Life Lessons: Persona 4

Video games are at their best when they teach us things about ourselves or about the world, when they make us take a moment of introspection to realize things about ourselves and how we fit into the world. There are only a handful of games that have made a lasting impression on me that lasts over years, and even fewer games that I can say helped motivate me through traumatic periods in my life. Let me tell you why Persona 4 practically changed my life. Just a warning like usual, I will be spoiling some aspects of Persona 4.

Persona 4: Golden released in November of 2012, I purchased the game around Christmas of that year. I didn't get to playing it until a couple months later though. At this time I was living with a girl I'd been dating for about a year and a half, I was going through a lot financially and emotionally. It certainly didn't help that I'd pretty much lost contact with every single friend I had. In January I was "dumped" so to speak, it was one of those you wake up one day and suddenly everything is different things. I ended up having to move back with my parents after this as I couldn't afford a place of my own.  Needless to say I became morbidly depressed, I was alone and I had no one to talk to no one to spend time with. My relationship with my family has been decidedly rocky over the years.

I was floundering in every sense. I stopped going to college and hadn't been back in two years, I wasn't making much at my job and had no love for it, and wasn't really doing anything worthwhile honestly. But I did have lots of free time on my hands, but games weren't really doing it for me.

I talked about video game fatigue before, and because of my emotional state I couldn't spend more than 30 minutes on any given game I tried. Then I decided that I wanted something to do during breaks at work and on the go and such. Persona 3 was already a personal favorite of mine that I had played the previous summer, and I decided to pop in Persona 4 for a go. What I found next was an incredible experience of friendship, facing your inner demons, and facing down life and fate.

Persona 4 casts you as the protagonist who you name(he'd later become known as Yu Narukami). He is a voiceless hero who's answers you decide, although he does develop more of a personality than many mute protagonists. Yu is on his way to the small rural town of Inaba in Japan, he's from the big city but will be staying with his uncle Dojima for a year as his parents are out of the country. Yu begins attending school at Inaba High. There he begins to make friends, like the clumsy Yosuke, or the meat lover Chie. The plot begins to develop as a girl named Saki(who Yosuke has a crush on) is found murdered one morning. Rumors of something called the "Midnight Channel" begin popping up. Every night at midnight this channel runs on TV so the rumor goes, and if your face appears on the TV you wind up dead the next day. This is going to be a jump, but at some point Yu and Yosuke find out that they can enter the TV and go to "another world".

With this basic setup the main characters form the "Investigation Team" to solve the mystery of the murders that are happening in Inaba. In the TV world each of the party members awakens to the mysterious power of Persona. Another self that grants them the power to fight the forces of evil called shadows. This is a very very brief description of the plot setup of Persona 4, but the essentials to know at least.

Now we get to the point that Persona 4 really drew me in. The first few hours of the game deal with setting up the scenario and introducing the characters as they begin to become friends. The moment that I knew I'd found something special was the first time Yu and Yosuke enter the TV world. Here the group finds a recreation of a convenience store in Inaba. Inside Yosuke finds a note from the now dead Saki, saying how much of a pain in the ass Yosuke was and how much disdain she had for him.

This is when a shadow version of Yosuke appears making fun of him, what a blubbery baby he is and how he's actually the one who thinks everything is a pain in the ass. The shadow claims to be Yosuke himself, but when he rejects that notion the shadow turns into a giant monster that attacks the party as a boss battle occurs.

Once the dust clears and the boss is defeated, Yosuke has to come to grips with the situation. He has to realize that this shadow version of himself, was really talking about the parts of himself and the thoughts that he didn't want to admit. Only by accepting those things as a part of him, something he needs to embrace, can he finally be rid of the shadow.With these words Yosuke accepts the shadow, "I knew it wasn't lying......but I didn't want to admit it." he goes further saying " Dammit..... It hurts to face yourself....". Once Yosuke finally realizes this the shadow is vanquished and he awakens to the power of Persona inside him. This one scene encapsulates what Persona 4 is as an experience in many ways. The themes of facing yourself, embracing your shortcomings to realize your full potential are all on display here through Yosuke.

This same difficult realization happens with every party member in the game. Chie has to face her tomboyish nature and judgement at not being feminine enough. Naoto faces the fact of her father wanting a boy, through which she alters her appearance to be more manly and ambiguous going into the family business of being a detective. Teddie has to face the question of his existence, and why he even lives in the first place. Kanji has perhaps the most impactful realization, as he struggles to accept his sexuality and the fact that he doesn't like girls. Although his story is a tad downplayed in the English version, this realization still holds true for Kanji.

The Persona series also puts an emphasis on building relationships with characters in the came through something called social links. The games are split into two parts, the every day school life and the dungeon crawling shadow fighting gameplay. During the every day life parts you have opportunities to bond with characters and find out more about them, raising these social links. Many of these stories are incredibly impactful, like the nurse in Persona 4 that takes "advantage" of Yu as he works nights at a hospital doing janitorial work. By the end of this social link, the nurse leaves for good leaving a note for Yu detailing her wish to retain her youth.

Her entire fling with Yu, had been out of a desperate need for her to not accept her age and feel like she still had a future ahead of her. By maxing these social links, your character becomes more powerful. Even past that, obtaining multiple social links becomes necessary for making it to the true endings of the games, and in the case of Persona 3 actually saving the world.

Persona 4 does an incredible job of building a sense of cammaraderie, because you make choices as Yu, as a player you feel like you've become a part of this group of friends. Never before have I played a game where I felt like I knew the characters so well, not even in Persona 3. Besides the TV world, saving the world stuff, these are normal high schoolers.

They all have every day problems, Yukiko has to help run her family's inn something she has very mixed feeling about. Kanji loves his mother, but because of his tough guy act yells at her and calls her things like an old bat all the time. They go to school festivals together, take trips to the beach together, get food at the local shop, and hang out at the department store Junes. Over 60 hours of gameplay, the Investigation Team really becomes a tight-knit group of friends that you feel a part of as the player. It's the strongest cast of characters I've ever encountered in a game, and I truly mean that. Even the main villain has a motivation for the murders,  that's deeper than you'd expect. And of course the "villain" ends up not really being the main villain at all.

People love the Persona games for their mix of every day life, and world saving fantasy action. Persona 4 so far is the pinnacle of that. Every story in this game is meaningful, every character intensely interesting. The sports team you join, the music club, everyone has a story to tell. An incredibly human story.

At a time when my life was a wreck and I had lost my way, Persona 4 taught me something. Before I had blamed my breakup entirely on the other person, playing the victim. The themes of Persona 4 taught me to take a step back, realize there were things about myself I didn't want to admit, that I didn't want to face. I had to accept those things, realize I was to blame for things, that I had things to work on about myself and the bad parts were just as much of me as the good. I began to accept myself a little bit more, and even began to come to grips with who I was as a person.

On top of this Persona 4 and the series taught me another thing. I had said earlier I lost all contact with my friends, seeing the cast of Persona 4 become such a loving group of friends really hit close to home. I remembered the group of friends I used to get together with every Friday night and play games. I realized something important, that I still think is true. One of the most important things in life if not the most important is the bonds you form with other people. That's where life really becomes valuable, when you can make connections with others and share experiences.

There's so many people out there, and every single one of them has a story and something to share. I still struggle with keeping in touch with people, but I make efforts now to keep up with others. Even just making conversation with strangers is still making a connection, forging some kind of bond. There's so much entertainment out there that's wonderful, but one of the most valuable thing you can ever have in your life is the experiences and memories you create with other people. Don't ever forget that.

Persona 4 literally changed the way I approach life, and helped me think more positively. Something I never in a million years expected a game to do. Video games can teach us about ourselves, about the world. There are many great experiences out there in gaming, and Persona 4 helped me realize everything that a game can be.

 I keep the soundtrack on my phone to listen to when I'm feeling down, it give me a feeling of warmth that I really can't describe. I'm glad that we've received spin-offs of Persona 4 as well. When I played Arena and just recently started Dancing All Night, it felt like I was seeing friends I hadn't seen in a long time. I built such a strong connection with these characters, that every chance I have to come back to them is welcome.

I know I'm not the only one who feels this way. Persona 4 is one one of the most important games ever made, and is a great example of how video games can teach us about ourselves. To end, I'm going to leave you with a couple songs from Persona 4, and I'll put in a couple comments from people on the video. I hope you can learn something from video games too, different games will mean different things to people, but we can all find an experience to learn form.

"As someone who is scared of whats in store for the future this song fits my life."

In response to this comment- "Que sera sera freind. Day by day reach out to your truth whatever that may be and where ever it may take you :)"

"As a senior in high school this song resonates deep with me. Its gonna be tough to say goodbye to my friends."

"Whenever I play persona games, can't stop I've been playing 154hrs on persona 4 golden and 200+hrs on persona 3. Just wish the game never ends. And I cry every time I finish playing the game."

"I'm not gonna lie I cried when I beat this game. It was like I was saying goodbye to good friends"

"No matter what your Shadow says, you're still yourself. Never forget that."

20 Years Later, Chrono Trigger Amazes Me

For as many games as I've played, I have a few glaring holes in my game history. I've only played two Megaman games, I didn't play Metal Gear Solid until I was 18, and one of the biggest gaps for me is how little I've played Chrono Trigger.

After I experienced Final Fantasy 7 when I was seven, the series quickly became my absolute favorite. The games of Squaresoft and eventually Square Enix at large also made their way to me, and I found a love of JRPGs. It's strange then that Chrono Trigger conspicuously went under my radar, especially considering that it's sequel Chrono Cross was a game that I played when it released. Either way though, I didn't end up playing Trigger until its release on the Nintendo DS in 2008.

At this point, I didn't find myself drawn in by the experience. I was in a mindset that it had to be like Final Fantasy for me to enjoy it, and Chrono Trigger was just different enough to put me off of it a bit. Another compounding factor in this was Chrono himself as the silent protagonist. I thought I wanted more "character", and this was before I realized how strong of characterization a silent protagonist can actually have.

Long story short I never finished the game, even though I played over 50% of it. This isn't to say I hated Chrono Trigger or anything, it just didn't keep me involved. After last weeks episode of Playing with Perspective where we talked about Chrono Trigger, I found myself inspired to pick the game up again to try and complete it. This time around I'm finding myself enjoying it much more, for a multitude of reasons. As I've matured, I've come to appreciate games much more instead of being in that mindset where they have to be one way or another.

One part of Chrono Trigger has really stood out to me so far though. A part I had completely forgotten about somehow, but one that is a fascinating commentary on player choice and consequence. Chrono Trigger opens with you attending the Millennial Fair, happening to run into a young girl named Marle. You're able to spend time at the fair and do some odd activities like racing, fighting a giant robot, collecting points, and finding random items. As the story progresses Chrono finds himself on trial for kidnapping Marle who turns out to be the princess.

Here Chrono is put on the spot and forced to defend himself as citizens from the fair get called in to testify against Chronos "character."This includes people testifying on things Chrono has done, that can be different depending on what you did during the Millennial Fair. In my play through, I found a sandwich sitting on a shop that of course I ate. I also talked to a little girl who was looking for her cat, but was too busy playing games and getting on with the story to bother with it. It's still an amazing turn when the game throws these things back in your face. It completely destroys the status quo that we've come to expect with typically JRPGs.

This is when something amazing happens with the game, because it belays your expectations here you come to think more seriously about choices and your actions in the rest of the game. Here is when Chrono as a silent protagonist really becomes you. As a player you see your choices directly effecting a character in the game, and now suddenly it feels like your more of a part of this world.

Chrono Trigger made an absolutely brilliant decision when it put this reactive scene in. Although the outcome of the trial is the same no matter what, by putting this design choice in the game, it gets the player that much more involved in its story and events. Anytime a game can do this in an effective way, you really see the pay off. We should use this instance in Chrono Trigger as an example of reactive design. This is something that a lot of Telltale games do well too.

I'm hoping that I can make the push to finally finish Chrono Trigger this time, and I feel confident that I can. I find myself much more involved with the story and characters this time. The trial scene was one of those instances that just lept out at me, as a wonderful design choice. Chrono Trigger is certainly a wonderful gem that I wish I hadn't missed.

One Single Line of Dialogue Highlights the Best Part of The Witcher 3

The Witcher 3 is a massive sweeping fantasy tale, that spanned over 150 hours for me to complete. I recently finished the game, and was very surprised by one fact. There was one thing that had more of an impact on me than anything else in the game, one thing that tied up Geralts journey as a character. We'll get to the specific line in a bit, but first we need to cover the relationship that Geralt and Ciri hold. I will warn you that significant spoilers on the end of the Witcher 3 lie ahead, so read on at your own peril.

Through much of the story of Witcher 3 Geralt spends his time on the trail of Ciri, a young woman that is basically a daughter to him. As such, you spend most of the game one step behind trying to piece together the path that Ciri took while also playing the elusive young woman herself at a few different points. This is the driving force behind Geralt in the game, although there's much more going on within the world Geralt's only worry is the safety and well being of Ciri.

With this fact in mind, it actually altered some of the choices I made through the story. For example, there's one plot-line in the city of Novigrad that has you hunting down a crime lord named Whoreson Junior. During the process of all this you find out what a terrible person Whoreson is, a person who enjoys sexually torturing women to death. You also find out that during the time Ciri interacted with him, he may have done something to harm her. While none of this is confirmed, the fatherly love that Geralt holds for Ciri prompted me to immediately end the life of Whoreson Junior.

It was a knee jerk reaction that I had in an instant because of the thought of what the man might have done to another character. This man needed to be gone from the world of The Witcher 3. It's not exactly commonplace that a game has this strong of an emotional response from me, and I was amazed with The Witcher 3 when it happened multiple times. As much as I'd love to go on and on about all the emotionally impactful parts, the point I have here is to highlight the incredible job Witcher 3 does with the father daughter bond of Geralt and Ciri.

Once you finally find Ciri and bring her back from The Isle of Mists, you begin the final stretch of the game. After the huge event of the Battle of Kaer Morhen, Geralt gets some quality time with Ciri as they mourn over the loss of a friend. Over the next few quests and plot lines, Geralt has five different choices regarding Ciri thrust upon him. The girl is having an incredibly hard time coping with everything and there are multiple occasions where Geralt gets to decide how to deal with Ciri. This can result in a warm fatherly approach, versus a cold disapproving father approach. For example, let me show you the snowball fight scene. This is moment where Ciri is frustrated and unsure of what to do next and how to do it. With the positive choice you get an incredibly heartwarming scene where Geralt tries to cheer Ciri up in the only way he knows how. Just watch.

Another scene involves Ciri upset with being deceived by the elf Avalla'ch, once again you can see the unique relationship held between the two and even more so the father, mother, daughter relationship the two hold with Yennefer of Vengerberg. Again it's easier to just show you; 

These two choices, and the three others involving Ciri decide the strength of her resolve at the end, as well as the chances for her to survive which leads to one of three major endings for you. I hope this can highlight the intense loving relationship that the two have. After all, Geralt spends 50-60 hours of the game merely on the hunt for Ciri, putting up with countless headaches and problems in order to find her. The way Geralt feels about her, shines through in both the dialogue choices as well as his facial expressions. The interesting thing is, that this holds true whether you pick the warmer or colder option on how to deal with her.

The two ways of dealing with Ciri create very different experiences for the player and a very different interpretation of the relationship between the two. The colder way gives you an impression of a Geralt that cares for Ciri deeply, but has no idea how to treat her like a father and feels uncomfortable with that fact. Feeling detached from the child he used to know, he feels disappointed with some of the brashness that Ciri approaches situations with and wants to ensure that she gains the skills and knowledge she'll need to survive. On the flip side, the warmer approach denotes a Geralt that sees a Ciri who has taken completely after him, and knows how to be the father figure that she needs as her real father was never there. Both approaches are valid, and both develop an incredibly deep but different relationship between Geralt and Ciri. 

Now that we've covered that, we can fast forward to the ending of the game. After the final conflict with the Wild Hunt, events find you at a tower where the cold winds of another world are blowing in threatening to drown the world in a giant freezing storm. At this point Ciri explains that because of the power of her elder blood she's the only one that can save the world from this fate. This realization is a huge shock to Geralt and something that has a huge impact on him, as you see his emotions get thrown into a state of chaos. It's in this moment that you have a dialogue choice as Ciri is preparing to enter the portal to the other world. This choice is where Geralt desperately says, " Don't do this... to me. Please. Not now." It's at this moment that we realize, Geralt isn't the main character of this story. He's a supporting one. Here's the ending in full, note that this is the ultimate 'good' ending. With the happiest story tones wrapping up here. Each ending of The Witcher 3 I feel does some good things in their own way, but I may go into that another time. 

Ultimately the choice in the end is Ciri's, and it's up to you as Geralt to support Ciri on her path how you can. But in this moment, you see a usually emotionally toned back Geralt break. His daughter is leaving, possibly going to her death and everything he's done will be for naught. After all, it's not the fate of the warring countries or the lives of non-humans that Geralt is truly invested in during this journey, it's the life of his daughter who is the single most important thing in his life. The time he spent with her was a reminder of the love that he held for her. 

This single line of dialogue ties up the relationship between Geralt and Ciri no matter what approach you took to dealing with her. Like I said earlier, it's an important moment of clarity for the player in which we realize that we've merely been someone on a quest, on the trail of the real main character of this plot. Which can explain a lot about the pacing of The Witcher 3. Of course, I don't want anyone to think this is a bad thing. It's an incredible moment, one where we realize the powerlessness that we have as players at the end. Yes we found Ciri. Yes we altered the course of the war. Yes we defeated The Wild Hunt. But in the end, we are powerless to stop the most important person to our character from leaving to her possible death. You do have an impact on the outcome of course, but this is in how you build your relationship with Ciri, how you treat her as she struggles to figure out how she deals with the fate she's been dealt. In that moment, you see Geralt become emotionally broken and powerless, with even Ciri stating " What would you know about saving the world? You're just a Witcher." 

Herein lies the beauty of some of the final moments of The Witcher 3, and what I believe to be one of the finest parent-child relationships in any game I've played. It builds up the level of care and love Geralt has through Ciri throughout the game, illustrating the lengths he goes to in order to ensure her safety. Then it yanks the rug out from under you, and reminds you that Ciri is her own woman and you don't get to decide what she does no matter how much you might want to. In a game that so intimately features player choice, it's a stark reminder that as players and as people we don't always have control over what others do, even when those people are important to us and our characters.