How the hell are you supposed to beat the final boss?
I can handle almost everything it throws at me but the 50% health full screen unblockable laser... I mean, WTF!?
Edit: Nevermind. Fly veeeeeeeery high straight up. Took me a bit to figure out how to.
Edit 2: The targeting issue on the final boss really annoys me. But he's beatable.
Why is every character so unique and damn fun to play!?!? I'll never be able to find a main. ;____;
Female Unlimited Blade Works. Android Chun-Li. Castlevania item-user. Wind-using demon nun. Chain fighter who has specials that cancel unto like five other specials. Bird motifs hyper-fast acrobatic fighter. A doggirl riding Fenrir with a Kratos eye. A mid-ranged more awesome Noel with a giant frilly skirt. A grappler made of ooze. A magical girl who... attacks with a demon staff instead of magic. Etc. Etc. Etc.
This cast is more insane than BlazBlue and Guilty Gear combined.
What the hell is the buff that "Scarlet" gets in story mode for her final battle? Like jesus christ, I know I'm bad at the game and I'm still trying to find my character, but that buff isn't normal right? I swear it feels like some rounds I'm doing no damage to her. I did two more story modes and each time I got to her I was stuck for a while. However I had a sweet victory after struggling against her for like 20 minutes as Saki. Double K.O..
A big problem is I have to get used to the PS3 d-pad for fighting. I shouldn't be having this much trouble doing quarter circles. On the 360 I always used the stick because the d-pad was so awful, but the 360 stick wasn't that sensitive. The PS3 one though is, so I jump by accident if I try using it. It's a learning process it is.
Typo, sorry to get your hopes up. Although I guess you could use the PSP as a controller if it was a 2000 or later right? That would be a horrendous idea though. The PSP's d-pad is one of the worst things in existence.
I assume he meant that he trusts in Aksys' taste in games.
One of the common misconceptions about the game is that it's filled with fan-service, naked girls, etc., and to some extent it's understandable considering the game's aesthetic design, but AH3 is honestly less sexualized than a lot fighting games out there (though admittedly the side-bars ArcSystemWorks added in to the console port make up for that a little bit. That's ArcSystemWorks for you).
It's nice to see you guys are enjoying the game. About Scharlacrots's boss mode, I haven't played story mode in a while but she is definitely powered up. Didn't she have like unlimited super or something like that? She's a lot easier once you know how to do some combos though, for sure. As for the final boss, I never figured out a single strategy that works for all characters. I've had to switch my tactics based on what character and arcana I have. There's probably something about him at HomingCancel.com that people have figured out, but I've never looked into it.
Despite being based on anime character archetypes, the cast has their own unique charms, which is really nice. The references to other games and media is a lot of fun too, like Elsa's Castlevania moveset (have you looked at the command input for her Critical Heart?), Catherine's numerous references to Terry Bogard, and Nazuna being an amalgamation of the animal users in Samurai Shodown. Nazuna also says "Easy Operation", which makes me think of Guile a lot. Would Examu do that on purpose? Would they?
I can't wait to get the US version so I can finally understand what they're saying.
The best way to beat the last boss from what I've found is to just mash attack when the orbs start flying. If you hit them they get sent flying back to the part that shot them. Also you do a lot more damage if you can knock the satellites into the targets. Like a lot more. So just get them between you and smash them with a special. You can destroy the bottom orbs in like 10 seconds if you do that.
Also most of the in-your-face boobs/fanservice comes from the endings. So far I've had Heart on top of Saki, Heart hugging Saki, and I think her name was Koizumi getting groped by Mako- errr I mean Konoha. What's up with Arc and squirrel girls?
I have to say I'm not very impressed with this. The fighters all move so slow, the animation is pretty poor and I'm not really seeing all the "crazy characters" everyone was going on about. This game has absolutely nothing on Guilty Gear and BlazBlue. The little girl riding her own poor drawing is neat and all but overall they're all sort of tame in comparison.
Don't mistake a deliberate pace for slow pace. It's similar to Virtua Fighter in that respect; people think it's a slow game, but it's actually one of the fastest (in terms of length of matches) fighting games on the market -- possibly the fastest, on average.
Arcana Heart, through the entire series, has never been about speed for the sake of it. The games have a measured pace, but there are a wealth of offensive options, and big damage all over. In the first place, if you're not making use of homing cancels it will feel really sluggish.
In fact, the pace, and how the animations work, makes for a reasonably tame learning curve.
I don't mean slow as in game time I mean slow as in walking left and right. Yeah, those videos are fast but there's no way I'd ever be able to pull that stuff off.
Dude, you're talking way above my level, sadly. I move back and forth and hammer buttons. I can't combo or home or cancel or roman cancel or anything else I keep hearing. Hell, I can barely pull off 10% of the special moves. That's why slow movement seed for me is a pet peeve.
Magic Pink, I'll try to write some movement tips later today, as I just woke up and have to go to class, but don't be afraid of the Homing button (D button). Even if you have no idea what you're doing in a fighting game, try using the homing button for most of your movement towards your opponent and you'll slowly get a feel for how that works. Homing is the source for the game's true speed and momentum; without it, yes the movement will feel pretty slow. As woofycakes says in his "HOW TO PLAY ARCANA HEART 3" tutorial on YouTube (I'd link this, but I don't know how to not embed videos): "the ground is made of hot lava." You don't want to be standing on it. Of course that is hyperbole, but you get the idea. There's also a translated comic on the wiki that gives you a visual tutorial on basic AH gameplay. You can try skimming through that if you don't feel like trying to absorb the walls of text on other pages.
Edit: Oh yeah, Aksys posted this Homing dashing guide on SiliconEra the other day. It should provide some simple explanations and tips, so try looking through that.
And don't feel discouraged from spending a moment to sitting down in practice mode and trying to learn these. My roommate was in a similar situation (and honestly so was I to an extent), where he just mashed buttons in fighting games and he didn't know how to do special moves well or how to homing dash either. But he actually sat down one day in practice mode and learned a simple combo for Scharlacrot (which was posted on the wiki) in half an hour. That's honestly all he knows how to do, but he's not mashing anymore and he's getting more out of the game. He knows what move starts the combo, so he can now think about what he's doing and try to get that move off. Have an idea what you want to do is important, as it gives you something to strategize around during the match. Otherwise you can be pretty aimless and confused. This is the first time he's been half-way competent at a fighting game, and he's getting better as he plays.
As far as homing/roman/rapid cancels go, AH's execution barrier is a lot lower than GG's and BB's. Homing cancels are 1 button (D button while you're in the middle of a move) and you get your super bar back quickly. Don't be afraid to do it and just see what happens. This also goes for combos; the timing is more lenient than GG/BB and the actual inputs simpler.
As woofycakes says in his "HOW TO PLAY ARCANA HEART 3" tutorial on YouTube (I'd link this, but I don't know how to not embed videos): "the ground is made of hot lava." You don't want to be standing on it. Of course that is hyperbole, but you get the idea.
I actually meant that I didn't want to embed the video at all, and I don't know how to do that. I'll want to link videos, but I don't want to break up the post or bog down the page with lots of flash embeds.
I read through the Homing dashing guide I linked to in my last post, and it does a good job of explaining how it works. Movement in AH3 is very aerial, so you aren't going to be walking or even regular dashing on the ground a whole lot. Instead, jump and do a homing dash if you want to move forward. For more fine tuned movement, used air dashes and instant air dashes. If you're in close and want to get away, do a air dash backwards (don't use homing; homing only moves you foward). It really isn't as hard or confusing as it may seem to be at first; it just takes some getting used to. It's the core of Arcana Heart's gameplay and is part of what makes the game so unique and interesting. It kind of like the Drive button in BlazBlue. You might not understand how it works at first, but after a while you'll start getting the hang of it.
My only problem with AH is that the backgrounds are dull and lifeless, and it doesn't seem like 3 changed that at all.
Haha. My friend told me that for some reason AH always reminded him of MUGEN and he eventually figured out it was because of the static backgrounds. Considering the size of the stages and how much the backgrounds change when Extend Force is activated, I suppose it was too much work for them or they don't have the budget. It would be nice if they could do it in the future.
Why does Konoha, the character that I like playing the most as so far and is my top candidate for my main, have to have the most annoying voice? Ugh. I can't not play as a character with an Izuna Drop though.
Set it to 1 round victories. If you do you don't have to fight Scharlachrot in permanent Extend Force. I don't know exactly what Fenrir's Extend Force gives her, but it definitely makes her faster and it gives her the bullshit ability to use her Arcana Blaze as many times as she wants. I'm pretty sure she never uses her Burst Gauge when she does that. Also she might have infinite supers, I don't remember. You still have to fight that final boss, but it's a little better when it doesn't come after a super annoying fight. Also maybe it's just me but some characters are better at that boss than others. Like I kicked its ass as Angelique, but Konoha took me like 20 minutes because of how none of her supers except the kunai one can hit the orbs and the satellites were constantly messing up my inputs.
Oh and Drem the code for not embedding videos is [vidurl] in the tag instead of .
I really need to remember to hold back so I can be guarding when an enemy homes in on me. My mind just never wants to tell my hands to hold back.
Also man the faster characters are fun to me. It's like every couple story runs I go through a couple characters I don't like playing as, like Nazuna and or Fiona, and then I come across a really fun character to me like Lilica or Akane. Oh and blaze if you're reading this PSN is still down so you can't download this yet. They did change it to say PSN is undergoing maintenance though instead of giving an error code.
I really hate the final boss with some characters. Eko/Kaz for example. Fighting stationary targets with a character all about charging and movement based moves is just fucking annoying.
Jump E all day. Don't even worry about the charge moves. A lot of Eko's normal attacks have multiple hits, which work really well on the final boss. I remember j.E being really good, as well as her crouching C or D. In general I think j.E is one of her best moves.
I have to admit that I haven't played AH3 at all this week because I've been playing MK9, but I've got some people from the local fighting game community gathering at my place to play later today, so I guess that makes up for it. Hopefully when PSN comes back up I can play with you guys too.
SiliconEra's guide is still chugging a long. It's honestly pretty good for fighting games in general, as a lot of these mechanics are used multiple games. This is another good information site. It's a translated version of a Japanese site that features pictures and frame data for all of the moves in the game, both character and arcana. It's very good for referencing what buttons do what moves.
Something I can't remember if I talked about was the difference between the screen modes. Standard 4:3 aspect ratio is the screen mode used for the original arcades and thus is the tournament standard. Widescreen 16:9 was added for the console version to please our widescreen HDTVs. However, the widened screen space changes the game's spacing, as you have more room to move around in. Furthermore, this widening of the screen space alters a few of the moves in the game, such as Lilica's wall jump moves. Since the screen is wider, the way Lilica approaches the wall the space she covers when jumping off it will be altered. It's not broken, it's just different. If you don't care about that then don't worry about it, but it's a good thing to know.
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees~ Perfect'd Scharlachrot on my Elsa story run. Eat my Castlevania Expy bitch.
Extend Force Dragon-Punched her out of two Arcana Hypers. God damn that felt good.
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That seems to be the general stick config.
This game is crazy. Really pretty cool, though I have no idea what i'm doing.
I can handle almost everything it throws at me but the 50% health full screen unblockable laser... I mean, WTF!?
Edit: Nevermind. Fly veeeeeeeery high straight up. Took me a bit to figure out how to.
Edit 2: The targeting issue on the final boss really annoys me. But he's beatable.
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
Female Unlimited Blade Works. Android Chun-Li. Castlevania item-user. Wind-using demon nun. Chain fighter who has specials that cancel unto like five other specials. Bird motifs hyper-fast acrobatic fighter. A doggirl riding Fenrir with a Kratos eye. A mid-ranged more awesome Noel with a giant frilly skirt. A grappler made of ooze. A magical girl who... attacks with a demon staff instead of magic. Etc. Etc. Etc.
This cast is more insane than BlazBlue and Guilty Gear combined.
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
I'll give you blazblue though.
A big problem is I have to get used to the PS3 d-pad for fighting. I shouldn't be having this much trouble doing quarter circles. On the 360 I always used the stick because the d-pad was so awful, but the 360 stick wasn't that sensitive. The PS3 one though is, so I jump by accident if I try using it. It's a learning process it is.
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
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So. Honestly. How much in-my-face boobie am I going to have to put up with from this?
Seeing that most of them aren't developed enough to have them.
Which is creepier, I'll let you decide.
The tits are not in your face; the game has less skin than Mortal Kombat 9. It's more the girly, the animu, and the loli that turn people off.
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
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One of the common misconceptions about the game is that it's filled with fan-service, naked girls, etc., and to some extent it's understandable considering the game's aesthetic design, but AH3 is honestly less sexualized than a lot fighting games out there (though admittedly the side-bars ArcSystemWorks added in to the console port make up for that a little bit. That's ArcSystemWorks for you).
It's nice to see you guys are enjoying the game. About Scharlacrots's boss mode, I haven't played story mode in a while but she is definitely powered up. Didn't she have like unlimited super or something like that? She's a lot easier once you know how to do some combos though, for sure. As for the final boss, I never figured out a single strategy that works for all characters. I've had to switch my tactics based on what character and arcana I have. There's probably something about him at HomingCancel.com that people have figured out, but I've never looked into it.
Despite being based on anime character archetypes, the cast has their own unique charms, which is really nice. The references to other games and media is a lot of fun too, like Elsa's Castlevania moveset (have you looked at the command input for her Critical Heart?), Catherine's numerous references to Terry Bogard, and Nazuna being an amalgamation of the animal users in Samurai Shodown. Nazuna also says "Easy Operation", which makes me think of Guile a lot. Would Examu do that on purpose? Would they?
I can't wait to get the US version so I can finally understand what they're saying.
Also most of the in-your-face boobs/fanservice comes from the endings. So far I've had Heart on top of Saki, Heart hugging Saki, and I think her name was Koizumi getting groped by Mako- errr I mean Konoha. What's up with Arc and squirrel girls?
Also I don't see how this game is slow. At all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVRt73wOKuQ
Arcana Heart, through the entire series, has never been about speed for the sake of it. The games have a measured pace, but there are a wealth of offensive options, and big damage all over. In the first place, if you're not making use of homing cancels it will feel really sluggish.
In fact, the pace, and how the animations work, makes for a reasonably tame learning curve.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nv2VZLck2O8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HaM_GOSdK8
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
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Do yourself a favour and read this, seriously.
http://arcana.mizuumi.net/wiki/Main_Page
Fighting games aren't fun when you don't know how it mostly works.
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
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Really wish it was on Blu, so I could put it next to my PS2 AH game.
XBL Gamertag: weeskwee
PSN: weeskwee
Edit: Oh yeah, Aksys posted this Homing dashing guide on SiliconEra the other day. It should provide some simple explanations and tips, so try looking through that.
And don't feel discouraged from spending a moment to sitting down in practice mode and trying to learn these. My roommate was in a similar situation (and honestly so was I to an extent), where he just mashed buttons in fighting games and he didn't know how to do special moves well or how to homing dash either. But he actually sat down one day in practice mode and learned a simple combo for Scharlacrot (which was posted on the wiki) in half an hour. That's honestly all he knows how to do, but he's not mashing anymore and he's getting more out of the game. He knows what move starts the combo, so he can now think about what he's doing and try to get that move off. Have an idea what you want to do is important, as it gives you something to strategize around during the match. Otherwise you can be pretty aimless and confused. This is the first time he's been half-way competent at a fighting game, and he's getting better as he plays.
As far as homing/roman/rapid cancels go, AH's execution barrier is a lot lower than GG's and BB's. Homing cancels are 1 button (D button while you're in the middle of a move) and you get your super bar back quickly. Don't be afraid to do it and just see what happens. This also goes for combos; the timing is more lenient than GG/BB and the actual inputs simpler.
Edit: 2.5 GB
I read through the Homing dashing guide I linked to in my last post, and it does a good job of explaining how it works. Movement in AH3 is very aerial, so you aren't going to be walking or even regular dashing on the ground a whole lot. Instead, jump and do a homing dash if you want to move forward. For more fine tuned movement, used air dashes and instant air dashes. If you're in close and want to get away, do a air dash backwards (don't use homing; homing only moves you foward). It really isn't as hard or confusing as it may seem to be at first; it just takes some getting used to. It's the core of Arcana Heart's gameplay and is part of what makes the game so unique and interesting. It kind of like the Drive button in BlazBlue. You might not understand how it works at first, but after a while you'll start getting the hang of it.
Haha. My friend told me that for some reason AH always reminded him of MUGEN and he eventually figured out it was because of the static backgrounds. Considering the size of the stages and how much the backgrounds change when Extend Force is activated, I suppose it was too much work for them or they don't have the budget. It would be nice if they could do it in the future.
I'm probably going to pick it up when the PSN decides to come back up, so I hope you are already for girly fighting action.
I'll stick to the other modes, thanks. Except Score Attack because that also has an equally impossible boss.
Oh and Drem the code for not embedding videos is [vidurl] in the tag instead of .
Best. Mechanic. Ever.
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
Also man the faster characters are fun to me. It's like every couple story runs I go through a couple characters I don't like playing as, like Nazuna and or Fiona, and then I come across a really fun character to me like Lilica or Akane. Oh and blaze if you're reading this PSN is still down so you can't download this yet. They did change it to say PSN is undergoing maintenance though instead of giving an error code.
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
I have to admit that I haven't played AH3 at all this week because I've been playing MK9, but I've got some people from the local fighting game community gathering at my place to play later today, so I guess that makes up for it. Hopefully when PSN comes back up I can play with you guys too.
SiliconEra's guide is still chugging a long. It's honestly pretty good for fighting games in general, as a lot of these mechanics are used multiple games. This is another good information site. It's a translated version of a Japanese site that features pictures and frame data for all of the moves in the game, both character and arcana. It's very good for referencing what buttons do what moves.
Something I can't remember if I talked about was the difference between the screen modes. Standard 4:3 aspect ratio is the screen mode used for the original arcades and thus is the tournament standard. Widescreen 16:9 was added for the console version to please our widescreen HDTVs. However, the widened screen space changes the game's spacing, as you have more room to move around in. Furthermore, this widening of the screen space alters a few of the moves in the game, such as Lilica's wall jump moves. Since the screen is wider, the way Lilica approaches the wall the space she covers when jumping off it will be altered. It's not broken, it's just different. If you don't care about that then don't worry about it, but it's a good thing to know.
[vidurl=
L-O-F'ing-L. That is such bullshit.
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
Extend Force Dragon-Punched her out of two Arcana Hypers. God damn that felt good.
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
Woohoo.