I. SO. LOVE. THIS. GAME.
Have you ever had this sudden urge to play a certain game despite your black hole of a backlog? Because that’s what I felt for P4G! lol
The storyline of Persona 4 Golden takes place 2 years after the events in P3P. I can’t stop squealing inside once I start the game because everything seems familiar yet new to me. I never thought that I would miss P3 that much. Despite all the mental exhaustion that I have to go through with that game, I felt attached with all the characters. Even the mention of Kirijo Group in P4 brings me streaks of joy. ヾ(＠^▽^＠)ﾉ
P4G’s theme, as far as I could tell (I’m on Rise’s story atm), is about accepting yourself, the other “you’’ – the you you so badly want to hide from other people and from yourself. The game got that positive vibe going on that you could already tell from the op movie, with all that vibrant color and hip music. The contrast between P4 and P3 makes me appreciate the latter more than I did while playing it. P3 is all about facing the end with a positive outlook; that the end doesn’t have to be the end, but a beginning. If in P4, the characters grow stronger as they accept themselves, the growth of character (other than social links) is by coming in contact with death, accepting it, and then re-starting your life from there. I guess that is why to release your Persona, you have to use a gun and point it to your head. You have to be brave enough to do that. Think of the scene at the start where Yukari is psyching herself to just pull the trigger.
So far, P4G have everything I wished P3P had. EXCEPT for the teleport and the heal at the entrance. Yes you can go back to the entrance by tracing back your steps (that’s a pain, really) or use an item called Goho-M (Go home www). I’m the type of player who is so stingy with items that I would rather NOT use them or only on very very rare occasions. As for healing, you either use items (ugh) – SP items are hard to find though, or ask the wolf to heal you. BUT you should initiate the Hermit link first before you can do that. AND asking the wolf to heal you is pricey.
Having said all that, I’m enjoying P4G so far and perhaps I’ll spend the rest of the year playing this game. <—hopefully not ww