Do NOT try to beat dungeons on day 1

[Guy of Gisborne]

I've seen so many people recommend beating dungeons on 1 day to leave the rest of the month free. This is awful advice. I'm currently at floor 11 of Steamy Bathhouse and it is blatantly clear that I am under-leveled for this place. The latter floors I got through by avoiding/escaping fights. I cannot defeat the boss, so I decided to go back to the previous floor and do some grinding. Grinding goes okay for a bit, but I inevitably get into a fight where something 1-shots me and I have to start over. I've just wasted like 2 hours starting over. This is not fun in the slightest.

I understand the benefit of not saving a dungeon for the last minute, but too many people talk as if this is an easy task and they neglect to discuss the importance of leveling.
Looking around online, I saw a recommendation of reaching level 25 before attempting this; I'm level 18.

Here is my advice: If you don't have money and don't have many items, grind earlier dungeons. You can do this without losing progress in your current dungeon. For example: I'm at floor 11 of my current dungeon and I use a Goho-M to leave, save at the save point, then approach one of the other party members to start one of their dungeons. Grind through, gathering items and chest keys and, when you're done and decide to leave, you can continue where you left off in your current dungeon.
I did read that where I'm at is one of the more difficult places, or one of the sharpest difficulty spikes, so the "complete it on day 1" idea is not going to make for a good time if playing on normal difficulty. I wish more people had been real about this. The top floors are too difficult for me, and I don't want to start over from floor 1, so I feel like all I can do is to keep trying at the top floors until I get lucky and not die. I am not going to lower the difficulty because it will eliminate any feeling of accomplishment.

P4G is a great game and has one of the friendliest communities I've encountered from any game, but for some reason there is a lot of poor advice being given to new players and now I'm not having any fun with the game anymore.
Be careful who you listen to.

[Mistie]

Do not finish dungeon in one day? First time i see a players who give advice like that. Are you suggesting to stretch it out to 5-10 days? You understand that all that days it's mean you lost days to rise social links? That's why everybody advice to end dungeon in 1 day, so you can concentrate on social links and don't deal with dungeon until story move.

If you forget to save, forget to bring items like Goho-M it's your mistake. You agreed to play Persona, so consider that you voluntarily signed a contract to play a game where you have no autosaves, no insurance against death and losing progress. Sorry that this game is so merciless to players, P4 it's only game in trilogy that not maded for casuals, it can be really hard, and i love this. I also don’t like it when I lose a bunch of exp and progress and have to replay, but if you die, it’s only your fault, play better or pray that rng and luck will be on your side, because this game has a lot of it.

By the way you have all ingredients to not having problem with HP and SP, and key to this it's Fox. And don't skip enemys, just fight everyone who get in your way and when you searching treasures, then you get all enough exp to fight boss on equal terms, you don't have to back to grind.

You fight until your SP will not run out, don't fear to use healing skills out of the battle in the menu like Yukiko's dia/media and Yosuke's dia. When SP run out you just use Goho-m and ask Fox to restore whole party's SP, so you can continue fight in dungeon, that's all you need, dude. You finish the dungeon in 1 day? Consider yourself as king because you finished it in 1 freaking day, literally from start.

I finished all dungeons in 1 day even on very hard difficult on ng with 100x grinding how you see(Except Yukiko's dungeon) all it's because you have Fox. And if you have free time rise her link to have discount to restore SP. She will demand 5000-10000 yen, which is a pittance compared to how much you earn from destroying shadows. Which means you have infinite SP. Fox it's a key to win in dungeons, dude.

By the way if you play on normal, if you die you restart from floor where you die. Consider that you are still easy to deal with. Try playing on very hard difficulty on ng, there is no such thing, the game will be as merciless as possible, any damage will take off 95% of your health, and some can even kill you in 1 attack. And if you die, you'll have to start from the last save, not from the floor where you died.

[JI06CT3P]

Originally posted by Mistie:

Do not finish dungeon in one day? First time i see a players who give advice like that. Are you suggesting to stretch it out to 5-10 days? You understand that all that days it's mean you lost days to rise social links? That's why everybody advice to end dungeon in 1 day, so you can concentrate on social links and don't deal with dungeon until story move.

If you forget to save, forget to bring items like Goho-M it's your mistake. You agreed to play Persona, so consider that you voluntarily signed a contract to play a game where you have no autosaves, no insurance against death and losing progress. Sorry that this game is so merciless to players, P4 it's only game in trilogy that not maded for casuals, it can be really hard, and i love this. I also don’t like it when I lose a bunch of exp and progress and have to replay, but if you die, it’s only your fault, play better or pray that rng and luck will be on your side, because this game has a lot of it.

By the way you have all ingredients to not having problem with HP and SP, and key to this it's Fox. And don't skip enemys, just fight everyone who get in your way and when you searching treasures, then you get all enough exp to fight boss on equal terms, you don't have to back to grind.

You fight until your SP will not run out, don't fear to use healing skills out of the battle in the menu like Yukiko's dia/media and Yosuke's dia. When SP run out you just use Goho-m and ask Fox to restore whole party's SP, so you can continue fight in dungeon, that's all you need, dude. You finish the dungeon in 1 day? Consider yourself as king because you finished it in 1 freaking day, literally from start.

I finished all dungeons in 1 day even on very hard difficult on ng with 100x grinding how you see(Except Yukiko's dungeon) all it's because you have Fox. And if you have free time rise her link to have discount to restore SP. She will demand 5000-10000 yen, which is a pittance compared to how much you earn from destroying shadows. Which means you have infinite SP. Fox it's a key to win in dungeons, dude.

By the way if you play on normal, if you die you restart from floor where you die. Consider that you are still easy to deal with. Try playing on very hard difficulty on ng, there is no such thing, the game will be as merciless as possible, any damage will take off 95% of your health, and some can even kill you in 1 attack. And if you die, you'll have to start from the last save, not from the floor where you died.

Just saying

[Jimmy Dee]

Originally posted by Mistie:

Do not finish dungeon in one day?

I believe they said on day one, as in the first day that you are able to access a dungeon, which would also be in one day, but specifically the first day.

I personally like to wait until about 3-4 days before the last day then beat the dungeon in 2 days, one day grinding until I'm overleveled, then come back the next day for the boss. works pretty well and means i can do social leveling a bit before hitting the dungeon.

[Mistie]

Originally posted by Jimmy Dee:

Originally posted by Mistie:

Do not finish dungeon in one day?

I believe they said on day one, as in the first day that you are able to access a dungeon, which would also be in one day, but specifically the first day.

I personally like to wait until about 3-4 days before the last day then beat the dungeon in 2 days, one day grinding until I'm overleveled, then come back the next day for the boss. works pretty well and means i can do social leveling a bit before hitting the dungeon.

But social links of your teammates will be locked until you save the victim, they're everytime will remind this. So it's better end it on first day to unlock social links of your teammates, to get more value.

Well, judging by the context, the author means specifically on the first day, so that the remaining month can be free.

[Guy of Gisborne]

@Misty - That response is the equivalent of someone who completes Souls games without leveling up and tells others to "git gud".
Maybe you've run through these games so many times that you know everything about them. Maybe you're like Rainman and have a superior understanding. That doesn't mean that everyone who isn't you is a "casual" who messed everything up.

"Consider yourself as king because you finished it in 1 freaking day, literally from start." - That's awesome and all, and it's what I was going for, but it's a tall order. This dungeon is far more difficult than the previous dungeons. I didn't have the same trouble working my way through those.

@Jimmy Dee - That's my general playstyle for RPGs as well. I prefer to level/over-level so I'm adequately equipped to handle the challenge. If I'm on the top floor of a dungeon and a random enemy can one-shot my party, then I'm clearly under-leveled.

Maybe later in the game it'll be more feasible to complete a dungeon on the first day. Maybe this dungeon is the exception. I had just unlocked the Fox and the initial cost of restoration cost more than what I had. I understand that the cost decreases as that social-link is increased.

That's why my advice is not to listen to the hardcore advice unless one is specifically looking for that kind of a challenge. This game gives you the time to play how you want, and it won't suit everyone to play like some series veteran with a limitless pain threshold.
Many people say not to "waste money" on gear, but maybe the armor is worth it. Sure, you can find some stuff in dungeons, but that may mean farming. I had no chest keys in this dungeon because I always use them, which is why it paid off to revisit an earlier dungeon that I can blaze through and farm keys and other items. I also had like 3 side quests that required items from that dungeon so it was a two-birds-with-one-stone situation.

Trouble with relying on the internet for information is it puts one in a min-maxing mindset and eliminates the discovery aspect. I'm focused on hanging with Marie, eating at Aiya's on rainy days etc.. without having figured that stuff out on my own. I'm not complaining about it - it's my choice - but when I encounter a challenge like what I'm facing now I realize it's a place I wouldn't have been in if I'd just played and discovered things naturally.

All respect to those who have mastered it and/or have the IQ and endurance to push through the most punishing situations.

[Mistie]

Originally posted by Guy of Gisborne:

@Misty - That response is the equivalent of someone who completes Souls games without leveling up and tells others to "git gud".
Maybe you've run through these games so many times that you know everything about them. Maybe you're like Rainman and have a superior understanding. That doesn't mean that everyone who isn't you is a "casual" who messed everything up.

"Consider yourself as king because you finished it in 1 freaking day, literally from start." - That's awesome and all, and it's what I was going for, but it's a tall order. This dungeon is far more difficult than the previous dungeons. I didn't have the same trouble working my way through those.

@Jimmy Dee - That's my general playstyle for RPGs as well. I prefer to level/over-level so I'm adequately equipped to handle the challenge. If I'm on the top floor of a dungeon and a random enemy can one-shot my party, then I'm clearly under-leveled.

Maybe later in the game it'll be more feasible to complete a dungeon on the first day. Maybe this dungeon is the exception. I had just unlocked the Fox and the initial cost of restoration cost more than what I had. I understand that the cost decreases as that social-link is increased.

That's why my advice is not to listen to the hardcore advice unless one is specifically looking for that kind of a challenge. This game gives you the time to play how you want, and it won't suit everyone to play like some series veteran with a limitless pain threshold.
Many people say not to "waste money" on gear, but maybe the armor is worth it. Sure, you can find some stuff in dungeons, but that may mean farming. I had no chest keys in this dungeon because I always use them, which is why it paid off to revisit an earlier dungeon that I can blaze through and farm keys and other items. I also had like 3 side quests that required items from that dungeon so it was a two-birds-with-one-stone situation.

Trouble with relying on the internet for information is it puts one in a min-maxing mindset and eliminates the discovery aspect. I'm focused on hanging with Marie, eating at Aiya's on rainy days etc.. without having figured that stuff out on my own. I'm not complaining about it - it's my choice - but when I encounter a challenge like what I'm facing now I realize it's a place I wouldn't have been in if I'd just played and discovered things naturally.

All respect to those who have mastered it and/or have the IQ and endurance to push through the most punishing situations.

Well when i was playing first time, it was on normal difficulty too, i play with no problems. But why are you having troubles? That the bathouse dungeon become too hard for you? And why not see value finishing it in 1 day?

And no i didn't play any dark souls game in the series. I really don't find interesting playing this genre.

But you know struggling in moments that i find easy to deal with, and saying "it's too hard for me!" It's why i think it's casual problems. Because you shouldn't even have gameplay problem like that, expecially if you are playing on normal difficulty. But you know i faced this too, when i farmed 20000 exp and die from hama or mudo repel and kill myself, after that i think twice before using this skill expecially if i'm not have defend from this elements of insta-kills.

[Guy of Gisborne]

Originally posted by Mistie:

Originally posted by Guy of Gisborne:

@Misty - That response is the equivalent of someone who completes Souls games without leveling up and tells others to "git gud".
Maybe you've run through these games so many times that you know everything about them. Maybe you're like Rainman and have a superior understanding. That doesn't mean that everyone who isn't you is a "casual" who messed everything up.

"Consider yourself as king because you finished it in 1 freaking day, literally from start." - That's awesome and all, and it's what I was going for, but it's a tall order. This dungeon is far more difficult than the previous dungeons. I didn't have the same trouble working my way through those.

@Jimmy Dee - That's my general playstyle for RPGs as well. I prefer to level/over-level so I'm adequately equipped to handle the challenge. If I'm on the top floor of a dungeon and a random enemy can one-shot my party, then I'm clearly under-leveled.

Maybe later in the game it'll be more feasible to complete a dungeon on the first day. Maybe this dungeon is the exception. I had just unlocked the Fox and the initial cost of restoration cost more than what I had. I understand that the cost decreases as that social-link is increased.

That's why my advice is not to listen to the hardcore advice unless one is specifically looking for that kind of a challenge. This game gives you the time to play how you want, and it won't suit everyone to play like some series veteran with a limitless pain threshold.
Many people say not to "waste money" on gear, but maybe the armor is worth it. Sure, you can find some stuff in dungeons, but that may mean farming. I had no chest keys in this dungeon because I always use them, which is why it paid off to revisit an earlier dungeon that I can blaze through and farm keys and other items. I also had like 3 side quests that required items from that dungeon so it was a two-birds-with-one-stone situation.

Trouble with relying on the internet for information is it puts one in a min-maxing mindset and eliminates the discovery aspect. I'm focused on hanging with Marie, eating at Aiya's on rainy days etc.. without having figured that stuff out on my own. I'm not complaining about it - it's my choice - but when I encounter a challenge like what I'm facing now I realize it's a place I wouldn't have been in if I'd just played and discovered things naturally.

All respect to those who have mastered it and/or have the IQ and endurance to push through the most punishing situations.

Well when i was playing first time, it was on normal difficulty too, i play with no problems. But why are you having troubles? That the bathouse dungeon become too hard for you? And why not see value finishing it in 1 day?

And no i didn't play any dark souls game in the series. I really don't find interesting playing this genre.

But you know struggling in moments that i find easy to deal with, and saying "it's too hard for me!" It's why i think it's casual problems. Because you shouldn't even have gameplay problem like that, expecially if you are playing on normal difficulty. But you know i faced this too, when i farmed 20000 exp and die from hama or mudo repel and kill myself, after that i think twice before using this skill expecially if i'm not have defend from this elements of insta-kills.

The main issue for me is that people talk about this like it's easy, and it should be no problem to run through the boss. They don't talk about the importance of leveling, though. And I'm not new to JRPGs; Leveling/over-leveling is what I always focus on, but in this game people talk about time-management and what to do in what order, and give the impression that you need to blaze through dungeons in order to do everything else. I think that can work for some people, but I don't think it's universally good advice. But, again, the biggest problem sometimes is looking things up rather than doing what feels natural. The game already tells you about when the fog will clear, and we can see what other players did on the same day, so that's probably a better general guide.
Now that I've had some time to think about it, I think I'll start the dungeon over, on floor 1, and fight every battle on the way to the top. It may take me a couple days, but I'm under-leveled for the top floors and for the boss and I don't want to keep repeating the same battles hoping I'll get lucky. That's just stressful.

I've read about which social links are more important, so I'll try to prioritize those and not worry about all the min-max stuff. I'm pretty sure I've already spoiled who the killer is, which is not something I wanted to see, so I'm pretty disappointed by that. Best I read less.

[Mistie]

Originally posted by Guy of Gisborne:

Originally posted by Mistie:

Well when i was playing first time, it was on normal difficulty too, i play with no problems. But why are you having troubles? That the bathouse dungeon become too hard for you? And why not see value finishing it in 1 day?

And no i didn't play any dark souls game in the series. I really don't find interesting playing this genre.

But you know struggling in moments that i find easy to deal with, and saying "it's too hard for me!" It's why i think it's casual problems. Because you shouldn't even have gameplay problem like that, expecially if you are playing on normal difficulty. But you know i faced this too, when i farmed 20000 exp and die from hama or mudo repel and kill myself, after that i think twice before using this skill expecially if i'm not have defend from this elements of insta-kills.

The main issue for me is that people talk about this like it's easy, and it should be no problem to run through the boss. They don't talk about the importance of leveling, though. And I'm not new to JRPGs; Leveling/over-leveling is what I always focus on, but in this game people talk about time-management and what to do in what order, and give the impression that you need to blaze through dungeons in order to do everything else. I think that can work for some people, but I don't think it's universally good advice. But, again, the biggest problem sometimes is looking things up rather than doing what feels natural. The game already tells you about when the fog will clear, and we can see what other players did on the same day, so that's probably a better general guide.
Now that I've had some time to think about it, I think I'll start the dungeon over, on floor 1, and fight every battle on the way to the top. It may take me a couple days, but I'm under-leveled for the top floors and for the boss and I don't want to keep repeating the same battles hoping I'll get lucky. That's just stressful.

I've read about which social links are more important, so I'll try to prioritize those and not worry about all the min-max stuff. I'm pretty sure I've already spoiled who the killer is, which is not something I wanted to see, so I'm pretty disappointed by that. Best I read less.

Yes, your mistake is that you even read guides in a game where the story is the most interesting thing. I also involuntarily found out who the killer was before I got to the point where I had to prove it in game, thereby ruining my impression.

Just don't tell me that you literally skipped all the battles and went straight to the boss? If so, it's not surprising that you lost against him. In general, it's better to save before bosses. Although this is probably not necessary on normal.

No matter how you twist it, battles in Persona are interesting, try different Personas, look at their animations, the variety of fights. You need to skip battles when you are sure that you are strong enough to defeat the boss. I'm not saying that you need to grind. Just imagine that the shadows that you come across along the way are obstacles that you must defeat, and not skip in order to reach the boss. No need to look for shadows, just go to your goal (to the next floor and straight to the boss) and destroy all the shadows that come in your way, or along the way when you are looking for treasures.

By the way, wait when navigator join to team, and focus on maxing her link, game will be then much more easy, because she restore 10-20% of hp and sp after every battle. +If you have many money and maxed Fox. You should end every dungeon in 1, because without it you understand that you have not enough days to rise social links. Because teammates especially need to be maxed up so that they become stronger. If they are maxed up enough, they can even save you from death. That's why you need to give preference to maxing links, and not to the dungeon to which you want to devote most of your time.

[Guy of Gisborne]

Originally posted by Mistie:

Originally posted by Guy of Gisborne:

The main issue for me is that people talk about this like it's easy, and it should be no problem to run through the boss. They don't talk about the importance of leveling, though. And I'm not new to JRPGs; Leveling/over-leveling is what I always focus on, but in this game people talk about time-management and what to do in what order, and give the impression that you need to blaze through dungeons in order to do everything else. I think that can work for some people, but I don't think it's universally good advice. But, again, the biggest problem sometimes is looking things up rather than doing what feels natural. The game already tells you about when the fog will clear, and we can see what other players did on the same day, so that's probably a better general guide.
Now that I've had some time to think about it, I think I'll start the dungeon over, on floor 1, and fight every battle on the way to the top. It may take me a couple days, but I'm under-leveled for the top floors and for the boss and I don't want to keep repeating the same battles hoping I'll get lucky. That's just stressful.

I've read about which social links are more important, so I'll try to prioritize those and not worry about all the min-max stuff. I'm pretty sure I've already spoiled who the killer is, which is not something I wanted to see, so I'm pretty disappointed by that. Best I read less.

Yes, your mistake is that you even read guides in a game where the story is the most interesting thing. I also involuntarily found out who the killer was before I got to the point where I had to prove it in game, thereby ruining my impression.

Just don't tell me that you literally skipped all the battles and went straight to the boss? If so, it's not surprising that you lost against him. In general, it's better to save before bosses. Although this is probably not necessary on normal.

No matter how you twist it, battles in Persona are interesting, try different Personas, look at their animations, the variety of fights. You need to skip battles when you are sure that you are strong enough to defeat the boss. I'm not saying that you need to grind. Just imagine that the shadows that you come across along the way are obstacles that you must defeat, and not skip in order to reach the boss. No need to look for shadows, just go to your goal (to the next floor and straight to the boss) and destroy all the shadows that come in your way, or along the way when you are looking for treasures.

By the way, wait when navigator join to team, and focus on maxing her link, game will be then much more easy, because she restore 10-20% of hp and sp after every battle. +If you have many money and maxed Fox. You should end every dungeon in 1, because without it you understand that you have not enough days to rise social links. Because teammates especially need to be maxed up so that they become stronger. If they are maxed up enough, they can even save you from death. That's why you need to give preference to maxing links, and not to the dungeon to which you want to devote most of your time.

I didn't skip them all. I did most of what I could before I struggled with SP, and enemies were becoming more difficult, but I wanted to get to the top floor before leaving so I could come back and fight the boss right away. Normal is not easy; if under-leveled certain things are still impossible. When the boss killed me the first time, I looked up strategies to do it better the second time, which I did, but I was still under-leveled for when it was ready to kill me.

I don't know what the navigator is, but as I've made it very clear I don't want spoilers, please don't discuss things like that. You just made the game worse for me, again.

TBH, I see no room for debate here. My simple advice was simply to level up and not rush for every boss before someone is ready for it. If someone likes a hardcore challenge, then they may choose to do things differently. But what I'm suggesting is universal advice: play normally, get stronger, then run through the dungeon. The first couple are much easier and this one provides a serious spike in difficulty.

[Black Mage Luis]

Beating dungeons in one day is how you optimize your free time in the real world. And finish social links as soon as possible. I was level 13 on very hard when I first beat that dungeon. I looked at my video and it was done on the first day. You can go back to Yukiko's Castle to farm treasure chest items on the first floor, to find Snuff Souls. This will refill your SP by 50. But you said you don't like farming. I can't help that. Well there's always the Fox.

Are you using a persona that is immune to lightning like Oberon or Andras? This will protect the protagonist from getting hit with Mazio. I don't think you mentioned what you were doing wrong against the boss.

[Mistie]

Originally posted by Guy of Gisborne:

Originally posted by Mistie:

Yes, your mistake is that you even read guides in a game where the story is the most interesting thing. I also involuntarily found out who the killer was before I got to the point where I had to prove it in game, thereby ruining my impression.

Just don't tell me that you literally skipped all the battles and went straight to the boss? If so, it's not surprising that you lost against him. In general, it's better to save before bosses. Although this is probably not necessary on normal.

No matter how you twist it, battles in Persona are interesting, try different Personas, look at their animations, the variety of fights. You need to skip battles when you are sure that you are strong enough to defeat the boss. I'm not saying that you need to grind. Just imagine that the shadows that you come across along the way are obstacles that you must defeat, and not skip in order to reach the boss. No need to look for shadows, just go to your goal (to the next floor and straight to the boss) and destroy all the shadows that come in your way, or along the way when you are looking for treasures.

By the way, wait when navigator join to team, and focus on maxing her link, game will be then much more easy, because she restore 10-20% of hp and sp after every battle. +If you have many money and maxed Fox. You should end every dungeon in 1, because without it you understand that you have not enough days to rise social links. Because teammates especially need to be maxed up so that they become stronger. If they are maxed up enough, they can even save you from death. That's why you need to give preference to maxing links, and not to the dungeon to which you want to devote most of your time.

I didn't skip them all. I did most of what I could before I struggled with SP, and enemies were becoming more difficult, but I wanted to get to the top floor before leaving so I could come back and fight the boss right away. Normal is not easy; if under-leveled certain things are still impossible. When the boss killed me the first time, I looked up strategies to do it better the second time, which I did, but I was still under-leveled for when it was ready to kill me.

I don't know what the navigator is, but as I've made it very clear I don't want spoilers, please don't discuss things like that. You just made the game worse for me, again.

TBH, I see no room for debate here. My simple advice was simply to level up and not rush for every boss before someone is ready for it. If someone likes a hardcore challenge, then they may choose to do things differently. But what I'm suggesting is universal advice: play normally, get stronger, then run through the dungeon. The first couple are much easier and this one provides a serious spike in difficulty.

You already have a navigator, it's Teddy. Navigator is that, who comments everything in batlle and giving advice like "Defense yourself" and "attack".

Ok dude just good luck at gameplay.

[Guy of Gisborne]

Originally posted by Black Mage Luis:

Beating dungeons in one day is how you optimize your free time in the real world. And finish social links as soon as possible. I was level 13 on very hard when I first beat that dungeon. I looked at my video and it was done on the first day. You can go back to Yukiko's Castle to farm treasure chest items on the first floor, to find Snuff Souls. This will refill your SP by 50. But you said you don't like farming. I can't help that. Well there's always the Fox.

Are you using a persona that is immune to lightning like Oberon or Andras? This will protect the protagonist from getting hit with Mazio. I don't think you mentioned what you were doing wrong against the boss.

I never said I don't like farming. My advice in my OP is to do just that - farm an early dungeon for those things if needed. My concern was with the way the guides tell players exactly how to spend each moment to accomplish everything, leaving no flexibility for what the player wants to do. It's very black-or-white: Either follow the guide to do everything perfectly, or don't follow it. It's more difficult to find open-ended advice that helps players, while also encouraging them to enjoy the journey. That's the point of my post. We all want to manage our time well, but for those of us that don't want to follow steps the whole way (you're not even playing, at that point), I suggest not relying on guides too heavily, and instead cherry-picking from them if they want to.

I went back to the first floor of the dungeon and am taking every encounter I can find. After 6 floors, I took a break and spent a few days working on social links and I'll go back in soon. Despite the advice to "not waste money" on gear, I did just that, and I fused some personas and I'm confident that I'm going to be going back in much stronger than before. This is the RPG essence I was missing, which ofc was my fault. I'm new to the series so I thought it best to see what the veterans suggest, but all the "do as I do" cheat-sheet stuff defeats the purpose of buying the game and investing dozens of hours into it.
I feel like that kind of approach would be better for a second playthrough, but to each their own.

[Silyon]

My first run through the game, I didn't bother with the fox at all because it was so insanely expensive. Instead I stocked up on Soda before entering the dungeon and farmed Soul Drops from Yukiko's Castle. If you're not able to clear at least her early floors without using SP, you're underleveled and the time spent grinding will help.

I dunno how early you can get a Persona with Invigorate, but that also helps keep MC topped up. Just swap to it and stick to physical attacks.

Even with not knowing the game's systems, I still managed to clear the dungeons on day one. It was tricky and required proper pacing, but was far from impossible.

[Birdii]

Your advice is awful...
The boss of steamy bathhouse is a notable jump in difficulty, especially in the OG PS2 version.

Complete the dungeon in one day is a generalized advice so you can increase your social links in the time between so your fusions will be significantly more powerful. If you need two days, do two days. I will add on to this generalized advice by suggesting that you DO NOT skip any fight and get approximately 10 levels per dungeon. By the end of the game, you'll end up at approximately level 80-85.

The way I play P4G is to do the dungeon in 1 day. Leave before fighting the boss. Either do the boss on day two or do social links until the deadline gets closer and do the boss closer to the deadline. Fuse personas using the increased social links. Adjust as necessary.

[Guy of Gisborne]

Originally posted by Birdii:

Your advice is awful...
The boss of steamy bathhouse is a notable jump in difficulty, especially in the OG PS2 version.

Complete the dungeon in one day is a generalized advice so you can increase your social links in the time between so your fusions will be significantly more powerful. If you need two days, do two days. I will add on to this generalized advice by suggesting that you DO NOT skip any fight and get approximately 10 levels per dungeon. By the end of the game, you'll end up at approximately level 80-85.

The way I play P4G is to do the dungeon in 1 day. Leave before fighting the boss. Either do the boss on day two or do social links until the deadline gets closer and do the boss closer to the deadline. Fuse personas using the increased social links. Adjust as necessary.

First line of your comment is where I stopped reading. Whatever advice follows is "awful". Anyone who would force their will on others is wrong.