Persona: Rashomon Style

When someone refers to something as being "Rashomon Style," or to the "Rashomon Effect"
they are referring to the 1950's movie Rashomon. Rashomon tells the story of a crime shown from four distinctly different views. Rashomon Style is showing the same story from multiple viewpoints, while the Rashomon Effect is when two (or more) people remember things in different ways. The animated movie Hoodwinked was done in Rashomon Style, for example.

The 2010 game Persona 4: Arena was done in this Rashomon Style, with eleven storylines telling the same story from different viewpoints. I have played through three of these story modes (Yu Narukami, Chie Satonaka, and Yosuke Hanamura), and each has irreconcilable differences. Part of this is due to the dynamics of beating characters that would have beaten you in their stories. The story is given through inner monologues and conversation. Yu's and Yosuke's had several profound inner monologues that I greatly enjoyed. Each storyline takes about an hour to complete, and ends in a cliffhanger you can access after completing all base stories. There are also "bad" endings to certain stories, made by making specific decisions.

The graphics here are all shown in a two-dimensional anime-esque style, that is visually beautiful. The graphics are consistent, and is keeps the chat heads and visuals the same. However, the chat heads mouth movements do not correspond well to the English being spoken, and have likely not changed since the Japanese version.

The battle modes are also interesting. There is an arena mode, where you fight 3 round matches, winning two moves you on. This has a minor background story, with emphasis on fighting. I started this with Yu, and did not advance past the second match, and so am unaware how There is also a simple versus mode where you fight against someone else, either CPU, or a second player. I have not yet attempted second player, primarily because my brother refuses to be beaten as badly as I would beat him. There is also a very long (45 part) tutorial which shows you how to use the various combos and abilities, but not well or quickly enough to be effective in an actual fight. The tutorial is also only going through Yu's combinations, which makes it hard to transition to other characters at the beginning.

The biggest problem I have with this game is the controls. There are lots of combos that are very difficult to perform, and many of the special moves require you to use very specific analog movements that must be performed quickly. For the most part, these I have difficulty using. However, the fights are short and intense, and you can usually find a character you are at least okay with (I'm not bad with Chie, provided I spam her kick combos. Yu also came to me in a forced way, through the tutorials. Elizabeth seems to be a good beginner character and has lots of very strong combos.)  Otherwise you will get your ass handed to you. Most likely repeatedly. While this can still be fun in a different way (enjoying the overwhelming challenge), it will eventually get quite annoying.

 All in all, this game is great for die-hard Persona fans, and fans of 2d fighting games like BlazBlue, but those expecting the traditional turn-based summoner RPG best look elsewhere. There are no turns, and combat requires a degree of reflex and coordination above strategy. The tradition is hard for me, but I hope to make it through all of the storylines and other content.