Holy shet, this game was amazing. Like srsly, I would recommend it if you like RPGs because it is BEAST. (As in awesome I meant XD)
From wikipedia:
Persona 4 takes place in the fictional, rural Japanese town of Inaba, which lies among floodplains and has its own high school and shopping districts. Unexplained murders have taken place in the small town, where bodies are found dangling among television antennas and their cause of death unknown. At the same time, rumor has begun to spread that watching a switched-off television set on rainy midnights will reveal a person's soulmate. Following the rumor, a group of high-school students discovered a fog-shrouded world accessed through television sets infested with monsters called Shadows. They also discovered each of their Shadow Selves, symbolizing their suppressed personalities. Confronting their Shadow Selves awakened their ability to summon beings known as Personas. Using Personas, the students formed the Investigation Team to investigate the connection between the TV world and the murders, and possibly capture the culprit.
I bought this game last summer when Code and Niwa kept advertising how good it was but never got around to playing it until this year and I must say they are 100% correct. The game is FANTASTIC.
What intrigued me the most was the plot. It's a mystery RPG where the main character(MC) goes around on an adventure to try and solve the murder case happening in the rural town he moved to but let's say the cause of death is PARTIALLY supernatural and so forensic science can't find any evidence as to how the victims were killed and the only ones who know the method are a bunch of kids...who go inside TVs.
Yes. TVs. It sounds so farfetched and unbelievable, infact when I first saw the scene of them falling into the TV I thought it was highly amusing. But as the plot grows you'll realize the TV actually plays an important role in the story and everything actually DOES make sense.
Anyway plot wise, I'd definitely say it was one of the best RPG plots I've ever played, and MILES ahead of FF13. Sure the graphics for FF13 are much better because P4 is a PS2 game but I thought the plot for FF13 was just...well..stupid. I also didn't like the whole Serah thing, infact the only thing in FF13 I actually liked were the graphics. I wasn't too fond of the battle system because it was one of those "fill the bar" types, ie. the quicker you decide your attack, the quicker you attack the enemy hence mashing X was probably the best way to go. In other words, it required no intelligence because everything was practically automated. Though I'd also say that the battle system for Persona is similar because it also uses weapons and magic attacks however it is TURN-BASED, similar to FFX. Also who goes first is determined by the Agility level of each Persona, along with HP and MP attacks. Except Persona also has a RUSH mode if you press Triangle in which the characters will just normally attack the enemy, this method is really good if the enemies are weak and you can't be arsed clicking Attack for every character. Another great thing is that if you hit the enemy weakness, they'll automatically go down and if all enemies are down then there's an "ALL ON ENEMY" option in which the characters all pile and attack the enemy usually dealing incredible amounts of damage.(90% instant K.O unless you get an annoying one with high defense.)
Another interesting feature of the game are Social Links. As personas are part of a person's personality, creating and maintaining bonds with people are very important in developing stronger characters. In this game, levelling Social Links means you're able to fuse stronger personas to use in battle(only for MC) and the good thing about each SL is that the person you share the bond with all have unique stories and for the fox a unique method to level up. The higher your SL the more EXP you gain when fusing a persona of that class so you could end up with a level 50 Persona even though you're Lv45(you can only fuse personas up to your MC's level) because 5 levels are gained from bonus EXP.
One of the problems with SL levelling is that for certain links, you need a certain level in each stat(knowledge, diligence, courage, understanding & expression) to even START the link, I mean for Naoto's link you need level 5(max) knowledge AND level 5 courage before you could even TALK to her. So between diving your time killing shadows to train/save people, you need time to build strong SL's for Persona fusion AND level up each stat. Each event takes up at least 1/2 of your time in each day. Like spending time with Yosuke(SL levelling) will take up all After School time until Evening. As does reading a book(stat levelling) uses up all Evening so you automatically go into the next day. And if you go out to the dungeons to kill shadows(MC levelling) After School then you can't do anything during the Evening for that day because the MC will be tired and you have to sleep.
Also not every character stands in the same spot everyday for you to activate SL. Sometimes they change places, sometimes you can't activate the link at all and almost all(minus Hermit) can only be accessed on NON-RAINY days. So see those rainy days? Go grind on shadows or activate the Hermit Link or if you're just starting out, go to the Chinese Diner Aiya and level up 3 stats in 1 go. Also bear in mind that the Hermit link is quest based and people for the quests are only available on non-rainy days so COMPLETE THE QUEST FIRST and then visit the Hermit ON the rainy day.
I would also advise the first links you should max out are the ones who you'll include in your battle party the most often because they get an upgrade at level 10. And also Nanako and Dojima because after a certain point in the story, you'll be unable to level them further. YES I DID THAT BECAUSE I DIDN'T KNOW D;
For me, the game didn't really have any short comings so I don't have any complaints about it. Actually I have one, the voices in the anime cutscenes are TOO QUIET. I have to turn the volume up everytime one appears. D< But the game itself is definitely one of the best I've ever played and I would recommend it to all to try out especially RPG fans, yes you FF fans too. It's not as long as FF(well I didn't take that long to complete it anyway) but it's quite lengthy and so it does keep you entertained for a long time.
Level I played on: Beginner (8D)
Time taken for completion: 72 hours
Social Links: 6/18 maxed. Out of the ones you have to work for. There's a few links that get maxed out with the story anyway(like Star) so I didn't count those.
Highest level character: 82 (Main character LOL)
Highest level Persona: 86 (Beelzebub - Devil maxed)
My Rating: 9/10