Board 8 > Anagram Plays Persona 4 (spoilers)

(+) Yeah! (+)

Anagram posted...

Why did P5 cut out team or group-based confidants?

Because from a narrative perspective all of Joker's confidants were "deals" or agreements between him and the other end of the link. Ergo, it doesn't make real sense to have a full-party link from that perspective. And Twins aside as Prof mentioned, the writers just opted not to do it anywhere else.

Anagram posted...

profDEADPOOL posted...

Persona 5 had the twins as one S Link tho?

Even that is still technically one person!

Look I don't know what you want
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Well, thanks. It wasn't a big deal in any case.
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Anagram posted...

- Can I still sneak up on shadows like in P3? Because I swear they always see me even when I sneak up from behind.

Yeah. You can from the beginning too. I don't think their detection range is based on your level or anything so I'm guessing you just haven't adjusted to sneaking up on them yet. I know it would sometimes take me a bit when I started a new game to get it right.

- I accidentally skip too fast through the text box that explains when I'm allowed to go to Junes, is it just saying that I can only go after school and on Sundays?

After School + Sunday is right. The only other important detail (which probably took up more than one text box so you probably saw this, but just in case) is that the team's working theory on deadlines is that a stretch of rainy days means the fog is about to roll into Inaba and if anyone is in the TV World when that happens they die. Basically, if the weather forecast shows it's going to rain 3+ days in a row that's probably the deadline for rescuing someone. The team will pester you if you let it get that close though so it's hard to miss.

- "I want to be a meteorologist when I get older!" said no one ever.

*sheepishly lowers hand*

R-right, t-that would be crazy.

- Teddie's more annoying than Morgana.

^5

teddie the worst
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Anagram posted...

Some impressions so far:
- I like P4's cast so far, especially Yosuke.
- It's soooo nice to be able to control your allies, that alone makes the battles a million times easier to deal with. I don't know why they even include the option to not control them.
- Teddie's more annoying than Morgana.

P4G has further improvements that P5 ultimately implemented, like being able to choose which skills your fused Persona inherits. From a gameplay perspective, Golden is, well, golden. They also redo the card draw after battle, too, and it's much easier.

And I've always found P4's Shadows to be the toughest to sneak up on, for whatever the reason.

Also, Teddie is ultimately better than Morgana, but not early on.
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Shuffle Time being easier is sort of a nonfactor, because it's easy to get exactly what you want in Vanilla P4 too.

Its new mechanics to allow you to get lots of extra cards, especially if you're willing to pick negative cards, is noteworthy though.

Yeah, I mean, P4 Vanilla's isn't THAT hard, but Golden really turned it into a breakable mechanic.
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Is there any way to head back in this game? I remember fairly regular checkpoints in P3 and P5, but I beat the first boss of the castle and found nothing. Teddie recommended I go back, but I didn't see how.
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You need to have an item called Goh-M (or something like that. I forget the exact spelling). It'll allow you to go back to the entrance.
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xp1337 posted...

Yeah. You can from the beginning too. I don't think their detection range is based on your level or anything so I'm guessing you just haven't adjusted to sneaking up on them yet. I know it would sometimes take me a bit when I started a new game to get it right.

I don't remember exactly how it works, but I'm pretty sure the higher the level you are, the smaller the shadows appear, and the smaller the shadows are, the less detection range they have.

Reg posted...

Shuffle Time being easier is sort of a nonfactor, because it's easy to get exactly what you want in Vanilla P4 too.

I haven't played P4G, but have watched some of it, and it seemed like the new Shuffle Time mechanics were pretty exploitable at least early on. Like you could just save your SP in the first dungeon and grind on the lower floors to get LVL-up + stat-up cards for your currently equipped persona, and if you really wanted to grind a bunch, you could keep getting the HP/SP restore cards if you needed the SP (plus the SOS system restoring HP/SP), so SP would be much less a factor.

While P4G makes a lot of things way more convenient (selecting skills when fusing is especially nice), some of the new mechanics seemed to take a lot of the difficulty out of the game, which depending on what you want out of the game, that could be a good thing or a bad thing.

Anagram posted...

Is there any way to head back in this game? I remember fairly regular checkpoints in P3 and P5, but I beat the first boss of the castle and found nothing. Teddie recommended I go back, but I didn't see how.

Do you have any "Goho-M" items? Those are consumables that teleport you to the exit. I think Teddie should have given you at least one when you started the exploration.

If not, then no, you'll have to walk back.
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theawesomestevr posted...

I don't remember exactly how it works, but I'm pretty sure the higher the level you are, the smaller the shadows appear, and the smaller the shadows are, the less detection range they have.

I thought that was just a rough visible approximation of their level compared to yours, nothing more. But you could be right.
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xp1337 posted...

Anagram posted...

Is there any way to head back in this game? I remember fairly regular checkpoints in P3 and P5, but I beat the first boss of the castle and found nothing. Teddie recommended I go back, but I didn't see how.

Do you have any "Goho-M" items? Those are consumables that teleport you to the exit. I think Teddie should have given you at least one when you started the exploration.

If not, then no, you'll have to walk back.

Then there's no way to return where I am, checkpoint-style? I have to do the entire dungeon in one go?
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I'm pretty sure you can just jump right back to the last floor you were on.
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Anagram posted...

xp1337 posted...

Anagram posted...

Is there any way to head back in this game? I remember fairly regular checkpoints in P3 and P5, but I beat the first boss of the castle and found nothing. Teddie recommended I go back, but I didn't see how.

Do you have any "Goho-M" items? Those are consumables that teleport you to the exit. I think Teddie should have given you at least one when you started the exploration.

If not, then no, you'll have to walk back.

Then there's no way to return where I am, checkpoint-style? I have to do the entire dungeon in one go?

I'm 99% sure that upon re-entry of the dungeon you'll be given a "Start at Level 1" or "Start at Level #" where # is the highest floor you've been to.
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I know P4G let's you start back from the highest floor you've been on, but I was thinking original P4 might not.

Also, in original P4, there is a save point on the deepest floor of the dungeon that once you get to you can fast travel back to the entrance, and you can then always travel back from the entrance to the highest floor.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but at least on the 1st dungeon, I don't think P4G has that save point.

theawesomestevr posted...

I know P4G let's you start back from the highest floor you've been on, but I was thinking original P4 might not.

This is why I'm 99% sure and not 100%. I recall this being an issue somewhere, but I think it's P3FES v P3P not P4.

theawesomestevr posted...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but at least on the 1st dungeon, I don't think P4G has that save point.

No, it should definitely be there. I don't recall that ever happening in either version.
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Oh neat, thank you.

Then that just leaves one question: Where do I get more Goho-Ms?
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xp1337 posted...

No, it should definitely be there. I don't recall that ever happening in either version

Yeah, I wasn't sure since I know whatever playthrough I watched part of didn't use it, and they didn't know it was there, but I didn't look closely enough to know whether they just missed it or it really wasn't in the game.

Anagram posted...

Oh neat, thank you.

Then that just leaves one question: Where do I get more Goho-Ms?

Shiroku in the Central Shopping District sells them (along with a bunch of other items).

Anagram posted...

Then that just leaves one question: Where do I get more Goho-Ms?

Shopping District, IIRC. The item store/Shiroku Store. They can also be randomly found from treasure chests in dungeons.

Speaking of useful shopping. Early-game there's a vending machine near the item store. You can buy from it 5 times per week. The TaP Soda it sells restore 10 SP each and in the very early going is basically your best means to restore SP.
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Thanks for the help!

- Decide to waste no time. After buying my stuff, I go back into the TV world on the first day.
- Margaret says I don't get to take her requests until have Expert knowledge, jerk move.
- We reach the same room Chie was in before and see Yukiko in a pink dress. Even though by this point everyone has plenty of experience with shadows and this one is even covered in a blue aura and everyone earlier discussed how the Yukiko in a pink dress acted out of character, everyone immediately believes this is the real deal. She even has yellow eyes for God's sake.
- I absolutely love the HUNT FOR PRINCE CHARMING title screen that appears above her for no reason.
- Eventually our genius detectives figure out it's not Yukiko, but even then Chie leads with "who are you?" Anyway, Shadow Yukiko runs off, and we follow.
- Okay, Chie, look. I accepted with Tifa that she did these little stretches that thrust out her boobs whenever she won a battle, but it was 1997 and she was actively trying to get Cloud's attention. You're wearing a miniskirt and you're surrounded by boys, maybe don't do backflips right in front of them.
- After a while, we find a boss: Avenger Knight. It takes a ton of items to kill him because he got lucky with a crit. I'm one of those people who hate using consumable items in RPGs, but I really didn't want to have to restart.
- I finally accept that I can't go on because of a lack of items and SP, so I bail on floor 7.
- Join basketball team, strength link: formed.
- Options: Help out. Be an ass and leave. I was so tempted to choose the second.
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Chie wears bike shorts underneath her skirt. It's the way to "skirt" around that issue now.

And yeah, P4 is super stingy with SP items, so take advantage of the vending machines.
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I did miss the bike shorts, I'll admit this.
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xp1337 posted...

No, it should definitely be there. I don't recall that ever happening in either version.

theawesomestevr posted...

Yeah, I wasn't sure since I know whatever playthrough I watched part of didn't use it, and they didn't know it was there, but I didn't look closely enough to know whether they just missed it or it really wasn't in the game.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/641695-persona-4-golden/63737900

Apparently, they did in fact take them out in P4G (though on normal and lower in Golden you can just restart from the floor you died on, so it wouldn't matter as much unless on hard or very hard). Also, to correct myself from earlier, in P4G, goho-m will take you only to whatever floor you used it on and not the highest floor according to that thread.

remembering details across versions is hard and also i am the worst never listen to me
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Hey, do I lose access to the castle after finishing it? I ask because if I want to kill a day by grinding like in P3 or P5.
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You can revisit completed dungeons.

- I had to look up how to spell "millennium." I went to college.
- Like all responsible teenagers, I spend thousands of yen loading up on sodas. I buy so many that I actually win one of the prizes and end up with 5 extras.
- I love the emphasis on weather reports. This is 2008, right? Were weather apps on smartphones a thing yet? I feel like they must have been.
- Ice-weak persona + Dodge Ice accessory = fun times.
- I take back my complaints about Fuuka's VA. Give me her as my battle support any day over Teddie.
- Argh, last time I made it to floor 7, and the boss was on floor 8? Bleghhhhh
- We enter into the last room of floor 8, and we find Yukiko in front of Shadow Yukiko. Yosuke exclaims "I knew it, there's two of her!" like this was some kind of impressive deduction.
- Shadow Yukiko talks about how Chie is her prince (I actually figured it out just before she said it when she said there are three princes here, and I realized Teddie couldn't be one) and how she hates how she has to take over the inn. After some transparent double-entendres, Shadow Yukiko turns into a harpy on top of a chandelier? I liked Chie's more.
- I get my ass ravaged by her. Didn't even get her close to half. Everyone is level 12, is that too low?
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Shadow Yukiko is probably the toughest boss in the game. Do you have a Persona with Media yet?
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I think 14 is the recommended level for that boss?
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KamikazePotato posted...

Shadow Yukiko is probably the toughest boss in the game. Do you have a Persona with Media yet?

Nope! Gonna level up a bit and make some new personas.
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Get Media on a persona, and have plenty of TaP Sodas on hand.
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Shadow Yukiko is definitely the toughest fight in the game because of how limited your options are. Other fights can be tricky, but Yukiko is the only one I recall needing to grind for. At lower levels, each point in a stat means more.
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You should be able to get a Fire Resist Persona for her and can pass on Physical Resist from Slime I think. Orobas or Archangel are good ones to use in the fight. Orobas has Fire resist and a pretty solid physical attack if I recall and Archangel gets media I think. Once Yukiko summons her Prince you should be able to knock it down with Chies Ice attack and then have her guard with her Once More to avoid having Yukiko hit her Fire weakness. If all else fails gaining a few levels wont hurt just because youll get access to Mabufu and Magaru to do a little extra damage to Yukiko while also hitting the Prince.

arghhhh I accidentally closed the tab that had all of my adventures in the Shadow Yukiko dungeon.
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What I remember before I closed the tab:
- Grinded a bunch of levels, got a slime with fire wall and a senri with media because it also had fire resist
- Had to blow through all of my 5 SP items to prepare, then used 2 10 SP items in battle to save myself another day, overall not too bad.
- I'm instituting a new rule, called the Kingdom Hearts rule: you're no longer allowed to make video games where you can't skip cutscenes.
- Fought Shadow Yukiko, it was always close but mostly just because I went in with like 40% SP on Greg and Chie. Had Yosuke spam physical attacks, Chie use mabufu and physical attacks, and Greg heal. Chie decided to miss at some inconvenient times and screwed everything up, but I recovered.
- Chie then ruined my fun by acting like a real person in the subsequent cutscene, which meant there was nothing good to make fun of because the writing was too solid. For that I will never forgive her.
- Yukiko doesn't remember how she ended up in the TV world, so we decide to wait for her to recover. Adachi and Dojima talk about a horrible murder investigation and cuss in front of a small child.
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Where the hell are Yosuke and Chie? I want to raise their social links. I looked on google, but all I got was answers for P4G. I checked and didn't find them in the spots mentioned.
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A bit late now, but I seem to recall Valkyrie being the hero for my first playthrough.

Anagram posted...

Where the hell are Yosuke and Chie? I want to raise their social links. I looked on google, but all I got was answers for P4G. I checked and didn't find them in the spots mentioned.

Yosuke should be in the hallway outside your classroom on school days and the Junes lobby on not-school days. He's available on not-raining Monday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Chie should be on the rooftop on school days and Daidara on not-school days. She's available on not-raining Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday.

If you assemble the party at Junes then you can't do their S-Link that day, even if you decide to back out and not enter the dungeon. Other things that can make them vanish are all school links become unavailable in the week before exams, and I think the party may not be available if there's someone who needs to be rescued.
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I think there may also be downtime in original P4 even after you save Yukiko that maybe doesn't exist in P4G? Not sure.

You can find a schedule for all s.links in original P4 here:
http://persona4.wikidot.com/start

- I want to say that I'm certain that I would have figured out Adachi is the villain even if I didn't already know. He throws up every red flag I can think of.
- I think Nanako watches an unhealthy amount of quiz shows.
- Did some basic stuff to kill some days. I'm over 9 hours in and I feel like the game has barely begun.
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xp1337 posted...

Yosuke should be in the hallway outside your classroom on school days and the Junes lobby on not-school days. He's available on not-raining Monday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Chie should be on the rooftop on school days and Daidara on not-school days. She's available on not-raining Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday.

If you assemble the party at Junes then you can't do their S-Link that day, even if you decide to back out and not enter the dungeon. Other things that can make them vanish are all school links become unavailable in the week before exams, and I think the party may not be available if there's someone who needs to be rescued.

I already rescued Yukiko and Chie's definitely not on the rooftop, but I guess she'll show up later, thanks.

theawesomestevr posted...

I think there may also be downtime in original P4 even after you save Yukiko that maybe doesn't exist in P4G? Not sure.

You can find a schedule for all s.links in original P4 here:
http://persona4.wikidot.com/start

Thanks for this.
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Do party members not in your party still gain experience?
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- Normal days are the most boring for talking about, sadly.
- Got courage to rank 2 using a book. I didn't realize books in this game take four days to read.
- Joined the drama club because the girl is cuter than the band club girl.
- I admit that I've never worn a miniskirt in my life, but I feel like most girls would not wear one on a rainy day, umbrellas be damned. Chie and the background extras prove me wrong, though.
- Got knowledge to rank 2, but it's still not enough for Margaret. You know, Elizabeth and the Twins were tripping over themselves to give me things to do by this point.
- Eventually, the Midnight Channel shows no one, but I (not Greg) see a cutscene of a silhouette walking in the fog at the shopping district and doing nothing of consequence. This is shown with creepy evil music, but it's like... people walk around in the fog, don't they? I don't because I'm in LA and we almost never get thick fog, but I assume that's a thing, right?
- Yukiko comes back to school.
- This teacher is garbage, no one calls Olympus Mons "Mt. Olympus." Mt. Olympus is another mountain in Greece, this was worded to confuse people. I've had teachers like this before, too.
- Yukiko decides to join the gang. I really feel like they would have given themselves a real name by now. SEES and the Phantom Thieves both thought to give themselves names! "Investigation Team" doesn't count, it should be like the "Inaba Detectives" or something.
- Everyone decides that if they can predict the next victim, they'll have an advantage over the killer. I love how Chie is astonished when Yosuke points out that the second and third victims had connections to the first, as if that isn't blindingly obvious.
- Chie: "How dare he target females? That's unforgivable!" Chie apparently could forgive an equal-opportunity murderer.
- "Blah blah blah, let's talk about the killer, oh look Adachi just happened to walk by" Adachi tells me to pass a message onto Nanko from her father, even though it's 2008 and cell phones exist. He also confirms that the cops think Saki was killed because she knew something important, so the killer probably is close to her. He seems like a reliable source of information.
- Spent an hour or so in Yukiko's Castle getting to the bonus shadow boss. Got him to half health, he spams rampage, which kills three of my characters even at full health and with defense up. Welp, that was a waste of time.
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Anagram posted...

Do party members not in your party still gain experience?

Nope.
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'Investigation Team' is the official team name used both in-game and in spinoff media. They weren't very creative.
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Anagram posted...

- Spent an hour or so in Yukiko's Castle getting to the bonus shadow boss. Got him to half health, he spams rampage, which kills three of my characters even at full health and with defense up. Welp, that was a waste of time.

Oh. Welp.

His Rampage is bugged and hits like a freight truck. I'd put taking him down until later, like after the next dungeon later. You can win now (Reward is: Some Courage and a weapon for Yukiko) but it basically relies on him either never using Rampage or you getting crazy lucky with dodges.
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swirIdude posted...

Nope.

Bleh, thanks.

KamikazePotato posted...

'Investigation Team' is the official team name used both in-game and in spinoff media. They weren't very creative.

Pretty bad, thanks.

xp1337 posted...

Oh. Welp.

His Rampage is bugged and hits like a freight truck. I'd put taking him down until later, like after the next dungeon later. You can win now (Reward is: Some Courage and a weapon for Yukiko) but it basically relies on him either never using Rampage or you getting crazy lucky with dodges.

Will do, thanks.
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I mean, Investigation Team is exactly the kind of name a bunch of teenagers feeling important trying to solve a murder would come up with.
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- Did some more days, got some more social links, got knowledge to expert one day before the midterms.
- I finally go to Margaret with expert knowledge, and she tells me to wait until we're "linked." I don't even know what that means.
- Eventually we learn that the next victim will be Kanji, a biker guy.
- "He's one scary dude! He even said to the camera 'Get bent!'"
- We go to his family's store and bump into "slender young man," who is obviously a girl based on the voice. I like how biker guy's mother looks like she's sixty even though he's in high school. I mean, it's not impossible, it's just surprising. Also, we find a scarf connected to the first case, dun dun dun.
- "Quick, hide!" *Everyone conspicuously presses against a wall next to a mailbox*
- We learn more information that only confuses the killer's motive.
- Kanji and Obviously-a-Girl meet up in front of the school. I like how I'm offered the choice of who to go with during the investigation, then the game forces me to go with Yukiko anyway.
- Okay, Chie. Look. On Leonhart's suggestion, I forgave the miniskirt backflip. But look, maybe don't get down on all fours while Yosuke hovers behind you. https://imgur.com/k9zlt5U
- This is the longest setup for a gay joke I've ever seen.
- Finally, Kanji appears on the Midnight Channel and acts all fey. I was going to say that this is uncomfortable to watch in 2019, but P5 still had that beach transvestite joke, so I don't even know. I also like how Yukiko got a full-on anime cutscene, but Kanji only gets an in-game cutscene.
- Teddie asks us to get some information about Kanji. No one even tries to tell him that he's a dangerous biker whose mom works in a textile shop. I mean, maybe that's not enough, but I would have at least gave it a shot!
- I visit every single NPC to ask about Kanji except his mother, figuring that it can't be that obvious. Then I go to his mother, who tells me to talk to Obviously-a-Girl.

I feel like I spent all day playing this game and made like no progress.
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