About Persona 4

Characters and Gameplay

Characters
As in most Persona games, a majority of the characters are high school students, this time from Yasogami High School.
Playable Characters

The protagonist: The silent protagonist of the game. He recently moved to live in Inaba with his uncle and cousin, after his parents had to work overseas. He is named by the player. His silence creates an aura of mystery around him, though he is social enough to establish many Social Links in the game.

Yosuke Hanamura: A clumsy, awkward second-year boy who is often used as comic relief through physical comedy. His dad is the manager of Junes, a department store.

Chie Satonaka: An upbeat girl with a short temper and an obsession with martial arts and food. She was born and raised in Inaba and is a second-year with Yosuke, Yukiko, and the protagonist.

Yukiko Amagi: A wealthy, elegant, introverted girl who is the heiress of the famous Amagi Inn. She is always busy training herself for the family business. Like Chie, she is a second-year.

Kanji Tatsumi: A juvenile delinquent with piercings and a tough look. However, his mother runs a textile shop in their home, making him very skilled at tailoring. A first-year.

Rise Kujikawa: A former idol in Japan, she quits her job to have a normal life in the countryside and enrolls at Yasogami High as a first-year. She acts as support in battle after taking over for Teddie.

Naoto Shirogane: A young, serious detective who is dubbed as the "Detective Prince." After becoming involved in the murder cases, Naoto enrolls at Yasogami High as a first-year.

Teddie: A strange bear mascot who resides within the TV World. He starts as outside support, but after Shadow Rise is defeated by the group (or more accurately by him), he joins the group as a battler.

Supporting Characters

Igor - The man who operates the Velvet Room. He fuses Personas and gives access to the Compendium through the room.

Margaret - Igor's well-meaning assistant in the room, and is actually the sister of Elizabeth from Persona 3.

Nanako Dojima - The protagonist's intelligent, sweet and young cousin. Her mother died in a car crash.

Ryotaro Dojima - The protagonist's uncle, a renowned police detective and Nanako's father. He is working on the murder case as well.

Tohru Adachi - The strange, somewhat twitchy assistant of Dojima. Also a police detective.

Kinshiro Morooka - The foul-mouthed, unpopular, and very strict teacher of the protagonist and his classmates.

Noriko Kashiwagi - The teacher who replaces Morooka later on, and is still unpopular.

Gameplay
Over the course of Persona 4, the player's main goal - as a high school student - is to defeat and progress through the Midnight Channel dungeons before their deadline to progress in the game's story. Before starting a save file, the player must choose between one of 3 difficulties.

After school on school days (from Mon. -Sat.), or on a holiday/Sunday, the player (provided there are no story-driven cutscenes that day) can either choose to engage in Social Link activities, or engage in the battle system by entering the Midnight Channel. The player can also go around the Shopping District to shop, though this does not take up the time used to battle or engage in a social link. The player can also simply go home and skip the day, which progresses the game faster but does not have the benefits of grinding or engaging the social links.
Each dungeon in the Midnight Channel must be completed before the first foggy day after it is opened; failure to do this will result in a game over (though the player will be provided the option to revert 7 days back).

Social Links
After school or during the day, a character with a "!" speech bubble above their head indicates that they are open to hang out and engage in activities. Each Social Link corresponds to an Arcana tarot. Some story events will automatically progress certain S. Links levels, while some S. Links themselves are entirely automatically upgraded (namely the Fool Arcana). Social Links, when first established, start at LV1 and are maxed out at LV10. Certain trigger events are needed to start some S. Links, though some are automatically offered to the player as time progresses.
When the player has a Persona of an Arcana, they will have an easier time progressing the Social Link corresponding to that Arcana. For example, while holding a Magician Persona, the progression of the Yosuke Hanamura S. Link will be faster.

There are a few reasons why S. Links are important:
When a player fuses a Persona in the Velvet Room, if the Persona the player is about to create is of an upgraded Social Link, they will gain Bonus EXP (thus upgrading them) as soon as they are summoned. The higher Level that S. Link is, the more bonus EXP the summoned Persona will get. It's also worth noting that while the player cannot fuse a Persona with a higher base level than him, he can fuse a Persona that has a lower level; but will have a higher level after the S.

Link boost.
The ability for the player to fuse and find Personas of a certain Arcana will increase corresponding to that Arcana's S.

Link level.
The character's party members will gain special abilities and have upgraded Personas in battle, making their S. Link's the most important to advance. Also, most of the party members are weak to a certain affinity, but their upgraded Personas nullify this weakness.

Maxing out an individual's social link allows you to fuse an exceptionally powerful Persona that corresponds to that arcana.

This is a list of Social Links.
Bold indicates a party member.
Fool: Investigation Team
Magician: Yosuke Hanamura
Priestess: Yukiko Amagi
Empress: Margaret
Emperor: Kanji Tatsumi
Hierophant: Ryotaro Dojima
Lovers: Rise Kujikawa
Chariot: Chie Satonaka
Justice: Nanako Dojima
Hermit: Fox
Fortune: Naoto Shirogane
Strength: Kou Ichijo or Daisuke Nagase
Hanged Man: Naoki Konishi
Death: Hisano Kuroda
Temperance: Eri Minami
Devil: Sayoko Uehara
Tower: Shu Nakajima
Star: Teddie
Moon: Ai Ebihara
Sun: Yumi Ozawa or Ayane Matsunaga
Judgement: The Seekers of Truth