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."
