So I went into Persona 4 Arena Ultimax mostly because I’m a big fan of the Persona series—hadn’t played any Arc System Works games before this, so I didn’t know what to expect. Turns out, this game is way better than I thought! The fighting mechanics are super solid. It’s easy to get into thanks to auto-combos, but there’s a lot of depth if you want to go deeper. Even as someone new to ArcSys games, I found it fun to learn and satisfying to pull off combos. The addition of rollback netcode (added in a post-launch update) made online play feel smooth and responsive, which is huge for a fighting game. The story mode is another highlight—yeah, it’s more of a visual novel than anything, but if you're into Persona 3 and 4, it’s cool to see the story continue and how the characters interact post-game. The roster is great too, with a nice mix from both games and some cool originals. It also looks fantastic with that anime art style, and the soundtrack really nails the Persona vibe while keeping things hype during fights. Plus, the game runs well on most PCs and lets you pick English or Japanese voices. Now, it's not all perfect. The story mode can feel like a lot of reading if you're mostly here to fight, and some folks have reported the occasional performance dip. Also, the online community isn’t huge, so finding matches can be hit or miss. Still, I had a great time with it—and if ArcSys ever makes a Persona 5 Arena in the future, I’m 100% there. This game made me a believer.

★★★★☆

So I went into Persona 4 Arena Ultimax mostly because I’m a big fan of the Persona series—hadn’t played any Arc System Works games before this, so I didn’t know what to expect. Turns out, this game is way better than I thought! The fighting mechanics are super solid. It’s easy to get into thanks to auto-combos, but there’s a lot of depth if you want to go deeper. Even as someone new to ArcSys games, I found it fun to learn and satisfying to pull off combos. The addition of rollback netcode (added in a post-launch update) made online play feel smooth and responsive, which is huge for a fighting game. The story mode is another highlight—yeah, it’s more of a visual novel than anything, but if you're into Persona 3 and 4, it’s cool to see the story continue and how the characters interact post-game. The roster is great too, with a nice mix from both games and some cool originals. It also looks fantastic with that anime art style, and the soundtrack really nails the Persona vibe while keeping things hype during fights. Plus, the game runs well on most PCs and lets you pick English or Japanese voices. Now, it's not all perfect. The story mode can feel like a lot of reading if you're mostly here to fight, and some folks have reported the occasional performance dip. Also, the online community isn’t huge, so finding matches can be hit or miss. Still, I had a great time with it—and if ArcSys ever makes a Persona 5 Arena in the future, I’m 100% there. This game made me a believer. ★★★★☆