The Poet’s Corner - Persona 4 Golden!
Welcome to the poet’s corner!
This week I had actually started my weekly article a bit earlier but everything changed…
…when the fire nation attacked. Sorry, I couldn’t help it!
Everything changed when Persona 4 Golden was released on Steam 2 days ago. So I’ll be writing about that instead. Persona 4 Golden is a wonderful game and definitively worth a buy. Why? Let’s find out.
Persona 4 Golden is the remastered version of the 2008 PS2 game “Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4” (That’s a long title). Originally released for the PS Vita in 2012, Persona 4 Golden not only took what was great in the original, but expanded upon it to create a whole new experience worth the title ‘Golden’. So it’s best to explore what was already great in the original Persona 4 and say how Golden enhances that. However, we must first dive in it’s origins.
Persona 4 was, for many years, game developer Atlus’ most well-known game outside Japan. This is rather surprising, since the ‘Persona’ series was a sub-series/spin-off of the Shin Megami Tensei series of games (hence the name). In an inception-like scheme, Shin Megami Tensei was created on 1987 based on “Digital Devil Story”, a science fiction novel series by Aya Nishitani, creating various sequels and spin-offs of which the Persona series was born. So in short, Persona games take Shin Megami Tensei games as reference which reference Digital Devil Story books:
Reference
The point here is that the Persona series is a spin off that managed to become considerably more popular than it’s original, a case which is certainly not unique but at least uncommon. Shin Megami Tensei (SMT) is a very well known and loved series of games in japan, to the point it has it’s own successful phone game ‘SHIN MEGAMI TENSEI D x 2’, and Persona games are still MORE popular. Why?
Persona games started getting popular after it’s third entry Persona 3. After a legacy of dark, mind blogging themed decision-making RPG in first person dungeon format from SMT, the first Persona game decided to do the same thing but focusing a bit more on the characters and their internal struggles on a high school setting, emphasizing they are real flawed characters. This resulted in mild success worldwide. Persona 2 chose to divide it’s very complex story line in 2 games with a dark, mind blogging themed decision-making RPG in third person dungeon format, showing characters in a high school setting and their internal struggles on interactive in third person dungeon format, emphasizing they are real flawed characters. This resulted in a higher, but overall mild success worldwide. Persona 3, however, decided to change things up. It’s approach was to create a deep story with dark, mind blogging themed decision-making RPG in third person dungeon format, showing characters in a explorable high school setting and their internal struggles on interactive third person dungeon levels, leaving characters to be shaped by your choices. This resulted in great success worldwide. I’m starting to see a pattern…
Persona 3 built-up from 1 and 2, adding the beloved social link mechanic, where you can increase your bond with in-game characters which results in power-ups in battle. This together with a main character that was entirely shaped by you, made the game increasingly popular.
So what happened in Persona 4? Just like it’s predecessors, it learned from previous entries resulting in an even better game. From here I’ll break it down in the four main game development areas and actually get on the blog’s topic.
Story:
Look at those PS2 graphics
Since this is Story Dev Team, let’s start with the story. Explaining any Persona game’s story feels very much like trying to explain Dragon Ball to someone that has no idea. It’s… hard… So overall I’ll just keep it very general to avoid spoilers in hope you will play it, not because it’s difficult, ok?
Persona 4 (P4) takes place in the remote town of Inaba. It’s main theme is pursuing one’s true self. This was a very refreshing break from it’s predecessors, as it became the least dark of all games in the saga, SMT included. P4, through it’s main theme, focuses on a lot of character development and through social links make for very realistic characters, which is a hard thing to do.
Overall the plot knows when to be serious and when to be funny, which Persona 4 Golden (P4G) enhances very well with a new character, more social links and scenes. Having played both I can guarantee the additions P4G makes increase the experience and are so smooth you feel like they were always there.
Visuals:
What a difference!
The game chooses yellow as its main colour with a bright color palette. Mainly 3D graphics, the game uses detailed 2D sprites and animations at key moments to enhance the experience.
The game had a major visual overhaul with P4G, updated graphics, paired with a lot of attention to detail. I mean look at that symbol for the weather! The game is very well designed, and takes care to make it very intuitive (golden at least) much more considering it’s been a few years since it’s release.
Music:
Having a disc means it’s legit
One name: Shoji Meguro. The genius behind the Persona games’ original soundtracks is a great and versatile musician. He chooses a main genre for every game, picking pop and pop rock for this one. The music uses english lyrics in a unique tone, creating a unique and refreshing style. The instrumental pieces are beautiful, to say the least, and really enhance the emotions on scenes. The music is so good, they have held live performance concerts more than once, with many fans attending. P4G adds additional tracks, in my opinion some of the best in the game.
The rest of the sound is incredible too. From a laugh to a sword slash, sound effects make everything believable. Finally, the voice acting is the best english dub I had heard at the time, at to this day is still the one that surprised me the most. P4G adds a lot of new scenes and dialog, which makes the voice actors shine. I usually prefer the original audio, but Persona 4’s dub is so good, it’s the only time I pick dub over subs.
Surprisingly, for people getting the PC version, it allows you to switch between Japanese or English audio, a feature not available in the PS Vita USA version of the game.
Gameplay:
There is only one choice
The game is essentially divided in two sections: day to day and dungeons.
Day to day is mostly what the above choices show us. Choices like the one above really let you shape the protagonist’s personality as you see fit! The game takes place in the course of a year and you choose how to spend each day and how to interact with other characters. A year might seem like a long time, but you don’t actually spend the whole year playing, as in game events take up some of your days as well. In retrospect, a year isn’t as much time as you think, which is a very accurate depiction of… life. You chose where to go and what do do, so it’s an excellent life smiulator/RPG. PG4 makes this part shine with all it’s added interactions and mechanics. It adds a whole new area to explore and a lot more activities to do with the people around or by yourself. The controls are very smooth and make the game’s day to day a very fulfilling experience.
Try explaining why a sword-wielding high-schooler is attacking dolphins!
Dungeons. P4 changed the previous game’s mechanic by having various dungeons that are deeply tied to the game’s character. This is because of the *spoiler* which create *spoiler* making characters face their *spoiler*, adding a lot to the character development and overall main theme. Didn’t quite catch that? Well play the game, as there is a perfectly good explanation for the image above and why dungeons are like that, but it’s something best experienced than explained. Overall, the randomly generated dungeons make for a great time and due to game mechanics will make you want to go and finish them in one go.
Conclusion:
P4G is the ultimate version of P4, with a compelling story, great visuals, entertaining gameplay and amazing soundtrack. As someone who bought the PS Vita exclusively to play this game I can tell you it’s well worth it. With 4 runs to my name, the game is well worth replaying and is enjoyable in every playthrough. You can get it here for $20 USD or whatever currency and price your country uses: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1113000/Persona_4_Golden/ . I’ve spent $20 on worse things, like parking or an stadium hot dog combo, so I figure, why not?
And now this week’s poem:
Pursuing my true self
Where are thou?
For long I seek,
A self unique,
My persona endow.
The doubts in myself,
Let me start,
I search for your heart,
Pursuing my true self.
Thanks for reading.
I wish you the best, see you next week!
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