I must say that Persona 4 is probably by far the most engaging instalment of the Persona Series. The game elaborates on multiple characters' story arcs throughout your mission to prevent the crimes, which blend in really well with the main plot. On this level, it succeeds tremondously over Persona 3's draggy middle. Music here is simply fantastic, catchy melodies you can sing to probably after the first time you hear it, mixture of anime cheeriness with sentimental and heart lifting piano scores that will carve straight into your memory.
Voice acting likewise is excellent in my opinion, capturing the characters' unique personalities well. What amazes me is the fact that the plot explores unique emotional struggles relating to homosexuality, media personality, and traditional family heritage in great detail, amidst the subtleties of actual Japanese cultures and lifestyles portrayed throughout the game.
The new weather system adds the extra realism to the town, and contributes to the gameplay e.g certain townfolks appear only on specific weathers, study alone or with a friend in the library or at home during rainy days to boost extra Knowledge, or choose to join the Rainy Day Menu Challenge at the famous restaurant to boost random Stats. When it's sunny daytime, take the chance to work part time as a child caretaker for cash, attend sports or culture clubs, or meet up with your friends to explore the Midnight Channel to train up your Personas in order to rescue the victims by the next foggy day to advance the game. Rainy days increase the difficulty of shadows in the Midnight Channel as well, so be well prepared.
The MC comes with 5 Stats comprising of Knowledge, Diligence, Courage, Expression and Understanding, that only upon leveling up, allows you to choose certain dialogue options and take up specific part time jobs e.g. maxed Understanding required if you want to take up the Part-Time Tutor job, high Courage to work as a hospital janitor at night, or moderate Expression to become a traslator. Money earned increases with the level of Diligence, and money is times harder to come by in P4 than P3, thus raising the bar of challenge.
Basically, there are simply so many interesting things to do; cooking, studying with friends, reading novels, assembling figurines, fishing, school field trip, working part time for quick cash, raising social ranks with different kinds of people along the way and solving the murder mystery that the game hardly has any moment to loosen my interest in the game. All these things play crucial parts in boosting your characters' inventory or skills that careful daily scheduling of the MC's activities becomes a key factor in tackling the game.
I found the ending really touching, even tear-jerking to some extent. It actually saddens me to finish, and took me some time to forget that it was all only a story in a video game, one I made unforgettable and true friends, evoking the warmth of true friendship and pure love, which reality nowadays seem to lack. My elder sister, who all along hated RPG games, sat in to watch whenever I played until the credits roll.
Ah..the magic of a great video game story, an essence that sadly, almost none I know, shares the same level of appreciation. But no matter, someday soon I know I will revisit Inaba again to complete the characters' story arcs I missed. Any true RPG fan will not give this game a miss. Many thanks to Atlus for such a fulfilling experience.
