that's not fucking fair mannnnnnnnnnnn........ fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck okay ive tied up all the loose ends, seen the conclusions to some of the social links i didnt finish in time.. and i fully beat the game and started a Little of the new game plus for the first time ever...

I THINK i can type my thoughts in good conscience now

warning this review in particular in your eyes will have me getting sappy and sentimental, but ive never played this game before:

This was the first persona game i had ever even Seen or heard about. When I was a kid watching mat and pat from two best friends play this, i retained almost Nothing about it aside from the two being at each other's throats and Mat may or may not actually deleting Pat's 300 plus hour save file
In sophomore year of highschool i had a really good friend that'd show me the openings for both persona 4 golden and persona 3 portable alike, this was almost comically insane timing because it wasnt often id even have the opportunity to get a new game.. hell i didnt even have a ps4 still, my crappy laptop, wii u and my 3ds for the bulk of the 2010s were what i relied on for video games. It was about 2017 when Persona 5 dropped, and Id actually be able to TRY one of these.. id get it for ps3(while just the Existence of this version of this game being released for such an old console was laughed at.. to Me it was another very lucky moment)
and id love it, id be talking about it so often.. and then thatd kinda just! be it! for a bit atleast
id listen to the music when i was alone, id listen to the other games ost's
it was far from my first JRPG but it felt like a lightning in a bottle moment because id never touched anything SMT before and id hold these thoughts and memories and theyd peter(heheh) out as time marched... i wound up playing persona 1 and having my fun trolling my friends into thinking that id play 3 or 4 next, and i enjoyed my time with that too but in a Different way.
It's been 7 years since i played persona 5
and since then i think i can totally call myself an "smt Fan" instead of just someone with passing interest, ive played about 10 games now at this point and im levelling with you..

I think Persona 4 has the worst gameplay of these 'modern era' type persona games,

No, really!
I think this Process of going through persona 4 dungeons sucks! There's some exceptions here though... the GaMEr dungeon is neat.. the laboratory one.. the two before the endgame one that i wont say the names of..
but in general I think while the aesthetics are a step above persona 3's tartarus blocks... i do wish they took more advantage of sending you back to previous floors or even having mid bosses thatre more interesting, some of them are so utterly stupidly hamfisted in one way or another that just makes them not stand out to me AT ALL compared to persona 3 mid bosses
The closest thing to a smooth dancer or sleepy table moment was the big fuck you jarhead mech asshole that has an ungodly amount of defense
But even in spite of this there's so much variety that goes in with your party and having party members remember shit from doing side activities.. ultimate personas getting a THIRD tier.. its incredible
HAFHAHF INFACT LIKE EVEN THE MOMENTS WHERE A BENCHED PARTY MEMBER CAN JUMP IN AND DO A FUNNY ATTACK ON THE ENEMY WITH THEIR MOTORCYCLES, THE TEAM ATTACKS THAT CAN SOMETIMES JUST H A P P E N, ALL THAT I love that
I love how involved everyone is to the point of even showing up in some random blocks of the dungeons just for idle interactions, persona 3 had some moments like this too! but nowhere Near at this extent even in FES
And thats really why this whole game works for me in general

Yeah you could say the plot technically doesnt kick into gear until the latter quarter of the game, yes there's absolutely disgusting momentary segments of for lack of a better term

'atlus moments' where theres punching down at being queer or even having whole actual just predator/pedo characters in this shit while at the same time having arguably the fruitiest fucking cast in this entire series with yosuke, naoto, kanji and even teddie and the others getting glimmering moments of acceptance and self affirming perspective about them. This is where the game comes into a sort of cognitive dissonance that makes it so conflicting to talk about and I think to wrap my head around in general while playing and even after playing ....
This game WAS written in the 00s after all, and the bulk of the cast that this game centers on.. are kids! freshmen and sophomores just trying to do the right thing out here and it shows. Yosuke MAY be goonerer supreme in some moments of the narrative, and then be one of the most realistic characters in self doubt and isolation and wanting to Be something and have a grip on who he is.. in his social link!.. but bits of that Do trickle into the narrative too.. so you have this guy thats just so gross but it gets brushed off so quick as if the game itself knows its just a stupid silly thing that he had bought girls swimsuits in advance for his friends in a creepy manner...?????????

Yea
This game has some moments like that. and I never like it but I think it speaks volumes on it all when there can be fuckshit in this game and I primarily remember and Felt at the forefront what was going on when it mattered.
Shopping for groceries, getting drivers licenses for the motorcycles, the silly shit at the beach, the camping, the ski trip, going to the movies, yosuke needing help at junes', the fuckup with halloweeennn all of it.. i loved All of that more than the actual boss fights, more than the personas more than any of that more than anything that shit stuck with me

ESPECIALLY when it came down to Nanako and Dojima whichre two of my favorite characters in this franchise now too because in some ways I think it feels like somewhat of a peek into what itd be like if i could be there for a little version of myself going through shit alone with her dad when her mom's passed, what itd be like if there was someone to make things right and close the rift between my dad and i instead of it rolling harder and harder in contempt for one another. This is a lot of projecting im aware, but honestly this is the meat of why this game is even a 4/5 at All because if none of this landed to me, idve probably gave this game a 3/5 at most.
Which still isnt bad, but there's so much here that i think is Objectively hampering whats going on.. but theres so much soul fighting through to the point where itd feel like i was Lying through my teeth telling you this game as a whole sucks
because i loved it so much
I didnt wanna say I did
because everybody and their fuckin mama's goldfish meatsuckle this shit to hell and back
and i think i was afraid of being biased like that too
I even had some contempt for how id been spoiled on this years ago on instagram... but Im so glad i didnt play this as a teenager because it felt like the most brisk wave of nostalgia i didnt think a game i never played could ever give me.. a piece of media ive never experienced evoking so much out of me so different from what made persona 3 so special to me. I grew up in a town where jackshit happened apart from hanging with friends to talk and play games, there wasnt much going on for being one of the most boring towns in the entire state of florida at that too. But it was always PEOPLE that got me through my first time being homeless, it was always people that got me through the passing of loved ones, the decay of my enjoyment of school, first car, venting, movies, all of it bitch
im talking all of it
This made me think about all of that to the point where I think it was around december or january, these stupid asses teddie and yosuke were at the door of your place and i started to cook yosuke for being dumb as all fuck and how karma always shines and repays in full with every stupid ass little thing he says and thinks to do during the game.. but tears kept flowing cause he felt like a friend or atleast someone id know from back in those days and his growth was absolutely felt(until atlus thinks to do stupid shit for a joke)

It's that shit that matters, its that shit that makes the whole journey worth it, its that shit that makes even the several BAD endings that much cooler, its that shit that makes pressing through the social stats feel so much more Earned, its that shit that makes you wanna actually talk to everyone and get to know everyone because the group chemistry is so knit together well. I love S.E.E.S but the Inaba investigation group is so specifically bumbling and sweet and dumb all at the same time that I think they give the vibes of a cast that can literally have conversations about Anything and keep going and going without a writer being pressed for how to handle a situation.
Having been spoiled on shit in this game prior also made following along the killer really interesting too, it even got me keeping an eye open for them at all times and catching onto how their alibis would form and all that
which honestly just made the mystery that much more fun.

So yeah, i only got one more set of Persona(s) to play through
I was gonna make this one the last one and keep my weird play-pattern for this series rolling till my last breath but I really needed something to make me feel Good lately with how heavy life's been. I think this game has and probably still will continue to be there for people like that with how many characters can resonate with you regardless of age and regardless of identity. I think it's beautiful in it's own.. sometimes ugly little way. I cant let some shit slide though so its capped at 4/5 on here because like, THERES TOTALLY SOME THINGS THAT PISS ME OFF

which brings us to this lightning round of things i like and dont like since this is already probably my longest backloggd review

-margaret's social link is a farcry from what elizabeth's was that shit is so depressing and only is nice for some momentary nods about the past i GUESS.

-if you played persona 3 and loved persona 3, and its your favorite one like me, this shit will meatsuckle you like crazy for a little bit and i think thats kindof cool

-shuffle time i THOUGHT was completely fucked up at first, but I think that sweep bonuses and everything pertaining to it are good I just miss the mystery guessing aspect of shit now

-The final boss funnily enough aint even the hardest fuckin fight in this game LMAO

-I think its fucking disgusting that atlus went out of their way to have two bath house scenes that suck ass in this game

-THE PINK ALLIGATOR GOT PUBLISHED!!!!!!!!! AND SLEEPY TABLE HAD A COMEBACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

-This is now my most played steam game at 230 something hours...

-Marie is rly cool

-Kamui Miracle is the best additional skiill in the whole franchise and we should always make it mandatory to have a way to gamble when you fight in a persona game thank u

so yeah this game sucks and i hate atlus, loved it, bye

Every day's great at your Junes!

Look, it's a Persona game on the PC. That alone makes this a must-buy.

If you're not aware of what Persona brings, it's a JRPG with added, heavy, focus on social aspects and trial-and-error (unless you're following a guide, you're not gonna come even close to getting most things done or even beating the game.)

It may have difficulty, frustrating difficulty spikes (even early game can see you get your ass kicked hard) but it has great charm, excellent, catchy soundtrack, nice looking graphics (this originated as a PlayStation 2 game, though this HD version is taken from the PS VITA version) and rewarding if you stick with it makes this highly recommended.

If you're looking for something that, even today, is different and refreshing in the JRPG market, Persona 4 Golden is it.

Rating: 10/10

A year in the country with your uncle and his daughter turns into a desperate hunt for a serial killer whose unique method appears to be taking victims and throwing them into televisions....will the power of the friends you made along the way be enough to bring this killer to justice, or is high school truly condemned to be the worst years of your life?

Originally released doomed to obscurity on the Playstation Vita, the rebuild of the 2008 Playstation 2 role playing game Persona 4, Persona 4: Golden, has finally been issued digitally on every single major console platform. With this, this major JRPG has finally been given the availability that its massive scale, intimate storytelling, and accessible turn based combat truly deserve.

Spread across the length of a Japanese school year, you role play as a teenager who's moved into the small rural town of Inaba; Inaba faces a series of relatable problems; its teenagers are messy and unsure of themselves, a Walmart synonym, Junes, has moved into town and begun suffocating local business, and several of its members have been recently found dead without any leads. Ooops. Over the course of this school year, not only will you have to develop the JRPG skills necessary to stop and apprehend this killer, but you will also have to master life's greatest barriers - successful socialization with peers, getting a girlfriend, and making sure you pass your high school midterms. It's this added component that makes the Persona series as popular as it is relative to other JRPGs of its pedigree and size. There's a wonderful balance between dungeon crawling and turn based combat and interacting with friends and family alike. The emphasis on socializing is presented through the social link mechanic - the more time you spend with the people you care about in Inaba, the more you level up their social links, which expands their ability in combat if they're party members, or your ability to collect and create personas, the constructs you bring with you into battle to exploit their abilities, based off of the arcana those particular people are linked to. Each time you clear one of the game's dungeons and the story progresses, you're given a distinct number of days in which you have to decide whether you're hoping into the dungeons to build towards a clear, or chillin with your buds. Spend too much time dungeon crawling and you won't make any friends. Spend too much time making friends and you won't clear any dungeons; also you have to devote time to building other skills, such as your knowledge rating and your expression rating. Figuring out how to juggle all of these just right is the game's secret sauce. Its incredibly compelling.

When you're not spending time hanging out on the streets of Inaba, the game compels you to enter a TV in order to seek out and save the potential victims of our mysterious serial killer; referred to in game as the TV World, this is where the meat and potatoes of Persona 4 is stashed away; here is where you collect and develop the titular personas in order to build a wealth of abilities, both physical and magical, to allow you to progress through the game's many dungeons. These dungeons, largely procedural, are filled with enemies. The design is straightforward - climb to the bottom or the top in order to defeat a powerful enemy. Rinse. Repeat. Its simplicity, combined with the wonderful Press Turn combat system that rewards you for learning the weaknesses of each enemy to allow you to exploit them, makes for a wonderful dungeon crawling experience. Within each dungeon is a set of personas that you can catch and develop, as well as fuse together to create vast amounts of new personas. It makes each pass through a particular dungeon feel fresh and exciting as you continue to collect every persona it has to offer.

Sporting a wonderful structure, excellent character writing - some of it incredibly dated and potentially uncomfortable depending on the player, and a brilliantly constructed battle system, Persona 4: Golden is a nearly perfect game.

What takes it from a five star dish to a four star classic is its myriad of endings and the Golden bonus content.

Persona 4: Golden, like its non golden predecessor, has multiple endings. Golden has more than vanilla of course, and each of them have convoluted ways of triggering them that requires you to approach certain scenarios with an element of trial and error in order to successfully attain them. This feels weak. I feel this way towards any game that offers these kinds of hoops to jump through in order to obtain what the creators feel is a "true," or "canon," ending. The process of obtaining the most ideal ending in Persona 4: Golden exhausted much of the good will that the previous 65 hours of solid, rich video game built up within me. What a shame. Also they shove a new character in there to explain some weird contrivances and give her an accompanying dungeon that feels like its from a different game? Weird stuff.

This being considered, I still find Persona 4: Golden to be one worthy of consideration for being part of the video game canon. When its good, its incredibly good. When it isn't, it isn't enough to full dim the greatness on display. You should probably play this excellent video game, even if it does take a good 75 hours to complete. Its worth the time.

Persona 4 is a game that will always hold a special place in my heart. I remember playing it back in 2014 and I loved the game from start to finish, and over the years I always thought about the game fondly. But unfortunately, I never really replayed the game. It was just a game associated with my childhood until 2023 when Persona 4 Golden got re-released on modern consoles. Being a massive fan of Persona 5 Royal and loving the original Persona 4 made Persona 4 Golden a day 1 buy for me. As soon as I started the game, I was hit by massive nostalgia; just hearing the music made me feel like a kid.

The problems for me started with Marie. Marie was a character that I was very excited for simply because she was the new addition to one of my favorite games at the time. However, Marie's character ended up being one of my least favorite aspects of Persona 4 Golden. She felt very forced into the story, especially within her terrible social link, which did not really progress her character until rank 8. Even after seeing her hang out with the team and Yu for six links, she had zero chemistry with the cast besides maybe Yu. This led to every poorly executed arc of the investigating team trying to save a ‘friend,’ but besides Yu, every other team member barely even knew Marie, so every ‘emotional moment’ in that arc felt mediocre at best. The best two additions to Persona 4 Golden from the original Persona 4 were the new ending and Adachi's social links. But my main issues with this game did not end with the additional Golden content.

Another thing that bothered me with Persona 4 was the lack of development from the main cast after their Persona awakenings, which caused me to feel very disconnected from them on an individual level. This does not apply to every character, though. Kanji and Naoto, for example, were characters that I noticed continued to keep developing through the main story and their social links, which caused them to quickly become my two favorite characters among the main cast. Persona 4 Golden is often considered to have the best side social links in the entire franchise, which is something that I sadly do not agree with. Outside of Dojima and Nanako, who both have a top 10 social link in the franchise for me, I found every other side social link in this game to be good but mostly forgettable.

By far my favorite aspect of Persona 4, though, is the cast chemistry between the main cast members. No matter the situation, the cast of Persona 4 always brought a smile to my face when they were together. This is by far Persona 4's best aspect. I can feel a genuine connection between all members of the cast, which makes them spending time together feel way more organic and genuine. Outside of everything I mentioned, the only other minor complaint I have is the gameplay. I do not think the gameplay of P4 is bad at all, but it did not age as well as I remember. Even though I went over some negatives in this review, I still find P4 to be an amazing game, and I have no doubt that if this game ever gets a remake, it will once again end up as one of my favorite games ever because most of my issues with it are very easy to fix.

While not reaching the same emotional highs of Persona 3 FES, Persona 4 is still a exceptionally fantastic game that is made with fun and passion.
Sure certain elements may not aged well and Teddie while not as horrid as P5's Morgana was still annoying, Persona 4 excels in atmosphere, humor and character writing and chemistry
Gameplay is great, but can be repetitive at times.
Fantastic soundtrack.

Overall a fantastic game that made me, laugh, cry and smile.

Persona 4 Golden foi uma experiência fenomenal, com sua história mais contida e misteriosa, além de seus personagens extremamente carismáticos e bem construídos. Com pequenos problemas que foram melhorados nos jogos subsequentes.

Pra fazer essa review, eu vou separar em alguns pontos:

História
Persona 4 Golden é o jogo mais "adolescente" dos últimos 3 Personas. Trazendo como tema principal a descoberta pessoal de seus personagens, fazendo-os descobrir como eles são e o que podem se tornar. A trama se passa na pequena cidade de Inaba, onde um assassino em série está matando algumas pessoas da cidade e você e seus amigos são os únicos que conseguem entender como ele faz isso e interromper esses assassinatos. A história é bem escrita e cheia de plot-twists, deixando-a sempre misteriosa e interessante. O escopo da narrativa é bem menor que dos outros que joguei da série, e foi exatamente isso que fez com que eu gostasse tanto dela. O brilho da história para mim é o grupo de personagens principais, que conseguem ser extremamente carismáticos e divertidos. Para mim, é o melhor grupo dos últimos 3 Personas, junto com seu protagonista que realmente parece um líder e alguém em quem você pode confiar.

Gameplay
A gameplay é bem parecida com a do Persona 3 FES, porém para mim é sem dúvida a parte mais fraca do jogo. As dungeons são chatas de explorar, diversos inimigos não possuem fraqueza para algum tipo de elemento, resultando em uma batalha pouco instigante e maçante, além de algumas Bossfights que são extremamente chatas e maçantes. Felizmente as últimas são bem legais e bem feitas.

Trilha Sonora
A trilha sonora é muito boa, porém não chega perto das do 3 e 5, que ficam na cabeça e são sempre boas de escutar, não importando a quantidade de vezes que você escuta.

Pontos positivos e negativos
Para mim, o único ponto negativo é certas partes da gameplay, que acabam ficando maçantes algumas vezes, além de escolhas específicas para fazer o final verdadeiro do jogo, porém isso não anula o resto do jogo, que é incrível.

Conclusão
O jogo foi uma experiência incrível e com certeza se tornou meu segundo Persona favorito, ficando atrás apenas do 3. A história principal e personagens são o ponto alto do jogo, o que o torna especial. Além dos conteúdos novos adicionados na versão Golden, que incluem o True Ending e 2 novas dungeons e bosses. Nota 9/10.

No, you’re NOT a real gamer.

I’m so sick of all these people that think they’re gamers. No, you’re not. Most of you are not even close to being gamers. I see these people saying “I put well over 100 hours in this game, it’s great!” that’s nothing, most of us can easily put 300+ hours in all our games. I see people who only have a Nintendo Switch and claim to be gamers. Come talk to me when you pick up a PS4 controller then we be friends.

Also DEAR ALL WOMEN: Pokémon is not a real game. Animal Crossing is not a real game. The Sims is not a real game. Mario is not a real game. Stardew valley is not a real game. Mobile games are NOT.REAL.GAMES. put down the baby games and play something that requires challenge and skill for once.

Sincerely, all of the ACTUAL gamers.

Awesome game, and I think i enjoyed it slightly more than P5. Cant wait to dive into P3 now!

Only thing about these games is the INSANE amount of dialogue, like my first playthrough was over 100 hours, second playthrough i fast forwarded all the dialogue and it cut about 50-60 hours off the game time. Thats crazy! Thats like 5 seasons of televisions worth of dialogue and cut scenes. And lets not pretend the dialogue is like super clever or funny, a lot of it is straight filler.

Also, the dungeons are pretty boring and grindy. But it didn't really matter because the actual gameplay is so amazingly fun and addictive.

Ironicamente acabo tendo mais problemas com esse jogo que com o 3.

Ele definitivamente evolui muito o 3 mecanicamente, os social links são muito mais divertidos e envolventes como um todo, além de todas as atividades e seus status também serem mais interessantes. E as dungeons embora ainda não terem muita variação em gameplay, são muito mais interessantess por serem relacionadas aquele personagem em específico, o que adiciona carisma a elas.

Meu problema é justamente com o que é melhor no persona 3, a história. Ainda acho que é uma história divertida e que te prende bastante em acompanhar, mas acaba tendo muito potencial desperdiçado. Você acaba tendo muitos arcos de personagem onde você tem uma ideia muito interessante, mas pouco aprofundada, como o arco da Naoto e do Kanji, que são os mais interessantes tematicamemte, mas que são pouco aproveitados, todos os arcos são muito resumidos nessas dungeons, diferente de Persona 3, onde os personagens tem arcos que duram o jogo todo, e mesmo em momentos onde eles estão de férias e sem grandes coisas acontecendo, você ainda tem o desenvolvimento deles, e você sempre vai ter pontos chaves onde eles mostram a evolução, enquanto o 4 apenas rusha seus arcos nas dungeons.
Além do próprio jogo esquecer do arco do personagem, o Kanji passa pela aceitação de ter um gosto considerando feminino e que ele n deixa de ser homem por isso, mas ele continua querendo pagar de machão depois disso e ficando puto quando insinuam que ele é gay, sem contar que esse jogo tem muita homofobia, além de gordofoba e assédio sexual sendo tratado como piada, o que já tinha no persona 3, mas esse jogo tem MUITO mais, o festival cultural foi a parte mais difícil de passar por ser uma junção de todos os preconceitos desse jogo. É muito estranho que um jogo sobre se aceitar seja tão problemático nisso.

Com as minhas críticas, parece que eu odiei o jogo, mas eu amei, mesmo com todos esses aspectos ele me divertiu muito, mesmo com o desperdício de potencial, os personagens são fantásticos em carisma, muito mais carismáticos que os do 3, e o jogo acaba investindo mais nas relações dos personagens do que a profundidade deles, e é efetivo nisso. O assassino é bastante bem escrito mesmo com o resto só jogo falhando nisso, e embora a narrativa envolta do assassino não se manter tão bem pra desenvolver a investigação, porquê o jogador sempre tá muito a frente dos personagens nos passos, ainda é interessante acompanhar a investigação, a vibe e o clima geral do jogo são muito gostosos, jogar o dia a dia no jogo é muito gostoso, a cidade é um setting fantástico. Pode pecar em falta de profundidade, ainda mais comparado ao 3, mas a simplicidade dele acerta bastante como um todo apesar das falhas. Não tem como se despedir do jogo sem sentir falta desse elenco e esse clima.

The Persona high didn't go away after I finished Reload, so I decided to sit down and get additional achievements for a full playthrough of 4. I'm very happy I did, because I feel like my opinions on this game have solidified really well.

I find the gameplay here fine. It has controllable party members and a dungeon format instead of a 100 floor tower or subway system, but it lacks anything that adds a lot of depth to the game. I don't blame Golden for this, as it's mainly just due to how long ago the game came out. The life sim aspects are as fun and addicting as any other Persona, and the music grows on me each time I hear it. (Heartbeat, Heartbreak in particular is great).

What makes 4 slightly worse than 3 and 5 in my eyes, unfortunately, is the writing. That statement alone probably turned anyone reading this away, but I ask you hear me out. I don't really agree with sentiments you'd find on Twitter (I find Kanji and Naoto's arcs to be the best in the game), but that said I do feel that this game is extremely, and I mean EXTREMELY, dated. A better way to describe my feelings is I feel as though two different people wrote this game: one that cared about a murder mystery featuring high schoolers and an overwhelmingly stressful atmosphere, and another who wanted to write the most generic slice of life anime you've ever watched, gross tropes and all.

The members of the Investigation Team are all individually very enjoyable. Its when they share scenes, usually in the added golden content, that their annoying sides come out. Teddie is a character that deeply upsets me. I find that he has some genuinely good emotional moments throughout Golden's runtime, but a vast majority of his lines are creepy as all hell. I fucking despise the pervert trope, it's the main reason I don't really watch anime at all, and Teddie's perv energy is so massive that it infects the other characters while he runs his mouth. Yosuke in particular loses all of his brain cells as Golden's story goes on. Not only is he regulated to pervert comic relief with Teddie, but he's also really fucking rude to Kanji, like to an unfair degree. This is getting informal, but the dude literally accepted his magical dark shadow self by admitting that he isn't gay, just afraid of rejection, and yet Yosuke still gives him shit. Like I thought the whole point was to support your friends in accepting themselves, bad and all. Why tear into the dude about something that isn't even true and clearly tormented him. It sucks even more because Yosuke's writing before Kanji's dungeon and in his S-Link is really solid, and I REALLY want to like him more than I do.

As usual, I went on a rant. I want to end by saying that I feel the setting of Inaba is the strongest setting present in modern Persona. I'm not sure how, but Golden does a great job of making the scenery feel comfy and safe. I also, despite the creepy writing, can tell how much each member of the Investigation Team cares for one another, and to me they form a better group dynamic than S.E.E.S. and the Phantom Thieves. It's just a shame that when you inspect closer, ironically, the darker parts of some of these characters are hard to ignore.

Every bit as good as its successor, centred around a more intimate, personal theme of accepting yourself and striving for the truth. This theme is most present in the social link aspect of the game, which is done excellently, deepening your investment in these characters, specifically your fellow party members, by telling these very emphatic human stories. Additionally, this also furthers your immersion, making the setting of Inaba feel less like just a game world and more like a real place with real people, which is funny when the map of Inaba is so limited.

While I certainly missed the intricate palaces from Persona 5, Persona 4 by no means has weak dungeon crawling, as each dungeon still oozes personality, and I generally found the battles on Hard difficulty more consistently engaging than Persona 5 even though it has more complex combat due to Baton Pass and Technical. This is because in Persona 5 Royal it is much easier to start battles with player advantage and battles are frequently over before the enemies’ turn whilst this is less the case in Persona 4 forcing you to consider your moves better and play more strategically. However, I do think Persona 5 still has Persona 4 beat on boss battles both visually and mechanically. The visual design of Persona 4’s bosses are still strong though, reaching the end of each dungeon was always a highlight, as I loved seeing how the twisted shadow of each victim would manifest. As in any Persona game the music is fantastic and does an excellent job of capturing the essence of the game.

Additionally, the scenes of the investigation team hanging out do a great job in convincing you that the group are genuine friends, and it was always a joy watching the characters interact with each other and seeing their relationships develop during these. Persona 4 is downright hilarious at times too which I can’t say about many other games.

In conclusion I think the best word that describes Persona 4 is ‘genuine', and I think that is an amazing achievement.

This is a truly amazing JRPG. It's kinda crazy this is around since PS2 era.

Aside from the fact that the game finshes 3 times (depending on some choices), it was a great time, gripping story and nice characters.

There is some cringy and kinda problematic takes, but overall the characters are very solid and the game does a great job making you care about them.

I wished the persona fusing system was a bit more streamlined, but overall it was fun. Sad that I took so long to play this even though a friend bugged me for years to try it out

It took me three tries over the years for this game to finally click, but wow did it ever. Even if the dungeon gameplay was a low point, I couldn't stop playing.

The cast makes this game what it is. Every character in the main cast is incredible, and their individual story moments all had me engaged and interested to see what came next.

The story itself surprised me multiple times throughout. The twists kept me on my toes throughout, all the while having great moments to showcase.

The game definitely shows its age in some respects, but overall I'm glad I finally got around to getting through this game and understanding the appeal. What a ride.

Well, compared to the other games in the series, i'd say this is the worst one, all the Social interaction elements are honestly better than persona 3, but EVERYTHING involving actual dungeon crawling gameplay feels worse 10 fold, i don't even know why it feels that bad, but man if Tartarus felt like a chore sometimes in P3, the dungeons in P4 feel like medieval torture, otherwise, in regards to aesthetics, i think this game sits on both ends of the spectrum, i like the use of yellow and the theming of the early 2000's and CRTs and all of that, but some of it looks really lame when compared to P3 or P5, it is functional though so i can't complain too much.

the social links... they're pretty good, except for yosuke's, his is kinda boring, his character in general is a bit annoying, not as much as teddie but he's up there, and at least teddie has some actual funny non-perv moments in the game, yosuke is just not funny ever.

This game does a great job on making the characters feel like real friends you have, only to them have them do some weird anime trope that makes me go "oh..", only to then fix itself again, it's inconsistent but the good generally outweights the bad.

as for the story... when playing through it you don't really notice because you are wayyy more invested in the characters than in actually solving the mystery, but even then the story is basically just a loop that goes on for 30 hours, you get almost NO clues as to who the suspect is until the end, so it can feel like a drag, but the game gives you enough to distract yourself to not worry about it too much.

It's OK