It's official, Persona 4: Golden (apparently formally dropping the "The") will be hitting western shores sometime this Fall which isn't as specific as we all might hope for, but it's at least a little better than "sometime in the future". Yes, it's a port, an enhanced one at that, and as I've discussed before, we're apparently to hate any of these types of things, but hell, it's Persona 4. Nobody's going to hate it based on being a port of itself for a handheld (especially given that it doesn't seem anything's being cut from the original), and if they're going to hate it for anything, it'd be over how they didn't like the original. Though, I seem to see even more praise for 4 than I do 3, which I imagine is saying something. I say this, that I see the praise, for the simple fact that, like Persona 3, I haven't fully experienced Persona 4 yet despite owning it on PS2 and this portable version will be my first exposure.
Excessive? Yes. Entirely too much so, considering I bought my copy of Persona 4 brand new at $40 years ago and barely even opened the case to read the manual. Seriously, I didn't actually realize that my copy came with the Soundtrack CD until just now when I checked to see if my copy was still shrink-wrapped. Because it honestly could have been. Of course, the reason for not playing Persona 4 was because the battle system was apparently so improved that it made going back to Persona 3 difficult. Is that true? I don't know. I honestly probably won't know because I don't intend on throwing Persona 3 regular or FES in my PS2 and playing it out, and Persona 3 Portable reportedly has a lot of influences from Persona 4 in it, system-wise, so I won't be able to properly judge. So long as the story is as entertaining as Persona 3's, I'm sure I honestly won't care too much.
Speaking of P3P, I feel like I should share the amusing little coincidence I experienced - I beat Persona 3 Portable this morning at 6 something AM (because endgame means forget about time) and after the ending finished, I promptly conked out. By the time I woke up and got around to checking my LiveTweet on the Vita, Persona 4: Golden had officially been announced for the US ala above. As I stated elsewhere (at Penny Arcade) it's like they were waiting for me. Which means that I have to apologize to you all for not finishing the game much much sooner, but, well, you've played it I'm sure, so you know how it is. I just wasn't sure that I'd be able to swing it since I couldn't kill The Reaper and went on a little grind-a-thon after I worked the courage up to do so with Odin, Raphael, Loki, Gabriel and Horus. And....other Personae that I can't remember at the moment.
But P3P is a topic for another post, so I don't want to steep too much of this one in it. I mentioned how Persona 4: Golden will be an enhanced port and, from what I've seen, that's exactly what I mean. While P3P had to make a lot of sacrifices for the PSP as the platform of choice (namely the ability to traverse the world in-model, instead seeing everything as a blip on a map), P4G seems as if it will have to make none of those sacrifices and will, in fact, have additional content on top of the original game in its entirety. I'm....not quite sure what it all means, of course, having not played Persona 4, but I'm sure the list, which will follow here, will make sense to those who have played the game.
- A bike that lets you travel to another town
- Revised background graphics
- A winter event
- New Personas for the main cast
- Team Attacks
- Rotating TV shows (including a quiz with Teddie)
- A brand new character
- 1.5 times the amount of voiced dialogue
Again, about the only one of those that I can make sense of are the last two which are pretty self-explanatory. I can't find information on whether this new character will be a party member, a social-link, both (perhaps) or just 'story-important', but she's new at least. Also more voice acting which apparently makes people all groany because it's mostly likely, 99% probably going to be English-only. Which is....uh, a bad thing, apparently. I am not, nor will I ever actively participate in the "Sub vs. Dub" conversation beyond saying that there's a time and a place for both, and will instead say that the voice acting in P3P was pretty good, so I don't mind it whatsoever. Of course, those are just the pieces of info that they're actively sharing with us, though it's also probably the only bits that really matter. But, I mean, I hope we can hope for another in-game nod to a future title ala Vincent explaining his situation from Catherine in P3P. (That was so neat to stumble across, mind, and I think it was P3P only?)
I kind of hate that "the Fall" (sorry, I had to do it) is so far away, but I'm sure I can keep myself entertained until then. Resistance: Burning Skies is coming up and at the very least, P4G is skipping June by a wide margin. Regardless, in the meanwhile, I have New Game + and/or "Girl Mode" on P3P to keep me busy for those moments when I don't have anything else, as well as a whole other RPG that I haven't even touched. (Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky) My point is, I have everything at my disposal to be patient for this which is fairly rare, and not something I'm going to take very lightly. Still, it will be oh so sweet when I finally get my hands on that (presumably) gold and blue case.
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