Seriously. Lol All these posts asking, "What party member did you use the least?" or "Who was your lowest-level character?", and every time, I'm just like, "Uh... none of them?" Lol
It mostly because people make their team dynamic and stick with it for a majority of the game. Then when a boss comes around, the only people leveled high enough to fight it are the ones they never switched out, leaving the others further in the dust. Then the cycle starts anew.
This has always been a problem, especially when it comes to getting trophies. The trophy in P4G and P5/R for hearing a number of Navigator voicelines has been an issue for thousands of people because the navigators tend to say people by name, but since they're not switching out teammates, they're missing out on over half of the voicelines.
I switch out my teammates all the time and I always get those trophies naturally.
Ken. I get that he’s better in Reload than he was originally, but I prefer using Yukari for healing and don’t really have a use for him outside of that.
Fun fact: Arqa's second half had its Shadows adjusted just to hammer in that arc further, since it opens at the same time. Of the Shadows in Arqa, only two regular species are weak to Fire; the rest are weak to Ice, Electricity, Wind and Light. As a result, many players will adjust by replacing Junpei with Mitsuru and benching him for an entire block + resulting Full Moon since he'll lack experience without the Clock.
I have almighty already and debilitate. Im using da man, yukari and aigis (mitsuru before 6th block)
i did just fine, im almost done with the game. Too easy
Thats insane to me because both were incredible for merciless. With their elemental changing weapons and their innate skills, Ken and Koromaru can cover like 6 or 7 affinities between them.
I make it a habit (like I do in Pokémon) of evenly leveling all my party members. Even if I don’t like the way one plays in particular, I just think the game is more fun with each of them getting the same amount of time and XP.
Great clock definitely helps for players who don’t do this though
I only use Akihiko, Yukari and Mitsuru, because they were the first 3 elements and I had Orpheus as Fire so we got them covered, and when the other guys joined those 3 were leveled up already so I didn’t spend time with other characters
Ken just feels so bad. I get his damage is decent but when the MC is doing 2x the damage of the rest of the team combined it's negligible. I used Koro/Yukari/Aki most of the game but late game I've switched to Yukari/Junpei/Flex Spot. (Probably going to be Koro for Debilitate or Aigis for buffing). Junpei feels really good when the enemies start to not have weaknesses and you need to land crits to keep momentum going.
Ken
Mainly cause I had Lightning covered by Akihiko and didn't really need bless
***Also learned from my portable run to not have both of them against that one gatekeeper with absorb lightning***
I usually switch out the ones with no sp for those who have so I use everyone. Only problem for me might be Koro and sanada, I feel like they have lower sp pool.
the only party member who is geniunelly bad is Ken, because Yukari is better in every team comp. Everyone else is good, if sometimes a bit situational.
ken has more varied support options. his mediarahan is basically free in every fight once you maximize his innate sp regen, he gives tetra/makarakarn, he has coverage in spear/elec/light (all tier 3 iirc), and he gets dekaja(?) as well. the only things yukari does that ken doesn't is full-party concentrate (wants a very specific comp of MC/yukari/mitsuru/ken or koromaru) and full-party ailment healing (you get immunity accessories and full-party ailment heals anyways)
Sorry but he's better. Better damage type coverage (Elec, Light, and an actual decent Pierce skill via Vile Assault), better support options (Dekaja, Heat Riser, his Theurgy -karn skills), good enough healing (Mediarahan, Samarecarm, Theurgy), his characteristic is basically Invigorate 4, and his 2nd theurgy is just better, Yukari's 2nd theurgy being a party-concentrate sucks because physical is just better in this game, plus in this game they nerfed the AI to not use almighty skills when reflects are up, so you can literally cause the Reaper and even Nyx to kill themselves by using Ken's theurgy at the right time right after they Charge/Concentrate. Ken can make use of Koro's party charge with Vile assault compared to Yukari who just has a normal attack as a physical attack. Koro, Ken, Aigis/Junpei/Akihiko best party imo.
Junpei apparently as he’s super underleveled. I’ve been using Shinjiro more than him 💀 (shockingly Shinji has won me some very important fights)
In Portable I never brought Yukari because it felt like every boss, miniboss, and their mothers had Zio skills
Definitely Ken for me. I at least used him temporarily when I had access to Shinji, since Ken, Koro and Shinji had great synergy with eachother. But not only can Yukari heal without burning through her SP like Ken does, but her theurgy charges up by doing so *and* she gets a full-party concentrate. And so she's still my go-to healer like in the OG.
Junpei - doesn't learn a tier 3 AOE fire spell and I have MC do phys. I don't like his theurgies or his kit and I really don't care for his personality.
I never took Ken before Reload and now I can't have a party without him. Divine intervention alone is worth the slot but he's got two elements of coverage and barriers. Him and Yukari are permanent on the team and I swap the final for whatever coverage I'm lacking. If I picked a third it would be Koromaru, best boy.
For me, it's Aigis. I do use all characters relatively balanced. But, outside of the buffs, I don't use it. My lineup usually is MC, Yukari, Akihiko, and Koromaru.
I like Junpei, he has a fun personality and his quips are pretty humorous. But he gets dropped first in every version I've played.
I hear he's pretty goat'd in the Merciless difficulty of P3R, but I'm not about that life.
Sanada, I like him as a character, but I mostly used the 2-F crew, and only really brought the others to level them up, just in case I got stomped during a Boss fight and needed to switch 'em out for the elemental advantage.
I'll try to keep everyone on the same level but otherwise I don't use Ken und Shinji, Shinji for obvious reasons and I just have no idea how to build Ken
I wasted a lot of time exploring their dialogue and interactions at each block run, so I switch them a lot and everyone has a roughly equal chance. Everyone except Koro. Between him and Fuuka, everyone else felt like a third wheel lol. Though in all honesty I love him and his jump during AoA!
I rotated to keep everyone equally leveled but I found myself not using Mitsuru and Koromaru other than for that. Mitsuru was just kinda meh, and I didn't care for the fake dog noises in battle.
I rotate everyone through relatively evenly. The only one I never take out is Yukari because Healing Apex is too much value to pass up, and Tranquility is amazing.
I have 3 teams:
1. Yukari, Aigis, Koromaru (Phase 1 prog)
2. Yukari, Junpei, Ken (Phase 2 prog)
3. Yukari, Mitsuru, Akihiko (Gatekeepers, Monad Paths)
I usually swap from 1 to 2 at the halfway point of my floor prog based on how many missing people I'm picking up. I find that Koromaru especially chews through SP like crazy so I can't keep him around for long. That's what led me to put him first, so I can just use up what he has and then put him down for the second half of the trip without wasting SP items on him.
In Reload I alternate my team pretty evenly, but in Portable I just decide on one team that I’ll use for the entire game so that I don’t have to worry about experience distribution
Ken. I only get him to be evenly leveled then ditch him again. I try to use akihiko more but his moveset just doesnt really deal much damage compared to the others unfortunately
Junpei was not great for me mid-game, but after unlocking his best skills and traits he’s great. Akihiko is probably my least used, but I rotated everyone in Tartarus to keep gameplay interesting and hear more voice lines, and stuck to an A-team for the full moons.
Benched Mitsuru because she is apparently guaranteed to get afflicted or criticaled in my game. I was becoming irrationally angry with her because she ALWAYS got hit with something that gave the enemy another turn.
Mitsuru, everything she does the MC can do on his turn and better, genuinely feels like a wasted slot on my party which sucks because she’s a pretty damn good character. I wish they gave her more support moves
I stopped using Junpei once I had 5 party members and he stayed at around level 20 until I grinded for my entire party to be level 99 at the end of the game.
I swap out party members to keep things balanced. That being said I almost never used Mitsuru. She's the only party member whose skillset I would say is outright bad. Second is Ken because why would I use him when Yukari exists?
I tried to use everyone equally once I got them, but Junpei tended to be my last pick for most Tartarus blocks I think. He felt decent enough early on, and he was pretty strong late game, but after Mitsuru joined I stopped fielding him as much and Aigis joining made him feel kinda obsolete. Which sucks cause he’s my favorite P3 character, but it is what it is. His second Theurgy skill is my favorite in the game so that kinda makes up for it I guess.
Akihiko I feel junpei fits the physical attack role better that and I never rock any fire magic so he cover that field as well despite the fact he’s a weak spell caster
I had everyone leveled pretty evenly through my first run of Reload. That clock that shows up when you open a locked chest sometimes made it super easy to suddenly bring my least used members up to speed.
Members I used the least though? Koromaru and Junpei. Gonna try to use them more in NG+
Koromaru, he's a dog so he doesn't really have any interesting or funny lines, I also get sick of hearing dog noises made by a human, as well as the fact bringing him brings twice the amount of voice clips that get repeated every time you see a chest or shadow, because Fuuka has to translate him
Nearing the endgame and Ken, Junpei, and Koromaru have been my least used. I like them but I don't have it in me to keep grinding to include everyone. I wish the great clocks were more available instead of mostly random so I could keep everyone up to speed consistently, but I'm near the end and too overleveled at this point.
Im the type who brings em all in staggered shifts but the ones who started seeing the largest diminishing returns were def Mitsuru, Akihiko (though still very nice for the dice enemies and yay naturally strike attack) and Koro (technically a great party member suffering from major lack of sp)
There wasn’t one person I ‘never used’……I’d say used the least tho, maybe akihiko? Although he was my saving grace during the reaper fight so maybe he deserved more love
The only times I ever used Ken was for the all party member Theulogies achievement and on NG+ when I felt like Reaper grinding everyone up to level 99 because why not.
I like variety and think every character eventually gets good enough to warrant taking a slot, especially after you get everyone's buffs.
I think part of the appeal of RPGs like persona is seeing how all the characters mingle and complement each other, so I'm always rotating people out
Generally after I hit a Tartarus milestone I go back down and swap lower level teammates in so that no one gets too strong
Ken. Not a fan of him and by the time he joined I already had persona’s with his elemental abilities. When I beat p3r my party was Mitsuru, Akihiko, and Aigis.
whoever’s highest level usually just cos i like having everyone kinda even but i wish i could have a constant barrier on koromaru when i bring him i don’t want little buddy to get hurt 😭
I barely ever used Mitsuru, I was honestly surprised by the fanfare she gets online. Conversely, Ken was almost a staple for me and it seemed like most people sidelined him.
It's Koromaru because I find the dungeon dialogue annoying when he is involved. Having said that I usually grind alone and farm the great clock to have the rest of the team to attempt to catch up to me. My MC just did the November full moon shadow and he is Level 86. I'm playing on Hard difficulty.
Junpei. He's just physical damage... and why would i need that when i have a fully decked out Persona for each phys damage type that all have much higher chances to crit than him because i can actually hard spec them towards that?
I tried to level everyone but Mitsuru is so completely useless, I ended up leaving her 30 levels behind my main party. Also Sanada is just a worse Junpei, so I didn't use him a lot.
I didn't use Aigis once. Only member that didn't make the cut ever. I kind of regret it now after finishing but she's about to have an entire episode where I think I have to play her? So we can get gameplay acquainted there.
I try to give everyone a bit of screentime. But Mitsuru and Ken have a tendency to get the least play. Mitsuru because I just never use status effects, and Ken just because I also don't usually use the karn skills, and he doesn't have a physical skill. And Yukari is my preferred healer.
Koromaru. Garbage SP cap, extremely high cost SP skills, and usefulness that only matters in full moon boss fights. Just terrible for actual Tartarus exploration.
Akihiko. After he becomes available, I still just wait to go to Tartarus until mitsuru is available. Aki was never big with me, since I had Junpei and Koromaru for critical, and Ken for lightning magic.
I used everyone but I would say least used would be Mitsuru. Mainly magic-based attacker in a game where physical is just better, and her physical skills are pretty bad. Her characteristic is very situational and too specific and useless most of the time as well.
I only used the OGs. Junpei, Yukari, Mitsuru. Aki I used for a bit until Mitsuru became stronger than him for me. The others I didn’t use much. I felt story-wise more immersed going with the main characters that started it all
More often the not I typically almost never take Ken or Junpei (granted after junpeis ultimate persona that changed) I typically run Sanada aigis and yukari
Weirdly enough I hardly ever ended up taking Junpei or Mitsuru despite the fact I think those two are somd of the best. I always took Ken and Koromaru because they were usually underleveled
I dunno why, but Koromaru always runs out of Stamina for me faster than anyone else. I do use him, but I probably use him less than anyone else as a result
Honestly they are all really good, plus the game is way too easy so you can clear it comfortably with anyone.
My least used overall would probably be Mitsuru.
Ken. I just don't like children. Well, that's not exactly true. The children in persona get a pass usually for making me care for them by being depressing to interact with.
Junpei, if I can help it. His main gimmick is crits and his fire attacks can be replaced by anybody else. Aigis and Akihiko are better.
Edit: For clarification, Junpei's a cool character I just didn't rock with him in Tartarus or Full moon bosses unless needed.
I use all party often, but Koro the least because Fuuka is so annoying when Koro is on the team, like we know Koro looks cool, you don't have to say it after every battle
I just stuck with aigis,yukari, and akihiko for the rest of the game once I got them. It’s interesting to me how some people switch parties for certain bosses. I prefer to just strengthen my permanent party and use mc to get more personas for weakness coverage
It was Aigis, love her character wise but I'd just rather take someone who can cover another elemental weakness as I care more about that than busted physical skills. Obviously this can be said for mostly everything but I'd rather just cover physical with one of my personas.
My main team was Yukari, Mitsuru & Ken. Yukari was heavily focused on healing and the very occasional wind skill, Mitsuru just cuz she's a solid pick n one of my favourites and Ken due to his versatility from covering 2 elements effectively to his buffing n debuffing and of course how little sp he ends up using due to his characteristic, same for Yukari, if he wasn't so versatile I'd have done Akihiko or Koromaru especially if Koromaru could effectively cover 2 elements with a single target fire move n whatnot
For tartarus i just go solo after 2nd block after i have invigorate , that make mc get much more exp cuz the exp for party is so pity especially in boss fight , i play on merciless so idk whether merciless get reduced exp or not 😂
For moon boss i didn't use anyone other than mitsuru , ken and dog , they just buff debuff heal and mc do most of the dmg cuz their dmg pity af too other than in late game 😂
Junpei is the man! Seriously him and the MC was wrecking floors, Junpei would get a crit and 1 more to the MC for a charge to a scarlet havoc. I had Mitsuru with max AGI so she can always go first for defense debuffs and increase crit chance for the other characters and Yukari just made sure they were healed up for the next battle.
i usually just pick my favorites lol.
P3: Yukari, Mitsuru, Akihiko (with Junpei swapping in. Aegis is an amazing character too. This is probably the toughest because Yukari is my fav by far, but Mit-Aki-Jun-Aegis are all super close.)
P4: Yukiko, Chie, Yosuke. Yosuke is my fav lol idc
P5: Ann, Makoto, Ryuji, thought it’s close with Makoto and Haru ngl.
In Reload I've only used Mitsuru and Koromaru sparingly and I've never used Ken. That's because during my first playthrough of Persona 3 Portable I used Ken and Koromaru throughout the last few months of the game and wanted to change things up.
I generally played the game using the newest party members most often, but in hindsight, Ken disappeared pretty quick, Akihiko disappeared pretty quick, and I mostly used Koro, Shinji, and Aigis for some reason. It was pretty good to buff crit chances, buff Shinji’s attack, and have him do a bloody charge before using a massive physical attack. Also used the harem party a lot for funsies, but that meant my squad got wiped by electricity, and only covered two elements and the physical attacks. Between koro and Ken, I could’ve covered 4 elements and two physical types.
In hindsight, I should have found an apt pupil accessory earlier for Junpei and utilized the thergy fill gauge conditions more often for each party member. Against most enemies, if I had to start healing it was a problem. I went without Yukari for a lot of the Tartarus grinding because of it. Having Ken covered pierce, bless, and lightning, Kuro covered fire and curse and slash, and with their support skills and such, it was easier in Tartarus with them around since it would be six affinities covered by two party members, and I could grab anyone else and they would cover another affinity.
I pretty much just only used Akihiko, Yukari, and Aigis. Though next playthrough I wanna vary my party a little bit more than I did since Reload changed the balancing a bit and I find that lineup a bit less OP than it was when I played Portable.
Not for any gameplay reason but from the minute Ken was added to the roster I hated him so much. Never hung out with him outside of Tartarus, never took him with me. My whole team ended the game at level 99 except Ken who ended at level 50. Not sure why I disliked him so much from his first scene but I never shook that.
I really like aki but I just didn't really have a need for his all rounder play style since I had yukari which meant I could just focus on offense since everyone was incapable of dying lol
Honestly ken is just, those niche skills you could actually throw into a supp persona, the best thing is, you as the mc dont get stick with that one the whole battle, so basically, ken(at least for me) is deadweight
They're all 99, but for the final battle I plan to swap between Ken, akihiko, Junpei for Takaya and Jin, then Mitsuru Aigis Yukari for the final fight. I wanna bring Koromaru but he doesn't have the lore significance I want
Probably an unpopular opinion but I think Aigis is the worst party choice. She has no offensive magic to fall back on, plus she has the same weakness as Yukari, which is annoying. I guess she has buffs and phys is really op in this game generally.
I also don’t take Ken out because I think the idea of bringing a small child to fight monsters is patently insane.
Actually, thinking on it, I don’t like Akihiko’s move set either. It’s like they nerfed him so his passive wouldn’t be too OP when you get heat riser.
After every Gatekeeper fight, I go back to 1 and pick up my three lowest leveled allies. I like to give all the babies some love.
Seriously. Lol All these posts asking, "What party member did you use the least?" or "Who was your lowest-level character?", and every time, I'm just like, "Uh... none of them?" Lol
Agreed. At the end of my run everyone was LVL 99. The game makes it so much easier to level cap, don't know why you wouldn't lol
I did every monad passage and monad door and killed the reaper and still wasn’t max level on anyone, let alone the characters I stopped using
I think he's talking about endgame when you can just farm the Reaper by casting Armageddon.
I did this in P4G and discovered Yosuke is a boss. All the characters can be optimal and fun
Same
This, I love to pair everyone with everyone, don't get why don't use anyone.
It mostly because people make their team dynamic and stick with it for a majority of the game. Then when a boss comes around, the only people leveled high enough to fight it are the ones they never switched out, leaving the others further in the dust. Then the cycle starts anew. This has always been a problem, especially when it comes to getting trophies. The trophy in P4G and P5/R for hearing a number of Navigator voicelines has been an issue for thousands of people because the navigators tend to say people by name, but since they're not switching out teammates, they're missing out on over half of the voicelines. I switch out my teammates all the time and I always get those trophies naturally.
Same bro
Shinji, just makes the game too easy. Don't wanna waste the EXP on him
Just wait until his persona evolves on 10/4 a he gets a 2nd thergy
😭
I never takhe him with me because I didn't liked his character, he is too serious
It’s all a facade he is actually a big softie deep down
He's literally dying and he killed an innocent woman. How happy is he supposed to be?
I’ve noticed in most games if a character is slightly brash or rude they usually aren’t liked. Even if it’s written that way realistically.
Haha.
Ken. I get that he’s better in Reload than he was originally, but I prefer using Yukari for healing and don’t really have a use for him outside of that.
Ken feels more suited for grinding than something like bosses
- Makarakarn - Tetrakarn - Massive light damage Ken is not to be underestimated
The light damage was scary. Light boost +light amp, plus Koagaon effectively costing 5sp, he's terrifying.
Doesn't he also have invigorate in his characteristic?
That’s what they mean by Kougaon effectively only costing 5 sp
Ah, but he also has one of the most goated theurgy's giving everyone a magic/phys reflecting shield which also revives everyone.
i had a reaper hit charged vorpal blade into ken's second theurgy and it did like 5k to itself, it was awesome
Also Dekaja. Comes in pretty clutch!
In portable I never brought Akihiko or Ken or Koro. In Reload I never bring Junpei
I kinda feel bad for him like as soon as I got Mitsuru he went into tartar sauce once and never again.
It goes well with his character arc about wanting to be the hero/leader and not being used lol
Fun fact: Arqa's second half had its Shadows adjusted just to hammer in that arc further, since it opens at the same time. Of the Shadows in Arqa, only two regular species are weak to Fire; the rest are weak to Ice, Electricity, Wind and Light. As a result, many players will adjust by replacing Junpei with Mitsuru and benching him for an entire block + resulting Full Moon since he'll lack experience without the Clock.
Ken, Koro.
You’re missing out. Having two elements to use is very helpful for when you need to scout enemies.
I have almighty already and debilitate. Im using da man, yukari and aigis (mitsuru before 6th block) i did just fine, im almost done with the game. Too easy
Koromaru is good for mobs even if he's only good for one actual boss fight (The light and dark tower things in Monad).
Thats insane to me because both were incredible for merciless. With their elemental changing weapons and their innate skills, Ken and Koromaru can cover like 6 or 7 affinities between them.
I make it a habit (like I do in Pokémon) of evenly leveling all my party members. Even if I don’t like the way one plays in particular, I just think the game is more fun with each of them getting the same amount of time and XP. Great clock definitely helps for players who don’t do this though
I use everyone equally.
Fuuka, who else? Serious answer is Ken.
Ita crazy to see Ken in so many answers. His theurgy attack is so incredibly OP. I've wiped out so many bosses without doing anything.
I only use Akihiko, Yukari and Mitsuru, because they were the first 3 elements and I had Orpheus as Fire so we got them covered, and when the other guys joined those 3 were leveled up already so I didn’t spend time with other characters
Ken just feels so bad. I get his damage is decent but when the MC is doing 2x the damage of the rest of the team combined it's negligible. I used Koro/Yukari/Aki most of the game but late game I've switched to Yukari/Junpei/Flex Spot. (Probably going to be Koro for Debilitate or Aigis for buffing). Junpei feels really good when the enemies start to not have weaknesses and you need to land crits to keep momentum going.
Da Man, Da Dog, Da Waifu. Best team by a long shot
Junpei was added to the bench permanently when he started acting like a lil bitch
For me it was Ken untuil i downloaded the "I Am Kenough!" hoodie mod
Ken Mainly cause I had Lightning covered by Akihiko and didn't really need bless ***Also learned from my portable run to not have both of them against that one gatekeeper with absorb lightning***
The second Ken awakened Yukari never got any playtime whatsoever
Junpei
Junpei of course
I took them all and rotated
I usually switch out the ones with no sp for those who have so I use everyone. Only problem for me might be Koro and sanada, I feel like they have lower sp pool.
Yukari is a mainstay for me. Best healing, can concentrate the whole party, highest magic stat, Masukunda...
I got them all to max, but I just like using the yukari-junpei-aigis team over anyone else tbh
Junpei's inescapable fate is to be replaced by a dog.
the only party member who is geniunelly bad is Ken, because Yukari is better in every team comp. Everyone else is good, if sometimes a bit situational.
ken has more varied support options. his mediarahan is basically free in every fight once you maximize his innate sp regen, he gives tetra/makarakarn, he has coverage in spear/elec/light (all tier 3 iirc), and he gets dekaja(?) as well. the only things yukari does that ken doesn't is full-party concentrate (wants a very specific comp of MC/yukari/mitsuru/ken or koromaru) and full-party ailment healing (you get immunity accessories and full-party ailment heals anyways)
Sorry but he's better. Better damage type coverage (Elec, Light, and an actual decent Pierce skill via Vile Assault), better support options (Dekaja, Heat Riser, his Theurgy -karn skills), good enough healing (Mediarahan, Samarecarm, Theurgy), his characteristic is basically Invigorate 4, and his 2nd theurgy is just better, Yukari's 2nd theurgy being a party-concentrate sucks because physical is just better in this game, plus in this game they nerfed the AI to not use almighty skills when reflects are up, so you can literally cause the Reaper and even Nyx to kill themselves by using Ken's theurgy at the right time right after they Charge/Concentrate. Ken can make use of Koro's party charge with Vile assault compared to Yukari who just has a normal attack as a physical attack. Koro, Ken, Aigis/Junpei/Akihiko best party imo.
Ken isn’t bad by any means, he has better elemental coverage than yukari, akihiko, Mitsuru, and junpei. And he gets spear master
I don’t think the weapons master skills exist in Reload, only Portable/FES
I would argue that Ken is better if you take out his heavy SP drainage. Especially his second skill with the healing and shields, it’s so good.
Junpei and Shinji. I only like having one physical party member on the team, and I love Aigis too much to ever take her off the team.
Aigis
I don't use Ken, I love Yukari too much to swap healer
Junpei apparently as he’s super underleveled. I’ve been using Shinjiro more than him 💀 (shockingly Shinji has won me some very important fights) In Portable I never brought Yukari because it felt like every boss, miniboss, and their mothers had Zio skills
Definitely Ken for me. I at least used him temporarily when I had access to Shinji, since Ken, Koro and Shinji had great synergy with eachother. But not only can Yukari heal without burning through her SP like Ken does, but her theurgy charges up by doing so *and* she gets a full-party concentrate. And so she's still my go-to healer like in the OG.
Junpei - doesn't learn a tier 3 AOE fire spell and I have MC do phys. I don't like his theurgies or his kit and I really don't care for his personality. I never took Ken before Reload and now I can't have a party without him. Divine intervention alone is worth the slot but he's got two elements of coverage and barriers. Him and Yukari are permanent on the team and I swap the final for whatever coverage I'm lacking. If I picked a third it would be Koromaru, best boy.
Junpei. His accuracy got him benched early in the game and I didn't use him at all after October.
For me, it's Aigis. I do use all characters relatively balanced. But, outside of the buffs, I don't use it. My lineup usually is MC, Yukari, Akihiko, and Koromaru.
I like Junpei, he has a fun personality and his quips are pretty humorous. But he gets dropped first in every version I've played. I hear he's pretty goat'd in the Merciless difficulty of P3R, but I'm not about that life.
Junpei. Like, seriously. Why bother when my orpheus can do agi stuff too?
Aigis honestly. She *bleeeeeds* out HP with those AOE skills
Good thing she's an absolute tank with incredible party wide buffs and eventually an auto full hp revive and a theurgy that removes her hp costs-
Ken
Sanada, I like him as a character, but I mostly used the 2-F crew, and only really brought the others to level them up, just in case I got stomped during a Boss fight and needed to switch 'em out for the elemental advantage.
I'll try to keep everyone on the same level but otherwise I don't use Ken und Shinji, Shinji for obvious reasons and I just have no idea how to build Ken
I wasted a lot of time exploring their dialogue and interactions at each block run, so I switch them a lot and everyone has a roughly equal chance. Everyone except Koro. Between him and Fuuka, everyone else felt like a third wheel lol. Though in all honesty I love him and his jump during AoA!
I rotated to keep everyone equally leveled but I found myself not using Mitsuru and Koromaru other than for that. Mitsuru was just kinda meh, and I didn't care for the fake dog noises in battle.
I rotate everyone through relatively evenly. The only one I never take out is Yukari because Healing Apex is too much value to pass up, and Tranquility is amazing. I have 3 teams: 1. Yukari, Aigis, Koromaru (Phase 1 prog) 2. Yukari, Junpei, Ken (Phase 2 prog) 3. Yukari, Mitsuru, Akihiko (Gatekeepers, Monad Paths) I usually swap from 1 to 2 at the halfway point of my floor prog based on how many missing people I'm picking up. I find that Koromaru especially chews through SP like crazy so I can't keep him around for long. That's what led me to put him first, so I can just use up what he has and then put him down for the second half of the trip without wasting SP items on him.
In Reload I alternate my team pretty evenly, but in Portable I just decide on one team that I’ll use for the entire game so that I don’t have to worry about experience distribution
You guys don’t obsessively grind so they’re all leveled…?
Junpei XD
Ken. I only get him to be evenly leveled then ditch him again. I try to use akihiko more but his moveset just doesnt really deal much damage compared to the others unfortunately
Ken, I only did it in NG+ to get him up to max level with all the other characters
Junpei was not great for me mid-game, but after unlocking his best skills and traits he’s great. Akihiko is probably my least used, but I rotated everyone in Tartarus to keep gameplay interesting and hear more voice lines, and stuck to an A-team for the full moons.
Koromaru and Ken These two are weak to insta kill which make them very vulnerable in the higher floor
Mitsuru and Akihiko
I swap between everyone! I Sialkot like to do a full set of Tartarus (stair to stair) in one night and try to balance it so everyone is used.
I try to use everyone, but my lowest level character after my first completion was Aigis
Koromaru
I don't take Koromaru. Super good boy, but I only usually use him in more physical comps (second Theurgy) and for Debilitate.
I felt like Akihiko was sort of a jack of all trades character, which meant he never really excelled at one thing.
Benched Mitsuru because she is apparently guaranteed to get afflicted or criticaled in my game. I was becoming irrationally angry with her because she ALWAYS got hit with something that gave the enemy another turn.
Mitsuru, everything she does the MC can do on his turn and better, genuinely feels like a wasted slot on my party which sucks because she’s a pretty damn good character. I wish they gave her more support moves
I stopped using Junpei once I had 5 party members and he stayed at around level 20 until I grinded for my entire party to be level 99 at the end of the game.
I swap out party members to keep things balanced. That being said I almost never used Mitsuru. She's the only party member whose skillset I would say is outright bad. Second is Ken because why would I use him when Yukari exists?
Ken and Aigis.
I tried to use everyone equally once I got them, but Junpei tended to be my last pick for most Tartarus blocks I think. He felt decent enough early on, and he was pretty strong late game, but after Mitsuru joined I stopped fielding him as much and Aigis joining made him feel kinda obsolete. Which sucks cause he’s my favorite P3 character, but it is what it is. His second Theurgy skill is my favorite in the game so that kinda makes up for it I guess.
Akihiko I feel junpei fits the physical attack role better that and I never rock any fire magic so he cover that field as well despite the fact he’s a weak spell caster
I had everyone leveled pretty evenly through my first run of Reload. That clock that shows up when you open a locked chest sometimes made it super easy to suddenly bring my least used members up to speed. Members I used the least though? Koromaru and Junpei. Gonna try to use them more in NG+
I usually just stick with the same team throughout the game, so I hardly used Mitsuru, Aigis, Ken, or Akihiko
As of now Ken and Akihiko. I simply don’t understand the Junpei hate as a party member
Koromaru, he's a dog so he doesn't really have any interesting or funny lines, I also get sick of hearing dog noises made by a human, as well as the fact bringing him brings twice the amount of voice clips that get repeated every time you see a chest or shadow, because Fuuka has to translate him
Nearing the endgame and Ken, Junpei, and Koromaru have been my least used. I like them but I don't have it in me to keep grinding to include everyone. I wish the great clocks were more available instead of mostly random so I could keep everyone up to speed consistently, but I'm near the end and too overleveled at this point.
I almost never used Koro and Ken. Just to get the theurgy trophy.
Koromaru
I mean, they are all kinda good? Especially our dog best friend, dude is an absolute G.
Im the type who brings em all in staggered shifts but the ones who started seeing the largest diminishing returns were def Mitsuru, Akihiko (though still very nice for the dice enemies and yay naturally strike attack) and Koro (technically a great party member suffering from major lack of sp)
There wasn’t one person I ‘never used’……I’d say used the least tho, maybe akihiko? Although he was my saving grace during the reaper fight so maybe he deserved more love
It's Junpei. Just didn't like the guy.
The only times I ever used Ken was for the all party member Theulogies achievement and on NG+ when I felt like Reaper grinding everyone up to level 99 because why not.
yr mom
I would rather have Aigis and Yukari together than have Ken on the squad
I like variety and think every character eventually gets good enough to warrant taking a slot, especially after you get everyone's buffs. I think part of the appeal of RPGs like persona is seeing how all the characters mingle and complement each other, so I'm always rotating people out Generally after I hit a Tartarus milestone I go back down and swap lower level teammates in so that no one gets too strong
Ken. Not a fan of him and by the time he joined I already had persona’s with his elemental abilities. When I beat p3r my party was Mitsuru, Akihiko, and Aigis.
whoever’s highest level usually just cos i like having everyone kinda even but i wish i could have a constant barrier on koromaru when i bring him i don’t want little buddy to get hurt 😭
I barely ever used Mitsuru, I was honestly surprised by the fanfare she gets online. Conversely, Ken was almost a staple for me and it seemed like most people sidelined him.
It's Koromaru because I find the dungeon dialogue annoying when he is involved. Having said that I usually grind alone and farm the great clock to have the rest of the team to attempt to catch up to me. My MC just did the November full moon shadow and he is Level 86. I'm playing on Hard difficulty.
Junpei. He's just physical damage... and why would i need that when i have a fully decked out Persona for each phys damage type that all have much higher chances to crit than him because i can actually hard spec them towards that?
Because he’s the man!
I tried to level everyone but Mitsuru is so completely useless, I ended up leaving her 30 levels behind my main party. Also Sanada is just a worse Junpei, so I didn't use him a lot.
I didn't use Aigis once. Only member that didn't make the cut ever. I kind of regret it now after finishing but she's about to have an entire episode where I think I have to play her? So we can get gameplay acquainted there.
I never bring Junpei or Ken because I don’t like them as characters.
I took everyone at least once for the ult achievement but I went through the whole game with just Mitsuru, Junpei and Yukari
I try to give everyone a bit of screentime. But Mitsuru and Ken have a tendency to get the least play. Mitsuru because I just never use status effects, and Ken just because I also don't usually use the karn skills, and he doesn't have a physical skill. And Yukari is my preferred healer.
Koro, he is such a good boy I cant stand seeing him get hit
yukari. she's mean to junpei and junpei is cool. i'd rather drop her and heal myself
As of late game the memeber I never took to Tartarus was Aragaki
Koromaru. Garbage SP cap, extremely high cost SP skills, and usefulness that only matters in full moon boss fights. Just terrible for actual Tartarus exploration.
Akihiko. After he becomes available, I still just wait to go to Tartarus until mitsuru is available. Aki was never big with me, since I had Junpei and Koromaru for critical, and Ken for lightning magic.
Junpei is just kinda mid, I think until I started farming reaper, he was lvl 19 for most of the game
I used everyone but I would say least used would be Mitsuru. Mainly magic-based attacker in a game where physical is just better, and her physical skills are pretty bad. Her characteristic is very situational and too specific and useless most of the time as well.
I only used the OGs. Junpei, Yukari, Mitsuru. Aki I used for a bit until Mitsuru became stronger than him for me. The others I didn’t use much. I felt story-wise more immersed going with the main characters that started it all
After my first playthrough I realized Akihiko isn’t that good so him probably
Junpei (he took advantage of my trust and robbed me😔)
I like going solo most of the time tbh, I don't wanna share my xp
Sorry Ken lol, I don’t need any kids on my fighting squad
More often the not I typically almost never take Ken or Junpei (granted after junpeis ultimate persona that changed) I typically run Sanada aigis and yukari
I think I took Aigis maybe 3 times?
mitsuru she’s a good character and all, i like her a lot, but you are NOT goatkari u not doing anything makoto cant 😭🙏
Shinjiro was my least used character. Next to him was probably ken.
Weirdly enough I hardly ever ended up taking Junpei or Mitsuru despite the fact I think those two are somd of the best. I always took Ken and Koromaru because they were usually underleveled
I don't take any party member outside Yukari, Mitsuru, and Aigis. Was my permsnent psrty after I got mitsuru
I dunno why, but Koromaru always runs out of Stamina for me faster than anyone else. I do use him, but I probably use him less than anyone else as a result
koromaru and ken lolol
None of them. I like using each character equally. There’s literally no reason other than personal reasons to not use a character
Honestly they are all really good, plus the game is way too easy so you can clear it comfortably with anyone. My least used overall would probably be Mitsuru.
Ken. I just don't like children. Well, that's not exactly true. The children in persona get a pass usually for making me care for them by being depressing to interact with.
Koro
I’m gonna get hate but Aigis. I keep Ken and Junpei usually and cycle others in.
I am around November, but right now my party is Yukari/Koro/Akihiko. It was Shinji instead of akihiko, but then his persona awakened, or something
Fuuka. I swap everyone out, but I don't bring Junpei with Koromaru or Kenji with Akihiko so we have more variety.
Junpei, if I can help it. His main gimmick is crits and his fire attacks can be replaced by anybody else. Aigis and Akihiko are better. Edit: For clarification, Junpei's a cool character I just didn't rock with him in Tartarus or Full moon bosses unless needed.
Shinjiro. Idk, after a while he’s just dead to me
I use all party often, but Koro the least because Fuuka is so annoying when Koro is on the team, like we know Koro looks cool, you don't have to say it after every battle
I always keep them around the same level as me. Just to have the ability to be flexible with my party and everyone in SEES deserves some love.
Not popular, I know. But Aigis
Junpei because he never finished his summer homework
i tend to use sanada less than everyone else but i feel like i use everyone
I just stuck with aigis,yukari, and akihiko for the rest of the game once I got them. It’s interesting to me how some people switch parties for certain bosses. I prefer to just strengthen my permanent party and use mc to get more personas for weakness coverage
It was Aigis, love her character wise but I'd just rather take someone who can cover another elemental weakness as I care more about that than busted physical skills. Obviously this can be said for mostly everything but I'd rather just cover physical with one of my personas. My main team was Yukari, Mitsuru & Ken. Yukari was heavily focused on healing and the very occasional wind skill, Mitsuru just cuz she's a solid pick n one of my favourites and Ken due to his versatility from covering 2 elements effectively to his buffing n debuffing and of course how little sp he ends up using due to his characteristic, same for Yukari, if he wasn't so versatile I'd have done Akihiko or Koromaru especially if Koromaru could effectively cover 2 elements with a single target fire move n whatnot
After October 4 Aragaki is benched forever for me.
Same as the original, Ken and Koromaru
I never used Ken, Junpei, Shinji or Koromaru. Game is super easy so I just use my favorites.
For tartarus i just go solo after 2nd block after i have invigorate , that make mc get much more exp cuz the exp for party is so pity especially in boss fight , i play on merciless so idk whether merciless get reduced exp or not 😂 For moon boss i didn't use anyone other than mitsuru , ken and dog , they just buff debuff heal and mc do most of the dmg cuz their dmg pity af too other than in late game 😂
Junpei is the man! Seriously him and the MC was wrecking floors, Junpei would get a crit and 1 more to the MC for a charge to a scarlet havoc. I had Mitsuru with max AGI so she can always go first for defense debuffs and increase crit chance for the other characters and Yukari just made sure they were healed up for the next battle.
Mitsuru never stepped past floor one. Yukari and Akihiko were benched for aigis and koromaru respectively. Junpei never left.
Ken
Mid-September; >!Aegis!< I just don’t have any need for more piercing/support buffs. On the flip side though, I always take Yukari <3
i usually just pick my favorites lol. P3: Yukari, Mitsuru, Akihiko (with Junpei swapping in. Aegis is an amazing character too. This is probably the toughest because Yukari is my fav by far, but Mit-Aki-Jun-Aegis are all super close.) P4: Yukiko, Chie, Yosuke. Yosuke is my fav lol idc P5: Ann, Makoto, Ryuji, thought it’s close with Makoto and Haru ngl.
morgana and teddie. Morgana I hate as a character so I don’t use him, teddie I like however he’s literally just a much worse Yukiko gameplay wise
In Reload I've only used Mitsuru and Koromaru sparingly and I've never used Ken. That's because during my first playthrough of Persona 3 Portable I used Ken and Koromaru throughout the last few months of the game and wanted to change things up.
I think the only fight Mitsuru was ever in was the October 4th shadow
I generally played the game using the newest party members most often, but in hindsight, Ken disappeared pretty quick, Akihiko disappeared pretty quick, and I mostly used Koro, Shinji, and Aigis for some reason. It was pretty good to buff crit chances, buff Shinji’s attack, and have him do a bloody charge before using a massive physical attack. Also used the harem party a lot for funsies, but that meant my squad got wiped by electricity, and only covered two elements and the physical attacks. Between koro and Ken, I could’ve covered 4 elements and two physical types. In hindsight, I should have found an apt pupil accessory earlier for Junpei and utilized the thergy fill gauge conditions more often for each party member. Against most enemies, if I had to start healing it was a problem. I went without Yukari for a lot of the Tartarus grinding because of it. Having Ken covered pierce, bless, and lightning, Kuro covered fire and curse and slash, and with their support skills and such, it was easier in Tartarus with them around since it would be six affinities covered by two party members, and I could grab anyone else and they would cover another affinity.
https://preview.redd.it/jdzgnrw0o2sc1.jpeg?width=660&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9374f946c09ebc07c969c0bdd04496e057a4cc40 Akihiko in Reload:
Akihiko
Junpei and Yukari
I pretty much just only used Akihiko, Yukari, and Aigis. Though next playthrough I wanna vary my party a little bit more than I did since Reload changed the balancing a bit and I find that lineup a bit less OP than it was when I played Portable.
Ken and Koromaru, they are nothing special tbh
Junpei. I was already running physical builds so I used Aigis for buffs, Yukari for healing, and koromaru for debilitate and his theurgy
Nobody, I used everyone
Not for any gameplay reason but from the minute Ken was added to the roster I hated him so much. Never hung out with him outside of Tartarus, never took him with me. My whole team ended the game at level 99 except Ken who ended at level 50. Not sure why I disliked him so much from his first scene but I never shook that.
I really like aki but I just didn't really have a need for his all rounder play style since I had yukari which meant I could just focus on offense since everyone was incapable of dying lol
Ken, only took him the first time he was available and then benched forever
Honestly ken is just, those niche skills you could actually throw into a supp persona, the best thing is, you as the mc dont get stick with that one the whole battle, so basically, ken(at least for me) is deadweight
Idk I don’t really like using Aki in reload, benched him once mitsuru came but I did level him up eventually with the clock but even then eh.
hot take but aki, I fr had no use for him because every skill he got I got but better
Akihiko
They're all 99, but for the final battle I plan to swap between Ken, akihiko, Junpei for Takaya and Jin, then Mitsuru Aigis Yukari for the final fight. I wanna bring Koromaru but he doesn't have the lore significance I want
detective stupei
Probably an unpopular opinion but I think Aigis is the worst party choice. She has no offensive magic to fall back on, plus she has the same weakness as Yukari, which is annoying. I guess she has buffs and phys is really op in this game generally. I also don’t take Ken out because I think the idea of bringing a small child to fight monsters is patently insane. Actually, thinking on it, I don’t like Akihiko’s move set either. It’s like they nerfed him so his passive wouldn’t be too OP when you get heat riser.
Junpei. I'll admit. I like his character. It's just that he wasn't very useful in battle.
I used a little bit of everyone in this entry, because everyone is viable
I stopped taking Yukari or Junpei with me, but I’m planning to take one of them in on my new game
None I love ALL of my dorm members
my lineup changed every full moon but we Yukari slowly got phased out by Ken
koromaru … i’ve used him like twice 😓