Persona 4 Arena - Want to get into Fighting Games?

My Introduction to You:

A good friend of mine (Epsilon) and I have a huge rivalry against each other in fighting games. Before we met, he though thought he was good at fighting games from past experiences he had, and I knew I wasn't good enough at fighting games after my encounters with pro fighting gamers. When we met, we played Arcana Heart 3, and then it became pretty obvious where he and I stood with fighting games.

To him, I seemed like a pro. To me, he clearly didn't own Street Fighter 3 Third Strike or even King of Fighters. From that point on, he wanted to beat me and would become as adept as possible in Fighting games, and now we are at the same level pretty much. One day, he was the first to make a move on a newer fighting game we didn't have but played at Anime Expo. As of recent, I got my butt whipped in Persona 4 Arena by his vigorous training, even after teaching me much of the system. Now I'm borrowing the game from him to review it, and it turns out, which he mentioned from the lesson mode, the game is easier to learn than most fighting games but also has some advanced material. In short, the best way to put it is that its Aksys's answer to Marvel vs Capcom 3.

Depth: 9

What's on the outside of the game:

Persona 4 Arena is a pretty awesome fighting game that offers Aksys style Blazblue gameplay while adding elements influenced by the Persona series and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. The game has a good amount of modes to offer that are also commonly seen in most Aksys fighting games today. These modes are Lesson mode, Story mode, Arcade mode, Score Attack mode, Challenge mode, Versus mode and Network mode. These modes are all there to help you become a better fighting gamer to take on other players, though, the true experience will only come from training with human players in general rather than the A.I.

The lesson mode covers the entire basic mechanics of the game, so you won't go into Persona 4 Arena with a blindfold. The lessons do well to try and help you the best they can to carry out what is asked and before you know it, you'll already be ready to win some CPU matches. From the get go though in the tutorials, I could already tell the gameplay was simple, but still had an amount of depth to it that would only happen in pro matches. Surprisingly, the inputs for the special moves only go as far as quarter-circles and held special inputs.

The story mode allows you to immerse yourself in an Aksys style story mode similar to Blazblue but instead is a sequel to the Persona 4 story, which even brings Persona 3 characters into the loop. By completing characters' stories, you'll unlock other characters to play as in the story mode, though, their stories all seem to be entirely different scenarios from one another similar to Blazblue. There are true endings and a character which the story does revolve around.

The other modes are your straight up vs match modes. Arcade mode allows you to engage in battle like any usual fighting game to beat your way through a set amount of characters, however, thanks to the Aksys influence, there are some story scenes similar to story mode on certain matches and a cinematic ending. Versus mode allows you to engage in single matches against a CPU or player. Challenge mode, like most modern games now, allows you to take on combos made in the game while also acting as a training to understand some basics and advanced material for your character. Network mode allows you to go online and fight other players. And of course, I'd leave the most important for last...Score Challenge mode, the mode that'll kick your butt so hard you'll feel like Akuma just decided to stop by to bully you the second you start the first match. The second your friend thinks you are good at the game, just have him play score challenge mode, and watch all the pride and confidence get slapped right off his face...that's how I felt. Not even a pro player made me feel this helpless.

What's on the inside of the game?:

So now that I've told you what this game has to offer in terms of modes. Let's touch on the gameplay of some of the mechanics that I can discuss without sounding too confusing. For starters, rather than having you choose between a simple and normal mode for fighting, every character has their own unique auto combo which acts like doing a simple mode combo (easy one button shortcut) but it isn't. Basically, if you aren't good at the game, you can rely on the auto combos to help you get the hang of things just a bit, or to throw in the middle of your combos, but it punishes you if you commit to using it entirely. By finishing an auto combo and having 50 SP (your super meter), your character will combo straight into their normal super but in return lose a portion of hp. Of course, you don't have to pull through with the move entirely and you can do the super input yourself to avoid this. The auto combo is not necessarily as strong as doing your own combo either but it can be made useful in your own combos too.

The persona can be utilized in battle through a light and heavy persona attack, persona special attacks, and certain sp skills (supers). Certain persona attacks will leave your persona out for an extended duration after their attack enabling you to strike again with the persona and even do combos at the same time during their slower attacks, or you can simply cancel into light persona attacks or persona special moves. However, because they are completely defenseless to any attack and if struck, will disappear completely stopping their attack and reducing the persona gauge by one card. Once you lose for persona cards, your character will be unable to use any attack relating to the use of a persona, thus putting the player at a disadvantage until their gauge is fully recharged.

Because Persona and Shin Megami Tensei are Role-playing games, even the fighting game has rpg elements, Persona rpg elements specifically! Though, it's not the first to do this by any means, Flying Dragon/Hiryu no Ken Twin might have been the first (having even more rpg elements.) Persona 4 Arena has moves and elements that can heal characters, cost hp to use, buff a character's strength or speed, imbue a character to inflict a status on hit, cause status effect states, increase chance of death, or cause instant death (and not by using last round fatality [instant kill] either). Yes, you can inflict states such as shock to prevent a character from moving normally, panic which reverses controls, mute which keeps a character from using their moves and persona attacks, or even rage which increases strength but leaves a character unable to block.

Everyone has a furious attack that costs a small portion of hp but in return gives invincibility during the attack, counters an attack, or guards while attacking. This is representative of how physical skills in Persona cost hp to use. Another Persona based attack is the All-Out Rush in which the character strikes the enemy slowly, and if it landed, you can rush in to pummel the heck out of your opponent with smoke and clouds everywhere before you choose to kick them away or launch them sky high. When your character is low on health, they'll enter a state known as awakening in which their defense is boosted, their sp goes up to 150 while gaining 50 in the process, and you'll have access to awakening mode sp skills.

Some concepts in the game, some renamed as references to Persona, but not original to Persona are the ability to perform stronger versions of moves like an EX attack from Street Fighter 3-4 (Skill boosting), rapid to completely cancel any attack to a neutral state like in Blazblue (One More Time), Fatal Counter from Blazblue which is a stronger version of countering your opponent during their attack opening up more possibilities for new combos, short hopping like in KoF but instead performed through a button input (Mini Jumping), a dodge maneuver similar to rolling (quick escape), and sweeping which is also down through a different input. These are only some of the concepts that you'll many fighting game veterans may be familiar with and have fun abusing when needed. However, one particular concept that caught my attention that I only saw a slight similarity to in Guilty Gear Isuka, was the ability to turn in mid-air allowing easy cross-ups when jumping over your opponent.

There is a lot of depth to this game and thanks to all the additions from many fighting games and Persona's rpg elements. However, thanks to my friend, research, and some tournament matches, I've discovered some pretty crazy exploits that can be a little game breaking at times or make characters seem overpowered, but there are sometimes ways out of certain frame traps and etc. that you might come across. However, that's not actually broken because the balancing in this game is well done to avoid such, and the fact that some things are escapable given certain circumstances, it is far more balanced that Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3...a game that's just...no.

Story : 6

This Persona story, though a sequel to Persona 4 and sort of Persona 3, is in my opinion, not as good as the story was in the original. The story has its funny and serious moments depending on which character you play, and there are even omake/joke endings in the game. However, the story is literally more story than there is gameplay, so in a way, it's staying true to what it is, though if you aren't a story loving person, you'll be feeling a little lost and blank minded at points. The Aksys style story mode always plays out in a visual novel so, don't be expecting too much besides some of the few cut scenes you may come across. Honestly, if they really wanted to go all out with the story mode, they could have done it Persona style and allow you to adventure around and the such, but with the way the story mode plays out, there wouldn't actually be that much to do.

So what is the story of the game? Basically, Yu Narukami, the leader of the persona users in Persona 4, revisits Yasoinaba two months after the original story. His friends, Chie, Yosuke, and Yukiko who were expecting him discuss the Midnight Channel and its recent appearance. The Midnight Channel in the previous Persona would air on T.V. to show them a victim who would die the next day, and with the help of Yu, they'd be able to enter the T.V. world to take prevent these deaths and fight monsters known as Shadows. Upon viewing the channel, the four character see an awfully confusing show that seems like a tournament fight which they and a few other friends seem to be involved in. Deciding to investigate the matter, the characters enter the TV world and are forced to play by the rules of the tournament set for them. Oddly enough, two of their friends, Teddie and Rise, are hosting and announcing the tournament after having gone on a mission before the tournament. They also find a girl they've never seen claiming to be their school council president within the TV world of their own school.

That is only as much of the story I can tell you without spoiling the rest. Overall though, the story doesn't bring that much to the table, but it's there to check out if you want something interesting.

Difficulty & Controls: 6

The gameplay controls are actually simpler than Blazblue and some other fighting games out there. However, this by no means determines the actual difficulty of mastering a character or using the mechanics and concepts correctly. With the simplicity of the moves in the game, it all comes down to a matter of timing being one of the influential factors to certain combos and matches.

Even though the controls are simple, it could still take some getting used to for someone who has never touched a usual fighting game. Luckily, for those who have never touched a fighting game, Persona 4 Arena only leaves you with the quarter-circle motions and charged moves to learn and nothing more (no dragon punches, no full-circles, no half-circles.) The attacking functions in the game all consist of a light attack, heavy attack, light persona attack, and heavy persona attack. Like Aksys games and some other fighting games, you can chain together attacks usually from the lightest to heaviest attack, which stops at light persona attacks. Similar to JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, it's possible to active your heavy persona attack to summon them and then attack at the same time, and perhaps continue the heavy persona attack with a follow up they may have depending on the character once again.

That of course is simply the basics controls in Persona 4 Arena, and through arcade stick controls, you'd be able to press a combination of buttons simultaneously for completely different options to use in battle. For example, pressing light attack and heavy attack together (which can be mapped to whatever button you want on a controller), you can use the all-out attack and pummel the heck out of your opponent. Through fighting games using button combinations, this has proven simple to keep important maneuvers easy to pull off and with the many techniques there are in persona 4 Arena, this is proven once again.

The difficulty of the A.I. in the game is pretty balanced for the most part...except score attack which is incredibly hardcore and as evil as God Hand on level Die. I've played in multiple difficulties both in arcade, vs, and even training mode, and the difficulty stays true to what you set the level at. It can help boost your game as a fighter if you are new to fighting games, but as always, the next level is taking on amateurs and pros. However, then there's Score Attack which is pretty much designed for high level amateurs and beyond, and this is actually a good thing. After a good butt kicking, you think to yourself, is this impossible, or do I just really suck at the game. Answer is, yeah, you do suck at the game, and it hurts some to admit that, but the faster you can admit it, the faster you can get to training and becoming at least Dan Hibiki tournament material. Overall thought he game does have a good amount of balance in A.I. controls, and mastering the game.

Addictiveness: 9

This game can get you really hooked when you have a good friend to play it with. I'm saying this right from the start because I've spent an entire night from 6PM to 7AM of just constant vs matches against my friend...scary, yeah, did I notice time fly by, no. This game is actually pretty fun to play versus matches against a friend with whether you lose or not, and I think that's thanks to the mixture of Aksys Blazblue like gameplay, an influence of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, and a hint of balanced Marvel vs Capcom. Combos are very fun to pull off in this game and can look quite artistic at times which makes going into training to just practice combos, also quite a treat.

There are times where I felt at little sad that there were only 13 characters, 12 if you don't count shadow Labyrs. Naturally, I like to have all sorts of different match ups to change things up sometimes, but even so, the amount of ways I've seen a match end still keeps me from putting down the controller against my friend. There is a sequel coming out which will have 3, or maybe even 4, more characters so that will change things up when the time comes.

Graphics: 8

The graphics for Persona 4 Arena are pretty good having the Aksys style 2D on 3D backgrounds and even a few effects in the game. Having these details in a fighting game are what separate it from other fighting games. This time around though, something I haven't seen done in a lot of fighting games for awhile was having stages at a different time of the day or different versions of stages that set apart the differences atmosphere. However, it is a little sad that we don't get to see a lot of different unique stages even if there are only some replicas. Many of the stages were made to match the TV world mirroring the characters' real world and their school so there will be some interesting areas that are original, but over time kind of lose their appeal.

In battle, the character graphics are well done giving off that small Blazblue feel as well as well as a bit of Guilty Gear thanks to a few move animations coming from the game. Special moves and super moves, as well as the super move K.O. screen all look pretty awesome and flashy, so even watching the game is pretty interesting. Overall, the graphics are pretty solid.

Sound: 8

First thing I'm going to say right now is...Yu Narukami actually has dialogue. In Persona 4 on the PS2, he was a slightly silent protagonist, but in a few cut scenes and battle, he has just small lines or even a word. The voice acting game is well done for the most part, but maybe there are one or two characters that just sound a little out of place, though, I won't mention who. You can also put the voices to Japanese, but the English voice actors are actually pretty good especially since all of them except two returned and did a great job in the previous Persona games.

The music in the game is good for the most part. There's rock, fusion, and jazz, mostly rock. I don't mind the music at all while I'm playing and actually gives off an air of being "cool." There are some returning themes from previous games as well like Mass Destruction from Persona 3, or the original Reach out to the Truth, since there is a remixed Arena version. Because Persona 4 Arena is a fighting game, characters now have themes also and it has been composed quite well to match the Persona style.

Overall: 9

Overall, this fighting game is a breath of fresh air to our remixing culture. It's a melting pot that makes one great original and unique game that plays like Blazblue yet feels so different due to some of the different concepts and added mechanics in the game. The music and graphics are also a great treat to the fans, but the story on the other hand will be a letdown to them, but it's still a bonus at least of having something besides just fighting. I do recommend adding Persona 4 Arena to your fighting game collection. However, if you are very patient, the sequel Persona 4 The Ultimax Ultra Suplex Hold will come out probably in a couple months since the arcade release will be by the end of 2013.

persona 4 arena been there like it but i'm not a big fan of fighters...