Persona 4 Golden Review

Any PSVita user should play this game and I mean it! This game is so huge and so complex that I never played a game like this in my life.

Persona 4 Golden is a remastered PS2 game for the PSVita. It even cost less than the regular Vita game and IT IS SO AWESOME!

The game starts a mysterious velvet car with a freaky man and a pretty woman and they’ll introduce themselves as witness and assistance to your destiny. Persona 4 Golden is like a TV show which lets you somewhat control the story.

The game plays on a per day basis which lets you spend time in events or people in your social link. A social link is needed for you to become strnger. If you’re OC like me, this game will freak you out. You need to schedule what you want to do for future days but sometimes the game introduces a new feature, event or person that you need to take care off. You need to pick which event or person you want to spend time with most of the time and I always choose women first hahaha.

Character development is extreme in this game. I promise you that you’ll care for most of the characters in Persona 4 Golden. I’m almost half in the game and I still need to max out about 60% of the social links I have.

The game has two worlds. The real world and the TV world. The real world has mostly all social links and events and the TV world has the dungeons and Teddie.

Dungeon crawling are sometimes dragging since mostly you’re looking for chests and golden hands. Golden hand monsters are rich in EXP and Money and they are plenty per floor. You’re not required to finish the dungeon in one go. The game will let you go back to the real world if you need to replenish supplies and heath.

Most players have timed in 100+ hours before finishing. I think I’ll reach that time or more because I want to max out the social links before the New Game+. I’ll update this post once I finish the game.

PSVita Review

My gift to myself is a Playstation Vita. The unit only cost Php 9,900 but I got the bundle for 14.4k with a free game and 16gb memory card.

Hardware:

The OLED screen looks amazing and I noticed the blotches that some Vita owners are complaining about. It doesn’t really effect gameplay or usage but it is noticable in a low lit room. I have come to accept this slight side effect since most of the game time this system is getting is at night in the master’s bedroom.

I have the brightness set to the lowest setting and it’s still bright. The colors are accurate and playing Persona 4 The Golden shows what the OLED screen can do. I’ll post my review of the game next post. 🙂

The face buttons feel different when you press them. It’s not like the soft press from the PSP and DS. It has a clicky feel which is weird since I got accustomed to Sony’s controllers since the first iteration of PS1.

The select and start buttons are too small for my fingers to press and I wish the next revision will have them below the screen.

The stereo jack is placed at the bottom which is sad since you have to remove it from the pouch or sleeve when listening to music.

My L button had a squeaky noise when pressing it. You’ll need to loosen a screw at the back near the button to release some tension from it. Once done, the squeakyness will be gone.

You’ll need to practice not to touch the back touch pad since most games and apps uses it. I’m thinking of buying a grip attachment for my PSVita since long use will strain your hands.

Overall the hardware is great and it has a premium feel to it. I feel the unit will stand a few years of abuse from me hehe.

Software:

The UI is 100% dependent to touch by default. A single option will enable face button controls that was introduced in firmware 1.80+.

If you are used to the XMB menu from the PSP and PS3 then you’ll have a fun time figuring out how to use the Bubble menu in the PSVita. Opening a bubble will go the LiveArea where it shows the start game/app, the website link, updates and recent accomplishments from you and your friends. You need to do a peeling gesture to close an app and be carefull since the system will not prompt you that it will close the app. So any unsaved game is just a peel away.

Pressing the home button while in the bubble menu will open a useless menu where all open apps are grouped into pages. This is helpful if you have a lot of apps opened but I said useless since swiping left and right in the bubble menu seems just as fast and you don’t need to press a button in the process.

The system will save your playthrough before shutting down due to low battery. Once charging, the system will load the same state is was before shutting down. I think it will only happen while it is in sleep state.

I’m having fun with my PSVita and if you guys are planning to buy one. Make sure to get a PS+ subscription to get 6 free games. I only have 1 physical game which is Persona 4 The Golden and the rest are all digital. Also, buy either a 16gb or 32gb memory card. 4gb and 8gb cards are not recommended if you have PS+ since will fill out with just a game or two. Uncharted Golden Abyss is almost 3gb and Gravity Rush is 1.5gb. Your tiny 4gb card can’t carry both those awesome games. 🙂

My game collection as of now:

Physical: Persona 4 The Golden

Digital: Uncharted Golden Abyss, Gravity Rush, Mutant Blop Attacks!, Jet Set Radio and Final Fantasy Tastic