Persona 4 Golden Review

This shadow world!

Many years ago a very innocent and untainted version of me was browsing about the internet, gauging whatever it was that caught his interest and looking far afield to do it. That young boy browsed the foreign speaking corners of Youtube, the bizarre pseudo cultist communities of the tilted sector of the web and, as it inevitably always comes back to for me, game trailers. I'm always watching game trailers. The artistry of what they represent and how they do so has always enamoured me, I'm a marketing obsessive; you can probably tell as much from how often I write about it here on the blog. But that day, which couldn't have been too far into 2016, I found something unlike anything I'd ever seen before. It was a trailer for the latest entry in a franchise I had never even heard of in my entire life. It was colourful, animated and musically jazzy and some dormant switch flipped in my head. I was searching for something to capture my attention and I stumbled into a steel-tooth bear trap- I was instantly obsessed- with Persona 5.

Of course, as an Xbox owner I was doomed to disappointment, because ATLUS and Sony have a blood pact which cannot be forsaken and the Persona games were a Sony exclusive with no intention to ever go elsewhere. I waited patiently for any news to change on the Xbox front, then when I got a half decent gaming PC I waited patiently there too. Eventually I actually just gave up hope and jumped to play the game anyway that I could. I almost considered starting a Playstation account when I heard that Persona 5 was going to be streamable to PC through the Sony service for a limited time, and I actually did try to emulate it when that file did the rounds. (My PC wasn't nearly strong enough to run it, however.) Around about this time ATLUS had to issue a plea for people not to play the emulation, to which my refrain echoed the crowd's: "Let me pay money for it, and I absolutely will!"

So overwhelming was my hot obsession with Persona 5 that every E3 event that so much as teased at the Phantom Thieves and Joker got my heart pounding. When Joker snuck into a showcase, only to end up being the new Smash Bros. character, I pingponged about the five stages of grief in a rollercoaster to hell. And ATLUS kept doing those teases, year after year, event after event, with the only indication of their ever possibly being a port maybe being a much-hidden email survey they randomly spat out asking if PC ports of their old titles would be something anyone was interested in. A sentiment I, and many others, had been shouting from the rooftops (and Twitter) for years at that point! But at least it came to something eventually...

Because lo it did happen, that one lowly E3 a few years back, with the buildup of actually nothing, ATLUS announced a increadibly imminent port of their beloved Persona title... Persona 4 Golden. (And so the tumbleweeds passed.) This news certainly affected me. I sat there, stone faced, with an odd twitch in my left cheek, for a few minutes after the show finished. We had waited patiently for 5, and we were getting 4... wow. Now of course I had heard good things about 4 in the many months where I religiously stayed glued to every single piece of Persona news that I could, but that wasn't the game which won my heart in a single teaser. I held out all these years for 5! But... logic stirred. I figured... this is ATLUS testing the waters, right? Just like RGG did with Yakuza 0. If Persona 4 Golden's port does well... heck, why wouldn't they move onto 5? And that was literally my only reason for biting that bullet and picking up Persona 4 Golden Steam port the exact day it launched and playing the thing. It was my second choice friend-of-a-friend I was tolerating under the hope of getting closer to the real belle of the ball. Like a real sleaze ball, I was playing Persona 4 for it's younger sibling. It took me maybe 90 minutes to fall in love.

If we were ever to take the Japanese media's concept of 'Nichijou' and translate it into gaming; we'd probably get... well we'd get The Sims, wouldn't we? But if we were to try and mix in the actual aspects of a JRPG with the more tame concepts of the 'slice of life' genre, then we'd get a game like Persona; a title which mixes the mundane with the extraordinary thematic and logistic all under a practised precision that had made it's style of game almost a sub-genre in of itself. It is quite the unordinary style of game that even I, having followed Persona 5 extensively and hearing it's many features, didn't quite understand until I sat down and played 4 to see it in action. But I'll try anyway to explain how this game lays itself out to give you a solid grasp of why it makes for such a unique RPG experience.

Essentially how Persona works is like this: you are presented with a single calendar year in order to complete the game, solve whatever mystery is at the centre of the plot and wrap up all storylines you are involved with. And by that metric you are in charge of the day-to-day, week-to-week actions of the player character in that pursuit. Every Persona game starts with the main character signing a contract with the Velvet room to take responsibility for their actions, and that contract is more to the player than the avatar they play as. You are being told to take care of how you choose to spend each day in the two activity blocks you typically get- one for midday and one for evening. (As your mornings are typically taken up by attending school.)

This is the 'slice of life' aspect of the game, as your protagonist navigates the world, in the case of Persona 4: the sleepy small town of Inaba, and splits up their time between building relationships (or Social links) with their friends, earning some Yen and working on their own skills through part time jobs and side activities, working through side quests, conducting minigames, studying for upcoming tests. All the rigors of daily life like that. Oh, and finding the time to break off into the Shadow world in order to fight shadowy manifestations of the darkest aspects of the human psyche in order to save impending victims of a violent serial killer who is plaguing the town. Yeah, you really do be living that ordinary small-town life.

Persona is almost a balancing act between it's time management daily life portions and it's more traditional JRPG dungeon delving aspects which blossom out as the game progresses in kind. You have your typical RPG foils, elemental weaknesses, accessories and weapons, usable items, but mixed in deftly to work with the routine of the game world. At first it can seem like totally different worlds, planning out your week around people's schedules and then delving headfirst into a seemingly time-free dungeon delving adventure- but the more familiar you become the more it will become apparent that the JRPG side of this game is just the main side activity that you need to be making time for, whether to grind for items or to complete a new dungeon that opened up this month and needs to be conquered before a certain date or else someone's life is lost. Which is where the true beauty of the Persona formula is unlocked.

It comes down to the titular 'Persona's themselves, which are essentially spiritual manifestations of will, or ego, that act almost exactly like a Stand from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. (Not unintentionally either. Jojo was an inspiration for Persona.) The player character and his party summon these Persona's to cast spells and are beholden to the elemental weakness and strengths of their respective Persona- with the protagonist being the only one capable of taking on multiple Personas and switching between them at will, making them the switch-up point-man party member organising the more static entities around them. You'll pick up new Persona's by winning fights or fusing weaker one's together to make a stronger one, and level them up by grinding to give them new skills or buff up their stats (which become your stats when you 'activate' them for your round) and change your role on the fly to suit the situation. Maybe you'll be the main damage dealer for one fight and the support wizard for another- this is pretty much where the higher strategy of the Persona gameplay lies.

And all that relationship building and time management you do outside of the RPG space- known as the 'Shadow World'? Well, that ties into the pursuit of improving your Personas. Every Persona has a certain Arcana (based on tarot symbology) which translates to a character with whom you can build a social link with in the physical world. The stronger that link is made and the deeper the connection you've established, the stronger the boost is whenever you fuse together a Persona of that corresponding Arcana- shooting their starting level and saving several hours of perspective grinding. And in turn, keeping a Persona of the corresponding Arcana in your 'mind bank' whilst interacting with that corresponding person in the physical world will rank up your social link with them faster. You an see how the cyclical relationship between game systems works already.

Now with how I've described the gameplay systems you'll have noticed my allusion to 'building relationships' and fighting 'manifestations of human darkness'; which has probably clued you in to some of the themes bubbling at the heart of Persona. Indeed, the concept of 'Personas' within psychology is central to the premise of Persona, such to the point where Golden features several side-content lessons on the teachings of Carl Jung to help familiarize the audience with what they're playing around with. One of the key most themes of the game that is brought up again and again is facing yourself and conquering your own darkness, instead of ignoring and rejecting it, thus making that part of your strength. As with any psychological plotpoint it's a very easy theme to make feel juvenile and condescending, but the intellectual maturity with which Persona is written, and the complexity of the characters who are tied into these plotpoints, makes the content poignant and worthy.

Persona 4 particularly had another obsession with the dual concepts of lies and mystery, and how they tie into personal psychology. Even when 'facing yourself' the question of the inner truth and the 'truth' constructed in the mind of others clashes in a manner that becomes increasingly relevant to the narrative as it progresses. In fact, in a turn of events that truly ascends past many fantasy worlds I've played through, the themes of Persona games take paramount importance in the formation of the plot such that practically every decision in design ties back to reinforcing their moralities and themes that the creator's intend to propagate- solidifying the importance of every aspect of the game design. I've rarely ever played a game so fiercely loyal to it's themes, and coming out of the game understanding why everything happened as well as what it all meant proved to be so much more satisfying to digest in those final moments.

And of course, the theme of love is a reoccurring aspect in Persona 4's character. Love for family and friends and love for yourself. Whether that be demonstrated in what people are willing to sacrifice for each other, or what they're willing to compromise on for themselves, as well as how characters are able to reach a point of acceptance with themselves. A more strong take on the way that theme exists in Part 4 of Jojo, funnily enough. Even the name of this rerelease, Persona 4 Golden, seems eerily remenisent to the name of the final arc in Part 4; and the title attributed to the heroes upon the conclusion of that Part, 'The Golden Heart of Morioh'. And that might just be because in many ways, Persona 4 is an unbranded video game adaptation of Jojo part 4. (But I'll touch more on that later.)

Music is another huge part of the Persona franchise and I'm so happy to say that Persona 4's is increadibly apt and intelligently conceived. Persona 4's suite focuses on J-pop with a sprinkle of Rock thrown in there, which reflects the bright and playful nature of the world of Inaba, as well as touching on the darkness and weirdness hiding under the surface of the innocent countryside town. That juxtaposition between the outside image and the inner truth blurs and blends in the genres and tracks to create a perfectly positioned OST that I could, and have, listen to for hours. And, of course, some particular tracks feature vocals that can make the heart swell and lyrics that spark the inner emotions of the situation and people around you. Quite simply, I adored Persona 4's soundtrack. Even more so for the decision to create a musical bookend with the song 'Nevermore', which is a lyrical reprise of the menu theme so players hear the same song at the beginning of their journey and the end.

The story depicts you, a big city teenage boy, through his transfer down to the sleepy countryside town of Inaba to live with your Uncle and cousin for a year whilst your parents are busy abroad for work. Once there the curiosities of small town life unravel, from the peaceable daytime streets to inexplicable supernatural myths that always seem to travel in tight knit communities like that. One such myth, known as the 'Midnight Channel', proclaims to present an image of one's true soulmate on the black glass screen of a turned off TV screen on days when it rains at midnight. Giving it a shot yourself shouldn't be too dangerous, right? Only that turns out to be the gateway into a world of metaphysical allegory wrapped in a game of cat and mouse against a serial killer and the forces of mistruth and disillusionment themselves. 

As with any Persona game, the real heart of the game is set in the building of relationships with those residents of Inaba, each on their own journey's in life just waiting to be nudged along by getting to know you for a few months. Persona 4 presents an affable team of characters to serve as fellow investigators for the Inaba murders and budding close friends, and the narrative performs vast feats of storytelling to ensure that both factors are presented to be as important as the other. As you are, a team of teenagers trying to solve the mystery of a serial killer, it would have been easy for the story to lose that innocent simplicity of youthful life, or sacrifice the intense drama of a murder mystery, but with the length of a JRPG to take advantage and a working formulaic gameplay loop- the game simply excels. Though building individual relationships with each member of the main cast, and the various side characters around Inaba, is left entirely to the discretion (and time management skills) of the player, you'll feel the head of a close family by the end of the narrative whether you wish to or bitterly fight it every step of the way. You can't keep the love out forever!

That gameplay loop is based around the progression of the days, where every couple of months a new character will be introduced into the story during your daily school life, only to be captured and placed within the shadow world at some point. From there it's up to the player to prepare and mount a rescue in the days left before the next bout of rain, because the day after that rainfall is when the fog sets in...and  the kidnapped person will be found dead through inexplicable means. Keeping to this fairly strict formula allows the player to settle into a rhythm of play where they know roughly where the story beats will be and plan out their routine for the month accordingly. Grind out stats in the days that a new character starts to enter the fray, build up those more abstract social links in the free days after saving someone, organise stat boosts with the right jobs to maximize gains. Eventually you enter into that kind of 'Stardew Valley' state, where the weekly plan is itself a satisfying loop to build, only with the backbone of a strong unfolding mystery dipped in poignant ruminations on the nature of growing up and discovering oneself.

Actually rescuing the endangered involves travelling into this 'Shadow World' I've been talking about, through sacrificing one of your evenings to enter through a magic TV screen, and conquering a dungeon thematically themed around the inner emotional turmoil of the prospective victim. Yes, this means level-design storytelling, ear-worm musical themes for each zone and revelatory confrontations once you grind through every randomly shifting floor to the top. Honestly, some of the most fun can be had just witnessing the allegorical design motifs of these boss designs and how they pertain to the psyche of the person they've been projected from. For example; the martial arts loving tomboy Chie, who shuns from her dark thoughts regarding her inferiority complex next to her more popular best friend Yukiko, sees her 'Shadow' manifest in a boss that is a leather-bound dominatrix perched cross-legged above a seat made out of stacked schoolmates struggling to keep her up. It's demented and abrasive, but oh so creative and fun! (For the record: 'Kusumi-no-Okami' is my absolute favourite. Such evocative and symbolic designs just makes my shrivelled little heart swoon.)

Near the later months of the game the story slips out of it's routine as the mystery unravels and events enter into a more traditional 'life threatening' stance for a typical JRPG narrative. However, Persona never falls for the pitfalls of your traditional fantasy narrative- the world is never just in peril because that sounds like a big stake to hold over the plot's neck. There's significance, narratively, behind every development, even if it's not obvious at first. In fact, it's quite easy to go right from the apparent climax of the game straight to the end and settle with the basic understanding of events that occurred and be relatively happy- but go that step further for the 'True Ending' (which thankfully is a really straightforward process of simply investigating a little bit more when everything feels almost wrapped up) and you'll find the true motivations blossom out beautifully. I seriously recommend everyone to experience the true ending- it's satisfaction personified.

Of course, we are talking about Persona 4 Golden here (stylised as 'Persona 4: The Golden' in Japan) which means there's another face to the story. Golden adds some new elements to the game, most notably a new character in Marie and a new unlockable ending- the bad end where you literally join forces with the game's initial villain. Marie is a girl without memory who exists in Persona 4's transitory nexus of activity which has a unique incarnation in every entry of Persona: The Velvet Room. (In this game it's the back seat of a moving limo travelling through the fog of the Shadow World searching for a destination- representing the protagonist's journey to travel through the fog of mystery and discover the truth.) When I first saw her, I presumed Marie to be this narrative's version of Reimi from Jojo, given the plethora of similarities between Persona 4 and Jojo Part 4. And sure, there are undeniable similarities, but I'm glad to confirm that Marie is so much more integral to the narrative.

Getting to know Marie, by maxing out her Social link, doesn't change the course of the narrative but rather deepens it with an extra layer of understanding, and presents an entire new chapter to the game that fits in right before the final chapter wherein lies the true ending, presenting an extremely unique dungeon with it's own mechanic, (Albeit, an intensely annoying mechanic) and a brilliant boss encounter that serves more as a playable narrative climax rather than a traditional slog fest battle, but is still engaging to beat. Ultimately, Marie exists to provide an extra bit of depth to the true ending, elucidating a bit more about motive and making that final dungeon just that little bit more personal to you. She fits in increadibly well to the already presented narrative, and though her story doesn't change the course of the game in anyway, I think her place is too perfect to cut out now that she's here. Golden is simply the way to experience this narrative, without doubt.

Of course, I've spoken so much about the cast of Persona, it's only fair I touch on them before wrapping up. No, I just really want to talk about this group of characters I came to really love and cherish across the course of Persona 4 and whom I know I'll be thinking back on fondly for years to come. Yosuke is perhaps the most typical, another big city transfer who fills the best friend role as anyone might expect, but with his own actual character depth thrown on top because ATLUS don't do anything by half measures. Chie and Yukiko make up the rest of the main crew, both girls who grew up together as friends despite their distinctions. Yukiko is like the gentle winter rose of the school, heiress to the iconic Inaba Inn, ladylike and meek- Chie is a tomboy, sporty yet clumsy, fiercely protective of her friends. Each of these characters get the chance to bear their souls out and grow throughout the narrative until they're totally different people by the end. There are others to meet, but labelling them out would be something of a spoiler because discovering your party is half the fun of any RPG.

And the main cast aren't the only people you'll come to really get to know if you take the time. There are dozens of citizens you brush past during your brief year in Inaba, and you can spend some afternoons building social links getting to know them as well. The troubled head Nurse working in the local hospital, the club actress who escapes further into her roles than anyone around her, the gruff police detective uncle and his mature but quietly-lonely daughter and maybe even the goofy partner of that police detective who feels like he deserves something more out of life than his lot. And of course, though I loathe to think of her as a 'side character' she isn't technically a member of the main party so she is, by definition, 'side': Marie. The tsundere fish-out-of-water hybrid, discovering Inaba just like you, only with a more alien perspective as she's also searching for her memories and purpose. Only odd seemingly involuntary poems penned by her hint at her inner truths. (As you can likely tell; Marie is my favourite of the side characters.)

In Conclusion

What can I really say except that 'Persona 4 Golden' was originally meant to be my consolation prize and ended up becoming one of my favourite video games of all time. I adored the characters, the world, the narrative, the themes, the music, the heart and the soul of this game. It didn't make me cry, but it did make me gasp and whimper and cheer- and it wormed it's way into the warmth of my heart's nostalgia already. I only beat it a week ago! 'Persona 4 Golden' feels like more than a game. It feels like a sensation crystallised into an interactive form. The sensation of sleepy summer holidays, scrapping your knees in the dirt at the park, breathing in that intoxicating irreverence of unblemished youth. I felt much the same way about 'Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Dimond is Unbreakable', but whereas I think that part of the story captured a tincture of that world- Persona 4 encapsulated it. As a JRPG it's beautifully balanced and engaging. As a simulator it's sweet, poignant and moving. As a product it is a complete work of art, brilliant enough to be an example to others. I've given myself time to digest it, played another Persona game in the meantime to expand my horizons, (3 Portable) and though I've had my hang-ups here and there (particularly with the punishment of the hardest difficulty. But I brought that on myself anyway.) I struggle to think of any genuine flaws of this game. 'Persona 4 Golden' is a masterpiece, plain as day. As such I'm about duty bound to award it with my first ever 'S Grade', as a simple testament to it's genre. I came in expecting an idle fancy, and came away totally in love. Games like this make me happy to be obsessed with this industry of gaming- and stories like this make me just that little bit more hopeful to get up in the morning and face this Shadow World.