persona 4

Persona 3 was a real gem of a title. Not only was it a great revival for a classic series, but it was so potentially controversial that it’s a miracle that it even made it to this side of the Pacific. The sequel, Persona 4, is another beauty, which continues the series tradition of biting social commentary mixed with the megaten franchise’s notoriously difficult rpg gameplay, while simultaneously improving on P3 in almost every conceivable way.

The biggest improvements, of course, are in the gameplay. The most noticeable improvement is the shift from single to multiple dungeons. This allows for much more of a varied aesthetic in the levels, and makes for much more interesting segments in the randomly generated floors. The preset levels are also much better designed than before, and there are a few really good environmental puzzles included. The battle system has also seen significant improvement. You are now allowed direct control over your supporting characters, and they will take a mortal hit for you if you need them to, meaning that getting ambushed by more powerful enemies no longer spells instant defeat. To balance this, it is now much harder to stay healthy in dungeons. Knockdowns no longer cost enemies their turns, meaning that you need to make full use of the new guard command. MP recovery items are few and far between, and it’s almost impossible to keep your party at full health for long. The free healing monolith in the main dungeon hub has also been replaced by miserly little fox spirit, who charges exorbitant fees for his services and only heals your MP. Outside of the dungeons, the dating sub game has been improved considerably, offering you bonuses other than mere persona advancement for improving social links. The aforementioned miserly fox will reduce his prices the higher your s-link is with him, for instance. A lot of these improvements can be accredited to the story’s change of theme.

This time around, the commentary is focused on TV obsession and consumer culture, and the effects they have on small town life. Having a less depressing theme than the previous game, which focused on isolation within an apathetic and self absorbed society of the city, P4 contains less controversial material. This does not mean that the game is any less deep, although the plot is easier to grasp. What were cryptic metaphors in the world of P3 are much better explained in P4. The perfect example of this is the character Teddy. Teddy is a very typical, cutesy mascot. He cracks bad bear puns all the time, often only making himself laugh, and, much like the world of television that he represents, he is completely hollow. It sometimes feels as though they’ve taken the metaphor too far, though, especially when it comes to the main plot. The murder mystery tale has so much potential, but logic and reason are forgotten in favour of a solution that alludes heavily to Japanese mythology. It would be much more satisfying if the murderer were someone who you would suspect through evidence analysis, but the plot, as is, rings as hollow as Teddy’s padded skull.

The way the game presents its story; however, is superb, especially considering that it’s on a ten year old console. The music is catchy and well orchestrated, and the visuals, particularly the movie quality animated cutscenes, are great. The voice acting isn’t as grating as in most JRPG translations, and a copious amount of dialog is fully voiced. There’s really nothing to complain about.

Overall I give this game a glowing recommendation. If you own a PS2 you and are looking for a new game to play on it, this is pretty much the very best there is.