Game Review: Shin Megami Tensei – Persona 4

After being positively blown away by Persona 3, I didn’t waste any time in starting up the next game in the series, Persona 4. 105 hours later, my expectations were exceeded, and I was more than satisfied.

STORY

Just like most RPG series, the Persona games aren’t directly tied to each other. Persona 4 is a story independent of that of Persona 3, although there are some references and vague connections.

You play as an unnamed character who has just moved to the small town of Inaba. Shortly after moving there, you hear rumors of a strange TV program that comes on at midnight when it rains. In addition, a series of mysterious murders have been occurring in town. It’s up to you to unravel the mystery behind these murders, and to determine what connection these may have to the TV program.

While the story doesn’t really pick up until near the end of the game, it is still very well paced, and constantly introduces new characters and subplots to keep your attention focused. Unfortunately, the story is not without its faults, as some parts could eventually start to feel very repetitive.

GAMEPLAY

The gameplay is almost identical to that of its predecessor, and that’s not a bad thing at all. There are many enhancements, however. Persona 4 corrects many balance issues that Persona 3 had, both in developing Social Links and in the battle system. Instead of having to raise three characteristic stats (Academics, Charm, and Courage), you now have five (Intelligence, Diligence, Courage, Understanding, and Expression). Although this may seem like more work, the game presents more opportunities in which you can raise these stats, so they go up faster. Talking to people, reading books, answering questions in class, paticipating in activities, and many other things will all affect how these stats grow. These stats are necessary in order to develop your Social Links, which are the relationships you form with the people you meet. Saying different things to different people will affect your Social Link with them, which in turn indirectly affects your performance in battle.

When it comes time to do battle, the gameplay becomes much more linear. There is no enormous tower to climb this time. Instead, you are now presented with a series of different dungeons that you must progress through in order. Each dungeon has its own unique style and its own story behind it.

Persona 4 continues the tradition of a turn-based battle system, but with major improvements. All of the balance issues I mentioned in my Persona 3 review are nearly non-existent, making the game much less frustrating. Unfortunately, not all of the annoyances are gone. If your character falls in battle, you’re done. Even if your allies are still standing and have full health, it’s game over. Because of this, perhaps the most useful item in the game is the Goho-M, which allows you to immediately return to the entrance of a dungeon, where you can heal up and save your game. Upon reentering the dungeon, the game is kind enough to let you resume at the floor you left off at, shaving off a load of time and effort you would have to put into retracing your footsteps.

Enemies have different weaknesses that you can exploit to gain a large advantage in battle. But only through trial and error (or through the use of a handy strategy guide) can you discover these weaknesses. There is no free scanning; you simply have to try different spells on different enemies and pray for the best. Fortunately, once you discover an enemy’s weakness, the game will remember it for you. Exploiting these weaknesses is the key to victory, but it’s not always so easy. Some enemies have no weakness at all. Many times you will encounter a combination of different types of enemies, all with different weaknesses. When this happens, those handy “attack all” spells aren’t so handy anymore.

The gameplay of Persona 4 is a very well thought out and executed formula that works. There’s no need to worry about which path is the “correct path,” as the game offers plenty of leeway to prevent you from reaching a standstill. As long as you spend your time doing something, you’ll be fine.

VISUALS & SOUND

Persona games like to do everything their own way. The stories & gameplay are both very unique, and the music is no exception. Instead of employing the use of the traditional fantasy RPG style classical tunes, Persona 4 has J-Pop. That’s right, J-Pop. And it’s awesome. Initially, one may think this kind of music is very unfitting for an RPG, but it actually works quite well. The entire soundtrack is a masterpiece of both vocal tunes and the instrumentals.

The graphics & visuals are very impressive. Some of my friends have, at first sight, even thought it was a PS3 game. That’s how impressive the graphics are. The character art is more anime-styled this time around, which I personally like much more.

OVERALL

A spectacular game from a spectacular series. Fresh presentation, gameplay, and story make this game an absolute winner. If you’ve never played it before, you’re missing out on a lot. So, do yourself a favor and pick it up. You won’t regret it one bit.

Also, this.