I’m gonna be perfectly blunt about this game. Even it if makes me come off as a rabid fan.  I love this game.  It’s quite possibly the best RPG I’ve ever played. I thought Persona 3 FES was amazing. This game in my opinion blew it out of the water, which is no small feat, As Persona 3 was also a great game.

Rarely does a game come along which I enjoy from the time I turn it on for the first time until the credits roll. This was one of those games. There was never a moment where I hoped the game was almost over.  In many RPGS you find yourself wondering just how much longer it will take. Not Persona 4. It took me about 61 hours to play through, and it felt like it was over too soon.

The Shin Megami Tensei series has always been known for being, well, dark, since quite a few of the games deal with life after the apocalypse or the imminent destruction of the world. The Persona series, including Persona 4, is no different, but has a bit…lighter atmosphere.   This game still deals with some dark entity plotting the destruction of the world, but also deals with something far more disturbing...

The lives of high schoolers! *cue blood curdling screams*

Yes, the world might be coming to an end, but that doesn’t mean you can’t hang out with your buds and hit on girls right? Actually in this case, it’s quite beneficial. You friends/party members get stronger and have more abilities in battles based on how much time you spend with them, or rather their Personas do. A Persona is pretty much a demon, or some sort of “other self” that’s inside of you that gives you magic powers. It sounds cheesy, but is actually quite awesome.

The main character can have more than one Persona, while the other characters only get one that becomes stronger during the game. The main character can acquire more Personas by fusing two or more together.

The characters themselves are quite interesting. None more so than Teddie, A strange bear-like creature you meet from another world, who looks like a kids show mascot. He thinks he’s god’s gift to women and makes really bad bear puns. Aside from him, you have a kung-fu movie obsessed girl, an ex-gang member with a sensitive side, a Jr. detective with gender issues, and a handful of other kids with varying degrees of mental problems. Growing up is difficult, right?

As for the actual game aspects, battle is pretty straight-forward.  Dungeons are generated randomly, But it never really feels like a dungeon crawl. There is a time constraint, though; you only have so many in game days to finish a dungeon, which seems bad, but I never really had a problem with it.

The audio is quite good. The game actually comes packaged with a soundtrack CD.  Even though you hear the same battle theme for the entire game, I didn’t mind it. It’s quite a catchy tune. The voice acting was also good. The story is well written and keeps you guessing throughout. Graphics are pretty much on par with Persona 3, but they still look good.

In case you didn’t get it from the rest of this article. I’ll just come out and say it. I highly recommend this game. Find it, buy it, play it. Its just that damn good.

	System:	Playstation 2
	Genre:	RPG
	Experience:	Finished the game in 61 hours

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