![]() Ultimax repeats this sin, just a lot less obnoxiously by only splitting the story between an “Episode P4” and an “Episode P3”, following the exploits of the Persona 4 and 3 characters respectively. Persona 4 Arena had clear problems with story structure, asking players to repeat what was mostly the same tale with each character and essentially being “Persona 4 Arena: Starring _”. The differences are subtle, but both are worth playing through and offer a distinct perspective. " The split between the two stories feels a bit like one were to play Pokemon Black and White back to back. Using the left stick or an arcade stick didn’t have the same issues, leading to the confusion on why the D-pad doesn’t play nice. Usually activated with two simple quarter circles and an attack, when trying to input them with a Dualshock 3 D-Pad they simply refused to activate. Potentially thanks to the addition of the S-Hold System, possibly a glitch, or possibly the game just getting obtusely more strict on their activation, I had a much harder time activating SP skills during play. New ways to cancel into extended combos, new ways to punish openings with fatal counters and improved short hop mechanics all bring more skill to high level play. The S-Hold system is a noob friendly construct that allows you to hold down the light attack button to charge up different levels of special, but it’s usefulness in actual battle is limited at best. Several other new systems were brought into the fold here, and every character has a handful of new modes to play with. On the flip side though, regeneration only takes as long as the cards you have, meaning those loaded with Persona cards have a much longer wait if their Persona gets broken. Leaving Persona dependant fighters such as Yukiko with many cards, and less dependant fighters such as Akihiko with only two. Ultimax balances this system by granting each character their own number of the Persona Cards. Managing your Persona and character became key to the battles and mastering the game. " New ways to cancel into extended combos, new ways to punish openings with fatal counters and improved short hop mechanics all bring more skill to high level play. Once taken out so many times, they would become “broken” and leave players with half a move set until they recovered. The powerful entities were like having a completely separate character to command, but they were very vulnerable and shattered to a single attack, taking a Persona card out of the stock. ![]() Though one could pick up the title and make it through the story mode with relative ease, learning to chain moves together with your main fighter and their alter-ego made manifest, otherwise known as a Persona, is what separated the men from the boys and Arena from other fighters.Įach character used their Persona in very different ways that complemented their unique gameplay style. The original arena was very simple on the surface, especially compared to other, much more daunting “Anime Fighters”. To return to an earlier analogy, Ultimax is very much the Melee to Smash Bros 64, in that it takes the original concept and elevates it to a new level. Bringing an end to the story began not only in the last game, but all the way back in Persona 3. The powerful entities were like having a completely separate character to command, but they were very vulnerable and shattered to a single attack "Ībout a year and a half later, Atlus and Arc System Works partner back up in time to let loose an all-out war. " Each character used their Persona in very different ways that complemented their unique gameplay style. It was almost Smash Bros-ian in it’s execution, never demanding a ton of it’s players and if they could throw a Hadouken in Street Fighter they could execute just about anything. The story sacrificed nothing in it’s transition to a genre traditionally unconcerned with narrative and a surprising mechanical depth belayed the relatively easy to learn control scheme. Persona 4 Arena could have easily been a dialed in spinoff when it was first shown off in 2012, but the smart collaboration between Atlus and Blazblue geniuses Arc System Works grew a life of it’s own in both fighting game circles and the Persona fanbase itself. I t was a crossover that nobody ever saw coming.
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