Line #649 VideoGame/Persona4


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/persona_4.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350: ''[[ThematicThemeTune We're all trapped in a maze of relationships.]]''[[note]]Clockwise from the bottom-left: [[TeamPet Teddie]], [[IdolSinger Rise]], [[{{Tomboy}} Chie]], [[{{Delinquents}} Kanji]], [[FightingSpirit Izanagi]], [[KidDetective Naoto]], [[ButtMonkey Yosuke]], [[YamatoNadeshiko Yukiko]], and [[TheHero Yu.]][[/note]]]]
3	->''"Life is truth, and never a dream...\
4	All souls know this from birth...\
5	The truth is something that is chosen and grasped...\
6	Something discovered with one's vision and will.\
7	Only by gaining that does the seeker become truth himself,\
8	a cord that connects past and future."''
9	-->-- '''Igor, Master of the Velvet Room'''
10
11	''Persona 4'' is an UrbanFantasy RolePlayingGame, and the [[NumberedSequels fourth numbered sequel]] in the ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' {{JRPG}} franchise's ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' [[{{Spinoff}} sub-series]], developed by Creator/{{Atlus}} for the Platform/PlayStation2 and later the [[Platform/PlayStationVita PlayStation Vita]] and PC. It released in Japan on July 10th, 2008, in North America on December 9th, and in Europe on March 13th, 2009. In April 2014, the original game has been available for download on the Platform/PlayStationNetwork for Platform/PlayStation3.
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13	You are an OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent, staying with relatives in the rural town of Inaba for a year while your parents are working abroad. Soon after you settle in with your uncle and young cousin, a series of impossible murders begin to rock the sleepy town: victims who suddenly disappear, only for their bodies to be found hanging upside down from telephone poles with no obvious cause of death. All while the sleepy town is undergoing a massive upheaval when a respected politician undergoes a messy divorce and the small town's bonds are being eroded by the presence of bigger businesses, causing distrust in the town.
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15	Meanwhile, you decide to check out a new UrbanLegend called the "Midnight Channel": supposedly, if you stare into the screen of a switched-off television set on a rainy midnight, an image will appear that shows your soulmate. However, when you try it out, you instead discover a strange alternate world on the other side of the television screen, shrouded in a perpetual, oppressive fog.
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17	Someone or something is kidnapping innocent people and throwing them into this world, where [[TheHeartless the monstrous Shadows]] that inhabit it will eventually kill them. Using a mysterious inner power called "Persona", you and your friends form an investigation team to rescue the kidnapped victims before they are killed and solve the mystery of who is responsible.
18
19	''Persona 4'' takes place in the same [[TheVerse universe]] as all the other ''Persona'' games, and begins almost exactly a year after the events of "The Answer" in ''[[VideoGame/Persona3 Persona 3 FES]]''. The game runs off the ''Persona 3'' engine and even on the same console, but with some upgrades to the graphics and different game mechanics. Most of ''Persona 3'''s main features return, including the popular Social Links and the calendar day system - just as in ''Persona 3'', the game takes place within an entire school year.
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21	One major difference is that instead of the player climbing one long tower for much of the game's combat, the player instead enters the TV World and has access to multiple dungeons that unlock as the story progresses. Plotwise, the setting is rural versus the urban setting of ''Persona 3'', which creates an entirely different feeling and plays against the game's main themes. Notably, some of the sexual overtones present in earlier ''Persona'' titles have returned in this one.
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23	An UpdatedRerelease, ''Persona 4 Golden'' was released on June 14th, 2012 for the Platform/PlayStationVita in Japan, November 20th in North America, and February 22th, 2013 in Europe, and was later released on Platform/{{Steam}} on June 13th, 2020, making it the first mainline ''Persona'' title to hit non-Sony platforms since the first ''VideoGame/{{Persona\|1}}''[[note]][[NoExportForYou though the PC port of that game was Japan-only]][[/note]]. It also released on Platform/PlayStation4, Platform/XboxOne, Platform/XboxSeriesXAndS, and Platform/NintendoSwitch on January 19, 2023. It features alternate costumes for characters, two new Social Links with Tohru Adachi and new character Marie, new enemies and areas to explore, new Ultimate Personas for the party, new gameplay mechanics in both the real world and in the Midnight Channel involving motorbikes, [[CombinationAttack combination attacks]] between characters, a new BadEnding, new events taking place during the main story and between the December to March TimeSkip, a new epilogue, and on top of all of that, a completely redone opening animation by Creator/{{Madhouse}}. In addition, the multiplatform port fixes various minor graphical issues and adds new features in the form of SuspendSave so the player can make a temporary save anywhere and the Album feature to allow re-viewing past scenes, which in turn also allows the player to pick options they did not choose in the actual scene without having to reload a save or start over. These additions are added to the Steam version on the same date as the multplatform port's release as a free update.
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25	[[folder:Spin-offs]]
26	* ''VideoGame/Persona4Arena'': A ''Franchise/BlazBlue''-style fighting game set two months after the conclusion of the original story and co-developed with Creator/ArcSystemWorks, featuring several characters from ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}''.
27	** ''VideoGame/Persona4ArenaUltimax'': A sequel, featuring new characters & arenas.
28	** ''VideoGame/BlazBlueCrossTagBattle'': A MassiveMultiplayerCrossover spin-off of the ''Franchise/BlazBlue'' series, which includes representatives from ''Persona'', ''VideoGame/UnderNightInBirth'' and ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}''.
29	* ''Anime/Persona4TheAnimation'': An ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin anime series adaptation. This also christens the protagonist's name to be 'Yu Narukami', which will be used throughout appearances like ''VideoGame/Persona4Arena'' and ''VideoGame/BlazBlueCrossTagBattle''
30	** ''Persona 4: The Animation ~The Factor of Hope~'': A CompilationMovie CompressedAdaptation of the anime series.
31	** ''Anime/Persona4TheGoldenAnimation'': A ''second'' anime adaptation, this time based on the aforementioned UpdatedRerelease and done by the studio that did the anime cutscenes in the original game.
32	* ''VideoGame/PersonaQShadowOfTheLabyrinth'': A crossover with ''Persona 3'' that somehow takes place during… ''both'' games. Lifts its gameplay from fellow Atlus series ''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey''.
33	** ''VideoGame/PersonaQ2NewCinemaLabyrinth'': A sequel that also crossovers with ''VideoGame/Persona5''.
34	* ''VideoGame/Persona4DancingAllNight'': A RhythmGame initially made by the developers of the popular ''VideoGame/HatsuneMikuProjectDiva'' series. [[OddballInTheSeries Yes, really. And Miku is DLC]].
35	* ''Persona 4'': A [[ComicBookAdaptation Manga Adaptation]] running in ''Dengeki Black Maoh''. This adaptation named the protagonist 'Souji Seta'.
36	* ''Persona 4: The Magician'': A short SpinOff manga that ran in ''Persona Magazine'' and starred Yosuke Hanamura, detailing his time in Inaba prior to the events of the games.
37	* ''Literature/PersonaXDetectiveNaoto'': A LightNovel featuring Naoto Shirogane investigating a new case outside of Inaba two years after the original story. Originally considered to be canon and even declared as such by ''P4'' director, Katsura Hashino, it has since fallen into CanonDiscontinuity and was officially retconned out of existence by ''Ultimax''.
38	* ''[=VisuaLive=]: Persona 4'': A Japanese-only live stage production which ran from March 15 through March 20 of 2012 and [[CompressedAdaptation roughly covered]] the first half of the game.
39	** ''[=VisuaLive=]: Persona 4 Evolution'': A sequel which roughly covers the second half of the game.
40	[[/folder]]
41	----
42	!!I am a Troper... The true self...
43	[[index]]
44	* [[Persona4/TropesAToF Tropes A To F]]
45	** [[Foreshadowing/Persona4 Foreshadowing]]
46	* [[Persona4/TropesGToN Tropes G To N]]
47	** [[MythologyGag/Persona4 Mythology Gag]]
48	* [[Persona4/TropesOToZ Tropes O To Z]]
49	[[/index]]
50	----
51	->''"We're all trapped in a maze of relationships,\
52	Life goes on with or without you\
53	I swim in the sea of the unconscious,\
54	I search for your heart, pursuing my true self..."''

Context VideoGame / Persona4