Persona 4 Golden (2012)

Persona 4 Golden lands between two of my favorite JRPGs in recent memory chronologically. When it comes to Persona's staple lifesim gameplay and dungeon crawling, it's easy to see how it bridges 3 and 5, though the narrative feels a bit tighter here than in either of those two. The pacing helped me push through the 75 hours I spent with this game without needing to take a major break like I had to with the others, but that doesn't necessarily make it the better game.

First, it's worth addressing the elephant in the room. Persona 4 has a pretty dated sense of humor. It's a product of the 2000s for sure, but honestly feels dated even by those standards. It has its funny moments, but so much of what the game expects you to laugh along with is honestly just kind of cruel to...well, all sorts of people. Homophobia, fatphobia, and misogyny get dredged up too often for me to pass it off as merely a product of its time.

Persona 4 reminds me a bit of some of the friends I had back in grade school. I'd like spending time with them well enough but would also be very conscious that they were given to start spouting some phobic nonsense at the drop of a hat. While playing this I'd be chugging along, vibing to the banger soundtrack, when suddenly my guy friends would pull me into some convoluted plot to sexually harass my gal friends and it'd get messy and uncomfortable real fast. It got the point where I'd never know if the next vacation I went on with my friends would actually be fun or just kind of gross to sit through. I can't believe this game managed to pack in two dumb bathhouse scenes along with everything else.

But alright, lets put that all aside for now. There's a lot more to this game.

I think Persona 4 has the most consistently good story of the three modern entries in the series. Most of the time it feels like at least something is being developed, and it doesn't too often feel like it loses focus. It's still very slow-paced, but I felt like that gave the narrative room to breathe. I don't think it ever hits the high points of 3 or 5, and the final month of its calendar is oddly weak, but it doesn't lose momentum as often. I also like how Golden has bonus content in the form of a mini philosophy course that serves to expand a bit on how personas relate to the psyche. I think philosophy is really fascinating, so this was right up my alley; just a lot of fun to read through.

I also think this game has a strong cast. Despite all the harassment and arguments, I could see these guys all hanging out together. However, none of them ever really managed to endear themselves to me in a way that made me want to spend more time with them. The social links had decent writing-- just none of them grabbed me. My friend (a longtime fan of the series) insisted I pick my favorite characters to tell him. I think I'd go with Naoto and Dojima. Chie was a solid runner up though.

The Persona series gets a ton of praise for its visual flair and soundtracks. Persona 4 at nearly 20 years old still looks fuckin great; it's a testament to the franchise's legacy of mastery over key art and music that slaps. I'm sure some of that can be attributed to tweaks made in Golden, but between its vibrant color palette, expressive and slick character art, amazing soundtrack, and flashy UI, it's hard to swallow that this is a PS2 era game.

The real low point of the experience for me ended up being the dungeon crawling. I think by the time I wrapped up my second playthrough of Persona 3 Portable I had come to love the maze-like twists and turns of Tartarus and the grind that came with sitting down to push through its many, many floors. Persona 4 Golden somehow felt much worse. There are less floors and they're comprised of a lot more long empty hallways. It's just really boring to walk through. Also, several dungeons have this horrendous gimmick that forces you to backtrack to earlier floors to pick up a necessary item to make progress. It just felt like it was wasting my time.

Battles feel about the same as in 3, though having Hama and Mudo skills guaranteed (I think?) to hit if an enemy is weak to them is a nice tweak. Shuffle time was improved! I think I actually prefer this version to what 3 and 5 have. It makes you stop and think about which cards you pick to try and get a Sweep Bonus. Characters felt well balanced overall, though some late game abilities are overtuned. I don't mind much, because I'm here to have fun, but it does give the game a weird difficulty progression where the first 10 hours are by far the hardest. From there it just gets easier and easier.

I had a pretty good time exploring the small town of Inaba. It hurts a bit to give this 3 stars, because it's such a quality game. It falls just short of 4 for me though. There's just too much that drags this experience down and I think you'd be better served playing one of the other entries if you're deciding which to start with.

I started playing this back in late May but as I was focusing on cracking down on shorter games in my Steam backlog for a while after that I'm only just really getting the ball rolling on my playthrough now.

I really love that feeling of getting far enough into a JRPG where I'm excited to get back to my playthrough whenever I have free time. It usually takes a while because the genre is filled with long games and slow burns but not much compares to being hungry for more and more of a game and knowing there's probably a solid 30-40 hours of it to dig into still.

After loving Persona 3 Reload last year, I kept it going with Persona 4 Golden. This series is certainly something special, and despite my love for JRPGs, I never got into these games, but better late than never.

While mystery plots aren't really my thing, this game handles it incredibly well and I actually think the social link system is better done in this game than 3 (it feels like people are actually unsure of you at first, but as you get closer to them, they appreciate you more). The finale has nothing on Persona 3, but that was like the peak of epic JRPG plots while this finale felt like more of an afterthought.

This game was fantastic and it deserves all the hype. Some stuff didn't age too well, but it's definitely a byproduct of the mid-2000s. Now I just need to go through a second playthrough and finish up some achievements.

I preface this review by explaining that for me, this game just passed the four-star mark. It is, in my opinion, quite concretely outdone by every other game I've rated four stars. That being said, there is unique viewpoint within this game which pushes it above three. Well! With that out the way...

This was my introduction to the Persona series, a collection of games which I've been told to play since I fell in love with Danganronpa. This game was, unsurprisingly, nothing like Danganronpa - but then, nothing is. Instead, it is a strange, romantic exploration of a small town and the people within it. The world I entered was gleefully responsive to my instincts towards roleplaying within games, giving me a multitude of ways to establish my character's priorities. You spend, all things told, a year in Inaba. When the protagonist leaves the town, you leave the game with him.

Though the sprawling narrative choices within Persona 4 Golden were oftentimes fulfilling, I also found the game to be eclectic, frequently unsure of itself and of the characterisation of its participants. I therefore got the sense that there were multiple people pulling the game in different directions, each with a different view of the characters' relationships and the player's priorities.

This conflict of forces is especially evident in the dichotomous way that sensitive topics are handled during the game. Messages of (by the standards of 2008 Japanese video games) outlandish and radical acceptance are shouted from the rooftops, and then stifled by persistent, unrelenting messages social shame. At its worst, the game introduces a caricature of a stereotyped 'confused trans man' whose characterisation and writing throughout is both inconsistent and uncompelling. Undeniably, the disconnect occurs due to the lack of complex thought into gender identity that went into this storyline.

Persona 4 does not struggle with consistency, however, when it comes to misogyny. Chauvinism, sexual harassment and body shaming are relentless parts of almost every available dialogue. The young women of the game are given no grace for their mistakes, and the player is frequently encouraged to participate via disparaging and objectifying dialogue choices. Within battle, the young women are equally as powerful as the young men (although notably, one of them is a primary healer), and yet no acknowledgement of this is offered. This fact, easily ignored, speaks not to feminist empowerment, but to how blatantly hypocritical misogyny can be without inviting any true criticism.

The best aspects of the game and the worst aspects walk, uncomfortably, hand-in-hand. What makes this game special is the unabashed, unfiltered view of an ordinary town. There is graffiti on the Samegawa flood plain. There's a neglected child spending her nights in front of the TV. There is homophobia in the classroom.

I wouldn't swap this game for a version where each dialogue is corporate-approved and manicured. It is hard to know what I would change without picking the game to pieces and building it from scratch. And I don't want to, I think, as much as parts of the game make me miserable. Persona 4 accepts and rejects me with the same hesitancy that my loved ones did when I came out ten years ago. And I think, at the end of the day, I'm okay with that.

P4G is a solid game, but it has its shortcomings.

1. The Life Sim component of the game is a bit overwhelming and even grindy. I enjoyed how your Social Links acted as a means to power up your party, but the way it forces you to maximize every part of your day just made a lot of this take too long. I did every combat chapter as quickly as possible, but it doesn't matter, you just wind up with 10-20 game days after where you have nothing to do but wake up, go to school, and hang out with your friends. I just put 61hrs into this game - I'd have happily had that be reduced by 8-10 and have this part of the game dialed down.

2. There are a number of avenues available to power up your characters, but it's never really fully clear how to strategize this. You don't realize right away that weapons and armor aren't that important, it is never examined how to pursue upgrade items (gemstones), and the process of fusing new Personas is way too complex in the early game.

3. This is a common problem with JRPGs, but you also just spend too long watching cutscenes and battle sequences.

All that said, P4G is still a good game and one that iid recommend to anyone who likes JRPGs. Just a few little criticisms that kept me from loving it.

Everything about this game feels natural and placed perfectly, everything down to the last minute detail.

I forgot to write a review when I finished the game.

Story was great, music was excellent, gameplay was marvelous. at least 70% of social links were interesting and kept me wanting to know more about the characters. Hell, I spent 4 whole days rushing trough it because I wanted more and more about this game world.

This is the best megaten/persona game in regards to main characters and group dynamics. There are obviously some remarks to make towards sexism and sexual harassment coming from both male and female protagonists, but, it's a game developed in 2008, society was different there and thank god we have progressed to this age. Even with this "teenager faults/problems" and japanese-coded stereotypical scenes I felt warm and great spending time with the cast. I was smiling and laughing for at least half the game duration.

I think this is a better game compared to persona 3 and 5. Yukiko is best girl and I will not elaborate further.

One of my favourite games of all time.

10/10

Persona 4 is the first game in the series that I have completed. I played some of Persona 5 around when it came out and I loved it. For whatever reason, I didn't finish it, but I will soon. From my limited experience with the series, I have come to be very fond of the stories and characters. I think Persona is almost unique in the type of fantasy it allows you to live out. Video game usually let you indulge a fantasy, like being a super soldier, or a wizard, or a Poke'mon trainer (which Persona kinda lets you do) but Persona has a type of fantasy that I don't think I've seen anywhere else: What if you were the friend everyone needed? It's cheesy, but I have to say, it works for me.

If I were not a 30 something when I first played this and had been around the age of the characters in the game, I think this would be one of my favorite games of all time. The small town mystery that only the group of plucky kids can solve in a another world with their special magic powers. It's almost like Digimon crossed with Scooby Doo, except instead of a talking dog you have a pervy guy in a mascot costume.

Gameplaywise: Dungeon crawling, turned based battling based around figuring out the enemy's weakness. It can be a bit tiring, but there are game systems that make it a BIT more strategic. It does lack the flair of P5, though.

The story is the big selling point. The investigation team are all excellent characters that I came to really think of as my friends. It's delightful to be with them even if they're not fighting shadows inside the TV and are just hanging out at the beach or skiing.

This is a long game. It's kind of a commitment, but I am so glad that I finished it. If you need something dark but also incredibly uplifting try Persona 4.

I love Persona 4's contemporary small town high school setting. Even when coated in ominous fog, it feels inviting and calming, foreign but instantly familiar. I grew up in a small town around the game's time period myself. While we didn't have demons and murder cases at my school, this exaggerated JRPG coming-of-age story captures a certain essence of teen experiences that really resonated with me at times.

Some of my favorite sessions with this game had me just floating around between bite-sized character vignettes and living out an abridged, idealized daily life. The calendar system and other bits of hidden structure stretch out longer storylines to keep you coming back for more. I was genuinely disappointed when favorite characters weren’t available to hang out. Scenes with them have relatively predictable content, but can be a lot of fun and definitely go to some heartfelt places.

That chill flow is addictive, at least for a while, and makes it all the more impactful when the peace is inevitably disturbed. The supernatural mystery at the heart of the story has some pretty unique aspects. It definitely spins its wheels at points, dragging on way too long in the middle, and I'd say it starts a bit too slow too. While the story has lots of surprises up its sleeve, it falls into overly predictable patterns at times, and is not extremely well paced and balanced between its different elements.

I was a bit disappointed by the writing of a couple party members. One questions his sexuality and struggles with expectations of how a guy should act; the other is ostensibly a girl presenting as a young man to bypass workplace sexism, while later showing discomfort with being seen as a girl and having feminine traits. The game wants to have it both ways, implying heavily for dramatic and comic purposes that the characters are LGBT throughout the game, while making them not actually explicitly LGBT and even going in the opposite direction. It's a shame that there are moments where they actually approach exploring these topics in an interesting way, but it all feels cheapened by lazy tropes used for laughs and shock value.

It wouldn't be as bad if the protagonists didn't so often punch down at others around them. They treat characters they consider ugly or fat like disgusting monsters, constantly troll a friend about his sexuality, and weirdly objectify their female classmates. That certainly happens in high schools, and the game doesn't need to directly tell us that it's wrong, but its writing usually feels like it's actively expecting you to laugh along. Feels like a tonal conflict between elements of the story and how its characters actually act.

I haven't talked much about the gameplay, mostly because to be honest I got very tired of it after the halfway point, even while trying to take the game slow and steady. The dungeons have neat concepts behind them, but in execution get repetitive and tedious as the game goes on. Combat is a fine version of standard SMT stuff, enjoyable but not amazing and inevitably wearing out its welcome in such a long game. I don't really have a negative feeling about the gameplay itself, and it was fun for many long play sessions, I just did not end up wanting to do this much of it.

Even taking all of these negatives into account, this is still a well-done and extremely memorable game overall. Its soundtrack is one of the best ever in a game, putting a pep in the player's step during routine tasks, and greatly enhancing the energy and vibe of story sections. The UI and other visual presentation flourishes bring a ton of pizzazz that keeps the PS2-era visuals feeling fresh. It's a game that I couldn't wait to be done with, but also one that I'm sure I'll find myself missing the feeling of playing in the future.

I'm nearly 20 hours into Persona 4 Golden on the Steam Deck. It's my first Persona experience in general and I came into it completely blind, with zero expectations as I hadn't really read or watched any reviews. And wow, what a quirky, fun, interesting experience so far. My JRPG experience mostly consists of Final Fantasy (which begins to look very vanilla in retrospect), so Persona feels really out there to me with lots of new-to-me gameplay elements, a very anime style, odd music, etc... I love how the characters are fleshed out. I can see that the games handling of social issues will feel really dated, the game is 15+ years old but it probably felt a little cringy in its own day too. I'm privileged enough to be able to overlook these issues, write it off to the times, and keep enjoying the game for its other fun elements, but I can see how others may want to put this one down.

Overall a breath of fresh air so far but I don't really enjoy the dungeon slogs and I imagine that and other aspects may get tiring as I approach 50+ hours.

This is going to be a long one...

It's hard to describe what I felt playing this game. It's honestly not only one of the best JRPGs ever made, but also one of the best games I've ever experienced. Coming from P5, I sort of knew what to expect, at least from a gameplay perspective. And although I wasn't wrong, the time I spent with it felt much more special.

First, I want to blame Shoji Meguro for making me P4G this game so much. The soundtrack is not only 100% perfect, but it also blends extemely well with the tone of the game. Every single song fits like a glove. Whether you're dungeon crawling, maxing out social links, fighting bosses or just walking around Inaba. If the soundtrack sucked, going from one place to another to do anything in this MASSIVE RPG would be boring as hell! The soundtrack is well produced, different, creative, whimsical, ominous, sad, joyful, angry and beautiful.

After P5, I didn't think they would pull it off... But they did! Thanks, Shoji!

The gameplay is typical Persona. Max social links, fight shadows, progress the story, manage your inventory, personas and stats. It's a loop that can get very tedious if you're not invested in the characters, the setting and the story. But thanks to the AMAZING cast and some great (and kinda quirky) voice acting, I couldn't help but be sucked into my character's life. I actually cared about my party members and actually laughed with the writing. Side-characters' social links' stories were also very intesting to explore. Even school life was nice.

During dungeons, things could get a little hectic, especially since this game can get quite tough and the time limits give me an anxiety crisis. This wasn't a walk in the park like most of P5, but I loved the challenge. Exploiting enemy weaknesses and getting your party/personas tactics right for a hard boss made up for some truly captivating moments. If you've played any other Persona, you know what to expect from its gameplay. The thing is... this one feels excepcionally good to play.

As for the story: I loved it! It's slice of life done right. The murder mystery is very well done, gripping me from beginning to end, making my brain figure out every clue, motivation and explanation for the things presented in the case.

But although the crime thriller was quite fascinating, with a few unexpected twists, the core of this story is your main character and his friends. The time you spend with them is precious. You watch every character grow up. You experience their life in school, their teenage dramas, their hardest moments, romances, fights, and brightest hours. Teenage life is turned to a spectacle thanks to pacing, themes and writing. Sure, there are anime and JRPGs cliches floating around the entire game, but I'm used to it. You'll learn to love it too.

The game might be extraordinary, but it's not flawless.

Somethings feels dated. Especially if you've played Persona 5. And I'm not even talking about graphics.

The dungeons are charming, but they're not well designed at all. Infinite corridors that gets dull pretty quick. The unhealthy amount of griding you have to do in this game may also drag this it down. And the problem is that the grind here is NECESSARY! You don't get a lot of money in fights and it takes some time until you level up. It can hamper the dungeons' fun-factor. And I know it's part of the Persona experience, but goddamnit, there are MANY missable events! You can miss entire side-stories if you don't manage your time well AND know exactly what you're doing. Just getting the true ending, with the secret dungeon and all, felt completely random. THANK GOD for guides...

And last, but not least, sexualization is once again a problem. Half of Teddie and Yosuke's conversations are about women. And I know that they're adolescents, but come on! It's quite unnecessary.

Persona 4 Golden felt like a wonderful cozy and mysterious experience. Inaba's atmosphere, the perfect soundtrack, challenging gameplay and a beautiful story feels elegant and joyful. If you love RPGs and have a bunch of free time in your hands, please try this delightful game. You won't forget it that easily.

Good luck uncovering the truth.

Thank you ATLUS for putting Persona 4 on steam and letting me experience this wonderful game, i hope to see more smt games ported to more platforms in the future ! wink wink nudge nudge COUGH persona 5 on the switch COUGH.

4.2 out of 5, truly a golden experi- wait hold on, i already made that reference...

(Ps : Chie is best girl and a datable Yosuke should've made it in the final release, okay bye.)

This game is...wow. I mean, just, wow. If I had to say something negative, it's that it shows it's age a bit. The dungeon-crawling parts of the game are pretty simple. Dungeon designs are basic, as is the combat system. Granted I played on normal, but that aspect of the game wasn't really challenging. But that wasn't the core focus of the game either.

I'd say somewhere from 20-30% of the game is actually spent fighting monsters in dungeons. The vast majority of the game is interacting with the wide cast of characters. You build relationships and learn who these people are, why they're that way, and who they're trying to become. And you help them figure that last step out. Every named character has a story and it's a real struggle to find the time for them all within the game's time limit.

And I can't say too much about the story itself because it is a murder mystery, but man does the game get everything right narratively. The clues are there and all gradually fall into place as the big reveal slowly draws closer. This huge, serious story is weaved into place perfectly with the normal slice-of-life stuff the characters have going on.

This is the longest game I've played in a long time, 65 hours for a single playthrough for me, but I never got bored with it. It may not have the sophistication of a more modern RPG like Dragon Quest XI, but it's just a good story. Told in such a way that the game holds up many, many years after its release, and is honestly one of the best games I've played from any era.

EDIT: One little anecdote, this game does not handle political correctness well. At all. In several ways. Body shaming, gender roles, and homosexuality, to name a few. Even taking its original release date into account, it gets a bit extreme. Consider yourself warned if that stuff is too cringy for you.

I'll admit that I was harsh when I first played Persona 4. I've heard great things about how it's better than Persona 5 and that had me excited because I adored 5 (I mean it's my favorite game), but I ended up disappointed. Don't get me wrong, I really liked the game, but I liked it a lot less than I did with 5. My review on base Persona 4 was one of my first legitimate reviews and it shows. But things change, time flies, grass grows, and I love Persona 4.

NON-SPOILER ISSUES

I still have problems with the game and I do still stand with some of my previous ones. My biggest problem with P4G is that it acts as a definitive version yet it doesn’t fix its original problems? You still have to ask NPC's about the next victim, which should be removed entirely(why do we need info about Rise? Yosuke's a fan and she could smell like tofu). You still have to backtrack floors to get a key just to go back and unlock the door. Worst case scenario is with Naoto's Lab and Magatsu Inaba. These parts only exist as artificial game lengtheners. There are 3 books to get that are locked behind a certain social link ON CERTAIN DATES. If you miss those dates, you're fucked from getting the all of the achievements. I was aiming for all of the achievements so when I realized this, I said “Fuck it.” and used a save editor to get the books. Social links are unlocked through other social links(thank God P5 doesn't have this issue). Chie, Yukiko, and Naoto make everyone else obsolete. These 3 are so overpowered that they make P4G on normal difficulty easier than Pokemon. Chie's physical attacks can take half of an enemy's health bar at worst. Yukiko is the best healer with Divine Grace that I never bothered with Diarahan/Mediarahan. And with a fire Vow, Fire Boost, and Fire Amp combined, she deals the most elemental damage without Mind Charge. Naoto has Mamudoon, Mahamon along with Hama/Mudo boosts, Mind Charge, and Megidoalon. Mind Charge and Megidoalon can be combo'd to wipe out Golden shadows. I've heard P5R was too easy on Normal, so I will be playing on Hard or Merciless if I ever get to play it.

Hiimdaisy's comic perfectly portrays my hatred towards asking NPC's. Coloring by me

SPOILER ISSUES

The mystery plot does have contrivances. I've already mentioned asking NPC's, but it applies here. Mitsuo Kubo was only used as a catalyst to subvert expectations but it was so fucking obvious that Persona 4 wasn't going to end. How he fits with Adachi's plan is extremely forced with him turning himself in for ALL of the murders. New character Marie's involvement with the story is basically nonexistent. Her involvement comes out of nowhere. She's a fine character. I like how she is connected with the Sagiris, but she could've appeared in the story and it would be less forced. With her appearance, however, I'm curious as to see how Kasumi will compare to Marie as a new character. Hints spread throughout the mystery are the cliche "Whoopsy Daisy! That slipped out of my mouth. Pretend that you didn't hear what I said. I'm totally not the culprit." I knew that 6 hours in when I first played it.

POSITVES

Basically everything else. My favorite thing about the game is how it presents it's theme of the pursual of the truth. When exploring dungeons, what's ahead of you is enveloped in fog, so by moving forwards, you are steps closer to the truth. What you see ahead now becomes more clear. A returning thing from Persona 2 is characters having to overcome a side of them that they don't like and accept that they exist. And with how Persona 2 has a theme of rumors and 4 with the truth, it makes sense for Shadow selves to return. This is what makes Persona 4's theme stand out over P3 and P5. P4G's Shuffle Time is my favorite of P3/P4. It's a whole lot more risk or rewardy that I had to think about which cards to choose for a minute. And as you keep progressing, you make riskier decisions to the point where there are cards that make you lose XP. Persona music is kino shit so you know that I'd be listening to this stuff everyday. Heartbeat, Heartbreak, Your Affection, Signs of Love, Heaven, Snowflakes, Time to Make History, The Fog, I can't list all of the bops with only my 2 hands so go look Persona 4's OST up for yourself. It's so good. I can definitely see why people consider P4's cast of characters to be their favorite(I love P4 and P5's cast just as much). They all have unique chemistry from each other and the character interactions really shine to be the best in the series so far(except P5R. I dunno. I haven't played it).

When exploring dungeons, what's ahead of you is enveloped in fog, so by moving forwards, you are steps closer to the truth. What you see ahead now becomes more clear.

PC VERSION STUFF

It's a basic port of Persona 4 Golden. Nothing has been changed or added except for customizable graphics settings and an uncapped frame rate. Speaking of frame rates. I know that 60 FPS doesn't matter all to much, but Persona 5 on the RPCS3 emulator and Persona 4 Golden PC have spoiled me. I was oohing and ahhing at how smooth and slick the menus were in 60 FPS. If you're willing to get this game on PC, it's not a demanding game. It can be played on low end hardware so don't worry too much about not running it. If I had criticisms with the port, it would be that anime cutscenes perform the worst and there is a noticeable frame dip in between All Out Attacks. All in all though, basic port, amazing game.

CONCLUSION

I'm not going to give P4G a numerical rating, so instead, I'm rating it based on how much I love it and how much I recommend it. It has flaws, but I fucking love the game. It made me look at Persona 4 in a better light than I did before and see where it really, REALLY shines. It's still not my favorite Persona game, but it is still a must play for any RPG fan and has joined its younger sibling in the list of my favorites. Even if you're looking for an introduction to JRPG's, this game is a good place to start and is relatively easy.

HEADS UP

If you're going to play Persona 4 Golden, it's best that you use a guide. just use Control + F to search what you're looking for. Below is the guide that I have been using throughout my playthrough. My only problem is that some enemies aren't there, but there are still other guides to use.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/vita/641695-persona-4-golden/faqs/64387

FINAL RATING: HIGHLY RECOMMEDED

SCREENSHOTS Is that Strega?

"I'll just leave him be."

Going for the Golden ending next

If not the best JRPG I've ever played, it's the most addictive one.

The way the game put you in inside the story, the social links you make with the citizens of Inaba, the simulation of our daily activities, the unpredictable turn-based combat that doesn't become repetitive even after 100 hours of gameplay, the J-pop soundtrack... these are just some of the elements that makes this game so adored by those who have really played it.

After Persona, every time I go to a Cafe with a friend I always feel a narrative telling me "you spent a precious time with this person, your relationship is going to become closer soon". In some way, Persona taught me how to be more empathetic and to have a better understanding of the other. This is very common with classical literature, but with videogames? That's rare! I can count just a few such as Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI and VII, for example.

I have plans to watch the two versions of the anime and to play Persona 3 and 5. Hope they make the same effect (or even better). But if you haven't played this gem yet, go face your shadows and bring the truth in P4G! I promise there'll be no regrets. The only issue is that this game will ruin your life (no worries, only the real one), since you'll feel a urge to leave everything behind just to play it.

What can I say about this game that hasn't already been said? I'm absolutely madly in love with P4G. The persona fusing, the dungeon crawling, the social links, all perfection in my eyes. I'm not usually the biggest fan of super long RPGs but the back and forth pacing between school life and fighting mean TV monsters is delightful and refreshing. If the dungeons wear on me a little I can just come back after I romance a classmate or help an old lady come to terms with her own mortality. I can make a mythical Norse god to fight with then go catch a movie with one of my homies. There's an abundance of comedy and drama with hints of tragedy and philosophy. Who doesn't have self doubt? Who hasn't pondered their true desires? How about humanity's? What lies behind the mask that we so often use to bridge our faults? These are a few of the questions I've asked myself playing Persona 4. The interactions I had with the characters felt real. They were my friends. They were my family. And it was hard to say good bye. This is hands down my favorite game of all time and the only rpg I've played through more than once (except pokemon which doesn't count) Please do yourself a favor and try this game. I can't stop making bear puns now.

By the way Chie is best girl. Fight me.

This was originally posted in the forums but it functions well enough as my view/review of the game (it is slightly modified in its form here). Persona 4 is a game that I think many people love, something that I do not find specifically perplexing, but does leave me with questions as to why. I gave the game 3/5 stars because I can see a lot of good in it, as I enjoy both the mechanics and the decision to place it in contemporary setting. Both of those allowed for some decent innovation, Furthermore, to a certain degree I really started to like some of the characters (for a time).

What bothers me about the game is how profoundly problematic certain narrative elements tend to be. There is some serious body shaming, food shaming, homophobia, and transphobia to name a few. I attempted to engage with them in the assumption that there was some criticism of these elements within the game but realized, over time, that the game intends one to side with the characters on some of these elements. We can use Yosuke as an example. I deeply dislike Yosuke. To me he represented the bigoted, small minded friend in the group. The one with highly problematic views that the others did not harbour. I thought, if I ignore Yosuke I will enjoy this game more than if I schlep him around with me. Sadly, as the game progressed, it became obvious that Yosuke was not alone in his feelings. Where he was overt, everyone else was subtle, but the problematic views were mostly shared. It made it very hard for me to feel comfortable playing the game.

As a disclaimer I very much enjoy media that pushes boundaries, that forces discomfort/displeasure to encourage the viewer/reader/player to reflect and to engage in ways they may not otherwise. I thought and hoped that this was what Persona 4 was doing at first. However, it became clear to me as a played further that the ideas displayed within the game were meant to be largely agreed with, that I was supposed to be sympathetic to some highly problematic elements.

I do agree that it is very possible to enjoy problematic media, to be conscious and critical of what we consume while still being able to enjoy it. I have no doubt many people who disagree with some of the ideologies displayed in Person 4 still love the game. There is a lot in it to enjoy. But I felt so alienated by the characters, their statements and actions, that I felt alienated from the game. I grew weary by the end, worn out by truly painful things displayed by characters I was supposed to love and identify with.

I know this is a cherished and well loved game and I do not think ill of anyone who does enjoy Persona 4. For now I am less inclined to play Person 5, which is unfortunate in some respects because it looks like a polished piece of work that is aesthetically intriguing. However I am wary due to my experience with Persona 4 and may need to evaluate whether it is worth diving into other titles in the series.