This review was originally written on 01/21/2019.

Technical Information

Developer: Atlus
Publisher: Atlus
Release Date: November 20th, 2012

This game was originally released for PlayStation 2 under the name Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 in 2008.
The Golden version is a remaster that, besides graphical and audio improvements, adds new dungeons, personas, events during the story, cutscenes, and a new ending.

Persona 4 Golden is a turn-based JRPG where you control an adolescent who spends time at his uncle’s house. The game takes place in a fictional town called Inaba.
There is an urban legend that says that on every foggy day at midnight, a canal becomes available and it’s possible to see victims who will be kidnapped in the future.

Final Considerations – Analyzing the Game as a Whole

Graphics and UI

The 3D isn’t that great, but considering the PS Vita’s technology, it was well-modeled. The animations leave something to be desired in some moments (I personally thought the protagonist’s walk looked like he was a puppet). However, battle animations were sensational (Chie’s kicks were awesome!).

The anime-style cutscenes were beautiful, but they lack subtitles, which can be frustrating for those who aren’t fluent in English and may hinder the understanding of certain parts.
After a while, enemies start to recycle… change color, weakness/advantage… that basic asset reuse technique.

Initially, I found menus a bit complicated to understand. The game itself is complex and has a lot of information. At first glance, it seems like everything is distributed badly, but it’s just volume-wise, you get used to it.
At the beginning, it’s quite annoying, there’s too much information to read and understand, especially in the Velvet Room.

Soundtrack and Sound Effects

Music-wise, most songs are great, but some others are a bit meh.
The battle music is thrilling, but doesn’t come close to Persona 5 or Final Fantasy 6’s battle music!

I liked the sounds made by enemies during battles. Some were well-integrated.

Gameplay

You discover you have powers controlling creatures called Persona and use them to enter TV and rescue those people being kidnapped. Throughout the game, you’ll get help to save these people and find out what’s behind it all.

Like in Harvest Moon games, each day in the game is unique and has specific events. Besides having missions to rescue people (which are part of the main story), there are other types of interaction. You can improve social links with specific characters, which progressively unlock more events and can be useful in battles (a character with a more developed social link can help pick up someone who’s fallen and hurt, for example).
You can also improve protagonist skills like knowledge and understanding, which can be helpful in part-time jobs or to complete side quests.

The game has multiple endings and allows you to start a New Game+, if you want to see other endings, complete side quests, or simply get all trophies.

Excellent gameplay, both in battle mode and exploration of events and interaction with other characters.
Turn-based battles were balanced at Normal difficulty level.

The only bad thing is the volume of dialogue, especially at the beginning of the game. There’s too much information, too many explanations, it gets tiresome. In certain events, it feels like an accumulation of unnecessary dialogues that just fill space. That can be frustrating sometimes, as you’re eager for something interesting to happen and nothing changes the story. You can speed up dialogue, which is very helpful when facing a boss again.

Replayability and Game Retention

The game is complex, with lots to explore. That alone gives us motivation to start over.
The main factor that demotivates is the volume of dialogues even. Just seeing all that again makes me feel lazy.

[blur]I finished the game in 55 hours and got a neutral ending.
I started a New Game+ immediately, but I confess that those tons of dialogues discouraged me from continuing haha
I found the story super engaging, and was very curious to know who was behind everything. It’s impossible not to get attached to the plot, you literally live day by day with them.

I was surprised when Kanji’s Persona appeared. I never thought he would have doubts about his sexuality and feel bad for being a person with more “feminine” tastes. And Kanji’s boss Persona is basically a Cho Aniki character! haha

From the beginning, I suspected Naoto was a girl! Everything because of the dubbing!

I was extremely upset when Nanako went to the hospital; I thought she would really die! 🙁
I found the neutral ending quite disappointing – it doesn’t explain anything.[/blur]