Analysis of Person 4 The Golden. One of the most important RPGs in the history !

Persona 4 represented an exponential change in the JRPG genre, demonstrating that it was possible to make another type of role-playing game, without losing any of its fun and focusing as much as possible on the conflicts of its characters. Taking advantage of its launch on PC, we tell you in our analysis why Persona 4 Golden is such a special game.

Persona 4 is my favorite game of the saga and also one of the JRPGs that I treasure the most. So facing it again is not easy. It's hard to separate the memory of the first game in PS Vita with what it must mean now for a player who has played Persona 5 or, better yet, Persona 5 Royal. How the hell am I going to explain to that new player that the adventure of the village of Inaba is worth his time (and not a little), after having gone through a more refined, expanded formula, with a much better dungeon design and, as if that weren't enough, with a recent Spanish translation? It seems to me an impossible task. So, to encourage that budding player to discover the other parts of the saga, and in particular this fourth one, I have no choice but to appeal to the emotion.

I admit that Persona 4 made me vibrate as few games have done. It must be understood here that each installment of the saga has a different message. Person 3 is perhaps the darkest, exploring mortality; Person 5 speaks to us, almost in a platonic sense of justice, of the city. About how the hierarchies of power are organized and who exercises that justice: the laws, the individuals, or the mass. Person 4, on the other hand, speaks to us about the individual and his or her masks before society. Of all of them, he is the most Jungian, because he explores the fears that make us hide in ourselves and how that personality that we show before others is a defense mechanism; necessary yes, but that we must know how to dominate. In a world as changing as ours, in which we run the constant danger of nihilism in the face of the deconstruction of values, the message of Persona 4 is enhanced more strongly than ever.

Therefore, it needs to be a more intimate game. It happens in the tranquillity of a village, far from the noise of the city. Each one of the characters is recorded in the player's mind until they touch the strange sensation of recognizing them as friends, although virtual because the development of their conflicts is wonderful. You see, I think that in videogames we have a clear tendency for the narrative to be based on the plot, instead of the characters (what is known as plot-driven vs. character-driven). That's why we're so surprised when games like The Last of Us or Red Dead Redemption 2 come out that go deeper into the psyche of their protagonists. It is also the reason why games like Mass Effect (and especially Mass Effect 2) were so successful. Person 4 is also included in this category. Its plot leads us to investigate a strange case, about the mysterious supernatural murders that happen in the otherwise peaceful village of Inaba; but it is the development of each of the characters that captivate. Their fears, insecurities, identity, and family problems, take us through an arc of transformation that is very easy to empathize with. And because of all this, Persona 4 Golden is my favorite game in the saga.

Now then. It's not the same to analyze Persona 4 Golden now than when it was released in its original version on PlayStation 2 in 2008 or its version for PS Vita in 2012. It's clear that the design of its scenarios, and especially its dungeons, is outdated. They're very easy to get along with because you quickly get caught up in these characters and Inaba's routine, but there's no doubt that the structure of the city in Persona 5, as well as its more intricate and dynamic dungeons, is a welcome development in the franchise.

The person and the shadow

So, whoever is getting excited about this PC version, I recommend that you do it patiently, letting the story and characters sink in. Once you do, you'll discover that Persona 5 was not at all a stroke of luck. Persona is a unique RPG because it gets rid of the genre's need to take everything into the strict realm of fantasy and science fiction, while taking elements of the visual novel, such as routine and timing, to give a sense of unique progression. And yes, it only takes a few hours to realize that his visual style is quite archaic today. I played PS Vita for the first time, and thanks to the size of the laptop's screen, many elements of its setting didn't stand out too much - for better or worse. On PCs and at high resolutions, their environments and textures are often evident. You can even see that they've had some problems adapting certain 2D graphics to high definition.

If we take all this into account since we are not talking about a remastering, but a direct port, I think it is possible to continue enjoying Persona 4 Golden as it was conceived. I repeat: we just have to let the first hours go by until we start to get to know the characters, give us a little freedom of movement to establish our Social Links, and let the music start to take hold too. Not only is Persona 4 my favorite game in the saga, but its soundtrack also seems to me to be the best (in my opinion, of course). The battle theme, Time to Make History, still resonates in my head, while all the music that sets each location in the village of Inaba conveys a vibe as beautiful as it is nostalgic. Even the introductory theme was seen in Golden changed to "Shadow World", a piece that is impossible not to be happy with. Still, I think it would have been nice to make a few adjustments. Even without remastering, it would have been a good opportunity to implement certain shortcomings, such as the lack of subtitles during the animated scenes, or to have tweaked those 2D menu graphics a bit to achieve better definition.

What about combat? Yes, their dungeons are right-angled mazes from another era of Atlus, but their turn-based fights are still great. They're based on the same premise as Shin Megami's rules, which require us to exploit the weaknesses of our enemies, and don't expect, those of you who come from Persona 5, the dynamism of those battles, but it's very satisfying to wander every nook and cranny in search of their secrets, accompanied by their magnificent melodies and challenging combats. Even more so when each dungeon, just like the Palaces, has a meaning within the story and the characters of the game.

Perhaps the characters in Persona 4 evoke that phase we have all gone through from leapfrog to maturity, from adolescence to adulthood. But it's not just that. The path taken by Chie, Yukiko, Yosuke, Kanji, Naoto, Rise, Teddy (all except the main character, I'd say), is one of self-confidence. The way of strengthening their identity in front of us and the others. The fact that a game that features monsters, killing through a world on the other side of the TV, and other supernatural concepts can also convey the warmth of a conversation, reverence for a well-made meal, and the importance of creating memorable memories is why Persona 4 made such an impact at the time and is such an important part of the game's history. It proved, once again, that in video games you can do anything you can think of, as long as you manage to convey emotions along the way, and that's why, in this analysis, I appeal to them. Because those emotions that Persona 4 Golden produced in its time are still with me today.

My resumed opinion in only one word is EXCELLENT