Once again, the latest installment of the Persona series does anything but disappoint. I’ve already run over the point that Persona 3 completely changed the way the series functioned; It allowed you to control your character’s entire life for one full year. This mechanic, along with several others, are carried over into Persona 4. That being said, I’ll start with what is similar between the two games.
First, both games drop you off into unfamiliar surroundings and give you a year to play through the game and interact with the world in the main character’s shoes. The Social Links return on steroids. Not only do you receive a bonus when fusing new Personas, but those in your party gain abilities as their Social Links raise to higher levels. Allies can perform follow-up attacks, help knocked down players, and even withstand attacks that would have otherwise incapacitated them. Persona 4 beefs up the characteristics system by expanding the areas of focus. Expression and Understanding are added in Persona 4 and become important parts of the game. Previously you would mostly be restricted on actions due to a lack of courage, but in Persona 4 people within the world won’t talk to you unless certain characteristics are high enough level. Joining clubs, hanging out with friends from school, and dating return intact. Aside from those mechanics and the obvious facts that the games look identical graphically and that you are fighting shadows, the rest of the game is refreshing and different. Let’s get into the new mechanics after the video break.
Let’s play nice and not shoot ourselves in the head! Welcome to Inaba. You’re here staying with your uncle and cousin for a year while your parents tend to business. Shortly after your arrival an international celebrity shows up dead hanging upside down after an intense fog coats the town. Not only does this woman show up dead, but rumors surface alongside which say that if you stare into your TV when it is turned off on a rainy night that you will see the person you are supposed to marry. The second victim, a girl from your high school, sparks a personal tie to the murders through your association with fellow classmate Yosuke.
Before you know it you’re reaching into televisions and no one believes you; that is until they see it for themselves and you’re knocked into a department store TV along with Yosuke and Chie, the girl you sit next to in class. Inside the TV you meet a bear who has no explanation for the world inside the TV or his own existence. The bear does however offer to aid you in return for your help. From this point the story takes off and you slowly accumulate a band of friends that becomes a murder mystery solving and victim rescue team. Its up to you and your friends to put an end to the murder attempts and bring peace back to the small town of Inaba.
To avoid spoiling the entire story, which I’m dying right now to do, I’ll get into the game’s mechanics. In contrast to Persona 3’s “Dark Hour”, in Persona 4 you can only explore the TV when the department store Junes is open during the day. Not only does exploration take place during the day now, but if you explore the TV during the day you will be too tired to focus on studying or any other activities that open up to you at night except from Social Link activities within the house. This breaks down that during the day you can shop, explore the TV, go to club meetings, go out to eat, and so on. Night is reserved for more character development than anything else. Your character is allowed to accept jobs from the billboard in town and you can work at night. Not only does work raise certain characteristics, but most jobs also pay you for your services. Any extra money is good money, and in the early stages of Persona 4 money is tight.
The most notable gameplay mechanic that has changed is the replacement of the moon cycle system. Instead of watching moon activity you are now focused on weather activity. You’re given until the fog sets in to save the current victim, but you’re never told exactly what day the fog will set in. You’re only clue as to when this will happen is the weather pattern. The fog usually sets in after a few days of consecutively heavy rain, but at times the fog it is harder to predict. All in all the potential onset of fog keeps you on your toes unlike in Persona 3, where you knew the exact date of a boss encounter and could fully prepare. Another new mechanic is the “detective” system. After the first few rescue missions the group is sent around town to search for clues about the current victim so that they can be pinpointed with the world inside the TV.
The tower crawling system was, in my opinion, the biggest problem with Persona 3. Even then, it wasn’t much of a problem. I just found myself tiring of the surroundings after a few hours of play and would need to either return to the city for a few days or step away from the game for a while. Persona 4’s world follows the same stair-crawling scheme, but each section of the game has its own theme which succeeds in keeping your surroundings fresh and interesting. On the topic of dungeon wandering, your team now always sticks together. I didn’t find myself telling my party to split up often in Persona 3 anyway so this is a feature that doesn’t bother me personally. I’ve yet to hear anyone complain about the lack of the party split command.
The battle system has been altered and only for the better in Persona 4. Tactics seemed to be an issue in Persona 3 and your teammates wouldn’t continue assaults on multiple enemies if they had an ability that foes were weak against. Now your allies are smarter and will systematically knock each enemy down instead of targeting one enemy twice in a row, good move! But wait, there’s more! Are you a control freak and want to tell everyone exactly what to do? Now you can! You can set your party tactics to direct commands and issue commands directly to each person in your party. I found that this has made boss encounters less stressful, but it seems that boss encounters have been beefed up to account for human control of all the players on the battlefield. Not only do boss encounters seem more intense, but there are optional bosses which will move into areas that you’ve already cleared. Make your way back through areas you’ve already been to and get rewarded with a boost in both experience and courage.
On several game review sites I cross-posted my Persona 3 review and gave it a 4.5 out of 5, or a 9 out of 10. The lack of a 5 out of 5 rating was due to the sometimes monotonous crawling of Tartarus and the fact that your own teammates would make decisions that turned the tide of a battle to the worst. The latest installment has a fresh story line, great new gameplay mechanics, and even slips in some great tie-ins that will excite Persona 3 players. With all that being said, Persona 4 does not hold itself back from a rating of 5 out of 5.
