Persona 4 Golden

Perfect story, combat and characters!

Game crashes all the time, losing hours of progress again and again and again.....I gave up

This game is a friend simulator/dungeon RPG. This is the first game in the series I have played so please excuse me if I state mechanics that are a staple of the series. I split the friend simulator and dungeon RPG portions of this review.

Premise

Friend simulator Gameplay

Dungeon Gameplay

Conclusion

Pretty great game, i played this one after finishing the 3rd and 5th persona game so dont be fooled by the graphics of the game, it makes up a lot with the story.
To name a few complaints would be that the first dungeon is kinda hard for a starting point due to lack of party members, enemy resistances and color wall skills, after that it gets way easier because your persona and party pool increases.
While a convenience in newer persona games that this one lacks its the ability to see on the map which social links are available in that day, however you can learn them after a while so no big deal.
And lastly, in order to reach the best ending of the game you kinda have to use internet guides since doing all the steps by yourself in a first save file is pretty hard to do since all of the requirements are quite specific and aren't listed in the game indirectly in any way, although thats my opinion so take it as you wish.
Complaints aside you should play the game for yourself to witness the story firsthand since its quite unique imo.

Timeless classic. Other reviews will have information about combat, social links, etc. This isn't about that.

Persona: 4 nights at freddie's is a game about hating bears. As you spend time with your friends, gaining knowledge and petting cats you will gain a deep appreciation of how annoying bears are. You think you'd choose the bear over a man? Not this one.

Persona 4: Golden shower is also about the rain. When the rain happens, there is no music, which deepens the impact of when days do or don't have music (and perhaps tell you that there's something urgent you need to do).

Persona 400 sidequests has a lot of content that isn't necessary. However, it's hard to know what that is. Also typical of older RPGs is that a lot of these sidequests are just 'get thing from dungeon you already played'. except now it's just boring because you're 10 - 30 levels above whatever chaff is in there. However, the social links are pretty interesting. I like this cast a lot more than persona 5 - with one beary glaring exception.

Persona: 4 community guideline violations is also a game that is thoroughly "2000s" in its spirit and aesthetic. I grew up with the PS2 and everything about this game just threw me back to that era. Some of its themes and portrayals of certain characters will be controversial in today's "climate", and people on both sides of the horseshoe probably got offended by either Kanji, Naoto, or both. I don't really care, but the lack of tact and """"narrative pushing"""" was quite refreshing and incredibly entertaining.

Persona 4 is also a game about routine. Going to school, coming home, raiding the fridge (sorry about the flan, Nanako. it was delicious) and ordering stuff off the TV after planting some magical peppers creates a comforting feeling of knowing what to expect. So when things start going wrong, and something changes that routine, and you check the fridge out of habit and there's nothing there for the 8th day in a row - the change hits you in a place only a game could. Millenial video game autists on youtube love to use the phrase 'ludonarrative dissonance' - this is a great example of ludonarrative synergy.

Make friends with Marie, and don't put people on TV!

Junes has a great deal on TV's slated this Black Friday, you should check it out.

Great game, even greater music.

Absolutely incredible jrpg. Probably now my favorite jrpg ever made, and a strong contender for my favorite game ever. I've played xenoblade, p5 and p3, chrono trigger, earthbound, fire emblem, FF7, but none of them have had the same genuinely incredible writing (Maybe FF7, but still). The graphics are dated, sure, but the characters and how they're portrayed is probably some of the most realistic depiction of life i've ever seen in a game. The writing for all the conversations between your in-game friends doesn't sound like some overexaggerated generic chat, they feel like real people. Aside from the writing, the music is f***king bomb and the battle system is, admittedly, a little dated, but still really enjoyable.

Also, the stories pretty damn good too.

Honestly, easily worth the 106 hours it took for me to beat. Incredible game.

I've played the original P4 on my Playstation 2 over a decade ago.

The game is still great, the font size seems to adapt to small screens such as the Steam Deck very well.

The extra content to get the true ending requires that you develop your relationship with Marie to the max level in a time frame that forces you to replay the game if you're not aware of it beforehand so get that complimentary tip as you will.

Persona 4 Golden is a great game with meaningful and welcome additions to the original game. I hope Atlus never falls prey to "localizers" as we see happening lately with other asian studios.

9/10 - the game is great but 3FES is still my favorite due to the darker atmosphere and soundtrack.

I took a point off the perfect score because I don't like these hidden requirements to access true endings and they kept this on P5 Royal.

You should get information that leads you to the true ending in a more efficient manner imo.

Great vege... story and touching characters with classic JRPG game mechanics! So heartful and helpful, if you feel depressed. And soundtrack is just fire!

The dungeon and combat gets stale by the fourth dungeon (Then again Persona 2's ability for everyone to switch personas is what kept that one's combat interesting) but oh my the story and side stories are so good.

One of the best games ever made. Wherever you’ve played the Persona series or not, you’re in for a treat. A remarkable story, the ending of which could dramatically change based on the choices you make. Free tip - Save your game before December 3rd and think carefully about what you do next.

my favorite jrpg love the charachter writing seting and story ok gameplay and graphics but great soundtrack and experience one of my favorites ever

This game is great, I love it a lot, but there is a game-ruining bug after the 4th boss where it always crashes if you have an AMD system ("after the boss" as in there's no save point before the crash so you have to keep beating the boss to try and get past the crash). There are posts on Reddit about this problem going back for years and no one has found a solution yet other than downloading the game on another non-AMD computer and beating the boss there, then going back to your main computer after you're able to save. This is completely unacceptable and should have been fixed years ago, so I can't recommend buying this game especially if you have an AMD card or CPU.

Persona 4 Golden is my first Persona game and it changed my life.
The story dives into real struggles and growth, and the characters feel like friends by the end.
The mix of life simulation and RPG is unlike anything I’ve played, and it had me hooked from start to finish.
This game showed me the value of facing myself and supporting others, and that’s a lesson I’ll carry with me.

I recommend playing this game if you’re interested in mysteries or anime.

Late review, running for my fourth playthrough and still counting. The best game from time to time, I always come back when I get bored playing modern games and to relieve some stress. Please remake P4G already before launching Persona 6. You can name it Persona 4 Rewatch or Rewind. Overall in my opinion best story writing from all Persona series.

Played Persona 5 before this and the games are very similar imo which, quite frankly, I don't have a single issue with! I prefer this soundtrack to Persona 5 because I didn't have the Royal version and this soundtrack was a lot less grating. Some of the themes can be really offensive. I think I'm desensitised after so many years of gaming but be warned. Otherwise fully recommend!

9/10 this game plays like a SOL anime and a genuine 'choice matters' kinda game

I just love this game because you can achieve things that are impossible in real life, such as creating true bonds of friendship, feel loved, trust, family and be a happy teenager.

Amazing experience 10/10

I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with Persona 4. This review is focused on the stuff I don’t like, but the game is still worth trying out if you like the other persona games. In my opinion, the themes are good and the social links are the best in the series.

This game probably has the most overrated cast of all time. I’m shocked that this game gets praised so much for its characters - aside from a few standouts, they are either annoying or two-dimensional. Yosuke is allowed to be a complete douchebag and perv on the girls 24/7 because haha we were all like that in highschool amirite guys? Chie is a flanderized excuse for a character whose personality consists of yelling and martial arts, and Yukiko is pretty unremarkable. Teddie might be the most annoying character in any video game ever. He’s the only party member who actually develops along with the plot, and yet his character is still dogshit. Rise is pretty cool, I like her dynamic with the rest of the group. Kanji’s great, I think his arc is interesting and fits the themes well, and he’s probably the most genuine and realistic guy in the main cast. Naoto’s story could have been handled with more tact and her social link is disappointing, but otherwise I think she’s a great character. Oftentimes she’s the only character progressing the plot and I love her for that. Characters don't need to be likable to be well written, but over half of these characters are neither.

A huge issue I have with this game is that party member development is limited to their short dungeon arcs and social links. This means that they all have to be written in a way that assumes you haven’t completed their social link, so they don’t change much throughout the story. It’s a super unnatural way of storytelling and makes the dialogue get really dull and boring.

I think the social links are this game’s biggest strength when compared to the others. Yosuke is actually super likable in his social link, which contrasts with how he acts outside of it. The other party members’ social links are good too, probably because they contain a solid chunk of their character development. I really wish it didn't feel like some of the party members' resolutions were just them conforming to society in the end, but this is supposed to be the positive section so I'll leave it there. Ai and Naoki have outstanding social links that outshined the party members for me. Nanako and Dojima’s social links suffer a bit from being separated, but they are also great. The rest of the social links are pretty alright; none of them are downright bad except for maybe Margaret’s.

The gameplay is fine, not great. Slapping a new visual design on the exact same narrow hallways for each dungeon doesn't make them any better. And the weird, half-baked “puzzles” that show up sometimes should have just been scrapped. Most of the boss fights are decent, a step up from Persona 3 in one regard at least. They mostly try to have a gimmick for you to engage with, although a few are just hp sponges. The combat is just normal persona stuff: hit weaknesses -> all out attack -> repeat. This game in particular suffers from outdated mechanics that make the dungeons feel like an absolute slog. I know it’s an unfair comparison, but the little things like sprinting and vase smashing in P3 Reload and P5 make those games feel so much better to play. You can call me spoiled by the newer games, but it won't change my opinion that P4 has the worst dungeons.

Slow pacing is a “feature” in every persona game, but holy moly does this game drag its feet. It’s like if Scooby Doo set up a murder mystery in episode 1 and then proceeded to slowly introduce characters for 6 seasons before progressing the plot AT ALL. You complete a dungeon, talk to the character you saved only to find out they don’t remember anything, and then go back to the drawing board. Repeat this pattern until they finally decide to move the plot forward after the 7th dungeon in mid-November. The payoff wasn’t even that good for all of that buildup. The murderer’s cringe monologue about how he doesn’t care about anything makes him sound like a high schooler who just learned about nihilism. And then you get the persona classic, a surprise god final boss in the last 2 seconds of the game!

I enjoyed this game enough to 100% it, despite what this review may suggest. The overall experience is fun because it's a persona game. I just can’t believe that this could be somebody’s favorite game of all time. It’s literally a friend simulator except most of your friends are lame and annoying. Unironically talk to real people, they’re way more interesting. Overall, this is probably a 5/10 game for me. If you've seen the reviews calling this "one of the best jrpgs of all time" and feel like a crazy person for thinking otherwise, you aren't alone.

i finished persona 4 Golden for the first time and got the True End (though needed help to achieve that)

according to steam its about 88.8 hours with 39/50 achievements

overall its a fantastic game and there is a LOT of content
though some writing and events have not aged well (Transphobia and Homophobia)

i personally preferred to do the dungeons in one day but was a bit harder because of that lol : P

but yeah its pretty good the OST is also tops

Having got into the series through P5R and loving that, I started P4G and found myself enjoying it for many of the same reasons I love 5. The Gameplay is the Persona formula in the form we've come to know it today, on their second outing. Managing how your spend your days as a High School Student and growing bonds with people around you, is complemented by classic JRPG Dungeon crawling combat with a fun twist in the Persona Fusion system. If you are open to a character driven game with a lot of dialogue, would definitely recommend this game.

I really enjoyed this game. Played mostly on steam deck and was awesome.
Story is good I enjoy a nice mystery type game other SMT games are that way and are a good time.
I love P5R because that was my first Persona but P4G is awesome. I felt like I really wanted to go against the antagonist and it pulled you into the story better then P5R.

First time playing a Persona game and didn't know what to expect. Enjoyed the story and character growth and thought the music was great. The game was way longer than I expected.

Played it on Hard with Japanese VAing while also watching a streamer play with English dub. Definitely prefer the Japanese, but the English was fine.

The first couple of dungeons were somewhat challenging, but after that they just seemed like a bit of a cake-walk. January seemed a bit tedious and long.

Will be playing P5R someday.

I thought this game was just about solving a mystery case with some JRPG elements. But I was wrong. It's about YOU and YOUR BEST FRIENDS were solving a mystery case. Best Persona game so far. Gonna miss this game.

CHAD NARUKAMI🔥🔥/10

oh and i love chie. she's a great girl

P4G is a fantastic Persona game with one of the series' best casts, locales and plots. However, I feel the game is held back somewhat by its randomly generated dungeon structure. It wasn't until Persona 5 that the franchise was given real, hand-crafted dungeons. And that's a real shame. Thankfully, the core combat of Persona remains and is as fun as ever. So, in the end, having random dungeon layouts it isn't all too bad. They're pretty short too.

perfect game, never wanted it to end 10/10 story characters gameplay music etc...

Honestly my favorite persona game. The characters feel alot more real and genuine than P5 or P3.

This game is a masterpiece, even if it has little to no problems its a must, music is perfect, characters are done perfectly, setting? also perfect, vegetables? great vegetables
so if you got the money, play it
(Great vegetables :D)

Persona 4 is like a well cooked meal, just waiting for you to devour it. Everything from the story, characters, combat, music, etc. are all great. And when you finish the game, you realize it was all about the friends you made along the way :)

I highly recommend you play this game!

This game is absolutely incredible. Play this before trying Persona 3 Reload or Persona 5 Royal, though. This game is definitely not worse than those, but some would say they wouldn't like this game as much because it doesn't look like those. It doesn't need to, though because it's an insanely fun game.

I just don't think it's worth the amount of time you have to put in. As far as gameplay depth and challenge, I've seen it all by the second dungeon. Actually, I've seen it even before that, when I played Persona 3. It's almost the same game, maybe that's the problem for me. It's a good game but I would recommend playing either 3 or 4 and not both.

OH yeah LOVE this game accidentally skipped Marie's social link HOPE THATS NOT IMPORTANT LOL not a big fan of the bath house scene as always but if u mentally squint your eyes and pretend it isn't there this game is peak

Truly a masterpiece, the game strikes a perfect balance between humor and heartfelt moments. I was initially worried it might be overwhelming or hard to grasp, but it turned out to be the complete opposite—I couldn't get enough of it.

My first Persona game, played this on PS Vita then got the chance relive the magic with my steam deck. I hope this will get a remake like Persona 3.

absolutely one of, if not the best games i've ever played. currently at november in my first playthrough, will be 100%ing the game and finishing a 2nd playthrough.

playing on my steam deck, both online and offline. the port doesn't play well with steam + offline, as there is no offline achievement verification and if you unlock an achievement offline, it won't register (i've activated the ones i've gotten through SAM). hours are also weird and not correctly reported, my save file says im at 45 but steam sometimes says 100hrs, sometimes says 36. idk!

either way, fucking amazing game. 10/10 recommend

Coming off Persona 3 FES, I was curious to see how Persona 4 would stack up, and it didn’t disappoint! It’s a story centered on friendship, self-discovery, and accepting the truth both about the world and oneself. The game's themes of facing inner struggles while seeking the truth really resonated with me and align with what I’m feeling and living through right now, as I write this.

In many ways, this game reminds me of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable (Part 4), especially in its setting and tone. Both are set in small, seemingly quiet towns where supernatural events unfold, the focus on solving a mystery while also exploring personal struggles runs parallel in both. And just like Part 4, this game takes time to show moments of daily life, creating a sense of community and grounding the supernatural elements in a more relatable everyday context.

While Persona 3 explored the inevitability of death and how that awareness can inspire us to embrace life fully, Persona 4 takes this concept further by emphasizing the significance of truth and acceptance. It encourages us to confront the uncomfortable realities about ourselves, delving into the complexities of identity. The journey of facing shadows (those hidden aspects of our personalities), demonstrate that embracing these truths, no matter how painful, is essential for genuine personal growth.


"What's right... What you should choose to do in life... The answers to those things lie within you."

This is genuinely one of the best games I've ever played and I can't believe I never managed to give it a chance in the 16 years it's been released. If a direct sequel to this game came out right now full price I'd buy it day one.

for people coming from p5r and p3r, you may or may not be disappointed depending on what you are more focused on.

graphics is definitely much much worse than the other 2 games, for obvious reasons, if u are a huge fan of the stylish graphics of persona 5 royal n 3 reload, then u might find urself pretty disappointed with this game

combat is less engaging and fun as well, bosses don't really have much of a unique feature between one another except for minor chances, characters have some variety in moves like combos and special attacks but it doesnt happen regularly

dungeon exploring is very very boring. it is pretty similar to tartarus(p3r) or mementos(p5r) but somehow i felt even more bored doing it, cant really fully explain it, but dungeon exploring was a god damn drag in this game(for me personally)

with all that said, i actually like the game

quality of characters and story is just as high as the other games, making u feel truly connected to characters as u play through. the story isnt super crazy but it works really well in this kind of game. Im kind of lazy to list everything out but besides what i mentioned above, everything else in p4g is just as gd as the other persona games. give it a try if u really like the persona series

Beat persona 5 royal before playing this game. I had fun with Persona 4 golden but found most of my enjoyment to be the story/social links. I feel like the game was ahead of its time for when it released but ultimately I found the game wasn't as consistent as persona 5 royal. I found the story pacing was very slow in some parts and some of the main cast were poorly written. The combat as well feels a lot more rigid compared to 5 with the lack of baton pass or the ability to swap party members in combat. However for its faults at the time of the game originally releasing it was leaps and bounds ahead of other games. As a current day title though I would only really recommend it if you really like Persona, otherwise I would suggest 5 royal and Persona 3 got a remake as well. I hope down the road there is a remake of this game as well as parts of it have not aged well and I only really stuck to playing it due to the overall quality of the story/social links despite the pacing issues as the combat lost its appeal for me well before even the halfway mark of the game.

Goated game. Fought against the Uchiha clan's techniques in later runs.

Some bits are kind of dated but JRPG now but even then nothing is bad. the social aspect of the game is great, its really good at giving you nostalgia from friends and school. The story is amazing, combat is a bit grindy again nothing bad music is awesome. Easily hard recommend for anyone who likes rpgs and good stories

---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☐ Beautiful
☐ Good
☑ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS

---{ Gameplay }---
☐ Very good
☑ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't

---{ Audio }---
☑ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf

---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Grandma

---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☐ Decent
☑ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer

---{ Game Size }---
☐ Floppy Disk
☑ Old Fashioned
☐ Workable
☐ Big
☐ Will eat 10% of your 1TB hard drive
☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it
☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data

---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☑ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls

---{ Grind }---
☐ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☑ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding

---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☐ Good
☑ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life

---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☐ Average
☑ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond

---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☑ Worth the price
☐ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money

---{ Bugs }---
☑ Never heard of
☐ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs

---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☐ 7
☐ 8
☐ 9
☑ 10

---{ Author }---
☑ https://vojtastruhar.github.io/steam-review-template

This game really is something else, almost everything about it is exceptional. The characters and story are super interesting and exciting, with good combat too. Which albeit is not nearly as good as future persona games, but still holds up well. Overall though I still give it a 10/10 for the incredible cast of characters and its ability to evoke such heavy emotions with moments in the story that I don't think I'll ever forget.

good game but DO NOT BUY IF YOU HAVE AN AMD

There is a known crash about halfway through for AMD graphics cards and you will be unable to complete it, and since it happens more than 2 hours into the game you will not get a refund. This was my first purchase on steam and what a joke customer service has been, literally selling half a game.

Easily one of my top 5 games that I've ever played (despite being a massive change of pace from what I'm normally into). A real classic gem that I think everyone who values a good character-driven story should experience. The graphics and game-play, while very dated, hold up well and the story tackles unusually heavy and relatable themes of Jungian philosophy and the discovery of one's true self.

Overall love the game. Was a much bigger fan of Persona 5 because its takes place in Tokyo. However, the Japanese small town vibe is great too. As I progress i'm loving the characters more and more too.

only 5hr in the game, already fall in love with many characters, great characters and story

On the recommendation of a friend I checked out Persona 4 Golden, and nearly 70 hours later it is now one of my favorite games. A great coming of age story that hits some hard truths on how you must approach life and the real world but does it in a way that's fun and fills you with inspiration. I am now locked into Persona 5 Royal and loving it just as much!

10/10 for me.

Worst Persona game on steam, still good. Yosuke was made insufferable in the golden version, but other than that, kinda cool. Social links aren't persona 3 kind of social links, but they still are alright. Kanji is pretty awesome. 6/10 game overall.