InPersona 4, players gradually build a team of eight party members, each with their own specialties and strengths. But once the full roster is unlocked, a subtle imbalance starts to show: only half of the cast is consistently useful in the late game. While every party member can technically finish the game, the original design made some characters (particularly those who joined later) feel more like filler than essential team members.
Yu Narukami, the protagonist ofPersona 4, is a juggernaut capable of handling nearly any task thanks to his ability to wield multiple Personas. Pair him with early-game companions like Yukiko, Chie, and Yosuke, and there’s rarely a need to swap in others. Latecomers like Naoto and Teddie have clear thematic value, but in combat, their presence is harder to justify when compared to the raw utility of the early-game allies.
Persona 4’s Late Party Members Lack Impact
The core of the issue lies in howPersona 4structures its party composition. Yukiko serves as an exceptional healer who also excels in magical DPS. Chie and Kanji both bring powerful physical attacks, while Teddie supports the group with potent buffs and healing spells. These roles are cleanly defined and, more importantly, impactful in boss battles and dungeons alike.
Naoto Shirogane, however, joins lateand brings a toolkit that looks impressive on paper but underwhelms in practice. Her access to all -dyne-level spells might suggest elemental flexibility, but this almost always overlaps with the player’s multi-Persona setup. By the time Naoto joins, most players have already established a team capable of handling the necessary elements, making her redundant. Furthermore, her unique skills like Shield of Justice are too situational to justify her inclusion over someone like Yukiko or Kanji, who can consistently output damage or sustain the team through longer fights.
InPersona 3 Reload, SEES members like Koromaru and Ken were retooled with improved roles and synergy to ensure they weren’t overlooked.Persona 4’s remake could apply similar logic: retooling stats, skill timing, or elemental niches to elevate characters like Naoto.
Persona 4 Remake Needs Role Rebalancing
What makes this situation more frustrating is how clearly defined and dominant the “main four” become:Yu, Yosuke, Chie, and Yukiko. This isn’t just a matter of early access; their kits scale better, synergize more cleanly, and allow for easier fusion and strategy alignment.Later additions like Kanjiand Teddie do manage to compete, thanks to their extreme strengths (Kanji’s damage output and Teddie’s support buffs) but they still join late enough that they may not see use unless players deliberately rotate the team.
Rebalancing the remake shouldn’t mean simply buffing weaker characters. Instead, Atlus could explore synergy updates, unique passive traits, or dungeon-specific advantages. For instance, Naoto’s investigative background could translate into improved enemy scan abilities or reveal ambush information. Alternatively,Teddie’s support rolecould expand to temporary party-wide resistances, a move toward specialization rather than redundancy.
Persona 5 Royalintroduced traits and Showtimes to bolster characters who might not otherwise compete in raw stats. A similar system could be key to makingPersona 4’s “benchwarmers" feel viable and exciting, even when not numerically superior.
Persona 4’s Combat Needs Better Team Incentives
Combat inPersona 4tends to reward maximizing efficiency: All-Out Attack setups, buff/debuff loops, and burst damage rotations. In that paradigm, characters with generalist or niche skills lose value. Naoto’s Light and Dark insta-kills, for example, rarely work on bosses and become unnecessary during grind-heavy dungeons where the MC and Yukiko can already handle enemies efficiently. Even her high Agility and versatility can’t compensate for lacking a distinct combat identity.
The solution isn’t to nerf the strong characters but to raise the utility floor for everyone else. Giving Naoto exclusive access to anupgraded version of Megidolaonor a party-wide evasion buff would carve out her niche. Teddie could benefit from priority-speed buffs that always trigger first in a round, cementing his value in difficult encounters. These aren’t unprecedented ideas;Persona Qgave many characters unique passive effects to boost diversity. A remake ofPersona 4should borrow from that example to ensure that every party member has a reason to be chosen.
Atlus has already shown it’s willing to revisit design philosophies. InPersona 3 Reload, it overhauled how skills progress, how support characters contribute, and how player choice affects team effectiveness. APersona 4remake has the chance to not only revisit Inaba with a modern eye, but finally fix one of its most enduring, unwritten flaws: that some characters were never really meant to be used. It doesn’t have to stay that way.
