Persona 4 Review

[Jedi]

To be fair, the SMT title was only shoved into their names in order to be a marketing tool outside of Japan; I don't think the SMT moniker is in any of the Japanese names. Not calling them Shin Megami Tensei games isn't incorrect, in my opinion. But neither is the opposite

Yeah, Persona is its own thing. I don't think its fair to compare it to SMT like I sometimes tend to do and others.

Devil Survivor 2 and 1 kind of (its more closer to P3 in this perspective) also is kind of like this. Persona 5 either way looks to be back to the thick atmosphere of the past game.

but yeh, Nocturne, Digital Devil Saga (1+2), Raidou Kuzunoha(1+2). Great PS2 games that Atlas has kinda just shrugged off at this point :/ Really wishing we could see some of these return as well. Hell, Catherine, which is heavily hinted at taking place in (or at least features copious references and easter eggs to) the world of Persona, and that game has a ton of atmosphere...outside the actual frenetic stages. When you get time to look around your world, it's great.

No but seriously play Nocturne, it'll blow your mind after the 1st playthrough and have you go mad from the 3rd. Also Dante from Devil May Cry is in it, so that makes it immediately amazing :D. It's DMC 2 Dante. What? No it's not, it's pseudo DMC2 Dante! He's closer to DMC1 Dante, really! I mean, subjective right?...

Am I arguing with myself? wth have you all done to me.

Have you not played Strange Journey or SMTIV? The old formula is still alive and well.

Also I'd say Devil Survivor is more like SMT and Devil Survivor 2 is more like Persona.

Edited August 13, 2015 by Jedi

[Rxmonste]

TBH, Persona 4 Golden is objectively the best game in the series with its presentation, atmosphere, mechanics, and content. I'd argue that my personal favorites are the Persona 2 games and that every other Persona game besides 4 Golden has a number of issues. P3P's presentation and restrictions compared to P3 FES, P4's character issues (which were retouched and improved in P4G along with more non social link cutscenes to flesh the chars out), P3's lack of party control, P2's difficulty and mixed translations from the PSP and PS1 games (seriously Atlus give us both games in one or at least on the same system for god's sake,), P1's....everything.

imho, objectively P4G is the best game, followed by Persona 4 Arena Ultimax and Arena, with P3 FES behind that and P3P and the original P4 behind that, P3 with the Persona 2 games, P1, and then Persona Q as the absolute worst persona game out there. See the Etrian Odyssey for my little rant on all the problems, both objective and subjective, I have with it.

I did play Persona 4 Golden for about 6 hours but my Vita was gone since then. That's sad :( So instead of bitching about it I played the PS3 version. While admittedly inferior, I still loved it.

Edited August 14, 2015 by Rxmonste

[North888]

Decent review. I'd like to see you do the same for Persona 3, since I think interesting discussion could come out of it

To be fair, the SMT title was only shoved into their names in order to be a marketing tool outside of Japan; I don't think the SMT moniker is in any of the Japanese names. Not calling them Shin Megami Tensei games isn't incorrect, in my opinion. But neither is the opposite

The whole of the series is considered Megami Tensei in Japan, with Shin Megami Tensei being one subseries like Persona is. In America they just combined it all under SMT to make it simpler.

Have you not played Strange Journey or SMTIV? The old formula is still alive and well.

If you're referencing SMTIV then you know of the it's myriad of issues stemming not the main SMT formula but that of games like Soul Hackers, which is notoriously player hostile in terms of not only difficulty but as well as how it tells players where to go and how to improve and get everything.

I will concede SMTIV is great, but I wouldn't say the old formula is alive and well. I'd say it's withstanding, but could desperately use either a remake ala P4G, or a new SMT, like a new Raidou Kuzunoha or somesuch. The series definitely needs more than Persona right now, which has been everywhere a little too much for the series' own good.

[DodgeDusk]

The whole of the series is considered Megami Tensei in Japan, with Shin Megami Tensei being one subseries like Persona is. In America they just combined it all under SMT to make it simpler.

Ah, my mistake

[Rxmonste]

Decent review. I'd like to see you do the same for Persona 3, since I think interesting discussion could come out of it

Oh, I would really love that. My friend talked to me about Persona 3 and said that if I beat Persona 4 first then I would not have patience to play through Persona 3 because of how much Persona 4 improved upon it.

I'm still very curious about it, so I'll see if I have time for it when I'm done with Witcher 3.

Specifics of his complaints of P3 are the following: Only one dungeon is available, you visit that dungeon once in a full moon instead of anytime you wish, all party members are AI controlled and the AI sucks, the pacing is generally weaker.

I still wanna see what's up by myself.

Edited August 14, 2015 by Rxmonste

[Radiant head]

You should play persona 3 portable. Tartarus is still awful and tedious, especially compared to p4's dungeons, but it's still a nice update of the original game, and it was kind of an attempt to reflect p4's improvements. So for example, you can control your party.

[North888]

I like Tartarus.

You almost have to play Persona 3 Portable AND Persona 3 FES in a row to get an accurate opinion of the game, since both are radically different. P3P is closer to P4, but lacks the same atmosphere cause it uses VN dialogue with character cutouts instead of any 3D models for anything outside the dungeon.

Tartarus isn't boring. It changes as you go up, and you can skip between different floors. Unlike P4, you can grind lower lvl chars and raise them or go to floors that fit their skill, especially if you're waiting for the next story segment. You can still go up and get a greater challenge instead of being stuck fighting enemies of the same level until the next dungeon line in P4, and I like that.

The AI is actually really smart. They know when to be careful and how to fight back. It's only late game that they get stupid. They love to spam the Break skills even when they don;t need to (why are you use Fire Break Junpei? YOUR MAGIC DAMAGE IS ABSOLUTE SHITE!). In P3P you can control their growths and their chars in game, but the whole of the game wasn't rebalanced for this, so its overall easier.

Persona 3's pacing was better than P4's imho. They establish a goal and villains pretty early in. They have a few plot twists, generally heart warming moments and allow you do what you want in the same way as P4. Not arguing P4 has the better refined system for what to do with your time, but I'd argue P3's pacing was just as good if not better since it had noticeable and defined breaks in time per month as opposed to week periods where you could shrug off saving your best friend while they barely eek out another day, waiting for rescue, and then act like you got to them on the first day of them being in the dungeon.