Persona 4 was one of David’s favourite games. The endurance run created by his beloved Giant Bomb and undertaken by Jeff Gerstmann and Vinny Caravella was something to which he returned again and again, particularly in difficult times. So I have chosen to feature it today in celebration of his birthday.
Persona 4, also known as Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4, is a role playing video game developed and published by Atlus. It is chronologically the fifth installment in the Persona series, itself a part of the larger Megami Tensei franchise, and was released for the Playstation 2 in Japan in July 2008, North America in December 2008, and Europe in March 2009. It was re-released as a PlayStation 2 Classic for the Playstation 3 in April 2014.
Persona 4 takes place in a fictional Japanese countryside and is indirectly related to earlier Persona games. The play-named protagonist is a high-school student who moved into the countryside from the city for a year. During his year-long stay, he becomes involved in investigating mysterious murders while harnessing the power of summoning Persona. The game features a weather forecast system with events happening on foggy days to replace the moon phase system implemented in the previous games.
The plot of Persona 4 was inspired by the work of mystery novelists owing to its murder mystery premise. The rural setting was based on a town on the outskirts of Mount Fuji and intended as a “‘nowhere’ place” and is the central setting to have players sympathize with the daily life of the characters. The developers added many in-game events to prevent the game from becoming stale. During the localization, numerous alterations to names and cultural references were made to preserve the effect through translation, but some Japanese cultural references were altered or removed.
The release of the game in Japan was accompanied by merchandise such as character costumes and accessories. The North American package of the game was released with a CD with selected music from the game, and, unlike Persona 3, the European package also contained a soundtrack CD. The game’s music was primarily written by Shoji Meguro, with vocals performed by Shihoko Hirata.
Persona 4 received critical acclaim, with praise given towards the gameplay, narrative, characters, and music. It is also regarded as one of the greatest games of all time. An enhanced version of the game, Persona 4 Golden, was released for Playstation Vita in 2012 and Windows in 2020. Various other manga and light novel adaptations and spin-offs have been produced. An anime adaptation by AIC ASTA, Persona 4: The Animation, began airing in Japan in October 2011, with an anime of Persona 4 Golden airing in July 2014.
Persona 4 blends traditional RPG gameplay with simulation elements. The player controls the game’s protagonist, a teenage boy who is named by the player, who comes to the town of Inaba for a year. Gameplay is divided between the real world of Inaba, where the protagonist carries out his daily life, and the mysterious “TV World”, where various dungeons filled with monsters known as Shadows await. With the exception of scripted events, such as plot progression or special events, players can choose to spend their day how they like, be it participating in various real world activities, such as joining school clubs, taking part-time jobs, or reading books, or exploring the TV World’s dungeons to gain experience and items.
Days are broken up into various times of day, the most frequently recurring being “After School/Daytime” and “Evening”, with most activities causing time to move on. Certain activities are limited depending on the time of day, days of the week, and the weather, with most evening activities unavailable if the player visits the TV World that day. Furthermore, some activities and dialogue choices may be limited by the protagonist’s five attributes; Understanding, Diligence, Courage, Knowledge, and Expression, which can be increased by performing certain activities that build them.
Whilst the player is free to choose how to spend their time, if they fail to rescue someone who is trapped in the TV World by the time fog appears in town, which takes place after several days of consecutive rain, that person will get killed by the shadows and the game will end, forcing the player to return to a week prior. As the game progresses, the protagonist forms friendships with other characters known as “Social Links”, which are each represented by one of the Major Arcana. As these bonds strengthen, the Social Links increase in Rank, which grant bonuses when creating new Personas in the Velvet Room. Additionally, strengthening Social Links with the main party members grant them additional abilities, such as the ability to perform a follow-up attack or an additional ability for their Persona.
The main focus of the game revolves around Personas, avatars projected from one’s inner self that resemble mythological figures and represent the façades worn by individuals to face life’s hardships. Each Persona possesses its own skills, as well as strengths and weaknesses to certain attributes. As Personas gain experience from battle and level up, that Persona can learn new skills, which include offensive or support abilities used in battle, or passive skills that grant the character benefits. Each Persona can carry up to eight skills at a time, with older skills needing to be forgotten in order to learn new ones. Whilst each of the main party members have their own unique Persona, which transforms into a stronger form after maxing out their Social Link, the protagonist has the “Wild Card” ability to wield multiple Personas, which he can switch between during battle to access different movesets.
The player can earn new Personas from Shuffle Time, with the protagonist able to carry more Personas as he levels up.[1] Outside of the dungeons, the player can visit the Velvet Room, where players can create new Personas, or summon previously acquired Personas for a fee. New Personas are created by fusing two or more monsters to create a new one, which receives some of the skills passed down from its material monsters. The level of Personas that can be created are limited by the protagonist’s current level. If the player has built up a Social Link relating to a particular Arcana, then a Persona relating to that Arcana will receive a bonus upon creation.
I have chosen to provide the first 12 episodes of the Endurance Run to whet your appetite for Persona 4. The whole run consisted of 155 episodes and last for many, many hours but is certainly worth watching. I even found myself wondering what would happen in the next episode. Happy Birthday David!
