Persona 4 [first impressions]
I suddenly feel like writing reviews. I'll probably do that a lot from now on. I strongly doubt anyone will read them, but personal reference is as good a reason as any, right? I'll try to do that ridiculous 8/10 rating system thing but I have a tendency to rate everything either extremely high or extremely low per game/movie/etc. so I might drop that after a while. I'm going to try to avoid summarizing, since that takes up too much time and space... and I yammer on enough as it is. Plus there will be a section for pairings, because I really can't help myself.
(note: I'm only at the very beginning of August)
Plot: 10/10
A murder mystery is a pretty typical plot for a movie or a book, but I haven't seen it used quite the way it is in P4 in any other video game. In essence the game is a murder mystery, which is pretty straight forward, but the context makes it very unique.
Battle: 8/10
One thing that really bothers me about the battle initiation in P4 is the weird camera angles. While you explore the dungeons, the camera angles are completely different from how they were in Tartarus from P3--and not in a good way. The angle switches sometimes at very inconvenient moments when you are trying to hit a shadow. The shadows are also smarter in P4, and it's significantly more difficult to get the advantage in a battle because of their heightened senses. Don't think you can simply march up behind them unnoticed anymore. The actual battles, I have no qualms with. It's pretty annoying that you can't escape from battles right away anymore, but it's not the end of the world, and the battle system is pretty similar to P3's. There are some very convenient improvements in your allies' intelligence, however. Chie's follow-up attack is the definition of "amazing."
Other gameplay: 10/10
The S-link system hasn't really changed here, except that you no longer are required to date every girl-your-age (or about your age) S-link. You can choose a friend path, instead, which is very nice. You don't feel like a total asshole for 5-timing like in P3. Of course, maybe you never felt like an asshole in the first place because of that (since it is a game, after all), but I have a ridiculous guilty conscience that only kicks in for stupid things. I'm also extremely pleased that there are now S-links for everyone in your team. Moving around is also a lot easier in P4, and that square button saves a lot of time. Also, I was a little horrified when I saw there were five stats to max out, at first, but it's not bad at all. The quests are an interesting new feature, too. They're not really new, per se, considering Elizabeth had optional quests you could do in P3, but the nature of the quests is a bit different.
Graphics: 9/10
Despite the game's gloomy rural setting, the places have a certain glow to them. Even when it's raining or foggy, it's very pretty. The change in the overall color tones of the different weather types adds to the mood tremendously, and I'd have to say a pretty near perfect job was done with that. The setting graphics have improved quite a lot from P3, and have a lot more detail and feeling. As for the character graphics, they're basically the same design type that was used in P3. They're cute and simple, but the extreme lack of detail is a stark contrast to the beautiful setting graphics. Nonetheless, they have their charm too.
Characters: 10/10
The voice acting was, overall, pretty good. Let me first say: P3 got a lot of flack for "bad voice acting," but in my opinion the only annoying voice was Fuuka's. I loved Junpei's voice (I like his voice actor--well, his voice, not the actual man) and Mitsuru's in particular. In P4, I have not yet heard any bad voice acting at all, though. Yosuke and Rise have great voices, and the rest are very good too. Nanako's voice gets on my nerves sometimes (often), but I am so thankful to hear Rise's lovely voice during battle instead of Fuuka's irritating one that it really doesn't matter. As for the characters in general: the characters who are not on your team or not in your family are, for the most part, not that interesting. I didn't like the designs that much and their personalities were either irritating or just plain boring. Some of their S-links are interesting despite their bland or annoying personalities, though. And, granted, I kind of gave up on Ai (who supposedly is very interesting) after hanging out with her just once. So we'll see, I could be wrong. I'd still give characters a 10/10, though, and that is because of your teammates and the Dojima family. The characters are what really makes the difference between P3 and P4 to me. In P3, you have utterly cliche characters who are proved to be more than the cliches they stand for. And I know you probably think this is leading up to me saying how great the P4 characters are in comparison but, actually, the characters of both games are just as great--it's simply in different ways. P3 does an impressive job of making its characters into something more than their cliches, and I adored them. P4 deals with its characters differently. Instead of being shown that characters who seem over-the-top can be unique and personal, you are shown that seemingly very plain characters can be complex and very interesting characters even without having too much baggage.
Overall rating: 10/10
Pairings I like in this game--in no particular order:
1. Souji/Yukiko--hmm... honestly I don't have much to say here. I usually never pair MC with anyone (I didn't in P3, at least), but I really do like Souji/Yukiko. I'm not really sure why, it's the sort of pairing I usually hate, but I just like it a lot. The only explanation I can think of right now is that Yukiko goes well with any main male character + Chie, and she and Souji look very nice together.
2. Yosuke/Chie--I never thought I would like this pairing so much but... damn! They are SO CUTE together. This is probably my favorite P4 pairing. I love the bickering dynamic (yet I dislike Ron/Hermione... huh...) and while I usually am not a fan of canon pairings it does seem rather canon--it seems to be hinted at more than a few times, at least.
3. Kanji/Rise--can't say much here, but I do love this pairing. It's adorable and ironic and just fabulous.
4. Chie/Yukiko--I honestly thought I would like this pairing a lot more, and was disappointed when I didn't. But I still really like it. The prince thing was cute and they suit each other very well. They also make green and red look great together, which is an extremely impressive feat considering I usually despise that color combo.
5. Dojima/Adachi--won't say anything here, don't want to spoil anything, but I love this pairing.
(note: I'm only at the very beginning of August)
Plot: 10/10
A murder mystery is a pretty typical plot for a movie or a book, but I haven't seen it used quite the way it is in P4 in any other video game. In essence the game is a murder mystery, which is pretty straight forward, but the context makes it very unique.
Battle: 8/10
One thing that really bothers me about the battle initiation in P4 is the weird camera angles. While you explore the dungeons, the camera angles are completely different from how they were in Tartarus from P3--and not in a good way. The angle switches sometimes at very inconvenient moments when you are trying to hit a shadow. The shadows are also smarter in P4, and it's significantly more difficult to get the advantage in a battle because of their heightened senses. Don't think you can simply march up behind them unnoticed anymore. The actual battles, I have no qualms with. It's pretty annoying that you can't escape from battles right away anymore, but it's not the end of the world, and the battle system is pretty similar to P3's. There are some very convenient improvements in your allies' intelligence, however. Chie's follow-up attack is the definition of "amazing."
Other gameplay: 10/10
The S-link system hasn't really changed here, except that you no longer are required to date every girl-your-age (or about your age) S-link. You can choose a friend path, instead, which is very nice. You don't feel like a total asshole for 5-timing like in P3. Of course, maybe you never felt like an asshole in the first place because of that (since it is a game, after all), but I have a ridiculous guilty conscience that only kicks in for stupid things. I'm also extremely pleased that there are now S-links for everyone in your team. Moving around is also a lot easier in P4, and that square button saves a lot of time. Also, I was a little horrified when I saw there were five stats to max out, at first, but it's not bad at all. The quests are an interesting new feature, too. They're not really new, per se, considering Elizabeth had optional quests you could do in P3, but the nature of the quests is a bit different.
Graphics: 9/10
Despite the game's gloomy rural setting, the places have a certain glow to them. Even when it's raining or foggy, it's very pretty. The change in the overall color tones of the different weather types adds to the mood tremendously, and I'd have to say a pretty near perfect job was done with that. The setting graphics have improved quite a lot from P3, and have a lot more detail and feeling. As for the character graphics, they're basically the same design type that was used in P3. They're cute and simple, but the extreme lack of detail is a stark contrast to the beautiful setting graphics. Nonetheless, they have their charm too.
Characters: 10/10
The voice acting was, overall, pretty good. Let me first say: P3 got a lot of flack for "bad voice acting," but in my opinion the only annoying voice was Fuuka's. I loved Junpei's voice (I like his voice actor--well, his voice, not the actual man) and Mitsuru's in particular. In P4, I have not yet heard any bad voice acting at all, though. Yosuke and Rise have great voices, and the rest are very good too. Nanako's voice gets on my nerves sometimes (often), but I am so thankful to hear Rise's lovely voice during battle instead of Fuuka's irritating one that it really doesn't matter. As for the characters in general: the characters who are not on your team or not in your family are, for the most part, not that interesting. I didn't like the designs that much and their personalities were either irritating or just plain boring. Some of their S-links are interesting despite their bland or annoying personalities, though. And, granted, I kind of gave up on Ai (who supposedly is very interesting) after hanging out with her just once. So we'll see, I could be wrong. I'd still give characters a 10/10, though, and that is because of your teammates and the Dojima family. The characters are what really makes the difference between P3 and P4 to me. In P3, you have utterly cliche characters who are proved to be more than the cliches they stand for. And I know you probably think this is leading up to me saying how great the P4 characters are in comparison but, actually, the characters of both games are just as great--it's simply in different ways. P3 does an impressive job of making its characters into something more than their cliches, and I adored them. P4 deals with its characters differently. Instead of being shown that characters who seem over-the-top can be unique and personal, you are shown that seemingly very plain characters can be complex and very interesting characters even without having too much baggage.
Overall rating: 10/10
Pairings I like in this game--in no particular order:
1. Souji/Yukiko--hmm... honestly I don't have much to say here. I usually never pair MC with anyone (I didn't in P3, at least), but I really do like Souji/Yukiko. I'm not really sure why, it's the sort of pairing I usually hate, but I just like it a lot. The only explanation I can think of right now is that Yukiko goes well with any main male character + Chie, and she and Souji look very nice together.
2. Yosuke/Chie--I never thought I would like this pairing so much but... damn! They are SO CUTE together. This is probably my favorite P4 pairing. I love the bickering dynamic (yet I dislike Ron/Hermione... huh...) and while I usually am not a fan of canon pairings it does seem rather canon--it seems to be hinted at more than a few times, at least.
3. Kanji/Rise--can't say much here, but I do love this pairing. It's adorable and ironic and just fabulous.
4. Chie/Yukiko--I honestly thought I would like this pairing a lot more, and was disappointed when I didn't. But I still really like it. The prince thing was cute and they suit each other very well. They also make green and red look great together, which is an extremely impressive feat considering I usually despise that color combo.
5. Dojima/Adachi--won't say anything here, don't want to spoil anything, but I love this pairing.