[LM] Arcana Heart 3 Q&A Thread

[MikuruX]

Just a heads up. It's confirmed that you cannot play people who are using the NA version of the game with the JP copy of the game.

[Tigre]

Confirmed as in this was intentional, or confirmed as in it is currently not possible

[iora]

uh... what in the fuck

 

are you shitting me?

[Sadv3]

Just a heads up. It's confirmed that you cannot play people who are using the NA version of the game with the JP copy of the game.

[nadakaineko]

Please keep in mind that we haven't determined if this was intentional or an oversight as of yet, so let's try to keep our hats on and not blow our lids.

 

Hopefully Aksys will get back to us with a response about this quickly, because, yeah, if this was intentional, that would be a /huge/ letdown.

[MikuruX]

Yeah, basically the test for this ran with me and one other person.

 

1.) His room listing did not show up on with his NA copy & my JP copy online.

2.) I got booted out of my game and my PS3 noted that I did not have the game when my friend sent me an invite.

3.) The rankings seems......new....from the looks of it.

 

I'm uncertain if this was intentional or not so yeah, might have to wait for an official word from Aksys on this one.

[SimaMatty]

from what I can gather, this is because the NA AH3LM and the JP AH3LM are on different patches. NA is on 1.01, and JP is on 1.02. Hopefully 1.02 will come to NA so the issue is resolved.

edit: lol nevermind: https://twitter.com/aksysgames/status/514819534234992640

[MikuruX]

Well....that's nice to know since it's not intentional......damnit, I caved in on purchasing the NA version!! Oh well.....no harm done, I suppose. <_<

[Tigre]

https://twitter.com/nadakaineko/status/514822872851038208 looks like this decision was made from one of the jp companies.

[FerrellJ]

If that's true, then I have to think this was a decision by ArcSys since they handled the netcode (Correct?  I know Examu sure as hell didn't).  I can't think of any justification for doing this unless they think cross-region play would hurt the sales of the Japanese versions- most of their sales would have been from closer to release anyway.  I think I'd actually rather have region locking if that's the case. 

 

Not a good move in my opinion.  I love the hell out of AH3 but having to buy what was barely more than a balance patch for upwards of $100 a few months back was bad enough.  Having to do it again for another $40 just might be too much.  I guess we should inquire if this is also going to be the case with Xrd...

 

It's a shame because it seemed like they (Arc) were starting to open up more to western audiences lately.

[Sadv3]

No, I just wanted to play this game with people. I don't understand why they would segment the game like this. First no cross-play between PS3 / PS Vita and now no region cross-play?

[nadakaineko]

Yeah, sad to say but this isn't great news for the US release. *sigh*

[NeoStrayCat]

I can probably guess, though besides network patches, the game also has 4 stackable TL's, which, btw, are different region/versions of Love Max shown here. I just hope this isn't becoming a thing, since XBlaze was like this, though it was a 1P VN anyways, but hoping other ASW titles coming soon aren't gonna go though this road either. (Since I remember, Jojo ASB was like that too for different versions [JP/NA-EU], though that's different.)

 

[nadakaineko]

Oh, interesting -- didn't know that about XBlaze. If so, then yeah, that would be an alarming precedent.

[nekohime]

Well, damn... so my JP copy is pretty much useless now?  Here I was hoping that there would be people online to play with after the NA release.  I probably won't be able to afford another copy until after Christmas, and I have a feeling that netplay will be dead again by then.

[NeoStrayCat]

Well, damn... so my JP copy is pretty much useless now?  Here I was hoping that there would be people online to play with after the NA release.  I probably won't be able to afford another copy until after Christmas, and I have a feeling that netplay will be dead again by then.

I woudn't say its useless, you can only play those that only have the JP version/copy, and that's much it, I guess. >_>

[LatiosG]

Here I was, excited to play and teach some new players and now I can't unless I buy another copy.

[redsilversnake]

If that's true, then I have to think this was a decision by ArcSys since they handled the netcode (Correct?  I know Examu sure as hell didn't).  I can't think of any justification for doing this unless they think cross-region play would hurt the sales of the Japanese versions- most of their sales would have been from closer to release anyway.  I think I'd actually rather have region locking if that's the case. 

 

Not a good move in my opinion.  I love the hell out of AH3 but having to buy what was barely more than a balance patch for upwards of $100 a few months back was bad enough.  Having to do it again for another $40 just might be too much.  I guess we should inquire if this is also going to be the case with Xrd...

 

It's a shame because it seemed like they (Arc) were starting to open up more to western audiences lately.

Looking at Aksys' twitter feed, it sounds like it's they're fault, not ASW's. They're saying they released a patch for the NA version that the JP version doesn't have, which is why the two are currently incompatible.

[FerrellJ]

Looking at Aksys' twitter feed, it sounds like it's they're fault, not ASW's. They're saying they released a patch for the NA version that the JP version doesn't have, which is why the two are currently incompatible.

https://twitter.com/aksysgames/status/514819534234992640

The way this is phrased makes it seem pretty clear that they aren't the ones that made the call.  Unless "we" refers to just the PR team and another team within Aksys made the decision.  It certainly sounds like something a publisher would do but, unless they're being deliberately vague or lying, that doesn't seem to be the case.

 

On that note, I'm sure it does hurt Aksys' sales when we all buy the Asian versions of these games on release rather than waiting for their localization so I would certainly understand the concern.  The most ideal solution I can think of would be for them to publish the Asian version on NA/EU PSN on release and patch in the localized text / voice over later on.  Patches cost money but it has got to be better than the lost sales from importers and/or splitting up an already fragmented community with region-locked netplay.

[destruction_adv]

could someone give a few general tips about movement in Arcana Heart, I have a general idea of it, but I think getting some tips couldn't hurt.

[Tigre]

Learn how to speed homing (hitting the D button a second time), moves can cancel the animation for speed homing while still carrying the momentum, you will often times see players wiff j.A or air throw to cancel the animation, but be careful because you can not block out of speed homing in LM. 

If you are playing a character with jump cancelable normals, learn how to jump cancel them and integrate homing back in to your pressure. If you are playing the game like it's Street Fighter (i.e. staying grounded for most of the game) you're probably doing something wrong, most of the best damage starters are from air to ground. 

[nadakaineko]

Looking at Aksys' twitter feed, it sounds like it's they're fault, not ASW's. They're saying they released a patch for the NA version that the JP version doesn't have, which is why the two are currently incompatible.

 

It doesn't seem that way -- the US version is a different game from the JP/HK version. If you try to invite someone to play from the JP version to the US version, it will give you the "you must quit this game to accept this invite". If it was just a patching issue, it would give you a generic error. For all intents and purposes, the two versions are different games.

[Tigre]

From what we've seen, Aksys was flat out told the US version would not be compatible, the wording leads me to believe that this decision was made over their heads.
Examu's response yesterday was "We have no idea, we had nothing to do with the netcode for AH3LM" which falls in line with what we knew before. Examu ordered a port of the current LM version from ASW, pretty much everything else was handled by ASW. 

If the game is giving you an error that you need <x> locale version of the game that's not just a patching issue, that's the game flat out checking the software region.

The question is- where do we direct our concerns to at ASW. Aksys and Examu both had no clue about this, so next step is to question ASW.

[FerrellJ]

Twitter might be the best tool for that- it puts things out in public view so they are more or less obligated to at least address it.

 

The article on the front page of SRK probably isn't doing them any favors either.  Maybe make sure they are aware of it.

http://shoryuken.com/2014/09/24/arcana-heart-3-love-maxs-north-american-launch-reveals-absence-of-cross-region-netplay/

[Sadv3]

 

4 separate communities for the same game that has a small audience to begin with. Now all we need is the shape of a heart divided into 4 sections with AH3LM PS3 JP + NA versions being the top half of the heart and the PS Vita versions being the lower half and to sum it all up. Wouldn't mind so much if the audience was big enough to support the game.