New Game Plus

Welcome to New Game Plus (NG+), where your journey through Inaba takes on a whole new dimension! This section will guide you through maximizing your second (or subsequent) playthroughs, leveraging your accumulated power and knowledge to achieve goals like completing the Compendium, maxing all Social Links, or tackling the secret bosses.

Upon starting a New Game Plus, several elements carry over from your previous save, giving you a significant head start:

• Persona Compendium: All registered Personas and their fusion costs.
• Social Stats: Your Courage, Diligence, Understanding, Expression, and Knowledge levels remain maxed (or at whatever level you achieved).
• Money: All your yen carries over.
• Equipment: All weapons, armor, and accessories you possessed.
• Key Items: Items like the Scooter Key, Fishing Rod, and certain quest items.
• Skill Cards: Any Skill Cards you collected.
• Play Time: Your total play time from the previous save.

However, some crucial elements reset:

• Character Levels: Your protagonist and party members revert to Level 1.
• Social Link Ranks: All Social Links reset to Rank 0.
• Consumable Items: All consumable items (healing items, battle items) are lost.
• Story Progress: The main story and all related events reset.
• Dungeon Progress: All dungeons reset to their initial state.

Recommended NG+ Goals

With the advantages of NG+, you can focus on objectives that were difficult or impossible in your first run.

• Max All Social Links: This is a popular and achievable goal thanks to maxed Social Stats.
• Complete the Persona Compendium: Use your carried-over money and registered Personas to fuse and collect every Persona.
• Defeat the Secret Bosses: Challenge Margaret and the Reaper with optimized Personas and equipment.
• Obtain Ultimate Weapons/Armor: Craft the best gear for your party members.
• Experience All Dialogue Options: Explore different choices in conversations and events.

Strategies for a Smooth NG+ Run

Early Game Power Spike

Your maxed Social Stats are your biggest asset. This allows you to immediately engage in activities that were previously gated, such as:

• Accepting Part-Time Jobs: Start working at the Shiroku Pub or Tutoring job from the beginning to earn extra yen and boost Social Links.
• Reading Books: Finish all books quickly to gain permanent stat boosts or unlock new activities.
• Fishing: With high Diligence, you can fish effectively from the start, providing valuable items and a path to the Guardian.

Persona Management

Your carried-over Compendium is invaluable. Here's how to leverage it:

• Summon Powerful Personas: Immediately summon high-level Personas from your Compendium, even at Level 1. This will drain your yen quickly, so prioritize wisely.
  • Early Game Dominance: Summon a powerful Persona with good elemental coverage and healing spells (e.g., Yoshitsune with Hassou Tobi, or a Persona with Megidolaon) to trivialize early dungeon encounters.
  • Skill Card Farming: Use your powerful Personas to quickly defeat Shadows and farm Skill Cards in early dungeons.
• Fusion Forecast: Pay close attention to the Fusion Forecast to create Personas with desired skills or stat boosts.
• Persona for Social Links: Always have a Persona of the matching Arcana when spending time with a Social Link character to maximize efficiency.

Social Link Prioritization (Max S.Link Run)

If your goal is to max all Social Links, meticulous planning is key. Here's a general approach:

• Prioritize School Links: Focus on school-based Social Links (e.g., Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Kanji, Rise, Naoto, Kou/Daisuke, Ayane/Yumi) during school days.
• Evening Links: Dedicate evenings to Social Links like Dojima, Nanako, Adachi, and Ai (if you haven't started her during the day).
• Hermit S.Link: The Fox's Social Link is crucial for dungeon crawling efficiency, as it reduces SP costs. Prioritize completing its requests.
• Fortune S.Link (Marie): Marie's Social Link is essential for unlocking the Golden ending and the Hollow Forest dungeon. Max her out before December.
• Aeon S.Link (Adachi): Adachi's Social Link is also time-sensitive. Ensure you reach Rank 6 by November 1st to continue it later.
• Temperance S.Link (Eri Minami): This Social Link requires you to work the Tutoring job, which is unlocked with max Understanding.
• Devil S.Link (Sayoko Uehara): This Social Link requires you to work at the Hospital, unlocked with max Courage.
• Justice S.Link (Nanako) & Hierophant S.Link (Dojima): These are evening links and are often easier to manage around your day schedule.

Key Dates for Social Links:

• Marie (Fortune): Must be maxed by December 2nd for the Golden ending.
• Adachi (Jester/Aeon): Reach Rank 6 by November 1st. The remaining ranks will progress automatically during the story if you meet the requirements.

Dungeon Crawling Efficiency

With powerful Personas and equipment, you can clear dungeons much faster:

• One-Day Dungeons: Aim to clear each dungeon in a single day to maximize your free time for Social Links and other activities.
• Exploit Weaknesses: Use your diverse Persona arsenal to exploit enemy weaknesses and gain "1 More!" turns.
• SP Management: The Fox's Social Link is your best friend. Use its SP restoration service generously. Also, consider Personas with Invigorate skills or SP Ad-hoc items from vending machines.
• Golden Hands: Actively hunt Golden Hands for massive experience and yen. With powerful Personas, they are much easier to defeat.

Item Acquisition

• Weapon Crafting: Visit Daidara Metalworks frequently. With your carried-over money, you can buy materials and craft powerful weapons from the start. Look for materials dropped by Shadows in early dungeons to craft weapons like the Blade of Totsuka for Chie or the Oda Nobunaga for Yosuke.
• Fishing: Catching the River Guardian and Sea Guardian allows you to trade them for valuable items, including the Genji Helm and Guardian's Eye.
• Vending Machines: Regularly check the vending machines in the Central Shopping District for cheap SP-restoring drinks like TaP Soda and Orange Smash.

Secret Bosses

NG+ is the ideal time to challenge the game's toughest optional encounters.

Margaret

To fight Margaret, the Velvet Room attendant, you must meet specific conditions:

1. Complete the game once (on any difficulty).
2. Max the Empress Social Link (Margaret's S.Link) in your current NG+ playthrough.
3. Defeat all optional bosses in the dungeons (e.g., Contrarian King, Shadow Rise, etc.).
4. On your final day (March 20th), after saying goodbye to everyone and before heading home, visit the Velvet Room. Margaret will challenge you.

Strategy for Margaret:

• Persona Preparation: You'll need a diverse set of Personas covering all elemental resistances, ideally with Null/Repel/Drain for all elements. A Persona with enduring skills like Enduring Soul or Firm Stance is highly recommended.
• Buffs/Debuffs: Bring Personas with Heat Riser, Debilitate, and various elemental buffs/debuffs.
• Equipment: Equip your best gear. The Godly Robe (from the Reaper) and ultimate weapons are highly beneficial.
• Healing: Stock up on powerful healing items and have a dedicated healer Persona with Mediarahan/Salvation.
• Pattern Recognition: Margaret has a set attack pattern that cycles through elemental attacks. Learn her pattern to switch Personas accordingly.
• Damage Output: She has a massive HP pool. Focus on consistent damage with powerful physical skills like Hassou Tobi (Yoshitsune) or magical attacks that she doesn't resist.

The Reaper

The Reaper is a recurring secret boss that can be encountered in any dungeon.

1. Enter any dungeon.
2. Wait on a floor for approximately 5-10 minutes without engaging in combat.
3. You will hear the sound of chains rattling, and a message will appear stating, "I sense a strong presence..."
4. The next Shadow encounter will be the Reaper.

Strategy for the Reaper:

• Persona Preparation: The Reaper is immune to all status ailments and has no elemental weaknesses. Focus on Personas with high damage output (physical or magical) and strong defensive capabilities.
• Almighty Attacks: Personas with Almighty skills like Megidolaon or Morning Star are effective.
• Enduring Soul: A Persona with Enduring Soul can save you from its devastating attacks.
• Buffs/Debuffs: Heat Riser and Debilitate are crucial for this fight.
• Equipment: The best available weapons and armor are highly recommended.
• Level: Aim for at least Level 70+, though higher is always better.
• "Reaper Trick" (Optional): On lower difficulties, you can use a specific strategy involving the "Growth 3" skill card and a Persona like Tam Lin to defeat the Reaper easily. However, on higher difficulties, a direct combat approach is usually required.