I'll give you guys the basic 11 tips for beating this game, keep in mind these are directly out of the strategy guide:
1. try to get the character's stats maxed out in the order: Knowledge, understanding, expression, courage, and dillegence (for most purposes you only need dilligence to get to level 3).
2. Use S. Links to boost stats early in the game ( try picking 1-3 s links to go after at a time and strength yields some good diligence bonuses, and sun is good for expression, also choosing band club gives you better stat boosts, but a less entertaining story.)
3. always take a corresponding persona with you to the S. Link you're trying to build up (this won't affect the persona, but the s. link will evolve faster)
4. Pace yourself in dungeons.
5. armor is more important than weapons in this game.
6. conserve SP as much as you can.
7. visit dungeons on rainy days for better bonuses.
8. OR eat at Aiya beef on rainy days (it will boost multiple stats instead of just one).
9. Prioritize your party's s. links for better battle bonuses.
10. Use persona's wisely (try to make sure you have a persona for each type of element, and take advantage of swapping powers to personas during fusion)
11. keep back up saves (guess this doesn't help much with the purposes of this series)
