Persona 4

The Short

Pros
- Takes every complaint I had about Persona 3: FES and fixes it
- Tons of really fantastic voice acting throughout
- Has probably the most distinct, uniform art style of any game I've played
- Speaking of style, this game has it in buckets: music, graphics, character, etc.
- Same unique, deep turn-based combat as Persona 3: FES
- Tons more dungeons, and each has a unique and entertaining theme
- Every side character is extremely interesting and entertaining
- Music is much improved: still very Japanese, but far less irritating
- More personas, more fusion options, better explanations on what your fusions will make
- You can control your entire party, or choose to let them act independently
- Interesting detective story while you try to find the cause of supernatural murders in your town
- Actually gets a bit psychological with regards to accepting your "shadow," or "repressed" side in the main story
- Tons of little side stories that happen during the main one
- Includes a disc with the complete soundtrack
- Seriously, this game has some of the best characters in any video game, ever.

Cons
- The main RPG is still very grindy and basic
- Still only one battle song throughout. At least it's actually catchy and decent this time.
- Some of the general weirdness might turn the uninitiated off
- Kanji's story arc could come off to some as being homophobic
- The lack of "shooting your head to summon your persona" takes some of the edge out; attacking cards to do it is kind of lame
- Getting the "true" ending involves doing a lot of random, stupid things
- At it's core, nothing is really fundamentally different from Persona 3: FES

Here's a hint: it probably involves summoning giant demons from your mind. 

The Long

It's already been established that I loved Persona 3. I think the game is a fresh hybrid of genres that worked beautifully and did it all with class and style. Minus a few niggles I had with it (which I mentioned in my previous review), I thought Persona 3 was close to being the best JRPG I'd ever played on the PS2, and was certainly up there with the best JRPGs ever.

Then I played Persona 4.

Persona 4 isn't just one of my favorite JRPGs ever, I really think it's one of the best games ever. While one could argue it doesn't stray too far from the path forged by Persona 3, Persona 4 takes everything its predecessor created and polishes it a perfect shine. Which, you'd be surprised to know, actually makes a world of a difference. 

This game just drips its fantastic, "TV World" style. 

The first major improvement is the story. Persona 3 was just interesting enough to keep the game moving, but as a whole the story felt uninspired and somewhat generic. How many "High Schoolers with powers save the world from utter oblivion" stories can we really handle? Persona 4 fixes this by zooming the camera in and decreasing the scope of the conflict. Instead of the world being endangered it's just the people in your town, specifically your friends. Narrowing down the scope in a game that is really about inter-personal relationships (with the Social Links system) makes it way more meaningful, and fits the gameplay mechanics much better.

You are a new student who just transferred to Inaba, a rural town in Japan. You live with your single-parent uncle and his daughter, the latter essentially being in charge of the house as your uncle is a detective and spends most of his time working. His job really gets cut out for him when, shortly after your arrival, a string of grisly murders begins to take place in Inaba. After some bizarre turn of events you find out that these murders are actually taking place inside a different world, one that is accessed by going into televisions. You and your classmates decide to take it upon yourselves to find the murderer, save his intended victims, and basically be kick-butt heroes. Oh, and you all have personas. That's to be expected. 

Let's play, "Guess the gender of this character based on the picture." If you guessed "girl," you are smarter than every character in this game. 

The story also has an interesting side-bit to it, where the reason people are endangered when they are essentially kidnapped into the TVs is that they encounter their "shadow-self." This is essentially one's repressed fears, doubts, and emotions that makes itself manifest, the dark side of you that you don't want to acknowledge. The dungeons in the game are based on these shadows (who also serve as the area bosses), meaning every dungeon is unique and different. Seeing characters' darker sides lets you learn more about them, especially if they are characters you already knew a lot about before. It's a clever mechanic that not only makes the story and gameplay more in tune with the characters, but also ties in well with all the Social Linking you'll be doing. 

Yes, social links are back, as is fusing personas, level grinding, and raising stats. There are more stats in this game to raise than in Persona 3 (five vs three), but they tend to go up faster and net dividends quicker. No characters are "locked out" from social linking from the get-go, though you will have to raise some stats in order to learn the deep, dark secrets of the more introverted characters. 

Just look at all those social links that need to be raised! 

I made mention that I thought the characters' stories in Persona 3 were the best parts of the game, and Persona 4 comes along and blows them all out of the water. While I still think there are certainly links in Persona 3 that are better than some in Persona 4, as a whole the side-stories in Persona 4 are completely outstanding, with no weak ones in the entire bunch. This is especially due to the fact that the story itself is more centered around your character and his family/classmates, meaning when you social link with, say, your uncle or his daughter you are getting some really heartbreaking moments (wonder where the mom is? You'll find out). This stuff is really good, and as an added bonus if you max out a Social Link with a party member, their persona will evolve into a better one which is awesome. Also, the girls don't get jealous anymore, so you can have as many girlfriends as you want now. Score. 

The one problem that I wish they'd fixed that wasn't is the same one I had in Persona 3: the individual stories don't really interact or affect each other, or the main plot. There were some parts where I felt I was fixing relationships (especially between my uncle and his daughter), but that was only on the uncle's tree. When I then moved up the daughter's tree, in her story arch they were having a fight. It didn't really make much sense chronologically (it makes sense if you regard each character's story as completely separate affairs), which seems like a wasted opportunity. Fix this in Persona 5, Atlas. 

All out attacks are back, and still look hilarious. 

There is substantially more voice acting to go around, as well. Almost all the main story and social-link events are fully voice acted (while in Persona 3 it was usually just the main story stuff), and the voice actors are all phenomenal. The translation is near-flawless, with a few corny bits but as a whole the dialogue is modern, fresh, and believable. As usual, Atlas' localization is head-and-shoulders above anybody else's, and it really serves as a means to pulling both the story and the characters together.

The gameplay is, for better or worse, exactly the same as Persona 3. I'm not going to bother going over all the details of fusing personas, social links, etc. in this review; if you want to know how it all works go hit up my Persona 3: FES review. Just know that with more dungeons, more personas, the ability to control your whole team manually (finally!), streamlined UI and a better menu system, Persona 4 is the best iteration of the Persona battle system yet. It fixed problems I didn't even know was there, all the while adding layers upon layers of new content. If it ain't broke don't fix it, but Atlas went the extra mile and perfected it instead. Really good stuff.

You can even go fishing, because it isn't a Japanese game if there isn't freaking fishing in it. 

The graphics follow a similar, anime-equie style as Persona 3, but as a whole they are cleaner, better textured, and better animated. They recycle quite a bit of the persona's assets, but they still look good so who cares? The UI, which was sort of a blue-white style in Persona 3, is now more yellow-black with orange. It looks sharper and more interesting, reflecting the fact that this game is significantly more lighthearted that Persona 3 was. No more head shooting (you just use cards now), no more super-emo main character, and most of your friends are more happy-go-lucky types rather than the downers that inhabited Persona 3. It makes for a funner, sweeter game, and the lighter graphical style reflects this. For a game released after the next-gen consoles had hit the market, Persona 4 still manages to look better than most modern games, proving that style doesn't age. I just really wish they'd put in progressive scan and widescreen support, though. That seemed like a pretty big oversight. 

The music has also seen a big improvement. It still fits the whole "Japanese high school" vibe the game has, but it's tracks are softer and less "in your face" than Persona 3. If you absolutely hated Japanese music, there was no way at all you would have made it through Persona 3. If you still hate it, you might actually survive Persona 4. The tunes are mellow, very catchy, and sort of fit more into "background music" when they need to, which is something Persona 3 was lacking. Also, the new battle song is way better, so much so I actually really enjoy listening to it. It's also happier, again reflecting what I said above. 

Much improved, Persona 4

If I have any real complaints, it's the fact that it still has a foundation centered around the worst mechanic in gaming: level grinding. Yes, you don't have to do nearly as much if you are a skilled player, and yes all the improvements make level grinding more tolerable, but it still doesn't change the fact that a good portion of the gameplay is running around random dungeons killing random enemies, leveling up your guys, and then doing it over and over again. It's a dated mechanic, one that was invented in the days of the NES in an attempt to get more time (aka "value") out of games that were really very simple. It's outdated now, Japan. I'm really, really tired of level grinding. And while I appreciate all the sugar-coating you slather on this medicine to help it go down easier, it doesn't change the fact that I don't want it. Luckily, if there's any company that knows how to innovate it's Atlas, so I'm crossing my fingers that Persona 5 will be a massive improvement. 

Travelling around town is also vastly improved...look, this game is awesome, ok? That's all there is to it. 

Persona 4 is one of the finest JRPGs ever made, and might be the best JRPG on the Playstation 2 (which is a lofty claim, I know). It's fun, addicting, stylish, clever, well-written, and smart. But most important of all (I can't believe I'm about to say this...) it really has heart. The story (and stories) in this game are fantastically realized, well-crafted, and genuinely thought-provoking. Every element in this game works, and when you put it all together you have something that is really, really phenomenal. I cannot recommend it enough.

Thanks to Atlas tax (and the fact they publish a limited number of almost all their games), this game goes for about $40 now, which includes the bonus soundtrack. I'm going to warn you: this price will only go up. A PSP re-release is coming soon, but if you want the PS2 version you you probably jump on that soon. I managed to get a copy off eBay that included the strategy guide about nine months ago for $35, meaning the price of this game is really heading up fast. So get this game. Hurry up. 

Edit: I lied this game is $26 on amazon RIGHT NOW. Off you go, then.

A very deserving five out of five. I'd go so far as to say that if you are a fan of JRPGs, and you own a PS2, you should drop what you are currently playing, buy this game, and play it instead. Seriously, it is that good. 

Or, if you have 100 hours to burn but not playing video games, Giant Bomb was kind enough to play through the entire thing, front to back, all on camera with commentary. You'll have to cycle back through their menus to get to it (they played Deadly Premonition and Chrono Trigger this way as well), but the commentators are hilarious and the game is fantastic, so if its easier to watch a movie rather than play a game, you can experience it that way as well. 

Oh balls. This guy must have read my Persona 3 review.