Just imagine you're out there, swatting lies in the making
Persona 4 FAQ. Just for fun.
Q: What are the various social stats and how can I increase them?
A: Courage is required for the Moon and Fortune Social Links. It can be raised by doing the hospital cleaning job at night, defeating optional bosses in the TV world, reading The Man's Life series of books and occasionally eating from the fridge at night. Expression is required to (eventually) max out the Hierophant, Justice and Hermit Social Links, and can be raised by doing the Sun Social Link (drama or music), doing the translating or tutoring job at night, playing with the cat outside your home, giving your classmate the correct answer in class and reading the Manuals series of books. Diligence is required for fishing and the Devil Social Link, and can be increased by attending the sports club (the Strength Social Link), doing the envelope folding job, making model robots and reading the Books for underaged readers series. Understanding is required for the Hanged Man and Tower Social Links, and can be increased by working at the day care (the Temperance Social Link), doing the origami crane folding job and reading The Timid Teacher series. Knowledge is required for exams and to initiate the Empress and Fortune Social Links, and can be increased by studying (studying at the school library on rainy days will give you an extra Knowledge boost), answering teachers' questions correctly in class, reading certain books (the Manuals series, Guide to Pests and Fun with Numbers) and will also increase automatically during school lessons. As well as the above, going to Chinese Diner Aiya during rainy days will allow you to partake in the Rainy Day Special Mega Beef Bowl Challenge, which will randomly increase three of Courage, Knowledge, Diligence and Understanding. Also, certain dialogue options (in the main story and in Social Links) will increase certain stats (for instance, tell Morooka "You calling me a loser?" to increase Courage).
Q: How do I get these stats up? It seems to be taking forever!
A: Certain social stats take longer to rank up than others. I'm not sure if this is 100% accurate, but from my experience, Knowledge and Diligence seem to take the longest to rank up (on my last playthrough, Diligence was the last stat I maxed out). The best way to get them up is by doing the part-time jobs in the evening - the origami crane folding, translating and envelope making jobs all give a "significant" (i.e. +3) increase to Understanding, Expression and Diligence respectively. For Knowledge, studying in the school library on rainy days gives an extra boost, and you can also study at your desk at night to get a further Knowledge boost
Q: What are all the Social Links and how do I start them?
A: Well then...
Fool - Investigation Team (Automatic start, levels up as the story progresses)
Magician - Yosuke Hanamura (Starts automatically, then you can increase it by talking to him - he's in Classroom Building, 2F on school days and in Junes, West Entrance on non-school days)
Empress - Margaret (Enter the Velvet Room when your Knowledge is at least level 3)
Emperor - Kanji Tatsumi (Talk to Female student in Classroom Building, 2F at the top of the stairs and she'll talk about Kanji. Go to Practice Building, 1F, talk to Kanji and pick "Yes, I do.")
Hierophant - Ryotaro Dojima (Talk to Dojima in your house at night. Must have Expression rank 2 or higher)
Lovers - Rise Kujikawa (Automatically started. To advance, talk to Rise in Classroom Building, 1F on school days, or in Shopping District, South outside Marukyu Tofu on non-school days)
Chariot - Chie Satonaka (Started automatically, can be advanced by talking to Chie on the Roof of the school building during school days, or in Shopping District, South outside Daidara Metalworks on non-school days)
Justice - Nanako Dojima (Talk to Nanako in your house at night)
Hermit - Fox (During one day off, you'll be asked if you want to go somewhere. Pick "Shopping District Shrine" (the game will force you to go there anyway) to start this Social Link. From then on, it can be ranked up by fulfilling the ema requests, though you need to have max Expression to max it out after fulfilling the final request.)
Fortune - Naoto Shirogane (With max Knowledge and Courage, talk to Man in black in Shopping District, North and say "I do." On the next day, talk to Naoto (Classroom Building, 1F) and pick Hand her the card.)
Strength - Sports Club (On 4/19, go through the Emergency Exit in Classroom Building, 1F and join either the basketball or soccer team. Once you've joined, you can advance the link by talking to Kou or Daisuke outside your classroom.)
Hanged Man - Saki's Brother (On 6/8, you'll be drafted into the Student Health Committee. After that, talk to him at Classroom Building, 1F on three separate days. Must have Understanding rank 3 or higher.)
Death - Old Lady (After reaching rank 4 in the Devil Social Link, talk to Hisano at the Samegawa Flood Plain Riverbed. Only available on Sundays or holidays.)
Temperance - Young Mother (Check the Town Bulletin Board next to Chinese Diner Aiya in Shopping District, North and choose the assistant day care caretaker job. Go to the Bus Stop in Shopping District, South and choose to go to the daycare.)
Devil - Nurse (Accept the hospital janitor job from the Town Bulletin Board (requires Diligence rank 3 or higher). At night, examine the front door of your house and choose Part-time janitor work. Note that this and the previous one will not initiate straight away, you'll need to do the job a few times before the link is actually initiated.)
Tower - Tutoring Student (Accept the tutor job on the Town Bulletin Board (requires Understanding rank 5 or higher). At night, go outside and choose to do part-time tutoring.)
Star - Teddie (Automatic start, levels up as the story progresses, though will not max if you choose to push Namatame into the TV)
Moon - Ai Ebihara (After you reach rank 4 in the Strength Social Link, and have Courage rank 3 or higher, talk to her in Classroom Building, 1F. Ask her out, and on another day she'll invite you to skip class with her. Choose "Sure, why not?" to initiate the link.
Sun - Culture Club (On 4/25, go to Practice Building, 1F and go to either the Music Room or Meeting Room. Select "Join the club" to start the link.)
Judgment - Seekers of Truth (Automatically started once you're on the path to the good ending, and levels up as you progress)
Note that the dates given are merely the earliest at which these Social Links can be started, they don't have to be started exactly on those dates. Also, none of the daytime Links can be done when it's raining except for Empress, Sun, Hermit and Fortune. Nighttime links can be done no matter the weather.
Q: I did the last request for the Fox, but I can't get the Social Link to max.
A: You need to have max Expression (Enthralling), then visit the shrine one more time to max out the Link.
Q: How on Earth do I do this last Fox request? I can't catch the Guardian!
A: First, you need to get a Huge Fish (you can buy one from the shopping program on 6/19). Then, once you've accepted the request, talk to the old man at the Riverbed and give him the Huge Fish. He'll give you a fishing set in return. You need this set to catch the Guardian. The Guardian can only be caught on rainy days and nights, or any day in December. Watch the water carefully and turn controller vibration on. The Guardian's signal is STRONG vibrations, spaced about four or five seconds apart (if they're about 2-3 seconds apart, it's a Huge Fish). If you don't get the signal you want, press Circle to reel the line in and try again. Once you get it, hit the Circle button AS SOON AS you see the fishing bob sink - if you're too late, the fish will wriggle off your hook and escape into the water, and you'll lose an attempt. Once you get the fish hooked, hammer the Circle button with all your might and reel in that Guardian.
Q: What's the best Persona?
A: This is obviously a matter of opinion, but my personal favourite is Yoshitsune. A level 75 Persona of the Tower Arcana, Yoshitsune possesses the unique skill Hassou Tobi, which hits all enemies on the field with light Physical damage eight times. This is enough to kill most enemies not immune to Physical attacks, and makes short work of bosses too. As well, Yoshitsune naturally learns Power Charge, which doubles the damage of your next physical attack, and Heat Riser, which increases Attack, Defense and Evasion for one target - and, if fused on a certain day (such as the final day), it can also learn Debilitate, which reduces the Attack, Defense and Evasion for one target. With this combination of skills, as well as naturally nulling Physical attacks, repelling Electricity and Light, and resisting Fire, Yoshitsune is a great Persona to have. Plus, with certain ingenuity, you can get it to have Victory Cry as well, which automatically restores the main character's HP and SP to full after every battle.
For earlier in the game, Black Frost is amazing. It's so powerful for its level (level 38) that I'm almost suspicious it was a programming error. Black Frost has no weaknesses, absorbs Fire and Ice and reflects Darkness, and has an awesome skill repertoire including powerful Ice, Fire and Darkness skills and Mind Charge. And as an added bonus, one of Margaret's requests is to create a Black Frost with Auto-Sukukaja, which causes the MC to start the battle with increased Evasion if Black Frost is equipped when the battle starts.
Q: Victory Cry sounds awesome! How do I get it?
A: The only Persona that learns Victory Cry naturally is Lucifer, whom you need to max out the Judgment Social Link to fuse, and he learns it at level 99, meaning you need to do some serious grinding. There is an "easier" (for a given definition of "easier") way to get it, though, and it can be done on 5/25 at the earliest. There is a level 24 Star Arcana Persona called Kaiwan. On its own, this Persona isn't that great (it's weak to Physical attacks, which make up about 2/3 of the attacks in the game), but it has one redeeming quality - it possesses the skill Tetrakarn. This is a pretty decent skill (it creates a barrier around one ally that reflects a Physical attack one time, obviously intended to compensate for its weakness to Physical attacks), but the real beauty comes when you fuse Kaiwan when the Fusion Forecast is Skill Change (the earliest being 5/25, as mentioned before). This means that one of Kaiwan's skills will randomly change to another skill of the next tier up - and one of the skills of the tier above Tetrakarn just happens to be Victory Cry. This does require a LOT of patience and save scumming, since you have to actually go through the fusion in order to get the skill to change, and both the skill that changes and what it changes into are entirely random, but if you can survive the endless restarting, your patience will be well-rewarded. At level 44, fuse Kaiwan and Succubus to get Oukuninushi, which you can pass Victory Cry on to, giving you a much better Persona. Then at level 75, fuse that Oukuninushi with Hachiman, Masakado, Shiki-Ouji and Hitokoto-Nushi to get Yoshitsune with Victory Cry. Now you're playing with power.
Q: What are the various social stats and how can I increase them?
A: Courage is required for the Moon and Fortune Social Links. It can be raised by doing the hospital cleaning job at night, defeating optional bosses in the TV world, reading The Man's Life series of books and occasionally eating from the fridge at night. Expression is required to (eventually) max out the Hierophant, Justice and Hermit Social Links, and can be raised by doing the Sun Social Link (drama or music), doing the translating or tutoring job at night, playing with the cat outside your home, giving your classmate the correct answer in class and reading the Manuals series of books. Diligence is required for fishing and the Devil Social Link, and can be increased by attending the sports club (the Strength Social Link), doing the envelope folding job, making model robots and reading the Books for underaged readers series. Understanding is required for the Hanged Man and Tower Social Links, and can be increased by working at the day care (the Temperance Social Link), doing the origami crane folding job and reading The Timid Teacher series. Knowledge is required for exams and to initiate the Empress and Fortune Social Links, and can be increased by studying (studying at the school library on rainy days will give you an extra Knowledge boost), answering teachers' questions correctly in class, reading certain books (the Manuals series, Guide to Pests and Fun with Numbers) and will also increase automatically during school lessons. As well as the above, going to Chinese Diner Aiya during rainy days will allow you to partake in the Rainy Day Special Mega Beef Bowl Challenge, which will randomly increase three of Courage, Knowledge, Diligence and Understanding. Also, certain dialogue options (in the main story and in Social Links) will increase certain stats (for instance, tell Morooka "You calling me a loser?" to increase Courage).
Q: How do I get these stats up? It seems to be taking forever!
A: Certain social stats take longer to rank up than others. I'm not sure if this is 100% accurate, but from my experience, Knowledge and Diligence seem to take the longest to rank up (on my last playthrough, Diligence was the last stat I maxed out). The best way to get them up is by doing the part-time jobs in the evening - the origami crane folding, translating and envelope making jobs all give a "significant" (i.e. +3) increase to Understanding, Expression and Diligence respectively. For Knowledge, studying in the school library on rainy days gives an extra boost, and you can also study at your desk at night to get a further Knowledge boost
Q: What are all the Social Links and how do I start them?
A: Well then...
Fool - Investigation Team (Automatic start, levels up as the story progresses)
Magician - Yosuke Hanamura (Starts automatically, then you can increase it by talking to him - he's in Classroom Building, 2F on school days and in Junes, West Entrance on non-school days)
Empress - Margaret (Enter the Velvet Room when your Knowledge is at least level 3)
Emperor - Kanji Tatsumi (Talk to Female student in Classroom Building, 2F at the top of the stairs and she'll talk about Kanji. Go to Practice Building, 1F, talk to Kanji and pick "Yes, I do.")
Hierophant - Ryotaro Dojima (Talk to Dojima in your house at night. Must have Expression rank 2 or higher)
Lovers - Rise Kujikawa (Automatically started. To advance, talk to Rise in Classroom Building, 1F on school days, or in Shopping District, South outside Marukyu Tofu on non-school days)
Chariot - Chie Satonaka (Started automatically, can be advanced by talking to Chie on the Roof of the school building during school days, or in Shopping District, South outside Daidara Metalworks on non-school days)
Justice - Nanako Dojima (Talk to Nanako in your house at night)
Hermit - Fox (During one day off, you'll be asked if you want to go somewhere. Pick "Shopping District Shrine" (the game will force you to go there anyway) to start this Social Link. From then on, it can be ranked up by fulfilling the ema requests, though you need to have max Expression to max it out after fulfilling the final request.)
Fortune - Naoto Shirogane (With max Knowledge and Courage, talk to Man in black in Shopping District, North and say "I do." On the next day, talk to Naoto (Classroom Building, 1F) and pick Hand her the card.)
Strength - Sports Club (On 4/19, go through the Emergency Exit in Classroom Building, 1F and join either the basketball or soccer team. Once you've joined, you can advance the link by talking to Kou or Daisuke outside your classroom.)
Hanged Man - Saki's Brother (On 6/8, you'll be drafted into the Student Health Committee. After that, talk to him at Classroom Building, 1F on three separate days. Must have Understanding rank 3 or higher.)
Death - Old Lady (After reaching rank 4 in the Devil Social Link, talk to Hisano at the Samegawa Flood Plain Riverbed. Only available on Sundays or holidays.)
Temperance - Young Mother (Check the Town Bulletin Board next to Chinese Diner Aiya in Shopping District, North and choose the assistant day care caretaker job. Go to the Bus Stop in Shopping District, South and choose to go to the daycare.)
Devil - Nurse (Accept the hospital janitor job from the Town Bulletin Board (requires Diligence rank 3 or higher). At night, examine the front door of your house and choose Part-time janitor work. Note that this and the previous one will not initiate straight away, you'll need to do the job a few times before the link is actually initiated.)
Tower - Tutoring Student (Accept the tutor job on the Town Bulletin Board (requires Understanding rank 5 or higher). At night, go outside and choose to do part-time tutoring.)
Star - Teddie (Automatic start, levels up as the story progresses, though will not max if you choose to push Namatame into the TV)
Moon - Ai Ebihara (After you reach rank 4 in the Strength Social Link, and have Courage rank 3 or higher, talk to her in Classroom Building, 1F. Ask her out, and on another day she'll invite you to skip class with her. Choose "Sure, why not?" to initiate the link.
Sun - Culture Club (On 4/25, go to Practice Building, 1F and go to either the Music Room or Meeting Room. Select "Join the club" to start the link.)
Judgment - Seekers of Truth (Automatically started once you're on the path to the good ending, and levels up as you progress)
Note that the dates given are merely the earliest at which these Social Links can be started, they don't have to be started exactly on those dates. Also, none of the daytime Links can be done when it's raining except for Empress, Sun, Hermit and Fortune. Nighttime links can be done no matter the weather.
Q: I did the last request for the Fox, but I can't get the Social Link to max.
A: You need to have max Expression (Enthralling), then visit the shrine one more time to max out the Link.
Q: How on Earth do I do this last Fox request? I can't catch the Guardian!
A: First, you need to get a Huge Fish (you can buy one from the shopping program on 6/19). Then, once you've accepted the request, talk to the old man at the Riverbed and give him the Huge Fish. He'll give you a fishing set in return. You need this set to catch the Guardian. The Guardian can only be caught on rainy days and nights, or any day in December. Watch the water carefully and turn controller vibration on. The Guardian's signal is STRONG vibrations, spaced about four or five seconds apart (if they're about 2-3 seconds apart, it's a Huge Fish). If you don't get the signal you want, press Circle to reel the line in and try again. Once you get it, hit the Circle button AS SOON AS you see the fishing bob sink - if you're too late, the fish will wriggle off your hook and escape into the water, and you'll lose an attempt. Once you get the fish hooked, hammer the Circle button with all your might and reel in that Guardian.
Q: What's the best Persona?
A: This is obviously a matter of opinion, but my personal favourite is Yoshitsune. A level 75 Persona of the Tower Arcana, Yoshitsune possesses the unique skill Hassou Tobi, which hits all enemies on the field with light Physical damage eight times. This is enough to kill most enemies not immune to Physical attacks, and makes short work of bosses too. As well, Yoshitsune naturally learns Power Charge, which doubles the damage of your next physical attack, and Heat Riser, which increases Attack, Defense and Evasion for one target - and, if fused on a certain day (such as the final day), it can also learn Debilitate, which reduces the Attack, Defense and Evasion for one target. With this combination of skills, as well as naturally nulling Physical attacks, repelling Electricity and Light, and resisting Fire, Yoshitsune is a great Persona to have. Plus, with certain ingenuity, you can get it to have Victory Cry as well, which automatically restores the main character's HP and SP to full after every battle.
For earlier in the game, Black Frost is amazing. It's so powerful for its level (level 38) that I'm almost suspicious it was a programming error. Black Frost has no weaknesses, absorbs Fire and Ice and reflects Darkness, and has an awesome skill repertoire including powerful Ice, Fire and Darkness skills and Mind Charge. And as an added bonus, one of Margaret's requests is to create a Black Frost with Auto-Sukukaja, which causes the MC to start the battle with increased Evasion if Black Frost is equipped when the battle starts.
Q: Victory Cry sounds awesome! How do I get it?
A: The only Persona that learns Victory Cry naturally is Lucifer, whom you need to max out the Judgment Social Link to fuse, and he learns it at level 99, meaning you need to do some serious grinding. There is an "easier" (for a given definition of "easier") way to get it, though, and it can be done on 5/25 at the earliest. There is a level 24 Star Arcana Persona called Kaiwan. On its own, this Persona isn't that great (it's weak to Physical attacks, which make up about 2/3 of the attacks in the game), but it has one redeeming quality - it possesses the skill Tetrakarn. This is a pretty decent skill (it creates a barrier around one ally that reflects a Physical attack one time, obviously intended to compensate for its weakness to Physical attacks), but the real beauty comes when you fuse Kaiwan when the Fusion Forecast is Skill Change (the earliest being 5/25, as mentioned before). This means that one of Kaiwan's skills will randomly change to another skill of the next tier up - and one of the skills of the tier above Tetrakarn just happens to be Victory Cry. This does require a LOT of patience and save scumming, since you have to actually go through the fusion in order to get the skill to change, and both the skill that changes and what it changes into are entirely random, but if you can survive the endless restarting, your patience will be well-rewarded. At level 44, fuse Kaiwan and Succubus to get Oukuninushi, which you can pass Victory Cry on to, giving you a much better Persona. Then at level 75, fuse that Oukuninushi with Hachiman, Masakado, Shiki-Ouji and Hitokoto-Nushi to get Yoshitsune with Victory Cry. Now you're playing with power.
Comments
Post a Comment