Today, I completed the Persona 4 Endurance Run. I beat Persona 4 in the last couple of weeks, and my roommate beat Persona 4 a week before that.

Normally, that would mean you were DONE with a game. But with Persona 4, I am STILL experiencing the game through the anime. When that's finished, if it's not out already, I'll probably be heavily anticipating the release of Persona 4: The Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena, a sequel to a game that ends so completely it almost should never have a sequel. I don't mean to imply it's "their fault" I'm experiencing this eternal Persona 4 conclusion. After all, I'm the one who's finishing the game almost three years after its release.

I don't think I've ever had an experience quite like this before. The second and third times I reached the ending, I got pretty choked up, but, again, there's always MORE Persona 4, so no open tears. How many media do you get where you've reached the conclusion and the experience just won't end?

I could be done with Persona 4, of course. I could stop watching the anime and ignore Mayonaka Arena. But that world, those characters, and that story are all so compelling that I feel like I never want to leave them, despite never really wanting to play the game again. Sure, there's a lot left to see; I've never seen the conclusion of the stepmother, Hisano, or band girl social links, and there's a number of Personas I haven't gotten my hands on yet. But to simply experience those sequences the same way again doesn't appeal to me; I'd need a new voice to enjoy the game with, or some dramatic new experience to occur before I could play the game again.

And yet, I still don't want this Persona 4 run to be over. As a result, my roommate and a couple Persona-loving friends are even developing a Persona tabletop RPG (I'll probably upload some updates to that shortly as well.) I'm playing Persona 3: FES now, but I'm having trouble empathizing with the characters as well as I did those of Persona 4, and the story is taking a LOT longer to get moving. The most compelling thing about the game so far is the fact that I know its ending, and the brilliant foreshadowing they've done leading up to said ending.

Has anyone else had a similar experience with another piece of media? I feel like I could write a damned BOOK on Persona 4, analyzing and editorializing on each specific element. To be honest, before I wrote this, I started by attempting a piece on "I'll Face Myself", one of the more recognizable and specific pieces of music in Persona 4. But, distracted by schoolwork, I found it easier to just work on a description of my experience with this game's ending, and my personal lack thereof.

Want more discussion on Persona 4? Listen to my podcast Nerf'd! We talk about it all the time, and will probably be talking about it more and more as wel spend more time with the anime and our in-development tabletop RPG.

P.S. I will get back to that piece sooner or later, though, as I actually do think it's a brilliantly used piece of music.