Not finished yet but just found it funny how

P4 fans seeing Yosuke or Teddy being obsessive and excessively forward towards a girl: "What a couple of creeps, why are they so annoying?"

P4 fans seeing Rise being obsessive and excessively forward towards the MC: "WAOW! BEST GIRL!"

(This is not an endorsement of Yosuke or Teddy btw they are truly awful)

As one of those normies who was introduced to this series through P5, I definitely miss some of the improvements made in that game (i.e. in-depth dungeon design, baton-pass, greater variety of activities, etc). But I still fell in love with Persona 4 all the same. If there's one major qualm I have with P5, it's that its story is pretty cut-and-dry from the very start; there are corrupted adults actively making the world worse and you need to take them down a peg. P4 instead focuses on a murder mystery with intriguing layers to gradually unravel as the story progresses. The game has this cozy, small town feel that I love, which is in contrast to an ever-present sinister undertone. And while I absolutely adore the soundtrack as a whole I can't pretend like some tracks didn't get on my nerves by the 80 hour mark cough cough.

There are plenty of things I could nitpick about the plot but that's par for the course for JRPGs. What matters is that this game was a joy to experience from start to finish; I truly came to see these characters as my friends and family just as I did with P5. It even managed to make me cry at one point, which is something that only a very small handful of games have ever done. I'm so happy I was finally able to experience Persona 4 and I can't wait to give 3 a try...sometime soon. I'm a little burnt out right now.