PS2 RPG Project: Game 2- Persona 4 (Golden) Review

Note:  I thought it would be pointless to play this game twice, and I already own a copy of Persona 4 Golden on the Playstation Vita, so that's the one I'm actually reviewing here.  It's the same game, it just has more in it. 
How far did you get?  1 completion, true ending.  Pretty sure I missed a dungeon though...
How many hours did you put into it?  51

Persona 4 Golden is basically a handheld port of the Playstation 2 JRPG Persona 4, but with lots of fun extras.  Since I'll be reviewing the game as though the reader has never played either version, I will be talking about the game itself, and not just the bonus features. 

Persona 4, like it's predecessor Persona 3, are a very different style of JRPG, particularly if most of your JRPG experience comes from games like Final Fantasy.  It's still high school aged people fighting bad guys, but the game takes place in a modern Japan.  The sim aspects are what really set it apart, though.  You're not just a high school student running around dungeons and killing bad guys.  You actually get to go to high school, do extracurricular activities, and hang out with your friends. 

It's not without purpose.  The dungeon section of the game takes place in a strange world that you enter by jumping into a television.  There, you are able to unlock your "potential", which is referred to as a persona.  By hanging out with your friends and becoming closer to them, you upgrade a social link with that character, which is then used to level up your personas faster when fusing them. 

There are a ton of different menus and options in Persona 4, and to talk about them all would be a lot like trying to type out an instruction manual so I'm not going to do that.  However, it is surprisingly easy to get into considering how in depth the game is.  It's a very smart game in many places as well.  The game actually comes packaged with a lecture about Jungian philosophy, which better explains the ideas of personas and shadows.

The game is also laugh out loud hilarious at times.  Many times when I was crawling through dungeons leveling up and killing shadows, I wished I was back in the real world engaging my peers for the inevitable funny thing they would say or do.  If it wasn't something funny, it was something very sad, or very meaningful.  I've never seen a game do character development quite the way this game does.

Despite it's cartoon like appearance, this game is absolutely not for children.  For instance, one of the dungeons is bath house, and exists from the mind of one of your peers who is a bit confused about his sexuality.  Another is set in a strip club.  The game seems to try to keep things lighthearted, but things do get a bit heavy while in the dungeon areas. 

Persona 4 is also a Shin Megami Tensei title through and through.  Your persona are generally mythical creatures from several different religions, from Norse to Judeo Christianity.  If you decide to play through to the true ending, you'll also encounter a couple of characters from the very beginnings of the Shin Megami Tensei series, or more specifically, from the book that spawned it.  If you're into Shin Megami Tensei lore, you'll no doubt giggle with glee when you encounter these characters. 

The battle system is similar to other SMT titles as well.  The main goal is to exploit weaknesses so you gain extra turns in battle.  It's worked in every other SMT game, and it works here.  The battles are as fast paced as you want them to be, and you can manually set whether you want to control your other party members or not. 

Personas are used to boost your battle capability and to use abilities and spells.  You collect them from a card shuffling game after battles in which you do well in.  It's not all the different than Pokemon when it comes to collecting them.  You can fuse them together to make new, stronger personas as well.  Your supporting members all have one single persona, and their stats are based solely on that single Persona.  It makes managing your party a lot easier, and managing yourself in this game can be stressful enough. 

The only thing I really don't like about Persona 4 is that some of the dialog can get a bit cheesy.  I've never played any game as far rooted into Japanese culture as Persona 4 is, and that's great for the most part.  However, you do deal with some boring teenage drama on occasion, and it can be annoying when they start talking about a food type you've never heard of.   

As for the bonuses in the Golden version, you get television stations you can flip though that feature live performances of Persona 4's music, quizzes, and many other neat little features.  The game itself includes a new social link, new personas, and a longer endgame. 

Persona 4 (Golden) is easily one of the top 5 JRPG ever to grace to Playstation 2, and is currently the best one of the Playstation Vita.  It's deep, user friendly, and a blast to play.  If you've never played it, I can't recommend it enough.  If you don't have a Vita, this game is the best reason to get one. 

Rating:  97/100