After much anticipation and waiting, I finally get the chance to put Persona 4 into my PlayStation 2 and revel in its glory and overall awesomeness… YES!
I finished Persona 3 FES a while back after a somewhat agonizing final boss battle (like my party ‘accidentally’ healing all 6000+ of the boss’ HP). Actually, there’s two parts to the game: The Journey which is the main storyline and The Answer which acts as an epilogue to The Journey, telling of the events that happen a month after the Journey’s ending. I played through The Answer a little bit, but I had already invested so much time in main story (about 120+ hours total played). I wanted to take a break from all of the that gameplay, but Persona 4 was sitting there on my desk just waiting to be played. So I gave in and started playing about 18 or so hours after finishing Person 3 FES.
In Persona 4, you play the role as a young teenager going into his 2nd year of high school. The beginning shows him moving to the countryside town of Inaba to live with his uncle and young cousin as he transfers to the high school in town. As soon as he moves in, a series of mysterious murders start to occur in this small and quiet town leaving no clues to the murderer and the police with more questions than answers. It’s up to the main character and his new friends to venture off and see what’s really going on by going into a mysterious world inside the televsion and using their Persona powers to solve the mystery.
Persona 4 is a HUGE upgrade from Persona 3 FES from everything from gameplay to music to graphics. The one thing that I absolutely love in 4 is the new fighting system. You’re now given the ability to give direct commands to your party members during battle as opposed to 3 when you were only able to give certain actions (like “Heal/Support” or “Full Assault”) and hope that they make the right moves that don’t get the entire party killed. From my geeky design side, I really love the color scheme used throughout the game with the yellows and bright colors. Then again, yellow is my favorite color…
So far, this is a great game to play for not just its fighting system but for the storyline itself. The story for Persona 3 FES kind of depressed me at the end. Don’t get me wrong.. it was a good game but I felt all down and sad going through the main storyline. Persona 4′s storyline and just the way it tells the story is very upbeat with an awesome soundtrack to go with it.
I know it’s not enough to just tell you about the game… that’s why I have here a few YouTube links so that you can get a better idea of the game and see if you want to play it yourself (without, hopefully, giving away any spoilers). I’ll be sure to report back once I finish the game. Just give me a few hundred hours… but now enjoy the videos!!
Reach Out To The Truth – This is the normal battle music you hear throughout the game. My favorite song so far in the game.
コンビニ/Convenient Store – A quick little animation featuring the Persona 4 characters. I actually knew about this before even hearing about the game… I just love the song and the drawings.
Just a Junes – Junes (pronounced joo-NES and is written as ジュネス in Japanese) is the name of the department store located in Inaba. Think of it as their version of Wal-Mart. Throughout the game, you’ll be making a number of trips here.
