Persona 4 Golden Review

Now before we get into this review, I recommend playing this:

Spoiler:

I typed the review to that. So it should fit the mood perfectly.


Warning: I won't be spoiling any story elements or anything. But I will be explaining the two main game play points. So, yeah.

So, Getting right into it. This game is amazing. My main reason for having a Vita. I definitely recommend buying a Vita for this game.
What's that? Huh? What? You don't want to? Well, that's okay! The original version of this game is on PS2! You don't have a PS2? Get out from under that rock you fool!

Anyways, This game has two main points. The Dungeoning/Persona Battle aspect, and the Dating sim/Social Link aspect. What are Social Links? They're the Major Arcana Tarot Cards! The bonds you form with your friends! What's the point of these Social Links? ...Well, Everything! These are important! You can raise the S.Link of a party member by hanging out with them in your free time. Which allows them to gain skills for their Persona, or do certain things in battle. You can also raise the S.Link of certain non-party members. Raising S.Links help you fuse Personas of that Arcana type. Each one is basically a little side story about the characters. DEFINITELY do these!

Arcana Types:

As for Personas, you can think of it like Pokemon. Each Persona is of a certain Arcana, and have certain weaknesses/strengths.

Elements:

Each Persona can raise their stats, and gain new skills by leveling up. Mainly of the element they're strong too. A Persona can be either Neutral, Weak, Strong, Null, Repellant, or Draining to an element. They all do what you'd expect them to do. If you or a party member is hit by their weakness, you will be knocked down, and your enemy will get another turn. The same goes for you towards them though, so be sure to analyze them! You can find these Personas either through battles, or by fusing them. When fusing 2 or more Personas, you gain a new, stronger one. The ones you fused are not lost, so don't worry! As long as they're registered into your compendium. The outcome of the fusion can inherit some of the skills from the Personas you used to fuse. Pretty cool. As the Main Character, you can use many Personas. Your party members can only use "1."

Overall, this game is amazing. The Storyline is fantastic, and keeps you glued to it. The sound track is wonderful. The game play is nice and solid. I'm on my third play through. The game is estimated to take around 90-120 hours. My first play through was 114, and now my third one is up to 216. Combined with my past two. I'm loving every second of it. The HD visuals are also very nice. There was one background in particular during a battle that just made me say, "Wow! Look at that background! It's beautiful!" - Jefferlope, 1974

I'd say, definitely pick this up. For PS2 or Vita. (Preferably the Vita version.) You can also play Persona 3: FES for PS2, or Persona 3 Portable for PSP. Both of those are extremely good as well. I haven't played Persona 1 or 2 yet, so no opinion on those as of now. But I've heard good things.

Dark's Score: 10/10
Average Gamer Score: 9/10

Play this game! You won't regret it!
(Also, review very condensed, as I had to retype this 3 times now. Sorry!)

Great review, Dark! I think I'll be picking this up now that my brother bought a bigger memory card for his Vita. The gameplay sounds very interesting, and the matchmaking aspect makes me think of Fire Emblem Awakening. The only part that gets me, though, is

DarkKirby wrote:

The game is estimated to take around 90-120 hours. My first play through was 114, and now my third one is up to 216.

It seems like every game on my recent backlog is an RPG. Tales of Symphonia, Ni No Kuni, Fire Emblem Awakening, Golden Sun 2, Pokemon. Also Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney. When am I ever going to find time to play it?!

DarkKirby702 wrote:

You don't have a PS2? Get out from under that rock you fool!

I have heard a lot of good things about the Persona games. If I had some sort of playstation video game device, I would definitely pick it up. Nice review!

I've wanted to play a lot of games lately, this is one of them. I just don't have them, or something else, like money and a handheld console.

The game is $10 off for the next two weeks. Looks like I'll finally be picking it up.