Persona 4: Arena Preview

It’s been a little over 2 weeks since the arcade release of Persona 4: Arena in Japan and I could not be more excited about any other fighting game.  Arc System Works’ and Atlus have teamed up to create an almighty melding of worlds.  On one hand, one of the most popular JRPG franchises ever to cross the states since Final Fantasy and on the other, the development team behind both Guilty Gear and Blazblue.  What is the result? It looks to be one of the flashiest and most fun fighting games I have ever laid my untainted eyes upon; Persona 4: The Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena (Just Persona 4: Arena in the states).

Now I have previously fallen in love with the Persona games.  Their Japanese pop culture feel and the fun characters ebb nicely into the flow of a marvelously produced RPG complete with social links, fun combat, and a superior stylized anime feel.  Guilty Gear and Blazblue also have a similar stylized look about them along with intense and fast paced fighting.  As games, these hit top marks in my book and are definitely worth the reception they have received.  But first and foremost I consider myself a fighting game player.  The level of excitement I feel towards the “marrying” of these 2 ideas makes me wet with anticipation.  I loved Guilty Gear and Blazblue, these games have stolen countless hours of my days in the past.  Boiling up fresh combos and set ups in the lab is what I live for.  But getting to do so as Chie and Yosuke will make it all the better.  This makes for one of the best RPG to fighting game cross overs since Ehrgeiz and their inclusion of FF7 characters. I must say though, getting to play as Cloud, Tifa, and Zach in a 3D fighter was pretty cool back in the day.  All the mainstays from Persona 4 are here, and a few from Persona 3 as well.  Aigis, Akihiko, and Mitsuru join the investigation team for some all-out mayhem in the 2D fighting world. 

The story revolves around some sort of tournament being held by Teddie inside the TV world of Inaba.  Yu Narukami, the not so nameless main character from Persona 4 (I actually like that he is named “You”, layers of cleverness), must rise up to the occasion as he battles it out against his investigation team in order to bring them back to their former selves as well as figure out the conspiracy behind this fighting show hosted by an ally in arms.  The game is actually a direct sequel chronologically.  Persona 4: Arena takes place only a few months after the end of the previous game.  The console release promises a more extensive single player story mode that will enlighten players of the background and perhaps why Aigis is in Inaba, and why she has some sort of grudge with Yu.

The gameplay looks extraordinary. It’s the same fast and flying action that those who played other Arc System Works’ games are used to, but with the added persona system.  Like controlling a second character simultaneously, the persona system looks to be far more than just stylized special moves.  Each character’s persona seems to give way to the preferred play style of each personality as well as some great versatility.  There doesn’t seem to be any sort of meter limitation on usage but there is a persona break mechanic that appears to occur when your persona is interrupted or otherwise hit during its on-screen presence.  A card count under the match timer indicates when your persona becomes inactive.  It seems to me they want more strategy behind the usage of said persona.  It does bare a resemblance to Jo Jo’s Bizarre Adventure or even the Arcana’s in Arcana Hearts 3, but it seems to hold a bit more in store for us.  Now of course I haven’t yet played it, but I’ve been looking at a bunch of footage.  I’ll leave a few links below for you to see for yourself. 

We are currently looking at 12 characters with the inclusion of the playable boss character on March 22^nd and the addition of the newly revealed Elizabeth (Igor’s assistant in P3) on April 5^th to the arcades.  This number matches that of Blazblue: Calamity Trigger when it was released on consoles but is still a pretty pathetic roster number.  It is however all about quality and not quantity, but of course, there is no guarantee that we will not see some additions during the console release or even DLC characters.  I for one would love to see Junpei from P3.  Yu already has the look of a basic character.  Similar to that of Ryu, a great starting place for those easing their way into the system, but of course containing much more in the way of advanced gameplay.  I am particularly excited to play Yosuke, his high flying antics seem fun to mess with, as well as some great persona attacks and some sort of air projectile.  The grooves so popular in the Persona games return in remix form and serve as character specific anthems.  I just can’t wait to play this game. 

With no way of truly knowing how the competitive scene will take the release of this game, I can’t say whether or not it would be worth it to get “tourney” good at a game like this.  But I will say that it doesn’t even have the slightest effect on me.  This game looks fun to play and enjoyable at any skill level.  If you are a fan of persona or just a fan of fighting games, I wouldn’t ignore the footage and I’d certainly keep an eye out for the release of this gem.  Perhaps it won’t hold up with the colossal success stories of SSF4AE, UMvC3, or the still new Street Fighter X Tekken, but it has certainly garnered my respect at an early interval. So if you can't wait until this august for the console release in America, check out the videos below for some visual stimulus.

Videos: 

Here are some videos of some intense gameplay in Japan:

 

Looks like some high level Kanji play:

Chie is my girl, but look how sick Mitsuru looks, sexy range:

Crispy Links:

Chie combo video

http://shoryuken.com/2012/03/15/p4a-chie-satonaka-combo-video/ 

Some info on release for the new characters

http://shoryuken.com/2012/03/20/elizabeth-shadow-labrys-coming-to-persona-4-the-ultimate-in-mayonaka-arena/ 

In only semi-related news.  I've put up a tutorial for Asuka up on my youtube channel (featured on both eventhubs and SRK) it's in 3 parts and is meant for early players. There is also an early combo video i did with her before. There is some solid tech though if your interested in learning about her as a character or picking her up.  If your interested check it out: