Let's Play Persona 4 - FINISHED (56k warning)

[shiranui]

READING THIS THREAD ON SLOW CONNECTIONS IS NOT RECOMMENDED! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! ALSO, SPOILERS

(Links removed from this post, I never updated the list so it might as well go)

---

Introduction:



Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4, released in 2008 in Japan and the US and early 2009 in PAL regions, is the latest installment in the Persona series of JRPGs by Atlus. The games in this series are known for their psychological themes, references to Tarot, the strong emphasis on characterization, dating sim inspired Social Link system (in the later games) and the very Japanese overall feel, as well as practically doubling as Mythological Beasts and Various Deities 101. Not to mention the awesome J-pop style soundtracks (with a bunch of the Megaten series' signature hard rock battle themes thrown in) by Shoji Meguro.

Persona 4 does not stray too far from its predecessor gameplay-wise, opting to instead refine the concepts introduced in Persona 3. This makes for a smoother, generally more pleasant and less repetitive gaming experience. Persona 4 is not quite as dark and bizarre as P3 (or maybe it is and this is just masked by the overabundance of the color yellow in the game), but rest assured that a lot of weirdness and all kinds of mayhem will ensue along the way.

I'm going let the game speak for itself as much as possible, but of course I will try to answer any questions you might have about the gameplay or whatever related topic comes to mind. Oh yeah, I thought I should mention that I am playing the game on the PCSX2 emulator instead of my actual PS2, because this makes it a whole lot easier to take screenshots. It also has the unfortunate side effect of causing some graphical glitches in places, but I'll attempt to minimize those as best I can.

To get things started, here is the intro song and video, courtesy of Youtube:



---

Entry 01: Welcome to Inaba, we got... nothing


I'm playing this on Normal. Beginner is too easy and Expert is... well, absolute murder. DO NOT WANT.


To say the least.


Meanwhile, in Silent Hill... wait.


THE HULKSTER'S LIMO HAS ALMOST REACHED THE IMPACT ZONE, TAZ!


You really like my limousine, you like the way the wheels roll...

The bizarre-looking man welcomes us to the Velvet Room.


Hello there, Igor.


Kind of like Destrucity, then?


Contract? I haven't signed any contract!


Oh. Well, looking forward to that.

Igor then asks our hero to introduce himself. I will call him by his official name, because that makes things easier.


Okay, so it's not a very cool name and should probably be romanized as "Soji" to keep the spelling of names in this game consistent.

Igor proceeds to tell Seta his fortune via his magical tarot deck. The Tower in an upright position (GET YOUR MINDS OUT OF THE GUTTER!) and the Moon in upright position (OUT! OUT OF THE GUTTER!) later, we reach the conclusion that our hero's future may not be too cheerful.


Yeah, that sounds about right.


This is basically what they told me when I started at the university.


Ah, that's your assistant? I thought she was a decoration.


Well, hello there. (by the way, Margaret has the least enthusiastic voice acting ever, probably the worst in this game.)

Igor says we'll attend to the details at another time and bids our hero farewell. Seriously, if a Persona film ever gets made, I want Alejandro Jodorowsky of Holy Mountain and El Topo fame to play Igor.


Holy crap! Did this game just enter my dreams and start using them as cutscenes?


Oh, it's just a commercial for some health drink thing.


Our hero in all his glory. He's pretty quiet, but his odd charisma drives all the ladies wild.


Fair enough. Who's this text from?


These people watching the TV, apparently. The news story they are watching is about the guy shown on the screen, Taro Namatame, cheating on his wife with a female announcer. Intriguing, eh?


This guy has to be a detective. Just look at him.


That's the announcer, Mayumi Yamano. With that, the TV is turned off.

Hey, wait, what? Looks like we're getting some weird flashes to... something!




Ooh. Scary. Wait, didn't that person look familiar somehow?



GAH! Get out of my brain, Igor!


Mystery Train kept a rollin'
Elvis Presley led the way
Mystery Train kept a rollin'
Johnny Cash was shovin' coals
Mystery Train kept a rollin'
Jerry Lee, he was the brake man
Mystery Train kept a rollin'
Mr. Phillips ran the show
Carl Perkins punched my ticket
Said this train would never stop
Just hang around and listen, boy
We'll show you how to rock


Welcome to Yasoinaba, or Inaba as it's commonly called. Also known as "Middle of f***ing nowhere" in some circles.


I just now realized that the screencap I took of the cutscene explaining why Seta is going to Inaba has disappeared. Oh well, basically, his parents went to work overseas so he's going to live with Uncle Dojima here for the next year or so.


Not in a mood for idle chitchat, eh?


Too much information, pops.


This is Dojima's daughter Nanako.


On the way we stop at the only gas station in Inaba.


what.


...Oh. Well, that was kind of awkward.


The gas station attendant of ambiguous gender welcomes Seta to Inaba, tells him how much the place sucks and asks him to come do part time work for them... AHHH DON'T TOUCH ME


Apparently, this guy's girl's person's touch was enough to make Seta feel sick.


Nice place you've got, Dojima.


"And so my sister and that useless bum of a husband of hers decided to send you here instead of taking you with them? Cheap bitch."


The dinner is interrupted by Dojima's cell phone.


I think Dojima's friend found this awesome new hostess bar and wants him to come over there.



Off goes Dojima for a wild night of drinking and hostess groping, and thus Seta is left alone with Nanako.


Well, looks like we won't get to work on our sun tan just yet.


Tired of the awkward silence, Seta decides he might want to say something, so let's ask Nanako what Dojima does for a living...


SHOCK HORROR!


"A detective? They actually have police around here?!"


That's what you get for messing around with several ladies at once. Seta is naturally a man of high integrity and would never even think of doing such a thing.


"Her plan is to sing enka ballads to Namatame non-stop until his head explodes and she gets all the money."


Namatame could have done worse, that has to be said.


You're telling me.


Here in Finland, a Customer Appreciation Day would probably be a day when you actually get some service. Thus, it doesn't exist over here.


The most annoying commercial jingle I have heard in years. Junes, in case you were wondering, is basically the Wal-Mart of Inaba.


An even more annoying rendition of the aforementioned song.


"No, I just lost my appetite after that Junes commercial."


And that is the end of this first entry.

---

All right, should I keep doing this sort of a MST3K commentary, or would you guys prefer a first-person narration from Seta's point of view? Post your opinions on that and any other feedback you might have! Next time on Persona 4, stuff happens! Maybe.

[Triple H buried SnS]

Personally... I loved the comments!

Look foward to the next update!

[Irish Nightmare]

You got a Iggy and the Stooges reference, and the game looks interesting. I'll check back for your next update...

[DramaGuyCJM]

Jan 13, 2010 10:02:28 GMT -5 Triple H buried SnS said:

Personally... I loved the comments!

Look foward to the next update!

I concur. MST-esque commentary is my fav part of Let's Plays. Keep with it.

[shiranui]

All right, here we go again. Next time I'll use smaller and/or worse quality pictures, because this thing is going to wreak some serious havoc on my Photobucket bandwidth.

---

Entry 02: Introducing King Moron, the greatest man in Inaba


This is the room Seta's borrowing from Dojima. For now, we're heading to bed because the game really wants us to. (oh, by the way, the carpet glitches out a bit there, you can see through it in places)


Well, this isn't exactly the good dream I was hoping for. Where are the naked chicks?


As Seta proceeds forward, he gets interrupted by a strange disembodied voice.


The voice appears to come from beyond this door, so let's open it and see what's going on inside.


Oh, it's a store mannequin. Let's teach it a lesson, no inanimate plastic object taunts Seta Souji and lives.


This is the main battle menu of the game. We currently don't have access to all the options, but we can use Attack, Guard and Skill, where we've got Zio (thunder spell), Cleave (stronger physical attack) and Rakukaja (defense-boosting spell).


GOD OF THUNDERRRR AND ROCK AND ROLLLLL



Seta doesn't seem surprised about the fact he's suddenly carrying a katana and is able to summon some shadowy thing... but then again, this is a dream and anything goes.


Oh, you noticed? Well, let's see what you think about my shadow summon beast's sword.


Hell yeah, you're going down any minute now. This is the best dream ever.


Sure, sure, whatever makes you feel more comfortable as I beat the crap out of you.


Huh? That sounds bad.


Hey, that's cheating!

Long story short, after the creepy mannequin-like apparition casts Bewildering Fog, you'll be unable to hit it. It then mentions that "everyone sees what they want to" and that "the fog only deepens", in addition to wondering about the following...



Yeah, maybe you'll fight like a man then!


Well, yeah, that was a weird dream. Let's go downstairs and see what Dojima and Nanako are up to.


It appears Dojima went to work already because there was some kind of trouble. Seta decides to walk to school together with Nanako.


We're going to be seeing this place a lot. Nanako's school is the other way, so she goes off.


As we continue towards the local high school, Seta almost gets run over by some doofus on a bike...


...who proceeds to crash into a telephone pole in rather uncomfortable fashion.


Yeah, let's not ask if he's all right or anything. Thanks, game.


Well, this is it, our first day at Yasogami High. Let's hope this will be a good year and there are no bats*** insane teachers or anything.


There goes that hope, I guess.


King Moron? That's a pretty awesome nickname. Still, he sounds rather sinister.


Looks like this Yosuke guy isn't in a talkative mood today. No wonder, what with having crashed into that telephone pole and all.


Ah, there's the man himself. He doesn't seem so bad. At least he knows how to dress in style.


"Love-struck baboons?" I have to remember that one.


Well, all right, I think King Moron just might have some issues.


"Damn, we can't have sex in class now? What is this bulls***?"


Hey!


"Hit on me instead! Please?"


Our hero, being the rebellious free spirit he is, decides not to take any of King Moron's crap and lets the miserable old git know it.


"Holy crap, I actually said it aloud?" (Much like in Persona 3, you have various stats that go up depending on what you do and say. This time there are five instead of three.)


This appears to be the first time anyone ever talked back to King Moron, judging from the reactions of the classmates.


King Moron himself, however, is less than impressed with Seta's brief moment of courage for some reason.


I want to be more like this guy.


"Because that's MY job!"


Uh... yeah. This is getting somewhat awkward.


Thank you, girl with short hair.


"AND DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT TOUCHING HER OR EVEN LOOKING AT HER OR EVEN THINKING ABOUT DOING ANYTHING! PURE AS THE DRIVEN SNOW, I SAID! PURE! QUIT SCREWIN' AROUND!"


Not really, he's one of my favorite characters in this game.


"Someone accidentally leaked a zombie virus of some sort into the town's water supply. Don't worry, the situation is under contrOH GOD MY ARM"


Oh, it's just some police cars. The fog, however, is so thick that no one can tell what is going on.


Apparently, the announcer Mayumi Yamano has been spotted in Inaba, so this guy decides to ask around.


...Oh, come on, you're no fun.


I know, this early part of the game is pretty dialog-heavy, but don't worry. We'll get to business in a little while.


Heh?


Huh? This sounds intriguing...


What could that possibly mean? Maybe we'll find out.


"King Moron has been dispatched to the scene, everything is under control."


I was, but maybe you can convince me otherwise.


Wow, that was easy.


Nice to meet you, Satonaka. Of course I remember.


Hello there, Amagi.


Don't worry about that, I certainly don't mind.


As Seta talks with the girls, Yosuke comes by holding a DVD apparently belonging to Chie.


Uh oh, looks like the disc might have been damaged in the earlier encounter with the pole.


Yosuke attempts to leave, but Chie catches up to him and kicks him in the balls. This guy is not having a good day. At all.


Ouch. Just... ouch. That just might be a groin injury the likes of which you've never seen before.


"Sorry, man, nothing personal. Kinda in a hurry, can't talk now. Hey ladies, wait up!"


We won't get very far, because some guy from another school, with the creepiest eyes in the history of mankind, I might add, appears and starts hitting on Yukiko... who he calls "Yuki" with no honorifics or anything despite Yukiko clearly not knowing him. Yeah, that's respectful, bub.


Jesus. Even I have better moves than this guy, and I really can't say THAT very often.


Yukiko tells the creep to go f*** himself (okay, she just says "I'm not going", but still), so he mutters "Fine!" and runs off. I have the feeling we'll see that guy again at some point.


Really? You have to ask that? If that guy possibly could have been any less subtle, he probably would've been naked and holding a "HAVE SEX WITH ME, YUKIKO" sign there.


Well, well, well, looks like Yukiko is popular around here.



Yosuke decides he can't do any worse than the previous guy, so he tries his luck.


ICE BURN


Why exactly are they staring? Oh well, who cares.


"So, uh, you like stuff? I like stuff."


You said it, not me.


You mean like one of those ryokan type inns? Awesome. Chie describes the inn as pretty much keeping the town going, but somehow Yukiko doesn't share her enthusiasm.


Whoa! That was sudden.


Seta decides that he might as well speak his mind.


"Again"?


Nah, she's just following King Moron's sage advice pretty well. "Pure as driven snow", was it?


You just had two guys trying to ask you out in a matter of minutes, and I heard something about the "Amagi Challenge"... but okay, I'll take your word for it.


That's what they always tell me, too. *sigh*


Chie is distracted by something off screen.


Imagine WHAT hanging from an antenna?


Took what down now? What's going on here?


Well, s***.



What do you know, Dojima actually does work as a police detective! He confirms that bad stuff has indeed gone down here.


"Damn! How does HE get chicks like that and I don't? It's not fair... but I guess I should try to be polite here."


Err, Uncle Dojima, this is the only road that leads to your place.


As we chat with Dojima, another detective runs by and throws up in someone's yard.

This guy is clearly a serious professional.


"If not, go get me some coffee, STAT!"


No, it was probably some other, similar incident... OF COURSE IT WAS ABOUT THIS, WHAT ELSE HAPPENS IN THIS TOWN ANYWAY?! Gah!


Oh, we were going to Junes? That's the first I hear of it.


Uh... thanks, I guess...


Well, this is anticlimactic.


Looks like the incident is all over the news. No wonder, it's not as if stuff like this happens in Inaba on a constant basis or anything.


*sigh* Why, no, of course not! Dead bodies are just popping up all over Inaba over the course of a single day!


Huh. Well, damn. Also, "indentified"? That sounds painful.


"...absolutely nothing whatsoever."


Inaba Police Department is naturally where Dojima works, so we ask Nanako if she's worried about her dad. Looks like she isn't.




Right, I knew the Inaba Police Department is inept, but they're not even able to tell if this was an accident or a homicide? What the hell, guys? You think Mayumi Yamano just climbed onto someone's roof for no reason, got struck by lightning and somehow ended up hanging from the antenna? Right now I seriously think Dojima and co. spend most of their time drinking and grabbing waitresses at the hostess bar, there is no other explanation for this ineptitude. This town needs better detectives, where's Raidou Kuzunoha when we need him?


Oh, great, this again.


OH GOD MAKE IT STOP MAKE IT STOP MAKE IT STOP


Now why would you think that? Because she keeps singing it over and over?


God help the teachers.


Well, that's good at least. I must lie down now or my head will explode.


Next time: More dialogue scenes, maybe some action if we're lucky.

[El Cokehead del Knife Fight]

I've been meaning to try one of the Persona games. I'll be reading with great interest.

[shiranui]

I decided to upgrade to a Pro account on Photobucket, so at least we will not be running out of bandwidth now. I still resized the pics to make them quicker to (up)load, though.

Entry 03: Metal Gear Solid 4 had less dialog and cutscenes than this (We WILL see some action pretty soon, honest)


As we start the new day, the first thing we see is Yosuke once again crashing his bike at the same spot as the previous morning and somehow getting himself stuck inside a garbage can. The poor bastard just can't catch a break.


Seta decides to help him out this time, for some reason.


I know, even though the game has been referring to you as "Bleak-looking student", "Cycling student", "Pained student" and, of course, "Rolling student" (that one is my favorite) for a while now.


Yeah, I heard about that about 42 times.


"Hey, you're smarter than the police force."

Yosuke realizes they're gonna be late, so he offers Seta a ride on his bike. Apparently, they make it to school and no one gets killed. The day starts off with the man, the myth, the legend himself - KING MORON.


"AND STOP SCREWIN' AROUND, DAMMIT! Hanamura, I saw you look at Amagi in an indecent manner, and I shall not tolerate that because I am the only one who is allowed to ogle high school girls around here! Where's my Singapore cane?"


Ah, nothing like getting badmouthed by some bitter old creep (with the worst teeth since Austin Powers and sporting an Anton Chigurh haircut, no less) the first thing in the morning. As awesome as King Moron is, I have no idea how he stays employed; you'd think someone might have complained about him verbally abusing his students (hopefully only verbally...) on a constant basis. Then again, I suppose he is the only philosophy teacher in this town.


"In the meantime, I'll take a look at my AV idol calend...ah...err, my notes."


What do you know, you can actually learn something in King Moron's class! Sure, the knowledge gained from there is probably questionable in nature, but still! (Your knowledge goes up when you pay attention in class, which you pretty much do automatically in P4. In Persona 3 you could sleep during class instead, but that's been removed because the main character no longer needs to monitor his status outside of battle)


"Sure, it's not so bad, if you don't count the psychotic teachers, grisly murders involving TV antennas and the least efficient police force in recent memory."


Live fish cut up and served while its heart is still beating? (It exists, seriously: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikizukuri) Shark fin soup? Raw horse meat? Deep fried macaque brain with pineapples?


Thank god, something that is actually edible.


Hey, free lunch. Why not?


Chie reminds Yosuke of the gruesome fate of her "Trial of the Dragon" DVD and starts demanding grilled steak for herself as well.


She also asks if Yukiko wants to come along, but Yukiko seems to be concerned about getting fat. She weighs, what, 90 pounds now?


Yukiko denies this, saying that she's just helping out, and heads off.

One fade-in later, we reach the Junes food court.

EVERY DAY'S GREAT AT... oh, screw it. At least we don't have to listen to that outside the TV commercials, the actual Junes store and food court features this sort of an instrumental muzak version which is far less offensive.


Oh, be quiet, Yosuke is paying.


Goin' off the rails on the freeloader train.


Your... place?


Oh, all right.


His co-workers were reported to have spent the next two days after his departure high-fiving each other and singing "Ding Dong, The Witch Is Dead".

According to Chie, the arrival of Junes has pretty much killed the old shopping district of Inaba. As she talks about shops over there closing down, Yosuke suddenly gets distracted and runs off to the side.


We ask if that is Yosuke's girlfriend, but apparently she isn't.


Eh, I suppose it beats working at the hostess bar.


"Tee hee."

Such nice, playful banter there between these two.


If it wasn't obvious already, Yosuke totally has the hots for Saki here.


"...probably won't understand or remember anything you say, but I'll listen!"


Well, she seems to appreciate his concern, at least.


Hmhm... didn't the housewives at the crime scene yesterday mention... a high schooler finding the body, or something?


Konishi actually seems like a really nice girl. Pretty, too, I wonder what she's doing hanging around Yosuke.


"They really can't stand the sight of him."


Eh, Yosuke isn't too bad, I guess.


An interesting person, I must say. Konishi goes back to work, and Yosuke describes how she treats him just like her younger brother.


Chie, of course, has a field day with this.


I'm not a fan of Chie's voice because her actress sounds too much like a 35-year-old woman trying to sound like a high school girl, but I love the delivery of this line.


Suuuuuuure.


Doing something about it?


I think the back of the game's box mentioned something about it.


This doesn't sound dumb at all.


...if you're drunk enough.


...what


Yosuke is not impressed.


Staring at the screen of a TV that's switched off... well, I suppose that's better than watching MTV. Why not?


Yosuke still isn't impressed. Can't say he doesn't have a point there, though.


Well, I do find it highly unlikely that it would have been an accident.


That laugh is awesome. Chie is somehow creeped out.


Right, it's not as if we have anything better to do. Let's head back home and see what's up.


Sure enough, Dojima hasn't come home from work yet...


...and doesn't seem to pay much attention to his daughter anyway.

As soon as Nanako finishes her sentence, the door opens and Dojima enters.


"We couldn't find out anything, so Adachi and I went drinking. Again."


You mean like new murder cases that you can't solve? Nope, haven't heard a thing.


Nanako notes that Dojima is late again, so he just kinda halfheartedly apologizes and leaves it at that. World's Greatest Dad, folks.


Yes, we've established that. Three times, at least. Thank you. Anything new?


Oh, it's confirmed now? Well, I guess that's new... kind of.


"They probably won't get anything done, but they are definitely planning!"


Huh? Well, this ought to be interesting.


Yeah, buddy, not overdoing it there or confusing the interviewee or anything.


Hey, doesn't that girl look awfully familiar?


As opposed to a sunny day, perhaps?


"I mean, besides myself right now?"


How is this relevant to anything?!


Color me shocked.


Oh, yeah, that! How did I not see that before?


Inaba's finest, boys.


I have nothing to add to this.


Dojima reacts with his best Squall Leonhart impression.


This is worse than that one energy drink commercial which is actually a screamer with a zombie face popping up at the end.


Dammit, Nanako, it's bad enough when they sing it well! Your off-key rendition just hurts.


Okay! Okay! Just stop singing the song!


Looks like they're not going to Junes just yet... screw this, let's go watch the Midnight Channel.


Why, I love a rainy night!


Well, it certainly is stupid, but I've heard dumber stories that turned out to actually be true... so let's find out.


TWO!
MINUTES!
TO MIIIIIIDNIIIIIIIIGHT!


"Just some good-looking dude. Oh, wait, that's me."


Ah, f*** it, let's just go to b... huh? It turned itself on?


The screen shows quick flashes of a girl who appears to be Saki Konishi, it looks as if she is trying to fend off an attack. Of course, I failed to take a screen grab of it at the right moment.


"THOU ART I. I AM THOU." Seta hears an odd booming voice in his head and falls down to his knees.


Our hero is understandably rather perplexed by the recent turn of events.


Having seen the girl who may or may not have been Saki Konishi on the Midnight Channel a moment ago, Seta tries to touch the TV screen. After all, he might just have found his soulmate and wants to reach out to her. Or something.


...the hell?


Whoa, now here's something you don't see every day. Of course, Seta then overdoes it.


Why in the bluest of blue hells did he stick his freaking head in there? Then again, wouldn't you?


Seta finally gets his head out of the TV and crashes down onto the floor, waking up Nanako in the process. We convince her that everything is all right and she can go back to sleep.


Tune in next time for... even more cutscenes and dialog.

---

Once again, as I've mentioned, the game is like this only for the first hour or two (and on a few occasions later on), after that it opens up and we actually get to do something other than pressing X to close dialog boxes.

[Schattenjager]

Sheesh, the sheer amount of dialogue in this game reminds me of Metal Gear Solid 4, like you yourself already mentioned, but I suppose there is an actual game here somwhere, too. So there's that.

I can't really think of anything intelligent or at all coherent to say the moment, other than this has been a good read. The amount of pictures just temporarily kills off my connection every time I open this thread.

[shiranui]

Jan 15, 2010 15:48:51 GMT -5 Schattenjager said:

The amount of pictures just temporarily kills off my connection every time I open this thread.

Sorry about that. At least the pictures I'm using from now on are smaller, and I'll try to use a bit less of them in the future, especially when all the plot exposition slows down and we actually get to do stuff such as whacking things with a sword and running around Inaba.

The next part of this is coming either later tonight or sometime tomorrow. In the meantime, comments aren't only encouraged, they're allowed.

[shiranui]

Entry 04: Break on through to the other side


Ms. Sofue is an expert in world history. She could perhaps be described as a bit of an eccentric person.


At least she's still a lot more pleasant than King Moron, though.


Starting things off with an easy question, too, giving Seta a Knowledge bonus in the process.


After school, Chie mentions a rumor she heard to Yosuke.


Not at school? She seemed fine yesterday, so I wonder what's up with her.


Yukiko has to help at the Amagi Inn again, so she leaves.


See what? Oh, the Midnight Channel. Yosuke decides to ask if Chie saw it, and she tells him she did see a girl on the TV... just like we did.


*giggity giggity*


Chie describes the girl she saw, and it appears Yosuke saw her as well.


Now that might make for some awkward and potentially sexy situations.


Seta tells Yosuke and Chie about the girl and the weird voices in his head and the way he put his head inside the TV.


Looks that way. This is getting even more awkward, if you ask me.



Needless to say, Yosuke and Chie don't believe Seta's account of the previous night's events.


SPEAKING OF TVs, Chie mentions her family is looking to buy a new one, and so Yosuke asks if she wants to go check out the electronics department of Junes.


I'm not sure if it's a good idea to let Chie watch kung-fu films on the big screen, she seems to be obsessed enough already and I'm afraid she might go bats*** insane somewhere down the line if she watches too much of those movies.


Har har. I'll show you. You'll see.

Later, at the Junes electronics department...


There are no clerks around because no one really shops for TVs in Inaba. Yosuke and Chie decide to try if they can put their hands inside the TV screen, and fail miserably at it.


But that was just a dream
And this is what it means
We are sleeping and we'll dream forevermooooooore


The other side.


<ADVERTISEMENT>


As Yosuke shills the other TV to Chie, Seta decides to try something because this particular television here is certainly big enough for someone to climb into.


"Yes, it's a brand new model with 1080p, HDMI and a revolutionary function that lets you put your arm (or any other body part, should you feel like it) through the screen into another dimension. Fun for the whole family or all those adult video fans out there! Only 186,000 yen!"


Seta decides to try the cool newfangled function out.


"There's an empty space where you used to be."


Too much information? Too much information.


"Quick, hide before they ask for service!"


I once worked at an electronics store for a while, and this happened all the time. Can't say it's good for business when a customer is half stuck inside one of the in-store TVs.


Chie and Yosuke panic and end up crashing into Seta. The TV sucks them all in completely.


What awaits our hero and his friends on the other side? Find out next time on Let's Play Persona 4! Only a couple of entries left until we get to actually do something.

Edit: I tried out another graphics plugin on the emulator, and it seems to eliminate most of the graphical glitches I've encountered. It does add another minor one where a small horizontal line appears above the character portraits, but that's hardly noticeable especially when I resize the screenshots. The next entry was done using the old plugin (I basically took screenshots for two entries at once, the first of which is in this post), so you don't get to see the differences just yet. Just thought I'd mention this.

[shiranui]

Entry 05: I WANT MY PRETTY MIND BACK


We've entered time compression?


I for one feel fantastic and I'm still alive. Since the landing was a bit rough and Seta is a nice guy, he asks if Chie and Yosuke are all right...


...which gives us this wonderful exchange. I'm not sure if that was so bad it was good or if it was just bad.


Yeah, it's where they shot "The Mist".


I should mention once more that the graphics plugin I was using at this point didn't seem to like this place, so it's actually less foggy here than it should be. Also, the floor graphics aren't working properly, it should be black and white with this sort of a creepy pattern that appears to be chalk outlines of bodies. Expect these issues to be fixed in the next episode.


We decide to go and look around, but Chie throws a fit and wants to go hoooooooome. Once again, her voice actress does her best to ruin everything, so the delivery of this line is about as convincing as "I HAD A PRETTY MIND!!"


Yosuke is also getting frustrated now, so we attempt to calm both down and decide that since we got in, we will probably get out somehow. Then again, we did basically fall from the sky if you could call it that, and I don't think we can fly back up so I hope there's a door somewhere.


See? A door. I think. Where did this building come from, though? And what's up with the landscape? What's going on?


The door leads to a room with a bed. The fog is apparently a bit lighter in here, but I can't really tell a difference. But never mind that, because there is no exit here.


Charming. Yeah, Yosuke finds all this so creepy that he can't take it any more and needs to go, bad. (he has, apparently, been holding it in all day, though so I don't think he has... well, problems... BUT THEN AGAIN, I DON'T CARE) Naturally, he can't do it with people watching, so I guess the point of that was just to provide us with some rather lame comic relief. Hm, I said "relief". Har har. Shoot me now.


Chie changes the subject, and I for one am thankful. Yeah, this room is rather creepy, reminds me of the one Mickie James had with the Trish Stratus pictures way back when.


That's probably just a decoration. I mean, it's commonplace for people to hang scarves like a noose, right, especially with a chair underneath and some creepy faceless pictures and what appears to be blood all over the walls? Nothing to worry about, let's mosey!


Before we go back, Yosuke notices that the posters look familiar somehow. They kinda do, to be honest.


For some reason, everyone is feeling rather sick. It may or may not be because of the oppressive atmosphere, and I'd wager it might be a good idea to not spend too much time in this place, whatever it is, at once.


So, we're back at the "studio" and OH GOD IT'S A MASCOT CHARACTER


Chie manages to scare the hell out of whatever that thing might be, so Seta tries a slightly more polite approach.


Well, that certainly cleared things up. Thanks.


You could say it's unbearable.


I couldn't bear it either.


Yeah, it's beary strange!


All right! All right! I'll stop with the bear puns! I can't even bear the thought of... umm, guys? Let's be calm now... *CRASH! WHAM! POW! SOCK! BIFF! ARGH!*




........







We apologize for any minor technical difficulties you may be experiencing at the moment. Please stand by and, in the meantime, enjoy this picture of Aya Hirano posing for cameras with a cat.





........





ANYWAY, Chie manages to once again freak the hell out of the poor creature. You know, he's awfully wimpy for a bear. Bears are known to do this: (DISCLAIMER: The author of this Let's Play would like to stress that he does not advocate violence against women in any capacity, no matter whether it is a person or a bear doing it. Thank you.)



The bear mascot did say that he thought it might be best for us to leave... that is, before Chie started yelling at him and sent him to hide behind Seta.


Of course, there's the minor problem of there not being an exit in sight.


Hey, this bear isn't so unbea... rrr... ah, not so bad after all.


Why must I be surrounded by frickin' idiots?


It takes him a second, but Yosuke finally gets some semblance of a clue.

The bear waves his hand, and a stack of TVs then appears out of thin air.


From 1967, by the looks of those things.


The bear pushes everyone into the TVs. He's busy, you know.


It's almost evening, so it appears we were in there for several hours.


Yosuke realizes why the posters with their faces cut out looked so familiar. Misuzu Hiiragi, if you've been paying attention, is of course the wife of Taro Namatame, the city council secretary who had the affair with the late announcer Mayumi Yamano.


Let's get to the bottom of this, guys! We have a mystery to solve because it's not as if the police can do anything!


Oh. Well, I suppose that works too.

Evening, Dojima Residence...


Hey, Dojima is home. I guess he just said "screw you guys" and left.


"...but we certainly don't and we really need some help with this case, so I'll ask anyway..."


We heard that rumor, so might as well mention it. Apparently, it is true and Saki Konishi did find the body.


Oh, crud.


"Man, I remember when we never had to do anything in this town. I mean, we still don't, but we need to act like we do because there are cameras around."


Uh huh.


"The official police statement said that she may or may not have been in Inaba at that time."


The Amagi Inn, eh? What could this mean? Then again, I don't think this town has any other hotels or inns, so it makes sense for her to have stayed there. Apparently, she was staying at the inn alone.

The commentator is fairly excited about the Amagi Inn's hot springs and, of course...


Dude, she is, what, 17? Sure, that is legal in Japan (unless the Inaba prefecture has some kind of ordinance stating otherwise) so there's no need to alert the Japanese equivalent of Chris Hansen to come and tell this guy to take a seat... but... this is mildly disturbing in any case.


The announcer doesn't seem to be amused either.


Apparently, there's been an awful lot of fog around lately.


Seta is feeling a bit ill, so he takes some cold medicine and heads off to bed, no watching Midnight Channel tonight.

As the dawn comes, a disturbing sight is revealed...



To be continued

[Gopher Mod]

Hey, we're finally getting close to getting to actual gameplay! Huzzah!

[shiranui]

Jan 16, 2010 11:14:58 GMT -5 Gopher Mod said:

Hey, we're finally getting close to getting to actual gameplay! Huzzah!

Yeah, maybe this LP will also become slightly more entertaining when we actually get to the gameplay part.

I'm obviously a big fan of this game but holy hell, the first couple of hours are wordy and it actually surprised me how many screenshots I ended up taking to cover 15-30 minutes of... I would say gameplay, but cutscenes would probably be more appropriate. At least Persona 3 let you walk around a bit more and do stuff, even though that game also had a whole lot of dialogue in the early part.

[shiranui]

Entry 06: Hanging on the Telephone

Dojima went to work early because he got a call about something. Seta, of course, had no idea about it, but this was probably related to the cutscene of the body hanging from the telephone pole. On the way to Yasogami High, Seta stops to listen in to a conversation between two girls gossiping about an incident of some sort.


"Yeah, it's really boring that we didn't get to see any dead bodies or anything!"

For some reason, a school assembly is being held the first thing in the morning, and before the principal comes in Seta overhears some girls talking about the Midnight Channel "rumor". What kind of a rumor is it when ANYONE can pretty much confirm it's true by, you know, trying it? I mean, yeah, it sounds dumb when you think about it, but still?


Yosuke seems down and Chie asks him about it, but he says there's nothing wrong. Doesn't sound that way, though. He sounded more cheerful even after he had been hit in the balls by a telephone pole and Chie's kung-fu, so something has to be wrong here.


"It's..." *cue Liberty Bell march*

Turns out the principal has some bad news. Very, very bad news.

...oh, f***. No. What the hell is going on in this town?! What the hell happened to Konishi?


Principal: "I have been assured by the faculty that there's been no evidence that bullying was involved in the incident."

Oh, well, thanks for that relevant piece of information there, Bugenhagen. Also, the police? Yeah, now that will do a lot of good.


The girls think it might be a serial murder case, and it does seem that way.


Yosuke comes by, obviously distraught about what has happened. He mentions watching the Midnight Channel the night before, and that he is fairly sure that the girl on the screen was Saki Konishi.

Yosuke: "And then, she disappeared from the screen."


Yosuke: "Ms. Yamano might have been on that Midnight Channel before she died, too."


Certainly does seem that way at this point. Yosuke also brings up how the mysterious bear said it was dangerous in there and how we should leave before the fog cleared, and of course that someone had been throwing people in there.


Seta agrees and lets Yosuke know that.


Well, now he is suddenly very interested in going to the TV world.


Chie says we should inform the police. Yeah, as if THAT would help. And of course, as Yosuke also says, there is no chance the police would believe a word about a "TV world".


Yosuke tells Seta he is the only one who can help him with this, so he runs off and tells Seta to meet him at Junes. Chie doesn't find this idea very appealing, but she comes with Seta in any case.


"No, you did. I'm going in the TV world with Yosuke."


Sounds like a plan.


Did this guy just grow a spine overnight? Also, he's holding a golf club.


Seta is worried about Chie's wellbeing. Sure, she knows kung fu and all and can probably take care of herself, but maybe she shouldn't be dragged into this.


Ooh, an Understanding bonus. Seta knows how to please the ladies. (The five stats, by the way, are Diligence, Courage, Knowledge, Understanding and Expression)


Yosuke gives Chie a rope to hold on to, basically a lifeline.


Seta, on the other hand, gets the golf club and Medicine x3 just in case bad stuff goes down.


The TV world transition effect as it should be. Changing the graphics plugin did wonders for the game's performance, it now runs at 60 FPS steadily and has less obvious graphical issues.


Unfortunately, the rope does not survive the trip to the other dimension, and Chie is left alone with no way to help the guys. This might not be good.


Well, at least that is convenient. Also note how the place actually has proper fog and correct floor textures now, again thanks to the graphics plugin change.


The mysterious bear appears and suspects our heroes of being the ones who throw people inside.


The wimpiest roar ever. This guy brings shame to his species, which is known to enjoy things including but not limited to those listed here: www.thingsbearslove.com/ (questionable content warning)


Yosuke tries to convince the bear that he and Seta are not the culprits, and while he's doing that he stumbles upon an idea that actually makes sense. He also tries to convince the bear that they do not need his help this time, since they've got a lifeline...


...err, yeah. Damn feeble rope, can't even withstand a trip to David Lynch World. Suddenly, asking the bear for help doesn't sound like such a bad idea after all. The bear is not being very co-operative, though.


PROOF DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY! [/Morbo]


Yosuke decides to try and talk some sense into the fur ball.


Oh? Interesting.


"They start playing Apache over and over again and never stop, I can't stand it"


Yosuke doesn't understand a word of what the bear says, and the bear doesn't seem to understand him either.


If we were the culprits, you would be dead by now. Understood?


"You know, that reminds me of a joke I heard once... A pirate walks into a bar with a steering wheel in his pants. The bartender asks why the pirate has a steering wheel in his pants. The pirate answers, 'Arr, it's drivin' me nuts!'"


"Yeah, this is where most Japanese gameshows are filmed."


Mysterious bear: "Only me and Shadows are here! I told you before!"


Yosuke is losing it.


Suspicious? How could a creepy mascot bear thing living in what is apparently an alternate dimension possibly be suspicious?

Yosuke: "Maybe you're the real culprit!"


Yosuke has finally had enough of the bear.


What is under that costume? Find out in the next installment of Let's Play Persona 4, where we FINALLY get to hit things with a golf club and be awesome!

[shiranui]

Entry 07: ACTION

When we last left our heroes, Yosuke was pulling the mysterious bear mascot's head off to see what lurks underneath the costume.

One mascot costume decapitation later:




The mysterious hollow bear is eventually convinced that we're not the culprits, but he wants us to find whoever is throwing people in the TV and stop that person. Meanwhile, Seta remembers the words of the creepy old man in his head.


How about the "contract"?


Hm, I guess that will do. Yosuke also promises to help. Seta and Yosuke introduce themselves to the mysterious bear, who from now on shall be called...


Or, if you are playing the Japanese version, Kuma. I don't know why they didn't just call him "Bear" in the English version, but whatever.


Teddie informs us that he can take us to where the last person who entered the TV came in, but before we go there we get some nice, fashionable glasses...


...which do this. I don't know how the effect would look with the previous graphics plugin I used, and I am not going to find out because it would be full of glitches anyway. Anyway, Teddie tells us that while he can take us to the place the last person came in, we'd have to defend ourselves. Which is fine because Seta has the golf club, but Yosuke loses it. Again. I suppose.


Teddie: "Uh uh. No way. I've got no muscles."

He does, however, promise to give us moral support from a safe distance. I guess that is better than nothing. First of all, though, let's see if this guy actually can't fight.


Now that I think of it, I really should have let you guys choose what Seta should do to Teddie here. Oh well, the result is the same no matter what...


...the ferocious bear goes down and screams like a little girl.

Teddie: "N-Noooo..."
Yosuke: "We swore to find the culprit, and this is all the backup we get...?"


We're taken to what looks like a dark version of the Inaba shopping district. This was apparently "reality" for Saki Konishi when she was here.


Yosuke's guess is correct, and we find the Konishi liquor store. "Sake Konishi?" (Bad jokes aside, that actually IS the name of the shop according to the sign. It says "Konishi Sake Store")

However, we shall not dwell on that too much because the Shadows are here and they are pissed!




*SOUND OF RECORD PLAYER NEEDLE SCRATCHING*

Not those Shadows! These ones:


"Hello. We are creepy hand-rape thingies. Pleased to meet you."


They transform into giant Rolling Stones logos, and Seta suddenly hears voices in his head saying "Thou art I. I am thou. The time has come."


This would actually work pretty well as a facepalm picture.

Honestly though, this scene is really too awesome for words and pictures to do any justice to it, so see for yourself:




If you didn't watch (what is wrong with you?!), the gist is that Seta finds a tarot card in his hand and says "Persona" which causes blue flames to shoot up around him and the thunder god Izanagi to come out of him. And then, we battle.

First battle theme:


Battle Tutorial 1: i89.photobucket.com/albums/k227/thefluorescentblaze/persona/pcsx202010-01-1620-16-16-89.jpg
Battle Tutorial 2: i89.photobucket.com/albums/k227/thefluorescentblaze/persona/pcsx202010-01-1620-16-21-63.jpg
Battle Tutorial 3: i89.photobucket.com/albums/k227/thefluorescentblaze/persona/pcsx202010-01-1620-16-22-93.jpg
Battle Tutorial 4:

Remember this. This is the key to success.


The battle screen in all its glory. We can't use Tactics because those are for giving orders to party members, and this battle is inescapable. The "Rush" command which is initiated by pressing Triangle is basically "auto-attack until either you or the enemy dies", so if you are up against weak foes you can just press it and let the AI do all the work. I could probably beat these guys by just rushing them, but what fun would that be? Let's see what our first Persona can do...


Just like in the dream we had a while ago, Izanagi can use Cleave (physical attack), Zio (level 1 thunder spell) and Rakukaja (boosts a party member's defense). "Fool" refers to the Tarot arcana here, we will have Igor explain everything there is to know about arcana quite soon so I won't get much further to that. Also, I like Izanagi's coat. The codpiece is a bit questionable, though. All right, let's beat these f***ers up so we can get on with it.


Oops. Wrong attack. I was supposed to use Zio, but accidentally chose Cleave from the menu. Oh well, that was effective too, I just don't get an extra turn because I didn't exploit the monsters' weakness. Speaking of which...

Battle Tutorial 5: i89.photobucket.com/albums/k227/thefluorescentblaze/persona/pcsx202010-01-1620-17-12-48.jpg
Battle Tutorial 6: i89.photobucket.com/albums/k227/thefluorescentblaze/persona/pcsx202010-01-1620-17-14-02.jpg
Battle Tutorial 7: i89.photobucket.com/albums/k227/thefluorescentblaze/persona/pcsx202010-01-1620-17-15-45.jpg

This is different from Persona 3, where you could simply choose "Analysis" and find out the enemy's weakness on the next turn without having to actually try different attacks on them. Of course, here we only have one spell at the moment, so it's pretty obvious what we should use against these guys.


Go! IZANAGI! IZANAGI used ZIO! It's super effective! Enemy HABLERIE fainted!

If you didn't know, this game is actually a lot like Pokémon in a way. You'll see. Anyway, Izanagi zaps the hell out of the evil Rolling Stones logo super balls, and Teddie suddenly likes Seta a lot, calling him Sensei and generally acting like a Twilight fangirl who meets Robert Pattinson on the street.


Yosuke isn't impressed by the disgusting, desplib... despicable lack of respect Teddie is showing him, but does commend him for the fairly decent (if useless) support he was giving me there. Before we can proceed inside Sake Konishi, we hear disembodied voices (apparently Shadows) talking all sorts of crap about Saki.


If this was "reality" for her when she was here, it must have been horrendous. As we go inside the store, another voice which seems to be Saki's father starts berating her. Yosuke says she never mentioned any of this at work and seemed as if she had fun.


Does sound that way.


Yosuke finds a photo they took with the other part-timers at Junes, cropped so that it only shows Saki smiling, with Yosuke next to her.


Now we hear the disembodied voice of Saki Konishi, who seems to have wanted to tell something to Yosuke but never had the opportunity to say it.


......

What was it Saki Konishi never had the chance to say to Yosuke? Find out in the next installment of Let's Play Persona 4: BOSS BATTLE SPECIAL EXTRAVAGANZA!

[Schattenjager]

Very entertaining stuff so far, even for someone who has never played a SMT game in his life. And finally we got to the actual action. Your writings are always a pleasure to read.

And I'm convinced that if Triple H ever goes bald and grey, he will end up looking like Igor.

[aka Cthulhu]

Cool stuff so far. Now I don't have to play the game -- ha ha ha~ Well, I want to play it, but my PS2 is a PS2-shaped piece of junk now.

[shiranui]

Jan 17, 2010 13:23:01 GMT -5 aka Cthulhu said:

Cool stuff so far. Now I don't have to play the game -- ha ha ha~ Well, I want to play it, but my PS2 is a PS2-shaped piece of junk now.

Well, of course, no matter how hard I try, I simply can't convey all the awesomeness of this game in mere screenshot and text form. But hey, let's see if we can get to Page 2 before I post the next installment, this page is starting to be a bit... umm, picture-heavy. But not so much that we can't post some nice concept art from "The Art of Persona 4" first:

[Schattenjager]

Jan 17, 2010 13:23:01 GMT -5 aka Cthulhu said:

but my PS2 is a PS2-shaped piece of junk now.

But doesn't that apply to all PS2s?

[shiranui]

Hm. I was going to start with the next update, but since we are still on page 1 I won't do that just yet because this page doesn't really need that many more images. (Seriously now, I really hate to beg and grovel like this, but can I have just one more comment so we can start the next page with the update?) Instead, here is a panel from the official Persona 4 manga, apparently showing Chie about to kick Yosuke in the gonads as we saw her do earlier:



EDIT: Oh, hey, thanks! Now we can get on with it! Expect the next update to be posted in a while.