My Personal Persona 4 Experience

It's Persona 4 Time

 One of the first games I got for the PS Vita was Persona 4 Golden. I haven't played either Persona 3 or Persona 4 before, because I heard it was so different than the first two, and like a person stuck in the past refused to play either of them. But for $20 I did end up getting Persona 4 and played it.

Honestly I was surprised at the game and rather enjoyed it. I first started out by naming my character...Something I always name male characters if I can name them.

This is actually suppose to be a play on words, though it works out better if written in Kanji

Even though I know that this game has been out for forever this new version does add more to the game including a new dungeon but just in case you've never played this game or are new to the Shin Megami Tensei Series and you're thinking about playing Persona 4 first, this review is for you.

And just because it's nice to let people know... There may be spoilers.

So as it comes to reviews, I will be reviewing it based on these criteria in order:
-Story and setting
-Characters
-Voices/Music
-Gameplay
-Cohesiveness
  
 Story and Setting
This story sets you up as moving with your Uncle as your parents are going overseas to work for a year and leaving you there instead of taking you with them. So this leads you to go into the province of Inaba.

Through a string of odd circumstances you learn about a phenomenon called the Midnight Channel that shows you your soul mate, or at least that is how the rumor started. And then through another string of events you learn that you can go through the TV.

But the CRT TV in your room can't fit your whole body in so well... You go tell your aquantances at school and they quickly laugh at you and bring you to Junes to ironically enough show you that you're insane and take more jabs at you. Jokes on them, because you can actually stick your arm into the TV at Junes as well, and you'll eventually get curious again and just jump in.

 This small set of sequences start your quest to finding the murderer of Inaba and the purpose of the Midnight Channel. The TV world itself is set up into different locations that you can travel to, and explore the labyrinth area/dungeon.

When you are in the TV world or outside of it, the characters remind you of your duty in case you need to help people in the TV world, or keep the story and social links along in the real world as you progress in the game. While the story isn't that unique, the journey to get to the end of the game was rather fun.

Characters
 This is where Persona 4 shines bright; the characters, especially the main cast. It's not every game where I can honestly say I liked every character wanted to learn more about them.Though your character is pretty much non-voiced there are many choices that you can give to make your main character unique in your own way. I actually made my version of the main character act honest and humorous, while others may make him serious or whatnot. But what shines the most is the supporting cast of characters.

Honestly I thought that your friends were going to be one dimensional and just be bland and boring, but it was quite refreshing to know the opposite was true. They're teenagers but they react to things as normal people would, which is really great. And through social links with characters you get to see them develop in ways where you wouldn't. Some feel insecure, lying to themselves, stuck in a daily routine that they hate... A whole slew of emotions.

Personally I started to relate the most to both Kanji and Teddie throughout the game because of their crisis of finding yourself and being ok with who you really are. I know some people feel that they cannot relate to characters who do not look like them, but I feel as if the emotions of the characters are easy to understand; rather that is why they feel the way they do, and how it eventually turns them for the better in their search for the truth of themselves.

Voices/Music

My major gripe with this has to be the fact that I don't have the option to chose Japanese as the language setting. Mind you, this will always be a gripe of mine if it's not available if a game is translated from Japanese. If anything this is a peeve of mine as I would like to still hear the Japanese voices. That being said, the dubbing in the game is good. So Atlus does make up for the lack of Japanese dialogue with a good dubbing. Though to be honest, even though you just heard me clamor about the want for the Japanese version, I actually do prefer the English dub when it comes to the voices.

The music on the other hand, well for me it was interesting. I honestly wasn't expecting singing when the battle theme played; let alone a Japanese person singing in English. It was seriously a what the moment for me. Keep in mind at the time I hadn't played Persona 3 either (I'm in the middle of the PSP version of P3 so now I expect it) but the first thing that honestly popped in my mind was really just why. I honestly have no idea why there had to be lyrics and singing in the battle music, but it was there. And after about two fights I was enjoying hearing it. Honestly though with the music it may have been more interesting to hear a native speaker of English sing, but at the same time; you hear this music in the dungeons when you are in the TV, so if we take it as an insert song in an anime or a TV show it kind of makes sense. Either way, the lyrics itself do fit in with the Persona game and it grows on you.

Gameplay

The gameplay is broken down into two main parts in the town of Inaba and inside the TV world. 

When you're in Inaba, you can increase your social links, take side jobs for money, level up your stats and... Do some shopping. It's pretty much like everyday, except most of us don't live in Japan and can't eat delicious Japanese styled Chinese food from a place called Aiya (seriously though, Japanese styled Chinese food is amazing, eat ebi-chili if you get the chance). 

Along with those, you will be going to school Monday-Saturday learning things and usually not knowing the answer to some of the questions because they're so random, or you weren't paying attention like I was. Also when you take tests you will take them everyday over a couple of days and that's the only thing you'll do which feels like a giant waste to me, but that's how they decided to do things.

Overall the daily happenings in Inaba are just there to strengthen your bonds and keep the story moving forward. All the actual fighting takes place in the TV world.

Within the TV world you'll be brought to the entrance of the TV world which is used as a hub for your dealings within the TV. You can talk to your friends, go places, enter the Velvet Room for persona fusions, save your game, or be healed by the fox. 

When you do decide to go places you will have to talk to one of your friends to actually go to that place, which though it seems a bit weird, makes sense because the places are tied to people.

Combat is standard for turn based RPGs which means that depending on your character stats you may go first or later in the turn. I tend to like turn based games since you can think out your moves and there tends to be more impact on what you do, and you are rewarded for playing smart instead of just going all guns a blazing. What I did enjoy though was the perks for leveling up your social links allowed your characters to do more for you, including follow-up attacks, enduring hits and taking deadly hits for you.

When you exploit your enemies weaknesses, you do have a chance if you've knocked down enemies to do an all out attack. I really enjoy the images that pop up, because it gives you a small glimpse into their confidence in fighting or even their own confidence within themselves after getting their persona. Also your follow-ups can happen afterward if you have compatible characters on your team. Personally I really like Kanji and Naoto's "Beauty and Beast" combo, it's very pretty and yet very macabre.

Everything else is kind of self explanatory though, the turn based RPG is like everything you have played before and you just have to learn about the elements which the game teaches you so you don't need to worry about anything like that. You just get to enjoy and play.

Cohesiveness
This is kind definitely a JRPG that should be played if you haven't played it before. If you're a fan of the Megetan series, it's a really good game and story. It's not as challenging as other games within the Megaten series, but there is a reason why it's popular. The characters are endearing, while the overall feel and background ties well within the Japanese lore that Persona 4 builds upon. If you like JRGs it is always a good thing to pick up.

Afterthoughts
I did enjoy playing Persona 4, more than I thought I ever was going to. I'm glad that I did because I majorly enjoy how they established the Japanese lore within the game, and all of the monsters in Persona just give me a warm feeling of familiarity. Also I enjoy making Loki and the other max social link special monsters.

As it's own game I enjoyed it a lot, but I still miss the old Persona games feel and miss negotiation with monsters to join my side. But Persona is treated more like its own thing than a part of the main Megaten storyline. Either way though, it's a good game, but I wish I had played it years ago instead of just recently.