A school made just for us.

This game left me feeling so conflicted after I first finished it years ago. When I was younger, I spent much of my time longing for some sort of fantastical adventure, an escape. I was lonely and sickly, so I threw myself into every book or video game wholeheartedly, eagerly imagining what it would be like to be in the protagonist's shoes, to live in a world different from my own. Daydreaming about something more exciting than the mundanities of my day to day life– To me, fiction was, in many ways, more real than the world around me. So, when I first reached the revelations at the end of this game, it felt like a mirror was being held up to me, it made me uncomfortable and hurt. Like a lot of people, I felt as if I was being attacked for daring to care. Well, I definitely don't feel that way anymore. My opinion on Danganronpa V3’s finale has (obviously, with my 5-star rating) done a complete 180. Upon replay, I’ve realized how well-structured and thoughtful this game is, and it’s become a personal favorite.

V3 is a gentle, poignant, and layered game, both in terms of its actual moment-to-moment story and what it is trying to say with its metanarrative. Firstly, this is the best Danganronpa game in terms of the actual meat of the product. The character writing is a notable step up from previous games, with every character being likable and fleshed out in their own right. Even larger-than-life characters such as Miu contain a depth that others of the same ilk from previous games, such as Hifumi, never had. V3’s main cast are easily some of the best characters of the franchise– Shuichi, Kaede, Maki, Kaito, and Kokichi are great, and the emotional core of the “training trio” is felt throughout the game, making the later chapters especially powerful. The cast deals with the loss of their friends in a deeper way as well, and their lingering grief makes V3 haunting even before the final truth comes out.

The class trials are great as well, with only Chapter 3’s being somewhat messy. They're all more complex than in previous games, and despite the longer length of the trials, they don’t drag to me. Each trial also ties in to the overarching themes of truth and lies, what is real and what is not. While it may seem obvious that a mystery game’s cases will deal with, well, the truth, I think V3 explores this in interesting ways. Of course, there's the obvious addition of lie bullets, allowing Shuichi to commit perjury when he needs to move the trial along, but it goes beyond that. Chapter 1 is a good example of this, with Kaede’s unreliable narration masking the fact that she had carried out the murder, with her true goal being to expose the mastermind. Oftentimes, the motives themselves tie directly into the theme of subjective truth. Kirumi is willing to sacrifice the few for the many, and to her, the truth is that this must be done to save her country, though she had been a loyal friend just days before. Gonta weighs the soul-crushing “truth” of the outside world with the already bleak environment his friends are in, and decides they’d be better off dead than pursuing the truth. On top of this, the mechanics of the trial are improved as well, with the minigames actually being consistently fun (a miracle). The new nonstop debates, Mind Mine, Psyche Taxi, and even Hangman’s Gambit are a vast improvement on previous games. Like, I love Hajime, but snowboarding in his mindscape is torture; meanwhile, Psyche Taxi is a blast.

As usual, Masafumi Takada does a phenomenal job with the soundtrack (I think V3 is his finest work with the series for sure). I really don’t think the game has a single bad track. Each song suits the atmosphere perfectly– “Nightmare in the Locker” and “Rise of the Ultimates” creates dread at eerie moments, “Heaven of Almost Hell” builds melancholy gorgeously, “Darkness Time” is the essence of night’s mystery. “Beautiful Lie” is a beautiful lie, with its nostalgic melody harkening back to school days that never were. It’s great.

It’s hard to talk about my favorite parts of V3 without discussing the ending and its implications. I used to think it came out of nowhere, but I can’t believe I ever used to think that because there’s literally heaps of foreshadowing towards it, and everything comes together wonderfully. Truth versus lies, reality versus fiction… The whole game, these concepts loom over the player. Kaede, knowing she is probably marching towards her execution, tells Shuichi to always pursue the truth. Kokichi, the embodiment of a lie, misleads the group incessantly. He wants to convince everyone, perhaps even himself, that he loves the killing game, but he wants to end it more than anyone. Kaito, trapped and gravely ill but wanting to make amends with his closest friend, believes Shuichi is capable of reaching something beyond the truth.

But what lies beyond the truth? For a while, Shuichi is convinced it is hope, a theme incredibly interwoven with the previous entries. However, what’s beyond the “truth” is something deeply horrifying. Fabricated lives. To be the victim of decisions made by the you that you no longer are. The you that, in your mind, you never were. Nothing about you is real, your existence is the ultimate lie. The person you viewed as a trusted friend now speaks to you coldly, regarding you as her creation. Narratively, I think this reveal is so chilling. A beautiful tragedy. The way it wraps up its exploration of truth and lies is incredibly touching. After all, if everything you know is a lie, isn’t that your truth? Yes, to the onlookers, your life may be fiction, but it is the truth to you. As Shuichi said, our pain is real. The group rejecting both hope and despair, refusing to participate in Tsumugi’s game, not giving the audience what they want, ending Danganronpa with their own hands… it’s insanely powerful. Going off script, defying the author one final time, is the ultimate liberation.

While I think V3 contains a lot of commentary on fan culture, I often see people claim that this game "hates" the previous entries and the series’ fans. No, I don't buy it. I think V3 fundamentally understands why fiction speaks to us, why we love it so much, why it's so powerful. Because of this, I think it cares deeply for the prior entries, which is why it needs to bring the series to an end. It's both a love letter to the series and a final goodbye– A way to end a series you put your heart into before it becomes meaningless muck, regurgitated over and over again like so many fictional endeavors eventually become (I mean, think of every TV show that drags itself out for years on end; you can feel the passion leaving as it drudges on). V3 doesn't want to suffer that fate.

I find it so fitting, then, that Shuichi tells Tsumugi once she’s lost that she never appreciated them or the power of fiction. Despite being the “author”, she had forgotten what makes fiction so capable of drawing in passion, so impactful. By ending it the way it does, it rejects "hope or despair" just as much as the characters themselves. It's choosing its own fate, ending on its own terms. So what if the characters and prior games were fictional? Fiction is beautiful. Fiction is compelling, thoughtful, capable of moving and inspiring, capable of changing your own perception of the world. And in its own way, fiction is truth. Does it matter whether Tsumugi was lying or telling the truth? The truth is up to you. It’s so heartbreaking to see, for example, Shuichi’s audition tape, but, well… so what? That Shuichi doesn’t define the Shuichi by the end of the game. Sometimes you must say goodbye, no matter how big or small: whether it be farewell to a fictional franchise that you love, farewell to the you you once were, farewell to everything you once knew as concrete truth. There’s beauty to be found even in the most twisted of scenarios– Maki, Shuichi, and Himiko preparing to step out of the dome, uncertain, but ready to mix their truth with the truth that lies beyond, the real and the fiction, is so perfect. I love this game so much. I don’t know what else to say. I could talk about it for hours, and there’s so much to read into and analyze. V3 is an unsolvable catbox of a mystery where truth and lies blend into one, and what truly matters is the emotion it brings forth. It’s, in of itself, another beautiful lie.

Wow.

I did it.

After spending 80 or so hours painstakingly selecting the right dialogue choices (there are no right choices), grinding through this wonderful world of shadows and personas, thick fogs, elaborate dungeons and whatnot, I've finally beat the game. I got the good ending (and accidently, the bad ending lmao). I beat the main boss. I beat the bonus dungeon. I did everything there is to do except the romance routes of every character other than Naoto.

My honest opinion?

I loved Every. Single. Moment.

This is an odd masterpiece. I am not sure how to elaborate on that, but I'll try anyways. The story begins when Yu Narukami moves to the countryside of Inaba to spend a year with his uncle and niece after his parents start working abroad. Soon after Yu arrives odd things start to creep up in town. Thick fogs and mysterious murder cases start to pervade the town of Inaba. Narukami has to navigate his life as a growing high school student balancing his school life (tests, activities, etc), creating bonds (social links, romance routes) and solving murder cases in this once quiet and boring town.

Persona 4 Golden has a VERY straightforward storyline that some people still manage to misinterpret. The bare bones theme of it is "the search for truth" which is a little abstract and on paper sounds dumb but as the game progresses and the world unveils itself and you interact with every character you see what exactly p4 tries to tell. "Shadows" are the unpleasant reality of self we hide deep within our conscience; they are a literal manifestation of the human anxieties and complexes. Once a character defeats a shadow and having essentially faced themselves, they gain a "persona" which is their "truth" and individuality that manifests itself (again, literally) as a power. It's kinda like a stand. The game has a bunch of storylines that converge and tell different types of "truths" both on personal and societal scales (Adachi/Marie confrontation). The main thing you have to do is max out the social links.

The characters are really lovable here. They're archetypical, sure, but they're done right, which is what makes them charming despite being tropey. Kanji and Naoto are easy standouts (and are interestingly controversial as well). Kanji is a man tied down by societal values which lead him him to question his own orientation. Someone considered queer just for being good at knitting and other traditionally feminine activities. He puts up an aggressive masculine front to hide that side of him. In a similar fashion Naoto is someone who feels dissatisfied with her gender as the detectives she grew up admiring and her families' detective aces were all males. She's someone who feels that her gender limits her career prospects. In the same way, she also feels her age to be a hinderance. Both these characters suffer similar situations that arose from rejecting oneself. But the game one again tries to tell us how rejecting the truth, your own truth, causes nothing but pain and anguish. You'll always find yourself living a lie in perpetuity. Kanji is a feminine guy; he's NOT a homosexual. Naoto struggles to find her voice in a male dominated field; she is NOT trans. Kanji deals with traditional masculinity. Naoto with sexism and ageism. These are very simple characteristics the game presents, yet some players still manage to misinterpret them and get mad that the game doesn't go the direction they want it to go. It's hilarious. Other characters like Yukiko, Chie, Yosuke, etc. are also great, but another standout character would be Rise. If you've played the game then you know why she's one of the best characters in the game (if you haven't then do so already). Nanako, Adachi, and Marie are also great (I'm just listing every character at this point, but I don't have the strength to break down all of them...). Like I said in the beginning, there's a lot of lovable characters here. Except Teddie, he's a great comic relief, but holy shit he's such a stupid character. His social link isn't that great either.

And now the gameplay. For the most part, this is a visual novel. There's really no going around it this is a visual novel 2/3 of the time, sadly, and I'm a little, just a little bit mad that this is the first visual novel I've ever played in my life and I didn't even know about it until halfway through the game. I promised myself not to even touch this medium. No wonder this shit is 80 hours long. Anyway, outside of the dialogue-heavy "gameplay" (most of it is actually good dialogue, and is voice-acted great, so that's good) it's an rpg simulation game where you go talk to people and create bonds. It's the main method of fleshing out story beats and getting a clearer idea of the themes (god, I'm starting to hate this word) at play. The real fun happens in the dungeons where most of your hours will be spent. Every dungeon is unique and has different attributes. The persona fusion, six element system, with persona/enemies having strengths and weakness makes this infinitely more fun where there's always room for experimentation. Grinding for levels is never fun, but that's true for every game.

Overall, Persona 4 Golden is masterful. I wouldn't call it a gem because it's freaking persona, but people tend to overlook p4 nowadays because of 5's monumental popularity. I have still yet to play p5, but I can definitely say that, as a beginner, p4g is a fantastic way to enter into the persona franchise. By the end of it, you'll be so emotionally attached to it that all the hours spent will seem insignificant and you'll want to jump right back in and experience the world of p4 once again. The soundtrack, the look of the world and everything, it's just perfect.

I love you Persona 4 Golden you will always be famous I just wish you didn't have a mute protagonist for the audience to project themselves onto that's so fucking boring dawg why doesn't my man SPEAK LET HIM TALK.

"I knew it wasn't lying, but I was so ashamed that I didn't want to admit it. You're me, and I'm you. When you get down to it, all of this is me."
—Yosuke Hanamura

"Yeah, I kinda get it now. You are me. A side of me I couldn't forgive, that I tried to ignore. But you still exist. You're a part of me."
—Chie Satonaka

"'I want to run away', 'I want someone to save me'. You're right, those feelings are part of me, too. I understand now...you're me."
—Yukiko Amagi

"Yeah, I know. I've known all this time I had something like you! It ain't a matter of guys or chicks, I'm just scared shitless of being rejected. I'm a total pansy who tries to make everyone hate me. C'mon, get up. Anyone who looks like me, I know they ain't so weak that they can't take a punch. I already know that you're me. You're me...and I'm you, dammit!"
—Kanji Tatsumi

"I'm sorry, you must've been in a lot of pain up to now. You're part of me, but I kept refusing to admit you existed. I was trying to figure out who the real me. But I realize now that I was on the wrong track. There is no 'real' me. It just doesn't exist. You, me, even Risette, they were all born from me. All of them are...me."
—Rise Kujikawa

"I'm sorry, I kept ignoring you, pretending you didn't exist. But you are me, and I am you. You've always been inside me. What I should yearn for...no, what I must strive for isn't to become a man. it's to accept myself for who I really am."
—Naoto Shirogane

Fuck me I'll always love this gang. sobs