It all starts with your arrival in a small town called Inaba, where you are entrusted to your uncle by your parents to spend a school year at Yasogami University. Straight out of the streets of one of the country's great cities, you find yourself somewhat on your own in a town where the only activity for teenagers is to hang out in a gigantic shopping center called Junes. At the rate of the days spent in class, you discover a few people likely to spend time with you, so as not to continually stagnate with your uncle Ryotaro Dojima, an investigator of his condition and his very young daughter Nanako. It is at this precise moment that a series of horrific murders will be committed, each body being found in unusual positions, leaving the local police more than perplexed. A rumor spreads then, indicating that if one is in front of his television one evening of rain, at midnight sharp, it is possible to see in his reflection the image of that or that which will share our life. But quickly, the main character, whom you will also have to name for the sake of immersion, and his friends realize that more than a vulgar reflection, it is indeed a particularly unhealthy parallel universe which hides behind the tube cathodic. And it's not your soul mate who appears there, but the future victims of the one "who leads people beyond the screen". From the first moments taking totally from the technological thriller/urban legend to the RING, which will continue to evolve and reveal a terribly catchy scenario. But more than the fear of death, it's the life force that underpins Persona 4.
Generation consumption
Depicting a very current context, the title taking place in 2011, Persona 4 emphasizes the drifts of a Japanese youth in lack of benchmarks and who can only with difficulty extract themselves from the conventions of society. The fact of including television as a passage into a world undoubtedly more difficult nervously but easier at the level of the definition of oneself is not foreign to it. We need an outlet, a trigger for these young people absorbed by too many possibilities, by a slightly artificial existence that closes their eyes to their problems. Because in Persona 4, the world behind the screen is in fact only a mirror, a universe where we meet as we are, where we discover a side of ourselves that we do not can accept because it does not fit into the mold of social relations. And if one of the prisoners of this dimension rejects this more or less dark, at least astonishing part of himself, death awaits him. Indeed, the Shadows will make short work of him and his soul. It is therefore as saviors, as bearers of the good word that your team will interfere ever more deeply in this television hell in order to discover who is harming the population of Inaba. A very intelligent scriptwriting bias, which mixes up a lot of difficult themes rarely addressed in video games, such as inferiority complexes, the harshness of others in the face of homosexuality or even the selfishness of too much sympathy. Each case, without sinking into tragedy, is a monument of psychological finesse, often touching very precisely and leaving the player facing important reflections. Admittedly, video games are intended for entertainment, but faced with such material, we realize even more that it can encourage us to ask ourselves healthy questions while having fun.
Depicting a very current context, the title taking place in 2011, Persona 4 emphasizes the drifts of a Japanese youth in lack of benchmarks and who can only with difficulty extract themselves from the conventions of society.
Precisely, it is surprising to spend more time forging social ties and trying to get your head out of everyday life than to skim the dungeons in the hollow of the TV screens. The interest of these excesses of friendship and search for occupations within various and varied clubs is not however only disinterested. Indeed, each of the important characters of the soft, has a Persona. This species of mystical creature grants special powers related to an element and allows young heroes to face the warlike inhabitants of the TV world. The individual you play can summon several of these allied monsters and also has the ability to merge them into new ones. Increasing in number as the hero grows in power, these mergers largely depend on the ties maintained with his friends and acquaintances. The smallest person is effectively the holder of a symbol that you can strengthen by deepening the relationship that unites you. The more intimate you are with a character displaying the Justice sign, for example, the more fusions resulting in a Justice-type Persona will benefit from bonus statistics and experience points. It goes without saying that between your lessons, your extra-curricular activities and your outings with friends, you will be obliged to favor some of your acquaintances and that by logic you will miss out on some of your possible encounters. It is also up to you to be regular in your occupations in order to obtain bonuses in knowledge, eloquence, etc. essential to expanding your circle of friends. Few games encourage social ties, as an essential vector for self-understanding.
What kills does not make you stronger
Going ever further into reality, Persona 4 even asks you to follow the weather as an indicator of your next actions. The arrival of the fog signifying the pure and simple loss of the person stuck in the parallel world. It's up to you to choose your actions carefully before the fatal outcome, the title proving to be extremely non-linear on this subject. Indeed, each of your actions after class will take you directly to the evening, during which you can do nothing but go to bed or study. It is therefore up to you to organize your time, knowing that the mist performs fairly regular cycles of about two weeks. So it's up to you to prefer to level up in places you've already seen on television, to cultivate your friendship with a sassy Yosuke, to comfort Yumi Ozawa, or even to train with Kou Ichijo. But the clock is against you and checking the next day's weather on the Weather Channel will quickly become your main obsession. This uninterrupted switch between everyday reality tinged with humor and more or less painful moments and the much darker phases anchored in the parallel universe give Persona 4 a very particular "tempo", however very rarely winded. Apart from the first four hours, the title of Atlus is a little gem of rhythm knowing how to skillfully diversify your possibilities at the right time, preventing you from sinking into boredom between two rescue phases. And that's not counting the Persona fusions, which also depend on the ambient time and which will require you long hours of more or less successful attempts to achieve your ends. And it is in mastering all these components that you will find the key to overcoming a fairly strong difficulty.
...the Atlus title is a little jewel of rhythm knowing how to skillfully diversify your possibilities at the right time, preventing you from sinking into boredom between two rescue phases."
Based on the principle of elemental weaknesses, which regulars of Persona 3, even of the Shin Megami Tensei saga know well, the combat system of Persona 4 is just as ruthless as usual. In fact, it is imperative to quickly discover what element your opponents are sensitive to, in order to gain a clear advantage. Indeed, if you manage to destabilize an enemy by using the right attack, you gain a turn of action, which is far from negligible, especially against the game's particularly tricky bosses. he idea, if you manage to touch the weak point of all the monsters present on the screen, they will find themselves on the ground without defense and you will be able to trigger a group attack of formidable efficiency. Hence the usefulness of having Personas of various affinities, in order to deal with any situation. However, a small novelty makes the confrontations of this Persona 4 a tad more affordable than those of its elder, namely the possibility of fully controlling your teammates if you feel like it. It is therefore much easier to build strategies and especially to resist the incessant assaults of monsters, more or less powerful depending on their size.
Personal effects
If Persona 4 is not really the dream game to present to a novice in the field, the scarcity of save points during the explorations of the various dungeons which are more random will cool more than one, the fact of seeing the adversaries wander is still a plus. Unlike a Digital Devil Saga with random clashes close to madness, the latest software from Atlus gives you the opportunity to prepare yourself before each brawl, or even to take the advantage if you manage to take your enemy by surprise. by means of a light saber blow to his back. Rather dynamic, the fights are faithful to those of Persona 3 and therefore take place on a turn-by-turn basis, always containing the possibility of moving up a gear by activating an "automatic" assault mode pushing each of your characters to attack without passing through the command menu. Note all the same a small subtlety in the progression, it will be much easier for you to carry out a dungeon in two times, even if it means coming back to practice there during the week, than to try to finish it in one go. An act that often amounts to suicide as the capacities of the enemies can be multiplied from one floor to another. Persona 4 is indeed a Dungeon-RPG and therefore responds to the basic principles of the genre, namely a survival aspect well highlighted here and a certain redundancy in exploration. Despite everything, by the intelligence of its fights, the title calmly puts back behind the scenes these few "defects" inherent in the genre. Still, if your previous experiences in the field have not been the most fun, it will be difficult for you to hang on completely to the concept.
Persona 4 is typically the kind of innovative, clever RPG that's sorely lacking on newer consoles like the PS3 and Xbox 360."
Persona 4 is typically the kind of clever, innovative RPG sorely lacking on newer consoles like the PS3 and Xbox 360. 'Atlus is one of the most exciting RPGs to come out in recent years. Rich, endowed with a fantastic design that is both hype and retro, vector of deep reflections without elitism, playfully addictive and original to the core, Persona 4 is simply handicapped by a rather shameful localization and arid biases which will leave newcomers on the sidelines. But in front of such a global success, without necessarily being synonymous with a debauchery of substantial financial means, quite the contrary, it is difficult to look the recent productions of Square-Enix in the face without sketching a smile. Persona 4 is sure to go unnoticed, but if you look deep into your TV, you might spot a flickering light. It is the still burning flame of a title that marks its generation. And she doesn't appear often. See you at midnight.
