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Persona 4 Golden |OT| Love is the only gold.

T

Trigger

Member
V_Ben said:
Guys... I finished Persona 3 a couple of weeks ago, and now i'm 8 hours in to Persona 4. I think I have a new favourite RPG series. Don't hate me, but i'm playing on easy. P3 got a little frustrating for me on Normal, so I thought i'd knock it down slightly and just enjoy the story :) Loving it so far though! Umm... any advice for things to do as soon as possible? Because i'm just going through the motions, getting my S-Links up :)
Click to expand...

Easy? Pathetic

I'm kidding of course. Happy you're enjoying the game! :)

If you've played P3 then you should already have a hang of most of the mechanics. P4 introduces some new activities, but the games aren't that dramatically different.
 
O

Omikaru

Member
V_Ben said:
Guys... I finished Persona 3 a couple of weeks ago, and now i'm 8 hours in to Persona 4. I think I have a new favourite RPG series. Don't hate me, but i'm playing on easy. P3 got a little frustrating for me on Normal, so I thought i'd knock it down slightly and just enjoy the story :) Loving it so far though! Umm... any advice for things to do as soon as possible? Because i'm just going through the motions, getting my S-Links up :)
Click to expand...

Just like in P3, all your party members have Persona transformations. However, in P4 they're not tied to game events, and must be acquired by maxing out that character's S.Links. I mean, you're playing on Easy so I doubt it really matters, but if you want to get the stronger Personas for your party members then you need to be maxing their S.Links soonest.

Other than that, you've probably got a good grasp on the mechanics, and P4 is good at teaching you how to play in case you missed something. Have fun!
 
M

MooMoo

Member
Finally beat the game for the first time. A really enjoyable ride; looking forward to replaying it again! Also thank god for the fast-forward button...not sure if I could have endured the slow start of the game on multiple playthroughs.
 
P

Paddington Bear

Member
Hey is P3 portable the same game as the original P3? I kinda have to play it now.... And I was hoping I could do it on my vita since it is increasingly becoming my favorite console haha
 
G

Guess Who

Banned
Paddington Bear said:
Hey is P3 portable the same game as the original P3? I kinda have to play it now.... And I was hoping I could do it on my vita since it is increasingly becoming my favorite console haha
Click to expand...

Basically, though it's missing animated cutscenes, is 2D except in dungeons/battles, and has a female route with a different MC and alternate social links.
 
T

Trigger

Member
Paddington Bear said:
Hmmm... Should I play it or should I get the ps2 classic and play that?
Click to expand...

P3P had some of its mechanics updated to reflect a few improvements made in P4. The two genders also provide more replay. P3: FES is the definitive version, but if buying that isn't an option then get P3P and YouTube the anime cut-scenes as you play along.
 
H

Hero_of_the_Day

Member
Playing OG Persona 4 right now (in the middle of June). Never played any of these games before. It's pretty damn awesome. I wasn't expecting to fall for it like I have since it has a few things I usually don't like in RPGs, like a modern/real world setting.

Such a unique game with a pretty awesome cast of characters. So much shit to do is so overwhelming. Having to decide when to do what makes it all so intense, feel like I'm going to make a wrong choice and just fuck myself over. Coming into this right from Bioshock Infinite, I was entertained by Booker DeWitt being in this.
 
P

Paddington Bear

Member
Trigger said:
P3P had some of its mechanics updated to reflect a few improvements made in P4. The two genders also provide more replay. P3: FES is the definitive version, but if buying that isn't an option then get P3P and YouTube the anime cut-scenes as you play along.
Click to expand...
Got it. Ill probably go for the FES then
 
S

supaman900s

Member
So I'm nearing the end of P4G and it was my first Persona game. Already thinking of which to dip into next (of the available Persona games) & have heard some good, but also some bad things about P3P - would that still be enjoyable, played on the Vita after experiencing P4G for the first time? Or should I go back and first play the very first Persona? (I intend to play them exclusively on my Vita)
 
T

Trigger

Member
supaman900s said:
So I'm nearing the end of P4G and it was my first Persona game. Already thinking of which to dip into next (of the available Persona games) & have heard some good, but also some bad things about P3P - would that still be enjoyable, played on the Vita after experiencing P4G for the first time? Or should I go back and first play the very first Persona? (I intend to play them exclusively on my Vita)
Click to expand...

The very first Persona is a very old-school rpg. It doesn't resemble P4 much at all outside of a few basic concepts. Is the social link/dungeon dynamic important to you? If so, then P3P or P3 FES is where you'll want to go. The Persona games before that are a different beast (but still fun in their own way!).
 
S

Skinpop

Member
I bought P4G a few days ago and started playing it yesterday. Played for 6 hours straight, most fun I've had with a game for years.
My only let down so far is the english dub. It's so frustrating to not have the original japanese VA. It's not that the english is bad, I just feel that american(western) dubbers misinterpret characters and make bad decisions on va casting. It changes the mood and some characters feel different or not right.
Especially the girls; Chie sounds like a fat hamburger eating self taught actress especially the way she laughs is disgusting.
I speak japanese and to me it's always been obvious how much more sophisticated japanese VA is compared to western VA, too much gets lost in translation. Even if I wouldn't know japanese I'd prefer japanese + subtitles, too me voices are part of the original vision of the character and by that alone the original will always be superior.

I still love the game though, I just really wish I had japanese as an option. Playing the japanese version isn't really an option, looking up kanjis makes progression too slow. /rant
 
N

Napalm_Frank

Member
Skinpop said:
I bought P4G a few days ago and started playing it yesterday. Played for 6 hours straight, most fun I've had with a game for years.
My only let down so far is the english dub. It's so frustrating to not have the original japanese VA. It's not that the english is bad, I just feel that american(western) dubbers misinterpret characters and make bad decisions on va casting. It changes the mood and some characters feel different or not right.
Especially the girls; Chie sounds like a fat hamburger eating self taught actress especially the way she laughs is disgusting.
I speak japanese and to me it's always been obvious how much more sophisticated japanese VA is compared to western VA, too much gets lost in translation. Even if I wouldn't know japanese I'd prefer japanese + subtitles, too me voices are part of the original vision of the character and by that alone the original will always be superior.

I still love the game though, I just really wish I had japanese as an option. Playing the japanese version isn't really an option, looking up kanjis makes progression too slow. /rant
Click to expand...

You can turn the VA off from the options if you prefer.
 
S

ScraftyDevil

Banned
This is Chie's voice actor:

ErinFitzgerald.jpg
Click to expand...

She's apparently classically trained, too.
 
N

Napalm_Frank

Member
I really liked Chies VA :(.

The worst of the main cast was Naoto. Everyone else was good.

Teddie is hard to rate cause... well he is just written that way.
 
S

Skinpop

Member
ScraftyDevil said:
This is Chie's voice actor:



She's apparently classically trained, too.
Click to expand...

Doesn't really change anything though. I'm sure they are all talented but they just don't understand japanese culture and characters, or it's a case of overly localizing the product to make characters more relateable for the western audience.

Either way I would never watch a live action movie dubbed and the same reasoning for why I wouldn't do that applies to why I find it frustrating with dubs in games or animation.
 
B

bishopcruz

Member
Skinpop said:
Doesn't really change anything though. I'm sure they are all talented but they just don't understand japanese culture and characters, or it's a case of overly localizing the product to make characters more relateable for the western audience.

Either way I would never watch a live action movie dubbed and the same reasoning for why I wouldn't do that applies to why I find it frustrating with dubs in games or animation.
Click to expand...

Overly localized? Dude I have no idea what your idea of the perfect localization would be, but it sounds it's probably close to the Chrono Trigger fan translation. P4 errs on the side of its Japanese honorifics, attitudes, and environments. I can't think of a MORE Japanese localization if I tried.

In fact I'd argue that P4 is a very special case where having honorifics in the english script is acceptable. Past that, though, I just don't see HOW you could realistically make it more Japanese. Other than, playing it in Japanese.

To each his own I guess...
 
S

Skinpop

Member
bishopcruz said:
Overly localized? Dude I have no idea what your idea of the perfect localization would be, but it sounds it's probably close to the Chrono Trigger fan translation. P4 errs on the side of its Japanese honorifics, attitudes, and environments. I can't think of a MORE Japanese localization if I tried.

In fact I'd argue that P4 is a very special case where having honorifics in the english script is acceptable. Past that, though, I just don't see HOW you could realistically make it more Japanese. Other than, playing it in Japanese.

To each his own I guess...
Click to expand...

Using japanese honorifics is nice but still shallow.

What I mean by overly localized is using stereotypical american voice acting, showing a lack of understing of japanese culture and japanese stereotypes but above all not including a japanese track.

Chrono trigger never had VA to begin with and is not set in a strict japanese world, in that case there are limits to how far you can go with staying faithful to the source while making sure dialogue still makes sense. A perfect translation of course, is an impossible task; things like proverbs or certain phrases usually can't be translated word for word while retaining the original meaning to the foreign audience. All the more reason to keep the original VA: the player can get the emotional expression and voice work faithful to the original creators vision and use the translated subtitles to extract concrete information. It's really not any different from movies.
 
B

bishopcruz

Member
Skinpop said:
Using japanese honorifics is nice but still shallow.

What I mean by overly localized is using stereotypical american voice acting, showing a lack of understing of japanese culture and japanese stereotypes but above all not including a japanese track.

Chrono trigger never had VA to begin with and is not set in a strict japanese world, in that case there are limits to how far you can go with staying faithful to the source while making sure dialogue still makes sense. A perfect translation of course, is an impossible task; things like proverbs or certain phrases usually can't be translated word for word while retaining the original meaning to the foreign audience. All the more reason to keep the original VA: the player can get the emotional expression and voice work faithful to the original creators vision and use the translated subtitles to extract concrete information. It's really not any different from movies.
Click to expand...

But as we've seen, many times the Japanese language track is simply not an option, due to either rights issues, space issues, or a myriad of other things. Hell, IIRC while we DID get the Japanese voices for P4A, we weren't able to get them for the Anime release, due to rights issues. Dumb, but it's how it is. I understand what you are saying, but honestly P4 does a great job with its voice acting, and outside of some early hiccups, the VA is pretty damned good. Again, if one wants the game in Japanese, the game is available in that language, as far as a localization goes, P4G is realistically going to be hard to top for a mid tier publisher.
 
S

Skinpop

Member
bishopcruz said:
But as we've seen, many times the Japanese language track is simply not an option, due to either rights issues, space issues, or a myriad of other things. Hell, IIRC while we DID get the Japanese voices for P4A, we weren't able to get them for the Anime release, due to rights issues. Dumb, but it's how it is. I understand what you are saying, but honestly P4 does a great job with its voice acting, and outside of some early hiccups, the VA is pretty damned good. Again, if one wants the game in Japanese, the game is available in that language, as far as a localization goes, P4G is realistically going to be hard to top for a mid tier publisher.
Click to expand...

I might have been overly harsh, I love the game and the VA is decent. At least one of the best japanese game dubs I've heard, it's just that I know I would have love it and enjoyed it more with the original dub. Anyway, great game.
 
T

Thoraxes

Member
bishopcruz said:
But as we've seen, many times the Japanese language track is simply not an option, due to either rights issues, space issues, or a myriad of other things. Hell, IIRC while we DID get the Japanese voices for P4A, we weren't able to get them for the Anime release, due to rights issues. Dumb, but it's how it is. I understand what you are saying, but honestly P4 does a great job with its voice acting, and outside of some early hiccups, the VA is pretty damned good. Again, if one wants the game in Japanese, the game is available in that language, as far as a localization goes, P4G is realistically going to be hard to top for a mid tier publisher.
Click to expand...

Only for the blurays, which was done to discourage reverse importing due to the Japanese pricing model for those products over there. The DVDs have dual-audio.
 
B

bishopcruz

Member
Thoraxes said:
Only for the blurays, which was done to discourage reverse importing due to the Japanese pricing model for those products over there. The DVDs have dual-audio.
Click to expand...

Right, but rmeember that Vita is region free on its games, and P4A was region locked, one of only PS3 games to have that happen. I was just saying there are likely rights issues with the voices or something similar.
 
T

Thoraxes

Member
bishopcruz said:
Right, but rmeember that Vita is region free on its games, and P4A was region locked, one of only PS3 games to have that happen. I was just saying there are likely rights issues with the voices or something similar.
Click to expand...

Oh for sure, I was just helping to clarify a little. The whole region lock thing with P4A was for basically the same reason (sales). I think in future games it has the potential to change though.
 
M

Muffin Awesome

Member
Does anyone know where I can get a decent PDF guide? I wish the vita was able to house them too, I know it is odd, but I like to maximize my play time as there is not much to go around with having a 5 month old in the house.
 
Cornbread78

Cornbread78

Member
Muffin Awesome said:
Does anyone know where I can get a decent PDF guide? I wish the vita was able to house them too, I know it is odd, but I like to maximize my play time as there is not much to go around with having a 5 month old in the house.
Click to expand...


I downloaded a pdf. version from Game FAQs that was pretty good.
 
F

funkystudent

Member
Just crossed 50 hours!


Random question but does only the equipped personal gain experience after a battle or does it give experience depending on how much that persona is used?
 
O

omg_mjd

Member
That's Chie's voice actor?!

(I liked Chie's VA already before, but now...this is either life being very fair or unfair, can't decide which.)
 
J

JehutyRunner

Banned
First time in here. Hi.

I'm now 30 hours into the game, a LOT MORE than the time I spent on the PS2 version
(only got as far as Kanji
. So far, I'm more or less doing social stuff and the like. Not to mention, I finally got Chie as my girlfriend because Chie. S'all there is to it. Chie is awesome. Anyone who says otherwise is having a brain melt.

Now to save Naoto --- but later on: I had an all-nighter playing this last night (and the past few nights before trying to overcome a long stuck battle with Rise and Teddie plus having to revert back a week to prepare better for the battle with the killer/demon baby), so probably best to pace myself a bit.

I think after I finish this, I'm gonna have a proper playthough of Persona 4 on PS2 (and maybe before it, a playthough of Persona 3 Portable on my Vita).
 
M

Memento_Mori15

Member
Skinpop said:
I still love the game though, I just really wish I had japanese as an option. Playing the japanese version isn't really an option, looking up kanjis makes progression too slow. /rant
Click to expand...
This is really late but I fail to see why not just import it since you can replay voice clips for kanji you can't read. Even just knowing the kanji meaning(if you have done remembering the kanji) helps you make an educated guess in the word meaning. Playing in Japanese alone helps if you're learning the language as it's immersion. As someone who's learning it for a while now, English dubs>>Japanese dubs. Can't stand most female voices in anime.

How the fuck do you catch a huge fish!? I've been fishing every rainy day/night and haven't caught one yet.
Click to expand...
Did you take on the side quest? Are you using the correct bait? (you're talking about the guardian, right?)
 
H

Hero_of_the_Day

Member
Memento_Mori15 said:
Did you take on the side quest? Are you using the correct bait? (you're talking about the guardian, right?)
Click to expand...

Yeah, guide I'm using says I need to give the Old Man a huge fish first to get going towards the Guardian. Is there different bait in the original PS2 version, cause that's what I'm playing.


EDIT: Fuck it, bought one from the television show. Got
Naoto
and went back through his dungeon to fight the optional boss there and do side missions. Feel like I have to be getting near the ending since I'm at like 55 hours.
 
S

Sanpunkan

Member
Hi guys. New here. Just started P4G not long ago, I'm just at the part where
Kanji has been kidnapped and we found the bath house in the TV-world
.

I have some sort of debilitating completionist OCD that kicks in when I play RPGs that totally ruins the experience for me because I feel like I have to follow a guide to do everything right... I'm sure I'm not the only one who does this! But I do not want to do that with P4G because I'd actually prefer to, you know, enjoy the game.

I do have a couple questions though about general things I should/shouldn't be doing in the game.

  • Should I focus on a few social links or spread myself thin and acquire as many as possible?
  • What's the best way to spend time on days not spent in the dungeon (social links or stat bonuses)?
  • How often should I be fusing demons? When I do, should I have an overall strategy or just do it haphazardly as I do now?
 
T

Trigger

Member
Sanpunkan said:
Should I focus on a few social links or spread myself thin and acquire as many as possible?
Click to expand...

Focus. It's easier in Golden to max them all, but for a newbie you'll be unlikely to know the ends and outs necessary to do it. Save a max completion for a second run. Anything you didn't see (bonus bosses, alternate links, etc) will be waiting for you.

What's the best way to spend time on days not spent in the dungeon (social links or stat bonuses)?
Click to expand...

Social links. Finish dungeons as soon as they unlock and then focus on maxing your links. Focus on social stats when there is no one to chill with.

How often should I be fusing demons? When I do, should I have an overall strategy or just do it haphazardly as I do now?
Click to expand...

The frequency is up to you, but I recommend being able to use the four elemental types, a debuff persona, and a healing persona. The others can cover elements if you're low on space in your active roster (aka letting Yukiko handle fire spells).
 
S

Sanpunkan

Member
Thanks Trigger!

I heard that there are also multiple endings. I know there's a true or pure ending so that leads me to believe there's a bad ending as well. If there is, any advice on how to avoid it?
 
K

K.Sabot

Member
So I just got to doing Marie's social link and the romantic reveal is sooooooo contrived.

It's just like "welp I guess I love you now".
 
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