PERSONA 4

Like its predecessor, Persona 3, the gameplay of Persona 4 alternates between that of a traditional console role-playing game and of a simulation game. The protagonist of Persona 4 is a teenage boy, named and controlled by the player. The game takes place over the course of a traditional Japanese school year. Outside of key events, the Protagonist attends school, and can interact with other students and characters, spend time at part-time jobs to earn money, or engage in other activities. The player may also enter the "TV World", an alternate reality where the game's dungeon-crawling gameplay occurs. Each day in Persona 4 is broken up into different periods of time, such as After School or Evening. Certain activities are limited to certain times of day. In addition, the ability to engage in certain activities is based on the day of the week, or the weather.

By spending time with people, the Protagonist forms "Social Links". Social Links are friendships the Protagonist makes as the game progresses, each represented by one of the Major Arcana. When a Social Link is first formed, it starts at Rank 1, increasing over time as the Protagonist spends time with that person, until it reaches Rank 10. Social Links grant the player bonuses when creating new Personas in the Velvet Room. Social Links are also influenced by the protagonist's five attributes: Understanding, Diligence, Courage, Knowledge and Expression, which can be improved through various activities such as part-time jobs. These attributes in turn may also affect player's interaction in daily activities outside of Social LinksPersona 4's timeline is driven by the disappearance of characters from the real world into the TV World, indicated through the "Midnight Channel". The one-week weather forecast indicates the amount of time players have to rescue people who have disappeared, in which foggy days mark the deadline of the rescue mission. The game ends when the player fails to retrieve the missing person in time, and is given the choice to return to one week before the fog appeared While in the TV World, the player explores randomly generated dungeons in the field map; each dungeon is of a certain theme, based on the victim that has been kidnapped.^] Dungeons are divided into floors, each containing Shadows, enemies the Protagonists and his friends fight, and treasure chests, which contain items or equipment.

Combat

A standard battle in Persona 4.

Within the TV World, players fight against Shadows as they continue towards the final floor where the missing person is located. The game switches to a battle screen whenever the player comes in contact with a Shadow in the field map, and the player may be given the initiative if the player strikes the Shadow unnoticed. The battle system is turn-based, bearing similarities to the Press Turn system used in other Shin Megami Tensei games. Each character can perform a basic attack, use a special skill, or use an item. The player can choose to directly control the actions of all party members, or use the "Tactics" option to guide how they perform in battle. Offensive abilities cause certain types of damage, such as "physical", "wind" or "almighty". Enemies the player encounters may have a weakness to a certain type of attack. By exploiting an enemy's weakness, it will be knocked down, and the attacker is given the opportunity to act again If every enemy in a battle is knocked down, the player may initiate an All-out Attack, a powerful attack in which the player's party rushes the downed enemies, removing weaker enemies and inflicting heavy damage on stronger ones.^] At the end of the battle, players are awarded with experience and items, and may be given the chance to choose a new Persona to summon in battle.

Personas

Each party member has a Persona to use during battle, with its own unique skills, and a specific set of strengths and weaknesses to certain attacks. Personas will gain experience from battle and learn new skills as they gain levels.The Personas of the other party members will also transform to a more powerful form after completing certain events in the game's story relating to that character. The Protagonist is unique in that he can carry multiple Personas and switch between them during battle, giving the player access to a new set of skills. Outside of battle, the player can access the Velvet Room, where new Personas can be obtained. Two or more Personas can be fused to create a new one; the new Persona will inherit a certain number of combat skills from the Personas used to fuse it.^] Each Persona is of one of the Major Arcana. Fusing Personas of an arcanum that matches an established Social Link will grant the Persona a bonus when it is created. The bonus is greater based on the current rank of the Social Link.

Plot

Characters

Main article: Characters of Persona 4

The Protagonist is a high school student who has recently moved from a large city to the town of Inaba, where he is to live and attend school for a year. While in Inaba, he stays with his relatives: his uncle Ryotaro Dojima, a police detective who is often on duty throughout the day, and Dojima's six-year old daughter Nanako who has managed to take care of the household chores for her father. At school, he quickly becomes friends with Yosuke Hanamura, the somewhat-clumsy son of the manager of the local megastore Junes, 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. The four of them discover a world inside televisions, where they meet a creature that lives there: a small bear with a costume-like appearance named Teddie. As they perform their investigation, the group gains more members, including Kanji Tatsumi, a male delinquent who is confused about his sexual and social identity Rise Kujikawa, a former teen idol that moved to Inaba and is a new transfer student, and Naoto Shirogane, a young female detective investigating the case with the local police but who is forced to take on a male identity to associate with them.

Despite living in the countryside, Persona 4's characters were designed to look and sound "normal" and like "modern high-schoolers", according to lead editor Nich Maragos. Initially, he wrote the game's cast as being "more rural than was really called for." "The characters aren't really They just happen to live in a place that's not a major metropolitan area." While interviewing members of Persona 4's development team, editor Andrew Fitch noted that the characters from the city—Yosuke and the Protagonist—have "more stylish" hair than the other characters. Art director Shigenori Soejima used hair styles to differentiate between characters from the city versus the country. "With Yosuke in particular, I gave him accessories, such as headphones and a bicycle, to make it more obvious that he was from the city