Persona 4: Golden

The Short

Pros
- Upgraded version of an already phenomenal game
- Improved, widescreen, HD graphics look stunning on the Vita
- Two new social links that are entertaining and do well supplementing the plot
- Tons of new scenes interspersed within the main game, in addition to an entire new endgame and two extra months
- New dungeon and boss, with the dungeon having it's own unique twist on the gameplay
- Improvements to both the Skill Card system from P3P and Persona fusion in general massively empowers those trying to make the "ultimate persona"
- Nearly every aspect of this game has been touched on or changed for the better
- The definitive version of one of the best, if not the best JRPG ever made

Cons
- Marie (one of the new social links) has most of her more interesting plot points at the tail end of the story
- Hot springs and the more egregious bathhouse scene's fanservice feels out of place in an otherwise tactful and mature game
- New additions make the game considerably easier (though there's more difficulty modes to make up for it)
- Changes buffed Naoto to where she is totally broken and overpowered
- Money is more important, but the game hasn't been scaled for it, meaning you're gonna be poor
- Chie and Teddie have new voice actors. The former's is more noticeable.
- Doesn't offer an entirely new route (Female Protag) like P3P did

I'm gettin' fired up just thinking about Persona 4!

The Long

Wow, people really like Persona 4 huh? The little PS2 game that could (coming out a good deal of time after the PS3 had arrived) has quickly garnered a massive cult following, prompting Atlus to release a plethora of spinoff games (Persona 4 Arena, Persona Q, Persona 4: Dancing All Night) and merchandise to keep the hype train going. As someone totally on board for the Persona 4 love, I'm glad to see more content, but was most excited to see that the game was getting a remake on the PSVita. Atlas had taken great care in porting Persona 3 over (though some compromises had to be made given the system's limitations), so I was pumped to see this game being rebirthed on a more portable platform (these games are perfect for portable). So pumped a bought a stupid PSVita pretty much just to play this game. Which I guess is fair; I bought the PSP to play P3P, so I guess I'm not exactly somebody to look to for sound financial advice. 

Anywho, Persona 4 Golden. What's good? What is bad? If you've beaten Persona 4, is it worth spending another 80+ hours revisiting Inaba and cracking the case you already know the answer to?

Short answer: Yes. Long answer: Absolutely yes. 

Teddie is keeping it classy. 

Replaying Persona 4 Golden after being away from it for about 3-4 years, I was first struck with how damn funny this game is. Seriously, it's so entertaining it's unbelievable. Now you probably didn't expect that to be the first thing I'd say in this review, but too bad: I said it. For not being a comedy game per say, Persona 4 Golden excels at it's witty, character driven humor. And while Youske may somehow be at the butt of even more jokes over the course of the game, this game never ceases to surprise me at the lengths it goes to be silly and entertaining.

So...what's new? Well, a lot actually, so I'll try to not take forever.

Let there be JRPG.

First off, a ton of lines of the game have been changed. Most have to do with Chie and Teddie (since they both have new voice actors; more on that later), but others are there to provide better hints for later plot points as well as make segues into new conversations seem more natural. It isn't just Chie and Teddie, though; tons of lines from "Vanilla" Persona 4 have been twieked to just generally work better. A small change, but as someone who has beaten P4 several times already, you notice it.

Next up is the absolutely atrocious amount of new story scenes. The big ones (the ones they mention in the promo materials) are obviously the added scooter beach trip (which happens during the summer) and the later "snow" portions (which are extension past when Persona 4 Vanilla ended originally). And while those two bonuses are completely fantastic and downright entertaining, tons of other small scenes have been tossed in as well. I won't spoil any, but just know if you've played this game to death you'll find lots of silly, charming interactions that pop up when you lest expect it, further solidifying your bonds with these characters and making you feel like you have an actual group of friends. 

If only I had this many friends in real life :(

The two biggest story additions are the new social links, namely Adachi (who was already in the game before as your cop-uncle Dojima's witless partner) and Marie. Adachi's social link is played mostly for laughs, revealing a sort of apathetic douchebag side to the guy but still showing he has some heart, especially for Nanako. Marie is the real meat-and-potatoes content here, though, and is probably my new favorite character in the game. Besides maybe Kanji. Ok, new favorite female character in the game. (Unrelated: why can't I Lovers Route Kanji again? Come on Atlas! It's all I want!)

Marie is a resident of the Velvet Room, the place where long-nosed Igor and his assistant Margret hang out talking about Personas and playing cards or something. Her past, however, is unknown, so your job is to take her around in the human world (of which she has no knowledge) and teach her stuff. It's an obvious parallel to the Elizabeth (or Theodore) activities in Persona 3, and while those were totally awesome, Marie's are even better. This is mostly due to the fact that her social link is perhaps the only one that heavily relies on interaction with your friends, allowing more of the fun group scenes that are really the heart of Persona 4. Marie is blunt but not intentionally mean, but always speaks her mind, which basically means she and Rise compete for the Alpha Female in the group, to hilarious results. Marie plays solid foil for Rise's flirtatious charms with her unhindered bluntness, making for some hilarious interactions throughout (plus anyone who can piss Rise off is ok in my book).

Marie also ties directly into the new "Hollow Forest" dungeon, which is a sort of bonus dungeon that happens just before the end. You only have one day to do it (meaning no backing out) and it had some tricky rules (all your gear and items are stripped, and your SP is halved after every battle, making it pretty tough), but overall it's a fun dungeon that mixes up things quite a bit. It's not a substantial amount of content (plus you don't keep anything you find after clearing it, which kind of sucks) but it's nice to have another place to test my skills and Persona building. 

The only downside to Marie is that, while she plays a rather significant role after solving the case but before the "true" final boss, all the big reveals about what she really is seem to happen all at once. It hints during her social link at solving a mystery, but unfortunately you never get any trickle-down of knowledge, it's just kind of all thrown at you at the end. I do like that her story helps lead you towards the true ending (which is super obscure in Persona 4 Vanilla), and her endings scenes are entertaining, but I felt she could still have been woven into the narrative a bit better. If she's your love interest she doesn't show up for the Christmas Eve scene, and is just tacked on to the end of the Valentine's Day scene (so be sure to romance somebody else too for maximum sceneage! Get your playah on, you dirtbag!), which makes her feel less involved.

Oh, unrelated, but the game actually punishes you now if you make everybody your girlfriend with the hopes they don't find out. They do. It's painful. 

Oh Marie, you hate because you love. But mostly because you hate. 

The last big change I'll mention is the voice actors. Both Chie and Teddie's original voice actors could not be found, so they brought in replacements. Teddie's sounds almost identical, but Chie's is significantly different. I mentioned this a bit in my P4A review, and I was worried that I'd end up disliking her because of her new voice (not that the old one was perfect). While it grated on me at first, I was completely sold by the end. The new voice actress has a different take on the character's voice that fits the personality woven into the dialogue better (more tomboyish and less like a thirty-year-old woman) and tends to read the majority of her lines more naturally as well. Not as big a deal as I thought it would be, but worth mentioning. I guess. 

Point being: Persona 4's characters and writing are excellent. While the underlying story (a murder mystery) and it's somewhat abrupt escalation into "we gotta save the world!" might not be as smooth or well crafted as Persona 3's, Persona 4 Golden's strength lies in it's entertaining characters, and putting them in as many scenes together as they could stuff into the game. Atlus knew what the game's strengths were, and completely supplemented them perfectly. I can't give the writing and voice actors here enough praise. 

If you wanna break the game, you can now totally break the game. 

Gameplay-wise the core system is still the same. That is: get social links, get Personas, raise social links for better personas, raise stats, level Personas, fuse Personas, win. It's still split between the three core activities: your time management/social life, Persona fusion and management, and battling in traditional turn-based JRPG dungeons. There are, however, a few changes that seem minor on the surface, but actually mix up the game a lot.

The biggest improvement is the ability to choose what skills Personas inherit when they're fused. For those unfamiliar, you can combine 2-8 Personas to make more powerful ones as your Social Links improve. As part of this fusion process, the new Persona inherits skills/spells that the old ones had. Before the selection of skills was completely random, forcing you to cancel back out and go back in over and over until you got the skills you wanted before committing to the fusion. Now, however, you just straight up pick the skills. Does it break the game because you can fuse an unstoppable monster? Maybe a little. But does it get rid of a lot of the obnoxious tedium tied with fusing? Yes, absolutely. 

Skill cards are back from P3P, and are even better. Before you got a skill card when a Persona reached a certain level. Now they can be picked up via the improved Shuffle Time after a battle (more on that later), or by extracting them from a Persona using...magic coffee. Yes, really. It's great. Cards can either be used to teach a skill once, or given to Marie who will then sell you an unlimited number back at an absurd cost. Seriously, they're hyper expensive; Cool Breeze is like 200,000 bucks here. They're less necessary now that you can pick your skills, but if you really want to have every Persona learn Victory Cry, now you can. It's less earth-shattering as it was in P3P considering the new fusion inheritance system, but it's nice it's there. 

It looks tricky, but you just gotta know when to hold 'em, and also when to fold 'em. 

Shuffle Time, the random game to win new prizes after certain battles, has also been revamped. In addition to Personas, the bonus cards from Persona 3 have made it in (healing, bonus money, bonus xp, etc.) in addition to some negative cards. However, the trick now is that you're dealt a hand of cards and have the choice to pick up one. Negative cards, though, will give you more pickups. Chain negative cards and you can eventually walk away with an entire dealt hand, earning you a sweep bonus, which guarantees a Shuffle Time after the next battle and an additional two pickups. Savvy players can chain Shuffle Time together for some mad bonuses, and use it to pick up Persona's they were missing. Oh, and it also now tells you if you've already picked up or banked a Persona in Shuffle Time. A small change, but a good one.

There's tons of new combat crap I could mention but this review is too long already. Social Linking party members now teaches them unique moves on the side (Yukiko with Mudo? Whaaaaaaa), and after you max them and enter the final portions of the game you have the option to do one final Social Link that makes their Persona uber and teaches them an ultimate move (Yukiko's Burning Petal's is so powerful it should be illegal). They also twieked mana costs (mostly making Almighty spells cheaper) and buffed the instant-kill Light/Dark spells, which had the hilarious side effect of making the previously situational pick Naoto (who had a scattershot of abilities but mostly was focused on the low-priority Light/Dark skills) a gamebreaking master. With Mudo Boost (basically a boost to the chance that your Dark Spells will instant kill an entire group of enemies) and Invigorate (free SP every turn) and Rise's massive buffs to HP/SP regeneration after a battle ends (a passive on all the time), Naoto can basically one shot entire mobs and recover all the SP after. It's also a problem that only enemies at the very end of the game have resistance to Almighty spells, meaning if you fuse a Persona with one (and then use a rare card drop in Shuffle Time to boost the skill up to a super advanced version) or level Naoto up so she has it, you can rain the Wrath of God on everybody without consequence throughout most of the game. Yeah. It's broken. Be sure to play on Normal or Hard, ok? 

There are a lot more animated segments this time around. 

Graphically, this game looks really good. Persona 4 was already a great looking game, not necessarily for graphics but for it's striking art style. The tv aesthetic and the bold, solid colored menus and text really popped out (especially since they were bright yellow) went a long way to make up for the PS2's graphical limitations, and they've all received a stunning transition to the pseudo-HD of the Vita's screen. Having an OLED Vita means this game looks downright phenominal. The sprites and backgrounds have had substantial upgrades, all the animated cutscenes and character portraits have been bumped to a higher resolution, and the game is now widescreen. While it may not push the polygon power of the Vita to it's limit, the framerate stays rock solid regardless of how flashy the spells are, and the game still exudes enough graphical charm to make up for it not being "next-gen."

There are a few new songs, though not as many as P3P saw. There's a new battle song that honestly kind of sucks (it's just straight up dull). There's also new town music for winter as well as a phenomenal arrangement of I'll Face Myself (the boss theme) that plays during the new optional boss. Persona 4 already fully embraced it's weird, poppy Japanese soundtrack that wasn't quite as weird (or, if we're being honest, memorable) as Persona 3's, but minus that one dud the songs and sound are fantastic.

And I already rambled about the voice actors, but seriously...Youske and Kanji steal the show. It's freaking Yuri Lowenthal (Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time) and Troy Baker (The Last of Us, Bioshock Infinite) for crying out loud! Not to mention the always excellent Laura Bailey (Nier, Saints Row 3/4, like every anime ever) on Rise. Top notch stuff.

Arguably my favorite song in the game. Pure Boss Excellence. 

I suppose the ultimate question is this: if I loved Persona 4, is it worth replaying on the Vita? Is it worth buying a Vita (which isn't exactly doing well) to see all the new stuff? My answer is this: if you loved Persona 4 enough that you might have said "Greatest RPG of all time" at some point about it, then yeah...you should probably get Persona 4 Golden (and a Vita. They're actually not all gloom and doom like people make them out to be!). If you haven't played a Persona game and want to take the plunge into 4, this is by far the best version. Unlike P3P, where the altercations might have hindered a wholehearted recommendation vs FES, Persona 4 Golden is by far the definitive version of this game. It is so good it makes the original game obsolete. And it has enough new content that even people who know Persona 4 backwards and forwards will still find tons of new content and a good deal of fun here.

If I weren't completely blinded by rose-tinted goggles, I'd probably say something crazy here like "I know I said Final Fantasy VI is my favorite game of all time, but I'd be lying if I didn't say Persona 4 Golden isn't the best JRPG ever made." Maybe I'll just say it anyway, since I already just freaking wrote it. Whoops? Whatever. Hyperbolic statements aside, Persona 4 Golden is Really. Freaking. Good. I went in fully prepared to declare Persona 3 the better game, and came out not so sure anymore (more on that in a later article? Maybe?). Point being is that if you have any affinity for JRPGs whatsoever, you must play Persona 4 (and 3, but I'm not reviewing 3 here). And if you have a Vita, this is by far it's best killer app. Even after putting 83 hours into the game on a first playthrough, I very nearly started up New Game + immediately after beating it. It seriously is so good you get depressed afterwards because all other games suddenly seem weak in comparison.

Wow, this got into overarching statements fast. I'd better shut up now and end with this:

PERSONA 4 GOLDEN IS GREAT. 

BUY A VITA AND PLAY IT.

EVERY DAY'S GREAT AT YOUR JUNES. 

Five out of Five Stars. 

You tell 'em, Kanji.