Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4

 PlayStation 2
User Score
7.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 943 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 713 out of 943
  2. Mixed: 44 out of 943
  3. Negative: 186 out of 943
Buy Now
Buy on

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. Envenenado
    Jul 11, 2023
    10
    Simplesmente o melhor jrpg de todos os tempos, eu nunca me apeguei tanto a personagens fictícios, recomendo esse jogo a todos que querem uma experiência marcante
  2. TheQweast
    Mar 3, 2023
    9
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I really love the environments of this game and the whole midnight channel concept. The only shame is that the stakes are significantly lowered compared to its predecessor and the only time I found myself truly worried was the heaven part of the game when Nanako could be dying. I do love the characters they give off the small town vibe for sure and adachi just being an edgelord also is very fitting. Boss fights in this game are also just so nice.… Expand
  3. DarkwingSchmuck
    Mar 5, 2022
    9
    Launching in the West only one year after the release of its masterful predecessor, Persona 4 is every bit more of what you liked about Persona 3 with only minor refinements to A.I., dungeon design, and setting. Persona 4's story is at its best when it's focused on its refreshingly smaller scale M-rated Scooby-Doo-like murder mystery. When it does eventually go bigger with the standardLaunching in the West only one year after the release of its masterful predecessor, Persona 4 is every bit more of what you liked about Persona 3 with only minor refinements to A.I., dungeon design, and setting. Persona 4's story is at its best when it's focused on its refreshingly smaller scale M-rated Scooby-Doo-like murder mystery. When it does eventually go bigger with the standard RPG world ending peril, it feels a bit misplaced and off brand with the rest of what the game is going for.

    Still, Persona 4's exceptionally strong characters, themes, style, soundtrack, and gameplay make for a superior RPG experience.    … Expand
  4. Ghost7100
    Nov 18, 2021
    10
    Persona 4 stands as one of the absolute best games ever made, Amazing novel experience, exceptional gameplay & storyline, the atmosphere is straight up the best I found in a PS2 game, the art design screams soul throughout the whole experience & the soundtrack is incredible, Persona 4 stands tall as one of the most memorable experiences ever.
  5. ItsBooker
    May 3, 2021
    10
    The Persona series is probably one of my all time favorite game series in a long time and Persona 4 was my first ever introduction to the series (play it back in 2018). I feel a lot of people should be introduced to the series through this game and it's even more accessible now than ever since it’s on PC. Now I'm going to tell you why Persona 4 is a Masterpiece.

    Now let's talk about the    The Persona series is probably one of my all time favorite game series in a long time and Persona 4 was my first ever introduction to the series (play it back in 2018). I feel a lot of people should be introduced to the series through this game and it's even more accessible now than ever since it’s on PC. Now I'm going to tell you why Persona 4 is a Masterpiece.

    Now let's talk about the story you play as the protagonist name (Whatever you want) and he moved to a small town recently with his uncle and cousin. Later on in the first half of the game you learn about the Shadow world inside the T.V. and the evil creatures known as Shadows. Of course the team doesn't think much about this at first until they realize it is linked to a bunch of people deaths in the town. So you and your new friends have to figure out who is causing the deaths in the town and how they are doing it. I gave you a very basic run down of the story with most of the big plot points being left out but if this seems interesting to you then you should check it out.

    Now to talk about the gameplay there are 2 components to this game that should be brought up. This game is a visual novel mixed with a turn based RPG. In the game you get to choose whether or not you spend time working on your social stats and your friends' relationship or go into the T.V. world to save the missing person and defeat shadows. Let's talk about the social aspect of the game first. In this game you get to spend life as a high school student which means typical high school things you can buy items to help you in the T.V. world, Work a part time job, Study, Go out to eat, and hang out with friends, During this segment you have this thing called Social stats there are 5 different social stats these are Courge, Knowledge, Expression, Understanding, and Diligence and all of these stats can be raised by doing part time jobs, doing certain task, hanging out with certain characters, and yes even fishing. Now this might not seem that important but they are very important for Social Links and Certain jobs you need to work at. Speaking of which lets talk about the Social links. Social links are this thing that represents the bond you have with your friends and going through this social could help you out during battle by giving your party members new attacks and abilities, Increase how much exp your persona fusions get, and even let you have discounts of a full hp and sp restorses. Not only that but the characters' stories are all very interesting (I recommend finishing Yosuke Social link even if you don't like him) but there's one last thing. You can romance almost all the girls in this game. It's completely optional and doesn’t change a thing to the gameplay, it's just for story purposes. Now onto the RPG aspect of the game. When you get the ability to enter the T.V. World through the Midnight Channel you get this amazing ability called a persona which represents your characters personality and of course since you character is almost a blank slate he can wield multiple personas this comes in handy because your character can become a healer, tank, mage, or a glass cannon depending on what persona you use. Now i'm going to get into a bit of story here but basically each of your party members have a shadow that look like them and this shadow sort of represents the hidden feelings that character wants to be hidden from the world and basically every character denies their shadow as being apart of them which lead to the boss fights of the game. Just a warning these bosses are super hard so look up a guide on how to beat them or start the game out on easy. Then there is how you obtain a persona. First there is the possibility of getting a shuffle time where a bunch of cards pop up and there are either one or two cards that have a persona on them and if you get the card with the persona on it you get to keep it. There is also the other option of fusion. Basically if you have way too many personas on you and you need to make room for stronger ones then you fuse your weaker persona together to get more powerful ones. Think of the RPG element as a more mature pokemon game. Although there are some gripes I have with the game first of if you die you have to go all the way back to your last save it could be really annoying when you have grinded a whole bunch of exp and then die and have to go all the way back it sucks but other then that the gameplay is great.

    Now some of my final thoughts on this game. This game has done a lot for me so I might be a bit biased but this game helped me out through a really dark time in my life and when the game was over I basically cried I really enjoyed this game and seeing this characters that have become my friends says goodbye is the most heart wrenching thing ever. Yes it might not be a perfect masterpiece but not everything is perfect and everything has flaws. Give Persona 4 a chance you won't regret it. Also the music is amazing. -Booker    … Expand
  6. Akael
    Apr 22, 2021
    10
    A série toda em si é uma obra prima. Esse tem uma temática menos dark, mas pra mim é o melhor.
    Você realmente vive o personagem. estuda, trabalha, da em cima das meninas, faz amizade, inimizades... Persona 4 é o jogo que mais faz jus a RPG
  7. grizzlymagnum
    Jan 3, 2021
    10
    The best JRPG ever made. Great storyline, soundtrack, gameplay and artstyle. And to top it off, great animated shows too.
  8. Bbplayer
    Dec 13, 2020
    8
    Pros: An amazing story that gets better as time goes on, awesome characters and a fun social/school system. Good dungeon visual themes as well. Overall nice music but nothing insanely good.

    Cons: The monster hit system to start a battle in dungeons feels so weird, sometimes you would easily hit them to start your team in advantage and sometimes you would apparently miss the sword swing    Pros: An amazing story that gets better as time goes on, awesome characters and a fun social/school system. Good dungeon visual themes as well. Overall nice music but nothing insanely good.

    Cons: The monster hit system to start a battle in dungeons feels so weird, sometimes you would easily hit them to start your team in advantage and sometimes you would apparently miss the sword swing 2 feet in front of you.    … Expand
  9. NickSlyCooper
    Nov 10, 2020
    10
    We are living our lives.... Abound with so much information!!! The theme is awesome and I loved the game, in some ways better than 5. If you are looking to get into the Persona series, I'd recommend Persona 4 first since it has both aspects of P3 and P5 that are important. While I think P5's soundtrack is superior by a little bit, I think P4's soundtrack shines better than P5's in someWe are living our lives.... Abound with so much information!!! The theme is awesome and I loved the game, in some ways better than 5. If you are looking to get into the Persona series, I'd recommend Persona 4 first since it has both aspects of P3 and P5 that are important. While I think P5's soundtrack is superior by a little bit, I think P4's soundtrack shines better than P5's in some cases. For example, I prefer the music while you explore Inaba. As much as I like Tokyo Daylight, Your Affection and Heartbeat, Heartbreak is better than Tokyo Daylight combined. The 6th Dungeon Theme I believe is one of if not the best dungeon theme behind Whims of Fate. Overall, i loved this game, probably Top 5 all time for me. And I recommend it.… Expand
  10. CDizzness
    Sep 1, 2020
    10
    I have avoided gameplay videos and so forth for 12 years now because I wanted a genuine, fresh experience. Wow, was it worth the wait, I found a PS2 at a flea market for $5 and since have went through PS2's amazing catalogue of exclusives. This may have been ported to other platforms and PC, but playing the original P4 on original PS2 hardware is amazing. The storyline makes the game forI have avoided gameplay videos and so forth for 12 years now because I wanted a genuine, fresh experience. Wow, was it worth the wait, I found a PS2 at a flea market for $5 and since have went through PS2's amazing catalogue of exclusives. This may have been ported to other platforms and PC, but playing the original P4 on original PS2 hardware is amazing. The storyline makes the game for me, it is interesting, it sucks you in, I am in love! Gameplay itself is fun, and I like when the game really picks up and lets you adventure around town. After about 5 hours in, I decided that I wanted to play Persona 3FES, so once I beat this, that's next on the list. So thankful to have this experience, thanks Atlus!… Expand
  11. BlackKanbaru
    Aug 3, 2020
    10
    Um dos melhores jogos que já joguei na vida, vale muito apena! Todos os personagens são muito carismáticos, e a historia prende muito fácil.
  12. Clayton_
    Jun 27, 2020
    10
    It’s very good. The story is amazing, the characters are lovable, and it’s overall just a well-made game. Good stuff.
  13. H9Stalin
    May 15, 2020
    8
    Es un juego muy bueno, que se aleja del tópico del Jrpg común pues nos presenta una situación diferente e interesante.
    Pero el comienzo del juego es lenta y pausada para que pueda llegar a lo verdaderamente interesante aunque después mejora su apartado narrativo dándonos una historia más profunda con unos personajes increíbles cuyas interacciones son de lo mejor del videojuego.
    Persona 4    Es un juego muy bueno, que se aleja del tópico del Jrpg común pues nos presenta una situación diferente e interesante.
    Pero el comienzo del juego es lenta y pausada para que pueda llegar a lo verdaderamente interesante aunque después mejora su apartado narrativo dándonos una historia más profunda con unos personajes increíbles cuyas interacciones son de lo mejor del videojuego.
    Persona 4 es un buen Jrpg.    … Expand
  14. iKen
    Apr 13, 2020
    10
    Played on PlayStation 2.
    Gameplay: AWESOME.
    Story: GREAT.
    Graphic: AWESOME.
    Music/Sound: AWESOME.
    Dialogue: GREAT.
  15. Dreniast
    Apr 8, 2020
    9
    Despite some randomness on the fights and the difficulty menu selection (because easy is VERY recommended if is your first game), is an excelent game with beautiful graphics and not so heavy load screens,which for the PS2 generation is amazing, the game can give you easily 100+ without without noticing, and the menu managment if you like it is very entertaining.
  16. MercusMassacre
    Mar 23, 2020
    9
    A bit too light hearted for an SMT or Persona game, but it's fun none the less.
  17. TJ_of_Carolina
    Feb 8, 2020
    10
    My favorite game of all time, great story and characters, unique premise and an emotionally satisfying ending if you pursued the true ending. The game has a better difficulty curve than P5 and is more challenging, requiring strategy while not being *too* hard. The story is very emotionally charged and the true culprit once you find them is a very well written villain. The cast is great andMy favorite game of all time, great story and characters, unique premise and an emotionally satisfying ending if you pursued the true ending. The game has a better difficulty curve than P5 and is more challenging, requiring strategy while not being *too* hard. The story is very emotionally charged and the true culprit once you find them is a very well written villain. The cast is great and I found that I liked all the cast. The game picks up right about when Kanji Tatsumi joins your party and gets better and better from there… Expand
  18. vodkaffee
    Jan 20, 2020
    10
    probably the best game of the persona series. highly recommended. unlike its predecessor. great music, characters and story
  19. DaffyDs
    Dec 31, 2019
    10
    Legit one of the best games ever made. This is my personal favorite persona and PS2 game! This is a must play for anyone who has a PS2.
  20. ryansalmasi
    Dec 22, 2019
    10
    This is my favorite game of all time. (If I had a PS Vita *cough* or if there was a Vita emulator *cough*, it would probably be P4 Golden). If you plan on playing the game, please go for the true ending, it's not that hard, but even if it were, it would still be very much worth it. There are multiple, very good spoiler-free guides on the internet. The best part is the characters. TheThis is my favorite game of all time. (If I had a PS Vita *cough* or if there was a Vita emulator *cough*, it would probably be P4 Golden). If you plan on playing the game, please go for the true ending, it's not that hard, but even if it were, it would still be very much worth it. There are multiple, very good spoiler-free guides on the internet. The best part is the characters. The combat is also fun, but interacting with your S. Links is in my opinion, way more entertaining. Give it a try, even if you don't like JRPGs, Visual Novels or Anime/Anime games. You should also give the game a bit of time. It gets really entertaining at about hour 7, I think, not sure. btw Rise is best girl… Expand
  21. izraillikedi31
    Dec 8, 2019
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. added to wishlist ps2 istek listesine eklendi liste istek ps2 persona 4 2008… Expand
  22. QuAc
    Nov 15, 2019
    9
    THE ONLY REASON I AM GIVING THIS A 9 IS BECAUSE PERSONA 5 EXISTS. after playing persona 5 and crying at the end because I didn't want that amazing game to end and never be able to play it for the first time again. I spent $100 to get a ps2 and another 25 for this game. and other that the game play aging compared to Persona 5, the characters and story are still amazing, a must play in my book
  23. Canier
    Nov 8, 2019
    9
    Un excelente videojuego que te permite adentrarte en su historia y, sobre todo, empatizar con sus personajes integrando a la perfección las mecánicas del juego con las relaciones interpersonales, las cuales son necesarias para mejorar nuestra capacidad de combate.

    Cada personaje posee una personalidad característica que irá mostrando a lo largo de la historia, así como sus conflictos    Un excelente videojuego que te permite adentrarte en su historia y, sobre todo, empatizar con sus personajes integrando a la perfección las mecánicas del juego con las relaciones interpersonales, las cuales son necesarias para mejorar nuestra capacidad de combate.

    Cada personaje posee una personalidad característica que irá mostrando a lo largo de la historia, así como sus conflictos internos e inseguridades. De esta forma es probable que acabemos empatizando y dándole preferencia a las interacciones con algún personaje en concreto para descubrir qué historias tiene que ofrecernos.

    Persona 4 nos propone un loop de juego en el que debemos conciliar la vida real con ''el mundo del televisor'' de modo que necesitamos de uno para poder progresar de forma óptima en el otro. Por ejemplo, es necesario estudiar para los exámenes para elevar el stat de inteligencia, pero a su vez no podemos olvidar completar el nivel del televisor antes de llegar a la fecha límite.

    El sistema de combate por turnos, basado en unas criaturas llamadas “persona” -las cuales deben aprovechar las debilidades del oponente-, se ve aderezado por mecánicas como: el derribo de los enemigos a los que golpeas con una habilidad a la que son débiles y el '' all out attack'', que consiste en comenzar una especie de camorra de bar en la que todos los enemigos reciben daño tras haberlos derribado explotando las debilidades de cada uno de ellos previamente.

    Las ''personas'' son las criaturas que utilizaremos a lo largo de la historia para librar los combates. Podemos conseguirlas de dos modos, el primero y más sencillo es derrotando a nuestros enemigos y, tras los combates, ocasionalmente se nos dará la oportunidad de obtener una nueva criatura. El segundo método de obtención de "personas" es la fusión de las que ya teníamos para obtener otras nuevas con mayor nivel y otras habilidades (unas heredadas de sus componentes de fusión y otras nuevas).

    La banda sonora dispone de algunos temas memorables como el de batalla o el del mundo exterior, aunque a la larga pueden resultar extremadamente monótonos y repetitivos.

    Antes de acabar me gustaría recomendar que la primera partida se realizará sin guía y sin intentar ser lo más eficiente posible disfrutando de lo que se nos presente a lo largo del juego. De este modo el juego se presentara más desafiante, puesto que no explotaremos al máximo los recursos de este y podremos disfrutar de manera más orgánica de nuestra partida.

    Mi conclusión es que de una fórmula que a priori puede parecer absurda e incoherente obtenemos una experiencia muy satisfactoria al tener que gestionar de forma eficiente el tiempo limitado y las "personas" de las que disponemos durante el juego.    … Expand
  24. KaitosKid
    Sep 8, 2019
    10
    It's one of the best RPG's that I ever played.
    The Game has a fantastic Story (after 10 Hours Playtime) It's also a fantastic Game for Anime Fans because It's Just Like a playable Action Anime.
    The Soundtrack is also one of the BEST gaming Soundtracks that I've ever heared.
    Play the Game It's a MUST PLAY
  25. Lulcy
    Jun 27, 2019
    8
    Not as good as Persona 3 but still a very solid entry nonetheless, wish it was about 15hs shorter though.
  26. FelleBanan_ygsr
    Mar 17, 2018
    10
    The game starts with the MC (YOU) moving from the BIG CITY to a small, foggy town called Inaba as a transfer student. There you live with your uncle and his cute daughter Nanako. After starting school and making a few friends something shocking happens in the small town. A lady is found hanging murdered upside down from an antenna. The police investigators are obviously stupid, so it’s upThe game starts with the MC (YOU) moving from the BIG CITY to a small, foggy town called Inaba as a transfer student. There you live with your uncle and his cute daughter Nanako. After starting school and making a few friends something shocking happens in the small town. A lady is found hanging murdered upside down from an antenna. The police investigators are obviously stupid, so it’s up to you and your friends to solve the murder mystery.
    The main characters soon find out that the victims are shown on the mysterious midnight channel before they are murdered. By literally entering the TV and fighting the victims’s inner demons they can save them from the TV world and their death.
    While the gameplay is divided in 2 parts it isn’t necessarily 50/50. The game is based on time and scheduled so that certain events take place on certain dates. The first part is the social/story part which I’ll talk more about in a minute and the other part is the dungeon gameplay where you can spend your time in the dungeons grinding levels or equipment and items. Grinding is not something that is really necessary in this game though. As long as you fight all enemies you happen to meet, you should be fine.
    It’s very nice that the game doesn’t have random encounters. Instead you see the enemies on the map and you can easily choose if you want to fight them or not by cutting them with your blade or just running away from them.
    The most important factor in fights are the Personas you fight with. They have physical attacks draining your health to deal damage and magic attacks draining your SP to buff your party or deal magic damage. By hitting an enemy’s weakness or hitting a critical hit they are knocked down. If you knock down every enemy in the fight you are allowed to perform a very satisfying all-out attack that usually ends the fight.
    The entire fighting system takes the basics of a normal RPG fight and removes ALL the annoying stuff while adding a fluid, fast and straightforward system. For example you can change the ”summon” a.k.a. Persona equipped without wasting a turn, which is not something I think I’ve ever seen in a turn-based RPG before. That’s how the majority of the game is. Take the best of both genres and remove the annoying parts of them.
    The other part of the gameplay is social life simulation. Here you experience the story, the sidequests and the preparations for the dungeons.
    The most important thing you will be doing here is improving your social links, or S. Links for short. By hanging out with friends your bonds with them will increase, to the point where you can get intimate relationships with the female ones. You could always try to get all of them, but I would never do something like that… no, I’m serious, I only had one girlfriend, being the **** from the drama club. Joining clubs is optional, but don’t skip that **** your stats can be increased and **** The stats I’m talking about are stats like knowledge, expression, courage and such. Those stats are not used in combat, but rather to unlock more dialogue options, sidequests and part-time jobs giving you money.
    Almost everything you do has a consequence as almost everything you do is indirectly related to one or many stats of yours making you involved in everything you do.
    One aspect of the game that scared me before playing was DUNGEON CRAWLING. Usually exploring dull, depressing, disorienting areas makes me angry in RPGs, but this game made it endurable enough for me to somewhat enjoy dungeons. You see, the dungeons are varied in theme and are easy to navigate as they aren’t even that big. The largest dungeon in the game has like 11 floors, and takes under 2 hours if you do everything in it (unless you level grind). Another pleasant thing when exploring is that you with the right item (it’s cheap as **** in the normal store) can return to the entrance and continue exploring another in-game day with HP and SP fully restored. HP is almost never a problem as you can easily restore it to max with SP or HP items. The SP is on the other hand a slight problem as you can’t buy SP restoring items except from the periodically refilled vending machines in the shopping district. This means that you might sometimes have to quit mid-dungeon because of lack of SP, but this is not really a big problem as blasting through a dungeon in one sitting is tiring to begin with. Luckily the save points are placed well too, so losing a lot of progress because of you being bad is probably not gonna happen.
    The overall atmosphere is further improved by a great, catchy soundtrack and a very unique stylistic style in menus. The game hits the perfect combination of dark and happy and it’s lovely.

    I’m happy to say that this is one of the best RPGs on PS2 and so also one of my favourite games of all time. Truly a unique experience.    … Expand
  27. SomeGuy7000
    Jan 3, 2018
    9
    Persona 4 really surprised me with how good it was even with it coming out almost a decade ago. Each character in the game has depth with their own problems as well. The Story was very interesting with the game having you go throughout your everyday life trying to solve a murder mystery. My main problem with this game was the dungeons, they were just boring. Not saying the story bits werePersona 4 really surprised me with how good it was even with it coming out almost a decade ago. Each character in the game has depth with their own problems as well. The Story was very interesting with the game having you go throughout your everyday life trying to solve a murder mystery. My main problem with this game was the dungeons, they were just boring. Not saying the story bits were boring or the combat its self-was boring either but the actual means of searching through it. Every floor looks the same until you reach the top. Each dungeon had a cool theme but I wish there was more to it. There were also some moments in the game where the bosses felt cheap, like kanjis and the final boss. Which is apart of another problem with the game which is you can't win if you don't grind. Some of the bosses will just straight up one shot you if you aren't a high enough level or if you personas aren't then the battle will be long and drawn out until you lose your sp and die. I'm not against grinding in games at all, but in this, it just felt like you had to do it at every boss and for quite a while too which wouldn't have been as bad if the dungeons were a bit more interesting to go through. Other than the dungeons everything else about this game was great even the almost 10-year-old graphics didn't bother me as much as I expected them to. Long story short, if the game sounds interesting to give it a shot it's like 10-15 dollars on the ps3 store and there's an extended version with persona 4 golden on the vita.… Expand
  28. artificeprime
    Jun 16, 2017
    8
    Personal 4 is certainly a unique experience and if you are a fan of JRPGs with turn based combat this is a game that should not be missed. The visuals are a weak point and the dungeons are bland but that is made up for by an excellent story with a ton of depth and detail. There are countless things to do in this game, the soundtrack is memorable, the characters are well fleshed out and thePersonal 4 is certainly a unique experience and if you are a fan of JRPGs with turn based combat this is a game that should not be missed. The visuals are a weak point and the dungeons are bland but that is made up for by an excellent story with a ton of depth and detail. There are countless things to do in this game, the soundtrack is memorable, the characters are well fleshed out and the experience is immersive.

    The story covers an entire year with several major characters who are all fleshed out. Switching between the real world and the tv world gives a good variety of game play and really gives incentive to reach the next goal. The story is well paced and a good blend of fun events and serious dark twists. I can't think of a game that is both very light at times and very dark at others. Some aspects of the story are just ridiculous silliness but those moments are entertaining and are well offset by moments that are equally serious and dramatic. Each character you meet has their own arc and dozens of story events. While the story is very weird and may not be to everyone's taste, it is undeniably well done for what it is. If you hate anime tropes this story is probably not going to appeal to you. If you enjoy or can tolerate that side of it though, you are in for something special, a story full of mysteries, twists and emotional moments.

    The gameplay is a mixed bag. The combat is can be fun when you get new abilities or fight bosses but it becomes very repetitive fighting your way through dungeons. All of the dungeons look different but they are basically just hallways that you run through killing monsters, there is very little detail and interaction within them. Collecting and creating new personas is one of the best parts of the game and that is what really makes dungeon crawling worthwhile. There are countless personas to discover and upgrade. The life sim element of the game is really addicting and the game does a great job of always introducing new elements the further you progress.

    Characters are probably one of the strongest aspects of the game. There are at least a dozen characters that all have stories to be explored. Each character is unique and has depth. You can also choose how well you get to know each character or group of characters by choosing to spend more time with them. These interactions spread throughout the game really help you relationships with each character feel immersive as characters will start to treat you differently the more you get to know them. While many of the characters seem very one dimensional or cliche at first, the more you get to know them the more complex and real they become. Each character has their own set of problems, that you have the opportunity to help them through. My only major problem with the characters is that the anime tropes are often extremely cringe worthy and a few characters never evolve beyond their cliche anime personalities. For example the little sister character is overly cutesy and never really evolves beyond that even though she has tons of screen time.

    The sound design is mostly excellent but once again, not for people who hate anime. The songs are catchy but get very repetitive in dungeons. The voice acting is very good though and the sound effects are all good.

    Overall Persona 4 is a special game, it has a ton of depth, and deserves a lot of the praise it gets. On the other hand it is a game that will likely only appeal to a certain type of audience. It is a game that fully embraces its anime quirks and that can sometimes be off putting. I really enjoy certain anime but some anime tropes drive me mad and this game is no exception. There are many great moments and the overall experience is definitely worthwhile but there were many cringe worthy moments as well and part of this game that grated on me.

    I give Persona 4 an 82%

    Story/Progression – 9
    Gameplay – 7
    World – 6
    Uniqueness Ideas – 9
    Sound Design – 8
    Characters – 9
    Visuals/Style – 7
    Length/Amount of Content – 10
    Atmosphere/Theme – 9
    X-Factor - 8    … Expand
  29. Panzidane
    Apr 22, 2017
    10
    One of best games if I already play on PlayStation 2, Give a chance for this game. One of the best turn RPG game with I ever play. Very good, play it.
  30. marvs869
    Mar 11, 2017
    9
    It's amazing how an RPG blends so well with slice of life genre that are rarely as popular in gaming nowadays. It emphasizes the same trend Persona 3 made with a unique gameplay equivalent of friends = strength. The story is not too shabby either considering it has to follow suit with its predecessor's dark storyline. Collecting personas is still as fun as it was before and their is noIt's amazing how an RPG blends so well with slice of life genre that are rarely as popular in gaming nowadays. It emphasizes the same trend Persona 3 made with a unique gameplay equivalent of friends = strength. The story is not too shabby either considering it has to follow suit with its predecessor's dark storyline. Collecting personas is still as fun as it was before and their is no doubt of the series' continuing success in the mainstream market.… Expand
prev
Page:

Awards & Rankings

1
#1 Best PS2 Game of 2008
1
#1 Most Discussed PS2 Game of 2008
1
#1 Most Shared PS2 Game of 2008

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
90

Universal acclaim - based on 47 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 45 out of 47
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 47
  3. Negative: 0 out of 47
  1. RPG Fan
    94
    Among the cookie-cutter sequels and half-hearted remakes, Persona 4 is a near flawless example of the perfect balance between "falling back on what works" and "pushing the genre forward." That said, I wholeheartedly recommend it as one of the best RPG experiences of the year.
    Read full review
  2. Gamervision
    100
    An outstanding achievement in gaming. There’s no question that this is going to be one of my top games of the year, and any fan of JRPGs should be playing it when it’s released next week.
    Read full review
  3. 1UP
    100
    What really sets Persona 4 apart, though, is its endearing, relatable cast.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »