Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 (PS2) on Raptr

DrKot reviewed Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4.

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  4
  

  Interesting detective story, group of high-schoolers, Personae... Wonderful, highly addictive game that's showing us new side of jRPG. The only negative side of P4 is that it's too simple comparing to both Persona 2 games.

McDomo really liked Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4.

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  5
  

  Come on!!! its a Shin Megami Tensei game and made by a very well known developer,one of my favorite RPG makers.

Added by 1 person.

Added by 1 person.

Remliel really liked Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4.

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  5
  

  The best Persona game yet. Everything you might have heard about the earlier Persona games: Fixed. The cast is wonderful, the Social Link system far more forgiving, and the plotline is hands-down awesome. Get this game yesterday!

Added by 1 person.

Rafahell really liked Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4.

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  5
  

  It is more than a game. It is a masterpiece.

glitteresque really liked Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4.

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  5
  

  One of my all time favourite games. I'm glad they updated the already fun battle system and the characters are much more interesting than in Persona 3. DEFINITELY recommended to anyone who likes JRPGs.

Added by 1 person.

nuttyp reviewed Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4.

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  4
  

  Does everyone have a dark side, an evil in their hearts that they repress and hide from everyone else? What is the nature of this evil and how do we distinguish it from what is good? Twenty years ago, you would have thought that I’m crazy if I were to say that someone would make a video game capab more »le of tackling such questions. Enter Koji Okada, creator of Persona 4, the latest addition to the Megami Tensei (MegaTen) series. Persona 4 is Okada’s answer to these questions about good and evil, order and chaos, and the ambiguity that surrounds them. It is a bold attempt that blends traditional role-playing gameplay with elements focusing on social links and character development. Some argue that people are inherently evil. This evil manifests in many ways. Some range from minor offenses like hurtful words to major crimes like murder. Persona 4 begins in the countryside in the humble town of Inaba. Here, you (the silent protagonist), a high school city boy, move in with your uncle and counsin for a period of one year. Soon after your arrival, a string of murder cases and mysterious crimes plagued the town and baffled the police. It is here that the “evil” manifests itself into a mystery puzzle that you attempt to solve. Fortuantely, you quickly befriend a wonderful cast of characters at the start of the story. It is in these characters that Persona 4 definitely shines. Hours of dialogue and activities reveal each of the characters background and personalities — making it easier for the characters to feel real and lovable. You initially meet Yosuke (fellow city boy and son of Junes owner), Chie (strong-willed female character), and Yukiko (beautiful and shy). It is through these friends that you were introduced to the Mayonaka TV mystery. Rumor says that on a rainy night if you were to stare at a TV (turned off), you will see your “other half.” Curiosity doesn’t kill the cat in this case. Instead, it opens up a whole new world for you to explore. It turns out Mayonaka TV is a gateway to a strange world that only people are able to unlock. The murders apparently happen when people are kidnapped from the real world and thrown into Mayonaka TV. Here the kidnapped person is consumed by their “other (evil) self”. The kidnapped person generates a dungeon which represents those things that they’ve been repressing inside — the evils that they hide from people made manifest. It is in Mayonaka TV where you experience traditional RPG gameplay. Here, you choose the allies you bring to traverse the dungeons, equip yourself with weapons and armor, climb up to the top of the dungeon, and fight the kidnapped person’s evil self. I did not play the other Persona titles, but I understand that the gameplay is very similar and faithful to the series. You can physically see the monsters (shadows) before engaging them, and you can gain pre-emptive advantage if you strike them from behind. The battle itself is turn based, and you have the option of controlling every character’s moves or assigning a battle strategy (using an improved AI) to assign tasks to your comrades. Monsters have weaknesses to particular elements, and it’s advantageous to exploit these weaknesses to gain bonuses such as One More attack, Follow-up Attack and All-out attack. Also, after each battle you have a chance to draw from Tarot cards after battle to obtain new Personas. And wait, there’s more: There is another chance that you could draw additional bonuses from hidden Tarot cards. What is a Persona? The MegaTen series has traditionally used Arcanas from the world of Tarot Cards. There are roughly 24 arcanas available as personas (the Fool, Justice, Magician, Death, etc). You initially obtain them after battles by picking them from a shuffle. You can then visit a character named Igor in the velvet room to help fuse existing personas into more poweful ones. The social links you develop with other characters throughout the game directly affects the strengths and abilities of your personas upon fusion. When you are not in Mayonaka TV crawling dungeons and saving kidnapped victims from their evil selves, you are attending high school doing stuff normal high school kids do. I find this to be a refreshing change of pace from the grind (fighting monsters - gaining levels). In the real world, you attend high school, take exams, join clubs, meet with friends, stay with family, and perform a series of odd jobs and tasks. You work on notable attributes like: knowledge, courage, diligence, understanding and expression. Leveling up these attributes open up dialogue options that you normally would not have available with other characters. While busily crawling dungeons and being a high school student, you are treated to music composed by Shoji Meguro. There is a fusion of jazz and retro rock music in his songs, and it didn’t catch on with me immediately, particularly because there are actual vocals in the soundtrack, but after a few hours of being exposed to the music it really does grow on you. Vocals are in the form of rap and songs by Shihoko Hirata and they are quite catchy. You can spend a significant portion of your time in Persona 4 outside of dungeons. It is a great way to advance the story and to get to know the other characters of the game. For my extra-curricular activities, I joined the drama club and the basketball team. In the drama club, I met a character whose passion for drama is negatively affected by her family struggles (caring for her mom and hating her negligent, yet sick dad). My basketball buddy is pursuing his dreams despite his family’s dissaproval. Along the way, you develop relationships (romance) with your female comrades. At home, you provide a big brother figure to your neglected younger cousin and try to get along with your workaholic uncle. Of course, the story wouldn’t be complete without an affair with a naughty nurse while working as a night time janitor in a hospital. :) Ah, the naughty nurse. The content of the game is definitely adult by design. Some of these adult situations are portrayed by a potty mouth teacher in your classroom, a character with sexual identity crisis, and a sexually repressed good girl. But this brings us back to good vs evil discussion. Is it good to compensate for your sexual insecurities by being a bully? Is it healthy to portray a good girl image when another character inside of you hides? Persona 4 does not aim to have the silver bullet answer to these issues, but indirectly it shows us not to focus on the black and white, good and bad aspects of the issues. It suggests that sometimes the important parts are found in the grey areas. The bully is weighed down by over compensating the side of him is afraid of. The good girl is ultimately unhappy because of her repression. Persona 4 asks us to have the courage to accept all aspects of our selves: be it good or bad. After rescuing one of the kidnapped persons, she admits to her evil self, “You’re part of me, but I kept denying. I was trying to figure out who the real me was. You must have been hurting all this time.” This game has plenty to offer and this is a must buy for fans of the franchise. Being a first-timer to the franchise, it did take a little bit adjusting to get used to the gameplay. There is an emphasis on dialogue and the player will find that they are simply mashing the x button during the first 30 minutes of gameplay as the story is being developed. In the rural town of Inaba, it’s not surprising that the pace and feel of the game is “slow”. It isn’t until you enter the dungeons that you have any real action and control. However, this is not necesarily a problem. Simply put, this is how the game differs from the typical RPG. The story and the characters eventually took root and I actually started enjoying their company, looking forward to the next time I can spend in social activities. This is a little bit of a paradigm shift for me as I needed to realize that in other games, I spend the bulk of my time in the grind fighting crazy monsters, upgrading my armor, leveling up my magic, and finding hidden treasures in intricate battlefields. Instead, this is time I could spend in social activities to uncover more about my characters “persona”. Whether or not Koji Okada answers the mystery of evil, this game is definitely worth picking up if you still have your old PS2 or a PS3. One thing’s for sure, if Atlus comes out with a PS3 Persona game, you’ll find me in line with the other franchise fanboys. « less