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A slice-of-life murder mystery JRPG | Persona 4 Golden - Review

2K View2023-01-20

Originally released for the PS2 very late in its lifecycle, Persona 4 has since been re-released for the PS Vita years later and more recently on PC a few years ago. Now, Persona 4 Golden is finally widely accessible, having just been released for the PS4, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch yesterday.

Unlike its predecessor Persona 3 which has also just been rereleased alongside this one, Persona 4 Golden is from the full console version and not a portable nor toned down product. It is a fully fledged 3D JRPG, from the exploration, cutscenes, down to the combat. Well, except for a few anime style cutscenes.

The graphics and visuals have aged a bit, but still passable as a modern game especially if you’re looking for a great story and gameplay anyway. That distinct Persona-style upbeat soundtrack is back as well.

Persona 4 Golden continues the series tradition of mixing life-sim gameplay with fantasy JRPG elements. Way different from other JRPG games where you’re a full time hero, or other life-sim games where you’re just a regular dude all the way. This balance between extraordinary and ordinary life gives Persona 4 a relatable approach to the player.

The game puts us in the shoes of the player-named protagonist, a transfer student coming from the big city and into the quiet town of Inaba. Giving it a more grounded and simple premise than other Persona games.

Most of the daytime is spent on your normal-life, interacting with friends, attending school, and visiting places in town; improving your character, building relationships, or just doing stuff for fun, but this slice-of-life setting is soon every so often disturbed by a series of mysterious events, turning it into a compelling murder mystery thriller owing to a series of deaths happening across the town. A very intriguing element to drive the story forward and keep the player at the edge of their seat.

Along with the protagonist, he also meets other interesting characters, some with the same ability as him. The ability to summon a personal mystical being called ‘Personas’ to battle monsters called 'Shadows'. Together, they need to solve the mystery behind these deaths and maybe prevent other deaths from happening, as well as its connection to a hidden TV dimension that permeates the Televisions in the town.

This hidden TV dimension is accessible by the characters via physically entering a widescreen TV at the local mall, allowing the characters to investigate, explore, battle monsters, and try to save others from danger — forming the core dungeon crawling element of the game.

The initial dungeon crawler sets you up with the exploration, but as soon as you attack or get hit by a monster, you now enter a turn-based battle system.

The combat of Persona 4 Golden is tactical and engaging. You can do a basic attack, or perform one of the many skills powered by each character’s respective Personas. You can also use items such as healing, boosters, or revival potions as well as analyze your enemies and change your tactics.

Additionally, the main character can collect and use other personas and even fuse them together to create new ones. The weakness system is back, where each character and enemy will have their own weaknesses that you can exploit against, allowing you to stun enemies and give you additional moves.

A game filled with mystery, life, and death that will keep you busy for more than 50 hours of gameplay. Persona 4 Golden is an amazing JRPG, perhaps one of the best. A narrative-driven game that not only excels in its intriguing storytelling and engaging combat, but also in its relatable life-sim gameplay and a wonderful roster of characters.

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