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One of the most recognizable aspects of Persona 3 is the AI-controlled party members. Rather than controlling your party members directly, you instead have to rely on the tactics menu to assign roles for the characters to follow. This is the only game in the series that mandates the tactics menu and love it or hate it, it’s core to the identity of Persona 3. Though part of me has always wondered just how far you can take this system. During a regular playthrough, the ai works well as a supplement to the main character but what if he didn’t exist? The protagonist is easily the most powerful and versatile character in the game. Is it really possible to finish the game using only the ai party members? That’s the question I’m going to be answering today. Can you beat Persona 3 FES without the protagonist?
Firstly let’s lay out the rules real quick so we’re all on the same page. Rule number 1: the protagonist cannot perform any action in battle other than change the party’s tactics, accepting all-out attacks, and passing his turn. However, actions taken due to status ailments like charm and rage will not count as a violation since it’s completely out of my control. Rule number 2 is that I’m allowed to use items and change my persona outside of battle but once I enter combat, I have to stick with what I have. This means that I can’t revive any party members myself mid-fight but can get them back up once the battle is over. Obviously, this means that if all three party members bite it in a fight that I can’t run away from, then that’s a game over. Rule number 3 is that I’m allowing the use of emulation speedups and save states. This is mostly to save time since persona 3 is a pretty long game. Obviously I won’t be save stating in the middle of fights but I’ll be plopping one down just before a boss to save me the walk back. And the final rule: no new game plus. This is a run that’s going to be completed from a fresh save file so I can’t just cheat and give myself an invincible persona right off the bat. While this looks like a lot to ask for, I’ve got a good feeling about this. I’ve done a few playthroughs of persona 3 at this point and I like to think I’m pretty decent at this game. So you know what, I’m feeling confident about this. And I bet that everything is going to go smoothly…
Can You Beat Persona 3 WITHOUT the Protagonist? Welcome to my Persona 3 challenge run video. in this Persona 3 challenge run, Nam's Compendium will be asking the question can you beat Persona 3 without the protagonist. This Persona 3 challenge run video is not a Persona 3 review or Persona 3 Analysis but it does serve as a Persona 3 in 2023 video. This Persona 3 challenge run was uploaded in commemoration of the upcoming Persona 3 Portable PC port which I'm very excited about. Nam's Compendium has a Persona 3 analysis and Persona 3 Portable review in the past, but can you beat Persona 3 without the protagonist is very different. If this video does well, expect more Persona challenge run videos and Shin Megami Tensei challenge run videos in the future.
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No
I will be waiting for the Answer without Aigis :D
As much as the tactics make a huge role in strategies that isn’t in any of the newer ones. It always frustrates me with bad ai so I always use the direct command mod. To make it like portable.
The visual of MC doing nothing for a year, stepping up to the bat and then fucking dying after finally doing something is really something
He’s just been sleepwalking the past like 8 months. Woke up in the void panicking and accidentally stored a god inside of him. Then he dies of pure disappointment of not being able to see the god.
Shorter summarized "The visual of MC having the life of every normal human being and acting like a normal human being and then fucking dying after finally doing something is really something" In this universe where MC doesn't do shit tartarus and the dark hour are just dreams because life is so fucking boring.
Junpei is probably even more pissed he's not the team leader considering you didn't do anything the entire time lol
SCIENTIFIC PROOF THAT MITSURU IS IN FACT THE BEST PARTY MEMBER
Marin Karin
Here here.
Best girl moment
@@totallytubular4096 I dont understand the Marin Karin meme, I never saw her spamming it in my entire playthrough of P3 FES
@@avendurree It's less about "Spam" and more "She loves to waste Mind Charge on Marin Karin, which it doesn't affect but still consumes it." A multi-turn timewaster, and common enough to be downright infuriating. I don't know if I ever saw her follow up Mind Charge with anything BUT Marin Karin in FES, to the point that I instabenched her in P3P due to the bias of "get this annoying person away from me."
Watching a persona 3 video while also currently beating Persona 3. Insane experience.
I’m surprised you can do that. If I watch a challenge run on a game I’m currently playing it’ll just burn me out on that game.
I love you
W
Persona 3 but the protagonist ACTUALLY dosent care
The strat I did for the Fortune/Strength fight's roulette is I hit X when the needle hits the tile opposite to the desired one. Had a 90% consistency rate with the fight
Same. Once I found the "timing", i alweys get what I wanted. Still, they have much health and the battle took some time to finish.
so true
This, but aim for the red
To anyone curious, While the bosses are normally immune to instant death, you can instant kill the strength boss. If you have the persona Mot, or any other persona that can learn ghastly wail, and you manage to hit fear on the status wheel, you can kill it with ghastly wail before sp management ever becomes a problem.
A challenge like this feels like watching a sports game. When something great happens that's out of your control, you scream in joy, but when the opposite happens it's pure pain. Maybe I'm exaggerating but that's basically it.
I wonder what P3 would ACTUALLY be like without the MC. For one Yukari either could have died at the dorm roof top or she might have gotten seriously injured which would lead to their exploration of Tartarus beginning much much later than it did originally since that would only leave Mitsuru and Junpei as the only capable SEES members available. As for the whole monorail incident, it would have probably happened much differently. For one assuming Akihiko and Yukari have recovered enough by then, since he's the senior I can imagine Mitsuru would make Akihiko the team leader without a doubt. As for what happens inside the train I don't actually think Junpei would run off to prove himself since unlike the MC by that point Junpei already KNOWS Akihiko is both a senior and a generally respected person so he would probably feel less inclined to lash out against him being the leader. Assuming they are able to get passed the boss in record time, what happened afterwards is a massive turning point for the rest of the story since originally it was the MC who saved them from crashing. Both Yukari and Junpei were freaking out at the time which mean in this situation the only one who could saved them would be Akihiko but that only assuming he gets lucky and manages to hit the breaks just like MC did. As for what happens after that (assuming they live) I'm not entirely sure myself.
I mean, we also have to see WHO has Pharos inside them if Protagonist never existed. Narratively speaking that's a major plot point from even before the story could even start.
@@valeriocelletti9562 I mean this scenario doesn't necessarily require the MC never existing, they just need to not move into the city P3 takes place in and this hypothetical still applies. And the whole Pharos thing is only really relevant towards the end of the game, besides it's questionable whether or not SEES would even make it that far given the circumstances. Assuming they survive long enough to recruit Ken (and later Shinji by extension), they would only have Mitsuru, Fuuka (assuming they get that far), Yukari, Akihiko and Junpei to work with. I don't doubt Mitsuru can easily take over the leadership role but in truth MC was very crucial in most of the team's survival early on, let alone the end of the game.
There’s something I really like about that fifth Tartarus block, the night club looking one that just pops into existence after the Ikutsuki reveal. It just feels like Tartarus is laughing at you for all your efforts coming to nothing.
"can you beat Persona 5 By doing absolutely nothing" Ptsd flashbacks
@NitsuaGamer
I remember using Ken in place of Akihiko a lot…and then I realized that, not counting Shinjiro because, well, you know, Akihiko is the only party member with a Strike based basic attack. At that point, I felt like using him was mandatory. Ken didn’t get benched, though, I used them both at the same time a lot, with Koromaru filling in that last slot.
I would be very happy to see challenge videos like this more often 😊
same brother
i love how the protag only needed to take action twice, on the first, and on the last fights.
For the emperor and empress boss, junpei likes to use physical and akhiko likes to go for lightning if you tell them to assign target. That tactic wouldn't allow you to do all outs but it will exploit their weaknesses in the beginning. One playthrough I had I used that to defeat them without ever using fuuka's scanning ability.
I'm glad you made a video about how the A.I. and tactics menu can be functional, because I always thought the coolest themes in Persona 3 (and the modern series in general) is finding your individually. Not being in full control of your party members emphasizes that they are characters who can think for themselves, have a mind of their own, and make their own decisions in life. Even though the A.I. can be frustrating at times, it makes them feel more real.
I feel like Nix would have had a better chance to destroy everything if they made their avatar a stack of Sleeping Tables.
This challenge is definitive proof that that Persona 3 has a very good and reliable AI if you know what you're doing with your tactics. It also shows the Marin Karin can infact be controlled with a simple change of tactics...which in my book completely kills that dumb meme for good.
About Fortune and Strength, the way to game the Roulette wheel is to pick what you wanted when the slice of the pie is right on the opposite side of the Needle. It works almost every time.
I thought you had to select the diagonal opposite option from what you wanted. That's how it worked for me in Portable.
@@kellyjohana516 yeah, that's the gist of it.
The technique you use to ALWAYS land on blue in the Roulette boss is that you press X when the arrow is on the red, with your target effect on top.
It's always funny how people think the AI controlled party members is some arbitrary design choice that locks the game from all the fun & minmax gameplay, when in fact it's running through the veins of the reinvented ideas behind Persona 3 & onwards. Thank you Nam, this was an interesting watch & you've basically demonstrated that it wasn't some far fetched idea that ruins the experience, it's not executed perfectly but the intention behind it is clear & deliberate, & works in favor of Persona 3, & at least it was kept for the newer games as an option, but sadly we lost the negative social links.
Ah yeah they're so good they can heal ailments. No wait... They HEAL your hp when you've an ailment.
Controlling your party members directly is objectively better from a gameplay and story perspective.
They kept it for the newer games but they also simplified the AI a whole bunch, which is sad
@@chronica6457 not sad, it's better they did it that way.
@@Trails3rdFanboy So it's better that they greatly messed up a feature that's now optional?
I’ve never played P3 but I plan on playing portable when it comes to the switch! I’m a huge fan of P4G and P5 (royal and base game), I always like to know a bit about a story before I get into it and this made me really excited to play! Thank you!
I definitely recommend it persona 3 is really fun and has big twists... at the beginning its confusing but then u get used to it best of luck when playing the game and have fun
You’ve probably already started already but look up guides! While in original P3 you can’t control members you can in portable P3 is very slow at the beginning but picks up speed after a while and the grinding is definitely tedious so good luck !
@@MereAnimeSoul I’m playing portable right now and the grinding isn’t too bad if you fully explore every floor you shouldn’t need to go back and re fight. At least not after 7 months so far. The damage and health change is insignificant. The only difference may be getting a level or two to fuse a persons that nulls a certain type early game. Could change in end game tho
@@dakotataylor993 helpfully tip (at least it worked in persona 3 FES so hopefully it does portable) don’t use party members so much who the protagonist the most it limits the party getting tired so you have more time to explore! And yeah honestly the grinding really doesn’t change much unfortunately 😅
This was a nice change from the usual reviews and video essays, I hope you make more videos like it in future :)
first ive seen anyone do a challenge while also making a fun vid to watch as nyarlys orpheus only run, good vid dude
About the Fortune fight: While I don't remember the exact timing since it's been a few years since I played P3, I believe it was like a 135 degree angle, oriented to the right from where the center of the screen or arrow is should be the tile that it will land on from when the button is pressed. I know keeping your eye on where in the blue/red space the arrow is when you press A is most important, and if you watch carefully it's consistent to where it lands (I think it was about when the arrow is leaving red, just before the edge, that I would press the button and most often land on blue). Since the number of spaces is different between boards the timing can be difficult to memorize for all of them, but it is much more worth it to memorize it since the boss is already fairly difficult compared to others in the game with or without the Fortune board. Definitely was my favorite fight in the game after figuring it out though, it was like a fun lil minigame. Just like a lil tip in case anyone plays through the game and has a hard time with that one. In the video the gameplay is at twice speed so it looks a lot faster than it really is in-game.
Holy crap ive never been this early! amazing to see you still do persona 3 content, keep it up!
In this particular run it's probably not useful due to ai not using them, but if you use a mirror in the fight against the reaper he will just spam megidolia. I actually used that in my own run where I just used diarahan on everyone while they did the damage (then used full heal beads and soma beads to reset once I ran out. Did use a fair few but totally worth it).
24:56 this is why junpei is the man
25:47 I learned that i could land it on blue by timing it perfectly everytime because I went into this boss with Aigis, mitsuru, and akihiko doing pretty well at the start but ended up dying pretty quickly after beating the first shadow AND i lost all my sp so couldnt heal or revive them. Then from luck i learned one of the roulette wheel effects pretty much always got it knocked down after a crit when i used a basic attack (Was either fear or panic its been a while). And ended up clutching with 50 hp after like 10 minutes of repeating the same thing over and over until it died. P3 FES will always be one of my favorite games because of that feeling once i beat it.
Nam try not go insane challenge
I'm so happy to see the footage have the right aspect ratio.
One thing that I did a lot during the end game (because I didn't want to do multiple romance routes) was going to the shrine and getting permanent buffs for party members. I managed to get +20 magic for Misuru and +12 strength / magic / agility for Akihiko, and it made everything smoother during the final arcs and the final boss. The only bad part is that the +4 buffs for each visit at the shrine are random (for the stat and for the party member too), so it took me some load saves to get. But it was worth it.
P5R No Protag run done by yours truly P3FES No Protag run done by Nam here! Then P4G currently being done by Magic Marcos. This kind of run was inevitable. And it's inevitably painful too. Great job on this run Nam! 👍
Great video! Youre a madlad for doing this type of challenge
thank you for teaching us about the algorithm in the official nam's compendium discord™
Next video: "Can You Beat Persona 3 WITHOUT playing Persona 3?"
28:00 I remember getting really lucky with this boss as I had randomly gotten a poison sword from the police station so all I had to do was melee attack and switch to next target when it triggered as it drained it to 1hp
Never expected to see a challenge run from this channel, but I’m not complaining.
25:47 if I remember right, though it’s years since I played, the amount of spin is always the same so it’s all about timing, I remember using what it’s body is covering to indicate where it lands I also remember inflicting it with panic and myself with rage whilst having the raging tiger skill which one shot it in my ng+ run
It's been well over a decade since I first experienced P3 but hearing Memories of You still makes me fuckin cry
That was a smooth sponsor segment
Oh man, I really should get back to this game. This was my first ever SMT game, but I’ve never played it all the way through since that very first run, not even the other versions or even The Answer. I’ve made a couple of attempts to “replay” the game in the past, in quotes because those were on Portable and not FES. Both kinda just dropped off in the second month for some reason. Granted, I was following a Social Link guide for both, and generally just let the growing completionist part of me take over, so that’s probably why (in particular, I think my last attempt got dropped because I got bored of searching Thebel for Wealth Hands for Elizabeth). Might be hard to replay Persona 3 if I can’t shut that off.
Great video, I'd love to see this challenge done again in the future using the new moon balance mod
"I almost pulled out my own evoker if you know what I mean" lol
It’s wild because I’d have thought this was impossible.. I’m not *that* good at these games though 😆 great video
I thought this was nyarly upload at first when I opened my sub feed lmao
The way to make the wheel land on blue is all about timing. Aim for the red buff on the opposite side of the buff you want, and it should land blue for said buff.
I saw him name himself bubbletea and had to check whos channel I was on for a minute
hi
“i almost pulled out my evoker if you know what i mean” 😂😂😂💀
I feel like I’ve seen this video like 3 times and it’s still fascinating to me. Here’s to a forth time🥂
Nice birthday gift.
33:20 you mentioned "the compendium trick" there, what is that, I have guesses obviously
My strat for the fortune and strength is making them fearful and then use Mot for ghastly wail
Whoa no way, I knew FES was objectively better :^)
Scans do show player the information, Fuuka shows you the screen with it after a few turns and iirc when you're choosing a target to attack, UI writes Weak if they're weak for the move you're aiming. On the other note, thanks for proving Tactics are a totally working solution for P3, I myself prefer them to direct controls and it's quite annoying to see people giving them shit claiming AI can't do anything (and some of the ones complaining don't realize Scans are a thing from my experience)
Scans don't show Tartarus bosses affinities to the player, that's what he was referring to
@@lyzder7298 oh. Got confused since he talked about scanning 'every enemy, including bosses'
Enjoyed the vid bud! Quick question for anyone to answer, what do you mean by compendium trick ? Sorry just started playing p3p on xbox and if I can dupe items for my party it'll be a huge help !
What you do is certain Personas have heart items. Look that up. And what I suggest that when you fuse the personas. Save before you fuse them since they can fuse but not get a heart on their battle stats. Once you get the heart. You get the heart item after they learn their final skill. Level up the Persona till they're really close to leveling up for that skill. Then register the Persona. So that when you get the item. You can delete the Persona and get them from the compendium for that item again
*does absolutely nothing* *still turns into a door*
A Persona challenge youtuber? Hell yah! Insta sub.
Loved the video my friend.
I played through Portable, the remastered version on Switch I should mention if that means anything, and this game ended up my favorite Persona game. I just loved it from start to finish. I did see your video on my feed and while I am curious, I'd rather just respect your opinions and move on to videos I'd enjoy more (like this one). Please don't think of me as disrespectful. As an aside, when I fought Nyx, I went in with Tomb of the Void for all my party members, prepared for Night Queen, but to my shock, Nyx didn't even use Night Queen at all. Wish I knew why but hey, I guess I lucked out (not that I needed it, but whatevs).
If you count spin offs I’d argue the hardest reaper is ng+ strikers reaper
I will use this video as evidence that P3FES party AI is fantastic and borderline perfect if you even try to understand the tactics menu
29:45 yeah...
@@mizzix That's ONE ocassion. You shall see P4 party AI in especial if you want to know what truly shitty party AI is
Man, I love your videos! Thank you so much for highlighting the tactics mechanic from Persona 3 FES, I felt that only bubbletea and some people on Reddit actually liked the FES gameplay. The memes have given the game a bad reputation and people jump straight into portable without even trying. Amazing work with the videos, keep it up.
Thinks this will go smoothly, oh wait, you forgot that the only thing Yukari does at the start is threaten you with a gun that can't even hurt you
This comment is being make before I watch the video. Because this video title and thumbnail got me wanting to see how this will be done. While no you can not beat Person 3 with out the protagonist. As they are the only one who can beat Nyx. I do want to see what Nam is planning to do.
The ending gets me EVERY time...
This sounds like hell. I like to micromanage units in games too much.
To stop the wheel on something beneficial just mash x before it starts. Will always grant something positive.
Glad to see persona content’s not going anywhere. More of these pls
Saw the title and thought it was going to be more of a making the protagonist use another party member's weapon and persona to "remove" him from the party
Damn first nyarly now Nam? Is this a repeat or a one time thing?
Does the scanning your enemy trick work on ps 4 and 5 aswell or jist p3?
So what were you saying with this video by making it mere days before the official rerelease of Persona 3 Portable and with FES?
Persona 3 portable is coming to PC game pass very soon. I beat P3FES twice & have never experienced P3P so here we go!
Very soon? Like tomorrow?
@@dark-lord-itachi-gojoofthe6166 Well in Australia it is today now. Woot.
“I have a pretty good feeling about this!” 🤪🤪
Great Seal: where's chosen one?
"Can you beat FES without the protagonist?" The Answer:
The (un)reliable party member
"After experiencing that scene with yukari and smashing some mirrors" Damn i really hope its the other way around to be : After experiencing that scene with some mirrors and smashing yukari
You see swap his evoker with a real gun and you're done
this run seems sooo tedious, you have a lot of patience! thanks for taking us on the adventure.
I was originally going to say no before watching the video and then I decided to take a look at it. Really interesting tactics you’ve got here. Just a note, you could’ve found a loophole around the Joelton of grief if you prepared in advance. You could’ve used a persona with the null rage ability and that will prevent the Mc being affected by it and that way you won’t break your rules at all.
I almost pulled out my own evoker is CRAZY
If we unlock our ability to seal Nix away, we were clearly needed, and as such the answer was clearly no.
this is just how I play persona games
This challenge is essentially "What if the protag of Persona 3 was the Fire Emblem 7 protagonist" and I'm all for it
Nyx: Bro just fucking seal me already Makoto: 👁️ 👄 👁️
Mitsuru: Marin karin Ahahahaha marin karin! Am i with the cool guys now?... Pretty amazing video! Seriously if people managed to learn how to use the tactics menu
I am charmed to see someone finished the game without using the mc
Since you have FES, could you try this with The Answer?
You should do “can you beat persona 5 as persona 3.” Everyone in gekkokuan high outfits. Using only personas and items that are shared between both games. Tactics menu only. romance every female social link.
My unique p3 experience was Mitsuru casting marin karin whenever she can. Good times
I only saw her casting it like four times in my entire playthrough, but once I changed tactics she stopped using it.
Nice!
Bro nitsuagamer did this in p5r he almost went insane
hey u named minato after bubble tea! that OTHER SMTyoutuber....naisu!
I cannot believe this is actually possible to accomplish, fantastic work!
How do you equip mc with a spear for Jotun of Grief? I thought he could only equip 1Hand swords. I just used all my break skills I could.
Persona 3 FES let's the protagonist use any of the weapon types aside from knives. Portable removed that feature and instead forces the mc to use 1 handed swords
How it feels to be in a group project:
0:43 from a lore sense no If the protagonist didn’t exist the game wouldn’t exist, and even if death would be sealed some of the people wouldn’t be persona users anymore
Now beat "The Answer" 😛