4/5 ★ – KHFanXIII's review of Persona 4 Golden.

The Persona series is something I've always looked at from afar. I always thought they looked cool and wanted to try them, but thought they'd be too complicated or challenging for me. I had seen some gameplay in the past and I really had no experience with turn based RPGs outside of Pokémon, so I felt a bit intimidated by it. So how do I feel about the game having beat the game? I honestly had nothing to worry about. This game thoroughly and gradually explains every game mechanic. I felt very eased in and by the end of the game I felt like a pro. I really loved my time with this game! There's just so much to do! But let's quickly go over the story before we get too ahead of ourselves. You play as a nameless protagonist (although his canonical name is Yu Narukami), who goes to live with his Uncle Dojima in a small rural Japanese town called Inaba. While there you get embroiled in the mystery of the small town serial murders and you and your newfound friends get together to try and solve them. I don't want to go too in-depth so as not to spoil anything, but the story has a lot more depth than I initially thought it did. The characters in this game are awesome. There's a large variety of personalities that there's bound to be at least one character you like, if not more. Personally, I loved all the characters. I ended up maxing out all of my party members social links and that combined with the general story of the game made me feel like they genuinely were my friends by the end of the game. Moving onto the gameplay, the general loop of the game is super addicting. I was super into micromanaging my days and trying to do as much as I could. There's just so much to do in this game. I honestly thought about immediately diving into a New Game+ run, and if P3Reload hadn't come out, I probably would've. The game is just that fun. The game play in dungeons is classic turn based stuff. It was honestly really fun. I mentioned before being intimidated by the game and this was definitely part of it. But honestly this game makes it pretty easy to get into. The weakness system and analyzing your enemy really helped. I have trouble remembering some type match-ups in Pokémon so something like this is great. The combat is very stylish and fun, and there's lots to experiment with considering all of the Personas in the game. ***Some spoilers from here on out about the ending so beware*** Just due to this game being so popular and the circles I'm in, I was spoiled on who the culprit was a long time ago. It still didn't lessen my enjoyment of the overall game, but I do wish I didn't know because it probably would've genuinely surprised me. Something I didn't care for was the last minute “oh Ameno-Sagiri was influencing Adachi so it's not fully his fault” twist. Adachi was a much more interesting villain and having generic godlike JRPG villain come out and partially absolve him of his agency made me feel a bit disappointed. This also somewhat applies to the real final boss. I liked the whole underdogs taking on a god. Especially as you've grown so close to these characters over the game, that it feels really hype, but the villain just isn't super interesting. I kinda wish Adachi was manipulating the Sagiri's and he was the true final boss. Speaking of the final boss, I did think it was very cool how YOU actually defeat him. You use the game's systems, pick a skill and target the enemy. It makes it very satisfying to defeat him, instead of it just being a cutscene. The ending itself made me feel genuinely sad. It was very bittersweet seeing everything be solved, but it being the end of the protagonists time here. Seeing him leave everyone in Inaba made me tear up a bit. It felt real to me as if I was leaving my own friends. Overall the game was really good! I wish I would've played this when I was in middle school. I would've been obsessed with it. Can't wait to delve into other games in the series!