The ULTIMATE Persona 4 Sneek Peek!

The game is out now on Japan and the North American version of Persona 4 will be released this December 9. Here’s a big blog post full of hot new tidbits about the evolved Personas, Arcanas, issues and the game itself…

[last update: 07/18/08 – edited trivias and added Shadow Personas]

RANDOM trivias:

1. You have the option to have a friendly or romantic Social Link.

2. KUMA HAS A HUMAN FORM.

3. Rise is a waitress at the countryside! Well, so she is a Rie-Kugimya-voiced-soda-endorsing-waitressing-pop goddess…

4. Dungeons and bosses are based on your allies’ dark, secret side which are called as “Shadow Personas“. Scroll down more to view the info.

5. Glasses are used as mist-clearing inside the Mayonaka TV, provided by Kuma.

6. And NAOTO is a reverse-trap!

7. The OP song is entitled “Pursuing My True Self”.

BATTLE trivias:
1. If you hit a weakness -> One More happens
2. If all enemies down -> Final Attack
3. If using hit-all attack, even you only hit one enemy’s weakness, you can still get One More
4. Character can act the very next turn even in Down status
5. During down, if the weakness is exploited, “Faint” status will happen. Character can lost at least one turn of action.
6. Sometimes physical critical and cause Down + Faint together
7. Enemy reinforcement may happen after all of them are wiped out.
8. Depending on the S. Link development other characters will take damage for the main during battle.
9. Analysis doesn’t take time, but it seems the record will not carry over. You’d have to do it again in next battle.
10. After choosing escape, you can’t go instantly, instead you got to carry on the battle for a while.
11. You can direct your party without using AI.

12. S. Links affect battle system, Persona status, health and dungeon-survival.

SOCIAL LINKS and their respective arcanas [Click the scans to enlarge. The list is still incomplete yet.]:

PERSONAS and their EVOLUTION:

– Here are the main and evolved personas of you and your allies. Yousuke’s, Chie’s and Naoto’s evolved Personas sure look super cool!

• MC: Izanagi of the Fool Arcanum, Great Izanagi of the Judgment Arcanum
• Yousuke: Jiraiya, Susano-o of the Magician Arcanum
• Chie: Tomoe Gozen, Suzuka Gongen of the Chariot Arcanum
• Yukiko: Konohana Sakuya, Amaterasu of the Priestess Arcanum
• Kanji: Take-Mikazuchi, Rokuten-Mao of the Emperor Arcanum
• Rise: Himiko, Kanzeon of the Lovers Arcanum
• Kuma: Kintoki-Douji, Kamui of the Star Arcanum
• Naoto: Sukuna-Hikona, Yamato-Takeru of the Wheel of Fortune Arcanum

SHADOW PERSONA:

• Yousuke – Cartoon Frog. Symbolizes his fear of growing up and immaturity.
• Chie – Dominatrix on top of 3 pale Chies. Symbolizes Chie being over-shadowed by popular Yukiko.
• Yukiko – A Yukiko-faced phoenix in a cage which summons princes. It’s quite self-explanatory since it symbolizes her limitations and boundaries on living a normal teen’s life. The princes symbolizes her friends, who are always supporting her.
• Kanji – Kanji in a bed of roses, holding two male-symbols in both hands. Symbolizes Kanji’s true sexuality and afraidness or the opposite gender. His TV channel dungeon is a men’s bathhouse.
• Rise – Colorful pole dancer. Symbolizes her fear of her popstar icon being turned more of a sex symbol since she’s supposed to be a good girl. Her dungeon is a strip club-slash-amphitheatre.
• Naoto – A robot with missles. No idea yet but I think it represents her boyishness. Her TV dungeon is an industrial factory.
• Kuma – Ruined Kuma costume. I certainly have no idea.