Let's Play Persona 4: Everyday's Great at your Junes!

I will not give up!

man good thing that creeper doesn't go to our school! We won't see him again, with all luck!

Yeah! I'm sure he only has his own sprite and avatar because Atlus likes creepers. Haven't you noticed? All the creepy characters in this game has their own thing. Igor, King Moron, and then this creepy guy.

Pockets and his new friends chat about stuff on their way home.



Inaba is called a suburb, but it's more rural than your typical suburb. The place is known for a few things, as Chie will tell us in a moment. It's also known for its steak. Strangely, for a place with famous steak, it doesn't have any visible cows. Maybe all the cows here are invisible. I don't know.

Chie: That's what makes it nice, but there's nothing much we can show to people from outside. Oh! Though, there is something from Mt. Yasogami... I think our dyed clothes or pottery or something is kinda famous. Oh wait, there's the Amagi Inn! Yukiko's family funs it. It's the pride of Inaba!
Yukiko: Huh? It's... just an old inn.
Chie: Oh, no way, it's been in all sorta magazines as a hidden treasure. It's a great inn! It's been going on for generations, and Yukiko here is going to take over someday. The inn actually attracts a lot of visitors to Inaba. It pretty much keeps this town going.
Yukiko:... I don't think that's entirely true.

Bored with the topic of inns, Chie changes the subject.



Whoa! That was super direct. We actually have a dialog choice here, but I forgot to take a screenshot of it. The options are. "Yeah" (or something like that), "It's hard to tell", and "...". I went with this first one.

Chie: I knew it!

Yukiko isn't too happy about it.



Chie: She's really popular at school, but she's never had a boyfriend. Kinda weird, huh?
Yukiko: C-Come on, stop it.

Yukiko freaks out.





Chie: Hahaha! Sorry, sorry. But this is our chance to talk to someone from the big city, and you barely said a word! Hey, what was that?

Don't worry, she has a whole year to talk to him! He's not running away!

In the mean time, we walk over to whatever it is Chie just saw.



Shopping housewife: I wanted to see it too.
Spectating housewife: Uh, you got here too late... the police and fire department took it down just a moment ago.
Shopping housewife: Well, I think it's terrifying. I can't believe a dead body show up around here...

What? A dead body?



A familiar face shows up.



We choose to actually answer the question.

Dojima: Huh... I should have figured that'd happen. That damn principle. We told him not to let them through here.
Chie: You know this guy?
Dojima: I'm Detective Dojima, his guardian. Uhh... Well, how should I say this... I hope you get along with him.

Why does every act like Pockets's going to be the biggest jerk?

Dojima: But you three really out to stop wandering around and head straight home.

Before we could respond, a guy hastily runs past us and vomits.





Dojima: *sigh* Go wash your face. We're gonna go around and gather information!

Chie: Was this what that announcement was about...?
Yukiko: What do they mean... it was hanging from the antenna?

Someone was being creative in their murdering tactics.



And with that, they take off. Pockets heads straight home.

The evening comes, and we're again watching TV with Nanako at home.



Announcer: Our top story this evening concerns a bizarre case in a quiet suburb. Around noon today, a woman was found dead near the Samegawa River in Inaba.



She's that woman in the affair that's been on the news lately! I can't believe that was more than just a random news!

Announcer: The initial results of the Inaba Police Department's investigation have revealed...
Nanako: Ah! The Inaba Police Department! Th-That's where Dad works!



We decide to be a big guy and comforts Nanako.



But Nanako's also a big girl for her age!

Announcer: The body was found hanging from a large television antenna atop a local resident's roof. Authorities are uncertain as to why the body was in such a state. With the cause of death also uncertain, police continue to investigate whether the death is an accident or a homicide. A thick fog common to the area has slowed their progress, and plans to fully canvass the area are delayed until tomorrow.



It's amazing how a commercial can change a kid's mood!

Nanako, of course, sings along.





B-but.. the song has like one line!



After dinner, we again get a chance to control Pants Pockets and save the game. Being able to save the game, that's what help us get through this Longest Intro Ever!



And here you can see how many times I have played this game.

Nanako is too worried about her dad to talk to us.





Nothing in the fridge today.



Not much else we can do now, so we'll just go to sleep.



And with that, we got through Day 2 of our 5-day intro! And the mystery has just started.

Coming up next: It's only day 3 of our 5-day intro! Yousuke can't possibly get into another accident, right?

Damn, that sure is a high school.

I'm done updating for today. But, in the interest of thinning out the pages so that each page doesn't have like 1,000,000 pictures ever, here's something for you to vote on!

Vote 1: To solo or not to solo?

Throughout the course of the game, Pockets will gain many more party members. We can have 4 in our party at a time, so we'll have to decide who to go dungeon crawling with.

Something I've wanted to try though, is a solo run. The idea is that you kick everyone out and only use the protagonist for the whole game. Vote yes for this if you want to see this happens. This, unfortunately, may be fun and challenging to play, but probably not very fun to watch.

Vote 2: Command or Free Action?

In P4 there are several tactics you can use with your party members. Among them are Free Action (your party members act on their own) and Command (you control their turns). In P3, there's no Command option, so you never directly control your party members' turns. This was a source of grief for a lot of people. So the Command option is definitely an improvement in P4.

I never had many problems with the lack of Command in P3, though. Sure, sometimes I wished that Mitsuru would stop using Marin Karin already (seriously, it doesn't work!), but it was nice that your party members felt like people with their own minds, instead of an extension of the protagonist. Even though they felt like stupid people.

So another thing I've been thinking is to play through the game with your party always on Free Action. Vote yes or no.

Vote 3: Max social links or not?

Pretty self explanatory! If you vote yes, you're telling me to follow a max social link guide. Pro: you will get to see all social links, with all rank-up events. Cons: you don't get many inputs on how I play the game.

If you vote no, every day you'll get a vote on who you want Pockets to spend that afternoon/evening with. You may get to see all of the social links, but that's very unlikely. Cons: you will miss out on some rank-up events. Pro: you get a lot of inputs and votes. You feel like you're actually making choices instead of just reading a guide.

Not solo

Free action

Max social links

No solo.

Free action.

No max.

Ditto on all counts.

Unless you really really want to play solo, I guess? I'm not the one playing it.

This. When I played P4 I always used command. I�m curious to see how competent your party members are if you don�t tell them what to do.

Not really, it's just fun to think about!

Something to keep in mind for Free Action is that it will limit/change (but mostly limit) our strategies quite a bit, because who knows what other characters are doing! So in a sense I guess it's kind of similar to going solo. Just thought I'd mention this, because I neglected to mention what it means to be on Free Action when you're watching (as opposed to playing).

I wonder about the same thing!

Not solo

Whatever

Max social links

This is the optimal setup for an LP as it offers many entertaining possibilities.

This is the intro that doesn't end...yes it goes on and on, my friends.

I also agree with No Solo, Free Action and No Max.

I concur with the others to for No Solo, Free action, and Not maxing S.Links. Try to max as many as you can, but don't sacrifice the gameplay for it. I would focus on the party members' S.Links, for reasons that will become clear.

No Solo
Free Action
Whatevs

With community polls to try to predict which party members will have the shittiest AI.

No Solo
Command

You are all awful people.

Persona 4: The Intro (Part IV)

It's another morning, and Pockets is on his way to school.

Looks like some idiot crashed their bike again, this time into a trash can.



But Pockets has proven to be at no help in these situation, so the poor guy will probably be ignored.



Guess not!

This time, he's a "rolling student".





It bothers me that they spell Yousuke's name that way. That's definitely a long o!

It could be funny to ask "Is your bike okay?", but we choose to be polite instead.

Yousuke: Say, did you hear about the incident from yesterday? They found that announcer hanging from an antenna! You think it was some kind of warning? There's no way something that weird could have been an accident.



Pockets is an agreeable guy.

Yousuke: Dangling a dead body over a roof like that... That's just messed up. Then again, it's pretty messed up to kill someone in the first place. Oh crap, we're late! You wanna ride? It's a little squeaky, but it should be fine.

Pockets has the most appropriate reaction to this question.



Then we're stuck in a classroom with King Moron for the morning.



Mr. Morooka: You guys ARE in high school, aren't you!? Can't you shut up during class? Don't you have any common sense? First of all, my job is to waste my time teaching you assholes philosophy! And since I'm so nice... I'll straighten up your rotten attitude when I'm at it! Aren't you honored!? And I'll be going especially hard on any of you morons that're curious about the murder! Got it!? Now get your book out!



PANTS POCKETS, WHAT DID YOU LEARN?

Yousuke hangs out with Pockets after class.



Yousuke: Wow, that was fast. There isn't much to do here compared to the big city, but there is that certain... something you can't get anywhere else. The air's clean, the food's great... Oh, you know about the local delicacy? It's grilled steak, man! Like that's anything special, huh? I know a place where you can get it cheap. Wanna come? You helped me out this morning, so it's on me.

Because someone mentioned grilled steak, Chie appears.



Chie: My "Trial of the Dragon".
Yousuke: Urgh... You always come around when I'm talking about food.

Well, she wasn't called "The Carnivore Who's Discarded Womanhood" in P4 Arena for no reason!

Chie: How about it, Yukiko? Don't you think he should treat us, too?
Yukiko: I'll pass... I don't want to gain any more weight. I need to help out at the inn today, anyway.
Yousuke:Wow, Yukiko-san! You started training to take over the business?
Yukiko: It's not like that! I'm just helping out when it gets busy. Well, I should be on my way.
Chie: Oh well. We should get going too.
Yousuke: Huh? Do I seriously have to treat two people...?

A while later, Pockets and his friends are at Junes.

The cheerful Junes theme that's McDohl's Animal Crossing town music.



Chie: Still, there's no reason to take us to your place.
Yousuke: Dude, this isn't my place or anything. (To Pockets) Oh right, I haven't told you yet, huh? I moved here from another city about six months back. This location just opened up, and my dad was assigned to manage it. So our entire family came out here. Here, this is to welcome you to town. Satonaka, yours is on me too.
Chie: Yeah, I know.



Chie: It's only been half a year since this place opened up, but I haven't been to the local shopping district much since. A lot of stores there started closing, and.. Oh, uh...
Yousuke: You can't blame it all on Junes, can you?

Junes invasion is changing the small town of Inaba, and it does show. There are several closed, abandoned stores at the shopping district that stays closed and abandoned during the whole game. Their sole purpose is to show Junes's impact on this place. It's just a small, minor details that doesn't affect gameplay much, but makes the place feels real.

That said, this is one area where I feel the game could have developed more, but didn't. Outside of the main plot, at the end of the game the town feels the same as in the beginning. No additional closed stores, no newly opened stores, no indication of what direction the town is going. It would have been nice if this theme and mini-plot were explored somewhat.

In the mean time, they get distracted from their conversation as a girl walks into the food court.



Chie: Haha, he wishes. Oh, that's Saki Konichi. Her family runs a liquor store in the shopping district... I think she's working here part-time, though.



Saki: What's up, Hana-chan? Boosting the family business by bringing your friends here?
Yousuke: Madam, you wound me! Kidding aside... You look down. Did something happen?
Saki: ... It's nothing. I"m just a little tired.
Yousuke: Hey, if you need to talk, I'm always willing to listen. I...
Saki: *chuckle* I'm okay. Thanks, though. *sigh* Why did I leave school early yesterday...?

Although the game doesn't say it explicitly, Saki is one year older than Yousuke. There are a couple indications of this, none of which is apparent to those who are not familiar with Japanese culture. The first is that Yousuke called her "senpai", a suffix used to address upperclassmen. Then there's the the fact that Saki calls him "Hana-chan". "Chan" is a suffix used overwhelming for girls, but sometimes for younger boys.

After saying something that piques our curiosity, she quickly changes the subject.



Saki: It must be nice to have someone else from the big city to talk to, huh? I don't see Hana-chan hanging out with the other guys much.
Yousuke: N-Not necessarily...
Saki: He doesn't have too many friends, so I hope you two get along good.



We again choose to be nice.

Saki: Ahaha, I know... I'm just kidding.
Yousuke: C-C'mon, senpai. There's no need to worry about something like that.
Saki: Well, my break's just about over. Back to work I go... Laters!



But she's already gone.

Yousuke: Hahah, Saki-senpai says I'm annoying, but she's even nosier than me. She has a younger brother, and she treats me pretty much the same way.
Chie: Ohh, you don't want her treating you like a brother, huh? Oh, I get it... That's how it is... The daughter of a local family-run liquor store and the scion of the invading chain... The flame of forbidden love!
Yousuke: Wha--!? Dude, it's not like that.
Chie: Oh reaaaally... Well, I know just the thing to cheer up that lovesick heart.



Ooooh, another rumor! But before we hear what Chie has to say about the Midnight Channel, let's take a closer look at the characters we've met so far.

In case you haven't guessed it, Yousuke and Chie are pretty important characters in this game. They are two of your day social links, Magician and Chariot.

Yousuke Hanamura is sort of your "sidekick". He's goofy, into girls, and more responsible than Junpei in P3. Like Pockets, Yousuke moved here from a big city not very long ago. Maybe that's why he's taken a liking to Pockets almost right away. Yousuke makes a lot of jokes and is the target of a lot of jokes (and they're pretty funny, too!). At times, he can be pretty serious.

Yousuke's social link is about his relationship with the town and people of Inaba as an outsider and invader because of Junes. It's also about a tragedy that's happening soon at the beginning of the game that will influence him deeply.

Chie Satonaka is a tomboyish girl. She's one of our dateable social link. She like kungfu, eating, steak, steak, and steak. Her social link is about two things: training and Yukiko. These two things are sort of related too, as we will find out. Chie has been Yukiko's best friend since childhood, and this relationship is a big part of who she is.

Now that we're done talking about these characters, let's hear about this midnight channel thing!

So that's what she and Yukiko was talking about in class yesterday!



Ouch.

Yousuke: How can you get all excited over a childish urban legend like that?
Chie: Well, it's raining tonight! Let's all try it out-- then you'll see!
Yousuke: Try it out...? Wait, you haven't even tried it yourself!?




Yousuke's so not getting the lady.

Yousuke: All that aside... you know that "incident" yesterday? You guys think it was a murder? Ooh, what if the culprit behind it was still lurking around...? Heehee...
Chie: Sheesh, you shouldn't joke about stuff like that. Now who's the childish one...? All I am saying is, you guys better try it out tonight.

The game clearly wants us to.



The evening comes, and we again find ourselves alone with Nanako. We comfort her, like we did last time.



Nanako: ... Yeah.



Dojima: I'm back. Did anything happen while I was out?
Nanako: No. You're late again...
Dojima: I'm sorry. Been busy at work. Can you put the news on for me?



Announcer: Announcer Mayumi Yamano's dead body was found hanging above a house in this isolated rural town. Next, more details in the developing story on the incident in foggy Inaba. It is confirmed that Ms. Yamano had been involved in an affair with Taro Namatame, husband of enka singer Misuzu Hiiragi.

The game tries to give us some hint (or red herring, who knows!)



Announcer: The police plans to investigate this relationship and question any personnel involved with them. In addition, we now bring you an exclusive interview with the local student who found Ms. Yamano's body.
Dojima: *sigh* An interview with the kid...? Where the hell did they find her?



It's hard to see from the photo, but her face is blurred out. Her voice is also heavily distorted. Pockets, however, seems to recognize her.



Reporter: Don't you think it's scary that someone was killed on a foggy day?
Female student: Huh...? She was killed?
Reporter: Oh, err... So did you see anyone suspicious around here?
Female student: No, not really...?
Reporter: We heard that you found it when you left school early. Did you have some personal business to take care of?

What kind of interview is this? This reporter needs to be fired.



Pockets realizes the obvious thing.

Announcer: --A tragedy that occurred near the local shopping district. Many storeowners are raising concerns about losing customers as a result...
Dojima: Hmph. If they lose more customers, it's because you're making such a stink about it...
Commentator: It really is a bizarre case, isn't it? I mean, hanging someone upside down from an antenna... I'd have to say it's a warning or a sign from the culprit.
Announcer: Yes, but so far, no one has come forward to take credit for the crime.
Dojima: Loads of prank calls, though...
Commentator: So the cause is death is still unknown? And they don't have a single suspect yet? Taxpayers' funds are going to a police force who can't even figure out if this is an accident or an homicide?
Dojima:...
Announcer: We'll be right back after these messages.





Nanako: Hey Dad... Can we go to Junes together sometimes?
Dojima: ....
Nanako: ...no?



After dinner, we again gain control of Pockets. There's still nothing much we can do other then saving the game. When we talks to Nanako, she says that she'll wake Dojima back to tell him to go to his room when she goes to bed.

We save the game, and do the only thing we can do here.

It's almost midnight, and we find ourselves sitting alone in our room staring at a TV. Kind of depressing, if you think about it.

A video of this cutscene. The title says it's from P4G, but they're the same cutscene.

For those of you who don't like to watch the cutscene video for some reason, this is what happens.



It's dark and rainy out.



Pockets stare at the TV. After a few seconds, he feels kind of stupid and turns away when suddenly there's light coming out of the TV screen.



There's a video with a woman in some sort of struggle. There's a lot of noise, so it's hard to tell who or where.



Pockets watches it carefully.



Suddenly there's a voice ringing in his head.

I am thou, and thou art I
Thou art the one who opens the door



There's thunder outside. Pockets holds his head and falls to the ground.



After recovering, he tries to touch the TV. Because that's the natural thing to do after hearing voices in your head, or something. I don't even know. Surprisingly, something happens!



He tries to do it again and finds that he can stick his hold hand in.



Or even more than that.



Panicked, he tries to back away, and falls to the floor, hitting his head on the table.



The noise wakes Nanako up.



And he decides to talk to the others tomorrow.



That's it for today, folks!

Since there are folks that have never played or heard anything about the game before, I'd request that spoilers be put in spoiler tags. I'd like to also open the thread for speculations and guesses from folks that have never played the game, but I'm not sure how to make those kind of speculating spoilers distinguishable from spoilers who folks that do know what's going to happen. Maybe one should be written with highlighted spoilers, the other with collapsable spoilers? I don't know.

I gotta say, WR, you're setting a cracking pace here. Also,

Thanks for this. Reading is quicker than watching (and quieter).

I've actually been going at one game-day per one real-day, as I said. It's just that the days during the intro are long and have way too much text. Sometimes I thought about cutting some of the conversations and only keeping the important details, but it's the little things that make a game charming... so I ended up including all of them.

I don't have as much time during the weekend though, so this thing may not keep up during weekends.

I also mostly want to get to the point of actual gameplay so people can vote on things!

And I didn't think that Free Action would be so popular. Here's hoping that the AI does not suck!

Also, for people who have played, do you keep the same party all the time or do you keep switching people out? I do the former, but I'm thinking that that's not as entertaining in an LP.

Thou art Thee art Thou stick your hand in the TV do it do it do it!

Note: Everything after about 5:35 is stuff we haven't seen for those not wishing to be spoiled.

Seconded. I do the majority of my LP consumption at work, where I can read but I can't watch.

As I'm sitting idly in waiting for the last 10 minutes of the work week to past, I thought of something else for you to vote for~!

We won't be there until a few more days, but eventually Pockets will join a sport club and a culture club. There are two options for each type of club, and we have to choose one. The only real difference between the options is who you'll have a social link with.

SPORT CLUBS

The sport club's social link is kind of strange in that no matter which sport you choose, you'll end up socializing with both Kou and Daisuke. However, your main social link person is different depending on your decision.

+ Basketball: If you vote for this one, you'll spend more time with Kou Ichijo.



Kou is childhood friends with Daisuke, and is an approachable, carefree, laid-back guy. His social link is about the conflict between his uptight, traditional family and his hobby, basketball.

+ Soccer: If you vote for soccer, you'll spend more time with Daisuke Nagase.



Despite being close friends with Kou, Daisuke is appears to be more reserved and straightforward. His social links about his fear of failure and his issues with women (this isn't as exciting as it sounds, he doesn't want anything to do with women).

CULTURE CLUB

Unlike the sport club social links, the culture club social links don't have anything to do with each other.

Keep in mind that the culture club social link is one of our dateable ones, so whoever you choose will become a dating candidate.

+ Music Club: If you vote for the music club, you'll spend time with Ayane Matsugana.



She's your underclassman and she's kind of cute. She's very shy. Oh, and also very short. She looks like she's 12. Her social link is about her love for music and how she struggles to be better at it. The social link ends kind of sadly, in my opinion (this does not mean the the S.link itself sucks).

+ Drama Club: If you vote for the drama club, you'll spend time with Yumi Ozawa.



Yumi is mature, especially in comparison to Ayane. She's also a bit cold and distant. Her social link is about her relationship with her father, whom she hates.

Vote for your favorite in each club! This poll will be open for a while, until whenever we have to make a decision in-game.

Soccer, because Mega Man.

Drama, because high school.

Basketball and Drama.

Soccer Drama!

Kou sounds like more fun to hang out with.

And Yumi is a fun name, so that's another vote for the Drama Club.