The Story Ends

Hi everyone! Last night, I finally beat Persona 4, the game I've been playing (almost) religiously for the last two months, give or take a few weeks. It was one hell of a ride and definitely a good game. But, to be completely honest, it kinda lost it right at the end. This post will contain massive spoilers for the plot of Persona 4, so the ones of you who haven't finished it, or haven't played it at all and want to experience it first hand, you might want to stop reading here. (There will also be some Persona 3 spoilers, just so you know!)

So, I had grinded myself up to a modest level of 88, acquired Helel, the most ridiculously overpowered persona I ever saw, and thought it was about time to end things. I had fought the final boss before, but was not nearly strong enough to defeat her. This time, things would be different. I waltzed in and engaged her in battle.

And what a disappointing battle it was. Now, here we have Izanami, an ancient goddess of Japanese mythology, who together with her brother Izanagi pretty much created Japan (Standard mythological stuff about various bodily functions becoming geographical phenomenons, it's on wikipedia, most likely). And she barely puts up a fight. I ended up not even using my overpowered ace-in-the-hole, because it worked fine with another persona whose skill set just happened to make me nearly impossible to hit. The fight went on for about 30 minutes, and then suddenly, Izanami pulled an instant kill move out of nowhere.

"Now things are getting serious!" I thought, and then looked on horrified as she killed off my characters. Not just knocked them out like usual, she simply erased them from the battle. "Oh crap" I thought. "Better take this lady down fast!" (My use of the word "lady" is a slight alteration, I'm sure you can figure it out.) So I attacked with all of my strength, but she had just one sliver of HP left when her turn came around. And so, I could do nothing but watch as my last two characters were annihilated.

"If this means game over, I am so. Very. Angry." I thought as the screen faded to white. Luckily, it wasn't game over, I actually made it. I won, and the ending played out. A good ending, but the final boss was very disappointing. Here I had been expecting an epic showdown with a god, one that would thoroughly test my skills, and I get this. Compare this to the final battle against Nyx Avatar in Persona 3, where you had to fight through 14 stages, each representing numbers 0 through 13 in the Major Arcana of the tarot deck, against a manifestation of Death itself, where you and your party members were constantly on the brink of annihilation, having to struggle to just survive while trying to land the occasional attack on the enemy. This fight could take up to an hour and a half, depending on luck. All this accompanied by a rock opera rearrangement of the theme that's been a symbol for the entire game series. How can you possibly top that?

I guess that's just the thing. Persona 3 set the bar so high that Persona 4 simply could not live up to it. Even if the battle had been longer and harder, and the music better (it was kinda average), it still would have had a hard time competing with such a predecessor.

On the whole, I think Persona 4 was good, but I still think Persona 3 is better. Especially given the fact that the special edition of Persona 3 comes with an epilogue that was made in dungeon crawler heaven (or hell, depending on how you look at it). The story and pacing also felt more consistent, and there weren't as many things that came completely out of nowhere, like many of the plot twists in Persona 4 did. In all, they're both very good games, and if you haven't played them yet (you've probably already stopped reading and won't partake in this message), I strongly recommend them. I personally think Persona 3 is better, but to each his own.

Well, that's it for Persona 4. I wonder what game I'm going to play next? I have quite a few ongoing ones that I want to finish, and even a few I haven't even started playing yet. o many games, so little time...
Until next time, have a good day!