Persona 4 Arena

[Crabmaster2000]

I ordered my copy from Amazon and asked them to bundle it with my Last Story order for the free shipping. So I have to wait a little bit longer for mine:(

Havnt been this psyched for a fighter since KoFXIII.

[JEKKI]

got my copy over the weekend, started playing Challenge mode today!!

currently interested in Yosuke and Akihiko, who are both somewhat difficult to use.

o well. lol.

needa get some B&B combos down in my muscle memory, practice on the computer, then I look forward to hopping online!!

on PS3 btw.

[EvilRyu2099]

So I decided to bust out my stick( first time in a year since KoF 13) and I must say I'm awful so far.. Not even so much dropping combos, but doing the simple things like blocking mixups, jumping and trying to air dash out of corners etc... I give it about 3 more weeks of getting bodied and hopefully I'll get used to it by then... I swear though, as a Naoto main I could have probable done SMP combos consistently by now if I had stuck with a pad of some sort, but I made the investment and "sticking" with it for now..

[Crabmaster2000]

Finally had a chance to sit down with my copy of P4A. My first impression is VERY positive. Its much deeper than I anticipated though so I'm going to need to dedicate a bit more time to it than I thought so that I can actually win a few matches online. I've only very briefly played with each character, but I'm feeling drawn towards Akihiko, Kanji, or Aigis.

My 4 year old son sparred a few rounds with me and he LOVES playing as Teddy with all his goofy moves and funny phrases. Cant wait to get a chance to really dig in soon.

[Zing]

I know nothing of this game, but I found it really odd that the official name is "P4A". To me, that would be like Nintendo calling their game "SMG2". It just feels cheap and weird.

[ZenErik]

This game is a lot of fun, but I need to learn the mechanics a bit better. Losing to a button masher (my friend) almost half the time makes me sad. He did not win a single time when I used my mains in BlazBlue or anyone I'm decent with in Arcana Heart 3. But P4A was a different story.

It's certainly a button mash friendly fighter, IMO, and provides some handicaps. If you are losing you will get your ability to use specials much more quickly. The visuals are super flashy. Everything is quick, fluid, and tight. Very "cool" looking and visually appealing. I like how simple the button scheme is. Two main buttons + the 2 persona buttons. Yet it's deceptive and deeper than it seems. From what I can tell. Reminds me of how simple and friendly to newcomers Phantom Breaker is, but P4A plays much much much more nicely. And the ultimate attacks are even easier to pull off than in AH3. Typically just down down down + C,D

I would still put BlazBlue and AH3 above P4A, at least for now. Both seem more difficult to master. And BB especially seems to take a higher level of skill to do well at. But P4A has the flash and simple enough controls, much like MvC3, to keep people that do not normally play fighting games interested. And unlike MvC3, I really do enjoy P4A.

But then again, I am NOT and will never be a tournament level fighter gamer. My opinions may be naive.

Definitely hoping to give story mode a shot sooner than later. Easily a selling point for me. I love all the modes ArcSys gives us with their fighters.

[noiseredux]

I know nothing of this game, but I found it really odd that the official name is "P4A". To me, that would be like Nintendo calling their game "SMG2". It just feels cheap and weird.

I have no idea what you're talking about. The official name is "Persona 4 Arena."

I would still put BlazBlue and AH3 above P4A, at least for now. Both seem more difficult to master. And BB especially seems to take a higher level of skill to do well at. But P4A has the flash and simple enough controls, much like MvC3, to keep people that do not normally play fighting games interested. And unlike MvC3, I really do enjoy P4A.

Thanks for the input dood. Looking forward to this one, but need to wait for a price drop.

[ZenErik]

It's worth the money, but certainly wait for a price drop if you'd like. I don't really have any real life friends that practice fighters like I did during the Spring with BB. So, Persona 4 Arena will be a fun game to pick up and play with my friends that don't really play fighters often. During our matches today, it was my friend's favorite. And probably for good reason. He could compete. Maybe that'll change once I look up the mechanics and some strategies and get better, but I actually like that he could enjoy the game. He enjoyed AH3 as well, but with P4A he felt like he stood a chance. And with BB it was just slaughter.. So he didn't like it as much, haha. The button presses to execute moves are pretty much the same with every character. So it's a lot easier to memorize attacks. That's not to say that the characters aren't unique, but doing Persona specials require the same button presses. Doing ultimates are the same. Doing different more basic moves are all the same too.

ALright, time to get off this train. No more free WiFi

[noiseredux]

so is it kind of like Garou then, where if you learn one character then you've kind of learned them all? If so, that's intriguing.

[ZenErik]

Perhaps. I've never played that series. The characters don't all have the same feel. But they generally all seem to use the same button combinations. I guess that goes for most 2D fighters, but I feel like other fighters often have certain button presses that are either unique to that character or at least not used with every character.

Simplicity is a good thing here.

I think some of our more tournament worthy Racketboy members could offer more/better info. Definitely looking forward to hearing their thoughts. My thoughts are only formed from maybe 90 minutes of playing versus mode against a friend. Neither of us had prior experience. Definitely not the best way to judge a game.