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[Ben-San]

So a while ago I told people to buy Persona 3. Persona 4 is out now and I am liking it a lot. The writing is a step up from 3, which went south a little from the series' earlier installments. However it is a new video game and so the price is not really at a great level, and Atlus loves to print short runs so good luck getting it cheap on the bargain-bin market later. I am hoping it gets a super-value special edition release later like 3 did, but whatever.

Anyway, this is a really good game. If you are looking to buy a new game for the Playstation 2 in the immediate future, I recommend this one. I don't really expect anyone else to be as enthusiastic about this as I am but whatever, there have been threads with worse premises.

[Mr Trout]

I love the games Atlus brings over, but I never seem to finish them. I have Disgaea, La Pucelle, Phantom Brave, Makai Kingdom (can you tell I like NIS?), Disgaea 2 and Etrian Odyssey.

To date I have not completed any of them, but I got really really close to finishing La Pucelle and Disgaea. And I still can't help but eye Disgaea 3 whenever I see it.

[Ben-San]

A lot of the NIS games basically come down to how much you can enjoy indulging OCD. As a result, while I respect them I don't actually enjoy them that much.

[Mr Trout]

Ain't that the truth. I love the stories in the games but I can never get into leveling for the sake of having big numbers pop up when I attack something. Though I did enjoy the gridless aspect of Phantom Brave as well as the ability to convert most enemies to your side.

So I'm assuming Persona 4 is more of a traditional JRPG? I've never really been able to get into them much unless they has some sort of tactical element to the combat (such as Final Fantasy Tactics); however, if the story is really that good I may have to give it a chance. Does it build on the other games or would I be fine just jumping into the 4th one fresh?

[Ben-San]

Jumping in fresh is fine. I would not call Persona 4 a traditional JRPG exactly, though.

See.. you can power up a little by fighting crap in the dungeons, but it won't take you where you need to go. The Persona in the title isn't just a catchy word - the more you develop the faces you present to the world by interacting with people, the more powerful the supernatural Personas that you use to fight monsters on the other side become. What's a lot more important than how many monsters you beat up is how you play your days and evenings, building strong social links and developing your ability to pursue them. (Just because your character faces down fire-throwing giant hand wizards in a supernatural otherworld doesn't mean he has the courage to tell a girl how he feels about her - you'll need to develop that separately.)

On top of that the combat system has a significant element of strategy and the game will not pull its punches after a while. You will need to pay attention to what you're doing during fights. There are a lot of games where it is next to impossible to lose fights and Persona 4 is not one of them. Even random encounters will dismantle you if you approach them badly.