“It’s not what you have or what you can do… Just being born, living your life…. before you know it, you are already special to someone.”
Summer has arrived! What does that mean? Video games. Lots of hours for video games.
So, what game should one play when they have unlimited time to spend but also want to enjoy the idea of the outdoors or walking about relishing in their day? Well, my recommendation, and what I plan to do, is play Persona 4 Golden (P4G).
The plot of Persona 4 Golden revolves around Yu Narukami, who is sent out to the countryside of Inaba for a year. During his first few days, murders begin occurring in the quiet town. While doing some investigating, Yu and his friends end up in a mysterious, fogged “TV World” where they learn that monsters called Shadows have been killing people in Inaba with a mastermind behind it all.
Declaring they will solve the mystery surrounding the fog-filled world and the Inaba murders, the gang unlocks their Personas–powerful spirits they can wield–and fight against the Shadows to learn the truth.
All gameplay and exposition aside, Persona 4 Golden is a fun-filled game with many enjoyable characters you can befriend, gorgeous areas to explore, and many hours of gameplay. With an average playtime of nearly 70 hours of the main story alone, P4G holds many different things a player can do to fill up that playtime. And if you’re the kind of person who enjoys binge-playing video games to get the full story experience, there’s no better time than the summer to do so.
While a whole year passes during the game, summer is a featured time in Persona 4 Golden and is personally one of my favorite times during the game.
From a fun beach day to summer festivals, there are plenty of events that occur during the summertime of P4G. Even outside of summer, Inaba itself has such an amazing atmosphere that it’s rather difficult to describe. It’s cozy, peaceful, and hot during summer, yet a soft blanket of snow during winter.
The whole point of Inaba, game design-wise, is to allow the player to attend school, hang out with friends, and do some shopping. Sometimes though, I just enjoy walking around the town doing nothing but observing the sights and listening to the game’s music.
If I haven’t quite sold you on the idea of playing this game yet, I’ll just throw this in here: This summer will be my second time playing P4G. And the last time I played it was, you guessed it, the summer of last year. Coincidence? I think not!
Persona 4 Golden is a heartfelt, action-packed, laughter-inducing game that I guarantee people will enjoy. It’s a long game, but you’ll enjoy every second of it. Now, grab some ice cream, plop down with your controller, and have fun exploring Inaba!