Customer Reviews

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4

5 star:		(84)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For many of you who enjoy the Megaten series, you may already be well aware of this series. Two years ago, Persona 3 broke onto the PS2, creating an influx of newcomers and old school gamers alike. It provided a unique battle system, an intriguing dark story, a plethora amount of characters, and overall a great experience. Persona 4 is a standalone game, bringing many of the features, settings, and atmosphere from P3.

You are a silent protagonist who transfers into a rural area. Soon enough, you find something mysterious and dangerous. On one rainy night, you look into a television. Voices begin to ring, the storm seems to enrage, and the television flickers on and off. Reaching into the t.v, you are sucked into a whole new dimension.

Interesting, is it not? You'll find many mysteries held within the storyline. Unlike the city life in P3, you're in a very small town named Inaba.

The battle system holds its true colors. Although this time around, there are some tweaks. In P3, you were unable to control your allies, as they were under the influence of the AI. All you could really do was give them certain commands. This time around though, you are able to control their every move. These actions include using items, attacking, and defending. The all-out-attack is still implemented and the battle mechanics overall are ALL the same.

For those who have played P3, Tartartus was a large dungeon with many different themes and atmospheres. Instead of that, the dungeons in this game are spread out. Giving a more variety in gameplay. Each dungeon is uniquely themed based on the storyline. One night, you may be going through a steamy spa, the next you may going through an abandoned mall.

Many of the things you find in P3 and, to an extent P2, are all found in Persona 4. If you love the Persona series or you are a newcomer, pick this up, it's well worth your money.

(Side Note: For those who pre-ordered this game, the art-book is quite large (100 pages) and provides a few major spoilers. It's highly recommended you wait to look at it later. Although, the presentation of the package is wonderful, giving both the artbook and soundtrack is awesome).

Pros
+Fast-paced action.
+A great, long story. Develops quite fast.
+Interesting concept. Different from many other RPGs.
+Amazing soundtrack and character voices. It won't disappoint.
+Different endings create a twist.
+Characters have a lot of depth.
+Eerie Atmosphere accompanied with Amazing Artstyle

Cons
-Long adventure may tire some people out.
-Town is somewhat small; not many places to explore.

Sometimes, being a good girlfriend means sitting on the couch and watching him play a game or playing a game together. I'm a moderate gamer, the new controls are generally more complicated than I'm willing to commit to. He is a hard core gamer. Some games are easier to watch than others, and some are easier to play. This review is not for the hard core gamer. This review if for the girlfriend (or boyfriend, who am I to judge?) that sits on the couch and watches.

Persona 4 is a great girlfriend game. We jokingly refer to it as "time to watch the anime". It's a single player game, so my involvement is limited to "don't say that...say this" or "I don't think that's the right answer...." The characters are interesting and the game is very story driven. With the exception of battle days, which don't happen all that often, the game is actually almost entirely story. I won't get into the plot, but if you're a fan of anime, you will enjoy this game. The game play is intuitive and you will rarely find yourself at a loss wondering what you should do next. The Persona fusing is the most complicated thing about the game, and I usually check the laundry or load the dishwasher when it comes to that point in the game. There are many games that I have sat through in defeated resignation, this is not the case with Persona 4. I'd find myself telling him that it's been 3 days, when are "we" going to play the game again! I hate to admit it, but I think I had a little crush on Rise! Great characters, great story, a great time overall.

For years I've been playing the same, mediocre RPGs. The names change, but nothing else seems to.

The Shin Megami Tensei series, on the other hand, has been making widely original content from the beginning and hasn't looked back. I sit here and look at Persona 4, and it's predecessor, Persona 3, and I'm just amazed at the amount of content thrown into these games. The games are so deep, I've found myself easily playing 90+ hours, just on the first playthrough. However, I'll be starting my next playthrough soon, because I hadn't even begun to scratch the surface through that 90 hour journey.

Social Links: One of the main things that makes the Persona series so spectacular is it's bizarre popularity system. You make friends. Have serious (sometimes intimate) relationships. Take tests. Become more popular if you get high scores on your tests. Get more friends. And these friendships are merely the tipping point of the game. These Social Links may seem to be pointless at first, even if they do provide some deep stories and hilarious commentary, however, once you cross over to the "other world", you'll find that these mean more to you than you think. Now, remember a few minutes back, when I said it took my 90 hours to finish 1 game? I didn't even get half of the Social Links. There are a freakin ton.

Because you're ranked high socially with so and so, you're able to form stronger and more meaningful Personas, which in turn, will be the main decider in any battle you face. If you have a terrible Persona when facing a random battle, you're dead for sure. And then, just to add a bit more to the mix, as if P4 doesn't want to be like it's father, P3 (which would be fine, if it were), it decides to ALSO make a difference in your own party members. Now, if you're incredibly close to Chie personally, she'll take deadly hits for you; knock out enemies you're struggling with; heal your status ailments. And not only that, but unlike P3, you now have control of all 4 party members. Which makes things a tad easier :)


And by now, if you're still reading this, it probably sounds like these social links are the biggest amount of story this game will get. That's pretty incorrect, actually. These social links are only tiny side plots in this beautiful adventure. The main plot / theme of this game goes beyond the Social Links, and really makes a social commentary on our own world and society today.

Then add the insanely odd style (the art, the colors, the backgrounds, the music) and it somehow manages to work perfectly with the path the own game goes down. Pure genius all around. AND it's on the ps2. It's 40 bucks and it's better than almost any game out so far on the new generation consoles. Come on RPG fans. You need to get into this underrated series already.

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 is not for the faint-of-heart emotionally. No game yet created will be able to tug out as much emotion from you as a full playing here does. Moreover it is, without a doubt, an RPG made for adults. This alone is a feat of epic accomplishment -- when has a game (other SMT titles not included) ever used the 'M' rating for anything more than violence, language or sexuality? It today's society, it's hard for us to remember that "adult situations" come up in a lot of other ways, as well. Sure, there are some of those more common elements here, but... no, that's not what makes this "for adults".

In short, if you're willing to open your heart to it and dedicate some of your time to it, Persona 4 will ultimately become the most immersive and emotional RPG you've ever played. The setting, characters, gameplay and its incredible story all combine in perfect harmony to give the result.

For many years, I've wanted to be able to say that a new game was worthy of a highest-possible score (an effective 10/10 instead of just saying 5 starts of 5, which I list for 9 or 10/10 on my scale)... that something else was worthy... and I'm glad it's finally happened. Persona 3 and its FES epilogue version came ever-so-close, but Atlus has taken every aspect of P3 and enhanced it. To put it another way, any excuses anyone might have had to rain some scorn upon Persona 3 are now gone and you'll find yourself hard-pressed to come up with a single criticism of this game.

It's been a long week for me. With a first clear time of 59hr 36min and having received the game 7 days ago (at time of writing this review), it's not hard to realize I've done nothing but dive into Persona 4 at times other than essential life functions. That doesn't include much sleep, naturally. Not a minute of that time was a waste.
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Alright, enough of the emotional ramblings. I suppose I should probably get to the actual content of the game itself.

The game scenario is pretty standard for an RPG, and if you wanted to simplify it into a single line, you could call it a Scooby Doo murder mystery case. The protagonist is a transfer student to a high school in a small town, events unfold, you gain friends and allies, and you work for a common cause. A serial killer seems to be on the loose, killing people in ways no one can seem to collect any evidence from-to say nothing for finding any suspects. It's not long before you realize that you have a unique but inexplicable ability to try to combat the killer, and the hunt it on. This quick summary is the end of any type of simplicity you could give to P4. ...There's one extra thing worth noting as you begin. The opening movie just can't stand up to what we saw in P3. After all, it'd be damn hard to make a more shocking opening than one where there's a simulation of someone shooting themselves in the head with a pistol.

The bare-bones start to the game lasts roughly 2 hours. It'll be another 2 before anything close to the normal flow of the game begins. It seems your town had some odd weather patterns and some urban myths to match, and the most famous being that watching a TV at midnight on a rainy night will show a picture of someone. Your soulmate, many say. This theory is quickly put to rest as people start to turn up dead. For American players, just a few murders hardly seem like something worthy of forming a such a game around. Just remember that this is Japan-ANY sort of violent crime is pretty much unheard of and a single act can put an entire city on edge. As the plot thickens, you can sense the rising tension amongst your school members and people around town.

Quite quickly, you'll see that the game is unapologetically Japanese. Name tags are used based on relation, school lessons match and general customs are followed. Incredibly off-the-wall is the introduction of a giant fuzzy teddy bear as a character, who'll be sticking around with you the remainder of the game. ...Yea, definitely Japanese. If you're willing to overlook the fluff and fuzz, you will see that he's quite a strong character and a valuable member toward your efforts. If anything you should consider the culture gap content to be a good thing, since it means that only minor adjustments (at most) were made in the translation and adaptation of a North American release.

Game flow is simple and easy to follow. You have school during days, your dungeon adventures occur in the afternoons, and your evenings are free to pursue your studies or do things with your relatives in the house. Days off and times you choose not to battle are when you'll form your "Social Links" and dive into the plethora of sub-stories, and your adventures in total will fall over a calendar year. One important difference between P3 and P4 is that each ally in your team has an individual social link, instead of just the girls. This is a lot more natural and will likely result in substantial guilt when you can't bring along certain members for certain missions... it's unlikely you'll really "hate" any of the characters since you really get to know them all at length.

When you start to have carte blanche over your time, the game seems to be able to sense what you're trying to do and scold you appropriately. After a few trips into battle the first week it was available, I received a phone call from the infamous and series-recurring Velvet Room reminding me that I should be looking to get to know people in my new town. For those not familiar, the Velvet Room is a special place only the protagonist can enter where you'll be able to manage your Personas. Though this is important, a trait of the Persona series is the need to advance your social links with friends so that your Personas can become substantially more powerful as you develop and create them. In all seriousness, a Persona that is a few levels above your main character will make difficult battles substantially easier in a lot of places and gives you access to more powerful abilities. In short, a Persona is merely a facade of yourself that allows you to reveal more of your soul, and thus changes what you can do in battle based on what you put forward.

Another awesome improvement over Persona 3 is the finer details of the plot. Not to say it wasn't complex, but there were times where you could be screaming at your TV wishing your characters would figure out something obvious. These moments are gone-actually, in almost every instance I came up with a new deduction about things it was addressed by others before my turn to speak. Shamefully, I must admit that there were times that my allies figured out some things before I did that resulted in a facepalm for me. This if far from a bad thing, of course! Just more proof of a very well-written story where it seems the authors thought through things and were able to anticipate what players were probably thinking at the time. The end result here is that plot twists are truly a surprise, yet are entirely logical once your team has a chance to sit around and discuss them.

The characters you'll find here combine to make the greatest cast ever assembled for an RPG. Each has quirks, a sense of humor, running jokes, particular matters of irritation, etc.. The cross-character chatting actually gets so intense sometimes that they make very offense remarks to others regarding very serious topics such as gender orientation. Not one of your crew feels at all "boring" and the development of all of them is quite enjoyable.

Always true to themselves, at some point everyone will probably annoy you temporarily and you'll grumble at the direction of your TV while glaring at them. Although (as you might expect in an RPG) all of the characters are dynamic in some way, their cores never change. My favorite instance of this was during a drinking game (yes, seriously) between friends where a particularly philosophical member has been forced into a situation where a lot of his-uh-"Innocence" was to be lost. On the spot and without hesitation, he spits out a haiku perfectly explaining what he has to do. It's not even an obvious thing and you have to REALIZE it's a haiku, though the fact he didn't spell it out for you makes it all the more hilarious. There are so many little moments like this and awesome lines from the whole crew that no cutscene is dull.
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Regarding the combat system, it's simply flawless. Though a major beef with P3 was the inability to directly control your allies, you now can... though... there were but 3 instances where I actually took control of the entire party. I know it was 3 because I can remember reach time and why I changed! The ally and enemy AI alike are just phenomenal. Similar to the facepalms in the story, I found my group members performing actions to disable or knock down foes that I didn't realize or completely forgot about. It's never a bad thing when your friends help you, and not vice-versa. Combat speed is rather fast if you let characters act on their own, Persona summoning is very crisp (another improvement), and every pleasant quirk from P3 is still there with even more fun battle details added. You'll also be happy to know that you can actually find out what Persona abilities do by pressing Square on the Persona selection menu, since there's no way you'll remember what each strange spell name means on your own.

Of special note are the cross-member interactions during combat. This was already well-defined in Persona 3, but it's improved even further here and the banter between allies is almost continuous. Despite the limited number of lines they have, for some reason it never seems to get old.

Actually, developing your social links with your group members helps play into the changes to the battle system. Depending on how advanced it is, they're able to take a mortal blow for you that would have otherwise resulted in your death and a "Game Over". Better still, they're able to cure you from annoying ailments including the dreaded charm. Quite literally, someone will run up to you and slap you in the face to get your attention. Best of all, if you're willing to push through the entire story for one of your allies, they'll develop the ability to survive a single killing blow to them and this is very strategically important in boss battles. Players of Persona 3 in particular will enjoy this, since taking time to raise your allies basically crippled you in difficult fights.

Another little detail about dungeon improvements is that treasure chests will no longer spit out Yen. That was well and good of course, but also made no sense in P3. To counteract always being poor, the activities you use to increase your character statistics include part-time jobs that pay rather well. Your other primary source of income is the selling of innate materials dropped from defeated foes. Selling these off to a local shop unlocks new weapons and armor for you. Not remotely realistic, but as good of a system I've seen in a modern-era RPG nonetheless.

Oh, and it's been pretty clear from a lot of the other reviews around that you need to do a ridiculous amount of exp grind to really do well. I beg to differ. If you'd like an indication of how much "work" I did, I completed each dungeon twice... once for the storyline and another to defeat optional bosses. In a few cases I did short sorties to particular places to collect items requested by the townsfolk for quests. Do note that although the "fatigue" factor is gone from P3, you no longer recover full HP/SP after returning to the entrance.
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Moving on to overall presentation of the game, you really can't ignore PS2 limitations anymore. Since the entire development process of Persona 4 has been after the PS3 was launched, it's unfortunate that the limited budget and resources of Atlus couldn't put this on the stronger system. Mind you, the graphics (in combat especially) are as good as you'll ever seen on the PS2, but hopping back to a game in HD will basically make your eyes bug out. Some kind of widescreen mode would have been awesome, but this is a very minor complaint and the lack of it doesn't subtract from the game in any way whatsoever.

The soundtrack is top-notch, as you'd expect from any SMT title. Each separate dungeon has its own background music, which mixes things up nicely while walking around. There are hours upon hours of voiceovers from a talented cast that anime buffs will be able to pick out a few "famous" voices from. Another intriguing thing present this time is "quazi-voiceovers", where the text of a line will appear and you'll only get a short outburst from the other character. This could be a clip of an emotional reaction, or the first few words of the phrase. To me, this shows that Atlus might have loved to have put a voiceover on everything, but could have been running out of disk space. One thing that they made a specific point of including for voiceovers, however, is the "final" cutscene with each social link that brings you up to the max rank. It feels like an extra bonus for your effort and really puts the emotion from everyone out on the table.
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One thing I always love to talk about is details in games; it's often the little things that really make a scene stick with you or add a good memory to the game overall. The first such thing I saw in the game was when I was eating breakfast with my hosts and finished toast popped out of the toaster. It seems really tiny and insignificant, but it was so unexpected I actually jumped a little in my seat. If you're looking for a "big" example of details, naturally it would be the manga-like marks that appear above the characters quite often which explain their moods. Especially in cutscenes without voiceovers, it helps hold things together well.

I also can't help but mention how well "detail" and dialogue is used in the Persona. As a voiceless protagonist, somehow you're still turned into an incredible character and member of your group. If it weren't for the fact that you're controlling him at all times and his ability to control multiple Personas is unique, you can easily imagine him being just any other normal person at school. It's a damn good feat of writing to allow someone without a voice to be both the "main" character and the strongest in most any sense of the word.

The "mood" is also simply amazing. As you could expect, there is an eventual point in the plot where things have entirely hit the proverbial fan and things look incredibly grim. I can almost assure you that you'll be so sucked in to the game at this point that you'll literally have knots in your stomach waiting for the next horrible thing to happen. This is made all the more exciting by the fact that very few of the major events happen at times you would expect and you get a lot of short term changes you need to cope with.
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In starting a summary, it needs to be said that this game is not for everyone. It takes dedication to get the most out of this game. Although I'd like to think that anyone who has ever at any point played any type of RPG and enjoyed it would find Persona 4 to be an incredible experience, there are some players that can't handle hours without battle action, or the fact that it's hardly worth turning on your PS2 unless you have at least 1-2 full hours to play in order to make much progress.

I'll kind start to finish this by giving a testimonial of my feelings throughout playing. At 10 hours in, I felt kind of disappointed. At 20, I'd adjusted to this. By 30, I was engaged. Hours 30 to 40 were hands-down the most I've ever enjoyed in any RPG (or game in general, actually). 40-Finish had me on the edge of my seat, and my first time at [AN] ending resulted in my crying for about 10 minutes.

Oh... and as a last impression, I'd like to say that this game answers important questions in life, such as what happens when a protagonist is used as an underage male prostitute (indirectly). Perhaps you'd like to know what hints of fanservice from previous Persona titles would look like. Best of all, you might be curious to know what an 8-bit era dungeon crawling game would look like in 3D, and thankfully such a vital ponderance is answered for you. When's the last time you fought a boss that was a 16x16 block of pixels. That's what I thought.
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Conclusion-Just an incredible symphony here. At this point I'm not even sure if this truly my favorite RPG, but a somewhat objective view shows what is practically a flawless game that has corrected every imaginable critique it faced in its last release. There is still potential for great leaps forward in the Persona series, but at this time Persona 4 is worthy of the utmost praise for everything it gives you.

Dare I say, Atlus is developing enough of a fanbase around the world now that releases are anticipated at nearly the same level of Square-Enix games? Might we finally have another true powerhouse in the RPG department which is slowly evolving past niche games to things anyone can enjoy playing? We'll have to see what Atlus can put together for the PS3 and/or 360, I suppose. They might not have the budget or resources of the SE-folk, but they have 10x the heart put into their titles right now. Not impressed enough yet? Go ahead and play through again on your cleared data to unlock everything available to you.

I love this game. I have always loved Japanese games since they have very pretty art. I don't like games that are totally fighting styled because I think that is just boring.

There are so few English games that include social interactions of any kind (Except maybe the Sims series), which is just so sad!! A lot of Japanese games have it, which is why a lot of females play Japanese games. Too bad I don't understand Japanese. I think Persona 4 is sort of a game that even female can play (too bad the main character can only be a guy!) I really do hope more games like this come out!! I was so into the game!

Plus the game is hilarious, the story is intriguing too. Usually I stop playing a game after a few days but this one I actually played for much longer than normal!!! If there is a Persona 5, I will definitely buy it!
Actually I just brought Persona 3 FES. Kind of backward but after playing Persona 4, I want to collect this series!

Okay, to be honest, I bought this game on a whim-and a HUGE one at that. I have little money to throw around, so whenever I can, I search online for a monthly purchase, considering the amount I'm given.

Tired of playing the same games over and over, I decided to try amazon and look for recommendations. I'm big on RPG's by the way, as well as Japanese culture.

And what do you know? I found P4 of course!

I checked out the product online for reviews, wondering if it was worth my money. After playing it, I've confirmed one thing:

IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH IT.

Trendy, and urban, along with a varying cast of characters brought out my love for the Japanese culture once again. I've always wanted to play a dating sim, and though P4 isn't exactly one, it is close to it (if you take out the fighting element that is).

Mystery, comedy, hinted at and subtle romance-I'd recommend this game for any RPG lover looking for something new to play aside from the usual FF series or Tales of...(which I love as well), but if you're not big on J-culture like I am, then that's another story.

First of all, I want to say that I LOVE this game, and I would highly recommend it.

Next, I have to address the points of the person who gave it 2 stars.
(1) the music - yes, it gets a bit repetitive (but what RPG's music doesn't, especially when it's such a long game?). They could've added more, but what they do have carries emotion, it's catchy, never grating. I was actively humming along.

(2) the graphics - this is a PS2 game, so you can't expect more than PS2 graphics. That said, I had no problem with them.

(3) the English voice acting - it was GREAT. Far exceeded my expectations. That 2 star guy has NO IDEA what he's talking about. Clearly, you haven't heard much english dubbing. The actors were well-suited to their roles, and the way they delivered their lines was spot-on - they were able to convey the level of emotion that was required of them. I certainly felt emotional (or laughed at loud) at many points.

Of course, it has its flaws... the game had a bit too much control for my liking (as in, the game would tell me what I was going to do or say next at certain points when I would've liked to decide myself), and some choices that I made had no impact on the main story (I understand why this was done, it would've made the game much more difficult to make, but it sometimes made interactions annoying).

But overall, it was a LOT of fun. The storyline was utterly engrossing; I was dragged in and actually sad to finish (even after 100+ hours, going through both a bad ending and the true ending). It had some depth to it; there were times when I just sat back and reflected on what had been said. I was charmed by the characters, and intrigued by the mystery. The enemies were unique, especially the bosses. The battles were challenging, but never to the point where I wanted to quit.

It was just... awesome. Go out and buy it! :)

P4 begins with your main character (you name him just like in P3) being shipped off by your parents to a small rural town in Japan named, Inaba. Life is slow in Inaba, and your from the big city, so it will be a big change of pace. Your uncle Dojima, and his young Daughter Nanako greet you and fill you in that you'll be spending the next year with them. That means starting high school, getting to know people, part time jobs, and a whole slew of other things. Interestingly enough, right after you show up, some very disturbing and bizarre murders begin, it's up to you and the friends you meet along the way to figure out what exactly is going on, all the while dealing with life as a teen, and the trials that come with it.

The beginning of the game is actually quite slow to start, and you really don't get to control much for the first hour or so, but considering this game can take upwards to 120 hours (I finished the game with 116 hrs) that doesn't matter much. Setting up the story and characters really is crucial in this kind of game, and Persona 4 shines, the character developement is top notch. Every character in the game has something else going on underneath the surface, and it's a lot of fun to find out more about them. This is the type of game where you may hate one character at first and over the course of a few months they slowly turn around. I engaged the Social Link System much more than I ever did in Persona 3, and I think it's because they did such a great job making the characters so interesting. My favorite characters were (and my final party was) Kanji, Yosuke, and Yukiko + MC. Some of the subject matter they touch in this game I have to commend, especially the sexual orientation of a specific character, kudos to ATLUS for addressing this in a video game, it really is forward thinking on their part, because it isn't just some little ordeal, it's a very real and big deal in everyones lives. People argue that games are not art, or that they rot your brain, but this game WILL challenge you to think and take a closer look at yourself and the friends and loved ones around you.

The musical score of this game is what you expect from series composer Shoji Meguro, with help from others, what I loved about it was it really did cater to each , dungeon, and helped set the mood and feel very well. While I didn't think it was better than Persona 3's soundtrack, it definitely was fitting for the feel of this game.

Progressing through the TV world, and each characters own reflection was much better than Tartarus's grind fest, and I whole heartedly felt like it made the game more enjoyable to play. Fusing persona's is just as fun and addictive as before, and while there are a lot of the same from previous titles, there are also quite a few new personas to fuse and level up. It's also worth mentioning that you don't need to focus to much on that aspect, but for completists it can be great. There are also sidequests galore, but also not nessasary to complete the game. One drawback I found was it is extremely difficult to get the games true ending, if you don't know what your doing. So I advise looking up how to do that.

If you are a fan already, you know exactly what you are getting into, if you are new to the series, and have the time, this is a great game. The battle system allows you to control each party member, it's deep, the menu system is fast and easy to access, and the art design is what to expect from ATLUS. Don't expect the same dark macabre story and aesthetics you saw in P3, instead you'll find yellow hues abound, and bright colors. The art direction almost reminds me of the 70's with a sort of Scoobie Doo murder mystery vibe.

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 is in many ways a big step up from Persona 3, it is easy to see the improvements they made all around, in the production, story, character developement, the battle system, and menu system. This game will however require a LOT of your time, but if you give in to it, and just enjoy the narratives, and mysteries, you will not be dissapointed. It is also one of the last great RPG's that came out on the Playstation 2, you can find it cheap most places online for now, so snag it while you can. Let's hope ATLUS will put out Persona 5 soon, and continue the evolution. If Persona 4 has taught me anything, it has taught me that human relationships are worth keeping, and the more we turn to a reclusive cut off lifestyle, the worse it can actually get, the fog will set in, and who knows, it may never leave. Media and television truly have influenced us all as a society, and one day we might be inside the TV trapped inside, while the whole world watches vicariously as we die.


Overall score 5/5
Gameplay 5/5
Visuals 4/5
Story 5/5
Music 4/5

Persona 4 was introduced to me by the guys on Giantbomb.com, who started a video series that recorded them playing this game. The game's hilarious dialogue and situations coupled with their brilliant quips and responses made for an addictive set of videos. I was no longer content living vicariously through the guys on the site--I had to play this game for myself.

And I was not disappointed! The story is awesome, the characters have real depth to them, and the production values are great. Good graphics, cool cutscenes, and much of the voice-acting is top-notch.

The game is interesting in how it's essentially Final Fantasy with a bit of The Sims mixed in. Or maybe The Sims with a bit of Final Fantasy mixed in. You have your world-saving quest as you always tend to have in RPG's, but there's also a huge social element in which you build friendships, spend time hanging out with people, etc.

The game is really lengthy, but don't let that intimidate you! This game is amazing and must be played!

I have to admit that jumping into P4 right after playing P3FES for over 100 hours was a little hard getting used to. There are many aspects of P3 that get carried over to P4 with certain twists that take some time to get used to (like the new battle tactics and a Velvet Room without Elizabeth). But after a few hours with it, P4 definitely felt a step above P3's play engine. My only letdown was that the story wasn't as epic as P3's, but the characters are definitely more fleshed-out and memorable. The Persona series is quickly becoming my obsession and I may soon even ask myself "Final Fantasy who?"