Here are the list of yakus obtainable under Japanese Mahjong rules.

1 yaku

Reach (立直)

- Must be fully closed, and only when a person declares Riichi. Once you declared riichi, you CANNOT change your hand. You can still make a closed kan as long as it does not change the waits. If you tsumo/ron a riichi hand, 1 yaku is automatically here and you can open the ura doras.

1-shot (一発)

- Only when declaring riichi. A 1-shot is defined when you tsumo/ron a riichi hand during the turn you declare riichi. Another condition is that there are no calls around this time. The extra han is yours if you pulled this off.

Tsumo (門前清自摸和)

- Only for a fully-closed hand.

Last draw tile (海底撈月)

- One of the lucky han where you draw the last tile that happens to be the winning tile. The meaning of this statement is "Scooping the moon out of the bottom of the sea."

Last discard (河底撈魚)

- Another lucky han where you ronned the final discard tile from another person. The meaning of it is "Scooping the fish out of the river."

Dead wall draw (嶺上開花)

- Another lucky han that has a condition when you declare a kan, and draw the winning tile from the dead wall.

There is also a unique rule such that when you make an open kan (meaning taking the 4th tile discarded to make a kan), if you tsumo by the Dead Wall Draw, the person who discarded the 4th tile must pay in full instead. This rule is called "The responsible one pays". (責任払い)

Robbing a quad (搶槓)

- Only applies when someone makes a late kan (A.K.A adding the 4th tile he draw onto the pon)

All sequences (平和)

- Only applies when your hand is purely closed, a 2-sided wait and all of your melds are sequences and a worthless pair. (You still can have a wind pair as long as it is not your wind/round)

All simples (断么九)

- All of your melds do not have any terminals or honors. In some rules, a kuitan (Open tanyou) is allowed, and vice versa. Make sure to read the rules before playing.

1 identical sequence (一盃口)

If you have something like this : 667788 pins, then thats an identical sequence. Your hand must be fully closed.

2 yakus

Double Reach (ダブルリーチ)

Same as a normal reach, except that you are already in tenpai after just 1 draw without any calls whatsoever.

Straight (一気通貫)

In a pin/wan/sou set, you have each tile from 1 to 9. Loses 1 yaku if open.

3-coloured straight (三色同順)

In each pin/wan/sou, you have identical sequences (Like 345 in pin, wan and sou sets). Loses a yaku if open.

3-coloured triplet (三色同刻)

Same as above, except that you have 3 of the same triplets in each kind. Unlike the above, it doesn't lose a yaku even if it is open.

Mixed terminals (全帯么)

Each meld contains a terminal or honor. Loses a yaku if open.

All triplets (対々和)

Every meld are triplets/quads.

7-pairs (七対子)

A special hand where you have 7 pairs in your hand. Must be fully closed and automatically gives you a 25-fu hand no matter the circumstances.

3 concealed triplet (三暗刻)

A hand consisting of 3 concealed triplet melds.

All terminals and honors (混老頭)

A hand that consists only the terminals and honors. Since it is paired with 7-pair or all triplets, it will always yield at least 4 hans.

Little 3 dragons (小三元)

A hand that has 2 dragon triplets and 1 last dragon as a pair. It will yield at least 4 hans after adding the dragon yakuhais.

3 kans (三槓子)

Your hand consists of 3 of any kind of kans. Statistically its the hardest non-yakuman point to win.

3 yakus

Mixed Flush (混一色)

Your hand only consists of 1 suit plus the honor tiles. Loses a yaku if open.

2 identical sequences (二盃口)

You have 2 different identical sequences in your hand. In this case, a 7-pair hand doesn't apply anymore.

Pure terminals in each set (純全帯么)

Your hand strictly consists of a terminal in each set, without honors. Loses a yaku if open.

6 yakus

Flush (清一色)

Your hand only consists of 1 suit, nothing else. Loses a yaku if open.

Auto-Mangan yaku

Terminal/honor discards (流し満貫)

Only to be done during a null round by exhaustive draws. If your discards are purely made of terminals and/or honor tiles only, you'll automatically get a Mangan hand (2000/4000 to non-dealer, or 4000 each to dealer). In some rules, your discards must not be called from others. This scenario is stackable, thus more than 1 person can pull this off, although it very rarely happens.

Japanese Mahjong - Special Yakuman

Here's a list of the special yakuman that you can possibly throw out.

1. DaiSanGen (大三元) (A.K.A The Three Great Dragons, Difficulty 4/10)

To get this yakuman you need to have 3 triplets of chun, hatsu and haku (red, green and white). Whether it is open or not it doesn't matter. Then follow it up by a pair and another triplet or a sequence. 1 yakuman reward.

A ShoSanGen (The Little Three Dragons) is NOT a yakuman, but awards you 2 hans if you have any of the 3 dragon pairs.

There is also a special rule regarding this hand (and also DaiSuuShi). If all of your dragon triplets are open, the person who discarded the last dragon tile to make the last pon will be in big trouble. If you tsumo your open Daisangen, he/she will have to pay you in full. If you ron from another player, the payment is split in half. (The one who dealt the last pon tile pays half of it, and the other person who get ronned pays the other half.)

2. ShoSuuShi (小四喜) (The 4 Little Winds, Difficulty 5/10)

You need to have 3 triplets of the winds and a pair of the last wind. Doesn't depend on close/open hand. 1 yakuman reward.

3. DaiSuuShi (大四喜) (The 4 Great Winds, Difficulty 8/10)

Same as ShoSuuShi, except all 4 winds must be a triplet. Again, you don't need to completely close the hand. Since it is a very rare yakuman, 2 yakuman limit is the prize. (A.K.A Double Yakuman)

The special rule such that the person who discarded the last tile for the last wind pon is to pay in full if you tsumo the hand applies here.

4. Tsuu-Ii-sho (字一色) (Pure honors, Difficulty 6/10)

This requires you to have just honors only. That's right, 4 triplets of honor and a pair of another honor tile. This is stack-able with other yakuman like the above, and maybe even a Suu-An-Ko. As usual, open or close doesn't matter much. Reward is 1 yakuman limit.

5. Suu-An-Ko (四暗刻) (4 concealed triplets, Difficulty 4/10)

This requires you to have 4 concealed triplets and another pair of your liking. Since you are waiting with 3 concealed triplet, the yakuman must be self-drawn. If you ron it, on the worst case scenario you'll only win a mangan hand. (Toitoi + Sanankou reaches 4 hans already) Your hand must also be completely closed. (An open kan is not counted, while a closed kan still counts as a concealed triplet.) Gives you 1 yakuman limit.

4. Suu-An-Ko Tankin (四暗刻 単騎待ち) (4 concealed triplets waiting for a single tile, Difficulty 8/10)

Same as above, except that you have 4 concealed triplets already and a dummy tile ready to get its mate. Since 4 concealed triplets has already been fulfilled, you can ron another person's winning tile. As said above, your hand MUST be closed. Awards 2 yakuman limit instead of 1.

5. Kokushi-Musou (国士無双) (The Thirteen Orphans, Difficulty 6/10)

This can be complicated to explain. All you need is a single 1 and 9 of every suit, and 1 honor each (all of them), and lastly 1 of them can be a dummy pair. If you have all 13 of every different kind, this will become Kokushi-Musou Juu-san Men-machi (国士無双 十三面待ち) instead, where you can take any 1 of the tile and win. Awards 2 yakuman limit if it is as said before, otherwise it is 1 yakuman limit.

There is a very unique rule for this hand. If someone makes a closed kan of the tile that you are waiting to win, you CAN actually RON that kan tile, in contrast with late open kan required to ron using Chankan. Ronning the 4th tile from the closed kan is only possible if you have Kokushi-Musou.

6. Chuu-ren-poutou (九蓮宝燈) (The 9 Heavenly Gates, Difficulty 7/10)

In order to win this hand you must have a Chinitsu first. You must have 2 triplets of 1 and 9, and a sequence of 2 to 8. If you are waiting like this hand : 1,1,1,2,4,5,6,6,7,8,9,9,9 , then you need to wait for a 3 in order to get Chuu-ren-poutou. It is quite risky in reality, because you are also waiting for a 2, thus losing this yakuman. That is why in certain scenarios, fewer waits are better if you want to nail this yakuman. In this case, 1 yakuman limit is awarded. If your hand is like this however: 1,1,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,9,9 , then you can say bye bye to your opponents, because there are 9 possible outcomes if you get any of the numbers. (In this case it is called Junsei-Chuu-ren-poutou (純正九蓮宝燈) ) Award 2 yakuman limit. Both cases must be closed hand.

7. Chin-Rou-Tou (清老頭) (Pure Old Man, Difficulty 5/10)

To win that, you must have a pure terminal triplets of 1 and 9 of any suits. The hand can be open or closed. Awards 1 yakuman and can stack with Suu-An-Ko if you're lucky.

8. Dai-Sha-Rin (大車輪) (Sequence pair of same suit, Difficulty 9/10)

The hand must be a Chinitsu pin tiles only. You must be able to get pairs of 2 to 8. 1 yakuman limit, and your hand must be closed.

9. Ryuu-Ii-Sou (緑一色) (Pure Green Suit, Difficulty 7/10)

First, you must take note of what tiles you need to do this hand : 2,3,4,6,8 sous and green dragon. Green dragon tile isn't necessary, but if you want to do it then thats fine. Open or closed hand. 1 yakuman limit.

10. Suu-Kan-Zi (四槓子) (4 kans, Difficulty 10/10)

This is by far one of the hardest yakuman to earn, for a simple reason. If more than 4 kans appears, the game stops here. However, if done correctly, then this hand is basically yours. 1 yakuman limit. Any type of kans is acceptable, and it definitely doesn't have to be closed.

11. Tenhou (Heaven hand), Chihou (Earth hand), Renhou (Man hand)

These 3 are special cases when you have already tenpai right from the start. For Tenhou, you must be a dealer and draw the final winning tile. For Chihou, any subsequent players who draw the first and final winning tile gets it. For Renhou, you must be able to Ron the first discarded tile before your turn comes. In all cases, it depends on how lucky your starting tiles are.

In some rules, Renhou is NOT a yakuman, instead they can make it as a baiman hand (meaning 16000/24000 points win for non-dealer/dealer) since it is considered as opening your full hand.

Japanese Mahjong - How NOT to fall for a tenpai hand

With many experience from getting rons, here's some tips in avoiding "most" of the tenpai/riichi hands for your opponents.

1. Riichi - Bail out or risk it?

When someone declares a riichi, any tiles discarded before the riichi is a furiten, and you know fairly well that the person cannot ron that furiten tile unless he/she self-draw win. Take a look at the previous discarded tile including the riichi tile, and if you want to bail it out, so be it. It is better to keep risky tiles and have a no-ten hand rather than discarding risky tiles at random. Don't forget to keep track of his subsequent discards especially if you are unsure of what to discard. ESPECIALLY when it comes to dora tile.

2. Repeating immediate discards.

If you have a feeling that someone is repeatedly discarding tiles at first sight, there is a chance that he/she is already tenpai. It is really hard to tell compared to a riichi hand, more so if someone decides NOT to declare riichi. It is hard, but as long as you look at the discard tiles you should still do fine.

3. Discards from others =/= safe tile

Lets take the first case, when someone declares riichi. Other people's discard before the riichi happens DOES NOT MEAN that it is safe to discard. For example, someone discarded the tile you want for a chi (sequence), but failed either by not declaring it, playing 3-person mahjong, or not your left-side player. Then, you declare riichi and still waiting for that tile. If the same person or another person has a preception that the tile by other player/self is discarded, it should be relatively safe. Sadly enough, this is exactly where they will get victimised. Thus, look carefully on other people's discards including yours. The previous discarded tile MAY be the one the riichi person is looking for.

Japanese Mahjong - Key to high hand

Here are the keys to win your hands:

1. As simple as possible.

Try not to be too dreamy to try and get a very good hand. Sometimes a simple hand may go dangerous. As shown below what can a simple hand may potentially do:

As you can see, this is a result of Reach + 1-shot + Self-draw + No-points hand + No terminal/honor + 1 Dora (Notice the red 5-man?), which results in a Haneman hand. It still all depends on luck.

2. A case of 2 triplets and 2 pairs at start.

There is a good chance that you can create a 4 concealed triplet (and that is if you self draw it), or even better - 4 concealed triplet waiting for a final pair. (Which means 4 concealed triplet + 1 dummy tile waiting to win!)

3. A case of specific suit dominant (More than 7 ideally)

You can try to create a Mix or Pure suit if you can. There is even chances of the 9 heavenly gates or sequential pair of the same suit simples! If you keep getting the wrong cards though, always make a back-up.

4. A case of 3 dragon tiles coming in. (2 pairs of them is great)

This is a fair chance to try the great 3 dragons! Try not to discard them first unless someone else has made a pon on 1 of them.

5. Dora is your friend.

No, I don't mean Dora the young girl adventurer. What I mean is that you should try to use the dora indicators to your good advantage. Dora adds points to your hand, and can potentially make your hand into a non-special yakuman hand! (At least 13 points required) But don't let this come to your head, because you must have something else to win before claiming your doras!

6. When to declare pon/chi

If your hand consists of all simple tiles, you can opt for a cheap No-terminal/honor hand by keep getting the chi or pon from your side. Otherwise don't even try it. Even if you are waiting for a winning tile, if you mess it up by chi or pon the terminal or wrong wind tiles, you cannot win since it worth nothing to win. Only when you have the correct wind tile (As in what wind you are in and what wind round it is), or when you have a dragon triplet, only then can you do whatever you like to win the hand. Remember : Calling pon/chi/kan will simplify your hand, but will make your hand worthless if you're not careful.

7. Calling riichi

Sometimes your hand may still be worthless when all are closed. Riichi is a key to gain at least a point in it, even better if you 1-shot it. However, when calling for a special yakuman hand, some players choose not to do so in order to give others a rather nasty surprise. Still, I recommend you to do a riichi unless you are sure you can win some points without the riichi, or you are waiting for a special yakuman win. Be warned : Once you declare riichi you cannot change your hand. You will keep discarding every tile until you get the right one. That means you are giving yourself away to getting a risky ron, or you cannot change into a much better hand. (Example changing the identical sequence to a 4-concealed triplet yakuman chance.)

8. More chance or bad single wait?

You need to consider of whether you want to have more chances to wait to win, or rather wait for a bad single wait. In a case of Saki Episode 11, Hisa Takei is one of the really good players who is very famous for making bad waits and win such devastating hands! Still, it all makes a matter of whether breaking it with dora single wait or 5-way chance. Whatever you want to do, it all depends on the dora or the discards once again. If you like to set a dora trap, bad wait is better. If you like to have more chances, then go ahead. The choice is all yours.

Japanese Mahjong - The Basic

Recently I have started playing an online Japanese mahjong game called JanRyuMon. It is a really nice and graphically detailed game to play.

If you want to play this, you must first know the basics.

You must know what tiles you are dealing with. As for the wanzu series, it is easy to tell if you know Chinese well. If not, then you might need to look at how it arranges first before knowing what to do.

Basic Rules

Game can be in a normal 4-person Ariari mahjong, Nashinashi mahjong, or a 3-person Mahjong game. You will start with 13 tiles, and the objective of this game is to complete the hand with 1 pair and a set of sequences/triplets. (The exception will be the 7 pairs (七対子) hand.)

Drawing pile - This is where players will draw the tile. It goes clockwise.

Back tile - Where the dora indicator will be. The last 14 tiles are not usable.

Discard pile - Tiles that players discarded. If someone declares a riichi, the tile is placed horizontally instead.

Dora - You may notice that at the back tile, 1 upper tile is open. This is an indication that the tile 1 step higher than the indicator is the dora. It is a key in getting high scores. A maximum of 5 dora indicators are allowed at a single period of time.

To better understand what that means, look below

1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-1 (For all 3 types)

E-S-W-N-E (Wind)

White-Green-Red-White (Dragon)

Lets say a 2-pin is the dora indicator. That means 3-pin is now a dora.

A special case is for 5-pin, 5-sou and 5-man. 1 in 4 of them will be coloured in red, and it is automatically a dora tile on its own.

Declaring a pon - (Meaning you want the triplet) can be called from any players. It must be open.

Declaring a chi - can only be called from the person on your left. In 3-mahjong game, calling a chi is not allowed. (In this case, you want a 3-sequence)

Declaring a kan - When you have a concealed triplet and have drawn the 4th tile, you can declare a closed kan. Even if there is a closed kan already revealed, your hand is still considered as fully closed provided you didn't do any pon/chi. If someone discards the 4th tile of the concealed triplet, you can declare an open kan and it is considered as open hand. If you have an open triplet and draw a 4th tile, you can declare a late kan. Taking the 4th tile discard to make a kan on the open triplet is not allowed. In all cases, declaring a kan will open a new dora indicator. More than 4 of it and the game will start over again. When declaring a kan, you need to take a tile from the back.

A special rule occurs when you declare an open kan (Meaning you take the 4th tile from someone's discard),. If you get a Rinshan Kaihou (Winning the hand from the dead wall after declaring kan), the person who discarded it will have to pay you in full based on the score you won instead of everyone dividing their chips to pay you. The special rule is known as, "The one responsible pays" but it is optional.

Declaring riichi - Only when your hand is fully closed, you can declare a riichi if your hand is ready to win. This costs 1000 chips to declare. Once you declare riichi, you cannot change your hand anymore.

Declaring tsumo - A tsumo is defined when your hand is ready to win and you have drawn a winning hand. If your hand is strictly closed and win by a tsumo, you'll get 1 han.

Declaring ron - A ron is defined when your hand is ready and someone discards the card that you want. It is possible for a double ron, even a triple ron! Make sure your hand have at least 1 han in order to win.

Furiten - This happens when your hand is ready, but you're waiting for the tile that you yourself have discarded. In this case, you cannot ron that tile from other players but can still win if you self-draw it. This is a bad situation which you need to look at your discards. Once discarded, it is a furiten tile for you.

You are also in furiten if you declare riichi but fail to get it on 1st opportunity.

When the game has no winners - Most commonly happens when players run out of drawable tiles. Remember that the last 14 tiles are not touchable.

Another situation is when someone declares a Kyuushukyuhai right from the start, that means that he has at least 8 tiles with terminals (1 or 9) and honors. This indicates that his hand is so bad that he wants to have a new hand. The starting hand can evolve into a Kokushi-Musou, but that would be a very easy giveaway as you will be discarding simple tiles at the beginning unless you are expert in making damaten hand. The condition is that there are no calls yet until his first turn.

Another situation is when everyone discards the same wind tile on their first discard. This may not look significant, but I find that you can actually do that to stop someone who made a Double Riichi. :P (Not applicable to 3-way mahjong)

And lastly, if more than 4 kans are declared or when more than 1 player declared 4 kans, (one player is allowed to have 4 kans, since SuuKanZi is a yakuman.) the game automatically ends and starts over. (Besides, too many doras = non-special yakuman hand spree. =.=)

Other situations can occur when all 4 players declare riichi, then the game ends automatically, or when 3 people take the very same tile that they need to win all at once. These 2 conditions are optional though.

Tenpai/No-ten - Only when the players run out of drawing tiles. A tenpai is when your hand is ready to win, and vice versa. In a rare case, a Naga-nashi-mangan (In case where the player discards nothing but terminals/honors, all tiles must not be called.) can be declared, and that player will win a mangan hand automatically.

Buttobi (A.K.A Bankrupted) - If any players do not have enough chips to continue playing (as in, getting negative points), the game may automatically end depending on the rules.

How to Play

The dealer will throw the dice, deciding on separating the draw pile and the back pile. Then, each player (dealer first) will take on a set of 4 3 times, then take 1 last tile. (For the dealer's case, it will take another one after that) During your turn, you'll draw a tile and discard one. How to move on is referred to the rules of the game.

I'll look into more detail in the keys of winning a decent hand.

Persona 3 endgame and new decisions...

My final run-up of Personas that I used against the final boss :

1. Daisoujou

- Hamaon, Hama Boost, Samsara, Null Dark, Mediarama, Divine Grace, Invigorate 1

2. Seth

- Agidyne, Maragidyne, Ragnarok, Mamudoon, Null Ice, Repel Light, Fire Amp, Mind Charge

3. Kohryu

- Null Pierce, Null Strike, Mediarahan, Samarecarm, Thunder Reign, Spell Master, Invigorate 3, Makarakarn.

4. Gabriel

- Bufudyne, Spell Master, Repel Dark, Mabufudyne, Ice Amp, Niflheim, Diarahan.

5. Sandalphon

- Repel Dark, Mahamaon, Hama Boost, Akasha Arts, Masukunda, Masukukaja, Salvation, Spell Master.

Also, after some thoughts, I would like to try to MAX out all Social Links on the first playthrough. (As tested during the past month, it IS possible but I couldn't do it on time, since my Empress S.Link is left at Rank 2 by the time winter vacation begins.) Hmm.... maybe I should try Hard Mode for that? :P

Persona 4 - Final Status

The final status before facing the final boss of Persona 3 FES.

Social Links :

Fool - SEES (Rank MAX) (Reward : Susano-O)

Magician - Classmate A.K.A Kenji Tomochika (Rank MAX) (Reward : Surt)

Priestess - Fuuka Yamagishi (Not started) (Reward : Scathach)

Empress - Mitsuru Kirijo (Rank MAX) (Reward : Alilat)

Emperor - Student Council A.K.A Hidetoshi Odagari (Rank MAX) (Reward : Odin)

Hierophant - Old Couple A.K.A Bunkichi and Mitsuko (Rank MAX) (Reward : Kohryu)

Lovers - Yukari Takeba (Rank MAX) (Reward : Cybele)

Chariot - Swim/Track/Kendo Team A.K.A Kazushi Miyamoto (Rank MAX) (Reward : Thor)

Justice - Treasurer A.K.A Chihiro Fushimi (Not started) (Reward : Melchizedek)

Hermit - Online gamer (Rank 4) (Reward : Arahabaki)

Fortune - Art/Photography/Music Club A.K.A Keisuke Hiraga (Rank 8) (Reward : Norn)

Strength - Team Manager A.K.A Yuko Nishiwaki (Rank MAX) (Reward : Siegfried)

Hanged Man - Girl at the shrine A.K.A Maiko (Rank MAX) (Reward : Attis)

Death - Mysterious Boy (Rank MAX) (Reward : Thanatos)

Temperance - Transfer Student A.K.A Bebe (Not started) (Reward : Yurlungur)

Devil - Businessman A.K.A President Tanaka (Rank MAX) (Reward : Belzeebub)

Tower - Strange Monk A.K.A Mutatsu (Rank MAX) (Reward : Chi You)

Star - Rival Athlete A.K.A Mamoru Hayase (Rank MAX) (Reward : Helel)

Moon - The Gourmet King A.K.A Nozomi Suemitsu (Rank MAX) (Reward : Sandalphon)

Sun - The Dying Young Man A.K.A Akinari Kamiki (Rank 1) (Reward : Asura)

Judgement - The Nyx Annihilation Team (Rank MAX) (Reward : Messiah)

Aeon - Aigis (Rank 7) (Reward : Metatron)

Final Equipment for my go team:

MC Equipment : Deus Xiphos (ultimate weapon fused with Michael), Tome of the Void (Abaddon's heart item)

Akihiko Equipment : Dragon Fangs (Found this on a rare chest), Tome of the Void

Yukari Equipment : Yoichi's Bow, Lightning Gloves (Thor's heart item)

Aigis Equipment : Pandemonium, Omega Drive

Current Persona : Cybele, Kohryu, Daisoujou, Seth. (I may change my mind though, currently I still have not defeated Takaya.)

Persona 4 - Progress 9

My final leg of "The Journey"!

1. World Balance

Persona used : Daisoujou, Seth.

Whooh, not easy even if I have pretty much some Personas that don't give any weakness away. I used Seth all the way for Mind Charge + Ragnarok, and also switch to Daisoujou to heal up for some time.

After it reaches half its health (with just 1 Ragnarok, it dealt 1k damage.), it went using Megidolaon, then Mahamaon a few times consecutively. 1st one killed Yukari, Aigis revived her. 2nd one came, all my members gone dead, I used Balm of Life on Aigis. 3rd Mahamaon missed Aigis, she again revived Yukari, which immediately followed up by her unfortunate demise in the 4th Mahamaon, which Aigis had to revive her (again) before all my members come back by the time it used Megidola instead.

2. Fierce Cyclops x3

Quite easy, though I ignored my member's health abit and Aigis was smacked to death by one of the cyclops' normal charged attack.

3. Jotun of Grief

Easy as always, using Magic Mirror will save your butts cause it will reflect Infuriate spell and just use Megidolaon/Primal Force instead.

Also, I could only finish MAXing out 5 more Social Links before the 31/1 Promised Day deadline. Namely, I MAXed out Hanged Man first, then when winter vacation was over I MAXed out Emperor Social Link. I was thinking that if I can balance between Aigis and Mitsuru for their individual Social Links then I could do it, but then I was wrong. 21/1 was a special event in which I can't do anything about it. Thus, I decided to abandon the Aeon Social Link at rank 7 and MAXed out Empress and Star Social Link instead. Also, it was also a very close call to MAX out Tower Social Link as well in the evenings. (Did it on the evening of 30/1, whew!) Also, I abandoned the Fortune Social Link at rank 8 completely before realizing the fatal mistake. If I had known I would've MAXed that out as well to bring the count to 13.

That will mean my final count of MAX Social Link on my first playthrough is 12 out of 19 Social Links. It was still really good as non of my non-MAX Social Link was on reverse. (And I intended not to let that happen.)

MAX Social Links : Magician, Empress, Emperor, Hierophant, Lovers, Chariot, Strength, Hanged Man, Devil, Tower, Star, Moon. (Exclusive of Fool, Death and Judgement)

Non-MAX Social Links : Hermit (rank 4), Fortune (Rank 8), Sun (Rank 1, yeah I started this very late.), Aeon (Rank 7)

Social Links not initiated : Priestess (Fuuka), Justice (Chihiro), Temperance (Bebe)

Now that I have reached the climax of the story with the encounter of Nyx herself, be prepared!

Persona 3 FES - Progress 8

Sorry for the real long wait, my PS2 spinner stopped working 3 weeks ago and I only sent it to repair after my sis' wedding was over (that was 3rd April), and now awaiting the repairs to be done.

So, I went to my friend's house today and restarted again. Managed to cover some things before retiring cause my friend wanted to go out. XD

1. Reckoning Dice (1st try)

Persona used : Siegfried

Easy peasy.

2. Noble Seekers x3 (1st try)

Persona used : Siegfried

Another easy one, Siegfried's Vorpal Blade with Power Charge really hurts. 1.3k per person anyone? XDDD

3. Carnal Snakes x3 (1st try)

Persona used : Hariti, Daisoujou (Mediarama or Mediarahan for a dangerous situation)

Believe it or not, this was one of the battles that I had quite a struggle with. Not because they are hard, but because of a bad strategy I used for this fight. Firstly, they know Mudoon attacks, so its risky to use Raphael and Siegfried, my key Personas. So pretty much had to melee them one by one while leaving poor Yuka-tan down (she's hit by their Mudoon attacks twice in a row.), then revived her again when 1 of them is defeated. It is a really draggy fight, about 14 minutes or so.

Also, I did this floor on the same day as well, still surprised that none of my choice members are tired yet after reaching that floor AND after the boss fight (then again, I kinda rushed there a little by skipping alternative floors lol.), so I thought might as well.

Social Links

I've also been working with my Social Links more, so here goes. I already maxed out Magician, Hierophant, Lovers and Devil Social Link, and now my Star, Emperor and Hanged Man Social Link is close to MAX out. Once the 3 of them are done, I'll concentrate on Empress and maybe Aeon Social Link if possible. So that increase my MAX Social Link count to 7/18 (Not including Fool, Death and Judgement which can be MAXed based on storyline.) I'm not sure whether I can increase the count to about 14/18 (Fortune is also quite close to MAX, and maybe I can work on Tower Social Link at evenings.), but its worth a try.

So basically the Social Link ranks are:

Magician MAX, Empress 3, Emperor 9, Hierophant MAX, Lovers MAX, Chariot MAX, Hermit 4, Fortune 8, Strength MAX, Hanged Man 8, Devil MAX, Tower 6, Star 9, Moon MAX.

Current key Personas under my belt : Seth, Raphael, Hariti.

Persona 3 FES - Progress 7

The next 3 Tartarus bosses!

But before that, I have already decided on my go-team. That would be....

a) Akihiko Sanada

- His debuffs are quite valuable, and his electricity attacks are high as well.

b) Yukari Takeba

- She's just so cute :3 end-game skills include Mediarahan and Garudyne are needed.

c) Aigis

- A robot with all-rounder support skill and some pretty good attack skills. :D

So you won't be seeing what team I formed unless stated otherwise.

1. Statis Giant x3 (1st try)

Persona used : Laksmi (Mind Charge + Bufudyne, together with Null Slash)

So this is the one everyone hated about, and its no doubt that these guys are tougher to beat than Judgement Swords (Thankfully, minus Marakunda). Another 3-way boss to have all 3 members to be dead at least once. It started out quite bad (1 of them critted me with Gigantic Fist), but I managed to pull through in the end.

2. Phantom King (1st try)

Persona used : Laksmi (again), Raphael (Matarukaja buff)

Team used : Yukari, Aigis and Ken (Akihiko retired ._.)

I wanted to do this boss on the same day. Unfortunately, Akihiko had to retire by the time I reached that floor, so I subbed Ken in.

This boss is actually a joke, considering how painful it was during my previous 2 guardian battles.

3. Royal Dancers x3 (1st try)

Persona used : Siegfried (Vorpal Blade + Null Charm), Raphael (Matarukaja, Mediarama with Divine Grace, Mediarahan for SERIOUS emergency and Null Charm)

This battle wasn't as bad as I feared. Initially I keep in mind of," Eliminate 1 by 1", but it turns out that I can easily beat them using a charged Vorpal Blade, making this battle yet another joke. Still, like the Statis Giant I almost got killed by them right off the bat. (I got critted by their Heat Wave, got up, then 1 of them hit me with Primal Force.)

And then the unexpected battle!

Chidori (Persona : Medea)

This battle is yet another joke. Unfortunately, most of my Personas are weak to at least some elements. Siegfried? Not good, weak to Darkness. Raphael? Risky, again Darkness problem. Laksmi? Worse. She can use Agidyne which is Laksmi's weakness. Atropos? Good, no weakness to both elements, and I can use Garudyne with Mind Charge.

Persona 3 FES - Progress 6

First off, the full moon bosses

Fortune and Strength

Quite easy really, luckily I managed to speculate where to land on whenever Fortune does Wheel of Fortune. The funny thing is, I wanted to put Rage on him (after defeating Strength) and the damage goes up the roof. XD

Hanged Man

OK this is the only time I think I have little trouble with him. Not to say I'm dumb or anything (I used Thor to shield me from Akasha Arts and God's Hand, and also Titania for healing with Divine Grace), but this was the first time 1 of my team member got KO'ed (Aigis got critted by Akasha Arts), but otherwise its fine.

Then the Tartarus bosses

1. Hell Knights x3 (1st try)

Persona used : Koumokoten (Matarunda and resist Strike and Elec), Dionysus (Mediarama healing)

Team member : Akihiko, Ken and Junpei

These guys are quite okay, didn't hit as hard as I expected.

2. Mythical Gigas (1st try)

Persona used : Dionysus (Mind Charge + Ziodyne, quite effective)

Team member : Akihiko, Yukari and Mitsuru

Well, a Mind Charged Ziodyne proved to be quite useful here according to the GFAQs, but I completely forgot that he can sometimes use Maragidyne which happens to be Mitsuru's weakness. Still, its quite an easy 1-way fight unlike the previous 1-way boss. *ugh*

3. Judgement Swords x3 (1st try)

Persona used : Dionysus (Heal, resist both Elec and Slash) and Laksmi (Mind Charge + Bufudyne, plus Null Slash obtained from Chernobog if they think its funny to use Tempest Slash on me. Its very effective btw!)

Team member : Akihiko, Ken and Junpei

Oh my goodness. These guys are much much tougher than the previous 3-way bosses. In fact, I underestimated by how powerful these guys are based on what I see on Youtube videos. ._____.ll

I guess this is the first 3-way boss to have all other team members to be dead at least once.

They like to use Marakunda, Maziodyne and Tempest Slash (very painful!) so much that I had to put Akihiko into Heal/Support mode to let him use Matarunda on them. It wasn't very funny to have Ken and Junpei keep getting pounded by Maziodyne and Tempest Slash. Tempest Slash attack is by far the biggest threat (it hit Aki for 185 damage each with their buffs!) so it is kinda very difficult to keep them alive. Fortunately my Laksmi's Bufudyne is highly effective here. Still, I really hate these guardians even if I managed to do it on my first try.

Hint : Eliminating 1 by 1 was my highest priority!

Social Links

I have already MAXed out Chariot, Strength and Moon SLs so far.

Persona 3 FES - Progress 4

Starting with the Tartarus guardians first....

1. Arcane Turrets x3 (1st try)

Persona used : Leanan Sidhe (Bufu attack)

Team members : Mitsuru, Akihiko and Aigis

Another easy one. They're the last 3-way guardian to have a weakness.

2. Sleeping Table (2nd try)

Persona used : Flauros (Tarunda and blocks Fire), Saki Mitama (resists Fire and knows Mediarama. Zionga if I have an opening)

Team used : Junpei, Yukari and Ken

Second try after the initial try cut short due to out of time ._.ll

But this time I did a few changes. I levelled them up for abit again, then equipping them as follows:

MC Equipment

1h sword fused with Orobas, strongest current armor and an accessory to increase my Zionga damage.

Junpei Equipment

Wanna punish him abit with a red shorts (bathing suit) equipped on him :3

Yukari and Ken Equipment

My first try there, I REALLY question both of their HP ESPECIALLY with Yukari-chan. So I decided to equip them with the strongest current armor and accessories that increase their HP by 30%. Even so, without Tarunda their HP can get cut by 3/4 using Maragidyne or Megidola.

Strategy

Flauros (Tarunda) > Saki Mitama (Rakunda then Mediarama. Zionga if I have the opening). Junpei to Full Assault, Yukari and Ken to Heal/Support.

Turns out much better and none of them died, considering how hard this boss can hit with Maragidyne, Hamaon and Megidola ._.

Persona 3 FES - Progress 3

Hmm, well here we go again....

1. Full Moon Boss - Hermit

Persona used : Take-Mikazuchi (Getsu-ei plus shrug off Elec attacks), Leanan Sidhe (Media and resistance to Elec)

Team used : Shinjiro, Koromaru and Akihiko

Quite easy actually, I wonder why the full moon bosses are so much easier than Tartarus guardian bosses. (Then again, maybe Tartarus bosses are one way to test your ability to move to the next level.) All I did is to co-work with Akihiko for debuffs, then use Getsu-ei or Garula (using Kusi-Mitama, also resistant to Elec)

2. Tartarus Bosses

1) Magical Magus x3 (1st try)

Persona used : Lamia (Agilao and resistant to Ice)

Team used : Koromaru, Junpei and Yukari

Another easy one to do, the problem with them are endless Mabufulas ._.

2) Natural Dancer (2nd try)

Persona used : Yamata-no-Orochi (blocks Wind + Kill Rush), Power (resist against Wind with some debuff + Media)

Team used : Koromaru, Aigis and Yukari

First time I went in I used Mitsuru instead of Koromaru, ended in failure. Not that I was killed, but when they got charmed they used Diarama too much -_- so I decided to go back and sub Koromaru in place of Mitsuru.

Still, its a pretty messy battle (Yes I almost got killed by the charmed doggy), and at 1 point I had to use Soma to save myself. My tactic is to leave Koromaru alone if it got charmed, and more importantly, refrain from using Yamata-no-Orochi (Its weak to Slash). If either Aigis or Yukari got charmed I have to dish out a Dis-Charm ASAP. (Though, at 1 point I just let them be and thank goodness Yukari didn't use Diarama on that dancer ._.) Although tough, but again, no one ended up dead! Sweet!

Social Links:

Magician 6, Emperor 5, Hierophant 4, Lovers 3, Chariot 7, Hermit 4, Fortune 3, Strength 5, HM 1, Star 3, Moon 4

As for the parameters, I have all of them maxed before the summer vacation ends. Now to deal with the 135 dreaded boss. (Well I did try it once and it went pretty ok. I used Flauros to debuff (its immune to Fire), Saki Mitama to heal and Zionga, and maybe Ose (Yah I got him by accident fusion LOL!) to pound it with Garula. However, due to insufficient time I had to close it lol. But 1 thing for sure : my Yukari and Ken needs to seriously level up.)

Persona 3 FES : Further progress

1. Full Moon Bosses

Hierophant and Lovers bosses are peasy easy. The Chariot + Justice battle was interesting though. I did this on my second try because both of them died at different times and got Samarecarm'ed by another. (which isn't very funny)

2. Tartarus Bosses

a) Furious Gigas x3 (1st try)

Persona used : Fortuna

Team members : Mitsuru, Yukari and Junpei

Quite easy, since I looked into the order of turns and it seems that the Hulk Hogan copies will get their turns AFTER Yukari, so my strategy is to knock them down and AoA, then have Yukari knock them down and wait to waste their turns. When 1 of them got Charged and critted Junpei with Fatal End I was REALLY getting worried, nonetheless I beat them quite easily.

b) Fanatic Tower (1st try)

Persona used : Take-Mikazuchi, Oberon and Titan (Unfortunately, this boss knows Elec Break so I had a bit of trouble doing this.)

Team members : Akihiko, Junpei and Aigis

I heard that quite a number of people hated this boss, but I didn't find it as hard as it was. Now I know that Aigis is weak to Electricity (This guy uses Zionga and Mazionga coupled with an occasional Mind Charge), but she can hit pretty hard with Kill Rush so it leaves me with little choice ._. Also I noted that this is the 2nd 1-way boss to be defeated without having my team members dead. ^-^

Persona 3 FES - Another progress

Not so big for my progress, but here goes.

I forgot to mention about the Full Moon bosses so here you go.

1. Full Moon bosses

Priestess was easy, so does the Empress + Emperor bosses. The Personas I used for both battles are Orpheus for Priestess, and then Jack Frost for the second full moon bosses (He has Bufu and Sonic Punch)

2. Tartarus bosses

a) Golden Beetles x3 (1st try)

Persona used : Zouchouten

Party formation : Akihiko, Yukari and Mitsuru

It was a good idea for me to do some fusion experiments and I got Zouchouten which resists Strike and knows Zio. (Something that the beetles are weak against). But I didn't know they can also do Torrent Shot (Pierce), which almost killed poor Akihiko when I was close to defeating it. .____.

b) Intrepid Knight (1st try)

Persona used : Fortuna

Party formation : Same as above

Oh god, first a single boss with Garula and Magarula, now this?! Even worse, this guy knows Garudyne AND Mind Charge which hurts ALOT at low levels. -_-ll

My strategy is to put Akihiko to cast Tarunda on that knight to reduce his ATK, Mitsuru to spam Bufu (she did cast Marin Karin twice though), Yukari to heal and I cast Rakunda and Bufu (Thats her default skill). I'd like to play as healer as my Oberon has a default Media skill, but that would mean taking away my only protection against a 150-damage Garudyne. Still, its not a very easy job. 3 of them died at least once. Mitsuru died from a Mind Charged Magarula, Yukari got hammered with Kill Rush, then Akihiko died from a charged Garudyne and Kill Rush. (Yes he got KO'ed twice) I would've created Ghoul since its immune to Wind and strong to Kill Rush in case I had too much failed tries, but since I defeated it the first time (and thank goodness it didn't use Kill Rush on me), that isn't necessary anymore. What's more, Ghoul is weak to Light which the knight occasionally used (It missed Aki as soon as I revived him ._.) This is one of my very surprising achievement since I defeated this boss on my first try, so I'm happy enough to get past that nutter. (It took me 13 minutes though ._.)

On a side note, I cleared until floor 64 way ahead of schedule, leaving me with more space to level my stats and S.Links.

Hmm, Social Links status?

Magician 6, Hiero 4, Chariot 6, Hermit still at 1, Fortune 2, Strength 5

And my Charm status is MAX-ed out 1 month before the Lovers SL is available! Now concentrating on Courage and Academics (Yes the finals are coming soon....)

Persona 3 FES - Bosses and Social Links

Ooooookay, here are some of the bosses that I've gone through so far.

Tartarus Guardians

1. Venus Eagles x3

Persona used : Orpheus

They're peasy easy, but then again they are the basic bosses to handle. They're weak to Pierce (something Yukari can hit) so its a matter of bringing them down fast.

2. Dancing Hands x3

Persona used : Orpheus

This time they're weak to Strike but instead of AoA-ing, I let them waste their turn picking up (They do lose their turn getting up if they're knocked down, unlike in P4 where they still can make a turn unless they got Dizzy-ed). Overall its quite easy, just with their Magaru its abit dangerous :3

3. Rampage Driver (1st try)

Persona used : Ara Mitama (to protect me from Assault Dive) and Apsaras (Cadenza)

Ooh, this guys a nutter. Fortunately I have fused Ara Mitama way before and its strong against Strike. That guy likes to use Mazio though. This is the first guardian where I started to have a little trouble with.

4. Crying Tables x3 (2nd try)

Persona used : Apsaras (Bufu spam)

OK, here goes my own story. By the time I reached that floor, Yukari retired for the day, leaving me with only Akihiko and Junpei. Unfortunately, on my first try it doesn't seem to be too effective, so I decided to come back later. On my last blog post, by the time I came back for a second round, this time Junpei isn't free to come. So I had to do this 1-man down.

My strategy? Use Apsaras' Bufu and let both Akihiko and Yukari to target 1 of the tables.

5. Change Relic (2nd try)

Persona used : Alp (To outlast its Garula attacks. The damage is really crazy.)

Bah, I really don't like this guardian. Last boss they use Agilao, now this one uses Garula AND Magarula. First try I went with full party and Junpei got 1-hit KO with that thing using Magarula. What's more, my first Alp only has Sukunda and Bufu, and Akihiko kept on getting hammered with 100+ damage for each Magarula. I really didn't die there, but I find this too ineffective and troublesome. Poison Mist attack is also another headache to deal with.

Second try, I refused Alp. This time I replaced Bufu with Tarunda and its a big help (even though its still deals 80+ damage to Akihiko with Magarula). And, again I fight this one without Junpei, knowing that he cannot sustain the damage. My strategy is to use Tarunda and heal Akihiko if his HP falls below 110. Simply speaking, only he can do the real damage so I couldn't afford to lose him. Only when I have the opening I dish out 1 Agilao gem (Even that is also pretty ineffective). Its long (It took me 12 minutes, geez.), but it was defeated.

And oh, I used about 6 Dis-Poisons in this battle.

I've done the following SLs so far:

Magician (Kenji) Rank 4

Emperor (Hidetoshi) Rank 3

Hierophant (Old couple) Rank 3

Chariot (Kazuchi) Rank 4

Hermit (Online gamer) Rank 1

Strength (Yuko) Rank 3

If I can MAX out my Charm status before mid-July, I might be able to start the Lovers SL (That is Yukari-chan! <3) since now that its at rank 4 out of 6 ranks.

Persona 3 - A new beginning

Finally! I was able to get my hands on Persona 3 FES version just yesterday. Unlike P4 where I chose Easy Mode for the very first time (Cause I never played this before so better be safe than sorry! LOL!), this time I'm going for Normal Mode.

Currently my gameplay takes me close to the end of May 2009, and here are some progresses.

1. I just got back from defeating the fourth guardian in Tartarus, Crying Table x3. I was planning to do it with full party, but I indeed have forgotten to check whether any of my members are ill. As a matter of fact, last time I went in Yukari had to retire when I reached that boss so I decided to come back later with full party. And of all that, Junpei was unable to come so I had to do this 1-man down with Yukari and Akihiko. I'm going back to explore the upper floors later on, giving that I've been reminded that the next full moon is less than 15 days away..... Oh btw for that fight I used Apsaras and Ara Mitama.

2. I started the Magician (auto), Emperor, Chariot, Hermit and Strength so far. All are below level 3.

3. Currently my Charm is halfway to max now, while both my Academics and Courage are still at level 2.

Persona 4 - Huge Update

Hehe, sorry for the real hiatus from this blog, but here are the updates:

- I actually sped up for the past week right up to 3/20. I also managed to MAX out all Social Links before I even entered the second last dungeon (namely I finished with Emperor, Lovers, Temperance, Hanged Man, Death, Strength and lastly, Fortune. I finished Naoto's Social Link last at 9/12, 2 days before my intentions to travel.) so really fortunate to finish that.

- I also posed a unique challenge where I must defeat some storyline and extra bosses without using my powerful Personas (strictly speaking, I must use a Persona that I can fuse at my current level.) And it was fun. And together with my alternate party members (Kanji, Naoto and Teddie) to fight against Kunino-sagiri, even moar funz. :P

- I decided that since its quite troublesome to tank huge damage from Margaret, I had to refuse my Norn to inherit Null Physical (I got this from Thor, then fuse it to Atropos and finally, to Norn.) I'll also use some Personas other than Yoshi just to add some fun.

My next plan in fighting Margaret:

1. I already formed my team:

- Chie (with ultimate weapon and Omega Drive to boost her critical chances)

- Kanji (with ultimate weapon, and I equip Barbaric Bracers for the lulz, even though his HP is high)

- Teddie (with ultimate weapon, and Chakra Ring of course)

2. Battle-plan is to switch Personas between Mahakala, Surt (if she uses Hassou Tobi) or Belzeebub (if I can make one) for fire, Shiva (Rainy Death/Ziodyne if I crit) or Trumpeter (if I need to recast Debilitate) for ice, Odin (Panta Rhei) or Kohryu (salvation heal) for electricity, and finally Norn (Garudyne or Debilitate) or Odin (depends) for wind. I'll stay with Yoshi or Norn if I have to recast Debilitate (and don't worry, my new Norn has Null Phyiscal) I may reconsider with other Personas if there are changes.

Some Persona element stats:

- Mahakala (Drains Fire and repels Elec)

- Surt (Drains Fire, weak to Ice but I covered it since it learned Null Ice)

- Beelzebub (Drains Fire, repels Ice and immune to Elec)

- Shiva/Trumpeter (Drains Ice and repels Elec)

- Odin (Weak to Fire, immune to Elec and drains Wind)

- Kohryu (Repels Elec)

- Norn (Strong against Ice, weak to Elec and absorbs Wind. Also inherited Null Phyiscal)

- Yoshitsune (Immune to Phyiscal, strong against Fire and repels Elec)

Oh well, time to grind my Norn until it relearns Debilitate (C'mon, 2 levels?) in the true dungeon.

I'm also looking forward to get my hands on Persona 3 FES!

Maplestory new classes!

Hehe, sorry about the long delay. As for now, I stopped my Persona 4 progress until further notice due to 1 thing: Maplestory new classes test!

There are 3 new classes that was made available back in 2010, Aran, Evan the Dragonmaster, and most recently, Dual Bladers.

I have tested 2 out of 3 characters up to level 40s so far (I haven't train up my Dual Bladers yet.) and have some comments.

Evan the Dragonmaster
Like all Magicians, Evan is a class that commands the dragon bounded by some kind of destiny with various types of magic attacks.

Pros :
- Advancing jobs is not required, the dragon automatically grows as you level. So you don't have to spend on a dark crystal.
- Unlike Fire/Poison Wizards and Ice/Lightning Wizards, Evans utilizes in Fire, Lightning and Ice at the beginning, and later on will specialize more into Fire and Dark magic skills.
- Unlike other mages (clerics/priests/bishops inclusive), Evans can make magic criticals.

Cons :
- Unlike other mages, Evans DO NOT have Improved MP recovery until at later levels where he can learn Recovery Aura, so burning pots wise, its pretty higher than normal especially with MG (Magic Guard) on.
- Most of them are quest-based, so if you are more to hardcore training then this is not the class for you.

Aran the Hero
A long time ago, legend has it that Aran was once the greatest Maple hero during the Black Wizard crisis. Unfortunately, the Black Wizard sealed him up in ice. On the present, he is awokened by Lirin. The Black Wizard may be gone, but new threats to revive him is now present and its up to the awakened Aran to stop the revival.

Pros :
- Less keyboard messes! Unlike other classes, most skills are command-based. For example, double pressing attack button triggers Double Swing.
- Can hit multiple targets, so you can basically do faster training!

Cons :
- Only polearms are equipped by Arans.
- Like other warriors, accuracy is often an issue.