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What the hell is it about Persona 4?
- Thread starter Steel
- Start date
XiaNaphryz
LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
Your word isn't law!
*scratches Yu off buddha's list*
And oh look, the Chie brigade begins its inane defense.
Oh fuck off.
For some sure but the key here is friendship.
This is why the waifus etc wasn't enough to make non jrpg people love Persona 3.
In Persona 4 the friendships are believably written, and probably the best written friendships outside of potentially the Shepherd/garrus and shepherd/wrex side content from ME2-3.
HolyBaikal
Banned
It is true that I prefer the Persona 3 protagonist to the Persona 4 protagonist.
As a group of friends, the Persona 4 character can be fun. I'm not all that fond of most of them individually, though. My favourite character from Persona 4 is Naoto.
I really like how they touched on LGBT issues. But I also found it really frustrating how half hearted it could occasionally be. They should have explicitly stated Kanji to be gay. And the treatment of Kanji is far, far too negative, particularly in the anime.
Chie and Yukiko are both somewhat interesting characters, I suppose. I like that Chie is a tomboy. But for some reason, neither of them impress me all that much. And I usually really like "tomboy" characters. I didn't really like Rise at all.
As a group, I find them somewhat endearing. Individually, there aren't too many characters I find all that interesting. Naoto being the strongest exception.
As a group of friends, the Persona 4 character can be fun. I'm not all that fond of most of them individually, though. My favourite character from Persona 4 is Naoto.
I really like how they touched on LGBT issues. But I also found it really frustrating how half hearted it could occasionally be. They should have explicitly stated Kanji to be gay. And the treatment of Kanji is far, far too negative, particularly in the anime.
Chie and Yukiko are both somewhat interesting characters, I suppose. I like that Chie is a tomboy. But for some reason, neither of them impress me all that much. And I usually really like "tomboy" characters. I didn't really like Rise at all.
As a group, I find them somewhat endearing. Individually, there aren't too many characters I find all that interesting. Naoto being the strongest exception.
If you have over 100 hours to spare, I'd highly recommend the Giantbomb Persona 4 Endurance run. You can really see how the game turns people into fans. Jeff is outright rolling his eyes at the start, and while Vinny is willing to give it a shot he was fairly neutral.
By the end I think Jeff's the biggest P4 fan on giant bomb and Vinny is close behind and a vast majority of the giant bomb community still say that's the best thing GB's ever done.
Not something most games could have pulled off
By the end I think Jeff's the biggest P4 fan on giant bomb and Vinny is close behind and a vast majority of the giant bomb community still say that's the best thing GB's ever done.
Not something most games could have pulled off
Actually it's not over 100, it's 99 hours and 59 minutes
And I don't think it's fair to say Jeff was rolling his eyes at the game. He had wanted to play it before and seemed to like a lot about it after only a few episodes.
Actually it's not over 100, it's 99 hours and 59 minutes
No, it's over 100 hours because it doesn't count the times they wiped out in battle, or the times they had the menu paused or other extraneous things like hanging out in the main menu.
fengshuifever
Member
Quoted for hard truths.
4 improved a hell of a lot on 3's mechanics and flow (gameplay flow mind you, not story) but at the end of the day it never captivated me the way 3 did.
Coming from 3's sense of purpose, 4 felt like you were chasing a bunch of red herrings until the big reveal.
Inspector Jones
Member
What makes the Persona series so much fun, to me anyhow, is how many systems you have to manage. You have to balance your social links, dungeon progress, personal skills, fusions, side quests, activities, and so on and so forth. Each play through feels different because each in-game day; you have to plan what you're going to do.
I easily have over 200 hours in both P3P and Persona 4 Golden, and I still find myself returning to them (I'm playing through P3P right now for like a fourth time).
I easily have over 200 hours in both P3P and Persona 4 Golden, and I still find myself returning to them (I'm playing through P3P right now for like a fourth time).
That's also wrong, actually, because the timer goes over that time (which made the 99h59m time Jeff and Vinny ended up at even crazier).
Sorry, but no way.
This.
buddha0991
Member
I like P1, P2IS, P2EP, P3 Journey, P3 Answer, P4, P4A
IISANDERII
Member
I've always regretted not watching Giantbomb's endurance of the game.
I once read someone say that the interactions between cast members of P3 made them seem more like co-workers than friends. Seemed rather fitting.
Yeah, that actually came from the developers themselves. It's a nice contrast between the group dynamic of P3 and P4.
You could always watch it now, even though the aspect of the community discussing what Jeff and Vinny will be doing next or anticipating the next episode might not be there.
buddha0991
Member
I got to experience that as it went. Man it was glorious.
Yeah, it was fun times. Definitely the best thing that GB's ever done (and it was heart-wrenching when they joked about a P5 Endurance Run on the Bombcast two weeks ago).
Pretty much this exactly. One of the greatest games I've ever experienced
which was only just this year!
There's a lot of things why people like the game. But I think there's one thing why most people, yes, even people who never played jrpgs like this game. It's deadlines.
Throughout the game you have deadlines you need to meet before they pass or less it's game over. So the game is designed around that. Everything you do benefits the progress of the game and makes you feel active. Social Links are just as or even more important than fighting to earn exp since it allows to create even more powerful personas. And you need to raise your social stats to deepen your Social Links so activities that increase those stats help immensely.
The game's mechanics are woven really well. You always feel like you're moving the game along at a steady pace.
And there's Chie too, so there's that.
Throughout the game you have deadlines you need to meet before they pass or less it's game over. So the game is designed around that. Everything you do benefits the progress of the game and makes you feel active. Social Links are just as or even more important than fighting to earn exp since it allows to create even more powerful personas. And you need to raise your social stats to deepen your Social Links so activities that increase those stats help immensely.
The game's mechanics are woven really well. You always feel like you're moving the game along at a steady pace.
And there's Chie too, so there's that.
DidntKnowJack
Member
I think it's because P4 is a world people can lose themselves in. I read on this very forum someone comparing the play of a engaging handheld game with curling up with a good book. And I think that's an accurate portrayal of my time playing P4G on the Vita.
This is how a felt too, and the setting was perfect for this. It felt like I was getting away to another life out in the country where everyone was friendly.
Nervous Sausage
Member
The story/characters were decent but I hated the insultingly repetitive dungeons. Gave up after getting fairly far into it.
Calamari41
41 > 38
I bought this game based on this thread, and I'm not going to give up on it, but I just wanted to know when the actual game starts? I've been playing off and on for a few days now, and I'm still basically just scrolling through dialogue. Even going through the TV for the first time, I never had control and was just scrolling through dialogue again. I'm getting bored after ten minutes of this each time, so I just was curious as to how many more play sessions it will take before I actually do something.
HolyBaikal
Banned
I think that the writing, or narrative of Persona 4 is pretty good. I was pretty underwhelmed by the characters, though.
Most people who hate the game seem to not be able to get past the intro. The game opens up more and more as time goes on, but you'll have a decent amount of choices about 3-5 hours into it.
Actually it's not over 100, it's 99 hours and 59 minutes
And I don't think it's fair to say Jeff was rolling his eyes at the game. He had wanted to play it before and seemed to like a lot about it after only a few episodes.
It is, but remember they die plenty =P (What a coincidence for that end clock though huh!?
)I dunno I remember a lot of Jeff saying things like "I'm just really irritated because..." and such especially when the characters keep recapping stuff. In a way I wonder if the opinion might have turned bad if they didn't pull Teddie's head off =)
... that game is so great
toastyToast
Member
The game is really good but you gotta give props to the localization too. Atlus USA put in serious work
Also it's refreshing to have characters who act like they're from planet Earth
Also it's refreshing to have characters who act like they're from planet Earth
toastyToast
Member
There were substantial quality of life improvements to both portable games. P3P loses all its cutscenes (it becomes a VN portrait type of thing with a static background) and in turn becomes kind of weird with the story beats towards the end. You're going to have to weigh up whether you want the story or the gameplay.
P4G is unequivocally better than P4
In it for the story without a doubt.
Took me a long while to realize and admit it, but this is true.