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Arcana Heart 3- New fighting game, out now on PSN (Examu/ArcSystemWorks/Aksys)
Drem
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
NOTE: Played Arcana Heart 1 but didn’t find it to be your cup of tea? Don’t run away! AH3 is a completely different ballgame! Played the PS2 port of Sugoi! Arcana Heart 2 and found it to be terrible? Don’t run away! This port is great!
Arcana Heart 3
Systems: PS3, 360
Developer: Examu (Console port by ArcSystemWorks)
Website: http://www.arcsystemworks.jp/ah3/index.html
Publisher
US- Aksys Games
EU- ZenUnited
JP- ArcSystemWorks
Release Date
US- April 19, 2011 (Out now!) (Playstation Network download ONLY)
Price: $29.99
Europe- Summer 2011 (Maybe June 24?) (PS3 and 360 discs)
Price: £24.99
Japan- January 13, 2011- Released! (PS3 and 360 discs)
Price: $80 Standard Edition, $120 Limited Edition (probably sold out by now)
Bullet Point Features
New! Demo session from Wednesday Night Fights, featuring Alex Valle, Aksys' James Xie, Bellreisa, and Meru.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSK9tqTJHvk&feature=player_embedded
New! Aksys Games' Arcana Heart 3 Introductory Guide
Story
How exciting!
Arcana Heart is a rather interesting fighting game series. While I suppose the basic gameplay can be considered similar to combo heavy fighters like BlazBlue and Guilty Gear, its originality has allowed it to carve its own space in the fighting game world. It may not be as well-known as its competition and it may often be misunderstood or misjudged due to the all-girl aesthetic, but Arcana Heart is just as developed as its rivals, and arguably more ambitious in its effort to expand the gameplay of the fighting game genre.
First: a brief introduction to the series for newcomers. Arcana Heart 1 featured two unique gameplay systems: the Arcana system and the Homing System. The Arcana System allowed one to add abilities to your character (extra jumps) or change the properties of your moves (extra clash frames), as well as expanded your character’s special and super move set. The game’s controls also featured a button labeled “homing”, which was used for executing arcana moves, but more importantly for the Homing System. Homing allowed your character to literally fly through the air towards your opponent. The stages were very large and allowed for more verticality than even Marvel vs Capcom 2/3, so this gave AH a rather strong and unique aerial game. You also had homing cancels (same as BlazBlue’s rapid cancels) and guard cancels, but all homing techniques were managed by a dedicated “homing gauge” which featured 3 auto-recharging stocks. Arcana Heart 1 got a PS2 port and eventually got a US localization courtesy of Atlus.
Arcana Heart 2 was a refinement. It increased the overall gameplay speed and damage output, making the pace of the game much faster, as well as added more techniques to the game system (and of course new characters and arcana). It also added the Arcana Button, which was dedicated to arcana related moves. This separated the inputs used for homing techniques and arcana techniques, so as eliminate the possibility of attempting an arcana move and accidently activating homing instead. AH2 eventually got an update titled Sugoi! Arcana Heart 2, which refined the pacing further, fixed bugs and balance, and added new characters and arcana. S!AH2 itself got a PS2 port in Japan, but it was an absolute disaster. It was plagued by constant slowdown, bad graphics, and countless bugs and gameplay issues. No one was happy with it.
Now we have Arcana Heart 3, which brought a major overhaul to the game system. How so? Aside from the obvious balance changes and new characters, the game’s pace has been sped up even further. Furthermore, the game added much more depth to the arcana system as it now affects for more aspects of your character than it did before. Also, look at this:
Arcana Heart 1:
Arcana Heart 3:
“Whaaaaaaat?” AH1 featured a separate gauge for the super gauge and the homing gauge. In AH3, they have been consolidated into one thing.
Before we get into the meat and potatoes of this game, I’d like to assure you that the console port is fantastic. The game was ported by ArcSystemWorks, so the interface and features are similar to those in BlazBlue. The online play quality is great as well, and isn’t restricted by regions. This is comes from first-hand experience (I dropped $80 before the US release announcement
), and you all know you can trust me, right?
Right?
Controls
These are the controls (image taken from the English Arcana Heart wiki). The game uses the basic light-medium-heavy correlation of attack buttons. The Homing button is used for all homing related activities. The Arcana button is used to do Arcana related moves. It also acts as a button for launchers.
The Arcana Gauge
As shown above, AH3 features one super gauge called the Arcana Gauge. For simplification purposes I’ll just refer to it as the super meter, and each of the 3 stocks will be called “1 super bar”. This meter is used for both super moves and homing techniques, so meter management is a large part of the game. What makes this interesting is that the meter recharges automatically. At the beginning of the match, you have one bar. As you deal and take damage you slowly gain more bars like in other fighting games, and after consuming a super bar for something, 1 super bar’s worth of meter will turn red. Depending on what used up the bar, there will be a different wait time before the meter starts recharging again. Also, while there is red meter, your max meter will not go up. This means if you are over reliant on the meter, you will have less super bars to use in the long term.
The super meter in AH3 is used far more often than in other games. Since the super meter recharges at a very generous rate, it will be in constant use, but since the combat is also very fast paced, you can’t waste it.
The Homing System
Pressing the homing button will make your character fly towards your opponent. These are called Homing Dashes. You have control over which direction you start to move in, as well as control of your movement mid-flight. This, coupled with double and super jumps, allows you control and traverse large areas of the screen very quickly. In the air you retain a large amount of control over your character’s movement, opening many ways of approaching your opponent. This aspect changes the game’s zoning incredibly compared to other fighting games. Homing dashes can also be used to follow up combos. For example, if you launch an opponent upwards or wallslam an opponent towards the other side of the screen, you can continue the combo or keep pressure on him during his recovery. In previous iterations of the series, homing dashes consumed one bar of a homing dedicated meter. In AH3, homing dashes take no meter to execute. This freedom completely changes the way AH3 plays compared to its predecessors.
Grouped under the Homing System label as well are a couple of offensive and defensive techniques. Homing cancels (HC for short) function essentially like Rapid Cancels from BlazBlue, where you can cancel your current attack animation before it ends, allowing you to follow up with a new attack faster than normal. In AH3, HCs will cancel your animation and make you begin the homing dash. This last aspect is important, because there are three different startup directions for homing (back, neutral, forward), so depending on which direction of homing you cancel into, you character will be in a different position or have different movement and attack options. Guard Cancels (GC) are a defensive technique that allow you to recover from a guarding state faster than normal. For these you are able to cancel into two types of homing dashes, each providing their own situational advantages. A backwards GC makes your character float backwards in the air momentarily with invincibility frames before rushing forward. A forward GC causes your character to home forward on the ground with a shield that grants several clash frames.
Both of these techniques cost one super bar to execute.
Extend Force
The new circular meter next to your character’s portrait is called Extend Force. This meter is used for activating the titular extend force, which is kind of like a “super mode”. When the math starts, your EF meter starts are 100%, and when you activate extend force it will drain to 0% at a certain rate. This drainage time is the time you get to stay in extend force. Afterwards, the meter will slowly fill again automatically to 100%. The meter does not automatically get restored between rounds either; the refilling will pause between the end of one round and the beginning of the next round. Benefits provided by extend force vary greatly depending on which Arcana you choose, but they often provide very radical ability enhancements. Extend force also reduces the recovery frames of many of your moves, allowing combos you wouldn't normally be able to execute.
There are a few special techniques associated with extend force as well. First is Extend Force Canceling (EFC). Similar to HCs, EFCs will instantly return your character to a neutral state. Please note the different between this as HCs. HCs will cancel you into a homing state while EFCs will set you to your completely neutral standing animation. In many cases this serves the same purpose as a forward HC, and can even end up being faster. Arcana Bursts are like the bursting mechanics in other fighters. This breaks you free in the middle of combos, forcefully pushing your opponent away from you.
Activating Extend Force, EFC, and Arcana Bursts all require your EF meter to be at 100%. They also each provide their own nuances on meter usage. And EFC will cause extend force to drain faster than a regular extend force activation would, and an arcana burst will instantly drain the meter to zero. Furthermore, each of these causes the meter to refill at different rates as well, with arcana bursts causing the slowest refill rate. Deciding to burst can possibly make you unable to use your EF meter for the next round (or round and a half!), so the risk-reward meter management of AH is emphasized here as well.
Lastly, another ability during extend Force is the Arcana Blaze. This is a powerful super move that varies from arcana to arcana that is only usable during extend force. This will also instantly your EF meter to 0% and cause a slower refill rate.
The Arcana System
After choosing a character, you choose one of 23 arcana. Arcanas provide a wide range of effects:
The arcana system is no mere gimmick; it’s an integral part of the game system. Each arcana is really different from the rest, creating a large amount of variety in character play styles.
Uh, that bullet list kind of summed everything up. Stuff’s crazy, man. I don’t mean it to seem like I’m glossing over this. I just don’t want to overcrowd this by getting into specifics of each arcana right now. Also, arcana related moves are activated using the dedicated Arcana button.
Character and Arcana
Can- can I do this? Pictures and descriptions of all 23 character and arcana? I’d like to, but am I allowed? Would I end up breaking some sort of bandwidth rule or something? And it’s so much woooooorrrrrrk. Well, if people would like it I can write it. Otherwise, you can look up character and arcana art here and at the official website (top of the post). Here are a few pictures for good measure.
Characters:
Arcana:
Videos
I haven’t watched any of these, but I assume they are pretty sweet. They were all pulled from the third post in SRK’s AH3 thread by BlackShinobi. More videos can be found there, and at a character’s section at HomingCancel.com (details at the bottom of the post). Also, just search YouTube and NicoNicoDouga (quick link to Arcana Heart 3 search on NND).
Arcana Heart 3 is a lot of fun. One of the most surprising things about this game is that despite the huge number of character-arcana combinations, the game is extremely balanced. The arcana system is surprisingly deep. Online play is great; I play it every week and rarely feel like there’s lag. It’s cheap (in price). It’s different from other fighting games. ArcSystemWorks added wacky animated sidebars for 4:3 aspect ratio mode. You should buy Arcana Heart 3.
If you live in the Hampton Roads area of southern Virginia, I’m starting to regularly host meet-up sessions where we play Arcana Heart 3 and other fighters, like Melty Blood Actress Again. If you ever want to play, feel free to ask about it! You can also visit the relevant SoVa thread in the Regional section of HomingCancel.com and MeltyBread.com.
If you guys have any questions or suggestions, please let me know! I’ll try to answer as best I can.
Links
HomingCancel: This is pretty much the center of the western Arcana Heart community. Very active and helpful! Check out the regional section to look for people near you who play the game.
Arcana Heart Wiki: Hosted by Mizuumi.net, this wiki has lots of information on the game’s mechanics and characters. It’s still actively updated as well.
Arcana Heart 3 Information Page- English version of a Japanese AH3 reference site. Contains pictures, details, and frame data for all of the moves, both characters' and arcana's.
Arcana Heart 3 Thread on Shoryuken.com
Player List
PS3
PA Name - PSN ID
1. Drem - PooglyWoogly
2. Gilder - ColonelBeck
3. CyborgZeta - CyborgAlpha
4. blaze_zero - BlazeZeroXX
Arcana Heart 3
Systems: PS3, 360
Developer: Examu (Console port by ArcSystemWorks)
Website: http://www.arcsystemworks.jp/ah3/index.html
Publisher
US- Aksys Games
EU- ZenUnited
JP- ArcSystemWorks
Release Date
US- April 19, 2011 (Out now!) (Playstation Network download ONLY)
Price: $29.99
Europe- Summer 2011 (Maybe June 24?) (PS3 and 360 discs)
Price: £24.99
Japan- January 13, 2011- Released! (PS3 and 360 discs)
Price: $80 Standard Edition, $120 Limited Edition (probably sold out by now)
Bullet Point Features
- 23 selectable characters, 23 selectable arcana- Choose one of each, allowing 529 character variations
- Unique Homing and Arcana Systems
- High quality online play (it’s really good)- 8 player rooms with spectators
- Features Story Mode, Replay Theater, Visual and Audio Gallery, alongside the regular selection of fighting game modes
- Ported to consoles by ArcSystemWorks, developer of Guilty Gear and BlazBlue
- Low price
New! Demo session from Wednesday Night Fights, featuring Alex Valle, Aksys' James Xie, Bellreisa, and Meru.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSK9tqTJHvk&feature=player_embedded
New! Aksys Games' Arcana Heart 3 Introductory Guide
Story
Chaos and disorder are threatening to rip apart the very fabric of Japanese society as planar rifts appear throughout the country. It is suspected that the Drexler Institute, the instigator of the Great War many years ago and creator of the Divine Celestial Weapon, is somehow involved.
In the midst of this confusion, a mysterious rumor arises, claiming the existence of wish-granting "Celestial Stones" within the chaotic planar rifts. As a result of these rumors, a number of individuals have converged on Japan in the hopes of obtaining one of these fabled stones – either to seal them away or to see for themselves if rumor is true. Each person has their own reasons for seeking these rare and valuable stones, and they won't let anyone stand in their way, be they foe...or friend.
How exciting!
Arcana Heart is a rather interesting fighting game series. While I suppose the basic gameplay can be considered similar to combo heavy fighters like BlazBlue and Guilty Gear, its originality has allowed it to carve its own space in the fighting game world. It may not be as well-known as its competition and it may often be misunderstood or misjudged due to the all-girl aesthetic, but Arcana Heart is just as developed as its rivals, and arguably more ambitious in its effort to expand the gameplay of the fighting game genre.
First: a brief introduction to the series for newcomers. Arcana Heart 1 featured two unique gameplay systems: the Arcana system and the Homing System. The Arcana System allowed one to add abilities to your character (extra jumps) or change the properties of your moves (extra clash frames), as well as expanded your character’s special and super move set. The game’s controls also featured a button labeled “homing”, which was used for executing arcana moves, but more importantly for the Homing System. Homing allowed your character to literally fly through the air towards your opponent. The stages were very large and allowed for more verticality than even Marvel vs Capcom 2/3, so this gave AH a rather strong and unique aerial game. You also had homing cancels (same as BlazBlue’s rapid cancels) and guard cancels, but all homing techniques were managed by a dedicated “homing gauge” which featured 3 auto-recharging stocks. Arcana Heart 1 got a PS2 port and eventually got a US localization courtesy of Atlus.
Arcana Heart 2 was a refinement. It increased the overall gameplay speed and damage output, making the pace of the game much faster, as well as added more techniques to the game system (and of course new characters and arcana). It also added the Arcana Button, which was dedicated to arcana related moves. This separated the inputs used for homing techniques and arcana techniques, so as eliminate the possibility of attempting an arcana move and accidently activating homing instead. AH2 eventually got an update titled Sugoi! Arcana Heart 2, which refined the pacing further, fixed bugs and balance, and added new characters and arcana. S!AH2 itself got a PS2 port in Japan, but it was an absolute disaster. It was plagued by constant slowdown, bad graphics, and countless bugs and gameplay issues. No one was happy with it.
Now we have Arcana Heart 3, which brought a major overhaul to the game system. How so? Aside from the obvious balance changes and new characters, the game’s pace has been sped up even further. Furthermore, the game added much more depth to the arcana system as it now affects for more aspects of your character than it did before. Also, look at this:
Arcana Heart 1:
Arcana Heart 3:
“Whaaaaaaat?” AH1 featured a separate gauge for the super gauge and the homing gauge. In AH3, they have been consolidated into one thing.
Before we get into the meat and potatoes of this game, I’d like to assure you that the console port is fantastic. The game was ported by ArcSystemWorks, so the interface and features are similar to those in BlazBlue. The online play quality is great as well, and isn’t restricted by regions. This is comes from first-hand experience (I dropped $80 before the US release announcement
), and you all know you can trust me, right?Right?
Controls
These are the controls (image taken from the English Arcana Heart wiki). The game uses the basic light-medium-heavy correlation of attack buttons. The Homing button is used for all homing related activities. The Arcana button is used to do Arcana related moves. It also acts as a button for launchers.
The Arcana Gauge
As shown above, AH3 features one super gauge called the Arcana Gauge. For simplification purposes I’ll just refer to it as the super meter, and each of the 3 stocks will be called “1 super bar”. This meter is used for both super moves and homing techniques, so meter management is a large part of the game. What makes this interesting is that the meter recharges automatically. At the beginning of the match, you have one bar. As you deal and take damage you slowly gain more bars like in other fighting games, and after consuming a super bar for something, 1 super bar’s worth of meter will turn red. Depending on what used up the bar, there will be a different wait time before the meter starts recharging again. Also, while there is red meter, your max meter will not go up. This means if you are over reliant on the meter, you will have less super bars to use in the long term.
The super meter in AH3 is used far more often than in other games. Since the super meter recharges at a very generous rate, it will be in constant use, but since the combat is also very fast paced, you can’t waste it.
The Homing System
Pressing the homing button will make your character fly towards your opponent. These are called Homing Dashes. You have control over which direction you start to move in, as well as control of your movement mid-flight. This, coupled with double and super jumps, allows you control and traverse large areas of the screen very quickly. In the air you retain a large amount of control over your character’s movement, opening many ways of approaching your opponent. This aspect changes the game’s zoning incredibly compared to other fighting games. Homing dashes can also be used to follow up combos. For example, if you launch an opponent upwards or wallslam an opponent towards the other side of the screen, you can continue the combo or keep pressure on him during his recovery. In previous iterations of the series, homing dashes consumed one bar of a homing dedicated meter. In AH3, homing dashes take no meter to execute. This freedom completely changes the way AH3 plays compared to its predecessors.
Grouped under the Homing System label as well are a couple of offensive and defensive techniques. Homing cancels (HC for short) function essentially like Rapid Cancels from BlazBlue, where you can cancel your current attack animation before it ends, allowing you to follow up with a new attack faster than normal. In AH3, HCs will cancel your animation and make you begin the homing dash. This last aspect is important, because there are three different startup directions for homing (back, neutral, forward), so depending on which direction of homing you cancel into, you character will be in a different position or have different movement and attack options. Guard Cancels (GC) are a defensive technique that allow you to recover from a guarding state faster than normal. For these you are able to cancel into two types of homing dashes, each providing their own situational advantages. A backwards GC makes your character float backwards in the air momentarily with invincibility frames before rushing forward. A forward GC causes your character to home forward on the ground with a shield that grants several clash frames.
Both of these techniques cost one super bar to execute.
Extend Force
The new circular meter next to your character’s portrait is called Extend Force. This meter is used for activating the titular extend force, which is kind of like a “super mode”. When the math starts, your EF meter starts are 100%, and when you activate extend force it will drain to 0% at a certain rate. This drainage time is the time you get to stay in extend force. Afterwards, the meter will slowly fill again automatically to 100%. The meter does not automatically get restored between rounds either; the refilling will pause between the end of one round and the beginning of the next round. Benefits provided by extend force vary greatly depending on which Arcana you choose, but they often provide very radical ability enhancements. Extend force also reduces the recovery frames of many of your moves, allowing combos you wouldn't normally be able to execute.
There are a few special techniques associated with extend force as well. First is Extend Force Canceling (EFC). Similar to HCs, EFCs will instantly return your character to a neutral state. Please note the different between this as HCs. HCs will cancel you into a homing state while EFCs will set you to your completely neutral standing animation. In many cases this serves the same purpose as a forward HC, and can even end up being faster. Arcana Bursts are like the bursting mechanics in other fighters. This breaks you free in the middle of combos, forcefully pushing your opponent away from you.
Activating Extend Force, EFC, and Arcana Bursts all require your EF meter to be at 100%. They also each provide their own nuances on meter usage. And EFC will cause extend force to drain faster than a regular extend force activation would, and an arcana burst will instantly drain the meter to zero. Furthermore, each of these causes the meter to refill at different rates as well, with arcana bursts causing the slowest refill rate. Deciding to burst can possibly make you unable to use your EF meter for the next round (or round and a half!), so the risk-reward meter management of AH is emphasized here as well.
Lastly, another ability during extend Force is the Arcana Blaze. This is a powerful super move that varies from arcana to arcana that is only usable during extend force. This will also instantly your EF meter to 0% and cause a slower refill rate.
The Arcana System
After choosing a character, you choose one of 23 arcana. Arcanas provide a wide range of effects:
- they give you more special moves,
- they give you more super moves,
- they give you several passive and active effects and abilities,
- they change the effect of your Extend Force,
- they modify the usage and recharge rates of your Arcana Gauge and Extend Force,
- and they modify the health values of both you and your opponent.
The arcana system is no mere gimmick; it’s an integral part of the game system. Each arcana is really different from the rest, creating a large amount of variety in character play styles.
Uh, that bullet list kind of summed everything up. Stuff’s crazy, man. I don’t mean it to seem like I’m glossing over this. I just don’t want to overcrowd this by getting into specifics of each arcana right now. Also, arcana related moves are activated using the dedicated Arcana button.
Character and Arcana
Can- can I do this? Pictures and descriptions of all 23 character and arcana? I’d like to, but am I allowed? Would I end up breaking some sort of bandwidth rule or something? And it’s so much woooooorrrrrrk. Well, if people would like it I can write it. Otherwise, you can look up character and arcana art here and at the official website (top of the post). Here are a few pictures for good measure.
Characters:
Arcana:
Videos
I haven’t watched any of these, but I assume they are pretty sweet. They were all pulled from the third post in SRK’s AH3 thread by BlackShinobi. More videos can be found there, and at a character’s section at HomingCancel.com (details at the bottom of the post). Also, just search YouTube and NicoNicoDouga (quick link to Arcana Heart 3 search on NND).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sXzV8y4KtE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhQIQGBv9nQ#t=3m54
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4fblYVfrU8#t=11m04
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0qoI2LUR8g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhQIQGBv9nQ#t=3m54
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4fblYVfrU8#t=11m04
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0qoI2LUR8g
Arcana Heart 3 is a lot of fun. One of the most surprising things about this game is that despite the huge number of character-arcana combinations, the game is extremely balanced. The arcana system is surprisingly deep. Online play is great; I play it every week and rarely feel like there’s lag. It’s cheap (in price). It’s different from other fighting games. ArcSystemWorks added wacky animated sidebars for 4:3 aspect ratio mode. You should buy Arcana Heart 3.
If you live in the Hampton Roads area of southern Virginia, I’m starting to regularly host meet-up sessions where we play Arcana Heart 3 and other fighters, like Melty Blood Actress Again. If you ever want to play, feel free to ask about it! You can also visit the relevant SoVa thread in the Regional section of HomingCancel.com and MeltyBread.com.
If you guys have any questions or suggestions, please let me know! I’ll try to answer as best I can.
Links
HomingCancel: This is pretty much the center of the western Arcana Heart community. Very active and helpful! Check out the regional section to look for people near you who play the game.
Arcana Heart Wiki: Hosted by Mizuumi.net, this wiki has lots of information on the game’s mechanics and characters. It’s still actively updated as well.
Arcana Heart 3 Information Page- English version of a Japanese AH3 reference site. Contains pictures, details, and frame data for all of the moves, both characters' and arcana's.
Arcana Heart 3 Thread on Shoryuken.com
Player List
PS3
PA Name - PSN ID
1. Drem - PooglyWoogly
2. Gilder - ColonelBeck
3. CyborgZeta - CyborgAlpha
4. blaze_zero - BlazeZeroXX
Drem on
0
Posts
FFXIV: Tchel Fay
Nintendo ID: Tortalius
Steam: Tortalius
Stream: twitch.tv/tortalius
Thanks a lot. I know AH isn't a very well-known game, so I felt it was important to explain how the game worked to help people get an idea of how it differs from other fighting games.
Did you play AH2 in arcades or on PS2?
Unfortunately, I am really not the best person to ask this question to. I haven't seriously sat down with BB in a year (and I could never really get it into it in the first place) nor have I gotten to play MvC3 very much either. For what it's worth, when I first played AH3 (in this past January for reference) it felt a little bit faster than BB and it definitely felt faster than AH2. I have no qualms with the game speed of AH3. The fact that homing dashes are now free instead of limited by a meter, and that homing dash speed has been increased, really makes the game a lot faster than previous iterations. Though the game has fairly wide stages, homing dashes really let you cover distance faster than other game's runs and air-dashes do. So if you manage to counter-hit someone across the stage with a projectile, you can probably get there fast enough to combo (the character Clarice relies on this heavily, and she in fact doesn't even need the counter-hit stun). AH3 does a nice job of encouraging you to stay in close as well, since you can retreat and homing dash in quickly since homing dashes are now free. The meterless homing dashes really make a large difference in how the game plays compared to AH1-2.5; you're just able to move much quicker than you ever were before.
I also feel the pacing in AH3 is a lot quicker than BB. The button inputs require faster inputs and while the combos probably have a comparable number hits, they don't go on as long as BB's time-wise, allowing the player on the receiving end to regain control of his character faster and letting the back-and-forth of the match to resume. I doubt AH is as crazy fast as MvC3 though. Hopefully there is someone else here a bit more knowledgeable and can give a more informed opinion. Sorry.
Also! The US release date has been announced as April 19, meaning this thread has probably been posted far too early. Also, the SiliconEra article leaves the European release date as "this summer". The date I have in my OP might have been a placeholder date from a store, so I'll update the OP accordingly.
It is incredibly fun, and there are so many choices you can really get into playing your way. I didn't even realize how deep some of that stuff was too (and didn't even need to, as we both could enjoy it without knowing squat).
Since when it comes to fighting games I am probably way too far from any human being interested in playing me, a good online is key. If this has that then I might need to pick it up and get involved. Would be nice if we could get a good PA group of players going for it as well.
. . .
Why couldn't this get a 360 localization?
Arcana Heart 3 is a high-flying 2d fighting game, but with a steadier pace than its contemporaries, and with a much, much gentler learning and execution barrier.
However, it is also loli and weeaboo incarnate.
It's basically the stinky cheese of 2d fighting games. A line I'm stealing from myself, because I liked it.
That said:
Unfortunately, I've got no ps3, and no psn.
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
stream
Will thar be loli metal?
THE MASK DOES NOT LAUGH
America is the only one not getting a 360 release...
That makes no sense.
I'd guess it's got to do with the publisher not wanting to spend for a disk release in North America, where the last games didn't exactly set the world on fire. I mean, I bought Arcana Heart, but even people who liked the series told everyone they could find not to buy Arcana Heart 2, because it was one of the worst fighting game ports of the decade.
Maybe they couldn't spring for the xbla license? Or the port would have been too costly? Microsoft demanded too much censorship?
It was something like that.
Aksys guy
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
stream
Also, any news if American and Euro PS3 users will be able to play each other online? I hope so, as that's the norm for ASW games on the PS3.
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
You do know that this is not an Arc sys developed game right? Arc sys is only the publisher for the japanese console versions.
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
Also, have they confirmed static borders for 4:3 ratio? I don't want to be more weaboo than I already am. :P
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
The number of reasons to get one is starting to add up. The free online would be mighty nice too.
The Japanese version lets you play with anyone from any region, as I see games named EU, JP, and US all of the time. I don't see why something like that would be changed. I don't play against other regions very much, but I have played many Japanese matches that didn't have noticeable lag. Not all of my cross-region matches have been good, but a decent amount of them were.
For what it's worth, the game is easier to play than Blazblue.
(And arguably better, until CS2 comes out.)
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
stream
The price point was apparently confirmed by a couple of Aksys reps as well. It's (supposedly) going to cost 30$.
It's not that surprising. BlazBlue is wildly more successful on the PS3.
The weeaboo legions have apparently made their choice.
desu pantsu fightan
"...only mights and maybes."
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
On Saturday night, a group of us here at a school event played this game non-stop from 8:00 PM to 6:30 AM the next morning. Now that I think about it, I guess I could've written character write-ups then, but it was kind of a spontaneous thing.
If anyone is getting the game and wants to play online, feel free to add me on PSN if you want. My ID is "PooglyWoogly"; I live on the US east coast, for regional reference. I actually don't think I can get the US version just yet myself, but I can still play with everyone with my JP version.
Has there been any word on what the final price is going to be?
HIKARI-16 graciously linked to what I assume to be an AH3 event titled "Something I can't read- Feast of Magician-", which you can find in his post here. These are actually from a year ago, and each part is around 40-50 minutes so there's a lot of good footage here of a lot of characters. Even if you don't want to watch that much, you can always just skip to random sections of the video. Part 1 features a lot of Heart, though, so if you want to see a little more variety in matchups you should probably try the other parts.
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
Edit: Promotional credit only works on shipped items, so I can't get a $20 PSN download code.
I will say though that as many times as I lost to Scarlet I didn't feel it was unfair and I knew it was just because I suck. It wasn't bullshit like Unlimited Ragna or Hazama in Blazblue. Those were just fuck you bosses. The actual last boss of story mode in this isn't that bad either, but I do think it's unnecessarily hard due to the fact that the little satellites will keep making you turn and mess up your inputs.
Edit: Oh yeah, and how the hell does this game have an achievement called "Atatatatatatatata!" and the Fist of the North Star game didn't? Most of the trophy names are pretty good, and I'm glad to see Aksys is filling the void in my life of not having a trophy with that name.
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //