-Persona 4 Golden Long Review-
Before getting into the positive, here’s what you don’t hear about Persona 4 Golden:
The game has some of the most boring dungeons that I have completed, to classify it as “absolutely soporific dungeon design” would be an understatement. Enemy repetition is also a problem, by the time you are on the last third of the game you will be tired of seeing the same enemies over and over again.
The battle music, while great and catchy at first, also gets tiring due to hay many times you are going to hear the same few loud vocal themes over and over again throughout the game.
And finally, there are some problems when it comes to balancing, with some weird difficulty spikes in the middle of the game that force you to grind and an ending stretch that is way too easy with how overpowered you can get in those last few months of the game with minimal effort.
But while those are big problems for a lengthy jrpg, Persona 4 Golden not only has good qualities to balance this out but also has something that a lot of games lack: SOUL.
When it comes to its good qualities, the design of the UI is stylish, the music is fantastic (even though, as I said earlier they could have used more variety for the battle themes), the art direction and backgrounds are strong, and the combat system is solid.
But as I mentioned above, SOUL is what makes this game shine, and that soul is found in its story.
The plot is a well-written and satisfying mystery that constantly keeps you on edge with its many turns and revelations (especially in the last third of the game).
The theme of truth is thoroughly explored, first delving deep into how the nature of society transforms reality, the media, repression, and identity and then masterfully tying all of those topics up by the end by reflecting on the desire and need for lies at the core of the human heart. And yet despite how pretentious all of this sounds the messages delivered after exploring these topics feel honest and are presented in such a humble way that they come off as something beautiful.
And finally, its main characters are beyond excellent. The dynamics between characters as well as the group dynamic are fantastic, you could put these characters in any situation and it would be entertaining. Furthermore, all of them have lively personalities, are well fleshed out, feel rounded, and go through interesting and meaningful character arcs.
By the way congratulations to the English voice actors since they delivered some of the best performances that I have heard in a dub of a Japanese property.
The story as a whole has some incredible moments with all its elements working together to create heart-touching, powerful, memorable, cute, and meaningful scenes. Honestly, to see a story in any medium where you can feel that the writers are trying to convey and present something special is rare, but this is one of those stories.
To conclude, while its flaws aren’t easy to overlook, the positives way outnumber the negatives. In fact, the game story in particular has a unique charm of its own that makes it feel special, and while playing it you can see why so many have fallen in love with this entry in the franchise in particular and why it's a favorite game for so many.
I definitely recommend it.
-Final score: 9,3-
I completed the game on normal difficulty and I got the Golden ending (completing the optional dungeon as well). I maxed out a lot of the social links. And I played a total of 110 hours as of the time of this review.
Before getting into the positive, here’s what you don’t hear about Persona 4 Golden:
The game has some of the most boring dungeons that I have completed, to classify it as “absolutely soporific dungeon design” would be an understatement. Enemy repetition is also a problem, by the time you are on the last third of the game you will be tired of seeing the same enemies over and over again.
The battle music, while great and catchy at first, also gets tiring due to hay many times you are going to hear the same few loud vocal themes over and over again throughout the game.
And finally, there are some problems when it comes to balancing, with some weird difficulty spikes in the middle of the game that force you to grind and an ending stretch that is way too easy with how overpowered you can get in those last few months of the game with minimal effort.
But while those are big problems for a lengthy jrpg, Persona 4 Golden not only has good qualities to balance this out but also has something that a lot of games lack: SOUL.
When it comes to its good qualities, the design of the UI is stylish, the music is fantastic (even though, as I said earlier they could have used more variety for the battle themes), the art direction and backgrounds are strong, and the combat system is solid.
But as I mentioned above, SOUL is what makes this game shine, and that soul is found in its story.
The plot is a well-written and satisfying mystery that constantly keeps you on edge with its many turns and revelations (especially in the last third of the game).
The theme of truth is thoroughly explored, first delving deep into how the nature of society transforms reality, the media, repression, and identity and then masterfully tying all of those topics up by the end by reflecting on the desire and need for lies at the core of the human heart. And yet despite how pretentious all of this sounds the messages delivered after exploring these topics feel honest and are presented in such a humble way that they come off as something beautiful.
And finally, its main characters are beyond excellent. The dynamics between characters as well as the group dynamic are fantastic, you could put these characters in any situation and it would be entertaining. Furthermore, all of them have lively personalities, are well fleshed out, feel rounded, and go through interesting and meaningful character arcs.
By the way congratulations to the English voice actors since they delivered some of the best performances that I have heard in a dub of a Japanese property.
The story as a whole has some incredible moments with all its elements working together to create heart-touching, powerful, memorable, cute, and meaningful scenes. Honestly, to see a story in any medium where you can feel that the writers are trying to convey and present something special is rare, but this is one of those stories.
To conclude, while its flaws aren’t easy to overlook, the positives way outnumber the negatives. In fact, the game story in particular has a unique charm of its own that makes it feel special, and while playing it you can see why so many have fallen in love with this entry in the franchise in particular and why it's a favorite game for so many.
I definitely recommend it.
-Final score: 9,3-
I completed the game on normal difficulty and I got the Golden ending (completing the optional dungeon as well). I maxed out a lot of the social links. And I played a total of 110 hours as of the time of this review.