If aPersona 4remake ends up happening, the developers will have an important decision to make regarding the game’s physical skills. In light of the success ofPersona 3 Reload, it’s not out of the question for aPersona 4remake to give a second look at some mechanics. Since a lot of the game’s personas feature physical skills, any change to them could have a serious ripple effect across the game. It could even make a significant change to the game’s overall meta game. That comes down to one distinct quirk of physical skills seen inPersona 4.
WhilePersona 4’s Kanji Tatsumiis the party’s main physical specialist, physical skills can be found across the game. As the name implies, these skills deal physical damage similar to a basic attack, rather than utilizing one of the game’s elements. Another quirk of physical skills is that rather than expending MP, they actually require the player to sacrifice a portion of their HP to use, adding an extra risk. However, many physical skills either have bonus effects, or enough sheer power to make the trade-off worth it. Physical skills are a key piece of many winning strategies worth playing inPersona 4.
Persona 4’s Physical Skills Could See an Adjustment in a Remake
Persona 4’s Physical Skills All Share a Damage Type
Just like theelemental skills inPersonagames, physical skills inPersona 4are affected by weaknesses, resistances, nullifications, and absorption. However, inPersona 4all physical skills are counted as the same damage type, no matter what. That means that the protagonist’s sword, Chie’s kicks, and Naoto’s gun all share a damage type. Likewise, since basic attacks and physical skills all share a damage type, that means that physical skills can’t provide coverage that every character doesn’t already have available to them by default. This is in stark contrast to the elemental skills that the protagonist can add to their fused Personas.
A different approach can be seen inPersona 3 Reload’s combat system. In that game, physical skills are separated into Slash, Strike, and Pierce, depending on the type of attack. This applied to both basic attacks and physical skills. For instance, Cleave does Slash damage while God’s Hand does Strike damage, while inPersona 4both would do physical damage. These types of attacks are also subject to weaknesses and resistances, adding an extra layer of strategy. For instance, an enemy could resist Strike, but be weak to Pierce. The end result is a more varied selection of options at the player’s disposal.
Persona 5also groups all physical damage into one type, althoughPersona 2’s physical skills featured different types.
A Persona 4 Remake Could Benefit From New Physical Damage Mechanics
Changing the properties of physical attacks would pose achallenge for aPersona 4remake. Splitting the physical damage types would obviously require each basic attack and physical skill to be sorted into one of the three types. At the same time, it would also make it necessary to address the weaknesses and resistances of the game’s Personas and enemies to accommodate the change. This could end up making certain enemies or Personas weaker or stronger depending on how they interact with the new physical types. It would be a cool change, but one that would require a lot of work from the developers.
Physical skills would potentially be an interesting area to address ifPersona 4gets a remake. Since the original game already had all physical damage count as a single category, changing that for a remake would be a notable shift. At the same time, it would be a significant addition to the game’s mechanics. The fact thatPersona 3 Reloadhad a similar system only strengthens the argument for it. APersona 4remake could be a surprisingly good opportunity to rework the game’s physical damage mechanics.
Persona 4
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The world-renowned Persona 4 Golden promises unforgettable adventures, meaningful bonds, and heartwarming experiences shared together with friends.They say your soulmate will appear if you stare into a television set on a rainy night…This strange rumor slowly spreads through the rural town of Inaba, the protagonist’s new home, just as a chain of mysterious murders begin. As the protagonist and his teammates chase after the truth, they find themselves opening the door to another world.Explore otherworldly dungeons, take down monstrous Shadows, and confront the darker sides of one’s self as you inch closer to the truth behind the serial murder cases.Venture around the town of Inaba, partake in an eventful school year, meet kindred spirits, and forge invaluable bonds.New quality of life features including improved graphics and smoothness, difficulty selection and quick save functionality.
