Shin Megami Tensei Persona 3
Choose your options and start a new game. The difficulty level must be confirmed at either normal or easy.
Watch some opening scenes and then you’ll get to enter your name, last name first. You’ll meet Yukari Takeba and Mitsuru Kirijo at night (April 7th).
In the morning, go with Yukari to school. Once you gain control finally, go to the bulletin board just east of you and keep searching until you see your name in Class F. Turn around and go through the door here and then take a men’s room break. Your condition will improve to Great. Across from this is the faculty office where Ms. Toriumi greets you. Some scenes in auditorium and then it’s After School.
Junpei Iori greets you after school. It’ll be night hour before you know it, and you can save on the sheet just north of where you start.
At night you’ll overhear a conversation between Mitsuru and a guy. Shortly after it’ll be Early Morning April 8th. You overhear another conversation and then it’s afternoon and you’re in class. Help your bud Junpei out (the answer is Fuyuhiko Yoshimura). Your popularity goes up and your Charm does too.
Soon it’ll be Evening on the 8th. Shuji Ikutsuki is here. He’s the chairman and he introduces himself. Ask some questions and choose the last one to end the session. After you go to bed, a scene with Shuji and the lady’s talking about you ensues.
You’ll get some information on the Dark Hour here, aka midnight. Eventually you meet Igor and Elizabeth. You’ll get a Velvet Key from Igor at the end.
It’s early morning April 9th 2009 after your first experience with Dark Hour. Talk to Junpei on the way to school, and choose to stay awake to raise your academic (as opposed to your condition).
Soon enough it’s late night and the Dark Hour. Akihiko calls in and it sounds like an enemy is coming to your dorm. Sure enough Yukari runs to your room, gives you a Short Sword and it’s time to go. Just go up stairs when you get control and you’ll get to see Orpheus, your new Persona. A battle begins against two Cowardly Maya’s. Use Bash if you want or just attack. After the battle, you and Orpheus gain some levels and stats and Orpheus will learn Agi.
Your character drops and you’re talking to Igor. You learn a lot about your Persona you just gained, and of strengthening them with your Social Links – your emotional ties with others.
You’ll wake up After School on April 17th. Yukari is here with you at Tatsumi Memorial Hospital. She talks to you quite a bit about her past and Shadows.
You are up and about Saturday Early Morning and Junpei gets asked another question. Choose the top one for the correct answer and a Charm increase. It’ll be the evening soon, so save when it is and then go to the fourth floor. You’ll be informed by the group about their name (SEES – Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad) and then they ask you to join them, now that you know what’s going on. They offer you an Evoker and you’ll get the blessing of the Fool Card for your Social Link with SEES.
During the Dark Hour, you’ll be greeted by a mysterious boy. You wake up and it’s Sunday Evening the 19th. Turns out Junpei is moving here and your group will be large enough to begin exploration of Tartarus.
It’s 4 / 20 in the morning, and soon it’s lunchtime. Mitsuru comes by to tell you to visit the lounge. School passes fast after this and before you know it you’re at a meeting in the evening. It’s about time to explore Tartarus says Shuji. Your party will arrive at school, or Tartarus, and you’ll use the Velvet Key to speak with Igor. You’ll be back near the entrance soon where you can save and now look at your status screen. Check out Junpei and Yukari to see Hermes and Lo.
Say that you’re ready and it’ll be time to go into Tartarus. The floors are generated randomly so the specific directions may not apply. Head straight for a Medicine and go left a little and through the hallway to get in your first battle. Like Mitsuru says, try to attack the enemy before it gets the jump on you. You’ll learn the basics in battle here – use Agi because the enemy is weak against fire, and you’ll get a free turn (which results in your entire party lambasting the enemy).
Up ahead and you’ll see the staircase. You’re not to go up it yet so continue the other way for another Medicine and enemy. Further ahead for another harder to find enemy with a Snuff Soul by him. You’ll fight more and more enemies, so just use Agi to get the All Out attack. After the battle with 4 Cowardly Mayas I was fortunate enough to get the Apsaras Persona. At this point you should be able to split your party up and find the exit. There is also a Medicine laying around. Take the teleport and after talking with your group, your Fool Card / SEES Social Link will reach 2. It’d be a good time to save and go to the Velvet Room to see Igor for a bit. He is ready to tell you about his main role, that is the Fusion of your Personae. By fusing two Personae together they can become a more powerful persona and some of the ability’s will transfer over (while some will be lost depending on the Personae involved). You are taught that in general, ability’s similar to a person’s other ability’s (like a mage learns magic but not physical attacks while a physical attack based character won’t pick up magic ability’s, and so on) will be the ones that come through to the new fused Persona.
Return to the dorm for the night, and in the AM you meet a Friendly Student named Kenji Tomochika. You’ll talk some and then go through an assembly. Stay up during class to raise your academics. Now you’ll have the day all to yourself. Kind of. Talk to those around the school and do whatever, but when you leave you’ll see Akihiko Senpai who asks you to go to Paulownia Mall with him. He’s more interested in you and Junpei than the lady’s that like him. Leave the school grounds and choose to go to the mall.
At the Paulownia Mall go to the Police Station. Officer Kurosawa is here, he outfits your group, and you get 5000 Yen from the boss. Buy a few things for your character a leave (Junpei departs). Check out the other stores and leave the mall.
Take a trip to the Port Island Station, Iwatodai Station and the Naganaki Shrine, all of which you haven’t seen yet. Lots of things here require you to stay until night so be sure you want to do that when you accept (like getting Ramen (Charm) and watching a movie (Charm, Courage)). Other things like donating at the Shrine don’t last until night and you still get a stat raise (Academic). Once you check everything out, settle with something to improve Charm, Courage or Academics – don’t just return to the dorm.
Back at the dorm Mitsuru will talk to you about your night options. It’d be a good time to save and then check out Tartarus some more. You’ll learn about the barricades in Tartarus on fixed levels, and how you’re getting close to one. Explore a few levels but be careful – the enemy can still kill you if it hits a weakness. Especially when you get tired and your stats get lower. Anyway, just explore the next two floors and the third one should have a teleporter right by it that you should use (because Mitsuru warns about a boss fight ahead).
After all of that you’ll be enjoying the morning of 4 / 22 when Kenji meets up with you again. After school he asks you to get some Ramen so go along with him to Iwatodai strip mall. Your Magician social link with Kenji has been established.
At night, you’ll probably want to go to sleep earlier (especially if you went to Tartaros before that). After school on the 23rd you’re prompted to look into joining an athletics team. Head to the first floor and go the opposite way of the exit to reach the sports area. You can join the track team, swimming team or Kendo team. I choose the Kendo team, and Yuko Nishiwaki and Kazushi greet you. For joining the team you get the blessings of the Chariot Arcana and it’ll soon be the evening of the 23rd. Could be another good opportunity to explore Tartarus although I had a sick character still so I studied.
Kenji comes up the afternoon of the 24th but so does Kazushi the Kendo guy. Might as well go with Kenji since you just did the sports thing and learn his “plan” on who he’s going to ask out (strengthening the social link). After doing that, it’s probably another good time to venture into Tartarus.
I ended on level 4 the last time (despite wanting to end on level 3 there was no teleporter). You’re probably going to want to travel up another three levels before your friends get tired. You should also remember to be checking out the policeman’s wares to keep your friends weapons / armor upgraded (though you’ll find a fair amount throughout Tartarus too).
On the 25th you’ll hear about the book store. So go to Iwatodai and then the Bookworm book store. Talk to the old folks about the Persimmon Tree near your school. Now return to school and make as though you’re going to the sports / gym area. In the corridor / courtyard before it, take a left to see a Persimmon tree and you’ll grab a Persimmon Leaf on the ground. Return it to the old man and he’ll be delighted, and will introduce himself as Bunkichi and his wife Mitsuko. This is the beginning of the Hierophant Arcana and Social Link.
It’ll be night time now (and you’ll probably be tired if you were just at Tartarus like I was last night). I got a call from Kenji about doing something on Sunday. Sunday the 26th there is no school but if you agreed to meet Kenji you’ll go do that. Otherwise you have a free day. If you rested enough it could be another good Tartarus night. If you’ve gone up about 6 or 7 floors you should be getting near the top of that line and you may come across rare monsters like the Wealth Hand. Wealth Hand blocks all of your magic attacks and will run away quickly.
Monday April 27th begins with an assembly at school. Later you get asked what 1 plus 1 is, so answer it for an increase in Charm. Once class is finished, you’ll see Mitsuru again. She wants you to join the Student Council, so go along with her plea and you’ll have to visit the Faculty Office to formally join with Ms Toriumi. As you go in the Student Council, you’ll meet Hidetoshi Odagiri and Chihiro. Forging this Social Link gives you the blessings of Emperor Arcana. It’ll be evening after this. Save and go to bed (unless your party is rested of course).
Mitsuru tells you that if you can’t find her in the lounge, you’ll be going to Tartarus the following day. At lunch on 4 / 28 youll probably be approached by a Kenji type but I chose to go to the Gym after school to work on the Chariot arcana. Yuko will be in the lobby as you leave school. Back at the place in the evening you’ll get an online game from Junpei.
Wednesday 4 / 29 is Showa Day, no school because it’s a holiday. It’s a good day to sit inside and play that MMORPG that you got from Junpei to establish a Hermit Arcana Social Link.
Back in school in 4 / 30 it might be a good day to sleep in class if you’re tired. If you want your academics up stay awake. Hang out with Kenji to have a Magician Arcana Social Link increase. At night you’ll be summoned to the Velvet Room at the mall. Elizabeth sees potential in you and has various tasks for you if you wish to undertake them. Most of them revolve around finding an item or buying something and bring it back to her within a set time for a reward.
Everyone was finally healthy so I checked out Tartarus some more. After this it’ll be May 1st and Yukari will meet you before school. During school agree to go with to see Akihiko, and you’ll meet another man as you go there.
On 5/2 you’ll overhear a conversation about something to do on Sunday afternoon. I went to the bookstore to get Melon Bread from Bunkichi after school, advancing Hierophant again. Finally my party was rested so afterwards more progress in Tartarus was made. Not much is different but the little blue eyed boy visited me at night after this.
On Sunday 5 / 3 you’ll remember about the TV program with Tanaka. Watch it and you might as well buy the Slash Ward since you probably have the money. Sit down and play some video games to increase the Hermit Arcana Social Link with Maya. It’ll be Monday 5 / 4 soon.
Go out and run some errands, watch a movie or something during the day of 5 / 4. At night the lounge will be empty (if you remember Mitsuru said they’d go to Tartarus the night after if she was gone at night) so just go back to your room. Kazushi (kendo) called me to do something on 5 / 5 so I accepted. Kenji called afterwards but he’s lame anyway. This is probably a good study night.
5 / 5 is the last day of the Golden Week. Hang out with whoever you accepted during the day and then at night Mitsuru-senpai still isn’t home. If you ordered that stuff on Sunday your Slash Ward and Sappy Jelly will be here. You can probably study again since your condition is good still likely.
Back to school on 5 / 6. You’re prompted to answer a question so say Basic for some Charm points. Various things you can do now including going to Naganaki Shrine (Hanged Man) or Student Council (Emperor). It’s a good night to go to Tartarus since you couldn’t before. You’ve probably reached and passed the Terminal and Venus Eagles around this time.
More Chariot Arcana work after school with an injured Kaz. Soon you’ll be able to go out with the team manager Yuko and gain the respect of the Strength Arcana. Kenji called at night to do something much later.
Lots of things come up on Friday 5 / 8 but I chose to go to Student Council to raise Emperor Arcana to three. Later in the evening I was able to get to floor 10 to fight the Dancing Hands. Magic doesn’t exactly work too well and you’ll find your character using heal and attack, while Cleave does most of the damage. These things can cause you to panic with one of their ability’s so heal that (so you can use SP again). Three Mazio Gems are the reward.
Continue working your way up to level 14 where there is another terminal point and another boss. This time it’s the Chariot Arcana Rampage Drive. This thing is a physical beast and you’ll want to use your best spells to overcome it. It has an attack all move that tends to stun Yukari often. Garu (wind) magic seems to work the best. For defeating Rampage Drive you acquire the Balm of Life. Continue all the way until you reach a dead end with a teleporter and Old Document 01. The full moon is 5 / 9 on Saturday. You’ll rest up for it and it’ll be night. Turns out there is a tough enemy away from Tartarus.
Run up to the monorail when you gain control on the tracks. Head north through the first few sections and you’ll be ambushed. The enemy runs and Junpei wants to go after it but wait. Junpei gets mad and runs off but two other enemies ambush you now.
You’re going to have to run a few cars ahead to catch up to Junpei and then a few more until you get to the boss. Priestess will summon weaker enemies to fight you but try to match their weakness to get rid of them fast and get back started on Priestess. Your best spells and ability’s work, Cleave seems to do the best damage and can knock her down for a bit. The time limit shouldn’t be an issue so don’t let it bother you. You’ll gain around 300 EXP for defeating her (she has 300 hp about).
After the battle it’s of course you who has to hit the brakes to stop the train. For saving your party and completing this task your Fool Arcana Social Link upgrades to 3. You also learn the Conserve SP tactic for your AI.
On Sunday May 10th you’ll get a call from Elizabeth. The path in Tartarus has opened to go further up. I had plans with Kenji to further the Magician Arcana and then rested until the following day. Class starts again Monday May 11th and you’ll be reminded of midterms the next week. Keep up on your academics by studying at night, donating 1000 at the shrine and eating at Wakatsu Restaurant (highest + academic). Most things on the 11th are closed after school so I went to the Bookworm (Hierophant Arcana) to talk to the old people and meet Andre Laurent Jean Geraux or Bebe. You’ll learn some more about the Bunkichi’s kid and your rank will grow to 3. At night Yukari goes out to get some notes from a friend and is unavailable for Tartarus.
Wednesday May 13th will begin with you in class being asked a question. Choose the Theory of Relativity for some points. Do something in the afternoon and then go to Tartarus tonight since most of the party suggests it.
Take the terminal to floor 14 and go up to floor 16. Search the obstruction and it’ll disappear. This area is too far away for Mitsuru to help much and it looks different as well. Lots of things you should watch for because the enemies around here are much harder. The glowing-pink units are Steel Gigas’ and they are extremely dangerous especially if you don’t have an electricity-based character. The other enemies here are tough to match up with so check their weaknesses before you attack with magic. The Phantom Mages are particularly annoying with their instant death attack and the fact that you may not have a light element to attack them with. The closest Terminal is a long way away at floor 25 where there is also a boss.
Early morning Friday May 15th youll be greeted by Mitsuru who asks how you’re doing in school. Midterms are coming soon so you should be at the shrine offering 1000 yen, eating prodigy platter and studying at night. You get asked a question in the afternoon so choose ‘let me go’ to get some charm points. Probably should be spending your time studying (Yukari is absent today for some reason at night).
Akihiko is there early morning Saturday May 16th. Stay up in class to get your academics raised again. Probably should study sunday although there is a weapon on TV you can buy (or raise Hermit).
Monday May 18th is when the midterms start. The Midterm Answers are below. On Tuesday you’ll get asked a question about Fuyuhiko Yoshimura – the answer is Mangekyou. The physics question is Chaos Theory. You’ve had the soap question – soap is basic. Finally, another one you’ve had, choose How Tools Are Made. Saturday May 23rd is the last midterm date. Akihiko approaches you and asks for you to continue to be the leader even when he returns (which will be soon).
Finally with some free time in the afternoon on saturday I went to the book shop to get some Cylon Tea and hear about the Persimmon Tree possibly being cut down. Your Hierophant Arcana goes up to level 4.
At night you’ll hear about Akihiko joining back. Also a new persona user has joined, a junior from school. Her name is Fuuka Yamagishi. Well, she hasn’t join yet, but Akihiko is back and you can use him. With a fourth member it’d be a good time to continue past the level 25 terminal where there are three Crying Tables. Be careful with this battle, their multi-person fire attacks (Maragi ) will mow down whoever is weak against it. You need Ice magic against it so Apsalas is good (even though she’s weak and lower leveled generally) for her ice and Candenza heal ability. Just stay healed and keep up with Bufu and you’ll win 88 EXP and 3 Vibrant Cloth.
After this battle the next terminal point will be floor 36. This is a long ways even though you have four members so be efficient and analyze every new enemy you see. Again, the flashing pink enemies will be the toughest for you.
Floor 36 has the Empress based Change Relic. A couple things to prepare for this difficult boss. You’ll want a wind resistant persona equipped (like Omoikane). Change Relic is going to destroy you with Garula (100 on a character) and Magarula (100 damage to weak vs. Wind (Junpei / Akihiko)). Poison Mist sucks because you probably won’t have time to heal poison but you’ll need to make time for Posumudi. Tarukaja is necessary so that you can do more damage with Cleave and Sonic Punch. Dia isn’t really all that effective so have Cadenza ready to use. Of course you’ll want to switch right back to Omoikane for that elemental defense.
You’re probably going to have to concede that Junpei and Akihiko will die. Yukari should be set to healing / support otherwise she’ll just attack most of the time – this is important for prolonging the life of the other two guys. You get 236 exp (2 characters survived) and Coin of Queen x1. Since he knocked a few of my characters out I just left and went to bed.
Monday 5 / 25 is when you finally get your scores back. Chances are you got a high grade and your charm increased but it depends on how much studying you did of course. After class I began the Hanged Man arcana with Maiko. You need to bring her Weird Takoyaki or whatever from the place in Iwatodai by the Bookworm shop. Buy her a Mad Bull (2nd floor dorm vending machine).
Tuesday 5 / 26 comes and you’ll get some complaints about grades from Junpei. Spend time doing whatever and come night time Junpei is gone but the other two are around. I studied because of this although 3 members is fine in Tartarus at this point.
Wednesday 5 / 27 was spent with the student council. You’ll leave the room to see Hidetoshi tearing some punk down. Just talk to Hidetoshi for the Emperor Arcana level 4.
On Thursday 5 / 28 you’ll have a long lecture to sit up through for your Academics. I then talked to Kenji for Magician Arcana Level 4. Kaz called at night but it was a night to catch up on sleep. Friday May 29th you’ll see a weird scene with some girls and Yukari. After school was spent with Kazushi but no progress was made with Chariot.
In the morning of 5 / 30 Saturday you’ll hear about a passed out girl. More on this topic throughout the day. After school I looked into Hierophant at the bookworm store. Convince the two that you’ll help keep the Persimmon Tree around and you’ll progress to Hierophant Arcana Social Link 5. You also get a Crab Bread from Bunkichi. Spend Sunday however you want but the Super Healthy Sandal is for sale on tv.
Monday June 1 everyone is dressed differently (it’s getting warmer out). Shadows are also on the minds of everyone after someone was left on the ground recently. I decided to go to the Student Council today (of course after paying 1000 Yen at the shrine) although nothing came of it. More studying and you can’t go to Tartarus since Yukari is scared of ghosts.
At night on June 1 you are visited by the mysterious boy. It’s a full moon in a week and he reminds you. The next day – Tuesday June 2 – Yukari will walk to class with you, and in class you’ll have a lecture on Ugetsu Monogatari. Stay awake to raise your Academic. Around this time you can ask Chihiro out but she’ll get scared at first. Eventually she’ll warm up and you can walk her home. Your relationship with Chihiro will improve so that the Justice Arcana Social Link is established.
More ghost stuff today. People will approach you (Hidetoshi and Yuko for me) during lunch, so I went to the student council. As everyone turns against Hidetoshi, say “they can be cruel” to make him feel good.
June 4th was spent with Kazushi, upgrading Chariot to 4. The full moon is near but I stayed in and got a phone call. More ghost stuff the next day and you’ll get more lunch visits. Tonight will be the last Arqa Tartarus trip I take until the day before the full moon (when you never get tired). Shortly after level 36 is the barricade (level 40). Get the Old Document 02. Take the teleport and go in the Velvet Room to return the Old Document 02 for a Balm of Life reward.
There are only three days to the full moon as Friday June 5th approaches. Yukari wants to go over the ghosts so more and eventually check out Port Island the next day. Sure enough on Saturday you’ll meet some punks and Shinjiro. You’ll get some more information about what’s going on and you can still do something at night.
On Sunday 7th you probably have something planned with someone during the day, and then at night you should go to Tartarus. You won’t get tired since it’s the day before the full moon. If you haven’t reached the level 40 blockage, do so tonight. There are bosses on floor 25 and 36 (look up above if you missed them).
It’s also a good time to go through all the requests especially the timed ones that are due on 6 – 7. The three Old Lanterns can be had from the Phantom Mages on floors 17-24. This shouldn’t be too hard (remember, they only drop them if you signed up for the request) but watch out for their instant death attacks.
The Old Document 02 can be found on floor 40. You’ll also want to go for a Lead Metal from a Wealth Hand. They are found in the Thebel section and should be easy to kill with a persona physical skill. They should drop that Lead Medal if you signed up for the request. Once you complete this one you’ll get to sign up for a Steel Medal. You are to defeat a Treasure Hand in the Arqa area. They tend to come in bunchs and are harder to hit. Use the Toy Bow from your last fight against the Wealth Hand. Hopefully you can land a critical to get the Steel Medal because the Spiked Bat is a great weapon for Junpei. Finally, you need to create Valkryrie with the Tarukaja ability. The combination I found that worked was Archangel (who had Tarukaja), Orpheus and Omoikane. Elizabeth gives you the Torn Black Cloth which unlocks the use of Pale Rider, a Death Arcana Persona. Once you finish this request, the Oberon request will pop up. You can probably do this one too. You need Angel and Pyro Jack to create Oberon, then you need to level him up to 17 (which you can probably do if your Emperor Arcana / Student Council Social Link is high enough) to finish your task. Return to get 3 Coin of Knight.
Monday June 8th is the day of the full moon. It starts off with Mitsuru and your triad at speaking with a girl about Fuuka. You learn a lot here about the situation from Natsuki Moriyama. After school I spent somet time with Kaz at the Kendo practice although he didn’t go. Offer to let him use your shoulder and he’ll be appreciative – Chariot Arcana went to 5 after this.
After the school the party plans to break into the school. Of course Junpei opened a door ahead of time so that you could get in. It’ll be you and Yukari to go to the Faculty Office to find a key. Head down the stairs and you’ll see a flashlight and hear footsteps. Take the path going right (away from the gym) and the Faculty Office is the first one of the left. You’ll find the Gym Key and then the party will get together again. It seems the boys will be going to Tartarus with the lady’s staying back.
You’ll see Natsuki at the dorm by herself, being called somewhere. Your party seems to be separated and far away. The mysterious boy greets you when you get up. You’re all by yourself. Go up a few sets of stairs. The enemies aren’t too hard but it doesn’t seem like you can hit their weaknesses, and the communication is poor up here. Eventually you’ll reach Junpei and Akihiko. Shortly after you’ll see Fuuka Yamagishi.
The party will be in a new area trying to contact Mitsuru. It doesn’t work but Fuuka senses a tougher monster nearby. Turns out there are two of them. Fuuka shoots herself and summons a persona to save Mitsuru. She then becomes your new enemy analysis member with her psychic powers.
Now it’s time to fight these two enemies, Emperor and Empress. Obviously Empress is more magical based and in turn is weak again any kind of physical attack while the Emperor of the opposite. It’s good to have a Persona like Chimera that has elemental attacks like Agi and physical attacks like Sonic Punch and Cleave. This will knock both of them down and then you can have an all out attack. Focus on the Empress first so she doesn’t hit any of your elemental weaknesses – you can afford to absorb Emperor’s attacks. They each only have about 500-600 HP so if you focus on one of them for a few turns, you can kill them.
By themselves they’re nothing much. You’ll collect 1525 EXP and you have a new member. You also learn the Knock Down tactic.