Yo Lyte Edge, how is Arcana Heart 2?

[Bebpo]

Import is out next week, but is it worth playing over SFIV?  The first one was pretty rad but this looks like it just has a couple new characters/arcana?  Is this one of those championship edition slight upgrade sequels or is this a huge rehaul like MvC -> MvC2?

[originalz]

More of the same, the new characters have some original mechanics and are fun to play around with, but it's a pretty by the numbers sequel.  Got a really low review in Famitsu I think, which is kind of surprising.  I'd assume you'd like this if you liked the original.

[bork]

Not too sure what's entirely different since I only got a chance to play the regular Arcana Heart 2 once.  The home version is based on Suggoi!  Arcana Heart 2 v2.6 I believe, which has several version changes and new characters added.  It seemed to play a bit tighter than the original and the music sounded MUCH better in comparison.

[youtube=560,345]xN-kw1AsZj4[/youtube]

The game's gotta have nothing going for it; it's still climbing up the charts and currently ranked 4th in Arcadia.  I'm definitely getting it next week.

[bork]

It's "out," but I don't want to make any judgements just yet because I think something is up with the copy I have.  Getting the real thing tomorrow anyhow.

Being a burn, I can't play this on my PS3, which I think will solve my big complaint-- this game just looks AWFUL on my SDTV.  I popped in Arcana Heart 1 and it looked fine; AH2 is a jaggy mess in comparison.  It's kind of disappointing, BUT the game did not look like this in arcades, so it's either:

-Game just looks bad on my TV (This TV is aging and PS2 games do look a bit fugly)
-Examu fucked up the home port somehow

I hope it's the former.  I might hook up my PS2 to a better TV tonight just to see.

Other complaints:

-AI is dumb as shit.  I put it up to six and it was slightly better, but on default it literally just stands there.
-There seems to be some LAG when fighting certain characters.  Again I hope this is due to the burn.  :/

Big fucking disappointment if Examu ended up dropping the ball; AH1 was great and got a good PS2 port.

[Mr. Gundam]

Holy crap at that animation. What is there, like three frames per character?

[Bebpo]

That sounds uh, bad.  So you put in the AC1 disc and it looked fine, but then the AC2 disc on the same setup looks like a jaggy mess?  wtf...

Holy crap at that animation. What is there, like three frames per character?

Welcome to the animation of every 2d fighter on the market post SFIII 3S   The only 2d fighters with better than awful animation have been Guilty Gear, Blazblue, and probably KoFXII.  No one has the budget to do in-between sprites for the small fighting game market anymore :\

[bork]

That sounds uh, bad.  So you put in the AC1 disc and it looked fine, but then the AC2 disc on the same setup looks like a jaggy mess?  wtf...

Yeah, it's weird.  I don't know what the hell happened, but I do think it will look a lot nicer on PS3.  Some people are saying the "lag" is meant to be there (for certain strikes), but I don't remember it in the arcade version.

Again, I have to stress that this TV is kinda weird.  I really do expect it to look better on another set-up; even the original AH doesn't look as good as it did on my Bravia.  I've got the PS2 on an old Samsung...it makes a lot of games look weird; the HUD text in both Arcanas is really hard to read.

Holy crap at that animation. What is there, like three frames per character?

Welcome to the animation of every 2d fighter on the market post SFIII 3S   The only 2d fighters with better than awful animation have been Guilty Gear, Blazblue, and probably KoFXII.  No one has the budget to do in-between sprites for the small fighting game market anymore :\
[/quote]

I'd give it to both Last Blades, Garou MOTW, Blaz Blue, Hokuto No Ken, Basara X, and KOF XII.  Guilty Gear always seemed "off" to me with its animation; you get these high quality sprites but the lack of frames makes them really stand out.  Oddly I don't feel this way about HnK and Basara X (another disappointing home port) though.

BTW I'm getting Oboro Muramasa for Wii and Sengoku Basara Battle Heroes for PSP tomorrow too.  Time for a new import impressions thread...

[originalz]

Hmm, I guess the low Famitsu score was due to the botched port, too bad.  The game was always slow moving but I don't remember any annoying delays when playing the arcade version.  Ah well, maybe they'll make Suggoi Arcana Heart 2 Full or some shit to fix the problems.

Anyway, Fist of the North star has been removed from the Arcadia cup, but Suggoi Arcana Heart 2 is in this year!

[bork]

Nah, Famitsu always tends to give PS2-era 2D fighters lower scores.

Since it seems no one has played a non-ripped PS2 copy, I'm really curious to see if the real thing is any different (doubtful).  Only even questioning it because I saw some people saying the release group had been sketchy before.

[bork]

LOL, people on Shoryuken are saying this port isn't even based on the latest arcade release; it's based on v2.5. 

Examu, what the fuck happened?

[Bebpo]

Damn, I'm passing.

I'll get AC3 or something when they port it to PS3

[bork]

Damn, I'm passing.

I'll get AC3 or something when they port it to PS3

I don't blame you.  I probably would have cancelled my order if they hadn't already shipped it out.  There is a video out there of a guy playing it on a PC PS2 emulator, and it "fixes" the slowdown issues and makes it look a bit better, but I didn't get this game to play it on a PC.

Some people think they fucked up and released an unfinished version.  Others think they might go the GG Accent Core route and release a "plus" version/append that fixes the problems down the road.  Maybe if they get enough complaints in Japan, they'll do a recall, but I suppose importers would be fucked.

Oh well, I don't care that much...I can still get enough enjoyment out of it as is; just means less time spent before it's right back to the superior Street Fighter IV.

At least Sengoku Basara Battle Heroes turned out AWESOME.  It really is "Gundam Vs. Gundam: Basara Edition," but it's fun as hell and Capcom DID a great job on it...nice and smooth, no bullshit slowdown...that kind of thing. 

[Bebpo]

Good to hear about Heroes.  I always thought the 1 on 1 battles (boss fights) were the weakest part of Basara 1/2.  If they improved them enough to make it work as a fighter I'll give it a shot one of these days. 

I'm more interested though in those improvements finding their way into Basara 3 and making the boss fights actually good.

[bork]

If you ever played the Gundam Vs. games, it's basically the same thing.  Works pretty well!

Arcana Heart 2 looks even WORSE on PS3.  It's like as soon as you start moving, everything becomes a pixellated MESS.   

[bork]

This blog has some good examples of how fucked up this port is.

http://hatimaki.blog110.fc2.com/blog-entry-983.html

A buddy of mine said:

Oh shit really. *searching 2ch*

I see. Yea everyone's complaining down there too, and I also found someone wrote this..

"パッケージの裏の写真からいきなり
でかい文字で『開発中の画面です』とか書いてあるの前代未聞
更に『実際の画面とは異なる場合があります』なんてあんたどこの中国製玩具だよ "

Some dude on 2ch says, "The photos on the back-cover are labeled with the following in big ass fonts: "pictures are taken from the development stage", and also "actual product might be different". Is this some kind of ghetto Chinese toy?!"
LOL. Wow.

So they put it out knowing full-well how bad it is.

I shelved the game already, perhaps never to be played again.  So disgusted by this.

[bork]

[youtube=560,345]QbSZfKfFDow[/youtube]