StarTopic Persona 4 Golden |ST| Reach Out To The Truth (Please read OP before posting)

[xghost777]

Not sure I’m committed to a playthrough right now, but I was excited to boot up Persona 4 Golden first and couldn’t stop until getting Yosuke. Those first two hours really pull you in well. Game looks great on Switch.

 

[WestEgg]

I’ve played to the Video Game themed dungeon before I ended up taking a break previously, so I’ll likely start a fresh playthrough once I finish Persona 5 Royal.

 

[Ozzie]

Will there ever be a chance for these games to have a physical release? I ain't buying these games yet as I'm still playing P5S and Fire Emblem Engage releases tomorrow.

I'm also hesitant to buy P3P because of the remake rumours but the vibes/atmosphere the game gives is so appealing to me lol.

 

[Weebos]

Just FYI, it seems to default to Japanese Audio.

 

[Scrawnton]

Booted it up this morning and will get some more in during my lunch break. Looks clean and runs well on Switch.

I'm gonna play it on hard since I've played it once before on Vita and I have more experience with the series today compared to then.

 

[Herb Alpert]

I'm definitely going to buy and play this game, but i'll wait a bit, as I'm still deep inside 5.
Is this game as long as the latest entry ?

 

[Linkstrikesback]

I'm definitely going to buy and play this game, but i'll wait a bit, as I'm still deep inside 5.
Is this game as long as the latest entry ?

Pretty much, yes. It's 80+ hours , so if it is shorter than 5, it's not by a huge amount.

 

[Hero of Hyrule]

It’s been years since I waited for this, will play it immediately after work

Got a couple of questions though

- Which difficulty option? From what I hear the game is much easier than the PS2 version so is Very Hard the best option? For reference I played the following in default difficulties: Persona 3 FES (first SMT game, died some times including in dungeons but no huge difficulty spike or grinding), SMT Nocturne (solid challenge throughout the game, no excessive grinding at times though), SMT IV/A/Soul Hackers (all pretty easy outside of a few gimmick bosses). So I’m wondering about the best difficulty option here

- I know you need to max the Social Link of the new character to access the new content. Besides that, I’m wondering how if you can max them all in one playthrough without a guide? I didn’t max them all in P3 as I was just doing them in the order I felt, apparently to max them in one playthrough in that game you needed to make pretty anticlimactic choices, like saving the Moon Social Link for last. I heard that P4 and P5 are much more lenient on that aspect so I’m wondering if I can just “role play” through the game and not rush any of them besides the new character

- So I’m going with Japanese voices for sure. As for the written language, I feel like being petty and playing through the game in French to make sure that I don’t see that stupid GAF meme. Is the translation good though, can someone that played P5R in French confirm that? For reference I played NEO TWEWY in French despite having played the first game in English (only available language at the time). I thought it was good tbh, a bit heavy on the France slang but still a good depiction of young people speaking without being too cringy. So can I trust the FIGS translations of Atlus games or not

1. You can change the difficulty at any time, and you can even customize the difficulty using sliders (such as changing the EXP you get, the money you get, whether battles continue after you die, and so on, on an individual basis), so here my advice is to just go with whatever preset seems appropriate and then alter things from there as necessary. Maybe start on Hard and go from there?
2. You can, but it's not recommended for the first playthrough. Just roleplay (other than making sure to prioritize the Aeon Arcana when you can), and don't worry about mnmaxing
3. I actually have no experience with the FIGS translations, so I'll leave this one to someone else! The English localization was amazing though (5's is a huge step down).

I'm definitely going to buy and play this game, but i'll wait a bit, as I'm still deep inside 5.
Is this game as long as the latest entry ?

No, the average 4G playthrough is 60-80 hours, as opposed to 100-125 hours.

Pretty much, yes. It's 80+ hours , so if it is shorter than 5, it's not by a huge amount.

Huh? That is not true.

 

[Chie]

Will there ever be a chance for these games to have a physical release? I ain't buying these games yet as I'm still playing P5S and Fire Emblem Engage releases tomorrow.

I'm also hesitant to buy P3P because of the remake rumours but the vibes/atmosphere the game gives is so appealing to me lol.

Maybe there a chance but if so it might be a while, they are cheap so I see no reason to hold off. I would happily double dip on a physical myself.

Also ill he jumping straight into P3P once ive beqt 4. Waited too long for that game to hit my favorite console just to hold off for a hypothetical remake that is an inknown quantity. No way of knowing how good it would be or the platforms it will even hit.

Pretty much, yes. It's 80+ hours , so if it is shorter than 5, it's not by a huge amount.

My royal playthrough is well over 120 hours. My last Golden playthrough was around 8p iirc.

 

[Weebos]

My biggest pet peeve with this game is that they only use the right quotation mark.

 

[Hero of Hyrule]

My biggest pet peeve with this game is that they only use the right quotation mark.

It's one of the things that reminds me how low budget Atlus games used to be lol

 

[Chie]

If I can make a case for something, for your enjoyment of the game don't get too hung up on trying to max all social links on a first playthrough.

In Persona 5 vanilla a buddy of mine followed a guide to do this, it required him to follow a strict schedule to pull it off and he got burned out and quit halfway through. He still hasn't gone back to it.

Just play the game and let things come naturally. New game plus is how you get all of them maxed easily, you will have all social stats maxed or close to it after your first playthrough, so actually doing all the links becomes much more feasible.

If you try to min max things and follow a day by day guide this game will become more work than game and you will either burn out or resent your time with it.

 

[MondoMega]

Wasn't sure which of the two threads to post it in but this one seems more active. It's a whole thread so i'd recommend reading through it all.




Nice company; though considering the content Atlus shove into these games, Persona 4 especially, I guess not caring to credit the people bringing their shit to even more audiences isn't particularly surprising.

 

[Hero of Hyrule]

Wasn't sure which of the two threads to post it in but this one seems more active. It's a whole thread so i'd recommend reading through it all.

God this industry is so shit with crediting the people that work on games

Sega/Atlus need to fix this ASAP, this is unacceptable

 

[touchfuzzy]

Wow, so playing this today and I had one of those rare moments.

Anyways there’s a certain tune I’ve had stuck in my head on and off for ages, not in an annoying way but will just kind of randomly make it into my humming repertoire kind of thing, you know? There’s no way at this point I could’ve ever told you where it was from.

It’s from Persona 4. It came on in the game and my brain pulled a double take like Ohhhh that’s where this is from!

This the one:

 

[MrGab]

Just started P4G, about 4 hours in, and I kinda regret play P5R first, because I thinking P5R is better in everything so far. Battle system, dungeon, social links, visuals, music, personas system, etc. It's a good RPG for sure, but is just inferior in every way to P5R.

 

[kvetcha]

Wow, so playing this today and I had one of those rare moments.

Anyways there’s a certain tune I’ve had stuck in my head on and off for ages, not in an annoying way but will just kind of randomly make it into my humming repertoire kind of thing, you know? There’s no way at this point I could’ve ever told you where it was from.

It’s from Persona 4. It came on in the game and my brain pulled a double take like Ohhhh that’s where this is from!

This the one:

Me discovering just now that the P4 soundtrack got a vinyl release on IAM8BIT that's already sold out.

 

[Hero of Hyrule]

Just started P4G, about 4 hours in, and I kinda regret play P5R first, because I thinking P5R is better in everything so far. Battle system, dungeon, social links, visuals, music, personas system, etc. It's a good RPG for sure, but is just inferior in every way to P5R.

Oh, keep going

 

[MrGab]

There is a item that restores sp in each turn? It's me or you really have to grind levels here? In P5R, I completed every palace before boss palace in one run, but here you need make many runs until reach the boss. I just finished the first "castle".

 

[Chie]

Just started P4G, about 4 hours in, and I kinda regret play P5R first, because I thinking P5R is better in everything so far. Battle system, dungeon, social links, visuals, music, personas system, etc. It's a good RPG for sure, but is just inferior in every way to P5R.

The opening of P4 is a bit slow, takes a bit of time to get going. It doesn't have the flashy opening of P5 I know, just stick with it, I think you'll come around.

 

[Yoshifan31]

If I can make a case for something, for your enjoyment of the game don't get too hung up on trying to max all social links on a first playthrough.

In Persona 5 vanilla a buddy of mine followed a guide to do this, it required him to follow a strict schedule to pull it off and he got burned out and quit halfway through. He still hasn't gone back to it.

Just play the game and let things come naturally. New game plus is how you get all of them maxed easily, you will have all social stats maxed or close to it after your first playthrough, so actually doing all the links becomes much more feasible.

If you try to min max things and follow a day by day guide this game will become more work than game and you will either burn out or resent your time with it.

Yeah those games are definitely not made to be minmaxed or played with a guide. I was just wondering since I didn’t max them all in P3 but I heard that 4 and 5 were so much more lenient on that matter that you could max them all naturally on one playthrough. After all I did manage to get the Neutral ending in SMT4 without a guide so yeah I was just curious if maxing them all could be done intuitively.

1. You can change the difficulty at any time, and you can even customize the difficulty using sliders (such as changing the EXP you get, the money you get, whether battles continue after you die, and so on, on an individual basis), so here my advice is to just go with whatever preset seems appropriate and then alter things from there as necessary. Maybe start on Hard and go from there?
2. You can, but it's not recommended for the first playthrough. Just roleplay (other than making sure to prioritize the Aeon Arcana when you can), and don't worry about mnmaxing
3. I actually have no experience with the FIGS translations, so I'll leave this one to someone else! The English localization was amazing though (5's is a huge step down).

Thanks, I end up going with Normal because I died at the very first boss on Hard, before you could even change the difficulty hahaha. I noticed the modifiers and I felt like Hard broke the balance too much and made things too spongey, this hurts the pacing. Decreasing your damage and increasing enemy damage isn’t really my idea of good difficulty balancing in a JRPG. Just beat the first dungeon and I can’t imagine that boss on Hard, it would be an even longer war of attrition. I’ll just stick with Normal for now, even if I end up not dying much (I did die at that optional boss, will come back later), the moment to moment gameplay is still good enough so difficulty doesn’t really matter, plus I never really grind

The text language is tied to your system language, didn’t feel like changing it so I let it in French and the translation is fine honestly, pretty surprised. It’s cool that these (formerly) niche JRPGs can be played in more languages now

 

[SammyJ9]

Just started P4G, about 4 hours in, and I kinda regret play P5R first, because I thinking P5R is better in everything so far. Battle system, dungeon, social links, visuals, music, personas system, etc. It's a good RPG for sure, but is just inferior in every way to P5R.

I felt this way as well having come from playing P5 before it, and while I honestly still think this is true (at least for me personally) after beating the game, that doesn't mean P4G isn't worth playing. It's still a lot of fun and a different flavor of Persona game that has a ton of its own charms. I know lots of people who end up liking this cast and setting more than P5 due to the cozy country town vibe. There's still a lot to recommend here, if you stick with it!

 

[Hero of Hyrule]

Fwiw I did finish the first dungeon in a single go. Once you understand the rhythm of this game’s dungeon crawling (which is more about SP management that exploration) you’ll be able to manage your runs much better.

 

[Phosphorescent Skeleton]

I can't stop people from playing or enjoying this game, but I would hope people would keep in mind the absolutely disgusting levels of transphobia and homophobia present in Persona 4. I and I'm sure many other queer people on this forum are very uncomforable seeing this game so postively presented and celebrated.

 

[Hero of Hyrule]

I do love how much quicker paced than P5 this game is. 20 hours in, already have almost my entire party on hand.

I can't stop people from playing or enjoying this game, but I would hope people would keep in mind the absolutely disgusting levels of transphobia and homophobia present in Persona 4. I and I'm sure many other queer people on this forum are very uncomforable seeing this game so postively presented and celebrated.

I do think there is a discussion to be had on P4's handling of sensitive subjects, and hopefully people on this forum are able to have that discussion. P4 does a lot of things wonderfully, but it does have its stumbles in some very important areas, which I think stand out more with time.

I do need to stress the game itself was once when it came out praised for its progressive representation of queer identities and sexualities (at a time when other games wouldn't even dare approach the subject matter); however, it is definitely a product of its time, and a lot of it comes off far differently today than it did back in 2008.

 

[Chie]

I do love how much quicker paced than P5 this game is. 20 hours in, already have almost my entire party on hand.

That's one of the things I really love about 4, it doesn't take long to get the while gang together. It's something I really want out of 6, that you get everyone together earlier in the story. Kinda sucks there are some parry members you barely get to use in 5.

 

[Hero of Hyrule]

That's one of the things I really love about 4, it doesn't take long to get the while gang together. It's something I really want out of 6, that you get everyone together earlier in the story. Kinda sucks there are some parry members you barely get to use in 5.

Yeah, and even the party member who joins late gets a lot of screen time beforehand, so they feel far better integrated with the main cast than someone like Haru ever did in P5, for example.

 

[Chie]

Yeah, and even the party member who joins late gets a lot of screen time beforehand, so they feel far better integrated with the main cast than someone like Haru ever did in P5, for example.

Would have been nice of the vegetable growing was something you could have done early in the game so you would have interacted with her a fair bit before joining bit it is what it is.

I'm embarrassed to admit it but I haven't even started the game yet. Between fire emblem and work I have had the time to start the game up but I will be tonight.

 

[Hero of Hyrule]

Would have been nice of the vegetable growing was something you could have done early in the game so you would have interacted with her a fair bit before joining bit it is what it is.

I'm embarrassed to admit it but I haven't even started the game yet. Between fire emblem and work I have had the time to start the game up but I will be tonight.

harmonica is about to intensify

And yeah, big missed opportunity with Haru in P5. It's weird, because even

Spoiler: P5 late game party member spoilers

Akechi and Sami

feel far better integrated with the main cast than Haru ever does.

 

[BradenAndEggs]

harmonica is about to intensify

And yeah, big missed opportunity with Haru in P5. It's weird, because even

Spoiler: P5 late game party member spoilers

Akechi and Sami

feel far better integrated with the main cast than Haru ever does.

Haru’s bits in Strikers (and her bing there from the beginning) were a godsend for me when it came to being attached to her character.

Not that Royal didn’t already do that, but Strikers helped with all the thieves.

 

[Hero of Hyrule]

Haru’s bits in Strikers (and her bing there from the beginning) were a godsend for me when it came to being attached to her character.

Not that Royal didn’t already do that, but Strikers helped with all the thieves.

Yes, Strikers does right by Haru.

Strikers does right by all its cast, surprisingly enough, given the quality of writing of the P4 spin offs

 

[BradenAndEggs]

Yes, Strikers does right by Haru.

Strikers does right by all its cast, surprisingly enough, given the quality of writing of the P4 spin offs

It seemed to me Strikers included a lot of the “good vibes teenagers being teenagers” for the thieves that P4G already had for its group. I know some fans were missing those “P4G vibes” in P5 and P5R.

(I thought there were enough comfy hangouts in both.)

 

[Chie]

I'd really love for the crew that made Strikers to make one for P4. I know P4 has had a few spinoff already but we haven't gotten one in years and it would be nice to get something that isn't a fighting or rhythm game and on the same quality level as a Strikers or Three Hopes.

 

[Hero of Hyrule]

(I thought there were enough comfy hangouts in both.)

Ah no, here I wouldn't agree at all. Like in just 20 hours, P4G already has had more and better comfy hangouts, and made its group feel closer knit, than P5 ever managed, and I think it comes down to two reasons:

• P4G dedicates a lot of screen time to the cast of characters just hanging out, for totally non story related reasons. Just them hanging out and getting up to shenanigans. In the first 20 hours, more time has been spent on scenes with the cast just fucking around as friends than on actual story stuff. This goes a long way towards making these characters feel like actual friends who enjoy spending time with one another. They all feel really close, not just to you, but also to one another. P5 does not do that, every single scene in the story ties back to the main story, and even the PT's attempts to hang out and bond together as a group either end up tying back to the main plot (like the Hawaii trip), end up with some unpleasant fight (usually between Ryuji and Morgana), or literally get rained out (the fireworks festival). No time is spent letting the characters hang out with each other as a group away from the plot, and while Royal does actually fix this problem to the extent it can, the nature of P5's story doesn't allow it much room to let the cast goof off for extended periods with nothing in the story happening.
• The other reason is that P4G features a lot of cross-pollination in its different cast groups. Almost every event features all sorts of Inaba characters showing up, rather than simply focusing on the main cast (which P5 does most of the time), and even social links and hangout scenes end up with loads of repeated cross-pollination (you could be hanging out with Chie and Teddie, and Kou and Ai show up, or you could be hanging out with Kanji and Rise, and Dojima and Nanako show up); this, again, is actually an area where P4 benefits from the setting (a small town setting means you're much likelier to run into someone you know everywhere you go, compared to Tokyo), but it again ends up contributing to the whole sense that the entire cast of P4 is a group of people who genuinely enjoy each other's company, and would continue spending time together even if they didn't have the central case binding them; this is not a sense you can get from P5's group as a whole.

Of course, your statement was "both have enough hangouts" not "both have an equal amount", and I actually agree that both have enough; P4 is a slower paced, much more relaxed story that can allow its characters to just chill and vibe; not being able to do that would be a failure of storytelling on its part. Similarly, P5's story is so high stakes that letting its characters fuck around too much would undermine the tone and pacing. So I do agree that there are enough comfy hangouts in both P4G and P5R, but I just really wanted to share my comparison of why I think one does it better than the other lol

 

[Rexskel]

God the first two dungeons seems like they want to troll me with all the tedious annoying enemies, it’s a pain honestly this early.

 

[BradenAndEggs]

I'd really love for the crew that made Strikers to make one for P4. I know P4 has had a few spinoff already but we haven't gotten one in years and it would be nice to get something that isn't a fighting or rhythm game and on the same quality level as a Strikers or Three Hopes.

YES PLEASE. I wouldn’t turn down one for P3 either. As long as kept the love for the franchise Strikers did.

Of course, your statement was "both have enough hangouts" not "both have an equal amount", and I actually agree that both have enough; P4 is a slower paced, much more relaxed story that can allow its characters to just chill and vibe; not being able to do that would be a failure of storytelling on its part. Similarly, P5's story is so high stakes that letting its characters fuck around too much would undermine the tone and pacing. So I do agree that there are enough comfy hangouts in both P4G and P5R, but I just really wanted to share my comparison of why I think one does it better than the other lol

Yeah, like you said, both have enough.

I guess I was trying to say Strikers does a lot of heavy lifting in the “comfiness factor” for P5’s cast retroactively while P4G already gets those vibes across way more naturally (and I agree better) for it’s cast.

 

[Chie]

Starting the game I forgot about Igors tarot reading at the beginning. It's a nice touch to set the mood for the coming story.

I wish P5 had that the first time you visit the velvet room

Spoiler: Persona 5 spoiler

Of course you spend most of that game with the fake Igor.

 

[Chie]

Chie: Ah... so you came here because of your parents' job. Haha, I thought it was something way more serious.


Ren certainly had it harder than Yu at this point. It's really refreshing coming off P5 and not having the opening of the game where everyone gives you suspicious looks and treats you like a dangerous monster that could kill them at any moment.

 

[SammyJ9]

Chie: Ah... so you came here because of your parents' job. Haha, I thought it was something way more serious.


Ren certainly had it harder than Yu at this point. It's really refreshing coming off P5 and not having the opening of the game where everyone gives you suspicious looks and treats you like a dangerous monster that could kill them at any moment.

It's really interesting going back to P5 a second time after you know where all the characters end up. Joker being a 'dangerous delinquent' is such a THING at the beginning of that game but it steadily fades into the background. Probably the biggest whiplash is Sojiro, though. Him being so wary of you and everything early on is almost painful given how great he is later on.

It's been a while since I played it but I do remember Dojima having at least some of that same energy, though, just nowhere near to the extent as Joker gets it from Sojiro.

 

[Chie]

It's really interesting going back to P5 a second time after you know where all the characters end up. Joker being a 'dangerous delinquent' is such a THING at the beginning of that game but it steadily fades into the background. Probably the biggest whiplash is Sojiro, though. Him being so wary of you and everything early on is almost painful given how great he is later on.

It's been a while since I played it but I do remember Dojima having at least some of that same energy, though, just nowhere near to the extent as Joker gets it from Sojiro.

Sojiro is probably my favorite non-persona user in P5. He's such a cool and interesting dude once he warms up to you, so the early game stuff bummed me out hard going back to him being so cold to Ren.

So far in my 4 playthrough Dojima seems mostly a bit awkward and not sure how to raise a teenage boy considering he only has experience with a little girl up to this point. He's a bit disapproving once he sees Yu, Chie, and Yukiko at the crime scene though he does ask Chie and Yukiko to be good to him.

Dojima at this point I think is just trying his best but he's really overworked and a bit out of his element. He seems to mean well from the get go.

 

[MrGab]

Just beat strip club dungeon. The game feels a lot better now, story and characters are great. Having a persona with regen HP and SP is helping a lot. I love to see a P4G remake, with all of QoL, visuals and gameplay of P5R, imagine if dungeons are more like P5R.

 

[Linkstrikesback]

I'd really love for the crew that made Strikers to make one for P4. I know P4 has had a few spinoff already but we haven't gotten one in years and it would be nice to get something that isn't a fighting or rhythm game and on the same quality level as a Strikers or Three Hopes.

Well, Persona q2 wasn't that long ago, being a late 2018 game in Japan, mid 2019 worldwide, so I still have a little hope that the persona 4 cast could show up in a major spin off again.

(I know it was largely P5 focused at the start, and joker is the player character, but the persona 4 group joined early and them letting Narukami actually get the drop on joker in his reintroduction is probably about as much heir cred as they'll ever give anyone Vs their new golden boy)

 

[Hero of Hyrule]

This is going to sound real weird, but I legitimately think the P4 OST is underrated lol

 

[Embers]

I do need to stress the game itself was once when it came out praised for its progressive representation of queer identities and sexualities (at a time when other games wouldn't even dare approach the subject matter); however, it is definitely a product of its time, and a lot of it comes off far differently today than it did back in 2008.

It was, but I feel like it was mostly praised for this by cis/straight people. I recall Mattie Brice and Carolyn Petit (among others) writing very critically about its handling of these themes even back in the day.

 

[Phosphorescent Skeleton]

I do think there is a discussion to be had on P4's handling of sensitive subjects, and hopefully people on this forum are able to have that discussion. P4 does a lot of things wonderfully, but it does have its stumbles in some very important areas, which I think stand out more with time.

I do need to stress the game itself was once when it came out praised for its progressive representation of queer identities and sexualities (at a time when other games wouldn't even dare approach the subject matter); however, it is definitely a product of its time, and a lot of it comes off far differently today than it did back in 2008.

I think the praise it got for handling queer characters is bizarre in retrospect. The game comes off as hateful of queer people in 2023 as it did in 2008. The game is homophobic and transphobic on a themeatic level.

It was, but I feel like it was mostly praised for this by cis/straight people. I recall Mattie Brice and Carolyn Petit (among others) writing very critically about its handling of these themes even back in the day.

Yeah, this seems to have been the case then and now. There are just more cis/straight people now who are aware of these issues.

 

[MrGab]

So, I just reach Naoto investigation. The pace of game slowed down a bit since game dungeon, with festival, school trip and things like this, made me remember that Hawaii trip in P5R. But in general, I'm enjoying the game a lot more now.

 

[Irene]

I personally think that “a product of its time” can come across as a bit handwaving, since I think P4 and its harmful portrayals and stereotypes goes way deeper than being that, and that alone. I’m no historian that can give an accurate recount of how the media environment looked like for queer people in Japan in 2008, but I’m pretty certain that the handling of queer elements in the game is rooted in stereotypes going much deeper, and much, much further back than that. Of course any media is born within a place and time context, it’s just that with P4, I think the problem is way more multi-faceted than the game being a “product of its time”.

 

[Leo]

I do need to stress the game itself was once when it came out praised for its progressive representation of queer identities and sexualities (at a time when other games wouldn't even dare approach the subject matter); however, it is definitely a product of its time, and a lot of it comes off far differently today than it did back in 2008.

I think the original intention wasn't to be queer progressive, but gender progressive, but it did that at the expense of queer identities. The game's message is basically "gender roles aren't that important, as long as you're still straight and cis".

It trying to be gender progressive is also a whole thing when the female characters are constantly harassed by other party members who are supposed to be their friends. Teddy is probably one of the worst predators in gaming history and Yosuke is probably the biggest bigot who isn't a villain. It was already awful even at the time.

Plus, Catherine and then P5 shows the problem isn't that the game is dated, but more that the writers believe in that shit so hard they have to make a point to include it in every single one of their games.

 

[robertman2]

Getting rid of the Yosuke romance route was such a dumb decision.

 

[Hero of Hyrule]

Getting rid of the Yosuke romance route was such a dumb decision.

Yeah, especially since literally everything else about how Yosuke and Yu’s dynamic is written hints strongly at a romance route. They should have just left it in.