Persona 4 Golden – Prep for New Game+ Guide

This is a guide to help you play for real when you start playing New Game+. If you just want to play the game once that is fine, this is a guide for those looking to get the most out of Persona 4 Golden.

Prep for New Game +

All credit goes to Douth Sakota!

#1: Starting the Game

Once you have picked your difficulty, and name, you should be able to go into settings.

• Go to System
• Go to Difficulty
• And change whatever you’d like to make the game cater to you.

I personally think the game is very stingy on giving you EXP and Money which can be hard at the start of the game when you are fighting enemies and buying new gear. The bosses especially in the beginning are tough. (Note: You do not have yo do this if you find it cheating or exploiting the game. I just found it helps you out in the beginning.)

#2: Social Stats

The biggest hindrance I find in this game is seeing that you lack in something because you’re 1 level shy of starting a new social link, or saying that one dialogue choice. These are some ways to help you get up your social stats.

1. Getting a job

Working will give you a couple points in whichever stat you’re working on, in some jobs too you will find new social links. That however is for Step 3.

2. Eating at Aiya

When it is raining, there is a restaurant in the Northern Shopping district called Aiya. This place offers a giant meat bowl similar to that of the Big Bang Burger challenge in P5. You will not be able to finish it, but it is a great source for upping multiple stats. It costs 3000 Yen if you can’t finish it.

3. Reading

You know what’s great? KnOwLeDge! In all seriousness, reading can also be useful when trying to up another stat. Books however take multiple time slots to finish. There is one book that is especially useful that will cut time in half when reading. It is called the “Hyperspeed Reading” and it is available at the book store on August 4th. Till then you should buy books that will give you more social points when you’re doing an activity such as studying or working.

4. Answering Questions in class

This is lowest on my list of priorities as some of the questions in class I have never heard of. IF you get it right great. If you didn’t get it right, try to remember it for the Exam as that is what truly matters in the game. Studying gives you more Knowledge points especially while it is raining.

#3: Social Links

This is the real bread and butter of what makes a Persona game.

Social Links are people you will encounter while you spend time in the small town of Inaba. However if you’re like me and came from playing Persona 5 I have bad news for you. Hanging out with social links doesn’t give you as many benefits as it does in P5. At the most you will just get a EXP boost when making new Personas. I only found this useful when I would be a level shy from a fusion and a social link would give me what I needed to complete one social link.

This is what I recommend you do when maxing out social links.

1. Try to max out your party members social links as they will get additional abilities or stronger ones

Your party members once you max them out should have their personas evolve and get one final ability to evade their weakness which is really useful. (Focus on the party members you use the most)

2. There are a couple of social links I will recommend you work on regardless

My first one is the Hermit Social Link, he will give you quest to complete so I will drop a guide I use to max out this social link. The Hermit social link is useful for when you’re out of Sp and need healing so you can go back into Dungeons and waste less time going back to recharge. Than there is the Empress Social link which will help you with fusions, and if you fill out the compendium summoning older personas for future fusions will become less expensive. There is also a guide for this I will provide to help you. Finally there is the Aeon social link. This one is really annoying, but if you want the Golden ending, it is required to max out this Social Link. I pray that you get through this one, as she is just really annoying.

3. Not all social links are a waste of time

I am not saying don’t get involved with the world of Inaba, as some social links are interesting. I would say you should focus on Arcanas you use the most. Me personally, I used the Strength arcana a lot so I made sure to focus on this one. Feel free to talk to other social links to get that sweet EXP boost and build bonds with some great characters, just know you won’t get much else from it.

#4: Gear

Now this i will not be much help as this is just a suggestion. All gear should transfer from your old save to New Game +.

1. Weapons

Equip all of your weapons form your last save.

2. Armor

Equip all your armor from last save. I focused on anything with high agility, as it is better to evade attacks. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have high defense, this is just something I prefer to have.

3. Accessories

I found these more useful once I had enough SP to one shot dungeons. *Make Sure You Plug Your Party Member’s Weakness’s* I cannot tell you how infuriaitng it is when a boss hits your weak points and begins to spam the same attacks that knocked you down in the first place. Either higher evasion rate from a certain element, or take reduced damage. The only accpetion I made with this was for my healer who now heals my whole party a whole 70% more with Divine Grace and Blessed hands (You can get this from The Tanaka’s amazing Commodities)

#5: Starting New Game+

Now you should finally be ready to get the true Persona experience. Now mind you the game will be a bit of a slog since you already know what is going to happen. My suggestion is that you take either a small break and play another game, or just skip most of the dialogue till you find it interesting again.

The social links you maxed out in your last playthrough should rank up faster now with the items they gave you so you can now focus on more social links.

Try out different activities in Inaba. While it is small town, there is still stuff to do, immerrse yourself into the game, and get a feel for all the characters and world that Atlus has wonderfully handcrafted for you.

I hope this guide helped you out. If there is anything I am missing that would be extra help, please comment or message me so I can make changes and have this guide become more accurate and helpful.