A Certain Magical Virtual-On

[ChexGuy]

I thought jump cancels were always in. They were explained in the novel...or at least, baka-tsuki's translation of it.
also here's the default pad setup
https://twitter.com/vow_2017/status/910351410658672646

(quoted for pageloss)

Jump cancel is in, as confirmed by Watari's tweet a couple months back:
https://twitter.com/vow_2010/status/881164254430208002

Transition seems to be the reason, as tweeted by him yesterday:
https://twitter.com/vow_2010/status/910190120053088256

The "crouch dash" is the transition action. Transition can be preformed by pressing the ◯ button mid-dash. This has been confirmed previously by the Dengeki article last week, the following Gematsu translation, and Watari himself just a couple days ago:
http://dengekionline.com/elem/000/001/588/1588770/
http://gematsu.com/2017/09/certain-magi ... rol-styles
https://twitter.com/vow_2010/status/908907411368427520

And the Misaka thing is my bad. I''ll fix the post right now. Bikini Misaka is part of the Dengeki Special Pack, and is sold at Dengekiya. However I'm sure Porc can and will get his hands on it.

The LE content sounds kind of odd ('Everything about', 'Manual', 'Index') because there is a whole book motif thing going on with A Certain Magical Index. Not that anyone here would care. Nor does the Gematsu guy either.

[shamanic_beat]

Oh dear.

[ChexGuy]

Dedicated melee button and individual dedicated turbo weapon buttons. Interesting. Lines up with Watari's tweets about only having one turbo function, though I definitely prefer a modifier button.

With jump and jump cancel being the same button, I'm guessing the transition function effectively replaces crouching attacks entirely.

Don't want to say twinsticks are entirely out of the equation yet, but I honestly never expected them to be in in the first place. It's disappointing for sure, but given that it's a new game I think the accessibility of pad has to hold weight.

[Porcupine]

Yeah so it's maybe kind of like what I guessed earlier, you do the new transition dash by pressing crouch, except that crouch got remapped to a different button (unless you played VOOM, then it was always that button if you remapped properly). If you have to double-tap jump to do a jump cancel that means you can't do it too fast, so we are more likely going to see the Force jump cancel or slower.

Circle button was also change targets in Force, so basically the change targets and crouch button became the same. This means there probably won't be walking crouch attacks, just dashing crouch attacks.

If they want to use up all the shoulder buttons like that, chances are we won't have to do the annoying manual turning for dash attacks like in Force. (Most players use the bumpers for those, either by setting them to rotation or leaving them the default turbo, it can work either way for the trick). Still doesn't seem necessary, they could have left it as dash+trigger, unless other new mechanics necessitate that change.

No idea why they need a dedicated melee button but it could change things. In the other VO games a VR's close combat activation distance was never necessarily the same as their sword length...

[Porcupine]

After seeing some live videos of the gameplay, it looks like Shamanic was right about the green stun bar and yellow hp bar. Technically that mechanic is in all VO games but aside from the fact that you can see it, the green stun bar is bigger and recovers very slowly compared to the other games. I still think it is a bizarre and unnecessary change. Why judge a timeout winner by knockdown count as opposed to remaining health? Now you might be able to run away while having less health, or be forced to chase when having more health.

I can see one benefit, that situation could make it easier to chase down and kill because you don't have to fear death. But a drawback, you might not be able to knock down in that situation to retake the lead, as the stun recovery only makes it easier for the coward to flee forever (a piddly hit will not allow you to come back in a close game with little time, as it does in VOOT).

I saw Fei-Yen cancel a transition dash quickly into a small jump cancel so that could make it super powerful since the transition dash auto-locks without even having to take the risk of shooting. But maybe lock-on is in general easier in this new game, which would make it a totally new game. It would explain and balance out the Veteran vs Beginner modes (auto lock-on at all times), if the Veteran can easily keep lock-on at will with transition dashes with minimal risk.

The close combat seems really funky, especially with that button. I didn't really see any traditional close combat attack animations. They were more like throws that connect instantly (and from a huge distance away, and even from within a dash) but have a cutscene afterward like in regular fighting games.

The ultra moves have a long cutscene which freezes action which seems like it would be annoying in a more than 2 player match.

[shamanic_beat]

Recording of first stream:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo_scbGr7TM

Random tidbits:
D-Pad is shown as "Not Used" in the control scheme. Sorry Zaarock, I know you love the d-pad.

Those VSL in the VR's name stand for Virtual Sports Line. VO exist as an E-sport at the Academy City.

Watari called Bal's weapon Neko Beam, Bubblegum and Ice-cream.

Tem's sword wave and RW shots home quite a lot more than they did in VOOT.

Guard barrier
https://youtu.be/eo_scbGr7TM?t=1274

We see the Hit Clock message at...
https://youtu.be/eo_scbGr7TM?t=1290

...and the Hit Clock Violation at
https://youtu.be/eo_scbGr7TM?t=1300

And although this isn't part of the stream, VOOM will be playable in Yakuza Kiwami 2.

[ChexGuy]

dpad not having the same function as left analog is actually hella wack, especially if it's still 8-way movement

[shamanic_beat]

Stream #2 (14:30 to 15:15 JST)

Temjin Boost Weapon allows him to punch people.


Raiden gets a railgun to make up for its severe lack of firepower.


Watari's Boost Weapon: He'll club you with this 500+page 「Chronicle 20」 book.

[Porcupine]

I'm starting to feel fairly pessimistic about this game. Graphics and art quality are good. But I am thinking it won't play like any of the previous VO games in the slightest. It looks superficially very much like VOOT or Force, but the new lock-on mechanics, talking, action-pausing super moves, and most of all those weird CC which seem like instant throws that are undodgeable within like 150m, this is basically the manifestation of the fear that they are copying a 2D flashy fighting game with anime cut-ins.

[shamanic_beat]

Well my VOOT Temjin playing style might as well be thrown out the window. I wouldn't elaborate since you know perfectly what I am talking about, Porc.

I'll give it the benefit of the doubt though. VOOT was pretty different from VOOM and that turned out fine. Maybe this will work out too.

[Porcupine]

Yeah that's true. It's good to try different things and change things. That's why I was optimistic before, but now I'm getting scared. Actually the lock-on system of the VO series has been the thing I've wondered about the most. I had been more curious about lessening it (though that might make the game more like a regular first person shooter) but strengthening it (to the point that you can lock-on forever if you want) is also interesting. In the worst case scenario that it's a 2D fighting game in disguise (dash forward and throw with Triangle) I could still play that for fun.

Where did 3v3 go though? Was that a mistake? Cause a lot of this stuff doesn't seem like it works in anything other than 1v1 (throws, pauses, cut-ins, supers).

Apparently that guy sitting in the middle is the director, it said so on his card in this broadcast. Juro Watari is the producer. So then I wonder, who was the director for the other VO games? I tried to look it up but can't find any information on it.

[ChexGuy]

3v3 was never a thing, it was always going to be 1v1 and 2v2

also here are some impressions from dengeki online
http://dengekionline.com/elem/000/001/596/1596225/

[shamanic_beat]

Gematsu article has some VW(Boost Weapons) descriptions. I'll be brief because I still gotta go to work. Most of the names are lifted straight from the books. Their powers, fortunately, are not.

Temjin
[Imagine Breaker]
You punch people in front of you.
Novel version for comparison: http://toarumajutsunoindex.wikia.com/wi ... ne_Breaker

Bal-Rloon
[Angel Feathers]
Mobility up. ERL explosion. And some other thing, go rewatch the stream yourself.
I'm not sure she even has that in her own novels/anime.
http://toarumajutsunoindex.wikia.com/wi ... #Abilities

Raiden
[Railgun]
Laser shooting out from the left hand.
http://toarumajutsunoindex.wikia.com/wi ... ability.29

Fei-Yen The Knight
[Teleport]
Dart rain.
http://toarumajutsunoindex.wikia.com/wi ... #Abilities

Specineff
[???]
Flying ball with good tracking.
I'm not even sure if it is related to his abilities.
http://toarumajutsunoindex.wikia.com/wi ... _(ability)

Angelan
[???]
Time-delayed dragon and ice attacks. After that, stats boost. I think you get two dragons with CW while you are still in powered-up form.
http://toarumajutsunoindex.wikia.com/wi ... #Abilities

[vitrium]

②Official Sound Data 18 (Yuzo Koshiro's 55.55 OST)

Wait, soundtrack is by Yuzo Koshiro? Sold

[guarayakha]

All the gameplays




LOL at the cat rings with the meows Transition seems like an alternative to the constant dash-cancels->jump-cancels to allow dashing over long distances while keeping the opponent in lock-on. Boost weapons are like supers? Not sure how that hit clock thing works though.

[ChexGuy]

looked at the hit clock a bit:
-does not activate until you knock opponent down
-resets when you score a hit
-is only active for whoever has more points, disabled if points are tied
-at around 25-33% you get a warning that says "HIT CLOCK"
-empties after about 20 seconds of not landing a hit, you lose 10 points for this (HIT CLOCK VIOLATION)

points based on demonstration:
-ranged knockdown 30 points
-melee knockdown 50 points
-OTG hit 20 points (CHASE)
-boost weapon knockdown 70 points (FATAL DOWN)
-OTG after boost weapon knockdown 40 points

other stuff:
-default 90 sec round timer
-there's a pre-match countdown and you can move around during it
-stun gauge starts charging after...7 seconds of not taking damage?
-barrier causes stun gauge to recharge at a faster rate + slightly sooner (5 sec?)

I don't know if the points system is 100% yet, since magazine scans show single-digit point gains...though the amounts seem consistent, like 3 points for a ranged down and 7 for a fatal.

[Porcupine]

Nice analysis. It's weird that ground hits are now up to half of your "damage" whereas before they were usually piddly follow-ups. This also makes "melee" lower damage, as it is now the same damage as a ranged knockdown (I don't know if the new throw-type "melee" can be followed up with a ground hit).

Assuming the whole game isn't just very offensive due to the overpowered "melee" throws, this points system will cause problems. Ties will occur a lot more often, we've already seen some. If you have even a one knockdown lead you can probably ignore the 10 point hit clock violation. You can totally ignore the hit clock when there are only 20 seconds left in the round, which has always been a common time for evenly matched players to start running anyway.

If it is early in the round, and the opponent takes a points lead, the loser can start running deliberately as a means of doing "damage" to create repeated hit clock violations on the opponent.

[ChexGuy]

4gamer impressions.
http://www.4gamer.net/games/374/G037408/20170922121/

[shamanic_beat]

Interview with Watari
http://www.4gamer.net/games/374/G037408/20170923012/

[ChexGuy]

http://dengekionline.com/elem/000/001/599/1599773/
Uiharu (Aki Toyosaki) Grys-Vok and Saten (Kanae Itou) Apharmd-S to complete the Judge Igniters roster.

Insert joke about how Saten never does anything.