My first play through (first Persona game, but was loosely aware of the mechanics) I got a lot of confidants pretty far, but I didn’t even come close to completing Yusuke (I think I got him to 7?) or Haru. The only two non-thief confidants I got to 10 in time for the ending were Takemi and Yoshida. I remember I got Ohya to 9, and Mishima was pretty close…

In general I made a lot of mistakes in terms of raising social skills. I tended towards books, and didn’t go for a lot of the options that had mini games (batting, darts, billiards). I also realized that Maruki was important when the game reminded me, and suddenly pivoted to prioritize him even though I didn’t know what I was doing, and literally missed out on him and his arc by 1 confidant level.

I’d love to read your paper when you’re done! I’m super fascinated by the nesting systems in this game and how players might interact with them, so sorry if I went overboard