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Sugoi! Arcana Heart 2 (PS2 Import)- The PS2 port sucks. Details inside.
Drem
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Edit: The PS2 port is horrible. Details in posts further down.
By my clock, it's still April 1. Just made it.
Episode 2.5: Attack of the Babyfaces
System: PS2
Developer: Examu (Have made Arcana Heart, some Samurai Shodown games, and are currently working on Daemon Bride)
Publisher: AQ Interactive
Release Date: April 7, 2009 (Japan only)
Examu Official Site for Arcana Heart 2: http://www.examu.co.jp/arcanaheart2/
Examu Official Site for Sugoi! Arcana Heart 2: http://www.examu.co.jp/sugokana2/:
AQ Interactive Official Site for Sugoi! Arcana Heart 2:http://www.aqi.co.jp/product/sugokana2/
So here we are again, a year after the release of Arcana Heart 1 on US PS2s. Last night, while perusing news on Arcana Heart 2, I decided I could try making a thread on it because of it's impending console release next week. It then occurred to me that April 1 was the next day, so I thought I could make it a bit of a joke/funny thread, especially considering the type of game Arcana Heart is. Then I remembered I had this same idea for a thread on Arcana Heart 1's US console release, but I overdid it and had to post the thread after April Fool's day. This time, I'm keeping myself in check and I hope to not overdo it on the wackiness. Hopefully this is posted on April 1.
What is Arcana Heart?
Arcana Heart is a fighting game series with a large focus on long combos and aerial combat, much like Guilty Gear, albeit AH is a somewhat slower game compared to GG. AH's most noticeable feature is the the all-female cast of characters, running the gamut of anime character archetypes. From a game play standpoint, it has the Arcana system, which lets you “equip” an arcana that grants you new moves and abilities, and the Homing button, which lets you literally fly towards your opponent at high speed, even if they are 50 feet above the gound. The stages are really tall, which allows you to take your battles literally 50 feet above the ground.
Arcana Heart 2 featured new characters and arcana, new techniques, faster game play and rebalanced characters, and upgraded graphics. It also introduced a fifth button dedicated to doing arcana attacks. Later on, Sugoi! Arcana Heart 2 (from hereon referred to as Sugoi) was released, which was an upgrade for AH2. It featured 2 new playable characters, made the boss of AH2 a default playable character, introduced a new boss, and had the typical assortment of balance changes and bug fixes. Recently, Sugoi got an updated to version 2.6, featuring bore bug fixes I guess. Sugoi 2.6 is the version that is being ported to the PS2.
AH2 added a few new techniques to the game. First is the Arcana Blast. I don't really know the specifics, but it a lot like the Burst in Guilty Gear. It's a defensive technique that allows you to escape combos by exploding with energy, sending you opponent flying to the other side of the screen. Next is the Arcana Homing, which a brief google search leads me to believe this allows you to cancel out of arcana attacks, much like you can with normal or special attacks. There is also the Critical Heart, which is essentially an ultimate super move. It requires 3 super bars and causes massive damage.
Before I talk about the homing the system, here are the control conventions. There are 5 button: A,B,C,D, and E. A, B, and C are light, medium, and strong respectively. D is the homing button, used for homing techniques, and E is the arcana button (I don't actually know if it's called that) which is for doing attacks with your selected arcana. Truthfully, I'll probably just say “homing button” and “arcana button,” but they're less ambiguous.
The Homing System (copied from the AH1 thread, except for #5 and some additions at the end)
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.
5. Arcana Homing lets you cancel out of an arcana attack.
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. 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.
The Arcana System (copied from AH1 thread, except now special moves are done with the arcana button and Arcana Blast takes up 1 super bar)
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 Arcana button (in AH1, they were done using 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. Since AH2, characters can do an Arcana Blast, which use 1 super bar and makes you momentarily invincible, which lets you escape an enemy's attacks. Or something.
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 Plot
First game features a story about 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 again. Something about two worlds colliding, the human world and the magic world where arcana come from, causing big problems for both. There was a super hi-tech magic association staffed by nuns with guns and lead by a woman name Mildred, who ended up being evil (corporations/associations are always evil in fighting games). Mildred wanted to use the fusion of the two worlds as a way to become the ultimate arcana (God?), but was defeated by whoever you decided to beat the game with.
Now, some indefinite time later, the world(s) are in danger again (I guess). Mildred's twin sister, who is probably around 4 even though Mildred was 19 (and looked 30), is trying to do something bad, and you must stop her. The fighting has begun again. Fight! For everlasting (lol) peace!
The Cast of Characters and Arcana
Sugoi features 20 playable characters (and 1 un-playable (as far as I know) boss character) and 20 selectable arcana. AH1 had 11 characters and arcana, AH2 added 7 characters and arcana, and Sugoi finally added 2 more and the new boss. I'm not going to copy my nonsensical bios for the characters from the previous thread, nor am I going to write new ones because my nonsensical bios were actually the real character bios. I will, however, post a pictures of each character and a quick note of who they are so you don't have to trudge through the previous thread if you don't want to. For the new characters, I will write what I know, which isn't a lot.
If you want to read read the character bios from Ah1 and get a better look at who they are and how they play, check out the thread for AH1: http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=54264
Something to note here is that Sugoi features a new artist for the character portraits. AH2 featured the same artist and thus same style of art, but Sugoi is a very different. Everyone has a babyface and the colors are very pretty. So I'm going to post each character with their AH2 art and new Sugoi art, just so you can see how it has changed. This hasn't affected the in-game sprites or anything; it's merely for character portraits as far as I know. Each character is accompanied by the arcana they have in the story. Remember, though, that when you play the game you may choose whichever arcana you desire.
I'll post the pictures in a spoiler so they don't take up as much space when you open the thread/skim the post.
Cast from Arcana Heart 1
Aino Heart and Partinias, the Arcana of Love
Heart is the “main” character, and is pretty balanced over all. She has some very Terry Bogard type moves, minus the long range attacks. Partinias lets you shoot lasers and throw floaty balls of love. She also lets you float to the ground after jumping.
Saki Tsuzura and Bhanri, the Arcana of Lightning
Saki fights with lots of kicks, and is probably all love-love for her close friend Heart. Bhanri can make lightning strike the ground, and gives more of your moves clashing frames.
Kamui Tokinomiya and Anutpuda, the Arcana of Time
Kamui fights with a sword, and she has quick slashes and long range. Anutpuda lets you make floaty balls of time and you can freeze your opponent. Your dashes also become really fast (almost instant).
Lilica Felchenerow and Tempestas, the Arcana of Wind
Lilica rides on rollerblades made with magic technology. She is a very acrobatic and mobile character, and can combo attacks out of special dashes. Tempestas lets you throw sonic booms that come back like a boomerang, or set up whirlwind mines. It also grants you more mid-air jumps and air dashes.
Maori Kasuga and Ohtsuchi, the Arcana of Earth
Maori fights with her 3 sisters, who are summoned by her special moves. They're sort of like strikers from King of Fighters or assists from Marvel vs Capcom. Ohstuchi is a power house that lets you throw his fists and feat around. They are big. Also, he can give you super armor (no hit-stun from attacks).
Mei-Fang and Lang-gong, the Arcana of Fire
Mei-Fang is a robot girl with attacks that combo into each other well. Lang-gong lets you throw fireballs and shoot a flamethrower.
Konoha and Moriomoto, the Arcana of Nature
Konoha is a speedy character who can fly in the air a bit or hide underground. Moriomoto can set plant seeds as traps.
Kira Daidohji and Niptra, the Arcana of Water
Kira is an 11-year old scientist who wants to take over the world. She rides in a giant blob that can grow arms and feet and can piledrive you. She's the slow grappler with Zangief/Potemkin throws. Niptra lets you set traps or make water attacks pop out of the ground. You can also slow down your opponent's movement.
Yoriko Yasuzumi and Dieu Mort, the Arcana of Death/Poison (it's one of those)
Yoriko fights with Mike, the demon that was turned into a staff. She has some attacks that move her far across the screen and have some big distance. Dieu Mort lets you poison your opponent and you can teleport around the screen.
Liesellote Achenbach and Gier, the Arcana of Shadow
Liesollote is a little girl assassin who is wanted across all continents. She has a little doll possessed by her sister Elfriede, who can be thrown out and can do special attacks around the screen, separate from Liesollote herself. Elfried has her own life bar, and can take three hits before it dies. It can be revived with a super move. Gier is a shadow that moves across the ground. It can be maneuvered around the screen, and can jump out to attack the enemy.
Fiona Mayfield and Orichalkos, the Arcana of Metal
Fiona fights with a giant sword, and has really strong attacks. Orichalkos lets you summon swords to attack the enemy or shields to defend yourself. It also makes it so that your super bar must be charged manually.
Mildred Avallone
The boss of the game. She was the head of the Minisitry for Elemental Affairs and tried to become an Arcana god. Then you beat her.
Cast Introduced in Arcana Heart 2
Petra Johanna Lagerkvist and Zilrael, the Arcana of Holy
Petra is a noble from Sweden who wields big... guns. Her guns have close range attacks with a big radius and can shoot bullets that reflect across the screen. However, she has an ammo counter, meaning when it's empty she must reload before she can shoot more bullets. Zilrael is a Unicorn, and we all know what attracts Unicorns.
Zenia Valov and Almacia, the Arcana of of Ice
Zenia is a Russian who fights with a boxing style. On one arm is a “pilebunker,” which is a giant rod that shoots out real quick to send you opponent flying. It has it's own special bar to show how much power is charged up into the pilebunker; the higher the bar, the stronger the pilebunker. Almacia is an emperor penguin, if you couldn't tell from his hat.
Clarice Di Lanza and Sorwat, the Arcana of Sin
Clarice is a nun who fought Elsa to the death. Clarice died but was later resurrected for some reason. She fights with long strings that can reach really far. Sorwat is weird looking. That's all I got.
Elsa La Conti and Koshmar, the Arcana of Punishment
Sin and Punishment- get it? Elsa is also a nun, and fought Clarice to the death some time ago. I don't know what happened to Elsa after that fight. She fights with an over-sized cross, and can throw holy water around. People call her Belmont, but she fights with Castlevania sub-weapons. Koshmar is also weird looking.
Catherine Kyohbashi and Medain, the Arcana of Magnetism
Catherine is pilots a giant robot, which is really giant. People say she's styled after Terry Bogard, due to her color scheme and stars. Medain is a tortoise, which is as cool as a penguin.
Dorothy Albright and Heliogabalus, the Arcana of Mirror
Dorothy is often confused for a boy, and is themed after the Wizard of Oz. She can set cards around and use them for special attacks and stuff. She's a very tricky character. Heliogabalus is weird looking.
Angelia Avallone and Mildred Avallone
Angelia is the boss of AH2, and is the little sister of Mildred, the boss from the AH1. Angelia got stuck in the magic world along with Fiona, and thus never aged, so she's over 18 (lol). She fights with special moves like May from Guilty Gear or Talbain from Darkstalkers, where she flies around the screen in a line, and you can go different directions after each movement. Mildred is an arcana now, I guess, and she can probably do cool stuff. She was unlockable in AH2, and is a regular character in Sugoi.
Cast Introduced in Sugoi! Arcana Heart 2
Nazuna Inuwak and Kayatsu-Hime, the Arcana of Flower
Nazuna is a fox girl who rides a wolf and has a pet bird too. So she's a dog who rides a dog. She seems to have pretty good range with her attacks. I don't really know what to say about Kayatsu-Hime, truthfully.
Akane Inuwaka and Phoenix, the Arcana of Sound
Akane is Nazuna's sister, and has lots of kick based attacks. She apparently has cannon drills and stuff. Phoenix can set sound traps or something, I think.
Parace L'Sia and Paracelsia, the Arcana of Life
The final boss, who is obviously worth lots of laughs. Look at her clothes! Really! I'll post a Babelfish translations of her bio from the official site:
lololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololol
SNK bosses are chumps.
Bill307 gave me some match videos to post. There are a bunch on YouTube, so you can find videos of every character. I still can't figure out how to post a video without embedding it, so I'm going to put them into a spoiler.
I still don't know how to end a post. Sugoi comes out for PS2 in Japan next week. So lets just talk about Arcana Heart, I guess. Or you can just take this info and go. Hit it and quit it. Or something.
By my clock, it's still April 1. Just made it.
Episode 2.5: Attack of the Babyfaces
System: PS2
Developer: Examu (Have made Arcana Heart, some Samurai Shodown games, and are currently working on Daemon Bride)
Publisher: AQ Interactive
Release Date: April 7, 2009 (Japan only)
Examu Official Site for Arcana Heart 2: http://www.examu.co.jp/arcanaheart2/
Examu Official Site for Sugoi! Arcana Heart 2: http://www.examu.co.jp/sugokana2/:
AQ Interactive Official Site for Sugoi! Arcana Heart 2:http://www.aqi.co.jp/product/sugokana2/
So here we are again, a year after the release of Arcana Heart 1 on US PS2s. Last night, while perusing news on Arcana Heart 2, I decided I could try making a thread on it because of it's impending console release next week. It then occurred to me that April 1 was the next day, so I thought I could make it a bit of a joke/funny thread, especially considering the type of game Arcana Heart is. Then I remembered I had this same idea for a thread on Arcana Heart 1's US console release, but I overdid it and had to post the thread after April Fool's day. This time, I'm keeping myself in check and I hope to not overdo it on the wackiness. Hopefully this is posted on April 1.
What is Arcana Heart?
Arcana Heart is a fighting game series with a large focus on long combos and aerial combat, much like Guilty Gear, albeit AH is a somewhat slower game compared to GG. AH's most noticeable feature is the the all-female cast of characters, running the gamut of anime character archetypes. From a game play standpoint, it has the Arcana system, which lets you “equip” an arcana that grants you new moves and abilities, and the Homing button, which lets you literally fly towards your opponent at high speed, even if they are 50 feet above the gound. The stages are really tall, which allows you to take your battles literally 50 feet above the ground.
Arcana Heart 2 featured new characters and arcana, new techniques, faster game play and rebalanced characters, and upgraded graphics. It also introduced a fifth button dedicated to doing arcana attacks. Later on, Sugoi! Arcana Heart 2 (from hereon referred to as Sugoi) was released, which was an upgrade for AH2. It featured 2 new playable characters, made the boss of AH2 a default playable character, introduced a new boss, and had the typical assortment of balance changes and bug fixes. Recently, Sugoi got an updated to version 2.6, featuring bore bug fixes I guess. Sugoi 2.6 is the version that is being ported to the PS2.
AH2 added a few new techniques to the game. First is the Arcana Blast. I don't really know the specifics, but it a lot like the Burst in Guilty Gear. It's a defensive technique that allows you to escape combos by exploding with energy, sending you opponent flying to the other side of the screen. Next is the Arcana Homing, which a brief google search leads me to believe this allows you to cancel out of arcana attacks, much like you can with normal or special attacks. There is also the Critical Heart, which is essentially an ultimate super move. It requires 3 super bars and causes massive damage.
Before I talk about the homing the system, here are the control conventions. There are 5 button: A,B,C,D, and E. A, B, and C are light, medium, and strong respectively. D is the homing button, used for homing techniques, and E is the arcana button (I don't actually know if it's called that) which is for doing attacks with your selected arcana. Truthfully, I'll probably just say “homing button” and “arcana button,” but they're less ambiguous.
The Homing System (copied from the AH1 thread, except for #5 and some additions at the end)
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.
5. Arcana Homing lets you cancel out of an arcana attack.
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. 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.
The Arcana System (copied from AH1 thread, except now special moves are done with the arcana button and Arcana Blast takes up 1 super bar)
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 Arcana button (in AH1, they were done using 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. Since AH2, characters can do an Arcana Blast, which use 1 super bar and makes you momentarily invincible, which lets you escape an enemy's attacks. Or something.
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 Plot
First game features a story about 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 again. Something about two worlds colliding, the human world and the magic world where arcana come from, causing big problems for both. There was a super hi-tech magic association staffed by nuns with guns and lead by a woman name Mildred, who ended up being evil (corporations/associations are always evil in fighting games). Mildred wanted to use the fusion of the two worlds as a way to become the ultimate arcana (God?), but was defeated by whoever you decided to beat the game with.
Now, some indefinite time later, the world(s) are in danger again (I guess). Mildred's twin sister, who is probably around 4 even though Mildred was 19 (and looked 30), is trying to do something bad, and you must stop her. The fighting has begun again. Fight! For everlasting (lol) peace!
The Cast of Characters and Arcana
Sugoi features 20 playable characters (and 1 un-playable (as far as I know) boss character) and 20 selectable arcana. AH1 had 11 characters and arcana, AH2 added 7 characters and arcana, and Sugoi finally added 2 more and the new boss. I'm not going to copy my nonsensical bios for the characters from the previous thread, nor am I going to write new ones because my nonsensical bios were actually the real character bios. I will, however, post a pictures of each character and a quick note of who they are so you don't have to trudge through the previous thread if you don't want to. For the new characters, I will write what I know, which isn't a lot.
If you want to read read the character bios from Ah1 and get a better look at who they are and how they play, check out the thread for AH1: http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=54264
Something to note here is that Sugoi features a new artist for the character portraits. AH2 featured the same artist and thus same style of art, but Sugoi is a very different. Everyone has a babyface and the colors are very pretty. So I'm going to post each character with their AH2 art and new Sugoi art, just so you can see how it has changed. This hasn't affected the in-game sprites or anything; it's merely for character portraits as far as I know. Each character is accompanied by the arcana they have in the story. Remember, though, that when you play the game you may choose whichever arcana you desire.
I'll post the pictures in a spoiler so they don't take up as much space when you open the thread/skim the post.
Cast from Arcana Heart 1
Aino Heart and Partinias, the Arcana of Love
Saki Tsuzura and Bhanri, the Arcana of Lightning
Kamui Tokinomiya and Anutpuda, the Arcana of Time
Lilica Felchenerow and Tempestas, the Arcana of Wind
Maori Kasuga and Ohtsuchi, the Arcana of Earth
Mei-Fang and Lang-gong, the Arcana of Fire
Konoha and Moriomoto, the Arcana of Nature
Kira Daidohji and Niptra, the Arcana of Water
Yoriko Yasuzumi and Dieu Mort, the Arcana of Death/Poison (it's one of those)
Liesellote Achenbach and Gier, the Arcana of Shadow
Fiona Mayfield and Orichalkos, the Arcana of Metal
Mildred Avallone
Cast Introduced in Arcana Heart 2
Petra Johanna Lagerkvist and Zilrael, the Arcana of Holy
Zenia Valov and Almacia, the Arcana of of Ice
Clarice Di Lanza and Sorwat, the Arcana of Sin
Elsa La Conti and Koshmar, the Arcana of Punishment
Catherine Kyohbashi and Medain, the Arcana of Magnetism
Dorothy Albright and Heliogabalus, the Arcana of Mirror
Angelia Avallone and Mildred Avallone
Cast Introduced in Sugoi! Arcana Heart 2
Nazuna Inuwak and Kayatsu-Hime, the Arcana of Flower
Akane Inuwaka and Phoenix, the Arcana of Sound
Parace L'Sia and Paracelsia, the Arcana of Life
[parase] [rushia] in saintly spiritual world also to be the alchemy teacher of the finger snapping, in addition the doctor being. The alchemy teacher who participated in Renaissance period dying, furthermore intending the scholar, it is said that it became saintly spirit. With the typical scholar skin, the fact that contemplation is reflected upon is liked, but it is poor ethically to think of good and evil and the like. In addition, spiritless lazily, the kind of human who has lived is abhorred with the attachment which is strong in life. We designate the collection refinement of the mineral and the demon stone as lifework, often in the physical boundary the material, we have come to searching, (several degrees there is the experience which is repelled in God depending). Simply, with while it is the form of saintly spirit because it is not possible, to approach the object of the physical boundary, you measure the occasion where it comes to the physical boundary and making use of original [banguru] which refines the flesh of the [so] [me], passing by the distortion of dimension, you have visited. Furthermore, also it has been [hueruhunerohu] public and the research companion who are the father of [ririka].
lololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololol
SNK bosses are chumps.
Bill307 gave me some match videos to post. There are a bunch on YouTube, so you can find videos of every character. I still can't figure out how to post a video without embedding it, so I'm going to put them into a spoiler.
Bill307 wrote:Love Fiona vs ACT (Ice Maori)
Bolt Mei-Fang vs Wind Konoha
Wind Elsa, Gier Saki vs Wind Catherine
Love Heart, Time Konoha vs Bolt Maori, Poison/Bolt Kira
Hakama (Gier KI), Wara (Wind AN) vs Zack (Time/Sacred DO), Takeshi (Love YO) (the player names are at Nico Video)
Himajin (Time Nazuna), Kasumi LOVE (Gier Akane) vs Jamu (Fire Lilica), 店狂犬 (Magnet Zenia) (Nico Video link) - love Himajin's Nazuna :lovin:
Love Saki vs Mirror Petra (starts at 6:40) - lol @ Petra's mirror + bullets strat
I still don't know how to end a post. Sugoi comes out for PS2 in Japan next week. So lets just talk about Arcana Heart, I guess. Or you can just take this info and go. Hit it and quit it. Or something.
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And I guess this could explain why Atlus is waiting before localizing the sequel, assuming they're going to.
The first game was fun, but it felt like it really needed some polishing. The backgrounds all felt lifeless.
Something I forgot to mention though is that people have been saying that the PS2 port of Sugoi isn't going to be a perfect port from the arcade, because the PS2 isn't strong enough. The graphics are going to be a little worse and the gameplay might actually be a little slower, but it shouldn't be too much of a difference overall. Unfortunate, but un-avoidable.
Edit: I can't tell if you guys are being sarcastic or not about the lack of content and the art style. The only complaint I have about the art is the baby faces. Everything else seems a lot better quality.
Not yet, but there's a campaign to get Atlus to bring it over like they did the first. I'm willing to bet they will.
As for competition, I found quite a few skilled players of AH at PAX, if you happen to head out that way.
I recently found out there's an actual Arcana Heart 2 machine near my college, so I'm going to be heading there this weekend to try it out for the first time. It's in a place called Play Around Golf and Games in Newport News, Virginia, if anyone was curious. Maybe I can get some solid info on how it feels after actually playing it.
Amazing fucking post though. That is one very complete OP.
I know what you mean; it feels very odd when you first play it. The combos are fast and close-combat is quick because of air dashes and hops, but from a distance the player movement is really slow. You have to learn to use the homing functions really well, and it takes some getting used to. Supposedly AH2 sped the game up, so it may easier to get into than AH1. I'll find out this weekend.
Yeah, that was sort of weird. Andamiro also announced it's localization of AH2 shortly after Sugoi was announced for Japan, which was sort of a bummer. Speaking of which, according to the latest issue of Arcadia Magazine, Sugoi is #4 in the top 10 played arcade games in Japan. That really surprised me, since I thought AH wasn't that popular compared to other games.
Take that Melty Blood!
Exactly. Once I was in someone's face it felt just about right, but my play style is to keep my distance, play defensively and wait for openings and I felt rather restricted with the movement. My play style in 2D fighters has changed a bit since then, but it still feels a bit off.
Holy Shit, I'm about 20 minutes away from this place and this is the first time I've heard of it. I didn't think there were any arcades at all in the entire Hampton Roads area. Definitely have to check this out, thanks for the heads up! :^:
Just for your info, Play Around also has Tekken: Dark Resurrection, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, the newest DDR and Pump It Ups, and even a cabinet running MAME. I'm not sure what else they have.
I was never interested much in AH1, the all-female cast felt like the main gimmick used to sell the thing, not to metion it was horrendously buggy IIRC. Imagine my surprise when I see it has a decent following, from the looks of that arcade chart. Also quite impressed at how many characters they managed to conjure up in 2.5 installments. How balanced is the game, is there a solid tier list?
Most recent list from Arcadia magazine:
S: Akane
A+: Heart, Mei-Fang
A: Maori, Konoha, Angelia
B: Nazuna, Lilica, Kamui, Kira, Saki, Yoriko, Clarice, Elsa, Petra, Catherine, Zenia
C: Dorothy, Lieselotte, Fiona
I haven't kept up with the scene recently, but I'm surprised Yoriko isn't higher, considering the pentagram shenanigans she could do.
So my friends and I went to Play Around Golf and Games yesterday. The mini golf course looked pretty bad, so I just spent 3 hours playing the arcade games. It isn't exactly large, but it's got a few good things.
The AH2 cabinet didn't look like the actual cabinet for the game, but it was running the Engrish localization by Andamiro (this is AH2, not Sugoi). From the moment I started, the game felt a lot easier to play. Overall movement speed is increased. Double tapping forward or backward still make you hop (as opposed to running), but you jump a farther now. Homing is a lot faster as well, so it's easier to close distance or manage space with homing movement. Also, if you wall slam someone, forward homing cancel sends you zooming at your opponent almost as fast as the Time arcana's forward+homing (it's really fast). I never felt I was too restricted or moving too slow.
I was never too great at comboing in AH1, but I seemed to be doing pretty okay in AH2. It seems a little less strict on the timing, or maybe the combos were just more intuitive with the new characters. It definitely feels more accessible, though. Speaking of which, the new characters are pretty interesting. Petra was really cool, though I couldn't figure out how to use her guns effectively. Zenia was really fun with her pilebunker, as it wall slams the opponent every time. Elsa really is a Castlevania character, as she fights with a cross, holy water, and a whip. I didn't manage to connect any Critical Hearts (I couldn't figure them out for most characters), but one of my friends used Angelia's, which was really hilarious and non-sequitur:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6OMAa6pFuc#t=02m51s
The game's translation was in full Engrish; it's been a while since I've seen such a truthful and hilarious Engrish translation of a game. Most of the time you could tell what they saying, but the wording and mispellings that plague every scene are comedy gold. I'd really like to get a camera and get pictures or recording of every bit of dialogue, because there are some great lines in there. According to the dialogue, Petra and Zenia are "boys", and after beating Angelia for the first time, she gets angry and yells at you: "Eat my shorts!" (Which is ironic, since she clearly doesn't have any! Ho ho!) She also gives this nice line, one of the few we managed to get a picture of:
What surprised me the most, though, was that the friends that came with me really got into it and found it fun. They just came along to play some of the game's there, like Tekken:DR, but they weren't really big into AH. However, they all played it and they all seemed to enjoy it, even the ones that don't really play fighting games. One of them said he didn't really like big combo fighters, but for some reason he liked playing this one. They're looking forward to the console release this week.
Also, the guy who runs the place told me it doesn't do very well, money wise. I guess it's more of a table for the people playing the Tekken cabinet beside it. So sad. My time there ended when some guy who wasn't part of my group arrived and challanged me. It was a close match, but he won. He also seemed to know what he was doing, so I guess there's at least one guy there who plays AH.
I don't think anyone on their staff is actually a native English speaker.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0buhp43BK8E
The AH2 arcade machine has a different engine than AH1, and it looks a lot better. The PS2 port of AH2 is the same engine as the PS2 AH1, and downgrades a lot of stuff to cram it in. The result is a lot of slowdown and pixelation, and the game runs horribly.
Nope, this is all just poor decisions in programming. Localization can't fix that.
PSN: Wstfgl | GamerTag: An Evil Plan | Battle.net: FallenIdle#1970
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUjxmiq7HuQ
I suppose in something a bit more lighthearted, I went back to the arcade and decided to take pictures of the story mode so you guys can see more of the engrish. I was only there for half and hour, so I didn't manage to get as much as I wanted to, but here you go: Petra's story mode. I had to journey into the world of Web 2.0 and join flickr to host these picture somewhere convenient. It should be in order from beginning to end, though I missed some dialogue because my phone went off at times, which is what I was using to take the pictures. Feel free to make jokes about all of the sexual innuendo you can read into the engrish. I know that's what my friends did.
In some tangential and Aroduc-related news, people are trying to conrifm the legitemacy of a Famitsu listing for Melty Blood: Actress Again releasing on PS2 in August. I guess I'll use my AH2 money on that instead, regretfully.
Despite the horrible quality of the Sugoi PS2 port, I've been playing a lot of it. I mean, I have it, so why not? I've been getting used to it; I acknowledge it's filled with problems, but it's still fun to play, considering it's the only way I can play it on a regular basis. All of the characters seem to have gotten pretty good overhauls that make them feel like they've changed since the first game. The new characters are also really good and original; they don't feel like rehashes of other ideas. Also, attacks do a lot more damage, so the battle pacing is a lot quicker and easier on those of us who can't combo well. I've also managed to actually learn some basic combos, so now I can do a basic 12 hit combo with Mei-Fang and Elsa, so that feels really good. I just wonder how much the timing for the button presses will change when I get to play the game at it's regular speed. Under all of the lag, it's a great and fun game. The circumstances are just really unfortunate. I'll probably continue playing it regularly this way, as it's better than nothing. Sort of.
For those interested, the people on Shoryuken have started putting together a wiki for Arcana Heart 2, since guardcrush.net is down. http://arcana.mizuumi.net/index.php/Main_Page