I actually remember when this first came out and people hated that they were focusing on some random ass Hispanic family instead of clem lmao. I never minded tbh and I actually quite like Javi, but everybody else yea they are pretty forgettable and just expendable pieces of death fodder tbh. But overall the lack of clem focus is definitely strange and a confusing choice, but really what drags this down for me is just the more and more the story progressed, the more and more we had to worry about this war thing at the stronghold place. Forgive me my memory is foggy since I watched and played this when it just came out, but the last few episodes were just an all out brawl basically with the ending being fine but the journey to getting there was a bit messy from what I recall. Still Javi is a enjoyable character and his relationship with Clem is solid, and not to mention the Clem flashbacks are great, even if they just kill off your final choice of who you pick in season 2, which is bullshit.

Persona 4 is a game that consists of a great cast, a great message and theme, gameplay that gets better as you progress through the story, and at the core of it is a solid story. For the gameplay, dungeons are basically all the same, with the music and maybe one floor having a different mechanic(lights off, teleportation) being the difference. So yes the dungeon design isn’t great, but thats not the selling point anwyays. I will say though Marie’s dungeon is without a doubt the best, bringing a change to the status quo, and delivering on thematic importance through gameplay and the poems that are recalled at the start of each floor. It really adds to an atmosphere of depression and the needing to save her before it’s too late, and the poems whole silly and a little cringe, add up so well to her overall character reveal and who she really is so well. Basically what I’m saying, Marie’s social link is 100% worth it and adds on to the story so much with a definitive ending and an extra dungeon. That dungeon felt completely different from the rest and really stands out to me. The truth, and seeing through the detours, leads to the whole theme of persona 4. The most obvious other themes are finding and accepting your true self(persona 1 and 2) and then a contextual resolution to struggle with finding yourself. All of the main cast can get level 3 personas, and I didn’t get everybody’s so I can’t say for some but, the way they all accept this truth is different, but all of them also acknowledge that change is destined to happen, and that there is multiple personas within them, multiple selfs. I personally like yosuke’s the most, with him understanding that even a “normal” person is special to someone, and with him accepting his jealousy of Yu and superiority complex that he feels less of, but he realizes he’s an essential part of the team and more importantly, a special person to Yu and the rest of the cast. Speaking of the cast, they all mesh so well together that even characters that I didn’t have a profound interest in individually became great and funny characters like chie and yukiko. Personally I believe Marie and Rise are best girls, I really like rise in battle mechanics and her social link of self acceptance of her idol self, realizing that both Rise on the investigation team and Rissette the idol are just two sides of the same coin. The dojima family are great, with nanako definitely being one of my favorites throughout the game and yea.. persona 4 golden is a great game and I think the things that drag it down are the dungeon designs, the slow start to good fluid gameplay, and the sorta simplistic way of countering others philosophies, like adachis. Most of the time when a enemy was yapping, the cast kinda just went like “no you’re wrong!” And then beat some sense into them, so I would’ve preferred a more morally grey argument by them but still amazing game 9/10.