MashButtons goes to June's in Persona 4 Golden review

It is finally here, the day that a PS2 game has become one of the most anticipated games for the Vita. The game is Persona 4 Golden, and while Persona 4 was originally released on the PlayStation 2 back in 2008. It was a critically acclaimed game but at the same time came out at the end of the PS2’s dying era, resulting in being missed by the likes of myself. Golden is a bigger and better version of the RPG, by providing enhanced visuals, additional story, and voiced dialogue added to what previously made this game so favorable, can potentially make this THE go to RPG for the Vita. Promising nearly 100 hours of gameplay, P4G lets players choose how to spend their day, before being thrust into midnight TV that leads to serial killings.

I did manage to miss this title when it was originally released, which is also surprising to me as a fan of the JRPG genre. Now that it has been refreshed and re released on the portable Vita, I am excited to say the least to get a second chance to experience what the hype has been about. Before getting into my review, I did not complete the game before posting my review, why, because it is long, and I mean really long, clocking in at around 100 hours for a single playthrough. The story, is good, if not great, and does a great job of keeping the player engaged between turn based battle sequences. The character customization did suck me in, regardless to the amount of time that took place before I could finally partake, but when I did, it was oh so bittersweet.   
 
Being that this was my first attempt at a playthrough of Persona 4, I didn’t necessarily know what I was getting myself into.  While that is part of the excitement of jumping in head first, but I had no clue to the amount of time that would be spent introducing the characters into the story while training the player basic combat. Luckily the story was engaging and even though the art style has a bright anime look, it has a very mature feel. While being typical as far as JRPG’s go, it does change/weird things up a bit by introducing a high school simulator to consumes quite a bit of the experience. Though I have invested a healthy chunk of time into my first playthrough, I am unsure that I am even halfway through and still thinking of the impact in which my  decisions have made.

Though I was a bit hesitant to jump into such a massive game, it was a pleasant experience and exceeded my expectations and will quite possibly hold a spot in my top 5 JRPG favorites. It looks beautiful on the Vita’s powerful screen and plays great. This remake has caused me to take my Vita with me more often and it is still early to tell, but I am a bit unsure as to if i will be able to complete the playthrough. It is a long game that covers the span of a year, day by day, playing out based on the decisions you decide to make. Even though it is a remake, it is the most memorable remake I have seen on the Vita, blowing my previous favorite, Little King’s Story, out of the water.