I have recently gone back through the Persona 4 Endurance Runs, and I am really enjoying those (but MAN. Do I have a ways to go). I saw the Atlus sale on the Playstation store so as I type this I am downloading Persona 3 Portable, which I read is just as good/better than Persona 4. Either way, I'm looking forward to it. I just gotta find my PSP. 
 
Anyways! What are some good pointers one could lend to a n00b? Like lessons learned type stuff. So far what I've learned from the Endurance Run is that extra dungeon crawling is GOOD. 
 
Anything come to mind? Thanks!

always fuse new personas. They level up really slowly, so don't hold on to one for too long. 
 
also, the emperor s.link gets you a very useful persona.

ok, whatever jeff and vinny did? do the opposite.

Be careful with dungeon crawling, because your party members will get tired. If they're all tired you may want to get your ass to the exit as quickly as possible.

" Be careful with dungeon crawling, because your party members will get tired. If they're all tired you may want to get your ass to the exit as quickly as possible. "

In P3P your characters only get tired the next day, so you can actually do complete dungeons in one go and grind forever if you want. Also if you're tired go to the infirmary at school for a free courage boost.
I also agree that you should always be fusing. It doesn't really matter if you plan on never using the resulting persona, just fill out the compendium as much as you can. This really helps out if you want some specific persona later on.
During my own run through P3P I went back to the entrance every level I gained and checked what I could make. You can always get the more useful ones back via the compendium, and money quickly becomes a non-issue.  
Keep in mind that trying to level a persona through battle is a waste of time in most cases, because you'll gain multiple levels in the same time, allowing you to fuse better persona.
During shuffle time it pays to go for the higher level weapon card in stead of a lower level money card if you want to make some money, since the weapon sells for more than the money you get directly.
Every Monday there's a sale at the place you buy weapons from. Saves a bundle on the special costumes. And every Saturday at the item store. 
Go back to the entrance and save every once in a while during dungeon crawling, things can go really bad really quickly in SMT games.  
Always make sure you have a persona of the person you're s-linking with, otherwise it'll take ages past the first few levels to level them up.
If you've watched the Endurance Run you know all the basics, especially since they made a most of the mechanics of the PSP version completely the same as in P4.
 
Also you can safely ignore all of this. Vinny and Jeff made their way through P4 just fine while doing a lot of dumb things.

I forget what they call the sections that the tower is broken up into, but go as far as you can before each full moon.

If you can handle grinding, go through the dungeons twice - tire out both parties. That way, you'll be overpowered by the end, and all your members will be of equal-ish levels. S.Link like a motherfucker in the beginning. I can't remember if The Answer is part of the game, but if it is, I strongly urge you to play the game with only Metis - it'll pay off later. 
 
This is more of an end-game thing, but there's a spell that can kill Death, and that gives you a shit ton of XP (in exchange for completely draining your SP). If anyone in your party is underleveled, that's incredibly useful. Sorry for the vagueness - I'm sure someone knows for sure.

Persona 3 or Persona 3 portable are not better then Persona 4, or maybe it's just a matter of opinion, but I liked 4 the best.

there isn't any cheesy late-game scenario where I have to make 2 parties and be forced to use all of the characters that I don't ever use, is there? Because I don't wanna have to spend extra time leveling junpei up just so I'm not screwed later on.

You can use whoever you want for most the game. I think their are a few spots where you can't use one specific character, but those are rare and don't tend to last long.  Personally, I kept Akihiko, Yukarie, and Junpei with me most the time. They were my core team that I used for most boss fights, but I didn't neglect my other team mates. Because if I faced a boss that used a lot of attacks that could exploit one of their elemental weaknesses then I would want someone to substitute in. 
 
Always make sure to carry around personas that match the corresponding social links you are working on. 
 
Save often. I can not stress this enough. In fact, whenever you unlock a new section of the tower, your main focus should be getting to the teleporter and activating that. This gives you more choice on the difficult of the shadows you face and makes it easier to get back to a save point without having to find one on a randomly generated floor.

Max the star social link. Ken and Koramaru are great team-mates because of lack of elemental weaknesses.

" Persona 3 or Persona 3 portable are not better then Persona 4, or maybe it's just a matter of opinion, but I liked 4 the best. "

" @LiquidPrince said:

" Persona 3 or Persona 3 portable are not better then Persona 4, or maybe it's just a matter of opinion, but I liked 4 the best. "

Overall combat/general mechanics are better in Persona 4, since it improved on the flaws of P3.  But I think the story and characters is a matter of personal preference. I personally like the P3 cast much better than most of the P4 cast.   "

" @animateria said:

" @LiquidPrince said:

" Persona 3 or Persona 3 portable are not better then Persona 4, or maybe it's just a matter of opinion, but I liked 4 the best. "

Overall combat/general mechanics are better in Persona 4, since it improved on the flaws of P3.  But I think the story and characters is a matter of personal preference. I personally like the P3 cast much better than most of the P4 cast.   "

Agreed. Though I think the main reason that P4 is so beloved (besides the improved fighting mechanic, always a plus) is that the GB crew played p4 thus it's by default everyone's favorite Persona game here. I liked P4 but I thought the characters were damn annoying 95% of the time. XP "

I like 'em both a lot! I refuse to choose one over the other, although if you search my posts you'll probably find some point in the past where I expressed a preference for one of them.... So don't do that.

There is extreme rubber banding of XP so keeping all characters at the same level is fairly easy.  Since they really stop gaining abilities after a while having them a few levels below the MC isn't a big deal.  You want to have everyone around the same level because certain characters really make mid boss fights easier than others.  If one of your mains has a weakness to an element that boss spams you will die or at least spend 10 times as long fighting through the battle.   To gauge if you can defeat the monthly boss is if you can make it from the last warp point in the dungeon up to the barrier without running out of SP or having to go back to the 1st floor.  You don't want to refight P3P monthly  boss fights because unlike P4 there can be like 45 minutes of cut scenes from the last chance to save until the fight.

" @Catolf said:

" @animateria said:

" @LiquidPrince said:

" Persona 3 or Persona 3 portable are not better then Persona 4, or maybe it's just a matter of opinion, but I liked 4 the best. "

Overall combat/general mechanics are better in Persona 4, since it improved on the flaws of P3.  But I think the story and characters is a matter of personal preference. I personally like the P3 cast much better than most of the P4 cast.   "

Agreed. Though I think the main reason that P4 is so beloved (besides the improved fighting mechanic, always a plus) is that the GB crew played p4 thus it's by default everyone's favorite Persona game here. I liked P4 but I thought the characters were damn annoying 95% of the time. XP "

I like P4's characters better. Awesome avatar though. I'm super psyched for Catherine. *high five* "

" There is extreme rubber banding of XP so keeping all characters at the same level is fairly easy.  Since they really stop gaining abilities after a while having them a few levels below the MC isn't a big deal.  You want to have everyone around the same level because certain characters really make mid boss fights easier than others.  If one of your mains has a weakness to an element that boss spams you will die or at least spend 10 times as long fighting through the battle.   To gauge if you can defeat the monthly boss is if you can make it from the last warp point in the dungeon up to the barrier without running out of SP or having to go back to the 1st floor.  You don't want to refight P3P monthly  boss fights because unlike P4 there can be like 45 minutes of cut scenes from the last chance to save until the fight. "

Yeah, what everyone else said. Also, never forget to go to the bathroom during the day to go from "Good" to "Great".  
 
And if you have the chance, make Hecatoncheires because he looks so awesome.

I can tell you that despite what the games will have you believe, the proper plural of Persona is Personae, not Personas. 

" I can tell you that despite what the games will have you believe, the proper plural of Persona is Personae, not Personas.  "

Just got into the game... a couple of hours in and nice tips found around here.  
 
Question about personas - any advise in picking them as a main or general guidelines what to bring at a time?  
 
Am more concerned getting far in the game but not having any of my personas up to the task.  With all the fusing/skill possibilities. I don't think that fusing one persona, level up a bit to get her card, then throw her out and doing it again to get more skill cards is a good thing to do. I'm hating the idea of it :P  
 
I don't think this Lilim (that I use currently) would remain viable in later levels, as they don't level up equally as you (aside from S. Links).