Persona 4 Golden is a massive undertaking. A dungeon-crawler JRPG fighting with captured and evolving creatures called Personas, combined with a daily life and relationship simulator, all tied together with an overarching plot about a series of murders in a small town. It shouldn't all work, and yet, the Persona formula is astounding and endlessly fun.

P4G takes place in Inaba, a small town where a recent murder quickly leads to the investigation of a serial killer and a string of disappearances when the fog settles in at night. You play as a high school student who, with the help of an ever-expanding cast of characters, begins to take it upon themselves to discover the truth of the mystery. They stumble upon a mysterious world inside the television, and the adventure begins. The main party and your close circle of family and friends are the reason you play the game. They are such a lovable group that are immediately endearing and strike an excellent balance of "friend group cliches" and genuine unique personalities and emotional moments. While not all of their personal stories stick the landing, standouts like Kanji, Naoto, and Rise allow the player to really connect with a variety of new faces.

Most of the game's lifestyle is day-to-day, choosing how to spend your time between attending school, going to clubs, hanging out after class, working jobs, and leveling up your endless arsenal of Personas. It can be a bit hectic, especially in the first two in-game months of trying to understand what activities use up time, which of them benefit you and in what ways, and who are the best people to spend that time with. It's all a part of the process, and it's probably best to go with your instincts. Unless you micromanage, you can't see and max everything in a single run, so taking the time to deepen the bonds in characters' social links is ideal. Unfortunately, not all characters are equal. Aside from your main party, many of the other social links do not give an added benefit for leveling them up, other than better Personas to craft. As compared to Persona 5, Atlus plugs this hole, but unless you like the character, it seems useless to go all the way with certain bonds. This is unfortunate because I found several non-party characters grating or downright mean, so I chose to skip them almost entirely. In addition to social levels, you must also balance five different life skills, which act as skill checks at vital moments in Social Link conversations and for completing certain quests and objectives. The game de-emphasizes these skills but can be reached pretty quickly if you find the right activities. I maxed out my skills just about halfway through the in-game year.

The other half of Persona 4 is the RPG side. Victims of the serial killer create a dungeon inside the TV world, which takes the form as a (mostly) randomly generated set of labyrinthine corridors filled with enemies called Shadows. If you are coming from Persona 5, the dungeons are more similar to that game's Mementos than its version of Palaces. This is disappointing, as levels feel uninspired, not donning much difference between each other than a new wallpaper and song. Even many of the enemies are stronger color-swaps of enemies you've seen before. This makes the combat section of the game feel very sluggish. Luckily, the game doesn't require you to bang out the combat in one sitting, giving you the option to duck in and out of socializing and dungeon-crawling before your deadlines. That said, I usually completed the dungeon within one in-game day, which was only really difficult and not encouraged on the first to second dungeons where recovering magic points wasn't easy. All that said, the actual combat system is solid, providing a Pokemon-like elemental weakness system that is fun and challenging to decipher. Balancing your health and magic SP points as you dive deeper into the dungeons brings an almost survival element to the mix, which is appreciated considering many of the levels can be quite creepy or disturbing.

Side quests also exist, which work as the bridge between the two game mechanics. Accepting quests in Inaba will task you with finding a host of material drops from key enemies inside the TV. However, while these quests usually gave some great rewards, some drops were hard to get a hold of, and once you get an exorbitant amount of money, they end up feeling unnecessary to complete for any reason. This, and some other areas are where Persona 5 (Royal, the version I played) improves drastically upon the overall framework of the series. P5 improves where P4G struggles in many areas, such as the designed dungeon levels, better time management, more time to work with, and more clear menu and Persona descriptions and information.

I can't finish this review without also mentioning the music. A fresh set of boppy, upbeat late 90s-early 2000s tracks permeate much of the style of P4G, and they blend well with the genuine light-hearted nature of many of the main cast, while also giving the range to go into heavier rock riffs and intense anime encores when combat starts ramping up. The extensive soundtrack defines every beat this game's incredible amount of dialogue and content has to offer, and it makes the experience worth continuing for.

The overall mystery of Persona 4 Golden kept me playing to see every last twist and turn that the Investigation Team followed through. It's the most realistic depiction you can get of teenagers battling demons inside a television world to solve a murder mystery because the game is punctuated with heartfelt moments of optimism, courage, and identity. It's one of my new favorite games and I'm glad I found the time to play it.