I am still completely loving this game I haven’t had as much time as I’d like to play, but I have gotten better and even increased my win % to .50 after my atrocious premature start This game really raised the bar when it comes to crossover games, it’s so immersive as a Persona fan I’ve actually just been playing all the different characters and their arcade modes, then afterwards will jump into the story ArcSys and Atlus were a match made in Heaven…or Hell?!?
Although I still don’t like Labrys’ English voice at all. Thought it was growing on me but nope, just doesn’t fit her whatsover -__-
I’m still having fun with it. Had to take a few weeks off to tend to other work, but I find myself coming back fairly regularly. The problem now is I have so many worthy fighting games in my library, and not enough time to play all of them. Nonetheless, when it comes time to start cutting some of them from my schedule… P4A is among those I’m very likely to keep. So, sure; feel free to pick it up.
My personal opinion is no; the game is balanced enough that they’ll probably let it rock. BB is (historically) heinously unbalanced compared to this, and they typically fix those problems with a new game rather than a patch.
Seriously though, P4A doesn’t need to be changed. I think the upper tiers are in a pretty good place, and Liz and Labrys suffer from design flaws more than anything else so I don’t think it would be so easy to buff them. If the game remains popular in Japan, it will probably get a (purchasable) update with 2-3 new characters next year.
That r-action needs to stay in the air longer so it’s easier to punish, or to make it have no supercancel ability on landing. If she’s going to keep all the advantages she already has, she needs her damage nerfed by half or something.
Also nerf Kanji’s grab damage by half and if that hurts him too much, beef him up in other ways (like improving his ground dash, airdash and floatiness of his jump).
Sounds like you just don’t want to learn those matchups. Balance is fine right now. Only thing that would be even worth considering changing is SMP loop, but even that isn’t really that much of a problem. Labrys probably could use some kind of buff if they ever do an “Ultimate” P4, but other than that, the balance seems fine.
What does learning the matchups have to do with how much damage she does and the fact that countering her DP in the air before she touches the ground results in having to settle for a weaker combo? Bottomline, Mitsuru can dictate the pace of the matches at almost all times with little effort. Many characters need to make good but risky reads to get her off them and it would hardly deter her because of how easily she can make comebacks if she needs to.
And why is she the only character that has a lower body invincible 2B?
Her DP is easily punishable every time. Not knowing how to do that consistently, and that doing so is actually fairly easy as DPs go, is not knowing the matchup. Getting hit by DP > Bufudyne anytime ever for any reason when every character has* at least* one guaranteed way out (which by the way usually leads into a full FC) is not knowing the matchup.
Also, don’t get grabbed by the grappler. How is that not learning the matchup? (hint: he’s always trying to grab you; stop pressing buttons in his face).
Like every other rushdown character in the game? Have you never played against a good Yu/Yosuke/Chie/Aigis/Akihiko…at all?
No it’s not actually. If you air block it, you usually can’t punish it, especially if you block it when it hits from behind. Hitting her out of the air, for many characters, results in a relatively weak punish.
If Mitsuru has 100 meter, Shadow Lab can’t punish the whiffed super unfortunately, even if she rolls it, which makes this an even worse matchup for her. In a number of situations you can’t even hit her out of the air, so you have to let her get away with it.
Good grappler players are rarely trying to grab you, they use the existence of the grab to make their ground normals/footsies strong. It’s usually the lower level players that are constantly going for grabs.Good players will grab you when they’ve understood that you fear their normals.
I’m being completely sincere, so if there are any assholish overtones, please know that they’re not because I think you’re retarded or anything. I just…yeah.
Regarding Mitsuru’s DP, you can punish it. Doesn’t matter HOW you punish it, really. You’re hung up on how much damage your punish is on the DP…but it doesn’t matter because you’re punishing it. Just because she did a DP, that’s not some green light to a 5K CH combo (although some characters can score that no problem). This is completely ignoring the fact that you get bonus damage on your punish, even if it’s an instant air throw (gasp) just because she spends blue life to DP. If you can punish it, you’re doing your job. If you’re having trouble punishing it, then instant block. Air instant block is even BETTER. Don’t be salty about the super cancel either, because if she has meter to do super on landing, she has meter to OMC! if she makes you block it, so tough cookies on that one. It’s a good move; deal with it. It’s not unbeatable and it’s not the gear that’s turning the meta, so maybe you can take a step back and respect the fact that it’s a good move without forgetting that it’s still beatable in some situations.
Regarding grapplers, you seem to have some sort of Street Fighter-esque hyperidealistic view of a grapple character. To put it in perspective, Kanji is not a striker. He doesn’t “play footsies” really. He can and I’m not going to really go into semantic bullshit, but his main style of play is FC fishing and grabs or tick grabs. The reason grabs do as much damage as they do for him is because his auxiliary game isn’t good enough to rely on with just the threat of grabs being present. Not all grapplers are Zangief or Haggar; Kanji needs grabs to win. He is great at what he does, mind you; I feel he’s one of the best 2D grapplers in a mainstream game (no, not considering those half-breed hybrid strikers and shit) to date and he has great mobility and tricks with a somewhat shaky defense to try to help round him out. At the end of the day, though, he needs to grab because outside of FCs and completely random shit, he’s not doing enough damage for the risk he has to expose himself to. And that’s real.
I can’t help but feel you’re comparing P4U to some other games and there doesn’t seem to be an apples-to-apples comparison going on in your mind. I would suggest getting some more experience and seeing if your viewpoint doesn’t shift slightly over time.
I have an SSS and SS Shadow Lab (two accounts)…and while more experience is always better, this isn’t exactly the issue here. You have to go too out of your way to punish a lot of things that benefit the lower level player, and in the case of Mitsuru, it doesn’t deter her much from doing what she’s doing, as much as I think it should…hence why I’m mentioning that she needs some obvious nerfs.
My issue with Kanji is that he can play like a scrub for the entire match and be completely outplayed, then land one R-action or grab to completely change the match. It only takes like 2 hits/grabs from him to lose a match (if you’re Shadow Lab I suppose), it means you can never truly be sure you’ll win no matter how much you’re outplaying him.
I haven’t had as much time as I’d like to play, but I have gotten better and even increased my win % to .50 after my atrocious premature start 
This game really raised the bar when it comes to crossover games, it’s so immersive as a Persona fan I’ve actually just been playing all the different characters and their arcade modes, then afterwards will jump into the story