Greetings everyone, Trig here and I thought since we’re so close to the release of game I’d run down all the gameplay mechanics known currently. I’ll only be covering general things and not anything character specific. This primer assumes you know the most basic of the basics. Information from FluxWave’s wiki page and is based from the demo build from TGS. Any information displayed here is subject to change
Playable Roster
Persona 4
-Yu Narukami (Izanagi)
-Yosuke Hanamura (Jiraiya)
-Chie Satonaka (Tomoe Gozen)
-Kanji Tatsumi (Take-Mikazuchi)
-Yukiko Amagi (Konohana Sakuya)
-Teddie (Kintoki Douji)
-Naoto Shirogane (Sukuna Hikona)
Persona 3
-Aigis (Pallas Athena)
-Akihiko Sanada (Caesar)
-Mitsuru Kirijo (Artemisia)
7 / 8 / 9:Up Back / Up / Up Forward
4 / 5 / 6:Back / Neutral / Forward
1 / 2 / 3:Down Back / Down / Down Forward
Air Turn
Executed by pressing A + C when the character is in the air. It turns the character in midair to face the opposite direction and can be used to perform a forward air dash away from your opponent.
Awakening
The game’s comeback mechanic, ‘Awakening’ activates when the player’s Life Bar is low (at around 30%) and its activation is indicated when a close-up image of the character’s eyes appears on the screen. Players’ SP Gauge’s max becomes 150 SP instead of 100 and they gain 50 SP when ‘Awakening’ activates. This also enables ‘Awakening’ moves which require 50 SP to perform. Furthermore, players take less damage from attacks when in this state.
All-Out Rush
Started by pressing A + B. This launches an overhead attack with super armor and, when it connects, the opponent is sent violently spinning away from the attacking player. Mashing A or B afterwards sends the player in a dash towards the opponent to continue the combo and, finally, two options are available to the attacker: hitting C or D. C launches the opponent up in a cloud of smoke resembling a skull who can then be chased by the player executing the move while D knocks the opponent away.
BURST
Executed by pressing A + C + D. It acts similar to BlazBlue’s “Barrier Burst”: it blows opponents away as they are attacking. After it is used, it appears as a black “B” on screen. Any increase to the SP Gauge fills this “B” progressively, and when it is full the BURST indicator is recovered. Two different kinds, a normal burst which simply knocks opponents away and “red” bursts which activates while you’re in any sort of neutral state (not being attacked or in block stun) which fills up a large amount of SP when used.
Controls
http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/3/33855/1892286-main_controls_super.jpg
The arcade controls consist of an eight-way joystick as well as four pushbuttons: Weak Attack (A), Strong Attack (B), Persona Attack © and Persona Rush (D).
Combos
When successive attacks are landed quickly, a combo counter appears like in most fighting games. A combo tech gauge appears below these counters to display the time remaining until the opponent can freely tech from that combo, which is when the time displayed is zero. It serves to show the attacker and the opponent how much time the attacker will be able to continue his combo before the opponent can tech. If the opponent gets hit after the tech gauge empties, the combo counter becomes yellow which indicates increased hit stun and damage to the continued combo.
Counters
Counters are achieved when a player hits the opponent while the opponent is in the process of attacking, essentially cancelling an opponent’s attack animation. It allows the player to gain longer hit stun, making for potentially longer combos, and it increases the damage of moves because of an increased damage multiplier. “Fatal Counters” are a special kind of counter that are displayed by a cloud of smoke resembling a skull which accompanies the opponent being sent in the air. Only certain moves can cause these and they allow for even more hit stun and a higher damage multiplier than regular counters.
Double Jump
Double jumps are performed by either pressing up while already in the air and having not executed a double jump beforehand, or by pressing the direction opposite of a wall that the player jumps onto.
EX Moves
Similar to many other 2D fighting games, most of the characters’ special moves have EX variations that require 25 SP to be executed.
Guard Cancel Attack
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Executed by pressing 6A + B while guarding. It costs 50 SP and has invincibility frames.
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Instant Blocking
Pressing back as you’re being attacked will preform an instant block. Will award more meter and give more of a frame advantage compared to normal blocks.
Mini-jump
Executed by pressing 2A + C. It is a small hop; a shorter variation of the normal jump.
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One More! Cancel**
Executed by pressing A + B + C. It takes 50 SP and acts as a Roman Cancel, meaning it will cancel the animation of any move the player is currently performing and return the character to the neutral state. This can be used to perform longer combos.
P Combo
A string combo similar to Marvel vs Capcom 3 executed by pressing A > B > C.
Quick Escape
Executed by pressing A + C. It dodges opponents’ moves and has a few frames of invincibility to escape pressure given by opponents.
R Action
Executed by pressing B + D. It is an invincible move that acts like the Focus Attack mechanic in Street Fighter IV: when players receive damage while executing the move, the damage will be temporarily drained from the player’s Life Bar. This damage will recover progressively.
S Attack
The “S Attack” is activated by repeatedly and quickly pushing the A button. It makes for an easy combo and it can be super-cancelled.
Super Cancel
Certain Supers can be buffered during a special move. To cancel these special moves into that Super is a “Super Cancel”. It costs HP to execute.
Super Jump
A super jump is executed by holding the analog stick down and pressing up immediately afterwards. Super jumps allow the user to jump higher than normal jumps.
Supers
Damaging moves unique to each character. Some Supers of the physical variety such as Chie’s God Hand removes a percentage of the player’s permanent health, coloring the removed health in blue. Supers require 50 SP to use.
Sweep
Executed by pressing 2A + B. It knocks the opponent down.
Throw
Executed by pressing C + D. It executes an unblockable throw and can be done in midair. It is cancelled by the opponent by pressing ‘C + D’. There are three types of throws: forward throws, back throws and air throws. Each are executed by directing the analog stick in the corresponding direction while throwing.
Ukemi
When falling to the ground or hitting it, recover by pressing a button.
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Status Effects**
Certain characters, like Naoto and Yosuke, are able to inflict status effects such as mute, which seals the opponent’s Persona use for a set amount of time, and confusion, which reverses the opponents controls. These effects are caused by performing certain special moves.
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Life Gauge**
http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/3/33855/1892293-life_gauge_super.jpg
Yellow bar that displays characters’ available health. It decreases with damage received. Red displays an amount of health removed from a recent attack. When blue appears in the Life Gauge, it indicates damage received during an R Action or a Super that removed a percentage of the user’s health. The blue section means that health is temporarily removed and will slowly recover over time, becoming yellow progressively, but if the player receives a hit when blue is present in the gauge, that temporary health will disappear permanently.
Spirit Point (SP) Gauge
http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/3/33855/1892294-sp_gauge_super.jpg
Blue bar with numerical indicator that indicates how much SP a character has available. SP is gained when a character inflicts or sustains damage and SP is used to perform special attacks such as EX moves. Each character starts the round with this gauge completely empty and the maximum amount this gauge can reach is 100. After Awakening is achieved, however, the maximum amount for this gauge increases to 150 SP.
Persona Gauge
http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/3/33855/1894622-bar_3_super.png
This is the gauge directly below the Life Bar. It represents the Personas’ health and is composed of four stocks. One stock is emptied when either a character or their Persona receives damage while the Persona is still on the screen. Once it is empty, characters enter “Persona Break” and are unable to use their Persona, meaning attacks and supers that require the Persona are disabled, or “BURST” moves. Persona break is demonstrated by a grayed out Persona portrait with a black background next to the character portrait.
Character Customization: Pre-Battle:
Color Preset
Option that changes the color of the chosen character as well as attributing a matching color to that character’s Persona.
Character
Option that lets players modify the color of their character.
Persona
Option that lets players modify the color of their character’s Persona.
Megane
Option that lets players enable or disable glasses worn by their character and character portrait next to the health bar during the battle.
Navigation
Option that lets players disable or enable Rise Kujikawa’s commentary during the fights.
If I missed anything please point it out, I hope you guys enjoy this review, and remember, this could easily change a bit after the loketests and I’ll do my best to show any changes that might happen.
