cj_iwakura
Member
Disclaimers:
*The game is now available in Japan/Asian territories. The US version releases on August 7th.
The EU release is TBA.
Discuss away if you imported, but TAG AND MARK ANY AND ALL SPOILERS.
*This is not a thread for region-lock drama. Here, go nuts. Please keep it out of this one.
Persona 4: Arena(aka The Ultimate in Midnight Arena) is a collaboration between Arc System Works and Atlus. ArcSys handled the fighting game mechanics, Atlus were responsible for the story and concept work.
While the core game has some similarities to BlazBlue, the Persona summoning mechanic makes P4A more akin to the likes of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. If you played as Relius as BlazBlue, you have the basic idea.
Gameplay Primer, C/O Mayonaka Midnight
The yellow bar displays the characters' available health. It decreases when damage is received. Red displays the amount of health removed from the recent attack.
When blue appears in the Life Gauge, it indicates health loss during chip damage or used during an [R Action] or a [SP Skill] that removed a percentage of the user's health. The blue section means that health is temporarily removed and will slowly recover over time, becoming yellow progressively, but if the player receives a hit when blue is present in the gauge, that temporary health will disappear permanently.
Think like how SFIV's EX attack recovery functions and you get the idea.
The SP Gauge is a blue bar with a numerical indicator that indicates how much SP a character has available. SP is gained when a character inflicts or sustains damage. SP is used to perform special attacks such as [Skill Boost] and [SP Skills]. Each character starts the round with this gauge completely empty and the maximum amount this gauge can reach is 100. After [Awakening] is achieved, however, the maximum amount for this gauge increases to 150 SP. Gauge turns red to signify [Awakening].
The gauge for using the various kind of [Bursts]. A [Burst] can be used when the word is lit. After it is used, it appears as a black "B" on screen. Any increase to the [SP Gauge] fills this "B" progressively, and when it is full the [Burst Gauge] indicator is recovered.
The Persona gauge is the gauge directly below the [HP Gauge]. It represents the Personas' health and is composed of four stocks. One stock is emptied when either a character or their Persona receives damage while the Persona is still on the screen. Once it is empty, the characters enter [Persona Break] and are unable to use their Persona, meaning [Skills] and [SP Skills] that require the Persona are disabled, or [Burst] moves. [Persona Break] is demonstrated by a grayed out Persona portrait with a black background next to the character portrait.
A: Weak Attack
B: Strong Attack
C: Weak Persona Attack
D: Strong Persona Attack
These cover the fundamentals of Persona 4 Arena combat. For more detailed info, check out MM, or stay tuned to the thread.
Persona 4 Arena is a direct sequel to Persona 4, also pertaining to the events of Persona 3. Two months after the mysterious murders plaguing Inaba were solved and the culprit was brought to justice, a new threat appears in the countryside.
The Midnight Channel is back on the air, and more shadows are on the horizon.
Even ones thought to have been accepted and vanquished long ago.
Both new and familiar faces alike are coming together to solve this latest mystery.
And only the most gifted Persona users will have a chance to put it to rest.
All movelists and information come C/O Mayonaka Midnight and some very devout Persona user summoners.
From: Persona 4
Yu Narukami
(The Sister-Complex Kingpin of Steel)
Yu Narukami is a standard, beginner friendly character that is easy to use yet hard to master. He has mixup potential and frame trap abilities with his Persona Izanagi since he can delay and chain all of his normals together.
Detailed Move List/Data
Yosuke Hanamura
Captain Ressentiment
Yosuke is the fastest character in Persona 4 Arena. His speed is his best tool to getting in on the opponent and locking them down with swift pokes and blockstrings, then getting away ASAP. He has very low HP, so its wise to play extremely safe with Yosuke. Stay on opponents like Naoto, Elizabeth and Yukiko to prevent them from quickly destroying you from afar, and keep your distance against characters like Akihiko, Kanji and Labrys. Make use of his leaping daggers to hit em, and keep space between the two of you!
Yosuke's Awakening Super (Sukukaja) allows him to move even faster and his ground dash becomes a teleport which can hit the opponent.
Yosuke can change the status of the opponent in two ways:
1) Poison - Inflicted by all of his throws. Makes the opponent slowly lose health at a set pace for a few seconds.
2) Confusion - Inflicted by Tentarafoo (236C/D). Inverts the directional inputs of the opponent. Lasts for about 3 seconds.
Detailed Move List/Data
Chie Satonaka
Spunky Dragon With Deadly Legs
Chie is a melee/rushdown character with great combo potential, damage, and speed. Her Persona, Tomoe, extends the range of her attacks and allows for great lockdown pressure and mixups.
Chie's Super, Power Charge, buffs her damage and can be stacked up to 3 times.
Detailed Move List/Data
Kanji Tatsumi
The Blood-Curdling Beefcake Emperor
Pros:
-High Attack
-High amount of health
-Decent normals
-Good varity of command grabs that can make the oppenent second guess the
-Persona attacks have decent amount range, and can eventually stun the oppenet.
-He's Kanji Tatsumi.
Cons:
-Slowest characters; doesn't have very many movement options.
-Persona attacks aren't very fast, might lose persona if too careless.
-Can probably be easily zoned out.
-Might be easily wrecked if to careless/predictable.
Kanji is the grappler archtype in P4U. He deals big damage easily and his persona attacks stun the opponent over time. They can still block, but can't move, allowing you to move in and land a grab or mix up for a combo.
Unlike most grapplers, Kanji's blessed with more mobility and options to get around, along with an airdash, but that's not saying much, he has the worst movement options in game, as indicated by his one star rating. But still he's no Tager.
To cover for his lack of speed, he has some specials that cover a lot of distance fast, and his persona attacks have some decent range. He also have some super armor attacks that will allow him to eat some one or two hits and still get in. His D moves (5D, 2D and j.D) have Take-Mikazuchi calls down lightning at a specific area several times, and Kanji can move independently while the lighting strikes, another option for moving in.
Detailed Move List/Data
Yukiko Amagi
The Unconquerable Snow Black
Yukiko plays a long to medium game. She'll be doing her best to control the game and keeping the opponent from gaining any momentum. With simple combos and long-ranged normals you'll be focusing more on tactics and strategy rather then your execution. Yukiko is very reliant on her Persona, Konohana-Sakuya, without it she is probably a sitting duck as her normals will not be enough to get the job done for you. She can cover long distances with ease making her zoning tools some of the best in the game.
With this comes one of the best anti-airs in the game, which is key for stopping your opponent getting in. Storing her fire boosts and such is a must, you'll need this before you begin to approach the opponent. Keep away while using your Persona to get in, it's best to go for Buffs so you can unleash unblockables and high damage combos. Overall Yukiko plays a mid range battle, keeping the enemy in check in till she is capable of dealing great amounts of damage from her buffs.
Detailed Move List/Data
Teddie
The Beast In Heat
Teddie is a well-rounded fighter, able to do anything competently but nothing incredibly well. His greatest assets are his items thrown out by his Persona. There are 13 items that come out in a set order. This, when combined intelligently with Teddie's above average normals allow him to deal with any situation, be it zoning, spacing or rushdown.
Detailed Move List/Data
Naoto Shirogane
The 2000IQ Killjoy Detective
Pros:
Sukuna-Hikona has a small hitbox
High damage
Does take long to get fate counter to 0
Ground and air control
Furious Actions counters projectiles
Mudoon functions as a great combo extender
Cons:
Low health
Traps disappear once Naoto is hit
Low defense options
Detailed Move List/Data
From: Persona 3
Aigis
The Heartless Armed Angel
Aigis is a fighter with two different stances or modes: Normal Mode and Orgia Mode. Her moves vary between them. She has two meters, one for Orgia mode that counts down while it's being used, and another that shows your remaining ammo.
She's meant to shoot at the enemy to her heart's content, distracting him as much as possible. Orgia Mode allows her to perform easy overheads and kite the enemy, running all over the screen and showering them with bullets.
D button summons Athena's shield. If the enemy hits it, a counterattack is performed.
Aigis has a maximum of 120 bullets used between a variety of moves, unable to reload but will be restocked between rounds. Think Bang's nails.
Detailed Move List/Data
Akihiko Sanada
The Two-Fisted Protein Junkie
Akihiko is primarily a rushdown character, though he also has an ability to parry and deflect moves with ease, making him great for defending and then punishing, especially against projectiles. He can also use Caesar to inflict electrocution status on his enemies with ease.
Detailed Move List/Data
Mitsuru Kirijo
The Imperious Queen of Executions
Mitsuru is a character with very powerful and quick normals at her disposal. The primary objective when playing Mitsuru is being close enough for her own attacks to connect and lead into combos but far enough away so that the opponent has a hard time capitalizing on anything. At any distance she can be a relative threat to any opponent, with the long range attacks from Artemisia and her own swift mid ranged pokes. This allows her to constantly apply pressure to the opponent with little effort.
Mitsuru is capable of freezing her opponent with the moves D, 2D, jD, all versions of Bufula, Bufudyne, and Mabufudyne. All moves that have freezing capabilities require Artemisia. And once the opponent is frozen they must quickly toggle left and right a total of 4 times to break out of the ice. Mitsuru is allowed 2 or 3 freezes per combo. Her ice normals (chains) and specials (Bufula, Bufudyne, Mabfudyne) act independently from each other. In other words your not allowed to use her ice normals to freeze twice in the same combo. Bufula can freeze twice, Bufudyne can freeze once, and Mabufudyne is given an infinite amount of freezes per combo.
Detailed Move List/Data
Elizabeth
The Lethal Elevator Attendant
Elizabeth is zoner/momentum based. Her objective is to stall for time so she can gain access to her more powerful tools fullscreen. Her zoning tools are for harassment, and for approaching (maragidyne). Up close she is more grappler-centered. Her status effects, fear and paralysis, supplement her close range game by making Thantanos' command grab fatal counter and unjumpable, respectably, making it hard to counter especially in the corner.
The grab is her main source of damage and conditioning the foe to fear it will set the pace in you favor for many matchups. Poison status isn't too useful at the moment.
She has very strong strengths but very glaring weakness, and very low health. As she lacks pressure/mixup, she cannot afford any lapses in judgement or mistakes or it can, very quickly, cost her the round/match.
Detailed Move List/Data
Labrys
(Yasogami's Steel Council President)
Labrys is a new character created for Persona 4 Arena, she made no physical appearances in previous Persona games however she was mentioned in the Radio Drama for Persona 3 "Moonlight". She is an anti shadow weapon similar to Aigis who desired to be a normal girl, after being thrown into the TV the Midnight Arena was created in response to her desires and thus creating a replicate of Yasogami High School where she became president of the student council within it.
Labrys can be described as the "heavy hitter" of the game however the difference between Labrys and other heavy hitters is that she doesn't have high damaging regular combos.
Labrys's combos are pretty simple and straightforward and her overall playstyle isn't hard to grasp. The reason it's a 4 and not a 5 is because of the difficulty she'll have with various matchups, Labrys has to be in an opponent's face and close in on them to do anything. Characters with zoning capabilities such as Yukiko, Naoto, Aegis, Teddie and Elizabeth can keep Labrys out making it harder not only to get in but also to keep up Labrys momentum to maintain her Red Axe if you were to increase it from your first hit confirm.
She also has trouble against characters who have high mobility, Chie and Yu aren't that much of a problem so long as you can block their mixups and using your R-Action sparingly as they can easily bait it out and punish you for alot of damage on counter hit. Yosuke is very annoying for Labrys as you have to try to catch up as he flies around the screen with his light weight mobility, for this particular match up you want to get the first hit in so that Yosuke will have to come to you eventually. Overall her combos and way to play her is simple on the outside by the matchups will require patience and great reaction.
Detailed Move List/Data
Shadow Labrys
The Raging Bull of Destruction
You might like Shadow Labrys if.....
You want an above-average / strong neutral game
You are looking for a character with strong Okizeme
You are interested in controlling two characters (examples - Carl Clover / Liesollotte)
You might not like Shadow Labrys if.....
You are against using Glass Cannon characters
You are looking for a character with high-damage output
You don't like keeping track of two characters (examples - Carl Clover / Liesollotte)
Detailed Move List/Data
IGN - 9.0
Gametrailers
GT review[/QUOTE]
GAF ID - System - Gamertag/PSN ID - Main/Sub
See post #2!
Avatars!
P4 Spoiler?
Special Thanks
-we.are.the.armada & NinajHeartless for graphics and content
-Mayonaka Midnight
-Dustloop
Until August 7th, GET HYPE!
Hold nothing back.
