Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

100 or More Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Masterpiece"

Persona 4 tells of a teenage boy who moves to a rural Japanese town known as Inaba while his parents are overseas. Not long after his arrival, two brutal murders occur, leaving police with no witnesses or evidence to go on. Meanwhile, the protagonist and his new friends discover an alternate universe within a TV inhabited by shadows, creatures born from people's repressed emotions. There, they discover that people thrown into this universe are forced to face their inner demons, and are attacked by their shadow self if they are inside the TV world when Inaba fogs over, as what happened to the two murder victims. The main characters obtain a power called "Persona" once they accept their inner demons, and vow to save any more victims and catch the killer behind it all. Many the tone of Persona 4 is very anime like, and this leads to plenty of awkward, yet hilarious moments, especially during the game's events that occur in between dungeons.

As entertaining and original as the plot of Persona 4 is, the greatest part about a Persona 4 is the game's characters. Each one of the victims that are rescued and befriended as the game continues has their own unique inner conflict, all of which are surprisingly relatable. Throughout the game, the victims thrown in the TV each get their own dungeons, which focus on the character's individual repressed emotions. Outside of the game's dungeons, characters are developed through a gameplay mechanic called "Social Links". Social Links give each one of the characters their own story, and leave you feeling attached.

The levels of Persona 4 are all done in a dungeon crawler style.They are all unique and varied, with each one having about 10 floors and a randomly generated map. The game has no random encounters; the player can see enemies before they are attacked, and can even get a chance to sneak up on enemies for an advantage in battle. Battles are typical turn based combat style, with each characters having elemental weakness and strengths.The graphics are pretty good for the PS2, they're nothing too special, but they're nice to look at. The music is amazing, its probably one of the best video game soundtracks I've heard. Each dungeon has it own unique theme, and they do a great job at putting you in the right mood.

However, no game is perfect. Persona 4's dungeons have an annoying habit of lulling you into a false sense of security, causing you to go up several floors, without going back to the entrance to save. Just to encounter an abnormally difficult enemy, get defeated, and lose hours of progress. However, so long as you are careful enough, this can be avoided. Relatively cheap items can purchased that allow you to return to the dungeon entrance to save, and the game is nice enough to let you continue on the floor you left off on.

Other then that, if you hate grinding, i'd recommend beginner difficulty, because all other difficulties require a lot of grinding in order to beat the bosses. I've also heard some people complain about the long amount of time it takes the game to get started. I didn't mind it much, but some people did.

In short, Persona 4 is an amazing video game with very few flaws. The characters, plot, and gameplay all combine to make an unbeatable experience that you won't want to end.