Fantastic game I would reccomend to anyone who loved persona 5 or is into story driven RPG's

Fantastic game I would reccomend to anyone who loved persona 5 or is into story driven RPG's  Read Less

The only reason I gave this game 4 stars instead of 5 is because Persona 5 should be rated 5 stars or even more.

The only reason I gave this game 4 stars instead of 5 is because Persona 5 should be rated 5 stars or even more.  Read Less

Persona 4 Golden is an amazing game with a beautiful story, outsanding characters, and fun gameplay on top of it all. The origi...  Read More

Persona 4 Golden is an amazing game with a beautiful story, outsanding characters, and fun gameplay on top of it all. The original game was released in 2008 for the playstation 2. This updated rerelease was released in 2012 for the Playstation Vita. The game revolves around a high school student, who you get to name but the default name is Yu Narakami, moving in with his uncle ,who is a police detective, for the school year. From there a murder/mystery stems as Yu has to make friends raise his friendship with them and others, which are called social links, and race through dungeons to stop creatures called shadows from killing people. The changes from the original aren't as big as some remakes, but there are some. The combat has been made a bit easier with new mechanics some boss shadows have had weakbnesses added and some characters have had buffs to their defenses., 2 new social links have been added to this remake one following his uncles assistant detective Adachi, and one following an entirely new character named Marie. Not wanting to spoil the story of Persona 4 Golden as it is the biggest attraction of the game there won't be much in depth summary or explanation here. It is absolutely beautifully told and one of the best in the genre. As Yu goes about his day to day a story that keeps a grip on the attention from start to finish blossoms as more and more twists turns and mysteries pop up as the school year progresses. As the story unfolds deadlines are given in the weeks and months that pass, if the current objective is not met by the deadline a game over ensues. If the objective is met before the deadline then the world is opened for exploration and in depth background story is given while Yu goes around meeting new people and raising social links with them to get more story, backstory, and information on the character and their lives. The characters of Persona 4 Golden is the glue that holds the story and gameplay together and is a prime example of why this story is one only a video game can tell properly. The characters of this game are simply put, amazing. They have perfect near perfect writing. All of them have great personalities and deep issues that can be explored and even helped to overcome by maxing social links with them. Each social link has 10 stages, with every few giving extended dialogue and interactions. From a pop idol who has a child fan that loves her, but has to give up liking her to fit in with her friends. To a muscular punk who is insecure of his own sexuality and being abused or neglected. The types of characters are so varied and wonderfully written that its hard to imagine them not being real people. The gameplay of Persona 4 Golden is where all of that comes together, the story and the gameplay are intertwined beautifully. If Yu wants to make progression in social rinks, he has to raise his stats by doing various activities. If dungeon goals are met early on then Yu can spend his days raising those stats so that social linkls can be raised. Combat is turn based, where a meter fills and then actions can be made then the meter resets and repeats. Money and expierience is earned by beating shadows in dungeons which can then be used to buy equipment and healing items. Powering up the character and the persona is just as important as strategic combat by exploiting shadow weaknesses to various elements. The social links themselves have decisions you must make occassionally too, which will either strengthen Yu's bond with the person or do nothing to it. Most of the female characters can be romanced and dated. One social link Marie's, opens up a difficult bonus dungeon if you complete the social link. A big complaint I've heard about Persona 4 is that its story and character segments get in the way of the action turn based combat. This is blatently not true because the story and characters serve the turn absed combat as much as the turn based combat serves the story and characters. As Yu raises social links he and his allies gain access to more powerful Persona, which are creatures that allow you the various defenses to elements and magic attacks throughout the game. If the social links are not raised then new persona can't be unlocked. This makes what sometimes can be a difficult game that much harder, so the characters and story serve the turn based combat to make it easier. Meanwhile a lot of dialogue is sometimes included in the fighting sections to flesh the game out even more, one boss is memorable for being unbeatable due to how it works in story, only to be replaced by another boss right away thats made easier due to the previous boss. So the combat served the story nicely too. Without both, this game doesn't have as strong of a hook. There is an anime version of Persona 4 and Persona 4 Golden that is quite good, but lacks the same emotional impact as getting to know the characters over hours rather then over minutes.  Read Less