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Games of the Decade: Expansion Pass #10/Blog a Day #21

Hello everyone, how are you?

There are games that you've played that tell really great stories that stay with you even after you've finished the game. However haven't you ever wondered what happened to your favorite characters after you've finished the game? Some games get sequels, be it a direct sequel or another game in a franchise, but sometimes neither option use the original cast of characters. One game answers that question on what happened to the cast of characters not just for one game but for two games as well. For our #10 game we are going to step into the ring with Persona 4 Arena Ultimax

                                     These games always have great music

Persona was a series that always popped up during gaming discussions often back at my early days at 1up. However I never really knew nothing about the games. All I can say is that my friends were kind enough to tell me what the games were and not spoil anything about them. In 2017 I finally decided to give the games a go thanks to a friend of mine who convinced me and they turned out to be some of the best games that I've ever played. At the time I was trying to get my hands on the spin-off games since the stories in those games seemed to be considered canon. One I was missing was Persona 4 Arena Ultimax. But one day my brothers actually surprised me with a new copy of the game that they got really cheap. I had no idea what I did to deserve such a gift but I'll take it. So, how's the game?

For those that don't know, the Persona games are a series of Japanese RPGs. Persona 4 Arena Ultimax is a fighting game and you might be asking yourself on how would they continue the story of an rpg in a fighting game? Persona 4 Arena Ultimax is technically a sequel to Persona 4 Arena, but it also tells you what happened to the cast of characters from both Persona 3 and 4. I really can't say much more since the games are really spoiler heavy. All I can say is that there's some strange yet familiar stuff going on that was constantly present in both games and it's up to the cast of both games to figure out what's going on and put a stop to this..

P4AU is a fighting game and like with every fighting game it features a large roster of characters to play as. In the game you have the Investigation Team, the main cast of characters from Persona 4. As well as the Shadow Operatives, most of the main cast of characters from after the events of Persona 3. All the characters play and control differently and they all stay true to how they were in their respective games.  You can attack using your weapon and you can use your Persona for attacking as well. You can pull off some crazy combos using both. There are also Shadow versions of many of the characters, which is pretty cool.  There are also 3 additional characters that are available as dlc as well.

 

              The characters and the backgrounds in the game are really well detailed

One thing you'll notice is the artstyle used for the game as well as the way the characters look. The game looks amazing and it it plays even better too. The characters use this hand drawn style to them and it gives them so much personality. It's no surprise since it is a game by Arc System Works and when it comes to stylish looking and playing fighting games they are among the best. It's really flashy and stylish and I love how fluid the animations and gameplay are.

The game has a number of modes to play as and most importantly, the Story mode. The story mode is split into 2 campaigns that allows you to play as either the Persona 3 or Persona 4 cast and you can see the events unfold from their point of view. There's also some extra story mode campaigns, one which I wont spoil and the other recaps the events of Persona 4 Arena for those who haven't played it. You even have an online mode that has this cool lobby that has arcades that you can use to go head to head with other players. The online didn't have many players the last time I played though.

"But Captain N, where can I play this game?" Well you have 3 options. On PS3, Xbox 360, and Arcade. Arcade will be really hard and expensive to play since that's only in Japan. Your only other options are PS3 and 360 but sadly the games are really expensive now. A new copy can cost you up to $100 and a used copy around $30. I imagine all the spin-off games are really expensive now due to the popularity of Persona 5 and people wanting to check out the games prior to that one. However the game is available digitally on both those platforms so if you're curious you can still get them that way. A bit or warning though, P4AU isn't backwards compatible on Xbox One for some reason, yet Persona 4 Arena is.

 

                                       You can clearly take this out of context

Final Thoughts: Persona 4 Arena Ultimax just might be one of the best fighting games that I have ever played. The art style in this game is just incredible, every animation is so fluid and I like how the characters look compared to each other. Arc System Works continues to show why they are the masters of 2D fighting games. Each character feels and plays different, no character plays the same and they all have their own respective moveset and playstyle. Save only for the Shadow versions of the characters. The music is fantastic, which is a given since the Persona games always have really great music.

One of my favorite parts of the game is seeing both the cast of Persona 4 and most of the characters of Persona 3 in one game. I say most because spoilers and whatnot. But I love that it shows what they have been doing since the credits rolled at the end of their respective games. Especially the Persona 3 cast since that one is my favorite in the series. I love how they aged the characters and it shows what turn their lives have taken since Persona 3. You might think they wouldn't be able to continue the stories of those games in a spin-off and pull it off, but they did.

One of the spin-off games I was always curious to try was this one because I always wondered how they were going to pull it off. But they somehow did it and they even made a really good story for it too. It could have worked as an rpg but I suppose due to the context of the story maybe it might not have worked because all the events happening all happen in one night. Among the Persona spin-off games I've as well as spin-offs in general, this is among my favorites. I loved the game so much that I even somehow managed to get the platinum trophy which is pretty much next to impossible in fighting games, I even got to the top of the leaderboards with one of my favorite characters. So thanks to my brothers for such a great gift. I hope one day they make another game like this or at least port this game over to newer consoles because the game is so good and doesn't deserve to die on almost 2 decade old hardware.

 

                                       The cutscenes in the game are really good

The fog is nice. It hides the dirty side of reality. When you stand still, there's nothing other than absolute silence... and overwhelming loneliness. This is the state of nirvana. Sometimes when you are lost you feel like you've been standing in the fog. You shouldn't let the depth of the scar, the depth of sadness, or the intensity of your despair keep you from moving forward. No matter how strong the pain is, it's our duty to keep moving forward.

Well that's it for this one. For #9 we are going to be going to be traveling to Hong Kong and we are going to join a Triad gang. Thanks for reading and remember...