Persona 4 Golden endings and how to get the Golden ending

Getting the Persona 4 Golden ending you want is a tricky blend of planning ahead and carefully choosing the correct sequence of dialogue options at a key moment.

You won’t have to worry too much about it in the RPG’s first few months, but there is one Social Link you need to plan on doing every time it’s available. The crucial conversation happens in November at the hospital, when the team has to make a dificult decision about how to proceed with what limited knowledge they have to hand.

Even after clearing the final dungeon, you still have a few tricky steps to navigate if you want the absolute best ending.

• Persona 4 Golden endings explained
• Persona 4 Golden bad endings 3
• Persona 4 Golden good endings and accomplice ending
• Persona 4 Golden accomplice ending
• Persona 4 Golden good ending 3
• Persona 4 Golden true ending
• Persona 4 Golden's Golden ending

Persona 4 Golden endings explained

Persona 4 has seven endings and seems determined to shove you down the road to any of them except the good ones. Three are variations of the bad ending. One sees you ally yourself with the Inaba murderer. One is a standard good ending that leaves some mysteries unsolved.

Then you have the true ending, which was the original best ending before Golden came out, and the Golden ending, which wraps up everything nicely and answers every lingering question.

If you want the Golden ending, you must max out Marie’s Social Link before the middle of December. She’s available from April 18 after you visit the Velvet Room, and you can find her in downtown Inaba on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday, unless it’s raining.

The turning point for all of these is on December 3, when one character winds up in the hospital, and the Investigation Team thinks they know who’s responsible. The group is on the verge of making a rash decision, and your choices in a conversation with Yosuke determine what happens next.

Persona 4 Golden bad endings

For the first bad ending, choose to push the suspect into the TV world, and don’t relent.

You get the second bad ending if you agree the suspect is the culprit, but refuse to kill them.

The third bad ending happens if you refuse to believe the suspect is the culprit, but incorrectly name who you think the real culprit is.

All of these endings involve at least one person’s death and one party member leaving and never returning.

Persona 4 Golden ending – The good endings and accomplice ending

The path to the good ending opens the way to a true ending, the Golden ending, and a much less pleasant accomplice ending. To reach these, you must pick the following dialogue choices during your hospital conversation with Yosuke.

1. Any choice
2. “Wait a second here…”
3. We’re missing something”
4. “Their [the suspect’s] true feelings”
5. “Something’s been bothering me”
6. “We’re missing something…”
7. Calm the hell down!”

What happens next depends on whether you correctly identify the culprit. We won’t spoil them completely, but suffice to say, their surname sort of rhymes with Cabbachi.

Persona 4 Golden accomplice ending

The accomplice ending is a bit disturbing, so bear that in mind if you decide to go down this road. To get here, you need to reach rank 6 of the Jester Social Link by the end of October. Correctly identify the culprit – and then choose not to tell your friends. Time skips ahead to March 20. Go visit the culprit, and burn their letter to get this unique ending.

Persona 4 Golden normal ending

If you don’t want to roll credits with Yu as a psychopath, choose to tell your friends who the culprit is. There’s a new dungeon and a multi-part boss fight at the end of this road, and then time skips to March 20 as usual. When you’re prompted to go home, say yes.

Persona 4 Golden true ending

Follow all the steps to get the normal ending until March 20 rolls around. Visit everyone whose social link you’ve maxed out. Then, when prompted to return home, say no.

Go to the Junes food court. Head to the elevator, and then:

• Say “no”
• Say “I’m not finished yet”
• Say “Yes”
• Say “There’s something missing”

Go to the riverbank area next, and speak with Dojima. Then, go to the Velvet Room and chat with Igor to get the Orb of Clarity. Travel to the shopping district, and chat with the gas station attendant. You have several dialogue options during these conversations, but none of the choices will alter the outcome. Pick whatever you want.

A new dungeon awaits, along with another lengthy, multi-part boss battle, and the best outcome so far.

This was originally the best ending, but Golden adds an even more involved ending, with two extra months of gameplay and yet another new dungeon.

Persona 4 Golden endings – The Golden ending

The steps to unlock the Golden ending are identical to the true ending, with one exception: You must max out Marie’s Social Link before the middle of December. If you do, you’ll be able to play through parts of January and February, maxing out Social Links and taking yet more class exams. If not, you’ll skip straight to March 20 after finishing Magatsu Inaba.

Along with a ski trip, you get a new dungeon: Hollow Forest. Rescue Marie by February 13 to avoid a game over, and then once Valentine’s Day ends, you skip to March 20. Follow the steps for the true ending again – speak to your maxed-out Social Links, go to Junes, refuse to go home, speak with Dojima and Igor, then speak to the gas station attendant – and then that’s it. You’ve seen nearly everything Persona 4 Golden has to offer.