How can I make progress in Tartarus very early in the game?

I have Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 for PS2, but I am having a lot of trouble with the game. I haven't beaten the first dungeon.

I never seem to have enough potions on me - I buy as many as I can afford, but by the last few floors, I'm all out, and my characters are all nearly out of their green bar (magic points?). So I have to leave the dungeon, and start all over again, and ultimately end up in the same situation.

Can you offer any advice? What am I doing wrong? Is there a way to leave and re-enter to resume where I left off?

Solution 1:

Ok, the Persona 3 dungeon is not unlike a roguelike dungeon; it is entire randomized and "resets" every time you leave. However, it does have some special, "fixed" levels (and some roguelikes do things like this, e.g. ADOM). On some of these levels you will find teleporters or something along those lines. So yes, eventually you can start "farther in".

Your immediate goals should be to build up strength so you can make a push to the first such area. It is expected that you won't be able to get to it right away. So take your characters in, level, get new persona, fuse when it looks like a good idea (you might find fusing frustrating though. I would recommend looking at a guide even if you don't want to be spoiled for the rest of the game). Eventually you will climb that first hump and be able to go deeper in and get a foothold, as it were.

Solution 2:

Don't get discouraged by having to repeat the same levels again, if you don't have enough strength, fight some battles return and heal/save then keep leveling up until you have enough to beat the boss at the end of the dungeon.

Keep in mind that inside the dungeon there are "checkpoints" which you can return to when you come back to tartarus at night, you don't have to go trough all the dungeon at once (that would be impossible), but try to get to this checkpoints until you get to the locked area.

Also don't disregard your equipment, it is an important part in most RPGs to have a weapon and armor that fit your level.