So let’s just get this out of the way while there is still time. I love the Persona franchise. I was planning on doing a big project with it, but now isn’t the right time, so… later. But for now, let’s talk about the first of a few Persona games that will be appearing on the list. And what better game to talk about than one that mashes both of my loves into one. Persona and Fighting games. It’s Persona 4 Arena Ultimax baby!
The story is a follow up to Arena, the first one, which I have not played (oops). It involves an event known as the P1 Climax, a fighting tournament that is created by the new villain of the game in order to turn the world into Shadows or something. I don’t know, it’s a fighting game, the plot is dumb, let’s have an actual waifu war instead of just talking in the comments like babies. The game is surprisingly deep with its fighting. You got some basic attacks here and there, but then you can mix it up with using Persona skills. You can knock out your enemies Persona for the rest of the match, but if you aren’t careful, they can do the same to you and you can be really screwed. They also have the chance to do all sorts of status ailments, like shock, despair, or rage. What they do, I am not sure, but it’s very similar to the RPG mechanics of the original game. And there are a great number of characters to choose from. You got the usual members of the Investigation Team, Yu, Chie, Yosuke, best girl Naoto, the usual. But Ultimax introduces the SEES group from Persona 3, with Akihiko, Junpei, worst girl Yukari, and Mitsuru all here. The game also introduces three different scenarios, the first following the Persona 4 team, the second following the Persona 3 team, and if you’re a huge nerd (like me), you can buy the third story, along with a new fighting character, and the campaign follows (REDACTED) as he goes around doing what (REDACTED) does best, since (REDACTED) was the killer, it’s neat to see what (REDACTED) is up to these days. Still being a crude shit, that’s what. And the soundtrack is real damn good, mixing up the jazzy soundtrack of 4 with the rap beats of 3, as well as making some amazing original scores for the game, it all makes it a fun time to play with some friends and talk about who best girl is (It’s totally Naoto, don’t even fucking fight me on this).
While I still need to put more hours into this classic fighting game, I am greatly satisfied with what I have played so far and I look forward to trying out more of what this game has to offer. And with that said, we are now 25% of the way done with the Top 100. Pretty good games all around, but the games just get better and more classic from here on out. Maybe a few niche titles here and there, but I promise nothing but classics from here on out. And who knows, maybe there will be some changes in the writing of this article. You never know.