Let's chat about Persona 4 Arena now that it's out worldwide (I believe)

[Fappy]

The problem with the story is that they basically copy/pasted BlazBlue's format. In BlazBlue's story it actually makes sense why there are inconsistencies in the continuity (alternate timelines and such), and it's actually an important aspect to the plot. In Persona 4 Arena however, it makes absolutely no sense at all and basically just asks you to roll with it. I still enjoyed the story and am really excited to see where they take the now (somewhat) combined cast of Persona 3 & 4 in future games.

 

[hazabaza1]

The problem with the story is that they basically copy/pasted BlazBlue's format. In BlazBlue's story it actually makes sense why there are inconsistencies in the continuity (alternate timelines and such), and it's actually an important aspect to the plot. In Persona 4 Arena however, it makes absolutely no sense at all and basically just asks you to roll with it. I still enjoyed the story and am really excited to see where they take the now (somewhat) combined cast of Persona 3 & 4 in future games.

Yeah, I thought there was going to be some kind of explanation like

Spoiler

Shabrys making clones or putting people in individual but connected worlds or something, but... nope. Just "we don't know how to do linear stories in games so I hope the good writing is enough kthxbai lolololololololol"

Also I fucking love the title system. Charismatic Steak Bowl Champ fo' lyfe.

 

[Razentsu]

I really want to put some time into this game and get good with someone I have not decided who yet but Chie, Mitsuru, Labrys or Shadow Labrys are the ones that appeal to me the most so far.

People assure me that Mitsuru is the only truly overpowered person in the game.

Oh man, Mitsuru. She's so good, she even looks top-tier.

Mitsuru is such a strong character. She dominates the neutral game with her superb normals, and she can really lay down a beating when she gets in. Her mixup game, while not as crazy as Yu's, Aigis' or Chie's, is still quite fearsome because of her high damage output. That being said, Mitsuru is one of the harder characters to play.

Anyway, there are a few 7-3 match ups, and there are some especially strong characters such as Mitsuru, Yu and Aigis, but I feel the game has a decent balance. It may be more difficult, you can definitely win with bottom-tier folk like Labrys and Yukiko. Everyone feels powerful.

P4A's good. I'm glad to see that everyone can finally play the game.

 

[chozo_hybrid]

I'm surprised and a little disappointed that no one seems to mention all the color pack dlc bull shit that's at the top of the 360 marketplace at the moment, colors for characters. They are literally just color swaps, other games that do that tend to get bashed a bit for them, heck, Injustice has got a bit of flak over the dlc costumes they have made, but at least those have some actual new model work as well as new damage effects on them.

Spoiler: Only image I can find, I think these are dlc ones, correct me if I'm wrong.

That said, the colors look cool, but I can't imagine as much work goes into that, and yet people seem okay with it. I know it's optional, no one forces people to buy them. But other games get ripped on for this stuff, so it's weird when some get a free pass.

 

[Maximum Bert]

*snip*
Also fuck off my Shabrys, she's mine. Nobody else is allowed to touch her

Yeah the sound is fantastic. Shabrys man... Her audio clips are so good.

"Aww are you broken already? <3"


Special mention needs to go to the create a title thing. So, so varied and creative. I saw a guy called "Salt Machine" the once. I go with Cute Autonomous Shadow. I may have a thing for Shabrys. Maybe. Still unconfirmed.

Hmmm may have to fight you for her lol.

I know a bit about the game as have been watching streams from tournies for quite a while and from what I can tell Mitsuru, Chie and Aegis seem to be the best and I rarely see Yukiko or Elizabeth but all characters seem viable.

Shadow Labrys looks cool as hell and she can combo into her instant kill I believe while I like the look of Labrys because she looks a slower but heavier hitter which is the characters I am usually best with plus she is voiced by the same voice actor who plays Azusa in K-ON!

Also I like the changes to the burst system and instant kill over Blazblue and the reversal move is also cool but I can understand why some people dont like it and ofc some are far better than others.

I am hoping to play a bit more tonight but aghhh so many games Darkstalkers 3, Injustice, SCV, DOA5 and now P4 Arena are the ones I really like atm (oh and KOFXIII but I am terrible at that) and I am sure Skullgirls will be up there when Squiggly and Eliza hit (then I got my team .

Now I am waiting for Arc and Square to give FFVII characters the same treatment as the P4 cast then I will have my dream game almost.

 

[HowardHoward]

I'm so glad it's here and it's so good. I've gotten around 80% of the way through the story and apart from the annoyances with having to watch the same scene happen multiple times it is really good.

Also major spoilers for both P3 and P4A

Spoiler

{I don't think mysterious voice X can be Ikutsuki as I'm pretty sure he died during Persona 3. I may be wrong as it's been a long time since I've played it. I think the mysterious voice is the guy who hired Naoto and who also got tricked into the Midnight hour by Mitsuru.}

It will be exciting to see where they take the story in the future.

I agree that not getting the colour packs or glasses packs is a bit annoying since we've waited for so long, especially since the skins that make you look like blazblue characters are pimping (someone online was playing naoto in the hazama skin, it looked so cool).

As far as online play goes I'm maining Mitsuru I had no idea of the tier system for this game and I just like the way she plays so it's nice to know that she's a high tier. I even have a win ratio in ranked of over 50% (51% counts) which is really surprising considering that the last fighting game i played for a length on time was UMVC3 in which my win ratio was somewhere in the 10%'s. The combat is nice and quick and feels a lot like Blazblue which has to be one of my favourite fighters of all time. I was afraid at first that the auto combo would make it a little too easy but the amount of damage it does in comparison to pulling off a real combo is minuscule. If anyone wants to play a few rounds in non-ranked matches I'm game (although sometimes my internet is terrible, damn Virgin Media). I'm on the Xbox with the gamer tag monolithicman77 and the title Venerable Meddling Tortoise.

I've yet to see any Aigises (Aigisii?) or Teddies which is kinda annoying but everyone else seems pretty balanced, apart from maybe Chie, I swear it's just so easy to get locked in a combo by her with nothing you can do to get out of it.

 

[Fenra]

They had me at ?sister complex kingpin of steel!?

Haven?t got to play much of it yet, only some yesterday when my friend picked it up for me, works at Game so asked him to since I was working, snagged a vinyl too which is a very neat collectors item and gave me a reason to dust off my record player.

Did a number of versus matches with my friend which turned into button bashing contests but never felt unfair if we did do that. Beyond that I did a lot of tutorials and training, its a lot deeper than I expected but I?m starting to wrap my head around how the systems work. I don?t play a lot of fighters but it had Persona on the box so had to get it and very glad it finally came out in the UK.

Currently working through Yu?s story mode and the writing is great, full of the witty humor I remember so fondly, Like Yu and Yosuke?s interactions, Yu jerking him around about ?nurses? made me laugh, glad to see that bromance is still alive and well.

Will probably end up playing Yu mostly, 4 reasons, 1 I?m boring like that, 2 feel a connection to him since he is who I played in Persona 4, 3 really liked him as a character in the anime, 4 cosplayed as him once so one more reason to feel connected to him.

Over all impressed so far, if confused often by the actual game mechanics but hoping to get better with time.

 

[PanYue]

*logs online*

Mitsuru, Mitsuru, Mitsuru xinfinite

Would enjoy you people playing someone else, thank you! My Kanji is getting lonely.

 

[Leemaster777]

Haven't played it for a bit, but I absolutely adore P4A. I think the story mode is slightly flawed, as the characters can get alittle TOO wordy with exactly how they're feeling at that exact second. Also, it's a bit repetitious, since alot of scenes play out exactly the same, from different perspectives. Aside from that, I like the story. Also:

I didn't play it, but I've watched all story modes on youtube and enjoyed it very much. Labrys is an amazing character and I couldn't help but feel so sorry for her. The interaction between SEES members and Investigation team was quite awesome too, with Chie finding new sensei in Akihiko, Yu getting his ass handled to him by Elizabeth, and all SEES admitting how much Yu reminds them of P3 Male Protagonist. Also, am I the only who thinks that Mysterious voice is actually Ikutsuki from Persona! I mean, it makes perfect sense! Voice itself admitted that it doesn't posses Persona, knows a deal about Kirijo corporation and hates it

I have my own theory regarding that:

Spoiler

Personally, I think it's the detective guy from Naoto and Mitsuru's story mode. Think about it: He works with the Kirijo group now, thanks to the Shadow Operatives, and he has no Persona. But there's one very, very telling detail that isn't mentioned in the game, that stuck out to me:

He knows about Naoto's Persona, and presumably, about the events of P4. How does he know about this? Even the Kirijo Group was largely unaware of what went down there, but he knew exactly who was involved. Suspicious, if you ask me. And if he knows about who was involved, perhaps he knows about entering the TVs, too. And about what would happen if you dumped someone (say, a ROBOT), into said TV.

And since he's working with the Kirijo Group, he knew about the cargo transfer that takes place at the beginning of the game. Frankly, that entire theft job was entirely TOO well-planned. Even before I suspected him, I thought that it HAD to be an inside job.

Anyways, story aside, I think that the gameplay is top-notch. I love Blazblue, and P4A is everything I love about it. Online is great (if a bit Yu heavy in my experience), and I love the custom title option (I've got Real Nice Dude).

My best character to use is Teddie. It's funny, I don't think I've encountered a single other Teddie player online yet.

 

[HowardHoward]

*logs online*

Mitsuru, Mitsuru, Mitsuru xinfinite

Would enjoy you people playing someone else, thank you! My Kanji is getting lonely.

Wow I have only ever seen one other Mitsuru player, loads of Kanji's however and Chie's and Naoto's, how strange. And not a single Teddie, which makes me sad as he's my second favourite character to play as.

As a minor complaint that i forgot to mention earlier some of the Astral Heats are ridiculous, the naoto one seems to go on forever and I just can't seem to block the Akihiko one. Maybe I'm just jealous that the Mitsuru one seems so easy to block.

Oh and the Mix-up ability the Shabrys has is absolutely insaaane.

 

[krazykidd]

So what? No one is talking about Elizabeth ? She's who i mained back when i came out in canada. She's amazing and even generates SP . Why is no one playing her? I have half a mind to start playing again an make everyone fear LIZZY.

 

[IllumInaTIma]

I have my own theory regarding that:

Spoiler

Personally, I think it's the detective guy from Naoto and Mitsuru's story mode. Think about it: He works with the Kirijo group now, thanks to the Shadow Operatives, and he has no Persona. But there's one very, very telling detail that isn't mentioned in the game, that stuck out to me:

He knows about Naoto's Persona, and presumably, about the events of P4. How does he know about this? Even the Kirijo Group was largely unaware of what went down there, but he knew exactly who was involved. Suspicious, if you ask me. And if he knows about who was involved, perhaps he knows about entering the TVs, too. And about what would happen if you dumped someone (say, a ROBOT), into said TV.

And since he's working with the Kirijo Group, he knew about the cargo transfer that takes place at the beginning of the game. Frankly, that entire theft job was entirely TOO well-planned. Even before I suspected him, I thought that it HAD to be an inside job.

Wait what? You mean detective Kurosawa? In Persona 3 he was usual police officer who was more or less aware of all the Personas and Shadows business and he was helping team by selling equipment. In Arena he was promoted, but he's still an ordinary person with no motive, knowledge, or resources to harm Kirijo group. Unlike Ikutsuki.

 

[The Wykydtron]

Oh and the Mix-up ability the Shabrys has is absolutely insaaane.

LOL KNUCKLE TRAIN! LOL!

Yeah something like that. Nobody plays her though. Kind of why i'm flying up the ranks I think. People just do not know shit about her. She's perfectly balanced because Asterius gets broken way too easily because he's always in there. You can bait them into it though since Shabrys herself is independent from him and she can program an Asterius move then go on the offense herself. She doesn't have many ranged options either, her one or two projectiles have crazy wind ups.


All Asterius' specials have stupid wind ups though. Except his anti air flames, they're near instant.

I guess the wake up Brutal Impact super while you're getting pressured in the corner applies to standard Labrys as well? Because it's funny how often that instantly KO's someone.

I love how chaotic her playstyle is. Run in, hit shit with axe, make the Asterius plays, win game.

Oh and as for Astrals I just got Astral'd by Mitsuru last game funnily enough . The only other one was Naoto because she has a really, really good one. I thought it was gonna be the hardest one to land because it's 2/3 seconds of her standing there doing nothing but lol invincibility.

An Elisabeth tried to randomly do one the once but come on, who do you think you are? Hakumen? Your counter is nothing compared to his.

I'm never gonna land the Shabrys one, I know you can combo into it apparently but double down down down motions confuse me.

 

[Leemaster777]

I have my own theory regarding that:

Spoiler

Personally, I think it's the detective guy from Naoto and Mitsuru's story mode. Think about it: He works with the Kirijo group now, thanks to the Shadow Operatives, and he has no Persona. But there's one very, very telling detail that isn't mentioned in the game, that stuck out to me:

He knows about Naoto's Persona, and presumably, about the events of P4. How does he know about this? Even the Kirijo Group was largely unaware of what went down there, but he knew exactly who was involved. Suspicious, if you ask me. And if he knows about who was involved, perhaps he knows about entering the TVs, too. And about what would happen if you dumped someone (say, a ROBOT), into said TV.

And since he's working with the Kirijo Group, he knew about the cargo transfer that takes place at the beginning of the game. Frankly, that entire theft job was entirely TOO well-planned. Even before I suspected him, I thought that it HAD to be an inside job.

Wait what? You mean detective Kurosawa? In Persona 3 he was usual police officer who was more or less aware of all the Personas and Shadows business and he was helping team by selling equipment. In Arena he was promoted, but he's still an ordinary person with no motive, knowledge, or resources to harm Kirijo group. Unlike Ikutsuki.

Spoiler

No, not Kurosawa. The OTHER guy, the new one. He's the guy from the VERY beginning of Mitsuru's story mode, who accidentally uses that Dark Hour box, and Mitsuru has to save him. He's also the one who actually HIRES Naoto to investigate the Kirijo Group.

 

[AgentLampshade]

I'm enjoying it so far. I'm an Akihiko player, he just looks badass in that hood, whatever his combat ability is. But yeah, the story mode is a bit text-heavy. Normally I wouldn't mind but they aren't voiced (the monologuing, not the actual dialogue) which makes conversations seem a bit stretched out more than necessary.

And I got chills listening to the music from 3 and 4 again. Even the trivial ones like Iwatodai Dorm made me nostalgic.

 

[Harlemura]

I got the Limited Edition on Friday too and I've been really enjoying it. Teddie keyring ftw.
I'm still getting the hang of the controls, since the face button layout seems weird to me with the light attacks being above the heavy attacks. I dunno, it's hard to explain. I'm getting there anyway.
It's not helped that it's the first fighting game I've played on a PlayStation controller since Tekken 3. Tekken ain't even similar.

Yosuke's been my go-to character so far since he was my favourite character in Persona 4 so I was gonna be him even if he was the crappest of the crap. Which, let's face it, would be in character for Yosuke.
Labrys is waiting in the wings for me to learn on the side though. Partly because of the super with the potential to do 95% of someone's health, but mostly because her accent is da bomb.

I'm also surprised that I've been doing relatively well online, since I usually suck at every fighting game I dare to try my hand at. I have more wins than losses, I'm not sure I've had that statistic in anything before.
And I like games that I win at so P4A is officially a good game.

 

[neonsword13-ops]

Srsly, gais? No shameless plug to the Persona user-group?
[link]http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/view/Shin-Megami-Tensei-Persona[/link]

OT: Good game. Fun fighting, great online play, awesome canon story, yadda yadda.

Those were some pretty fun matches we had, Haza. DesertEagleEye sure wrecked our shit. >->

I just hope some more escapees will hop online with us at some point so we can have an Escapist Battle Royale.

 

[HowardHoward]

Srsly, gais? No shameless plug to the Persona user-group?
[link]http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/view/Shin-Megami-Tensei-Persona[/link]

OT: Good game. Fun fighting, great online play, awesome canon story, yadda yadda.

Those were some pretty fun matches we had, Haza. DesertEagleEye sure wrecked our shit. >->

I just hope some more escapees will hop online with us at some point so we can have an Escapist Battle Royale.

I'd be up for this, none of my friends are into the fighting game scene and it would be nice to play player matches against some people I actually know. And I'm reaching valiantly for the C rank, which will mark the first online achievement i've ever gotten concerning rank in a fighting game.

 

[neonsword13-ops]

I'd be up for this, none of my friends are into the fighting game scene and it would be nice to play player matches against some people I actually know. And I'm reaching valiantly for the C rank, which will mark the first online achievement i've ever gotten concerning rank in a fighting game.

Well, I'm not able to participate in any fisticuffs at the moment; I'm going to be busy for another week or so. But I'm sure some of the folks in the group would love to play a few rounds.

Are you playing on PS3 or Xbawx?

If PS3, I'm sure our magnificent OP, hazabaza1, and DesertEagleEye would love to play.

If Xbawx, TizzyTheTormentor and FFP2 need some people to play with.

Just hop into the group and give a shout-out to whoever you want to play against. We could always use more players. ;D

 

[Zetatrain]

I'm not really not much of a Arcade Fighter gamer. That being said I love Persona 4 arena. It's not because it's mechanics are different than other Fighters (at least I don't think so), but rather because I just really love the characters due to playing P3 and P4.

I haven't played Story mode yet due to the fact that I recently finished P4, but I'm interested in seeing how it plays out especially since its considered canon..

So far my favorite characters are Elizabeth, Akihiko, and Yu.