Potential Changes to Physical Skills Needed in a Persona 4 Remake

If a Persona 4 remake ever comes to fruition, the developers will face a crucial choice about the game’s physical skills. After the success of Persona 3 Reload, revisiting some mechanics for Persona 4 isn’t far-fetched. Physical skills significantly impact many of the game’s Personas, so any alterations could dramatically change the overall gameplay experience. This is due to a unique aspect of how physical skills work in Persona 4.

Kanji Tatsumi, known as the party’s main physical specialist in Persona 4, is not the only one with physical skills. These abilities deal physical damage similar to basic attacks, avoiding the elemental system. Uniquely, they require a bit of the player’s HP instead of expending MP, adding an element of risk. Yet, many skills come with additional effects or sheer power, making the risk worthwhile. Physical skills are integral to many top-tier strategies in Persona 4.

In Persona games, like the elemental skills, physical skills also meet with various resistances or weaknesses. However, in Persona 4, all physical skills are lumped into a single damage type. This means every character’s basic attack, whether it’s the protagonist’s sword, Chie’s kicks, or Naoto’s gun, all share this type. Consequently, these skills cannot increase the diversity of attacks each character naturally possesses, contrasting with the wide elemental options available for the protagonist’s fused Personas.

Persona 3 Reload offers a different approach, splitting physical skills into distinct types: Slash, Strike, and Pierce based on the attack style. This classification applies to both basic and advanced attacks. For example, where Cleave causes Slash damage and God’s Hand does Strike, Persona 4’s system makes both simply physical. Understanding enemy resistances or weaknesses to these specific types introduces a deeper layer of strategy, as some might resist Strike but be vulnerable to Pierce. This offers players a more diverse tactical toolkit.

Persona 5 also simplifies all physical damage into one category, although earlier games like Persona 2 did feature diverse types. Incorporating distinct physical damage types in a Persona 4 remake would be challenging. It would require categorizing each attack and skill while adjusting enemy strengths and weaknesses accordingly. This adjustment could alter how certain enemies or Personas stand against new attack types, creating new strengths or vulnerabilities.

Tackling the mechanics of physical skills would be an exciting endeavor for a Persona 4 remake. Since the original grouped all physical damage into one bucket, differentiating it in a remake could stand out as a significant change. Given that Persona 3 Reload already embraces a similar system, this alteration could be a well-argued enhancement for Persona 4, offering developers a fresh opportunity to revamp the game’s combat system and enrich players’ experiences.