I was wondering how Persona 4 fares for the girlfriend type game. My girlfriend is not a gamer by any means, and actually teases me quite often for my interest in gaming. However, i left my PS2 at her house as she doesn't have a DVD player, and also so that whenever I'm at her house i'll at least have something to do... Point is, i ended up buying a second controller, and getting her fight night 2004. She is madly addicted to the game, and just button mashes, but can't actually do the "get up after knocked down" minigame. So that should give you a good sense of her gaming skills. Or lack thereof. 
Anyhow, i was wondering how Persona 4 would be for her... It's an RPG so I figure the battle system is similar to a final fantasy or generic JRPG, with just spamming the "X" button for attack each turn, and I figure that the story will keep her interested and addicted. In all honesty, I kinda wanna get P4 just for me to play through as well, but also for her to play when she's by herself and bored. Any opinions or feedback?

She'd have to be majorly into most modern anime *death note* or basically whats termed gothy anime.

That would be a no. Hmmm, I've got a feeling I'm going to have to either just live at her place for the next few weeks, or take my PS2 back. I havent even watched the infamous endurance run for fear it might spoil my experience. Thanks for the feedback though. Much appreciated.

" She'd have to be majorly into most modern anime *death note* or basically whats termed gothy anime. "

My first suggestion would be to buy her a freaking DVD player and get your PS2 back!  DVD players are a lot cheaper.  LOL  :)

I would say that Persona 4 is very much like Final Fantasy 10 in that the combat is turn-based (take as long as you want to take your turn and then the enemy takes theirs), be conscious of your enemy's strengths and weaknesses (example: an enemy might be weak to fire spells but reflect ice spells), and you have to be weary of status ailments and healing your party, etc.  It's a tried and true combat system that is nearly perfected after so many years and is quite enjoyable for many folks, depending on their play-style.  The game is story and dialogue heavy, so if you or she is not into that sort of thing you won't like it.  It's a great story though and the characters are all very memorable and likable.   They are awesome!  Considering that the game was developed for the PS2, there is very little if anything that can be criticized without just nitpicking.  There can be some frustrating mechanics that must be endured but none of them take away from the enjoyment of this title.  The music is superb, the story and dialogue are excellent, and the voice acting is very well done.  Most importantly, the game-play is a great deal of fun and will keep you very well entertained for hours at a time and begs you to play until the end for a very satisfying conclusion. Approximately 100 hours of some of the most fun game-play awaits you!  It is such a remarkable experience that you will certainly regret not giving this game the chance it deserves.  

P.S.  The combat system is definitely not just spam the "X" button. This is not a button masher game, it is very much more cerebral than that.  As mentioned before, you have to think about your actions during and after your turn.  Let's say one of your characters is weak to fire and your healer has been afflicted with silence so that he/she can no longer heal you, and your big hitter has been subjected to enervation so that his or her attacks become very weak, or the character that has the spell you absolutely need in order to beat the enemy or survive another round has been enraged and can no longer cast that spell,  you have some choices to make.  Do you cure someone? Do you heal someone? Do you cast "Red Wall" to protect the fire weakness so that the enemy doesn't get two turns in a row and wipe out your entire party? Defense? Evade? Attack? Escape if it's possible? It takes a little strategy and thats the fun part!

I think its very girlfriend friendly, could play it on beginner with no big deal, and just take in the humor and the story fairly easily. However, I dont know any girls that arent into video games at all, so I guess I couldnt say for sure.

Thanks to everyone for all the input. I didn't mean to really offend or demean the combat in the game at all. I'm quite familiar with JPRG's and know that it isn't all about just spamming attack, and that spells are necesarry, strengths weakness', resists etc etc. What i meant was that I was assuming that since it is a JPRG it's just basically movement, and pressing "X" no actual technical skill was really required. However in saying that, I think that the intricacies of the combat are beyond her. Unfortunately english isn't her first language, although she does live in Melbourne, Australia with me obviously. Point is: I don't care, most of the time I'm at her house I'm forced to watch free-to-air TV because there's nothing else to do (and if there's any other aussies here, you can relate to how ridiculously boring and poor quality free-to-air aussie TV is), so I'm going to buy P4, and if she wants to watch, cool. If not, get to cookin woman! I get hungry during marathon gaming sessions! lol

My girlfriend enjoys watching me play it... but like you said... she don't really understand what I'm doing when it comes to battle. I normally have to stop playing it at the grinding sections.

" My wife watched me play most of the game and gave me some good advice at times in the game where I missed things, so she was Jeff to my Vinny. "

Persona 4 is pretty deep into the geek realm...  Most people who play it would probably just think it's weird, and would be totally lost in the combat, storyline and fusion.

She would not like it.

" @WilliamRLBaker said:

" She'd have to be majorly into most modern anime *death note* or basically whats termed gothy anime. "

Actually, it felt more like one of those high school anime, not really gothy. There's way too much comedy to be like that shit stain Death Note.

I think we can all agree that death note, like most anime is stupid. Heck, persona 4 is pretty stupid. Luckily, Vinny and Jeff played it for me. I don't see how a girl who doesn't like videogames could complete it. Maybe on easy.

We're overgeneralizing here. Depends on the girlfriend.

" She'd have to be majorly into most modern anime *death note* or basically whats termed gothy anime. "

A lady friend of mine snatched up P4 and P3 after watching the Endurance Run.

Noted, she was already an RPG fan, but besides a lot of old adventure games and FFX on PS2, she didn't really ever mention games.  She's since played through P4 and is now on a new game +, if that helps.

Chicks dig it.  I usually let the gentler sex choose between the dialogue choices. 

In general, if you want to introduce girls to gaming, JRPG's are the best way to go.  Simply because a colorful cast of characters helps and they can easily become invested in the drama and story.  

My girlfriend hates this game with a fucking passion lol. She saw my playing through the intro and spent most of that time complaining about how long it was. She likes to get down to the action right away.... I guess RPGS aren't for her :P