Now that 2019 has wrapped up and everyone has started listing their favorite games, movies, albums and novels of the decade; I guess it is now my turn to hop on this craze and use this as an excuse to talk about my personal favorite game of all time, Persona 4 Golden.

Persona 4 Golden could technically be considered a cheat, as Persona 4 was originally released on the PlayStation 2 in 2008, but Golden was released on the PlayStation Vita in 2012. Regardless, it was met with high praise from both fans and critics alike. Persona 4 Golden was also one of the first stepping stones in bringing this niche JRPG series to mass popularity here in the west. Additionally, it was part of the reason I started writing about the entertainment industry.

Persona 4 starts in the sleepy town of Inaba, a small rural town where nothing really happens. The protagonist gets transferred from the big city to stay with their uncle Dojima, a detective and his daughter Nanako. For the first few hours you are living day to day, going to high school and becoming friends with the native teenagers of the town.

It’s here where Persona 4 Golden is at its absolute strongest. The characters you meet at first may just seem as stereotypical anime archetypes but soon you will discover that not only does the main cast evolve and grow over the 80+ hour campaign but also many of the side characters will progress through their own struggles. As the main character, you get to experience these changes first hand and you will begin to feel a tremendous amount of pride in watching the members of the town grow and evolve.

A perfect example of these would be fan favorite character Chie, who also happens to be my favorite. Chie starts off as annoying and frustratingly dull, but after a few hours, roughly half way into the first dungeon she begins to steal the show. Chie is a great character performed by Erin Fitzgerald, who solidly sold me on Chie and captured my heart. After that all I wanted to do was make Chie more powerful so she could overcome any challenges she would face in the real world as well as the Shadow World.

The characters may be the best part of Persona 4 in my opinion, but the story is nothing to scoff at. It may not be as strong as Persona 3 or Persona 5 but P4G does hold it’s own on the story front. As you get further involved with the main cast you will slowly start getting involved in a chain of grizzly murders that are being committed once a month and are seemingly connected with this strange world on the other end of the TV.

After you discover that you having the power to traverse the TV world, it is up to you and your friends to find the murderer and save the town. In doing so you must face enemies known as shadows to progress further into the dungeons. These shadows can be be defeated with the power known as Persona. To obtain the power of Persona one must face their own shadows, inner demons and turmoil.

The gameplay is nothing ground breaking as it is your normal turn based RPG combat; but the main difference that sets this system apart from others would have to be the social link system. The social links here are tied to different characters in the world. The more you grow together and get to know the various characters, the more powerful personas you can create and unlock. It is completely optional but it helps to create and maintain bonds throughout the game.

Now that is just an overview of the game, a quick rundown if you will. You may be wondering “So why is this your game of the decade?” and to answer your question here I have to go back a little. I first picked up my PSVita in 2013 and I was still in the 7th grade at the time. So playing a game that tackled such themes as loneliness, depression, and finding yourself  was a perfect choice at the time. I learned much of my study habits, budgeting lessons and even how to manage time wisely from Persona 4 Golden.

At the time I was struggling to get along with people and find friends. I was bullied maliciously all through out my school career, so it was always nice to find a corner in the library to hunker down and just disappear into the world of Inaba.

So yes, Persona 4 Golden is not only a very personal game to me but I would argue it has some of the greatest character building in a game I have ever played. Additionally, it has strong turn-based combat, great side quests, a jamming soundtrack, and above all it stands the test of time. I believe that in 30 years Persona 4 Golden will still be a classic that people look back and gush about, just like Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger are talked about today.

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