I just scratched the surface of Persona 4 Arena starting with (formerly silent) protagonist Yu Narukami’s story. In Persona 4, Yu only spoke when he bellowed persona names. He still doesn’t talk that much in Persona 4 Arena, but you always hear – or better put – read what Yu is thinking. You’ll get to know "him," which is a little weird if you played Persona 4 because Yu is supposed to be you.
Yu is determined to rescue his cousin Nanako who Teddie says has been brought into the shadow world. As Yu battles his friends, he mentally remarks on Yosuke’s callousness and Chie’s strange behavior. You’ll see how Yu reasons through situations, his doubts, and feelings. However, Yu doesn’t have as strong a personality as say Teddie or quirks like Elizabeth.
Wait, so Persona 4 was all about bonds. Why is Yu fighting his friends?
Without spoiling too much, something has come over them in the Midnight Channel.
I think you lost me here who is Yosuke? I didn’t play Persona 4.
Don’t worry Persona 4 Arena introduces the main characters in Yu’s storyline. You’ll learn what a persona is when Yu visits the Velvet Room and some events from the game are summarized. Of course, that means there are some Persona 4 spoilers in Persona 4 Arena.
OK, I completed Persona 4, but don’t usually play fighting games. Will I be able to get through the story?
Yeah, so far Persona 4’s story fights are a piece of cake. You’ll spend more time reading Yu’s thoughts and visual novel-esque conversations than actually fighting. It took around 30 minutes to clear Yu’s story mode, which unlocked two more routes.
When you unwrap Persona 4 Arena you can select Yu, Yosuke, Chie or Yukiko’s story mode. The rest have to be unlocked, but you can use every character right away in arcade mode. I’ve been practicing with Elizabeth who might sound overpowered since she has two instant death spells and four –dyne tier elemental spells, but strong spells don’t deal that much more damage compared to other attacks.
