Persona 4 Arena Ultimax

[Zevox]

So, for anyone who hasn't heard, this game is the sequel to the 2012 fighting game based on the Persona franchise, Persona 4 Arena. It's coming out tomorrow in North America, and features six new playable characters (nine with the DLC characters, two of whom are free for the first week)*, a new story mode that picks up where the first left off, changes to balance and gameplay mechanics, a new Shadow form for most characters who have altered gameplay mechanics, and new modes.

So, that out of the way, anybody else getting this tomorrow? I'm pretty excited myself. I'm kind of hoping to find a new main among the new characters, since it sounds like Labrys didn't get much in the way of buffs. I do feel like I kind of have to try and get through the story mode quickly though, since the game will be competing for my free time with Smash Brothers come friday. Still, very much looking forward to this. I'll have the X-Box 360 version, since experience with BlazBlue earlier this year taught me that the PS3 does indeed have worse lag for fighting games online, and that's kind of important for me, as someone who primarily plays online.

Persona 3: Junpei Iori, Yukari Takeba, Ken Amada & Koromaru as a team/"pupeteer" character.
Persona 4: Rise Kujikawa, Tohru Adachi, Margaret, Marie (Golden).
Original: Sho Minazuki (two versions, one with and one without a Persona).

Adachi and Marie are the DLC characters who will be free for the first week, Margaret is the other, and will be available one week later for $5. Presumably that will also be the price for Adachi and Marie after that first week.

[Illieas]

I am getting it. Sadly the last iteration I didn't get too much in the way of practice. I tried to work with Elizabeth (I tend to play zoners). I like ark sys games but i always find I have a hard time getting any good at them. I think my stick and input control are my down fall. I will look into who to go with but initially my choice is Marie cause of the recent anime. I think i have to ps3 mine since I haven't renewed my xbox live but i may look into switching. need to see where the players are going.

on side note i have been also looking into Smash for 3ds as my test case for if i want to get a wiiU. But testing out the demo for it is turning me off since the controls are very uncomfortable. the "a" is where "b" should be and the analog stick is terrible.

[Zevox]

I am getting it. Sadly the last iteration I didn't get too much in the way of practice. I tried to work with Elizabeth (I tend to play zoners). I like ark sys games but i always find I have a hard time getting any good at them. I think my stick and input control are my down fall. I will look into who to go with but initially my choice is Marie cause of the recent anime. I think i have to ps3 mine since I haven't renewed my xbox live but i may look into switching. need to see where the players are going.
I played some Elizabeth as well. She was pretty fun, and very much a newbie-killer (Ziodyne just wrecked people who didn't know what they were doing). Kinda tough to play against better players, though.

I'll probably be looking at Yukari and Rise first, but I actually tend not to play zoners that well (except in Marvel 3, where I played Dormammu a lot, and some others). Maybe I should look into Chie or one of the other rushdown characters from the original cast instead. Or maybe one of the versions of Sho will be good for me.

I'd actually really like to play Mitsuru, but I just can't manage charge characters. :smallsigh:


on side note i have been also looking into Smash for 3ds as my test case for if i want to get a wiiU. But testing out the demo for it is turning me off since the controls are very uncomfortable. the "a" is where "b" should be and the analog stick is terrible.
The buttons can be customized in the full version of the game. As for the analog nub, I've found it perfectly fine myself, but if it's an issue for you, I guess there's no helping it, outside of practicing until you become comfortable with it. It won't be present with the Wii U version though, obviously.

[Hunter Noventa]

I didn't get the original version, mostly because I really didn't get into persona until well after it was out and I knew this version was coming. I should have it on my doorstep when I get home...but I probably should avoid doing anything beyond getting the DLC until I actually beat P4G...

[Cristo Meyers]

Not sure if I'm picking this up now. I picked up P4A last week on sale and I'm at December in Persona 4 right now, waiting to go into the dungeon of the one who did the things. Plus I'm already picking up Shadows of Mordor today...just not sure it's worth picking up now just to get two DLC characters.

[Zevox]

Well, got it. Spent quite some time messing around with the new characters in challenge mode. It really shows that it's been a long time since I played the first game - the timing on everything is taking some serious getting used to again. So far, I'd really like to play Yukari and Rise, but they seem like they'll be hard to learn. Rise in particular has a rhythm game that activates during one of her supers that I seem to be terrible at, and some oddball zoning techniques. Yukari's combos seem pretty tough - and situational - too. I did notice that Rise has a color scheme taken from my BlazBlue main, Platinum, though, so that really makes me want to try and learn her. Plus she reminds me of Platinum in the goofy way she animates, which is always fun to watch.

I grabbed Marie, but strangely, Adachi doesn't seem to be available yet, at least on X-Box. Hopefully that'll just be a short wait.


I didn't get the original version, mostly because I really didn't get into persona until well after it was out and I knew this version was coming. I should have it on my doorstep when I get home...but I probably should avoid doing anything beyond getting the DLC until I actually beat P4G...
Well, you should avoid the story mode, anyway. Though in case you don't know, since Ultimax is a sequel, its story is occurring after that of the first game. It does look like they have the story mode of the first Arena available as a DLC add-on though, but it's at a $10 price tag.


Not sure if I'm picking this up now. I picked up P4A last week on sale and I'm at December in Persona 4 right now, waiting to go into the dungeon of the one who did the things. Plus I'm already picking up Shadows of Mordor today...just not sure it's worth picking up now just to get two DLC characters.
I could be mistaken, but I don't think you need to buy the game right now to get the free DLC characters. Just find the game's listing on XBL/PSN, check its DLC section, and download them directly from there. Though as mentioned, Adachi doesn't seem to be up yet.

[Cristo Meyers]

I could be mistaken, but I don't think you need to buy the game right now to get the free DLC characters. Just find the game's listing on XBL/PSN, check its DLC section, and download them directly from there. Though as mentioned, Adachi doesn't seem to be up yet.

That's...a good point, actually. I'll have to look. It'd give me some time to get over my Persona Fatigue.

[Calemyr]

Thanks for letting me know about this. Honestly, I'm not a big fan of the Arc Sys style of gameplay (I just can't seem to find a natural flow to it, so everything seems clunky and awkward), but I've played both P4Arena and some edition of BlazBlue (the one that introduced Platinum, the naming scheme for that franchise is hard to remember) and played both until I had gotten every scrap of story I could out of them - and that's a rather impressive amount of story, in quantity and quality. So, for me, P4Arena was kind of a really good graphic novel with an awkward 1v1 fighter minigame to give it color. Which frankly pleased me a great deal more than I would have expected.

So, first impressions question: does this game seem to have as much (or as strong) of a story behind it? I would assume so, but my assumptions aren't worth a whole lot.

[Zevox]

Thanks for letting me know about this. Honestly, I'm not a big fan of the Arc Sys style of gameplay (I just can't seem to find a natural flow to it, so everything seems clunky and awkward), but I've played both P4Arena and some edition of BlazBlue (the one that introduced Platinum, the naming scheme for that franchise is hard to remember) and played both until I had gotten every scrap of story I could out of them - and that's a rather impressive amount of story, in quantity and quality. So, for me, P4Arena was kind of a really good graphic novel with an awkward 1v1 fighter minigame to give it color. Which frankly pleased me a great deal more than I would have expected.

So, first impressions question: does this game seem to have as much (or as strong) of a story behind it? I would assume so, but my assumptions aren't worth a whole lot.
I'm not far in, but yes. Definitely in quantity, and I'd fully expect the same quality, given the consistent quality Persona Team has done since Persona 3. It also has a better format to it: rather than separate storylines for each character with significant overlap, there's two main storylines, one focused on the Persona 4 team and one on the Persona 3 team, and different parts focus on what different characters are up to at that point in the story. Supposedly there's also a portion devoted to Adachi which comes with him when you download him, but again, he wasn't up for download yet last time I checked.

(Aside: the BlazBlue game you played was probably Continuum Shift Extend. Platinum was introduced as DLC in Continuum Shift, but was first included in the main disk in Extend, which was the last edition update of that game.)

[Calemyr]

I'm not far in, but yes. Definitely in quantity, and I'd fully expect the same quality, given the consistent quality Persona Team has done since Persona 3. It also has a better format to it: rather than separate storylines for each character with significant overlap, there's two main storylines, one focused on the Persona 4 team and one on the Persona 3 team, and different parts focus on what different characters are up to at that point in the story. Supposedly there's also a portion devoted to Adachi which comes with him when you download him, but again, he wasn't up for download yet last time I checked.

(Aside: the BlazBlue game you played was probably Continuum Shift Extend. Platinum was introduced as DLC in Continuum Shift, but was first included in the main disk in Extend, which was the last edition update of that game.)

Yeah, Continuum Shift Extend, almost certainly, as I didn't find out Platinum was a new addition until much later. It was available for free on Playstation Plus for the Vita so I just said "what the hell?". Glad I did. It was quite interesting, with a wide cast of fascinating characters (with great interactions, and I am all about the character interactions...).

Yeah, I'll be getting this. I'll be purchasing the third character, too, because I'm a sucker for actual content. Never could bring myself to buy any of P4A's DLC, though, because it was all aesthetic, no substance.

I gotta say, I'm very interested to see Adachi's part of the story. I've always been curious what happened to the guy after P4, though they give him a lot more depth as the Jester Arcana in P4G.

[Zevox]

Yeah, Continuum Shift Extend, almost certainly, as I didn't find out Platinum was a new addition until much later. It was available for free on Playstation Plus for the Vita so I just said "what the hell?". Glad I did. It was quite interesting, with a wide cast of fascinating characters (with great interactions, and I am all about the character interactions...).

Yeah, I'll be getting this. I'll be purchasing the third character, too, because I'm a sucker for actual content. Never could bring myself to buy any of P4A's DLC, though, because it was all aesthetic, no substance.

I gotta say, I'm very interested to see Adachi's part of the story. I've always been curious what happened to the guy after P4, though they give him a lot more depth as the Jester Arcana in P4G.
Yeah, I never bought any of P4A's DLC either, for that exact reason. Color pallets and commentator voices just aren't worth extra money to me.

Ditto about Adachi's story as well - though I haven't played Golden (no Vita), so I'm not familiar with his social link from that. P4AU has already spoiled me about what happens to Marie by the end of Golden though, which is a bit of a pity, but on the other hand I don't mind quite so much since I'm still not certain if I'll ever get to play Golden. I just can't justify getting a Vita for just one game, and at the rate things are going now, it may never have more than a small handful I care about.

[Calemyr]

Yeah, I never bought any of P4A's DLC either, for that exact reason. Color pallets and commentator voices just aren't worth extra money to me.

Ditto about Adachi's story as well - though I haven't played Golden (no Vita), so I'm not familiar with his social link from that. P4AU has already spoiled me about what happens to Marie by the end of Golden though, which is a bit of a pity, but on the other hand I don't mind quite so much since I'm still not certain if I'll ever get to play Golden. I just can't justify getting a Vita for just one game, and at the rate things are going now, it may never have more than a small handful I care about.

Adachi's thing is pretty simple - the guy is just sort of a bit of a loser who's only real social connections are Dojima, Narukami, and the nice old lady who is his landlady. He kinda chills with you for most of the game.

Once December rolls around and the Team puts 2 + 2 together, if you have gotten Adachi's SL to it's highest level at that point (7, I think), you can take your fears to him rather than the Team. He persuades you to dismiss the evidence, maxing the Jester arcana, and time skips to spring and the train ride home. Once on your way, however, you get a text from Adachi where he proudly proclaims his guilt.

If you expose him instead, his arcana switches to "The Hunger" and the game continues the same as it originally did.

[Cristo Meyers]

I could be mistaken, but I don't think you need to buy the game right now to get the free DLC characters. Just find the game's listing on XBL/PSN, check its DLC section, and download them directly from there. Though as mentioned, Adachi doesn't seem to be up yet.


That's...a good point, actually. I'll have to look. It'd give me some time to get over my Persona Fatigue.

This did indeed work. I was able to download both characters without owning the game yet. So if you're planning on getting this, just sometime later, get the DLC now while it's free.

I wish I'd known about the P4A add-on a few days ago, I would've foregone buying the original. It didn't cost me anything extra, but I would've rather had one game with everything than two...

[Zevox]

This did indeed work. I was able to download both characters without owning the game yet. So if you're planning on getting this, just sometime later, get the DLC now while it's free.
Are you on PS3 then? I just checked again, and Adachi still isn't showing up on XBL.

Edit: Adachi has finally shown up on XBL. I like that he has alternate color schemes based on Terumi (from BlazBlue) and the Joker.

[Calemyr]

I'm not entirely sure what to make of Ultimax. The gameplay seems even more awkward than P4A's, to the point that half the time my character just ignores button presses and just sits there looking like a moron while the enemy pummels them, and the new mixed character mega-episodes mean that you don't get really have a chance to get used to one character's style before swapping to the next.

Of course then there's autoplay. I both love and hate this feature. It's like someone read my "a really good graphic novel with an awkward 1v1 fighter minigame to give it color" remark and said "I know, let's allow them to put their character on autopilot so that they won't have to actually play the game if they don't want to". This is frankly a blessing for me, since my cat listens to me better than these controls. Between auto-advance and autoplay, it's kind of like watching a movie. A weird, really text heavy movie.

The mega-episode structure may make it difficult to get used to the varying play styles of the characters, but it does a very nice job of limiting redundancy. You get a lot of different perspectives on the beginning but once the ball gets rolling there's not much repitition. I've gotten six chapters into Episode P4 (roughly 33%, apparently) and found it quite interesting how they've merged the aspects of P3 and P4 into one setting. Instead of being in the P4's TV world, this game takes place in P3's Dark Hour, which is a nice change-up, as is the demeanor of the enemies - the enemy seems to be focusing on honest, guilt-free matches rather than the emotional mind-screws found in P4A. Meanwhile the plot from P4A is clearly having an influence on the story, which is also good. All told I'm impressed by the story.

Not entirely sold that the game was worth a full $60 to me, but I am definitely enjoying the new story so far.

Although I do have to say the voice change for Igor is rather jarring. It's just too masculine and suave for that face. I like the voice acting, it's just... not Igor, to my mind.

[Zevox]

I've gotta say, I'm really loving P4AU's new main theme/menu theme, Break Out Of... (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PM5L9Zyk3UQ) And all of the music really, but that one especially.


I'm not entirely sure what to make of Ultimax. The gameplay seems even more awkward than P4A's, to the point that half the time my character just ignores button presses and just sits there looking like a moron while the enemy pummels them,
Huh. I would have to suggest there might be something wrong with your controller, then, honestly, because the controls are just as responsive as ever for me. It's always awkward playing someone you don't understand how to play, since everyone plays so uniquely, but I've not had much trouble when I got to use Labrys or Yukiko, and to lesser extents Chie and Yu.

(I was pretty disappointed to see that Naoto now has a limit on her bullets, a regenerating 5-shot meter. No idea why they did that - it's not like she was one of the better characters in the game and needed her zoning nerfed or anything; other than her ability to abuse the SMP system, she needed buffs if anything.)


The mega-episode structure may make it difficult to get used to the varying play styles of the characters, but it does a very nice job of limiting redundancy. You get a lot of different perspectives on the beginning but once the ball gets rolling there's not much repitition. I've gotten six chapters into Episode P4 (roughly 33%, apparently) and found it quite interesting how they've merged the aspects of P3 and P4 into one setting. Instead of being in the P4's TV world, this game takes place in P3's Dark Hour, which is a nice change-up, as is the demeanor of the enemies - the enemy seems to be focusing on honest, guilt-free matches rather than the emotional mind-screws found in P4A. Meanwhile the plot from P4A is clearly having an influence on the story, which is also good. All told I'm impressed by the story.
Aye - I was actually impressed by them bringing up the similarity between P4A's mysterious antagonist's goal of collecting powerful Shadows and what the Kirijo Group had been doing in the backstory of Persona 3. I somehow missed that.


Although I do have to say the voice change for Igor is rather jarring. It's just too masculine and suave for that face. I like the voice acting, it's just... not Igor, to my mind.
Yeah, I agree, that was very jarring. It's just missing the sort of creepy tone he's supposed to have.

[Calemyr]

Huh. I would have to suggest there might be something wrong with your controller, then, honestly, because the controls are just as responsive as ever for me. It's always awkward playing someone you don't understand how to play, since everyone plays so uniquely, but I've not had much trouble when I got to use Labrys or Yukiko, and to lesser extents Chie and Yu.

I've checked the controller against other games and it works fine. I don't think the controls aren't responsive, I think they don't respond the way I expect them to.

[Hunter Noventa]

Well, you should avoid the story mode, anyway. Though in case you don't know, since Ultimax is a sequel, its story is occurring after that of the first game. It does look like they have the story mode of the first Arena available as a DLC add-on though, but it's at a $10 price tag.


I did spot that, I'll have to pick it up when my finances pick up. Too many games to get this fall.

[Zevox]

So, I finished the story mode yesterday. Thoughts:

It's fun, but there was nothing in it as good as Labrys' story from the first game, sadly. (Though I must admit I did tear up at Labrys' epilogue scene.) It wraps up the plot left hanging at the end of the first game quite fully, but still leaves some hooks for future games - the Shadow Operatives' political situation remains unstable, and Sho is still at large, with both teams intending to search for him and try to help him.

Overall, it was a lot of fun seeing all these characters again, and seeing the full P3 and P4 teams meet and interact. The meat of the plot though is only okay. The build-up is very good, and it's pretty cool to see how they fused the Dark Hour and TV World elements to create the events of this one. But the pay-off isn't as good as I'd hoped. Sho's backstory feels a bit weaker due to its many similarities to Labrys', and due to the fact that we never get to see his backstory from his perspective like we did with Labrys. And Kagutsuchi, the villain who was built up at the end of the first game, just sort of comes and goes too quickly at the end there, and the boss fight with him is so easy (at least on normal difficulty) as to feel very anti-climactic. I'm also not entirely sure why they locked a "true ending" in this one, since it doesn't differ much from the normal ending - mostly you get an extra fight with Sho and see him mellow a bit more, plus some bonus scenes of the two teams celebrating their victory, which are admittedly nice.

I am left wondering if Sho might show up in Persona 5 though. They mentioned at a few points his view that peoples' bonds are a weakness, specifically comparing them to chains, which sounds reminiscent of the sort of imagery they've shown for Persona 5. And I'm kind of expecting that we won't see another Arena game until after Persona 5 anyway, when we'll get one that starts adding cast members from that game - after all, short of bringing back the dead they're almost out of characters from 3 and 4 they could add, with only Fuuka and Theodore really left.
Anyway, with the story mode complete (just in time for Smash Bros' release) I'll be starting to play online. I think I'll try to learn Yukari first, and see how that goes. I'm on the X-Box version* - if anyone wants to play, feel to free to say so, and I'll post my user name.

*For now at least. I've heard from a few sources that the PS3 version vastly outsold the X-Box one, so if the online community proves too small, I may have to consider getting the PS3 version. Better connections online only matter if you can find opponents to play in the first place, after all. I've already downloaded Adachi and Marie to my PS3, just in case.

[Zevox]

Alright, sorry for the double-post, this'll be the only time I try to bring this thread back.

Margaret was released as DLC today, and I picked her up. Just played her challenge mode for a while, and she seems pretty fun. She's like Elizabeth in that she has some of the other characters' supers as special moves (though of course not as strong as they are as supers), but she's much more aggressive than Elizabeth. Relatively few of her moves seem oriented around zoning, but instead she has a lot of moves that move her across the screen while she does them - including some of her normals - and three different Personas (four, if you count the one that only shows up in her instant-kill). She seems like she can do some very high-damage combos, too. I'll definitely have to play around with her more.

But speaking of playing around with characters, I've done so with Yukari and Rise online now. Yukari I wasn't so into, sadly. Being very zoning-oriented I just kinda felt like I was spamming her ranged specials too much of the time, and her combos are very difficult to pull off in an actual fight, so I've decided to drop her.

Rise on the other hand - oh yes, I think I've got a new main. She is not as zoning-oriented as I originally thought - in fact, I'd say she's more of a rushdown and pressure character who happens to have a few zoning tools. I've got a few basic combos down with her, and they're very satisfying to land, plus she's got a lot of tricks to keep the opponent blocking. And one of her supers, Risette Field, is amazing. It's like Strider's Ouroborous from Marvel vs Capcom, only better in some ways - instead of shooting projectiles when you hit a button, if you hit C or D while it's active, one of the nodes it summons will be teleported next to your opponent and explode, popping them up for an easy follow-up if it hits. And of course it still serves the basic function of locking your opponent down, especially the Ex version, which does a ton of hits (as opposed to the four of the normal versions). And if the opponent is in a scanned state (hit by one of her D moves), it gets even better, summoning the nodes around the opponent directly to just automatically hit them a bunch of times (blockable of course, but still amazing lockdown in that case). So yeah, I'm loving Rise, and will absolutely be focusing on her as my new main from now on.

Plus it kinda helps that her design for the game reminds me of Platinum's, and not just because she has an alternate color based on her. She's always smiling and looking like she's enjoying herself, and even her idle animations have her practically dancing around, or bobbing her head back and forth as if to the background music, and some of her moves are just silly (i.e. blowing a kiss for her crouching A). There's something about that in a game like this that I really enjoy.

[Calemyr]

Just finished all three episodes - P4, P3, and Adachi (DLC). I have to say, it's a nice capper to everything. It's kinda cool how the P4 kids are just awestruck by the level of coordination, communication, and power the Shadow Operatives exude, while the Shadow Operatives are continually astounded by the power the Investigation Team routinely displays. It's also always amusing how the Velvet Valets can turn a situation on its head in an instant.

I was particularly intrigued by how quickly the Shadow Operatives rallied around Yu as their point man. They're very careful about not saying much outright, but it's pretty clear that Yu fills a Makoto Yuuki*-shaped hole in their hearts. The feeling of betting everything on a Fool must be nostalgic for them. Between the clear impact Makoto's death left on his friends and the fact that it seems to have sparked a "war on nihilism" in Elizibeth, I have to wonder how long it will be before he's restored. He kinda has to the way they're building it.

* The P3 protagonist's anime name. If we're using the name Yu Narukami, then The Unflappable One should go by Makoto Yuuki.

Adachi's role in the whole thing is fascinating. He is, quite probably, the largest factor in Sho's defeat and his episode reveals quite plainly that he was working towards that from the start, using his old Scion of Nihilism persona to inform, guide, and protect the very kids that everyone assumes he should hate. Getting to see things through his perspective was particularly cool, because I don't think they ever showed his intelligence very well in Persona 4. This was the first time I really got the feeling that Adachi actually was smart enough to both come up with his carefully balanced ruse in P4 and be bored enough to actually go through with it.

My favorite aspect, though, is the fact that he's effectively redeemed without being redeemed, if you follow me. Adachi is by no means a hero. He doesn't give a rat's ass if the world ends, and he doesn't much care who suffers or why. The only thing that matters to him is his own warped ethic. He doesn't want anyone to die in this conflict, and not because it's wrong or some such moral crap. No, he prevents it because if anyone dies they're likely to be found hanging off of something in the morning, causing the police to assume the "real" killer is still out there and not Adachi. He does not want to be exonerated or to get out of prison, even though he clearly doesn't enjoy it in there and he doesn't care who lives or dies, because his personal rules say that he has to pay his rightful dues having lost Izunami's game. That's it. No great change of heart, no sudden goodness (though he clearly dislikes who he was in P4), just "I did the crime, so I will do the time, even if I have to fight to do so". I really liked that.

As for the gameplay itself, I still suck at the game. Outside of the auto-combo button, I find it really hard to make anything flow in the game, and frequently find myself needing to exploit one or two moves again and again to win tougher battles. Against a human player I'd wouldn't even be a speed bump. Still, it's a very cool game with a fantastic aesthetic and a great story.

[Zevox]

I was particularly intrigued by how quickly the Shadow Operatives rallied around Yu as their point man. They're very careful about not saying much outright, but it's pretty clear that Yu fills a Makoto Yuuki*-shaped hole in their hearts. The feeling of betting everything on a Fool must be nostalgic for them. Between the clear impact Makoto's death left on his friends and the fact that it seems to have sparked a "war on nihilism" in Elizibeth, I have to wonder how long it will be before he's restored. He kinda has to the way they're building it.

* The P3 protagonist's anime name. If we're using the name Yu Narukami, then The Unflappable One should go by Makoto Yuuki.
I'm not so sure it's that, so much as pragmatism for the situation. Their best operatives, Mitsuru, Akihiko, and Aigis, were all drained from their captivity, and only Mitsuru was with the P4 group near the top of the tower when the time came for someone to go after Sho. Yu was just the best choice at that point.

It could be that as well though, perhaps. I'm not sure whether they recognize Yu as having the same power as the P3 protagonist though, since he always uses Izanagi during Arena.


Adachi's role in the whole thing is fascinating. He is, quite probably, the largest factor in Sho's defeat and his episode reveals quite plainly that he was working towards that from the start, using his old Scion of Nihilism persona to inform, guide, and protect the very kids that everyone assumes he should hate. Getting to see things through his perspective was particularly cool, because I don't think they ever showed his intelligence very well in Persona 4. This was the first time I really got the feeling that Adachi actually was smart enough to both come up with his carefully balanced ruse in P4 and be bored enough to actually go through with it.

My favorite aspect, though, is the fact that he's effectively redeemed without being redeemed, if you follow me. Adachi is by no means a hero. He doesn't give a rat's ass if the world ends, and he doesn't much care who suffers or why. The only thing that matters to him is his own warped ethic. He doesn't want anyone to die in this conflict, and not because it's wrong or some such moral crap. No, he prevents it because if anyone dies they're likely to be found hanging off of something in the morning, causing the police to assume the "real" killer is still out there and not Adachi. He does not want to be exonerated or to get out of prison, even though he clearly doesn't enjoy it in there and he doesn't care who lives or dies, because his personal rules say that he has to pay his rightful dues having lost Izunami's game. That's it. No great change of heart, no sudden goodness (though he clearly dislikes who he was in P4), just "I did the crime, so I will do the time, even if I have to fight to do so". I really liked that.
Agreed, Adachi's handling was very interesting. He's a very strange sort of nuts, and it was fascinating to see just what the heck he was thinking throughout these events. I can't help but get that feeling that, for all that he claimed that the only reason he became a cop was to legally carry a gun, he has some part of him that does value the sort of law and order police exist to enforce. Whether it's something he picked up when he trained to become one or something that was always a part of him, it's clearly pretty strong if it can cut through his sociopathy to make him want the case to be honestly resolved with his arrest and incarceration that badly.