The Wheel of Fate is Turning - BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma

[Zevox]

So, this game came out during the forum downtime, and I know there were a few others here looking forward to it. Who else got it?

I haven't had as much time with it as I'd like due to my work schedule - though I finally have a day off tomorrow. I haven't even actually gone online with it yet, to be honest. I've been addicted to Challenge Mode (which is normal for me), and slowly going through Story Mode. I'm actually still just under halfway done with that, despite having put quite a few hours into it. I'd forgotten exactly how big this series' story modes are.

Trying out the new characters in Challenge and a bit of Training mode, I find I really like Izayoi and Terumi. They definitely seem like characters I'd like to learn to play - Izayoi might be a bit of a challenge due to being a stance change character, but she doesn't seem too complicated compared to others, and I like the kind of shenanigans she can pull with those teleports and that Morrigan-style dash. And Terumi just seems like a lot of fun, with his insane meter gain and all those supers to choose from. I might try out Bullet a little too, though she's definitely a lower priority than Izayoi or Terumi. And I don't see anyone threatening to displace Platinum as my main just yet.

Not sure if I'm going to pick up Kokonoe yet. From what I've seen she seems like she may be a bit too complicated for my liking. Though I am batting one for three on guessing whether I'll play DLC characters based on previews so far (was right that I wouldn't play Makoto, wrong that I'd play Valkenhayn, extremely wrong that I wouldn't play Platinum), so you never know.

[Legato Endless]

The transition to PlayStation, while understandable in Japan, is still a mite tedious for me to adjust to. I am pretty hyper conscious with the controllers thanks to how expensive they've been versus the 360s hunk of battery plastic. The button configuration is so similar, but the pad/stick input feels very different, rotations are much wider, so combos have gone from effortless to being a headache to a certain extent. Granted, I got the game yesterday, so presumably this will improve in the millennium between this week and the next.

Not too far into the story. The three newbie characters seem pretty token and plot irrelevant. Amane could be dropped and change nothing in the overall picture, making him equivalent to CT Carl, albeit far less obnoxious. Though there's some vague symbolism he might be significant in the second installment, again like Carl. Bullet's backstory is as yet unexplored, and Azrael is an entertaining glorified obstacle to plot resolution. The randomness of the inclusion, unlike CS or Kagura, gives CP a more disparate and typical fighting game feel storywise, but certainly not a deal breaker.

Much of the rest is familiar. Hazama is a troll. Rachel is superior. Hakumen does not have time for your bull****. Valkenhynn still takes 10 minutes to say what anyone else would render in 10 seconds. And of course, people still talk in a ridiculously oblique referential fashion devoid of proper nouns to keep Tye mystery going in the early game. I'll comment more after I've finished. At least things seem to moving. After CT introduced the setting, and CS clarified what was actually happening, CP seems poised to develop things and point toward a conclusion to this saga in the next game, (or two). Hopefully. I really don't want Guilty Gear 2.0 on that front.

Haven't tried the mad scientist yet. I'm waiting to unlock Kagura and get some feel for the other new characters until I decide about buying her.

[Cristo Meyers]

Probably be picking it up this week, assuming I can find a GameStop that has it in stock. The size of my backlog is keeping me from looking too hard. Though we are sitting on $10 worth of Best Buy gift certificates, so Kagura and Kokonoe will be essentially free.

Thankfully I've forgotten nearly everything about the plot that I was exposed to last year, so nothing's plotwise has really be spoiled.

[Zevox]

Oh, thank goodness - I was thinking the thread would drop off the front page with no replies.

The transition to PlayStation, while understandable in Japan, is still a mite tedious for me to adjust to. I am pretty hyper conscious with the controllers thanks to how expensive they've been versus the 360s hunk of battery plastic. The button configuration is so similar, but the pad/stick input feels very different, rotations are much wider, so combos have gone from effortless to being a headache to a certain extent. Granted, I got the game yesterday, so presumably this will improve in the millennium between this week and the next.

Yeah, that was a bit of an issue for me as well, though not as much as I'd feared. I mostly had problems doing shoryuken motion moves for the first couple of days, but I'm mostly past it now. Still have the occassional problem getting a dash or instant air dash, but that's it. My challenge mode addiction seems to have helped in this area.

Not too far into the story. The three newbie characters seem pretty token and plot irrelevant. Amane could be dropped and change nothing in the overall picture, making him equivalent to CT Carl, albeit far less obnoxious. Though there's some vague symbolism he might be significant in the second installment, again like Carl. Bullet's backstory is as yet unexplored, and Azrael is an entertaining glorified obstacle to plot resolution. The randomness of the inclusion, unlike CS or Kagura, gives CP a more disparate and typical fighting game feel storywise, but certainly not a deal breaker.

I'm about 90% through the story after my day off yesterday, probably going to finish it today. So far, that's about where they stand, yeah. Azrael is straightforward, but kind of a fun villain. Bullet's backstory hasn't been fully explained, but it is hinted at a few times, and she plays a fairly minor role. Amane has the least explanation and screen time, and could basically be removed with no effect on anything, but there is reason to believe there's more to him than meets the eye.

On another note, I must say, I'm very glad they added Platinum as a regular to the cast of Teach Me, Miss Litchi. Luna is just so damn entertaining in that kind of environment.

[Legato Endless]

@Teach me Miss Litchi- Kudos for actually having an entertaining recap. I also enjoy the casual snark toward people who haven't played the prequels using this to attempt to update the jigsaw puzzle plot. Good luck with that. Also, is is just me, or has the innuendo gone completely beyond anything before? Originally they had the occasional gag, now every installment of the first four at least was crammed to the gills.

[Zevox]

Alrighty, I finished the story mode.

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The hell was with that ending? Seeming cliffhanger followed by an epilogue just telling us that Ragna injured Noel and nearly killed Jin, then vanished, along with the Imperator? That's just so aggravating. That whole ending sequence was going so well up until that point, too, but then the credits rolled just when it seemed that the final climactic moments were about to occur. Sheesh.

And of course, it ends on Rachel saying things that confuse the hell out of everyone. But I suppose that's to be expected of this series. Leaves it kind of unclear whether Hazama, Platinum, or Jubei are dead, too, though I suppose it's safe to assume they're not simply because they wouldn't want to remove characters from the series.

Overall, honestly very good. It explained a hell of a lot more than the previous games, even if it introduced and left unexplained plenty more, and a hell of a lot more actually happened to tell a coherent story. It'd be nice if Rachel had actually explained what the Azure Grimoire is like she said she would though - not sure why they had her promise to do that if all that was gonna happen is her sending Ragna back in time to learn about Kushinada's Linchpin. Still, it leaves us with a substantially better idea of what's what in this crazy world than before, so that's much appreciated.

Oh, and a prediction for a new character, either for DLC, an expansion, or the next game: Celica, as another character/doll pair with Minerva. I can see little other reason why they introduced Minerva.

I'm wondering when we'll get Jubei, though. I'm surprised he wasn't made playable in this game. Also expecting Nine/Phantom, or both even. Possibly also Trinity as herself, similar to how they made Terumi as himself in addition to Hazama.

Also, is is just me, or has the innuendo gone completely beyond anything before? Originally they had the occasional gag, now every installment of the first four at least was crammed to the gills.

I'm not even sure it qualifies as innuendo anymore, with how blatant it sometimes gets. Especially with Nu in the story.

Though we are sitting on $10 worth of Best Buy gift certificates, so Kagura and Kokonoe will be essentially free.

Missed this before - Kagura isn't DLC, he's unlocked by completing the story mode. Terumi is technically DLC, but you get a free download code for him with any new copy of the game.

[Cristo Meyers]

Just got my hands on this, now if I only had time to play it. Hopefully I'll be able to spare an hour tomorrow...I'd rather save the 2nd playthrough of Shadowrun Returns for later and I don't feel like diving back into Borderlands 2 just yet. This would make for a perfect bridge.

I'm not even sure it qualifies as innuendo anymore, with how blatant it sometimes gets. Especially with Nu in the story.

Nu was out of the realm of innuendo in CS whenever Ragna was around...but then he seemed to have that effect on a lot of people.

Missed this before - Kagura isn't DLC, he's unlocked by completing the story mode. Terumi is technically DLC, but you get a free download code for him with any new copy of the game.

Wondered why there was such a large difference in price. Thanks, just saved me a bit of money.

[Manticoran]

I can't wait to play it, personally. I'm a big Lambda player in CS2, soo.... Nu! My darling! <3

[Zevox]

Nu was out of the realm of innuendo in CS whenever Ragna was around...but then he seemed to have that effect on a lot of people.

Yeah, it does seem like Ragna's cursed to have everyone related to him be crazy and want to kill and/or have sex with him.

Spoiler: Extremely minor story spoiler.

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Even the Imperator mentions her vessel (the original Saya) "desires" him. Which is just vague enough that it could go either way, but with Jin and Nu around, would anyone be surprised?

I guess there is Noel as an exception, though. But still, two-to-three out of four is a pretty scary score there.

I can't wait to play it, personally. I'm a big Lambda player in CS2, soo.... Nu! My darling! <3

I played a little Lambda in CSEX, before I picked up Platinum. Don't think I'll be playing Nu in CP though. Making her a stance change character really does not appeal to me.

[Beowulf DW]

I was wondering when somebody was going to make this thread. I love this series, but it might be a while until I play the latest game. I vowed long ago to never buy a Playstation, and I'd like to wait and see if they change their mind about Xbox.

[Zevox]

Alright, finally took the game online today. I'm a touch concerned about the difficulties I had acquiring matches - so many people online were reading as having a bad connection with me, and usually when I tried to join matches manually I got a "failed to connect" message even if they read as having a good connection. But either an automatic matchmaking function or other people finding me was working better, so I was at least getting matches in reasonable amounts of time, for the time being.

Connection did feel a touch worse than on X-Box - mostly in that connections with a 2-rating felt a bit laggier than I recall. Still plenty playable though, and 3-ratings were still pretty smooth most of the time, so that's good. (I don't know if I've ever seen someone I have a perfect 4 connection to in BlazBlue.)

I used Izayoi all night. Did more losing than winning, partially from character unfamiliarity, partially from just shaking off rust from it being nearly a year since I last played BB. I did enjoy it though. Definitely going to take some getting used to with Izayoi's abilities, but I think she'll be worth putting some time into. Perhaps tomorrow I'll take Terumi for a spin and see what I think of him in action.

I was wondering when somebody was going to make this thread. I love this series, but it might be a while until I play the latest game. I vowed long ago to never buy a Playstation, and I'd like to wait and see if they change their mind about Xbox.

I wouldn't bet on it. It looks like Arc System Works is just moving to Playstation exclusivity in general - both Persona 4 Arena Ultimax and Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- have been announced as Playstation-exclusives (albeit on both 3 and 4 for Guilty Gear). Most likely it's a simple business decision. Like most anime-style games they have only a niche audience outside Japan, and inside it the X-Box systems are very unpopular, so they likely gain little by releasing on both platforms.

[Legato Endless]

The latter essentially. The 360 market is dried up in Japan, and just can't compare to Sony and Nintendo. We are probably looking at another period where the PlayStation gets most of Eastern stylized releases except the big international projects like Final Fantasy.

[Beowulf DW]

Ah well. Guess I'll just wait for ps3s to get a little on the cheap side, then. Or I could just watch the story mode on YouTube. That's all I'm really interested in anyway. Though I do like trying out the different characters, I have no interest in competition when it comes to fighting games.

[Zevox]

Took Terumi online today, and wound up with a worse record than I did with Izayoi yesterday. I'm really not accustomed to using someone with so few attacks with decent reach. Maybe it's just me, but it feels like Terumi's neutral game is just not good at all. No ranged attack at all, his few attacks with decent reach on them are all slower than those most others employ (or punishable as all hell, in the case of his 6C), and he doesn't even have a good air-to-ground attack for instant-air-dashing. He's good if you get pressure going, and can do great damage with easy combos, but getting there feels nigh impossible against characters with better mid-range normals who know how to use them. Not sure whether I'll stick with him.

(Also, I get kind of annoyed by his 5A whiffing on crouching characters. Pet peeve I guess - it ticked me off in Injustice, too.)

[Cristo Meyers]

Had a chance to put the game through it's paces finally. not sure I like the new way Story Mode is set up. I definitely like the way CS did it more, especially after the third time I ended up in a joke ending. Though at least those are still on par with the previous ones, so it's not all bad.

In the end, it's still BlazBlue and I'm enjoying the heck out of it. Also played around with Kokonoe in VS mode, seems pretty effective: fast, good reach, but that's only after a single match.

[Zevox]

Had a chance to put the game through it's paces finally. not sure I like the new way Story Mode is set up. I definitely like the way CS did it more, especially after the third time I ended up in a joke ending. Though at least those are still on par with the previous ones, so it's not all bad.

In the end, it's still BlazBlue and I'm enjoying the heck out of it. Also played around with Kokonoe in VS mode, seems pretty effective: fast, good reach, but that's only after a single match.

I definitely prefer Chrono Phantasma's story mode style, personally. It's a lot more coherent having specific storylines going on, rather than a different one for every character (plus, it's probably getting to be very impractical to do that, with the cast now more than double the size of the original game). Could've used a couple more joke endings though - there's only six total, if memory serves.

I haven't picked up Kokonoe myself, but I've seen a fair few people playing her online. Maybe it's just my unfamiliarity with her, but she can be brutal. Good zoning for those fireball and lightning trap moves, it can be kinda rough to deal with the repulsion/attraction effect of her drive, and she seems to have good normals too. And that teleport gets annoying if the player is smart enough not to overuse it. Also, those giant drill attacks from nowhere catch me off-guard too much - it's so weird having her produce such a huge weapon from thin air.

I did start playing Platinum in my online matches recently, though, and have been getting a much better record with her than when I was playing around with the new characters. Which is heartening, since I'd feel awful if I was still only getting a one-in-three or so win rate with my main. I'm definitely much more comfortable with her than with Izayoi or Terumi (or Relius, who I also played around with the other day, since I'd done a little playing with him in CSEX). Still haven't managed to land her new corner BnB in full yet though, which is a bit sad considering I've put hours into practicing it. Have done full throw corner combos though, which feels really good, since it actually does more damage than I was squeezing out of it in CSEX.

It's also kinda funny how many people I've caught with simple bubble oki in the corner. Some of the people online right now just don't seem to know to block on wakeup unless you're doing something invincible, even though that's such basic fighting game knowledge.

[Legato Endless]

Kokonoe is currently being seriously discussed as ban potential. Your difficulty facing her is very justified. The storyline change has some ups and downs. It's nice they've stopped pretending this isn't anything more than a visual novel in story mode, and have dropped the frequency of character fights to when it makes sense. Well, except when Bullet faces Amane, although that was so over the top it felt like a parody. Knowing the writers, it probably was.

The three interwoven plots keep things tight in the larger storyline.The big downside is the lack of character focus. While giving a spotlight to every character is no longer practical, some of the characters would greatly benefit the plot if we had some details expanded. Arakune not getting any focus is understandable. The less Carl in the plot the better. Trollzama and Relius are incredibly entertaining however, and I miss their exposure in CS. Bang and Tager could offer some decent perspective to the civil war backstory. The new characters are a bit flat. I know nothing more about Bullet now than I did from reading her intro profile, except that she would make a better match for Bang than Litchi. Kagura comes out better, being so intertwined with what's happening. I'm at the 90% mark, I'll comment more when I've finished. Overall I'm definitely enjoying it, but the lack of more gonzo comedy is a tragic shame.

[Zevox]

Kokonoe is currently being seriously discussed as ban potential. Your difficulty facing her is very justified.

Hm, I'd heard of that, but I thought it was specifically because of a combo-into-blockstring setup she has that results in so much damage plus chip damage that it's basically a touch-of-death even if you block the mixups. Nobody I've faced has done that to me as yet.

Edit: Looks like I was misremembering a bit, as there's an unblockable-looking super in there as well that leads into a second combo. Still, that's what I'd heard was the issue that was getting her considered for banning.

The storyline change has some ups and downs. It's nice they've stopped pretending this isn't anything more than a visual novel in story mode, and have dropped the frequency of character fights to when it makes sense.

Definitely agreed. Blazblue's story modes has never had quite so much of an issue with fights being pigeonholed in just to have one every few minutes the way certain other fighting game story mode do, but there was some of it, and it was nice to see it completely dropped. Even if that does mean you get almost no fights for the first third or so of the story, until you get near the end of the first segment of the main storyline.

The three interwoven plots keep things tight in the larger storyline.The big downside is the lack of character focus. While giving a spotlight to every character is no longer practical, some of the characters would greatly benefit the plot if we had some details expanded.

True. Bullet could certainly have done with some more development - she doesn't strike me as someone they're setting up as being important later, like Amane. And even him I'd have liked to know more about, since it seems a bit silly to make him playable now if he won't matter at all to the story for another full game - especially when we've got Jubei, who has been around and important since game one and has yet to be made playable. And yeah, more of Hazama and Relius would certainly have been fun too.

Overall though, I'm pleased with it. Hopefully they'll get better at balancing how much screen time characters get in future games, but even now I think the increased story coherency is well worth that hiccup.

[Legato Endless]

[SPOILER]

Alrighty, I finished the story mode.

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The hell was with that ending? Seeming cliffhanger followed by an epilogue just telling us that Ragna injured Noel and nearly killed Jin, then vanished, along with the Imperator? That's just so aggravating. That whole ending sequence was going so well up until that point, too, but then the credits rolled just when it seemed that the final climactic moments were about to occur. Sheesh. And of course, it ends on Rachel saying things that confuse the hell out of everyone. But I suppose that's to be expected of this series.

Spoiler: Ending

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Pretty much. The story was overall solid. Some things were unexplored, but the character development continued from CS was very nice. A fair number of things still don't make any sense, such as Terumi's explanation of the Murukumo units, but maybe some other game? All things considered a fine enjoyable addition. Lot's of plot movement. And while disappointing, I was totally expecting the cliff hanger. Calamity Trigger ends identically. We learn something, have a vague idea of what it is, but not really, and are left there. Eye of Azure, Embryo, blah blah and so on.

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Leaves it kind of unclear whether Hazama, Platinum, or Jubei are dead, too, though I suppose it's safe to assume they're not simply because they wouldn't want to remove characters from the series.

Spoiler: Hazama

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I'm pretty sure Terumi is dead. Being erased from time will do that to you. His death scene was perfect as well. An egomaniac dispatched in such a low key manner. Also gave Hakumen something to do, which was excellent. Relegating everything to Ragna would have bothered me. Platinum is more ambiguous. Jubei is fine. Hazama might still appear later, but I think it will be some gimmick explanation, like Lambda.

Spoiler

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Oh, and a prediction for a new character, either for DLC, an expansion, or the next game: Celica, as another character/doll pair with Minerva. I can see little other reason why they introduced Minerva.

Spoiler: Celica

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Ah, good call. I didn't think about that. I knew it was a tie back, since she was the original nirvana wielder. Yeah, that would be a excuse for another variation on the puppeteer character. I know she's hated in the West, but I didn't really have any bad reactions to her as a character.

I guess there is Noel as an exception, though. But still, two-to-three out of four is a pretty scary score there.

Spoiler: …

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Naw, it's four out of four. Give the man his due. The most ambiguous example is actually Saya. Since desire could mean anything, but we're prone to thinking given well…everything. Noel on the other hand has several moments. Her flustered reaction to Ragna asking her out, as opposed to confusion with Kagura. Her yelling at him to not look at her in her Mu outfit. The anime adaption apparently has a full hot spring scene shipping the two.

Oh, I also shuddered when Mai was name dropped in the game. The prequel novels are alright, in that I have read the summaries, but like much of the fanbase I don't consider the piece of schlock Remix Heart to be canon. Really hoping that isn't heralding her inclusion in the series like with Celica.

[Airk]

Connection did feel a touch worse than on X-Box - mostly in that connections with a 2-rating felt a bit laggier than I recall. Still plenty playable though, and 3-ratings were still pretty smooth most of the time, so that's good. (I don't know if I've ever seen someone I have a perfect 4 connection to in BlazBlue.)

Connection is much worse than the Xbox for me.

I wouldn't bet on it. It looks like Arc System Works is just moving to Playstation exclusivity in general - both Persona 4 Arena Ultimax and Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- have been announced as Playstation-exclusives (albeit on both 3 and 4 for Guilty Gear). Most likely it's a simple business decision. Like most anime-style games they have only a niche audience outside Japan, and inside it the X-Box systems are very unpopular, so they likely gain little by releasing on both platforms.

BZZZT. Wrongo. P4A2 is coming to Xbox in the states.

They claim the only reason BBCP isn't on Xbox is that it doesn't fit on the disc, which might be true, but is still a cop out excuse. (Perhaps you have heard of this device called the 'hard drive'?)

Anyway, I'm playing this, but I don't like it as much earlier games. The reduced hitstop just makes everything needlessly difficult, the hitboxes are wonky as crap, and the balance is **** again after creeping towards halfway decent over the life of Continuum Shift.

[quoteHm, I'd heard of that, but I thought it was specifically because of a combo-into-blockstring setup she has that results in so much damage plus chip damage that it's basically a touch-of-death even if you block the mixups. Nobody I've faced has done that to me as yet.[/quote]

Yes and no. Yes, that's part of the problem, but no, basically EVERYTHING Kokonoe has is completely broken. She can gatling way more stuff into way more stuff than anyone else, her anti air is off the charts insane, her super-ball doesn't disappear when she gets hit so you can barely even punish her for using it, her graviton destroys many characters in neutral, her damage is hilarious, etc, etc. Basically, if there is anything you can imagine being too good about a character, Kokonoe has it.

Story mode has been a snooze so far, but at least it's easy to tell how to get/not get the gag reels.

[Beowulf DW]

Oh, I also shuddered when Mai was name dropped in the game. The prequel novels are alright, in that I have read the summaries, but like much of the fanbase I don't consider the piece of schlock Remix Heart to be canon. Really hoping that isn't heralding her inclusion in the series like with Celica.

Now, I was given to understand that most of the fan base was okay with Remix Heart. Certainly explains why Tsubaki hates pandas. Besides, there's a somewhat vocal contingent that ships Mai and Jin, if only because that would make them true clones of Ky and Dizzy.

[Zevox]

@ Legato Endless - Might want to fix the spoiler block in the first quote of your last post there.

Spoiler: Hazama

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I'm pretty sure Terumi is dead. Being erased from time will do that to you. His death scene was perfect as well. An egomaniac dispatched in such a low key manner. Also gave Hakumen something to do, which was excellent. Relegating everything to Ragna would have bothered me. Platinum is more ambiguous. Jubei is fine. Hazama might still appear later, but I think it will be some gimmick explanation, like Lambda.

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I don't know, characters in this series survive lots of things that should kill you. Like being thrown into the Boundary, for instance, something Terumi has already survived. And I really can't see someone as major as Hazama, who has been such a central antagonist for the series, being truly dead.

Spoiler: Celica

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Ah, good call. I didn't think about that. I knew it was a tie back, since she was the original nirvana wielder. Yeah, that would be a excuse for another variation on the puppeteer character. I know she's hated in the West, but I didn't really have any bad reactions to her as a character.

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She was? I did not know that (have not read the novel). That certainly seems like even more reason to expect that, though.

Didn't know she was hated in the west either. I can't say I greatly enjoyed her or anything, but I didn't mind her myself.

Spoiler: …

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Naw, it's four out of four. Give the man his due. The most ambiguous example is actually Saya. Since desire could mean anything, but we're prone to thinking given well…everything. Noel on the other hand has several moments. Her flustered reaction to Ragna asking her out, as opposed to confusion with Kagura. Her yelling at him to not look at her in her Mu outfit. The anime adaption apparently has a full hot spring scene shipping the two.

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Ah. Had not caught that. Well, at least she doesn't know she's related to him in any way. (I guess Nu might not either, but considering how similar her brand of crazy is to Jin's, it wouldn't surprise me.)

Oh, I also shuddered when Mai was name dropped in the game. The prequel novels are alright, in that I have read the summaries, but like much of the fanbase I don't consider the piece of schlock Remix Heart to be canon. Really hoping that isn't heralding her inclusion in the series like with Celica.

Never heard of that one. I recall the name drop from the girls' conversation though. I assumed it was setup for someone who would show up in the next game.

Connection is much worse than the Xbox for me.

Yeah, since I started using my main, I've noticed the lag on 2-rated connections a lot more. A particularly aggravating example being when I faced a Hazama player and realized that the input delay was just enough that I couldn't seem to block his chains on reaction even at full screen. 3-rated connections and above still seem quite smooth, but with the small player base I don't think I can turn down every match below that without spending more time between matches than I'd like.

BZZZT. Wrongo. P4A2 is coming to Xbox in the states.

Huh, I could've sworn it had been announced for PS3 only, but it looks like you're right. Still, Guilty Gear was announced as PS3 & 4 only. So... not sure what's going on there, then.

The reduced hitstop just makes everything needlessly difficult,

They reduced the hitstop in CP? I honestly haven't noticed. Actually, I was surprised that Noel's drive attacks now seem to have hitstop - unless I'm imagining things because I never used her outside challenge mode, I don't think they did before.

[Legato Endless]

Now, I was given to understand that most of the fan base was okay with Remix Heart. Certainly explains why Tsubaki hates pandas. Besides, there's a somewhat vocal contingent that ships Mai and Jin, if only because that would make them true clones of Ky and Dizzy.

I hadn't encountered this, but I certainly haven't seen the height and depth of the fandom either. Personal experience though, I haven't seen her defended like other more divisive characters like Noel or Luna. I've seen the pairing, but I'm not sure it's it's actually popular. It's hard to hear anything over the overwhelming Tsubaki and Ragna contingents. What minorities that have seemed to scrape by outside of that which had any momentum were Noel and Makoto.

Spoiler

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I don't know, characters in this series survive lots of things that should kill you. Like being thrown into the Boundary, for instance, something Terumi has already survived. And I really can't see someone as major as Hazama, who has been such a central antagonist for the series, being truly dead.

Well, the Imperator isn't a very memorable antagonist yet, so I'm tempted to hope I'm wrong too, but we will see. I think it will be pretty emblematic of how much a new direction the story is taking.