



Here's a little secret for you, one you'll come to know painfully well if you become a regular visitor to this blog- Persona 4 Golden is, without a shadow of a doubt, the pinnacle of gaming to date. I, quite stubbornly won't hear anything to the contrary and in this post I want to give you some reasons why the Persona series as a whole is more than just a set of games, it is art.





Honestly, on the topic of whether games are art, I sit firmly on the fence, my answer would be different day to day. However, this series which offers a wonderful blend of role-playing and life simulation makes quite a strong case for video games as art. Anywho, that's enough preamble, though if you are familiar with the series in question you'll know how apt a slow start is. Hopefully, just as the games in the Persona series do, this post will leave you feeling rewarded and glad you waited for the juicy bits.





Persona 4 Golden offers one of the most engaging, dynamic and developed battle systems in an RPG, something only bettered, in my opinion, by the latter efforts of Atlus (step up Persona 5 and TMS #FE). However, this is not what makes the game a masterwork of art. Rather, what makes it so cannot be shown by any one tangible element of the game. Instead, it is the culmination of its composite features which lay the backdrop for the true emotional art to take place. Whether that is the art design which still largely holds up years later or the soundtrack which is not only some of the best music to be featured in a video game but some of the catchiest and most instantly lovable music I have heard period.





The aforementioned plus points could make it a good game for sure, very possibly make it a great game, but ultimately they succeed most of all in creating a platform in which the true star of the show can flourish. That being the emotional journey that you'll be taken on through your near 80 hours of playtime. Simply put, many moves have been taken within this industry to make games more immersive from simple world-building to attempting to literally put you in the eyes of the protagonist with virtual reality, yet no other game series comes close to the immersion felt when playing Persona 4 Golden.





The world you find yourself in builds around you, figuratively of course. As you become more accustomed to the game, so does your character to his new surroundings, having just moved to a small, unfamiliar town . Throughout the game you will meet various people and tackle their inner most issues (or shadows) and come to know them. Herein lies much of the charm the game held for me, I didn't for a moment think I was just talking to these characters to gain perks and abilities in battle (though that was certainly a pleasant fringe benefit) but instead I was talking to my new found friends, getting to know interesting, real people, as flawed as they were hopeful. When they felt anxiety, so did I, when they were elated, so was I, and when they dealt with genuine issues ranging from one character with a strong sense of impostor syndrome to another dealing with gender dysphoria it was a real eye opener. Not all matters in the Persona games are dealt with the full grace one would wish but ultimately the game was eye opening and breathtaking in all of the right ways. When I first played Persona 4 Golden back in early 2015, I finished that game in the space of 9 days, my life was in Inaba, an experience that stays fondly with me to this day.





Do you know what is possibly more amazing than that? They did it again. Persona 5 is a game that is arguably superior to its predecessor, building upon everything the series had previously brought, while simultaneously taking things in a new direction and utilising the capabilities of newer hardware. Persona 4 Golden will probably always offer personally the closest thing gaming has ever achieved to art, but the fact that Atlus and P-studio were able to capture that magic in a bottle multiple times, and create several experiences that leave such a lasting impression says a vast amount for just what a wonderful set of art pieces the Persona series is.





To me, Persona is one of the few series that transcend the space from being great games, to be great art.





Thank you very much for reading, I'd love to hear your thoughts, and I hope you have a golden day. No, I can't resist a pun.



