Posted April 20, 2013
17. Persona 4 Golden (Max Social Links + True Ending)- Vita; 4/20/2013 9/10- I REALLY wanted this game to be my first 10/10 game, & for awhile it looked like it was going to be, but it started to fall apart after awhile (obviously not so much that the game became horrible as I wouldn't have given it a 9 if it had but nevertheless).
The mechanics of this game (as for its prequel, Persona 3) are extraordinary unique. Instead of your typical "Fantasy Warrior must save the princess & the world" story... well... you do get that story in a manner of speaking, but it is told in such a unique way & in such a unique setting. Get this... it takes place in the REAL world. Crazy... I know. The real world isn't the game's only setting however, it is just the setting that you will be seeing the most in your time with the game. Persona 4 also features a secret world that you can only access via entering a TV (see, I told you it was unique). This TV world is the area where you will do all of the games dungeon crawling, that thankfully, is rarely forced upon you. All of the dungeons within the TV are randomly generated but at the same time feature a theme surrounding the character that you are going there to rescue/capture. A few of the themes that stick out immediately in my mind are Heaven, A Strip Show, A Love Castle (just play it to understand) & my personal favorite... the classic RPG dungeon.
The battle system is amazing (evidenced by the fact that I actually beat the game) & keeps things interesting until the very end (unlike most turn-based JRPGs in my experience). Instead of the annoying random battles of several games, you can see all of your enemies on screen. If you can sneak up behind your enemies & attack them before they are able to react, that gives you initiative & allows you one whole turn of free attacks. When it comes to the actual battles you can either attack directly with your character or use your Personas. You Personas all have specific abilities that are useful in certain fights. See, every enemy in the game has strengths & weaknesses to specific types of attacks & your various Personas make defeating those enemies a bit easier to defeat (in fact there are even enemies that you literally can't defeat without the use of personas as they are immune to physical attacks). You may be wondering how to get these personas... well the answer is also through battle (& fusion... which I'll get to in a minute). After a battle is complete you will sometimes get the ability to do Shuffle Time, which is a process in which you pick cards to decide what rewards (or lack thereof) that you get for winning the battle. Unlike Persona 3 (if I remember correctly) this isn't random. You can see every card available & choose freely... certain cards offer permanent stat boosts to the equipped persona, others offer health restoration, skill cards, Personas & the ability to sacrifice varying degrees of something from the battle (exp, money, items, etc) in exchange for the ability to pick more cards. You may ask why you'd want to do this.... well if you are able to get every card on screen, this will result in sweep bonus (which not only results in the ability to keep all of the cards you selected during the current Shuffle Time, but a guaranteed shuffle time in the next battle as well as starting out with the ability to pick 3 cards instead of one (which also GREATLY helps you continue getting sweep bonuses & therefore continuing the process).
Social links return from its prequel & are just as big of a part of Persona 4. For those that don't know, social links are the points you get for hanging out with the friends that you make throughout the course of the game. You may be asking what is the point in doing the Social Links? They are just side quests right? Well.... yes & no. Technically you don't have to do the social links (the game would be kind of boring if you didn't though), but they have actual effects on the combat portion of the game as well. See, by doing the social links you rise up in rank with the Arcana that the friend in question represents. This effectively allows you to to create more powerful personas through the fusion system (& by that I mean that the personas you create get automatic stat boosts), create the ultimate persona of said Arcana once you reach Max friendship level with them & in the case of your party members make them much more effective in battle by giving them new skills & allowing them to evolve their persona into a stronger one at max friendship (as well as allowing them to obtain their ultimate persona & skill if you hang out with them AGAIN afterwards).
The only flaws that I really can point out are the optional dungeon (which basically sucks all of the fun out of the battle system) & the story. Its not so much that the story is bad, as there is just too much of it at a time. Most of the time, you won't encounter the main story for anywhere from a couple of weeks to a whole month at a time (which can be very good or very bad depending on your preferences) but when it comes time for another main story segment, instead of spreading the story out over the course of say a week, they just throw it at you in a gigantic block of text over the course of a day or two. The worst part of this is that in the majority of those situations, the scenes are nothing but (to steal a phrase from the Nostalgia Critic) Big Lipped Alligator moments.... they are mostly random, serve no point to the overall story & are rarely (if at all) mentioned again. One such scene that instantly sticks out in my mind, just from the sheer absurdity, is the scene where the group are on school break & visit Yukiko's family's inn to spend the night. While there, the girls in the party decide to use the bath. Seems pointless & random enough right? Well...
MINOR SPOILERS ABOUT A PARTY MEMBER
then Naoto walks in... after which all of the other girls proceed to basically RAPE her. They comment on her breast size (which I call BS on. No way could any human being hide those things that effectively) & on how smooth her skin is.... then use it as a way to proceed to touch her. This on its own is a bit creepy, but when Naoto proceeds to say the next line... things get WAY too creepy for my taste... "Where are you touching me!?". The look on my face through this entire scene (which I am sure was priceless) was nothing compared to it when she uttered that line. Then to top it off, the boys come into the bath (which we later learn is because it was actually there turn to use the bath... riveting stuff... I know) which causes the girls to respond by calling the boys perverts & attacking them. What is wrong with this, you may ask? I dunno... maybe because those hypocrites were bad touching Naoto just seconds before in the exact same scene.
END SPOILERS.
Was that scene random? Incredibly. Does the scene serve any point whatsoever? No. Is it ever mentioned again? THANKFULLY NO.
Two last things I feel I should mention is the way to get the game's ultimate weapons & what my personal recommended party is (not only for this fight, but for the game in general). As for the ultimate weapons... dear god is it random. Basically you open 20 chests (which will be signaled by the sound of the chains rattling) & then, without moving to the next floor of the dungeon, open another. If you are lucky (or really unlucky depending on your party & level) you may face the reaper. I would not recommend even attempting this fight before you reach level 70 with the weakest member of the party you will be using. If you do manage to defeat him you get a member of your party's ultimate weapon as a reward. I only managed to get two, due to the random nature of this, but when I did manage to fight (& beat him) he was a pushover. Why? My party is why....
IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED ON YOUR PARTY MEMBERS DO NOT READ THIS PARAGRAPH
That party was Yu (the main character) using the Trumpeter persona (which may have been mostly as effective as it was due to the skills passed in fusion. He basically had immunity to certain kinds of attacks & a strong spell from most of the elements), Yukiko (for her strong recovery & fire abilities), Naoto (because she is basically unstoppable... if you aren't using her once you get her, you are playing the game wrong) & Teddie (for his strong healing, buffing & Ice abilities). All my party members had reached Max Social Link status at the time of doing this & therefore had there 2nd best persona & 2nd best ability.
END SPOILERS
Overall I would still say the game is well worth playing, especially to the game starved Vita gamers such as myself, & I do still highly recommend it despite what I personally see as flaws.
Thank you for reading.
Full List
The mechanics of this game (as for its prequel, Persona 3) are extraordinary unique. Instead of your typical "Fantasy Warrior must save the princess & the world" story... well... you do get that story in a manner of speaking, but it is told in such a unique way & in such a unique setting. Get this... it takes place in the REAL world. Crazy... I know. The real world isn't the game's only setting however, it is just the setting that you will be seeing the most in your time with the game. Persona 4 also features a secret world that you can only access via entering a TV (see, I told you it was unique). This TV world is the area where you will do all of the games dungeon crawling, that thankfully, is rarely forced upon you. All of the dungeons within the TV are randomly generated but at the same time feature a theme surrounding the character that you are going there to rescue/capture. A few of the themes that stick out immediately in my mind are Heaven, A Strip Show, A Love Castle (just play it to understand) & my personal favorite... the classic RPG dungeon.
The battle system is amazing (evidenced by the fact that I actually beat the game) & keeps things interesting until the very end (unlike most turn-based JRPGs in my experience). Instead of the annoying random battles of several games, you can see all of your enemies on screen. If you can sneak up behind your enemies & attack them before they are able to react, that gives you initiative & allows you one whole turn of free attacks. When it comes to the actual battles you can either attack directly with your character or use your Personas. You Personas all have specific abilities that are useful in certain fights. See, every enemy in the game has strengths & weaknesses to specific types of attacks & your various Personas make defeating those enemies a bit easier to defeat (in fact there are even enemies that you literally can't defeat without the use of personas as they are immune to physical attacks). You may be wondering how to get these personas... well the answer is also through battle (& fusion... which I'll get to in a minute). After a battle is complete you will sometimes get the ability to do Shuffle Time, which is a process in which you pick cards to decide what rewards (or lack thereof) that you get for winning the battle. Unlike Persona 3 (if I remember correctly) this isn't random. You can see every card available & choose freely... certain cards offer permanent stat boosts to the equipped persona, others offer health restoration, skill cards, Personas & the ability to sacrifice varying degrees of something from the battle (exp, money, items, etc) in exchange for the ability to pick more cards. You may ask why you'd want to do this.... well if you are able to get every card on screen, this will result in sweep bonus (which not only results in the ability to keep all of the cards you selected during the current Shuffle Time, but a guaranteed shuffle time in the next battle as well as starting out with the ability to pick 3 cards instead of one (which also GREATLY helps you continue getting sweep bonuses & therefore continuing the process).
Social links return from its prequel & are just as big of a part of Persona 4. For those that don't know, social links are the points you get for hanging out with the friends that you make throughout the course of the game. You may be asking what is the point in doing the Social Links? They are just side quests right? Well.... yes & no. Technically you don't have to do the social links (the game would be kind of boring if you didn't though), but they have actual effects on the combat portion of the game as well. See, by doing the social links you rise up in rank with the Arcana that the friend in question represents. This effectively allows you to to create more powerful personas through the fusion system (& by that I mean that the personas you create get automatic stat boosts), create the ultimate persona of said Arcana once you reach Max friendship level with them & in the case of your party members make them much more effective in battle by giving them new skills & allowing them to evolve their persona into a stronger one at max friendship (as well as allowing them to obtain their ultimate persona & skill if you hang out with them AGAIN afterwards).
The only flaws that I really can point out are the optional dungeon (which basically sucks all of the fun out of the battle system) & the story. Its not so much that the story is bad, as there is just too much of it at a time. Most of the time, you won't encounter the main story for anywhere from a couple of weeks to a whole month at a time (which can be very good or very bad depending on your preferences) but when it comes time for another main story segment, instead of spreading the story out over the course of say a week, they just throw it at you in a gigantic block of text over the course of a day or two. The worst part of this is that in the majority of those situations, the scenes are nothing but (to steal a phrase from the Nostalgia Critic) Big Lipped Alligator moments.... they are mostly random, serve no point to the overall story & are rarely (if at all) mentioned again. One such scene that instantly sticks out in my mind, just from the sheer absurdity, is the scene where the group are on school break & visit Yukiko's family's inn to spend the night. While there, the girls in the party decide to use the bath. Seems pointless & random enough right? Well...
MINOR SPOILERS ABOUT A PARTY MEMBER
then Naoto walks in... after which all of the other girls proceed to basically RAPE her. They comment on her breast size (which I call BS on. No way could any human being hide those things that effectively) & on how smooth her skin is.... then use it as a way to proceed to touch her. This on its own is a bit creepy, but when Naoto proceeds to say the next line... things get WAY too creepy for my taste... "Where are you touching me!?". The look on my face through this entire scene (which I am sure was priceless) was nothing compared to it when she uttered that line. Then to top it off, the boys come into the bath (which we later learn is because it was actually there turn to use the bath... riveting stuff... I know) which causes the girls to respond by calling the boys perverts & attacking them. What is wrong with this, you may ask? I dunno... maybe because those hypocrites were bad touching Naoto just seconds before in the exact same scene.
END SPOILERS.
Was that scene random? Incredibly. Does the scene serve any point whatsoever? No. Is it ever mentioned again? THANKFULLY NO.
Two last things I feel I should mention is the way to get the game's ultimate weapons & what my personal recommended party is (not only for this fight, but for the game in general). As for the ultimate weapons... dear god is it random. Basically you open 20 chests (which will be signaled by the sound of the chains rattling) & then, without moving to the next floor of the dungeon, open another. If you are lucky (or really unlucky depending on your party & level) you may face the reaper. I would not recommend even attempting this fight before you reach level 70 with the weakest member of the party you will be using. If you do manage to defeat him you get a member of your party's ultimate weapon as a reward. I only managed to get two, due to the random nature of this, but when I did manage to fight (& beat him) he was a pushover. Why? My party is why....
IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED ON YOUR PARTY MEMBERS DO NOT READ THIS PARAGRAPH
That party was Yu (the main character) using the Trumpeter persona (which may have been mostly as effective as it was due to the skills passed in fusion. He basically had immunity to certain kinds of attacks & a strong spell from most of the elements), Yukiko (for her strong recovery & fire abilities), Naoto (because she is basically unstoppable... if you aren't using her once you get her, you are playing the game wrong) & Teddie (for his strong healing, buffing & Ice abilities). All my party members had reached Max Social Link status at the time of doing this & therefore had there 2nd best persona & 2nd best ability.
END SPOILERS
Overall I would still say the game is well worth playing, especially to the game starved Vita gamers such as myself, & I do still highly recommend it despite what I personally see as flaws.
Thank you for reading.
Full List
Post edited April 22, 2013 by Roberttitus
