Persona 4: Dancing All Evening Review

Persona four: Dancing All Evening will be the newest spin-off from the venerable RPG classic from 2008, Persona four, and because the title suggests, this is not an RPG, but a rhythm game. It is not a terrible idea at all: the Persona titles are routinely praised for their superb soundtracks, as well as other beloved RPG series have discovered fantastic achievement in exploring the music-game genre--namely, Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy. Sadly, the marriage in between “Persona” and “rhythm game” discovered right here is really a rocky 1 at very best.

All the numerous Persona spin-offs are recognized for getting lengthy, dialogue-heavy story modes as among the important promoting points from the game. Dancing All Evening is no exception, delivering players a story set some unspecified time following the events of Persona four. The idol singer Rise has invited everybody to join her onstage in the Adore Meets Bonds Festival occasion, exactly where she’ll be performing alongside an additional up-and-coming singing group of young girls known as Kanamin Kitchen.

That all sounds fairly silly, correct? It is difficult to take a premise of “overpower evil using the magic of dance!” seriously. In contrast to Persona Q, which embraced and ran with its frequent goofiness, Dancing All Evening plays this ridiculous premise totally straight - to its detriment. What outcomes is really a story that feels much less like Persona and much more like an after-school unique.

Along with the story mode, there’s also Totally free Dance mode to discover, which allows you to play person tracks for your liking on certainly one of 3 difficulty levels. As you total songs, you unlock new tracks and earn money to invest within the in-game shop for useful products and character costumes. You will find lots of fantastic tracks from Persona four and numerous other spin-offs within the mix, together with a number of remixes of varying (generally not extremely great) high quality. Regardless of the presence of some classic Persona four tunes, the track list feels rather anemic: you will find 26 non-DLC songs, six of that are alternate remixes. The little quantity of tracks - and also the common lack of selection - indicates you will see all Dancing All Evening has to provide when it comes to music fairly rapidly prior to you need to spend for DLC.

The narrative tries to hit numerous from the exact same themes the original Persona four did so nicely - forging bonds with other people and becoming comfy with your self - however it does so within the most preachy, hamfisted way feasible. New characters, like Kanami’s bandmates, are introduced and place in peril, but offered so small screen time that it is difficult to emphasize with them and their plight. A whole sub-story featuring Dojima and Nanako is present, but in the end feels like a car to introduce fan-favorite Nanako as a dancer. Offered the regular of writing and characterization this series has often delivered previously, Dancing All Night’s story is definitely an utter disappointment.

You will find some strange issues taking place because the occasion looms, nevertheless: rumors of a cursed video around the event’s web site are circulating, individuals are bringing up an idol who committed suicide years earlier, and also the lead singer of Kanamin Kitchen, Kanami Mashita, is getting unexplained headaches and blackouts. When her group members vanish below mysterious situations, it is as much as the Investigation Group to battle via the Midnight Stage - a realm filled with Shadows that may only be spoken to via the feelings of dancing.