While these details are superficial at best, they matter. He came from the Big City, and in a year, he will be going back to it, by hook or by crook. He’s moved to Inaba because his parents are working abroad. With nothing behind him, he only looks to the future, the top of Tartarus, and the end of his journey.īy contrast, Persona 4‘s protagonist is not a blank slate. It certainly makes sense within the story, but Persona 3‘s lead is very much a man living in the present. Even then, it serves merely as a point of trivia to explain the character’s power. Only much later in the plot does he gain any sort of background. In Persona 3, the protagonist is almost a literal blank slate. Their basic plot elements being so similar, the primary difference between Persona 3 and Persona 4‘s storytelling lies in the treatment of its cast, particularly in Persona 4, and especially in the role the protagonist plays in relating to those around him. That’s where both Persona 3 and Persona 4 distinguish themselves, combining their gameplay mechanics and aesthetic/thematic inspirations to tell an old story in new, unique ways. It has been said that all the great stories have already been told, and that the difference is in the telling. That doesn’t mean that it’s bad, however.

Through strength of will formed of their friendship, the cast defeats the antagonist, thereby earning its grudging respect and convincing it not to end the world.įamiliar, eh? This formula’s been used over and over, especially in anime and JRPGs.

Antagonist misunderstands human nature, thinking it only worth extermination.Ģ. Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but the plots of both games, when reduced to the basic steps, moves as such:ġ. *Needless to say, there will be many many spoilers for both Persona 3 and 4 in this post.* My thanks to Scary Womanizing Pig Mask for making that post, for otherwise I may never have bothered to think about the game in the way I did, content to love it for being the sequel to what is now my second favorite game (after this one). I originally posited my theory in the comment roll, but I felt it was worth rewriting as a feature here on my own C-blog. In fact, I thought that both games’ endings were unique in their own way, but that Persona 4’s was enhanced greatly by its thematic depth. While he did make a lot of good points, I disagreed with the notion of the ending being a mere copy of Persona 3’s. Some background: Fellow Dtoider Scary Womanizing Pig Mask put up a post recently about why he thought the ending of Persona 4 was poorly told and unoriginal. Please think of this as a consolation for when you finish. As such, I have added a link to the spoiler-free cheesecake gallery. It was brought to my attention that many readers would be unable to enjoy the article thanks to spoilers.

Persona 4 golden true ending