Persona 4 Gold
What is Persona 4 Golden?
While Persona 5 may be the most famous game in the series, Persona 4 Golden is probably the game that is Persona really on the map.
Released for PS Vita in 2012, Persona 4 Golden took what critics loved about Persona 3 — the social connections, school setting, and Persona summoning — and wrapped it up in an enjoyable murder-mystery package featuring the best uncle and his adorable daughter.
You move to Inaba in the Japanese countryside to stay with your uncle while your parents work abroad for a year. After quickly making friends, a local high school student discovers the dead body of a murdered TV reporter. Rumors about the ‘Midnight Channel’ lead the protagonist and his friends to investigate a murder and enter a world that can only be accessed through television.
Known as the Research Team, this group of teenagers with Personas all use Personas based on Japanese mythological creatures or people of legend, such as the Japanese creation deity Izanagi, the daughter of Ouyamatsumi, the mountain god of Konohan Sakuya, and the grown-up version of the folk hero Kintaro, Kintoki-Douji.
Persona 4 Golden and Persona 4 – What are the differences?
Similar to Persona 5 Royal, Persona 4 Golden is an enhanced version of the ‘vanilla’ version of Persona 4, the 2009 PS2 RPG.
Golden adds two new social links, rebalances aspects of the gameplay compared to the original PS2 version, adds a new month with an additional story, new animated cutscenes and events, a new time, and a new epilogue. Like Royal, it’s often considered the preferred version, and you’re not missing out on anything by playing Golden on Switch instead of the original PS2 game.
Will I like Persona 4 Golden if I like Royal?
Probably yes! While not as visually striking or stylish as Persona 5 Royal, Persona 4 Golden is the most similar game in the Persona 5 series.
It might feel like a step backwards if you’ve only played the latest game in the franchise, though — Persona 4 Golden has unique dungeons like the Palaces in 5, but those dungeons are now randomized, closer to Mementos. So every time you leave the dungeon, the appearance will change. Also, combat lacks many of the quality-of-life features introduced by Persona 5 (and Royal).
Really, think of this as a PS2 (and PSV) RPG and you’ll probably have a blast. Along with 5, many consider it the best game in the series.
What about Persona 4 Arena Ultimax?
While spin-off/sequel Persona 5 stays in a fairly similar genre wheelhouse, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax is a completely different beast — it’s a beat ’em up with lots of novel-style visuals.
Developed by Guilty Gear and Dragon Ball FighterZ masters Arc System Works, the fighting game is a direct sequel to both Persona 4 and Persona 3. Ultimax also features the story from the first spin-off fighting game, Persona 4 Arena, so you don’t have to grab a PS3 or Xbox 360 to get the full story if you want it.
It’s a pretty fun time with sharp fighting game mechanics, but don’t expect the main Persona to be polished for its story — it’s a fighting game after all. It’s not required reading, but if you like Persona 4 and you like fighting games, it’s worth picking up. At least that’s the NL verdict.
Persona 3 Portable
What is Persona 3 Portable?
In Persona 3, things get a little more complicated. Persona 3 Portable is actually the third version of the original Persona 3 which launched on the PS2 in 2006/07. The second version of Persona 3 FES, launched on PS2 just one year later. More on that in a second.
The version that Switch owners will get next week marks the first time P3P has been re-released since its original PSP launch in 2009/10 (and on PSN). Set in the Japanese city of Iwatodai, you are a (guess what) transitioning student who is asked to join SEES, a group of high school students who can summon Personas and are investigating something known as the ‘Dark Hour’, additional 25. hour of the day where the protagonist’s high school turns into Tartarus, a labyrinthine tower full of evil creatures known as Shadows.
For the first (and only) time in the series, you can play as a male or female protagonist — and depending on who you choose, it changes your social connections and opens up entirely new story routes. The game came out after Persona 4, so a lot of quality of life changes were added.
SEES’s Personas this time are all based on Greek gods, deities and figures such as Orpheus, the Thracian bard, Hermes, the messenger, Cerberus, the guardian of the underworld, and Nemesis, the goddess of divine retribution.
Persona 3 Portable and Persona 3 FES – What are the differences?
Person 3 DO, as the second version of Persona 3, already brought several changes to Persona 3, but instead of P3P being a direct upgrade of FES, it is a counterpart and the pair have several major differences. FES is also only available on PS2 (or PS3 if you got it on PSN).
FES’s big claim is that it added a whole new chapter to Persona 3 after beating the main story, called ‘The Answer’. This additional story chapter was much harder than the main game and removed the social connection aspect of the main game — it’s basically just a pure dungeon crawler. Plus, it’s about 30 hours long, on top of the 60-70 hours of main game play.
The answer was missing in the PSP version of P3P, so we assume it will be missing in the Switch version as well. Additionally, as mentioned above, you can now play as a female protagonist. Right at the start of the game, you’ll be able to choose who your silent SEES student is, and you’ll get new cutscenes, events, and relationships depending on who you choose. Basically, if you choose a male protagonist, it’s like FES, but if you choose a female protagonist, you get quite a bit of new content — but nothing that changes the ending.
The largest the difference between the two, however, is a game changer. In FES, in combat, you could only control the actions of the protagonist. This means the other three members of your party are left to the AI devices, which could end in disaster (Marin Karin, anyone?). Fortunately, in Persona 3 Portable you can control all four party members — what a relief! As a result, many prefer Persona 3 Portable over its PS2 counterparts.
Will I like Persona 3 Portable if I like Royal?
This will depend on your expectations, as Persona 3 Portable is quite different from Persona 4 Golden and Persona 5 Royal.
While Persona 4 Golden and Persona 5 Royal let you explore Inaba and Shibuya freely, letting you walk around and talk to everyone, Persona 3 Portable is much closer to a visual novel when you’re not inside Tartarus.
There are no animated cutscenes or 3D models outside of the main dungeon — instead, any conversation between characters is often just a portrait on screen. You also cannot freely walk around the various parts of the city. Select locations on the Iwatodai map, then get another static map of the area you’re in with marked things to interact with. Then you have to drag the cursor style over them and click to interact with them — whether they’re people or objects.
Tartarus is also very different from the Midnight Channel or the Palace. Tartarus is one big, long dungeon where the floor layouts are randomized every time you enter. It’s closer to Mementos than Midnight Channel in that sense, and progressing through Tartarus is mandatory, with more floors opening up as you progress through the story.
Where are Persona 1 and Persona 2?
You’d be forgiven for thinking that Atlus had completely forgotten about Persona 1 and Persona 2 Innocent Sin and Eternal punishment. Aside from the odd anniversary promotional material and game merchandise, we barely hear anything about these entries – although we do appreciate the birthday greetings that the official Twitter account often sends out.
Persona 1 and both games in the Persona 2 duology are not available on any Nintendo console at all. In fact, there are very few places where you can play these games. And, unlike the ‘modern’ Persona games, Persona 1 and 2 have more recurring characters and plot elements. Persona 1 was originally on the PlayStation as Revelations: Persona, although it was also remastered for the PSP as Shin Megami Tensei: Persona. Persona 2 is much more complicated. The PSOne version of Innocent Sin was never released in English, and the only officially available English version is the PSP remake. Its direct sequel, Eternal Punishment, received an English release on the PSOne (but not in Europe) and was re-released on the PlayStation Network, but a PSP remake never got an English edition. Of course.
Persona 1 and 2 are too very differs from later games in the series — Persona 3 basically retconned the entire premise while retaining nods and references to the first three games. The PSOne games lack social connections and the gameplay is much closer to a traditional RPG or an early one Shin Megami Tensei games. They are too quite slow with high random encounter rates and plenty of annoying trivia.
Time hasn’t been kind to them, and we’d love to see them ported over, but we think they’d need a lot of reworking to appeal to the modern Persona fan. However, the stories in them – especially in 2 – are well regarded.
Which game should I play first on Switch?
Short answer — it doesn’t matter! Start where you want. Long answer? It totally depends. We probably wouldn’t recommend starting with Persona 4 Arena Ultimax or Persona 5 Strikers nowbut if you played any of those games before the release of P5R, P4G, or P3P, then it doesn’t matter.
Persona 5 Royal is easy the most affordable and attractive of the three main titles coming to the Switch. It probably set the standard for turn-based RPGs in the future with its unique user interface, stylish visuals, and unique dungeon. But playing 5 Royal first can make it difficult to go back to other entries.
Persona 4 Golden is the most similar to Royale and is probably our recommended starting point if you want to try all three games on Switch. It’s the most heartless entry and strikes a balance between the random dungeons of P3P and the stylized palaces of P5R.
Persona 3 Portable, being so different from the other two, isn’t a bad place to start either. But if you come back to it after 5R or 4G, then this is the game you might struggle with the most. Think of it as a dungeon-crawling visual novel rather than a massive RPG like its sequels.
So Persona 4 Golden is our easy recommendation, but as long as you know what you’re in for — and don’t mind a big change back or forward — then you can start wherever you want!
That’s it for our Persona guide for Switch owners. We’re excited to see the main games finally make their way to the Switch, and we hope to see even more Persona on the console in the future. Persona 4 Dance the night away next, atlus?
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