Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4

This is a review for Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4, a roleplaying game exclusive to the Playstation 2 that came out last year. Amongst other things in this review, I will occasionally compare Persona 4 with Persona 3 to provide some insight for those who own Persona 3. I hope you enjoy the review.
 

Persona 4 is set in a small town in Japan during the year 2011. You take the role of a high school kid who moves from the big city to this small, suburban town. When you go to school for the first time, you hear about a rumor that's been going around about a channel called the Midnight Channel. Rumor has it that when you see someone on T.V. on that channel, that person you saw ends up dying the next day. Within the next day, a murder occurs, in which the victim was found hanging from a telephone line, upside down. You meet your first few friends on the first day of school and soon after you discover that you actually have the power to enter the T.V. world. Soon, you come to realize that you have to enter the T.V. world to save these victims on the midnight channel from their deaths.

The story is one big murder mystery and you'll occasionally find yourself on the edge of your seat when something dramatic or interesting happens. The story is, in my opinion, incredible and it will always have you guessing. The characters in this game are awesome and fleshed out very well in my opinion; to me they are more enjoyable than those in P3. Teddie is the comic relief character and each of the other characters have their own problems. By the end of the game you WILL feel emotionally attached to the characters.

Persona 4 is on the previous generation of consoles. Now, to me, the graphics don't really matter in this game, but if you were to look at it from a technical standpoint, admittedly, the graphics aren't very impressive. They're great for the PS2, but with games like Crysis, Gears of War 2 and Killzone 2, we tend to expect more from graphics, and Persona 4 doesn't stand up to the aforementioned games in that department. However, what you do get with Persona 4 is a very stylish game that

has a fantastic art style. The character portraits are very well detailed and to me the Persona designs are beautiful. The menus are a lot sleeker than those in P3, and are much easy to navigate. The presentation is an overall improvement from P3 and it seems like they gave a solid effort in this game because everything is so well presented.

 
Persona 4 is one of the few video games in which I actually enjoy the music from very much. As a bonus, the game brings a soundtrack C.D. for free and the music is truly awesome. The music has an exciting J-POP feel, despite it being sung in English (however, it's sometimes hard to tell). The songs are very catchy and I enjoy every single song in the soundtrack. If the game didn't bring the soundtrack I would've probably bought it. The voice acting is amazing and there are a few familiar voices in this game for those of you who watch anime. Yuri Lowenthal plays Youske who also plays Sasuke in Naruto. Jonny Yong Bosch also does a great job in this game, and to me his voice acting is great. Probably the best voice acting in a Japanese RPG.
 

Gameplay

The battles in Persona are played out in a turn based arena. Outside of battles, it is also a high school simulation. In the morning you go to school as a normal high school student with a thriving social life, but in the afternoon you're a detective. The game has a calendar system which lets you choose what you want to do and how you want your week to play out. Either go to a dungeon and explore or hangout with other characters in the game, in which you gain Social

Links. When you hangout with a friend of yours in the game, you occasionally gain ranks based on how much time you spend with them. When you achieve a higher rank, the Personas you fuse with can become stronger, depending what Arcana they are. Sometimes, I feel like this game is an anime because, in my opinion, the morning parts are very enjoyable, and you get to learn more about the Japanese culture. Sometimes I would rush through the dungeons just so I could advance in the story and do my social link stuff because I enjoyed it so much... all of this makes for a highly immersive and innovative experience.

All of your characters have Personas which are basically like Pokemon. Personas are basically used for your skill attacks and every Persona is different. There are several “elements” in the game and every Persona has different different strengths and weaknesses to them. When you encounter an enemy you have the option to hit him with your weapon, or use your Persona. Almost all the enemies have weaknesses, in which you have to discover. Once you discover them you can attack them with their weakness and then they would become vulnerable to another attack. A basic strategy is to knock all the enemies down, and when you do, you get the option to do an All Out Attack, wherein your party members charge at their enemies and beat the shit out of them. In my opinion Persona 4 has excellent strategic gameplay that is very satisfying. Fusing your Personas and using their abilities the correct way will lead to very satisfying victories. Persona 4 is a huge improvement from P3 because, in Persona 3, your party members are controlled by the A.I., wherein P4 you actually have the option to give orders to your partners. When you explore in this game you go through different dungeons each of which have their own theme and style. This is a great improvement from P3 because all you explore in P3 is one place with varying floor design. This game blends high school simulation with turn based gameplay so well and I will guarantee that you will enjoy both.
 

This game took me about 60 hours to beat, and that's because I didn't stay in the dungeons very long and tried to advance the story. The game can take anywhere from 60-80 hours depending on how much you actually want to see or how quickly you just want to go through the game. This game is pretty long and it's most definitely worth the 30 bucks it's priced at now.

This is my favorite game of all time. I've been playing games for more than 13 years, and this game is just so awesome. I believe that if you have a PS2 and you love RPGS you need to buy this NOW. It's only 30 bucks so get it while it's this cheap!