concerned for a fictional character's life :O
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[HarveyQ]

Man, the usual schooling and S-Linking feels kind of hollow now. I just want the story to get going, already.

On the upside, Kanji and Naoto seem to want to hang out with me, like, all the time, now.
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[HarveyQ]

Wh- HE did it?! SERIOUSLY?!?!
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[HarveyQ]

[HarveyQ]

Also: this game is good at red herrings. I mean, this is the second time it's tried to convince me that it's all over (and if I was a MORON I might have fell for it!).
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[HarveyQ]

Magatsu Mandala is tough shit! I've died three times in attempting it, which is probably more than any other dungeon in the game. One of them was a nasty surprise death (monsters hopped out of a treasure chest...) but the other two were because I got careless. Luckily I saved recently so it was more annoying than soul-crushingly awful.

I'm near finally being able to summon a TRUMPETER, too! My team is a little sloppy, though. Black Frost still kicks ass, and I have Lilith around to deliver some electric pain (poor Kanji is still way back at level 40-something, I've barely used him), but beyond that it's just some random dudes. I have an Ose in case I need to deal physical attacks and Neko Shogun for... some reason -- one of my deaths was because I switched to him to hurt some guys who were weak to electric... but I realized as I switched that he only had Zionga and the enemies were using Magarudyne. I was like, "NOOOOOOOO" and of course my one Zionga whiffed :(

I also have a Kikuri-Hime for healing; she's got all the important moves and Divine Grace for extra healing power.

Any team suggestions?
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[HarveyQ]

That's the robo-girl from P3, ja? Between her and the dog I'm seriously looking forward to playing it.
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[HarveyQ]

I'm trying to level up in Magatsu Inaba, but apparently the five levels I gained trying to get through Mandala greatly decreased the exp. the enemies there gave out!

Really annoyed that there's no direct exit beyond floor 1, too.

(Seriously, fuck this dungeon.)

I drew a Mother Harlot, though! I was like "whooooa!" because I thought she was fusion only! Yeaaah Maziodyne :)

Also, why did I ditch Yosuke way back earlier in the game?! He's back in my permanent party and he's kicking ASS now.
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[HarveyQ]

UPRIGHT MOTHERFUCKING JUDGEMENT YEAAAAAHHHHH~
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[HarveyQ]

...my current Persona is a demon sitting on a toilet.

Also, I saw Naoto in the dungeon and she gave me a chocolate candy!
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[HarveyQ]

Yeah, I regret not bringing him back sooner. I'm using your recommended squad of him, Yukiko, Teddie, actually. It's working out pretty well, although I'm annoyed that maxing their S. Links didn't remove Yukiko's and Teddie's weaknesses like it did for everyone else.

I thought about using Chie -- I hear she gets crazy powerful late in the game -- but hmm. Maybe after I max Teddie's Persona.

I got an experience-boosting Arcana chance, so I'm gonna milk it for all it's worth and get some massive levelling done. I want to kick the boss's ASS!!

(I am so happy I can say ass again)
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[HarveyQ]

MONEY, BAYBEE
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[HarveyQ]

Well, actually... I was Rank 8 in that Link, AND there was an S. Link Bonus that day, so he leveled all the way up to Lv. 73!! Heat Riser is only one level away!!!

YEEEEEAHHHHHHHH
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[HarveyQ]

And I got another compendium discount! Woo! Too bad I'm only 50% done with the thing; there's no way I'll get another bonus in time before the game ends.

Still! It's almost a karmic thing, the way the game fucked me over repeatedly in Mandala World and then suddenly started handing out treats to me. Things are lookin' up~
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[HarveyQ]

Wow, and I just fused up a massively powerful Thor too. I'm gonna ROCK this dungeon now. NULL PHYSICAL, BAYBEE!!

I knew maxing my S. Link with Chie was a good idea...
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[HarveyQ]

[HarveyQ]

GIANT EYEBALL...!

That was a pathetically easy fight :O

Sure was cool, though.
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[HarveyQ]

"We did our best!"

"Woohoo."
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[HarveyQ]

I AM aware that this game has a "true" ending, btw, and I know how to get it thanks to this thread. I'll tackle it after dinner.
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[HarveyQ]

...the GAS STATION ATTENDANT??

That's one hell of a Chekhov's Gun, sheesh. I barely remembered that even happened.
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[HarveyQ]

I like that the weather gradually got worse as the day went on...

Come to think of it, didn't the attendant only appear on rainy days? Shit, I should have noticed that sooner!

And now, of course, all the other foreshadowing is coming back to me. Like the lecture on the school trip.

Well played, Persona 4...
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[HarveyQ]

And holy shit does this cast a shadow on the "normal" ending D:

...

This place looks like a Nocturne dungeon...

And it's playing the sad piano music I loved from the bad ending!!
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[HarveyQ]

[HarveyQ]

Actually, scratch that. I'm playing Nocturne and watching my former classmates turn into freakish god-beasts.

Poor manekins can't catch a break. Yosuga followers are a bunch of elitist twats.

I think I'm on the path for the neutral ending by this point. Frankly, I don't sympathize with anyone else.
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[HarveyQ]

He might have conviction, but he's still a douchebag. I'm more sympathetic to him than to Isamu or Chiaki, though. His Reason seemed to be founded out of a genuine desire to put the world at peace; theirs were merely selfish desires given way too much power.

Yuko fucked up big time but she was at least more likable than the others. Though, honestly, I more went for neutral just because I didn't like what anyone else was doing.
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[HarveyQ]

I am happy that hiimdaisy did a comic for this game

I grinded (like a lot lol) using the "endless bambino spawn" trick (yay rush mode!) so I could get a badass LUCIFER. I feel like an idiot though because he has Spell Master and like nothing to use with it.

Still. VICTORY CRY.

New Cycle is gonna be cake (whenever I decide to do it, anyway). Maybe I'll do a solo run on Expert or something nuts like that.
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[HarveyQ]

Eh? Maybe...
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[HarveyQ]

I beat this today!!

Last boss was pretty easy. Thanks to the Mr. Pringles trick Rise and I were at level 99. Didn't feel cheap, though; I was pretty ready to beat it. I'll probably play it again, on a new cycle, on expert... someday. Someday. For now I will lend it to my friend.

My winning Personae:

Level 80 Yoshitsune
Dude's a beast. I used Power Charge+Brave Blade for practically the whole fight. Should have grinded for Hassou Tobi. Oh well. I'll get it next time.

Level uhh Trumpeter
Debilitate drone. I actually used him a lot for fighting pre-Yoshi.

Level 98 Lucifer
Mostly wanted him for new cycle purposes. Level 98 means no Victory Cry. Oh well, will have to grind a bit on new cycle. Thanks to this guy I was absurdly overleveled! I didn't actually use him much in the fight proper, though.

...If anyone wants to see them, I'll post my WHOLE TEAM later. I was really lazy/stupid about fusion for some of them, though, so there's some really dumb skill choices and as mentioned Lucifer, Yoshi (and Helel) have not obtained their final awesome skills yet :(

The ending (particularly the after credits portion) was very sweet and heartwarming.

This was a fantastic game, guys. I really, really enjoyed my time with it. I don't know what else to say that I haven't already said.

Amazingly I'm not totally burned out on the series/RPGs/games yet! (We'll see if I feel the same after Nocturne.) And on that note: which SMT spin-off should I play next, Persona 3 or Digital Devil Saga? I hear both can get kind of tedious but I've also heard that they are pretty rewarding.
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[HarveyQ]

I hear you can use spears in P3. Confirm/deny
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[HarveyQ]

[HarveyQ]

Sounds like a plan

whoops I should order them soon before they are like $80
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[HarveyQ]

I ordered DDS1 today. Someday I will look back on my 19-year-old self and sigh and wish I still had a disposable income.
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[HarveyQ]

maybe i'll maek a liveblog thred for it lol
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[HarveyQ]

[HarveyQ]

i like the protagonist's starter but the others are hit-or-miss for me
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[HarveyQ]

um, that's about how long it took me but that includes at least 15-20 hours total of leaving the game on AND performing an "overnight" auto-battle grind trick late in the game

i haven't played any of those other games, but Persona 4 is very good and worth a try at least. though the introduction is a good two hours long. it's a very... deliberately paced game.
i wouldn't read this topic too much if only because it contains mild spoilers. depends on how much you care about that sort of thing. but it's worth glancing at for a little bit to get the idea of what this game is like. it certainly swayed my purchasing decision.

the story is quite solid, better than a good 90% of JRPG stories. the characters are archetypal but well-written and amazingly well-acted, plus you can (and should) pursue their individual side-stories to flesh them out. building trust and friendship with the people around you in the "social sim" part lends you extra experience for your Personas for the dungeon-crawling part.

the Persona fusion system can be frustrating, but is also quite deep, flexible and fun to experiment with.

the difficulty (on normal mode) begins fairly easy but it ramps up. normal encounters start getting a lot tougher about halfway through the game. bosses are almost ALWAYS really tough after the first two (which are "tutorial" sorts). presumably expert mode is harder; i haven't tried it. i've found Persona 3 and SMT Nocturne (even more worth playing than this, fyi) much more difficult overall, though.
i mean, it's an Atlus game. if you've played enough of those you know they love being nut-grindingly difficult.

speaking of grinding: you probably never have to do it unless you're trying to get lots of cash for new game +
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[HarveyQ]

umm yeah you kind of screwed that up mightily

SP items are rare because SP is the measure of how long you can last in the dungeon. the idea is to get as far as you can each day and then duck out using a Goho-M, until at last you can get to the boss floor. then usually i'd spend a few days linking and gearing up for the boss (the shop woman discounts her items on rainy days fyi) and then i'd go beat it.

typically i'd have the boss beat long before the deadline.

you have lots of time for S-linking, too, because there are huge dungeon-less chunks of game between major story events that you can spend linking.

it's really a game about juggling/balancing things like the S-Links, the dungeon crawling and the social stat boosting, and they all feed into one another, so if you focus on one at a time too much you'll fuck yourself over.

though yes you get sent back a week to try the boss again if you miss the deadline, so i'd suggest giving it another go if you can build up the motivation.