After spending a countless amount of hours playing Persona 4 Arena, I can safely say that it's my favorite fighting game of all time. However, after recently getting the console version of BlazBlue: CSEX, there are many things from it that I would want to see added from it or adjusted in a sequel to P4A. Because of the Persona Team's focus on Persona 5 and Arc System Works' focus on BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma as well as story implications, a P4A sequel is less than likely, but I would still like to list what I would want to see in one.

Special Character Intros

The video above shows special character intros in BlazBlue that I would love to see implemented in P4A2. People tend to skip fighting game intros after a while, but a lack of diversity does not help things and I think special intros add a lot to the presentation and to a game's overall style. The Persona 4 cast would be perfect for this and It's really disappointing to me that the only one of these in P4A is the Akihiko vs. Akihiko mirror matchup where they simply fist bump each other.

Matchup Specific Themes

Similar to wanting special character intros for specific matchups, I also want to hear themes for different matchups. This is something BlazBlue has plenty of and I love it. I wasn't that impressed by Persona 4 Arena's soundtrack (the lack of Shoji Meguro might be why), but Daisuke Ishiwatari does a good job of evoking specific feelings through his BB music and the character themes are a good indication of this as they fit their respective matchups so well. There are none of these in P4A outside of mirror matchups (with Reach Out to the Truth playing for P4 characters and Mass Destruction for P3 characters), but I think this is something that could be easily envisioned for the cast, just like special character intros.

A mode similar to Abyss

BlazBlue has this offline, single player mode by the name of "Abyss." The player chooses a level of depth they want to fight through (kinda like Tartarus!), selects their character and customizes them with items bought from the item shop that boosts their attack power, defense, speed or Heat gauge. Items bought from this shop can also have other special properties. Players then proceed to fight through "floors" of enemies with their own items, gaining in-game money in the process to buy better items in order to defeat even tougher enemies.

Because of the RPG nature of this mode, I think it's pretty clear why something like this would suit P4A.

Taunts + Special Character Dialogue

I don't know why P4A doesn't have these in the first place. And no, idle animations do not count because fighting games typically have those in addition to manually activated taunts.

Also, characters in these games talk a lot when fighting, but I think it's a nice touch when what they say changes depending on who they fight. P4A has some of this with Chie saying "Everything's great at your Junes!" during her auto-combo against Yosuke or Mitsuru yelling "Akihiko!" during her strong attacks, but I want more!

Online ranking system that doesn't suck

The PSR and Grade system that P4A currently uses is not only confusing, but also does not work well, especially since there are not that many people playing Ranked Matches these days. It's something that I'd want to see improved.

So that's all I could think of that I would really want in a sequel other than the easy stuff like more characters, backgrounds and more announcers.

After spending a countless amount of hours playing Persona 4 Arena, I can safely say that it's my favorite fighting game of all time. However, after recently getting the console version of BlazBlue: CSEX, there are many things from it that I would want to see added from it or adjusted in a sequel to P4A. Because of the Persona Team's focus on Persona 5 and Arc System Works' focus on BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma as well as story implications, a P4A sequel is less than likely, but I would still like to list what I would want to see in one.

Special Character Intros

The video above shows special character intros in BlazBlue that I would love to see implemented in P4A2. People tend to skip fighting game intros after a while, but a lack of diversity does not help things and I think special intros add a lot to the presentation and to a game's overall style. The Persona 4 cast would be perfect for this and It's really disappointing to me that the only one of these in P4A is the Akihiko vs. Akihiko mirror matchup where they simply fist bump each other.

Matchup Specific Themes

Similar to wanting special character intros for specific matchups, I also want to hear themes for different matchups. This is something BlazBlue has plenty of and I love it. I wasn't that impressed by Persona 4 Arena's soundtrack (the lack of Shoji Meguro might be why), but Daisuke Ishiwatari does a good job of evoking specific feelings through his BB music and the character themes are a good indication of this as they fit their respective matchups so well. There are none of these in P4A outside of mirror matchups (with Reach Out to the Truth playing for P4 characters and Mass Destruction for P3 characters), but I think this is something that could be easily envisioned for the cast, just like special character intros.

A mode similar to Abyss

BlazBlue has this offline, single player mode by the name of "Abyss." The player chooses a level of depth they want to fight through (kinda like Tartarus!), selects their character and customizes them with items bought from the item shop that boosts their attack power, defense, speed or Heat gauge. Items bought from this shop can also have other special properties. Players then proceed to fight through "floors" of enemies with their own items, gaining in-game money in the process to buy better items in order to defeat even tougher enemies.

Because of the RPG nature of this mode, I think it's pretty clear why something like this would suit P4A.

Taunts + Special Character Dialogue

I don't know why P4A doesn't have these in the first place. And no, idle animations do not count because fighting games typically have those in addition to manually activated taunts.

Also, characters in these games talk a lot when fighting, but I think it's a nice touch when what they say changes depending on who they fight. P4A has some of this with Chie saying "Everything's great at your Junes!" during her auto-combo against Yosuke or Mitsuru yelling "Akihiko!" during her strong attacks, but I want more!

Online ranking system that doesn't suck

The PSR and Grade system that P4A currently uses is not only confusing, but also does not work well, especially since there are not that many people playing Ranked Matches these days. It's something that I'd want to see improved.

So that's all I could think of that I would really want in a sequel other than the easy stuff like more characters, backgrounds and more announcers.

AFG players have shown a huge liking toward P4A to the point where some of them entirely switched over from BB and GG to P4A as their main game. I honestly wouldn't be surprised to see a title update after Arksys is done with Chrono Phantasm to get people interested in the game again. Than maybe when P5 is done the Persona team and Aksys will team up again to make a sequel.

Mmm, can i add NO FUCKING REGION LOCK. Stupid Atlus, i hope they all die horribley and slowly and painfully.

I never realised BB had specific matchup music...probably cause the people i play with tend to choose their own music.

As for taunts, do you realise Tao's taunt does damage? I think ESREVER has a video of something involving that somewhere.

Oh and i think the proper abbreviation is BB:CSE...for obvious reasons, mainly being immaturity of the internet.

@Shirogane said:

Mmm, can i add NO FUCKING REGION LOCK. Stupid Atlus, i hope they all die horribley and slowly and painfully.

I never realised BB had specific matchup music...probably cause the people i play with tend to choose their own music.

As for taunts, do you realise Tao's taunt does damage? I think ESREVER has a video of something involving that somewhere.

Oh and i think the proper abbreviation is BB:CSE...for obvious reasons, mainly being immaturity of the internet.

The reason region locking was implemented was because most AFG players just import the latest version of whatever game is coming out. It's one of the reasons Blazblue sells so poorly in the west. I think the Region Locking was more of Aksys' decision and I wouldn't be surprised if Chrono Phantasm has it too. Sucks for people in Europe who still don't have the game. :\

And the taunt was an important item in extending her combos.

And the abbreviation is BB:CSEX

I only really cared about the story in P4A and I wasn't a fan of how it was told in P4A. The gameplay was fine but I come from a school of MK/Tekken love and not crazy anime fighting. So yeah, I hope the story mode is better.

@Joeyoe31: Pretty sure it was Atlus decision, not Aksys., or Arc System Works. Pretty sure they even put a statement up as to why, and it was that Japanese players were importing from the west, not the other way around. If we follow their reasoning, then the previous BB games should've all had the same region locking already if it was Aksys/Arc that was behind it.

Did she really use the taunt in her combos? That's something i've never seen before, though i've never seen anybody who plays Tao well.

Also, this is the first time i've seen CSEX, i've always seen CSE before this.

@Shirogane said:

@Joeyoe31: Pretty sure it was Atlus decision, not Aksys., or Arc System Works. Pretty sure they even put a statement up as to why, and it was that Japanese players were importing from the west, not the other way around. If we follow their reasoning, then the previous BB games should've all had the same region locking already if it was Aksys/Arc that was behind it.

Did she really use the taunt in her combos? That's something i've never seen before, though i've never seen anybody who plays Tao well.

Also, this is the first time i've seen CSEX, i've always seen CSE before this.

Didn't know that. Sorry about that.

Yes it was. I haven't played BB since 3 months into CS2 but back in CS and maybe even CT her taunt was a major tool used by people in order to get the maximum amount of damage out of a combo. Good Tao players are hard to come by. Here's a video.

It's weird that it doesn't have any character-specific dialogue. Hell, even their beginning animations were sometimes different (Jin+that blood sword guy for example).

Though we might get a P4A2 after Persona 5.

I just want P5 tho.

@Joeyoe31: Wow, those are pretty cool, thanks for that. I tried to play Tao at one point, but i could never get to that level with her.

Honestly, just P4A:Golden incorporating Marie and Adachi(?) as playable dudes plus maybe some additional Persona 3 cameos. Also evolved personas with alternate move lists, similar to unlimited characters in BB.

Not to sound dismissive of your blog, but what I want most is for there not to be a Persona 4 Arena 2. I loved the game, but not for the actual gameplay. Obviously like most people, I really want Persona 5, but if another side game were to be released, I wouldn't be opposed to them trying out other genres with other developer collaborations. I think it would be cool to see a Persona character action game or why not just drop the pretense and go for a straight visual novel or Japanese style adventure game a la Layton or Pheonix Wright.

I'm sure your suggestions would absolutely make for a better fighting game, but my ambivalence of the genre and the story concessions that would need to be made to make a fighting game make sense for a second time make me hope Persona 4 Arena 2 never happens.

@ll_Exile_ll said:

I'm sure your suggestions would absolutely make for a better fighting game, but my ambivalence of the genre and the story concessions that would need to be made to make a fighting game make sense for a second time make me hope Persona 4 Arena 2 never happens.

I like fighting games and my enjoyment of P4A's actual mechanics would make it so I wouldn't even care if a P4A2 had a Story Mode associated with it or not.

A story mode that has an actual ending

@Petiew said:

Who've you been playing in BB?

I haven't played too much of it, but I've been mostly focusing on Relius. Kind of like Shadow Labrys in P4A, who I decided to main simply because she was the only evil character in the game.

What I would want out of a P4A2: To come out in Europe.

@Bocam said:

A story mode that has an actual ending

This. A hundred times this.

My enjoyment of the story mode was severely hampered once I discovered that all the "true endings" ended in "to be continued" scenarios where the real mystery will be solved later.

I don't know if Atlus was planning for a Persona 4 Arena 2, a DLC or a Continuum Shift-like move, but I was extremely disappointing by the way they handled it; to the point I will not consider the next game to risk another cliffhanger. Being a cannon Persona game (although sort of a spin-off), I was expecting a lot more closure to the story. Specially when, in order to get those "true endings", I have to endure more time reading that many games have gameplay in them.

Do you know what I want?

Persona 4 Arena.

I would like it to not be called Persona 4 Arena 2, cuz that's a dumb name.

But I wouldn't expect a proper sequel to this game, as awesome as it was. It involves to much collaboration between two busy companies, and Atlus would need to contrive a new reason for the story to keep going. If anything I could see a Persona 5 arena next gen.

These all seem like great additions that would make it an all-together better fighting game. Though the only thing on my Persona 4 Arena 2 wish list is that it has a really great story (if they actually make an Arena 2.)

@Carryboy said:

Do you know what I want?

Persona 4 Arena.

I was going to make a Europe joke, but EVERYONE beat me to it.
 
I totally agree with the taunt thing, it was, and still is my favorite thing to do with Tao.
 
It did seem a little odd that all these things were omitted, even though they appeared in the previous BlazBlue games, I can only think maybe Atlus didn't think they'd fit? I'm not sure how much input they had on the design. Or maybe they ran out of time?
It does amuse me to no end thinking of new characters they could possibly include though, even if the chance of a sequel is low.

Motions instead of just BD.

Also no super cancelling BDs.