Persona 5 | Persona 5 Royal | New semester conditions: in OP | Spaceport boss advice: throughout the thread

[deerokus]

I tend to just go for the ones that look cool.

 

By the way check in the register/summon section, there's quite a few free bonus personas in there which I assume were dlc at some point.

[Wiper]

52 minutes ago, deerokus said:

I tend to just go for the ones that look cool.

 

Ah, another Mara connoisseur.

[bradigor]

I don't think I could min/max any game, let alone a Persona. 

 

Generally I just fuse until numbers are equal to my level and the persona looks good. 

 

It has got me through the previous two games.

[Alask]

I've just started this after it appearing on GamePass and have very little idea what I'm doing. I quite like it though. I've made some sort of tortoise snake thing which looks nice. Mostly I am just fusing things together to try and get a persona that matches the type of each of my confidants, as I think it said that'll improve my connections quicker?

 

Otherwise I'm bumbling along. I did read some starter tips, but quickly realised it was all too complicated and I don't think doing everything perfectly can possibly be necessary when playing on normal.

 

It's crossplay between Xbox and PC on gamepass, which is nice but it does seem prone to crashing on my laptop. Typically when saving or loading a game, don't suppose there's a known and easy fix to avoid that?

 

Also unless it's a persona I've not seen before, I tend to go for the all out attack option on hold ups rather than talking for items/money, is that the sensible approach? I seem to have rather a lot of money, is that normal or was that a DLC boost thing?

 

[Vorgot]

I'm a big fan of the Q2 costume set, having them run around in chibi form is great, and the Q games are as good as the mainline games in my opinion.

[Qazimod]

20 hours ago, SMD said:

I prefer to fuse them from the lowest forms and customise them fully.

 

until the guillotine stops and there's another fusion accident and you get a load of skills you never asked for GODDAMNIT CAROLINE.

 

"How about that - it turned out great!" my arse.

[SMD]

that happened to me in the third semester, i was so pissed

[Qazimod]

13 hours ago, Qazimod said:

 

until the guillotine stops and there's another fusion accident and you get a load of skills you never asked for GODDAMNIT CAROLINE.

 

"How about that - it turned out great!" my arse.

 

State of this.

 

 

[danbot]

Maybe useful for fusing for a while?

[Qazimod]

Cleared the Spaceport palace! I'm still not a fan of the boss' gimmick, but I did pick up a couple of things that helped me:

 

Spoiler

Firstly, I spent a lot of time in the Velvet Room wasting money on fusion, mainly to get more multi-hit elemental skills (particularly if they're "tier 2" - e.g. Magarula instead of Magaru) and to cover any holes in our offence. I had Hifumi's skill to switch party members on Joker's turn as well, so that helped. However, one thing that I did that made a bit more of a difference was checking the elemental attacks I had on my party members and getting the most out of somebody's turn when they were able to knock down and exploit weaknesses. 

 

Take Noir as an example. At the time she had "Psio" (medium psi damage on one target) and "Mapsi" (light psi damage on all targets.) Even if it takes a few seconds longer, you're going to get more damage from knocking them down with four Psios than with one Mapsi. Since the gimmick of the time limit for the battle also comes with the invisible time limit to take out groups in as few turns as possible, it's worth taking time to use your stronger attack even if it doesn't hit a group.

 

It is kind of risky because you have to make sure your accuracy's on point, but you definitely see the difference in the damage per turn. And I know in hindsight it's probably bloody obvious, but it took me ages to figure out the "invisible time limit" in the first place...

 

I might add that to the notes in the OP as it's always a momentum-killer for me...

[Djx]

There is 1 Confidant skill in particular I'd recommend all players of P5R go for that makes the late game a lot easier. Is it game breaking? Sure is.

Spoiler

It's Ryuji's Insta-kill ability. Unlocked when you get his Social Link to level 7. It allows you to dash into weaker enemies and defeat them instantly, which gives a bit of EXP & money, an item and a Persona.

Does this mean you can drive around Mementos just accelerating into enemies and getting your team up to level 99 if you have the time? Yes, it does.

It's an optional ability so you don't have to use it at all but I found it to be incredibly useful at a point when trying to grind battles to level up was becoming frustrating.

[Qazimod]

Yeah, if you find the time to improve its rank it's worth having. For the most part it's great for haring around the lower floors of Mementos and mopping up those stamps for José, but it works in Palaces too! (You have to be pretty overlevelled to see this though. Ahem.)

 

Being able to grab the persona without going through the weakness exploits and negotiation is ace, although it does mean that your stock fills up fairly quickly.

[Qazimod]

Over the weekend I completed the cruise ship. The daft gimmick room

 

Spoiler

the rat maze

 

is still daft and I still feel like it went on for one or two rooms too many, but I've just kind of accepted it at this point. The palace boss is still awesome and encourages a lot of fun Velvet Room setups (boss spoilers ahead):

 

Spoiler

The important bit for me is covering your support skills for that 1v1 phase. I had Takemi's SP-regen accessory, but I also had an Invigorate skill on a persona (which stacks with the accessory), and I had Diarama/Diarahan. So effectively I could recover from most of the things he threw at me and force an ongoing stalemate. Except I'd still be able to get damage in on occasion.  

 

[jon_cybernet]

Completed this for the first time last night after spending almost every evening on it since it dropped on Gamepass. Overall really enjoyed it, although I thought the extra semester in Royal didn't really add much to the story. The Feb 15th scene (after I romanced the entire cast) made me laugh though.

[bradigor]

I'm making slow progress as I am only at the second palace. But I love that this game lends itself to pick up and play so well. 

 

I generally set my party to act freely during dungeon crawls, only changing for bosses. 

 

But it all controls so simply that it is easy to remember how to play. 

 

The stories also feel bite sized enough that you don't become overwhelmed going back in. 

[danbot]

@bradigor That's cool that you're enjoying it like that but maybe spend an evening or so in full control to play with stuff like baton pass etc. 

[bradigor]

21 minutes ago, danbot said:

@bradigor That's cool that you're enjoying it like that but maybe spend an evening or so in full control to play with stuff like baton pass etc. 

 

It still allows me to do that. I am able to easily get new and exp boostvpersonas 

[danbot]

 

3 minutes ago, bradigor said:

 

It still allows me to do that. I am able to easily get new and exp boostvpersonas 

 

Oh that's cool. I'll stfu then.  😅

[bradigor]

1 hour ago, danbot said:

 

 

Oh that's cool. I'll stfu then.  😅

 

Haha, to be fair it is the sort of thing I do miss

[Qazimod]

On 22/04/2020 at 11:33, Qazimod said:

END OF GAME / NEW SEMESTER SPOILERS

 

MORE END OF GAME / NEW SEMESTER SPOILERS

 

Spoiler

The first time playing the new semester I totally didn't catch that Shinichi calls Kasumi by her "real" name on New Year's Day. But you would never catch that on the first time because it isn't revealed until later! Dialogue below:

Spoiler

Shinichi: Well, shall we get going?

Shinichi: -re...

Joker: !

Kasumi: Wha-?

The spoken line is also masked by a distorted static effect, obviously to mask the line until the plot reveal, but that's probably also what's heard when you've had your cognition tweaked! It's a nice bit of foreshadowing.

 

[Qazimod]

Forgot how brutal the Mementos requests can get later. A January one named “O My Young Sister, I Cry For You” felt unavoidable for me because Mishima called me about it in a scripted event and then the target placed itself in an area I hadn’t cleared yet, so I had to go through it.

 

(E: Steam discussion boards suggest that it is avoidable after all; I just had to find a different path in that floor of Mementos. Doh.)

 

It’s a great encounter though, because you end up facing a returning P4 demon - one of the best in that game.

 

Spoiler

Yoshitsune

It has all of the skills you’d expect it to have, and so before you can even think about damaging it you’ve got to nerf him and buff your party a bunch. And even then I ended up using a lot of SP. It’s not impossible though - you do get a feel for the rhythm of the battle and can sometimes anticipate when the strongest attacks are coming, so it can be worth changing to an immune persona (and/or guarding) just for those moments, and then going back to the things you actually need to use when you know that he’ll waste rounds on buffs.

 

In terms of the main story I’ve just got to wait to send the last calling card and take on those encounters, so I’m stocking up on support items from José before then.  

[bradigor]

Quick question re: Confidants. Something I can't remember from P4 

 

Spoiler

On the map screen it tells me when a confident can be ranked up. But do I also need to spend time with them to get to that position? Or is it something I can ignore until it day 'UP' next to their card?

 

[Paulando]

I’ve found the first dungeon in Royal an absolute cakewalk compared to when I first played Persona 5 vanilla in 2017. I remember the higher level enemies being a nightmare on my first play, and had to do it over 2 or 3 days.

 

I’ve waltzed through this in a single day, with SP to spare, and even the enemies 5 levels above me only take a few hits. Did they massively alter the difficulty for P5R?

[Qazimod]

Aaand complete. 71hrs this time (well, 70:59) compared to the 77ish of last time...but with Joker finishing at Lv97 rather than 99.   My original intention was to clear the last area(s) in a day and then grind for support items from José in Mementos for every day until the calling card, but you really don't need that many support items, so eventually I just did less time-consuming activities before going in. Again, the first battle of the final boss battle gauntlet seemed more daunting to me because there's a lot going on with its various attacks and the elemental affinities you can take advantage of - I still think that the actual final battle* is much simpler, especially if you can keep your buffs active and have a few SP restoratives to hand.

 

It's still a lot of fun and I'm glad that the PC version ran without any issues. Now I can pass time with other stuff before P3P in January  

 

*

Spoiler

no, not the non-battle at the very end  

[deerokus]

46 minutes ago, Paulando said:

I’ve found the first dungeon in Royal an absolute cakewalk compared to when I first played Persona 5 vanilla in 2017. I remember the higher level enemies being a nightmare on my first play, and had to do it over 2 or 3 days.

 

I’ve waltzed through this in a single day, with SP to spare, and even the enemies 5 levels above me only take a few hits. Did they massively alter the difficulty for P5R?

You have a lot more ways to recharge sp now.

[SMD]

10 hours ago, bradigor said:

Quick question re: Confidants. Something I can't remember from P4 

 

  Hide contents

On the map screen it tells me when a confident can be ranked up. But do I also need to spend time with them to get to that position? Or is it something I can ignore until it day 'UP' next to their card?

 

 

Spoiler

Depending on where you are in the game, there are activities and confidant skills you can use to increase your affinity with party members and NPCs so you don't have to spend time with them to get them to rank up but bear in mind that there are some days/nights where you won't have anything to do anyway if you don't spend time with confidants.

 

Some confidants autorank though so every time you spend time with them or hit a story trigger will rank up.

 

 

9 hours ago, Paulando said:

I’ve found the first dungeon in Royal an absolute cakewalk compared to when I first played Persona 5 vanilla in 2017. I remember the higher level enemies being a nightmare on my first play, and had to do it over 2 or 3 days.

 

I’ve waltzed through this in a single day, with SP to spare, and even the enemies 5 levels above me only take a few hits. Did they massively alter the difficulty for P5R?

 

Yeah there were balancing changes, some positive and some negative. Some of the palaces have shortcuts, altered routes and extra rooms/enemies too.

[bradigor]

@SMDam I better of spending my evenings with confidants over doing things like the Big Burger Challenge, etc to raise guts, kindness, etc? 

[SMD]

24 minutes ago, bradigor said:

@SMDam I better of spending my evenings with confidants over doing things like the Big Burger Challenge, etc to raise guts, kindness, etc? 

 

Honestly depends on your playing style, if you're blasting through dungeons and Mementos then you could focus on raising your characteristic levels but if you're taking your time with the dungeons you might want to spend more time with confidants.

 

If you're not bothered about doing new game plus then:

 

Spoiler

Your characteristics will carry over so you can pick up where you left off. You'll also have your persona compendium but it'll still cost you the same amount to summon them, so you can't just bring back your most powerful pokemon right at the beginning of the game. Just take your time and enjoy everything, the game is meant to be finished fully by completing it once.

 

If you don't think you'll do NG+ and want to finish (almost) everything in one playthrough, I don't recommend it but:

 

Spoiler

There are confidants gated behind certain levels of characteristics whose skills will be immensely useful for hastening your progress later. This means focus on your courage as well as whichever one is the thoughtful one, I can't remember.

 

I don't recommend this for your first playthrough because it takes the fun out of experimenting with your own style and finishing in one playthrough is meant really for people who finished P5 vanilla. 

 

My tl;dr advice is to do whatever you enjoy doing now and you'll figure out your own strategy. I don't recommend the second spoiler unless you're sure you can't be arsed with a second playthrough but this game excels when you figure out how you want to play. 

[bradigor]

Good stuff, thank you

[SMD]

I think I said this before but the first time I played Persona 4 Golden I was almost at the end of the game before I realised there was an entire social link I'd missed out on. It was annoying at the time but honestly if I'd followed a guide I wouldn't have felt like that playthrough was my story.