After having played and enjoyed the overall experience with Persona 5 back in 2020, I decided to go back to the other games; and I have to say, out of all the Neo Persona games Persona 4 is the best I've played to date (I can only imagine how great Persona 4 Golden must be).
Whilst each Persona game has their own charm and strong suits, I feel like Persona 4 is the definitive experience for anyone who'd want to give the series a try. Story pacing doesn't drag like P3 nor does it have redundant moments like P5, and the writing feels stronger in impact and clever as well. To me, each event that takes place feels a lot more natural than what I experienced from P3 and P5. Also, the dungeon designs in this game are some of my absolute favorites! I will admit they're not as elaborate as P5-for obvious reasons-but I enjoyed a lot of the thematic elements each dungeon had, as well as the callbacks I witnessed from a certain dungeon hint hint, wink wink, nudge nudge
However, if I had to give it some constructive criticism I'd say making money in the game is a bit tedious. I know that's what the jobs are for, but it definitely feels out of balance and forces me to miss out on some nightly social links/events that I could benefit from. Luckily, I didn't need any money for healing items or weapons. I just needed them for fusing personas. The combat initiations are also a bit frustrating as it's harder to get the advantage over enemies. I'm not sure if it was an intentional design or something that didn't get as much attention during development, but it did feel like a downgrade compared to P3.
Overall, I'd give the game a biased 10/10 and unbiased 9/10. Definitely worth playing if you are one of the following:
-interested in jumping into the Persona/MegaTen series
-want to expand your JRPG catalogue
-want a casual gaming experience with some slight challenges here and there
-love an elaborate story
Disclaimer
I used a walkthrough from GameFAQs 100% of the time during my play through. Whilst the game is definitely playable without a guide (I managed to fight some endgame bosses without a guide at one point), I'd definitely recommend using a walkthrough for a game like this. Not really for the battles, but for social links and other tidbits that help improve the gaming experience that are easily missable.
Also, my long hours is due to excessive grinding. I like trying to get some of the best abilities out of my personas for fusing and getting S-Tier personas with those favored abilities. Had I not done this, I'd probably would have finished the game around 100 hours for sure though.
Whilst each Persona game has their own charm and strong suits, I feel like Persona 4 is the definitive experience for anyone who'd want to give the series a try. Story pacing doesn't drag like P3 nor does it have redundant moments like P5, and the writing feels stronger in impact and clever as well. To me, each event that takes place feels a lot more natural than what I experienced from P3 and P5. Also, the dungeon designs in this game are some of my absolute favorites! I will admit they're not as elaborate as P5-for obvious reasons-but I enjoyed a lot of the thematic elements each dungeon had, as well as the callbacks I witnessed from a certain dungeon hint hint, wink wink, nudge nudge
However, if I had to give it some constructive criticism I'd say making money in the game is a bit tedious. I know that's what the jobs are for, but it definitely feels out of balance and forces me to miss out on some nightly social links/events that I could benefit from. Luckily, I didn't need any money for healing items or weapons. I just needed them for fusing personas. The combat initiations are also a bit frustrating as it's harder to get the advantage over enemies. I'm not sure if it was an intentional design or something that didn't get as much attention during development, but it did feel like a downgrade compared to P3.
Overall, I'd give the game a biased 10/10 and unbiased 9/10. Definitely worth playing if you are one of the following:
-interested in jumping into the Persona/MegaTen series
-want to expand your JRPG catalogue
-want a casual gaming experience with some slight challenges here and there
-love an elaborate story
Disclaimer
I used a walkthrough from GameFAQs 100% of the time during my play through. Whilst the game is definitely playable without a guide (I managed to fight some endgame bosses without a guide at one point), I'd definitely recommend using a walkthrough for a game like this. Not really for the battles, but for social links and other tidbits that help improve the gaming experience that are easily missable.
Also, my long hours is due to excessive grinding. I like trying to get some of the best abilities out of my personas for fusing and getting S-Tier personas with those favored abilities. Had I not done this, I'd probably would have finished the game around 100 hours for sure though.