A mysterious new enemy and a battle that will bring together the protagonists of Persona 4 and some grown-up heroes of Persona 3 in a true dream battle. Welcome to the other side! Is the Persona fighting game still up to the task, or have other options passed you by? We reviewed it in the review of Persona 4 Arena Ultimax.
Arc System Works has proven over the years that it’s not just BlazBlue and Guilty Gear; as one of the undisputed kings of the world fight, you could give him the Teletubbies license and make a great fighting game. However, it is when you give them a valuable license like Fist of the North Star, Dragon Ball or the successful GranBlue Fantasy that they give their best and manage to build fighting experiences that are worthy of framing. His work with Persona 4 and Persona 3 in the 2D crossover Persona Arena and today’s review, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, was no different.
Therefore, the “remastering” of Persona 4 Ultimax on current generation consoles, beyond the few novelties that he raises in his desired return, is very welcome news that helps to make Arcsys’s talent shine even more. A collaboration with Atlus and the Persona Team that allowed the characters of the third and fourth installments to be taken into the unknown territory of two-dimensional fighting. The result? Marvelous. However, and without going into the benefits and defects of the review, Persona Arena managed to highlight what is, for me, the greatest merit of the game and the work of its developers: leave you absorbed with a saga and a universe to which you are not habitual with the quality of the product as the main ingredient.
What are the secrets that Persona 4 Arena Ultimax hides? what turned him into one of the best fighting games from Arc System Works in the generation of PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360? Beyond the inclusion of the ever-necessary rollback netcode, how has Fighting Person been doing over time?
Person goes to fight
The weather has been great for you! The reunion with Persona 4 Arena Ultimax has been wonderful on all levels. It has a large squad of fighters and different alternative versions that enhance the cast. Saving the distances, if Dragon Ball FighterZ was the Marvel VS. ArcSys Capcom 3, for me, Persona 4 Arena has always been the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure from the creators of Guilty Gear. The control is simple: four buttons distributed between two attacks of the character and two of our Persona, a spiritual entity that helps us in battle and whose appearance in the Shin Megami Tensei saga led to the spin-off surpassing the parent franchise in the last 15 years. The summon has its own damage meter, so the wizard can be temporarily knocked out of play if it takes too many hits.
The agility of movement brand of the developers to make double jumps and fast rushes that take the combat to a frantic outcome or the execution of the always spectacular (although hardly accurate) instant-kills are also present. Add to the equation the Burst and the typical system penalties if the player does not attack; its developers want constant battle. Naturally, we would not be facing an Arc System Works video game if we did not have some wacky game mechanics for its fighters, which will lead us to check the tokusatsu skills of an adult Yukari or the skills with the bat of good old Iori. Have you tried what a chair tastes like in the hills? Well, you’re going to love wearing Kanji Tatsumi, who lost chameleon Troy Baker to Matthew Mercer in this version. Is it a problem for you? Enjoy it in Japanese.
Persona Ultimax is one of the productions that best suits all types of playersThe authors have always had the sanbenito of having demanding mechanics that do not always suit new players who dare to approach the genre, but I think that Persona Ultimax is one of the productions that best suits all types of players. The feeling I had back then is that its creators wanted to do something that J-RPG fans could like to delve into its story, which continues the events of the original role-playing game. In fact, its visual novel format won’t seem strange to players who come from leisurely turn-based game territory, but it will surprise those who aren’t so used to seeing text and more text (unless they come from Toshimichi’s always nice turras Mori in BlazBlue) and not throwing a punch during long chat sessions… It’s Persona, what did you expect?
The Shadow World
Do you remember that in upper lines I told you about the shadow versions of the fighters? Well, it would not be unreasonable to say that, despite being copies of the conventional versions of a large part of the heroes and villains, their addition is capital for practically double the squad of fighters. The changes in its game mechanics are remarkable in every way, changing the defensive Burst for an exclusive game mechanic called Frenzie who focuses on the attack. The choice of one type of character or another has its advantages and disadvantages, which is why its inclusion is so interesting for Ultimax: the ability to change combat is so impressive that the decision to work on its alternative versions was very successful in its day.
From the visual point of view, I would highlight that the sprite is beautiful and that it is a way of animating that all lovers of the genre miss very much. Be careful, it’s not a question of grandfather onion, because we admire the great work that the firm is doing with titles like Guilty Gear Strive or the aforementioned Dragon Ball, but it has been inevitable for me feel some nostalgia seeing the detailed models of Persona Arena 4 Ultimax in motion. A craft work that has changed, but that continues to shine like the first day. Naturally, and as has already happened with other games of a similar nature, it is impossible to adapt the original models to the new resolutions without redoing them again, so in contemporary resolutions they will not look as they did in their day.
I would emphasize that the sprite is beautiful and a way of animating that we lovers of the genre missThe sound is exceptional at all levels. What can you expect when you take on one of the most brilliant soundtracks in contemporary J-RPG? So something shiny. The themes rescued from the saga shine at a superlative level and the new melodies fit perfectly with its universe. The English dubbing of the game has been used for the occasion and, how could it be otherwise, the original Japanese dubbing. Both sEsports Extrasa high level, but the Japanese work is the one that I always end up choosing, but it does not seem strange to me that those who enjoyed Persona 4 Golden on PS Vita or PlayStation 2 prefer the English dubbing after becoming fond of said adaptation. Given the quality of the two interpretations, both are valid.
Reissue or remaster?
We entered the tricky territory of this title. What does it contain to justify its relaunch? Well, actually, not much beyond the rollback netcode, which has changed the way fighting games are played online forever, but it is true that in terms of what has arrived in stores again it may not seem like much. And it’s a shame, because being a very remarkable video game at all levels and sections, the reality is that there are not many reasons to take over the production if you already enjoyed it in its day. yes, it is in perfect Spanish and it has all the downloadable content unlocked as standard, but do those two details justify the new purchase seven years later?
I believe that the new Persona 4 Arena Ultimax was born to be enjoyed by players who could not enjoy it in their day, who are the ones who will have the privilege of getting a title with a novelty flavor for those who did not know the benefits of the released production. in 2014. I think we do it a disservice by calling it remastering when he has not even been able to adapt his lead to contemporary resolutions. But as you can see, the problems of the premiere are summed up in the value that the re-release could have provided if it had been something more ambitious and could have dazzled the players beyond the improvements made online and had all the content unlocked.
It was born to be enjoyed by players who could not enjoy it back in the dayHowever, let’s not lose focus on what’s important: Persona 4 Ultimax is a brilliant fighting game that has been able to transport the characters of an imposing J-RPG saga to such a different genre without messing up and taking advantage of the benefits of its universe to magnify the two-dimensional fight. A job that only Arc System Works is capable of doing and what we would like to continue to see in the future with the characters of Persona 5. What happened to the mysterious records of P5A? Would it be too much to ask for an encore fight for Goro, Ann, Ryuji, Yusuke, and Makoto? It seems that the fight has not been bad for Joker on the banks of Nintendo…
