My wife and I had our second kid about a year ago, so my time I can actually play games is at a premium. Luckily, I amassed a decent handheld collection before the little one arrived, so I'm catching upon some games while they nap. I've been looking into RPGs, as their slower pace makes it easier to pick up and put down.
I picked up an early model PS Vita a few years prior, before the secondhand market drove prices up. Everybody says “Persona 4 Golden“ is the best RPG on Sony's little device, so I decided to check it out. What I found was a surprisingly emotional game that drives the player to connect with its characters not just as assets, but like real people.
Spoilers follow for "Persona 4 Golden”, “Grand Theft Auto 4,” and “Cyberpunk 2077”
The Basics
P4G is a turn-based JRPG, where the player controls a high schooler who moves in with his uncle Dojima and cousin Nanako, in the fictional rural town of Inaba (he’s renamed Yu in later non-RPG sequels and adaptations, so we’ll refer to him as Yu). Shortly after his arrival, he hears rumors about a “Midnight Channel,” which comes on when watching a turned-off TV at midnight on a rainy night. The town is also thrown into a panic when multiple people appear hanging from the local infrastructure overnight, murdered by an unknown assailant. Yu, along with the friends he makes over the course of the year, tries to solve the murders, and discover the true nature of the TV World.
The majority of the game takes place in Inaba’s main town centers, with the game’s battles takes place in takes place in dungeons in “The Midnight Channel,” the world inside of the TV, populated by monstrous Shadows. In between dungeons, players interact with your party members and various other NPCs, boosting connections through a “Social Link” system. Spending time with the various characters and helping them can boost your links with each one, resulting in benefits to stats and abilities that manifest in battle.
Social Links and You
The brilliant thing is that you’re not guaranteed to go up a level every time you interact with a member of your supporting cast. It’s influenced by a number of factors, but above all, you have to put in the time. Each Link consists of ten levels, and nearly every NPC you interact with has a Link, and an arc of some kind.
Your party, referred to as the "Investigation Team,” have the most dramatic arcs. The majority are kidnapped and placed into the TV world against their will, ending up in dungeons that we’re led to believe are built around darker aspects of their personalities they don’t want to acknowledge. Each one are populated by Shadows, manifestations of humanity’s darker thoughts. Yu and friends find out about the danger by watching the Midnight Channel, and seeing each person in their own “show.” The kidnapped victim appears as an exaggerated version of themselves, with personality flaws so inflated they border on grotesque. Shy inn heiress Yukiko appears as a princess needing to be saved, tough punk Kanji stands in a bathhouse declaring his desire to find some studs, former pop idol Rise is the main attraction in a full-on strip club.
At the dungeon’s highest level, the character is held captive by a particularly powerful Shadow, the embodiment of what they’re trying to deny. The shadow becomes an even more dangerous monster when the victim gives a full-throated “I’m nothing like you!” When you and your party are able to defeat the monster, the victim acknowledges there’s at least some truth to what they’ve been denying. Now tamed and recognized, the Shadow becomes a Persona, a manifestation of the character’s personality that can fight the Shadows for them.
The Deeper Meaning
But in the late game, it’s revealed that while our supporting cast admitted some truth in how their “shadows” portrayed them, the Midnight Channel actually shows what the people around them expect to see. Yukiko is seen as terminally shy and needing protection, so she appeared as a princess. Kanji was bullied for being good at crafts, stitching, etc, which are seen as “girly” things, so he appears as flamboyantly gay. Rise, as an idol, has boys of all ages wanting to see her body, so she gets a pole and teases to bare it all.
The small town setting of Inaba is particularly conducive to fostering misconceptions. Throughout the course of your year, you’re constantly overhearing your classmates and fellow townspeople sharing the latest gossip about both the events, and your Team members. Pretty much everybody knows a little bit, but nobody knows the whole story. That doesn’t stop them from speaking about it though. Even a few times when you’re building on your social links, other NPC‘s will come up to you saying “hey, aren’t you… I thought I heard that…“ In fact, one of the game’s stated themes is the pursuit of the truth, so what better way to obscure it than with some small-town gossip?
After that initial struggle with outside perceptions, comes the journey for the cast to reconcile with themselves. A common theme between everyone on the Team is to “be yourself.” This is how "P4G” starts to build empathy. In order to do so, you have to understand the characters or the situation they’re in. (For specificity’s sake, I should say that I mean “empathy” as “knowing what the character is thinking and feeling, and having an emotional connection to them.”) Most books on writing will tell you the importance of building empathy, or creating characters your audience can understand and root for.
“The audience's emotional involvement is held by the glue of empathy,” Robert McKee wrote in ‘Story.’ “If the writer fails to fuse a bond between filmgoer and protagonist, we sit outside feeling nothing."
NOTE: Yes he’s talking specifically about movies. Mr. McKee is an older gentleman who probably has not played many video games, but good advice about story tends to carry across mediums.
Video games get to cheat a bit creating empathy with the protagonist, as you’re usually directly in control of them. You emphasize with them because when they achieve their goal, you win. Everybody wants to win! It’s harder when it comes to NPCs however, or at least characters you don’t largely control. Years of horrendous escort missions have taught some of us that caring for others in a game can be a chore, or even a giant pain in the ass.
In “Resident Evil 4,” for example, you care about Ashley, the kidnapped daughter of the president the protagonist and player are sent to save. If she dies or is captured, you lose. But you don’t have an emotional connection with her, because she isn’t explored beyond “monsters are coming to get me WAAGH!”
What P4G does so well, is it ties caring about these characters into your success. The closer you become with them, the stronger they get, and the better chance you have at winning. Everyone has felt misunderstood at some point in their lives, so we can relate to the stories of high schoolers being deeply affected by rumors, perceptions and leering glances.
Plus, you actually want to like the supporting cast in “P4G.” They’re funny, actively participating in the story, and relatable to anyone who’s gone through the awkwardness of being a teenager. In between the murder mystery and mysticism, there’s a solid group of friends goofing on each other.
But building a Social Link is not just a matter of watching an in-game cutscene and selecting dialogue options, free of consequence. Your advancement can stall or even reverse, if you don’t say or do the right thing. You still need to understand what the character is going through, and what they need to hear to achieve their goals. An undeveloped Social Link leaves you at a disadvantage with underpowered party members in the dungeons. Various perks are awarded on your path to Rank 10, with a major Persona upgrade unlocked once you max it out. It's in your interests to be a good friend.
The Unique Approach
It’s honestly rare to see a game trying to make you care about the supporting cast. I recently was looking into “Grand Theft Auto IV” again, and the meme everyone defaults to is “cousin! Let’s go bowling!” “GTA IV” isn’t that different from “P4G” in trying to encourage you to spend time with your supporting cast, outside the main story and missions. But in that game, you’re not helping characters like Roman and Bruce develop as people. Their mission chains are even completely separate from the main story. You can go the entire main game and never go bowling with Roman, or see a movie with Playboy, etc. You can miss out on some perks of friendship, like free taxi rides, but it’s never to your detriment. Your success does not lie in your relationships.
Writing this, I started thinking about the death of Jackie Wells in “Cyberpunk 2077,” your protagonist’s “choom” from the start of the game. Depending on your choices, you start the game off with him saving your life, or he threatens it as he tries to steal the same car you’re stealing, then you get beers and hash things out. You actually get to spend time with Jackie, get to know what he wants out of life. He’s a supporting character but he has his own supporting cast, including his beleaguered bar owner mother, and tarot card reading girlfriend. When he does pass, he goes down swinging. In a later mission you even talk at his funeral. Calling it a mission is a bit of a misnomer though. Nothing explodes into violence because it’s crashed by a rival gang; instead, you have to pick objects that remind you of him and pick what you say from dialogue options. It’s effective because you see the impact Jackie had on the people around him. It’s surprisingly mature and heartfelt, in a game where you help someone whose robot penis implant gets infected.
I also have to admit that "P4G" was my first time playing an entry in the Persona or Shin Megami Tensei franchises. I’ll have to ask any readers who might be fans to let me know how 4 compares. I would've liked to check out either 3 or 5, as they're available on current platforms, but they're also upwards of 40 hours to complete each.
The Takeaway
Suffice to say, I think this fourth installment is an excellent example in creating a video game story where the player actually cares about the non-player characters. By creating characters that are relatable, and tying their well-being into the player's success, we actually want to know how they feel and help them reach their goals. It makes games that don't quite measure up feel like missed opportunities. Here's hoping more fans and developers follow the Investigation Team's lead.
“Persona 4 Golden” is currently available on Steam, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One/Series X/S, and Playstation 4