A Certain Magical Virtual-On

Discuss the Virtual-On series.
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ChexGuy
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Re: A Certain Magical Virtual-On

Post by ChexGuy »

Demo will be out on the 14th. JP PSN usually updates at 10am JST, which for me is 8pm (EST) on the previous day.

Here are some videos from the Twitter account showing off the Transition dash. Can't really tell what's going on in them without translations, though.
https://twitter.com/vow_2017/status/939106348968452096
https://twitter.com/vow_2017/status/939114265914499072
https://twitter.com/vow_2017/status/939115655348891648
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ChexGuy
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Re: A Certain Magical Virtual-On

Post by ChexGuy »

one of the dengeki interviews confirmed some degree of control customization/rebinding, but not the extent

I don't know if we can expect twinstick-esque controls but holy **** at least let us use the dpad
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Porcupine
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Re: A Certain Magical Virtual-On

Post by Porcupine »

I just got my FromJapan shipment so they are legit. The box they used was way oversized, demolished and totally open, and seemed empty, but fortunately the contents were inside and seem totally undamaged. Actually I don't think they repacked so it was the original Chara-ani store that packed it this way, I guess.

Their proxy fees are extremely minimal, actually negative (I made money through them) because they are willing to ship anything via ocean which saves a ton. I'll probably use them to order from Dengeki store, unless I want to risk shipping to my Japanese address while I'm there in person (don't know if it would it arrive by the following Monday). But not via ocean again. I can't wait 3 months to play the game.

I've ordered via ocean before but from Nippon Yasan but I don't think it took this long. I'll find out because I've got another upcoming large order with them which will eventually ship via ocean.

I bought a PS4 Pro (with free game) for $350 yesterday, people without PS4 may consider this deal although it's not very good. The PS4 slim at $150 on black friday at gamestop was better but it sold out and I couldn't get it. The PS4 slim at $200 was not an attractive deal, there are stacks at all stores.
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ChexGuy
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Re: A Certain Magical Virtual-On

Post by ChexGuy »

Demo is out.
https://store.playstation.com/ja-jp/pro ... 7INDEX0000

Stuff:
-You can still use the dash button as a turbo modifier.
-Transition dashes have an attack, or they can be canceled into turbo weapons to kill momentum. Transition attacks can be canceled into a regular dash.
-Dash and transition can endlessly loop into each other.
-Transition/lock button at neutral faces you towards the enemy. Not sure what that means for jump cancels.
-Watari dashes are done Senko no Ronde-style, hold a direction and press the button during your dash. 90 is the limit, no more 135 degree dashes. Feels like you can only do it once per dash, but I'll check it out again.
-Projectile tracking is pretty heavy. Even things like an off-center Temjin turbo RW can still hit.
Last edited by ChexGuy on 13 Dec 2017, 20:08, edited 2 times in total.
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shamanic_beat
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Re: A Certain Magical Virtual-On

Post by shamanic_beat »

Totally unnecessary translations:

Main Menu
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Control Type Selection Screen
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Zaarock
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Re: A Certain Magical Virtual-On

Post by Zaarock »

Some notes from trying stuff out in the demo. I'll try to edit this instead of posting more.

Cypher

Can switch to transition slide after first air dash attack, making air dash attacks fairly free to use similar to transition attack. However you cant do anything until transition hits the ground, transition speed isnt that fast and predictable movement will probably get you blown up with raiden lasers like in VOOT. TCW is a mainstay again. jTLW seems better than ever, especially since you can do turbo attacks out of dash now and not wait for the jump to stop. Walking RW greatly improved. Seems to have a nice overall toolset, you can play VOOT style and do decent damage but have a lot of other options as well. Air dash cancel and jump cancel are still relevant.

Angelan

She's very angry about being bullied in Oratan... ridiculous damage output and speed

Bal-Bados notes

Melee button is equivalent of crouch for Bal attacks
ERL type change: L3

List assumes all CW attacks can be half cancelled
Single ERL deployment (TLW/TRW, Melee + TLW/TRW) improved as they can be performed from dashes

Melee + LW [Mine] - 3x Bouncing mine
Slower, animation can't be cancelled unlike VOOT. Mines last for an extremely long time.

Forward airdash RW [Mine] - ?x Large floating mine
Greatly weakened, used to be a mainstay for self defense.

Side airdash RW [Mine] - ?x Mixed floating mine cluster
Equivalent of jRTRW from VOOT

CW - 2x target-seeking vulcan

Melee + CW - 'House' ! no half cancel
Greatly weakened from oratan, slow tracking and smaller hit area. Can be performed with single thigh ERL and in this game it doesnt affect hitbox size. Haven't tested if startup gives near invincibility like VOOT.

Jump TCW - 2x Heavy stun beam + 2x Bouncing mine auto-fire
Completely new move. Long recovery animation. Lasers can sort of block an area of the map if you do it from a low airdash. Lasers and mines do exceptional damage.

Forward dash/airdash CW - 2x aiming vulcan
Better tracking of target than VOOT and stays closer to Bal.

Transition CW - 1x aiming vulcan + 1x target-seeking vulcan
New move. Mix of defense and pressure.

Transition Melee + CW - thigh ERL auto-fire
Equivalent of VOOT side dash cCW. Strengthened as transition makes this a high mobility / spammable move.

Transition RW [Mine] - ?x Large floating mine cluster
High homing ability and damage.


Delta 'Pyramid': TCW (all ERL on field)
Can catch moving targets?
In this demo ERL have no restriction on return timing for special moves so this move is completely broken.
You can start match, go TCW -> Delta -> Reflect laser -> Delta, Delta goes into bugged state where it stays active indefinitely.
Or even with less bugs do Delta -> Delta -> Delta...

Reflect Laser: jTCW (unknown requirement)

Reflect laser & Delta setups
any state where all ERL are deployed and/or returning from CW

'One-Two punch' technique from VOOT still exists: alternate quickly between LW and RW to spew out mines very fast.
CW gauge seems to recover faster than VOOT, not much trouble going between CW deployments.
Last edited by Zaarock on 17 Dec 2017, 07:53, edited 4 times in total.
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guarayakha
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Re: A Certain Magical Virtual-On

Post by guarayakha »

Gameplay is gonna need getting use to lol; jump-cancelling with just X feels weird for now. Watari dashing is just dash>transition>dash>repeat, doesn't work for airdash like in OT as transition automatically send you back to the ground.

Close combat is reduced to a single button (triangle), and doesn't require double-lockon. Use during dash/jump for dash/jump CC.

Doesn't seems like there's any crouching attacks.
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Zaarock
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Re: A Certain Magical Virtual-On

Post by Zaarock »

Transition only allows circling type movement horizontally or towards the enemy. You can watari dash normally by pushing dash button again but angles are more limited than VOOT. To get around all this on the ground, cancel dash with melee button and instantly dash in another direction.

Most VR have some of their old crouching / sliding attacks on transition weapons. They made Bal-Bados have crouching attacks with melee button.

Even though VR moveset is more limited the addition of transition attacks and being able to do turbo attacks out of dash (low air dash to make jump turbo come out super fast!) pushes it back up. Many turbo and jump attacks might be more viable than before. Apharmd C and S seem like a lot of fun this time around, C makes especially good use of turbo attacks out of dash.

If you do melee out of double lock it starts whiffing the string, and there's no dash melee afaik. Doing bal crouch attack out of dash also cancels the dash. You can do big damage off melee hits by cancelling the last hits of the string into a more powerful attack (Cypher SLC, Aph S TRW etc.)
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Sixfortyfive
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Re: A Certain Magical Virtual-On

Post by Sixfortyfive »

I don't suppose there's any controller remapping in this demo, right?

Messing around with it right now but I currently only have a pad that lacks analog sticks and the touchpad, so I dunno if I can use the VW attacks.
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ChexGuy
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Re: A Certain Magical Virtual-On

Post by ChexGuy »

no remapping in the demo, unfortunately.

which sucks because you can't even use the dpad for movement in this game with 8-way movement ahjjsdhfsakdfklsf
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Porcupine
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Re: A Certain Magical Virtual-On

Post by Porcupine »

Being forced to use the analog stick is fine with me so far in this game. One of the main reasons to use the dpad instead was that watari dashing might be easier on it, but since they changed the input and added restrictions to basic watari dashing, that no longer matters. The dpad is still slightly quicker to manipulate though.

A bit earlier I wanted to remap jump and melee, but now I think it's better to get used to it as is. It's really easy to do perfectly low air dashes now by hitting jump and dash together, which is going to be part of multiple important techniques in this game. In earlier VO games you had to let go of jump before hitting dash, now you don't.

It's tempting to want melee there instead because that makes the new glitch-type watari dashing easier, similar to CW cancel remapping in OMG, but actually that wouldn't work. Because the melee button in this game only works when you let go of the button, not when you press it. So you might as well leave melee where it is for the new glitch watari dash.

The exception is blocking, which is done by holding melee plus down. Interestingly the revised blocking in this demo allows for a type of fuzzy guarding, as you can just run around invisibly holding block, and it will only block when the enemy actually gets within CC range. This might help bring down the super powerful CC. They aren't really throws like I said earlier, but imagine CC that executes twice as fast as VOOT, slides forward twice as fast, and has perfect tracking and can never miss. Furthermore CC hits extremely high into the air, with some VR it will magically hit an enemy whose feet are far above your head. The only way to defend could be to block, or already be high in the air before they hit the melee button.

You can transition dash diagonally backwards, it's really complicated and I'm still refining my understanding of the allowed directions and properties. Knowing how to control your transition dash direction is probably going to be one of the key aspects of this game.

Veteran vs Smart mode is going to be interesting, your personal playstyle and VR may influence your choice. Most VRs walk faster in Veteran mode and you can hold the lock button to mimic the effect of Smart mode at the cost of dropping your speed. But while dashing this does not work and Smart mode is superior, but transition dashes always lock-on and are needed either way, as dash cancels are bad now.

Most VRs no longer slow down when they shoot while walking, and neither do they slow down if you walk while turning in Veteran mode. The turning itself is slower than stationary turning but still pretty fast. Veteran walking is generally faster than dash attacking movement and comparable to transition dash speed. But pure dashes are super fast, the raw speeds in this game are the fastest of any game (OMG is second, and VOOT is now third).
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Sixfortyfive
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Re: A Certain Magical Virtual-On

Post by Sixfortyfive »

Borrowed a Dualshock.

Can Fei Yen's VW even be reliably dodged? Seems obnoxious at first glance, but I assume that the AI is mostly just letting me hit him.
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Porcupine
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Re: A Certain Magical Virtual-On

Post by Porcupine »

I'm pretty sure most VRs can dodge it, you just have to keep running, but you can't stop because the rain follows you around. I'm not sure but it might get harder to dodge the longer you run and you might be forced to get hit a little at the end. You must run fast, a transition dash may not be fast enough, and furthermore in this game you must never touch the edges of the stage because they make you slow.

Because movement speed is so fast the stage plays small, even though it is bigger than before. It is difficult to keep running around without touching the edges, so it's not easy to dodge all the rain, and Fei-Yen can probably force the opponent to get hit a little by combining her own attacks.

Right now I'm trying to figure out how to dodge Raiden's super move, fortunately it does little damage.
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shamanic_beat
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Re: A Certain Magical Virtual-On

Post by shamanic_beat »

The contentious and historically important Force Fei-Yen bust part is to be featured in the LE artbook. I imagine you'll be getting the artbook now, Porc?
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The World - 2.0
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Re: A Certain Magical Virtual-On

Post by The World - 2.0 »

shamanic_beat wrote:The contentious and historically important Force Fei-Yen bust part is to be featured in the LE artbook.
Huh? Where'd you find out that bit of info?
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Favorite VRs: VOOT Angelan, Fei-Yen Kn, and Temjin.
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shamanic_beat
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Re: A Certain Magical Virtual-On

Post by shamanic_beat »

The World - 2.0 wrote:
shamanic_beat wrote:The contentious and historically important Force Fei-Yen bust part is to be featured in the LE artbook.
Huh? Where'd you find out that bit of info?
https://mobile.twitter.com/vow_2010/sta ... 6914441217

Oh and he is specifically referring to the model kits.
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Porcupine
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Re: A Certain Magical Virtual-On

Post by Porcupine »

You mean the PS4 version artbook? Yeah I'd already decided on it, probably with the misaka poster (even though it costs more with the limited edition). After the demo came out I decided I liked the music enough to want the soundtrack and that made the decision easy. I'll order via proxy with From Japan soon. The current question for me is if the Vita book could have something in it I want too, but hopefully not, especially since screenshots shown of the Vita game look ridiculously bad so far.

By the way Fei-Yen's in-game boobs look slightly bigger to me in this game than in VOOT, though I don't think it is as big as her default size in Force. Bal's boobs look more like how I remember Fei-Yen to look. By the way I think Bal is really a pretending Fei-Yen that put on a dress and nun hat.
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Porcupine
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Re: A Certain Magical Virtual-On

Post by Porcupine »

Cost breakdown of all store exclusive bonuses that have listed prices. Some interesting patterns. First is the hidden price of just the bonus, relative to AmiAmi's discounted "street" price, using the PS4 Limited Edition as it can vary with other versions. In parenthesis is the formula to calculate the price of any version of the game from that particular store.

AmiAmi - 2 piece keychains - 700 yen optional (discount 18% plus 700 yen)
Rakuten Books - 4 piece bookmark set - 400 yen (discount 15%)
Rakuten WonderGoo - commander smartphone bag - 3200 yen (retail plus 740 yen)
Trader Shop - misaka and raiden poster - 2500 yen (retail)
Dengeki Store - misaka swimsuit poster - 6800 yen (retail plus 4320 yen)
Tsutaya Store - 4 piece bookmark set - 2500 yen (retail)
Sofmap Shop - misaka and saten poster - 1700 yen limited (discount 4% ~ 5%)
Sofmap Shop - nothing - 700 yen regular edition (discount 10%)
Sega Ebten - bal poster and crystal temjin - 6200 yen (retail plus 3780 yen)
Sega Ebten - bal poster - 2500 yen (retail)
Joshin Shop - feiyen smartphone wallpaper - 200 yen (discount 17%)
Imagine Shop - specineff poster - 2500 yen (retail)
Animate Store - kuroko and feiyen badge - 2500 yen (retail)
Amazon Japan - bal pc and smartphone wallpapers - 2500 yen (retail)
Amazon Japan - nothing - any edition (discount 18%)
Amazon Japan - temjin and touma folder - 1200 yen (discount 18% plus 1200 yen)

Most of the stores do not give you an option to decline the bonus and just hide it in retail price or greater.
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ChexGuy
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Re: A Certain Magical Virtual-On

Post by ChexGuy »

http://vo-index.sega.jp/special/faq.html
new FAQ page that shows the controller customization menu and uh...hahaha oh man
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