I think it is fairly obvious that whilst the screenshots for Persona 4: The Ultimate In Mayonaka Arena were nice, we were all waiting to see what updates would come out for Persona 4: The Golden, also referred to as (P4G). I am not that certain why they chose the name “The Golden”, but whatever floats their boat. Unlike most of my similar articles, I will not be doing a gallery at the bottom of the page but instead focusing on each image individually.
As you will no doubt see, the core gameplay mechanics will remain – but it seems like they are improving the quality of the game – using the increased capabilities of the Playstation Vita effectively, alongside including new characters to the ranks and all the little bits and pieces which will surely entice both new and old Persona gamers alike to the store to purchase this!.
Let me start off this article in most probably the most important system of the game – the Persona battle system. They don’t show off the (if any) improvements to the actual system but instead show off what looks to be slightly enhanced environment designs and the ability to bring either Teddie or Rise into battle with you, instead of just having them in the sidelines giving you the same gasp everytime you get hit.
This could lead to an interesting feature where they add a bit more purpose to the “Analysis” team member, by giving them the same ability as Fuuka in Persona 3 (The ability to see all the monsters traits) but make them targetable by enemies, which can lead to your main support being incapacitated similar to what can be done with your party members. But I think that is wishful thinking.
This might just be due to changes during the porting process, but the design quality in this game looks much better then in the original Persona 4 release on the PS2 – which shows up pretty badly on widescreen televisions alongside most PS2 games. The character portraits look more visually appealing and the character texturing also looks very good. I would like to get out my copy of Persona 4 to see how the environment and characters have changed. Oh, and judging from everything I have seen so far – there shouldn’t be any limitations on travelling Inaba like they had in Persona 3 Portable.
Also something that immediately caught my eye were the character costume options have been extended significantly. Originally, you were given a handful of costumes for your characters that were used only in social link or event scenes and not usable in battle – a feature that was included in Persona 3 FES and Persona 3 Portable. This time around, you are able to dress your characters up in different costumes for both the TV World (See the left image of Chie) and an extended variety of costumes and events for the normal every-day environment (See the right image for what I suppose is a Halloween event).
Persona 4 had a few animated sequences, however were still lacking in number despite their considerably high quality. This time around, they have promised us new event scenes – such as the one above which takes place after the Culture Festival at the Amagi Inn. How many further animated scenes will be included is yet to be determined.
Persona 4: The Golden is going to be making use of the portable console as much as they possibly can. For example, if there are people around you playing the game, you can call them for help and bring them into the dungeon under the “SOS” System. This system will be available through both 3G and Wi-fi connections.
Unfortunately for those who were wanting a female protagonist – this has yet to be announced if there is going to be the option, however they have unveiled a brand new character to the team – Marie (Mary?). As most characters are recruited through a dungeon – this could indicate at least one more dungeon added to the game. Not much in terms of a character biography has been announced, so we will have to wait a while longer to see more about her.
I do however welcome a new member to the team, and hopefully she is implemented to provide a useful alternative in what might already be strongly set party members to our four-person teams (Mine has always been Protagonist, Yosuke, Yukiko and Chie – Aka. The Generic Team). Little bit disappointed Nanako or even Detective Doujima won’t be joining the ranks but I suppose it is all about the High School students….
Unfortunately, that is now it in terms of screenshots, I hope I will have more to release to you all soon, so do keep your eye on this site and the Persona 4: The Golden official website.
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