Playtime: 80 hours and 16 minutes

Current Feelings: I spiraled into a day of depression after I watched the ending.

Holy crap. This was the sequel Persona 3? Holy crap. Holy crap.

So, cool game. Great game. Awesome game. Unforgettable game. True, this game is a lot like Persona 3, but if you didn't like Persona 3 (like me), then you should still give Persona 4 a chance. It made the right adjustments and gained a real sense of focus. Persona 4 was way more story and character-driven.

And that's really what I clung to me for the entire game. Social links don't tie into the main storyline very well, if at all, but still. The middle of the game started to get really predictable, but still. The writing does have a tendencey to get cyclical and it does like to restate plot points, but still. Dungeons have their own visual motif, but they aren't really all that different from another. But still.

Looking back at my 80 hour and 16 minute playtime, I couldn't help but remember all the great moments that gave Persona 4 so much heart. It's the characters that really anchored and supported this entire game and for me, they'll easily go down as some of my all-time favorites. Yes, they're pretty static after you rescue them, but all of them had really well-defined personalities and they were always entertaining to be around. I can't imagine Persona 5 working for me unless they reuse the entire cast from Persona 4. I just can't.

Since P3 and P4 were my first SMT games, it's gotten me to order Digital Devil Saga 1, which came in the mail two weeks ago. I've put maybe an hour into it, mostly going crazy at WHAT THE HELL LOOK AT ALL THESE PERSONA 4 ITEMS IN THIS GAME, but I think I like DDS's combat system more. It's faster and the way turns are handled are 100% sweet.

But whatever. Persona 4 really resonated with me. That ending still gets to me, even though it was filled with cheesy lines. I think this game needs to be played and even if you don't like it, you can at least tell that I'm wrong and you're right.

Playtime: 50 hours and 4 minutes

Current Feelings: KING'S GAME WHAT THE HELL

That cut-scene could've easily been the worst thing about this game, but the voice actors did it for real and got hammered before the recording. Superb drunk acting, all of you. Having not watched more than 5 minutes of the Endurance Run, this and all the P3 crazytrain of references blew my mind, even though not all P3 memories were good. The game did highlight the good parts, at least.

A general question: I saved Naoto. Midterms are arriving this Friday. Is the case really that far from being solved? I wouldn't mind if the game went on for another 50 hours, but all this talk about the answer being far off tells me answers will arrive sooner than later. A simple yes or no, please. Maybe a rough estimate of how many more hours of gameplay are left. I am doing as many social links as possible, if that matters.

So, all I've been really doing is lavishing this game with praise, but I have few things:

- Social links for party members are great, but I wish they tied into the critical plotline. These guys are too important and too ingrained into everything that's going on in P4, and it bugs me when none of my party members acknowledge the things that happened when I hung out with him. I wish Chie and Yosuke would go absolutely batshit over the fact that I'm totally dating Yukiko now.

- Plothole. The Midnight Channel. How has this not become the center of a media circus? Everyone sees it, everyone acknowledges its existence (and if someone doesn't then that person is dumb) and it broadcasts everything me and my party members are doing inside the TV. The static filter during battles should be proof enough, but when I hear the roars of outside observers, then that just drives the point even more.

Other than that, lovely.

Expect some spoilers.

Current Feelings: I am enamored with thoughts of Persona 4 when at work. I am enamored with thoughts of what is to come when I play Persona 4. Persona 4 currently has a sizable stake on my summer.

I get delerious when I play this game because it's astronomically better than Persona 3. It blows my mind. I never expected Persona 4 to be this much better. I wish I could understand differing opinions. Actually, no, screw you guys. Persona 4 is way better.

Tiny things, like the fast travel and the ability to equip stuff on my party members right on the menu screen are such obvious additions, and they do so much to jack up the pace and keep things moving. The bigger things, like the awesome cast of characters and how the game's weather system gives the game some serious focus, pretty much kills any problems I had with Persona 3.

Anyway, I've just saved Kanji and I was really impressed by how the game handled his character. The whole gay thing was initially an uncomfortable gimmick when I was going through the saunas, but it really tuned into the core theme of Persona 4: Identity. This is such a great of handling angst that's in a lot JRPGs. Persona 4 integrates it right into the gameplay, instead of listenting to douchebags whine about everything in cut-scenes so I can dislike them for the rest of the game, like what over half of Persona 3's cast did. Oh yeah, I can't believe they got Troy Baker to voice the guy. His Matt Baker Yelling Voice Mode works so well for Kanji.

Though, the greater, larger feeling that pervades the entire game is a real sense of warmth. Persona 3 was a really cold, distant game. Party members were largely impenetrable, the urban city was filled with valley girl dumbheads and aristocratic jackasses and even the use of the color blue throughout the game made the game all the more colder. And so when people started spouting out stuff about friendships in Persona 3, I thought it came off as really shoehorned and heavy-handed. Persona 4 has none of that; Inaba's very lived-in, city folk is a foreign concept, Nanako is adorable and when Yukiko took that mortal blow for me, I felt something there. There's something totally between us. I can feel it.

It's been two weeks of anticipation with each day disappointing with a lack of Persona 4 and picture-filled books. I didn't even try to pretend to not expect it; I was excited as hell everyday, even though Persona 3 didn't exactly fufill most of my expectations. It was my love for anime that essentially kept me onboard and if Persona 4 was better, even a little, then Persona 4 would be the best game ever made.

I oggled at the cover of the art book. I was impressed by its size and quality. I expected this thing to be crafted out of newpaper material and haphazardly stapled on all four corners. I've tucked it in somewhere in my bookshelf. I think I lost it already, which is good, because I read that that thing's filled with spoilers.

So, okay, I played the game for 2 hours and 22 minutes today. Just like Persona 3, there's just a lot of exposition and a lot of set-up. I loved the first few hours of Persona 3 because of this. The game seemed destined for great things. Persona 4 gives off the same feeling, just moreso. Way moreso.

I'm really here just to indulge myself, but you can keep reading if you want. Persona 4 is a funny game... like, I laughed on numerous occasions. The quality of the dub is frightening in its sheer quality. The voice actors catch each little inflection, jolts key lines with substantial energy and really gives everything the characters a nice air of authenticity and believability. Persona 3 had a largely great dub, but the direction here is much more percise and much more fastidious, at least so far.

And the characters are just better. Way better. A lot of it has to do with how everything's set up. MC has a family, classmates at school seem much closer than the ones in Persona 3. I think part of this has to do with Chie and Yukiko both being girls, instead of the general gender clashes that occured between Junpei and Yukari. The lack of seniors also helps keep party relations pretty close-knit, too. And since we're all discovering what the hell is going on together, there's a greater sense of togetherness. We're all confused and we should all work together to figure out what's going on.

I mean, again, at least so far. I hope Persona 4 doesn't just come to a complete halt with its main storyline progression like Persona 3 did for days. It occasionally got unbearable. I haven't watched much of the Endurance Run, but the chances of finishing the game before them seems slim. That'd be something, though. I'm probably going to have something to say everyday, or whenever I put a substantial chunk of time into the game. I did this for P3 somewhere else, so I am to do this. Now.