Persona 4, coming out in Japan for the PS2 on July 10.

I remember back in the summer of 2001. I had graduated high school and was accepted into the Art Fundamentals program at Sheridan College, having missed out on their legendary Classical Animation department by quite a wide margin. One of the last days I spent in the US that summer was spent hanging out in Manhattan after attend kung-fu lessons in Tribeca. Deciding I’d like a game to play while I was over there, I ducked into a Gamestop near the corner of E 8th St. and Broadway. I made a beeline for the PS1 games, as I would only be able to bring my mid-generation Playstation with me on the trip (don’t laugh, it’s got the gold PSM magazine smiley lid sticker.) On that fateful day, I picked up two games, and made a very hard choice: do I want a turn-based strategy game based on Journey to the West where Sun Wukong turns into a giant monkey and kicks ass, or an RPG that takes place in modern times where people call on the mythical beings within them to kick ass? I ended up picking Persona 2: Eternal Punishment that day, and the path my gaming life took was decided. I have not looked back since, especially because I bought Saiyuki later when I was in Canada and didn’t like it as much as Persona 2.

With the release of Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 imminent, the ever-growing contingent of US Megami Tensei fans wait with bated breath. for the announcement of its US release date or getting ready to import the Japanese version. While we have some time, how about a nice round of speculation to rile us up even more?

What? No Evokers?

Kanji Tatsumi’s shades do not conform to the laws of physics. They only reflect the most awesome thing at any given time.

Alright, this seems like as good a place to start as any. I’m pretty sure ATLUS got our attention plenty with teenagers blowing their brains out in Persona 3. They didn’t use gun-style Evokers in the previous Persona games so I’m not surprised they’re not in Persona 4. In fact, guns aren’t even the only type of Evoker out there. (Remember Koromaru?) Who’s to say that there aren’t other types of Evokers for human use out there?

This time around, there seem to be two elements of Persona use: glasses and cards. At this point, we’re still unsure of what exactly the glasses do, besides draw in moe fetishists. Like regular glasses, they might help you see clearer, especially in the hazy atmosphere of Mayonaka TV. Additionally, summoning one’s persona now involves destroying its card in the flashiest way possible, whether it be shooting it, bashing it with a folding chair, or slicing it in midair. Like in Persona 3, it seems that Personas can be summoned even without the glasses and cards, as the main character in the intro movie clearly does.

What is Mayonaka TV?

Supposedly, on rainy nights, when you’re alone and look into your TV when the timer resets to midnight, you can see someone with your own face looking back at you through the screen.

When the main character tries this, he sees images of what appears to be an attack on a person, followed by a voice that stops the moment a nearby transformer is shorted out by a lightning bolt. A moment after, he realizes that the screen of his TV no longer shows his reflection! Touching the screen sucks him into the TV, dropping in a soundstage-looking room along with his classmates Yosuke and Chie, who apparently have also tried the same thing. They are greeted by Kuma, a seemingly empty stuffed suit.

Smile for the camera! You’re in a Shin Megami Tensei game!

It can be presumed that it will be on this first night that they first encounter Shadows and awaken their Personas. The Famitsu promo DVD shows these events taking place in an area with the same yellowish haze as the room where they first find themselves…

As the weather will be replacing moon phases in this installment of Persona, the ramifications of exactly what Mayonaka TV is become… interesting, to say the least. Incursions by Mayonaka TV appear to coincide with the electromagnetic conditions caused by the weather. When conditions are just right, our world and the electromagnetic playground of Mayonaka TV overlap. During this time, TV sets become a gateway to the world of Mayonaka TV.

Mayonaka TV may be entirely man-made in nature. A similar attempt to open a portal to mankind’s collective unconscious occurred in Revelations: Persona when Guido Kandori tried to use a comatose girl to open a gate to “another universe,” unknowingly causing her subconscious mind to interpose with reality.

So, what’s in store?

Gameplay will be a lot like P3 with days consisting of going to school and forming Social Links with people around town and classmates. The battle system is also the same, except that you can actually control your other characters rather than just set their AI routines. There are other tweaks, such as knocking characters that are low on HP out of the way to take a hit, knocking some sense into Confused characters, and helping up allies that have been knocked down without the use of a spell.

From the promo materials, it can be inferred that summer vacation is going to be spent roughing it in the woods. Unlike Persona 3, you might not be able to just take a week off from fighting Shadows this time, especially if someone decides to bring a battery-operated TV with them.

Besides dealing with the Shadows, it seems that the major boss fights will be Shadow versions of each of the party members. When the weather is right, the party will have to confront a dark mirror of one of the main characters.

Is anyone from the previous Persona games showing up?

Guess who’s back, and more yandere than ever!

Persona 4 begins in the year 2011, about a year after the end of Persona 3. That means the only major characters from Persona 3 (i.e. playable or part of Social Links) that haven’t died, moved away, or graduated by the beginning of P4 are Chihiro, Miss Toriumi, and the old couple from the bookstore. Ken may show up, but he’ll most likely be too busy with middle school to put in any face time.

A rather shocking group of screenshots from Famitsu magazine shows the characters not only visiting the city where Persona 3 took place, but Chihiro actually greeting them at the gates of Gekkoukan High School!

As a side note, no Angelo, the cops from the opening movie are NOT the same as the ones from the Trinity Soul anime.

What’s the deal with Kuma?

As far as we’ve seen, Kuma fulfills a similar role to Philemon, the astral being that assists the party by awakening their latent Persona abilities in the earlier Persona titles. Kuma, however, takes a much more proactive role in helping out the player, even going so far as to join the main character in battle.

Besides being an active party member, Kuma shows another significant aspect. In the opening movie, much like the main character, he is never shown in silhouette. Like the main character, he also isn’t ever seen on video.

What’s more, Kuma is shown to be able to manifest in the real world! In promo movies, he is shown staring off into the sunrise with the other characters and in the Famitsu preview, he is shown at the Hagakure, the ramen shop from P3.

Kuma is definitely has some kind of relation to the main character. Exactly what that is has yet to be revealed&hellip:

What will be the Social Links this time?

The promo videos released thus far have shown some of the Social Links your character will be establishing this time around.

Once again, The Fool is your main party, consisting of your fellow Persona users, budding Persona users who are learning about their powers and finding out the mystery of Mayonaka TV. Strength involves your character helping out your chosen sports team to gain enough members to compete. Justice is Nanako, the little girl the main character lives with. Chariot is your teammate Chie Satonaka, a tomboyish girl with a passion for martial arts movies.

Other characters have been shown. Your class rep is a tallish girl named Yumi Ozawa, and she seems like a fit for The Empress. An Aspiring musician named Ayane Matsunaga could be Fortune. I’m betting that the school nurse will represent Temperance. A fox that seems to hang around the local shrines seems like a likely candidate for Hanged Man, or maybe even Sun.

Where is the Velvet Room going this time?

In the Persona 4 promo DVD, Igor explains that the Velvet Room is once again a place between “dreams and reality.” Only this time, it’s a totally sweet limo.

Even in a Megaten game, victory comes to those who believe in the heart in the cards.

In short, the limo is going to a party. In Persona 3, the Velvet room took the form of an elevator, heading ever closer to is destination, the top floor of Tartarus. This time, Igor is also shown in the rather Spartan room that appears in the opening movie, if only for a few seconds.

Waiting for the main character at this party is the final boss. Conventional logic suggests that the end boss may be Yamato no Orochi. Since your characters’ personas are all figures from Japanese legend, it makes sense that the final boss could be the eight-headed dragon from Japanese myth. If there are eight characters in the game, and each one has a Shadow, then the main character’s Shadow will be a reflection of the choices you made through the game.

“How can people summon Personas in a limo,” you ask? Well, anyone who’s ever rode inside a stretch limo can tell you they’re a lot bigger on the inside than they look on the outside…

Will the Giant Green Demon Dick in a Wheelchair show up?

ATLUS has been using that design for Mara since Shin Megami Tensei II on the Super Famicom. If they’re putting it in this game, that’s what it’s going to look like.

What are those funky lyrics to the opening song?

These words show up at various intervals during the opening movie while each character appears in silhouette. This includes a block of “h” that shows up with Kanji’s silhouette, which seems to coincide with an “Ahhhhhh” pause after the first stanza.

Got any last words?

Seriously, this one still has me stumped. Goddamn you Atlus.

Boy, do I.

After looking through hours of video, poring over Famitsu scans, and suffering through the sheer pit that is the GameFAQs forums, I am no closer to figuring out the significance of one particular image: when Igor and Margaret static in and out of a stark room which is most definitely not the posh limo that is the Velvet Room.

Well, that’s about all I’ve got for now. If you’ve got a questions, comments, or hefty bribes, be sure to discuss it on our very own Disorganization XIII forum. We have one of those, you know. You might even be able to get in some quality bitching before the game comes out on July 10th. If you can’t import, feel free to bitch anyway while you wait for the US release!

A rant post by Koshi on July 2, 2008