The term JRPG (or Japanese Role Playing Game) has become tainted in recent years. With a seemingly crazy obsession with “fan service” (trust me, don’t bother looking it up) the genre has become increasingly marginalised with western audiences. Only the mainstay series of things like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest have maintained their roots and maintain that appeal. One other series that walks a fine line is the Persona series (and the Shin Megami Tensei series.) The games typically focus on a group of high school students dealing with various supernatural problems and have, over the course of the series, become increasingly popular.
Persona 4 was released on the Playstation 2 to a warm reception; however releasing late in the life cycle meant that the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 were dominating most of the gaming headlines. The game got a second lease of life, however, with an “Ultimate” edition released for the Playstation Vita. Persona 4: Golden has gone on to achieve mainstream success and stoke the fires for the Playstation 3 and 4 release of Persona 5; due out in Japan this year.
