6 days. The time I took to play Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 from start to finish, maxing all Social Link, doing virtually all quests and beat the extra bosses for the so-called True Ending. An okay bosses on Normal mode, but never been a threatening one. By the end of the day, the only thing I failed to finish in this game are some of the Quests (the book quiz at the bookstore and the final feed the cat, because I'm just too lazy to go to the riverbank everyday and feed it), some Personas (I finished the game at level 91, so I definitely was unable to fuse Lucifer) and a lil bit of items (which I don't really care). Nevertheless it has been a satisfactory 6 days playing this game, and with the game finally finished, I can finally resume playing some other games I put on hold. Namely, Infinite Undiscovery disc 2 and The Last Remnant.
I'm lazy to summarize the story. So here's wiki.
So that's it. Our silent heroes who has just transferred into the area suddenly found himself involved with the rumored Midnight Channel, and with the aid of his friends, tries to solve the mystery and seek the truth.
The gameplay of P4 is very similar to P3 so those who have played Persona 3 will definitely have no problem adapting to P4 gameplay. From the battle system, Social Links, Persona fusion, most of the things you find in P3 can be found in P4.
Just like P3, the game provides the freedom for player to choose what they want to do for their daily schedule. Go exploring the dungeon, meet the people to strengthen the relationship, do other things that can raise your trait, part time jobs for the money, S. Link and traits or just fishing for the lulz. While this seems to be good at the first glance, IMO this can also be very restrictive. I mean if a player care less about maxing traits and all Social Links, they are free to do whatever they want when they are not exploring the dungeon. But for those who pursue perfect traits and maxing all Social link, then everything need to be carefully considered beginning from the first day. From answering the questions given in classes and exams, things to do after school and midnight, and picking the right choice when doing the S. Link. Pick the wrong choice and you'll end up extending the time taken to level up the rank.
Social Links/Arcana has been one of the unique feature of Persona games. In P4, the system is improved even more. Previously all S. Links give is extra exp for the fused persona, and at max, enable the player to fuse the strongest persona of that particular arcana. This feature is still retained in P4, with additional feature on party member arcana (Magician, Chariot, Priestess, Emperor, Star and Fortune). Now, higher rank S. link provides some battle advantages to the allies rather than a simple persona fusion exp bonus. The higher the S. Link rank, the better abilities your allies gained. From rescuing the protagonist from mortal blow (which would definitely be a game over), doing a follow up attack, help a Downed allies, to enduring a fatal blow (I like his one a lot). Plus at max level, their persona will evolve (unlike P3 which evolve automatically) where most of them no longer have elemental weakness (except Yukiko, unfortunately). A reason to focus on maxing your allied S. Links first. But not a total priority. Balancing between Social Link and raising traits (Knowledge, Expression, Courage, Understanding and Diligence) is crucial in P4, even more than P3. This is because many of the in-game choices given when doing social links or quests require certain levels of trait.
Another unique feature of P4 is the effect of weather. From the sunny, cloudy and rain, they a have important impact to the game. Okay maybe there's not much difference between sunny and cloudy, but rainy days are definitely something that need to be considered in many things. Certain weather conditions give certain bonuses when doing persona fusion, so its definitely a good idea to pick ideal date when you are fusing the persona (preferably rainy days). Certain type of fish only appeared on certain weather (*coughguardiancough*) A long rain indicate that you need to rescue someone before the rain end, or else its game over. Many S. Link are not available during rainy days. Aiya's best lunch service (because it can raise 3 traits in a go) is also only available on rainy days.
And one more thing, since Dungeon exploration can only be done after school (unlike midnight in P3), this means our whole days cannot be spent on any other activities. After exploring, you would be too tired to do midnight activities (except snacking, if available) and will be forced to go to sleep early. Luckily, chances are you will only go to dungeon only ONCE in one or two months. This is because unlike P3, the character will not going to get fatigue no matter how long you spend the day exploring the dungeon, so you can use the time at its fullest to level up you character as much as you want. SP depletion might be a problem early game, but later once the fox joined into the TV, SP has never been a problem because the fox can fully heal your SP. It's friggin damn expensive at first (60 yen per SP, you calculate), but later once you did his Hermit Arcana quests, the price will drop (drop by 5 yen per rank), making it much cheaper. In fact, much much later in the game when Rise learns hp/sp recovery support, you really don't have the need to use the fox for sp heal anymore.
I'm lazy to summarize the story. So here's wiki.
Persona 4 takes place in the fictional, rural Japanese city of Inaba, which lies among floodplains and has its own high school and shopping areas. The player discovers that a rumored place called "The Midnight Channel" is actually real. On rainy days, a person can look into any television set and observe events in the Midnight Channel. Those that have learned how to use Personas also have the ability to reach into any television set and enter the Midnight Channel directly, though they must be able to fit through the set's screen, and each set will lead to a different location in the Midnight Channel. The weather conditions inside the Midnight Channel are the opposite of what exists in Inaba. A persistent fog exists in the Midnight Channel that can make the characters nauseous if they look at it too long. However, after a long period of rain in Inaba, fog will set in, and will cause the fog in the Midnight Channel to disappear, making the Shadows that reside in it stronger and more dangerous to anyone that is ill-prepared to be there.
So that's it. Our silent heroes who has just transferred into the area suddenly found himself involved with the rumored Midnight Channel, and with the aid of his friends, tries to solve the mystery and seek the truth.
The gameplay of P4 is very similar to P3 so those who have played Persona 3 will definitely have no problem adapting to P4 gameplay. From the battle system, Social Links, Persona fusion, most of the things you find in P3 can be found in P4.
Just like P3, the game provides the freedom for player to choose what they want to do for their daily schedule. Go exploring the dungeon, meet the people to strengthen the relationship, do other things that can raise your trait, part time jobs for the money, S. Link and traits or just fishing for the lulz. While this seems to be good at the first glance, IMO this can also be very restrictive. I mean if a player care less about maxing traits and all Social Links, they are free to do whatever they want when they are not exploring the dungeon. But for those who pursue perfect traits and maxing all Social link, then everything need to be carefully considered beginning from the first day. From answering the questions given in classes and exams, things to do after school and midnight, and picking the right choice when doing the S. Link. Pick the wrong choice and you'll end up extending the time taken to level up the rank.
Social Links/Arcana has been one of the unique feature of Persona games. In P4, the system is improved even more. Previously all S. Links give is extra exp for the fused persona, and at max, enable the player to fuse the strongest persona of that particular arcana. This feature is still retained in P4, with additional feature on party member arcana (Magician, Chariot, Priestess, Emperor, Star and Fortune). Now, higher rank S. link provides some battle advantages to the allies rather than a simple persona fusion exp bonus. The higher the S. Link rank, the better abilities your allies gained. From rescuing the protagonist from mortal blow (which would definitely be a game over), doing a follow up attack, help a Downed allies, to enduring a fatal blow (I like his one a lot). Plus at max level, their persona will evolve (unlike P3 which evolve automatically) where most of them no longer have elemental weakness (except Yukiko, unfortunately). A reason to focus on maxing your allied S. Links first. But not a total priority. Balancing between Social Link and raising traits (Knowledge, Expression, Courage, Understanding and Diligence) is crucial in P4, even more than P3. This is because many of the in-game choices given when doing social links or quests require certain levels of trait.
Another unique feature of P4 is the effect of weather. From the sunny, cloudy and rain, they a have important impact to the game. Okay maybe there's not much difference between sunny and cloudy, but rainy days are definitely something that need to be considered in many things. Certain weather conditions give certain bonuses when doing persona fusion, so its definitely a good idea to pick ideal date when you are fusing the persona (preferably rainy days). Certain type of fish only appeared on certain weather (*coughguardiancough*) A long rain indicate that you need to rescue someone before the rain end, or else its game over. Many S. Link are not available during rainy days. Aiya's best lunch service (because it can raise 3 traits in a go) is also only available on rainy days.
And one more thing, since Dungeon exploration can only be done after school (unlike midnight in P3), this means our whole days cannot be spent on any other activities. After exploring, you would be too tired to do midnight activities (except snacking, if available) and will be forced to go to sleep early. Luckily, chances are you will only go to dungeon only ONCE in one or two months. This is because unlike P3, the character will not going to get fatigue no matter how long you spend the day exploring the dungeon, so you can use the time at its fullest to level up you character as much as you want. SP depletion might be a problem early game, but later once the fox joined into the TV, SP has never been a problem because the fox can fully heal your SP. It's friggin damn expensive at first (60 yen per SP, you calculate), but later once you did his Hermit Arcana quests, the price will drop (drop by 5 yen per rank), making it much cheaper. In fact, much much later in the game when Rise learns hp/sp recovery support, you really don't have the need to use the fox for sp heal anymore.
In short, like P3, visiting dungeon should only be done just once or twice per "case/dungeon", because if you visit too often, you'll lose the previous time you need to do things like S.Link and raising traits.
As for battle system, I think I don't have anything to comment because it's basically very similar to P3. Oh, except that Shuffle Time no longer provide the hp/sp/money bonus as it used to be in P3. Instead once in awhile there would be a 2nd Tarot Card that can provide various effects, depending on your LUCK. Cards that I love the most are Judgment (restore SP), Moon (bonus exp) and Temperance (bonus yen). Of course, it's disaster if I get reversed card especially for Judgement, but this is all about luck. And one more thing, all physical attacks in P4 have the same attribute (strike). No more pierce, slash etc etc regardless of weapons or skills.
One of the best thing about P4 that I love very much is the list of awesome seiyuu used in this game (but the english VA suck, seriously). Yukiko's Ami Koshimizu, Chie's Yui Horie and Rise's Rie Kugimiya. And Naoto's Paku Romi too. zomg how can I resist these. Thanks to rid88 I manage to get the UNDUB English version, I'm just so happy to be able to play the undub, with many of my favorite seiyuus featured XD
*all screenshots are properties of gamefaqs*
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