When I first learned of Persona 4, I was strangely fascinated by its premise. A teenager moves to a small town and mysterious deaths start occuring. You have a year to discover what is going on and in that time you must also attend school and forge relationships. Creating bonds with classmates, your relatives and strangers will affect your powers in battle and ultimately whether or not you solve the crimes before you leave. This social aspect is something that made the game stand out and convinced me to give it a shot.
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 is a very different RPG from what I’ve ever played before. I was raised on the classic Final Fantasy / Chrono Trigger / Secret of Mana gameplay styles so I thought I knew what to expect with this game. Right off the bat you are greeted by well-written and relatable characters. In fact, I would say the level of detail in all of the characters in the game (both teammates and NPCs) is easily the best part of the game. No character is one-dimensional and all of them together make the story very interesting for the 70+ hours you’ll be playing the game. The game spends a large chunk of the time with the player watching the main characters spit witty banter back and forth and never for a second do you think these aren’t high school kids. They sound like them, they act like them and they certainly are as random as them.
When you’re not furthering the plot through [for the most part] non-interactive conversations, you are busy in Inaba (the town you live in) talking to random people doing quests, buying things from stores, participating in gym class or a club, holding an after-school job or even having a girlfriend. The sheer amount of things to do is quite impressive early on and certainly fills up the majority of your time (each day is essentially split into 3 parts: Morning/School, Afternoon and Evening…you can generally do one thing per block of time each day…and the game takes place over the span of about 275 days). It should also be noted that it is impossible (as far as I am aware) to accomplish everything in one time through so picking how to spend your time on a daily basis is very important in the grand scheme of things.
When it does come time to get into the expected fighting parts of the game you are shocked to learn that you aren’t faced with typical RPG areas to explore. No, the “dungeons” you explore in the TV world are randomly generated each time you visit (much like the levels in Diablo or Phantasy Star Online) and, for the most part, the enemies, rooms and overall dungeon layout stay very similar each time you visit a “new” one. It’s also nearly impossible to explore an entire dungeon in one-pass (especially in later dungeons where the enemies are much tougher) which means your level-exploration takes place over 3-4 days before you can reach the boss. Luckily, the game always gives you about 2 weeks to complete your goal before the plot either moves ahead or stops abruptly.
What’s makes Persona 4 stand out in a sea of RPGs is how amazing its story really is (many games try to feel epic or more than interesting than they really are). Granted, there are a few plot hiccups here and there where you’ll be left scratching your head (a few late developments seem to come way out of left field)…but given the fact that the game takes place over the span of 70 hours and never really falls into a predictable plot path, it’s mind-blowing to think how high the story’s quality and charm is for 99% of the time.
Concerning visuals, the graphics were never an issue for me since I never expected the PS2 to knock my socks off…but I was pleasantly surprised to see such a wide variety of areas to explore that looked different (one very “videogame” location instantly comes to mind), video effects, anime character illustrations, video clips, etc. — obviously a lot of work did go into how Persona 4 looked, even if it is on a “last-gen” system. And the game’s final bosses look freaking awesome (a certain spherical boss near the end looks the coolest).
Audio-wise, Persona 4’s has set a new standard in my mind for how voice acting should be done. Every character is fun listening to and no one sounds wooden or like they are just reading their lines to get a paycheck. And the sheer amount of spoken dialogue in the game will amaze you as well. I don’t believe I’ve ever heard so much spoken conversations in a game ever. (One great scene where voice acting shines is on a school field trip to another city where the characters play a rather grown-up game :) Oh, and it doesn’t hurt that the soundtrack is excellent as well. The catchy J-pop tunes, mixed with a wide variety of styles of music (I love the final boss battle songs and the ending theme), make Persona 4’s soundtrack one of the best heard in a videogame ever. If you are able to pick up the game you’ll be pleased to know a music cd is included with it…because you’ll almost certainly be humming the tunes when you’re not playing the game.
The only area that perhaps needed some more work was the play control in the game. While navigating around Inaba and in the TV world was no problem, saving felt like a chore at times when you were trying to make your way through a stage or level up. It also didn’t help that your magic points (SP) were very impractical to recharge even once a day because of how scarce the SP restore items are in Persona 4.
Oh, and I should mention three other pet peeves regarding overall playability issues: If your main character dies in battle, the game ends automatically, even if your teammates are perfectly healthy. This led to me yelling at the TV on more than one occasion. Also, this is a tough game. Even the normal difficulty is brutal with certain bosses. It may just be that it’s been a long time since I’ve played an RPG…but Persona 4 will require quite a bit of dedication at certain points to keep you going on. Finally, the issue of the endings need to be addressed. While it’s great the game has multiple endings, the way Persona 4 handles them isn’t ideal. I suspect most gamers on their first playthrough will get no further than the first two endings – both of which are bad – and will be robbed of an additional 15 hours of gameplay. The only way to be sure you’re doing things right is to go online because the game is very vague about what exactly are key points/decisions in gameplay that affect the ending. You really do have to work for the true ending (and there’s a point at the end where your determination and dedication to finishing what you started is addressed…perhaps the game creators were very aware many gamers would be tempted to quit when they got the bad endings?) …In short, I will say the true ending is immensely satisfying…but it’s too bad you aren’t naturally pushed towards it by default, regardless of the creators’ intentions.
Overall, Persona 4 is one of the very best RPGs of all time, something that is incredibly impressive considering I now rank it up there with Final Fantasy II & III, Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, Panzer Dragoon Saga and Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete. This game really pushes the genre in a direction that future games need to explore in more detail (the deep, rich characters who affect the gameplay experience directly and differently depending on your actions). If you want to experience one of the best epic stories ever found in a video game, look no further than Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4.
Graphics: 8 | Sound: 10 | Play Control: 7 | Fun Factor: 10 | Final Score: 91%
Phantasy Star Online’s levels weren’t actually randomly-generated, I think. The majority of the areas were very same-y, but the only thing ‘random’, or at least variable, was the starting location.
Or I could be wrong. They were all very same-y, so it’s difficult to tell either way.
Did you play Persona 3, at all? Aside from the existence of multiple separate dungeons, and the general setting, I’m not sure how P4 differs that much from P3, yet many more people seem to be raving about the latest game compared to P3.
Well, they weren’t entirely randomly generated but you never knew what “design” they’d be in until you loaded up the level. Because of that characteristic, I tend to classify it as a randomly-generated-level-based game. I’m sure even Diablo had “chunks” that weren’t entirely randomly generated (the Butcher’s area is a good example of something that stays consistent in every “random” level early on in that game).
I actually ordered Persona 3 last week with some Christmas money I had left over. Hopefully I’ll be getting that by Friday and will start trying that out.
As far as why people are talking about this (as opposed to P3 from 2007)…it’s probably because (from what I read), Persona 3 was a great game…but only the first truly good game in the series. With 4 being excellent as well, it seems the media has begun to look at the series with more interest and respect — which is why more sites/magazines are probably talking about it compared to its predecessor.