Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 (ペルソナ4 Perusona Fō^?) is a role-playing video game developed and published by Atlus for Sony's PlayStation 2, and chronologically the fifth installment in the Persona series, itself a part of the larger Megami Tensei franchise. Persona 4 was released in Japan in July 2008, North America in December 2008, and Europe in March 2009, and was later re-released on the PlayStation Network in April 2014. An enhanced remake for the PlayStation Vita, Persona 4 Golden (Persona 4: The Golden in Japan), was released in Japan in July 2012, North America in November 2012, and in Europe in February 2013.

Persona 4 takes place in a fictional Japanese countryside and is indirectly related to both Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 and the Persona 2 games. The player-named main 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 music, as with the previous game, was composed primarily by Shoji Meguro. He was joined this time by Shihoko Hirata, who performed vocals on various songs, including the theme song "Pursuing My True Self". The game was positively received by critics and developed into a full franchise. Various manga and light novel adaptations and spin-offs have been produced. A television anime adaptation by AIC ASTA, titled Persona 4: The Animation, aired in Japan between October 2011 and March 2012, with an anime adaptation of Persona 4 Golden, produced by A-1 Pictures, airing as of July 2014. The game has also spawned two fighting game sequels, Persona 4 Arena and Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, and a rhythm game, Persona 4: Dancing All Night.

Contents

• 1 Gameplay
  • 1.1 Personas
  • 1.2 Combat
• 2 Story
  • 2.1 Setting and characters
  • 2.2 Plot
   

 1 . Gameplay

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 reoccurring 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, 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.

1.1 Personas

 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. 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.

1.2 Combat

Inside the TV World, the player assembles a party, consisting of the protagonist and up to three other characters, to explore randomly generated dungeons, each tailored around a victim who had been kidnapped. On each floor of a dungeon, the player may find roaming Shadows, as well as treasure chests containing items and equipment. Players progress through the dungeon by finding the stairs somewhere on each floor to progress to the next, eventually reaching the final floor where a boss enemy awaits. The player enters battle upon coming into contact with a Shadow. The player can gain an advantage by attacking the Shadow from behind, whilst being attacked from behind themselves will give the enemy an advantage. Similar to the Press Turn system used in other Shin Megami Tensei games, battles are turn-based with characters fighting enemies using their equipped weapons, items, or the special skills of their Personas. Aside from the protagonist, who is controlled directly, the other characters can either be given direct commands or be assigned 'Tactics' which alter their battle AI. If the protagonist loses all of his HP, the game ends, returning players to the title screen.

Offensive abilities carry several attributes, including Physical, Fire, Ice, Wind, Electricity, Light, and Dark. As well as various enemies carrying different attributes, player characters may also have strengths or weaknesses against certain attacks depending on their Persona or equipment. By exploiting an enemy's weakness or performing a critical attack, the player can knock them over, granting the attacking character an additional move, whilst the enemy may also be granted an additional move if they target a player character's weakness. If the player knocks all of the enemies down, they may be granted the opportunity to perform an "All-Out Attack", in which all the players rush the downed enemies to inflict heavy damage. Following a battle, players gain experience points, money, and items from their battle. Sometimes after a battle, the player may participate in a mini-game known as "Shuffle Time", which can grant player various bonuses or new Personas.

 2 . Story

2.1 Setting and characters

Persona 4 takes place in the fictional, rural Japanese town of Inaba, which lies among floodplains and has its own high school and shopping districts. Unexplained murders have taken place in the small town, where bodies are found dangling from television antennas and their cause of death unknown. At the same time, rumor has begun to spread that watching a switched-off television set on rainy midnights will reveal a person's soulmate. The game also follows the main characters into the TV World, a fog-shrouded realm filled with monsters called Shadows, which can only be accessed through TV sets.

The protagonist is a high school student who has recently moved from a large city to Inaba, where he is to live and attend school for a year. At school, he quickly becomes friends with Yosuke Hanamura, the somewhat-clumsy son of the manager of the local Junes megastore; Chie Satonaka, an energetic girl with a strong interest in martial arts; and Yukiko Amagi, a calm and refined girl who helps out at her family's inn. A few days into the game, the protagonist, Yosuke, and Chie follow the "Midnight Channel" rumor, which leads them to discover the TV World and meet Teddie, a friendly creature that appears as a hollow bear costume. Using Personas, the students form an Investigation Team to investigate the connection between the TV world and the murders, and possibly capture the culprit. As the game progresses, the group gains new members, including: Kanji Tatsumi, a male delinquent who has a talent for feminine hobbies; Rise Kujikawa, a former teen idol trying to find her identity who moves to Inaba as a transfer student; and Naoto Shirogane, a young female detective investigating the case with the local police who wears masculine clothing and presents herself as male due to fear of rejection.

2.2 Plot

On April 11, 2011, the protagonist arrives in Inaba to live with the Dojimas, consisting of his uncle Ryotaro and his cousin Nanako, for one year, as his parents are working abroad. Just after his arrival, a TV announcer is found dead, her body hanging from an antenna; Saki Konishi, the high school student who had discovered the body, is later found dead herself, hung upside-down from a telephone pole. After the protagonist and his friends accidentally enter the TV world, they encounter Teddie, who helps them travel freely between the TV and real worlds. They awaken their Persona abilities, realizing that the murders stem from attacks by Shadows, beings native to the TV world created from repressed emotions, and are able to rescue several would-be victims. Yosuke, Chie, Yukiko, Kanji, Rise, and Teddie one by one come to accept the parts of their psyches they rejected, which manifest as giant Shadows in the TV world, allowing them to wield Personas whilst each joins the group in turn. Mitsuo Kubo, a student from another high school who disappears following the death of Kinshiro Morooka, the protagonist's foul-mouthed homeroom teacher, claims credit for the murders; it is eventually learned that Kubo only killed Morooka and played no part in the other murders, having murdered Morooka simply to gain credit for the other murders. Naoto Shirogane, a nationally-renowned "Detective Prince" investigating the case, is also rescued and gains a Persona, and joins the group who learn that "he" is actually a girl who assumed a male identity to avoid the police's sexism.

Events come to a head when Ryotaro Dojima mistakenly accuses the protagonist of being involved in the murders. Nanako is kidnapped during the protagonist's interrogation, leading Ryotaro to engage in a vehicular pursuit with the culprit. The chase ends as they both crash; the kidnapper escapes with Nanako through a television set in his truck, and the gravely-injured Ryotaro entrusts her rescue to the group. The group tracks them down within the TV world; the culprit, Taro Namatame, becomes a god-like monster—Kunino-sagiri—which attacks them but is defeated, and both he and Nanako are taken to the Inaba hospital. When Nanako appears to die, the group furiously confronts Namatame; as the protagonist, the player must help the others realize that Namatame is not the killer by pointing out the lack of a proper motive, and subsequently work to determine that Ryotaro's assistant, Tohru Adachi, is the true killer. Failure to do so ends the game with the party unable to solve the case; Nanako either remaining dead, or reviving but remaining hospitalised; and the recurring fog permanently setting in, the last of which will eventually lead to humanity's demise.

Having identified the culprit as Adachi, the party chases and locates him within the TV world. Adachi explains that his actions were out of both boredom and the belief that humanity is better off believing what it wants; his claims are dismissed by the party as the rantings of a madman. After fighting Adachi, he is possessed by Ameno-sagiri, the Japanese God of Fog, who reveals that the fog is harmful to people and will eventually cause humanity to fall into a permanent state of ignorance and transform into Shadows. Upon his defeat, he agrees to lift the fog, congratulating the party on their resolve. Defeated, the wounded Adachi agrees to assume responsibility for his actions and turns himself in. The game moves forward to the day before the protagonist must travel home. If the player returns to the Dojima residence, the game ends with the party sending the protagonist off as he departs Inaba. Alternatively, should the player be able to identify the unexplained cause of the Midnight Channel and attempt to resolve this plot element, the protagonist meets with the party, and together they decide to end the case for good.

The protagonist confronts the gas station attendant encountered at the start of the game, who reveals herself to be the Japanese goddess Izanami, the "conductor" behind the game's events. The cause of the recurring fog is established as an attempt to create a world of illusion by merging the TV world with the human world, all for the "sake" of humanity. The group tracks Izanami down within the TV world and battle her, but is at first unable to win; the defeated protagonist is given strength by the bonds he has forged with those around him, and with this power awakens a new Persona—Izanagi-no-Okami—which he uses to defeat Izanami. In doing so, the fog in each world is lifted, and the TV world is restored to its original form. The game ends with the party sending the protagonist off the following day, and a post-credits scene depicts the group resolving to remain friends forever, as the protagonist examines a photo of the party.