Official Arcana Heart thread of Loli-fighter goodness

XiaNaphryz · 03:03 AM

Shamelessly stolen with permission from the P-A boards. Thanks Drem! I figured noone was going to make a thread, and there was an awesome OP created over at P-A so might as well use that as a base. Most of this text is from Drem, and I have yet to play the game myself but I'm looking forward to it! Some of the screenshots aren't too great, but they're from IGN after all.

Developer: Examu
Publisher: Atlus
Website: http://www.atlus.com/arcanaheart/
System: PS2
Release Date: April 10, 2008
Price: $29.99

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.

5. 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.

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 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)

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)

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

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)

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)

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.

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)

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)

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)

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)

Liesellote Achenbach

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)

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

”BURN KNUCKLE!”

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)

[Continued in Post 2...]

XiaNaphryz · 03:05 AM

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.

Partinias- The Arcana of Love

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.

Bhanri- The Arcana of Lightning

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.”

Anutpuda- The Arcana of Time

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.

Tempestas- The Arcana of Wind

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.

Ohtsuchi- The Arcana of Earth

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 sinks into the ground. 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.

Lang-gong- The Arcana of Fire

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.

Moriomoto- The Arcana of Nature

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 it hurts.

Niptra- The Arcana of Water

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.

Dieu Mort- The Arcana of Death

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.

Gier- The Arcana of Shadow

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.

Orichalkos- The Arcana of Metal

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.

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!.

Previews and Trailers
Atlus USA Official Trailer
Kotaku video preview

Reviews
IGN - 8.3

Quote:

For the most part, Arcana Heart is awesome and offers yet another avenue for fighting game enthusiasts to tread. After recently playing the robust Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the amount of bonus content included on this PS2 disc (an art gallery, a few movies, some forgettable music, etc.) seems really sparse, but at least it's something. Otherwise, a charming cast, great fight mechanics, diverse play styles and tons of depth make this a fighting game you don't want to miss. Despite its few problems, you only have to pay thirty dollars for a fantastic experience.

GameZone - 8

Quote:

Arcana Heart won’t do anything for players that have never enjoyed a fighting game. But if you’re a fan of the genre and crave originality, this game deserves a spot on your shelf.

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Thanks again to Drem for taking the time to write up a lot of that originally over at P-A. Reviews to be posted in the original posts as they go online.

TrueReligion · (04-05-2008, 12:34 AM)

Too many good Atlus games coming out this month! (Rondo, Arcana, Baroque, Aracana)

2D Fighters <3

Region-FreeWii · 03:23 AM

GhostSeed · (04-05-2008, 12:39 AM)

Great official thread but putting loli in the title was ill-advised.

Joule · (04-05-2008, 12:39 AM)

Haha Drem made a damn good thread, I was wondering whether it'd get put here too.

Day 1. Blob Loli or the Twohander Maid.

XiaNaphryz · (04-05-2008, 12:42 AM)

Originally Posted by GhostSeed:

Great official thread but putting loli in the title was ill-advised.

It was a risky maneuver to grab attention, yes. But the people who won't be able to look past the graphics are going to rag on the game anyway.

Pimpbaa · (04-05-2008, 12:42 AM)

*eyes everyone suspiciously*

shifty100 · (04-05-2008, 12:44 AM)

Hi everybody .... its the FBI here .... your ip's belong to us.

Volcynika · (04-05-2008, 12:44 AM)

Kamui for me! Never played the game, but I've heard good things, and at $30, looks like a good game to pick up.

akachan ningen · (04-05-2008, 12:45 AM)

I love 2D fighters and this looks great but none of my friends would play it, so it would be pointless to get it.

Durante · (04-05-2008, 12:47 AM)

I don't plan on getting this game (not because of the content but because I'm not much into fighters in general) but the OP post was a very entertaining read.

Volcynika · (04-05-2008, 12:48 AM)

Originally Posted by akachan ningen:

I love 2D fighters and this looks great but none of my friends would play it, so it would be pointless to get it.

Yeah, I might run into that problem too :/ At least they still play Guilty Gear with me.

Kintaro · (04-05-2008, 12:53 AM)

Pre-ordered!

Awesome job on the OP.

BURN KNUCKLE!

XiaNaphryz · (04-05-2008, 02:06 AM)

Originally Posted by Kintaro:

Pre-ordered!

Awesome job on the OP.

BURN KNUCKLE!

All credit goes to Drem over at the Penny-Arcade boards, though I did do a bit of trimming and reordering of his original work.

And yes, BURN KNUCKLE!

shidoshi · (04-05-2008, 02:10 AM)

Liesellote, by the way, is the best thing about this game. I was a bit unsure what I thought of the 11 year old in the swimsuit being the next most interesting character.

Oh, and seriously... don't play this game single player. Get it if you're going to have somebody to play against.

Bebpo · (04-05-2008, 02:12 AM)

I really liked this. It's better than all the recent Arc System Works games :)

XiaNaphryz · (04-05-2008, 02:34 AM)

Originally Posted by shidoshi:

Oh, and seriously... don't play this game single player. Get it if you're going to have somebody to play against.

Of course, one can make this argument about many fighters.

MarkMan · (04-05-2008, 02:44 AM)

Just a warning, the load times are horrible on this game.

I've been running it off my HDD so I don't fall asleep between matches.

Fun game though... watching high level matches from Arcana 2 is even more exciting tho!

XiaNaphryz · (04-05-2008, 02:45 AM)

Originally Posted by MarkMan:

Just a warning, the load times are horrible on this game.

I've been running it off my HDD so I don't fall asleep between matches.

Fun game though... watching high level matches from Arcana 2 is even more exciting tho!

Do you have the import? I wonder if that's something they could address in the US version...

IzumiK · (04-05-2008, 02:47 AM)

Umm...

They're not loli.

Haunted · (04-05-2008, 02:51 AM)

Why don't you take a seat over there?

shidoshi · (04-05-2008, 02:57 AM)

Originally Posted by MarkMan:

Just a warning, the load times are horrible on this game.

Horrible? I wouldn't at all say that, but my experience wasn't with any sort of import version.

Hcoregamer00 · (04-05-2008, 02:57 AM)

The game is coming out next week?

I didn't even know, now it is time to preorder from Gamestop

shidoshi · (04-05-2008, 02:58 AM)

Originally Posted by XiaNaphryz:

Of course, one can make this argument about many fighters.

There are still fighters that you can have some fun with single player. Arcana reminds me a lot of Asuka 120%: a whole lot of crazy stuff going on, that really requires another player doing equally crazy stuff to make the matches as fun as they can be.

sky · (04-05-2008, 03:18 AM)

inner-G · (04-05-2008, 03:36 AM)

Goddammit.

I told myself I wasn't going to buy this.

Bebpo · (04-05-2008, 04:07 AM)

Originally Posted by IzumiK:

Umm...

They're not loli.

One of them really is. In fact, she's loli enough to make up for the rest not being loli.

She's also awesome!

shidoshi · (04-05-2008, 04:08 AM)

Originally Posted by inner-G:

Goddammit.

I told myself I wasn't going to buy this.

I got a scolding concerning her when talking to Nick about this game, but really, if there's any one reason to buy Arcana, she's at the very bottom.

NichM · (04-05-2008, 04:13 AM)

The IGN review is up.

Bebpo · (04-05-2008, 04:22 AM)

The best things about Arcana Heart IMO are:

#1 Character variety. There are tons of really unique character playstyles (like Zappa in GGXX) and most of them are well thought-out and useful. The priest girl who plays almost exclusively using strikers is AWESOME and deadly. The puppet girl where you basically play using two characters at once is great too. It's a really good cast.

#2 The sprites. When I was playing AH I kept wishing I could get a sprite rip for the game and get a collection of animated gifs. The sprites for a lot of the attacks, dashes, supers are really cool. I looooove the sprites with the witch girl where she's being dragged by her demon wand, and her throw sprite where they are waltzing together is > *

#3 The depth. Between lots of unique characters + the depth of the homing button + the mix and match depth of strategies & combos for each character with each type of Arcana, the game is probably the deepest 2d fighter I've played in years. I never made it that far in learning the game as me and my friend only played it on and off for a month or so, but it was really enjoyable and we kept learning new things and making better strategies.

Originally Posted by NichM:

The IGN review is up.

Pretty positive review.

XiaNaphryz · (04-05-2008, 04:23 AM)

Added the IGN review to the 2nd post.

shidoshi · (04-05-2008, 04:38 AM)

Originally Posted by Bebpo:

#1 Character variety. There are tons of really unique character playstyles (like Zappa in GGXX) and most of them are well thought-out and useful. The priest girl who plays almost exclusively using strikers is AWESOME and deadly. The puppet girl where you basically play using two characters at once is great too. It's a really good cast.

See, this is where we completely disagree. I think the cast is exactly what keeps Arcana from being a better game. Some of the characters are interesting, fun to play, and unique. The other half of the cast I was not at all impressed with, and didn't find fun to play at all. The two characters you mentioned are high points in the cast, but no way would I say that the entire roster is of equal quality.

The cast, to me, really is an absolute shame, because this engine has so much potential. I don't dislike the cast enough that it ruined my enjoyment of the game, but it was a case where I found one or two characters I enjoyed playing, but either didn't care for or just flat out disliked the rest.

Pimpbaa · (04-05-2008, 04:45 AM)

IGN are a bunch of loli loven wierdos confirmed!

Bebpo · (04-05-2008, 04:54 AM)

Originally Posted by shidoshi:

See, this is where we completely disagree. I think the cast is exactly what keeps Arcana from being a better game. Some of the characters are interesting, fun to play, and unique. The other half of the cast I was not at all impressed with, and didn't find fun to play at all. The two characters you mentioned are high points in the cast, but no way would I say that the entire roster is of equal quality.

The cast, to me, really is an absolute shame, because this engine has so much potential. I don't dislike the cast enough that it ruined my enjoyment of the game, but it was a case where I found one or two characters I enjoyed playing, but either didn't care for or just flat out disliked the rest.

Eh, well take 3S for example. I feel pretty much the same way as you said but I love the game. 3S has a good amount of unique characters, and they're not all for me but I'm really glad they are there and add the variety. A character might not be fun for me to play, but they might be to someone else and that just makes vs. matches all the more interesting.

There are lots of good characters in AC. In addition to the two I mentioned, the HUGE HEAVY SWORD girl is awesome and all about high damage and hard hits but slower reaction. The witch girl is a lot of fun with her staff moves. The blob girl is slightly less unique as she's just Zangief, but I always love me some Zangief. I really don't dislike playing more than one or two characters in AC.

Markster · (04-05-2008, 04:55 AM)

Man, I've had a couple of friends going at it for months over this game.

Every time I run a gaming event at my university, the moment it starts to die down, they steal a TV, break out a japanese copy and start going at it!

G-Fex · (04-05-2008, 05:00 AM)

Originally Posted by XiaNaphryz:

All credit goes to Drem over at the Penny-Arcade boards, though I did do a bit of trimming and reordering of his original work.

And yes, BURN KNUCKLE!

Ohhh my god best video ever!

and yeah I need to pick this up along with SNK battle collusseium.

MisterHero · (04-05-2008, 05:05 AM)

Hey that looks alright.

XiaNaphryz · (04-05-2008, 07:47 AM)

Supposedly some of the characters got a "personality makeover" in the US version? From the Atlus US AH website, Characters section:

Is this just a case of "creative" localization?

Kintaro · (04-05-2008, 08:45 AM)

Originally Posted by XiaNaphryz:

And yes, BURN KNUCKLE!

Dude, I'm literally in tears!

FallenAngelV · (04-05-2008, 09:20 AM)

Originally Posted by XiaNaphryz:

Supposedly some of the characters got a "personality makeover" in the US version? From the Atlus US AH website, Characters section:

Is this just a case of "creative" localization?

Kira's profile has that exact same quote, so I suspect it's a mistake rather than anything else.

FallenAngelV · (04-05-2008, 09:22 AM)

Edit: Double post, apparently.

McBradders · (04-05-2008, 10:47 AM)

Awesome thread, but I feel dirty inside for wanting to play it :(

Prime crotch · (04-05-2008, 11:14 AM)

So are Arcanas like Stands in Jojo's? btw we totaly need a new Jojo game.

Rhazer Fusion · (04-05-2008, 11:18 AM)

A fighting game??!! I want this. Looks cool.

SiegfriedFM · (04-05-2008, 11:31 AM)

Yeah, I'm getting a Jojo vibe from this too. Looks interesting but I would only ever play it once a year with a fighting fan I know...

UC1 · (04-05-2008, 11:59 AM)

Anyone know when Arcana Hearts 2 is out in Japan (presumably on PS2)?

Gagaman · (04-05-2008, 12:03 PM)

They really have thought of every kind of oddball anime fetish for this, even the Ninja.. dog-girl fetish? O_o

Doesn't look bad but like Dead or Alive I don't think I could play this without getting funny looks from people. No matter how much you tell 'em, they won't belive you're playing it for the game play. =E

(Now I wanna go play some Jojo.)

XiaNaphryz · (04-05-2008, 03:09 PM)

Originally Posted by UC1:

Anyone know when Arcana Hearts 2 is out in Japan (presumably on PS2)?

It's already out in Japanese arcades, it just came out a few weeks ago so I wouldn't expect a console port soon.

Neo C. · (04-05-2008, 03:09 PM)

Originally Posted by McBradders:

Awesome thread, but I feel dirty inside for wanting to play it :(

It's never wrong to play a good game. :)