Persona 4 Review (MILD spoilers)
I thought Persona 3 was a bit of a fluke with how good it is, as I thought the first two Persona games on PS1 were... Bad... when I checked them out recently(Maybe they've aged badly, I don't know), but with Persona 4, Atlus have proven that they have the concept that drives the Persona series now down to a fine art, and know exactly how to make the experience better.
Once again placing you in control of an unspeaking character you name yourself, Persona 4 begins with you moving to small town Japan to stay with relatives so you can go to school, and almost as soon as you arrive, people start getting murdered in mysterious circumstances and you seem to be having dreams connected to it. It isn't long before you team up with a group of oddball students at school to investigate the murders and discover a connection to 'The Midnight Channel', a gateway to a world inside the TV made up of the darkness inside human beings. This leads to the discovery of your ability to use 'personas'(Monsters that you use to fight battles with) and with that, you're leading a group of pesky kids attempting to find the connection between this monster filled world of corrupted human psyche and the real world murders as you venture into various people's very souls made form in the shape of large dungeons not dissimilar to the tower of tartarus from Persona 3, but smaller(There are a lot of these dungeons though).
Sounds messed up, right? Well, in places it is, but Persona 4's real charm lies in just easy to follow it is. Gone is the messed up 'experiments' and 'secret organisations' of Persona 3 as you have here a group of perfectly normal teenagers thrown into a situation beyond their understanding who struggle to cope with the burden placed on them. The characters in P4 are all so human and believable you really grow to care deeply for them fairly early on. Also unlike Persona 3, the game now has much more of a sense of humour to it's story, with a mostly light hearted approach to a horrifying situation that is occasionally broken up by moments of shockingly grim twists, such as early on the game when you're meeting your classmates for the first time, one them who seems like she'll be as regular in the game is murdered almost immediately. It isn't a game that's afraid to shock.
The game plays identically to Persona 3 with some minor differences, not least of which is you can now control all your characters in battle if you wish, or let the AI do the job yet again if that isn't your thing. The social links, dungeoning, and exploration are all as they were in Persona 3 though, just bigger and more refined. The one real drawback is that the town you live in has a lot less to do and see compared to Persona 3's large city, making the game feel quite small and confined at times.
Visuals are slightly better than Persona 3, with walking around looking a lot nicer than before, but battles looking more or less the same as last time. It's a decent looking game though, with the visuals never getting overly boring over the game's 60-70 hour run time.
The soundtrack though is a massive highlight, with a series of awesome fully vocal songs playing throughout and moody, atmospheric dungeon tunes setting the tone perfectly. The 'battle' music may get on your nerves after a while though.
This game is simply a joy to play. It never fails to engage with it's multiple threads exploring friendship, loss, guilt, love and confronting the darkness within your own soul. It's an emotional rollercoaster like few you will ever experience, but it's not going to be for the faint of heart as a huge time investment to play is necessary, as is being prepared to level grind through dungeons more than a few times.
It's a tough game, but the rewards offered are richer than any game you're likely to play. An essential purchase if ever I saw one and the inclusion of a free CD of the game's excellent soundtrack is a true deal sweetener.
Once again placing you in control of an unspeaking character you name yourself, Persona 4 begins with you moving to small town Japan to stay with relatives so you can go to school, and almost as soon as you arrive, people start getting murdered in mysterious circumstances and you seem to be having dreams connected to it. It isn't long before you team up with a group of oddball students at school to investigate the murders and discover a connection to 'The Midnight Channel', a gateway to a world inside the TV made up of the darkness inside human beings. This leads to the discovery of your ability to use 'personas'(Monsters that you use to fight battles with) and with that, you're leading a group of pesky kids attempting to find the connection between this monster filled world of corrupted human psyche and the real world murders as you venture into various people's very souls made form in the shape of large dungeons not dissimilar to the tower of tartarus from Persona 3, but smaller(There are a lot of these dungeons though).
Sounds messed up, right? Well, in places it is, but Persona 4's real charm lies in just easy to follow it is. Gone is the messed up 'experiments' and 'secret organisations' of Persona 3 as you have here a group of perfectly normal teenagers thrown into a situation beyond their understanding who struggle to cope with the burden placed on them. The characters in P4 are all so human and believable you really grow to care deeply for them fairly early on. Also unlike Persona 3, the game now has much more of a sense of humour to it's story, with a mostly light hearted approach to a horrifying situation that is occasionally broken up by moments of shockingly grim twists, such as early on the game when you're meeting your classmates for the first time, one them who seems like she'll be as regular in the game is murdered almost immediately. It isn't a game that's afraid to shock.
The game plays identically to Persona 3 with some minor differences, not least of which is you can now control all your characters in battle if you wish, or let the AI do the job yet again if that isn't your thing. The social links, dungeoning, and exploration are all as they were in Persona 3 though, just bigger and more refined. The one real drawback is that the town you live in has a lot less to do and see compared to Persona 3's large city, making the game feel quite small and confined at times.
Visuals are slightly better than Persona 3, with walking around looking a lot nicer than before, but battles looking more or less the same as last time. It's a decent looking game though, with the visuals never getting overly boring over the game's 60-70 hour run time.
The soundtrack though is a massive highlight, with a series of awesome fully vocal songs playing throughout and moody, atmospheric dungeon tunes setting the tone perfectly. The 'battle' music may get on your nerves after a while though.
This game is simply a joy to play. It never fails to engage with it's multiple threads exploring friendship, loss, guilt, love and confronting the darkness within your own soul. It's an emotional rollercoaster like few you will ever experience, but it's not going to be for the faint of heart as a huge time investment to play is necessary, as is being prepared to level grind through dungeons more than a few times.
It's a tough game, but the rewards offered are richer than any game you're likely to play. An essential purchase if ever I saw one and the inclusion of a free CD of the game's excellent soundtrack is a true deal sweetener.
