Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 (PlayStation 2)

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Description

Recently, strange murders began to occur in the quiet Japanese town Inaba. People are found dead under mysterious circumstances, and rumors say that something very wrong is going on with local TV system. A high school student moves into town, living at the house of his uncle, a police detective named Ryotaro Dojima. Shortly after his arrival, a TV announcer is found dead, her body hanging on a TV antenna. A while later, the student who discovered the victim is found dead as well. The new student and his friends accidentally discover that a parallel world exists within the realm of television, populated by supernatural creatures known as Shadows. The young people also find out that their own Shadow Selves are able to grant them unique powers. They must travel into that mysterious world and find out who is responsible for the murders.

Persona 4 is a Japanese-style role-playing game with light social simulation elements, similar in concept to its predecessor. The player controls a party of characters who must solve the crimes by venturing into the TV world and exploring its dungeons. Each dungeon is associated with a potential victim and carries a unique theme; their layouts, however, are randomly generated. Enemies are visible on screen, and contact with them leads to turn-based battles, which heavily rely on exploiting enemy weaknesses and unleashing powerful attacks after having successfully knocked them down. As opposed to the previous game, the player can issue direct commands to the main character's companions during battles. Similarly to other Persona games, characters' abilities and attributes change by merging them with supernatural beings known as Personae, which can also be fused at special locations to create more powerful ones.

Like the previous installment, the game is stretched across an entire school year, strictly following a real calendar, each day divided into different periods (school, after school, evening, etc.). The protagonist can interact with other characters, study, join clubs, take part-time jobs, etc. Spending time with characters builds up Social Links, which grant the player benefits when creating new Personae, unlock skills for companions, and increase the protagonist's own attributes (Understanding, Diligence, Courage, Knowledge and Expression); these attributes, in turn, influence further interaction and character-building.

Screenshots

Promo Images

Alternate Titles

• "Shin Megami Tensei: P4" -- Official abbreviation
• "Persona 4" -- Japanese title
• "ペルソナ4" -- Japanese spelling

Part of the Following Groups

• Gameplay feature: Creature breeding / fusion
• Gameplay feature: Multiple endings
• Gameplay feature: New Game+
• Games made into TV series
• Megami Tensei / Megaten universe
• Persona series
• Setting: Future now Past
• Theme: School

User Reviews

Pursuing my true self	Donatello (463)
Great for fans of the genre, but too tedious and difficult for others.	Pixelspeech (1006)

Critic Reviews

Gaming Nexus	Feb 05, 2009	A+	100
1UP	Dec 01, 2008	A+	100
Playstation Illustrated	Dec, 2008	98 out of 100	98
Cheat Code Central	Dec, 2008	4.7 out of 5	94
Game Freaks 365	Jan, 2009	9.1 out of 10	91
GameLemon	May 19, 2009	9 out of 10	90
Gamestyle	May 10, 2009	9 out of 10	90
4Players.de	Mar 26, 2009	88 out of 100	88
Game Observer	Apr 29, 2009	88 out of 100	88
GameCola.net	Mar, 2009	8 out of 10	80

Forums

Topic	# Posts	Last Post
This is different!	12	DreinIX (10673) Jan 07, 2009

Trivia

1001 Video Games

The PS2 version of Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Awards

• GameSpy
  • 2008 – PS2 Game of the Year

Related Web Sites

• Persona 4 (Official website)