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

Persona 4 Golden is a game which is very special to me, and I was introduced to it to during a time in my life which really reflected on my current feelings towards myself, themes such as self identity and accepting oneself, finding truth no matter the cost, really affected me on a personal level. I played this game after playing Persona 5, which I heavily enjoyed, and I expected to enjoy Persona 4 Golden less than I did with Persona 5, but I was wrong, at least for the most part. The beginning of the game can seem slow at first, but after the first few hours the game picks up extremely well, and you are hooked into an engaging murder mystery story. The characters in this game are my favourite cast of characters in any game I have played, they are lovable, well written, and for a game which is about going into TVs and summoning monsters built around the human psyche, they are surprisingly well grounded and down to Earth, even the character who is a nationwide celebrity. The dynamic between these group of friends, how they interact with each other, are all superb to the point where they could be comparable to real friends. The gameplay in this game consists of two things, half of the game is a life sim where you hang out with friends and peers, attend high school, etc, in a calendar system where every day in the year matters, and the story will progress as this goes on. It may not seem it but this actually gets very addicting, and I always found myself wanting to keep playing to build my relationship with the cast, and progress through my own stats as well. The other half of this game is a very fun and engaging turn based RPG, which I'll talk about now. I've never been particularly interested in turn based combat, sure I've played a few, such as Pokemon and the Mario and Luigi RPG games growing up, but they've never really been that interesting to me. The Persona series as a whole has turn based combat which is engaging and is actually very fun, and Persona 4 Golden is no different. The combat feels fluid, it isn't too confusing or difficult, (although it can provide quite a challenge at some points), and one of the main things I love about the combat, which I did in Persona 5 as well is how damn stylish it is, the HUD design and UI is just so stylish, but this goes for the game as a whole. The Persona series has always been incredibly stylish, especially for games of it's time, and I'd argue that both Persona 3 and Persona 4 are the most stylish games on the PlayStation 2, they really provide a sense of style which is like no other. One final thing I'd like to touch upon in this review is the soundtrack. The soundtrack in this game is phenomenal, and this goes for the series as a whole. The tracks in this game really stand out from one another, they are catchy, poppy, and really fit with the style and setting of the game. I often found myself just stopping and appreciating the music, such as Signs of Love, which plays when you are at home with your family, and really fits well with that theme, or the moments in the game when the gang are discussing the murder case, the music is upbeat and mysterious, and blends well with what's happening. Overall the music in this game is definitely not something to be ignored. In conclusion, this game is absolutely phenomenal, and has managed to become my favourite game of all time. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested, familiar or not familiar with JRPGs.