Persona 4 pedantry - What's different in Golden?

So as promised, here is a big, super amazingly geeky post on everything I can remember that's different in Persona 4 The Golden as opposed to the original game. It'll be broken down into five basic segments - World (everything in that happens outside the TV), Dungeons (everything that happens in the TV and battles), Fusion(anything Persona related), Social Links (any changes related to the social links) and Misc (everything else, mostly system level stuff).

Be warned this post assumes you have played the original game and thus will contain FULL NO HOLDS BARRED SPOILERS FOR PERSONA 4. Fairly warned be ye! Also, although I will not be spoiling the new plot points in Golden, I will be describing new mechanics and interactions, so if you consider that a spoiler, you are also forewarned!

Let's get into it. Alert - dangerous levels of nerdiness ahead.

World

• Several story events have been added within the timeframe of the original game. These are generally non-interactive and non plot related. Think of them more as skits or vignettes.  These are often accompanied by new animated scenes
• New playable time has been added between Christmas Eve and the final day in March. This includes new events, music and cutscenes.
• At a certain point in the story the party will gain scooters. You can then choose to ride the scooter from outside the Dojima house (doing so will take time). After a certain number of rides, two new locations will be unlocked. One is Okina City, briefly seen in the original game. The other is a new location, Shichiri beach.
• In Okina City you can visit the Chagall cafe to obtain new skill cards (see the Fusion section for more details), buy costumes at Croco Fur or go to the 30 Frame cinema, which will boost your expression if you go alone or level up party members if you take them to a film they like.
• At Shichiri Beach you can fish, watch the ocean to learn a random new skill on a random Persona, or go swimming to boost your courage.
• You can now leave the house at night and wander the shopping district. The Shiroku store becomes the Shiroku pub, where items can be obtained in exchange for gems. Certain social links may appear here - see that section for details.
• There is a new job available at night, working in the Shiroku Pub. It will boost diligence and one other attribute (varies according to the day)
• The fishing system has been completely overhauled. Catching different fish now requires different types of bait, in the form of bugs. You can also fish at the beach in addition to the river.
• To obtain bait, a bug catching minigame can be played at night in the Shrine area.
• You can pray at the shrine at night for reminders of things you need to do, similar to going to the bathroom in school.
• It's now possible to grow vegetables in the patch outside the Dojima house. If Nanako or Dojima accompany you in this, your social link points with them will increase.
• All of the questions you are asked in class and on the exam have been changed.
• There is a roulette minigame on the uppermost vending machine in the shopping district.
• After scooters have been obtained, party members will sometimes hang out in the shopping district with their bikes. If you talk to them, you can go with them to the beach or a hot spring, where they can learn new moves or remember old ones.
• A new bad ending is available if you reach level 6 in the new Jester social link and perform certain actions.
• A bonus dungeon is available if you max the new Aeon social link before Christmas.
• The game will now only ask you once if you wish to visit the food court on the final day.
• If you conquer the new dungeon and achieve the true ending then a new epilogue is unlocked

Dungeons

• There has been a general difficulty tweak. To my mind, this version of the game seems easier than the PS2 version.
• If you die you will now be given the option to restart at the beginning of the floor you were on. To compensate, in dungeon save points have been removed.
• All Shadows on the dungeon map are now represented by the ground based 'Maya' enemy. There are no more floating shadows.
• The post battle 'shuffle time' mechanic has been completely revamped, and is much less easy now.
• Shadows react to your presence considerably more slowly. This makes taking them by surprise and gaining advantage far easier.
• The battle music has been changed.  The default battle theme is now a new track, 'Time to Make History'. When the player has the advantage, the battle track returns to being 'Reach Out to the Truth'
• After the scooters have been obtained there is a chance of a 'Cavalry Attack' option being available after a knockdown.  A random character who is not in the party will ride in on their bike and attack the enemies. Yosuke, Yukiko and Teddie will attack and down one character. Kanji and Naoto have a random chance to hit and down multiple enemies. Chie knocks a single enemy out of battle, similar to her 'Galactic Punt' attack.
• Depending on the level of her social link, Rise will now participate in battles. Certain abilities are gained at certain levels of her link. She may join the All-Out attack, heal the party, restore their SP, cure them of ailments, buff attributes or protect the party once per battle from fatal attacks. These appearances are random but seem to happen more when the party is badly hurt.
• After a certain level of her social link has been reached, Rise has a (high) chance of joining the All-Out Attack. 'Rise All-Out Attacks' deal more damage and have a different animation
• There are new art cut-ins for the All-Out Attack, prominently emphasising the character who calls the attack.
• If an All-Out attack does not kill all enemies and certain pairs of characters are in the party, a follow-up attack will be performed to deal additional Almighty damage. The pairs who can perform attacks are Chie/Yukiko, Yosuke/Teddie and Kanji/Naoto.
• The Reaper will now appear on the first runthrough. The method for encountering him has changed as well. After opening 21 chests there is a random chance he will be in the 22nd.
• Costumes have been added, and will only be worn while in dungeons. Unlike in Persona 3 they occupy a separate equipment slot, so you can equip them alongside existing armour. Costumes can be found, bought or awarded as prizes. Costumes will not be present in cutscenes or art sprites
• The majority of Teddie's costumes have him in human form. Yes, this DOES eliminate the squeaking when he walks.
• No matter what order you select the party in, they will always assume a specific slot (in the order which they joined the part, so Yosuke first, Naoto last)
• New weapons, items, armour, accessories etc.

Fusion

• New Personas have been added, as well as two new arcanas, Aeon and Jester. Because of this, the fusion chart has changed considerably. Many existing fusion recipes will no longer work.
• You can now directly pick the skills inherited though fusion.
• There is now an option to automatically see all possible fusion options for the Personas you have equipped.
• A new skill card system has been introduced. Skill cards can teach certain moves to any Persona. They are obtained through the shuffle time, and can either be used or given to the Velvet Room, where they will be archived and can be purchased any number of times.
• Personas will now have card icons by one of their moves. This indicates if they are in the active slot and you go to cafe Chagall, you'll gain a skill card for that move. This is the only way to gain some of the most powerful skill cards.
• Some Personas have had their movesets and stats tweaked. Izanagi-no-Ookami is a notable example of this.

Social Links

• Two new social links have been added. One is for Marie, a mysterious denizen of the Velvet Room who is represented by the Aeon arcana (XX). The other is for Adachi, who is represented by the Jester arcana.(0). As mentioned above, both of these social links need to be maxed for certain new content.
• All of the party social links have had their skill progressions changed. The sequence in which they learn special abilities has been altered - they will now not take mortal blows for you until you reach level 9.
• Party members will now learn Persona skills at even levels of the Social Link, not just abilities at odd ones. As a result, the number of skills they know is increased - for example, Yukiko can now learn Mudo skills.
• The benefits gained from the Rise social link have been completely overhauled, as detailed in the Dungeon section.
• All Party members now have a third tier Persona which can be obtained by spending time with them during January or February, after the social link has been maxed.
• When they gain these new Personas, each party member will also learn a unique skill.
• The game will now always tell you whether the link will advance before you commit to spending time with anybody.
• Certain social links can be found in the shopping district at night.  You can hang out with them, but you can never rank up the link this way, only advance it towards the next rank. They will also give you an item. The exception to this rule is Adachi, who sometimes can only be encountered at night.
• You no longer have to max the Hermit social link to be able to draw fortunes at the shrine to get closer to people - this can now be done any day for a small fee.
• If you max the Marie link, she will appear last in the Izanami social link montage.This is bullshit.

Misc

• The game is now in widescreen, naturally.
• All of the dialogue for Chie and Teddie has been rerecorded with their new voice actors Erin Fitzgerald and Sam Riegel. Any new dialogue for Kanji is recorded by Matthew Mercer, but Troy Baker’s performance is retained for existing scenes. All of the other main cast are reprised by their original voice actors. Some secondary characters, such as Namatame lines recorded with new voice actors. These...stand out.
• There is a huge amount of new dialogue, more than I could possibly summarise here.
• There is a new opening video and new theme, Shadow World.
• A new 'TV Channels' feature has been added. This features a music collection, cutscene theatre, art gallery, clips from the Persona live concerts, a series of lectures on Jungian psychology and trailers for previous Persona games, Persona 4 Arena and Persona 4 The Animation. If you check the listings at midnight, there’s an easter egg.
• Also in the TV channels is the Miracle Quiz, a trivia game that features new graphics and voice-acting work.
• Wireless features have been added. The first allows you to call for help while you're in a dungeon. If someone responds, you'll receive an HP and SP boost.  The second allows you to see what other players did on the same day or if you’re in the Velvet Room, what they’re fusing.
• There are trophies, if you care about such things.
• New Game + mode has been expanded and now allows you to set individual elements of the difficulty at any time, which is extremely neat.