[BattyAsHell]

Originally Posted by bluestarultor

Persona 4 for the PS2. It takes everything that was ever bad about Persona 3, a good game in its own right, and tosses it out the window, then takes everything that was ever good about it and makes it even better. The game is simply sublime and my only major complaint is that I spoiled myself by reading the Wikipedia article before I bought it.

The characters are all incredibly human with human flaws, rather than the generic stocks (albeit GOOD generic stocks) that Persona 3 had, and while you may end up hating one or two of them, you'll end up doing so because you logically realize that they can't hear you yelling at them through the screen to stop being so immature. The cast is quite three-dimensional. Symbolism is more subtle this time around, but the enemy types do tend to reflect bits of people's psyches that really hint at the inner thoughts and fears of the people you're trying to rescue.

The interface has been streamlined from Persona 3's often-long sequences for social link stuff and other grievances, as have damage types, with all physical damage counting as a single type, which works surprisingly well with the system now treating it much more like an element, with the overall effect of it paradoxically mattering more than in P3.

Your social links actually have direct combat effects now, too. By advancing your relationships with individual party members, they gain helpful abilities in combat that range from executing instant critical hits to taking fatal hits for you, which is a literal lifesaver given the game still ends if the main character dies. It also ends if you fail to save people from being murdered, but unlike P3's driving pace making the game feel like a second job with a horrible boss, P4 gives you plenty of time to work with and encourages you to train as much as you like before beating the next boss. In many cases, you'll end up with over a week of in-game free time to work with to increase your social stats.

Finding it at this point may be hard and expensive, but if you like turn-based combat systems with an emphasis on tactics, mysteries, and role-playing, it's well worth the effort and money.

If it's between this or Shadow Hearts: Covenant, do you still recommend Persona 4?

I have SH:C collecting dust, and figure maybe I'll get Persona when I finish it.. But I have a feeling maybe I should get it while the gettings good, considering the PS2 titles are slowly but surely disappearing off store shelves and starting to generally become harder to find..