Trophy Thoughts?

[Tripple_Barnett]

1 hour ago, jantrick2 said:

Got to BOND level 76 playing NG+ Merciless and the Treasure Demons don't really give much XP. Looks like the Metatron grind is the fastest way but at least doing a Merciless run is less boring.

That's good. I've been doing the Metatron grind. Currently at Bond level 75. At least we are both making progress. 

[DoctorDrPepper]

What bond level do you have to get to to afford every skill?

[jantrick2]

14 minutes ago, DoctorDrPepper said:

What bond level do you have to get to to afford every skill?

 

99. Doing everything in one playthrough gets you to BOND level 60, so that's 39 levels you need to grind.

[Static_Rook]

I just spent 3 and a half hours using the Billiken statue method in Osaka. I went from Bond level 39 to 63. Seems pretty quick, but I don't know how it compares to Metatron farming. Obviously you miss out on money and character xp since you're not fighting anything, but it's super easy. You just run back and forth between two screens. It's also super boring, but the usual grind helpers like podcasts, etc help. 

 

Again, I don't know if it's better than farming Metatron, but it will break up the grind a bit so it's not all at the end. And having some of those Bond skills maxed out early should be helpful, too.

Edited February 27, 2021 by Static_Rook

[jantrick2]

55 minutes ago, Static_Rook said:

I just spent 3 and a half hours using the Billiken statue method in Osaka. I went from Bond level 39 to 63. Seems pretty quick, but I don't know how it compares to Metatron farming. Obviously you miss out on money and character xp since you're not fighting anything, but it's super easy. You just run back and forth between two screens. It's also super boring, but the usual grind helpers like podcasts, etc help. 

 

Again, I don't know if it's better than farming Metatron, but it will break up the grind a bit so it's not all at the end. And having some of those Bond skills maxed out early should be helpful, too.

 

At least with the statue method it's (kinda) easier to multitask. But it looks like the Metatron grind really is the fastest way to get it over with :/

[SnowNinjaRaccoon]

Using the Statue in Osaka you are looking at about 20+ hours of farming BOND. Metatron is faster, believe me There is a reason why I mentioned the Metatron method as the fastest one in my guide Got the plat 3 times already, so I think I am pretty sure I know what I'm talking about lol

 

For Metatron use either a strong lightning Persona or ... Use Zenkichi's Buff on Ryuji, power up once with triangle so Ryuji gets his armor and use the square, square, square, hold triangle to max level combo. It deals massive damage to Metatron and because of his triangle buff Ryuji won't get staggered easily so you can charge it up to max level easily.

[jlojlo1]

Personally, I chose the Merciless route and got lvl 99 before the final boss (i was lvl 50 at the end of my first playthrough). I redid all the sidecontent since I wanted to fight the Reaper again so maybe that's why i did not have to grind at all. NG+ Merciless seems to be the route they want you to take with that trophy IMO (instead of beating Metatron up over and over again)

[jantrick2]

On 2/26/2021 at 0:28 PM, Tripple_Barnett said:

I've seen people say that dire shadows respawn (so you can grind them for bond points), but I can't find them where they should be. 

 

It seems they only respawn on Merciless.

[BeforeJam]

6 hours ago, SnowNinjaRaccoon said:

Using the Statue in Osaka you are looking at about 20+ hours of farming BOND. Metatron is faster, believe me There is a reason why I mentioned the Metatron method as the fastest one in my guide Got the plat 3 times already, so I think I am pretty sure I know what I'm talking about lol

 

For Metatron use either a strong lightning Persona or ... Use Zenkichi's Buff on Ryuji, power up once with triangle so Ryuji gets his armor and use the square, square, square, hold triangle to max level combo. It deals massive damage to Metatron and because of his triangle buff Ryuji won't get staggered easily so you can charge it up to max level easily.

 

Do we know if PS5 ownership has any affect on the statue method? With the SSD my load times are <1 second between areas for the Osaka statue. 
 

Edited February 27, 2021 by BeforeJam

[Static_Rook]

8 hours ago, SnowNinjaRaccoon said:

Using the Statue in Osaka you are looking at about 20+ hours of farming BOND. Metatron is faster, believe me There is a reason why I mentioned the Metatron method as the fastest one in my guide Got the plat 3 times already, so I think I am pretty sure I know what I'm talking about lol

 

Yeah, I wasn't saying the statue is a better method, just an option. It does seem like a quick way to boost your Bond levels after the fifth jail. I don't know if anyone has been bored / crazy enough to use it to get to level 99 to compare. It seemed like the bar filled just as much in the 60s as it did in the 40s, but maybe that slows way down when you hit the higher levels.

 

1 hour ago, BeforeJam said:

 

Do we know if PS5 ownership has any affect on the statue method? With the SSD my load times are <1 second between areas for the Osaka statue. 
 

 

I put an SSD in my PS4 Pro for Monster Hunter so yeah, the load time is like a second. Maybe that's why this method seems quick for me. You don't even need fast travel because that puts you far away from the entrance. You just run a few steps to the statue, go through the dialogue, run back to the exit and leave, then just run back towards the camera and re-enter. 

 

 

I'm playing other games for some challenges this weekend, but I'll test out the statue method more after that. So far I've averaged a level every 10 mins or so. If that holds up I would "only" need another 6 hours to hit 99. Which would put my total grinding time at right around 10 hours. Still a lot, but slightly less than 15. 

 

A split method might end up being a good - or less boring - way to go (aside from a Merciless run). Like, use the statue until you hit level ___ , then you'll only have to grind Metatron a little. Maybe. We'll see.

[Tripple_Barnett]

I hit Bond Level 80 today. Just slowly chipping away using the Metatron boss to grind. I will just try to do a minimum of 5 levels a day. I doubt my patience will let me do more than that a day. 

[jantrick2]

I just hit BOND level 86 after finishing the 5th Jail on Merciless. Took me 15 hrs to get to this point, so overall it definitely takes longer than Metatron.

[Inuty]

13 hours ago, SnowNinjaRaccoon said:

@SnowNinjaRaccoon
pretty insane method. It take me 2-3 minutes to kill metatron with this. Will make the grind easier  thanks for the strategy!

Edited February 28, 2021 by Inuty

[jantrick2]

Finally hit BOND level 99. Played until the 6th Jail before I decided to farm the Dire Shadow in the 4th Jail over and over.

 

Gonna take a loooong break before I go back and finish my Merciless playthrough.

[YokA_sun]

On 2/26/2021 at 10:16 AM, BENJAM1N_LINUS said:

So, really enjoying the game and I adore Persona, so I'll get the plat... but knowing at the end of this that I have 10-15 hours of grinding a single boss fight over and over to get the BOND points is hanging over me like a cloud while I play. It's always in the back of mind, taking away just a little bit of the enjoyment.

 

This is an absolute cardinal sin for a trophy. Apparently even a full second playthrough wouldn't get you enough points. There is no way you shouldn't be able to max out your character levels, bond levels, whatever the game has for you to level up, after a complete playthrough where you're also completing all/most side quests. And there sure as hell shouldn't be a trophy attached to it if that's not that case lmao.

I feel you. However I see this as the design team to encourage players to try the highest difficulty of the game. They should add a trophy for completing merciless. One will max bonds (half way maybe) for sure by doing that. And since it's RPG game all that need to be done is to equip with the best personas.  I agree that the max bond trophy is tedious (esp. If you grind it on the low difficulty)

[Golden Devil Gamer]

For the Metatron grind, I used Thor's Wild Thunder skill (severe elec), with Elec Boost (25% extra damage), Elec Amp (50% extra damage), and Spell Master (SP costs are half). An entire run (accept request, defeat Metatron, submit request) would take me around 1 min and 45 secs. Here's how I made the Thor build:

 

• Get Alice to level 90 to learn Spell Master. Fuse her with Cerberus to get Mot. Fuse Mot with Abaddon to get Trumpeter. Now you should have a Trumpeter with Spell Master.
• Fuse Raja Naga (who has Elec Boost) with either Silky, Kikuri-Hime, or Sarasvati and you'll get Nebiros. Now you should have a Nebiros with Elec Boost.
• Fuse Trumpeter and Nebiros (and carry over Spell Master and Elec Boost), and you'll have the Thor you need. Level him up to 78 to learn Wild Thunder and Elec Amp and you're good to go.

If you've done all requests, you may already have an Elec Boost skill card. If so, then you won't need to bother with carrying over Raja Naga's Elec Boost. 

 

When using Thor, simply spam Wild Thunder and don't bother with 1 More attack. Since Wild Thunder has a wide range, you don't need to move very often either. You can choose to do All out Attacks when you get the option, but simply spamming Wild Thunder is about as fast too (I think). 

[BENJAM1N_LINUS]

On 2/27/2021 at 6:10 AM, Static_Rook said:

I just spent 3 and a half hours using the Billiken statue method in Osaka. I went from Bond level 39 to 63. Seems pretty quick, but I don't know how it compares to Metatron farming. Obviously you miss out on money and character xp since you're not fighting anything, but it's super easy. You just run back and forth between two screens. It's also super boring, but the usual grind helpers like podcasts, etc help. 

 

Again, I don't know if it's better than farming Metatron, but it will break up the grind a bit so it's not all at the end. And having some of those Bond skills maxed out early should be helpful, too.

What is this statue method? Is it something easy to miss or will it be obvious when I get to Osaka? 

 

Because I agree doing some mindless grinding in the middle to break it up so it's not all at the metatron boss at the end sounds better to me.

[Static_Rook]

4 hours ago, BENJAM1N_LINUS said:

What is this statue method? Is it something easy to miss or will it be obvious when I get to Osaka? 

 

Because I agree doing some mindless grinding in the middle to break it up so it's not all at the metatron boss at the end sounds better to me.

It's pretty obvious. When you get to Osaka there's a big "Billiken" statue with big feet. The game stops and shows it to you when you first see it. When you go up and interact with it, choose to rub its feet and you'll get some bonus Bond XP. It's like the fortunes in Sendai or the garden in Sapporo, except even the "bad" outcome gives you a little boost. The best outcome fills almost a quarter of the Bond XP bar, at least so far for me.

 

The first time you can freely move around the area just run to the screen with the statue, interact for the bond xp, then turn around and leave the way you came. Then turn around and immediately re-enter and you can touch the statue again. Like I said, I don't know if it's quicker, but I went from Bond level 39 to 63 in like 3 and a half hours while listening to some podcasts. 

 

I'm going to try it again tomorrow and see if it still works as fast once you hit the higher levels.

[Tripple_Barnett]

Still chipping away and at Bond level 88. Trying to stay motivated. TV Shows and music are helping me get through this. 

[DoctorDrPepper]

Question on the get all persona grind.

 

I just finished Osaka and had like 1.5 million persona points and to make Bugs it cost me just under a million just ranking up the two low persona to be fuseable. Now I can see like three or four more times I’m gonna have to do this and I assume there is more coming. If it took me the whole game just to get enough for one fusion, how are you guys all grinding out the pp to rank up these persona that were from the beginning of the game for these end game fusions? This seems just as fucked at the bind grind.

[Doomed_Gary]

1 minute ago, DoctorDrPepper said:

Question on the get all persona grind.

 

I just finished Osaka and had like 1.5 million persona points and to make Bugs it cost me just under a million just ranking up the two low persona to be fuseable. Now I can see like three or four more times I’m gonna have to do this and I assume there is more coming. If it took me the whole game just to get enough for one fusion, how are you guys all grinding out the pp to rank up these persona that were from the beginning of the game for these end game fusions? This seems just as fucked at the bind grind.

 

Buy Personas with yen then delete them for persona points.

[Drahcir7x2]

For people having a hard time with grinding bond levels. I recently discovered a slightly easier solution, In Merciless, Dire shadows respawn.

 

Similar to Metatron Method, you simply need to make a special Persona for the job.

 

The best Dire Shadow to do this method with is in Sendai due to Ice Weakness.

 

Make a  Max Stats Ice Persona with the ff:

- Ice Amp

- Ice Boost

- Freeze Boost

- Spell Master

- Diamond Dust/Ice Age

 

Because of the Ice Weakness and Freeze Boost, the Dire Shadow will Freeze often. Use this opportunity to get a lot of hits in and 4-5 minutes later you gain almost 3 times more Bond XP than Metatron.

 

------------------

[Tripple_Barnett]

39 minutes ago, Drahcir7x2 said:

For people having a hard time with grinding bond levels. I recently discovered a slightly easier solution, In Merciless, Dire shadows respawn.

 

Similar to Metatron Method, you simply need to make a special Persona for the job.

 

The best Dire Shadow to do this method with is in Sendai due to Ice Weakness.

 

Make a  Max Stats Ice Persona with the ff:

- Ice Amp

- Ice Boost

- Freeze Boost

- Spell Master

- Diamond Dust/Ice Age

 

Because of the Ice Weakness and Freeze Boost, the Dire Shadow will Freeze often. Use this opportunity to get a lot of hits in and 4-5 minutes later you gain almost 3 times more Bond XP than Metatron.

 

------------------

I wish I felt comfortable enough to play merciless. I still have some hours of grinding Metatron left. At level 90 right now so at least not too far. 

[Static_Rook]

Alright, I put 2 more hours into Billiken statue grinding and made it to Bond level 76. I started this session at level 63 and gained 7 levels in the first hour, then 6 levels in the second. The last couple of levels definitely took longer than the earlier ones. So, I think I've hit the point of diminishing returns. And I'm also really bored and want to actually play the game again so I'll be continuing the story now.

 

In all, I gained 37 levels (39-76) in 5 and a half hours, got all the available Bond skills to their highest possible levels at the moment, and still have 142 points left. I'll see what Bond level I'm at after finishing the story and doing all the post-game stuff before NG+.

[Shxdow360]

Does difficulty affect the amount of bond points you get? I have been doing metatron for about an hour now, would it give me more points if i went to Normal Difficulty?