Persona 4 does not take place in a busy and trendy city. Instead players will spend their days in a Japanese rural area called ‘Inaba’, offering an experience that is entirely different from the far more urban themed nature of Persona 3. While the countryside may sound like a place too boring and peaceful to live, it quickly proves to be the perfect setting to take full advantage of the "Social Link" system that was introduced in Persona 3, and also serves as the perfect setting for the game's mystery drama storyline.
Being an out of date region with no internet facilities there really isn’t much to do in Inaba other than socialising, studying, taking part in poorly organized school clubs and working part time. Persona 4 is devoid of the urban activities and entertainment that Persona 3 offered, such as karaoke and cinema, but it also gives players more opportunities to develop several strong social links with family, school friends, customers and even coworkers. A simple countryside provides that perfect intimate social environment where people genuinely care about each other.
No massive world to explore on an airship - this is all you get.
As peaceful as Inaba is things quickly take a turn for worse when a corpse is found hanging from an unlikely place and this is soon followed by another similar incident. At the same time an unusual fad in school called ‘The Midnight Channel’ intrigues the main protagonist (who must be named) and his friends. This channel appears during a rainy night on a switched off TV screen at exactly midnight but during his experiment the protagonist accidentally discovers a whole new world by going through a television screen. This strange world is somehow connected to the aforementioned incidents as the people who were found dead first appeared on the Midnight Channel. The protagonist and his friends decide to take up the mission to save anyone else who appears on the Midnight Channel while also trying to figure out why the TV world is influencing Inaba in such a way.
Overall, the plot is intriguing and intuitive with plenty twists and unexpected surprises. The game keeps one guessing till the very end and never spells things out. While the case solving process can feel painstakingly slow at times, the pace is still just right for a mystery drama plot.
Social Links are back and better than ever and the characters that you interact with are interesting people, who live ordinary lives just like us and go through problems that many can relate to. Apart from the many charismatic high school students and the co-workers and customers that are at work, the main protagonist even has some family with whom players can establish social links with. At the end of the day it is up to you to decide who you want to spend time with and this creates some interesting situations where you are forced to prioritize.
I love hanging out with you guys!
The protagonist has several ‘characteristics’ he needs to work on throughout the course of the game in order to help him to become a better person, improve his relationships, academic life and work performance. These characteristics include Understanding, Expression, Diligence, Courage and Knowledge and are developed via daily routine activities such as studying, reading manga, working at one of the many part time job opportunities and by interacting with people in general. This aspect of character building integrates quite well with the overall game and never really interrupts the flow and pace.
Persona 3 featured a massive dungeon called ‘Tartarus’, where the major events revolved around a predictable moon cycle. The TV world in Persona 4 instead features a series of smaller dungeons. Furthermore, the game revolves around the weather, which makes things far more interesting and challenging. The main catch is that victims have to be rescued from the TV world before a heavy fog sets in. Otherwise, Shadows emerge to attack any weak humans they find. Since the weather is unpredictable, each rescue mission becomes an intense race against time that will keep players on their toes and over prepared.
Battles are all about team work.
The battle system in Persona 4 features turn-based combat mechanics complete with the knock down attacks and rush/all out team attacks. You can also assign specific battle strategies to your party members and apart from that a few additions have been made. Persona 4 gives players the option to directly control all characters. This makes things a little too easy and even if you avoid it initially, you eventually end up putting all characters under direct control rather than relying on the AI (which is still smart as always) because it’s that much more convenient. Allies have also been given new abilities such resisting fatal blows, helping those who are knocked down, following up attacks with their own special moves and even helping others snap out of confusion spells. These abilities are gained by improving your relationships with them.
The Persona system works the same way as it did in the previous game. Personas are basically personifications of a person's true self that are summoned during battle using special cards - gone are the suicide encouraging Evokers from Persona 3. The main character is able to use multiple Personas that are obtained by collecting Persona cards after a battle and can also fuse these cards in the Velvet Room (a strange and reoccurring area in Persona games) in order to create new Personas. It’s here where the whole reason for the Social Link system becomes clear as each social link and its development is associated with a corresponding Persona.
Persona 4 has a lot of freedom as you can spend each day however you want. You are consistently making decisions that have a huge impact on the outcome of certain events and the overall game. Will you choose to study to improve your grades, or train hard inside the TV world to prepare for an upcoming boss battle? Will you spend time with a friend in need or choose to go on a date instead? Will you choose to settle as being friends with a cute girl or will you enter into a more serious relationship? The game is filled with countless examples like these and that’s what makes it so engaging and unforgettable.
You have a very interesting personali..I mean persona.
Even when it comes to the actual case there will be times when you have to make deductions, decisions and even search for clues. These moments are quite tense and thought-provoking as the outcome is never obvious and each choice you make will be based entirely on how you perceive the overall situation. Of course, there are heavy trade-offs that come with such important decisions. Persona 4 overall succeeds at creating a very involving RPG experience where you literally live an alternate life with characters with whom you will go through a lot. Apart from that, plenty of side quests have been introduced in this installment which gives players a good reason to interact with NPCs other than the Social Link specific characters. Completing random tasks provides a nice break from the main game and allows you to get hold of some rare and useful items. With a lengthy main quest and plenty of things to do, Persona 4 will take around 75-80 hours to complete even if you decide to skip the side quests.
The graphics, although quite simple, are still a significant improvement and the art style is pretty good. The game features animated cut scenes and although the style used isn’t as unorthodox or unique as the one featured in Persona 3, the animation and character designs are still solid. The soundtrack features groovy and intoxicating J-pop tracks infused with modern rock and moving jazz instrumentals. The soundtrack really helps you sink into the present day Japan setting of Persona 4 and the voice acting is quite good as well.
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 may not feel as revolutionary as Persona 3 but it is still better in every area and also manages to introduce many appreciable and noticeable changes. Persona 4 will provide gamers with an exceptional and thought provoking plot, highly involving character development, a mechanically sound and deep battle system and a lengthy quest that has plenty of variety.
However, with the way Persona 4 has been received, it wouldn't surprise me if we see Persona 5 popping up for PS3 sometime soon.
, will be picking up 3 & 4 next time I see em 
... this is definitely one I'll keep an eye out for.
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