There aren't many games I can say I truly dived into blindly. However, any time my brother has recommended a game to me that I wouldn't normally play on my own, I've come to love it - I mean seriously, they've become some of my favorite games of all time (*cough* *cough* Fire Emblem Three Houses *cough* *cough*).
But today, we aren't here to talk about Fire Emblem. No, we're here to talk about Persona 4 Golden, the 2008 Playstation 2 title that received a pretty sweet update in 2011 on the long-lost, defunct Playstaion Vita. Thankfully, the remaster wasn't trapped on the Sony handheld thanks to Persona 4 Golden being released on PC midway through 2020, giving long-time Persona/Shin Megami Tensei loyalists and new fans (like myself) alike a fresh way to dig into the game.
While the release of Persona 5 put the series into the spotlight back in 2016, many still believe that Persona 4 is the staple installment. Persona 4 Golden tells the story of a similar world to ours; characters face feelings, concerns, and insecurities just as we do, however, there is a supernatural way at addressing those issues through the power of Personas. Persona 4 Golden tells the story of a group of high schoolers who are fancinated by an initial myth regarding a TV channel that only comes on at midnight on nights it rains. This channel, which is found to be real, is a manipulative tool dedicated to distorting and revealing a person's inner thoughts and/or identities. What does that have to do with you, who plays as the game's protagonist? Yeah, you and your friends come to find out you can hop in the midnight channel to save others from being killed by their darkest, most secretive thoughts.
What makes this game so great? There's a lot, so it was hard to narrow the list down to three.
Stellar Cast
The cast of Persona 4 Golden is such a wholesome group and so far, the pacing of the game has given me time to connect with all the characters I've met. One of the key vibes to the game is building social links with other characters (friendships/relationships). As the main protagonist, you get to choose how to spend your days including dungeon grinding, fishing, eating, studying, hanging out with friends, etc. When the main protagonist decides to use time to hang out with a friend , the social link with that specific friend increases, which causes you to not only raise support with them in battle, but also allows you to learn more and more about them as an individual. If the social link is raised to a high enough level, this can even take your gameplay experience down a path to see a personal story arch that is separate from the main story arch. Since you can decide what you do with your free time, the game basically lets you play favorites so...#NoShame that I spend a lot of time with Yukiko, Nanako, and Dojima since they're my favorite characters.
The cast undoubtedly helps create a bond between you as a player and the game, which is something I haven't really experienced before outside of Fire Emblem.
Fantastic Writing
Take it, I'm new-ish to these types of games, but what draws me in about them are their well written storylines. Persona 4 Golden is engaging from the start, and the mystery wrapped around the town keeps me on the edge of my chair the entire time. I'd love to say more about how dynamic the story writing truly is, but I don't want to give any spoilers, so...just trust me.
All Around a Solid Port of an Older Game
Sometimes, ports can be a little funky from one system to another, but this PC port seemed like a natural transition for the most part. The release on Steam for PC makes a lot of sense as the game is praised for being a fan-favorite JRPG of the era. Gravelle (2020), states that this port on the PC "unlocks the game's frame rates and gives players support for higher resolutions, making an already beautiful game look a bit more modern." While these changes alone don't designate the game as a "remaster" from the original version of Playstation Vita, they are highly appreciated leaps in the right direction for user-experience improvement.
While the game demands a lot of time for the player to invest in, it is entirely worth it....but what's the point of all this? If you have not played the game, go play it...and if you have played it, go play it again.
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