What kind of a team you have this time around? The persona you carry and/or teammates

My major teammates was with Chie (Super high crit rate and faster speed, Yukiko(heal and high magic power), and Naoto (Since she can cast elemental attacks now and better magic attack power than most characters)

Got Yoshitsune and his god damn Hassou Tobi killer attack

Trumpeter for debuffing

Kaguya for general elemental attack and Hama

Magatsu-Izanagi just because he looks cool

and soon Izanagi-no-Okami because he looks even cooler.

My plan is to change it up a bit with people I've never really used.

• Yukiko
• Teddie
• Kanji

I always use Yukiko because she is kinda my girl...what? What? Don't judge me.

I also have never used Teddie or Kanji which is weird because Kanji is my favorite character but just never used him before.

I have no idea what Personas I will typically use. I'm kinda gonna go for a 100% completion on my first playthrough, I know that I won't get it but gonna try without a guide and on my NG+ finish off what I missed. I actually even created a spreadsheet to keep track of what personas I got, created, and created with a Max Social Link. Using my excel skills for good things aren't I.

Let's see

1st Playthrough (normal)

MC:

lvl99 Yoshitsune w/ immunity to all elements and Debilitate

lvl99 Lucifer w/ Ice Amp, Ice Boost + the usual

lvl99 Helel w/ Morning Star, Salvation, Auto-Matarukaja, Spell Master, Victory Cry + some other nice stuff

Party:

Chie - God Hand, Power Charge, Evade Fire, Dragon Hustle, etc

Yukiko - Burning Petals, Fire Break, Fire Amp, Fire Boost, Savlation, Amrita, Mediarahan, Evade Ice

Naoto - Megidolaon, Mahamaon, Mamadoon, Hama Boost, Mudo boost, Shield of Justice, Heat Riser, Invigorate 3

During boss fights Naoto would just be on Heat Riser duty + using items to heal the party while the others deal damage. Outside boss fights she just lays waste to everything.

2nd Playthrough (Risky)

MC:

lvl99 Yoshitsune (same)

lvl99 Helel (same)

lvl99 Norn - Debilitate, Auto-Matarukaja, Auto-Masukukaja, Auto-Marakukaja, Enduring Soul, Repel Elec, Repel Physical, Absorb Fire (strong to all elements except light/dark and has Enduring Soul so I can't die with her on - she's a great fight-starter as you come in with everyone having all buffs + debilitate)

lvl99 Izanagi No Okami - Megidolaon, Mind Charge, Angelic Grace, Victory Cry, Repel Physical, Repel Light, Repel Dark, Enduring Soul

Party:

Yosuke - Magarudyne, Wind Break, Brave Blade, Auto-sukukaja, Wind Amp, Wind Boost, Evade Elec, Youthful Wind (wearing a Demon Charm to give him +10 magic, making him a decently heavy hitter)

Yukiko (same)

Naoto (same)

Why the difference?

Some of the new bosses are very physical-unfriendly. Also, I wanted 2x Enduring Soul to take on Margaret on Risky, which I haven't gotten around to - I've soloed her with Yoshitsune after setting the difficulty to Normal though.

How did I level?

I found a Growth 3 skill card :D - I think you can distil one from a persona too, and I'd recommend that. After you do that, slap it on the persona you want to level then head into a dungeon with just your MC and Yoshitsune / Helel / Izanagi the crap out of everything until they die. You get 15k or so XP per fight this way, more so if you set it to "More" XP on New Game +.

I have a really hard time breaking away from my comfortable routine of Chie, Yosuke, and Yukiko, which is kind of the perfect balance of healing and elemental coverage, with Charlie's Personae filling the gaps. It's been this way for me since the original game, I don't think I've ever rolled with the other characters for more than one dungeon each.

With the changes P4G has made, I have half a mind to swap Yosuke for Naoto just to see what she can do. I'd be losing Yosuke's Kaja buffs, but gaining Naoto's light/dark stuff, plus whatever Atlus gave her in their rebalancing. Losing Chie is blasphemy; I shall not blaspheme. Plus her physical attacks are pretty clutch. Her and Yukiko always go together since I need Yuki's healing to keep Chie in the game.

But damn, once I settle on a party, even swapping in the B-listers for experimental purposes just feels wrong. It was the same way with me in P3 - Yukari, Mitsuru, and Akihiko never left my party once they all became available.

I'm on my first game, playing on normal, it is late October, and my main party are all level 61.

MC - Lightning and misc. other skills

Yosuke - Wind

Teddie - Ice

Yukiko - Fire and healing

There's no real strategy behind my Naoto-Chie-Yukiko team... other than I like to be surrounded by my three girlfriends.

...and Ai. And Rise. And Ayane... this is all going to come back to bite me. I can feel it.

I can't seem to use anyone other than the first 3 party members.

The OG four man. Charlie (although that's not what he's called in my game), Yosuke, Chie and Yukiko.

Since I played with the first three dudes you get in OG Persona 4, I've been rolling with Kanji, Teddie, and Naoto. Also because I kinda fudged up Chie's and Yukiko's skill sets (as in not removing Divine Blessing on Yukiko when -rahan spells completely heal you no matter what and removing Sameracarm).

By the way, Naoto is OP.

I've been handling the de/buffs and healings myself with Trumpeter and another persona I don't remember the name of.

@TooWalrus said:

There's no real strategy behind my Naoto-Chie-Yukiko team... other than I like to be surrounded by my three girlfriends.

...and Ai. And Rise. And Ayane... this is all going to come back to bite me. I can feel it.

Not going for Marie? Can't she be your girlfriend?

@Nightriff:

She can, though to my understanding it doesn't change how her storyline goes, just the dialogue of it. I think you get the choice on S.Link 9.

Yukiko is a healing beast and Chie's physical attacks + agility is great, so I rolled with those two on my playthrough. Got rid of Yosuke immediately because who needs a damn wind dude, and Kanji was pretty useful at the strip joint because of all the electricity weaknesses. After that I went with Teddie in the #4 spot for the rest of the game. Liked his buffs and I'm one of those people who wants extra healers just in case. Kinda curious about Naoto, didn't use her once.

I went through quite a few different personas throughout the game, but by the end of it I stuck with Satan as my main one if I remember correctly.

They buffed Kanji and Naoto so hard that you'd be an idiot not to take them. Kanji learns Power Charge, healing spells via bike rides and masukunda (Chie dosen't even get Matarukaja damn it!). Plus, he has higher Strength then Chie, so just hits harder.

Because of the Hama/Mudo buff, Naoto kills everything not immune to light/dark, has elemental attacks, and Megidolaon for those rare mobs that nullify everything.

edit: though I still woulden't take Naoto to boss fights....she still isn't great there since all you've got are not amped elemental spells and Megido.

@amlabella said:

I went through quite a few different personas throughout the game, but by the end of it I stuck with Satan as my main one if I remember correctly.

BUT HE IS WEAK TO WIND!!!

@Mcfart I have to admit she's better,but she's still not that great. Angelic Grace will rarely help with bosses after Heaven. She didn't even get buffed that much,Justice Shield costs way to much SP and is practically useless. She still uses Mind Charge + Megidolean like always. The only good thing from her is Dyne spells and Invigorate 3,only good buff she got in Golden. Heat Riser is alright depending on what Persona you use for your MC.

On Topic:

My party is Chie,Naoto,and Teddie. I always use Teddie with them epic buffs and support,including my name is Teddie,and he's just a humorous cool character overall. Naoto since I've always used her since original Persona game since she has always been my favorite and I like how she's not to powerful. Chie also because she's not to powerful,and it unbalances the party since I have an ice-type Teddie,I like unbalanced teams personally,and I just personally like her third Persona transformation,but I'm not wasting two days this time to evolve their Persona.

@TohruAdachi said:

@Mcfart I have to admit she's better,but she's still not that great. Angelic Grace will rarely help with bosses after Heaven. She didn't even get buffed that much,Justice Shield costs way to much SP and is practically useless. She still uses Mind Charge + Megidolean like always. The only good thing from her is Dyne spells and Invigorate 3,only good buff she got in Golden. Heat Riser is alright depending on what Persona you use for your MC.

On Topic:

My party is Chie,Naoto,and Teddie. I always use Teddie with them epic buffs and support,including my name is Teddie,and he's just a humorous cool character overall. Naoto since I've always used her since original Persona game since she has always been my favorite and I like how she's not to powerful. Chie also because she's not to powerful,and it unbalances the party since I have an ice-type Teddie,I like unbalanced teams personally,and I just personally like her third Persona transformation,but I'm not wasting two days this time to evolve their Persona.

I'm at Magetsu Inaba, and haven't ranked Naoto up much, so I didn't even know she gets Heat Riser/Mind Charge O_O.

Still, even at Magetsu, lots of enemies are either weak or neutral, and with Mudo/Hama Boost, she usually kills everything on screen.

Also I already said don't take her to bosses =P. But if you've played her in vanilla P4...she was useless. Just Hama/Mudo, and they sometimes missed even on weak opponents, and neutral opponents might as well nullify it with her miss rates :(

Oh, and if you didn't notice, they buffed Megido spells by lowering the spell cost by 40%. With Rise's invigorate, Naoto dosen't even need to spend a slot on invigorate...her Megido's a lot cheaper.

Only at the end of October but it's starting to shape up as Yosuke, Yukiko and Naoto. Only change from the original game is Naoto in for Chie. I was rolling with Kanji for a bit and that was working okay. But I like the look of this team. It only hits two elements but it hits them hard, Yukiko having Mudoon lightens the SP burden on Naoto and Yosuke still destroys fools with his mighty wind.

Every time I enter a dungeon or return to the entrance, I swap in my three lowest level allies. It's more or less how I play every RPG ever.

As far as Personas, I'm only at the Void quest and am just fusing whatever looks good at the time, making sure I always have access to every element, a strong beater, and a flexible Invigorate 3.

@TooWalrus: Wait... you went Ayane over Yumi? Sigh....

@Mcfart Yes I'm not crazy,I so remember that being cheaper! Like Megidolean used to be 60 right?

On-Topic:

Changed my party,after watching hiimdaisy numerous times I think I decided what to do. Drama + Sports club. My party will be Chie (ahem,STEAK STEAK STEAK! TRIAL OF THE DRAGON~!!!!) Teddie (just made more puns and still hilarious) Yosuke (GUYS I HAVE TO PEE LIKE RIGHT NOW!)

I am new to Persona 4 and I just got Golden for my vita. Can someone explain a bit more about how to specialize my characters? Is this like a pokemon game where I want to get all the personas or stick with one for a long time?

It's a bit inbetween. You definitely don't want to stick with one for a long time unless you're in the higher levels close to the end game. Persona's level so slowly that fusing new ones and getting bonus xp from your social links is the best way to keep up. It's also the only way to get new moves after a persona is done learning aside from using skill cards.You don't need to get all of them though. Just fuse the ones that have the stats and moves you want and you should be good. You'll eventually be able to have quite a few persona on you at a time so you can construct a group of them that cover everything you'll ever need.