School of Ragnarok - Arcade fighter from Square-Enix

[TAI-X]

Yep, it's the first Square fighter unassociated with Final Fantasy since Bushido Blade 2 (unless you count The Bouncer), and their first arcade fighter since Ehrgeiz.

 

http://www.schoolofragnarok.com/

 

Play video

 

At first I thought this was another one of those camera-captured trading card arcade games that were especially trendy in Japan a few years ago, but nope, it's using regular old arcade sticks and buttons. It's most closely equivalent to the Naruto Storm games, meaning you can freely and briskly run around in a big open arena, except you are a magical teenager in faux-Hogwarts instead of an overused ninja. The interface and HUD also remind one of Gundam VS. Not sure what hardware it's running on, might be Namco's new PS4-based system, but there's nothing here the PS3 couldn't handle.

 

The action definitely looks smoother and better balanced than Naruto Storm. I am somewhat concerned about the ability to bring in CPU-controlled summons that seem to linger for quite a while, and it seems impossible to dodge the big flashy cinematic attacks if you're standing in the effect zone. I am also worried about the likelihood of the game forcing a system with characters saved to player accounts that level up and gain more powerful abilities across battles, much like in Dissidia.  Nevertheless, will definitely be watching this one and hoping for an eventual home port.

[SoWL]

So, from what I gather, the PCs are customizable, but most of your moveset is defined by the summon that you pick? That's the kind of customization I can get behind. Will keep an eye on this if only because of the Dangan Ronpa writer, though that announcer turns me off with his cheese On a related note, I almost didn't recognize Fumihiko Tachiki, he sounds very different from his usual roles.

[Appledash-]

Magical teenage school-goes are a lot more overused than ninja, but whatever.

The lighting effects are pretty. The summon thing makes me think of Arcana Heart. Looks fun.

[TAI-X]

Magical teenage school-goes are a lot more overused than ninja, but whatever.

No they aren't, and I only meant that those specific ninja are incredibly overused.

[SoWL]

The game's having its first couple of loketests this weekend and the next, with a new character added:

http://www.famitsu.com/news/201502/26072771.html

Still not sure how to feel about the gameplay, but I can always enjoy some insane Chiaking voiceover. Her playstyle seems pretty fun, too.

[SoWL]

The game comes out in August, and they've announced a tournament with a prize pool of 1 million yen. We'll see if that's enough to make it popular.

http://www.famitsu.com/news/201506/10080492.html

Oh, and they revealed two more playable characters. Not sure if this is going to be the release roster, since the story says there are 10 schools, but they can just save the rest for the updates.