Andrew McMahon
As someone who just got into the series himself, thanks to Persona 5 Royal on Game Pass, I was super excited to hear this news. Not only are Persona 3 Portable and Persona 4 Golden complimented as two of the best JRPGs of all time, but the fact that you can romance just about anyone and everyone made the dating simmer in me jump for joy.
Yet, while I really love Persona 4 Golden’s endearing characters and gripping detective narrative so far, there’s one minor gripe I have. I absolutely cannot stand the television reporter.
I know, I know, it’s a really odd and small thing to complain about, and the character is pretty insignificant, but I just can’t get it off my mind. You see, just about every time a significant plot point has occurred so far in the game, players are given a television report that gives them an idea of the issues their about to have to face in the near future.
While this is all well and good as a way of teasing what’s to come, one of the reporters that is responsible for getting the news out is absolutely dreadful. Every time he’s been on the screen so far, he’s done something to make me go, “good lord, that wasn’t very professional.”
The first instance of this occurs when he interviews an eyewitness that found the body in a murder case. In the report, the person they are interviewing is clearly Saki Konishi, but we only learn that after the interview, as a voice scrambler is added and she’s only referred to as a student.
So when the reporter goes up for the interview, logically speaking, we, as the player, think, oh, okay, he’s going to ask some questions to give us all a little insight into the murder and what Saki’s role in things are; tease us a bit regarding what her role is going to be in all of this.
Instead, what follows is one of the most uncomfortable murder interviews I’ve ever seen (and I’ve seen a bunch of Netflix murder documentaries). “What went through your mind when you saw it? Could you tell she was dead? Did you see her face,” he says giddily, prodding for a hot scoop.
He then says, “Don’t ya think it is scary that someone was killed on a foggy day?,” in a weirdly enthusiastic way. Saki is noticeably uncomfortable throughout the whole interview.
At first, I just chalked this up to an odd segment that wouldn’t have any significance. But then, once the second body is found, the reporter steps up his game from oddly excited about a murder to a creepy dude complimenting a teenage girl, Yukiko.
My first thought upon hearing his voice once again was, “time for some exposition.” That was until I realized the station failed to fire the nitwit after the first incident, resulting in an interview that is somehow even worse than the first time around.
The reporter goes to the inn where Yukiko works and where the second victim was staying. He bum-rushes her with a weird question about being the manager despite still being in high school, then follows up by talking about her kimono.
“You’re looking gorgeous in that kimono. You must have had a lot of male visitors.” Yukiko looks visibly uncomfortable, and it says that the reporter rambles on further off-topic before Nanako gets bored and changes the channel.
Since I’m still early in the game, these are the only two instances I’ve seen of the reporter so far, but my god, do I want to shove my hand into the screen and punch him. Thankfully, everything else about the game has been phenomenal so far, as I’ve already come to care about characters like Teddy and Yosuke, despite having just met them.
It looks like Xbox and Nintendo fans don’t have anything to worry about in terms of this port, as everything I’ve played so far points to another great JRPG. For more specifics on what you can expect, be sure to check out our recent review of Persona 4 Golden’s PC port, which we gave a perfect 5/5, thanks to its well-written characters, stories, and bumping soundtrack.
