Okay! I have been wanting to do this for awhile. "Persona 4:Arena" is bad ass and a ton of fun. I have already dumped in over 20 hours into this game, including tons of time into arcade mode, getting 100% completion for story mode and some time into score attack and challenge mode. Last but not least I went into some online ranked games for further experience (though that's not saying much, I only have about 50 matches so far).
That being said, I enjoyed my time with Arena. It's not quite time to put it down yet, I have to get some more ranked matches in before I can close this game for good. Also, I'll have to try my very best to get further into score attack (I'm getting thorn apart by Chie, the score attack for this is way harder than the one in Blazblue:CS). I love every character in the game, and thus, every character deserves a spot in this post!
Now, lets get on to it!
Yu Narukami
He's good. He's like, the Ragna of P4A. He is simple to use, he can easily do a good deal of damage, and can be played in many ways. Yu is easily one of the more versatile characters of the cast that can do everything pretty well. He is good at everything, but probably excels at none. His Persona Izanagi is another hard hitting dude that is quite slow at times, but can perform fairly well at both close range and far range.
I'd say he is one of the better characters in the game. It isn't hard to get the hang of him, and before you know it, you will be out of his auto combos, since you can easily pick up other combos that do way more damage with his kit. He has a dive kick, a overhead slash and a very powerful low hitting slide attack (it is however, punishable). Yu is good when every situation calls for it, and there's no reason beginners should leave him alone.
+Good damage output
+Beginner friendly
+Effective auto combo
+Not very Persona dependant
-Excels at nothing
-Slide is very punishable
Yosuke Hanamura
Yosuke is super fast. He's probably THE fastest character in the game, leaving Aigis in orgia mode in 2nd place. He can jump around, perform some dirty mixups and can close gaps on ranged opponents really easily. He is a ton of fun to play, and while he may not be the hardest hitting fella around, his speed is something not to be underestimated by any character of the cast.
Yosuke can leap around in the air like a squirrel, making him hard to hit, and usually Yosuke players will follow up with an attack to mix you up. Blocking against Yosuke can be really tricky, because he is just that fast. With the ability to just appear on the ground and deal damage while he is in the air, he is really good confusing his foes. He isn't very Persona dependent as well, making him a good choice overall. He can deal with ranged spammers easily because of his great speed.
+Super fast
+Prone to zoning
+Great at confusing your foes and performing mixups
+Not very Persona dependent
-Low damage output compared to other characters
-Needs to be at close range to deal damage most of the time
-Needs a lot of practice to be played efficiently
Chie Satonaka
Chie is super scary. I learned this the hard way through score attack. I shudder at just the thought of getting hit by that ridiculous kick. Chie does a lot of damage, and because of this she is very dependent on being at close range all the time. She can get zoned out pretty hard, but if she manages to get in on her opponent the amount of damage she can do is pretty crazy. Plus, she has one of the most noob wrecking auto combos in the game.
Chie is all about getting into your face and kicking you over and over until you drop. Thing is, if you let her do that, you're going to go down really quickly. Her signature kick is obnoxiously painful, and is something you don't want to get hit by. Most Chie players online use it to punish you when you go into the air, and this usually does a TON of damage. I once got kicked by an awakened Chie and it did about 30% of my health as damage. She is absolutely deadly at close range, and her DP is one of the best in the game.
+One of the best DPs in the game
+Great anti air defense
+Really good at close range
+Dat kick
+Not very Persona dependent
-Gets zoned big time
Yukiko Amagi
Yukiko is hot, but I was never a fan of the zoning kind. Yukiko depends on far ranged attacks and zoning, making her quite the turtle. Her melee potential is pretty bad, but she can deal with guys that try to get too close. Her Persona Konohana Sakuya can push melee attacker away from her at close range at just the press of a couple of buttons, and after that she can spam them with flames and flames and more flames.
If you allow her to, Yukiko can charge herself up to power up her flames, and make them even more powerful and out of hand. With that much flames and fire pillars covering your screen, it soon becomes very hard to deal with Yukiko. Her DP allows her to heal on the spot if you don't do anything about it, and that gets kind of cheap at times. However, she is super Persona dependent, as all she can do is throw fans if you take down Konohana Sakuya.
+Them flames
+Can charge to make her projectiles even more powerful
+Can keep melee attackers away if played right
+DP heals her
-Low health and defenses make her drop extremely fast
-Quite useless without her Persona
Kanji Tatsumi
Kanji Kanji Kanji.....oh how I loathe thee. Kanji is one of the game's pub stompers. He is a grappler, and his grabs do some insane damage. He has anti air grabs, grabs from the air, and normal ground command grabs from up close. It doesn't matter who you air. Kanji will find you, he will grab you, and he will absolutely DESTROY you.
Using Kanji is great and all, but fighting against him is usually a total nightmare. You will be constantly trying to get away from him and you'll be scared shitless trying to even get into melee range to combo him, since you never know when he will grab you. This dude can grab you from anywhere if you try to get close, which is just sad for melee characters. You have to be VERY careful against this guy, he is just that scary. Oh and you won't want to try anything against him, his DP is just crazy.
+OP grabs with tons of variations
+Tons of health
+Going near him equals death
+Insanely overpowered DP
-Slow
-Losing his Persona will completely null 2 of his grab types
Kuma/Teddie
Well, let's put it this way, Kuma will and can kill anyone. His unorthodox move-set and kit makes him one of the games most unpredictable and annoying characters to even deal with. His damage isn't too shabby, he has a pretty small hitbox and he has a great deal of health. His ability to dish out good melee damage and deal well with far ranged opponents make him a very strong pick, one of the best in the entire cast.
Teddie is awesome, because of his size, many attacks will over you when you play as him. Some include Mitsuru's persona whip attack and Chie's signature kick. His mobility isn't the best thing in the world, but he kind of just floats around, and if he hits you, its going to be quite painful, despite his comical looks. He can spawn TVs and jump straight at your face if you are spamming him from afar, or can hit you with a hand puppet attack that is highly unpredictable and cause fear. Not a fun character to fight against.
+Small hitbox with a great amount of health
+Most of his attacks dish out a bunch of damage
+TV transportation is very useful
+Very unpredictable, especially his circus ball super
+Beginner friendly
-Quirky movement might be hard to get used to
Naoto Shirogane
Ah, my favorite detective girl Naoto. Naoto is a very difficulty character to master and use efficiently and because of this, I have epic failed when playing as her. Naoto can be best described as a trap and full screen lock down character. She will place traps all around the map like a boss and trigger death marks on you. When the count reaches 0, she can use a super, either hamaon or mudoon, to one shot you.
There are a lot of tricks to playing Naoto, unfortunately, I am no good at any of them. Locking down enemies from afar by spamming traps all over the screen and pinning them in one position with pistol shots is the most effective playstyle I have seen, and I got absolutely destroyed. There are other methods, Naoto is quite effective at melee range as well, since her Persona attacks have some good range to them, and even trigger death marks to a certain extent. In the right hands, she is super hard to deal with.
+Effective lock down potential
+Can stack traps like a boss
+Supers can one shot enemies with 0 death count
+Death count carries over to other rounds
+Low on health and defense
+Traps can be destroyed
+Very hard to play efficiently
Aigis
Aigis is another one of those characters that are very hard to use efficiently. You can play her as a typical spammer/keep away type of character, but that's just not utilizing her to her full potential. With Orgia mode, she can do some insane antics with her severely improved mobility and different attacks, more so than what she can do in her regular mode, which is rather limited. If used properly, she can be a complete beast to fight against.
Aigis runs on an ammo system, and she can spam bullets at you like a true keep away master. She also consumes bullets in some of her closed ranged normals and follow ups, so relying on those isn't really the way to go. The real potential in Aigis is in her Orgia mode cancels. In Orgia mode she can do so much that other characters can't, and because of her mobility, it is difficult to really adapt to fighting against her. Also, Athena is probably the only Persona that is mostly used defensively.
+Orgia mode makes her one of the best characters in the game
+Her Persona is really defensive and helps cover very well
+Can play keep away rather well
-Lackluster mobility outside of Orgia mode
-Ammo eventually runs out
-Very hard to play efficiently
Misturu Kirijo
Mitsuru is just broken. She is not like the case with Kanji and Elizabeth, where they are just pub stompers, she is a legitimately overpowered character. Incredibly strong and long range normals, great combo potential and overly effective Persona abilities, this is one chick you will NOT want to mess with if your opponent is a skillful player.
There is really not much to say about her. Her normals are insane, her DP just destroys people since she moves slightly forward during its animation and her Persona will just drag you in if you try anything funny. Keep away is not an option against Mitsuru, her Persona can drag you to her in ice state and she can just bash you up while you remain frozen. In many ways, she is a superior Jin from BB. Her stupid rapier stab is almost half screen in range and you'll most likely get hit. Overall she's just so painful to play against. I haven't seen a lot of Mitsurus online, but hell I have lost to every one of them so far.
+Long reaching normals
+Persona can drag people from afar and in the air
+Can deal a ton of damage even when her Persona is down
+Bufudyne is super cheap
+Her auto combo is ridiculously strong
-Very hard to play efficiently
Akihiko Sanada
Akihko is my main, and I'm proud of it. Not only does he look cool in his cheesy clothing, he is a complete rush down character, a play style that I can totally relate to! When it comes to rushing enemies with constant arrays of punches and melee strikes, no one does it better than Akihiko. Also, he's probably the manliest man of them all, because he is probably one of the few characters that don't rely on his Persona that much to win.
Akihiko is straight rush down, so most of the time you'll be running, jumping or just moving around trying to get to your opponent. Most people don't know what you can do, and the moment you get in range, you can just start pummeling their faces in. Of course they will block and shit, but when you start doing the auto combo follow up where Akihiko punches from both directions, you can make your opponent guess and attack low with a sweep or high with your overhead all out attack. Of course he has his weaknesses, but Akihiko is just so much fun to play!
+Super rush down
+Cornered opponents can just prepare to die
+Can do mix ups fairly well
+Does a lot of damage up close
+Beginner friendly
-Gets zoned hard
-Has no projectiles and reliable gap closers
-His normals have terrible range
Labrys
Labrys is one of the more obsolete characters in the game. You don't see her much at all online, and while she can hit fairly hard with that huge axe of hers, she is actually the hardest character to master in the game. It is very hard to play her properly and do anything that is actually damaging outside of her auto combo. I tried to learn Labrys, but she was too hard to play, and I eventually gave up.
Labrys may be able to do a ton of damage with her axe mechanic (it gets stronger as she hits you more), and her charging axe super can totally wipe out half of your health in one hit, but she has quite a few issues. Her mobility is bad, and her normals leave quite a lot to be desired. Her only gap closer, the chain arm, is quite punishable if used wrongly. Her Persona is her saving grace, as it helps hold her enemies in place for her to actually go in and deal some damage. Labrys probably needs the most practice to master properly out of the entire cast.
+Great melee damage
+Persona can lock opponents down for Labrys to go in and do damage
+Chain arm can be used to close gaps
+Charging the axe for a super can do some crazy damage
-Persona dependant
-Chain arm is punishable
-Very hard to play efficiently
-Bad normals
Shadow Labrys
Shadow Labrys may be similar to Labyrs in the way they attack, but their differences lie in their different Persona abilities. Shadow Labrys's persona is a huge bull, and is completely different compared to that of regular Labrys's. Because of this, both Shadow Labyrs and regular Labrys have very different play styles.
Much like Labyrs, her shadow counterpart focuses on using her Persona to make her an effective character. Shadow Labrys's Persona is out in the open all the time and is very vulnerable to being damaged and eventually destroyed, this will greatly hurt Shadow Labyrs as she is weak without her Persona. Her Persona can block, deal out hefty punches, breath flames that can hit enemies in the air and more. Using Shadow Labrys requires a lot of skill and micromanagement, as you have to control the Persona along with Shadow Labrys herself.
+Even greater melee potential than Labrys
+Persona can do a lot of heavy lifting
+Practically indestructible if played by a person with very strong micromanagement skills
+Everything Labrys can do, she can do it too
-Even more Persona dependant than Labrys
-She is way squisher than Labrys
-She will suck bad if you don't micromanage well
Elizabeth
Elizabeth is, without a doubt in my head, the game's biggest pub stomper. There are ways to deal with her, but online, she can basically destroy everybody. Her ability to dish out a ton of damage from any part of the map is incredibly ridiculous and unfair to any new player that doesn't know how to deal with her. Gaining knowledge to counter this dangerous girl is hard, but if you're smart enough, maybe you can deal with her.
Elizabeth can be played in many ways, mostly as a deadly ranged spammer or a mid ranged attacker. Her DP is practically a very cheap command grab that allows her to inflict a status ailment on you, meaning that you have NO CHANCE whatsoever against this girl. But there is one thing that is a fact, and that is if you play passively and look for openings, you can beat Elizabeth. Look for chances to poke Thanatos, because she is absolutely USELESS without her Persona. She might seem indestructible, but without Thanatos, she can do nothing against you. Use that time to beat her down as fast as you can, as she has the lowest health in the game, and if she gets Thanatos back, you're in for hell once again.
+Great projectile spammer
+Can lock you down easily
+Her Persona can do a mid screen command grab
+Can heal herself with Diarahan
+Super cheap DP
+Beginner friendly
-Practically useless without her Persona
-Has the lowest health in the game
There we go! That's every character in the game. Please note that these are purely based on my opinion and hey, you don't have to take my word for it if you don't want to. These are just my thoughts on the cast. "Persona 4:Arena" is awesome and hell, I think I already have had more of my money's worth with this game.
But of course things aren't over yet! More ranked games to come for me for this game! Persona forever!!!!!
Peace.
