the Persona series

[X-Calibar]

Oh god... Mara!? DX
about some of the rant in the Spoiler box, that's called Cutscene Incompetence =/
You still need to beat one last boss to consider yourself Maxed, and if you like challenge, you're gonna like it (You can't take anyone with you, you can't use personas that Block or Repel since the boss will use a One-Hit-Kill attack, she has double turn, etc.)

lol Mara! and yes I agree with that tvtrope lol  I'm looking forward to seeing this "last boss".... 
Anyways, I must be slowww or something, I'm probably going to hit 200 hours before the end of Jan. 

On the plus side,

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My health has jumped from 500, to 999 and SP to 999 the moment I hit lvl 99 lol
I was O_O...    AND I've been pretty unlucky about finding fusion spells... got stuck since I never found Siegfried (no guides basically, but did look up why I couldn't ever get past that request... Yuko)

I discovered Helel + Satan = ARMAGEDDON!   ... lol .... ..... 9999 damage.     wow.
I wonder if spell master will work for it... (costs 100% of SP I guess? [or 999 SP]

I was hoping to get the devil link mastered before the battle with Nyx, but I didn't cheat to look where he was until the beginning of the month... probably won't make it in time, especially if he only shows up twice a week.  But, I should probably be okay with Armageddon, a persona with repel and a persona with absorb most attacks, my boost persona (starts battle off with all(?) auto buffs), Mara for ultimate fire, Skaldi for ultimate ice, Thor and Take for ultimate lightning, Thanatos for ultimate light and dark (probably un-useful, samsara and die for me! won't work on a boss...), Helel for non-elemental ultimate (including armageddon  ), Susano-o for vorpal blade on great, and a combat persona for when I need to critical melee.  Nyx might be an impossible battle, but I think I'm pretty prepared.

I'm getting close to the end...

[KoiNoDensetsu]

Apparently, the PSP version adds voice acting in some scenes. (I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere)  I watched a video of Yukari's maxed-out S-Link on youtube for the FES version, and it was just text. (unless the uploader just turned voices off, but that seems unlikely) 
Looks like that's another addition to P3P.  It really makes the scene cuter with voicing.

Anyway, anyone read the Persona 3 manga?  Is it good?  It apparently follows the game, unlike the anime.

[XenoArt]

Apparently, the PSP version adds voice acting in some scenes. (I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere)  I watched a video of Yukari's maxed-out S-Link on youtube for the FES version, and it was just text. (unless the uploader just turned voices off, but that seems unlikely) 
Looks like that's another addition to P3P.  It really makes the scene cuter with voicing.

Anyway, anyone read the Persona 3 manga?  Is it good?  It apparently follows the game, unlike the anime.

The manga is pretty good but you'll probably be loss at some of the scenes if you didn't play the game. Plus it gave us a name to call the MaleMC which is now used frequently.

[Marche90]

He did played the game, so he'll be fine. It is quite good, actually, and also there is a manga of P4, if you're interested. Badass P4 protagonist personality FTW!

[DxS]

Don't sue armageddon its too cheap it ruins any fun int he game.

[Marche90]

Think of it as an "I win" button: Just for emergencies and Monad xD (And you will NEED it to finish the boss I was talking about)

[X-Calibar]

Apparently, the PSP version adds voice acting in some scenes. (I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere)  I watched a video of Yukari's maxed-out S-Link on youtube for the FES version, and it was just text. (unless the uploader just turned voices off, but that seems unlikely) 
Looks like that's another addition to P3P.  It really makes the scene cuter with voicing.

:/
Hmmmm...
[thinks about getting a PSP but... ]

Don't sue armageddon its too cheap it ruins any fun int he game.

Think of it as an "I win" button: Just for emergencies and Monad xD (And you will NEED it to finish the boss I was talking about)

Yeah... I think armageddon is a bit overkill... same with how my HP and SP jumped to 999 just cause I hit lvl 99
I'll probably avoid using armageddon probably except for a finisher, I'll just pretend if I cast that; it's like a nuclear bad alternative to the fall D: 
I win... but at what cost? 

[Kiru]

Yeah... I think armageddon is a bit overkill... same with how my HP and SP jumped to 999 just cause I hit lvl 99
I'll probably avoid using armageddon probably except for a finisher, I'll just pretend if I cast that; it's like a nuclear bad alternative to the fall D: 
I win... but at what cost? 

Us it as the first thing you do when you fight the final boss.  :X (Might be funny, especially if you don't wanna use items)

[Marche90]

Yeah... I think armageddon is a bit overkill... same with how my HP and SP jumped to 999 just cause I hit lvl 99
I'll probably avoid using armageddon probably except for a finisher, I'll just pretend if I cast that; it's like a nuclear bad alternative to the fall D: 
I win... but at what cost? 

Us it as the first thing you do when you fight the final boss.  :X (Might be funny, especially if you don't wanna use items)

Yeah, the funny part will be that he will run for the entire battle without sp D=! (The last boss has thirteen forms)...
Or was it a form of "Don't explain the Joke"? o.o'

[DxS]

Yeah... I think armageddon is a bit overkill... same with how my HP and SP jumped to 999 just cause I hit lvl 99
I'll probably avoid using armageddon probably except for a finisher, I'll just pretend if I cast that; it's like a nuclear bad alternative to the fall D: 
I win... but at what cost? 

Us it as the first thing you do when you fight the final boss.  :X (Might be funny, especially if you don't wanna use items)

Yeah, the funny part will be that he will run for the entire battle without sp D=! (The last boss has thirteen forms)...
Or was it a form of "Don't explain the Joke"? o.o'

so all he needs are 12 soma's then.

[KoiNoDensetsu]

Ugh, Nyx...  It was an epic fight, but it lasted way too long and ended up tedious.  I think I used 14 somas during that fight. (all I had)  The last form took FOREVER to kill.  After I killed it

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and it looked like it was going to regenerate, I was like "If you fucking get another form, I am going to throw my PSP.  And cry. >_>

The "fight" after Nyx WAS epic though.  Especially with that "Burn My Dread" remix.

[Marche90]

What lvl you were? Nyx is a long fight, but if you are underleveled it can take ages, if not it last for about half an hour

[KoiNoDensetsu]

What lvl you were? Nyx is a long fight, but if you are underleveled it can take ages, if not it last for about half an hour

I think I was somewhere in the 70s.  It took me about an hour to defeat Nyx.  I used MC for healing/SP (and an attack when I got the chance), Akihiko for stat boosts/decreases, Mitsuru for ice spells, and Koromaru for attack boosts and physical attacks.  I basically just repeated that pattern until it was dead. =P

[X-Calibar]

Heyyyy
I finally beat it last night!~

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... Mmmmm I didn't expect it to be over after that battle personally.. I was fooled by reading the calender events for the upcoming months [I suspected it might end there but...]

Lovely game...  I enjoyed it quite a bit... [200 hours worth lol]
Okay, anti-climatic final battles for me though....  I guess I should have known, playing it on normal, and getting most people to lvl 99...

It went down like this :
The promised day arrived...

I had the following social links maxed :
Sun (Akanari)
Fool (SEES)
Judgement (Nyx)
Chariot (Kaz)
Aeon (Aigis)
Lovers (Yukari)
Justice (Chihirio)
Star (Mamarou)
Death (Pharos)
Hanged (Maiko)

I had to cut my losses on devil (waited too long to learn about it lvl 6), strength (would take too long lvl 5), moon (never found it), tower (never found), fortune (only got to lvl 4 or so), emperor (waited too long, was lvl , empress (only lvl 3), priestess (lvl 6.. she reveresed on me for a while lol), magician (lvl 2 or something he reversed a couple times lol).
So my final lvl 99 personas for the last battle ended up being...

Skaldi (amp) - Nelhiem (best ice persona)
Mara (fire boost + amp) - Malagagidyne (best fire persona)
Helel (absorb all but piercing, fire and dark) - mind charge, morning star, salvation ... and armagaddeon
Satan (dark viper)
Susano-o (vorpal blade) ... didn't even use him since my status reverted from great to normal for some reason during missions
Metatron (reflect all but slash and dark) - Megidolaon
Lilith (Magic reflect)
Melchizedek (auto-buffs and hand to hand skill)
Descarbrsomething starfish + stingray guy - (Best Friends)

That's all I can remember bringing, I got lazy; didn't get thor and take, or fuse lilith and someone for a support ability persona.
I had the savior robes and boots, evil gloves, and the item for halving spell cost.  (forgot to switch it for the idol, but didn't need it anyways... although I thought I messed up on the final battle... (revive with 1 hp... I was like ... omg no... I forgot to switch the item))

The battles went down like this...
Jin ... never hit us once.  (I went easy on him, I had Junpei, Aigis, and Mitsuru)
I used the auto-buff guy at the start of fight, then I cast mind charge and waited; I let the others hit him [he went through a dialogue each turn someone hit him...]
Then when he was about to die, I switched to Satan and dark vipered him ... 1000-1700 something dmg (everyone else did between 600-800)
Down!

I felt bad for leaving him to get eaten by the shadows... I just had to cast one fire spell and they'd have died...
I switched players for the next battle, Junpei, Ken and Akihiko.  [Ken and Junpei wanted to fight..]

Then for uh .. Takaya.  I decided to be a little rougher.  I think I used morning star and finished it after letting him have a few turns.

I must note that running up the levels, all the shadows just avoided me; I attacked a few for practice.

Finally when bad-ass Nyx shows up... I ...
a) bombarded the hell out of him!
b) took it easy on him...

... b.
lol yes, I chose Yukari, Aigis, and Junpei again.
I spent most of the time just casting best friends in the first 6-7 forms.  And let them do all the fighting.  Cast one dark viper and morning star for show.  I was disappointed that his look didn't change though after his repeated speech...

[for the first 6 forms, he only lasted a turn, so he kept chattering alot]

Only when he hit his death form did I start to get serious.  Set Aigis to that mode where she goes berserk, and immediately "Moonlight ... "something happens lol.  I kept attacking even though it didn't do any good and Junpei kept killing himself.  [lowest health of the group...]
It took a lot longer since I ended up being support and just let them do most of the fighting.
Finally when all his health was gone he used his final attack (awesome looking, but did ... diddly dmg)
Then I said "Oh yeah!?"  ... Armageddon.

I was disappointed when the battle ended then :/  I thought for sure, Nyx would go through some of the Minor Arcana... and wondered if it would flip out when it hit Aeon...  Alas... it was not to be...

The final scenes were pretty awesome, but I was disappointed I didn't have more S-links to make it even better.
Thought I was screwed at first on the last battle...  where were my personas and items... :/
I needed to Armageddon him...  :/  Wasn;t THAT the battle you guys were talking about??  Dang... I was disappointed I didn't get a chance to fight, although things worked out...

Then the game went to the finale, 2 months later..  It was well done...  Enjoyed all the max s-link dialogues..
btw I saved Chidori!  I was kinda happy that Junpei seemed to remember that at the end. 
Maiko's dad was pretty funny... he called me a jerk!  And said "no way you will marry her!" lol
The empty dorm the last two days were a good touch...  it made you realize the importance of the bonds you made; and heightened the climax cinematics.  Just wasn't the same without everyone...

And then it was over... with a very nice ending (here are ending credits) :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu8VzEFeILE

I haven't checked answer yet, and I kinda am toying with the idea of replaying on hard with the cycle data.  It should be much shorter this time since I can buy all my personas that I saved in the compendium.

My gripes with P3:fes...
Wish there had been more scenes, day to day dialogue; besides the regular few.  The real treats were the special scenes when everyone shows up  (oh and I loved Aigis' in-between social link level scene lol I just had to stare and take in the sight)...  (I always made sure to hit all of those that I could, like always walking Koromaru... that final walk with koromaru and everyone was nice... WAY too short, but was funny!)  Like during the school trip to Kyoto... wish it would had some scenes besides just the CG photographs.  The extra parts were a really nice touch to the game, but it felt kinda shallow.  [Like the two shrine festival events when they were in the yukatas...  I was glad it was there, but ... I guess I'm spoiled with VNs !]
The dungeons were totally generic, so that sucked... although I spent many, many hours running around gathering money to fuel my persona building... (so expensive.. since I used all my cards early on, to max out one guy, and then fused it with another... and so forth)

[DxS]

Well if it makes you feel any better the dungeon designs in Persona 4 are much better.