Persona 4 Golden is the definitive edition of Persona 4, and the preluding game in the Persona franchise before Persona 5. As someone who played and absolutely adored everything about Persona 5 Royal, I was eager to jump into the also highly acclaimed Persona 3 and Persona 4 games. However I couldn't, until they released ports to all consoles and so I got my hands on Persona 4 Golden for the Nintendo Switch!
I started this game a while ago, it was at probably a bad time, I was busy. But I got back into this game a couple months later and really fell back into the Persona Experience. That ever-so-addictive balance of real life and dungeon crawling.
Persona 4 Golden's setting, characters and general premise for its story are all top tier. Putting our main character out into a small town called Inaba for the school year, the main character stays with his uncle and little cousin for the year. However, not long after his arrival a series of murders take place, which suddenly correlate with a weird TV channel that plays at midnight when it rains. Along with his new friend Yosuke, the main character and Yosuke enter the TV.
Inaba has immaculate small town vibes. Loved the bustling city of Tokyo from Persona 5 but the small scale homely vibes are simply unmatched here, gorgeous locations always.
As for characters, these were truly a group of friends. Like Christ, this group was so tight it's much better as a dynamic than Persona 5. That's helped by this game having a much lighter and funnier tone compared to at least Persona 5. So we get countless hilarious moments. Oh but don't worry, this game will also absolutely break you too, in the late game especially. It finds the perfect balance as you'll enjoy spending time and just vibing before the game moves into the next dungeon.
Of the cast, I'd say Yukiko, Kanji, Nanako, Dojima and Naoto were highlights. I was dating Yukiko, but I found her arc and personality to both work extremely well. Kanji and Naoto both bring so much flavour to the cast as well as having really interesting and unique arcs, also being staples in my party (along with Yukiko).
Nanako and Dojima are absolutely the emotional core of the story and man do they sell you on it. There's never been a cuter character than Nanako.
As for characters I wasn't too fond of. I like Yosuke but I also don't like Yosuke. He's great when he's not actively being homophobic or a pervert but unfortunately the writers don't really allow him to be neither many times and so it leaves me feeling like I can't really truly like him, but I guess the headcannon being that he's closeted helps. Teddie also suffers from being too much of a pervert and being kinda annoying but I actually liked his arc in the end, he has good moments. No problems with Chie but she doesn't do anything really.
As for the mystery, what a thrilling one. Unfortunately I did know who the killer was since before I played -- the memes are unavoidable -- but the impact of it was still absolutely felt. And while to get the true ending is sorta annoying since you need to do very specific and not obvious things to get it, it fits so well into the themes of the game that I loved the way the game explored its themes.
The themes of this game being accepting who you are and not accepting a false perception of life. Using TV and fog to represent this was actually so smart and just a perfect metaphor, I loved it. And the added Golden content with Marie fits so naturally I can't imagine playing Persona 4 and that arc or character not even being in it.
Persona 4 Golden strives in its slice of life and its incredible cast, and genuinely incredible story, but how about gameplay? Well the dungeons aren't really the best of the series. But I actually really enjoyed them in the end. They're not really designed they're just hallways with chests and enemies until you reach the top and fight a boss, but I will say I did find that dungeon crawling element almost more addictive than designed dungeons so it balances out (but designed dungeons are better don't get me wrong). The combat is also not as good as Persona 5 but it's still very fun regardless.
But it feels unfair to compare an older game to a newer game. They improved lots of P4G's issues with P5, but it aged so very well in my opinion it doesn't affect my enjoyment at all. I didn't want my journey to end. I just wish it wasn't so damn perverted and homophobic lmao.
I started this game a while ago, it was at probably a bad time, I was busy. But I got back into this game a couple months later and really fell back into the Persona Experience. That ever-so-addictive balance of real life and dungeon crawling.
Persona 4 Golden's setting, characters and general premise for its story are all top tier. Putting our main character out into a small town called Inaba for the school year, the main character stays with his uncle and little cousin for the year. However, not long after his arrival a series of murders take place, which suddenly correlate with a weird TV channel that plays at midnight when it rains. Along with his new friend Yosuke, the main character and Yosuke enter the TV.
Inaba has immaculate small town vibes. Loved the bustling city of Tokyo from Persona 5 but the small scale homely vibes are simply unmatched here, gorgeous locations always.
As for characters, these were truly a group of friends. Like Christ, this group was so tight it's much better as a dynamic than Persona 5. That's helped by this game having a much lighter and funnier tone compared to at least Persona 5. So we get countless hilarious moments. Oh but don't worry, this game will also absolutely break you too, in the late game especially. It finds the perfect balance as you'll enjoy spending time and just vibing before the game moves into the next dungeon.
Of the cast, I'd say Yukiko, Kanji, Nanako, Dojima and Naoto were highlights. I was dating Yukiko, but I found her arc and personality to both work extremely well. Kanji and Naoto both bring so much flavour to the cast as well as having really interesting and unique arcs, also being staples in my party (along with Yukiko).
Nanako and Dojima are absolutely the emotional core of the story and man do they sell you on it. There's never been a cuter character than Nanako.
As for characters I wasn't too fond of. I like Yosuke but I also don't like Yosuke. He's great when he's not actively being homophobic or a pervert but unfortunately the writers don't really allow him to be neither many times and so it leaves me feeling like I can't really truly like him, but I guess the headcannon being that he's closeted helps. Teddie also suffers from being too much of a pervert and being kinda annoying but I actually liked his arc in the end, he has good moments. No problems with Chie but she doesn't do anything really.
As for the mystery, what a thrilling one. Unfortunately I did know who the killer was since before I played -- the memes are unavoidable -- but the impact of it was still absolutely felt. And while to get the true ending is sorta annoying since you need to do very specific and not obvious things to get it, it fits so well into the themes of the game that I loved the way the game explored its themes.
The themes of this game being accepting who you are and not accepting a false perception of life. Using TV and fog to represent this was actually so smart and just a perfect metaphor, I loved it. And the added Golden content with Marie fits so naturally I can't imagine playing Persona 4 and that arc or character not even being in it.
Persona 4 Golden strives in its slice of life and its incredible cast, and genuinely incredible story, but how about gameplay? Well the dungeons aren't really the best of the series. But I actually really enjoyed them in the end. They're not really designed they're just hallways with chests and enemies until you reach the top and fight a boss, but I will say I did find that dungeon crawling element almost more addictive than designed dungeons so it balances out (but designed dungeons are better don't get me wrong). The combat is also not as good as Persona 5 but it's still very fun regardless.
But it feels unfair to compare an older game to a newer game. They improved lots of P4G's issues with P5, but it aged so very well in my opinion it doesn't affect my enjoyment at all. I didn't want my journey to end. I just wish it wasn't so damn perverted and homophobic lmao.
AngryExpo
9 months ago