As I played this game I felt slightly frustrated by some aspects of its writing, but after beating it in its entirety and doing some research I can appreciate the huge amount of thought and detail that was put into it. However, I’d need a second playthrough to really have it all sink in, so my score is more tentative since it’s just based on my enjoyment of it. Objectively speaking, I think it deserves a higher rating than this. Anyway, I guess I’ll explain what my gripes were if you care to know:

As you’d expect from the series, this game’s characters and world are carefully paired with archetypal figures from the tarot and mythology that add an incredible amount of depth and subtext to its plot. However, when I played Persona 3, I felt that it didn’t depend on an understanding of those obscure topics to tell its story, while I feel that 4 does. For example, I felt that a lot of the later twists and rising stakes came out of nowhere, though in reality I was just missing a lot of the subtext that would have come from some knowledge of Shinto and Japanese mythology. I’ve seen others complain about that lack of foreshadowing too, but I think the truth is that a lot of it is just lost in translation and cultural boundaries. Just to clarify, I don’t mind games that depend on esoteric knowledge, and in fact I wish we had more of that (though Japanese mythology probably only counts as esoteric outside of said culture). I think my deal is that it’s a little frustrating to know I’ll need a second playthrough of such a long game to really squeeze all I can out of it (or watch hours of video essays, which doesn’t hit the same to me).

Regardless, I really loved other aspects of the game’s story, particularly its characters and their interactions with each other. I was legitimately touched by more than a few of the social links, and it even inspired me to do some shadow work of my own. I also loved nerding out over the cool Jungian stuff they did with this one, since I happen to be diving deep into that right now. I got really excited when typing and functions were actually mentioned, even if it’s in the bonus content.

I guess the thing that disappointed me most was gameplay, though mostly because I had recently played Persona 3 Reload. It’s honestly an unfair comparison to make, considering the decade of QoL improvements between them. I might have been better served by playing an older version of P3 first, but it is what it is. Overall, I love this game and it’ll be in my thoughts for a long time. It could even become one of my favorites after a replay since its setting, music and “vibe” hits close to home for me. For now though, some sore spots still stick out of this first playthrough that I can’t really get over yet.