Shin Megami's Persona series exemplified with it's latest iteration. Each character possesses real problems and are for the most part relate able and enjoyable. There have been many recent spinoff's including manga and anime iterations. It seems that although this game has a more niche appeal than the more mainstream games such as FF have it is still an amazing peice

Why isn't this on the front page with the other new games? Come on, metacritic. This game is getting ridiculously high reviews, and I'm so happy to see it. While I haven't finished the game yet (I'm taking my merry time), I can safely say that this is proof that Japan doesn't need to westernize their game development to make great stuff, nor do they need to westernize to appeal to the west. What we need is more stuff along these lines. Quirky, bizarre, weird, excellent, and we need it on every platform, PS3 especially. Happily rating this a perfect score. Normally I am more conservative, but I did not think P3 (a solid 9 or higher) could be improved upon.… Expand

a few years back I bought Persona 3 and thought "what could top this?" Persona 4 thats what!! I grew up playing NES RPGs since the 80s like Dragon Warrior (now called Dragon Quest) This is the real deal and so is Shin Megamis Devil Summoner 1 &2, Digital Devil Saga 1&2, and Nocturne...

Firstly, the only part I think could have been changed was the grinding necesary and mobs available to grind on. But overall, the story, characters, combat animations, personas, fusion system, city, and whatever else you can throw out there have provided me with hours and hours of entertainment. This is my first MegaTen game, and it definitely hooked me. In fact, I bought P3 FES and Digital Devil Saga today.… Expand

Improves on the formula of Persona 3 resulting in one of the most unique and diverse JRPGs I've ever played.

Hmm, Don't know where to start on this one. Obviously the guy who said the story line was childish and the translation was poor either hasn't played the game or is just not that smart. First of the story is rather deep, has many levels of interpretation, and, for a video game, isn't even that cliché. The translation is hardly sloppy, its acutally rather well done, it keeps much of the Japanese feel to the dialouge, while not sounding too litteral. I do agree however adding the -chans, and -samas, and -kuns to the end of the words is cheesy and is only for the hordes of 17 year old social outcasts who buy every JRPG created think that if you add -desu to the end of a sentence you are suddenly speaking japanese. ANYWAY back to the game. Battle system is improved from P3, the day-to-day goes much faster and is less mundane. The S.Links upgrade muuuch faster, and still contain interesting sub-stories. I feel like the S.links in P4 feel closer to the character and less random then they did in P3. The battles are still fast paced and fun. The new Dungeon layouts are less repitive and feel more "real". The only real gripes that I have, are that sometimes in the dungeons the camera gets clunky, and the battles can get a bit repetitive (as in P3). But for the most part, you will be smashing your way though, enjoying a good story, and loving one of the BEST rpgs for PS2 (and any other current consoles).… Expand

Believe the hype - I was skeptical about whether or not this could really be that much better than 3 (Which was my favorite game in 2008), but believe me it is. In fact, as I play 4, I constantly think back and see faults with 3 - they've renovated what wasn't a problem to new extremes of awesomeness and annhialated what was. Oh, and the menus are much, MUCH faster. If you liked Persona 3, get this. In fact, get this.… Expand

Persona 3 was great, this one is even better. A lot more to do, but it doesn't have the epicness of Persona 3.. But that doesn't mean the story is bad, on the contrary, it's one of the most engaging stories I've come across in a while. Be prepared to deprive yourself of sleep once you've bought this game.

Aside from the dungeons it was very in depth and addicting. The dungeons are just.... ach.. one after another of bland repetitive frustration, along with the enemies. But hey, i played through it two times so obviously i didn't mind that part that terribly much

This game is like california roll sushi. Once you've eaten one, you can't get enough of it. I thought Persona 3 was just the best out there, but after Persona 4 everything changes. This game was fabulous in every single way, and it definitely made me hook to the Shin Megami Tensei franchise.

Here's a short summary: Great art design, the most immersive story and gameplay ever, round and realistic characters, a soundtrack that never gets old, a long story (took me 250 hours to get one hundred percent complete) all problems with persona 3 ironed out (like social link options are less one-sided, the hidden boss is actually managable, full team controle, you can choose to be "just friends" with a girl instead of having like five girlfriends at the same time, and you dont have to get 100 percent complete in one playthrough to unlock the final persona), and all remaining flaws with the SMT series ironed out (bad level design fixed with randomized dungeons and the high encounter rate fixed with sprites that represent battles which you can avoid). The reason why I tried keeping this so short is because I can go on for hours talking about it. Seriously. It's the best game of all time. I have hundreds, and this one just shines like no other, and I'm getting warm just thinking about playing this. If you are on the edge, or even remotely like jrpgs, than you really, REALLY need to check this out. I know I'm coming off as a creepy fanboy but words can not discribe this masterpiece. It's just that perfect.… Expand

It may seem crazy for me to give this game a ten but it is my game of the year. It was an amazing work of art while at the same time being laughable and never takes its semi dark story too seriously. Along with the wonderfully challenging gameplay I love it.

Atlus has done it again. As was the case with Persona 3, Atlus stood tall against all the hyped current-gen releases and delivered the best RPG of the year (yes, P4 is better than Fallout 3, although they are two completely different styles of RPG and are both worth playing). Like P3, Persona 4 isn't for everyone -- there's some grinding (although it lacks the repetitiveness pf P3) and some Japanese flavor and oddities that fans of WRPGs might not like. But the story is solid, the cast of characters is very strong and just as memorable as Persona 3's, and the game makes improvements on Persona 3's gameplay flaws. Plus the game is very funny, which is always a plus. The game takes a little while to really hit its stride, but once it does, you are in for a treat. If you are a fan of JRPGs or RPGs in general, you need to dust off the PS2 now and play Persona 4 as it is not only one of the year's top games but one of the best games in the PS2 library.… Expand

Persona 4 is a breathtaking experience and the last great game to come to the PS2 (hopefully P5 finally lands on a next/current gen platform). P4 takes all that was great about P3 and brings it to a new level, perfecting and adding to all the concepts introduced in Persona 3 and it's followup FES. If you enjoy RPG's with a unique twist then Persona 4 one that you can�39;t afford to pass up.… Expand

The main reason I enjoyed this game was because of its characters. They were high school students with personal problems that I could relate to, and putting them in a murder mystery rpg made the game all the more enjoyable. The game taught me a valuable lesson about accepting my darker nature as opposed to suppressing it in order to be truer to myself, and this in itself makes it stand out against the novels that I have read. It's fun, addicting, and when the animated ending passed, I actually missed the characters and the story as a whole. While the story can immerse you, there are also some flaws about its setting however. The town of Inaba (where the game takes place) is pretty small and you don't travel through it in real time as in walking from one place to another. Instead there are distinct and separated places and you go to each of them via a menu-based system. This takes me out of the experience just a tad, and I only wish Atlus created a more realistic and easy-flowing game world. Another problem is that dungeon crawling can get a bit monotonous. The game can be beaten in under 80 hours and while the game has its share of different dungeons, a fair number of battle experiences are all too similar. However, the story and its characters do much to put its flaws into less consideration. Think of it as an interactive detective novel with many side stories (a number of them humorous) and relatable characters and you can just begin to appreciate what this game has to offer. This game is not like one of those fairy-tale based games where some impending doom threatens the world. Plot-wise it is much more down-to-earth, and I'm happy that I found a part of me in this great experience - something no other game has yet done.… Expand

O jogo traz um balanço melhor do que nos foi apresentado em Persona 3 e a expansão P3: FES. Os personagens são carismáticos e não há limite na exploração de situações entre os personagens. O fato de poder controlar todos os personagens na batalha foi um grande passo a favor da diversão,já que na versão anterior a Inteligência Artificial era, as vezes, bem frustrante. Recomendo.… Expand

This is the best game I've ever played. The combat requires lots of thought, and the characters are the roundest I've ever seen in a game, making it incredibly immersive. The game takes a long time to beat, about 70 hours on the first playthrough, and 50 on following ones because you can power through earlier dungeons in new game + mode. The music is repetitive, but they're the kind of repetitive songs like in Devil May Cry that never gets old. The few problems of Persona 3 were fixed, allowing more activities at night time and letting you use direct commands in combat. Also you can work on multiple social links at the same time, even during story-related events, and there are different stories depending on which sports or culture club you choose to join, instead of only changing the setting like in P3. I also think it's pretty tight how your allies can take a hit for you in combat. The only minor complaints are that the plot isn't as twisting as P3's, the graphics arent that great (but this is the ps2), and the criteria for getting the real ending (which is the only ending that gives any closure) and working on the Empress and Hermit social links almost require an faq. But those things dont matter because this game is so fun that it pulls you right in and makes you forget about any small shortcommings.… Expand

The graphics aren't exactly top notch, but if you're playing ps2 you aren't playing for graphics. The gameplay is amazing, with a battle system that's not too tedious if you're an experimental person. The social link system is just like P3's, only more important because having social links with party members will have impact in battle. The story's amazing and the plot twists towards the end are spetecular, and the cast is pretty good. While in a vacuum the characters may seem cliche, their interactions with each other are what makes the game, both for the humor and the atmosphere. The voices are nearly all good, except for Naoto who sounds awfull during battle, the music is great but it feels like a step down from P3 (except for boss and dugeon music) to me. It took me 10 less hours to finnish than P3, but that's still about 70 hours of gameplay and I didn't even do half the sidequests so this game is trully the ps2 going out with a bang.… Expand

Atlus' policy when it came to making Persona 4: If it ain't broke, make it MIND-BLOWINGLY AWESOME. If it is broke, make it MIND-BLOWINGLY AWESOME. Not only is it one of the most polished games to date, but it takes everything that Persona 3 did, good and bad, and made it MIND-BLOWINGLY AWESOME. Social Links? Even more interesting and really involved in the game's battles this time around. The turn-based battles themselves? Even more fast-paced than before, this time with the A.I. being optional. Music? Freaking catchy, even catchier than Persona 3's "glued-to-the-inside-of-your-head-for-all-eternity" tunes. The story's pacing? Excellent. The characters? Even more realistic and relatable, somehow (because Persona 3's characters were pretty damn good). Even the voice acting is better...even with some of the same freaking voice actors (Yuri Lowenthal makes a return, and he's even better than he was last game) as last game. The game itself is overflowing with things to do: social stats to raise, friends to make and help out, equipment to produce, Personas to fuse like crazy, quests (and without time limits!) to finish, freaky demons to pwn, and people to talk to in order to solve the game's murder mystery. Quite frankly, you are getting a LOT for your buck, and it's high-quality stuff to boot. Even better is the fact that it's on the PS2, which is a console that everyone and their mother has. If you haven't gotten this or Persona 3 FES (get P3FES first!), you are seriously missing out on what is the best that the JRPG genre has to offer.… Expand

If Final Fantasy 7 put RPG's on the map, than Persona 4 redefined them. Persona 4 is without any doubt, the most incredible RPG that I have played in years. Heck, it may even be the most incredible RPG that I've ever played in my life! From it's complex and engaging storyline, involving characters, flawless battle system, excellent J-pop soundtrack, and simple to use persona fusion system, P4 is not only the RPG of the year, but for some (including myself), may turn out to be game of the year as well. Persona 4 is the PS2's last great showing, and I thank Atlus for it.… Expand

In my opinion Atlus sort of came out of nowhere. Ever since I opened Persona 4 I've never been able to escape the clutches of its enticing story, battle system, and persona combinations. Actually when I showed all my friends the Persona 3 game they immediately joined the persona bandwagon, and purchased Persona 4. Only a few RPG's have caught my attention and kept my interest throughout the whole game. I have to admit grinding in Final Fantasy 7 and 10 got repetitive and boring at times. Persona 4 limits your grinding to how much SP items you have. I thank Atlus for making such a terrific game and eagerly await Persona 5.… Expand

A storyline that keeps you interested the whole time through, a great cast of characters with awesome interactions, vibrant menus, good voice overs, battle system that makes battles easy and fun. Bosses that present a challenge to prevent things from getting too easy as well! There is so much to love here! Try it and get hooked in to the world of P4

(I wanted to give this a 9.5, but since I can't do that, I guess that I'll just have to make due with a ten, because my only complaints are about something that happened only once.) I played all the way through Persona 3 FES, and I loved the game. Sure, it had it's flaws, but it didn't stop me from relating to and loving all of the relatable and loving characters. Persona 4 has taken my standards and raised them a few bars, because it's even better than P3 in almost every way. The characters are even more relatable, the game's setting being out in the countryside in a town with a very similar feel to the one that I grew up in; the battlesystem has been tweaked to make up for the mistakes that the AI often made in P3 by giving you the option to control your allies yourself; the storyline is much less cliche than P3; the voice acting as a whole seems much more natural (except for Chie, who sounds ten years older than she should); and the symbolism the game presents to the gamer playing it made my head spin a little after the first major boss battle. If I were to complain about something, it would be that some of the voices can be grating at times, and that there is so little voice acting in the Social Link conversations. There's barely a "Hey!" or a "Let's go!" before the silent text continues. I think that if they're going to voice parts of the Social Links, then they should go all out and voice them entirely. In addition, in the first dungeon, my teammates kept getting stuck behind the open doors whenever I would leave a room to continue down a given hallway. Not the most world-ending of annoyances, but it did waste a valuable five seconds each time. All in all, if I had to choose one word for Persona 4, it would be "fresh." It feels like I just got the keys to a new car that will never break down. I managed to play the game for twelve hours straight on the day that I got this game because it was just that good.… Expand

A significant improvement over Persona 3. My major gripes with P3 were: boring filler, dumb AI's controlling your party, one, static, repetitive dungeon with 260 floors of the same old **** with the occasional change of scenery and Fuuka Yamagishi. Starting from the top, the filler was CONSIDERABLY better and more bearable this time. There was only point in the game where the filler started to drag, and that was only brief, a wonderful improvement over the constant filler thrown at you in P3. The AIs are still present, but you now have the option to switch them off, allowing direct control - an absolute MUST on expert difficulty, and it goes a long way to make the battles more enjoyable. This time, the game was broken up over a multitude of different dungeons (Must have been about 8 all up?) with differing scenery throughout. While Teddie (and later Rise) can be slightly agitating as support characters, they come nowhere near the level of annoyance Fuuka Yamagishi could provoke, so a thumbs up from me! Other good points were the music. Arguably an improvement over Persona 4, and is less dependent on the whole Rap thing going on, and uses rock music as it's predominant theme in places, which is a plus in my books. The visuals are more up to date this time around, making use of some nice effects and overall giving a higher visual quality than it's predecessor. The battle system is similar, however small tweaks and refinements to mechanics make things even smoother. The plot is well written and intricate, and features around 4 possible endings (from what I've seen anyway), with the true ending filling in every last plot-hole and lasting around 65 hours for the whole playthrough. Lastly, the game is FULL TO THE BRIM of sexual innuendo and lewd references. You may think this childish, but P4 pulls it off well, in addition to the higher density of normal humour over P3. Despite all it does well, I do have a few cons to note. First, end of 2008, PS2 release. Why? The whole next generation of hardware was there for the taking, and the PS3 had long since cut PS2 support from it's most recent models. Why would you not take this opportunity to keep up? Next gripe is the pre-emptive strike system. It worked GREAT in Persona 3, but it's a convoluted mess in P4. Only other gripe I can think of off the top of my head is that compared to P3, some of the textures were quite muddy. Overall, however, this is a wonderful example of moving the series forward and listening to your fans. Atlus have proven they know what gamers didn't like about P3, and took great strides to avoid those same issues, while innovating all the same. A wonderful game, and an unforgettable experience. Great job, Atlus!… Expand

Persona 4 is not only the best game of the series. But it's also the best RPG and one of the best ps2 games ever! It's a huge improvement over Persona 3 in every aspect.

Takes Persona 3 and improves a lot, the character depth (not to say that Persona 3's was BAD, just, Persona 4's was better), the combat, and the slick menus. I gotta say, I really like the way the menus look, very stylish. One complaint is the story isn't as good as P3's. While P3 is GRIM DARK DEATH stuff, P4 is kind of cook-cutter. But then again, comparing P3 and P4 is like comparing night and day. It definitely stirs some emotions, the voice actors do a good job of conveying their character's emotions which really makes some of the scenes that much better. But, with the improvements, I still recommend playing Persona 3 FES first, you'll thank me later once you play P4 and think the combat system is freaking awesome, along with the character development.… Expand

Persona is nothing less then an astoundingly fantastic RPG. It takes Persona 3's social sim and dungeon crawler blend and adds to every aspect in meaningful ways. The story is more focused and the characters even better developed then P3 which is something I wouldn't have though possible. The score is fantastic and the visuals are on par with other PS2 JRPGs. Minor gripes include the fact that if the main character gets KOd it's still instant game over, it's shorter then Persona 3, and that the "proper" ending requires you jump through some specific hoops near the end of the game. If you own a Playstation 2 and enjoy RPGs you should track this down as it is an amazing experience that stays with you long after you've finished the game.… Expand

Persona 4 is easily one of the most addictive games for the PS2. Everything about the game is at least very good. The circular plot is perhaps the only thing about this game that is lacking, particularly in comparison to Persona 3. However, there are enough twists and turns in this game too keep things interesting. Finally, the character development is fantastic, the music is highly entertaining and the writing in the game is superb.… Expand

Just masterpiece i say for this game, better than persona 3, hell it is bettter than any Final Fantasy games in ps2 generation, great story, great character, great soundtrack, just give us more battle variety in the next title thank you atlus

I thought Persona 3 FES was great but this game beats it in almost every way. The characters are very likable, there is a great story throughout the entire game, the social links are fixed, and plot twists are legendary.

My favorite jrpg. An even more fantastic story than 3, feels more offbeat, daring, involving, magical, and the characters are more memorable. A masterpiece.

Rarely if ever do I consider a game perfect. However Persona 4 is the closet thing to perfection I have ever played. Everything from Persona 3 is back and done far better. The dungeons are all different instead of the giant tower of doom you get sick of going through. The social links and the people within them are done much better. Not to mention you can control your party members whenever you want so you can make all the stupid choices in battle. Yet this game does have flaws as all game must and I think they should be pointed out. The main thing in this game that bothers me is the fact if you go out with anybody throughout the story how nobody in an entire town filled of noisy rumor loving people every figure out your going out with somebody. And most of the girls in the game are popular and well known so the fact this small thing was not worked on is a bit a jarring, but and the end of the day it is a small fault and doesn't bother me all that much. After all this is the game I've spend around 400 hours of my life playing.… Expand

I rarely hate a video game, hell i even enjoyed hello kitteh island adveentur3. THIS GAME IS SHawt!! I watched my friend play this game and ive got to say, if making **** spaghety was a proffesion you guys would be on IRON CHEF and i dont even watch that show. first of all there is way 2 much dialoge, second these skowrt are tow short, fifthly why the **** does every japanese game have some gateway to a different world? AND sixteenthly what the **** is with the title, translate it, i speak American in America… Expand

This game has entire days worth of content. This content being teenage sexuality issues and level grinding. Now this would be fine if I cared about the characters, but I don't because the horrendous voice acting and awkward dialogue makes the already fairly bland character completely unlikable, which in a game that's basically a character study with a tacked on dungeon crawler is an unforgivable sin.… Expand

This is the best excepcional work of ATLUS! this game is superb good the best RPG for PS2 i ever play . the one little problem it's the long chats. that almost of the time is boring but except for this..i can't wait to se a Persona in the ps3

The next game in the wonderful Persona series, Persona 4 builds off of what made Persona 3 and FES so good and then adds some things to give it it's own identity that were both good and bad but mostly good. This game follows Persona 3 in the fact that it adds a simulation element to the RPG goodness to create a game that will literally have you playing for days and weeks on end. The amount of stuff to do in this game is staggering and I can honestly say this game, as well as Persona 3, will take you days to finish and that's a good thing. The combat is a fluid as ever, plus they've added the ability to control your teammates during battle now so no more questionable A.I. decisions from 3. It seems things have gotten a bit serious from 3 to 4 as your now dealing with a series of grisly murders in a small, rural town. For me, the story was the biggest improvement from 3 since in 3, the story is mainly just the run-of-the-mill "save the world from the bad guy" deal. This story was gripping and it really brought you closer to the characters in a way that 3 wasn't able to do. The multiple environments are a refreshing change of pace from 3's Tartarus and the enemies are a bit more varied in this version. However the biggest complaint I have about the game is the fact that it's way too grindy. The problem is they took the healing tarot cards from the after battle shuffle out, making things alot harder to deal with sometimes. Healing items are at a premium, even on easy, and the fact that you don't have a reliable healing avenue till the end of the game can make getting those needed levels very bothersome especially early on in the game. Just watch out since you'll spend most of your time each level grinding out the 10 or so levels you need to get from one boss to another to survive. It can be tiresome, especially since you have to kill each boss before a certain point or it's a game over. But the journey to get to those points is filled with alot of fun stuff and the simulation portions of this game are on par, if not better than the ones in 3. However 3 had a better collective of characters, while 4 only has a few characters that stand out (Teddy and Rise especially) over the rest. You will definitely enjoy all the characters you've got and it's nice to see that you can control their Persona evolutions on your own instead of having to wait for it to happen during the story. There are alot of other things I could talk about in this game but, suffice it to say, you should just play it for yourself if you haven't already. If you have, go play it again. It's far better the second time around than alot of the other stuff that's out there right now, especially if you have nothing else to do except wait for Persona 5 or the Persona 4 remake for the Vita to come out later this year.… Expand