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Arcana Heart- Atlus brings us Guilty Gear with a lot more estrogen. IGN- 8.3 (NSF56k)
Drem
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Update: Game's out!
Preface: Uh. Hi. I wrote this last night while I was half asleep. I believe it shows. It's a weird post, but I don't feel like writing a new one, so I hope you can deal with it. I don't think any of it is outright wrong, but it may be written a bit confusing. If you guys think so, please let me know that I need to fix it. Also, the screenshots I got were all from IGN, and they're pretty bad quality, which makes the game look a lot worse. Please keep this mind.
Episode 1: Oh snap! An original fighting game!? The Legend Begins!
Developer: Examu
Publisher: Atlus
Website: http://www.atlus.com/arcanaheart/
System: PS2
Release Date: April 8, 2008
Price: $29.99
'Sup. I'm having a bit of a writer's block here. I've been planning on making this thread for a while, but I couldn't come up with how I wanted to write it. You know, when I made that Another Century's Episode thread a while back, I already had an idea of what I was going to say. But I don't have that for this game right now, and I'm not sure why. I think it's because there's a lot I want to say or do, and also a lot of wacky stuff that I want to pull that I don't think would go over too well. So in the end, I'm just left sort of sitting here, typing the first things that come to mind.
I'm just having one of those days, you know? Weeks, really. Feeling really lethargic, don't want to do anything even though you have a lot of stuff to do. The fact that I've had this horrible stuffy nose for the past three weeks hasn't help at all either. It was, like, a week after spring break when I started getting this bad stuffy nose and constant sneezing problem. I've taken both flu and allergy medicines, but neither has helped at all (the flu one just makes things even worse). And the aforementioned lethargy has made me too lazy to even go to the doctor, which I think I probably should. Well, I've been feeling better these past couple of days, so maybe it's going away now. I'm still feeling lethargic, though, and the constantly changing weather isn't helping.
The weather can't seem to make up it's mind weather (olol I'm so hilarious) it's hot or cold. It was raining today too, and it's also sort of warm. Oh, now my writer's block is kicking in again, and I don't know what I should write about again.
Oh.
Right.
Arcana Heart.
Developer: Examu
Publisher: Atlus
Website: http://www.atlus.com/arcanaheart/
System: PS2
Release Date: April 8, 2008
Price: $29.99
Terry Bogard says: “I give this game two thumbs up! (They just forgot to draw my other thumb.)”
So this is something I've been anticipating for a while. It's been a while since we've gotten a completely original fighting game, and it's a 2D one to boot. Arcana Heart first came out in Japanese arcades two years ago, and got a PS2 port in Japan about a year afterwards. We're not getting it until now, with Arcana Heart 2 actually being released in Japanese arcades a couple of weeks ago. But you take what you can get, right? That said, Atlus is pretty awesome for deciding to bring this over the ocean, and at a price of $30, too.
Onto the actual game itself, Arcana Heart is, well, a 2D fighter featuring some rather crisp and colorful high-quality graphics and some really nice gameplay a bit akin to Guilty Gear, what with the focus on large aerial combos. The stages are also really, really tall, so aerial combat and maneuvering is more important and usual. It features two original features unique to the game: the homing button and the Arcana system (I'll be cross-checking my info with stuff from the Shoryuken forums topic for the game, which has a lot of good info on the game. Guardcrush.net is also a good Arcana Heart site with lots of specific information and character strategies.).
Some quick control conventions: You've got 4 button: Light attack, Medium Attack, Strong attack, and Homing.
The Homing Button
The homing button is a multipurpose button used for many advanced techniques in the game.
1.The homing button can be used as a special type of movement that, uh, homes in on your opponent. No matter where your opponent is, your character will dash towards him or, if the opponent in in the air, fly towards him. So this is obviously a very powerful and important movement technique. Depending on what direction you press when you press the Homing button, your trajectory will be slightly altered. Such as, pressing no direction + homing will make your character float in place briefly and then fly towards you opponent, back + homing will make your character jump backwards and then fly towards you opponent (useful for dodging attacks) and forward + homing will make your character instantly dash forward, albeit you're character will stay on the ground with this one (I think).
2.Homing cancels are done by pressing the homing button when you're in the middle of doing an attack. It functions mostly identically to Guilty Gear's Roman Cancel, allowing you to cut an attack animation short so you can follow up with another attack before your opponent recovers or their body gets too far away and your attacks cannot reach him. It can also allow to stop a long move if you miss it so you can defend before your opponent pummels you. I think homing cancels also borrow the same effects as the aforementioned regular homing, so holding the button down will allow you to Homing Cancel and homing dashing towards your opponent. I believe most, if not all, moves can be homing canceled, including super moves. This allows technique is obviously crucial for effective comboing.
3.Guard cancels are when you press the homing button while you're guarding an attack. There are two versions of the guard cancel. Forward + homing will make your character dash forward to your opponent, guarded by a special shield that blocks attacks for a second or two. Your opponent is unaffected, however, and can keep on attacking in hopes of hitting you after the shield disappears. Back + homing makes you character jump backwards, and holding the button down will make you dash forward afterwards if you so desire. An important defensive maneuver.
4. When slammed against a wall or the knocked to the ground from the air, pressing the homing button at the right time will make your character recover quicker.
4.The homing button is also used to do attacks from your Arcana, which I will talk about after this section.
The homing button is given it's own meter, 3 crystals at the bottom of the screen, placed above your super bar. The crystals represent how many times you can use the homing button. Every time you use the homing button for the homing movement, one crystal become empty and if all crystals empty, you cannot use the homing button for anything other than Arcana based special attacks. They automatically refill in a short amount of time, but this makes it so you cannot spam the homing button techniques. Furthermore, if you use a homing cancel (and maybe a guard cancel?), a crystal will not only empty, but will also gain a red X over, which means that crystal will take longer to refill than usual. This means you cannot use endless homing cancels to make an incredibly long combo.
Terry Bogard says: “That's almost as cool as jumping between planes!”
Arcana
The other unique feature of Arcana Heart is the titular Arcana system. After choosing your character, you then proceed to choose from a variety of Arcana. The Arcana some spirits of some sort; I don't actually know the game's story. But each Arcana has some sort of theme, such as Fire, Water, Steel, Darkness, etc. and each grants a special set of moves and abilities independent from your character. The Arcana's special moves vary greatly, but are all done using regular special move motions with the Homing button. The fire arcana has some fire ball moves, the steel arcana can make a stationary shield that can take a hit, and the dark arcana has a familiar that follows you and can do certain attacks (sort of like Eddie in Guilty Gear, I guess). Arcana also have their own super moves as well.
Along with these special moves, the Arcana can also provide some passive effect on characters. Such as the Love Arcana, which can allow you to float slowly to the ground after jumping, rather than falling at the regular speed.
Another special ability granted by the Arcana is a special Arcana summon that can be activated once per round. Activating the summon can be used as a combo breaker, as it frees you of any combo being done on you, aside from super moves. It also instantly refills all of your homing bar. While the Arcana summon is activated, you gain some more special effects based on your Arcana, such as not flinching from attacks or increased strength, and you also have the ability to do a super-duper Arcana summon super attack, which will physically summon your Arcana beast for some super strong attack. However, while this mode is activated, your super bar constantly drains, and the mode deactivates once your super bar is depleted. If you summon your Arcana beast for a super attack, your super bar instantly hits zero and the summon mode ends after the attack. So either way, you're losing all of your super bars, no matter how many you had. Use the mode wisely.
The game features 11 characters and 11 Arcana, meaning there are 121 possible character combinations zomg. This allows for a lot of variety, the characters and arcana can compliment each other in completely different ways, and can allow for different strategies.
Terry Bogard says: “An Arcana doesn't sound so tough! I defeated Mars, the God o- wait, there are eleven them?”
The Plot
There are a bunch of people fighting each other. I think it's how they get their driver's license in Japan. I don't remember the actual story and I'm too lazy to look it up right now. Something about two world colliding, causing big problems for both. I'll look it up later.
The Cast
So yes, there are 11 characters. One of the games more noticeable aspects (and for many, the first hurdle) is the all-female cast of 11 combatants. Their designs are rather typical anime stereotypes and were probably designed to draw in the anime crowd with it's visuals. The gameplay was supposed to attract everyone else, but many were actually pushed away by the visuals, causing somewhat of a backlash against the game. The designs are indeed somewhat bland, but I found them to have grown on me, and Kira is actually really, really awesome. Kira is a little girl in a swim-suit who is half-submerged in a giant Dragon Quest slime that grows arms and performs pile-drivers on you. Each character is also associated with an Arcana in the story; however, you are free to choose whichever Arcana you desire when you play the game.
Note: Sabin over at the official Atlus Arcana Heart forum has posted a bunch of match videos for each character. He is very knowledgeable about the game, so I trust the videos he has posted are good quality stuff. I will post links to the videos under each character. Sabin notes in the post: “Reposted from 'Aion' of neo-empire.com, a European based fighting game community. Much props to him for doing the grunt work and getting these links. If anyone is curious as to how the game is played at high level, then check no further than this thread.” Much props to Sabin for doing the grunt work and getting these links from Aion who gets props for doing the grunt work and getting these links in the first place.
Aino Heart
Uh, this girl is sort of the main character, I guess. As far as I can tell, she's just a regular schoolgirl with AMAZING powers or something. She's not a whole like like Ryu, though, like a lot of fighting games do. She's got a shoryuken, but her quarter-circle backwards is this sort of flying backhand fist thing. With a heart effect. Or something. Her quarter-circle forward isn't even a projectile; I don't think she has any projectiles. The quarter-circle forward is actually more of a
”BURN KNUCKLE!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpKEvS5FB_U (featuring Liesolette)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jup5pfabXs4 (featuring Kamui)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VbNiG8bdIU (featuring Lilica)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cv48fbfCkvQ (featuring Liesolette)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9i9DB_kVe4 (featuring Saki)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCGbqawPBrQ (mirror match)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0v4mR55dFM (featuring Lilica(x2) & Kamui)
Partinias- The Arcana of Love
Back in the old days, there was some woman who criticized violence. As a result, she was burned for a being a witch. Now her spirit is an Arcana, and she assists Heart because Heart has a good capacity for
”Wuv, twoo wuv...”
Partinias' special moves have distance. She lets you create little balls that with float to your opponent in a wobbly trajectory, and a super version that makes three balls at once. You also get laser beam that shoots straight across the screen. But they are made of TWOO WUV, so it's okay. It hurts so good. Partinias also lets you float to the ground if you press up when you're descending to the ground after a jump. When you activate her Arcana summon, you are able to use the little ball special that creates 3 balls as many times as you want, and her Arcana attack has Partinias throwing down a Spirit Bomb at your opponent. A Spirit Bomb of love.
Saki Tsuzura
This is Heart's best friend, so I guess she's like Ken. But not really at all, because she has charge moves like Guile. She's got a flash kick, but her charge back – forward is like a kick version of a
”BURN KNUCKLE!”
She's supposed to be pretty easy use. I guess she's also a school girl. With AMAZING powers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SvCWPkYW_0 (featuring Kamui)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl4DT3afioc (featuring Maori)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wf2sxY2XcY (featuring Lilica)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALy9ppqMJ9Y (featuring Fiona, Konoha & Lilica)
Bhanri- The Arcana of Lightning
A long time ago, there was this country, and it had a queen, and then she died. But the people kept liking her because she was awesome for protecting them a whole lot, so her spirit eventually became an Arcana. She lets you summon lightning strikes on your opponent or you can surround yourself with lightning strikes. She passively adds clashing aspects to your dash and a lot of your attacks, which is useful. When you do an Arcana summon, you get even more things with clashing abilities. For her Arcana attack, I'll quote Guardcrush.net: “Bhanri appears on the screen and flies up as though she's about to shoot a ton of lightning down or something cool, but instead trips on her way up or something and falls headfirst on the opponent.”
Sounds pretty sweet.
Kamui Tokinomiya
I thought she was a schoolgirl, but I think she's also some sort of super magical super hero (school)girl. Her Arcana of Time, Anutpuda, wakes her up to solve big problems and then puts her to sleep afterwards so she'll be alive by the time the next problem occurs. Sounds like a jerk. She's got a nice sword and has good range. She's got this one dash attack that all sword people have, where she dashes past you and you get sliced, which I guess is sort of like a
”BURN KNUCKLE!”
except you get behind your opponent.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2lMKWvDXCY (featuring Heart)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjxRaWus-mU (featuring Fiona)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWo-2GzT8QI (featuring Liesolette, Saki & Mei-Fang)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLGt7wvWUHE (featuring Liesolette & Lilica)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DmrsO9lqKU (featuring Saki)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9ycg2-3HMg (featuring Kira)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sb4gkA3u1Sw (featuring Lilica)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeNn2EIvpQA (featuring Mei-Fang)
Anutpuda- The Arcana of Time
Apparently, some mechanical piece from some ancient civilization developed consciousness and free will. Somehow. I guess since that's a rather incredible feet, it became an Arcana in the way those previous people became Arcana. Anutpuda lets you make little yellow balls float in mid air. I guess they are balls of concentrated time? That's the minor ability. You can also freeze your opponent in place, leaving them open for attack. His passive abilities seem to create after-images of yourself that can take hits or attack your opponent. That's pretty cool. When you do an Arcana summon, the round clock stops counting down, and Anutpuda's Arcana attack can freeze your opponent in place for different lengths of time depending on your super bar. I guess this lasts longer than the regular special move that freezes your opponent.
Lilica Felchenerow
So she's got demon wings, so she's a demon girl. Half demon, I think. Half-breeds are popular, I guess. She's also a schoolgirl, though. I guess no one minds the wings. She's also got these roller blades with motors in them. Magical motors. She's a fast and acrobatic character. Her attacks have her jumping around the screen a lot. People like to say she looks like Etna from Disgaea.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a73AYV4ZWtQ (featuring Yoriko)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXbE8zCIx7Q (featuring Saki)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uMT6-xp6y8 (featuring Konoha)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zErd9h0Uzjk (featuring Saki)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZKyybrOEAM (featuring Kira)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ET_3rB-Kya8 (featuring Mei-Fang & Liesolette)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yngrvkpy7Tg (featuring Kira)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxV9_GjNfpc (featuring Kira)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caIP8uFmU_4 (featuring Kamui)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8bcf8cXXZI (featuring Fiona)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ya9DLhAiO6o (Mirror match)
Tempestas- The Arcana of Wind
I don't remember this guys' back-story. He looks like a bird though, so maybe he was a bird. When you choose Tempestas, your character gets 3 jumps and 2 air dashes, which sounds awesome. You can also push your enemy away when you do a forward guard cancel, and you and instantly drop to the ground if you're in the air. Special moves wise, you can create little whirlwinds that will stay in place like a mine and send you opponent flying into the sky if they hit it. You can also send out this little wind boomerang thing that shoots forward and will follow you until it returns back to you. So you can run away and have it follow you, which makes approaching by your opponent a bit more difficult. When you do an Arcana summon, you get 4 jumps and 3 air-dashes. Tempestas' Arcana attack has him shoot out across screen almost instantaneously, so it's good for combos. When you get hit, you fly to the top of the screen, open for combos. However, if your opponent blocks it, you are very open for combos.
Maori Kasuga
This girls a shrine priestess, and on the character select screen, she is actually 4 people as one.
She can summon her sisters for special attacks. Like, her two little sisters can come and fly into you on flying paper cranes, or her older sister can appear out of nowhere and punch you in the face. She's also got this top she throws around with this magical glowing wire. I don't know the story behind that. So I guess she's a bit of a distance character. Maybe. I assume she's a schoolgirl. Or she spends all her time at her shrine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkFy6p0czH4 (featuring Lilica)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCdePigPx4U (featuring Fiona)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk_4Rkwpi0E (featuring Kamui)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V11NHB-HPHA (featuring Saki)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKqHlAPDssU (featuring Yoriko & Lilica)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4QexvVx3aI (featuring Kamui, Fiona & Lilica)
Ohtsuchi- The Arcana of Earth
Ohstuchi was a clay model that Maori's shrine prayed too. I guess he was alive too, and he helps Maori's family with his incredible strength. I am sure he is good for smashing things and gardening. Ohtsuchi focuses on strength. His passive effects grant you super armor while you dash or do certain attacks, meaning you won't flinch from their attack from the first hit or two. This lets you continue what you were doing uninterrupted. His special moves lets you make rocks materialize in thin air and drop on your opponent, or his fist can fly out of thin air and smash your opponent against the wall. His supers give you a super version of his fist, and you can also summon his foot to step on your opponent. When you do an Arcana summon, you're granted super armor for the entire duration of the summon, but you cannot guard (though you don't need to). His Arcana attack has Ohtsuchi appear on the side of the screen and he slowly moves forward and sink into the ground like
Shortly afterward, his fist will erupt out of the ground, smashing your opponent in his weak spot and causing massive damage, sending him flying skywards. It hurts a lot.
Mei-Fang
She's a robot programmed with thousands of years of food recipes, and some martial arts as an afterthought, I guess. She has this one special move that you can do repeatedly for up to three hits, so I guess she's really combo heavy. She's got little rocket boosters on her feet that don't seem to help all that much, but one of her special moves has her summoning a giant exo-suit to ram your opponent. That's cool. I guess that means she's not a school girl though.
”BURN KNUCKLE!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3FcMDcT5Po (featuring Lilica)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePPieRNvjoo (featuring Saki)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-dy58fziXw (featuring Kamui)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SF9Vm53z250 (featuring Kira)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOiXGt4eeQM (featuring Fiona)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkYtcAv_zao (featuring Lilica)
Lang-gong- The Arcana of Fire
Lang-gong was a fox on a mountain who learned to talk with people. After he died, his spirit became immortal, and he became an Arcana. He teams up with Mei-Fang because he sees her as the next step in human evolution. He sees a robot as the next step in human evolution. Seriously. Fuck Skynet.
He lets you use Yoga Fire and Yoga Flame. A couple of your moves also become unblockable, apparently. When you Arcana summon, you get a fire shield when you use a homing dash in the air that can hurt your opponent. His Arcana attack has Lang-gong run across the ground at your opponent. It looks pretty cool, and it does good damage if it hits, and amazing guard damage if you guard. Your best bet is to jump over him.
Konoha
Konoha's a ninja girl, who is also a dog-girl (as opposed to a cat-girl). So she's got these big ears on her head and has a tail. Being a ninja, she does many ninja-like things, like throwing shurikens, hiding underground, performing inazuma drops, floating in the sky with her cape, and this one sort of high-speed distance punch that's sort of like a
”BURN KNUCKLE!”
Apparently every time Kamui awakens, someone from Konoha's ninja village is sent to assist Kamui, and this time Konoha was chosen. But she's having too much fun being a schoolgirl with Kamui and forgot about saving the earth. She runs around in her gym outfit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UFsJl6l_To (Mirror match)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjCICvYXFWc (featuring Heart)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeL8JCzL6p8 (featuring Yoriko)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8IeTUvbIpU (featuring Saki)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgtBIYcRNj0 (featuring Fiona(x2) & Kamui)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2GBj-43E98 (featuring Yoriko)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PErS8XPfV4Q (featuring Mei-Fang)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKFZkeTlhKg (featuring Lilica)
Moriomoto- The Arcana of Nature
Moriomoto is the king of all plants, and he helps out Konoha's ninja clan a lot. He lets you shoot plant seeds on the ground that sprout and attack your opponent if he steps on them. He also lets you shoot a vine out that pulls your opponent towards you. When you activate an Arcana summon, you regenerate your health. His Arcana attack has Moriomoto grab your opponent from the ground. He then bounces your opponent around on his many leaves and vines, climaxing with a small flower growing on your opponent's head. I guess that's cool. I'm sure hit hurts.
Kira Daidohji
Oh yeah, this is the girl. Best character in the game. So she's got this giant blob that she rides around in and beats everyone up. He grows arms and legs whenever it wants to smack someone. Otherwise, it just sort of blobs around. She's sort of swimming in it at all times, I guess. So she's a slow heavy hitter character. She can grab you out of the air like Potemkin and throw you against the wall, making you bounce back and open to combos. She's also got the signature 360 motion + attack piledriver.
You only see the slime's face when Kira is not inside the blob. Kira is actually a genius scientist who got her doctorate from an American university at age 10. But upon return to Japan, she was forced to go to elementary school because she was young. Thus, she has become angry and wants to take over the world. Sounds reasonable to me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msqA3h9NMp0 (featuring Mei-Fang)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0dR-9UxUgk (featuring Kamui)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cTdlr7tYss (featuring Maori)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60aCyKjCeto (featuring Lilica & Liesolette)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdyD_EUz6gM (featuring Heart)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPwBIiVY670 (featuring Heart & Konoha)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L56zq47KZyw (featuring Lilica)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKWHiVbXMmQ (featuring Lilica & Heart)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqKRD7h-jE0 (Mirror match)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFWcq7Idg9E (featuring Kamui)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgZVjho8yAM (featuring Saki)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I01_ZRkaPTA (featuring Maori & Lilica)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fV__QrCO7PE (featuring Konoha)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04qat_ICy5s (featuring Maori)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMu9o9ueLwg (featuring Fiona & Konoha)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yfIV5Ccp4A (featuring Maori)
Niptra- The Arcana of Water
Niptra was a fish that kept getting reincarnated until he hit Arcana-dom. He was pretty bored though, so when he saw Kira wanted to take over the world, he decided to help her. Sounds like a jerk. His passive effects causes some of your attacks to make your opponent float slowly in a direction as if they were in water, as opposed to flying fast and slamming into the wall like they usually would. This makes it easier to follow up with more attacks. You can also make little bubbles that can take hits for you. You can also make giant pillars of water, I guess like that one girl in Marvel vs Capcom 2? When you do an Arcana summon, you stop taking guard damage, and his Arcana attack has Niptra eat your opponent, causing your opponent move extremely slowly and all of their actions are slower as well.
Yoriko Yasuzumi
Yoriko is the quiet (school)girl who's always reading books. But her books are about the occult. And one day, she summoned a demon, and it ended up being Mike, the self proclaimed King of Demons. He's the staff with the head. He sort of pulls her along with him as he fights crime every night. Yoriko doesn't seem like doing anything Spike does, so her attack animations are usually Spike attacking while Yoriko tries to pull him back. That's cool, I guess. I don't know a lot about her, combat wise. I know she's got this one super move where you draw a pentagram with your joystick/d-pad and you get powered up. She can also ride on Spike as he rams into you, which is sort of like a flying
”BURN KNUCKLE!”
Spike can also grow a 50 foot tall body and shoot lasers out of his eyes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0Hu4nLZ7jA (featuring Maori)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zis0eSRSuHI (featuring Lilica)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmpbSFJv5TU (featuring Saki)
Dieu Mort- The Arcana of Death
This guy was an executioner who loved chopping off people's heads so much, he decided to see what it was like and chopped his own head off. He somehow became an Arcana and now serves Mike. Dieu Mort lets you poison your opponent with this seal traps, as well as allowing you to teleport around. He passively allows you to teleport after a hit, rather than teching and regaining your balance wherever you may be. One of his super moves lets you and your opponent trade places! Amazing! I didn't really see how awesome this was until I saw someone use it in a video. So they launched the opponent in the air high in the sky, did a super long combo and then slammed the opponent towards the ground. The guy then used the super switcheroo, causing the two to switch places. The player appeared near the ground and the opponent appear in the sky, but was still hurtling downward from the attack. The player then intercepted the body before it hit the ground and started a new combo. It was pretty awesome. I need to learn to do that.
When you do an Arcana summon, any of your attacks will poison your opponent, and you also take 30% less damage. His Arcana attack has Dieu Mort's hand appears and grab your opponent, followed by a swipe from his giant scythe. It hurts a lot.
I apparently wrote too much, so I have to paste the rest into a second post.
Preface: Uh. Hi. I wrote this last night while I was half asleep. I believe it shows. It's a weird post, but I don't feel like writing a new one, so I hope you can deal with it. I don't think any of it is outright wrong, but it may be written a bit confusing. If you guys think so, please let me know that I need to fix it. Also, the screenshots I got were all from IGN, and they're pretty bad quality, which makes the game look a lot worse. Please keep this mind.
Episode 1: Oh snap! An original fighting game!? The Legend Begins!
Developer: Examu
Publisher: Atlus
Website: http://www.atlus.com/arcanaheart/
System: PS2
Release Date: April 8, 2008
Price: $29.99
'Sup. I'm having a bit of a writer's block here. I've been planning on making this thread for a while, but I couldn't come up with how I wanted to write it. You know, when I made that Another Century's Episode thread a while back, I already had an idea of what I was going to say. But I don't have that for this game right now, and I'm not sure why. I think it's because there's a lot I want to say or do, and also a lot of wacky stuff that I want to pull that I don't think would go over too well. So in the end, I'm just left sort of sitting here, typing the first things that come to mind.
I'm just having one of those days, you know? Weeks, really. Feeling really lethargic, don't want to do anything even though you have a lot of stuff to do. The fact that I've had this horrible stuffy nose for the past three weeks hasn't help at all either. It was, like, a week after spring break when I started getting this bad stuffy nose and constant sneezing problem. I've taken both flu and allergy medicines, but neither has helped at all (the flu one just makes things even worse). And the aforementioned lethargy has made me too lazy to even go to the doctor, which I think I probably should. Well, I've been feeling better these past couple of days, so maybe it's going away now. I'm still feeling lethargic, though, and the constantly changing weather isn't helping.
The weather can't seem to make up it's mind weather (olol I'm so hilarious) it's hot or cold. It was raining today too, and it's also sort of warm. Oh, now my writer's block is kicking in again, and I don't know what I should write about again.
Oh.
Right.
Arcana Heart.
Developer: Examu
Publisher: Atlus
Website: http://www.atlus.com/arcanaheart/
System: PS2
Release Date: April 8, 2008
Price: $29.99
Terry Bogard says: “I give this game two thumbs up! (They just forgot to draw my other thumb.)”So this is something I've been anticipating for a while. It's been a while since we've gotten a completely original fighting game, and it's a 2D one to boot. Arcana Heart first came out in Japanese arcades two years ago, and got a PS2 port in Japan about a year afterwards. We're not getting it until now, with Arcana Heart 2 actually being released in Japanese arcades a couple of weeks ago. But you take what you can get, right? That said, Atlus is pretty awesome for deciding to bring this over the ocean, and at a price of $30, too.
Onto the actual game itself, Arcana Heart is, well, a 2D fighter featuring some rather crisp and colorful high-quality graphics and some really nice gameplay a bit akin to Guilty Gear, what with the focus on large aerial combos. The stages are also really, really tall, so aerial combat and maneuvering is more important and usual. It features two original features unique to the game: the homing button and the Arcana system (I'll be cross-checking my info with stuff from the Shoryuken forums topic for the game, which has a lot of good info on the game. Guardcrush.net is also a good Arcana Heart site with lots of specific information and character strategies.).
Some quick control conventions: You've got 4 button: Light attack, Medium Attack, Strong attack, and Homing.
The Homing Button
The homing button is a multipurpose button used for many advanced techniques in the game.
1.The homing button can be used as a special type of movement that, uh, homes in on your opponent. No matter where your opponent is, your character will dash towards him or, if the opponent in in the air, fly towards him. So this is obviously a very powerful and important movement technique. Depending on what direction you press when you press the Homing button, your trajectory will be slightly altered. Such as, pressing no direction + homing will make your character float in place briefly and then fly towards you opponent, back + homing will make your character jump backwards and then fly towards you opponent (useful for dodging attacks) and forward + homing will make your character instantly dash forward, albeit you're character will stay on the ground with this one (I think).
2.Homing cancels are done by pressing the homing button when you're in the middle of doing an attack. It functions mostly identically to Guilty Gear's Roman Cancel, allowing you to cut an attack animation short so you can follow up with another attack before your opponent recovers or their body gets too far away and your attacks cannot reach him. It can also allow to stop a long move if you miss it so you can defend before your opponent pummels you. I think homing cancels also borrow the same effects as the aforementioned regular homing, so holding the button down will allow you to Homing Cancel and homing dashing towards your opponent. I believe most, if not all, moves can be homing canceled, including super moves. This allows technique is obviously crucial for effective comboing.
3.Guard cancels are when you press the homing button while you're guarding an attack. There are two versions of the guard cancel. Forward + homing will make your character dash forward to your opponent, guarded by a special shield that blocks attacks for a second or two. Your opponent is unaffected, however, and can keep on attacking in hopes of hitting you after the shield disappears. Back + homing makes you character jump backwards, and holding the button down will make you dash forward afterwards if you so desire. An important defensive maneuver.
4. When slammed against a wall or the knocked to the ground from the air, pressing the homing button at the right time will make your character recover quicker.
4.The homing button is also used to do attacks from your Arcana, which I will talk about after this section.
The homing button is given it's own meter, 3 crystals at the bottom of the screen, placed above your super bar. The crystals represent how many times you can use the homing button. Every time you use the homing button for the homing movement, one crystal become empty and if all crystals empty, you cannot use the homing button for anything other than Arcana based special attacks. They automatically refill in a short amount of time, but this makes it so you cannot spam the homing button techniques. Furthermore, if you use a homing cancel (and maybe a guard cancel?), a crystal will not only empty, but will also gain a red X over, which means that crystal will take longer to refill than usual. This means you cannot use endless homing cancels to make an incredibly long combo.
Terry Bogard says: “That's almost as cool as jumping between planes!”Arcana
The other unique feature of Arcana Heart is the titular Arcana system. After choosing your character, you then proceed to choose from a variety of Arcana. The Arcana some spirits of some sort; I don't actually know the game's story. But each Arcana has some sort of theme, such as Fire, Water, Steel, Darkness, etc. and each grants a special set of moves and abilities independent from your character. The Arcana's special moves vary greatly, but are all done using regular special move motions with the Homing button. The fire arcana has some fire ball moves, the steel arcana can make a stationary shield that can take a hit, and the dark arcana has a familiar that follows you and can do certain attacks (sort of like Eddie in Guilty Gear, I guess). Arcana also have their own super moves as well.
Along with these special moves, the Arcana can also provide some passive effect on characters. Such as the Love Arcana, which can allow you to float slowly to the ground after jumping, rather than falling at the regular speed.
Another special ability granted by the Arcana is a special Arcana summon that can be activated once per round. Activating the summon can be used as a combo breaker, as it frees you of any combo being done on you, aside from super moves. It also instantly refills all of your homing bar. While the Arcana summon is activated, you gain some more special effects based on your Arcana, such as not flinching from attacks or increased strength, and you also have the ability to do a super-duper Arcana summon super attack, which will physically summon your Arcana beast for some super strong attack. However, while this mode is activated, your super bar constantly drains, and the mode deactivates once your super bar is depleted. If you summon your Arcana beast for a super attack, your super bar instantly hits zero and the summon mode ends after the attack. So either way, you're losing all of your super bars, no matter how many you had. Use the mode wisely.
The game features 11 characters and 11 Arcana, meaning there are 121 possible character combinations zomg. This allows for a lot of variety, the characters and arcana can compliment each other in completely different ways, and can allow for different strategies.
Terry Bogard says: “An Arcana doesn't sound so tough! I defeated Mars, the God o- wait, there are eleven them?”The Plot
There are a bunch of people fighting each other. I think it's how they get their driver's license in Japan. I don't remember the actual story and I'm too lazy to look it up right now. Something about two world colliding, causing big problems for both. I'll look it up later.
The Cast
So yes, there are 11 characters. One of the games more noticeable aspects (and for many, the first hurdle) is the all-female cast of 11 combatants. Their designs are rather typical anime stereotypes and were probably designed to draw in the anime crowd with it's visuals. The gameplay was supposed to attract everyone else, but many were actually pushed away by the visuals, causing somewhat of a backlash against the game. The designs are indeed somewhat bland, but I found them to have grown on me, and Kira is actually really, really awesome. Kira is a little girl in a swim-suit who is half-submerged in a giant Dragon Quest slime that grows arms and performs pile-drivers on you. Each character is also associated with an Arcana in the story; however, you are free to choose whichever Arcana you desire when you play the game.
Note: Sabin over at the official Atlus Arcana Heart forum has posted a bunch of match videos for each character. He is very knowledgeable about the game, so I trust the videos he has posted are good quality stuff. I will post links to the videos under each character. Sabin notes in the post: “Reposted from 'Aion' of neo-empire.com, a European based fighting game community. Much props to him for doing the grunt work and getting these links. If anyone is curious as to how the game is played at high level, then check no further than this thread.” Much props to Sabin for doing the grunt work and getting these links from Aion who gets props for doing the grunt work and getting these links in the first place.
Aino Heart
Uh, this girl is sort of the main character, I guess. As far as I can tell, she's just a regular schoolgirl with AMAZING powers or something. She's not a whole like like Ryu, though, like a lot of fighting games do. She's got a shoryuken, but her quarter-circle backwards is this sort of flying backhand fist thing. With a heart effect. Or something. Her quarter-circle forward isn't even a projectile; I don't think she has any projectiles. The quarter-circle forward is actually more of a
”BURN KNUCKLE!”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpKEvS5FB_U (featuring Liesolette)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jup5pfabXs4 (featuring Kamui)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VbNiG8bdIU (featuring Lilica)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cv48fbfCkvQ (featuring Liesolette)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9i9DB_kVe4 (featuring Saki)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCGbqawPBrQ (mirror match)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0v4mR55dFM (featuring Lilica(x2) & Kamui)
Partinias- The Arcana of Love
Back in the old days, there was some woman who criticized violence. As a result, she was burned for a being a witch. Now her spirit is an Arcana, and she assists Heart because Heart has a good capacity for
”Wuv, twoo wuv...”Partinias' special moves have distance. She lets you create little balls that with float to your opponent in a wobbly trajectory, and a super version that makes three balls at once. You also get laser beam that shoots straight across the screen. But they are made of TWOO WUV, so it's okay. It hurts so good. Partinias also lets you float to the ground if you press up when you're descending to the ground after a jump. When you activate her Arcana summon, you are able to use the little ball special that creates 3 balls as many times as you want, and her Arcana attack has Partinias throwing down a Spirit Bomb at your opponent. A Spirit Bomb of love.
Saki Tsuzura
This is Heart's best friend, so I guess she's like Ken. But not really at all, because she has charge moves like Guile. She's got a flash kick, but her charge back – forward is like a kick version of a
”BURN KNUCKLE!”She's supposed to be pretty easy use. I guess she's also a school girl. With AMAZING powers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SvCWPkYW_0 (featuring Kamui)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl4DT3afioc (featuring Maori)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wf2sxY2XcY (featuring Lilica)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALy9ppqMJ9Y (featuring Fiona, Konoha & Lilica)
Bhanri- The Arcana of Lightning
A long time ago, there was this country, and it had a queen, and then she died. But the people kept liking her because she was awesome for protecting them a whole lot, so her spirit eventually became an Arcana. She lets you summon lightning strikes on your opponent or you can surround yourself with lightning strikes. She passively adds clashing aspects to your dash and a lot of your attacks, which is useful. When you do an Arcana summon, you get even more things with clashing abilities. For her Arcana attack, I'll quote Guardcrush.net: “Bhanri appears on the screen and flies up as though she's about to shoot a ton of lightning down or something cool, but instead trips on her way up or something and falls headfirst on the opponent.”
Sounds pretty sweet.
Kamui Tokinomiya
I thought she was a schoolgirl, but I think she's also some sort of super magical super hero (school)girl. Her Arcana of Time, Anutpuda, wakes her up to solve big problems and then puts her to sleep afterwards so she'll be alive by the time the next problem occurs. Sounds like a jerk. She's got a nice sword and has good range. She's got this one dash attack that all sword people have, where she dashes past you and you get sliced, which I guess is sort of like a
”BURN KNUCKLE!”except you get behind your opponent.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2lMKWvDXCY (featuring Heart)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjxRaWus-mU (featuring Fiona)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWo-2GzT8QI (featuring Liesolette, Saki & Mei-Fang)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLGt7wvWUHE (featuring Liesolette & Lilica)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DmrsO9lqKU (featuring Saki)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9ycg2-3HMg (featuring Kira)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sb4gkA3u1Sw (featuring Lilica)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeNn2EIvpQA (featuring Mei-Fang)
Anutpuda- The Arcana of Time
Apparently, some mechanical piece from some ancient civilization developed consciousness and free will. Somehow. I guess since that's a rather incredible feet, it became an Arcana in the way those previous people became Arcana. Anutpuda lets you make little yellow balls float in mid air. I guess they are balls of concentrated time? That's the minor ability. You can also freeze your opponent in place, leaving them open for attack. His passive abilities seem to create after-images of yourself that can take hits or attack your opponent. That's pretty cool. When you do an Arcana summon, the round clock stops counting down, and Anutpuda's Arcana attack can freeze your opponent in place for different lengths of time depending on your super bar. I guess this lasts longer than the regular special move that freezes your opponent.
Lilica Felchenerow
So she's got demon wings, so she's a demon girl. Half demon, I think. Half-breeds are popular, I guess. She's also a schoolgirl, though. I guess no one minds the wings. She's also got these roller blades with motors in them. Magical motors. She's a fast and acrobatic character. Her attacks have her jumping around the screen a lot. People like to say she looks like Etna from Disgaea.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a73AYV4ZWtQ (featuring Yoriko)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXbE8zCIx7Q (featuring Saki)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uMT6-xp6y8 (featuring Konoha)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zErd9h0Uzjk (featuring Saki)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZKyybrOEAM (featuring Kira)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ET_3rB-Kya8 (featuring Mei-Fang & Liesolette)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yngrvkpy7Tg (featuring Kira)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxV9_GjNfpc (featuring Kira)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caIP8uFmU_4 (featuring Kamui)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8bcf8cXXZI (featuring Fiona)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ya9DLhAiO6o (Mirror match)
Tempestas- The Arcana of Wind
I don't remember this guys' back-story. He looks like a bird though, so maybe he was a bird. When you choose Tempestas, your character gets 3 jumps and 2 air dashes, which sounds awesome. You can also push your enemy away when you do a forward guard cancel, and you and instantly drop to the ground if you're in the air. Special moves wise, you can create little whirlwinds that will stay in place like a mine and send you opponent flying into the sky if they hit it. You can also send out this little wind boomerang thing that shoots forward and will follow you until it returns back to you. So you can run away and have it follow you, which makes approaching by your opponent a bit more difficult. When you do an Arcana summon, you get 4 jumps and 3 air-dashes. Tempestas' Arcana attack has him shoot out across screen almost instantaneously, so it's good for combos. When you get hit, you fly to the top of the screen, open for combos. However, if your opponent blocks it, you are very open for combos.
Maori Kasuga
This girls a shrine priestess, and on the character select screen, she is actually 4 people as one.
She can summon her sisters for special attacks. Like, her two little sisters can come and fly into you on flying paper cranes, or her older sister can appear out of nowhere and punch you in the face. She's also got this top she throws around with this magical glowing wire. I don't know the story behind that. So I guess she's a bit of a distance character. Maybe. I assume she's a schoolgirl. Or she spends all her time at her shrine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkFy6p0czH4 (featuring Lilica)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCdePigPx4U (featuring Fiona)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk_4Rkwpi0E (featuring Kamui)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V11NHB-HPHA (featuring Saki)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKqHlAPDssU (featuring Yoriko & Lilica)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4QexvVx3aI (featuring Kamui, Fiona & Lilica)
Ohtsuchi- The Arcana of Earth
Ohstuchi was a clay model that Maori's shrine prayed too. I guess he was alive too, and he helps Maori's family with his incredible strength. I am sure he is good for smashing things and gardening. Ohtsuchi focuses on strength. His passive effects grant you super armor while you dash or do certain attacks, meaning you won't flinch from their attack from the first hit or two. This lets you continue what you were doing uninterrupted. His special moves lets you make rocks materialize in thin air and drop on your opponent, or his fist can fly out of thin air and smash your opponent against the wall. His supers give you a super version of his fist, and you can also summon his foot to step on your opponent. When you do an Arcana summon, you're granted super armor for the entire duration of the summon, but you cannot guard (though you don't need to). His Arcana attack has Ohtsuchi appear on the side of the screen and he slowly moves forward and sink into the ground like
Shortly afterward, his fist will erupt out of the ground, smashing your opponent in his weak spot and causing massive damage, sending him flying skywards. It hurts a lot.
Mei-Fang
She's a robot programmed with thousands of years of food recipes, and some martial arts as an afterthought, I guess. She has this one special move that you can do repeatedly for up to three hits, so I guess she's really combo heavy. She's got little rocket boosters on her feet that don't seem to help all that much, but one of her special moves has her summoning a giant exo-suit to ram your opponent. That's cool. I guess that means she's not a school girl though.
I'd just like to point out a grevious omission in the OP.
That 3-move chain of Mei-Fang?
Well it starts with a flying punch:
http://arcanaheart.sakura.ne.jp/k_meifang/214.jpg
Which is rather like a........
”BURN KNUCKLE!”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3FcMDcT5Po (featuring Lilica)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePPieRNvjoo (featuring Saki)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-dy58fziXw (featuring Kamui)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SF9Vm53z250 (featuring Kira)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOiXGt4eeQM (featuring Fiona)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkYtcAv_zao (featuring Lilica)
Lang-gong- The Arcana of Fire
Lang-gong was a fox on a mountain who learned to talk with people. After he died, his spirit became immortal, and he became an Arcana. He teams up with Mei-Fang because he sees her as the next step in human evolution. He sees a robot as the next step in human evolution. Seriously. Fuck Skynet.
He lets you use Yoga Fire and Yoga Flame. A couple of your moves also become unblockable, apparently. When you Arcana summon, you get a fire shield when you use a homing dash in the air that can hurt your opponent. His Arcana attack has Lang-gong run across the ground at your opponent. It looks pretty cool, and it does good damage if it hits, and amazing guard damage if you guard. Your best bet is to jump over him.
Konoha
Konoha's a ninja girl, who is also a dog-girl (as opposed to a cat-girl). So she's got these big ears on her head and has a tail. Being a ninja, she does many ninja-like things, like throwing shurikens, hiding underground, performing inazuma drops, floating in the sky with her cape, and this one sort of high-speed distance punch that's sort of like a
”BURN KNUCKLE!”Apparently every time Kamui awakens, someone from Konoha's ninja village is sent to assist Kamui, and this time Konoha was chosen. But she's having too much fun being a schoolgirl with Kamui and forgot about saving the earth. She runs around in her gym outfit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UFsJl6l_To (Mirror match)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjCICvYXFWc (featuring Heart)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeL8JCzL6p8 (featuring Yoriko)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8IeTUvbIpU (featuring Saki)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgtBIYcRNj0 (featuring Fiona(x2) & Kamui)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2GBj-43E98 (featuring Yoriko)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PErS8XPfV4Q (featuring Mei-Fang)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKFZkeTlhKg (featuring Lilica)
Moriomoto- The Arcana of Nature
Moriomoto is the king of all plants, and he helps out Konoha's ninja clan a lot. He lets you shoot plant seeds on the ground that sprout and attack your opponent if he steps on them. He also lets you shoot a vine out that pulls your opponent towards you. When you activate an Arcana summon, you regenerate your health. His Arcana attack has Moriomoto grab your opponent from the ground. He then bounces your opponent around on his many leaves and vines, climaxing with a small flower growing on your opponent's head. I guess that's cool. I'm sure hit hurts.
Kira Daidohji
Oh yeah, this is the girl. Best character in the game. So she's got this giant blob that she rides around in and beats everyone up. He grows arms and legs whenever it wants to smack someone. Otherwise, it just sort of blobs around. She's sort of swimming in it at all times, I guess. So she's a slow heavy hitter character. She can grab you out of the air like Potemkin and throw you against the wall, making you bounce back and open to combos. She's also got the signature 360 motion + attack piledriver.
You only see the slime's face when Kira is not inside the blob. Kira is actually a genius scientist who got her doctorate from an American university at age 10. But upon return to Japan, she was forced to go to elementary school because she was young. Thus, she has become angry and wants to take over the world. Sounds reasonable to me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msqA3h9NMp0 (featuring Mei-Fang)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0dR-9UxUgk (featuring Kamui)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cTdlr7tYss (featuring Maori)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60aCyKjCeto (featuring Lilica & Liesolette)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdyD_EUz6gM (featuring Heart)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPwBIiVY670 (featuring Heart & Konoha)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L56zq47KZyw (featuring Lilica)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKWHiVbXMmQ (featuring Lilica & Heart)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqKRD7h-jE0 (Mirror match)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFWcq7Idg9E (featuring Kamui)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgZVjho8yAM (featuring Saki)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I01_ZRkaPTA (featuring Maori & Lilica)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fV__QrCO7PE (featuring Konoha)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04qat_ICy5s (featuring Maori)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMu9o9ueLwg (featuring Fiona & Konoha)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yfIV5Ccp4A (featuring Maori)
Niptra- The Arcana of Water
Niptra was a fish that kept getting reincarnated until he hit Arcana-dom. He was pretty bored though, so when he saw Kira wanted to take over the world, he decided to help her. Sounds like a jerk. His passive effects causes some of your attacks to make your opponent float slowly in a direction as if they were in water, as opposed to flying fast and slamming into the wall like they usually would. This makes it easier to follow up with more attacks. You can also make little bubbles that can take hits for you. You can also make giant pillars of water, I guess like that one girl in Marvel vs Capcom 2? When you do an Arcana summon, you stop taking guard damage, and his Arcana attack has Niptra eat your opponent, causing your opponent move extremely slowly and all of their actions are slower as well.
Yoriko Yasuzumi
Yoriko is the quiet (school)girl who's always reading books. But her books are about the occult. And one day, she summoned a demon, and it ended up being Mike, the self proclaimed King of Demons. He's the staff with the head. He sort of pulls her along with him as he fights crime every night. Yoriko doesn't seem like doing anything Spike does, so her attack animations are usually Spike attacking while Yoriko tries to pull him back. That's cool, I guess. I don't know a lot about her, combat wise. I know she's got this one super move where you draw a pentagram with your joystick/d-pad and you get powered up. She can also ride on Spike as he rams into you, which is sort of like a flying
”BURN KNUCKLE!”Spike can also grow a 50 foot tall body and shoot lasers out of his eyes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0Hu4nLZ7jA (featuring Maori)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zis0eSRSuHI (featuring Lilica)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmpbSFJv5TU (featuring Saki)
Dieu Mort- The Arcana of Death
This guy was an executioner who loved chopping off people's heads so much, he decided to see what it was like and chopped his own head off. He somehow became an Arcana and now serves Mike. Dieu Mort lets you poison your opponent with this seal traps, as well as allowing you to teleport around. He passively allows you to teleport after a hit, rather than teching and regaining your balance wherever you may be. One of his super moves lets you and your opponent trade places! Amazing! I didn't really see how awesome this was until I saw someone use it in a video. So they launched the opponent in the air high in the sky, did a super long combo and then slammed the opponent towards the ground. The guy then used the super switcheroo, causing the two to switch places. The player appeared near the ground and the opponent appear in the sky, but was still hurtling downward from the attack. The player then intercepted the body before it hit the ground and started a new combo. It was pretty awesome. I need to learn to do that.
When you do an Arcana summon, any of your attacks will poison your opponent, and you also take 30% less damage. His Arcana attack has Dieu Mort's hand appears and grab your opponent, followed by a swipe from his giant scythe. It hurts a lot.
I apparently wrote too much, so I have to paste the rest into a second post.
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This little girl is a wanted criminal on every continent, known as the “Crimsone Eyed something-or-other” She's a vicious killer who wants to kill people, I think. She's sort of an interesting character, because she's got this suitcase containing this legless doll possessed by the spirit of her elder sister, Elfriede. In battle, you can actually throw this doll out and it will crawl around with you. It's pretty creepy. It has it's own life bar as well (it can take 3 hits before dying. I think a super move can revive it.) Elfriede does an attack with every attack button you press, so you fight at the same time. Liesellote can also set these floating markers that Elfriede will jump to and attack. So Elfriede doesn't automatically home in on your opponent. Thus, Liesellote is actually more of a technical character since you have to be able to work together with your doll-sister.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oqini3JWrXA (featuring Heart)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHy3NmvSpPQ (featuring Lilica)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX4IjtpQtlQ (featuring Maori)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2k-BvY_1bMQ (featuring Kamui)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSPorxLqZkk (featuring Kamui)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rghMQkmvfzs (featuring Maori)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7TJQRtW4fk (featuring Konoha)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-S6Ag16JwPo (mirror match)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuTlOW6wBHE (featuring Maori)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ii4hPSmmZH4 (featuring Maori)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzvZaMOqVj8 (featuring Fiona)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX_9YYhLA24 (featuring Kamui)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFMBpHWzhu0 (featuring Kira, Mei-Fang & Fiona)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMu9o9ueLwg (featuring Konoha)
Gier- The Arcana of Shadow
Gier is the embodiment of mankind's wickedness. He feeds off of hate and fear, so he runs around with Liesellote to get food. When you choose Gier, Gier is this little shadow that follows you on the ground. You can command him to various attacks on your opponent, so he's good for getting your opponent when their off guard or luring them into attacks. I don't know about his passive changes normally or during an Arcana summon, though. His Arcana attack has Gier grow big and eat your opponent; then he spits them out as a cute little blob thing. They all look a little different based on the character, which is cool. You can then proceed to beat them up until they turn back.
Fiona Mayfield
Fiona is the game's other heavy character, as she wields a giant broadsword. She does heavy damage with normal slashes, and it's not even funny. Her sword can also spin around like a drill somehow. So when she thrusts the sword forward, it's sort of like a drill-sword version of the
She is apparently trapped in another world and serves Mildred, the big bad guy boss girl.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVx8nlRUFYg (featuring Kira)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wN8qoicQEYE (featuring Saki)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RI6jPqQWLI (featuring Saki, Kira & Kamui)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GddEDf1Cys (featuring Yoriko & Lilica)
Orichalkos- The Arcana of Metal
Orichalkos is the oldest living Arcana, and he is an awesome steel dragon. I guess he's like a Yu-gi-oh! Card. He is very strong and is feared by many. When Fiona was trapped in the another world, she ended up with lots of stereotypical fantasy creatures. She loves stereotypical fantasy creatures, so she approached Orichalkos with sparkly googly eyes. This made him warm up to her, and he decided to help her return to her world. When you choose him as your Arcana, you do not gain super bar by attacking your opponent. You gain the ability to manually charge it by holding down + homing. You can also make swords appear in the air and attack your opponent from a variety of directions. You can also create floating shields that can takes lots of hits from your opponent. His super moves can makes a bunch of swords appear at once, or you can increase your strength, defense, or Sword and Shield attacks. When you do an Arcana Summon, you get a gigantic boost in offense and defense. His Arcana attack has Orichalkos appear and shoot a giant beam out of his mouth like Bahamut Zero. It can hit everywhere on the screen, so you need to block it or hit your opponent before they finish pulling it off.
Captain Planet- The Arcana of The World
Captain Planet is a hidden arcana that can only be chosen in versus matches. To get him, you must first play a match and choose Ohtsuchi, the Earth arcana. In the next match, you must choose Lang-gong the fire arcana. The next match you have to use Tempestas, after that Niptra and then finally Partinias. In the round after that, regardless of the Arcana you choose you will have Captain Planet as your arcana. He passively gives you each of the five aforementioned Arcana's effects. He also grants Re-run, which revives you from death once if you lose your final match. It's pretty cheap. His special moves give you access to a variety of moves from all of the previous arcana. When you do an Arcana summon, you get infinite homing bar. Being Arcana of the The World, his Arcana summon briefly stops time as his gives a randomly generated 4 second speech morale boosting speech to your character, causing your opponent to lose his moral, degrading his defensive and offensive abilities.
So yeah, he's pretty cheap overall and is more of a joke Arcana for the PS2 version of the game. I'm lying about all this though, and since I'm posting this thing late I can't pass it off as an April Fool's joke anymore, so I'm going ahead and telling you it's not real. Sorry.
Something I just remembered that I should mention is the different between Arcana Heart and Arcana Heart Full!. After Arcana Heart was released in the arcades, there was an eventual upgrade called Full! That had character re-balances and whatnot. However, they were charging a lot of money for it, so many arcades didn't actually get Full!. As a consequence, many people weren't able to play it. To please both people who have and haven't played the newest version, the PS2 release allows you to select the original or Full! versions of the characters. It doesn't mean a whole lot to most people here in the west, but I believe the option is still there. You should probably play on Full!.
So yeah, I'm not sure how to finish this post off. I've already posted characters and videos. I guess I'll go find screenshots now. It's a pretty good game if you can get past the aesthetic design. I've played a little bit of an import copy and it was cool once I figured out how to use the homing button effectively. It definitely deserves more attention than it's getting, and I hope the second game can make an eventual console release as well, because it looks pretty great.
In conclusion, buy Arcana Heart, eat your greens, and stay in school.
”MOE”
Reviews
IGN review: 8.3 out of 10 (http://ps2.ign.com/articles/864/864652p1.html)
Kotaku review: http://kotaku.com/377222/arcana-heart-review-fatal-fists-of-female-fury
Gamezone review: 8 out of 10 (http://ps2.gamezone.com/gzreviews/r34631.htm)
(I thought it might feel lonely if it didn't have some bolded text.)
well fucking done
I guess I better get it on day one, even if I don't really want it
[/sold]
Fantastic OP, next check I'll be picking this up to feed my 2D fighter hunger.
Also, this Japanese commentary is annoying as fuck, especially so when I can only understand every 5th word.
And Kira seems to be every bit the cheese factory I'd heard she was. Damn.
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
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Now I feel I have to buy the game to justify this great OP.
Really though...what the hell? that is....you really like this game, eh? and you begin by suggesting that you might have writers block?
anyway, this game looks pretty cool. i don't know that it can live up to this thread though.
Nintendo Friend Code: SW-0689-9921-0006
Thanks for the compliments. I was pretty sleepy, but I wanted to make the topic, so I winged it. I wasn't sure how it would go over, or if people would care in the first place. My original ideas were probably a bit too out there, so I just sort of started writing since I couldn't get to bed.
Director's Commentary
It's not so much that I really, really like the game (though I do of course really like it), but I thought I'd have to fight against the bad impression most people get when they see the characters. I figured I'd have to do something to keep people interested more than turned-off, but that's sort of why I had the writer's block, because I didn't know how I'd go about doing that. On that note, just curious: how do you feel about the designs? Do they make you not want to play the game? I sort of accepted them as "well, it's pandering." But they shortly started growing on me when I played it. Kira was awesome from day one, though. I wish I had some better pictures of her Slime. That said, the gameplay is what kept me staying, and I just wanted there to be more interest in the game. I wanted some people to see that there is something substantial under the moe moe aesthetic design, or at least acknowledge that there is this one guy out there who says there's something there.
PC version? First I've heard of that. Care to give more info on where that came from?
Something I just realized is that my Terry Bogarding isn't completely random, because I just remembered that some people were saying one of the new characters in the second game was influenced by Terry for her color scheme, since she pilots a (really big) robot that's red and has white stars on it's shoulders. There's also a Swedish gunslinger girl, a sort of magician girl with random references to the Wizard of Oz, a Russian boxer with a giant "pile bunker" one arm, and a pair of undead battle nuns who long ago perished in battle against each other, only to be later resurrected somehow.
I don't remember Arcana Heart having a PC version. Are you sure you're not thinking of Melty Blood or maybe Big Bang Beat or even Queen of Fighters or Eternal Fighter Zero?
You can just turn down the volume, because one of the negative parts of the game is that the music sounds like goddamn elevator music. Not kidding. I don't mind peaceful music or even weirdly out of place music in my fighting games, but just don't give me music that's boring or outright bad.
Actually, I renege on the outright bad part, because at least that fills me with the anger I may need to overcome my opponent.
One of the fun things about the game is that it contains both the original Arcana Heart characters and the tweaked versions used in the (minor) revision Arcana Heart FULL! [sic].
Kira in original AH is said to be substantially better than in AHF!. Same goes for Kamui and Konoha. In fact, those three comprised a group that was derisively called the "KKK Tier", as they were thought to be the best in that version of the game. Kira is said to be massively nerfed in her AHF! incarnation. I personally don't know the truth of it because I never played the game at a competitive level.
If there's one thing that's good though, it's Gier. Gier and the Lightning Arcana. The Lightning one might take a bit more familiarity with how the game works in order to figure out why it's good, but Gier is a straight up nobody-it-doesn't-work-with pick. If you are willing to spend obscene amounts of time practicing combos and combo setups, Time looks great.
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire,
Topped off with good ol' Travis (I'm stealing that picture, by the way).
I lobbied so hard until to try and get Lilica's name changed. "You are not letting an anime moe fetish girl keep a name like that, are you?" I'd ask, and the editor would cackle and turn back to his work. The translator and project lead didn't know what it meant... and I didn't have the heart to tell an innocent 19-year-old Japanese girl what felching is.
PSN: Wstfgl | GamerTag: An Evil Plan | Battle.net: FallenIdle#1970
Hit me up on BoardGameArena! User: Loaded D1
Good to know there have been some balance tweaks, especially with the game being out as long as it has; no fighting game has ever gotten it right on the first release, and it's time devs acknowledged that (I'm looking at you, Namco). Now all I have to do is come up with a way to trick my friends into playing this with me.
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
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The character designs are a mixed bag. I like some of them but I doubt I'll ever be comfortable playing as Prepubescent Ninja Girl Running Around In Panties
I never thought I'd say this, but I wish this game had more dick.
Not panties- bloomers. It's what girls used to wear for gym class in Japan.
But not much difference, yeah.
I can see myself renting it or getting it from Gamefly but only because I get bored of fighting games quickly.
if it isn't i may try this game out.
Does it support widescreen display?
There was something I wanted to say that I thought about in the middle of the night, but I don't remember it anymore. Just wanted to let you know.
I wasn't interested in this game before but after reading this thread, watching some of the videos, and knowing it is only $30 I think I will be buying it when it comes out. Just one question, how is the single player for this game? Most of my friends don't like fighting games because they all suck at them.
Some quick things I found:
Look at that blob. He's ready to tear you apart at a moment's notice.
Here's the thing I couldn't remember I wanted to do earlier, which is post the game's Japanese box art.
When I first looked at this, I was pretty confused. It was okay, I guess, but I was trying to figure out why legs were sticking out of Partinias' head. It was like she was from Gurren Lagann. Shortly afterwards, I figured out they were actually Heart's legs, but were somehow magically being transported to the top of the box. I thought they were being abstract or something. Then I realized I was still wrong, because they were Partinias' arms. I'm not sure why I didn't see that before.
I remember reading at another forum some people were discussing what the US box art would be, and they were talking in a way that implied it had already been decided that the box art would be changed. I don't know if that's true, or what they'd be changing it to.
Also, I added a couple of pictures to the OP because I thought they looked cool. I still haven't been able to find a good picture of the final boss, so maybe I'll just leave here alone and let you guys found out what she's like when you play the game.
Edit: Okay, nevermind. I did not add anything to the OP because the places I was planning to put them already have pictures. Oh well, it wasn't very important.
Man, puppies and peanut butter? Ecch. Puppies require barbeque sauce.
As much as I like destroying dreams, I don't like it when it leaves me open for lawsuits and being labeled a sex offender. :P "Management" means I have to pretend to be respectable.
PSN: Wstfgl | GamerTag: An Evil Plan | Battle.net: FallenIdle#1970
Hit me up on BoardGameArena! User: Loaded D1
But I pity you, sir. A management position that doesn't let you educate young girls about felching isn't worth the contract you're bound by law to follow.
omgwtf it goes IN the dog?!
you sick puppy
Also, there's a pretty hilarious typo on the Arcana Heart website:
Fiona's character profile contains Kira's quote...
It goes in the dog after he licks it off my balls, yes.
You know I'm just being silly.
...
So... how's that Arcana? I... hear it's pretty good?
But, with my collection of Izuna wallpapers and all, I think I have enough moe.
PSN: Wstfgl | GamerTag: An Evil Plan | Battle.net: FallenIdle#1970
Hit me up on BoardGameArena! User: Loaded D1
I asked about this at the Shoryuken forums, and they told me the game does not support widescreen. I am sorry
Some people also asked that I direct people towards Guardcrush.net, ironically named Arcana HATE. It's an Arcana Heart dedicated wiki and forum. I mentioned them in the post, but it's sort of in between all that text. So there you go! If you ever have a question that requires someone who knows their stuff, I guess you can ask there. They're experts. And stuff.
For people still interested in match videos, there was a recent Arcana Heart tournament in Atlanta, GA, part of Final Round XI, which hosts a bunch of game tournaments, I guess. And here are the matches! (Taken from the Arcana Heart Shoryuken.com thread, courtesy of Capps Indigo)
Final Round XI: Arcana Heart Full 1v1:
FRXI - Arcana Heart - Sabin (KAM) v Frank the Tank (KIR)
FRXI - Arcana Heart - Noel (KAM) v skisonic (KON)
FRXI - Arcana Heart - KenmastersX (SAK) v JWong (KAM)
FRXI - Arcana Heart - meta (LIS) v skisonic (KON)
FRXI - Arcana Heart - Lilica v Fiona
FRXI - Arcana Heart - meta (LIS) v Sabin (KAM)
FRXI - Arcana Heart - Fiona v Frank the Tank (KIR)
FRXI - Arcana Heart - Noel (KAM) v HeartNana (LIL)
FRXI - Arcana Heart - Noel (KAM) v Frank the Tank (KIR)
FRXI - Arcana Heart - KenmastersX (SAK) v Sabin (KAM)
FRXI - Arcana Heart - Noel (KAM) v Sabin (KAM)
FRXI -Arcana Heart WinnersFinal- Stone (SA) v HeartNana (LI)
FRXI -Arcana Heart LosersFinal- Stone (SAK) v Sabin (KAM)
FRXI -AHFull Grand Final Set1 Pt1- Sabin(KA) v HeartNana(LI)
FRXI -AHFull Grand Final Set1 Pt2- Sabin(KA) v HeartNana(LI)
FRXI -AHFull Grand Final Set2 Pt1- Sabin(KA) v HeartNana(LI)
FRXI -AHFull Grand Final Set2 Pt2- Sabin(KA) v HeartNana(LI)
It's got some good stuff.