Persona 4 Arena Review
February 5th, 2015
Persona
4 Arena (that’s the first one not Ultimax its sequel) is a 2-D fighting game
released by the untouchable Atlus along with Arc Systems in 2011. It is an
extension to the stories and universes set forth in its predecessor titles
Persona 3 and Persona 4 utilizing their characters in a one on one fighting
engine.
In
terms of story, for a Persona title which is generally an RPG heavy franchise,
it reflects that quite well with some costly mistakes in the presentation of
said story. While the story goes that the Midnight Channel has returned and Yu
is apparently back conviently on schedule with its resurgence a few months
after closing out the incident of Persona 4’s story, so his celebration is cut
short by the “disappearances” of Kanji, Rise, and Teddie. In actuality it was a
series of misunderstandings (Kanji fell into his TV, Teddie got shoved in a
locker, etc.). The Midnight Channel now boasts a fighting tournament ad rather
than an embarrassing tell all of ones secrets, the main cast all being included
and so now the questions arise of why an evil “Teddie” and “Rise” are hosting a
tournament between their friends. All it amounts to is a lot of running around
a warped version Yasogami High, fighting your friends due to the illusory
powers of Labyrs, an anti shadow weapon in the vein of Aigis, and following the
story of whichever of the 12 characters you choose. For a plot to a fighting
game, it’s decent enough but the rigorous conditions of a fighting game’s
mechanics make story telling difficult. T
There’s
12 different fighters on semi unique journeys that tend to contradict one
another but sometimes overlap making for a confusing mess of a universal plot.
Yet, it’s not all bad. Each character has a twist perspective on the situation
and for the most part its completely unpredictable as to which opponents/ order
you’ll be fighting in. I give them props for half trying to make each story
feel unique but it led to a lot of skipping of dialogue in instances like the
bickering before matchs due to the illusion that the opponent was egg them on
or when a certain event would play out almost exactly the same way which is understandable
in the sense that they had to get a solid narrative across and the main points
of the story while making parts unique. It just comes off more as a hindrance
though for the repetitive nature of this formula and given that each and every
story is necessary in order to not only unlock all the characters but then
actually finish the stupid cliffhangers the first run through gets you for each
story. In the end, for a fighting game they took the time to actually explain
why they felt the need to fight one another and while mostly it was silly
nonsense, it’s that fourth wall breaking nonsense. It knows it’s a game and it
plays on that.
The
best part of the story was the addition of Persona 3 characters, their role
being to seek out Labyrs who had escaped the Kirijo Corporation’s grasp. The
return of Misturu, Akihiko, Aigis, Fuka, and even Elizabeth was great and the
interactions with the P4 characters in fanservice candy. Of the 12 characters
Labrys and Elizabeth had the best stories because they fleshed out two
characters we knew very little about. It feels like the story writers had three
really good stories in them which were repitiously spread through the
appropriate characters from each game. The Labyrs back story of being an
experimental android enfused with a sick child’s mind and heart and then forced
to destroy other similarly driven androids with human levels of thought and
emotion was incredibly moving in comparison to the rest of the story, to say
the least. It’s a concept for a story I’ve always been completely interested
in: the will of the mechanical to become more human like and obtain emotion. In
this case she, much like Aigis, was able to confront herself and her past to
wield her persona which is a fascinating angle that I love, robots wielding a
soul and forming bonds just like humans. The other great story is that of
Elizabeth, which may be the most
aggravating 11th hour inclusion as her story isn’t unlockable until
you’ve completely over 80% of the game, but what an inclusion it was as it
fleshed out her role and that of the Velvet Room even further with an ethereal
plain of souls. Not only that but she even learns it is not the power of the
wild card but the bonds that make for true strength and it was rather
refreshing to see Elizabeth learn this ascend to a higher state of being. Also,
she just happens to be my favorite of the Velvet Room girls because of her
funny ways of understanding the foreign concepts of our world and the way she
talks which makes for an entertaining time every time.
The
other stories were fine, they spoon feed details well, but the insistence on
doing them all becomes tedious for a 97% rate finish that only gets changed if
you replay certain characters and choose different dialogue options. Pass. The
main problem also seems to be in how there is a large focus on the inner
thoughts of each character which is given in plain white text between spoken
sequences which also accounts for most of the action in the game that is not
either a fight or the few animated scenes so there’s a lot of reading an
imagination required at some points. While it’s a tad lazy, I guess its fine
not expect full drawn cut scenes or anything but it just really would drag
explaining the smallest of things. Most of it I skipped but occasionally for my
favorite characters like Naoto, Aigis, Elizabeth, and especially Labyrs, it was
well worth reading over. It was also fun to see P3 characters enter the TV
world, I know random but it’s just a cool little tidbit. I feel like the story
was admirable, ambitious, but just over stayed its welcome at some points which
isn’t bad considering the limitations most fighting games would have done. It’s
more the fact that the fighting is often stretched out a ways for the sake of
the story (sometimes initial investments could be a half hour plus before a
single fight) so its maybe just a balancing issue if anything. They pull a
twist and a cliff hanger, looking forward to Ultimax.
In
terms of presentation, the backgrounds out of battle are good and detailed and
it was a nice touch to see Yasogami High in the TV world all messed up and
shadowfied. In battle, the backgrounds were even more lively. The characters
themselves are beautifully and so fluidly animated. All the moves and movements
are a treat to watch given the anime stylization and the crisp/ keen look of
the detailed character sprites. I could sit there and watch the gifs of their
movements for hours, it’s stunning. Not to mention the game obviously takes
advantage of the HD now that it’s on PS3. In a nutshell, everything looks
gorgeous so huge fucking props to that. The only complaint I have is they add
lip movements to dialogue scenes which sounds trivial but it fucks those up
pretty bad in terms of visual appeal as its just not done well and I prefer the
facial expression, nonmoving mouths of the past in this series. If it aint
broke don’t fix it! Except when…
The
sound department is serviceable. This game is a fan servicey game intended for
us so the music is mostly the soundtracks to Persona 3 and 4 which is ok but I
would have preferred some original stuff with the occasional old tune or some
remixes would have been nice. There is a handful of unique tunes that are
fairly good! The voice acting is pretty much on point aside from a few new voice
which is understandable after the 3 year gap. Still, after a while my ears
adjusted to Teddie and Chie’s VAs being different and Yu having a voice which
still seems a bit off but no big deal.
There’s
not much to say about the game play either as I don’t know the ins and outs of
fighting games and I mash a few buttons but it’s good for casuals and hardcores
as there’s definitely a ton of moves to master and remember if you’re into that
stuff. There’s a whole host of amazing characters and at least one is bound to
resonate with you and you’re play style.
In
short, the story is pretty fantastic if not a little overbearing, the visuals
are amazing, the music is tight but not original for the most part, and the
game play in depth and solid. It’s a great game for multiplayer (although
Ultimax is obviously superior with more characters, stages, and shadows). It
obviously can’t touch it’s RPG master piece counterparts but it’s a really good
effort to make a fighting game spinoff that captures the personality of those
titles and for the most part it succeeds in that right. It’s a game for fans of
Persona or just fighting game fans in generally as there’s a lot to like here.
In the end, I really enjoyed this game so I’ll give it an 7.6/10 for a really
solid spin off fighting game! See you next round in Ultimax!
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