Persona 4 Golden Out Today: ATLUS’ 9 Favorite NPCs

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Persona 4 Golden Out Today: ATLUS’ 9 Favorite NPCs

Persona 4 Golden

Persona 4 Golden: Ai Ebihara
Persona 4 Golden: Kinshiro Morooka
Persona 4 Golden: Yumi Ozawa
Persona 4 Golden: Noriko Kashiwagi
Persona 4 Golden: Nanako Dojima
Persona 4 Golden: Fox

Hello again, readers! Today marks the official launch of Persona 4 Golden for PS Vita. The team at ATLUS has been very hard at work preparing this title, chock-full of new content and maximized for the beautiful PS Vita hardware, and we’re super-excited to be able to bring this game to all of you.

While we don’t want to spoil anything, it’s really difficult to keep this level of enthusiasm up without sharing any of it with people who would like to listen. There’s been quite a bit of attention paid to the characters of Persona 4 Golden, and with that in mind we’ve asked some of the staff here at ATLUS about some of their favorite NPCs. We might even share some strategies and insights into the game!

Nich Maragos, Editor

“I’m fond of the twins who rope you into the telepathy experiments they perform. Helping them out with their trial and error over the course of the game is one of my favorite examples of how many small, quirky stories P4 has going on in the background throughout your year in Inaba.”

Mai Namba, Translator

“Kanji’s mother was my most favorite NPC in the game because not only is she accepting of Kanji’s hobbies, she sees nothing wrong with them and even encourages him to pursue said hobbies. How could you not like a mom like that!?”

Christian La Monte, QA Tester

“At first glance Ai Ebihara seems to be everything that not only the player, but the rest of Yasogami, should despise. She is actively vapid, materialistic, and heartless. Until, like all others, she becomes aware of her true self. Ai is afraid of showing emotion or weakness, and this manifests itself as an Ice Queen exterior. If the protagonist can see beyond this, he can unlock the doors that she has closed her entire life. It’s a great feeling when the greeting she gives is no longer a disdainful ‘Of course you’d want to hang out with me’ and instead becomes ‘I’m so happy to see you,’ after her fury cools. Although she treated a lot of my party members disdainfully, I think she eventually gets over that.”

Mike Meeker, Editor

“I really like the ailurophobe’s journey of discovery. But, out of anybody, I think Morooka gets a bad rap. I get the feeling that he used to be an optimistic and hopeful teacher, but years of disappointment in the educational system have worn him down into the cynical, hateful shell you see in the game. There are occasional glimpses showing that he actually cares about his students’ well-being and is more than just an angry guy doing a job he hates.”

Scott Williams, QA Lead

“Yumi Ozawa is one of the more focused, intense, and talented characters in the game. A little melodramatic and manic at times, she wears her heart on her sleeve and is one of the most cheerful people the protagonist will encounter, when the mood strikes her. She also has my favorite line in the game.”

Elwood Cruz, QA Tester

“Ms. Kashiwagi was probably one of my favorites (especially when teamed with Hanako). I thought she was hilarious right from the start. Plus she’s always ready for a bikini competition. I have a soft spot for Hisano, though. I really enjoyed her S. Link. Her perspective was an interesting change of pace from all the other characters.”

Clayton Chan, Editor

“It was really tough to localize all of Wallet Misplacer’s poetry so it fit into the space constraints, so she’ll always have a special place in my heart, along with Spacy Girl and Errand Boy. (Atlus needs to continue their stories as grown up protagonists in a game at some point.) If I have to pick a favorite, I gotta go with Funky Student. I like characters that are unusual blends of archetypes, and the Venn diagram intersection that Funky Student lives in is quite small. I learned this firsthand by growing up as a kid who was also really into hip-hop and riddles. He’s kind of a bizarro, more outgoing version of 6th grade me, so Funky Student’s my bro fo’ sho! (Did you spot him in P4A?)”

Rob Stone, QA Lead

“The fox at the shrine. *yip* That SP recovery in the TV World…”

Allie Doyon, QA Tester

“This is a nearly impossible decision, as every character big and small seems to charm me in one way or another, but I think I’ve made my choice. Melting hearts far and wide with the purest love for her local department store, it’s The Inspiring 6-Year-Old Role Model, Nanako! She’s always so kind and sweet, even when she’s home alone and has to do all the chores and cooking by herself. What a trooper! Hang in there, Nanako!”

There you have it! Hopefully you’ll all get the chance to find a character that you’ll grow fond of when you’re playing the game. Who’s your favorite NPC? Leave us a comment! Don’t forget, P4G is out today, so run out and grab your copy. And those of you who pre-ordered we hope you enjoy your DezaEgg skin (it really does look quite awesome with the P4G wallpaper).

As another ‘thank you’ to the fans, we are also excited to offer a chance for 20 lucky PS Vita owners in North America to win a copy of the game — keep your eye on @PlayStation on Twitter today for more details!

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119 Comments

26 Author Replies

  • OMG can’t wait!! Unfortunately since I’m importing it from the USA I have to wait till monday next week *man tears begin to shed*, Anywho I’m always willing to pay full price for Atlus games even if the import process adds more to the cost, but you make great games and I hope you continue to improve and deliver even better games!!

  • I went to pick it up and just my luck, the clerks didn’t know anything about the game and when I asked them about my stickers they didn’t give me anything since they didn’t know what I was talking about. So I am left without wallpapers nor stickers

  • Mike… I love you.

  • so pumped to pick up my solid gold edition today :D

  • Just counting the hours till I can leave and pick up my copy. The waiting is simply un-BEAR-able!

  • Hey teddie can u answer a question for me plz

    I bought and finish persona 4 long time ago great game btw, whats new beside the scouters ? to make me re-buy the same game again ? thx

  • I had this pre-order then I saw all the DLC…Cancel Pre-order and will wait for a Game of the Year edition in the future or when it drops to $10.

  • Anyone have any idea when the PlayStation store will have this up for download?

  • I’ve been more of a P3FES kinda guy, and MY favorite…is Chihiro. Reclusive bookworms FTD’aaaww!

  • Hey Atlus! We want a new PERSONA please dont forget the PS3 users…
    And please bring us Persona 3 FES and P4 in a HD Pack. (Persona HD 3/4 Collection?)

  • That Mike Meeker is a sexy sexy beast.

  • Persona 4 the golden is the best Vita game of the year. I really want it to be uploaded to PSN store soon though because I really want to do it for my Walkthrough on youtube. :D Atlus keep up the Persona series. Love you guys keep up the amazing work!!!

  • I bought this game not knowing what im getting in to. I have no clue what this game is all about. All I know is that many people seem to like it and it comes with a cool PSVita skin. Can anyone tell me about without any spoilers?

  • I’m kind of disappointed that they didn’t go with the $35.99 digital price, especially considering the physical copy pre-orders came with a P4 screen protector and such. Usually Atlus is fairly good with customer service/pricing. It seems that charging full retail price for digital games is becoming a trend on the Vita as well. =/

  • Sony! Update the store NOW or you’ll be in Midnight Channel.

    I can’t wait for picking up my Persona and say the spell word: $BUY. I bought one brand new PS VITA one week ago just only because of this game, although I was told that next year should be a good time for buying VITA. Too bad that you guys don’t support a special edition of PS VITA bundle with P4G.

    I hope 2013 will be a good year for announcement about Persona 5, and please not only support currently gaming hardware as PS3 or PS VITA, but also make an English localization as soon as possible (3 month later than Japanese version).

    Thank you guys, Atlus, for making a great Thanksgiving gift for your fans (because P4G is not only a ported game, but also it is a remake with new features, I belive). Wish you a happy holiday and keep up your good work.

  • The day is almost over and the PlayStation Store hasn’t been updated yet.. I really want this game but I don’t want to buy it retail because I still have two $20 PSN cards that I’m trying to use out.. So I can’t wait on till they put P4G on PSN so I could buy it..

  • anxiously waiting for the store to update so i can buy and download this :)

    one of the few Vita games i’ve been waiting for a long while to play.
    Also be my first Persona game.

  • I will not buy this game because of late PSN update and full retail price for digital copy of the game =))))))) You, guys, must learn respect =))))))

  • But looking forward to Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 5 on Vita =). Will buy it at a high price =).

  • @ 4

    I got my game purolator’d this morning from ebgames/gamestop without the skin but received shipping confirmation for the skin alone just this afternoon so there must have just been a delay on the bonuses

  • Funky Student?

  • I’ve been saving the $20 I got from the PSN store last month to buy this. You have no idea how hard it has been not to spend those $20, it’s like they are burning a hole in my digital pocket. I can’t wait for today’s update, thanks for being so awesome, Atlus!

  • @Mike #57 are talking about DLC for Mayonaka Arena. I suppose =(….

  • Mr. Mike, I’m a big fan of the Persona series and I’m eaguer to try to get this game on my vita as a download. Also I would like to mention you that I’m looking forward to purchase Persona Arena however I cannot get it on the disc (i’m migrating my collection to complete digital, no more disc for me, my cousins break them >.<) so I would really like to see that awesome fighting game as a Full Game download on the PSN.

    I know that there are others that would like to see that too so if you can pass this info to the shot callers at Atlus, you wil get more sales also of these wonderful games.

  • @20, wouldn’t know a good game or rpg if it bite him in the face lol. If you’re bored by the unique rpg elements of person 3 then you should stick to COD.

  • @Mike, YES, it is available for purchase now. But you need to search for it.

  • Aw man I sure wish I had a PSVita right now!! I’d get Persona 4 Golden in a heartbeat!

  • The store update goes live in some areas first, then others. However, the PSN Store update post doesn’t go up until they can verify it’s accessible to everyone.

  • @75 could you possibly sound like a bigger idiot? Antime people use the ‘go play teh Cod’ as a defense mechanism when someone critisizes something, i know they have nothing intelligent to offer.

  • Just got the game on PS Store… Downloading now. 3.1GB. There goes nearly half my 8GB card. I feel bad for people with 4GB cards.

    • Then that one just becomes your dedicated Persona 4 card. You weren’t doing anything better with that memory anyway, right?

  • Still waiting for UPS to ship my copy of the Solid Gold Edition that was pre-ordered from GameStop to Singapore. Estimate that it will reach me around Friday or so. First time that I’m importing a game from overseas…all these waiting when I can just grab a new copy off my local game shops…sigh…I really want to pimp my Vita up with the skin and the case…so it better reach me soon.

  • CAN YOU PLEASE UPDATE THE STORE? I HAVE BEEN WAITING ALL DAY AND REFRESHING MY VITA CONSTANTLY HOLY MOLY. I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS SINCE PERSONA 4 WAS OUT FOR PS2

  • @gemuvan thanks for letting me know it is available now.. I’m downloading it at this moment…

  • @Mike – Haha touche sir! If there’s a game that should be taking up my card space… it’s definitely P4G!!!

  • @62 Robogamer, I’ll check out your walk throughs. I love watching gameplay vids on YouTube. More fun than most tv shows. I love it when gamers get killed in Dark Souls. Hilarious!

  • I can’t waaaiiiittt to be able to play this.
    Still playing NFS, SFxT, COD:BOD, many PS+ games that I’ll get.

    And now Persona 4 Golden too
    well I haven’t played the Persona 4 and dropped the anime after 4 or 5 episodes, I wonder what the addition in “Golden” though…

    now I can’t justify how people said “Vita has no games”

  • Solid Gold Premium Edition just arrived! Now to get a Vita…
    PS: I WANT AVATARSSSSSS…pretty please?

  • Persona 4 is one of my favorite games ever. I’d probably say I enjoyed Dojima the most, because of his 24/7 loosened tie.

  • @ ryumoau

    You should really look in the mirror. The concept of self-awareness seems to have escaped you.

  • Had the Solid Gold Edition preordered within its first hour of availability on Amazon, yet no sign of shipping or credit card charges after going through nightmares with customer service. I’m wondering whether or not I should cancel that preorder and get the digital edition. I was hoping to kill two birds with one stone and get accessories for my Vita and the game, but now I’m staring at $39.99 in my PSN cart with no bonuses to show for it. They could’ve at least discounted the price to $35.99. =/

  • Hey mike, do you think that a Persona character could be in Playstation allstars battle royale?

  • amazing masterpiece game :D

  • Another game for the PS Vita yeah, I haven’t played a game like this but yet I’m excited to get this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Nov. 20th has come and gone and amazon.ca still hasn’t shipped my copy. Current estimates claim 23th. Care to comment on this Atlus? This is very uncool, I don’t like buying Vita games as physical but I did it for P4G because of the pre-order skin, but now I feel like I am being penalized for it. That skin better be there, or I will be a VERY unsatisfied customer.

  • So are saying you would love a Personacharacter in? If so, that’s awesome!

  • You know, I’ve been wondering, if P4G does really well, is it possible that you guys could make a Vita version of Persona 3? Keep the female protagonist, put back the FES chapter and this time give Aigis the Persona Compendium, bring back the 3D environment, make new costumes…And make a 4th slot for your costumes. That all I could think of =x

  • Does anyone know what the retail copy save data requirement of persona 4 golden is I know psn is 3 gigs but what about retail thanks in advance

  • WHERE IS SAYOKO?!

  • Mann i was almost late for work picking up Persona 4 dood! (had 30 seconds to clock in) unfortunately, i didn’t bring my trade in, so couldn’t pick it up today : l… but tomorrow in another day >: ) anyway, i really like my Vita and don’t plan on getting rid it anytime soon, but i really wish we could see some more really good RPGs like Persona 4 on the Vita… (looks at Mike)

  • Hoping for more Atlus support for Vita. Really looking forward to Dragon’s Crown.

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