Persona 4 Golden Review
Persona 4 stands out from other JRPGs due to its contemporary setting in rural areas and Jung-inspired story. This allows it to break genre conventions and tells a compelling story.
- Strategy and turn-based combat
- Graphics
- Well-designed character development
- There are so many fun things to do outside of combat.
- Some bugs and glitches
- No auto-save feature
The characters and their quirks make this a very entertaining game. Persona 4 Golden, a classic JRPG game, is a must-have PC game, but why? You will know after reading this review.
Everything You Need to Know About Persona 4 Golden
What is the story of P4G?
Persona 4 Golden is an Atlus-developed adventure game that takes place in Inaba, which is a fictional Japanese town. Your role is that of a high-schooler who moves to Japan to live with his uncle or cousin after his parents go abroad for work. A series of mysterious murders on foggy nights soon shake the town. The murderer is known for tossing victims into a dangerous dimension called the "The Midnight Channel". Together with a group of classmates, the protagonist (named by you) must stop the serial killer and live his normal life as a student. For more information about the story, you check out our Persona 4 Golden Story article.
Gameplay
In P4G, you can use basic attacks or personas to defeat monsters. Each member of the group uses a weapon found in dungeons, or bought from the local weapon and armor shop. There are many combat tools, including knives, swords and folding fans. One even has a school desk while one character uses firearms.
Enemies
Many enemies have exploitable, elemental weaknesses. For example, certain creatures are sensitive to electricity and others to fire, water, and wind. Attacking your foes with elemental weapons temporarily stuns them. This gives you an opportunity for a second blow. If your entire party is able to stun all foes in a combat scenario then your entire party will perform a devastating group assault that deals huge damages. This makes it crucial to uncover the weaknesses of monsters. Additionally, the joy of stomping on beasties before they can strike back is never-ending.
Combat Mechanics
Thanks to combat's exaggerated animations & booming sound effects, heroes’ and enemies’ attacks are flashy and punchy. Camera movements add to the action, with quick pans and rapid zooms. The battles are intense and frenetic despite Persona 4 Golden’s turn-based combat mechanics.
Shuffle Time
Similar to Persona 3, Persona 4 Golden features the addictive Shuffle Time mini-game. It is randomly triggered and challenges you to pull one card from a list of five. You can replenish your HP and SP with certain cards, while others unlock treasure boxes containing money, weapons or other items. You may be blessed with extra tries or personas to help you pick more cards. If you are able to choose all five tarot decks, you will receive a Sweep Bonus which guarantees you'll join Shuffle Time at every battle.
Personas
The game’s name has to mean something, right? Not only are cards important to manage, but personas also require your attention. Persona 4 Golden offers more than 150 different personas and encourages experimentation. This is especially true when creating new personas from existing ones. While new personas are born with certain abilities, you can also give them some skills from the source personas. It's fun to try and create the perfect persona.
Real World and Mind World
Persona 4 Golden offers more than card games and monster-slaying fights. The protagonist spends time in real life with his friends, studying for midterms, going to basketball practice, and fishing among other activities one would expect as a teenager. These activities would not be part of Persona 4 Golden's gameplay, but they could be used as side quests for RPGs. You can strengthen your character, personas, and allies by establishing and strengthening social links in real life. Personas on the Midnight Channel can strengthen your bonds with the real world. These two seemingly distinct gameplay elements from the mind-world and real-world are complemented by each other.
Characters
Every character and persona are part of an Arcana class and is defined by it. For example, if you have a Fool Arcana personality, your Social Link bonds with other members of the same class will be strengthened. Spending time with friends strengthens your connection with them, which in turn makes the same Arcana personas stronger. Although it is possible to build bonds with characters even when you don't have the same Arcana as them, it may take longer to achieve the next Social Link level. You'll need to ensure you have a variety of personas. Your personas will be stronger if you have strong Social Links.
Each character is different. You have the power to help people you have connected with through Social Links. These people will often offer dialogue options during conversations. Your bond will deepen if you choose the right one (evidenced by a happy tone). Although it may seem mundane, spending time with friends and acquaintances in Inaba is a great way to feel closer to the city. If you need more information about the characters, we got you! Check out our Persona 4 Golden Characters Guide.
Graphics
In Persona 4 Golden, all the art has been polished, including still shots showing the characters during dialogue, background textures, character model textures, and character models. I found myself spending much of my time taking in all the details that had been once blurred on a small screen. These included the Dojima's furniture and their food, Inaba’s charming shopping district, and the mysterious rooms in the alternate Midnight Channel dimension.
Is Persona 4 Golden Worth Playing?
If you were not able to make friends in high school and want to feel the comfort of being with other people, this game is for YOU!
All jokes aside, despite its little bugs and glitches, and characters making you cringe from time to time, P4G is definitely worth playing. With its combat, mini-games, the ideology behind it, attention to detail, story and many aspects I cannot finish praising this game and I know you are going to enjoy it if you enjoy RPGs.