Persona 4 Golden is a very lengthy game, and Atlus made sure to keep you busy during your playthrough by offering a wide variety of achievements to hunt down. Many of the achievements you obtain will be unlocked through standard gameplay or will require you to complete specific side objectives, but there are a select few that are very challenging to hunt down.
Whether they require you to defeat the most challenging bosses the game has to offer, make very particular decisions throughout your playthrough, or just require a lot of luck, these are the achievements that you will be proud to check off the list.
5 Mr. Perfect
In Persona 4 Golden, there are five separate social stats that can be leveled up during your journey: courage, knowledge, expression, understanding, and diligence. Each of these stats can be raised through various different methods, such as participating in school activities and working part-time jobs, on top of the many other things you have to do. Each social stat can be leveled up five times, and this is necessary to access certain social links.
If you max out all five, you are rewarded with the Mr. Perfect achievement, and will no longer be locked out of certain in-game events, however, maxing out all of them in one playthrough is quite difficult and takes a lot of careful planning. You’ll have to dedicate a lot of in-game days to raising your social stats, and be sure to capitalize on as many extra stat raises as you can, like answering questions right in class. However, if you don’t get it on your first playthrough, your social stats carry over to New Game+, giving you a second chance.
4 Thorough Bookkeeper
As you play through Persona 4 Golden, you’ll encounter and equip a wide variety of Personas. Eventually, you gain the ability to fuse and create new Personas with your existing ones. The game encourages you to experiment with your existing Personas and fuse new ones, so much so that there is an achievement to be earned for completing the Persona Compendium, a resource that keeps track of all the Personas you’ve encountered and created.
Given that there are 179 unique Personas to obtain in Persona 4 Golden, and that you need to fuse certain Personas to obtain other ones, it will take a lot of fusions to fill out the entire compendium. There are a lot of online resources that can help you figure out which ones you’re missing, as well as tell you what combinations you need to obtain the ones you don’t have, but it’s still a major time commitment to get all of them, though, those who love Pokemon may get a kick out of completing the Persona equivalent of the Pokedex.
3 One Who Has Proven Their True Power
Throughout your journey in Persona 4 Golden, you are accompanied by Margaret, Igor’s assistant. She is in charge of the Persona Compendium and helps you fuse new Personas, alongside resummoning Personas you’ve encountered. While most of her in-game interactions are strictly in the Velvet Room, if you complete a very specific set of requirements, you can challenge her to a fight. This fight is only available in New Game+, even if you complete all the requirements in your first playthrough.
Challenging Margaret is only half of the story, however, as once you finally are able to battle her, you are greeted with what is unquestionably one of the toughest fights in the game. There’s a reason this fight is hidden behind so many extra requirements, as it tests your abilities more than any other boss battle, and is only meant for those who are dedicated to the game. Needless to say, if you do manage to defeat her, you will do exactly as the achievement is titled, and prove your true power.
2 Hardcore Risette Fan
This achievement is the bane of all Persona 4 Golden achievement hunters. After saving Rise from her palace, she replaces Teddie as the games navigator, and, admittedly, does a much better job at it than he does. While Rise is a great addition to the team, those who are looking to complete all of Persona 4 Golden’s achievements may get a little frustrated with her, as one of the achievements in the game requires you to listen to 250 of Rise’s Navigation Lines.
These navigation lines are selected at random, and you must hear 250 unique ones to obtain this achievement. Whether or not you can complete this one is completely dependent on luck, and there isn’t any in-game way to track which lines you have and haven’t heard. While it is frustrating to hunt down, there are some things you can do to manipulate the system, such as going to different locations where she will say specific lines. Additionally, this achievement has no time limit attached to it like many other tough achievements, giving it some room for forgiveness. Even so, this is easily the most tedious achievement to obtain in Persona 4 Golden, and one you’ll be glad to be done with.
1 Legend Of Inaba
Strengthening the bonds between those around you is a pivotal theme in Persona 4, and when you’re not exploring dungeons and fighting shadows, you’re sure to be spending a lot of time with your fellow teammates, classmates, as well as many others. In all, there are 23 different social links to complete, many of which are gatekept by needing the right social stats to advance.
Between all the prerequisites to advance social links, and the sheer number of them to complete, maxing out all of them with the strict deadlines set in Persona 4 Golden is a challenge. While it’s not impossible to complete all of them on your first playthrough, it's very difficult, and it’s recommended to work on maxing your social stats on your first playthrough, as it makes completing all the social links in your New Game+ playthrough much less stressful. Even though it is a very tall order, it is one of the most rewarding achievements in the game, and seeing all the character’s individual stories makes it all worth it.