Highlights

  • Complete dungeons in one day for the best results in Persona 4 Golden. Time management is crucial for accessing hidden content and maximizing time with Social Links.
  • Kanji, Yukiko, and Yosuke make up the ideal team composition. Kanji is the strongest physical attacker, Yukiko is the strongest magic user, and Yosuke is a reliable all-around member.
  • Carefully consider dialogue options in December for the best ending. Don't place all the blame on one character and reconsider clues to identify the true killer and reach the game's true ending.

While each Persona game follows a similar format, they are all unique in their own way and necessitate a set of unwritten rules players should follow when playing a specific entry. Persona 4 Golden is no different and contains some of the most difficult combat, as well as the most satisfying story beats, of any game in the franchise. As such, players jumping into Persona 4 Golden will want to be sure to follow the community's unwritten rules to ensure their playthrough goes as smoothly as possible and allows them to experience as much content as they can.

Persona 4 Golden is a particularly content-rich entry in the series, with a time to complete somewhere between 70-80 hours depending on how much of the side content players engage in. Accessing all of this content can be tricky as well, since a lot of it depends on players making certain decisions on specific days and being strong enough to tackle some tough dungeons. However, keeping these unwritten rules in mind as players make their way through Persona 4 Golden will ensure that they get the most complete experience with the least amount of trouble.

Official art of Persona 4 Golden's party members standing in profile
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Unwritten Rules to Follow for a Successful Persona 4 Golden Playthrough

Try to Complete Dungeons in One Day

The key to success in Persona 4 Golden is time management and being mindful of the timeline the game gives players to complete a dungeon. While the calendar system is not unique to Persona 4 Golden, it is more important than ever since so much of Persona 4 Golden's hidden content is tied to reaching certain milestones by specific days. In order to maximize the time available to spend with important Social Links, players should aim to complete each dungeon in a day, even if that means exhausting their supply of healing items to tank tough boss battles.

Kanji, Yukiko, and Yosuke Should Be the Primary Team

To efficiently navigate dungeons and complete them with as few complications as possible, Persona 4 Golden players are going to want the ideal party composition. While the party setup may differ slightly based on the character's availability in-game and which types of enemies are in a particular dungeon, in general, the best team is Kanji, Yukiko, and Yosuke, along with the protagonist. Kanji is the strongest physical attacker in the game, Yukiko is the strongest magic user, and Yosuke rounds out the party with his balanced, jack-of-all-trades move set to give the player a reliable composition of party members.

Carefully Consider December's Dialogue Options for the Best Ending

Getting to Persona 4 Golden's true ending can be confusing if players aren't prepared, and there are certain dialogue choices during the game's December events that drastically affect the game's outcome. As the Investigation Team gets closer to finding the culprit behind Inaba's rash of murders, the game will try to pin these murders on one specific character. However, players will want to resist the urge to place all the blame on this character and instead choose to reconsider the clues when given the option in order to identify the true killer and start themselves on the path toward the game's true ending.

Another important part of reaching the true ending of Persona 4 Golden is maximizing the Social Link with Persona 4 Golden's new character, Marie. Players will want to work on ranking up Marie's Aeon Social Link as soon as possible, as it must be at rank 10 by December 31 in order to unlock a bonus dungeon and the game's true ending. Along with choosing the right dialogue options in December and having Marie's Social Link at rank 10, players will want to choose not to leave Inaba on March 20 to unlock a confrontation with the game's true final boss.