Hello, all. I'm almost finished with P3's storyline (Both Male and Female if you're wondering) & just stumbled upon knowledge of P4's Endurance Run. I was thinking of getting P4's game at the time and thought that I wouldn't get any of it unless I played the whole game. Is it okay to check out the Endurance Run before playing it, or am I at the right of way?

The Endurance Run will spoil everything in the game for you. Buuuuuuut, I got Persona 4 at PAX East even though I've seen the entire Endurance Run, and I'm absolutely loving the game. 
 
EITHER WAY, you should absolutely watch the Endurance Run if you have the time. It contains some of the greatest moments in Giant Bomb history.

If you want to experience the full game with no spoilers, and do what you want, play it first. Vinny skips through a lot of dialog, and they talk over a lot of dialog too. That, and they do stuff that I would not have done, and don't do stuff I would do. 

You're fine not playing P4 before watching the ER. Especially if you've played P3 and you know how those games are structured. Hell even a person totally blind to SMT can enjoy it. Since it's the WHOLE game, you just discover stuff alongside Jeff and VInny. 

go ahead and play it first, or play with the endurance run, but the twists will have much more impact on you if you play it first.

It was already brutal watching the endurance run for me, and I have never played through a persona game. That being said, if you play through persona 4, and then watch them play it, you will literally go mad.
 
Because they're really bad at it.

Not really, while it's probably quite more entertaining if you play your game while keeping up with the Endurance Run it just depends on if you enjoy the surprise that game might have in store or ruin that surprise but get far more entertainment thanks to all those involved with the Endurnace Run. Granted you could play through once on your own & then watch the endurance run but you might miss some great moments. I know with Deadly Premonition I managed to keep up with the game at home & the Endurance Run & it was worth it to see much more of the game then just on my own.

If you play it first you will probably feel like the people who consistently made annoying comments under each video screeching at Jeff and Vinny how they were playing the game wrong.  It seems like people who went in fresh had a much more enjoyable ER experience.  

You should play the game first. I enjoyed anticipating Jeff and Vinny's reactions to things I had already seen when I had played the game myself.

I had no idea what shin megami tensei was at all  and i loved the persona 4 endurance run 

" It was already brutal watching the endurance run for me, and I have never played through a persona game. That being said, if you play through persona 4, and then watch them play it, you will literally go mad.  Because they're really bad at it. "

The way i did it and enjoyed it immensely was i would play the game while watching the endurance run but i would always be slightly ahead on my play through by about 3 or 4 episodes

You should definitely definitely put at least 500 hours into P4 before you start watching the 100 hr endurance run. Definitely.

I watched it without having played it first. Then I played it after.
 
 
I still think it's the best thing on the site.

I remember being halfway through Persona 4 and finishing it up in a couple months while the endurance run was going and it was fine.
 
So do that I guess.

I watched it first. Then bought it. Needless to say I love it and I've got 140+ hours in the game.  
 
Watch it, play it; play it, watch it. Doesn't matter the order, just do it. 

I actually kinda played it alongside them. The Endurance Run came about when I was around halfway through the game, so I just started using it as background noise when I had to grind (and you will have to grind...a LOT). I wouldn't recommend doing it like that, but whether or not you should watch the ER directly corresponds to how likely you are to play the game. Cause they spoil EEEEEEEEEverything.

" I watched it first. Then bought it. Needless to say I love it and I've got 140+ hours in the game.   Watch it, play it; play it, watch it. Doesn't matter the order, just do it.  "

You can play during.

I have never played Persona 4, but i have watched the endurance run like... twice. And i enjoyed it immensely. You mean you think you won't get the endurance run unless you've played it...? They don't skip over cutscenes or anything, man. You can experience the story right along with them.

I watched most of the P4 endurance run first, then borrowed a copy my friend hand and started playing through it myself while still keeping up withe the ER.  In the end, I finished the game some time before they did, but still enjoyed watching it.  So, you can really experience the ER however you want, fresh, along side the game, or game first .  Just be aware though that if you both play through the game and watch the ER, you'll probably be sitting at around 200 hours spent with Persona 4.  
 
Also, I'm totally going to start watching the ER again, man I love the music in that game.

But if you play before you'll have the fun of knowing about the crazy shit  before hand.  Its similar to showing something crazy to a friend who hasn't seen it before.

" @keyhunter said:

" It was already brutal watching the endurance run for me, and I have never played through a persona game. That being said, if you play through persona 4, and then watch them play it, you will literally go mad.  Because they're really bad at it. "

How many times did they die? Like, 4? Considering it took them 99 hours to finish the game, I think it would be silly to say they were really bad at it. You can't expect everyone to know what they're doing 100% of the time. "

" I have never played Persona 4, but i have watched the endurance run like... twice. And i enjoyed it immensely. You mean you think you won't get the endurance run unless you've played it...? They don't skip over cutscenes or anything, man. You can experience the story right along with them. "

I think it's fine watching without playing. I played the game when it came out and while its cool to anticipate and see their reactions to certain things, its kind of tiring watching them trudge through the slow parts.

" @mutha3: But the person said they were really bad at the game. I wouldn't classify grinding and spending a lot of time fusing as lack of skill. "

Picked the game up but never got around to starting so decieded to start watching the ER (finished it last week). After watching I've decieded that during my break from uni i'm gonna play through it.

I'm a weird case because I had never heard of P4 before the ER, and didn't understand what the "endurance run" was until this summer when I watched the whole thing in about 3 weeks; would've been faster if I hadn't been watching the series run of Battlestar Galactica at the same time.  Anyway, watching the ER without playing is fine but there are definitely things you need to experience on you're own, like Kanji's S-Link and hanging out with people after you max out their S-Link.  Either way is fine, I did find it much more thrilling reacting along with them as opposed to knowing what was going to happen, but ultimately just chose one way and stick to it. 

" I'm a weird case because I had never heard of P4 before the ER "

" @natetodamax said:

" @mutha3: But the person said they were really bad at the game. I wouldn't classify grinding and spending a lot of time fusing as lack of skill. "

I would if they didn't enjoy fusing or grinding(like, at all. They hate fusing with a passion and are not fans of grinding). They didn't like either of those things, yet they spent obscene amounts of time doing them.  It depends if you'd define "lack of understanding with regards to the game's basic mechanics" as "lack of skill", if you do, they lacked skill, if you don't....well your mileage may vary!  Disregarding the word "skill" for a second, I would definitely consider them bad at the game. "

Honestly watching them play and having played Persona 4.... I had no problem, b/c reading the comments it started to turn into FAQ and playing with a FAQ with a RPG, to me, is not fun. I'd rather just do it and let the chips fall where they may, it's no fun watching a walkthrough, this is very much a Let's Play, watch a guy play a game and have some fun with it

after watching a couple of endurance runs, I bought a ps2 and persona 4 and now I am playing it before continuing the endurance run.

I played it first and then found out about the endurance run. I can't turn back time, but I think I prefer it that way. I appreciate their jabs and jokes more.

Go in fresh. Enjoy the ignorance along with jeff and vinny. Then do your own.

Okay. I've decided. I will watch some of the Endurance Run, but I will have to stop after reaching a certain number of parts before I buy the game, which will be soon. Thanks for helping me with this, all! <3

I didn't and I was fine.