For my 7th review (and 2nd video game review), I take another break from music to discuss one of the best J-RPGs of all time, and how much I fangirl over it, in what will be one of my most detailed and long reviews. Also, WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS. Personal details on myself will also be talked about.
Release date: 9 December 2008 (original release), 20 November 2012 (Golden)
Genre: Japanese role-playing game, visual novel (with dating simulator elements)
Platform: Playstation 2, Playstation 3, Playstation Vita (Golden version)
Developer: Atlus (Shin Megami Tensei, Persona, Catherine)
Good for those who: Love murder mysteries, turn-based combat, psychology, and have interest in social issues.
Bad for those who: Don’t like a ton of dialogue, and content that might be considered too mature for the characters in the game (High schoolers, aged 15-17).
Average playtime: 80-100 hours.
ESRB rating: M (17+)
Rating: 10/10 (for both versions).
Introduction
You know, it’s pretty hard to discuss a game like this, because it’s so big. Especially a game that’s both loved and hated (looking at you, Persona 3 fans). Atlus is one of the biggest Japanese developers out there, along with Square Enix and Nintendo. And while you may think you’ve never touched J-RPGs or heard of them, I’m sure Final Fantasy or Pokémon come to mind, don’t they? Well, I’m hear to talk about Persona 4, and its remake, Persona 4 Golden. And man, were these games a fun time. I got almost 200 hours spread out over three playthroughs of the game. And I haven’t even got into Golden yet, with all of its extra content (I have about 20 hours on it). So, the game. Did it deserve the critical acclaim it got? Well, hell yeah, it did!
Plot
So, the main character (who you name), is a high-school aged student moving to the small town of Inaba for a year because your parents are gone due to business involving their occupations. You move in with your detective uncle, Ryotaro Dojima (who works with Detective Adachi), and his daughter, Nanako. As you’re driving to the house, you stop at a gas station, approached by a “Gas Station Attendant”, who shakes your hand, to which you start feeling woozy and dizzy. Go figure. Maybe he roofied you somehow with his hands. You get home, go to sleep, and you can use this power called “Persona” in your dreams… for some reason. And the next day, begin attending Yasogami High School, a school consisting of students from first-years to third-years. You meet with new friends such as Yosuke Hanamura, Chie Satonaka, and Yukiko Amagi (like you, all second years). There is a rumour of this mysterious TV channel known as the “Midnight Channel”, which is said to show your soulmate in the TV at midnight when it’s raining. For some reason, you try sticking a hand in the TV, and well… your hand goes inside. Okay then… you try to tell your friends, and of course, no one believes you, so you go to the department store Junes,. As soon as you get to this town and get situated, a body is discovered, and it turns out to be murder. You still try to go on with your life, going to the department store Junes, as another body is again found not too long after, being one of Yosuke’s friends, Saki. As the two bodies are found, Yukiko goes missing as well. And later in the story, various students from your school are found, and it’s up to you to save them from being killed by the shadows.
And I will now talk about the characters, each of the protagonists in detail, and reveal a little personal details. You can skip down to the gameplay if you don't really give a crap, like I assume you will.
Protagonists
Yu Narakami (main character): Standing relatively tall for being Japanese, at 5'11'', and having grey hair. A second-year student. Moved to Inaba from an unknown town because of parental business. His starting Persona is Izanagi, but holding the Wild Card, he can summon essentially any Persona. Essentially, his personality depends on how you act in the game, but for the most part, he’s calm, cool, and collected. He knows how to keep his cool in any situation, and is the leader of the Investigation Team.
Yosuke Hanamura: 5’9’’, brown hair. Is essentially second in-command to Yu, Yosuke is a total goofball. His starting Persona is Jiraiya, and uses the element of wind. His shadow reveals his happy go-lucky personality is just him covering up how much he hated being moved to a country small town like Inaba, and he wanted to investigate the TV World for thrills rather than the murders originally.
Chie Satonaka: 5’2’’, short brown hair. Her starting Persona is Tomoe, and uses the ice element and physical attacks. Second-year student. The quintessential tomboy, Chie loves kung-fu films, meat, and has the short hair to fit it all. Her shadow shows her biggest insecurity is her femininity, and was jealous she was of Yukiko, because she always scored higher grades, was more popular, more feminine, and she considers herself undesirable.
Yukiko Amagi: 5'5'', long black hair. Her starting Persona is Konohana Sakuya, and uses the fire element, and is one of two healers of the group. Second-year student. In contrast to Chie, she is the best example of a feminine girl, except like Chie, she can't cook. Yukiko's biggest insecurity, as revealed by her shadow, is her feeling chained down. Not being able to make any big decisions in her life, and feeling her life was decided by her parents to run the Amagi Inn.
Kanji Tatsumi: 6'1'', bleached blonde hair. His starting persona is Take-Mikazuchi, and uses the lightning element and physical attacks. First-year student. While being a typical tough guy in appearance, personality, and acts, Kanji is great at weaving and sewing, but looks like a typical gang member. Kanji's biggest insecurities as his more "feminine" interests and his sexuality. His shadow because of how he feels, takes on a very flamboyant appearance. He is possibly homosexual or bisexual, due to his interest in Naoto Shirogane (prior to finding out Naoto's secret). He wished to just be accepted, and not be called "queer" and "unmanly" for his interests and skills. I personally identify with Kanji well, with insecurities for my sexuality, me having more feminine interests like theater and music, and thus not being seen as masculine by my parents, especially my father.
Rise Kujikawa: 5'1'', copper pigtailed hair. First-year student, and idol/celebrity. Her starting Persona is Himiko, and cannot participate in combat. Rise being a celebrity, is popular among the masses, and while all girls show romantic interest in the main character, Rise is much more open and flirty about it. She fears she has no true self, that she has become the character she puts off in her public image as "Risette".
Teddie: 4'3'' in bear costume, 5'3'' in human form. Teddie is the only member of the investigation team who isn't human. Teddie is a shadow, all the enemies present in the game. His starting Persona is Kintoki-Douji, and uses the ice element. Having only appeared as a hollow bear before as an effort to be liked by humans, Teddie later develops an ego and human form. He often flirts with the girls on the Investigation Team, in an attempt to "score with them". He also is a huge joker. Teddie's biggest insecurity is his identity. Having no clue where he came from and who he is, as he lost all his memories in attempt to forget what he actually was. He later accepts this, and eventually accepts he's not much different than his human friends, despite being one of the very things they've been fighting.
Naoto Shirogane (aka my girlfriend in the game): 5'0'', short blue hair. Naoto is androgynous in appearance. First-year student and working detective. Her starting Persona is Sukuna-Hikona, and uses light and dark (instant-kill) spells, and the almighty element. Her blue cap has become a trademark of hers (I even own one of my own). She is very shy, and won the Yasogami High beauty Pageant despite not showing up for the swimsuit portion because her looks appeal to both genders. She also shows the most interest in the main character second to Rise, asking to jump on the train with him at the end of the game. Naoto comes from a long line of detectives, and acts more mature than her age due to her parents both dying a car accident. She has also extremely intelligent, and has solved over 30 cases. Her biggest insecurities are her gender and her age. In contrast to Kanji's more "feminine" interests, Naoto's interests as a child were "boyish", such as robots, likely Transformers, police work, technology, and science. Having likely grown up with detectives like Sherlock Holmes and Detective Conan, her sex and age do not fit her ideal image of a detective, her being female and 15. And as such, she passes off as a boy (triggering Kanji's problem), going as far as to bind down her chest (It is implied she has the biggest chest out of any of the girls on the Investigation Team). She wishes to be seen as an adult, and as such, her shadow's voice becomes whiny and acts like a child, and because of her yearning to have been born male, her shadow also attempts to tie Naoto down to an operation table that has a bunch of bladed tools nearby to give her a sex-change operation. Charming. She hates being looked down upon, and fears she won't be taken seriously as a female in a sexist occupation field. She is also ashamed of being female. I identify with her as well. Feeling because of things I cannot control, I cannot achieve my dreams. I am also considered intelligent and mature for my age by others. I often wear formal clothes and recently, before I started playing this game, I wanted to be a detective. We also seem to have similar interests. And not only do I feel insecurity about my sexuality, I also do about my gender.
Side note: She's the only girl I dated in the game. Yes, I think she's cute. I'm not gay, don't worry. She kinda looks like a boy, and she's animated and not real? I mean come on, she must give a lot of guys boners. Just me? Okay... I should go. *Walks out of room before getting judged further*
No, in all seriousness, I loved her personality, and her look, and she was my favourite character in the game.
And now we got all the characters. Let's move on.
Gameplay:
The game features turn-based combat, with attributes like Strength, Magic, Agility, and Luck deciding things how much damage, who will go first, how often you'll hit, etc. It can come off as cheap when an enemy instant kills you the first chance it gets though, and the game starts off very difficult, but levels out to be only slightly challenging as the game progresses. There is also elemental weaknesses for enemies and your characters that can be exploited for an extra turn. The game also features visual novel elements. Meaning, there's a lots of talking, and making friends is how you get stronger in the game. You can also have a romantic relationship in the game with one of the girls, or make it a harem and date everyone, and disappoint all but one by rejecting them on Valentine's Day.
Conclusion:
This is one of the best role-playing games ever made, Atlus did an amazing job on here. And no, this is not the Naoto fanboy in me talking, this game was one of the best experiences I've had gaming for over a decade. The plot's good, I felt the need as much as the characters in the game to solve the case, and bring the criminal to justice. The gameplay was smooth, and didn't get all that dull. The soundtrack was amazingly composed, catchy, and I didn't get sick of hearing it. The characters were engaging, relatable, and they felt real. I could believe these people exist in real life, and considering how real they are, there could be someone just like them in the world. I actually felt like I had friends despite them being fictional. They had real people problems, and the game teaches you that everyone has problems, and you have to learn to face them, face yourself, to be better. Very few games get into the human psyche like that. More often then not, they often make the characters so "super", that it's hard to relate. It's hard to imagine you're anyone from Final Fantasy. These are all ordinary teenagers. Another something games often fail to do. Immerse you. Even my 11 year old sister was interested in the game and its characters, despite her not having played the game at all. If I had to say something about the game on the negative side, it was that the social links, especially the dating, had no effect on the game. I thought Kanji might be a little sour I took Naoto for myself (and no, I don't feel like a dick, she's mine), or Rise would stop flirting with me now that I'm dating someone. But that's just nitpicking on an otherwise amazing game. Nitpicking is all I can do. No game can be perfect, but 10/10 for both versions. It is up there on my most favourite games of all time. A definite recommendation.
