After school, head to the riverbank, go left past the stairs, and talk to the dude with the umbrella standing around. Yep, it's the paparazzi guy. That's some dedication, standing around in the middle of this downpour. He offers to trade information with you. Fortunately, we already got the info yesterday. First tell him that she's different on TV. Talk to him again and tell him that you think she's stressed out. He deduces that that's the reason why she quit showbiz, and that she's sick of Risette, the fake personality her management team imposed on her. Well, that's enough for Teddie to go off of, so let's go see him (if you have a decent amount of cash you might want to hit up Shiroku again, but make sure you leave about 25k for SP refills and Persona fusions). Fortunately for us it's Happy Fox Day, so we won't have to spend so much getting SP refills. Go talk to Teddie, who finds Rise's location pretty quickly. We end up in some dark place with really weird carpets. Um. I've never been to a strip club but somehow I doubt they have a bunch of couches everywhere... Yes of course Yosuke knows about strip clubs. The only girls who'd ever pay attention to him would have to be ones that he was paying to do so. Pathetic. ... Yukikoooooo why do you know about strip cluuuubs?? *duct tapes Teddie's mouth shut* OK guys, since we have five party members now and the max party size is four, you're gonna have to pick someone to leave behind. Here's the deal: Party members that don't participate in battle don't get EXP. You may have noticed this already if you ended up in a battle that ended with some of your party members dead, but this also counts for party members not in your current fighting party. So you can't just leave someone behind now, gain 15 levels or whatever, then switch that person in for the next dungeon and expect them to be able to keep up because they'll still be at whatever level they are currently. SO. Long story short, once you decide on a party you should just stick with it for the rest of the game. Trying to be as unspoilerrific here as possible, but you will get a few more party members later on, but the last one you get is one I never use. Here's a quick rundown of all your party members, present and future: 1) Yosuke will pretty much continue to be like he is now with wind magic, physical attacks, and some healing/support spells (he gets better versions of these later of course, I'm just saying the types of stuff he gets). I keep him in my party til the end cause that makes him pretty well-rounded although the other people I know who've played this take him out asap so it's up to you. 2) Chie will eventually get upgraded versions of her ice spells but her strength literally lies in physical attacks. I always immediately replace her with Kanji cause for some reason she can't hit the broad side of a barn when I'm playing. Who knows why. 3) Yukiko will continue to be a strong magic user, with fire and healing spells and a res spell. However, you're gonna get another healer really soon so I always switch her out for that new healer when they show up because they have a buff I always use. 4) Kanji is a fucking tank. I am not kidding. The more he levels up the higher his endurance and HP stats go. That being said, his magic stat is rubbish, however for things that are weak to lightning (which is his element) he will still KD them even if he doesn't do a whole lot of dmg with magic. Plus, you have Personas that can cast lightning. Up to you though. He also has a buff that I use really often. Oh yeah, and his follow-up attack thing? Hits all nearby enemies. Whee~ 5) Not too much of a spoiler if you're good at pattern recognition, but Rise's joining your party soon. However, she works kinda like Teddie does now, in that she will remember weak/strong/null data on enemies from dungeons. She does not fight in your actual fighting party though. She is 100% a support character so she doesn't have to replace anyone in your fighting party. She does level up though (fortunately, the game always counts her as being in the party so don't worry about that) and as she levels she gains skills that are specific to wandering around dungeons, like showing you where treasure chests are right off the bat, or a skill that heals you a certain amount after each battle. Oddly enough, her Persona's stats also go up every level, even though she doesn't fight. Yeah I have no idea what's up with that 6) The new healer you're getting pretty soon will have pretty strong ice magic and healing skills, and also buffs. They don't get any physical attack skills, but neither does Yukiko. Personally, I think this person is a stronger healer/magic user than Yukiko but I'm not ever going to make you choose specific party members. I'm just giving you all the relevant info on these party members so you can make informed choices on who you're keeping. Speaking of which, the new healer will have Mediarama (all-party medium healing) right off the bat, but no res skill until lv 63 (but it's the full HP res skill) (unlike Yukiko, who already has Recarm (the 50% HP res) but won't get Mediarama until lv 43) 7) Your last party member arrives really late in the game, and while they have light, dark, and almighty all-party skills on their Persona right off the bat I don't see much use in this person. Plus, those skills are massive SP sinks, gah. I have used them before but I prefer my party members to be a bit more versatile. Anyway, pick your party here then go back to the entrance. Remember to gear Kanji up if you bought him stuff earlier and if you're adding him to your party.

Time to fuse some Personas in the Velvet Room. Today's Fusion Forecast gives us bonus stats on everything we fuse, so it's a good thing we waited. By the way, in this section I tell you to fuse some stuff to get Hua Po and King Frost. Personally, I like fusing stuff cause you can get better skills on them that way but if you're cheap you can just wait until we do Rise's dungeon further down this page cause you can get them both for free there. We need both of them for upcoming quests but they already come with the specific skills we need for that. So it's up to you, but one of the recommended Personas for Rise's dungeon is fused using Hua Po. So you might want to just fuse her specifically now. Also, we're about to get a ton of cash since we have quests to do in Kanji's dungeon so if you're low on cash just come back and do all this stuff after we finish those quests (also, if you didn't get some of the personas I mention here before you can grab them while we do those quests). Fuse Oberon with Jack Frost to get Rakshasa, which is a nice Strength Persona to have. Also Phoenix x Principality will get you Nigi Mitama, which we'll need later on for a quest and I highly recommend the persona you get after a few fusion steps that this thing is involved in (Phoenix x Ippon-Datara OR Ara Mitama x Principality OR Anzu x Principality are also acceptable substitutes). Then fuse Ippon-Datara x Nigi Mitama to get Hua Po, who is pretty strong in magic and we will need her for a future quest. Now we can fuse her with stuff to get the awesome persona I was just talking about. We will definitely need Ganga for one of the upcoming bosses, plus she's just all-around awesome in terms of magic, so fuse Unicorn x Hua Po x Ippon-Datara, and make sure you give her Zionga. (Unicorn is High Pixie x Nigi Mitama/Ares, OR Legion x Nigi Mitama, OR risk waiting to get it for free in Rise's dungeon, although it doesn't show up til the higher floors, just fyi). She's even more awesome if you level her to 33 to get Mediarama (which you should totally do). Two more suggestions for fusing if you have the cash to do so (if you don't just remember to come back when you do, and don't worry about going broke cause we are gonna have plenty of cash in a minute) that we will need for future S. Links/quests: Queen Mab (Lovers) (High Pixie x Omoikane x Archangel is the best (you can get High Pixie with Yaksini x Phoenix or Berith x Principality)) and King Frost (Emperor) (Sarasvati x Queen Mab is a nice combo for this). Give King Frost Sarasvati's Invig 2. Now, fuse King Frost and Hua Po to get a Kusi Mitama with Bufula for an upcoming quest. Plus, Rise's dungeon has enemies that cast Hama so having a Persona on you with Survive Light (like Kusi Mitama does) will reduce the chance of you getting game over from that. You should be pretty close to 25% Compendium completion at this point. When you get there Marge will give you the Velvet Ticket, which gives you 10% discount on future Persona summons. Also, before you go grab either Ippon-Datara (need to level him to 21) or Matador (need to level him to 27). I don't care which one you choose but you must level one or the other to the level I said, as we need it for Marge's quest which we're finishing today. Since we gave Ippon-Datara Growth 1 the easiest thing to do would be to just take him with you and let him passively level to 21. You also need to level Anzu to 20 so grab him too.

First things first: Talk to Yukiko to go back to the castle. We're gonna go kill that boss on the top floor. You have two choices here: either banzai through from floor 1 or just port to the boss floor. I'm starting from the bottom to loot all the floors on the way up. This won't take too long cause we're so high level that the enemies won't even notice us until we've run by. I wouldn't open any locked chests though, unless you have more than 8 chest keys or so. Even if you have a ton of chest keys I would save them for Kanji's dungeon, since we're going there right after this to get those quest items we need. Although somehow my normal mode game has ended up with 30 chest keys so I have no idea what's up with that. ^O__o^;; Oh, and if you're using Kanji don't forget to change his tactics. Whatever route you're taking, when you get to the top floor open the doors.

Boss: Contrarian King
Recommended level: 29 (normal); 29 (expert)
My current level: 29, Yosuke 29, Yukiko 29, Kanji 25 (expert)
Attacks: Red Wall, Kill Rush, Rampage, Hysterical Slap, Marakunda (defense down, all-party)
Strengths: Absorbs fire, nul wind
Weaknesses: None

So yeah... this thing absorbs fire and is nul to wind. Lightning and ice are still fair game though, as are physical attacks. Yukiko has no choice but to just heal for this fight, but really at our level this shouldn't take more than like 3-4 rounds. Kanji's Zionga and Kill Rush do about the same amount of damage to this thing so do whatever you want. For defeating this thing you'll get points towards Courage. After it's dead, inspect the floor in front of the throne to find a new fan for Yukiko. This fan is awesome so equip it now, then use the SP to get back to the entrance. Make sure you have a Persona with ice magic on you, or take Chie.

Next, talk to Kanji to return to the bathhouse. Again, Teddie says there's a strong shadow on the top floor. So, for our quests we need an Old Key from Bribed Fuzz (first two floors), Coal from Selfish Basalt (floors 7-8), a Crooked Cross from Tranquil Idol (floors 7-8), a Reflecting Board from Crying Table (floors 9-10), and a Grand Horn from Grave Beetle (floors 9-10). Also, if you didn't get 10 thick hides last time you were here, make sure you get all 10 this time around, from Dancing Hand (floors 5-8). Try to get everyone who isn't Kanji to lv 31 before the top floor. Here's a refresher on what enemies are weak/strong to what. Oh yeah, since it's raining, Kanji's dungeon has some new friends to play with. Rainy Brother is weak to ice, nul to everything else, Cloudgirl Pot is weird-looking but not much to worry about, and Rainy Sister is also weak to ice and nul to everything else. Once you're lv 31 and have all of your quest items, head up to the 11th floor, save, get a refill at Cupcake Fox if you need it, make sure that you personally have a Persona with lightning magic (even if you have Kanji with you), then open the double doors to fight the extra boss.

Boss: Intolerant Officer
Recommended level: 31 (normal); 31 (expert)
My current level: 31, Yosuke 31, Yukiko 31, Kanji 28 (expert); 30, Yosuke 30, Yukiko 30, Kanji 28 (normal)
Attacks: Bufula, Garula, Single Shot, Poison Arrow
Strengths: None
Weaknesses: Lightning

This guy is weak to lightning, so make sure that both you and Kanji are casting lightning magic at it so you can stampede all over his stupid face twice per round. If you're not using Kanji this is gonna take awhile longer unless you have items on you like Ball Lightning that do lightning damage, in which case you can "cheat" by using those instead to KD him. If you do have items like that might as well have all of your non-lightning characters using them no matter who's in your party cause who doesn't find it funny to stampede four times in one round? :op Do be careful though cause he casts Bufula and two of them can kill Yukiko. If you find this boss too difficult at this level, just leave it til right before the Maru-Q final boss. Once you defeat it you get points towards Courage. Inspect the floor in front of you to find an Iron Plate for Kanji, who's currently using a folding chair as a weapon. ^<__<^;; Go back to the entrance and enter the Velvet Room. Fuse Ippon-Datara with Matador, whichever one you levelled that has Rampage, to get a Gdon with Rampage. Btw, Growths stack so if you have Growth 1 and Growth 2 on him (cause he's gonna level from the Sun S. Link rank) he'll level up much faster but it's up to you. He definitely needs Rampage for Marge's quest though, plus he's physically strong. He should also end up with Maragion if you've been following this walkthrough and have Sun 6, which is all sorts of bloody awesome. Leave and re-enter the Velvet Room for Marge to notice that you made her her burning tiger. Maaaarge you are trying to give all new meaning to the term "fire crotch" if you try to ride that thing. Weirdo. No don't kill our Gdon after we went through all that trouble to make it for you. ^=__=^;; She now wants a Neko Shogun with Bufula, however we are not currently capable of making this thing cause it's a four-way fusion and Igor can't give birth to those yet. ^<__<^;; He won't gain this ability for another month or so. Afterwards, talk to Teddie to return to Maru-Q.

Dungeon: Maru-Q Striptease
Floors: 11 (last floor is boss floor)
Recommended level: 37-38
Min level: 35
Available Personas: Phoenix (Sun), High Pixie (Priestess), Ara Mitama (Chariot), Legion (Fool), Principality (Justice), Nigi Mitama (Temperance), King Frost (Emperor), Andra (Moon), Yomotsu-Ikusa (Hanged Man), Shiisaa (Hierophant), Vetala (Devil), Matador (Death), Yaksini (Empress), Lamia (Hermit), Hua Po (Magician), Ares (Chariot), Incubus (Devil), Power (Justice), Unicorn (Hierophant), Nozuchi (Moon), Sarasvati (Priestess), Ippon-Datara (Hermit), Kaiwan (Star), Titania (Empress), Makami (Hanged Man), Oni (Strength), Ganga (Priestess), Rakshasa (Strength)
Mandatory Personas to Acquire: Makami (Hanged Man), King Frost (Emperor, if you didn't fuse him before), Hua Po (Magician, if you didn't fuse her before), Ara Mitama (if you didn't get/fuse him before), Lamia (Hermit)
Recommended Personas: Gdon (Sun, from Marge's quest), Ganga (Priestess)
Notable Enemies: Miss Gene (weak to lightning), Rainy Sister 3 (weak to ice, absorbs wind), Idle Basalt (very strong enemy, weak to ice), Persistant Fuzz (reflects wind, fire, lightning, ice), Sonic Raven (weak to fire, absorbs lightning), Enslaved Beast (weak to fire), Rain Wheel (absorbs wind, weak to lightning), Venus Eagle (casts instant death light magic, weak to ice), Forgotten Hablerie (nul fire, weak to lightning), Rainy Brother 3 (weak to wind), Liberating Idol (reflects wind, nul fire, weak to ice), Killing Hand (weak to wind), Adamant Beetle (reflects phys), Large Basalt (weak to fire), Champion Knight (very strong enemy), Rain Leg Musha (absorbs ice, wind, fire, weak to lightning), Mighty Cyclops (strong enemy, weak to fire), Arcane Turret (super strong enemy), Sky Balance (reflects ice, wind, lightning, weak to fire)
KO Date: Saturday, July 9 (7/9)

Gaining about one level every two floors should be enough. Honestly, I just banzai through, clearing each floor of loot and moving on, and the dungeon is still a breeze ... Miss Genes drop rubbery objects... in a strip club... ... you know what, I'm not touching that joke with a rusty 50-foot halberd. *walks away* You need to get Makami (Hanged Man) and Lamia (Hermit) for a future quest, and in case you didn't get Eligor before since we need a Hanged Persona for future hangouts with Naoki. Make sure you pick up an Ara Mitama if you haven't ever acquired one cause we'll need that (plus the other three Mitamas, which you should already have) for Marge's Neko Shogun quest. Remember to pick up Unicorn, High Pixie, and King Frost if you didn't acquire/fuse them before when we were fusing Personas before beating up the bonus boss for Yukiko's Dungeon. Pick up Titania while you're at it, cause we're gonna need her for a fusion for the final boss of this dungeon. The Persistant Fuzz enemy reflects all magic so just whack him with physicals of any kind. On the third floor you'll find Shadow Rise behind the first curtain, who's still babbling about how she wants to get naked in front of everyone. I guess the entire town is watching, judging from the volume of cheering. ... is it just me or does Shadow Rise look particularly psychopathic. Craaaaaazy eyes~ She soon runs off, with your party in hot pursuit. OK guys, around floor 5 you'll start seeing some black and pink vulture things. KILL THEM. They have Hama, which is instant death light skill. ^x__x^;; They are weak to ice though, so freeze them to death. When you get to the 7th floor, Shadow Rise turns the lights out so you can't see more than a couple of feet in front of you. However, you'll still see the enemies on your minimap at the same distance you usually do, so... not that much of a problem. Bitch, please, I not only played and beat Tales of Phantasia but I wrote a walkthrough for it, and when that game turns the lights off it really turns them off. Just inch your way forward one mini-map square at a time and you'll be just fine~ There is a "locked" curtain (don't ask me how one locks a curtain) that she won't let you through til you beat the miniboss. When you find it (map here), Crazyface turns on the lights and introduces you to her snake. Er... I'm not touching that one either.

Boss: Amorous Snake
Recommended level: 34 (normal); 35 (expert)
My current level: 34, Yosuke 34, Yukiko 34, Kanji 33 (normal and expert)
Attacks: Stagnant Air (increases susceptibility to conditions), Virus Wave (all-party physical w/ chance of poison), Mind Slice (all-party physical w/ chance of confusion)
Strengths: None
Weaknesses: Fire

This thing is so easy... Just toss fire at it and stampede all over its face. The End. Helps if you have firecrackers too cause stampeding really hurts it. One round and DOOOOOOWN. After it's dead, the lights on the entire floor come back on, so let's get going.

Make your way back to the locked curtain and continue on your trek through this maddening dungeon. I agree with Teddie, too much pink. And purple. And girly. Once you get to the 9th floor you'll start seeing enemies called Sky Balance. You will need three Fashionable Dishes from them for a future quest, so try to grab them (yeah, it's their normal drop, not the weird quest item-type drop). But if you don't get them this time, don't worry. As usual, we'll be coming back to this dungeon later for some other quests. Once you reach the top floor, you MUST go back and refill your SP at Cupcake Fox. Trust me. I also highly recommend fusing Gdon x Ganga x Archangel/Titania to get Taotie. (Titania is Unicorn x Andra, OR Ukobach x Rakshasa x Hua Po, OR Phoenix x Andra x Sarasvati which is probably the best so you can get Taotie Invig 2 via Sarasvati) He's lv 35 and has massive Endurance (plus, you need him for a later quest). Give him at least one lv2 magic attack (i.e., Bufula, Agilao, Zionga, or Garula) and whatever else you want. While we're here, might as well fuse Rakshasa x Kaiwan x High Pixie/Kusi Mitama to get Mothman, whom we'll also need later. Put whatever skills you want on him. Make sure you bring a persona with Mediarama with you (fun fact: Ganga has Mediarama and also absorbs ice, which the upcoming boss uses), then go back to the top floor of Maru-Q (make sure you equip Taotie). Well, let's get this over with.

Boss: Shadow Rise, Gold Medalist of the Stripper Olympics
Recommended level: 37 (normal); 37 (expert)
My current level: 37, Yosuke 37, Yukiko 37, Kanji 36 (normal and expert)
Attacks: Agi, Maragi, Agilao, Maragion, Bufu, Mabufu, Bufula, Mabufula, Mazio, Mind Slice, Spirit Drain (absorbs SP), Supreme Insight
Strengths: Everything
Weaknesses: None

Once inside you find Shadow Rise next to a stripper pole, and a very defeated-looking Rise in front of her. Er... she's too good at pole dancing to not have done this before. All of Rise's denials just serve to egg on her crazy Shadow. Well, here we go... Man, this thing even makes weird gross squishy noises when it attacks. No... no, we don't want a more intense experience. ^T__T^ OK, now... this is going to sound insane, but... only use special physical attacks on her. Trust me. Have Yukiko guard unless you need her to heal that round. After she's down to about 50% HP she gets pissy and decides you need to die. She then starts using Supreme Insight to analyse all of your weaknesses. Definitely use Sukukaja (Yosuke) and Rakukaja (Kanji) on yourself on the next turn, and have everyone else Guard, then just guard forever, cause everything you do from now on will miss. Magic, physicals, special physicals, everything. After a couple of rounds of this the battle phases out and your party seems close to giving up. Teddie bemoans the fact that he can't do anything, and Shadow Rise unleashes her devastating attack. Ow. It lays us all out flat. Teddie wants to help, but there's nothing he can do. Reply whatever you want, it doesn't matter. Teddie doesn't want to be alone again. Shadow Rise starts charging up her attack again, but Teddie seems to be possessed or something. Suddenly, an immense power spills forth from Teddie. BUH-BUH-BUH-BEAR-BOMB! Teddie's currently impersonating a pancake, but is otherwise fine, and Shadow Rise is pwnt. You all rush to the real Rise's side. She helps Crazyface to her feet and apologises for denying her existance. She then says that there is no real Rise. Uh... If I were Spiderman, my spidey senses would be tingling right about now. Rise then gets her Persona. Rise is trying to say that all of her different faces are just facets of her true self, even fake made-up Risette. However, Teddie is fixated on the wrong part of the realisation. Guys... this is bad. Suddenly, Teddie's Shadow appears, a manifestation of his insecurities about who, or what, he really is. Shadow Teddie tries to convince Teddie that he'll never find the truth. He starts to say something, but Teddie cuts him off. Whatever you say, this thing attacks you. Rise decides to take Teddie's place for now. Well~ now you know why I had you save your SP~

Boss: Shadow Teddie, Nightmare Plushie
Recommended level: 37 (normal); 37 (expert)
My current level: 37, Yosuke 37, Yukiko 37, Kanji 36 (normal and expert)
Attacks: Marakunda, Heat Wave (all-party physical), Mind Charge, Mabufula, Foolish Whisper (inflicts silence, all-party), Ultra Charge, Nihil Hand (all-party physical), Nullity Guidance (physical), Ice Break
Strengths: None
Weaknesses: None

This battle isn't really all that difficult, but better to be full of HP/SP than dead and sorry. NO, YOU. The only one ending here is you, Insanity Plushie. Hit him with your strongest attacks for the first round (Taotie's Megido/Mind Slice, Yosuke's Garula, Kanji's Fatal End, Chie's Gale Slash, Yukiko's Agilao). Use Taotie's Dekunda when Teddie uses Marakunda, and switch to whatever Persona has Mediarama when he uses Heat Wave. His Mind Charge is not nullified by Dekaja, so just have everyone guard that turn cause he always follows that with Mabufula (unless you brought Ganga, in which case have everybody else block but you switch to Ganga and attack with Zionga). If Yukiko gets silenced, make sure you use those Mouthwashes I made you buy. When he does Ultra Charge, attack as you have been doing for the previous rounds (but also use this round to heal if you need to), then have every party member guard on the next round. This attack always takes two entire rounds to charge up so you're always safe to attack for the first round that he's charging up. Having everyone guard on the next turn completely nullifies Nihil Hand (the attack he was charging up). Keep this up and this fight shouldn't be too difficult. In fact, it's one of the easiest bosses, however it is a real SP sink so it's a good thing we refilled before we came here. You still might end up using some Snuff Souls regardless. If he KD's both you and Yukiko with Nullity Guidance have someone else use one of those Medical Kits I had you buy if you need healing. The dizziness always seems to wear off by the time you need to guard so yay. Often near the end he'll just start using Mabufula without warning, and usually will use Ice Break if Yukiko didn't dodge, but I wouldn't worry too much about it. Just keep yourselves above 50% HP and you'll be fine~

Uuuuugggggghhhhhhh. To borrow a line from Yosuke, "that took forEVer!" Afterwards, Teddie admits he doesn't know who he is, and that maybe he will never know. However, he's got our support! Teddie gets his Persona! (and, in case you were wondering, yes, he is the new healer I was talking about earlier) Or, uh, BEAR-sona, as Teddie calls it. ^<__<^ With all the ruckus we completely forgot that Rise is in the middle of suffering from the Collapsing Plague. Back at the entrance, Teddie says he needs to be alone for a bit cause he's in dire need of a makeover. And situps. ^O__o^;; Kanji... he's not standing. He's sitting. As you go to leave, Teddie stops you. He says that you make him feel like he's special and important. Yaaay, rank up~ Back at home, Dojima's home early for... once...? Aaaaaaaaand he's drunk out of his mind. Yes it will. PUNCH THE HOUSE. PUNCH IT FOREVER. Dojima Ryotaro, setting an awesome example for his small child since 2005. *thumbs up* Ryotaro, I'm pretty sure I'm older than you are so I highly doubt that. Apparently cause the local cops are too busy investigating suspicious manhole covers, buying magic sets at Junes, and harassing high school kids at the local Chinese restaurant the prefecture decided to send a real detective in to solve the murders. And apparently the super-detective is our age. Hurray for child geniuses, I guess? Maybe he's the Spencer Reid of Persona 4. Dojima, I think the only person who needs babysitting atm is you. ^=__=^;; Hey hey hey, we have nothing to do with your incompetence. I think the better question is... how and why does a six-year old know what sake smells like? Oh right, Dojima's her dad, always winning the Father of the Century award. My bad.