Atlus has always given us the opportunity to be immersed within their dark, occult atmosphere. But at the same time, they have given us the most memorable, enjoyable storylines and cast of characters that we will almost certainly, likely remember for a very long time. Whether you like recruiting demons to your arsenal, or meeting people and dating girls, or enjoy watching people shoot themselves in the head to summon their 'inner psyche', it has always been strangely entertaining and captivating to anyone who as ever played any of the Megami Tensei games. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 lives up to its predecessors, giving us another trip to a dark world we will most certainly enjoy living in. The arrival of Persona 4 also proves to its fans, and everyone, once again that even though it's approaching its ninth year, the Playstation 2 has still got some juice left in its tank.
The story takes place in the rural, quiet town of Inaba. Enter the traditional, silent protagonist, which the player can name at the start of the game. The protagonist's parents have been sent overseas, causing him to move from the city to the countryside where his uncle would take him in. As soon as he arrives there, a string of shocking, mysterious murders take place in the area. Seemingly, they always occur when a massive fog blankets the area. Also at midnight, when one watches the Midnight Channel, their 'soulmate' is revealed right in front of their eyes. Nobody can prove a believable explanation to why these bizarre phenomena have occurred. When the protagonist befriends classmates from Yasogami High School, they unintentionally stumble inside the TV world and meet a mysterious bear who resides inside. While the latter explore the dungeons, they encounter the shadows, creatures born from humanity's negative energies, wishes and desires. They also awaken to their personas, manifestations of their 'inner psyche'. With their personas, the investigation team explore the mysterious TV world and attempt to solve the mystery and possible connection between the murders in Inaba and why the TV world even exists.
For those who have played Persona 3, the gameplay elements in Persona 4 can somewhat prove to be nostalgic. For example, hitting the enemy's weaknesses will cause the enemy to be 'knocked down', granting the player another turn to strike the enemy again. Hitting another enemy's weakness will grant the player another turn, and so on and so forth. When the player has successfully knocked down all enemies in the battlefield, the player can then perform an 'All-Out Attack', in which all party members charge at the knocked down enemies, engulfing them in a comical, cartoon-ish cloud, dealing massive damage to the enemy shadows.
Also in battle, the player has been given the opportunity to control all characters in battle. Whereas in Persona 3, the player can only directly control the main character, and would have to reluctantly rely on character AI. This relieves some tension and possible difficulties a player may experience in battle, and gives them time to think and come up with the best strategies to eliminate the enemies. Some vexations have also been eliminated from Persona 4. The option to talk to other players and checking their status while exploring the dungeons has been taken away. This also makes exploring less problematic, especially when the player wants to hit a shadow or acquire treasure without even worrying about accidentally talking to a team member.
Persona 4 also adopts the social/dating simulation presented from the previous Megami Tensei games. Social links now have a much greater effect in battle. In the previous games, social links were being focused only in expanding the player's persona compendium. But in Persona 4, when the player reaches a certain social link level and keeps leveling it up, greater support is enhanced while in battle. Sometimes, the other characters perform follow-up attacks when the main character successfully knocks down an enemy. When the social link level is high enough, other characters will save the protagonist from a fatal attack, or even help them up when they are knocked down or are hit with a status ailment themselves. Social links can be a bit more entertaining than Persona 3's since they all have some partial voice-over dialogue, making the social links more lively and keeps the player entertained both in battle and the dating simulations.
The health status has also been eliminated from the game. This also enables the player to explore dungeons continuously for longer periods of time without even have to worry about any of the characters getting tired in battle. But they do inform the player if they cannot go on any further. Also, when the player decides to leave the dungeon, their HP and SP do not revert back to full health. The only ways to recover them are when the player leaves and rests at home, or talking to the fox when it is available. The protagonist's status has also been changed. Instead of just improving academics, courage, and charm, the player can improve their courage, expression, understanding, diligence, and knowledge attributes. The player can improve them by taking up part-time jobs, fulfilling requests or by hanging out with social links. The higher these stats are, the more social links are available to the player as the game goes on.
Persona fusion is also a recurring element in the Megami Tensei series, with some new changes in P4. First of all, the fusion forecast has been added. The Fusion Forecast determines how personas gain bonus stats or abilities when they are created in certain days. Some new personas and many returning ones are present. Fusing personas also expands the player's persona compendium and can lead to accessing different kinds of personas later on in the game.
Exploring the multiple dungeons inside the mysterious TV world can be fun and enjoyable, but issues on the camera movement can be a bit of a nuisance. Although this is not a huge issue, it can also be a bit unnerving at times. Sometimes the camera angle tends to get too close to the player. Also, some of the persona arts and designs are reused from its predecessor. This also strains the dungeon-exploring experience, if only for a little bit. Nevertheless, it is not a major issue and the player can still enjoy the overall gameplay experience even though with these problems present.
The graphics look much more polished compared to Persona 3. The retro look of the game fits its setting and the scenery animation in the background is beautiful to look at. Its overall stylish environment is very well done. Music and sound is also catchy and makes playing the game more enjoyable than it already is. Shoji Meguro makes a return as the composer, and provides us again with such memorable music. You never hear the same music everyday and another song plays depending on the weather. The same also goes for dungeon music. Every dungeon has a different game music, which means the it never really gets old and is always calming and catchy to listen to all the time. Persona 4 also has an all-star voice acting cast, making the characters that they play more colorful and more lively. The game's storyline is more engaging and much deeper. The characters present more down-to-earth personalities and are more realistic than previous characters from previous games.
Overall, Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 is an excellent role-playing experience that fans and those new to it will surely and most likely enjoy. Players will be immersed with entertaining gameplay, engaging story and a realistic cast of characters, and an experience not likely to be forgotten. It is certainly a unique game that is recommendable to everyone.