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Re-Endure the Persona 4 Endurance Run: Round 3!

By Make_Me_Mad April 17, 2011 161 Comments

Re-ER Thread 1: Episodes 1~35

Re-ER Thread 2: Episodes 36~70

Re-ER Thread 4: Episodes 119 - End

The Re-Endurance Run has entered its third incarnation with Episode 71! Hard to think of a better way to start. Anyone who feels like it is still welcome to jump in, rewatch, and comment, even if you're not planning to sit through the entire thing again. Just make sure the big spoilers are marked as such! There are still some people watching for the first time, after all.

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lockon_one

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Edited By lockon_one

of all the school events this is my fave bec of the p3 references and stuff

12 years ago

Make_Me_Mad

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Episode 101! Reports of Dungeons in this episode were greatly exaggerated.

Episode 101 might mark the first time Adachi hasn't accidentally spilled useful information, so this most justified of all investigation segments is going to take a little bit longer than anticipated. Luckily, it only take a minute and a half for Yukiko to tip them off to search the school for info. Unfortunately, it takes Vinny and Jeff another 5 minutes to come up with the idea to go talk to people in the school, and set themselves up for a Naoki Konishi related incident in the future. They manage to screw up the Fox Quest, spend an impressive amount of time locating a second Cop to talk to since they somehow missed the several people who would have told them to wait a day to look for him, and eventually settle for trying to talk to a cat all day. Ryan Davis at least keeps things interesting with some commentary, and an important lesson is learned about money.
Tomorrow, Dungeon! Really!

@Devoid

Especially considering that episode 50 was the camping trip. These events always seem to fall in suspiciously apropos episode numbers... at least until the next one.

12 years ago

Devoid

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Edited By Devoid

Even though these investigation parts are kinda annoying to watch someone else do, at least it appealed to my OCD-like 'talk to everyone' side.
One of my favourite things about the persona games is that you talk to the same people throughout the game, but what they say changes. (except when only one or two of them change, and then I spend way too long hearing the same stuff from everyone else)

12 years ago

lockon_one

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Edited By lockon_one

nice still shot be kanji hehe!

i agree with devoid. the npcs here always have an insight on the current situation, are part of the investigation missions, gives you quests, etc. on some rpgs the npcs are just "there"

12 years ago

Make_Me_Mad

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Episode 102! Finally, a look at the latest dungeon.

Jeff seems to have finally puzzled out the reason Kanji's been acting weird every time Naoto is involved, and Vinny is pessimistically expecting the game to take the cheapest route possible to resolving Kanji's issues. I find his lack of faith... kind of depressing. I also thought Naoto's pre-dungeon investigation section was pretty well justified considering how little you know about her beforehand, and despite Vinny and Jeff's clear opinions to the contrary the job got done and Rise is able to lead the Investigation Team to the Secret Laboratory. It's only the first floor, so the enemies hanging around don't create too much of a problem. The biggest issue with this place is that the music makes me incredibly sleepy. That and the terrible decision to get rid of Black Spot, but whatever! Tomorrow, deeper into the Lab.
@Devoid: @lockon_one:
I really enjoyed the NPC's in this game. The guy in the shopping district who keeps freaking out about seeing Ms. Sofue and thinking she's an egyptian ghost, All the times you can catch Mitsuo bitching about whatever is making him mad lately, from bikers to unfaithful women. You can get a surprising amount out of the people in the game if you take the time to talk to them.

12 years ago

mutha3

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@Make_Me_Mad said:

The guy in the shopping district who keeps freaking out about seeing Ms. Sofue and thinking she's an egyptian ghost, All the times you can catch Mitsuo bitching about whatever is making him mad lately, from bikers to unfaithful women. You can get a surprising amount out of the people in the game if you take the time to talk to them.

Spacy girl is the best NPC in any videogame ever.

12 years ago

sameeeeam

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Edited By sameeeeam

@mutha3 said:

@Make_Me_Mad said:
The guy in the shopping district who keeps freaking out about seeing Ms. Sofue and thinking she's an egyptian ghost, All the times you can catch Mitsuo bitching about whatever is making him mad lately, from bikers to unfaithful women. You can get a surprising amount out of the people in the game if you take the time to talk to them.
Spacy girl is the best NPC in any videogame ever.

I dunno, Isaach and Isaiah from DP are plenty spacy themselves. Those kids are either doing drugs, or have terrible voice actors. :P

12 years ago

WatanabeKazuma

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Edited By WatanabeKazuma

Like I've said previously (In here I think) I find the optional in this game to be absolutely fantastic, its well worth seeking out. It does a great job in fleshing out events that actually happen during the course of the game but off-screen, some of Yosuke's best douchey lines are hidden away there.

In terms of NPCs in Persona games, Ms. Toriumi is a favorite of mine. A lot of other characters make mention of her lying to the other teachers and her general laziness among other things, the more you play the more it makes sense.

12 years ago

Make_Me_Mad

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Episode 103! It starts with 13 and a half minutes of solid Persona fusing, so be ready for that.

I won't complain about the time spent fusing here, as I have spent longer in the Velvet Room for far less valid reasons. It does make me really glad they never went about doing Margaret's Social Link, though. I like how paranoid Jeff is that this dungeon is going to be some kind of horrible labyrinthine monster when it's really not bad at all compared to some of the ones they already passed through. The enemies still aren't much of a problem, but I like that they start making the enemies a little more tricky here, such as giving a physical resistant enemy like the Source Basalts the ability to enrage you. It's not as bad as getting enraged by an enemy that can repel physical attacks, but it continues to keep the battles interesting.
Naoto's dungeon also seems to absolutely love handing out the Homunculus. I had 11 by the time I got out of that place, which only made me even more nervous about light/dark weaknesses. Still loving Vinny's descriptions of the Persona that appear in Shuffle Time, the Dismayed Panzers make a pretty great impression on Jeff, and all that time spent fusing Rangda payed off! The Judgment Card obviously wants this dungeon crawling to continue tomorrow.
@mutha3: @Underachiever007:
Spacy girl and the Deadly Premonition twins are pretty okay, but I'm partial to the student who stands next to the window in your classroom. I'm hoping completing that last quest for him will finally let him hook up with the girl on the roof! I also enjoy the continued efforts of the girl on the first floor to get hired as Daidara's apprentice blacksmith.
@WatanabeKazuma:
The NPCs in these games are absolutely second to none. I wish quite a few of them were more important so that I could talk to them more in depth.

12 years ago

lockon_one

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@Make_Me_Mad: i played a lot of rpg games, especially the Final Fantasy series, and you are absolutely right abt the npcs. you could also get some secrets abt some characters bec. of the npc interaction. like king moron being a secret fan of rise.

12 years ago

sameeeeam

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Edited By sameeeeam

I'm not the biggest fan of Naoto's dungeon. I always felt it looked a little bland compared to the others.

12 years ago

mutha3

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Edited By mutha3

@Underachiever007 said:

I'm not the biggest fan of Naoto's dungeon. I always felt it looked a little bland compared to the others.

Really? I thought it was one of the more interesting looking ones! I liked the nifty doors and the control rooms.

The music's awesome as well.

12 years ago

sameeeeam

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Edited By sameeeeam

@mutha3 said:

@Underachiever007 said:
I'm not the biggest fan of Naoto's dungeon. I always felt it looked a little bland compared to the others.
Really? I thought it was one of the more interesting looking ones! I liked the nifty doors and the control rooms.The music's awesome as well.

I don't think I worded that quite right. It's certainly not bland - it's got more going on in it than Yukiko's dungeon and the music is definitely great. I guess I don't like the industrial look very much.

12 years ago

Make_Me_Mad

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Episode 104! 12 minutes of fusing is forgivable when there's an hour of Endurance Run.

Once you get through another short stint in the Velvet Room and some vaguely creepy Kikuri-Hime related roleplaying it's back into the lab, where Jeff has discovered that there is in fact some keycard trickery going on in the deeper floors. The game continues to keep the interesting enemies coming, and the aversion to physical attacks really starts to bite the guys in the ass here with the enemies constantly repelling magic attacks. The Chaos Fuzz manage to screw things up pretty badly just by standing in place while bouncing back everything that touches them! I have to wonder why they even buy weapons if they're never going to use them. The miniature World Balances also manage to be one of my favorite enemies in the game for their particular behavior pattern, which amounts entirely to "Shoot lightning at the main character until everything stops moving". They're harmless once you know that, but the first time you see one you're almost guaranteed to get messed up pretty badly. Some decent progress into the dungeon today, but there's still a rapid spike in enemy difficulty coming up in a few floors and a miniboss to deal with. This is where watching even the usual gameplay gets really interesting.
@lockon_one:
My personal favorite bit of NPC knowledge in this game is that Mrs. Kashiwagi has apparently canceled and otherwise ruined multiple marriage arrangements, even during the course of the game. I really wish a lot of these characters were social links...
@mutha3: @Underachiever007:
I like the aesthetics of Naoto's dungeon a lot, but the music, while awesome, is extremely good at making me sleepy. It's also a little too green for my tastes, despite it being one of my favorite colors.

12 years ago

lockon_one

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@Make_Me_Mad: i think the social links are based on those tarot cards thats why there are only a certain no. of them. but yes i wish there were like 2 or 3 more of them and they added an extra month or so for these. wonder how they will incorporate the social link npcs on the anime though.

i think naoto's dungeon is based on those sentai headquarters.

12 years ago

Devoid

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Edited By Devoid

I would totally join a company that uses the Secret Base music for their training videos.
..Also, it's great watching how Hitokoto-Nushi ("fire guy") is just out of their reach over and over again.

12 years ago

Make_Me_Mad

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Episode 105! It's nice to see everyone having fun again.

This is probably the most energy I've ever seen the guys have during a dungeon episode. Fusing at the start, as is quickly becoming the norm, and also becoming more and more common is Fox getting paid for his services. SP is running out faster and faster in these dungeon runs, and the higher Fox's social link goes the harder it is to argue with his prices. Money is pretty easy to make when the dungeon requires you to backtrack, though, and this round of SP is finally starting to pull it's own weight. Vinny and Jeff's exasperation at the continued success of Tentarafoo is a beautiful thing to behold, and the enemies keep being great. Wild Drive is an awesome design with his crazy leg-wheels and club-arms, and the horrible second or two once they realized that Chaos Fuzz was reflecting Hamaon back at Charlie was just fantastic. Keycard firmly in wherever the hell Charlie keeps his hundreds of items, weapons, and fish, the guys head back to floor 4 for a fight with the Midboss.
...Tomorrow!
@Devoid:
Were I running a company that used Naoto's dungeon's background music in it's training videos, I'd pretty much only hire people who recognized it, so that works out great.

12 years ago

Nux

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Edited By Nux

It's nice to see that I'm not the only one on his 3rd re-watch of this Endurance Run.

12 years ago

Make_Me_Mad

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Episode 106! That was about the most anticlimactic locked-door opening I've ever seen.

In an actual surprise, the Midboss wasn't waiting for them behind that particular locked door. He was behind the next one, that must literally have been about 25 feet away at most. I do like that Vinny has apparently started to refer to all giant robot enemies as Rollouts, and also that they thought to put in a Persona that could repel physical attacks. The party wide guarding was especially funny, since I did the same exact thing, not realizing that someone had to poke the proverbial bomb, but I have to wonder what Vinny was thinking when he was going to let Charlie be the one to set it off. Does it still count as a proverbial bomb when it's a self-destructing robot? That seems like it might just be a literal bomb.
Anyways, Mid-boss thoroughly destroyed and Leader card acquired, so it's back down to B6 to open another locked door. Dave Snider checks in while they're on the way, Vinny does a tiny bit of singing, and when they make it to B7 they decide to check out of the dungeon and save the game so we don't have an even worse version of the Bathhouse disaster. Margaret gives the guys another discount for registering various Personae, and there's still zero interest in trying to complete any of her quests. I think we can all agree that's for the best.
@Nux:
Somewhere, someone is always re-rewatching the Endurance Run. (It's usually me.)

12 years ago

Make_Me_Mad

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Double episode today. Combined, they come up to roughly an hour of Endurance Run, so don't fret.

Episode 107 is a short one, as the guys try to wrap up the last bit of the dungeon they're able before heading back. The battle with the Fierce Cyclops team at the start was pretty great, but the whole "enemies absorbing fire" thing can't compare to the battle against Dominating Machine, wherein Chie gets serious and almost single-handedly destroys a giant robot. Still can't get over Jeff's laugh when High Counter triggered, and the critical hit just cements that anyone who takes Chie out of their party is insane. Also, any time the guys find an excuse to talk about the Knife Show, I'm happy. The physical skills and attacks are finally seeing a little more use, but that reversed Temperance card is murder on a dungeon run. Chie gets her power charge, Yosuke and the team lag behind and freak Jeff out pretty good, and Black Frost is still hanging in there as one of the most useful Personae the guys have, and then it's time to check out of the Midnight Channel to go hit on Yukiko.

Episode 108! The decision not to buy the Soma combo is downright haunting. Yukiko isn't available, so the guys spend all day hanging out with old ladies. Vinny's announcer voice during the S. Link kind of creeps me out, and Jeff's assumption that Hisano was a murderer is pretty spot on with my initial impression of her. Yukiko's around the next day, though, and it's time for the S. Link 10 scene- which I cannot overstate the hilariousness of. Probably one of the best dialogue options in the game at the start there, the incredible awkwardness of the "I love you", and then Jeff notices they can create Scathach... it's just the best. "Yo, baby, I wanna stick it up your Scathach!" "I said I love you..." "That's what that means!" The guys then go on to help Nanako out of a difficult situation, answer yet another hilariously bad question in school, and teach a girl how to better talk to people. Also, astonishingly enough, Vinny actually remembers a character when they run into Namatame on the street. Equipment shopping and Persona fusing ensue, and tomorrow it's back to the secret lab!

12 years ago

Devoid

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Edited By Devoid

BOO-o-o-..boof. It's good Vinny isn't a one-trick pony.

I wonder why they didn't go with Tanaka's "happy" portrait like in Persona 3, because that definitely would have persuaded me to buy even more useless crap that I didn't need. Though his song alone does a pretty good job of that.
And I love the guys' reactions to the girls' S. Link 10 scenes; they're great. "The floor good with you? *zip* ..How 'bout the sofa?"

12 years ago

Make_Me_Mad

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Episode 109! You can rotate enemies in the analysis screen?!

Seriously, I completely forgot that was possible. The first battle with the Jotuns of Power actually went by with so little incident that I wonder if it might have been to lull Vinny and Jeff into a false sense of security, because the next time those guys show up God's Hands start flying right off the bat. Kind of a big difficulty spike with these enemies. Still, the guys make it to floor 9, which turns out to be the Boss battle! After deciding that they'll be kicking out Shadow Naoto's teeth in this episode, they head to the entrance for some fusing and SP recovery, and Igor makes his first fusion accident of the game... those Abaddon reactions are outstanding.
Contrary to what some episodes of the ER say, you can't spend forever in the Velvet Room, and soon enough Naoto and her Shadow are having it out while Charlie and company wait for the least effective time to say anything. Oh, yeah, Naoto's a chick. Don't pretend you're surprised. Even Naoto's boss battle is long winded, and that SP draining Mute Ray is probably the single most annoying attack in the game. Fire breaking, Power and Mind charging, and kicking ensue for a while, and things start to look troubling when the TV has some serious technical difficulties, but the Investigation Team wins out again! Naoto and her Shadow talk it out some more, with one of the more heavy handed "accept yourself" speeches in the game, and she gets an extremely unimpressive looking persona for her troubles.
Yukiko and the girls cart Naoto off to recover, and it marks one of the only occasions that Dojima hasn't gotten drunk for. Adachi, however, is totally smashed, and spills even more information about his and Dojima's troubles than normal. Jeff is a little upset at the hostility, but for the record I don't think it would matter if you and Dojima were war buddies considering that he's suspecting you of being involved in a serial murder case.

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

Also, just Adachi being a dunk idiot talking to Nanako there, or was that supposed to be some subtle foreshadowing going on?

12 years ago

sameeeeam

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Edited By sameeeeam

I really like the way Naoto's shadow looks. In fact, all the bosses in this game have really good design.

12 years ago

Make_Me_Mad

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Episode 110: Juliana Hatfield is still not dead.

I finally realized that Abaddon reminds me of that death scene from The Stuff that Rorie loves so much. One mystery explained. The guys teach a girl on the roof how to talk to people, and some serious persona-fusing debates happen during the fusion of Tam-Lin, during which Jeff has the idea of "Making dudes to make dudes, dude". Again, thank god they never tried out Margaret's requests, and I love that neither of them was actually sure what Amrita did, despite all the time spent deciding whether or not to keep it. Today is a very fox-centric episode, as Vinny and Jeff turn in the old quest and set about helping a man get over his insane fear of cats. The run in with Naoki was pretty great for the accidental summoning of Morooka's ghost, but I think it still holds up if you consider that Morooka did say he would be filling in for a missing committee member before he died. Vinny calling the Handkerchief was pretty slick, too.
Rise is next on the list of ladies for Charlie to hang out with, but her old manager (who I still think acts like a total goddamn scumbag) is hassling her about coming back to show-business. Those dialogue options just keep on getting better... The teachers at school are still terrible, Rise has a mild tofu-centric existential crisis, and Nanako F'in runs away from home. Things got a little crazy there, but I love Jeff and Vinny's impersonations of crazy Nanako. I also love the amount of ripping on Dojima they do once she's found. "Your dad sucks."
Highlight of the episode is probably when Ai calls the guys up for a shopping trip, though, as Yukiko's interruption of the date escalates things to crisis territory. The Giant Bomb think tank gets in on the discussion, with Vinny defaulting to apologetic, Drew not knowing what to do, Ryan wanting more details, and Brad's advice to live by, "Don't admit fault". Things seem to have worked out for the best this time, though.
@Underachiever007:
The boss designs in this game are outstanding. Yukiko and Kanji are probably my favorites, with Naoto being at the low end of the scale, but they're all pretty cool.

12 years ago

mutha3

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@Make_Me_Mad said:

Episode 107 is a short one, as the guys try to wrap up the last bit of the dungeon they're able before heading back. The battle with the Fierce Cyclops team at the start was pretty great, but the whole "enemies absorbing fire" thing can't compare to the battle against Dominating Machine, wherein Chie gets serious and almost single-handedly destroys a giant robot. Still can't get over Jeff's laugh when High Counter triggered, and the critical hit just cements that anyone who takes Chie out of their party is insane. Also, any time the guys find an excuse to talk about the Knife Show, I'm happy. The physical skills and attacks are finally seeing a little more use, but that reversed Temperance card is murder on a dungeon run. Chie gets her power charge, Yosuke and the team lag behind and freak Jeff out pretty good, and Black Frost is still hanging in there as one of the most useful Personae the guys have, and then it's time to check out of the Midnight Channel to go hit on Yukiko.

Chie sucks battlewise, dude:x http://www.giantbomb.com/chie-satonaka/94-6115/man-chie-got-the-short-end-of-the-stick/35-409606/

Can't believe they deleted black spot for her, btw, that's, like, her only useful skill for the 30 levels following it! God hand/power charge combo is pretty damn sweet, though. It was fun to see Chie redeemed in the ER and in the eyes of Jeff/Vinny after the 70ish episodes of sucking. That was also around the same time where they finally started using insta-kill and physicals, I believe.

12 years ago

Make_Me_Mad

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Edited By Make_Me_Mad

@mutha3:
What. The Mjolnir boots alone are reason enough to keep Chie around! They turn her into some kind of beautiful critical hit machine, and noone cares how strong a spell is unless the enemy is weak to it anyways.

12 years ago

MisterChief

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Edited By MisterChief

Can someone tell me the episode in which Chie gets god hand?

12 years ago

mutha3

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@Make_Me_Mad said:

@mutha3:
What. The Mjolnir boots alone are reason enough to keep Chie around! They turn her into some kind of beautiful critical hit machine, and

Eh. Naoto, Yukiko and Yosuke not only get medium crit up weapons as well, but Yukiko and Naoto also have higher luck than Chie to boot and Yosuke only barely loses out. And seeing how luck is the only stat affecting critical hit rate...She's not the best in that area either.

Blackspot and godhand+powercharge are pretty nice. But ultimately not enough to make up for Chie's shortcomings. I'd say from a strategic point, you're better off using any other character. Chie has the lowest damage output for 90% of the game, no particularly impressive utility like Teddy and Yosuke(who are pretty much Swiss army knife rpg characters), no supporting skills(buffing, healing) of any note like the others.

Didn't prevent me from using her, though!

noone cares how strong a spell is unless the enemy is weak to it anyways.

Well....in the 90% occurring scenario that an enemy is not weak to the element you're casting, I'd imagine you would care. Yukiko and Yosuke are able to pull their weight by damaging/finishing off enemies, while Chie does less damage than the other two do in one turn even if you powercharge her attacks. And significantly less damage if you are not willing to drain her rather low SP pool.

"Dude, Chie's ice sucks" - Jeff Gerstmann, some ER episode I can't recall.

12 years ago

Make_Me_Mad

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Edited By Make_Me_Mad

@mutha3:
I was always extremely conservative as far as SP goes, so that might have something to do with it, but Chie was consistently one of the best characters on my team. I didn't think it was worth it to use a spell on any enemy that couldn't be killed almost as easily with physical attacks, because Yukiko's SP lasted a lot longer healing one or two hits than it did casting fire on enemies all the time. If I just burned through SP as fast as possible, yeah, everyone else would probably outdo her as far as damage went, but Chie never needed to blow her SP to get consistently good damage. Yosuke misses too much, and Yukiko does too little damage for anything but finishing weakened enemies off- which makes her and Chie a good team, coincidentally, because Chie will often kick something to within an inch of death.

My team is almost always Kanji, Chie, and Yukiko, though, so it's pretty obvious that physical attacks are my modus operandi.

12 years ago

mutha3

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Edited By mutha3

@Make_Me_Mad:

I didn't think it was worth it to use a spell on any enemy that couldn't be killed almost as easily with physical attacks

Checking episode 108 for a sec-- Yosuke does almost twice the damage Chie does with a garula. And if you don't use the SP you get, I don't even see the point of conserving it. The game gives ya plenty of sp restoring possibilities.I can understand the benefits of a full phys team, though....

But that's the thing: Chie's physical attacks aren't particulary impressive either. She's outclassed by Yosuke, Kanji and even Naoto until she gets god hand. Heat wave has a really low hit rate and a crappy attack rate, rampage is good for a long while, but as you hit the mid forties it "light attack" rating starts to shine through. And as for her normal physical attacks: Kanji and Yosuke have higher strength and Naoto has a higher crit rate(and a much better phys skillset-- its like they gave Chie's skills to Naoto). On top of the latter three being able to do other stuff as well(magic, buffing and instakill)

You mention that Yosuke misses too often -- that ain't true. Yosuke does not have a single skill with a low hit rate and he has by far the highest agility stat in the game(which is what determines a characters inherent hit rate and turn order) .

Oh and and a disclaimer because certain segments of the GB community seem oddly allergic to two people discussing something at times: we're not arguing over our internet honor here. I just think its fun to talk about game mechanics. Thanks for indulging me, Make_Me_Mad.

12 years ago

Make_Me_Mad

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@mutha3:
Oh, I agree, discussing game mechanics in this one is fun. I'd actually talk about fusing, but I think the average non-obsessive person's head would probably burst.

I just think that Chie's skillset being weak in the 40s or so isn't so big a deal. Sure, there's a dry spell while she learns counterstrike and such, but the skills she already has work pretty well for getting her through it. Yukiko is much the same, having a healing 'weak point' in her levels. And I did use up my SP, but I preferred to make it at least to the top of a dungeon, to the save point/boss floor on the first day, and since physical attacks can't miss enemies who are down Chie's rampage became invaluable for cleaning up groups of enemies who were trickier than average. To be honest, around the time Chie was learning God Hand, most battles didn't last long enough for anyone but my main character to get a turn anyways.

And it seemed like Yosuke was missing more often than anyone else on the team. Maybe I just had a habit of using him to attack enemies with high dodge rates? Not sure.

12 years ago

mutha3

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I think Chie's dry run lasts up until she gets Rainy death at lvl 67(and its really God Hand at 70 where she gets good and not merely "okay"). That's two dungeons removed from the end at best. As an endgame character, Chie's actually very good. Agneyastra make her stand up to Kanji in usefulness despite her weaker God Hand because she can hit multiple dudes.....but there's nothing really compelling to fight at that point, so, eh.

Her biggest flaw, I think, is really that drought in between Heat Wave and Deadly Rain. in that entire time-- In which 30 levels pass, she suffers from the problems I just described in my above post. Her "all around stats" also really don't help her. I have no idea why they made Chie that way, stat-wise. Her balanced skill growth would have been way better spent on Yosuke.Her unfortunately high magic stat especially makes me go ".....wat?" She loses her usefulness as a damage dealer through magic 30% into the game. Whenever she leveled up and her magic increased I'd always be like "ARGH NO!!!".

But the weirdest thing of all is still the Rainy death thing. She learns it at level 67 and its gets replaced 3 LEVELS LATER by god hand. At a point in the game where heavy physes have looooonnnnggg since been the norm...and then it gets replaced by a severe level skill. You have NO compelling reason to retain rainy death. If she had gotten rainy death at, I dunno, level 50 and instead of Heat Wave a good mid level skill or something she'd have been way more useful.

@Make_Me_Mad

said:

@mutha3: Maybe I just had a habit of using him to attack enemies with high dodge rates? Not sure.

Probably. Or maybe you just had a couple of battles where the RNG screwed you over and that impression kept staying. Or you used a weapon with a pitifully low hit ratio for a while.

But Yosuke really does have the best hit ratio in the party.

12 years ago

Little_Socrates

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I'VE RETURNED TO YOU, PERSONA 4 !

I'm currently at about Episode 65 continuity-wise, though I've reached Floor Nine twice now; however, I didn't expect Sky Balance to repel Hama (protagonist used it, insta-died) and I didn't expect those birds that are weak to ice damage to use Hama (hit protagonist, insta-died.) I'm watching Episode 66 tonight, then going to bed for now.

Impressed by the fact that the sub-boss was so minimal. Also impressed by Jeff and Vinny not resetting after killing that damned bathhouse post-boss for 1 XP.

12 years ago

mutha3

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@Little_Socrates said:

I'VE RETURNED TO YOU, PERSONA 4 ! I'm currently at about Episode 65 continuity-wise, though I've reached Floor Nine twice now; however, I didn't expect Sky Balance to repel Hama (protagonist used it, insta-died) and I didn't expect those birds that are weak to ice damage to use Hama (hit protagonist, insta-died.) I'm watching Episode 66 tonight, then going to bed for now. Impressed by the fact that the sub-boss was so minimal. Also impressed by Jeff and Vinny not resetting after killing that damned bathhouse post-boss for 1 XP.

Fighting your way through an old dungeon is actually a really bad idea. You're much better off just rushing to the boss and taking it out, since the XP you get from fighting weak enemies is completely negligible and will only hurt you in the long run by making you not want to keep playing as much when fighting in a dungeon that actually matters.

And you're watching the ER and playing Persona 4 at the same time? Dude, you're crazy:P

12 years ago

WatanabeKazuma

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Chie's dry run lasts more or less the entire game, God Hand makes her into some ridiculous killing machine but up until then I began to wonder why I kept her in my party. If I ever get round to playing through again I think I will look to Yosuke instead, you will be shocked to know I never used him past Kanji's dungeon orginally!

12 years ago

mutha3

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@WatanabeKazuma said:

Chie's dry run lasts more or less the entire game, God Hand makes her into some ridiculous killing machine but up until then I began to wonder why I kept her in my party. If I ever get round to playing through again

To be fair, in the first 3 or so dungeons she has her uses, I think(Rampage is a great move and despite her low SP, her ice gets the job done). But when the time comes that the game gives you the decision on which party members to use.....Yeah.

As for the bolded: because chie is awesome, yo.

@WatanabeKazuma

said:

you will be shocked to know I never used him past Kanji's dungeon orginally!

I am. I thought you of all people would understand the broness of yosuke.>:(

12 years ago

WatanabeKazuma

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@mutha3 said:

@WatanabeKazuma
said:
you will be shocked to know I never used him past Kanji's dungeon orginally!
I am. I thought you of all people would understand the broness of yosuke.>:(

Oh I do, believe me. I got stubborn and did not want to grind out new party members though, being my first Persona game I never realized how quickly that could be rectified. Stupid Chie and her weak-ass Bufu spells! Oh thats right, I went there...

I'm digging a huge hole for myself at this point!

12 years ago

Make_Me_Mad

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Episode 111! Let today forever be known as the day I probably should have done a double episode.

This one is pretty short, because I feel pretty physically ill this time around, and because the episodes coming up are kind of long, so a breather will be nice. There's no shortage of things happening in this episode, though, as the guys decide to start the day by maxing Dojima's Social Link! No better way to know you're part of a family than a cheap coffee mug you have to write your own name on. Free refills for life aren't a bad consolation, though, and neither is Kohryu. That was a pretty corny level 10 scene at the riverbed, but on the other hand, Dojima gets to beat up criminals. When the anime comes around, we better get to see him take someone down. The constant calls for refills every time Dojima is on screen will continue to entertain me for the rest of the ER, as will the hesitation to hang out with Yumi thanks to how awkward the situation with her dad is and Vinny's continued inability to stop himself from saying things that sound awful. I still regret the guys not hanging out with Ai more often, because watching her and Rise about to tear each other limb from limb was great.

Note that I'm considering taking a break for the duration of Giantbomb's E3 coverage, because there will already be too much going on to pile the Re-ER in with it. Tell me what you think!

12 years ago

mutha3

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@Make_Me_Mad said:

Note that I'm considering taking a break for the duration of Giantbomb's E3 coverage, because there will already be too much going on to pile the Re-ER in with it. Tell me what you think!

They took a week long break during ER as well, right?(with their first episode when they returned being the hama birds)

Seems like a good idea to me! Maybe a week long break during E3.

12 years ago

Make_Me_Mad

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Episode 112! It's full of Jeff and Vinny doing things they really don't want to.

Reluctantly deciding to do things and eating at Aiya seems to be the theme of this episode, as the guys make a trip to the Velvet Room to get the Persona they'll need to efficiently hang out with Kanji. Kanji's about as good with annoying kids as I am, but one area he definitely has an advantage is the ability to sew metric tons of dolls and accessories in a single day. I'm sort of surprised that 'very elaborate' never caught on like some other Endurance Run-isms did. Now that Charlie's no longer getting laid at the hospital, Vinny and Jeff are free to drop the pretense that they care about the Devil social link, and Rise's manager is still a stalkerish, manipulative scumbag.
Chie tricks Charlie into shopping at Croco Fur, one of the weirdest looking stores I've ever seen, and apparently the only place that girls in this game shop for clothes if various social links are to be believed. Again, just throwing it out there, but Kashiwagi seems like she's actually the most competent, effective teacher in this game next to Sofue. Maybe that has something to do with biology being my favorite course, but still, way more school appropriate knowledge than where you can grow a melon or what time to do a break-in. Most entertaining bit about all of the hellish fishing they're doing for the Fox quest is that the rank 10 link with the fox requires even more fishing. At least they manage to finish out the day with HOT97 references on top of even more Beef Bowls.

12 years ago

WatanabeKazuma

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@Make_Me_Mad:

Taking a break sounds like a good idea, and as pointed out, it fits in with the original schedule.

Kashiwagi is an odd one, admittedly I never aware of the whole 'christmas cake' status the first time around. The teacher's do have a lot of personality, I always found Edogawa to be the most interesting in terms of the actual classes that you see in-game. In both games hes on hand to deliver a whole heap of key exposition right under the players nose, and it actually interesting.

Croco Fur is cool, I mean they don't care that you're still supposed to be in school, they like, understand!

Also the fishing reminds me of my surprise of the first time of catching the King Fish, it was a lot bigger than I was expecting!

12 years ago

Make_Me_Mad

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Episode 113! Naoto decides to take up the first 22 minutes today.

About half of that 22 minutes is used to review things that the investigation team pretty much already knew, except for one or two interesting new facts thrown in. Vinny and Jeff make damn fine prediction or two at the Junes table, and luckily Naoto spends the next 10 minutes or so having the Investigation Team checked out for horrible Midnight Channel related illnesses. Teddie screws up the hospital equipment, however, and the guys notice that the hospital and doctors are pretty terrible. That will continue to be the case. As entertaining as the idea of Yosuke and his headphones pulling a Videodrome is, the rest of the team checks out as healthy, and it's back to waiting around while the killer plots his next move.
Midterms loom again, but Charlie's Knowledge finally gets maxed out, and with Jeff's iphone to back him up, the test are now a non-issue! That leaves nothing to do but hit on emotionally frail former celebrities and hang out with Nanako. I find it funny that pretty much everyone you hang out with will run into Nanako at some point. Almost like she's following you... Eri gets a long belated visit at the day care center, the teachers are still weird, and Teddie is really rushing that whole Social Linking thing.
Nanako's Max S. Link scene involves way less criminal beating than Dojima's did, but it's still entertaining, even if you do only get Sraosha for it. The Culture Festival gets its first mention, Kashiwagi throws out a decent question between her usual innuendo, and the episode is over. Big things in the next few...

We'll be taking a break for the duration of Giantbomb's E3 coverage, and switching to a new thread after episode 118. Links will added to the old threads and this one, as always!

12 years ago

Little_Socrates

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Edited By Little_Socrates

I badly, badly need to take a day off from Persona 4. I think I've probably spent about 40 hours with the game since Friday between watching the Endurance Run and playing the game...I think I actually just woke up from a dream about grinding in the striptease.

(I'm deep into Void Quest currently, running along an accelerated version of the Endurance Run schedule. Also fully maxed out Expression and the Fellow Athletes social link, have Professor level knowledge, and already have Black Frost.)

12 years ago

mutha3

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@Little_Socrates said:

already have Black Frost.)

If you so choose to, you can use that Persona until very close to the endgame(lvl 70). Its not ideal, but totally viable if you don't enjoy fusing. I like fusin', tho! so I wouldn't recommend it.

12 years ago

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@Little_Socrates said:

I think I actually just woke up from a dream about grinding in the striptease.

Doesn't seem like a bad dream to me.

A break for E3 seems like a pretty good idea. While not having the Endurance Run for a week will be a little unfortunate, I'm psyched that we'll be coming to my favorite episode of the ER soon!

12 years ago

Make_Me_Mad

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Episode 114! A short episode today, while Jeff, Vinny, and an internet guide make their way to the culture festival.

The popped collar-laundry-racism-laundry again discussion at the start is priceless. Ryan's interjections into the usual ER proceedings almost always start great things. Fox quests are officially over now that the guys missed their chance to buy a fish, so it's back to hanging out with Kanji and that kid with the doll problem. Jeff and Vinny naturally manage to gloss over Kanji's nice little bit of backstory revelation with terrible, terrible jokes about his sexuality, and I wouldn't expect anything less from them. Their comments about the other social links being depressing make me wish, once again, that they would have spent more time with Ai, because I'd have loved to see their deliberations on how to talk someone down from a rooftop ledge. Midterms happen, and the Principal asks Charlie to find him parts from a tank. I love that school.
Suddenly, warning letters! Someone is threatening the Investigation Team via a letter delivered to Dojima's house. The team naturally assembles on the roof to discuss this turn of events, but it all boils down to waiting until something new happens yet again. Luckily, the Festival is coming up, so they've at least got something to take their minds off of the possible deadly threat now hanging over all of their heads.
Also, if we're planning to take a break for Giantbomb's E3 shenanigans, does anyone know when the site is switching over to E3 coverage mode? I should probably know that already... Remember, new thread after episode 118!
@Little_Socrates:
When you have a dream about wiping yourself out with a badly reflected Ma-spell, or Igor screws up two of your Triangle fusions in a row, then we'll talk.

12 years ago

Make_Me_Mad

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Episode 115! An official Social Link hierarchy is established.

Jeff's decision to hang out with Naoto before Kanji always struck me as odd, considering how little patience they have for her talking in a storyline basis. I'm mainly just upset they never made it far enough with Kanji to almost-fight some cops. Would have been awesome. Bigger things to worry about anyways, like the votes for what Charlie's class is going to be doing for the Culture Festival. Vinny and Jeff put aside their uneasiness about voiced minor characters and decide to vote for the Group Date Cafe. Most of the class follows suit, and it's discovered that asking Naoto out requires more courage than they're capable of mustering up. The Man's Life series comes through for them where Aiya failed, but the next day is taken up with Rise's issues anyways.
That manager is still a total friggin' scumbag. At least his emotional manipulation of an already unstable high school girl lets Charlie acquire another girlfriend. Rewards for the Exam are collected, Naoto's Social Link starts off with a mysterious, unidentifiable card, and also, she carries a gun. Naoto and Kanji's social links continue to be worked on, and the Devil S. link gets less and less appealing to Vinny and Jeff as time goes on.
Jeff mentioned his home game of Persona 4, but I wonder just how far in it he was at this point. Certainly doesn't see all that surprised about a lot of things... Anyways, the new buzz at school is about the female portion of the Investigation Team having entered the beauty pageant. It's hard not to have already guessed that it was without their knowledge, or Yosuke and Teddie were behind it. This might help Kanji clear some things up, though, and Naoto is awfully dense for a detective. Next time, more Culture Festival! It really only gets better from here.

12 years ago

Devoid

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Edited By Devoid

Man, I freaking loved the Culture Festival; really looking forward to seeing it again.

Also, I'm really surprised at how much S-Linking the guys have gotten done. My biggest regret of my playthrough was that I only maxed out about 7 links, but that's what I get for not reading anything about games until I've finished them.
But I'll definitely rectify that when I replay it later.. this year.

12 years ago

mutha3

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@Devoid said:

Man, I freaking loved the Culture Festival; really looking forward to seeing it again. Also, I'm really surprised at how much S-Linking the guys have gotten done. My biggest regret of my playthrough was that I only maxed out about 7 links, but that's what I get for not reading anything about games until I've finished them. But I'll definitely rectify that when I replay it later.. this year.

I'm......pretty sure thats around the same amount they managed to get done eventually. They only had the A team+Naoto+Nurse+Dojima/Nanako. That's 8, unless your counting the automatic ones in which I case, I am impressed you managed to end up that low!:P I'm pretty sure I had most, if not all, S-links maxed first time through.

To be honest, I feel they skipped out on some of the best ones in the game. Especially missing out on the Kanji one is a huge disappointment. Ai, Shu, death lady, Naoki and even Kou are way more interesting than Naoto, Yukiko and the dumb nurse as well.

At least they got the Dojima combo!

12 years ago

Make_Me_Mad

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Episode 116! This school alternates very rapidly between being okay with crossdressing and being offended by it.

It might just be the nature of this part of the game, but Vinny and Jeff seemed really on the ball in this episode. The investigation Team has turned against each other once again with this whole pageant business, and now it looks like Yosuke, Kanji, and Charlie are all going to be dressing up as women during the Festival. Once again, Yosuke's mistakes lead to the suffering of everyone around him. I think you're pretty much required to like Kanji after this episode, and Yukiko's blackmail move earns her some points. "Y-you're positive we'll be pretty...?"
Before the abject humiliation of half of the team, though, there's still the Group Date Cafe to get through. It's going pretty terribly, as expected, but at least Jeff and Vinny had little trouble making the decision to jump to the girls' side of the table. Kanji's roped in like always, and continues to be extremely unsubtle about how into Naoto he is. Yosuke almost gets himself beaten up again, Rise stops by, freaks out, and promptly leaves, and the Group Date Cafe goes down as a complete failure. But at least they got a little closer to Kanji.
Daisuke, Kou, and Ai are still in the game, as it turns out, and Charlie gets to spend a little time hanging out with his forgotten and abandoned Social Links. Wish you could actually go and see Kou and Daisuke screwing up that play, though, or that you could actually have some interaction with Igor and Margaret when they crash the festival there. More time hanging out in the velvet room not fusing could only be a good thing.
If they remake Persona 4 one of these days, they should let you pick who does your outfit. The MC for the event is pretty great, though it really should have just been Funky Student, and the outfits the I.T. guys get stuck with are even better. Kanji comes out looking like Marilyn Monroe, Yosuke looks like something from the worst parts of MySpace, and Charlie actually looks pretty okay despite the lack of a portrait and the lack of a spoken name. The sword helps, I think. Teddie, the late entry in the contest, takes the cake with his sparkly Alice outfit though. Figures that Naoto would be the best when it comes to helping someone crossdress... and if I had to use one word to describe that bear, it wouldn't be 'innocent', Rise.
The actual pageant passes with a lot less entertainment, but thanks to that damn bear, way more swimsuits. They're pretty much all recycled swimsuits from earlier in the game, though... and Naoto manages to slip away from the contest and avoid the swimsuit portion altogether. She still manages to win by wooing the entire female population of the school, which again seems odd considering how freaked out they were by all of the crossdressing happening before.
Dojima skips out of town for a few days thanks to some police business, which of course means absolutely nothing important is going to happen. Nanako gets to hang out with the team for the night, though, and Yukiko takes them all to the Amagi Inn for some R&R. The guys get stuck with an ominous, possibly cursed hotel room, though, and the episode ends with a mysterious phone call...
@Devoid: @mutha3:
I didn't end up with a ton of links done, but I had the Investigation Team minus Yosuke done, Dojima and Nanako, Ai, The nurse, Fox, Daisuke, Margaret and Yumi. Most of the ones I missed, like Tower, Death, and Hanged, I just never bothered starting on despite having the chance. Those I'll work on in the New Game +... once I get done playing Devil Summoner 2, and Nocturne if I can find a second, non-damaged copy or find a way to fix the glitch I got. So much fusing...

12 years ago

Make_Me_Mad

Well. That certainly was a year.

Re-Endure the Persona 4 Endurance Run: Round 3!

By Make_Me_Mad April 17, 2011 161 Comments

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