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[viciouskillersquirrel]

I beat the big boss and an into the (extra?) post new years content. Yukiko spent the night! It's a very sweet scene. I hope they used protection.

Does that happen for all the girls? I can only imagine that romancing multiple girls bites you in the arse pretty hard during that scene and possibly later on during Valentine's day. Christmas being a holiday for couples rather than families is such an alien thing to me.

The fox's s-link requires fishing to max out, which is a bummer. Even after reading all the books related to it, I have never been able to figure fishing out.

 

[FluxWaveZ]

Take the game seriously when you get a prompt about a point of no return and create backup saves.

 

[Professor Beef]

I beat the big boss and an into the (extra?) post new years content. Yukiko spent the night! It's a very sweet scene. I hope they used protection.

Does that happen for all the girls? I can only imagine that romancing multiple girls bites you in the arse pretty hard during that scene and possibly later on during Valentine's day. Christmas being a holiday for couples rather than families is such an alien thing to me.

The fox's s-link requires fishing to max out, which is a bummer. Even after reading all the books related to it, I have never been able to figure fishing out.

It requires specific bait on certain days in certain locations. It's not difficult by any means, but it takes some getting used to.

 

[FantasticMrSnake]

Also, I haven't been able to join any of the cultural clubs because I left rescuing Yukiko to the last minute and had to spend multiple consecutive days trying to clear her dungeon. Is that missable?

Try not to use more than 1 day in a dungeon, you can pay to heal yourself at the entrance? (I think you get that at some point) or use items, but it's not worth it to user several days on the same dungeon because you miss outside activities


And, btw, little spoiling, but if you run out of days

Spoiler

and don't save the person, the game reset a week, like going back in time

.

 

[Kthulhu]

I beat the big boss and an into the (extra?) post new years content. Yukiko spent the night! It's a very sweet scene. I hope they used protection.

Does that happen for all the girls? I can only imagine that romancing multiple girls bites you in the arse pretty hard during that scene and possibly later on during Valentine's day. Christmas being a holiday for couples rather than families is such an alien thing to me.

The fox's s-link requires fishing to max out, which is a bummer. Even after reading all the books related to it, I have never been able to figure fishing out.

For Marie, she gave me her comb and it says "you and Marie spent a long time together". Also she gave me weird chocolate that was alive on Valentine's day.

Fishing is annoying. Even the anime makes fun of it:

https://youtu.be/rBtWG-XE9sk

BTW OP. I recommend you check out the anime. It's full of gags that aren't in the game.

Also, do you plan on playing any of the spin offs, or are you just gonna wait for Persona 5?

 

[viciouskillersquirrel]

Where is the anime available? I only have Netflix and anime box sets are a little harder to come by in Australia. Is it the same voice actors? If so, I would much rather watch the English dub. They put in a wonderful performance over the course of this game.

Also, are the spin-offs worth playing? Not a big fighting game guy, so Arena doesn't sound like my cup of tea, just going by the name. I learnt my lesson from Dissidia. Dancing All Night sounds like it could be fun though.

I don't have a PS4, so the wait for Persona 5 may be decidedly longer for me. I will check out Persona 3 Portable.

 

[Verelios]

Persona Q is very fun, if a little quirky, especially of you're itching for more gang interaction and don't mind dungeon crawlers.

As for Dancing...eh, I'm in the minority that enjoyed the story for what it was. The rhythm part was pretty rough, though if you're not a big rhythm player it probably won't matter to you as there's nothing to compare. I enjoyed my time playing it.

 

[firehawk12]

Where is the anime available? I only have Netflix and anime box sets are a little harder to come by in Australia. Is it the same voice actors? If so, I would much rather watch the English dub. They put in a wonderful performance over the course of this game.

Also, are the spin-offs worth playing? Not a big fighting game guy, so Arena doesn't sound like my cup of tea, just going by the name. I learnt my lesson from Dissidia. Dancing All Night sounds like it could be fun though.

I don't have a PS4, so the wait for Persona 5 may be decidedly longer for me. I will check out Persona 3 Portable.

For the anime, I know that Aniplex put out the discs. I have to assume it's streaming on daisuki or somewhere. I don't think it's all that good though, both the original and Golden.

 

[RampagingSoul]

Where is the anime available? I only have Netflix and anime box sets are a little harder to come by in Australia. Is it the same voice actors? If so, I would much rather watch the English dub. They put in a wonderful performance over the course of this game.

Also, are the spin-offs worth playing? Not a big fighting game guy, so Arena doesn't sound like my cup of tea, just going by the name. I learnt my lesson from Dissidia. Dancing All Night sounds like it could be fun though.

I don't have a PS4, so the wait for Persona 5 may be decidedly longer for me. I will check out Persona 3 Portable.

Dancing All Night is pretty good for a rhythm game, but as a fan of rhythm games like Rhythm Heaven and Hatsune Miku, I didn't think it was as good as they are. Still a fun game that had an alright story mode and was an alright rhythm game. Persona Q was a pretty good game, but sometimes, personally, it felt too much like a shallower Etrian Odyssey with a Persona coat of paint. Still a pretty good game though, just didn't hook me like others.

Persona 3 Portable is a good game to pick as I just finished it this year and felt, in some regards, that it was better than P4G. The only thing is, with it being an older title, the presentation is limited (It was on the PSP after all) and the dungeon design, for me, was worse than P4G. Plus, it's harder to get some social links than in P4G as well. This is coming from someone that played and beat P4G before P3P. Luckily, I enjoyed the darker story and characters a bit more than P4G, which is hard to do (at least as far as characters go).

 

[Yasumi]

Dancing All Night's story beats are pretty much a Persona 4 dungeon x 5, it does get a little tiresome. Other than that, absolutely loved the music, it looks really good, and the rhythm gameplay's decent enough. Some people had issues with the note timing, but I wasn't really bothered.

Didn't really like Persona Q. I've had it since launch, and just started the 4th dungeon, around 35 hours clocked. Dungeon floors drag like crazy, battles are fairly frequent and can take forever if you don't Mahama/Mamudo, character writing is pretty poor, everyone's pretty much a caricature. Just feels like a chore.

 

[Jeb]

Where is the anime available? I only have Netflix and anime box sets are a little harder to come by in Australia. Is it the same voice actors? If so, I would much rather watch the English dub. They put in a wonderful performance over the course of this game.

Also, are the spin-offs worth playing? Not a big fighting game guy, so Arena doesn't sound like my cup of tea, just going by the name. I learnt my lesson from Dissidia. Dancing All Night sounds like it could be fun though.

I don't have a PS4, so the wait for Persona 5 may be decidedly longer for me. I will check out Persona 3 Portable.

Would not recommend the spin offs if you want more Persona, some of them are good in the gameplay department of their genre, especiall Arena, however their stories are mediocre and they never recapture the magic if the mainline games, even the anime fails in this regard, P3P is a good choice, also P5 is on PS3 so if you have one...

 

[viciouskillersquirrel]

I still need to get my PS3 repaired. If I get into any spinoff games, it'll need to be Persona Q, unless there's something else on the Vita?

 

[RetroMG]

Where is the anime available? I only have Netflix and anime box sets are a little harder to come by in Australia. Is it the same voice actors? If so, I would much rather watch the English dub. They put in a wonderful performance over the course of this game.

Also, are the spin-offs worth playing? Not a big fighting game guy, so Arena doesn't sound like my cup of tea, just going by the name. I learnt my lesson from Dissidia. Dancing All Night sounds like it could be fun though.

I don't have a PS4, so the wait for Persona 5 may be decidedly longer for me. I will check out Persona 3 Portable.

The regular Persona 4 anime (not Golden) is available on Hulu with subtitles. (The dub isn't an option, so, if you're someone who really needs an English dub... sorry.)

 

[Narroo]

Where is the anime available? I only have Netflix and anime box sets are a little harder to come by in Australia. Is it the same voice actors? If so, I would much rather watch the English dub. They put in a wonderful performance over the course of this game.

Also, are the spin-offs worth playing? Not a big fighting game guy, so Arena doesn't sound like my cup of tea, just going by the name. I learnt my lesson from Dissidia. Dancing All Night sounds like it could be fun though.

I don't have a PS4, so the wait for Persona 5 may be decidedly longer for me. I will check out Persona 3 Portable.

Sounds like you beat the game. Did you get the 'true' ending?

 

[viciouskillersquirrel]

The regular Persona 4 anime (not Golden) is available on Hulu with subtitles. (The dub isn't an option, so, if you're someone who really needs an English dub... sorry.)

I don't think Hulu is available down under, which is a shame. I don't really minded subtitles at all, but in this case, I got to know the characters from their English language voice tracks, so it'd be jarring to see them speaking Japanese.

Sounds like you beat the game. Did you get the 'true' ending?

Not yet. I still need to beat what sounds like an optional dungeon.

 

[Kthulhu]

I still need to get my PS3 repaired. If I get into any spinoff games, it'll need to be Persona Q, unless there's something else on the Vita?

All that's on the Vita is Dancing All Night. If you go for it, buy the collector's edition. It has a soundtrack with pretty much every song you could want from Persona 4 and it's spin offs.

I don't think Hulu is available down under, which is a shame. I don't really minded subtitles at all, but in this case, I got to know the characters from their English language voice tracks, so it'd be jarring to see them speaking Japanese.

Not yet. I still need to beat what sounds like an optional dungeon.

Looks like it was licensed for Australia by Madman Entertainment. I don't know anything about them.

 

[viciouskillersquirrel]

I'm on the bonus dungeon right now. The whole SP draining over time mechanic would be cool and challenging if I weren't at level 90 with Invigorate on everything and ALL the reflects. As it is, it's just annoying. Gorgeous King was the only really challenging enemy, and even then it was a matter of just wearing him down over time.

I'm playing on Hard, so I imagine it's less annoying on normal difficulty.

 

[ImBarryScott]

I've been going through it LttP too but I've been going through it on easy just to experience it. I don't get much time to play games trying to manage two young children so I've just been doing an hour a day during my work lunch.

Anyway, yesterday I got a bad ending. I won't say what I thought of it because of spoilers but I'm loading up the save just before the options this lunch to try and change some options and go for a better ending.

 

[Phil Fish]

Dude you are in for THE RIDE.

Favorite game ever. Enjoy it. It's truly special.

(Yukiko best girl)

Wrong, Yukiko is boring as fuck.

OP, be sure to date Rise.

 

[viciouskillersquirrel]

Saw the end credits and finished up with a clear time of 90 hours. Woo! What a ride!

I'm thinking of starting a NG+ but with an s-link guide going as well... But maybe in a few months once I had the chance to digest. I didn't realise you were supposed to take multiple jobs in order to see every s-link. It's not very well explained, to be honest.

Though I will dial down the difficulty because it turns out Hard mode has some money and exp multipliers involved that hobbled my first playthrough somewhat.

Thanks to everyone here for their help at various points. I enjoyed this game so much and it was nice to be able to gush about it.

 

[LiveFromKyoto]

Persona 3 Portable is a good game to pick as I just finished it this year and felt, in some regards, that it was better than P4G. The only thing is, with it being an older title, the presentation is limited (It was on the PSP after all) and the dungeon design, for me, was worse than P4G. Plus, it's harder to get some social links than in P4G as well. This is coming from someone that played and beat P4G before P3P. Luckily, I enjoyed the darker story and characters a bit more than P4G, which is hard to do (at least as far as characters go).

I'm playing P3P right now and while I understand why someone would say the dungeons are worse, I actually find the dungeon sections to be way less of a grind than I did in P4G. That game took me more than a year to finish because I just got tired of the dungeons taking so long. With P3P it feels much easier to power through a section in a couple of runs.

 

[Kthulhu]

Saw the end credits and finished up with a clear time of 90 hours. Woo! What a ride!

I'm thinking of starting a NG+ but with an s-link guide going as well... But maybe in a few months once I had the chance to digest. I didn't realise you were supposed to take multiple jobs in order to see every s-link. It's not very well explained, to be honest.

Though I will dial down the difficulty because it turns out Hard mode has some money and exp multipliers involved that hobbled my first playthrough somewhat.

Thanks to everyone here for their help at various points. I enjoyed this game so much and it was nice to be able to gush about it.

Glad you enjoyed it. Now you just need to wait till April for Persona 5...

 

[daevious]

Saw the end credits and finished up with a clear time of 90 hours. Woo! What a ride!

I'm thinking of starting a NG+ but with an s-link guide going as well... But maybe in a few months once I had the chance to digest. I didn't realise you were supposed to take multiple jobs in order to see every s-link. It's not very well explained, to be honest.

Though I will dial down the difficulty because it turns out Hard mode has some money and exp multipliers involved that hobbled my first playthrough somewhat.

Thanks to everyone here for their help at various points. I enjoyed this game so much and it was nice to be able to gush about it.

Spoiler

Who was the final boss?

 

[viciouskillersquirrel]

I YouTubed the multiple girlfriends scene.

Geez, The MC can be such a tool to these girls. Man, that was awkward. I spent the whole time cringing. Wow.

 

[Narroo]

Saw the end credits and finished up with a clear time of 90 hours. Woo! What a ride!

I'm thinking of starting a NG+ but with an s-link guide going as well... But maybe in a few months once I had the chance to digest. I didn't realise you were supposed to take multiple jobs in order to see every s-link. It's not very well explained, to be honest.

Though I will dial down the difficulty because it turns out Hard mode has some money and exp multipliers involved that hobbled my first playthrough somewhat.

Thanks to everyone here for their help at various points. I enjoyed this game so much and it was nice to be able to gush about it.

It sounds like you didn't get the real ending.

Spoiler

After Marie's dungeon, on the final day, you need to do some silly guess and check in order to trigger a scene that allows you to fight the real final boss. It's the most ridiculous thing.

 

[viciouskillersquirrel]

Spoiler

Who was the final boss?

It sounds like you didn't get the real ending.

Spoiler

After Marie's dungeon, on the final day, you need to do some silly guess and check in order to trigger a scene that allows you to fight the real final boss. It's the most ridiculous thing.

Oh maaaaaaaaaan...

God dammit Atlus!

 

[RampagingSoul]

I'm playing P3P right now and while I understand why someone would say the dungeons are worse, I actually find the dungeon sections to be way less of a grind than I did in P4G. That game took me more than a year to finish because I just got tired of the dungeons taking so long. With P3P it feels much easier to power through a section in a couple of runs.

Yeah, I can see that with the way the game is structured compared to P4G. I just felt the lack of variety in the dungeon structure in P3P bored me out. The areas were exactly the same and that's why it was harder for me to beat P3P than P4G personally. I got to a point in P4G where I could tackle certain dungeons in one session, which I liked, whereas P3P was beating sections bit by bit, where it felt like it was hard for me to play the game in long sessions until I hunkered down and go through it toward the end. Again, it's all opinions.

 

[ImBarryScott]

I think I actually spoilered myself last night after getting the bad ending. I googled to see if

Spoiler

it's possible to save Nanako and ended up reading something about fighting Adachi so I think if I opt not to push Namatame into the TV it's going to turn out that Adachi was the bad guy all along.

 

[Kthulhu]

Oh maaaaaaaaaan...

God dammit Atlus!

The way you get to the final boss and the unclear way to get to the endings is one of the worst things about P4. P3 didn't have it and I'm told P5 doesn't either.

 

[mjc]

So on my first play through, should I be concerned about maxing out S links? I know there's multiple endings but I fear I won't have time for a second play through. I also don't want to treat the game like a checklist off gamefaqs though either...hmm.

 

[Meia]

Oh maaaaaaaaaan...

God dammit Atlus!

Not going to lie, as someone who first played the game almost a decade ago now I guess, I always eagerly await LTTP threads just for this one moment.


"Alright, I beat the game and am seeing the credits, what a wonderful ride

Spoiler

WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE WAS ANOTHER DUNGEON?!"



Basically, P4 as a mystery isn't over until every single bit of the mystery is solved, and there is still one note left by the time march rolls around.

Still, while the structure of the end-game is annoying, seeing a post about someone saying they're almost "done" with the game and knowing they probably have at least another 10-20 hours still amuses me.

So on my first play through, should I be concerned about maxing out S links? I know there's multiple endings but I fear I won't have time for a second play through. I also don't want to treat the game like a checklist off gamefaqs though either...hmm.

To max out all the social links in one playthrough pretty much requires following a very strict schedule on gamefaqs, as most social links require specific attributes at specific times in them(as well as to even start some of them) to raise them. You not only have to pick specifically who to hang out with each and every day, but also exactly what to say to them(while making sure you have a persona of their arcana in your inventory), on top of knowing when you should spend time raising a specific stat instead of hanging out with someone. A max link playthrough gives you almost no free time to do things as you want to, or have periods where you can do nothing for a block. Most damning of all, you have to pick specific choices of dialogue during story segments as some give you stat boosts, costing yourself some of the RP elements.



Since all of your social stats carry over to a game +, and it's impossible to platinum the game on one playthrough anyway, a max link run as a first time thing isn't really advised.


In terms of "multiple endings", it's more of a case on degree of ending. You have the bad ending, a neutral ending, a good ending, a True Ending, as well as an Epilogue ending if you do certain things in one playthrough. The game's a murder mystery, how thorough you are with it determines your ending.

 

[Kthulhu]

So on my first play through, should I be concerned about maxing out S links? I know there's multiple endings but I fear I won't have time for a second play through. I also don't want to treat the game like a checklist off gamefaqs though either...hmm.

You pretty much have to follow a checklist. It's really hard to do it otherwise.

You should just have fun the first time though and then go back if you want.

 

[Professor Beef]

Yeah, I waited until NG+ to do an S-Link run, and it was far more enjoyable.

 

[Moofers]

I am playing through this game for the very first time now and have just started into Kanji's dungeon. I love it love it love it. Such a great game. That soundtrack is super catchy and memorable. I love the singer's voice! Also, Chie is where its at.

Quick question: Since I'm so in love, I've gone out and picked up the two fighting games on PS3 and now I want to pick up the music game on Vita. I've seen it in stores, (I'm in the US) and it seems to have a taller box than normal vita carts. Is there something extra in that box? I know there's a big huge edition with two music CDs and some other stuff, but what's in this tall box version I've seen around?

 

[Wolf Akela]

Just so you know, they all have shit story and have massive Persona 4 spoilers. Actually, all spin-offs of Persona 3 and 4 have shit stories, including the extra stories on Golden and Portable.

 

[viciouskillersquirrel]

I looked up a guide to how to get to the "real" final boss and unlocked its dungeon. I must ask, however, why are battles still giving me items? It isn't like I can redeem these items for new weapons at the weapon shop or fulfil missions any more, right?

I'm glad for the money though. I spent every last yen I had to equip the party. And I know it carries over into NG+ eventually.

 

[The n00b Avenger]

IIRC examining the TV which serves as the exit lets you access the shops like normal

 

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

IIRC examining the TV which serves as the exit lets you access the shops like normal

Yep.

 

[viciouskillersquirrel]

Ah, thanks! I assumed it was like every other time you went into the TV world.

 

[MrNelson]

A note about the spin-offs, I've been told by a friend that they contain spoilers for Persona 3 (I'm playing through P3:FES at the moment, so I can't verify myself). So if you want to check out Persona Q, you should play through 3 first.

 

[LiveFromKyoto]

I think I actually spoilered myself last night after getting the bad ending. I googled to see if

Spoiler

it's possible to save Nanako and ended up reading something about fighting Adachi so I think if I opt not to push Namatame into the TV it's going to turn out that Adachi was the bad guy all along.

Yeah, if you're looking for stuff always google "spoiler free" or "no spoiler faq" or something. I consider it a minor miracle that the internet never spoiled this game for me even though I didn't finish it until earlier this year.

 

[viciouskillersquirrel]

Beat the (hopefully) really real final boss and watched the Golden epilogue. It was nice, especially in that they had the characters change and grow rather than be static. Chie has a much better hairstyle now, for instance, as does Yosuke. The others evolved in expected and unexpected ways (Kanji and Naoto especially). Very nice touch, I think.

They're wonderfully written characters one and all and I enjoyed the experience of seeing their stories unfold, even if some were maybe less than what I'd hoped. Kanji and Naoto's sexualities weren't ever really explored, for instance, nor was Yosuke ever challenged on his initial homophobia when it came to Kanji. It left things ambiguous for Kanji at least, while Naoto's trans status seemed to be less about feeling wrong in your own skin but rather powerless and disrespected because of it.

Still, the game came out of Japan almost a decade ago. Japanese media, while not openly hostile to LGBT issues, tends to treat the topic without a lot of empathy and makes it the butt of jokes. This is the country that gave us Hard Gay and Cho Aniki, after all, media where the joke seems to be that gay people exist. We also can't forget that attitudes in the west have changed a LOT in the past decade too. Acceptance of gay marriage in the USA, for instance, didn't reach a tipping point until Obama came out in support of marriage equality. Yosuke's comments wouldn't have looked out of place on GAF when the game first released, but would get him banned today.

It's funny how much difference that amount of time makes.