As a disclaimer, this is not a review of any of the mechanics of Persona 4 Arena, this is a review of the story mode only. All comments about the game will relate entirely to that and are interested specifically in that section of the game. If you want something detailed about the mechanics, I would suggest checking out the Dustloop Wiki for frame data and other analyses. My personal opinion on the game as far as mechanics are concerned is that it is respectably complex as most ArcSys games are, though again, I’m not nearly knowledgeable enough about fighting game mechanics to know how it measures up, though I’ve enjoyed it from a technical perspective. My favorite character is Chie, followed closely by Elizabeth.
Firstly, I’d like to say that the story mode of this game is very different from standard story modes in videogames, as rather than taking a singular individual and focusing on that individual, the game is viewed from many different character perspectives, and though there are clearly a few main characters, all of the characters have a unique perspective and perception of the story as events unfold. The story of Persona 4 Arena focuses on Labrys, a new character introduced in Persona 4 Arena. Playing through these stories are differently engaging, though it must be admitted that the focus of these stories is largely to tell the story piece-by-piece, rather than exploring the totality of events all at once. Perhaps the most moving events in the game do not occur from the perspective of the old characters, but rather, from the new character’s perspective. I feel that this is a very interesting way to introduce new characters into an existing franchise, and there are some rather interesting revelations occurring by the end of the game, hinting at some extraordinarily important events within the world of the Persona series.
Attempting to not reveal to much, the story is surprisingly deep, in fact I was surprised how engrossing the story was for a fighting game. Each character widely varies in their perspective of events, and many of them are what you might expect from the characters, yet due to the nature of the game to induce fights, each character becomes a microcosm of many of their innermost thoughts, revealing some interesting signifiers as to each character’s feelings about their present situation. In many ways, the story is also about the growth of these characters into adulthood, a story of a rite of passage into a larger, more chaotic world that they are slowly accepting. In a sense, the story is also surprisingly adult despite the silly premise of a fighting tournament between friends, largely an excuse to explain the circumstances under which something so odd might happen.
From a personal standpoint, the stories I enjoyed the most were Labrys’s and Elizabeth’s, they are fascinating due to their unique perspective on the world, both largely removed from what an individual might define as the world in a standard definition. Due to their inexperience, their viewpoints on the human condition are surprisingly removed and connected. They explore both our inexperience and our conviction, our childlike desire to explore and discover a sense of newness, and yet both also demonstrate an almost childlike ignorance and innocence, while still managing to be deeply concerned about the growth of themselves and humanity.
The other stories are more developed due to their previously developed characters, while in many ways Labrys and Elizabeth are characters with a somewhat blank slate. The result is, largely, a chance to peer into the thoughts of many different perspectives, and exploring these are interesting, yet at the same time somewhat tedious. The same story is told from many different perspectives and the same dialogue spoken outwardly will continue to repeat, with only a few minor adjustments based on each story taking a course according to their perspective on the events. There is also no real explanation of which story is the actual story, and seems in some ways confused as a result, as due to a lack of a definite story, each story takes on a life all its own. Each story exists as a microcosm of different viewpoints on their experience, and each slowly but surely expands on the different characters and how they came to be in their various states, post the events of Persona 3 and Persona 4.
Persona 4 Arena’s story is a fascinating exploration of how a fighting game might be created with a story that isn’t exceptionally silly. The game has a definite genesis and end and expands thoroughly on quite a few characters within an already existing world. What’s more, the story itself has more than a few unanswered questions, as games in the Persona series are prone to do, and the result is fascination. Fascination with the different characters, fascination with how the shadow concept has evolved over time, but most of all, fascination with the characters and their purpose, as well as the thesis of their action. There are hints at what Persona 5 might explore and for those who follow the series, they will find a plethora of new problems to consider examining and speculating on where the future of this series lies. All in all, recommended for anyone who’s a fan of the series and anyone who’s looking for an interesting, visual-novel-esque story mode in a game whose mechanics I consider to be similarly fascinating. Though again, I’m hardly qualified to discuss the intricacies of the mechanics of the game, particularly when others have already done a far more thorough job in discussing them.