Persona 3 Portable (P3P) - Low Level (Maniac Mode) Part 1: Venus Eagle

Channel:

MoogleBoss

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Published on February 23, 2014 8:10:14 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyaqdGx8a8A

Game:

Persona 3 Portable (2009)

Duration: 5:50

7,915 views

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Challenge playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbSv8zSDR9c28XzFFSOOfN_E02Ybp1SK5

I've been meaning to start some PSP challenge series for a while but found recording terribly complicated on my ancient computer (and still do, which makes it unclear whether I'll be able to continue recording my progress assuming I don't get stuck for good at some point).

So what is this new challenge? The game is Persona 3 Portable (P3P), the PSP port of Persona 3, and quite different from both vanilla P3 and Persona 3 FES, which certainly affects the specifics of this low level challenge (the biggest difference for me is that it is portable so I can get some progress done in otherwise impossible life situations, but of course the mechanical ones are far more important from that perspective).

So the rules are:
Maniac Mode - yes, we're crazy enough to play this challenge in the game's hardest difficulty mode. Enemies deal double damage and Compendium summons cost an arm and a leg (but will take far more time and dedication than on a normal run); wild enemies are also really deadly should you engage them in combat.

Low Level - only mandatory battles result in experience, and we're going through both the storyline (Full Moon events) and Tartarus with its mandatory bosses. Technically, the MC is the only one who should be alive at all costs when the battle ends, but keeping every ally at base level is sure to make the probabilities of winning battles astronomically low very soon into the challenge. If that is doable, then probably only in TAS-context and most likely also at a lower difficulty level. Golden shadows can still be fought for their Nihil weapons considering they give 0 exp when defeated.

The Low Level restriction is the main one in this challenge and most other complications and problems arise directly out of it. We can no longer just hit enemies and fight our way through the dungeons (and escaping is really hard on Maniac if you fail to get a pre-emptive attack in the dungeon), and lower levels will make boss battles a lot more strategic and challenging. Not being able to obtain Personas from shuffle time is also a big deal, as all of our Compendium will have to be gradually shaped from fusing combinations of Pixie, Orpheus and Apsaras (the 3 Personas you get in the compulsory tutorial... well, you can fail to obtain Pixie and Apsaras in shuffle time but then you're pretty much dead if you do that).

We will have to resort to all sorts of meticulous, out-of-the-way, exploitative and luck-reliant ways in order to beat bosses in spite of the level disadvantage. It sounds like one of those "impossible challenges" I attempt that often do result in me being stuck or too annoyed to continue, but sometimes I end up succeeding. We'll see what happens, we'll see.

I chose the female protagonist... just because, really. There are some definite differences between male and female MCs, namely equipment choices (swords vs naginatas, male/female-only pieces of armour and shoes) and social links. I mostly invested into the latter because starting Lovers and Priestess SLs early sounds like it could really pay off in constant fusion in the Velvet Room. For the battle in this video, male MC would make things slightly easier due to access to the Rugged Geta shoes (+3 endurance which could make them preferable to later shoes that grant more avoid).

The first boss battle, let me tell you, was really difficult. I lost a lot of hair since I first started out with the Venus Eagles. Nah, I kid you, I just got a haircut. But bad puns aside, this was a really tough battle and I had to leave Tartarus to restock and have feMC sleep a night just to stand a chance. On my first Tartarus visit, I reached floor 5 and then raided the first 3 floors repeatedly to get as much money and items as possible. I expected good armour, but there were just swords and shoes, so my defence was inadequate for the boss w/o Kurosawa's first offers.

I also had feMC spend a night in bed, resulting in Great condition, which is really handy for increased damage output, hit rates / evasion and especially critical hits which grant extra turns. Having high crit rates makes MC good at trying to strike one of the birds twice early on, after which Yukari starts slowly downing them and leading to all-party-attacks.

As you can see in the pre-battle bit, I set my units up for offence, because letting the fight continue for too long means certain death. The birds strike really hard on Maniac + LL, and Junpei is weak to their wind magic, giving them even more dangerous turns. Yukari is a godsent here, taking laughable damage from Garu spells and knocking the birds down.

(out of space, continued in the comments)

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