4.5/5 ★ – Eshanthegreat's review of Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4.

Now I will be honest,I was really not an RPG guy let alone a JRPG one. It's not like I haven't played RPGs or absolutely hate their design philosophies but rather so there being a hurdle or two in my path of actually deep diving into the genre,be it the game time of something like dark souls or especially in case of JRPGs the idea of turn based combat itself. I don't know if it was the RNG or the inability to control the execution of your attack but something about it always bugged me. The result being me running away from the genre for the longest time of my gaming journey,until one day my friend Ashplaysnothing introduced me to this little game called Persona 4. Just hearing the mystery of the plot,the premise of managing your social life and my god the style was enough to intrigue me,such that even my inner "Anti-JRPG" demon couldn't withstand it.Although,I am glad it couldn't otherwise I might have missed out on one of my favourite games of all time. Pros: ●Persona 4 has an amazing cast of characters who will keep you engaged for entirety of its runtime. ●The game also has a solid murder mystery to keep you on your toes and when the twist happens it hits you harder than a truck. ●The management of social life along with murder cases is quite satisfying to do and not only strengthens you in gameplay via social links playing into game's theme of social bonds but also helps you in understanding a character better. ●The game also tackles the theme of finding and accepting the truth in a fog of ignorance and lies. ●The combat system is also very accessible for beginners of the genre and offers surprising amount of depth if you try to explore it. ●The game is oozing with top tier music and style. Cons: ●Just in a typical JRPG fashion the game can show some bits of RNG fuck ups. ●Some of the social links are resolved in quite a dull way.