 |
| New P4 Girl Mari |
|
Persona 4 was a very popular game in the states, being one of the highest-selling Japanese RPG's in the United States and one of Atlus's highest selling games of all time. The game was one of my favorite RPG's released, with a great cast, an incredible soundtrack, and a great modern setting. This fall comes the debut of the Persona 4 anime, which has the potential to be very good.
Persona 4: The Golden
Earlier this week Famitsu broke the news that Persona 4 will have an enhanced port for PlayStation Vita. It will have a new female character named Mari, it is unknown if she will be a part of the new cast or if she will be a new side character. This version has added social links, about 1.5x more voice acting and a whole host of anime sequences that were not in the original release. With the PS Vita being a very powerful machine, expect the final release to be a better looking rendition of the franchise. There will be more information released, with Atlus adding popular fan requests to this new rendition of Persona 4.
 |
Female MC in Persona 3
Portable |
Upon hearing this, I was quite excited since I was hoping that the portable rendition would feature one of my favorite additions, a
female main character. While it might sound inconsequential, playing through Persona 3 portable as a female character completely changes everything. When you play Persona 3 and 4, a very important part of the game is the interaction you have with your fellow classmates as you build social links. As a person who originally played Persona 3, I noticed immediately that the game would be slightly different with a female lead because it changes the character dynamic. Instead of being buddy buddy, Junpei feels threatened having a strong female lead the party. It takes a while for him to warm over to you. Yukari and Mitsuru act gentler and are more open to a female Main Character compared to the main character. The traditional social links and how you interact with the world of persona is completely different. The female main character changes the experience of the game, and I was hoping that future portable iterations would have a new female MC as part of the new version and that from Persona 5 onwards we will see a selectable female main character from default. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be the case, seeing that there hasn't been a female MC announced with the release of the game. Here is hoping that a female main character will be announced because it does add a lot to the experience.
Persona 4: The Ultimate in Mayonaka Arena
This announcement intrigued lots of people, seeing that it is the first time the Persona franchise has jumped from RPG to fighting game. The game takes place two months after the events of Persona 4. It is being developed by Arc System Works, the awesome game development company behind Guilty Gear and BlazBlue. As you see in the screen in the left, it uses a style similar to BlazBlue, with high definition sprites and three-dimensional backgrounds. It will feature character from both Persona 3 and Persona 4, with Chie, Yukiko, Persona 4 Main Character, Kaji, and Aegis. From the selection screen, there are currently 10 characters for the arcade edition, and odds are that the PS3/360 release will have more characters. Like with BlazBlue, I prefer quality characters over quantity, and I hope they also have a strong male/female ratio.
Expect both games to have a USA announcement since the Persona franchise is very popular in the USA. Until then we will salivate and be jealous of our Japanese brethren who get to experience these two great games months before we do.
Comments