Persona 4 Revival Preview: Full Breakdown & Transcript

[00:00] Um, I have no clue what's going on, but I do know you can fight back with that cool power. >> Last year's Persona 3 Reload was a Persona would become. P3 Reload proved that Atlas could modernize its old

[00:17] Persona titles while maintaining its feel and identity. And now it's Persona 4's turn with Persona 4 Revival. Based on the PlayStation VA's enhanced golden version of the game, Revival will once again see your small group of Persona

[00:32] users figure out the cause of a mysterious set of disappearances and murders taking place in the small town of Enaba. The demo I checked out dropped me into a few different points set during the early hours of the story,

[00:45] letting me get a sampling of the story along with a taste of the new anime cutscenes from Mapa, the same studio that did Persona 5 Royals opening, take on some shadows, and even do a little exploring around Enaba. It's been a

[00:58] while since I last visited the foggy town, and I was excited to check in and see how this new take on the RPG had changed things up. So, no,

[01:18] I opted to start my time with Revival getting straight into the action and exploring Yukio's castle. The dungeon felt largely as I remembered it from Persona 4 in Golden. The structure remains, consisting of tight hallways

[01:31] and rooms containing chests and shadows that direct you towards the boss room. akin to fairy dust pointing me where to go. I'm not sure if this is something

[01:43] strictly that was added to the demo to help me see the content within the short release, but I do hope you can turn it off. I've always felt like the mini maps

[01:56] in Personas 3 through 5 do a good job in keeping me from getting lost. So, having a constantly on breadcrumb trail telling me where to go feels a bit unnecessary. I'm fine with this assistance feature being in the game. I just want to make

[02:10] sure that it isn't always active. Be like having Teddy constantly talking to you with no way to get him to shut up. >> I've got bad news. What are you wigging and trying to take you out? And this is where I'm reminded that I've always been

[02:26] a fan of the modern Persona's combat systems. Revival adopts and brings over a similar system to last year's Persona 3 Reload, which adapted some of the intricacies from Persona 5, which itself expanded from the original 3 and 4

[02:40] releases. The big bombastic notices when you hit an enemy's weaknesses, knocking them down, the impressive allout team attacks. Shovel Time, that post combat selection that can net you new personas and other

[02:58] goodies to pick from, all return here in the new remake. That said, Revival still Revival comes in the form of prime time. Think of it as a sort of super mode that

[03:12] you can activate after filling a special bar. Prime Time gives a character three to zero while also granting you access to a dramatic alltarget special attack.

[03:26] You fill the bar by performing actions and taking damage with things like a bit like Revival's take on a limit break system. The demo had the prime

[03:38] time bar filling really quickly just to give me a chance to check it out, even And I was promised that come release, this powerful tool wouldn't be something you could just bring out quite so willy-nilly as in the specific build.

[03:53] That said, I can only start to imagine just how powerful this will get when I start having personas with higher level skills. a full stack of debuffs or buffs using debilitate or heat riser for free and all done at once or hitting three

[04:08] brave blades without the health loss. Uh, yes, please. One caveat is that while in prime time, you lose access to using the all-out attack if you knock down all the enemies. It's a small price to pay for

[04:20] something so strong, and I'm really curious to see how well Revival manages to balance its new prime time mechanic, as it feels like it's balancing on a knife's edge that could easily slip into making many of the more challenging

[04:32] fights later on feel more trivial. Baton Pass also makes its Persona 4 debut, the an enemy's weakness. First introduced in Persona 5 and with Persona 3 Reload

[04:46] incorporating a similar system with shifting, it's a powerful tool that has already proven its worth in various titles and it's a welcome addition here in Revival. Because of the demo taking place so early in the game, I really

[04:59] didn't notice much else in way of differences in how battles played out, system to begin with. My time wasn't just spent taking out shadows, though, as I got to do some light exploring around Enaba itself. Well, at least as

[05:16] closed or had some other reason that prevented me from going inside. I got to visit Igor and the crew in the Velvet Room, view some personas, and even start

[05:28] stomping grounds like Juness and Samigawa. And I even spotted a little Easter egg. I was told I was the first one to notice it during the event too of

[05:40] Kioji Kusenoha, a Devil Summoner and the sort of protagonist of Magami Tensei Devil Summoner, which released on the Sega Saturn and PSP. I can't wait to discover. >> Huh? Is this a friend? She's not from

[05:57] around here, is she? Meanwhile, Revival features brand new voice actors for the cast alongside re-recorded music tracks, which will take some getting used to. Seeing Yoske's portrait and not hearing Yuri Lowenthal's voice coming out, even

[06:12] knowing it was coming took me by surprise a bit. While I only got a very small sampling of the new voice acting and new versions of the soundtrack, everything I heard, such as Yoske's new actor, Paul Castro Jr., was well done.

[06:25] It will take me a bit to adjust to all the new actors and tunes in Revival, but out. >> Reach on it is then. >> From a visual standpoint, Revival is definitely a step up from the vanilla

[06:40] and golden releases of Persona 4. But I'm not sold on all the changes. The new those in P3 Reload and Persona 5, but I find that the character portraits

[06:54] themselves lack some depth and shading. The battle portraits for the cast feel a bit of a downgrade as well. In the previous versions, these were larger and colored on the side of the screen, while revival are pretty small in black and

[07:06] white with the only color seeming to be the character's hair and only when you are giving them commands. I am A SHADOW, THE TRUE SELF. >> Persona 3 and its follow-up, Persona 3

[07:21] FES, when it released on the PS2, shown the light on the series and got a lot of eyes looking in its direction. But Persona 4 is where the series really started bringing in the fans. That growth continues on with the Persona

[07:34] series as a whole, with the franchise recently surpassing 30 million copies sold. 2027 is shaping up to be a really good year for fans of RPGs, and Persona 4 revival will be leading the pack when it releases in February. I'm hoping that

[07:49] portraits and UI will be included, and I'm perhaps the most intrigued to see how Atlas manages to balance prime time during late game. In the Pantheon of the

[08:02] Persona series, its fourth entry is held in high regard, and time will tell if this third iteration will prove to be the best of the bunch. The little bit I got to see is at least making it a pretty strong contender for that award,

[08:15] and it still very much feels like Persona 4, but anyone who has played it before knows it's a very long game. So, we'll have to wait and see whether it's worth tuning in for or changing the channel.

[08:31] gameplay preview of Final Fantasy Resonance. For everything else RPGs and gaming, keep it locked to IGN.