Persona 4 Golden: Special, in that most casual way.

Shallow Dives in Anime is not really a gaming blog. I don’t talk about games here, and while I have dipped a toe in some visual novels, I haven’t really discussed an actual real video game. Love em to death, just not really what this blog is about. However, I’m going to make an exception today, as I want to discuss something that I think is really special. So after the cut let’s take a dive into the anime video game Persona 4 Golden

The happiest M-rated game you’ll play.

First off, let’s talk about the game-play, because it’s rather quick and something I don’t want to discuss that much. As a video game itself, Persona 4 is nothing really special. If you’ve played a final fantasy game in the last twenty years, then you’ve pretty much played Persona. It’s a turn-based jrpg, where the characters have their own abilities in fights that are random encounters. You’ve played one, and you’ve pretty much played it all. Coupled with a randomized dungeon, I found that at times Persona 4 could be tedious and grindy. I eventually just caved and threw down the difficult to the easiest level, just so I can get back to the stuff I loved like developing the social links, or simply going to school.

I get far more enjoyment watching the characters go to the beach, then the dated combat mechanics.

It is not that the game-play is bad. I’ve played several JRPGs in my youth, and I loved many of them. Yet as I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that my patience for such things wears a bit thin, and I want to get to the things I like. In a way, it is very much like the first Mass Effect, when the high difficulty of Insanity, isn’t actually hard, just extremely tedious. I got that feeling with Persona, but thankfully that isn’t what you here to do. Because the story and world of Persona 4 is a masterstroke.

Starring Yu Narukami, who has come to the small town of Inaba for a year. He soon finds himself wrapped up in a murder-mystery plot that involves the Midnight channel, a TV world, and the mysterious creatures known as shadows. Coupled with their guardians known as Personas, Yu and his friends have to navigate both their own teenage years, and the deepening crisis of the murders.

If there is a theme to Persona 4, it is identity. As you progress through the game, helping each character in the main cast, you learn that they aren’t being true to themselves. That they are hiding away from their true feelings. Whether it is anger at being stuck in a small town, hiding your interest in non-masculine things, or ashamed of your gender. Each of the core characters goes through a journey of self discovery that forms the backbone of the plot. And as much as it is easy to call Persona 4 a ‘murder-mystery therapy simulator” the way it approaches these issues is tactful, and they all feel like real problems that real teenagers would go through.

Each of the dungeons consists of helping one of the cast deal with their emotional problems, which manifest as alter-ego shadows.

And that’s what kept me coming back to Persona 4, and what stuck with me long after I started playing. It was just how well the main cast are depicted. It is rare, more so these days, where a cast of characters have as much chemistry as the ones in Persona 4 do. Whether it is Chie’s love of kung-fu movies, Yosuke being the lovable loser, Kanji’s sensitivity, Rise’s girly-girl attitude, Yukiko’s humor, Teddie’s happy-go-lucky life, and Naoto’s drive. These characters, despite being from an anime, feel more alive and real than anything I’ve seen in years. You know these characters are friends, and the bonds and relationships they have, shown through events both serious and comedic never feel fake or inauthentic. Coupled with some of the best voice acting I’ve seen in a game, I kept wanting to get through the action as fast as possible, so I could see the gang hang out, and just live.

The main characters, with their excellent dub voices are what you come to this game for. I haven’t loved a cast like this in ages.

Persona 4 Golden is something very special. Put aside the rather dated and tedious game-play, this is a story and world that is crafted from head to toe with love, affection and real dedication. The level of detail spent on the most mundane things (and this was originally a PS2 game), is something you’d expect from the Metal Gear games, and that effort shines out of every orifice. The characters are some of the best I’ve seen in years, and there are many times you’ll find yourselves swept up in their day to day lives, touched by their stories, or laughing at some of the stupid stuff that all teenagers do. If you are dying to spend some times with some great characters that talk about difficult things, and doesn’t get preachy about it. A compelling mystery, and all those classic anime tropes polished to a mirror shine. Then Persona 4 Golden is something you should pick up at the earliest opportunity.

As I said in the title of this post. It is special, in that most casual way.

I’m going to miss these guys.