Upon The Echelons: Persona 4

Welcome to, yet another, new segment entitled: Upon The Echelons. Upon The Echelons will be my only entirely positive segment, and is more to spread the word about games that are absolutely breath-taking, yet have an embarrassingly small following.

Today's subject, hands down, my favorite RPG, possibly even my favorite video game of all time: Persona 4.

The Cover Art of the greatest RPG ever made

Well that's a tall claim you say, "greatest RPG ever made" that can surely only be a matter of opinion right? Absolutely not. To entirely understand what puts Persona, as a series, higher than most other RPGs right off the bat is the system. You are playing a role. You have control over what your character says and how he spends his time, within reasonable constraints of course. That's not to say it's horrifically open, like Oblivion. There is structure, the Persona series, 3&4 actually, perfectly balances the freedom and structure to make you actually able to play the role of a high school student. You are able to join clubs, make friends from said clubs, get a part time job, hang out with your friends, get a girlfriend, and many other things that I will explain later.

The main cast, oh come on this isn't a spoiler they're on the cover!

Where Persona 4 really shines is in the combat system. It works off a traditional turn-based battle system wherein every character gets one turn then every enemy gets one turn. However, as per every RPG ever made ever, enemies have a certain weakness, whether it be fire or ice or physical attacks etc, and whenever an enemy, or even one of your own characters is hit with an element they are weak to, it grants the opponent one half of a turn, meaning that they get one more action, but that action cannot grant another half-turn for weaknesses. Each character does battle using a manifestation of their true-self, or a Persona. Each character is stuck with their Persona as it is technically them, however, the main character, which you are able to name, but is canonically named Seta, has the gift of the Wild Card, allowing him to capture "Shadows" and turn them into Personas by defeating them in combat.

The story, while a bit basic on the surface is actually a very deep and involving one. The cast investigates a rash of bizarre murders which always end in the corpse of the victim being hung, upside down, from an almost inaccessible tall object, such as a television antenna or power lines.

The cast of characters is varied and interesting. No two characters are the same, yet they all work with such synergy that it's truly astounding. They are able to balance serious lines of dialogue, dramatic scenes, and humorous quips. The voice actors do a good job as well, conveying the personality of these characters with great talent.

Now we come to the best, absolutely BEST part of Persona 4, the music. Composer Shoji Meguro is an absolute GOD on par with such legends as Nobuo Uematsu. Every song fits perfectly with the scene, the battle music is fast paced, upbeat, and intense, boss battles feel that much more epic with "I'll Face Myself" blasting in the background, humorous scenes are relaxing and tranquil. Everything about this game's soundtrack is simply FANTASTIC. Oh and the best part, the game comes with a copy of the full soundtrack. Yep, 24 songs straight from the game, for free.

Persona 4 earns it's perfect 10/10 from me. There is absolutely nothing about this game I did not love. I've already played through it twice, and will be starting my third play through as soon as my friend is done with it. If you are an RPG fan and you haven't played this, shame on you! Get out there! Find it! Buy it! You won't regret it! If you aren't an RPG fan... why are you reading this blog? Oh yes... I forgot I don't do exclusively RPG entries... okay, if you aren't an RPG fan I can forgive it, but at least listen to the music, it's absolutely fantastic.

Cheers,

HappyPariah