I'm interested in what you guys have thought about the balance in this game compared to the first iteration.

Do you feel like your character is better?

Any characters feel too weak?

Too strong?

I know the game is new, and we've yet to figure everything out, but it can't hurt to share initial feelings.

As a Kanji main, I like a lot of the changes he got, but he is still leagues below the other characters in the cast. Only one of his awful match-ups were helped a good amount (Naoto) and the rest have stayed a nightmare (Elizabeth). I also gained 2 match-ups that feel almost unwinnable at the moment with Yosuke and Shadow Chie. Frankly, those two characters seem overpowered.

I also get a feeling that all of these new characters are not looking so hot for Kanji (Except Adachi, and Junpei). Marie's pressure is pretty safe when compared to my slow ass attacks, Yukari is the ultimate zoner, and Ken out-pokes me something fierce.

Eh, at least Akihiko is still in my favor.

Junpei is too weak, I feel.

My gut reaction is to hate the main change to Naoto (the timer for her reload). I get it, but it basically ruins how I played as her. Now, I'll admit I was never particularly great with her/at this game in general, but I enjoyed being able to play at least okay with her since she's a personal favorite from the series.

I haven't had much time to play since it came out (been trying to beat Persona 3 before I go too deep), but messing around in Challenge Mode with everyone, I'm currently leaning toward Yukari as my new "main" (for as much as I actually main anybody in fighting games). She seems fun to play as and I'm sucker for the whole Super Sentai thing she has going on now.

Yosuke was the only character I used for an extended amount of time in the original game, and he seems to hold up in this one. They've reduced the effectiveness of Sukukaja, but it's still enough to turn the tide of a battle. And I like the V-Slash more than his previous auto-combo. It just looks cooler.

Aside from that, I'd like to learn how to use Adachi. He seems like a fun character to play as.

@jesna: I guess on paper I understand why Elizabeth is a bad character, but she is literally a monster against Kanji.

@viciousbearmauling: Yeah, she shuts down Kanji pretty hard, but her health just evaporates whenever she gets touched. People seem to be more positive about Kanji this time around, so maybe you can eat some more ice cream and keep yourself from drinking all that alcohol on an empty stomach.

I also main Kanji and I'm very very happy. I wasn't expecting him to jump to top tier, but now he at least has a fair fight against the majority of the roster, and that's more than enough for me. Not only is his neutral better, but there are a lot more Fatal Counter opportunities for massive damage, and a lot of the really really dumb shit that top-tiers like Yu and Mitsuru could do got nerfed. Kanji feels like a fully competent character now, and he's still fun to play.

The Elizabeth matchup is a pain, but it's not unwinnable. You just have to be patient and find the right opportunity. Once you actually do get in that can be enough to win the match.

@viciousbearmauling: Is that still true in Ultimax? I had heard that the match was still in Liz's favour but was more even than before. I've not really had much time to play but Elizabeth's changes and the fact I hadn't played this game in ages are making her seem really weird to use. Sucks that she's still pretty low tier.

@petiew: Yeah. Elizabeth got a few good buffs, but she is still to fragile, and normal rushdown characters rip her apart. She has very few easy match-ups (One of which being Kanji)

Just having Yukiko have that move where she can place distance between her and the opponent while simultaneously doing damage is a godsend (it's the back quarter-circle A/B. Sorry idk fighting game terminology haha). Also, I feel like she's more survivable, though im not sure if that's just me. I tried fighting Ken in training mode as her with the CPU at 100 for practice, and he's the only one I have a ton of trouble with. Also, fuck Yukari.

EDIT: Also, fire break SB Maragidyne is fucking insane.

@afabs515: fire break SB Maragidyne can be avoided by just quick escaping at the right time. I found out the hard way...

On paper, I hated the Naoto changes, but in execution I have much fewer problems with them.

The three trap limit still super sucks, but at the same time, 3 traps is essentially all of someone's fate counters. Combine that with the ability to use the autocombo to carry someone through a set of traps, as well as SB Anti-Shadow Shot, and you can just watch those fate counters evaporate. The gun change is also understandable, but the timer isn't as bad as I necessarily feared it would be. And Blight is a much more reliable anti-air than 2B ever was. Plus poison? Don't mind if I do.

If anything, I remember around the Japanese launch when people were telling me I'd have to switch to playing rushdown. And yet, I've started playing even more defensively than I used to. Naoto has some fantastic tools to capitalize on picking apart an opponent's mistakes. Sure, I'll never actually do well in tournaments this way, but they managed to make the way that I play the game even more fun than it was in P4A. And that's saying something.

Yukari is basically this game's Deathstroke. Ugh...

@solh0und: YUP! I hate her!

@irrelevantjohn: Yeah I know, but most people don't from what I've seen haha.

She's nowhere near as overused or as abuseable as Deathstroke.