Persona 4 Analysis - The Game That Changed My Life

before we get started i'd like to give a shout out to our first patrons so thank you to the coolest most epic person i have ever met nicknamed moriarty and scopes for supporting the channel if anyone else is interested in showing some support in return for early access to videos backer credits and access to the scripts for my videos after the release please consider checking out my patreon link in the description so the last time we were here i took a deep look at persona 3 fest for the playstation 2 and while i think the game was pretty good it was just shy from true greatness i had my issues some small others not so small but at the end of that video i still recommended the game while also mentioning that i actually preferred persona 4 over that game so allow me to take some time out of your day to explain why persona 4 is a game that needs next to no introduction for the longest time persona 4 was the main money maker for the company atlas while i attribute a lot of persona's mainstream success to persona 5 persona 4 wasn't exactly an unknown game if you were a fan of jrpgs at the time you most likely at least heard of persona 4 even if it was in passing it also helps that persona 4's legacy didn't just end after one game there were two spin-off fighting games that continued the story two anime adaptations one good one an entire manga run two crossover rpg spin-off titles a dancing rhythm game and even a live-action stage play yes this is real and i'd pay so much money to go see this [Music] just like persona 3 persona 4 had a re-release featuring extra content including new social links characters and new personas it was titled persona 4 golden it's the version of the game that i'll be using for the basis of this video for the longest time persona 4 golden was actually an exclusive title for the playstation vita but as of recently the game has been ported to steam you know what let's talk about that for a quick second because i have a couple things i want to say about this port i used what's called a playstation tv to record footage for this video a playstation tv is essentially just a ps vita repurposed as a home console in case you're wondering why my footage looks a lot lower quality than the let's plays you've been seeing recently that's why because i kid you not only one day after i finished recording all of the footage for persona 4 golden the steam version was leaked then released a few days later and you want to know what i did when i found this out i [ __ ] bought the game on steam yeah i'm serious i bought the game again and the port is actually pretty good seeing the game run at full 1080p hd and 60 frames per seconds is such a strange experience the game will sometimes stutter before an all that attack but i'm not sure if that's because of the game or a problem with my hardware if you plan on playing persona 4 the steam version is certainly the way to go so thanks guys after all the shilling i've done for you in the past you repay me by making me look like a chump with low quality footage it's a good port but i'd appreciate a little warning next time before i put over 90 hours into an inferior version of the game well anyways persona 4 is a very story heavy game because it's not only a character based journey but it's also a murder mystery story so going in as blind as possible will provide the best enjoyment this video will contain spoilers for every social link as well as the main plot this is your warning now please click off the video if you don't want to be spoiled so with that out of the way let's get started shall we there's a lot of setup needed for this plot so i'll do my best to recap the first few hours persona 4 starts off in a very similar way to persona 3. you play as a high school student who transfers to the rural town of inaba so he can live with his uncle ryotaro dojima and his cousin nanako dojima for one year this boy is named yuunarakami and unlike the persona 3 protagonist he isn't anything special narukami lived an average life back in the big city and was forced to move out of his comfort zone because his parents are going to be working overseas while the dojima family and narakami make their way back to their home they stop at a gas station while the worker fills up the car they offer narakami a part-time position since there isn't much to do in the small town narakomi has a headache after shaking hands with a gas station attendant but he rushes it off as car sickness the following day narakami tries his best to fit in at his new high school and quickly becomes acquainted with a couple of his classmates there's chie saktanaka a spunky tomboy who loves kung fu movies yukiko amagi chie's introverted best friend whose family runs the amaki inn the monkey inn is apparently a famous landmark of the town that attracts a lot of tourists so it's usually very busy there and finally there's yosuke hanamura much like narakami yosuke is also a transfer student he moved out to inaba around six months before the game began because of his parents work his dad is the manager of a store called jeunesse think of it as walmart and since this is a small town run by local businesses that makes them a bit infamous more on that later the first school day ends but before the students are able to leave an announcement plays warning everyone to stay inside not too far from the school a student finds a dead body hanging from a telephone pole and informs the police it turns out that the dead body is that of a tv announcer named by yumi yamano i feel it's important to mention this now because she was involved in a scandal with a political secretary and his idol wife so seeing that someone who has gained a lot of notoriety recently suddenly passing away from what seems like a homicide sends the town into a bit of a stir narakami and his new friends actually overhear this information from a few towns folks who gathered around the crime scene it's also revealed here that narakami's uncle dojima is actually a detective that was assigned to this case along with his partner adachi while all of this is going on rumors of a mysterious program called the midnight channel begin to spread around the high school apparently if you look into a tv at midnight while it's raining outside you'll be shown your soulmate since there isn't much else to do in this town narukami and the others try it out narukami hasn't shown his soulmate however as he sees what seems to be a girl from his high school struggling against something he has another headache and a mysterious voice begins to speak to him narakami touches the tv screen and is shocked to realize that he can stick his hand inside of it the following day yosuke chie and narakami all discuss what they saw the previous night yoski and che also saw the same girl on the midnight channel and they think that they have the same soulmate narakami tells him about what happened the previous night but it's brushed off as him having a bad dream yosuke even entertains the idea by going to the junes electronics section to see if they can go inside the tv much to everyone's surprise narakami is able to stick his hand inside of the tv not only that he's able to go further inside than expected shie and yosuke accidentally push narakami inside of the tv due to their panic and the three end up in this foggy area named the tv world the group explores the area in hopes of finding a way back to their world they stumble across this eerie room where there are torn up posters of mayumi yamano as well as a scarf tied up in a noose the trio stumbles back to the entrance where they run into this odd looking creature that resembles a giant teddy bear in fact this creature's name is teddy and he resides in this world before the group can get any answers from teddy he summons a stack of televisions and pushes the group inside where they end up back in their own world the group decides to go their separate ways try to forget about what just happened the following day another tragedy strikes the student who found mayumi's dead body saki konishi is found dead in the morning she was murdered and strung up alongside a telephone pole much like mayumi yamano yosuki doesn't take this news all too well because he had feelings for saki yosuki believes that the tv world had something to do with not only saki's death but also mayumi's as the police apparently couldn't find the cause of their deaths he manages to piece together that the girl everyone saw in the midnight channel was saki and what we saw that night was her fighting for her own life against something yosuke quickly rushes off to june s to investigate the tv world narakami joins him and the two enter the tv sga stays behind to hold their lifeline this goes about as well as you think yosuke and norakami crash down into the tv world and run into teddy teddy believes that the two boys are responsible for the recent disturbances in the tv world since they came in on their own accord yosuke's hypothesis is proven correct when teddy says that two people were forced inside of the tv and killed by creatures called shadows the weather in the tv world and the real world are linked if it becomes foggy in the outside world then the fog clears in the tv world when the fog clears that's when the shadows in the tv world become ravenous and will attempt to kill anyone stuck inside the group theorizes that someone in the real world is intentionally pushing people inside of the tv with the purpose of killing them teddy gives the boy a pair of these slick looking glasses that clears the fog for anyone wearing them and they make their way towards teddy's sense saki konishi before she died the group manages to find what looks to be a replica of the inaba shopping district and yosuke quickly rushes off to where saki's family liquor store would be but before they can get inside things get hairy shadows appear from the entrance of the liquor store and they surround the group narakami has another migraine and the voice earlier calls out to him once again when he comes too narakami is holding a blank tarot card and with the oh so iconic word he summons his true self this doesn't have the same kick as the persona 3 1 but the visual is still pretty cool narukami with the power of his persona destroys the shadows with ease inside the liquor store yosuke finds a photo of himself and saki torn up saki's voice rings through the air and we hear her true feelings about yosuke it turns out that she hated yosuke and was only nice to him because he was the june store manager's son you see since june s was introduced to inaba a lot of local stores have been shutting down due to the lack of business saki konishi ended up having to take a job working at junes to help support her family but they didn't approve of her working there it wasn't just her parents that thought this as there were many rumors spread about saki and a lot of people began to talk behind her back and blamed her for ruining her family's business yosuke is shocked at saki's true feelings but his grieving is interrupted by another yosuke this shadow yosuke confronts the real one and begins to torment him by revealing his pent-up insecurities it's real that yosuke has a great fear of isolation and that he only puts on this carefree happy attitude so he could bury these fears shadow yosuke exposes yosuke's true intentions of exploring the tv world he didn't do it for saki's sake in fact he did it for a selfish desire to become a hero and get people to like him kyousuke denies all of this and exclaims that this person in front of him isn't himself but this denial of reality is what causes the shadow to transform into a huge monster leaving narakami to take care of it the shadow isn't exactly defeated but it's weakened enough to return to its original form yosuke still attempts to deny what's in front of him but with the help of narakami he's able to muster up the courage to face himself i knew it wasn't lying i was so ashamed that i didn't want to admit it you're me and i'm you when you get down to it all of this is me [Music] the power of a persona in persona 4 is only obtained if you're able to confront yourself you see everyone has a shadow these shadows are repressed negative qualities of the real life counterparts and are very exaggerated to use yosuke as an example his shadow represents his inner struggle with fear of isolation and his selfish action to use saki's death as an excuse to explore the tv world so he could have something exciting in his life yosuke is able to come to terms with these feelings inside of him and is able to accept the flaws he has this is what transforms his shadow into a persona this theme is self-acceptance that eventually turns into self-improvement is very prevalent throughout the game i'll go into more detail later but i just wanted to bring it up briefly now to get everyone up to speed teddy reveals to the two boys that sake and the announcer were killed by their own shadows since they were stuck in the tv when the fog was cleared yosuke hypothesizes that if anyone else is thrown inside the tv they'll be able to save them before the fog clears with that a small group of investigators is born the investigation team will save whoever ends up on the midnight channel by going inside the tv rescuing them all while trying to figure out who the copper behind these attempted murders are and that is the basic setup for the plot of persona 4. that was a lot of information i had to explain there so i'll summarize there's a killer on the loose in the town of inaba who has claimed the lives of two people his method is kidnapping them and throwing them inside the tv world whoever appears on the midnight channel will be the killer's next target once the victim is inside the tv world it'll be up to the investigation to go inside and rescue the person before they're killed when the fog is cleared along the way the investigation team will try to attain the identity of the culprit and bring them to justice the reason why i went to so much detail was because there's a lot of information that's required in order to understand what persona 4 is actually about and trust me you got the abridged version of this because the opening of the game is around 3 hours long it's a really interesting 3 hours but it requires a lot of commitment to get through since this is a mystery story all the pieces need to be placed at the start so they become relevant later we learned that narukami's uncle is a detective it's established that the police won't be any help because of the otherworldly mechanics at play i think that this mystery does a great job at keeping the plot always moving forward a problem i had with persona 3 story was that it felt like there were a lot of sections where not a lot was really going on sure there were some times where something interesting is introduced or a revelation is learned strega comes to mind even though i personally didn't find them that interesting as characters but there was a lot of times in that game where it felt like you were just waiting around for something to happen rather than actively trying to pursue a goal granted that was more so because of the way that narrative was structured rather than sloppy writing if it the story they were trying to tell in that game persona 4 has the characters actively participating in the investigation on multiple occasions there are many points in the game where narakami and the other party members will sit down at their meeting spot and discuss theories and piece together the mystery and as the investigation team gains more members who are actually the victims that were saved in the tv world they're able to get closer and closer to the truth it's not all plot all the time however there are parts of the story where the characters need to wait for the killer to make their next move so they can try to get the drop on him it made weighty around also feel important and it keeps you on the edge to see what the killer has up their sleeve next persona 4 follows the trend started with persona 3 of dividing the game into two parts there's the dungeon crawling aspect of the game where you climb fours of randomly generated dungeons in hopes of reaching the end as soon as you can and then there's also the social simulator aspect for the sake of not repeating a lot of what i said in the persona 3 video i'll mostly be talking about what's changed between the two games i'll go over the dungeon crawling aspect of the game first the one more battle system from persona 3 has been brought over to this game to give a quick reminder the one more battle system functions like this almost every enemy has a weakness that can be exploited with elemental magic by exploiting this weakness or by landing a critical hit you knock down the enemy but also receive what's called a one more getting a one more means that you can take an extra turn in combat the meta goal for every battle is to knock down every enemy so that you can form an all that attack and deal massive damage to every enemy it's the same basic idea that persona 3 had but there's a lot of differences this time around if you attack an enemy that's already knocked down you won't get a one more but there's a chance you can make the enemy dizzy it isn't guaranteed that you'll make the enemy dizzy but it can be really handy if you do being dizzy makes it so you spend a couple of turns on the ground and are helpless i found this the most useful one there was a really tough enemy that i got a critical hit on but couldn't exploit the other enemy's weaknesses it will at the very least buy you some time in persona 3 skills that would hit every enemy had a 90 hit accuracy which is much lower than the 95 percent the single target skills had so skills like zeo the basic electric spell had a higher chance of hitting than the mozilla skill the variant that attacks all enemies this has been changed to persona 4. the attack all skills now have a 95 accuracy compared to the single target's 98 trust me it's a much more substantial change than you think there's another change to the attack all spells you don't have to knock down every single enemy with the attack all spells to get at one more now all you need to do is at the very least hit a single enemy on paper this takes away a lot of the risk involved with attacking every enemy for the most part that's true but because of the way dungeons are structured in this game the type of skills you use are more important than ever sp management is now a very important thing to consider throughout the dungeon because it dictates how long you can spend inside the tv world it's most noticeable early game when your sp pool is very small to start with this is to encourage the player to take breaks from dungeon crawling because whenever you leave the tv world your sp and hp will fully restore but you can't go back into the dungeon until the following day this is a double-edged sword because you can use the extra time to prepare by getting new equipment and ranking up your social links but this will drain valuable time that you need in order to finish the dungeon before the deadline there's much more urgency now in general because if you fail to rescue the victims from the midnight channel that'll be an instant game over it's important to note that you can finish every dungeon in the game on the first day that they're available if you play your cards right it's all about how you balance your skills such as only using magic when you know you can knock down an enemy and relying on items for healing for me personally this is where physical skills got some use because instead of spending sp to use them physical skills cost hp these skills aren't new to persona 4 but i found them a lot more useful here not many enemies are weak to physical attacks but they do pack one hell of a punch especially when you charge them up in case you do end up relying on magic you aren't out of luck there are of course some items that can be used to restore your sp but eventually this fox will join the investigation team after you start a social link with it this fox specializes in sp restoration it costs a pretty penny but it's worth it for the full sp restore the more you rank up the fox's social link the cheaper the healing will be i may as well mention this now social links with your party members now serve more gameplay purposes in persona 3 every social link was just to increase the amount of xp you earned during a fusion but persona 4 added some new features that make doing the party members social links right away more attractive when you rank up a social link with a party member they will learn combat abilities and certain skills these abilities are super useful such as whenever you get a one more there's a chance that a party member will ask to do a follow-up attack these follow-up attacks differ between party members chie can instantly ko a random enemy and yosuke will get a guaranteed critical hit to instantly knock down an enemy if a party member is inflicted with a status ailment or is dizzy your teammate can pick up the slack and instantly cure whoever's inflicted this is a great gameplay element but it also thematically fits the bonds you share with your teammates are important so becoming close to them in the real world will allow them to become better teammates in combat it's a great example of the way modern persona games intertwines its social elements with gameplay this system isn't perfect however because this can lead to some issues with difficulty balance i would say the hardest parts of persona 4 is the first couple of dungeons because once the character rise kyuchikawa joins the team her social link will become your number one priority while her social links story is enjoyable and i'll go into more detail about that later what you're really after are her social link abilities because holy [ __ ] the skills that risay learns from her social link are insane when her social link is maxed out rysei is the ultimate support party member she can shield the entire party from an attack that would kill revive the protagonist if he dies which this alone is crazy rysette has a chance of buffing the strength of an all-out attack at random however risa's most deadly form of support is being able to periodically enter the battle and perform an action these actions adapt to your playstyle and can range from being some hp being restored maybe she'll give the group some sp if they're in a pinch but sometimes she will oh i don't know give the entire party a free mind charge and power charge in case you don't know what these skills do i'll give you a quick reminder mind to charge will more than double the damage you deal for one magic attack and power charge is the same except for physical attacks only three party members not counting narakami will learn mine charge or power charge chie and kanji will learn power charge and naoto will learn mind charge so it's a pretty powerful ability and makes the game much easier persona 4 is a much easier game than persona 3 which can either be a good thing or a bad thing in my opinion persona 4 is a hell of a lot easier but it's actually more fun to play for me games don't need to be brutally hard for me to enjoy them and i think that for the most part persona 4 offers a pretty decent challenge even with the resale abilities obviously it's going to be much harder on your first playthrough and even on repeated ones the game isn't mindless persona 4 takes a lot of the battle concepts for persona 3 and streamlines them to make the overall pacing of the battles faster easier to understand and most importantly having the most control over your strategy persona 4 bucks persona 3's tactics menu and gives you the option for direct party member control some of the tactics are brought over from persona 3 if you want to use them but the game encourages party member control this small change makes the battles a lot more enjoyable because now you can adjust your strategies on the fly and get more creative with the moves you want to use no more rng when it comes to what healing skill you want to use because of some fickle ai if i want to use the medea's skill to heal my party then that's up to me not some vague heal and support tactic a lot of persona 3's blood still exists in this game the fusion system of persona 3 was basically unchanged other than some quality life improvements combining personas still functions off the same rules of persona 3. so if you understand the mechanics that were in play there then those skills will transfer over to this one new to persona 4 golden's release you can now manually choose what skills you want to inherit so making your ideal persona just got a lot easier there's also this brand new fusion search function where it just takes the personas that are currently in your party and tells you what you can make with them some personas have been assigned new arcana arcana is essentially the class of the persona a persona of the strength arcana will specialize in physical attacks and persona of the magician arcana will be good with magic arcana doesn't really matter much in terms of combat but when it comes to the social elements that's when it's important but you know your boy had to make some of his favorite personas because he has no life but i also have to give a shout out to what is probably the most overpowered persona in the franchise there's a persona of the tower arcana called yoshitsune yoshitsune focuses on using physical attacks as well as a lightning magic he's level 75 so you'll have to be near the end of the game in order to fuse him why do i bring this guy up well it's because of his unique physical ability called hasso tobe that he learns at level 83. hasatobi is the best physical move in the game it deals light damage to all enemies eight times which doesn't sound like a lot but when this baby is power charged prepare to see your enemies turn into dust [Music] i've been giving persona force combat a lot of praise because i think the improvements it introduces are very substantial and add a lot to the game but there is an area where i feel as though there weren't any improvements made that being the dungeons in general don't get me wrong the aesthetics of every dungeon is very unique and actually serves a purpose in giving us an insight to the personal struggle of the person who made it the first dungeon is a castle because in this girl's mind she feels as though she's a princess waiting for her knight in shining armor to take her away from her current life in the real world there's a dungeon that looks like a secret government base because it reflects the state of mind of the character it represents sadly the dungeons designs doesn't live up to the expectations set by their visuals much like persona 3 the dungeon layout is randomly generated for each floor the dungeons of persona 4 are much shorter ranging from 8 to 11 floors the size of each floor has been drastically increased however so you'll be spending a lot more time exploring every inch here than you would in persona 3's tartarus some floors in the dungeons actually have a fixed layout because they feature mini bosses and gimmicks though i'm being very generous when it comes to using the term gimmicks it's mostly just an extra step you have to take in order to clear out the floor such as making sure you collect a key in an earlier floor of the dungeon before reaching the end it's very light and doesn't change a whole lot but i guess it's there sadly the level designed for each floor is once again pretty bland and because of the new camera angle feels more cramped i'm not sure if this is because of budgetary reasons or because persona 4 is definitely built off persona 3's engine but we're once again back to having pre-made chunks of level being remixed for every floor while the aesthetic of the dungeon changes drastically the level design all ends up very similar there's a lot of hallways and doors that go into side paths it's functional but in terms of gameplay it all ends up feeling the same so the exploration isn't wanting any rewards anytime soon the only time i think that this blocky design fits with any of the aesthetics is with the fourth dungeon because it's based off of a retro video game so it's intentionally trying to be very grid-like in order to match the way atlas designed their old games persona 4 while taking a lot of its core ideas from persona 3 changes a few things in the way it structures in content to make it a different experience persona 4 still has the characters live a double life of exploring the mysterious tv world while at the same time keeping up with their studies and relationships however there's one alteration that completely makes the player rethink their schedule tartars from persona 3 could only be explored at night making it so you can at the very least work on one social link per day there was also a mechanic where the character's condition will change to different states but there wasn't a lot to worry about since starters could be explored at your own pace persona 4 removes the tired mechanic making it so you can explore the tv world whenever you want which makes it sounds like it would be a lot easier to manage however you can only explore the tv world during the daytime and when you return you're unable to do any other actions for the rest of the night this change means they have to make a choice every day to either progress on the dungeon or use the day to work on your social links the social system has been expanded so instead of having three social stats there's now a total of five there's courage knowledge understanding expression and diligence much like persona 3 your social stats are important for starting social links as well as performing well on the school tests unlike persona 3 however there's much more emphasis on this system certain dialogue options can only be picked if you meet the required social stat such as having enough diligence to stay extra late while tutoring a kid or the most relatable scenario in the world having enough courage to ask a girl for her phone number instead of using some lame excuse much like persona 3 the social aspect is certainly the main draw of persona 4. in case you need a quick reminder social links are essentially the bonds you share with the people around you there are multiple characters in the town of inaba that have social links for you to go through this includes all your party members this time around instead of just the girls these act as many stories that focus on personal problems that the characters are going through as well as developing the world these social links also serve a gameplay purpose too as i mentioned earlier completing social links with your party members will grant you skills that can really help you in battle but there's a second reward too by leveling up social links you can earn more experience for the personas you fuse let's say that you're trying to make a persona of the strength arcana the higher the rank your social link is with the character who represents that arcana the more experience you'll earn during the fusion by getting the arcana in that social link to rank 10 you unlock the ability to fuse the ultimate persona of that arcana as well as maxing out the amount of experience you can earn during a fusion just like persona 3 i wanted to max out every social link for this playthrough for the sake of showing off all the content on offer and to take the look to see if any of it's special i ended up using game fact users yan zhu's persona 4 social link guide to make this possible it's a day by day guide that tells you what you should be doing for every social link all test answers and when you should go to the tv world i recommend you use this guide when doing a run like this for the sake of not tearing your hair out there are technically 25 social links in persona 4 golden but if we remove the three plot related ones that brings us down to 22 but i'm actually going to do something a bit different this time around and remove all the social links involving your party members from this list party members social links are actually very integral to their character development in persona 4. so rather than constantly interrupting to give context i'll just combine their social links into when i discuss their characters and their personal struggles with that out of the way this gives us a total of 16 to work with this time this will also be listed in my own personal order rather than through the number of their arcana so just a heads up to avoid confusion number one and two the strength koichi joe and daisuke nagase this social link is started once you decide to either join the basketball club or the soccer club this choice is actually very significant because it completely changes the social link if you decide to join basketball the social link is about a fellow teammate named ko and if you join the soccer team it changes into being about daisuke you can only see one of these social links per playthrough but i'll be talking about both of them for the sake of covering all bases let's talk about co first because i joined the basketball team on my first playthrough when narukami joins the basketball team he ends up befriending his fellow teammate ko as well as a member of the soccer team as well as ko's childhood friend daisuke narakami quickly gets along with his new friends and they spend their time after practice eating ramen at the local restaurant one day however co cancels last minute and rushes off daisuke fills in narakami with the details ko is actually adopted the ichijo family is very traditional as well as strict ko's grandma doesn't approve of him playing basketball because she believes it to be a barbaric sport ko was adopted because his adoptive parents were unable to have a kid so they hoped that ko could carry on the ichijo name as their heir but it wasn't too long after ko was adopted that his mother gave birth to a daughter the responsibility of keeping the family name alive falls onto her because she's blood related cow even agrees with that something inside ko changes after that day however he begins to space out during practice and even ends up ditching a few days narakami eventually finds koh on the school rooftop after practice and spends some time with him kobe reveals that he hasn't been getting the same enjoyment out of basketball as he used to it's not that he dislikes the sport but he just doesn't have the same drive that he once did daisuke decides to set up a small game with another team by blackmailing some of the students once he hears koh's feelings from narakami ko and narakami both end up giving it at their all in this game but they still end up losing in the end the trio heads up to the roof afterwards and ko reveals his true feelings to his friends ko feels as though he has no more use for the ichijo family which is why they're suddenly okay with him making his own decisions he was adopted because he was supposed to be the heir to the family but since there is someone who's blood related taking that duty coe thinks that he's been replaced and that his family doesn't need him anymore co ends up going to his orphanage and receives a letter written by the person who dropped him off there as a child it turns out that ko's blood parents passed away of an unknown illness and his name actually symbolizes healthy his parents didn't wish for fame or fortune for their son but they wished he would have a healthy body so he wouldn't suffer the same fate as they did later on something about this letter rubs ko the wrong way as the signature was quickly smudged off and the paper was in great condition he theorizes that this letter was actually written by his orphanage because they knew that he was depressed they told a white lie in order to hopefully keep him happy ko realizes that there are people that genuinely care about his happiness and that the bonds he shares with everyone in his life including daisuke and narakami are what he should be living for he acknowledges that his relationships with others are what makes ko who he is today ko even confronts his adoptive parents and asked if they actually cared about him or just thought of him as a substitute much to his shock his mother begins to break down crying and calls him stupid for even thinking that they didn't love him the reason as to why they let up on his interest is because they wanted him to pursue what would make him happy ko decides that he wants to study overseas after he graduates so that one day he can help out his family in return for their kindness kohen's narukami the letter written by the orphanage as a symbol as long as narakami holds onto that letter he'll know that he'll always have someone koh's story is one about the fear of neglect he's afraid that his adoptive family will stop caring about him because a new child entered their life i think it does a great job at showing us how coast certainly feels about his situation but we sadly only get to see glimpses of his relationship with his family even though it's a core part of the story and these glimpses are only told to us rather than shown we learn a lot about ko which is super important it's his story after all but there's a lot of stuff that's implied off camera i think it would have been great to see firsthand what it's like for ko to be at the ichijo home but this could be a limitation due to budget sadly i think what matters though co's story does teach a valuable lesson that being that you're never truly alone your relationships are what define you not the name that you're given if you decide to join the soccer club the story will instead focus on daisuke when narakami first joins the soccer team most of the team members give him zero respect much to his new friend's dismay daisuke hatches a plan to train narakami himself because he's actually fantastic at soccer narakami manages to prove himself to the rest of the soccer team after dice k's coaching and ends up being accepted and treated as an equal not too long after this daisuke begins to slack off during practice for some reason he doesn't seem to be giving it as all anymore not only that but even though he seems to be popular with the girls in school he constantly blows them off and gives him the cold shoulder ko and narakami have a discussion about this at the local restaurant koh says that daisuke used to talk about girls in the way every other guy does but now it seems as though he can't stand them ko believes that this attitude is surfaced because of dice gate's previous breakup in middle school apparently daisuke was dumped because he refused to become intimate with her even going as far as refusing to hold hands koh hatches up a plan to go on a group blind date with narakami and their friend in an attempt to get daisuke over his fear of commitment this plan doesn't go too well as co confronts dice gay about his problems and the two begin to argue narukami steps in and calms down the two ko tells daisuki that he knows how he's feeling he knows that daisuke is afraid of being rejected again and that any effort he puts forward will result in failure not just in relationships but even in his hobbies like soccer the trio heads towards the riverbank and daisuke admits that ko is right daisuke really did like the girl that he dated back in middle school and in fact he still has feelings for her he was just afraid of expressing them to her because he was scared of rejection co tells daisuke that nothing will be settled unless he talks to his ex-girlfriend one more time daisuke takes ko's advice to heart and talks to his ex after practice the next day we don't get to see the entire conversation between the two but it looks like they managed to patch things up daisuke's x cuts the conversation short however as she made plans with her new boyfriend who just so happens to be on dice gates soccer team as well yikes even though daisuke was rejected he takes this in stride because he's still happy that he solved their issues even though he did want to get back together with her with the help of narakami and co daisuke learns that you should always put your best effort forward into things you care about and that failure is just a natural part of life sometimes you'll find success and other times it can end badly but that should never demotivate you i think dice gate social link has a lot of interesting ideas and i think the premise is actually super relatable for a lot of people hell i'm an adult and i still have these feelings that daisuke has sometimes the stuff actually involving daisuke's fear is very interesting but sadly most of the social link is dedicated to narukami's training with daisuke to become a better soccer player it wasn't until you reach ranked 6 out of 10 when the real plot kicks off that's far too late in my opinion there are a couple of points where we do get to see first-hand hand daisuke's fear of women and failure but it's only brief between the two characters i drastically prefer code's story because we get to know more about him firsthand rather than just being fed information sure that one also suffers a bit from telling us a story rather than showing it but there's still a concrete goal from the start of the social link that's developed through its run time i think daisuke's problem is much more relatable than kos but i think that code did a much better job at executing a story where we care about the character more dicekay is very shut off from his problem which was the intention no doubt but it doesn't make for a very compelling plotline daisuke's story on its own is fine but there wasn't enough time given to dicek's thoughts and feelings to make this one as memorable and as impactful as ko's that's not to say it's bad but there's a lot of missed potential something that both social links really do well however is showing us the bond that co and dice gays share i find their friendship very believable and organic which really adds a lot to both variations of this social link because we see that these characters genuinely care about each other number three the moon i ebihara this social link can only be started after you reach a certain rank in the strength social link ai ebihar will become the team manager of narakami's team but she makes it clear that she's only doing it because she skipped too many days at school let's just assume that she's managing the basketball team to make it easier if your courage is high enough you can actually skip class with her which starts ai's social link i seems like a very stuck-up person at first she's very materialistic and cares a lot about her appearance she even coldly rejects a guy for talking to her because she doesn't think he's attractive enough one day after school narakami is talking to ko ichijo and the other members of the basketball team the nameless members begin to say some very insensitive stuff involving ai such as that she's a loose girl and probably has a sugar daddy narakami and ko both scold the other members for making up things behind her back and the others leave i comes in after that overhearing the conversation she thanks narakami for standing up to her while they're on the rooftop and she reveals that she may actually be in love since those events it turns out that she has a crush on co and she begs narakami to find out what kind of girl ko is interested in it turns out that ko actually has a crush on chie when narakami encounters him in the hallway i is devastated by this news and is tempted to commit suicide by jumping off the school rooftop narakami manages to calm her down and i tells her about her painful past it turns out that i was bullied back in middle school because she was overweight and considered gross by the other students they picked on her and called her names because of her appearance even when she confessed to her crush at the time he called her gross and said that he didn't want to contract any of her germs eye's dad came across a fortune one day so he and his family moved to inaba and i used this as a fresh start for her she began to diet and study fashion magazines religiously causing her to completely lock away her old self so she can be as likable as possible by the end of the social link i comes to terms with her true feelings and admit that she only skips school and more fashionable accessories for the purpose of getting attention from others this didn't give her the happiness she wanted but with the help of narakami she was able to face that part of herself she drops the facade of being this desirable girl and lets the true eye hebihara back into her life i enjoy eyes social link it shows how destructive insecurities actually are and that what i didn't know she wanted was actually right in front of her the entire time the companionship she wanted came from just being herself and not because she worked hard to look as attractive as possible it's a simple story it's not the looks that matter it's what's really inside that counts it's hard to write a character that's very unlikable by intention and when people over into caring about them and sometimes they think that they try a little too hard to make her a [ __ ] but it's clear that her attitude comes from past trauma from bullying rather than some sort of superiority complex number four the hanged man naoki konishi if that name sounds familiar that's because naoki is actually related to one of the original murder victims saki konishi after the death of his older sister naoki was actually socially outcast but not in the way that you may think naoki hates the pity that is received and the special treatment that has been given to him the only person he opens up to is narakami because he's the only one who talks to him honestly naoki's social link focuses on him learning how to grieve from his sister's death we learned some things about the relationship the two had such as how saki ate naoki's cream puffs from the fridge and used the excuse that they were going to expire as a cover up so when naoki's cream puffs were still in the fridge long after their expiration date that's when he realized that his sister was truly gone eventually naoki and narakami go to the spot where saki's body was founded by the police and naoki reveals he's purposely been avoiding this area he thought of himself as cold and disconnected because he didn't cry like the people did on tv thanks to narakami naoki is able to release his pent-up feelings and is finally able to mourn the loss of his sister a bit later naoki takes narakami to the riverbank and thanks him for everything he reveals to narakami that he wants to help out the family business so that they can become a competitor to the superstore i really like naoki's story i only really covered the general beats but there's a lot of time dedicated to how naoki sees the world he has a very grim outlook on life because of the horrible events that took place not too long ago but he tries to work through with the help of narakami naoki even goes to jeunesse and talks to yosuke and the two are able to relate on some level we get to see how naoki reacts to pity when a housewife scolds him for being unsafe and worries that he'll end up like his sister now he keeps to himself and only gives short responses and is unable to yell because it could damage the family business but he's grateful that narakami tells the lady off for him this works as a great reminder to what the damage the killer is causing if the investigation team is unable to catch him number five and six the sun yumi ozawa and ayane matsunaga just like the strength social link this one changes depending on what club you pick you have the choice between the music club as well as the drama club these two characters are completely separate unlike cohen daisuke who made frequent cameos in their social links if you decide to join the drama club you'll start social link with yumi ozawa yumi is an ace at the drama club she takes charge and really gets into her role she goes above and beyond and helps narakami practice even after the rest of the club leaves yumi does take her roles very seriously however since once she's chosen to be the lead female actress for a play she almost completely disregards her friends and family just to stay focused on her training one day yumi is informed that her mother is collapsed and is in the hospital she rushes off and narukami falls closely behind it turns out that yumi's mother lied to her daughter in order to get her to the hospital because yumi's father is actually the one who's in trouble yumi's father divorced his wife so they could be with another woman and yumi resents him for it she wouldn't have gone to the hospital if she knew the truth to begin with so the white lie was necessary at first yumi is upset at narakami for eavesdropping on it but ends up appreciating the company yumi begins to stop going to the drama practice and eventually decides that it might be the best if she quits the drama club and get a job to support her mother yumi's mom began to overwork herself so she could support yumi and her dying ex-husband she ended up collapsing and stayed in the hospital from exhaustion numi's father desperately tries to reconnect with her daughter during her visits and yumi becomes conflicted she hates her father for abandoning her mother but she's thankful for her own birth she doesn't have the chance to thank him in person because during one of the hospital visits yumi's father passes away but not before he apologizes to his daughter about not being there for her even though yumi doesn't forgive her father she still sobs because of his death during the next drama practice yumi is zoned out she doesn't even notice the practice is over until narakami points it out yumi then realizes why she devoted so much time to acting she used it as a coping mechanism to hide her sorrow away it was a chance for her to pretend that her life was different and this was her way of escaping after realizing this yumi decides that she'll be quitting the drama club so that she can use her free time to support her mother she thanks narakami for listening to and supporting her yumi throughout the social link is shown to be very conflicted about her feelings towards her father even though she says she hates him i think part of yumi at least still cared about him i like the story but narakami is less of an active force in the story and more so of an observer what i mean is there aren't many choices that are made by narakami that changes the perspective of yumi like the other social links do he's more so just a shoulder to cry on which could be a nice change of pace for some people because sometimes all you need is someone to just be by your side during rough times there isn't much of a discernible lesson this time around either it's revealed near the end that yumi used acting as an escape but there aren't any examples of this happening during the social link in daisuke's social link we get some first-hand experience how his fear of failure affects him yumi doesn't have any moments like this that really show how engrossed in acting she gets we do see a scene where she really gets into her role but because it's unclear whether she's using this as a coping mechanism or not i just assumed that was because she was a talented actor joining the music club means that you'll form a bond with one of the trombone players ayane matsunaga ayana is basically the opposite of yumi yumi is very talented and outgoing while ayani struggles with her instrument of choice so she ends up not being selected for public performances one day the other trombone player ends up injuring his arm so ayani has to fill the roll for him even though the song that was picked has a trombone solo the captain encourages her on and believes that she'll be able to do it ayane with the help of narakami begins to practice and she actually begins to improve a lot from where she started on the day of the public performance the trombone player who injured himself takeru arrives and announces that he made a full recovery and is able to play despite the fact that everyone is okay with ayani taking the role even to cairo himself she decides to back down and give the job back to him ayane beats herself up over this decision her dream was to become an accomplished musician but the moment she had her potential big break she let it go because of her inner self-esteem issues she decided that she'll need to be more selfish but not in a destructive way she learns that she'll need to go for certain opportunities rather than backing down letting other people take them yeah this one was just okay it's a simple story for what is a very common issue that people have something that i notice is how similar the club stories actually are there's ko and yumi whose stories are about family relationships and then there's daisuke and ayane whose stories are both about self-esteem problems though daisukeis are from a past experience that affects his life and relationships and ayane's is more so just her growing out of her bubble ayani's self-esteem isn't something that really comes up in the social link until near the end as in the moment she steps down from the roll it's not established beforehand so it just sort of comes out of nowhere unless you count her wanting to play the flute instead of the trombone so she can blend in as a good way of showing her struggle which i personally don't because of how minor it is i think what would have improved the social link would have been having more emphasis on her self-esteem from the get-go it's honestly the same problem i have with daisukes and much like that one i prefer their counterpart social links maybe i'm just a bigger fan of seeing stories that involve family issues speaking of which number 7 the temperance eerie minami something new to the franchise starting with persona 4 is the introduction of part-time jobs narakami can take these jobs require a certain social stat to be at a certain level in order to take it's a decent way of earning money while at the same time working on social links narakami takes up the part-time job of working at a daycare and meets a child named yuta as well as his mother eerie on the way home from work one day narakami comes across eerie and begins to talk to her eerie hints had a strained relationship between her and utah because the two aren't actually related by blood she's yudah's stepmother iri's husband is working abroad so it's just her and her stepson irie's husband actually already had yuta as a son and she didn't know until the day the two got married at first she didn't mind the idea because that would mean she'd be a stay-at-home mother but she doesn't seem to be making the effort to connect with her new son rather than trying to talk to her son she subscribes to these spiritual theories of destiny being set in stone so she thinks that any efforts to close the distance between the two would be pointless we even see this from muta's perspective as he himself doesn't try to communicate with erie even if it's something as simple as asking to use the tv this lack of communication causes the two become even more distant than before narakami notices that yuta has an interest in a fictional tv series called featherman r and suggests to eerie that she buys them a toy based off that show this actually does a bit in improving their connection as yuta asks narakami what he should do in return for her kindness these happy times are cut short however as yuta's teacher berates eerie because youth is a poor student who's prone to violence which is something eerie buys into as eerie begins to cry to herself yuta mistakes this as narakami bullying her and the kid [ __ ] decks him in the stomach strangely enough this actually brought irie and her stepson closer as you to refer to her as his mom for the first time yuta finally accepts eerie as his mother and she admits to narakami that all the labels people gave yuta were not true and he's actually a really sweet kid eerie realizes that she fell into believing what other people said about youtube because she was afraid of facing her son due to the insecurity of not being his biological mother at the end of the social link ibra reveals that yuta is being pulled from the daycare of his own volition so that he and his mom can spend time together and become closer this is a really cool concept for a story but it's a shame that eerie's character kinda brings it down for me in personal stories like this the character's likability and their actions are very important to make them have the most emotional impact iri goes on and on about how she's tried to connect with yuta but when we get to see it in action it doesn't seem like she puts her best effort in i get that this is a result of her inner struggle but it doesn't really leave a good taste in my mouth i understand that this is more of a me problem rather than one to do with bad writing but i honestly believe that yuta puts way more effort into connecting with a stepmom if i'm being honest eerie comes off as a what was me type of character because of her belief in people's inability to change their own fate so a lot of my complaints really come from a personal preference the actual pacing of the social link is pretty good there's a clear goal that's being worked words on and the events lead off of each other naturally it's a case of the character the story follows itself being the issue and if you're having a character-based story it's a pretty noticeable problem this is one of the lowest social links in my eyes number eight the tower shoe nakajima she was a very bright student that hires narakami to tutor him since cram school wasn't doing a good job shu is very adamant at always trying to get the top score on every test in school and his mom is very proud of her son for that shu slowly opens up to narakami the more he tutors him apparently a new student transferred into xu's class was very boastful but because he can't beat shu's test scores the other students begin to bully the new student shu is very awkward about telling the story and seems very nervous for some reason as time goes on shu becomes nervous about an upcoming test he tells narakami that his mom is very boastful about her son's grades and constantly coddles them because of it shu tries to act confident and says that he'll get the top score in the class again but it's pretty easy to tell that he's worried the next time narakami goes to shu's house the kid tries to tell him something but can't seem to get the words out shu's mom suddenly bursts into the room and tries to confirm what she just heard on the phone was true shu begs narkami to leave so we can talk to his mother alone the next time narakami goes to shu's house he notices that he looks very down in the dumps about something narakami looks at the calendar on shu's wall and notices that it's his birthday shu admits that he forgot about his own birthday and reveals that his mom most likely did too because she isn't even home narakami quickly calls his friends up and sets up a birthday party for shu and you know what that's pretty cool when everything settles down and it's just the two boys again shu tells narakami what happened apparently xu cheated on the test that he was talking about earlier because he was worried he wasn't going to get the best score in the class shu wasn't telling the truth when he was talking about that transfer student it turns out the new student came from a school that was way above shoes in terms of grades so the new kid ended up eating chewing the only thing he's good at shu out of desperation cheated on the exams so that people would stop making fun of him and because he was worried that his mom wouldn't love him if he wasn't number one when shu's mom found out that he cheated she said some really nasty things to him such as how she thought that she wasn't even her son anymore narukami stays with shoe to comfort him during this emotional episode shu's suspension wasn't very long and it turns out that his mother actually didn't forget about his birthday because she went out to get cake to celebrate she apologizes to him about the horrible things she said and that she didn't mean any of it she wants to start over her relationship with her son so that they can have a brighter future shu realizes that his mother will love him no matter what and that obsessing about his grades is doing more harm than good shu gives narakami the test scores that he got back from the mock exam so that when the years go by shu can look back and realize how dumb he was for thinking that his test scores are the only reason his mom loved him i like the social link a lot there's a lot of subtleties in this social link in comparison to the rest she was very shy and isn't good at making friends so a majority of his social link is dedicated to building up a relationship between him and narakami it's only after shu begins to trust his tutor is when he slowly opens up about his insecurities shu is desperate to keep his spot as the best student when the new student begins to surpass his test scores he damages his future because he was afraid of not being loved by his mother anymore because his grades were a point of pride for her this mark on his permanent record was a blessing in disguise because if shu only stuck to his studies got into a good college and got a good job he'd feel empty on the inside because his lack of real relationships it's only thanks to nara kami's companionship that she was able to get a new perspective on life it's okay to goof off sometimes and not only focus on your studies that doesn't mean you should neglect them otherwise you'll end up making persona videos on youtube instead of having an actual career number nine the devil sayoko uehara narkami can take up the job of being a hospital janitor at night after working there he befriends a very flirty nurse named sayoko sayoko has some deep issues she used to work at a hospital in the big city but was forced to transfer down to inaba because of an incident involving another doctor who she used to have a relationship with one of sayoko's patients at the old hospital was a young child who dreamed of going to school and marrying sayoko when he grew up but passes away not too long after the social link begins sayoko genuinely cared about the boy so something sparked inside of her and she became a workaholic after those events saoku became a lot nastier to the nurses around her and demands everyone to work much harder she ends up pushing herself to the point of collapsing from exhaustion with the help of narakami sayoko is able to admit to herself that she lost sight of her goal saiko tried to drown out her pain and only focus on the work because deep down she had abandonment issues she grew to hate hospitals because after her job was done she'd be alone again sayoko is able to remember the reason as to why she became a nurse in the first place and that being to save lives her selfishness clouded her vision with the help of narakami she's able to get back on the right track at the end of the social link she decides to transfer to another hospital so that she can walk down the path she originally gave up on in the epilogue narakami learns that sayoko has joined a volunteer medical group so that she can help poorer countries and is currently stationed in africa this one was just okay it feels directionless at the start but once sayoko begins to open up to naragami the story becomes more interesting the main plot is about losing sight of your current goal and learning how to get back on that path which is something i can relate to on a personal level this is another case where the social link leans a lot on if you enjoy the character's personality and thankfully i think sayoko does make a memorable first impression number 10 death hisano kuroda hisano socially can be accessed once you worked with the hospital enough times narakami learns that she spends time down by the riverbank on sundays hisano is an elderly woman whose husband recently passed away due to an illness for some reason hisano believes that she's death itself but it isn't clear at first why she thinks that this social link focuses on hasano telling narakami about the relationship the two shared because narakami reminds her of her husband when she was young hisano's husband was an actor that would visit inaba once a year during his tours hisano took interest in him and the two hit it off really well they'd even send letters to each other in order to stay in touch until the following year when he would return to inaba eventually hisano's husband quit his acting job so he can work in inaba as well as take the opportunity to marry hasano hisano reveals that not too long after the two became married her husband began to suffer from alzheimer's as the days went on his memory of hisano and his love for her began to deteriorate his sono thought it was her duty as his wife to look after him through all this it got to the point where every day his hisano's husband would ask who she was even though she constantly reminded him this tormented hisano to the point where she wished for his death because she believed that her husband died the day his memories were forgotten hisano's husband passed away beside who he thought was a complete stranger but in reality he was with his wife until the very end this was the reason as to why hisano thought she became death itself because she wished for him to pass away and go to god through her conversations with narakami she's able to realize that she isn't some personification of death but she needs to live out the rest of her life as hisano because it's what her husband would have wanted she thanks narakami for helping her find new meaning in life and reminds him that he should live his life to the fullest because that's what his loved ones would want i really like the social link it's a very personal story that's portrayed really well hisano does deeply care about her husband and most of the tragedy behind this social link comes from how she deals with her husband's amnesia the fact that even though she was in a lot of pain from seeing the man she loves forget about her but stays by his side because the love they once shared really says a lot about her character there's a point where narakami looks for the old letters that his son or her husband used to right each other because hisano accidentally sold them during her store clearance and when narakami gets them back hisano wants to burn them immediately because she doesn't want to feel the pain of remembering their time together it's some sad [ __ ] but that's what makes it more memorable and personal number 11 the hermit that fox at the shrine this one is kind of weird you remember that fox that i mentioned earlier the one that can regenerate your sp for a fee well that fox actually is a social link on its own but it's different than what you would think it would be this fox doesn't really tell a story but it's more so just an excuse to get you to do side quests once you complete the quest that the fox gives you the social link rank will increase the higher the social link rank the less money it'll cost for you to regenerate sp in the tv world the only amount of story this one has is once narakami completes all the requests for the fox many offerings are made to the shrine for gratitude that money is eventually spent on renovations this unlocks the ability to pray at the shrine to become closer to people faster than usual there's not a lot to say about this one since it's all depending on doing side quests these aren't really that interesting because it really only amounts to just going around and talking to people on certain days it's more so just busy work they have to remember to do in between days the only interesting one in my opinion is having to catch the sea guardian fish because there's an entire fishing mini game surrounding it the fox is certainly my least favorite social link because there isn't a whole lot to think about or examine it honestly feels like a wasted social link slot that could have been filled by one of the alternate sun or strength social links number 12 justice naniko dojima nanaku was narakami's six-year-old cousin that you meet at the start of the game after an event where narakami and his friends take nanako to junes when dojima cancels their children week plans the social link with her starts nanaku spends a lot of time at home alone her mother passed away because of a car accident and dojima has recently become very busy because of the tv world murders as well as another case that i'll get into later because of dojima's absence narakami spends a lot of his free time with his cousin to keep her company since nanaka is a very impressionable kid she believes that her father's absence comes from a place of hatred she believes that dojima doesn't love her and that he cares about his job much more than her narakami tries to tell her that he only stays out all the time because he wants to make sure that she is safe but the message doesn't seem to get through to her nautica tells narakami of a student teacher meeting that will be happening at her school but she thinks that dojima won't be able to make it narakami encourages her that he'll be able to if they ask together since dojima is very caught up in his current case he struggles to find a time that he'll be able to show up to nanako's event she doesn't take this too well and runs away from the house saying that dojima isn't her real father dojima narakami eventually find nanako and dojima requests narakami to talk to her alone since she'll be more willing to listen to him speak right now narakami tells nanako that dojima is worried about her and that he was the one who managed to find her the two share a heart-to-heart where nanako expresses how much she misses her mother and believes that dojima doesn't even remember her because he took down all the photos of them together as a family with the help of narakami nanaku was able to realize that her father does deeply love her dojima even filled out the parent teacher reports saying that he'll be able to show up anytime that they want him there narakami also shows her a photograph that was with the paper it's a picture that was taken with dojima nanako and her mother all went to go pick flowers together that's when nanako finally understands that dojima is also lonely because of the absent of his wife nanaku now knows that she'll also have to be there for her father because he deeply misses his wife this social link is rather unique because it focuses on how a strained relationship between parents and their children can really mess them up nanaku was 6 years old it's important to remember that so she doesn't fully grasp the importance of dojima's job in fact she doesn't know what's keeping her father so busy but because she's so young this neglect from her father has left a huge impact on her narakami being there for nanako to comfort her was the thing that she needed most the most important lesson nanakul learns is that just because her father is absent that doesn't mean he doesn't love her it may sound like i skimmed over some information but that's because this is technically one side of the story this social link was certainly intended to be completed alongside the next one because the two intertwined number 13 the hierophant ryotaro dojima ryotaro dojima is narukami's uncle who works as a detective his social link revolves around an unhealthy obsession he has with an old case and how it's affecting his relationship with nanako the more time narakami spends with dojima the more we see that he's been neglecting his daughter not out of malice but because of his inner pain nanaku reminds dojima of his wife who tragically died in a hit and run a few years prior since the person responsible was never identified due to a lack of witnesses dojima has taken up the responsibility to bring this person to justice in his own time though this comes with the consequence of not being able to spend a lot of time with his daughter dojima eventually turns up empty-handed and with the help of narakami he realizes something important dojima was afraid of confronting nanako because he was stuck in the past and was unable to accept the death of his wife seeing how his daughter has changed made dojima afraid of being left behind again in fact he was scared of even taking narakami in because he didn't want to become a family again dojima is afraid of losing what he has dojima gives up on chasing loose ends and vows to spend more time with his daughter dojima gives narakami the coffee mug that his wife used to symbolize that narakami is now part of the dojima family nanaku and ryotaro's social links complement each other really well we learned what exactly was keeping dojima away from spending time with his daughter as well as his own insecurities all the while how we see dojima's absence has been affecting his daughter between the two i prefer to see dojima's perspective because it's a pretty tragic story of a man whose obsessions have been ruining his relationship with his daughter and the fact that we have an entire social link dedicated to the perspective of nanaku really enhances the story of dojimas it's pretty much integral to play through both of them because that's how you get to see the full picture and correct me if i'm wrong but this is the only social link in the series that does this sort of thing to an extent excluding the party members dojima certainly has my favorite social link in the game number 14 the jester toru hidachi i briefly mentioned him earlier but toro adachi is dojima's partner at the police station this is actually a brand new social link that was added in persona 4 golden adachi is a bit of a slacker and doesn't know when to shut up which is actually used to the benefit of the investigation team since he accidentally reveals information to the group involving the case throughout adachi's social link we learn about his personal life adachi lives by himself and apparently can't even cook as a result his diet has become very poor so narukami invites him over to dojima's place so he'd cook dinner for him adachi is surprised by this offer and is somewhat reluctant but he ends up coming over the following night anyways adachi is a pretty nice guy on the outside but we get hints that he has some personal problems he doesn't think highly of is a shut-in adachi lacks social skills and takes people's kind offers for granted but the more time he spends with narakami the more we see that adachi really does care for narakami and his spots dojima adachi even worries about narakami when a tragedy happens later in the game i'd like adagi's social like mostly for his character it's different than the other ones because there isn't some sort of lesson to be learned or some inner struggle that's worked on it's more so just a look at adachi's world views number 15 the empress margaret persona 3 featured a set of quests from elizabeth where you had to fuse a persona with a specific skill to get a reward persona 4 brings us back and acts as margaret's social link the intent is to give an idea of what exactly you can do with the fusion system the personas you have to make are relatively good especially the trumpeter with mind charge but this is another case of the social link being focused on gameplay rather than story but since you're already fusing a lot of personas throughout the game already a tutorial is sort of unnecessary i can't fault the game for wanting to have some sort of fusion challenge but this is all information that can be found online with a quick google search it's what i and most likely many others ended up doing there's something interesting you can do after you max out margaret's social link however on a new game plus save file if you talk to margaret during the last day of the game and are on the true ending she'll have a conversation with narakami she reveals that her sister elizabeth left the velvet room of her own volition which greatly surprised her she think that it's because elizabeth found her own meaning in life thanks to the persona 3 protagonist margaret wishes to find out the meaning in her own life and invites narakami to battle her in the heaven dungeon since i was already doing a new game plus run for the sake of seeing all the social links i decided to take her up on the offer since there's nothing to lose margaret is certainly the hardest opponent in the game and you need to be prepared to fight her margaret's main gimmick is that she switches personas every turn and each one has their own strengths and can drain certain elements something to watch out for is the invisible timer that this fight has after marker does 25 turns she'll attack you with a special version of megadollon that'll deal 99999 damage and cannot be blocked or dodged that's where the real challenge of this fight comes from because margaret is a tank that can deal out damage and has a crazy amount of hp to boot functionally it isn't much different than the elizabeth fight from persona 3 but there's a drastic change that makes the fight a lot less stressful and much more fun in my opinion instead of this being a solely one-on-one battle you're actually able to fight alongside your party members is this easier than elizabeth yes is it a lot more fun i think so will i ever stream my fight against elizabeth eventually because i never did it in a video most likely margaret has a few nasty tricks up her sleeve you should have seen the look on my face when she busted out her own yoshitsune and did her own hasatobe also when you're around halfway through the fight she'll just say [ __ ] it and use diarrahan and fully heal herself but i stuck with it and i managed to beat her with some skill and a lot of luck just watch [Music] when margaret is defeated she understands why elizabeth decided to leave and tells narakami a story elizabeth left the velvet room because someone close to her sacrificed his life in order to become a seal his soul acts as a barrier that is protecting mankind from the ultimate destruction and she plans on gathering the people closest to him in order to save this boy from his fate narakami managed to show margaret the limitless potential of mankind and has opened her eyes to it much like her sister before her it's pretty obvious what this is referencing number 16 they aion marie marie is a brand new character that was advertised with persona 4 golden she's a mysterious girl who's suffering from amnesia and takes resident in the velvet room offering her assistance with skill cards skill cards are as simple as they sound they're expendable items that can be used to teach any persona you have the skill listed giving them to marie makes it so you can purchase as many copies of the skill card you want marie's social link focuses on her journey of regaining her memories as well as experiencing the world outside the velvet room throughout the social link she'll become acquainted with everyone from the investigation team and begin to learn what it's like to live in this world it's about halfway through when the social link really begins to focus on the mystery of marie's past see she has this cob in her bag that she doesn't know the origin of or why she even has the thing the inscriptions on it apparently means separation which triggers something inside of marie but she quickly forgets about it before she can recall the memory marie becomes frustrated at the fact that she has these flashes of memories but quickly forgets about them but narakami helps her realize that her old memories don't matter and that she can create new ones for her to treasure marie gives narakami the comb as a symbol that should be moving forward from her mysterious past so that she can focus on the future on paper this isn't a bad story but if i'm going to pull back the curtain a bit this social link is only one part of a much grander story involving marie marie is super important to the extra content that was added in golden and much like my complaints with rin from catherine fullbody i think the inclusion was very sloppy but unlike rin i think that marie's character is also a huge issue in a personal story like this the likability of the character is very important it's one of the reasons as to why i couldn't connect with yukari's story from persona 3. i found her personality to be very off-putting but i also wasn't a big fan of her social link in general marie and persona 4 golden suffers from the same problem but even more so in my opinion though she's also a lot more one note she's a cool and distant person unless you accidentally read her poetry then she becomes flustered when you see her soft side all of the investigation team consider her a close friend and the girls treat her as competition for narakami's affection maria is also super important to the origin of the midnight channel and is also a key to find out who caused the entire case to begin with atlas tried really hard to make marie important to the overall story of persona 4 but it doesn't work out because that story was written without marie in mind i'll save more of this for later because there's a lot of context from the main plot that's needed to explain why it just doesn't work since i'm on the topic i may as well talk about something a bit more controversial that being the extra scenes that persona 4 golden adds to the game the original persona 4 had a very specific mood to it by intention you live in a small town with not much to do other than to hang out with some friends or work a part-time job to pass the time every once in a while there will be an event to add some extra spice to the world such as having a school camping trip or spending the night at the amagi inn persona 4 golden added a couple more of these scenes and i'm honestly very mixed while yes this gives us more time to explore how the characters would react in certain scenarios and are for just plain old fun but there are some scenes added here that really conflict with the tone of the original game there's a scene where narakami and his friends go to the beast during summer that's totally fine and expands on an earlier scene where the characters all get their scooter licenses but then there's stuff that doesn't really fit too well such as a point where the group forms a small band to play a june s because an idol canceled last second this event goes on for a few days with the characters practicing the song and even doing a live performance with a fancy anime cutscene this feels like a filler episode straight out of an anime or something and there's also a point near the end of the game where the group goes on a ski trip like where the hell even is this place in relation to inaba it kind of shatters the aspect that this place is a [ __ ] with nothing to do when well there's actually a lot to do it feels sort of cliche and that they're leaning too hard into anime tropes with the inclusion of these scenes the modern persona games all have anime tropes in them in some form but they never overshadow the points that the games are trying to make there's the wacky hot spring scenes a group date cafe and the point where the boys try to pick up girls with their scooters these are all to add points of levity in the story but golden takes it too far in my opinion there's a murderer on the loose guys can't we save the band rehearsals for later a common piece of criticism against persona 4 golden and by extension the original game is the fact that tonally speaking the game isn't nearly as dark as the other games before or after it which is something i won't deny just look at persona 4 golden's opening movie and compare it to persona 3's and see the drastic tonal difference between the two games i agree that persona 4 isn't nearly as dark as persona 3 but is that really such a bad thing sure there's a lot more moments of levity but that doesn't mean that the story being told is bad or doesn't take itself seriously it really doesn't matter to me what the tone of the story is as long as it isn't inconsistent or poorly told with that being said i think the social links are a huge step up from persona 3 because almost all of them have their own unique story and are memorable in their own ways the only ones that i think are bad are margaret's and the foxes because they don't really tell a story and just exist for gameplay purposes there's also the case with marie where i don't really think highly of her social link because i'm not a fan of her character and as i said i'll have more to talk about with her later to quickly reiterate i purposely skipped over the social links involving the party members because unlike persona 3 the social links for the group acts as their character development so i think it's fitting to combine that in with the character discussions so let's start off with our first party member yosuke hanamura i'll quickly get everyone back up to speed since it's been a while since i mentioned the plot narakami meets yosuke not too long after he starts school and the two hit it off nicely yosuke is the first person to decide to investigate the tv world because the girl he had a crush on was one of the first victims in the serial murder case in innova and he believes that the tv world has something to do with it kyousuke encounters his shadow not too long after that and he manages to accept his selfish side with the help of narakami it's interesting to note that the character's personas all share design aspects that their shadows have yosuke's persona jariah is wearing a scarf that floats like a cape his shadow also had this during its boss fight this is supposed to symbolize yosuke's inner desire to become a hero which eventually led into his selfish desires yosuke takes a lot of charge in the investigation after that he comes up with a lot of theories and arguably does the most critical thinking out of everyone in the group throughout yosuke's social link we see that he still has feelings for saki even though he knows that she didn't return them this all culminates in yosuke blowing up at his co-workers for constantly badmouthing her yosuke then tells narakami that when saki died he tried his hardest to forget about her he wanted to forget that he was stuck in a small town where he was considered an outcast because of his family's business he tried to bury those emotions deep inside of him because he wanted to be someone special with the help of narakami yosuke is able to realize that even if he never knew it he was special to the people around him yosuke grew to love the town of yunaba rather than resenting it because of the bonds he now shares with his friends gyosuke talks on narakami down by the riverbank and reveals that deep down he didn't trust him at first he was jealous of narakami's innate abilities and how he was the leader of the investigation team so instead of letting these feelings take control of him like before he wants narakami to quite literally beat these feelings out of him thinking that it'll make the two equal narakami accept his friend's request and the two have a man-to-man brawl to get their emotions sorted out right after their fight yosuke is able to see things clearly he vows that he'll live his life as his true self and that he'll hold the time he spent with others dearly with this new resolve yosuke's persona evolves into susano i love yosuke's character sure he can be insensitive at times and he makes mistakes but i can relate with his struggles of thinking that people don't care about him because he isn't quote unquote special something that his arc does really well is showing the bond that he shares with narakami it's really believable that these two are close friends after what they've been through together what makes yosuke a great character to me is the fact that after he faces himself and gains his persona it doesn't erase all negative aspects about him he acts selfless during the investigation and really does care about narakami but he still gets angry he still gets jealous but that doesn't mean he's resentful or hates the people around him it always bothers me whenever i see people discussing his character online and they only refer to him as some perverted comic relief because there's so much more to them than just that role sure they do play up those qualities of yosuke during certain events for the sake of getting a laugh but that isn't what defines him what defines yosuke is his thoughtfulness and his loyalty to his friends and by the end of his character arc yosuke is able to face the future with a smile that's what makes him special chie satonaka's the second party member is also one of the founding members of the investigation team she's a bit of a tomboy and isn't the brightest when it comes to academics chia's greatest strength lies in her loyalty to her friends especially with her best friend yuki kawamaki when it's revealed that yukiko was kidnapped and shoved into the tv world against her will she is very adamant about going inside and saving her even though she doesn't have the power of a persona despite yosuke and narakami's warnings chie rushes ahead when she hears the voice of her missing friend unaware that it's yukiko's shadow shadow yukiko reveals that she's very weak and worthless she also says that chie is always around to save her when she's needed most when she hears yukiko's true feelings something inside of her changes and her shadow appears shadochia expresses that chia is actually very jealous of yukiko she's got good grades is very popular with boys and has a really high social status in comparison to chie but the fact that yukiko admitted that she depends on her best friend and that she's nothing without her sent chie's ego into overdrive deep down shia would always be with yukiko because she loved the feeling of being depended on shiite tries to deny this side of her which causes her shadow to transform chia's shadow sits on top of a throne of students wearing the yasugami high school uniforms while the shadow itself is dressed as a dominatrix this is to represent the way she believes that she controls her friend and that she's yukiko's master the long black hair represents she is envy towards yukiko as the attack that involves her hair is called bottomless envy when her shadow is defeated chie is very reluctant to accept the side of her with the help of the others chie is able to face herself while it's true that she did have those feelings inside of her that doesn't change the fact that her friendship with yukiko was real her shadow then transforms into her persona to moe chie's social link begins with her and narakami training together in order to improve their performance in the tv world along the way we learned how chief yukiko first met yukiko ran away from home when she tried to bring a stray dog inside and her parents said that she wasn't allowed to have pets in the inn chief found her on the side of the road and tried her hardest to cheer her up by making her laugh chie vowed to herself from that day onwards that she would always protect yukiko she also realized that at some point she lost sight of this and began to care more about herself she began to only care about being the girl that yukiko could rely on rather than being her friend it's this self-acceptance that causes chia to begin to move onto the right path chia already had the tendency to selflessly protect others after awakening to her persona but it's after the time she spent with narakami she learns what her power really is for her persona isn't used so that she can become more self-reliant but it's to be used as a shield to protect people she cares about near the end of the game chie decides that she's going to join the police force under dojima's guidance i like chie but her character arc doesn't have as big as an impact as the other party members because a lot of her goals and aspirations came from a place of selflessness there's a point in chief's life where her priorities switched and were fueled by jealousy rather than to be a good person all that she needed was to take a step back and examine herself in order to get back on the right track which i'm sure is something that a lot of people can relate to but i don't really think it's as strong as the other party members where their entire worldview changes that doesn't make this bad by any means but it's certainly weaker in comparison to the other characters or even some of the other social links yukiko amagi's family runs a hot spring and known as the amagi inn yukiko is expected to take over the family business in the future so she's always busy training herself or working at the inn this causes her to decline offers to hang out with her friends and she even needs to skip school from time to time lately she's begun to get a lot of unwanted attention from the media because the first murder victim mayumi amino stood at the umagi inn prior to her death yukiko ends up being thrown into the tv world not too long after she's interviewed on tv and the group discovers this when they saw her on the midnight channel acting almost nothing like her usual self she goes on and on about how she's some princess in a castle and that she's waiting for her prince charming to rescue her when the group manages to find yukiko inside the tv world her shadow believes that she is her prince charming that'll take her away from the castle and into a better life yukiko hates that most of her life has already been decided by others she doesn't want to be forced into becoming the manager of her in and wants to run away but she can't because she feels chained down yukiko's shadows transform when her real-life counterpart denies its existence shadow yukiko takes the form of a bird inside of a cage this isn't too hard to discern that this is supposed to represent that she feels trapped in life yukiko herself represents the bird as she sees herself as fragile or something that needs to be taken care of when yukiko is able to face herself she admits that she wanted to run away from her own life or to be saved by someone else in yukiko's social link she reveals that she plans on leaving inaba so that she can become independent from the inn because if she were to stay in the town she wouldn't be able to live a normal life because of her status as the imagi in air so with the help of narakami she begins to learn how to live on her own she decides that after graduation she'll want to go into interior decoration as her career but in the meantime yukiko begins to learn how to cook for herself and narakami will taste test but as yukiko begins to interact with narakami more and more she begins to lose her drive to leave inaba yukio begins to feel guilty about wanting to turn her back on the people who've done so much for her in the past she realizes how much she loves the imagi in after she blows up on a shiny reporter who threatened to slander the place when she declined an interview yukiko decides to not leave inaba and that she'll work hard to take over the family in she never objected to the role of becoming the new manager but what she didn't like was the prospect of this being forced onto her that her life was being guided for her rather than living in her own way which is why she thought running away was the only choice she had but thanks to narakami yukiko decides that she wants to stay in either bus so she can protect her families in yukiko's character arc is a relatively simple one she wants to rebel against her family's tradition and do her own things in life but by the end she decides to take over the management by her own accord and not because she's being forced into doing it so the idea is that it's a change in perspective because she realizes that she wants to do this with her life and she has the choice to do something else this revelation is actually foreshadowed in the way her shadow was designed in case you didn't notice the cage that the bird was trapped in was actually opened the entire time this is supposed to represent that yukiko always had the choice of leaving but in reality was actually too scared to do it herself which is why she waited for her prince charming to rescue her it's a small detail but it goes a long way in giving us more insight into her character kanji tatsumi is a tough as nails man who lacks a lot of social skills he is an only child and doesn't have a father because he died when kanji was young from the little we see of kanji before he's thrown inside the tv world he's got an attitude that doesn't take anyone's crap he even beat up an entire biker gang and was featured on television because of it when kanji is kidnapped the shadow that appears on the midnight channel goes against all preconceived notions you might have made about kanji his shadow is cartoonishly flamboyant and goes on and on about how he hates being around girls because they're arrogant and self-centered shadow kanji also reveals that it's because of his interest in feminine things such as sewing that people would ridicule him and assume that he's some creep the way shadow kanji is designed represents the way kanji believes people see him when they find out about his hobbies kanji's insecurities come from this toxic mindset people have where if you have any feminine interests you're obviously some sort of weirdo or aren't considered a real man whatever the hell being a real man is supposed to mean when kanji's shadow is defeated kanji still tries to reject it that is until the shadow cries out for anyone to accept him for who he really is kanji punches it in the face and thinks that he's pathetic for having something like this existing inside of him kanji is able to admit to himself that what he really was scared of was the thought of being rejected so he purposely tried to make everyone hate him so he wouldn't have to go through that pain anymore even though kanji accepts his flaws that doesn't mean that they no longer exist his social link is dedicated to him learning how to grow past those flaws and to no longer be afraid of who he really is there's this boy that becomes involved with the social link early on who lost a stuffed bunny that his friend let him borrow apparently some other kid made fun of the boy for having such a girly looking doll and told him that if he was a real man he'd throw it away so the boy did it but felt guilty afterwards kanji tries his hardest to find the bunny at the riverbank where the kid lost it and when he can't find it kanji comes up with an idea he tells the boy to apologize to his friend and asked what the doll looked like the following day kanji has brand new dolls made for both the boy and the boy's friend when the kid asks where he got it from kanji admits that he made it himself he expected to be made fun of because of his talent but the kid actually thinks kanji is super cool because of it kanji ends up making more dolls because the people that the kid knows requested to have their own which kanji happily obliges to kanji gets flustered again when nanako asks if he could teach her how to make her own dolls he realized that even though he accepted his shadow his heart is still weak one day two police officers begin to question narakami and kanji because they heard of a small child that was being harassed and bullied because of kanji's appearance and past experience with police they immediately question him but narukami tries to tell them that kanji is innocent the small child from earlier comes around and gives kanji some cookies that his mom baked as a thank you to clear up the situation narakami convinces kanji to tell the police the truth it's at this point where kanji owns up to his interest and innate talents to the police officers and tells them what went on during recent events to prove his innocence by the end of the social link kanji tells narakami that after all this time he was able to visit his father's gravestone alone before his dad died he told kanji that if he wanted to be a man he would have to become strong kanji didn't know what he meant by that so he assumed that his father was insulting him for his hobbies it's the reason why kanti decided to bleach his hair and start getting into fights but now kanji knows what his father's words really meant being a man is about how strong you are physically or what your interests are being true to yourself and always giving your all that's what being a man is before kanji would just let people think whatever they wanted about him but now he's going to put the effort into getting people to understand him kanji is no longer afraid of himself and he wouldn't be at that point if narakami wasn't there to be the first person to truly accept him as a person i love kanji his character arc is fantastic and the message it says is still relevant to this very day it's a commentary on how horribly judgmental people can be towards people with interests that are considered weird or out of the norm in kanji's case he tries his hardest to overcompensate his masculinity and fear of people labeling him because of his feminine hobbies all that kanji wants is to be accepted for who he really is without fear being vilified or rejected to this day there's still a lot of discussion surrounding kanji's sexuality and i can't help but feel as though those people miss the point kanji's sexuality doesn't matter and the game makes that clear because by the end of the story it's still left up in the air kanji's interests or orientation isn't what defines him what makes kanchi so memorable is the way he manages to take charge of his own life and is able to proudly showcase his talents and if people don't get it he'll help them understand kuchikawa was an idol at the top of her game but she suddenly decided to quit and move back to her hometown of inaba to live with her grandmother when rusei is kidnapped and thrown inside the tv world the group manages to track her down into a strip club themed dungeon with rhys shadow taking the form of one of the star girls shadow reese is supposed to represent her inner want for attention it's the reason why she's presented in such a provocative way to clarify she wants attention to her true self because restate classifies rosette her idol personality as something completely separate from herself ryusei actually hates rosette deep down she doesn't like the manufactured personality that she's forced to abide by in order to continue selling more products ryse is able to accept herself after the defeat of her shadow and her shadow transforms into the persona himiko rysei's social link focuses on her reconnecting with herself after acting as an idol for so long she even decides to tell her manager right through her face that she doesn't plan on returning to showbiz after the two get closer ryse reveals to narakami the origin of her rosette personality back when reset was young she was very shy and kept to herself she was a very lonely kid this eventually led into the other students bullying her for her lack of social skills risay submitted an audition for an idol competition in hopes that she could change herself for the better she ended up winning and was given an opportunity to appear on tv reese was excited as her newfound popularity gave her an opportunity to meet new people and potentially form relationships but this didn't last long however as risai quickly discovered that her friends weren't interested in her but rather the teen idol rosette which is why it gave rise such great satisfaction to leave it all behind well that's what she thought over the course of time people began to forget about rosette and the talk is about a new up-and-coming idol named konami mishida also known as conomin it isn't too long before rosette is old news even rysae's old manager moved on to managing kahneman as she'll be the one feeling in the role that risa was supposed to have in an upcoming movie but declined that's when risai begins to break down in tears for reasons that she couldn't explain herself she believed that in this moment she lost everything that she had before thankfully narakami was there to comfort her reset realized something important from this experience rosette is an aspect of herself not some fabricated character that she plays so she decides that after narakami has to return home she'll go back into showbiz even though she'll have to once again start at the bottom and work her way up but this time she'll show the world both rosette and ryse kuchikawa as she finally accepts that they are one and the same i'm pretty mixed on risay's story on one hand as someone who makes youtube videos i can relate to the point of having to play a character to an extent not to the degree of what resay did but there is a disconnect between myself and real life and the way i present myself in my videos i think that the way risay's story is told is a bit confusing i believe that the idea they were going for is that risay does accept the rosette idle side of her as well as her shadow at the end of her dungeon but that doesn't necessarily mean that she liked that aspect about herself she tried really hard to ignore her life as an idol but only realized that she actually enjoyed that life after she'd lost everything so the point of her arc is realizing that reset is as much as ryse as her normal self is that's what i got out of it and that could be wrong for all i know that's the major problem i have with this character arc i just don't think it's told in a very clear way and i personally got somewhat confused while trying to fully grasp it the story is certainly carried on whether or not you enjoy risa as a character she certainly has the whole notice me senpai trait but i think that her character does go beyond that trope and is recognizable on its own nauto shiragani is the final party member to join the investigation team but he was an active force throughout the game beforehand naoto is a well-known detective and has been featured in the media often this granted him the nickname the detective prince naoto has been assigned to the serial murder case in edoba and strangely enough wants to solve the case himself without any assistance he actually ends up making a lot of progress on his own he manages to deduce that kanji tatsumi would be one of the kidnapping victims as well as discovers that people who appear on the tv will eventually be shown on the midnight channel after the investigation team captures who they believe is the copper behind the murders naoto still has his suspicions due to the fact that the murderer's latest target's cause of death was able to be identified which is something that wasn't possible for the other two victims naruto believes that the real culprit is still on the loose and the person that was captured was nothing more than a copycat killer he also begins to believe that the investigation team has a leg up over the police because the people who disappeared would often join their group after they were found by the police nauto takes his job very seriously and is willing to put his life on the line to act as some sort of bait for the killer he goes on a tv interview with the purpose of fitting into the pattern of the recent kidnapping victims nautu does end up getting kidnapped and is thrown inside of the tv so the investigation team can go in and save him this was a reckless attempt at trying to identify the killer's methods but nauto was banking on the fact that he'll be saved by narakami and his friends as the group gathers more information in order to locate naoto narakami discovers that despite his professional attitude naoto is a workaholic who the police believes tries way too hard to solve the cases by himself as such they see him as a child who has no idea what he's doing the investigation team manages to find nauto inside the tv world where he was waiting impatiently for them to arrive naoto's shadow critiques now to himself for acting like the people he hates deep down telling his shadow to stop throwing a tantrum and not to act like a kid shadow now to reveals that naoto has some deeper abandonment issues that were hinted at earlier while naoto would work on cases he'd be praised as an ace detective but once the case was solved he wasn't needed anymore he would be discarded without a second thought nauto always wanted to be one of the cool manly detectives from fiction and no matter how hard he tries to imitate his idols he'll never be taken seriously in his workforce because naoto isn't actually a man to begin with despite naoto's talents as a detective she'll always be mistreated in that field because of her gender especially when you remember that this story takes place in japan where sexism and gender stereotypes are still rife naoto works as a detective which is a predominantly male career so because of something she can't control she loses out on a lot of opportunities and doesn't get the treatment that she deserves it's the reason as to why nauento dresses and acts like a man after the investigation team defeats her shadow natsu reveals the group her past her parents were detectives that died in an accident when naoto is young her grandfather ended up taking her in and raising her naoto read a lot of detective novels in her grandfather's study and ended up wanting to follow in the footsteps of her parents she started off by helping her grandfather in secret and eventually gained the title of junior detective which was something that ended up garnering her a lot of criticism because if there were any reasons to look down on her people could just use her age as an excuse while naoto can eventually grow older and become an adult she'll always be criticized for her sex nautu realizes that what she should strive for isn't to grow up or become a man but she should be working towards accepting herself for who she is which is something that she wouldn't have realized if it wasn't for the help of the investigation team now to a social link is about her learning to work with others someone broke into the shurigani household and robbed the place of certain belongings this phantom thief sends now to letters that not only taunt her but provide invaluable clues in order to retrieve her stolen items narakami ends up helping now to a lot when it comes to deciphering what these clues are supposed to mean and the two make a great team the items that the two end up recovering all relate back to naota's childhood stuff like a fake detective badge that she made as a kid or a pen that acts as a multi-tool eventually the two managed to track down who seems to be the phantom thief but he pulls a knife on the two as a threat nauto immediately recognizes it as a fake and the man runs off leaving it behind it turns out that the man the two encountered was actually now to his grandfather's secretary nauto's grandfather noticed lately that naoto lost sight of her original drive of becoming a detective so he set up these challenges for her so that she could hopefully rediscover herself nauto is able to admit to herself that she was pursuing the murder case in idaba not to seek the truth but to prove herself to others she wanted to be known as the fifth in the shurigani line of detectives so that she could be accepted because she found a hope with the investigation team naoto is finally able to accept herself she isn't quite the detective she wants to be yet but she's going to pursue the truth because that's what matters most to her nancy was a really cool character despite the fact that she joins the team close to the end of the game there's still a lot of time spent developing her character before that point on paper her inner struggle is similar to kanji's but is different enough to make her stand out on her own i really like how naoto's social link has her come to terms with her workaholic nature and she's able to take a step back and realize that her obsession with the ian of a case was because of a selfish desire rather than out of passion thanks to narakami and the investigation team she finally has a place where she belongs and won't be discarded after the killer is caught teddy is a very interesting character he's introduced near the start of the game and his character arc goes on throughout most of the game in fact his social link is one of the few automatic ones teddy is this mysterious creature that narakami and yosuke encounter when they go inside the tv world in order to find out what killed saki kanishi teddy begins to admire narakami after he awakens to his persona referring to him as his sensei for almost the entire game after that point teddy ends up taking the role as the group's navigator for some time despite his outwards appearance and his comedic attitude teddy is very insecure about his identity teddy doesn't remember much of his past he can only recall waking up in the tv world without any memories as teddy spends more time with narakam and his friends he begins to feel more lonely after the return to their own world even though teddy is anything but human he still has human characteristics and even develops an insecurity of his own seeing narakami and the others confront their true selves made teddy question what exactly he is teddy wants to know what his true purpose for being born is this all comes to a boiling point when risay confronts her own shadow ryse believes that she has no real self and when teddy hears this he begins to apply this to himself because of teddy's identity crisis a shadow was born from him shadow teddy represents his fear of having no past deep down teddy is afraid that all of his searching will be for nothing teddy's shadow even taunts him for that but with the help of narakami and the others teddy is able to face his fears even though teddy might not find anything he'll still be himself teddy knows that he isn't just a hollow being and with the help of his new friends they'll find the truth teddy awakens to his personas able to fight alongside the front line with the others not too long after this however teddy is able to leave the tv world and go into the real world with everyone else but not only that he somehow grew a human body in between the last time the investigation team saw him this is one of the few things that's never properly explained and is more so written off as a joke according to teddy himself he grew a body so he could score with shi and yukiko alright sure teddy spends a lot of time in the real world and learns how it works he even builds a strong relationship with nanako some progress is made with teddy's quest to find his identity he doesn't remember the specifics but he does recall that the tv world is influenced by the thoughts of the people in the real world teddy believes that he was someone special but can't quite remember how or why the group even takes teddy to the doctor so he could be examined when they get the x-rays back apparently they're too garbled to even read which is strange around november tragedy strikes involving the dojima family and teddy feels guilty about not being able to do anything he feels as though he let nanako down so he quite literally fades away from existence teddy wanders around the endless fog aimlessly after losing his humanity until he hears a car approach him it turns out that teddy stumbled across the velvet room and he has a conversation with narakami where he reveals everything teddy now remembers his past it turns out that teddy has much more in common with shadows than he first thought because well he is a shadow not a shadow as in a representation of an individual's insecurities but more so of one of the random enemies that you battle teddy is a shadow that somehow gained human emotions and became self-aware teddy forced himself to forget that he was a shadow so that people would like him he even found a way to change his appearance into that of a welcoming bear to achieve this teddy locked away his memories and attempt to run away from his true self with the help of narakami nanako and his other friends teddy is able to realize that just because he's a shadow that doesn't mean he's worthless to everyone even though he was born as a shadow teddy was able to overcome the barriers and become his own person love him or hate him teddy is a pivotal character to the story that persona 4 is trying to tell persona 4 on the surface may seem like a game about a murder mystery surrounding a small town while this is a very prominent part of the experience and as an underlying plot that's told throughout the game i believe that persona 4 more than anything else is a story about identity there's a lot of people who claim that the party members in persona 4 don't change once they awaken to their persona they say that their character arcs end after they face themselves in the tv world and nothing more i don't agree with this statement at all every party member has an ugly side to them that i don't want to admit accepting these flaws is certainly the first step but that doesn't solve the issues entirely by forming a close spawn with each of these characters narakami is able to help them grow past these flaws and become better people because of it it's the reason as to why characters don't awaken to their ultimate personas until you finish their social links teddy is a prime example of this he faces his shadow and accepts that he's fearful of the answers he might find about his past that doesn't mean that his insecurity magically goes away it's only after he spends time in the real world forming a bond with a sensei that he's able to grow past his fear and realize that being a shadow means nothing to who he really is every character is like this the way i see it the character arcs are split up in half the first half is when they're kidnapped and thrown inside the tv world where they face their shadow the second half comes from the time that narakami spends with them in their social links sure i think that some are better than others but i don't think any of them are bad by any means yes this is the third time i've made this statement throughout the video because that's the point i want to hammer in the most persona 4 makes it very clear that the bonds you forge with others are going to be very important throughout the journey so tying the character development to the bonds is a no-brainer in my eyes tying the story directly into the gameplay makes it feel much more personal yosuke wouldn't have been able to change the way he did if it wasn't for spending time with narukami everyone changes thanks to narakami he was there for them when they needed a shoulder to cry on someone they could vent to someone that would make them feel like they mattered in the world the persona forecast genuinely fears like they're close friends they're able to laugh together cry together make fun of each other for their quirks and most importantly accept each other for who they really are this is something i can't say about seas or even the phantom thieves to an extent their individual developments might not matter to the murders in innova but saying that the characters in persona 4 are one note or don't grow just isn't something that i agree with everyone will always have their favorite persona cast and i think it's pretty obvious which one is my favorite okay there's not much else for me to go over so now i believe it's time to talk about the rest of the game's plot remember this game is a murder mystery knowing the answer to the mystery takes a lot of fun out of experiencing it for the first time so this will be your last warning now if you don't want to know who the culprit behind the murders nidaba are i suggest you get off this video now and play the game yourself it's on steam for a cheap price so i highly recommend it let's jump to where naoto joins the investigation team at this point in the game the group has managed to figure out some things about the case whenever someone is interviewed on tv they end up on the midnight channel for whatever reason the killer watches the midnight channel and whoever he sees will be his next target when aotea was kidnapped she was apparently stuffed into the tv very quickly afterwards according to her it only took a couple of minutes for her to get thrown in after she was drugged when the doorbell was rung since the group was unable to come up with any more theories they decide to wait for the killer's next move while this is happening narakami receives a threatening letter in the mail by who he assumes is the killer when he shows the letter to the investigation team the next day nauto tells him not to show the letter to dojima because if he were to be put under surveillance and if the group were to lose their leader that would be bad the days go by like normal until dojima comes home one day with another letter in his hand he's very suspicious to the letter and stands by as narakami opens it up this letter reads if you don't stop this time someone close to you will be put in and killed dojima snatches this letter from narakami his suspicions proven dojima takes narakami to the police station and interrogates them about his involvement with the case since there's no way around it narakami explains everything to dojima he tells about the tv world personas everything dojima obviously doesn't believe a single word and expresses his disappointment for narakami's own safety he leaves him in the interrogation room for the night taking his cell phone with him this scene is very controversial for one reason dojima doesn't believe the story involving the tv world and personas of course he wouldn't it's completely absurd from an outsider's perspective even though narukami could easily prove that what he's saying is true because there's a tv in this interrogation room sure that would make the most logical sense but i'm going to play devil's advocate for a second and try to see what atlas was doing with this scene so the first thing we should do is look at this from dojima's perspective in dojima's eyes narakami isn't someone who should be trusted in this scenario narkami and yosuke were both arrested previously when they were mistaken for carrying weapons at june s his friend group consists of people who were previously reported to be missing as well as a well-known delinquent kanji tatsumi dojima had his partner adachi keep tabs on this group multiple times throughout the story because he believed that his nephew was involved with something dangerous because of the previous reasons so when he finally confronts narakami about his involvement and he responds with this outlandish story he's obviously very hurt this especially hits home if you maxed out a social link beforehand where dojima lets narakami into his life as family also remember what i mentioned earlier about what naoto said showing the police the tv world would be nothing but bad news in fact it could potentially make the investigation team prime suspects in the murder case because the murders only started one day after narakami arrived in inaba there's also the fact that they'd be the only people who'd know about the tv's world existence sure the police wouldn't be able to pin the case on them just like that but it would throw a wrench in their plan to save people because they'd most likely be kept at the police station with no way to go into the tv world so i understand dojima's thinking and why he wouldn't listen to anything narakami is trying to say but what baffles me is the super simple way they could have avoided all this confusion how about have narakami get up from his chair and try to show dojima adachi that he's telling the truth but then dojima scolds narukami for trying to stand up during an interrogation it'll force narakami to stay in his seat so he wouldn't even have the opportunity to prove that what he's saying is real because as of right now it feels very sloppy that narakami wouldn't at the very least try to show dojima that it's real because from his point of view the cat's out of the bag so he might as well try to tell the truth i think the intention was that dojima at this point had zero interest in trying to hear narakami out because he believes that his life was in danger because of the threatening letters we cut to teddy and yosuke working at june s where yosuke decides to give teddy his own cell phone yosuke tries to demonstrate how it works by calling the dojima household but when nanako answers she tells the two about the threatening letter that dojima saw and how he took narakami to the police station yosuke tries to gather the rest of the investigation team together so they can check on narakami at the same time however narakami decides to check the midnight channel because it was raining outside when he was dragged in and much to his shock his young cousin nanako is shown narkami has no way to contact his friends since kojima took his cell phone and has no interest in listening to what he has to say nauto runs to the dojima residence it's nanako is home alone and our killer is most certainly going to go after her nauto blames herself for not putting the pieces together sooner nanika wasn't shown on tv but her voice was heard to the general public she was interviewed by a politician and she was supposed to remain anonymous since inaba is a small town it didn't take people too long to figure out that it was nanako who was interviewed nanako ended up in the local paper where her full name and a photograph of her was used by the time naoto reaches the dojima household it's too late nanako has been kidnapped yosuke kanji and teddy rush over to the police station and forced to wear into narakami's room where they tell him the bad news dojima overhears that nanako has been kidnapped and naoto confirms it with him over the phone dojima rushes off in a vain attempt to look for any suspicious vehicles the girls arrive shortly after and everyone begs the dodgy to let narakami go so they can search for nanako adachi says that before they do anything he needs to know what's going on the group decides to look over the information in order to get everyone up to speed and to hopefully help adachi understand when nauto went to the dojima house she noticed that the killer didn't force his way inside and that the door was wide open so this means that nanaku had to open the door on her own it's important to note that earlier in the game nanaku says that she always listens to what dojima tells her to do and that includes to never open the door for strangers at first the group thinks that it's someone that nanako knows personally but naoto suggests a different perspective the killer has to be moving a large tv with them wherever they go because the victims all end up getting thrown in immediately after they're kidnapped this means that they're using a somewhat large vehicle to accomplish this but at the same time it has to be a vehicle that no one would find odd outside of someone's house because most of these kidnappings took place during the daytime there's only one type of vehicle large enough and inconspicuous enough to pull off such a thing that would be a delivery truck since the delivery service is run by a local company nanaku wouldn't find the person make the deliveries a stranger because it would always be the same person adachi decides to look over the report that dojima made involving the first murder case that he decided to reinvestigate much to everyone's surprise a delivery man is mentioned alright now we're getting somewhere back at the start of the game there was a news report following a scandal between the tv and announcer and a politician's secretary and the secretary's wife the secretary on the tv announced were having an affair behind the wife's back and when news came out about it the secretary lost his job and took up the family business working as a delivery man our main suspect is the man involved in the scandal taro namatame adachi quickly rushes off so we can inform dojima about namatame but not before giving a not so subtle hit that narakami can sneak out while adachi is gone as the group makes their way to namitami's address they noticed that there was a car accident not too far from them dojima attempted to give chase to namatame but ended up crashing when namatame flipped his truck with the emergency brake nauto investigates the scene and finds not only a large tv in the back of the delivery truck but a diary as well the diary is written by namatame in one of the entries he describes that he discovered the existence of another world inside of the tv and says that he must use this power to save people along with that there's a list of names and addresses of every victim even the ones that were unreleased to the public this is enough information to convince adachi that namatami is behind the murders the group is unable to find namatame and nanako so they make the assumption that he used the tv in the back as a last-ditch effort to escape the police after the group admits dojima to the hospital the investigation team enters the tv the following day so they can save donako the group makes note that nanako's dungeon looks like a storybook version of heaven because deep down she desperately wants to see her mom again it's also a callback to nauticus social link where narakami explains to her the concept of heaven and that nanika will go there someday to meet her mother again the investigation team manages to corner namatami at the top of this dungeon where he's holding nanako as hostage namatame immediately recognizes most of the members of the investigation team as people that he's saved but doesn't elaborate on what that means when questioned namatami does admit to kidnapping people who appear on the midnight channel he claims that the people in the midnight channel are asking to be saved so he puts them inside the tv to save them suddenly nawatami seems to become possessed by something and talks about himself as if he's some hero fighting against evil-doers yosuke and kanji quickly use the opportunity to push namatam away from nanako so that narakami can get her to safety all isn't well however as namatami begins to attract a large number of shadows transforming him into the being known as kunino sagiri with the team's best effort they're able to take down the massive monster causing namatami to transform back into his regular self the group quickly rushes danako and namatami to the hospital because of the exposure of the tv world has caused both of them become very sick nanako especially since she's so young there isn't much the group can do other than wait and pray that she makes a recovery not too long after namatami's capture a thick fog rolls into the city this is actually the same fog from the tv world it's somehow forcing its way from that world into the real world the characters discover this when kanji decides to put on his glasses and see that the fog has been erased the group holds a meeting at their usual spot in june s where they try to come up with an explanation for what's going on but no one's able to think of any theories when they checked the newspaper to see if anyone was reporting on the fog they noticed that there's a story written about namatami the investigation team has done their part now it's up for the police to hopefully build a case for the lunatic so that he can be convicted not all is well however as narakami receives a phone call from adachi he lets him know that nanako's conditions become much worse and that he's needed at the hospital right away i'm scared big [Music] dojima stumbles out of nanako's room and slowly makes his way down the hospital's hallways adachi quickly realizes that dojima is going to namatame's room with the intention of killing him for taking his daughter away from him dojima knows that the police won't be able to build a strong enough case to put namatami away from good so he wanted to punish the bastard himself adachi manages to drag dojima back to his room leaving the investigation team to think about what just occurred it's at this point where teddy disappears from the real world because he believes it's his own fault that nanika was dead i already went over this when i talked about teddy's character arc so i won't repeat the information here the remainder of the investigation team rushed in when the hero loud crash come from namatami's room and they find out that he's attempting to escape the group blames namatame for what happened to nanako and namatami tries to plead his innocence the conversation is cut short when the midnight channel begins and they see a figure of namitami on the screen this surprises everyone including namatami himself the namatame on the midnight channel begins to taunt the investigation team that he'll escape with his freedom and that he's above the law the broadcast ends leaving everyone in shock if namatami can't be convicted there's nothing stopping him from throwing more people inside the tv yosuke in an emotionally charged rage suggests that they stuff namatami inside the tv so that he can't get away with what he's done yosuke wants to avenge not only saki konishi but nanaku as well he isn't going to force anyone to stay and help him with this but he asks narakami what their call should be this is the group's only chance something about this entire situation bothers narakami but he can't quite put his finger on it sure the midnight channel just showed namatami basically admitting to his crimes and that he'll try to continue saving people if he doesn't get convicted but that doesn't mean anything because the group doesn't know what happened through namitami's perspective hyosuke began to act with his emotions instead of using his brain to think it through which is why i don't blame him for it yosuke is still open to reasoning and with enough convincing the group is able to calm down and think about things rationally there are still a lot of unanswered questions but namatami is in no state to speak to the group so they decide to leave him for the night adachi finds the group and tells him to go back to nanaku's room as she somehow managed to recover it turns out that nanaku didn't die she managed to be resuscitated after her heart and lungs collapsed even though that this is a stretch and may challenge your suspension of disbelief this is something that can happen in the real world but i also have a bit of a theory about this if we jump back to the previous scene and decide to actually go through with throwing namatami inside the tv nanaku actually doesn't come back to life the group let their emotions blind them from the truth and as a result they'll never figure out what exactly happened involving the murders it's not hard to tell that the fog in persona 4 is supposed to be symbolic of falsehood and lies it's a plot and thematic reason as to why the town of inaba becomes cloaked in fog after namatami is believed to be the killer you get an alternate ending if you decide to kill namatami where the fog never lifts from the town even on the day where narakami is supposed to go back to his home the fog is still in the town the mystery is still unsolved if narakami lets this fog cloud his vision and he's unable to obtain the truth his punishment is losing one of his closest family the fog does have supernatural properties so i assume that's the reason as to why nanaka would stay dead if the case goes unsolved just a little food for thought the seekers of truth meet up in their usual spot the next day and go over the facts once again the groom manages to spot a few inconsistencies if namatami were truly to be the killer he had no motive for killing mayumi yamano when he saw the other victims he referred to him as people that he saved which would make no sense if he planned on getting them killed in the first place natsu thinks that what he meant is saving them through death but brushes off the idea when she remembers that namitami on the midnight channel said that he failed to save nanako who he believed died but most importantly the warning letters narakami received specifically mentioned that people will be killed not only that the way the letter is phrased implies that whoever wrote it wasn't the person responsible for the kidnappings so maybe what namatame said was true he was trying to save people by putting them inside of the tv the only way the group will be able to prove this is by speaking with the man himself naoto uses her connections to arrange a meeting with namatame the group begins to ask questions in order to get namatami's side of the story i'll do my best to summarize after namitami's affair became well known he lost connection with mayubi yamano and fell into a deep depression namatami discovered he had the power to interact with the tv world after he instinctively reached out to the midnight channel when he saw mayumi on it he thought that it was a drunken dream but later discovered that mayumi was killed the following morning namatami was convinced that the midnight channel mayumi's death were connected in some way the next time namatami watched the midnight channel he saw saki konishi and tried to warn her the following day that she's in danger she brushed off the warning and ended up getting thrown into the midnight channel the same night where she was killed namatame felt deep regret that he couldn't save the girl the police wouldn't even listen to his words about the midnight channel because he sounded crazy when namatame saw yukiko amaki on the midnight channel he managed to convince himself that inside the tv world was safe because of the reaction yukiko gave when he suggested the idea since telling her about the midnight channel and the murder on the loose was out of the question namatami decided to take action and keep people safe from the murderer by putting them inside the tv but unknown to namitami what he's been doing was actually been putting people in danger it's only after he fled into the tv world to avoid the police is when he first experienced the tv world first hand and how horrible it is inside of there so namatame didn't murder mayumi and saki but he's still responsible for the kidnappings and he vows to face the consequences before the group leaves namitami begs him to find the true culprit so mayumi can rest in peace i think namatami works really well as red herring to the true culprit he fits almost too perfectly into the case that it's very easy to confuse him as the true murderer that was clearly the intention of his character so i think that it works well in the game's theme of the truth being much more complex than you think a really cool detail is that you can actually see namatame in a few scenes prior to being a suspect i noticed that when the investigation team was chasing one of rysei's stalkers you can actually see namatami's delivery truck drive by in the background that's a pretty cool detail despite the group's best effort they're unable to find any new information on the case it seems as though the general public actually completely forgot about the murders at the start of spring narakami steps outside with naoto and yosuke to think there's one person that can fit into the criteria of being connected to the first case and wouldn't be suspicious for approaching the dojima house as well as being around mayumi and saki there's only one person that fits this criteria and that would be dojima's partner toro adachi before the investigation team does anything too hasty they confront adachi in person so they can confirm their suspicions someone else killed them adachi-san do you have any idea who that might be [Music] i have no idea what you're talking about because we think it might have been you what that's ridiculous we already know namatami's the one who put him all in what did you just say adachi quickly tries to escape after his slip-up and ends up ducking inside of the tv the group decides that they will track down adachi the following day they have their culprit teddy rejoins the party after narakami and him have a conversation in the velvet room where he finds out that nanako didn't die from her illness with the investigation team reunited they head off to confront adachi let's take a moment to talk about adachi even if you were able to guess that there was something strange about him i think the game does a pretty good job at hiding the twist the entire scenario involving namatame does a great job at throwing suspicion off of adachi because of the way it's presented this dungeon takes place near what could be considered the end of the game if this is your first playthrough and the victim is nautica so it's a very personal conflict you're too focused on namitami and nanaku to even think about adachi plus in persona 4 golden adachi has a social link so why would you expect him to be the killer but that's not even considering the real reason as to why adachi is such a memorable villain adachi's social link adds a lot of nuance to his character so i'll be drawing some details from there really quick adachi always tried his hardest in life to follow the rules and do exactly what he was told to do this realistically was supposed to promise him great success in life adachi ended up being an ace at the police academy and when the time came for his life to move forward he was shoved into the small town of uniba because that's where he ended up being assigned because of something completely out of his control he's now stuck in a small town that he hates because there's nothing to do his only connection being his boss dojima who constantly berates him and a kid that's much younger than he is he can't relate to either of them so he spends most of his time alone basking in his own misery even when narakami tries to reach out to his dochi and become friends with him he's still distant and unwilling to change because adachi believes that he's above this town because of this attitude adachi spends most of the time alone in isolation drinking and watching tv adachi became very fond of the tv announcer mayumi yamino and developed a crush on her adachi also discovers the midnight channel as well and his ability to stick his hand inside of the tv when word about the affair between yamano and namatami comes out adachika is stationed to be her bodyguard at the yamagi inn adachi tries to confirm that the rumors were true but mayumi tells him to back off adachi assumes that the affair was true and out of anger decides to shove mayumi into the tv this is where adachi's game began he not only killed mayumi but was also responsible for shoving saki inside of the tv when saki was found dead and namatami called the police to tell them about the midnight channel it was by luck that a dodgy was the one who answered the phone adachi managed to convince namatame to start kidnapping people while he just watched from afar it didn't take long for adachi to figure out that narakami his friends were responsible for saving the victims so he decided to purposely throw the team off course by providing incorrect information so adachi started this game because he was bored with his life which is something that he admits himself this has garnered the character a lot of criticism because people say it's unrealistic but this is something i don't agree with because there's a lot of supporting evidence in his backstory that supports his point of view adachi was bored out of his mind stuck in the small town of inaba he doesn't have any friends believes that he deserves more than he has and overall just despises the people around him because they didn't work as hard as he did but they have it better off than himself adachi has mentally snapped and reached the end of his line so when he discovers that he has the power to cause chaos with no repercussions he decides to indulge in it even when the threat of being caught is introduced to him adachi loves the idea because it keeps things exciting for him adashi seemingly obtained power when he finally entered the tv world himself he says that by the end of the year the two worlds will merge together and everyone will be turned into shadows which will result in the death of mankind adachi's motivation comes from his self-isolation and his superiority complex which is a very realistic motivation people in the real world do terrible things because of this kind of stuff but the difference is that adachi has the power to carry out his desire to destroy everything it's tragic and definitely played up but it's very real but the main thing i enjoy about a dodge is how he subtly contrasts you both the character and the player throughout the game every party member faces their inner selves their shadows these shadows represents their inner struggles and fears that they are eventually able to overcome the only party member that doesn't need to face themselves is narakami mostly because he doesn't have a character that could potentially have a struggle but the game does something really clever throughout the game you form social links with the people around you these people help shape who you are and give you power in battle adachi is supposed to represent what a life without any strong bonds can do to someone narakami spends his time making friends and having new experiences while adachi spends his time in isolation looking out for no one but himself the two are supposed to be polar opposites and this even shows an adachi's persona his persona is about getsu izanagi which is a twisted shadowy version of narakami's starting persona adachi's arcana is even the jester which is another name for the fool which is narukami's arcana though if hidachi social link is a high enough rank before adachi is outed his arcana will transform into the hunger or lust arcana when narakami speaks to him alone but the point still stands adachi is supposed to represent what can happen if you live a life without bonds and are unwilling to change yourself adachi had the opportunity to adjust to his new life learn and grow from the experiences but his nihilistic attitude and refusal to accept reality is what led him down his dark path adachi is one of my favorite characters in the game because of how complex he actually is and does a great job of being a love to hate villain who at the end of the day can be very relatable for some players i would never try to justify adachi's actions but i can at the very least show empathy for someone who feels was screwed over in life yes life can be unfair to a lot of people but it's how we respond to these moments is how we shape who we really are adachi's failing came from trying to reject any hardships and his refusal to change himself it's a trap that anyone can fall into if they're not careful the group manages to take down adachi but much like namatame he suddenly becomes possessed by a greater power it reveals itself as amino sigiri and mankind's desires are its own desires amino sigiri is the source of the fog in the tv world or the hollow forest as it calls this place a few things are revealed here the biggest one being that the tv world is actually the human subconscious and the thoughts of humanity can shape the ongoings in here whenever someone would recently become on the minds of multiple people the tv world would display more of the person on their mind so when someone like kanji was interviewed after he beat up the biker gang everyone had him on the mind so he appeared on the midnight channel this is important because the namatame that was shown to the group after nauticus supposed death was actually not namatami's true feelings the belief that he was the killer in that moment so the midnight channel reflected that by showing what they all wanted to see amino sigiri says what mankind desires is to be shrouded by fog so they won't have to deal with the hardships of facing the truth the truth can be painful for most people they would rather live in peaceful ignorance they would rather live lives where nothing can go wrong the few outliers are the ones who managed to face themselves and turned their pain into strength amino sigiri granted these people the power of being able to enter the tv world whenever they wanted to it's pretty obvious that he's referring to the investigation team amino sigiri is interested to see the new facet of mankind but is not sure to trust it yet amino sigiri transforms into its true form and the investigation team has to battle it in order to prove that mankind is stronger than it thinks the group manages to prove the amino sigiri that covering the world in fog isn't what they desire and the god accepts their reason however it warns the group that if mankind's desire changes the fog will return amino sigiri disappears leaving adachi in its place with the true culprit finally captured the group is finally finally able to celebrate and rest easy the case finally closed usually the month of january is used to max out any social links that you may have missed as well as to do some of the brand new events such as building a snowman with nautica after new years but if you manage to max out marie's social link before the battle against amino tsugiri you'll gain access to the finale of her story arc narakami can go to the velvet room on new year's to wish everyone a happy new year but maria is missing margaret tells him that maria's decided to leave the velvet room because of the bond that narakami and her have forged margaret offers to locate marie but it may be dangerous the next day darakami passes out and sees a vision of marie thanking him for the time they spent together she bids him a farewell and fades into the darkness as time goes on margaret is able to locate marie inside of the tv world and forcefully pulls the investigation team into a tv during their ski trip when the group comes too they're inside of the hollow forest that amino sigiri mentioned this is the reality that marie created when she entered the tv world it turns out that marie actually regained her memories after she opened her heart to narakami but she didn't like the answers that she received the group decides that they'll venture inside the hollow force so that they can save marie but they only have one day to do it however because once the forest closes it'll disappear forever if this happens marie will disappear forever not just from reality but from everyone's memories as well it's pretty much an excuse as to why marie wasn't in the original persona 4. this implies that she was always a part of the story but the characters failed to save her so the memories of her disappeared i don't really think that we needed an explanation for marie's inclusion but alright marie's dungeon is very unique i am not a fan of this dungeon at all this dungeon has the gimmick where after every battle half of your current sp will be depleted all of your character's equipment is changed to exclusive items that can only be found and used in this dungeon so your goal is to make sure you loot every chest you can so you can use this dungeon's exclusive sp items as well as the equipment that can aid you in sp restoration in general this is more of an annoyance than an actual challenging gimmick that you have to manage physical skills were already pretty powerful in this game but this dungeon pretty much forces you to use them because sp is more valuable than ever there's no point restoring sp after every battle because how punishing the detraction is so all these sp items and armor are kind of sort of really [ __ ] useless i appreciate the idea of shaking up the dungeon crawling formula but this is less of a fun challenge and more so an annoyance this is easily my least favorite dungeon in the game because of this gimmick which i know sounds harsh but that's because this gimmick just isn't fun the group manages to locate marie and they find out that one of her eyes has the same pupils as amino sigiri it turns out that marie's true name is kasumi no okami and her purpose is to be a scout for amino sigiri she was placed in the real world in order to find out what mankind's desires are and report it back to amino sigiri marie also reveals that if she isn't killed the real world will be destroyed it turns out that when amino sugar was defeated and the fog wasn't needed anymore it was all absorbed into marie her purpose is to fade away along with the fog because once it overpowers her she'll turn into a monster the group comes up with a plan to destroy the monster once it arrives to hopefully save marie from her fate the boss against kasumi no okami is actually pretty interesting this box reflects all types of damage so the only way to deal damage is to use skills that break elemental resistances or use items that do the same thing this is the only time in the game where those types of skills are actually useful believe it or not it's a refreshing gimmick that isn't super intrusive unlike the sp one with the defeat of kasumi no okami maria's body appears at first it seems as though this was a futile attempt at saving marie's life until she wakes up this truly was a disney fake out death with the fog gone the hollow force has no reason to exist anymore so the group quickly escapes before it collapses yeah i'm not a big fan of the story as i said earlier it really depends on how much you like marie's character and as i said earlier i don't i think that she personifies all the cliche and trope-ish problems that persona 4 does have but unlike the other aspects of the game it's never really developed past a surface level marie's inclusion into that main plot doesn't really have much of an impact either so it turns out that maria is the one responsible for not only giving information to amino sigiri but also has the burden to remove all the fog from itaba after its defeat okay this information doesn't change the way i look at the story so it feels tacked on like atlas really want to have an explanation as to why marie exists now a persona 4 story but it doesn't really give a new perspective on the events so it just feels cluttered marie has her fans but i'm not one of them i think that she's too much of an archetype rather than a character like i said earlier in the video i hate using the term mary sue but that's just how i feel about it this might be a bit off topic but i feel as though i should mention this because it's a brand new addition to persona 4 golden since we have the months of january and some of february as playable days now that means we get a valentine's day event with any of the characters you decided to romance throughout the game persona 3 had a dating mechanic too but it was forced onto you every social link with the female would always result in you dating them with no opportunity to decline their confessions persona 4 fixes that up by giving the option to stay just as friends with the women your age or if you really want to you can date multiple women at once however if you do decide to go through with that if you really want to be a cheating dirtbag by the time valentine's day rolls around you have to choose one girl to spend the day with and if you're dating your party members and decide to decline their invitation you have to tell each and every one of them face to face that you won't be spending time with them on valentine's day each of them have their own reactions to this news but all of them will make you feel like the biggest piece of [ __ ] in the world for playing with these girls is feelings but for some reason whenever i played the game i always ended up spending the day with naoto for some reason it's pretty strange i wonder why that is though no matter who you spend the day with valentine's day is the final playable day of the game because after february 14th the game fast forwards to march 19th two days before nawakami has to return to his hometown march 20th is when you get the chance to check up on all your social links one last time to view their epilogues to their stories everyone you met has found new meaning in life and appreciates the time you spend with them you can even visit the old investigation team meeting spot one last time in fact the other party members had the idea to do the same thing so as a group the gang reminisces on the past year but they find it odd that no one knows how the midnight channel rumor even began in fact the more they think about it there's a couple of unanswered questions amino siguri mentioned that he granted the power to interact with the tv world to the people who managed to face themselves and gain their personas but narakami never faced his shadow he just had the ability to interact with the midnight channel when he first arrived in inaba narakami received a letter from adachi before he left his house as well when reading it aloud he finds out that both adachi and namatami heard of the midnight channel rumors when they first entered the town of inaba as we saw earlier neither of them faced their shadows but they had the ability to interact with the midnight channel too this bothers yosuke he realized that everything involving the midnight channel the tv world and the serial murders all seem to fit together too well for it to be a coincidence he theorizes that there is some sort of conductor pulling the strings from behind the shadows to make this all possible and this mastermind is most likely the one who told adachi about the rumor in the first place narakami thinks back to when he first arrived in india to see if anything strange happened other than meeting his cousin and uncle there was one other thing that happened as narakami gets closer to the truth the clouds in the sky become much darker and it starts to rain narakami confronts who he believes to be the one behind the rumors and the one who gave him his power the gas station attendant that he shook hands with at the beginning of the game the gas station attendant is revealed to be the goddess izanami and she's responsible for not only both of the tsugiri but also the entire fog itself originally her plan was to test humanity's desire for truth by giving individuals the ability to interact with the human subconscious she believes that narakami in her meeting was destiny and she challenges him to a battle to prove mankind's potential the group realizes that as long as the izanami is still around the fog will never go away if narakami leaves without taking care of the goddess the town will once again be covered in fog and all of his friends and loved ones will be turned into shadows so for one last time the investigation team heads into the tv world to confront izanami izunami reveals that mankind's down follows their own anxieties the midnight channel was created as a device so people could learn more about each other so mankind can understand one another but because of mankind's anxiety and desire to compare themselves to others they began to overlook the truth and only believe what they wanted to believe which is why izanami came to the conclusion that having the world shrouded in fog would be better off for mankind izanami then covers herself in fog and transforms into a titan-sized goddess then our final battle begins izanami despite having access to really powerful magic doesn't seem to have a lot of health that is until you get to the point where she becomes impervious to your attacks narakam uses the orb of sight that igor granted him earlier to reveal izanami's true form this is where the boss becomes a lot more aggressive and has access to some of the most powerful magic in the game izanami's boss doesn't quite hit the highest as persona 3's final boss did in my opinion but it's still climactic as a [ __ ] awesome song for izanami's first form izanami's true form proves to be too powerful for the investigation team as she uses the will of mankind to attempt to drag narukami into the fog every time she tries this one of the party members will sacrifice themselves in order to save narakami but eventually he ends up succumbing to mankind's desires while narakami lays a lifeless in the fog the voices of his friends and loved ones echo through his mind all of them encouraging him to stand up against izanami and thank him for the positive impact he had on their lives even adachi will be there if he maxed out a social link with the power of his bonds narakami is granted access to the world arcana he uses this new power to summon his ultimate persona and shows izanami the true power of mankind with the defeat of izanami the fog in not only the real world but also when the tv world has been lifted we get to see this world's true form as everyone is once again reunited narakami can now go home the next day without any regrets it's also revealed that izanami and the sigiriy were actually originally from marie many years ago she was shattered into fragments but since all of her separate selves have been defeated they've all returned to marie her true name is revealed to be izanami nomikoto the following day narakami his friends head towards the train station and after one final goodbye he gets on board you'll always be my sensei forever please don't forget about us over there i love you i'll do my best you better not run away too senpai i'll always remember our time together distance doesn't matter to us even if we're separated we're still [Music] [Music] friends [Music] normally this is where the game would end but persona 4 golden has an epilogue if you maxed out marie's social link narakami returns to inaba during summer vacation we get to see how the group has changed and even get a surprise party for narakami welcoming him back to inaba marie even found work at a forecast station but she uses her power over the weather to make sure that narakami's stay will be filled with nothing but bright skies she even admits her love for him on tv the game ends with one final shot of narukami reuniting with his friends and family and that was persona 4. man what a game if you couldn't tell already persona 4 means so much to me on a personal level that's not to say that all of my praises come from emotional bias i think i did a good job at giving everything in the game a fair shot but i think that persona 4 accomplishes almost everything that it sets out to do sure there's some stuff that i'm not a big fan of especially at golden where there are additions that don't mix well with me but any rocky editions added and re-releases can't deter my love for this game sure the game isn't nearly as dark as the other games in the franchise i acknowledge that there's some cliches and anime inspired tropes that exist in the characters and the story but where i think it matters persona 4 gets it right there's barely any social links that i dislike i think all the characters are fleshed out and memorable in their own ways but most importantly i think that the message of persona 4 is fully realized and was genuinely life-changing for me i'm about to get a bit personal here back when i first played persona 4 in 2014 i was not a happy person sure i was only about 15 years old at the time and i had my whole life ahead of me but nevertheless i was going through some rough [ __ ] so playing this game that i thought was going to be about solving murders only to experience a story about facing your inner demons and growing past those insecurities really stuck with me i could relate to the characters on a personal level and ended up getting pretty attached to them persona 4 taught me to not be afraid of myself it taught me that my flaws are what make me who i am and that i always had the opportunity to become a better person yeah it's a bit cringy but by playing persona 4 when i did i managed to face my own shadow before it was too late most importantly however persona 4 taught me that there will always be people to accept me for who i am and that was something that i needed to hear when i was growing up so no amount of mari or band practices will ever change the appreciation i have for this story and its characters persona 4 is not a perfect game a perfect video game will probably never exist in my eyes but persona 4 changed my life and that's something that i'll always be grateful for he's really gone it's sad that he won't be around but we will be okay right guys doesn't matter how far apart we are the bonds we've made will remain strong everyone's heart is connected to the people they know and trust it's those bonds that let us all search for our purpose in life as long as it's a purpose you believe in there will always be someone who can help you fulfill it you me and everyone else there are no barriers our hearts are one right sensei hey everyone thanks for watching this titan of a video i'd like to give another thank you to the coolest most epic person i have ever met nicknamed moriarty and scoves for supporting the channel if you're interested in checking out my patreon there will be a link in the description and in a pinned comment videos like these take a long time to make so any support would be greatly appreciated this persona 4 video has been something i've wanted to make for a very long time and i'm very humbled that there was so much enthusiasm and excitement behind this project it blows my mind that this channel has passed 3000 subscribers in such a short amount of time and i'm very grateful to know that there are people who like engaging in these discussion pieces in terms of future projects the next video will be on persona 1 but that won't take nearly as long to make because i've already gotten most of the footage for that video and there's a lot less for me to talk about so hopefully you'll stick around for when that video is uploaded thank you once again for watching and have a good night

Channel: Nam’s Compendium

Views: 317,852

Rating: 4.9367104 out of 5

Keywords: nam12399 persona, persona 4, nams compendium persona 5, nams compendium persona 4, persona 4 analysis, nams compendium nocturne, persona 4 golden pc review, persona 4 the game that changed my life, nam12399 persona 4, persona 4 story explained, Nam's Compendium SMT, nam12399, persona 4 review, Nam's Compendium, Nam's Compendium Persona, persona 4 critique, nams compendium, Nam's Compendium Persona 3, persona 4 pc review

Id: CujlchNaHNc

Length: 137min 49sec (8269 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 23 2020