I *loved* what I saw of the original Persona 4 Endurance Run. For the first couple weeks, I'd grab my lunch, settle down in front of my PC and watch Jeff and Vinny's insane quest to record their entire play through of a 100-hour+ RPG. It was the perfect pick, too: a game with the perfect blend of storyline, character, combat, and...just freaking weirdness that I was hooked from the start. It was the best Giant Bomb feature since the introduction of the Quick Look, but once I realized that the game was good enough for me to want to play for myself, I stopped watching.
This year, I knew I was never going to play Deadly Premonition for myself, so I've been able to enjoy the dueling Endurance Runs all the way through. The idea of two separate teams playing through the same game seemed like an odd choice at first -- without some major storyline branching, what would be the point? -- but the tone of each team was different enough that the idea has really grown on me. Vinny and Jeff blew through the shooting portions pretty quickly and spent lots of time exploring side quests. Brad and Ryan, by comparison...every single enemy was so potentially lethal that all the encounters felt like epic boss battles, and there was more than one occasion where I thought they'd be unable to continue at all.
It's absolutely been my favorite online event of the spring, and my only disappointment is that the game is short enough that it won't continue through the summer. I'm hoping Monopingo will continue his excellent "Best of Endurance Run" series for Team VJ, but here are some of my favorite (spoiler-free!) moments from Team BR:
The only bummer is that Deadly Premonition is short enough that the Endurance Runs won't continue through the summer. If you've some favorite ER moments of your own, or just want to put in a vote for the guys to start up a different game when this one's done, post 'em up and let's send this season out in style!
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