#5

Persona 4 (originally released in 2008 on the Playstation 2)

I think I'm a butterfly.

The Persona series offers a fresh look for the rpg genre. It started with a pretty generic game. The second game was pretty interesting in the fact that it came out in two halves, each with a similar cast, but alternates stories and of course one of the games dealt with the resurrection of Hitler. Obviously the game that had that small portion in it was banned form the US and we were only blessed with one part of the Persona 2 classic. P3 gave us a game where the characters had to point a gun at their head to unleash their inner persona. Once again, the American company responsible for releasing these games did not feel that we were ready to witness something as graphic as what the game was offering. Still it was a great game.

Now, Persona 4 gave us everything P3 had to offer and then some! Persona 3 introduced a school system to the normal rpg equation most fans of the genre were accustomed to. In these games the main character starts the game as an outsider who enrolls into the local school and befriends some of his classmates. As the game progresses your character meets the local students and you earn social points with a number of the characters in the game. Some join you and fight alongside you throughout the game while others just add interesting side stories that give you powerful Personas in the long run. 

Now, what are Personas you ask? I'll tell you! A Persona is basically a demon or a mythical being that resides within your not so average human. Certain humans have these personas lying dormant in their bodies and it takes heavy direst and the most dire of circumstances for these being to come out and help their host.

Every game in the series has this basic setup. You start with weak personas, but as you progress and grow stronger you are able to create more powerful Personas that will fight by your side. What makes P4 different is that the story deals with a murder mystery and the party deals with a murderer that seems to be one step ahead of you at every turn.

Persona 4 is a great game. It made me miss high school. You know, if my high school had as fun and interesting atmosphere as the one portrayed in the game had, that is. This game is a lot like Pokemon in the fact that you have to go out of your way in order to collect some of the more powerful Personas the game has to offer. Some of the social links you can find during the game start off as people with ordinary lives, but as your links with these individuals grow, more about their character and personalities become fleshed out. The game is calender based as well. That means you have only a certain amount of days in order to complete your daily activities. They warn you when events will expire and warn you yet again that you don't get second chances with some of the storyarcs after the semester or week or whatever is completed. It makes you go out of your way to make sure you aren't forgetting any events for every day that passes or you might miss out on an extra scene or something. Oh yeah, this game also randomly gives you a quiz while your are in school. If you answer the question correctly your stats increase, if not nothing happens, so it pays to know general  educational course studies.

Join the swim team or the fencing team, it just makes for your experience with the game that more engaging. Persona 4 at heart is a rpg, but it adds a daily schooling system that distracts from the sometimes monotonous drudge that is found in every other rpg. Persona 4 adds a charm not seen in most any other rpg out there. It's a great game and worth every penny spent on it.