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Persona 4 Golden review thread: The Highest Reviewed Game of All Time and The Future?

Trigger

Member
Serious question:

A lot of hyperbole gets thrown around in positive reviews. Many reviewers will claim a sequel is great for first timers but in reality, plot-wise, it isnt. There's references to old games that are (sometimes) required to understand the context of a certain scene.

Is this going to be the same? Can a new person to the series jump in?

Yes, you don't need to have played the other games.
 

Astra

Member
Serious question:

A lot of hyperbole gets thrown around in positive reviews. Many reviewers will claim a sequel is great for first timers but in reality, plot-wise, it isnt. There's references to old games that are (sometimes) required to understand the context of a certain scene.

Is this going to be the same? Can a new person to the series jump in?

I'll also reiterate what the others have said. You can definitely jump right in with Persona 4, it's completely self-contained like Persona 3. As was said, there is only one reference to Persona 3, and it's nothing special at all. In fact, I'm sure you'll enjoy the scene even having not played P3, thanks to one crazy teacher.
 
It is fine to have played P4 or P4G without playing P3, but do not play P4A without at least checking out P3 beforehand, and if you really want to go all out, maybe even checking out the rest of the series before P4A might be cool...
 

Esura

Banned
It's a lot like a visual novel considering you spend the majority of your time reading/listening to dialogue and making dialogue choices. I mean, if they're trying to mesh gameplay and story the way a good RPG does, they do a really shitty job, so I don't think of it that way.

And the idea that Persona 4's randomly generated dungeons are interesting is hilarious. If you removed the wall and floor textures and music, you wouldn't be able to tell them apart. That's not even an exaggeration. They are the exact opposite of unique. Dungeon design (or lack thereof) is Persona 3 and 4's biggest weakness. Xenoblade wins in that department just by actually having dungeons that were designed by human beings and not a random number generator.

Reading/listening to dialogue and making dialogue choices that could affect the outcome of a game....sounds like an RPG to me. I find myself reading a lot of skits in Tales of games you know, some with dialog choices. And I'm quite positive I spent more times getting my ass handed to me in long dungeons than chillin' with Chie and the gang. I wish it was more like a visual novel sometimes, Fate style.

If you removed the wall and floor textures and music, of course you couldn't tell them apart. I couldn't tell you the difference in dungeons in say....Grandia II or any other RPG for that matter if you remove all the elements that make said dungeon unique.

Serious question:

A lot of hyperbole gets thrown around in positive reviews. Many reviewers will claim a sequel is great for first timers but in reality, plot-wise, it isnt. There's references to old games that are (sometimes) required to understand the context of a certain scene.

Is this going to be the same? Can a new person to the series jump in?

Persona 4 was my first Persona game and had zero problems understanding the plot. There is an event later in the game that takes you to the city that Persona 3 took place in but they hardly mention anything about those events. The story itself is largely self contained.

Now, after you play Persona 4 and you plan on getting into it's sequel, Persona 4 Arena (a fighting game), you may want to try picking up Persona 3 FES. The story in that game almost feels like Persona 3-2 featuring Persona 4 characters.
 

hao chi

Member
Now, after you play Persona 4 and you plan on getting into it's sequel, Persona 4 Arena (a fighting game), you may want to try picking up Persona 3 FES. The story in that game almost feels like Persona 3-2 featuring Persona 4 characters.

Yeah, and P4A spoils quite a few things from P3, so if you're interested in P3, play it before P4A.
 

Roto13

Member
If you removed the wall and floor textures and music, of course you couldn't tell them apart. I couldn't tell you the difference in dungeons in say....Grandia II or any other RPG for that matter if you remove all the elements that make said dungeon unique.

It's pretty bad that the only elements that make Persona 4 dungeons unique, even from each other, are textures. Meanwhile, you could remove the textures from all of the dungeons in Final Fantasy XII (I haven't played Grandia II so I'm not going to use that as an example) and they'd still be distinct from each other.

When I think of Raithwall's Tomb in FFXII, I think "That's the one that's bilinearliarily symmetrical, with two wall bosses, the second of which is optional but will open a secret passage when you defeat it, causing the floors on either side to collapse into staircases that take you to a chest with a powerful weapon in it. And there are three teleporters in the middle, two of which send you to centers of the mazes on the east and west sides, and the middle teleporter takes you to the basement, where there's a giant square stairway leading to the lowest level and another boss fight." And none of those things have anything to do with how the walls look.

Now, when I say "The dungeon with the corridors that sometimes branch off into square rooms that have chests or enemies or stairs in them," which Persona dungeon am I talking about? And if I describe one as "The one where you have to get a key, go down two floors to unlock a door and get another key, and go back up to use the key to unlock another door," how interesting does that sound?
 

Sera O

Banned
It's pretty bad that the only elements that make Persona 4 dungeons unique, even from each other, are textures.

True. One criticism levelled at Persona 3 is that you keep doing the same dungeon throughout the entire game, and I think that there is very little material difference between P3's reskinned tartarus block variations and the different dungeons of P4 - though the latter are less reviled. Though some of P4s function a bit differently (it's been some time since I played p4, but I'm thinking of
retro game dungeon
which had some new tricks), they didn't strike me as much improved aside from how they're decorated.

It seems the main improvement in P4 is that the dungeons are more character-relevant and serve better in breaking the story into chapters than the P3 ones do.

I really like both games, but interesting dungeons are definitely not their selling point.
 

Chrysalis

Member
Kinda related questions:

I've started P3P and will finish it sooner than later. As far as I understand, it doesn't include The Answer, right? If I buy P3 FES on PSN, can I jump right into The Answer or do I have to replay the whole game? And finally, are the story elements in The Answer worth it? Or is it just a grind-fest?
 

mollipen

Member
p4g.jpg
 

Sera O

Banned
Kinda related questions:

I've started P3P and will finish it sooner than later. As far as I understand, it doesn't include The Answer, right? If I buy P3 FES on PSN, can I jump right into The Answer or do I have to replay the whole game? And finally, are the story elements in The Answer worth it? Or is it just a grind-fest?

I have FES and never replayed the Journey part, so it should be the same in the PSN version.

I didn't find it worth it for story elements, but I don't really recall much about it besides feeling sort of let down - it's more for those who want a really tough dungeon crawl. And who love Aigis. I finished it and liked the difficulty, but I kind of regretted rebuying P3 just to play it for what it added (and I'm not a huge Aigis fan either).
 

ekim

Member
What kind of game is this? Wasn't there a persona 4 for ps3 released a few months ago? I thought that was a beat em up... :eek:
 
I want this game so bad despite not having a vita and already having the ps2 version...

I really hope there are good Vita holiday deals...
 

Reveirg

Member
I played the original P4, somewhat liked it but got bored after ~20-25 hours.

Any reason to pick this one up? I'm probably getting a VITA soon...
 

Uthred

Member
I played the original P4, somewhat liked it but got bored after ~20-25 hours.

Any reason to pick this one up? I'm probably getting a VITA soon...

Not really, this isnt that much different from the original. If the original bored you so will this one.
 
Kinda related questions:

I've started P3P and will finish it sooner than later. As far as I understand, it doesn't include The Answer, right? If I buy P3 FES on PSN, can I jump right into The Answer or do I have to replay the whole game? And finally, are the story elements in The Answer worth it? Or is it just a grind-fest?

The Answer is not included. You can jump right in, although obviously it will be the male protagonist version. I found it worthwhile for the story, but I am a P3 story fanboy, although I tend to like 4 characters better.

Kind of grindy, and more difficult. Difficulty is artificial, drops you back to level 20 or so, and mixes up contrasting enemy types a lot, especially for boss battles. Leaves you exposed to criticals a lot more. Probably 20 to 30 hours, mostly from dungeons.
 
I played the original P4, somewhat liked it but got bored after ~20-25 hours.

Any reason to pick this one up? I'm probably getting a VITA soon...

I think it might be worth a second chance - what bored you about it? The dungeons bored me, but I suffered, a little, for the non-dungeon portions.

I no longer feel alone in the dark cruel world!

Nice :) You are among many friends in a bright, yellow world. Be warned though, some fans may dismiss you for not being a "real Persona fan" since your entry point was 4. Insecurity breeds contempt, and they have plenty.

It's rated Cero C in Japan, which is high end T rating/very low end M rating.

It's got the equivalent of a T rating there, funnily enough higher than Nocturne, which got an All ages rating in Japan when it was given an M rating here like P3/4.

Yeah, I know right, and Mara is in all three games!
 

Astra

Member
I played the original P4, somewhat liked it but got bored after ~20-25 hours.

Any reason to pick this one up? I'm probably getting a VITA soon...

Hmm. Maybe if your tastes have changed any, but if not, you won't find anything significantly different here.

I no longer feel alone in the dark cruel world!

Pfft, you're so not a real Persona fan.

Nice :) You are among many friends in a bright, yellow world. Be warned though, some fans may dismiss you for not being a "real Persona fan" since your entry point was 4. Insecurity breeds contempt, and they have plenty.

Nobody is that immature, come on.
 

Sophia

Member
Well, not so much with every girl, but it's made plainly obvious P3M
gives Elizabeth the night of her life.

I knew cj would show up with his "I only hook up with demon girls" vibe. Well not me cj, I didn't let that yellow-eyed witch touch me. I was up all night with Aegis, sticking MC's filthy finger
in her DNA scanner thing in the back of her neck so she could make data-tables with my genetic blueprint,
ha! :)
 
I knew cj would show up with his "I only hook up with demon girls" vibe. Well not me cj, I didn't let that yellow-eyed witch touch me. I was up all night with Aegis, sticking MC's filthy finger
in her DNA scanner thing in the back of her neck so she could make data-tables with my genetic blueprint,
ha! :)

That's incredibly creepy, but I guess that's the closest to sex you can get with a robot.
 
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