Yesterday I finally finished Persona 4 and what do I have to say about this game? You may remember my Top 5 RPGs besides Final Fantasy and Persona 4 was my number 2, although I haven't even completed half of the game. So that says a lot about the game. But now I completed this game and I changed my mind about this game. It is not better than Grandia... It is MUCH better than Grandia. I said, Grandia was my Number 1, because it has this something special andthat's true, but Persona 4 has this as well! So, that makes Atlus Masterpiece my personal Number 1 now! Not only the best RPG besides Final Fantasy. It IS the best RPG I've ever played in my life!



First, the story! One of the most uncommon, but most certainly the best story. Just the fact, that you are in the middle of a crime scene with badass detectives (except for Adachi, but I'll come to that Bastard later...), bizzare murders and kidnapping, makes this game a very special one. Combine this with a mysterious TV-program called the Midnight Channel, a weird bear, shadows and Personas and you have the recipe for an extraordinary RPG. And Atlus made an incredible job keeping the story suspenseful until the very end of this game. Actually you can finish the game after 50 hours, but you will miss so much, many questions will be unanswered and the real culprit is still outside! It is very hard to answer the questions correct, so you can continue the game and find the true murderer, so I looked it up at gameFAQs. And after that I really couldn't believe that Adachi, this scatterbrained wannabe-detective, is the one behind all this. Or so I thought! He may be the one who killed the first to victims, but in the middle of the fight against him, I realized that he is just a puppet himself. But not even this was the true end, no, because there were still unanswered questions. What is the Midnight Channel? Where do I have this power? And so there was another dungeon with a strong and remarkable boss. I even consider it as one of the best and most entertaining boss fights ever.
THEN Inaba and the world was saved. Every question was answered and I still was kinda sad, that my protagonist left Inaba and went back to the big city. Speaking of sad... Oh my god... Just thinking about this scene makes my cry... You think Aeriths death is the saddest and most shocking scene in gaming history? Then you haven't witnessed the death of Nanako... Seriously... This scene is so sad, it brought tears to my eyes, but not out of it. That would be a violation of article 41 of The Bro Code: A bro never cries. Nanako is such a cute and lovely little girl. Right after singing the Junes Theme, I completely took her to my heart. But she has such a hard life. Her mother died in a car accident and her father is working around the clock. So you just HAVE to love her. And see her dying right in front of you, was the saddest moment I have seen in a video game...



But Nanako is not the only character I shared a great bond with, but also with the other main characters. Persona 4 is such a great example for friendship, loyalty and even love. Any of these characters have their own histories, stories and problems. Girls with absolutely no talent in cooking, a hotheaded guy irresolute with his sexuality, a girl dresses like a guy, so she can be a detective: Persona 4 has them all! That's what makes this game so great and special to me.

The fighting system is also very good and strategic. If you are not looking for the weak points of your enemies, you will be completely lost. I played this game with the medium difficulty and I was challenged the whole time. There were no real mean enemies or bosses. If you lose, you just have to level like in any other RPG or use another strategy and most times you have to do this. I mentioned before that the ultimate boss fight was one the best, that's because you have to stay focused all the time. One mistake and you are dead. That happend to me one time... But this is another great aspect. The fact that you'll see the Game Over screen, when the main character dies makes this game even more challenging, but still not unfair.
The soundtrack is what I call AMAZING! From J-Pop to orchestral music, everything just fits perfectly to every scenery. The music, when Nanako dies, makes this scene even sadder... *sniff* And this awesome soundtrack comes with the game! That is absolutely awesome! I LOVE Atlus for this!

But if there is any point you may complain about, then it's the graphics. Fortunately I'm not interested in good graphics, if the rest is great like in Persona 4. Final Fantasy XII showed us, how great a RPG can look on the PS2, but actually you can't compare these to games. It's like comparing Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade with Indiana Jones and The Crystal Skull. I actually thought I could complain about the level design, because it's always the same, except that the color changes. But in every dungeon, they brought a few very good ideas in, like turning the light off, so you can't see the enemies or you can only go to the next level, if you don't touch any shadows on the field. So they really thought about it and I can say, they really made a good job there.



My conclusion is that this game is:

1. The best RPG for the Playstation 2 (Duh...)
2. The best RPG I have ever played!
3. The best game I have ever played!

You may think, really the best game ever? I say for me, YES! Without a doubt and no hesitating. I'm not the type of guy, who calls every great game a perfect one. So if there is any game that's close to perfection, then it's definitely Persona 4. Incredible story, perfect gameplay, adorable characters, innovative ideas, strategic fighting system and a challenging difficulty makes this game the best one I have played so far!

If you are into RPGs and haven't played it yet, BUY IT! I only paid 15€ for it and that's the best bargain you can make! And even if you are not really interested in RPGs, just give it a shot. Maybe this game will make the RPG genre interesting for you. It is definitely the best choice you can possibly make!

Thanks for reading!