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OK, so I haven't seen much talk of this game since July. It hit the US earlier this month and after finishing I'm going to say is that, along with Persona 3 before it, it might break into your top ten RPGs as easily as they have mine.
I've often been amused when someone says they could "relate" to spiky-haired, melodramatic heroes. Can you really relate to some guy who's been subjected to an experiment, a guy who had his memories siphoned away by more powerful forces in exchange for great power or some chick who was fated to be a sacrifice and must endure a long pilgrimage for the sake of her faith?
Can't say I can. Maybe you do, maybe there's a padded cell somewhere out there for you. Maybe you can twist that padded cell into yet another metaphor about your life. Have fun with that.
So first off, Persona 4's kids are real as real can be. They have problems kids actually grow up dealing with. You know, like that girl who's possessive of her best friend and loses her ability to cope with a crisis when the friend isn't there. I practically stood up and said, "That's my sister when she was 15!" Things like the weight of family traditions, identity issues and more are what the kids in Persona 4 deal with. Real stuff.
Even the hero's situation is something people can relate to, which is adapting to life in a new place. Making new friends, being a transfer student in a new school and adapting to life in a small town far from the big city he's used to.
Of course, this wouldn't be an RPG without dungeons, swords and summoning great creatures of myth and lore. Persona 4 has plenty of that, but here the next exam at school takes priority over saving the world at times.
Persona 4 continues the tradition of Social Links started out in P3. Building up relationships in Persona 4 also enhances the kinds of Personas you create elsewhere in the game. And again, these people you form relationships with aren't like some guy who thinks he may be a clone of some other guy and hates that that guy burnt his home to the ground and killed his ditzy girlfriend. Again, real problems. Like a child who's reluctant to accept his new stepmother or a kid living in the shadow of an older sibling.
Building up these Links to your party members has addtional benefits, from taking a mortal blow for you or helping a fallen ally back to thier feet after a successful attack on the enemy. Hell, free status cures sometimes, too. Cool beans.
The action of the game comes from a murder mystery that has rocked the small suburb of Inaba. Your uncle (and he's actually pretty cool), is a detective at the heart of case, complete with dopey partner and a sullen daughter often left alone because of the nature of his work.
You become involved with the case in the most bizzare of ways. Upon hearing a local urban legend about a TV program called the Midnight Channel, you decide to check it out. On rainy nights at midnight, the image of your soulmate is supposed to appear when the TV is turned off. Turns out, someone appears. Not only that, you can now stick your hand inside the TV, as though it were a portal to another world.
OK, full stop. That sounds like a saturday-morning cartoon cliche and not very easy to relate to. Well, I'm gonna tell you the game succeeds in making you buy into this premise.
Turns out the people you've been seeing on the Midnight Channel are the people turning up dead in Inaba. You and your friends decide the cops wouldn't buy such a story and, of course, must solve the case themselves. Along the way in this TV realm you meet a bear (aptly) named Teddie. Says this world of his is getting messed up ever since humans were being thrown into it and asks if you'll help him resolve the matter and calm the "shadows" within his world.
And thus our adventure begins, the hero and his friends go about thier daily lives and investigate this world after school
There's a lot of combat improvements over the previous game. For one, you can control your allies' actions now. Sounds pretty standard, but all your allies in Persona 3 were AI controlled. This time you have the option to control them or let them decide for themselves. I've played both angles, often reverting to AI controls when I needed to re-explore a particular dungeon.
The dungeons are again randomized, but have more varied designs and this time have solid themes. Exploring Tartarus in P3 was always kind of a drag because no matter how much they changed up the look of a floor, it unfolded predictably.
The combat, again, has seen upgrades. An oracle type of ally now records the enemy weaknesses you've discovered instead of gradually telling you. The "One more" system returns, along with All-Out Attacks. Exploit the enemy's weakness to score a knockdown, knock down all enemies to perform an all-out attack which allows you go gang up and beat down the baddies. The All-Out Attacks are very Disgaea, but satisfying nonetheless and help combat come to a decisive end very often.
While I initally had gripes about weapon-type weaknesses being removed, one of Persona 3's problems was when you had an enemy immune to a certain weapon type and spell type, it sometimes left an ally completely gimped. So now all weapons are considered the same type of damage.
Taking a page from other RPGs, there's now an NPC that forges weapons from the various sellable doodads you'll pick up in your dungeon exploits. This give you a reason to retread dungeons at times, and there will be other incentives as well.
As for the presentation, acting and music, once again its all very top-notch. The soundtrack moves away from the hip-hop/j-pop feel of Persona 3 to something a little more jazzy and light, particularly for the day-to-day events. The theme to each dungeon is unique this time as well, the music often reflecting the theme of the dungeon. And, of course, there's that grinding rock guitar sound showing up at various points, wouldn't be a Shin Megami Tensei franchise title without it.
The acting is solid and it has no qualms about inserting Japanese honorifics, names and terminology into the story. There's a mini-glossary in the manual for terms you could be unfamiliar with, which is a nice addition. In fact, P4 is a stark contrast to the first two installments of Persona, which Altus felt the need to Americanize to the point they didn't have much Japanese culture left in them. Persona 3 and 4 show how far they've come since then, letting the culture show through without shame.
The anime cutscenes remain pretty sparse, but the level of diologue is pretty amazing overall. Persona 4 is very story-driven, yet allows you the freedom to see some of that story at your own pace or choosing. What relationships your character builds are almost entirely up to you. All quests you come upon have no deadline. There is a literal school year of events in the game, complete with Japanese holidays, exams and field trips. Fans of Persona 3 can expect some welcome nods to that game as well.
Anyway, I've said more than enough. Put down your silly PS3 RPGs and go play this instead, you'll be glad you did. For $40 and a free OST, its one of the best deals out there for a game right now.
I've often been amused when someone says they could "relate" to spiky-haired, melodramatic heroes. Can you really relate to some guy who's been subjected to an experiment, a guy who had his memories siphoned away by more powerful forces in exchange for great power or some chick who was fated to be a sacrifice and must endure a long pilgrimage for the sake of her faith?
Can't say I can. Maybe you do, maybe there's a padded cell somewhere out there for you. Maybe you can twist that padded cell into yet another metaphor about your life. Have fun with that.
So first off, Persona 4's kids are real as real can be. They have problems kids actually grow up dealing with. You know, like that girl who's possessive of her best friend and loses her ability to cope with a crisis when the friend isn't there. I practically stood up and said, "That's my sister when she was 15!" Things like the weight of family traditions, identity issues and more are what the kids in Persona 4 deal with. Real stuff.
Even the hero's situation is something people can relate to, which is adapting to life in a new place. Making new friends, being a transfer student in a new school and adapting to life in a small town far from the big city he's used to.
Of course, this wouldn't be an RPG without dungeons, swords and summoning great creatures of myth and lore. Persona 4 has plenty of that, but here the next exam at school takes priority over saving the world at times.
Persona 4 continues the tradition of Social Links started out in P3. Building up relationships in Persona 4 also enhances the kinds of Personas you create elsewhere in the game. And again, these people you form relationships with aren't like some guy who thinks he may be a clone of some other guy and hates that that guy burnt his home to the ground and killed his ditzy girlfriend. Again, real problems. Like a child who's reluctant to accept his new stepmother or a kid living in the shadow of an older sibling.
Building up these Links to your party members has addtional benefits, from taking a mortal blow for you or helping a fallen ally back to thier feet after a successful attack on the enemy. Hell, free status cures sometimes, too. Cool beans.
The action of the game comes from a murder mystery that has rocked the small suburb of Inaba. Your uncle (and he's actually pretty cool), is a detective at the heart of case, complete with dopey partner and a sullen daughter often left alone because of the nature of his work.
You become involved with the case in the most bizzare of ways. Upon hearing a local urban legend about a TV program called the Midnight Channel, you decide to check it out. On rainy nights at midnight, the image of your soulmate is supposed to appear when the TV is turned off. Turns out, someone appears. Not only that, you can now stick your hand inside the TV, as though it were a portal to another world.
OK, full stop. That sounds like a saturday-morning cartoon cliche and not very easy to relate to. Well, I'm gonna tell you the game succeeds in making you buy into this premise.
Turns out the people you've been seeing on the Midnight Channel are the people turning up dead in Inaba. You and your friends decide the cops wouldn't buy such a story and, of course, must solve the case themselves. Along the way in this TV realm you meet a bear (aptly) named Teddie. Says this world of his is getting messed up ever since humans were being thrown into it and asks if you'll help him resolve the matter and calm the "shadows" within his world.
And thus our adventure begins, the hero and his friends go about thier daily lives and investigate this world after school
There's a lot of combat improvements over the previous game. For one, you can control your allies' actions now. Sounds pretty standard, but all your allies in Persona 3 were AI controlled. This time you have the option to control them or let them decide for themselves. I've played both angles, often reverting to AI controls when I needed to re-explore a particular dungeon.
The dungeons are again randomized, but have more varied designs and this time have solid themes. Exploring Tartarus in P3 was always kind of a drag because no matter how much they changed up the look of a floor, it unfolded predictably.
The combat, again, has seen upgrades. An oracle type of ally now records the enemy weaknesses you've discovered instead of gradually telling you. The "One more" system returns, along with All-Out Attacks. Exploit the enemy's weakness to score a knockdown, knock down all enemies to perform an all-out attack which allows you go gang up and beat down the baddies. The All-Out Attacks are very Disgaea, but satisfying nonetheless and help combat come to a decisive end very often.
While I initally had gripes about weapon-type weaknesses being removed, one of Persona 3's problems was when you had an enemy immune to a certain weapon type and spell type, it sometimes left an ally completely gimped. So now all weapons are considered the same type of damage.
Taking a page from other RPGs, there's now an NPC that forges weapons from the various sellable doodads you'll pick up in your dungeon exploits. This give you a reason to retread dungeons at times, and there will be other incentives as well.
As for the presentation, acting and music, once again its all very top-notch. The soundtrack moves away from the hip-hop/j-pop feel of Persona 3 to something a little more jazzy and light, particularly for the day-to-day events. The theme to each dungeon is unique this time as well, the music often reflecting the theme of the dungeon. And, of course, there's that grinding rock guitar sound showing up at various points, wouldn't be a Shin Megami Tensei franchise title without it.
The acting is solid and it has no qualms about inserting Japanese honorifics, names and terminology into the story. There's a mini-glossary in the manual for terms you could be unfamiliar with, which is a nice addition. In fact, P4 is a stark contrast to the first two installments of Persona, which Altus felt the need to Americanize to the point they didn't have much Japanese culture left in them. Persona 3 and 4 show how far they've come since then, letting the culture show through without shame.
The anime cutscenes remain pretty sparse, but the level of diologue is pretty amazing overall. Persona 4 is very story-driven, yet allows you the freedom to see some of that story at your own pace or choosing. What relationships your character builds are almost entirely up to you. All quests you come upon have no deadline. There is a literal school year of events in the game, complete with Japanese holidays, exams and field trips. Fans of Persona 3 can expect some welcome nods to that game as well.
Anyway, I've said more than enough. Put down your silly PS3 RPGs and go play this instead, you'll be glad you did. For $40 and a free OST, its one of the best deals out there for a game right now.
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