From a derivative IP all the way to a popular hit sought after by the public, "Persona" has grown into the undoubted signature façade of ATLUS after more than 20 years of accumulation.
However, due to the long interval between the launch of the main biography, they have also begun to get used to launching some works of a sequel nature from time to time, one to maximize the residual value of the existing character image, and the other to moderately alleviate the anxiety of fans waiting for the sequel.
Born in 2012, Persona 4: Midnight Arena (P4U) is a pioneer in this outrage. ATLUS has partnered with Arc System Works, which specializes in FTG, to create a magnificent fighting feast for players around the world, modeled on the worldview of Persona: Gold Edition (P4G). The following year, the sequel to the game, Persona 4: Invincible Ultimate Back Bridge Back Fall (P4U2), was released, which also received a lot of praise.
After many years, ATLUS suddenly remembered these good things in the deep locked warehouse. After some optimization, P4U2 was brought back to the new generation of players.
A new chapter in the adventures of the Special Search Team
Arc System Works has always been accustomed to adding a lot of plot elements to its fighting titles, and P4U2 is no exception, using a very large amount of chapter text to tell the new events that happened after P4G - which has even become an important selling point of the game.
In the original "Persona 4 Gold Edition", the "Self-proclaimed Special Search Team" with the protagonist Naruami Yu as the core successfully solved the serial killings that occurred in Hachishi Inaba City, and temporarily disbanded as Narujo returned home after his vacation. The vast majority of players who are devoted to the game have more or less nostalgic feelings for this.
In "Persona 4 Ultimate Invincible Bridge Back Fall", familiar partners finally regrouped and fought side by side again to solve the doubts that hung over the town.
It should be noted that although "P4U2" is called the sequel to "P4U", the relationship between the two is more like an "extended version" in the scope of fighting content. That is, under the premise that the overall architecture logic remains unchanged, the playability is enhanced by adding new characters and optimizing the performance of the characters in balance.
However, the story mode of "P4U2" is not the same as that of "P4U", and the two are basically equivalent to the relationship between the upper and lower parts of the film. In order to take care of players who have not played the previous game and facilitate their understanding of the plot, "P4U2" comes with all the AVG content of "P4U", which can be described as conscience.
In this mode, the player is no longer just substituted into Naruto's perspective, but through multiple lines, through the perspective of Kuchikawa Rishi, Shirakawa Naoto, Hanamura Yosuke and other search team partners to experience the story in an all-round way, and finally piece together a complete chapter.
If the Skip feature is not used, simply reading the main route initially offered will take the player several hours. After the initial route is broken, there will be two additional script routes, which will complete the various details in the main route from a completely different perspective, and even produce divergence points, and the amount of text is extremely rich, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is "buy FTG and send AVG". Even if you are not very good at fighting operations, you can easily pass the battles interspersed in the story mode with low difficulty, and you can also let the CPU fight for you.
As a die-hard of the original, I'm relatively satisfied with the story told in the P4U duo. Although it is not as twisty and majestic as "P4G", the way the royal road unfolds is not boring. In addition, although the title says "Persona 4", the "Special Extracurricular Activities Department" from "Persona 3" also occupies an extremely important role in this work. Two groups of protagonists across generations have teamed up to save a world in crisis, and whether you're a fan of P4 or P3, you'll be hooked.
In particular, I would like to say that a certain behind-the-scenes character who is the villain in "P4G" actually has a lot of scenes in the script of "P4U2". The game has expanded his experience and image to a considerable extent, which is expected to make the player group attracted by the unique charm of this character feel excited.
Rigorous fighting system without losing its original flavor
One thing to say is that in order to flexibly integrate the RPG gameplay of the original "Persona" into the fighting game system, ASW has made great efforts in the planning of the system level.
In addition to the basic light and heavy attacks, most characters have two independent key Persona moves, including normal skills and must kills, equivalent to another set of attack modules, the main feature is that when launched, the Persona entity will be summoned. How to implement the linkage strike cooperation between the body and the personality mask is the core of thinking for suppressing Lian Duanli.
However, Persona itself has a trauma judgment. If the opponent successfully attacks when he appears, it will deplete the strength of the independent personality mask. When this part of the value is reduced to zero, the character will not be able to use the Persona move for a period of time, which will undoubtedly have a negative impact on combat effectiveness.
In terms of character design, "P4U2" also does its best to restore the flavor of each character. Taking Yukiko Amagi, who mainly uses fire skills in "P4G", as an example, the development team specifically added the concept of "flame level" to her. Release the corresponding kill skill, you can increase this value layer by layer. As you level up, the damage you do when you hit your opponent with the Fire Attribute Technique increases visibly. She even has a special fire resistance skill, so that the next flame attack can not be defended, and it is highly strategic.
In addition, the concept of anomalous states that was common in the original game was also managed to be put into the game. There are many move hits that come with abnormal attributes, such as a paralyzed state that restricts movement, and a poisoned state that constantly deducts stamina.
It's still fun to play alone
For veteran fighters, P4U2 is no different from other FTG products. You have to practice repeatedly and diligently, study and master various countermeasures, and at the same time try to cultivate key muscle memory, and finally go to the network battle to kill all sides.
However, users with pure single-player habits can also find their own entertainment: in addition to the huge story mode mentioned above, this game is specially tailored for players who do not like to fight with people - the Golden Arena.
In layman's terms, the Golden Arena is similar to the "Tower Climbing" that appeared in "Sin Gear" and "Apocalypse of the Wings". After determining the use of the character, the player must choose a travel route according to the difficulty and play against the CPU characters that are constantly emerging.
Defeating the CPU will give you experience points, which will increase your character's level as you accumulate. You can freely allocate bonus points from upgrades to attributes such as attack power, health, etc. In addition, each time you reach a certain level, you can also acquire new skills, most of which provide passive buffs, such as HP auto-recovery, attacks to add abnormal states, etc.
The Golden Arena as a whole looks very large. First of all, each character's experience level is independent, and if you want to re-train a person, you must start from scratch. In addition, the game provides five routes, in addition to the difficulty difference, each line flow is as many as hundreds of levels, it is definitely not easy to empty them all. As long as you don't get bored with repeatedly punching the CPU, you can really spend a lot of time here.
summary
Despite being a cold meal after more than eight years, "P4U2" is doing well overall. The release of P4G on PC a few years ago successfully expanded the user awareness of the series, and now it's time for new players to experience the next story. As a fan of the original, as long as the type of fighting is not extremely exclusive, it is recommended to buy this game here to try.