Persona 4: Golden
JRPG favourite PERSONA 4 G OLDEN has aged like a fine malt.
Starting a new school is a difficult time for anyone. But the teenaged protagonist of Atlus’s sprawling JRPG has it particularly tough. Having moved from the bustle and bright lights of Tokyo to the supposed rural calm of Inaba, he’s barely unpacked his bags before a series of gruesome murders shocks the sleepy town. So he bands together with a group of classmates, each holding supernatural powers, to investigate this disturbing phenomenon.
First impressions aren’t especially promising. This is, after all, a port of a port: it’s based on the eight-year-old PS Vita version, which was a refined edition of the 2008 PS2 original. As such, it’s showing its age visually, even if strong art design mostly compensates for its technical shortcomings. And it’s still a slow starter: Golden streamlines the original’s infamously languid introduction, but it’s still a good couple of hours before the training wheels come off and you’re given full control. You’ll need a bit of patience before you get to see what makes the game so very special.
Eventually, you’ll be able to decide exactly what you do outside school hours, and it’s not long before you’ll be spoilt for choice. The game sometimes follows you into lessons, where you’ll be invited to answer a multiple-choice question for small boosts to your character’s social qualities. These in turn open up
Combat is brisk and engaging without being especially innovative.
additional extra-curricular activities: with a high Knowledge stat, you’ll sail through exams, or be able to take a part-time job as a translator to earn extra cash. Boost Courage by eating a spicy dish at a Chinese diner and eventually you’ll be brave enough to visit the shrine at night.
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They’ll also boost your social links, which are your way of deepening your bonds with friends. This unlocks extra dialogue options, but more importantly, feeds into the other half of the game. Each time one of your peers disappears, you have several days to prepare to save them before they’re gone forever. For each rescue attempt, you’ll venture inside a shadow world which is accessed through a television set. Here, you’ll explore rooms and corridors of multi-floor mansions, attacking patrolling shadows that transform into a range of outlandish creatures to be fought in turn-based combat.
You can attack with weapons made by the local blacksmith, but you’ll do more damage by summoning Personas: supernatural projections empowered by the social links you’ve made. Over time, you’ll amass dozens of these, gaining the ability to fuse two or more to make stronger and more versatile summons.
Combat is brisk and engaging without being especially innovative. Targeting an opponent’s elemental weakness lets you take another shot at them, while you can encourage your party to pile onto downed enemies (amusingly prompting them to rush in and disappear inside a traditional cartoon fight cloud). Yet even minor actions are imbued with greater meaning: when a friend extends a hand to pick you up off the floor, you think to the time you spent talking nonsense on the roof after school or over a beef bowl in the evening. Their Personas, too, are a reminder of the struggle they’ve overcome; each victim’s dungeon represents an internal prison of their own making, where their darkest or most secret thoughts and impulses manifest as dangerous shadow entities. By rescuing each victim, you empower them not only to accept their flaws, but to welcome them into their hearts – and thus their individual Personas are born.
Over 60 hours, you’ll settle into the game’s more-ish routines and enjoy your time in Inaba more and more. Despite the fantastical elements, Persona4:Golden captures the challenges and embarrassments of adolescence in a way that feels true, while giving you a mystery to solve as a bonus. It may be getting on a bit, but the belated arrival on PC of one of the finest contemporary JRPGs is extremely welcome.