Persona 4 Review

I’ve avoided reviewing Persona 4 out of the hope, I think, that I would get a chance to play the sequel, Persona 5. A game I hear is better than the 4th in a number of ways, which gives me hope for yet another great game. Sadly, I am quite certain now, that a new Persona experience will be another year or so of waiting for those of us unwilling to search 20 sites an hour out of the hope of grabbing a playstation 5. A console I still think looks hideous, but that’s an opinion for another time.

I could, were I desperate enough, play Persona 5 strikers, a side story taking place in the middle of the original. Undoubtedly filled with spoilers and plot points I won’t understand. Thus ruining almost, if not all, of JRPG strongest points.

Instead I look forward to enjoying Persona 4 again when I find the time. In slow paced story about the shadows in television, a disturbingly murder plot, and the usual group of teenagers with little idea of what they are doing there are 3 central things that must at least work. The first and, most important, is the characters. A slice of life story with personality is like a job; it's an empty environment you don’t really want to go back to.  The 2nd is the puzzle itself. Mysteries are about the questions, and your own ability to answer them. The suspicious things you notice slowly over time as you wonder “who done it” Just what are these shadows, and what are they doing here? Why these teenagers in particular? Persona 4 covers both of these points with style and elegance.

Even knowing all the answers I find myself wanting to hope in again, and scratch an itch so few games can satisfy. I look forward to playing the game well making the choices I would intend to make this time around.

Which brings us to the 3rd thing Persona 4 does so masterfully. Meaningful choice. I feel bad leaving some characters so far behind others. I’ve adjusted my abilities to fill the roles I end up missing. Something I rarely do of my own accord, but when every power is accessible to the main character the game becomes as much about who you want to become as it does who you are willing to bring. I have atonement to do in game as I set the difficulty to easy more than once. The grind of a jrpg is still tiring, and I still plan on using some of the quality of life changes in Persona 4 Golden to take a shortcut or 2.

​But my recommendation of Persona 4 comes from the fact that I forgot this fact at all the first time playing, and was once more drawn into the digital world by a master craft in immersion.