Persona 4 Post-Mortem Tells You What Went Right, Wrong

Chie if your crotch looks like that, wear looser pants.

No! I don't want P5 to be delayed!

Cut the playtime in half, at least.  Jeff and Vinny even said at the beginning they'd never have time in their real lives to finish P4 so they did it at work.  100 hours of playtime is too much to ask from your audience.

why does she have a massive wong?

" (take a fucking hint, Atlus, PS2 is on its way out). "

What the fuck is up with Chie's cameltoe? It's massive...
 
As for the team's thoughts on their game, too true: becoming invested in characters only happens when you with to do so by yourself; otherwise, they're just an obstacle between you and another Social Link level. I'm very curious as to how they intend to rectify that in the next installment, Persona 5 on the PS3 (take a fucking hint, Atlus, PS2 is on its way out).

wooh, what does she have in her pants !

Is Chie hiding steak in there? o_O

And I hope you're absolutely wrong with your assumption, Jeff.  You did not exactly say that Persona 5 is not going to be on the PS3, but I would be willing to bet you money that an eventual sequel to Persona 5 will be released on the PS3.  At this point, I don't see it as being profitable for them to release the game on the PS2 (or at least in North America, as evidenced by the lifetime sales) and I don't want it to be on the PSP.  So, there...

I always hated the fact that when your main character died, it was  GAME OVER YEEEAAHH! (Hope someone gets the reference) Anyway, while I'd like for their next project to be an RPG, I am interested in seeing how they handle an action game.  On an unrelated note.
 
@CrazyManAndy said:

" Chie with a bulge. Mmm...now that's hot. "

I hope it's an action rpg.

" It took a tremendous amount of time and effort to finish the intense, suspenseful story with as many twists as it has, as well as integrating the game's theme of "how one accepts information from the media." While it was fun creating the mystery novel-like scenario, we had no previous experience in working on such a plot, so we were making adjustments to the storyline until the very end. "
 
That's probably why the ending was relatively weak compared to the rest of the story, and that's also why I think...
 
SPOILERS
 
 
 
 
The Izanami thing was added close to the end of development.  Seriously, you could remove everything referring to Izanami (Gas station attendant beginning, gas station attendant during rainy days and remove the whole of the True Ending) and the story would still flow perfectly.  My guess is they just forgot to explain what the TV world and the Midnight Channel was really all about (referring to the quote "how one accepts information from media) and they just added that so that there could be no loose ends to the story once it finishes.
 
 @gakon5 said:

"Also, I still can't figure out what these useless and redundant menus are. "

" @Curufinwe said:

"
"one of the villain characters changed in the middle of development; since the character design was done before the story change, the design did not reflect the fact that he was a villain."

   Who are they talking about? Adachi? "

I think they're talking about Izanami-the hat to hide his face...maybe. "

if you like persona 4 I strongly reccomend devil survivor for the DS which is similar in many ways, not as complicated and has an awesome story.

" @PenguinDust said:

" @Turambar said:

" @Curufinwe: That'd be my only guess.  Going from his "normal face" to his "rape face" was hilariously jarring. "

[SPOILER AHEAD]  My guess is the kid that hits on Yukiko at the start of the game and later does what he does to Morooka.  Maybe at first he was just a kid to show how popular and sought after Yukiko was but later they [Atlus] decided to use him for the Morooka thing. "

What? "

"
"one of the villain characters changed in the middle of development; since the character design was done before the story change, the design did not reflect the fact that he was a villain."

   Who are they talking about? Adachi? "

" @Curufinwe: That'd be my only guess.  Going from his "normal face" to his "rape face" was hilariously jarring. "

" Am I the only one who sees a gigantic bulge in Chie's crotch? "

Thanks.

they forgot to add " More music for battles" 
the soundtrack was great but if it had had different music per dungeon I wouldn't have driven myself and my flatmates insane with the battle music. 
 
 
Loved the game all the same tho.

" @Undeadpool said:

"It's interesting how under the "what went right" it's all reactive stuff, stuff that happened AFTER the game came out. I'd like to see what they think was particularly strong about the final product.

I get the impression they were partly joking about the action game comment since it came after this list of how hard it is to make and RPG, though maybe they DO want to move on."

You're right; there's nothing about the game itself in the "right" section. Thinking about the weather, it almost works the opposite of Persona 3.  In P3, the simulation side was so interesting that you {or, I) procrastinated, and held off exploration until a week before the deadline.  But, maybe a long stretch of dungeon-crawling isn't any different from the monster hallways you find in other RPGs.  Here's two full screens of random encounters, and then a boss, and then some story. I still think the interface is about as good as it can be.  The worst I found were the "Persona" and "Status" menus, the second of which is only used to see your character's social stats.  Also, I think your own success in the game shows that you don't need to know anything beyond the basics of fusion.  As long as you know that skills are random, some are better to inherit than others, and there is a set of spells you need (all four elements, debuffs, etc.) you're mostly fine.  The minutiae are covered in the in-game help menu you never used. "

I'm not a big fan of any game where your main character dies and that means it's game over, ESPECIALLY if your enemies have insta-kill attacks. I think they should give you one full turn rotation to either revive him or end the battle.

Other than that it just seemed like there were a lot of redundant or otherwise useless menus, but the game's plot and voice acting were still amazing, I'm SO glad they gave us direct control over our party (that was easily my biggest peeve in P3). I thought that should've been #1 for what went right.

"Am I the only one who sees a gigantic bulge in Chie's crotch? "

"   Also, giving the stats/effects of stuff on the shopping channel before you buy it wouldn't hurt. "

Am I the only one who sees a gigantic bulge in Chie's crotch?

Man, that is a pretty cool Chie pic, I wonder who drew it <_< >_>
Just a shame he never noticed certain areas looked kinda weird before, he should probably fix that at some point >_> <_<

Nice to see that Persona 4 is still getting love from the Giant Bomb crew.  Can't wait for the next Endurance Run, whatever it may be.  Might I suggest a Mass Effect 2 ER with Brad and Ryan.

I've seen much better Chie porn.
 
But seriously, nice drawing, and I definitely agree with the article. Persona 4 is an overall amazing game with some key flaws; a lot of which seem to stem from how old the game is, and a need to evolve with the times (I'm not saying it *hasn't*, I'm just saying that maybe it needs a greater overhaul or a lot more of a tutorial).
 
I'm going to start playing Persona 3, and I'm a little worried about going back to an older game in the franchise, if Persona 4 already had its problems. I'd wait for the PSP remake, where they'll probably fix a lot of that stuff, but the style of the game just seems so different, and I want to play around with the original incarnation of it.

Yeah P4 had a few quirks but, still, what a game.

" Chie's got quite a bulge there. "

" @Nexas said:

" Why does Chie have a package? "

This. "

" @Jimbo: Keep the Game Revolution trolling in the Game Revolution trolling thread. "

The story could be a little more coherent and the localization could have been improved. People will always love the game though because they put so much work into their characters they find it impossible to separate themselves by the end. Its a classic JRPG with a lot more style, but to me it was too tedious.

I think a small thing they could have had that would have saved a ton of time and just be convenient is being able to simply press a button and see what an item you got out of a chest does.
 
Also, giving the stats/effects of stuff on the shopping channel before you buy it wouldn't hurt.

Interesting read. I sure hope you're wrong about the PS3 development though.

And that Chie drawing is pretty good from the waist up!

The part about the action game seems like it was more of a joke: They were joking that an action game would have less QA and that they'd "rather" do that style of game because they did so much QA on Persona 4.

Chie's got quite a bulge there.

" First.

" Interesting, but that statement about them wanting to do an action game next is heartbreaking. They know to make a great RPG, and I'd hate to see that talent go to waste in a genre that typically doesn't have nearly as strong of a story or cast of characters. "

Thanks for posting this, Jeff!  Looks like an interesting read!

" Why does Chie have a package? "

" @Winternet said:

" First.  Thanks Jeff for reporting this. I'll read the article. "

dork. "

It's interesting how under the "what went right" it's all reactive stuff, stuff that happened AFTER the game came out. I'd like to see what they think was particularly strong about the final product.

I get the impression they were partly joking about the action game comment since it came after this list of how hard it is to make and RPG, though maybe they DO want to move on.