Frankly I am disappointed with myself. There's a Shin Megami Tensei game that's releasing and I had no idea that it was coming out? Persona 4 Golden is aiming to release October 23rd this year and I didn't even know that it existed? I am disappoint for myself. Luckily we were able to go hands on with the title behind closed doors with Aram Jabbari, Manager of PR and Sales at Atlus.
When Persona 3 was released for the PSP last year it was kind of a mixed bag. Sure it introduced the female protagonist, with her own Social Links and twists to the story. But on the other side you didn't get The Answer from Persona 3: FES and the various cutscenes were ripped out thanks to the female protagonist's path being present in the game. But in this game we're getting everything that was in Persona 4 but they're adding in new characters, far more voice work, new cutscenes, more persona and a few new story areas along with holiday events. So we're getting everything we had before and then yet more stuff to enhance the experience.
To start with there's at least one brand new character, a female named Marie. She appears in the normal world when the game begins but she also appears alongside Igor in the Velvet Room. There's even going to be an event where she must be rescued from her own dungeon just like many of the female party members. She has her own voice work to go along with her and there is plenty more voice work being added in thanks to the new areas and events. There is an event that takes place on Halloween, one on a skiing trip and there is a beach area, a large event at a ski resort and Okina City, a location only previous open during S. Link events, is now open to the player.
All of this adds up to create the definitive package for Persona 4 storyline. But if that isn't enough for you there are new Persona, including Ultimate Persona for your entire team, there is equipment to change your party's appearance like in P3:FES, there's a new garden and bug catching mini-game although the purpose of this hasn't been explained. There is also a menu option that allows you to tune in to various "channels" that show things ranging from game cutscenes to recordings of live performances of the music from various Persona games. There's even an option to call for help via the Vita's WiFi when you're in a critical combat situation although this is more of a neat add-on than something to really be relied upon.
If all of this sounds appealing to you then this is a title that isn't to be missed especially if you didn't play P4 when it released on the PS2. Even if you've played Persona 4 then this is still worth picking up to see all of the added content that really ups the characterization of the various NPC's. No preorder content has been announced yet but with that October release date there is still some time for them to hopefully announce something nice.