Video Games : Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4

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from: Atlus

: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4
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Amazon Minimum Age: 204 months
Binding: Video Game
Brand: Atlus
EAN: 0730865530304
ESRB Age Rating: Mature
Label: Atlus
Manufacturer: Atlus
Model: PS-53030-4
Platform: PlayStation2
Publisher: Atlus
Release Date: December 09, 2008
Sales Rank: 101
Studio: Atlus

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Amazon.com:
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 is a console role-playing game (RPG) for Sony's PlayStation 2. Chronologically the sixth installment in the Persona series, Persona 4 is a suspenseful countryside murder mystery with multiple twists and turns in the plot that will have you guessing all the way to the end.



Chronologically the sixth installment in the Persona series, Persona 4 is a suspenseful murder mystery. View larger.


The silent male protagonist wields a two-handed sword weapon. View larger.


Using Mayonaka TV, you can phase into the television set and enter a shadowy world. View larger.


game play and style are similar to Persona 3, but there are plenty of new twists and additions. View larger.
Myth and Occult Mixed with Contemporary Japan
Megami Tensei was originally based on the novel series Digital Devil Story by Aya Nishitani. A major franchise in the RPG genre, MegaTen games take place in the contemporary or near-future Japan, mixing occult and cyberpunk elements. The games feature mythological references from multiple mythologies, and the player is often asked to make moral or philosophical choices that affect the game's storyline and ending.



The silent male protagonist who represents the player in Persona 4 attends Yasogami High School with Chie, Yosuke, and Yukiko. His entire personality and name is decided and portrayed by the player's in-game actions and decisions. He wields two-handed sword type weapons, but unlike Persona 3, he doesn't use alternative weapons.



Mysterious Murders Abound
Persona 4 takes place in a rural town named Inaba where mysterious murders occur whenever there is fog after heavy rain. The town has a television channel that airs only at midnight called Mayonaka TV, during which it is said that one can see their "other half" while staring at the screen. After hearing about a recent unsolved murder, some characters realize that they had witnessed the murder victim while watching Mayonaka TV.



The protagonist discovers that during midnight when the channel is on, his body can phase into his television set, using the set as a gateway to another world infested with shadows. Mayonaka TV and the town murders seem so connected that it's possible that the victims may in fact victims of Mayonaka TV itself. The characters decide to solve the mysterious murders by exploring the hidden world of Mayonaka TV.



Brand-New Yet Familiar game play
Persona 4's game play and style are similar to the popular Persona 3. Players familiar with Persona 3 will quickly recognize the social links and dungeon crawling game play, as well as the engine itself. The battles also have some similarities, such as the One More system, All-out attack, and the AI controlled support characters.



However, unlike Persona 3, characters can be set to take commands from the player, new glasses allow characters to see through the heavy mist inside Mayonaka TV, and tarot cards can be shattered to summon the characters' respective Persona. Other changes include an increase in player stats from three to five, and the removal of health status, allowing players to explore dungeons continuously.



Let the Action Begin
Battle-wise, Persona 4 lets you directly control the actions of other party members and continually exploit an enemy's weakness. Post-battle card shuffles have added Arcana Chance, which bring you good or bad status depending on the Arcana. Battles now occur after school instead of at midnight, like in Persona 3, giving the player less time in which to do social activities. This turns out to be significant because Social Links now have a greater effect on battle.



At higher levels, the player's allies progress from occasionally protecting the protagonist from a deathblow, through occasionally offering follow-up attacks, to eventually allow the persona of the corresponding ally to evolve into another persona. And persona can retain or even lose weaknesses and can be immune to certain kind of magic attacks. All allies who have their corresponding Social Link levels maxed out now have a chance to survive an otherwise fatal attack, leaving them with one remaining HP.





Customer Reviews
Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - Fantastic game for the jrpg fanatic
I was blown away when I first played Persona 3, and then blown away yet again when P3:FES came out. Because of this, I had high expectations for Persona 4. Needless to say, not only did the game meet expectations, it exceeded them.

This game has a few elements that the casual gamer might find difficult to pick up, and the day-to-day social activities might not appeal to some gamers.

The translation for the game is spot on and the voice-actors fit the characters pretty well. I haven't stopped playing it since I received the game and it's been 70+ hours.

All-in-all, this is a must have game for jrpg players.


Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - One of the best RPGs of all time
First of all, I want to say that I LOVE this game, and I would highly recommend it.

Next, I have to address the points of the person who gave it 2 stars.
(1) the music - yes, it gets a bit repetitive (but what RPG's music doesn't, especially when it's such a long game?). They could've added more, but what they do have carries emotion, it's catchy, never grating. I was actively humming along.

(2) the graphics - this is a PS2 game, so you can't expect more than PS2 graphics. That said, I had no problem with them.

(3) the English voice acting - it was GREAT. Far exceeded my expectations. That 2 star guy has NO IDEA what he's talking about. Clearly, you haven't heard much english dubbing. The actors were well-suited to their roles, and the way they delivered their lines was spot-on - they were able to convey the level of emotion that was required of them. I certainly felt emotional (or laughed at loud) at many points.

Of course, it has its flaws... the game had a bit too much control for my liking (as in, the game would tell me what I was going to do or say next at certain points when I would've liked to decide myself), and some choices that I made had no impact on the main story (I understand why this was done, it would've made the game much more difficult to make, but it sometimes made interactions annoying).

But overall, it was a LOT of fun. The storyline was utterly engrossing; I was dragged in and actually sad to finish (even after 100+ hours, going through both a bad ending and the true ending). It had some depth to it; there were times when I just sat back and reflected on what had been said. I was charmed by the characters, and intrigued by the mystery. The enemies were unique, especially the bosses. The battles were challenging, but never to the point where I wanted to quit.

It was just... awesome. Go out and buy it! :)


Rating: 2 out of 5 stars - Keep Working On It Atlus
Briefly put, the Persona game line should be a combination of Sims 3 and the book and dice game World of Darkness except set in high school. Sadly, it has many flaws and no virtues of these. The music is tedious, the graphics are ugly, and the game thieves from uncredited sources without redeeming quality. The English voice acting is horrible, the anime sequences (like Robotech) seemed ripped from an unrelated anime, and the graphics are dated to old Sierra adventure games.

I love the basic concept of the Shin Megami Tensei Persona games. Problem being, it's not executed very well at all. Even with the example of the western game Sims 3, Persona sticks to a somewhat poorly wrought story, moronic dialogue, and a plot that wavers between modern day chivalric romance (where it shines) and the authorial decision to interpet that a striking ten day discussion creates eternal friendship.

This specific Persona game, Persona 4, suffers badly in comparison to Persona 3. There is less exploration outside the city, less identification of the city as something to protect or even worth protecting, less interesting characters, and even exacerbatingly boring school options. Of course, Persona 3 was not a glorious nor triumphant game in any way, even in these presented categories of exploration, identification, characterization, and width of gameplay.

If I could suggest anything to the game designers, I'd tell them to play Sims 3, to play Mage: the Awakening, to play Rome: Total War. At that point they might build Shin Megami Tensei Strategy, with the Persona games permitting a player to act as an individual agent (with NPC friends) in the strategic situation they are undergoing. Either that or to make Persona more of a Sim-Life at high school, exploring a larger city, making friends and companions freely. Get rid of the tight-knit story, it doesn't work.


Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - my new favorite gaming franchise.
For years I've been playing the same, mediocre RPGs. The names change, but nothing else seems to.

The Shin Megami Tensei series, on the other hand, has been making widely original content from the beginning and hasn't looked back. I sit here and look at Persona 4, and it's predecessor, Persona 3, and I'm just amazed at the amount of content thrown into these games. The games are so deep, I've found myself easily playing 90+ hours, just on the first playthrough. However, I'll be starting my next playthrough soon, because I hadn't even begun to scratch the surface through that 90 hour journey.

Social Links: One of the main things that makes the Persona series so spectacular is it's bizarre popularity system. You make friends. Have serious (sometimes intimate) relationships. Take tests. Become more popular if you get high scores on your tests. Get more friends. And these friendships are merely the tipping point of the game. These Social Links may seem to be pointless at first, even if they do provide some deep stories and hilarious commentary, however, once you cross over to the "other world", you'll find that these mean more to you than you think. Now, remember a few minutes back, when I said it took my 90 hours to finish 1 game? I didn't even get half of the Social Links. There are a freakin ton.

Because you're ranked high socially with so and so, you're able to form stronger and more meaningful Personas, which in turn, will be the main decider in any battle you face. If you have a terrible Persona when facing a random battle, you're dead for sure. And then, just to add a bit more to the mix, as if P4 doesn't want to be like it's father, P3 (which would be fine, if it were), it decides to ALSO make a difference in your own party members. Now, if you're incredibly close to Chie personally, she'll take deadly hits for you; knock out enemies you're struggling with; heal your status ailments. And not only that, but unlike P3, you now have control of all 4 party members. Which makes things a tad easier :)


And by now, if you're still reading this, it probably sounds like these social links are the biggest amount of story this game will get. That's pretty incorrect, actually. These social links are only tiny side plots in this beautiful adventure. The main plot / theme of this game goes beyond the Social Links, and really makes a social commentary on our own world and society today.

Then add the insanely odd style (the art, the colors, the backgrounds, the music) and it somehow manages to work perfectly with the path the own game goes down. Pure genius all around. AND it's on the ps2. It's 40 bucks and it's better than almost any game out so far on the new generation consoles. Come on RPG fans. You need to get into this underrated series already.


Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - Absolutely Amazing
If you're a SMT fan, you'll love this.

If you didn't like P3 you'll probably love this. It has the same great story telling but fixes most the problems that people complained about.

BTW if you want to get the artbook you can still order that version from here: [...]

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