The visuals are amazing. The story and the way that it is told is amazing. I would literally play the game to get more dialogue from everybody and I usually don't care about game stories at all. The gameplay is hard but as fair as it gets. I never felt like the game cheated me. I just felt disappointed that I choked. There's so much replayability because of the weapons, the different build combinations you can try from combining the gods' powers, and the way to adjust harder challenges to your liking. The music is iconic. Nothing but good things about this game.

It’s hard to articulate my thoughts on this game. I don’t want to dismiss Persona 4 entirely because of its pretty glaring flaws, nor can I just list everything good about it without taking the problems into consideration. I have spent 2 days rewriting this log, reconsidering different aspects of this game and reading the opinions of far more talented and intelligent people and I’m still unable to leave any insightful comment of my own. I’m not really equipped to talk about some of its “inelegant” aspects, such as the way certain characters are handled, but I can talk about some issues as well as positives to the game and just write down some of my opinions.

Persona 4 itself is very slow and it takes a while for the mystery to really get interesting. The gameplay is also just serviceable. Marie and Teddie are kind of annoying, and the bonus dungeon isn’t anything special. On the other hand, the music, presentation and Inaba (the primary setting for most of the game), are all great. The laid-back and “homely” feel of this game is one that I clicked with immensely, which is aided by the setting and main cast. Persona 4’s main cast, at least in comparison to the cast of Persona 5, feels like a group of friends (for the most part), rather than just a group of people who met because the story needed them too. I know that the game gets some flak for its “filler”, and I’m certainly critical of some scenes involving the main cast (the camping trip and the swimsuit contest come to mind), but I think that for the most part filler in this game is justified as it builds a connection between the player and cast (Admittedly though, some filler sections go on for wayyyyy too long and contradict the idea that inaba is a small town). As a result of the time the player and characters spend just hanging out, I became pretty invested in the world and it’s characters (which I didn’t really get with persona 5, although this is not to detract from P5, which I enjoyed) Persona 4 is less of a game about grand ideas and more so just a game about characters and the world, both of which I’d argue are are pretty good.

In conclusion, I enjoyed Persona 4. There’s a lot I dislike, but a lot I enjoyed, and I’m sorry for not being able to supply something more perceptive or thought-provoking. On a more personal note, I’m at least grateful for Persona 4 and the online discussion surrounding it for forcing me to reconsider how I think about games and reviews. Perhaps at some point in the future I’ll come back to this review and rewrite it more coherently, but for now I’m glad that I’m able to get my thoughts down.

The atmosphere built by this game in its second half is absolutely unreal and has really yet to be matched by any other game I've played. The story in this game, while it may seem kinda dumb during the first few hours, is probably my all time favourite in any game I have ever played. It's a shame the unmodded gameplay is so annoying and tedious but if the rumored remaster fixes that while still retaining all the aspects that made the original the landmark in the RPG genre that it is then it will likely be my new favourite game.

As a first introduction into the world of Yakuza, this game fuckin rules, man. It's a great time throughout-- the gameplay is super fun, switching fighting styles feels awesome, and the mini-games are a nice way to break up the combat.

Combat as a whole was lovely, super smooth and interesting. The Heat Bar mechanic kept things quick and exciting, I loved seeing how Majima and Kiryu would kill some dude.

Speaking of the game's two leads, both are great characters. There's a clear arc for both of them that's really satisfying, and they both have standout moments.

The story was also really good, if a little complex here and there. Had my head spinning sometimes. The music was really good, and all the actors gave very good performances.

If you're on the fence, check out Yakuza 0. There's so much to do, the world feels so alive. It's a great time throughout.