For returning fans, such additions do a nice job of adding even more color to the world of Persona 4. It's possible to explore Inaba after dark now, and it's actually possible to walk around Okina City. There are new characters to bond with and new difficulty levels, as well as new areas and events. Whatever the reason, its absence means that Persona 4 Golden lacks one element that could be considered genuinely new.Īll that said, Persona 4 Golden brings its share of fresh content to the table. In the end, it may have been too much work for Atlus, or the company may have felt a predominantly male audience simply wouldn't identify with another female protagonist. The one thing that Persona 4 is lacking in comparison to Persona 3 Portable, sadly, is the ability to play as a girl and being a gal myself, I find that kind of disappointing.

The simple act of walking around town, meanwhile, helps turn it from a flat landscape into a living, breathing world.

The animated cutscenes really do matter, not the least because Persona 4 is basically a high school anime, and Persona 4 Golden renders them in loving high-definition detail. %Gallery-165800% What's new this time around? It seems clear that Atlus has learned a few lessons from the charming but somewhat compromised Persona 3 Portable, which sacrificed a fully-explorable town for functional but unexciting menus.

Then, as now, it stands among the best Japanese-developed RPGs of the past decade. It's no less charming on the PlayStation Vita, where it benefits from redrawn high-definition art and some very interesting online functionality. Any explanation inevitably begins with: 'Well, it's about Japanese high schoolers who fight demons in an alternative dimension that can be accessed through a TV.' And it only gets crazier from there.īack in 2008 though, it was Persona 4's slightly insane premise and its unique format – the story follows a high schooler from April to December as he tries to keep up with his studies, make friends, and solve supernatural murders – that helped it stand out against the drab backdrop of the declining Japanese game industry. Try explaining Persona 4 to a friend sometime – it's not easy.

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