Hey dudes,

I just got this game because I've nothing but great things about it on the internet. Now, I was not keen on this site in 09, so I never did watch the Endurance Run, but it is my impression that that is a big landmark on the site. I have free time at my job (graveyard shift) and I spend a good amount of time watching GB videos on my computer. I guess my question is, would watching the Endurance Run of P4 completely kill my urge to play this game? Should I just forget about watching it, play the game, and when it's all said and done, then watch the ER? I hope that doesn't sound like a stupid question. I mainly want to watch it for the commentary, because Jeff + Vinny = Gold. If you have watched the ER, played the game, or both, please lemme know. Thank you.

If you're a fan of JRPGs, then I suggest you play it for yourself and then watch the ER. It's a really special game. I wish I can wipe my memory of it so that I can experience it for the first time again.

Or you could do both at the same time. Play the game at home and watch the ER at work. That sounds pretty cool.

yeah i think watching the ER first would ruin a lot of the experience for you.

@SAC said:

Hey dudes,

I just got this game because I've nothing but great things about it on the internet. Now, I was not keen on this site in 09, so I never did watch the Endurance Run, but it is my impression that that is a big landmark on the site. I have free time at my job (graveyard shift) and I spend a good amount of time watching GB videos on my computer. I guess my question is, would watching the Endurance Run of P4 completely kill my urge to play this game? Should I just forget about watching it, play the game, and when it's all said and done, then watch the ER? I hope that doesn't sound like a stupid question. I mainly want to watch it for the commentary, because Jeff + Vinny = Gold. If you have watched the ER, played the game, or both, please lemme know. Thank you.

Don't watch it if you plan on playing the game. It is an RPG after all and you will be ruining the storyline for yourself. What will end up happening is you'll just feel like you're slogging through what Jeff and Vinny played through except now you're on you're own. Without the suspense of not knowing where the story will go or what you will encounter next, Persona games are just dungeons crawls that are not necessarily very exciting.

@SAC: So I watched the Endurance Run first, when I finished I went out and bought the game. When it came to playing the game however I just got bored, without Jeff and Vinny making funny jokes it wasn't as fun as a game anymore. Not to mention you know the story and the characters and everything. I recommend play it first then watch it, I think playing it alongside watching it would be overkill.

Personally, I watched a few episodes of the ER and the game looked really sweet so I got it and started playing it (Playing it at such a feverishly pace that I quickly passed the guys and finished it way before they did). I felt more rewarded having played the big moments for myself and then seeing how Jeff and Vinny reacted and what choices they made in hindsight.

So I recommend playing through the game first.

By the by I did the exact same thing with Deadly Premonition

As illmatic said, it's a very special game, one that you have to experience playing yourself. I'd advise you to try playing it for a few hours, and then to start the endurance run. That way you won't spoil anything for yourself and you'll also get the pleasure of experiencing the hilarity of the endurance run, you might also get to know new mechanics and other neat stuff from the videos.

That's the way I did it, at least.

Watch it, definitely better than playing it. If you really want to play it though, just play a long while you watch it.

Since you already have the game, it might be better to play it yourself before watching.

I watched the entire Endurance Run long before I played the game myself and I'm still having a great time with it. The benefit I got from watching the ER is a look at which tactics work and don't work.

Play first, then watch. That's the only way.

I watched the ER and played Persona 4 simultaneously. By this I mean that I played the game until I reached a point far past where the ER was, and then watched the ER up until they reached the same point. This happened naturally as I played the game and I didn't have to plan to do this. It's like when you and your friend play the same game and you want to know what he/she did, why he/she did it, if he/she likes it, etc. Only this time you'll know those things exactly through hilarious videos.

The only reason I would play the game instead of watch the ER is so I could finish Kanji's S-Link. The ER is great, you can watch the story when it's a story sequence, and you can play more fun games when it's a dungeon episode.

For me, it was the ER that sold me the game, Playing it myself just confrimed for me that it was awesome. Of course, the ER is comedy gold, and i've watched again since playing for the hell of it but I was still able to separate the two

I say play first, watch later.

@kuz101 said:

I watched the ER and played Persona 4 simultaneously. By this I mean that I played the game until I reached a point far past where the ER was, and then watched the ER up until they reached the same point. This happened naturally as I played the game and I didn't have to plan to do this. It's like when you and your friend play the same game and you want to know what he/she did, why he/she did it, if he/she likes it, etc. Only this time you'll know those things exactly through hilarious videos.

This is pretty much how I did it and it made the experience that much more enjoyable.

@Video_Game_King said:

Play first, then watch. That's the only way.

It's more interesting through yourself, since you discover all the mystery and stuff. If you were to watch the ER first, it would kinda ruin it.

Plus it's interesting to see which characters you became attached to as opposed to the GB guys.

Watching the ER will give you the story stuff and save you the tedium (if you see it that way) of grinding (although it's arguably more tedious to watch other people grind than doing it yourself). They actually covered enough of the content that you wouldn't be missing anything major by watching and not playing.

I wouldn't recommend playing P4 and then immediately watching the ER, or vice versa. That's a sure-fire way to burn yourself out.

@SAC: I watched the ER first, and I can say that it didn't ruin the experience of playing it in the slightest. In fact, I would say it actually made the experience of playing it better. I would recall gags from the ER as they came up and chuckle to myself. Also, it gave me the opportunity to see a lot more of the content in the game because I could pursue Social Links that Jeff and Vinny missed on their run through.

But that's just me. I could totally understand why someone would favor playing the game first. There are a lot of great twists in the story, and I could see how it might be more rewarding to come upon them yourself. So if that's important to you, go that route (though I will say that I didn't personally feel that the impact of any of those twists was diminished by Jeff's and Vinny's commentary).

As a side note: Persona 3 is excellent as well and you should definitely look into it. Follows basically the same formula, except in my opinion some things were way more interesting.

Seeing how you own it you should definatly play it yourself. Weather or not you then watch the endurance run depends on you, many people seem to like the endurance run. As is the dominant opinion in this thread. However I would rather play through it again myself then watch the endurance run.

I played through P4 when it first came out, then watched the ER, then did a 2nd playthrough, then watched the ER for a 2nd time... rinse repeat!

But yeah, I recommend either playing through the game first then watching, or starting the game, and then watching the ER along with it. Always keeping your gameplay experience ahead of the ER.

I'm in the same situation as you....The ER is my first playthrough.

In my case I started watching the ER, and started playing the gamer near the 100th episode. Then I got hooked and finished the game before they finished the ER. But those were some demented couple of weeks, I remember dungeoning on Persona 4 while watching the latest ER episode. It was great!

I knew the game through the ER, then played P3, and know I'm hooked on the series. Planning on playing P4 all over again soon.

playing first is probably the safest option for most people.

Think about this, if you watch first then you know what will happen when you play the game. So little to no new surprises.

However if you play first you still don't know what Vinny and Jeff are going to do say as they playthorugh. So there's still new content to be enjoyed.

You're a horrible terrible person if you don't play it first.

It really depends. Im not a huge fan of JRPGs or even RPGs in general, but the story sounded interesting to me so i watched the ER. Of course, i am one of those people who doesnt really care about stories being spoiled for me(side note: an interesting article from wired about studies that show spoilers enhance book enjoyment). So keeping that in mind, i was able to watch and enjoy the ER, and also play the game. Its really personal preference.

I watched the ER first and found it to be a perfectly acceptable way to see the game's story. I don't know if I would have enjoyed it as much as I did if I hadn't been just as surprised as Jeff and Vinny during story moments.

I was recently playing it and watching the ER at the same time. Although I was always one step ahead of the ER.

Clearly if you play it first you'll just tear your hair out how they're not doing the optimal things that gamefaqs and the official strategy guide and many years of grind-culture JRPG experience has told you to how you're meant to play it, like most of the people leaving comments on the ER videos did. I'd just watch the ER first.

Play then watch.

Play then watch.

Play then watch.

Play then watch.

Play then watch.

This is the way.

Phew. I just finished both the game and the endurance run. In the game, I was playing a week or two ahead of where vinny and jeff were in the endurance run. That way you get their commentary on all the major events soon after you've played through them yourself. I did get some of the social link stuff spoiled, but that just allowed me to pursue the other social links.