Balder

So I just got a heads-up to check this topic... 0_0 I see you ladies and gentlemen are discussing the chance of Liam O'Brien voicing Amane? It could definitely work. He voiced the ultra fabulous devil forger Isaac in Castlevania Curse of Darkness. From the few match videos I saw, I got the impression Amane's voice is still unmistakingly male so something on those lines would do the trick. Alternatively, Vic Mignona could possibly nail it. He voiced Tenkai in the localized Sengoku Basara 3. Not as fabulous but slightly more malicious. I would say I'd rather hear Liam voice Relius but I see he's already voiced by the guy who's got a thing for Katherine McBride. On that note, where's the Lumen Sage palette for Relius? All things considered it's really just a re-arrangement of his default palette. Doesn't stop me from enjoying the music. *listening to Azrael's theme as I write this post* I admit that besides being embarrassingly bad at fighting games in general, I just never got into the BB mythology. I do genuinely like Relius (no surprise there) so that would certainly be a main, with maybe some Bullet and Arakune on the side.

That is something I have been considering lately. Though, I wonder who's more at fault here - ZU for being the most notoriously incompetent publishers or Atlus for trusting the most notoriously incompetent publishers? Part of me is more pissed at Atlus for not only letting ZU publish this knowing full well their history of year long delays but now not having the common PR decency to say a word on the matter. First it's "oh the region lock isn't a problem, you'll get your game on time" and now it seems cat got their tongue. I'm sure ZU have the best of intentions, but you know what they say about those and pavement in Hell. I know the region lock had it's share of reasons behind it but I hope they don't pull this "screw-the-Europeans-because-we-want-to-nickel-n'-dime-the-Japanese" shtick again.

And now it's a official "whenever in 2013" release. -_-" Some time ago, I felt like being a bit a more serious with fighting games (as serious as someone who only has online competition can get, anyway) and because I'm absolutely biased towards good ol' 2D, decided to solely invest on Skullgirls and P4A. Lo and behold, EU PS3 SG gets a nasty crash glitch and the patch gets delayed for the most absurd reasons beyond the poor team's fault and Zen United gets the publishing rights to P4A, which is a certified one year minimal wait. Would be funny if it weren't so infuriating. I can still appreciate the irony, of course. Still getting P4A but I'd be lying if I said the hype is still there.

That's the thing right there. Admittedly, it's not as bad in their fighters but Capcom not only meddle like soccer moms but have a penchant for slave labor (I seriously doubt Slant 6 and Spark Unlimited were picked for their extraordinary skills as developers...). Collaboration or not, I seriously hope they don't cheap out. It still baffles me how messy SFxT turned out, knowing it's their most iconic IP AND a friendly company's equally iconic IP. Unfortunately their new motto is shortening development time. Better make the most of it then. That is correct. Reason why the game is a unbalanced mess is because the fangirls bumrushed the loketests to have their MasaYuki duels. However, I read there were other issues with the collaboration. Here's a copy-paste: EDIT: Derek Neals talks about DSR aiming for optimal arcade-accuracy. This seems to imply Huitzil, Pyron and Donovan won't be in VS. I understand what they are aiming for but it's still kind of a bum. Huitzil and Donovan are pretty fun to play as in VS2. I suppose NW was added so people wouldn't complain about these 3 being absent.

Haha. Well played, Sir. :china: Indeed. I'll adamantly defend that 2D is the way to go but Capcom don't play that. Unfortunately 2D is both too laborious and niche. At this point, I only hope that a eventual sequel is as genuine to the series' spirit as possible. Their last collaboration (Sengoku Basara X) was a mess and mostly because of Capcom, way I heard it. I say "mess" as a Basara fan...though as a fighting game, well, being considered kusoge says everything. Of course, a lot of players like it exactly for being pants-on-head retardedly broken. Anyway, while answering about why Resurrection wasn't announced for the WiiU, Svensson unveils a bit of that "textbook Capcom" we all know. Part of why I believe 4 is already in the works.

True. I love the classy tunes Shibata did for DMC3. If DS4 is really going to happen, I get the impression Fukasawa will handle it. It's good if we get remixed themes (mostly the NW OST and some VS tunes for the rest). Just as long as dubstep stays the hell way from it, I'll consider myself happy. Music is the least of my concerns though. As mentioned, my true concern is the series trademark black humor being beaten to a inch of it's life by the censor pipe. MML3 was weird. I'm not a MM fan but even I think it was a cheapshot against the fans. IMHO it also had to do with Inafune. I can't shake the notion Capcom still has some major beef with him. But "exact same Capcom"? Normally I'd fully agree and spew some venom of my own but I think that with all the bad publicity they finally "got real", so to speak. I can't think of a better example than Dragon's Dogma. Their most expensive project yet and a game they expected to sell 10 millions. It barely sold 1. They've come to say they're pleased with the results and plan on turning it into a franchise. And there's still a lot more post-launch content to come. Not something to expect from 2010-onward Scumbag Capcom. And they're still supporting SFxT even though it didn't meet expectations. Also, RE6 is sure to have lined their pockets good from what I've been reading. It's just my, admittedly uneducated, idea that DS4 is already in the works. And I'll probably play it before Persona 4 Arena arrives in Europe!

While it may not be the most celebrated title in the series, NW is my personal favorite. The OST is one of the reasons too. Anyway, I'm feeling a little tempted to get the Resurrection bundle even though I shouldn't. Little that has been shown already promises smear filters and Mr Lau's uncalled for art. Besides, I doubt the sales of this quick cash-in will have any sort of effect on the upcoming sequel. And as for it, the idea of 3D graphics per se don't bother me. As the_d3v mentioned, the series trademark style has always featured bizarre proportions like those seen in SFIV. 3D graphics themselves have been improving in terms of creating very outlandish effects. Anyone here played/plays Max Anarchy? The likes of Garuda and Oinkie pretty much confirm that Phobos and Victor are very viable to create in 3D. Still, there are things that still seem impossible to replicate in 3D. Things Darkstalkers is shock full of. Characters get burned, frozen, cut in half horizontally, cut in half vertically, turned into basketballs, turned into random objects, perform bizarre seppukku rituals, etc etc. Some of these are what make me fear for the game in 3D graphics. Besides being difficult to recreate, most of these things risk being excluded for the sake of not boosting the ratings. Even if doable, I doubt they'd still keep things like Lilith's nekkid super, Jedah's self-mutilations and most side-effects of Bishamon's repertoire. And another hope/demand: keep Fukasawa the fack away from the project. I love the OSTs for Chaos Legion and Onimusha Dawn of Dreams so this isn't something I say lightly, but the guy just keeps getting worse with every new game he works on. By DS4, he'll likely just do 2 hours worth of wub wub wub womp womp wub wub wub. Can't suggest anyone else unfortunately. Capcom lost Ueda and Kondoh and they don't have talents like Meguro, Ishiwatari or Yamane. TvC does have a great remix of Morrigan's theme and the castle stage theme isn't too shabby either.

On that note, anyone here happened to find a DL link for the artbook? I've been finding some scans here and there (mostly the lady pin-ups) at Danbooru and the SMT Wikia, ranging from 1-2+ Mb size. Judging from the quality and size of the in-game art rip available in this topic, I guess those pin-ups are the only ones worth having though.

Excellent work, Werin. I was quite keen on adding those arts to my collection. Kudos to everyone involved. You all did a fantastic job.

I'm not certain if this is relevant to the topic but bringing it up just in case it could save Circuitous some time. The character portraits are available at The Spriters Resource. I don't know if these rips are of the best quality or in the ideal format but I guess I should let you guys know.

Thank you very much for this fine treat, Circuitous. I would also extend these thanks to your previous sprite packs that I leeched so thoroughly during my times as a lurker. Seriously, as a big fan of sprite art these easily made my day. Just a question: in the future, do you plan on uploading rips of the story mode artworks and such? In a not immediate future, of course. People should see those things for themselves through their own copies of the game and Atlus has even politely asked people not to post any spoilers. And by politely, I mean casting death curses on those who do. Thanks once again. :china:

Some tentatively good news for PAL gamers: "It's always our intention to keep the delay between US/JP and EU to a minimum and we appreciate people's patience," a representative from Zen United, the European publisher of Persona 4: Arena explained to Siliconera. "We don't have an official release date to confirm at this time, but we hope to be able to do so soon." Zen United hasn't set a release date, but Persona 4: Arena is slated for 2012. The European release will have an option to switch between Japanese and English too. They've been discussing the idea of an EU region limited edition on Facebook, as well. http://www.siliconera.com/2012/07/07/zen-united-our-intention-is-to-keep-the-persona-4-arena-delay-to-a-minimum/

Not questioning you or anything but is there a clear release date for the EU version? Browsing the various articles on the matter, the issue is objectively affecting EU players the most because of the 'sometime in 2012' date. People are getting riled up over the prospect of being left at the mercy of a publisher that is infamous for delays that range from 6 months to a full year. Personally, this isn't about the price because as a European getting screwed in game prices is a institution in these parts and if the game is indeed coming just 1 month from the JPN release neither is the time, but I haven't seen any clear release date for Europe. I just don't want another GGXXAC+ and AH3 fiasco in my hands. The EU release of those games got delayed, re-delayed, delayed again, canceled, then reconfirmed and then delayed again. I have no ill will towards that publisher since their hearts were in the right place but some things are simply best served hot. On a side note, apparently a Atlus employee at their boards mentioned that they couldn't say for certain if the EU version would have dual-audio. Peachy.

And in 2012. Excellent news! I was fearing this would be another of PQube's victims. I know they mean well, but they take ages getting a game to these parts. Anyway... Zen United, the European publisher, will bring Persona 4: Arena to the MCM Expo in London on Saturday, May 26. Source: http://www.siliconera.com/2012/05/25/persona-4-arena-airs-in-europe-later-this-year/ Great news for any British fans.

Hi Agni! I haven't got much to add, especially when people far more knowledgeable than me gave advice but I'd like to chime in and say that we are somewhat on the same boat. I'm also a keen follower of fighting games, watch a lot of footage, read some articles, etc but in practice, I'm a complete stain. No local competition and too many years playing solo (it was either that or skip them altogether) with a loooong break during the PS2 era. I've recently got into Skullgirls and decided to give it a shot. Bar absolute beginners, I pretty much get bodied every match. Like you, I have the tendency of blanking out. I can pull some fancy nancy combos in training but when I get to a actual match, not only because my illustrious opponents have the annoying habit of moving but when I do get a combo starting, I just derp basic chains. Like many said already - practice, practice, practice. Fighters are all about perseverance, discipline and tough love. My only piece of advice is if you are making a honest effort at learning your game of choice, don't be afraid of looking up people to play with. I can tell you from personal experience that spending too much time fighting the AI will leave you with lots of nasty habits, which aren't easy to quit. It's good to practice execution on moving targets and get acquainted with some tactics though. IMHO the ideal opponent would be someone who's better but not so better that they body you for free. The later tend to leave me frustrated but the former, I can learn a few things from and, ideally, get some combo practice. Looking up combos can also be a bit tricky as most combo videos entitled 'Day 1 BnBs' (which you would think are the absolute basic) have stuff I wouldn't pull in a 100 years, but you can always "dissect" them for little chains or cancels that you can put to use. And no need to feel embarrassed - everyone spams and plays whack-a-mole with jumping HP at the start. Scrub? That's nonsense. Being a scrub and being a beginner are two very different things.