Persona 4 Golden
Every month we celebrate the most important, innovative, or just plain great games from PlayStation’s past. This month we prove the exception to the rule ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ with the definitive version of a legendary JRPG
As good as Persona 5 is – and we really are in love with it, awarding it a perfect 10 back in OPM #134 – it could never erase our memories of the previous game in the series. Persona 4 was, and still is, something truly special. Its warmth, humour, depth, and incredible atmosphere earned it a dedicated following across the world. Oh, and then there’s the soundtrack!
When people discover Persona 5, one of the first things they’ll enthuse about is the jazz-funk soundtrack. Similarly, Persona 4 enjoys one of the greatest, most memorable soundtracks in gaming. It’s 90% pitch-perfect J-pop, and its contribution to the quality of the experience cannot be overstated. There’s sunny, happy pop for hanging out with friends, music with a more urgent beat for dungeons, the light yet grand Velvet Room theme… heck, even the in-game supermarket has a catchy jingle! It’s full of tracks we love to listen to outside of the game. We’ll never get sick of Heartbeat, Heartbreak, ever.
The game may contain a family pack of Persona tropes (mute protagonist, high school student characters, the option to romance female friends, rockpaper-scissors turn-based combat, and more) but they’re very easy to accept alongside all the outstanding aspects. The story is furiously inventive, the dialogue and acting both superb and sometimes genuinely funny, and the combat will please any fan of turnbased violence. The beating heart of Persona 4, however, is to be found in its characters, and how they interact with one another.
RISE UP
There is a lot – and we mean a lot – of talking in this game. We don’t begrudge a single syllable, though. This is how you get to know and love the unforgettable cast: the optimistic and goofy Yosuke; the outspoken and fiercely loyal kungfu-fighting Chie; Rise, the idol struggling to balance her fame with leading a normal life; our adorable honorary little sister Nanako; and, er, everybody else. Although the story isn’t afraid to dig around in some dark corners, covering social anxiety, murder, and fear for the safety of a child, it is ultimately a warm and loving game full of warm and loving characters. This is why people adore the game so.
How else do you explain the fact that not only the game’s name, but themaincast transitioned to entirely new genres? There are two beat’em-ups and a dancing rhythm game tagged ‘Persona 4’, all with lengthy stories attached. Fans simply cannot get enough of Yosuke and the rest of the gang, so they moved sideways into completely different games. And in case you were wondering, yes, those stories are great, too.
Persona 4 Golden, a PS Vita remake of the PS2 original, came to us in Europe in 2013. It brought not only improved graphics, but a whole new dungeon, and introduced a character, amnesiac Marie, who, against all odds, fitted into the story seamlessly. There were more Persona (beings you collect and order around in battle) too, not to mention different animated sequences, and additional difficulty levels for anybody who found the original version of the game too easy or too hard.
Oh, and more dialogue options, story events, and a new epilogue. P4G set a bar for remasters and remakes that no other game has reached.
ULTIMATELY A WARM AND LOVING GAME FULL OF WARM AND LOVING CHARACTERS.