RurouniLoneWolf

Great observations and finds guys. Thanks Omex for doing translations! So, CH Red Axe SB Brutal Impact damage is pretty much instant death, no matter what. Harsh but fair since it requires Labrys to be in Awakening, have Red Axe and depending on the properties of SB Brutal Impact, that the opponent actually triggers the counter to make it come out in a reasonable amount of time. I'm really curious to see Brutal Impact in general though. Hope it appears in footage soon. A faster jB is pretty nice. Hmmm, the size of SB Houjuu isn't quite what I imagined. Hopefully there are more interesting properties to it because right now, the increase in size doesn't feel worth the 25 meter, at least from neutral. Maybe the bigger size makes it easier to combo into. Guess we'll see. Also for those who haven't seen them yet, here's the footage of SB Houjuu and Chain Knuckle's new A Follow Up

That first attack meter bonus is an interesting change. I like it.

Latest Maxim Hero has footage of Akihiko's new SB Cyclone Uppercut and AA grab. SB Cyclone Uppercut was in part 1 and the AA grab was in part 2. I used to think it was pretty cool how Akihiko could do 2 A Cyclone Uppercut one after the other but then ASW one upped themselves by making him do 3 for the SB, lol. Looking forward to seeing some optimal combos ending with this. Also, based on that first Chie in the Kantou footage, looks like Chie's oki might still work in the corner from a combo ending in Skullcracker.

Looks like I missed some good matches. Good stuff, Jimmy.

I can try and get some screencaps when they appear in good quality footage. For now though, you can see the new Houjuu/Bubble in this video if you haven't seen it yet

Hmmm, I see. I've never actually tried using jC in neutral that often. Maybe I should give it a try some time. Thanks again for all the advice ^,^

Wow, really? It felt like the pressure was pretty airtight to me. Guess I really do need to some research. Though , what you said about not getting into that situation to begin with also makes sense and I sort of felt that way yesterday too but I still don't quite got a grasp on all of Izayoi's options when she enters GA so it was a bit difficult to do. Oh, I was referring to doing j3dbs from neutral when I mentioned it earlier. I do the motion you described for instant overheads but I have 2 left feet for execution so it's kind of hard to do sometimes ;.; What you said about pumpkin summon after 3c ender makes a lot of sense. Last night, I was trying to think of a way to get you to not roll tech so george could activate but summoning pumpkin instead pretty much solves that problem entirely. And I agree with you about my neutral game. I'm actually very displeased with my Rachel's neutral right now. I'm going to try and give your advice about how to get the pumpkin out more thought this weekend. Sam covered some of these opportunities with me before but I find it's hard to get these opportunities in a match, especially when the round begins. The beginning of the round is probably when I feel my neutral is the biggest ??? right now. Thanks for all the advice, Rhannmah! I've got a lot more to think about this weekend.

Really? It looked like C version just went in a straight line both times I saw it. Did it start moving near the mid point or as it was near the other side of the screen?

Thanks for creating the threads, Setsuna. Just to quickly recap our Day 1 stream impressions from the last thread - C Houjuu is small, about the size of a basketball. Comes out somewhat quick and travels in a straight line horizontally across the screen just above the characters' heads - D Houjuu has longer charge/time to come out. Looks bigger at first but so far, is the same as C version. Same trajectory - New autocombo is pretty good. Good corner carry. - Axe levels starts out at blue and carries over between rounds like the final loketest - SB Gears covers half the screen - Red Axe stills forces FC on counter hit - CH Chain Knucle causes FC - A lot of things seemed the same as the loketest

Team tourny was pretty great to watch last night. Kirbster was unstoppable :P Thanks again for the matches, Rhannmah. Slowly but surely, I'm started to get better at doing the instant overhead in a real match. Though, only the last one was as low to the ground as I wanted it to be. My latest experiments for neutral didn't go as well as I hoped though. Need to think of other stuff and get a better idea of the spacing for those j3DBs that worked.. It was also my first time playing against Izayoi so it was great to get some practice for this matchup too. I have a lot to reflect on concerning this MU and I definitely need to do some research on Izayoi blockstrings this weekend because blocking your mixups when you got into GA mode was true despair, lol.

It hits overhead. Saw the blue exclamation mark pop up when a Naoto hit a crouching opponent on stream yesterday

@Setsuna, Good to hear @Redsilversnake, Really? So the D version is the same size as the C version. That's disappointing, considering how much longer it takes to charge up. Maybe there's some secret to making the big version come out since I remember people saying it was medium sized in the loketests. Either way though, can't see it being used for neutral with it's long charge time. Combo fodder maybe? C version might be good for controlling some air space though but it's so small that you can easily double or super jump over it. It'll probably only be good for catching people trying to air dash in, maybe combo fodder too? It's all up to the SB version to dazzle me now but all in all, I can see why no one was talking about this move during loketests. @Tectal's post, Agreed, the new autocombo is a nice buff, mostly because of the new 5AAA. Not only does it give good corner carry but unlike the old one, it closes the gap between you and the opponent so that you're closer to them when the combo finishes. SB Gears only covering half the screen is not what I imagined but I'm sure there might be some use for it. Hope we get to see the new way Brutal Impact works sometime this week.

Thanks for the second stream Sphinx. Shadow Akihiko descends down onto the stage in a bubble of electricity like he's Magneto...I like it. Also, watching these Naoto mirrors have made me come to appreciate how quickly Naoto's 5D travels across the screen now. Or maybe I'm not remembering it well enough. Also, Venom Zapper seems like it has great AA potential.

Hmmmm, I wonder if Shadow Rampage has OD like invincibility. I saw Narukami whiff a run up throw because the Shadow Kanji activated Shadow Rampage but I'm not sure if it's because it puts you in a airborne state technically. Really? I haven't noticed that. I'll try and pay more attention. It's definitely proving to be a pretty good Day 1 tactic, especially since meter carries over between rounds for Shadow characters. Hard to tell how much mileage it'll get. Guess it all depends on how easy it is to get in the right mixups from the Hamaon oki.

Yeah, I'm presuming that was one of the Shadow Rampage combos found in the last loketest that takes off all 13 fate counters.

Now, that's a great screen cap. I'll have to add it to the collection. Also, think I saw the new C Bubble on stream. Need to see it again to be sure. It's pretty small and sort of transparent so I almost missed it at first. It was about the size of a basketball and traveled slowly across the screen in a straight line above the character's heads. EDIT: Okay, that was definitely the C bubble. Saw it again on stream. I think I saw the Labrys player trying to do the D version too but it takes so long to charge up that the Naoto player just kept shooting her in the face with ease ;.;

Thanks for this. Got back in time to see Labrys. Wow, the C version of the bubble is really tiny and travels slowly.

Yeah, it went down for me too. Not sure, if they're having problems or it's a nico nico thing. Also, extra tidbit, looked like Naoto's Houtenjin did 4660 on CH. Not sure if it was an SB version or something but it goes in line with the SB Cross Slash and SB Spear CH damage we saw in the last loketest

Wuv you Sphinx ^,^ Also, Good to see Ragna Narukami and Hazama Naoto palettes. Hopefully my Asuka Labrys and Makoto Chie are still there EDIT: Also, now that I'm seeing it in a real match, the recovery on Naoto's traps don't seem that bad to me. Not sure if it's because they reverted the change though.

I think it was already posted earlier on in the thread but don't see why you couldn't post the link anyway in the P4U2 video posting thread too so that it doesn't get lost.

Nice find. I'll have to watch the whole thing when I get home tonight. Was that a Yukiko cosplay I saw at the beginning? I approve of this.

P4U2 releases tomorrow/tonight our time. Should we try to summon Setsuna to make the P4U2 Gameplay, Combo and video threads or does anyone want to volunteer to do them? I'm interested in doing a post or thread for gathering all the final changes since that stuff tends to get lost in the months we wait for console release.

Hard to get a good feel for it from just a picture but the range and area that the AA grab hits looks troublesome at first glance. Also, that Shadow Kanji poster is looking at me in all the wrong ways!

Now that's true dedication. I salute you, good sir o7 . You can all learn a lot from this man! P.S: I like the new Mu-12 avy ^,^ I wouldn't say there's any absolute right or wrong answer. In the end, it really just comes down to getting a good feel for the different desires of the people in the rotation. But for the most part, I feel like it's a safe bet for the king of the hill to stay on until they feel like getting off. Mostly because with the exception of me, it feels like everyone in this community has the tools and skills to gradually improve by reflecting on their losses and watching the other matches in the rotation, allowing them to eventually dethrone the current king. It just comes down to motivation to do that as you and Kirbster pretty much covered. Still, personally, I feel giving up your spot and wandering from rotation to rotation is best since it's better to play a wider variety of people in the end. But those are just my thoughts on the matter and you should probably disregard this entire last paragraph.

Pfft, people and their spending their holidays with family and friends. You need to be dedicated to the games and nothing else! lol. But yeah, Round Robin sounds pretty sexy to me if we end up being a small group for the next monthly.