This is my first ever written review so bare with my guys... but lets get started nonetheless. I'm reviewing one of my all time favorite games to ever been released, called "Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4." Persona 4 was released back in 2008 after the release of its predecessor Persona 3 FES in 2007. (Of course this is a indirect sequel to the games, seeing how the Megami Tensei games are like the JRPG equivalent to Final Fantasy meaning each game is going to have a different plot and the plot wont connect at all like the other games will.) Let's us begin with the basics of the story which isn't much spoiler heavy since its just explaining what the game exactly is.

"Shortly after an urban youth begins a year-long stay in the countryside town of Inaba, the rural town's peace is shattered by a horrific murder that leaves no clues or suspects. As the lone incident develops into a series of bizarre crimes, he discovers that only he and his friends have the power to solve the baffling case, bring those responsible to justice, and restore harmony to his new home." As the previous text stated this games theme heavily involves on doing research on the murder cases of what's going on and to find out the truth. So in a nutshell, you are a transfer High School student traveling to Inaba to visit and live with your uncle for the next year because your parents are working overseas and they do not want you to jeopardize your education. (Oh, Japan) That's all the details of the story that I will mention.

As for the gameplay mechanics of the game, the main Protagonist of the game is a silent protagonist which you get to name and everything. He is a clean slate meaning no emotions, personality, nothing whatsoever. The options that the game allows you to pick MAKES his own personality. So, basically you can make your personality into his own which I found fantastic since this allowed me to have a link to the game since I would feel like I'm the actual protagonist. Although, depending on your decisions and interactions of the game, it can deeply affect the story for the better or the worse. Now, why the game is called Persona is mainly because, as you advance through the game, you find out that you are able to call your inner Psyche, a Persona if put it bluntly. A Persona, as I just said, is your inner psyche, meaning its a mirror to yourself. A mask that contains many hardships as you continue with your journey.

This game is a JRPG dungeon crawler. It has your usual commands such as "ANALYSIS, SWITCH, TACTICS, GUARD, ATTACK, PERSONA, ITEMS, and ESCAPE." The analysis commands enables you to analyze your enemies weakness and strengths as well as for attacks. As the main protagonist for the game, you wield a special power to be able to change your Persona at anytime before the battle or during the battle. The maximum personae you can have depends on your level. The Tactics command plans the combat flow for your Party Members, although if you want say "Fuck That Shit" I suggest you use the Player Command which allows you to control your party members. The Guard command is self-explanatory which allows you to resist your enemies attack especially if they can "Knock You Down." The Attack Command...is an attack command. The Persona command is basically your magic command of this game. By using the Persona command you can have your Personas attack your enemies with SP attacks (Mana Points in a sense) or HP attacks. (Physical Attacks that decrease your health but deals damage to your enemies) The Items and Escape commands, I'm sure you have the intelligence to figure out what those mean. There is also a special mechanic in the game called the "Weather Forecast System." Knowing if its going to be sunny for a day or rainy is important and also effects the plot of the game or the battles you have when facing off enemies.

I've stated that you can use many Personae during battle. In the beginning of the game you have access to a room call the "The Velvet Room." Which is basically a KEY IMPORTANT PLACE if you want stronger and better personas. The ways to do this is to fuse your personas together. You have duo and Triangular Fusions spread, Quad Spread, Pentagon Spread, and the Hexagon Fusion Spread. Using these to your advantage, you can grow immensely stronger with the assistance of Fusing your Personae together.
Aside from combat, Persona 4 is also related to Japanese "Dating Sims." For those of you who don't know. In Japan, they have exclusive games where you are able to "date a character" but you must fufill certain requirements in order to date them. In Persona 4, the game has dating sims mechanics, meaning its easier to expand your character personality and what not. The game puts a lot of emphasis on Tarot Cards and the meanings, I'll get into this in a sec. In order to increase the strength of your personas and actually have more of a variety to choose from when fusing, you must increase the strength of your social links. Social Links are the strength of bonds that you make with each character you meet while spending your time on Inaba. Every social link and bond is represented by a Tarot Card or Arcana as its called in the game. They are 22 Major Tarot Cards, and the game is heavily made around that. This game encourages you to spend your time wisely and when I say spend it wisely... I mean take it seriously and don't fuck around eating food and shit... Oh yeah, I failed to mention that in order to spend time with certain people in the game, you need to increase your characters social "attributes." Knowledge, Understanding, Diligence, Courage, and Expression. There are ways to increase your social attributes like studying for your exams, or eating food you've never tasted before, or reading a book, or working at a job, etc. It just depends on how you decide to spend your time.


Music... OH THE MUSIC. The music just fits the game differentiating from the regular JPOP the game uses to Rock. I'm not going in-depth with the music but all I have to say its fantastic.

Persona 4 has a few several endings to the game. The Bad Ending, The Neutral Ending, The Good Ending, and The True Ending. Like I said, your decisions in the game impacts what could happen in the game... You have a year to do all what is necessary in the game... Yes a Year... I'm not kidding about that. The game also offers a fantastic New Game + feature.

Well... That's all I have to say. I'm going to end this review with a ---

You guys really thought I was done with this review? OH NO... I have a lot more to say so put that mouse away from the Click to go back in the browser and keep reading!

A more advance version of the game was released back last year, dubbed as the Persona 4 Golden edition. It was only released for the VITA but this the definitive version of the game and I RECOMMEND THIS TO EVERYONE who actually decides to buy the game.

With a new version of the game, this game has ton of extra features and also uses the PS Vita's touch screen features to its advancement.
For example, the game has an all new Help touch button. If someone doesn't know how to spend they're day in the game, they can just press the HELP button and it offers a few suggestions that people has done in the day. The game also has an SOS feature so that when you're going through hell in a dungeon, you can use the SOS feature and depending on how many people actually help you, you will get a sufficient amount of HP and SP in your next encounter.

This game also has two new social links, more difficulty options, new personae,new cutscenes and events, new areas to explore once you gain access to your motorcycle, a new exclusive dungeon, a new soundtrack and an extra month of gameplay, and a few new minigames. Also, this game gives you a new "Bad" ending depending on your actions, once again and the game has expanded its True Ending depending on your actions, ONCE AGAIN!

They also have a new TV Listing section of the game, depending on your progress through your first playthrough, the game offers a new Quiz Game minigame, special Live Music scenes, an OST listening option, the art gallery and a few trailer videos for the games Anime (Persona 4 The Animation) and its fighting game. (Persona 4 Mayonaka Arena or in English, Persona 4 ARENA)


Now, finally for my input in the game... I love this game so fucking much, I enjoy the gameplay, the soundtrack, the social links, the plot, everything AUGHHHH I NEED TO MASTURBATE TO THIS... *coughs* Enough of that pointless fangasm. I hope many of you actually took the time to read this review, I put a lot of effort on actually writing this expressing how I feel about the game. Although the original game does have some cons but they fixed that in the Golden version but its up to your discretion if you guys actually want to play the game or not.

And now for my rating of the game

90/100

If you guys are interested in seeing the trailers for the games, the links are down below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6_rl_ldcj4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnwXbSYcywg

Oh lord... I wrote a lot... trololololololol