Now this is a way for a game system to go out, not with a whimper, but with a bang!
Everything Persona 3 does, Persona 4 either does better, or does it in its own unique way. Even though it's from the same developer, and even runs on the same engine, P4 is not just "P3 but in a small town." Oh no. It's much, much, more.
Okay, first thing's first, the good stuff. The storyline is once again top-notch. There's mystery, humor, angst, drama, horror, and action in the plot. The characterization is good, the dialogue is believable, and it really does its job of not losing your attention. The voice-acting is really good, maybe even better than P3's. I recognize a few voices here and there, and overall, it's great. And lastly, the soundtrack is much, much, much better than P3's. Shoji Meguro is not an overrated hack after all! Of course, P4's music is not of the quality of a Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy title, but it's leagues beyond P3's. And, the game comes with a CD of the music! Awesome!
The gameplay is more streamlined than in P3. You don't have to talk to your party members to equip them with new items, you can just do it from a menu, like in a normal RPG. (Thank the kami!) You can analyze the enemies in P4, but unlike in P3, you must discover their strengths and weaknesses by trial and error. This isn't a dealbreaker, since this means I don't have to skip turns to analyze their weaknesses. Armor raises your defense and evasion stats. And here's the clincher; you can directly control all of your characters in battle. This is how it should be. Thank you thank you thank you Atlus! On the other hand, the card game for obtaining Persona is now harder. You better have damn good eyesight now.
If there is one problem, it's this; building up social links is harder in P4 than it is in P3. You go into the 'tv world' during the evening after school instead of at night. However, the time where you can bolster most of your social links? Yeah, same time. It's not like in P3 where the two often took place at separate times of the day. I better find a way to circumvent this soon, otherwise my Persona fusion won't be of much help . . .
And also, this is just personal, but, there's no one in the game (so far) who's sweet and adorable like Yukari-chan.
"Aw, isn't that heartbreaking, xm?"
Whatever. It's no big deal.
My feelings so far; P4 may be one of the PS2's best games. If so, then the PS2 couldn't ask for a better "last big name game." More on P4 later. I need to bust Shadow skulls.
