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    Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4

    Game » consists of 5 releases. Released Jul 10, 2008

    Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 is a role-playing game developed and published by Atlus for the PlayStation 2. It is chronologically the fifth installment in the Shin Megami Tensei: Persona series. Like its predecessor, its gameplay combines a traditional role-playing game with elements of a social simulation. Its critical and commercial success spawned a sizable media empire, including several spinoff titles.

    Finished and question with true ending **WARNING SPOILERS!!!!**

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    nima

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    #1  Edited By nima

    There is one thing I dont get in regards to the true ending.

    I dont get Izanami's motivation for giving MC, Adachi and namatame the power to enter TV's. I mean, why would she want to do that? was she bored or something? maybe I missed something here.

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    jakob187

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    #2  Edited By jakob187
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    nima

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    #3  Edited By nima

    thats a blog post which I created to record my feelings of the game. I also added a spoiler warning for anyone who would want to read it.
    This though is a seperate thing altogether, im asking a question. I want to keep the two things seperate.

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    endaround

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    #4  Edited By endaround

    It has to do with the Japanese legend of the creation of the world and man and the relationship between Izanagi and Izanami.



    Basically Izanami wants to punish Izanagi through tormenting mankind
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    GregIsRad

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    #5  Edited By GregIsRad

    I would have been satisfied if the game simply ended with Adachi instead of wandering into myths and legends.

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    Lustreplush

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    #6  Edited By Lustreplush
    This was the legend covered by the teacher at P3's Gekkoukan High when the P4 class went to visit.

    But really, P4 just succumbed to the same stereotypical Japanese plot ending that most JRPGs and anime do, which is to bring all action to a DEAD STOP right before the climax, and spend an interminable amount of screen time spouting pseudo-philosophical BS, usually regarding the futility of action, the illusion of choice, the corruption of mankind and the worthlessness of all existence.  (See: Akira, Ghost in the Shell(s), Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, Every Final Fantasy Ever, etc.)

    Still loved the game.
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    deactivated-5ee2492b629bb

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    GregIsRad said:
    I would have been satisfied if the game simply ended with Adachi instead of wandering into myths and legends. [more]
    Dude, every single persona in that game is part of a myth or legend.
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    pause422

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    #8  Edited By pause422
    Lustreplush said:
    This was the legend covered by the teacher at P3's Gekkoukan High when the P4 class went to visit.But really, ... [more]
    Its hilarious how dead wrong you are.
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    GregIsRad

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    #9  Edited By GregIsRad
    License_To_Bill said:
    GregIsRad said: I would have been satisfied if the game simply ended with Adachi instead of wandering into myths and ... [more]
    I guess I enjoyed the game more when it was was 'absurd TV world' combined with a murder mystery. I liked the personas but when the main plot turned into exploring the lofty origins of WHY you are in the TV in the first place, I just...bleh. I liked it, but the whole drama with Adachi and Namatame was more captivating.

    It almost felt like the game was trying to go from Phoenix Wright to Final Fantasy REALLY quickly.


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    nima

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    #10  Edited By nima

    I guess I didn't mind the izanami bit too much. I must agree that the whole TV, adachi and namatame thing was more interesting but the Izanami thing wasn't too bad. So basically, she wanted to bring grief upon izanagi so she saw fit to inflict the power of the television upon the MC and then two other people not from Inaba just to see how things would turn out.


    Man, when I figured out that it was Adachi, that was a great moment of gaming for me.
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    lord_canti

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    #11  Edited By lord_canti
    License_To_Bill said:
    GregIsRad said: I would have been satisfied if the game simply ended with Adachi instead of wandering into myths and ... [more]

    is jack frost part of myth and legend?
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    Pepsiman

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    #12  Edited By Pepsiman

    Jack Frost is merely a cameo Persona since Atlus loves to put him in their games very, very much, what with him being the mascot and all. A very large chunk of the other Personas do indeed reference various world mythologies, though. The Frost line of Personas are among the few exceptions that I know of.

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    deactivated-5ee2492b629bb

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    lord_canti said:
    License_To_Bill said: GregIsRad said: I would have been satisfied if the game simply ended with Adachi instead of wandering into ... [more]
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Frost

    Yes.
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    Lustreplush

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    #14  Edited By Lustreplush
    pause422 said:
    Lustreplush said: This was the legend covered by the teacher at P3's Gekkoukan High when the P4 class went to ... [more]

    Which part?  The Gekkoukan High part?  My list of JRPGs/anime that share similar plot structures in their endings?  Or the fact that I still loved the game?

    Please be more specific.
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    deactivated-5d7bd9e4bef30

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    The class where the Mr Edawa (I think his name was) after Chichiro greets you outside the school.
    It's like the only class you take while at Gekkoukan

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    Vlaphor

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    #16  Edited By Vlaphor

    I thought it was just for something to do.  Hang out at a gas station, randomly hand out super-powers, see what happens.  Being an ancient deity could probably get boring sometimes.

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    dudacles

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    #17  Edited By dudacles

    I must say, that myth didn't come to mind at all, nor did being bored when I thought about her motivations. I figured that what she said was true, she was trying to help mankind by creating their ideal world. She just disregarded the fact that becoming a shadow did not appeal to Joe the Plumber.

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    ArbitraryWater

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    #18  Edited By ArbitraryWater
    @Lustreplush said:
    But really, P4 just succumbed to the same stereotypical Japanese plot ending that most JRPGs and anime do, which is to bring all action to a DEAD STOP right before the climax, and spend an interminable amount of screen time spouting pseudo-philosophical BS, usually regarding the futility of action, the illusion of choice, the corruption of mankind and the worthlessness of all existence.  (See: Akira, Ghost in the Shell(s), Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, Every Final Fantasy Ever, etc.)
    This. You also forgot the mother of all of this crap: Neon Genesis Evangelion, which slows to a crawl until the last two episodes and about half of End of Evangelion are nothing more than psuedo-philisophical bullshit that no normal human can comprehend even after multiple watchings and the aid of Wikipedia, which makes the ending so extremely unsatisfying.

    I think I would have been fine if they had just been like "Oh, the TV world is a reflection of people's desires but not really" and then just finished the story with Adachi, mostly because of how lame some parts of the true ending are (really? They used almost the exact same plot device as Persona 3 to help you defeat the final boss?)
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    Hailinel

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    #19  Edited By Hailinel
    @Lustreplush said:
    " This was the legend covered by the teacher at P3's Gekkoukan High when the P4 class went to visit.

    But really, P4 just succumbed to the same stereotypical Japanese plot ending that most JRPGs and anime do, which is to bring all action to a DEAD STOP right before the climax, and spend an interminable amount of screen time spouting pseudo-philosophical BS, usually regarding the futility of action, the illusion of choice, the corruption of mankind and the worthlessness of all existence.  (See: Akira, Ghost in the Shell(s), Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, Every Final Fantasy Ever, etc.)

    Still loved the game.
    "
    You must not play a lot of RPGs or watch a lot of anime.

    At what point does the action come to a dead stop?  For all intents and purposes, the characters have reason to believe that things are at an end when Adachi is arrested and Ameno-Sagiri is defeated.  For some, that would be good enough, but then there are the lingering questions like where the Midnight Channel came from, how three specific people in Inaba (and only those three people) gained the power to enter the TV World, and so on.  You can go home, content that with what you've accomplished, or you can push on, seek the whole truth, and bring the threat of the fog to a true end.
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    #20  Edited By Hailinel
    @ArbitraryWater said:
    "This. You also forgot the mother of all of this crap: Neon Genesis Evangelion, which slows to a crawl until the last two episodes and about half of End of Evangelion are nothing more than psuedo-philisophical bullshit that no normal human can comprehend even after multiple watchings and the aid of Wikipedia, which makes the ending so extremely unsatisfying.I think I would have been fine if they had just been like "Oh, the TV world is a reflection of people's desires but not really" and then just finished the story with Adachi, mostly because of how lame some parts of the true ending are (really? They used almost the exact same plot device as Persona 3 to help you defeat the final boss?) "
    You make it sound like there's something wrong with someone using an art form to explore psychological/philosophical musings.  Evangelion wasn't really slow; it was very formulaic up to a point.  (Young boy is last hope for humanity and must pilot giant robot to save the world.)  Then things took a turn for the not-so-ordinary.  Hideaki Anno could have kept the show along its original supposed path, but if that had remained in place it's doubtful that the show would still hold the same level of popularity that it has today.  It's very experimental, and while it might seem weird for the sake of being weird, it left an impact, and its open-ended nature doesn't necessitate reading Wikipedia to understand what's going on because you can interpret events, particularly the events of the last two episodes, yourself.  Of course, this didn't stop some fanboys from sending Anno death threats for ending the show the way he did; some of which were displayed in brief on screen in End of Evangelion.  Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with people?

    And as for Persona 4 using certain plot structure similarities to Persona 3, I don't know why that should come as too much of a surprise.  Persona 4 is a sequel with some thematic similarities, but the details between the two games are vastly different.

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