Chrome Homura

So that's what we've been waiting on... I guess the American PSN release took a backseat to fixing stuff... sucks to hear about the macros though. Oh well, it's not like I can afford to attend majors anyway

This is great news! Now if only someone would provide similar evidence against Baiken so this debate could die... >_>

Baccano alone has enough epic characters to make an entire fighter by itself... so yeah, there damn well better be someone from it in this game. I'd settle for Jacuzzi Splot, but seriously hoping for Ladd, Vino or Firo (Graham Specter? Graham Specter.) Actually hell with it, I will ragequit life if Ladd motherfucking Russo isn't in this game. I seriously hope it's not an all-female cast (Although if it were, Chane or Nice wouldn't be too bad I guess) because... well, because.

Really, this. My main doesn't gain jack shit from negative edge, and I'll be damned if someone tries to tell me I need to alter my button setup (or my personal favorite, "buy a stick lol") just to suit their pissy needs. Macros are what keep pad players not named finalshowdown alive, and it sickens me to see this kind of BS threatening that.

T_T so close, yet so far away...

Fine by me. New characters (Such as the Nanto-Goshasei folks, especially Juza) would be... I can't even. But yeah, ArcSys need to start finishing their meals before putting more food on the table. It's getting out of hand.

Well, Qwerty more or less covered the concepts, but the technical details (I.E "exact changes" as you point out) are as follows: His "pool" summon (which generated the easiest of his unblockable setups) now hits opponents who are OTG, thus making it impossible for ED to set up unblockables with it. Now, this summon can only be practically used as a combo extender (not that it generates any significant damage) the optimal followup now being Drunkard ShadexN to build meter + drill KD to finish. This can still lead to a Drill FRC IAD unblockable, but it's harder to execute and a tad more risky depending on the opponent's reversal options. Also notable is that this unblockable does decent damage, but ends in a reset. Also, his Summon moves cost just a bit more gauge to use (thus shortening his pressure/combo strings) and in addition the gauge itself takes longer to recharge. In AC if you unsummoned before the gauge ran out it refilled instantly. Now if you unsummon before the gauge runs out, it refills at the rate it did when you used it up entirely in AC, and should you exhaust it (or lil-eddie is hit) in +R it refills even slower. Paying attention to the gauge itself is now paramount, as the margin for error is much smaller. In AC if Eddie ran out of gauge that was your chance to get in, as he could very easily regain his momentum just as soon as it refilled. In +R an Eddie with a full gauge is less fearsome to begin with, and when lil-eddie goes away you have more time than before to pressure him before he can summon again. The reason you don't see as many ED players now is likely because he now represents a more significant investment: the players who used to tier-whore him have all jumped ship in favor of some easier character, and Ogawa is off god-knows-where...

+R Is not available on XBL yet. No one's sure how long it'll be before it hits other regions on PSN, or XBL for that matter. Basically, unless you have a Ps3 and the resources to create a JP PSN account, you're just gonna have to wait. Edit: Also if I understand correctly, according to the folks here who do have JP PSN accounts, AC+ will prompt you upon startup asking if you want to download the update (+R) so... yeah, just check your game every week and eventually it'll be there.

I also would recommend Slayer. He's very pad friendly (BDC is the only thing I can think of off the top of my head that you can't feasibly do on pad, and even without that he's still a plenty solid character) and my gut tells me you'd like his Dandy Step tricks. Some of his combos require "links*", but they're not Tekken hard or anything. Execution requires less FRC usage than most characters (his meter usage is mostly Forcebreaks, and more Overdrives than any other character in the game (he has 3, and they're all useful) and overall fairly accessible. Plus, he's got style such that only my main can compete with him. He's a Vampire who is so ancient he's lost the capacity to give a fuck with a KO state consisting of lying on his side looking bored, wears a suit with a cross-shaped tie, drinks from his hot immortal waifu before fights, and can literally uppercut you into the next galaxy. His counterhits blow up fools so bad they wonder why he isn't just named "Mr. Dynamite". (*Links meaning tight-timing cancels reminiscent of SF4 combos, but less difficult)

Much as I hate to say it, I wouldn't call Johnny a major GG character... at least as far as the overall plot is concerned. Still, I suppose it counts. If Johnny makes it into Xrd, he and Sol should have a special HAM-filled intro for lulz' sake (possibly with some manner of Hellsing reference as a nod to their previous onscreen encounter) Iemasa Kayumi (Slayer) is also the voice of the narrator in FullMetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (as well as a certain character who appears after a certain point in the series) which never fails to crack me up. Throughout the first arc I always found the "Alchemy 101" segment incredibly entertaining simply because I imagined Slayer to be the one actually reading it. Takehito Koyasu (Eddie) was also in Hellsing, as Luke Valentine, FMAB as Scar's brother... and in many, many other animes. last I checked the guy is famous for having a particularly substantial number of roles to his credit. One might say he's the Kevin Bacon of anime. Prior to GGXX, Kikuko Inoue (I-No) had a reputation for roles that fell mostly within (if not, close to) what is known in moonland as the "Genki Girl" archetype. Given her lack of experience in the field of villainy, the role of I-No was a big step for her as an actress, and in her audio interview for AC+ she still described the character as "scary". Also, in FMAB she voices Lust. Despite the time lapse between the two roles, the characters sound practically identical. Hardly much of a surprise given how similar they are, so I can't help but suspect that her experience with I-No helped out a great deal in her work recording Lust's lines.

Speaking as a fellow pad player, I know your pain all too well. However... even though my first Fighter was KOF, when I started trying to play GG and learn Johnny, the only problem I encountered with the 632146 input (I refer to it as "The Tyrant Rave input") was that my input would overlap with JO's coin, and for the longest time 8 times out of 10 I'd try to super and get coin. I could do supers just fine with other characters who lacked a 236 with the same button (had the same problem with Eddie though, HS drill would always come out) but the input overlap prevented me from performing the most badass move in the game, and that was something I wouldn't accept. So I struggled against it, and after many sessions in training mode I managed to grind out the muscle memory and get it right. It took longer than I liked, but a lot of things in GG's learning process take that kind of dedication, not just the inputs of the moves themselves. And yet, a friend I used to play GG with claimed it was his experience with Castlevania that allowed him to break EX Gold Sol in the most efficient way possible... he could loop Tyrant Rave RC so efficiently that even playing another gold/shadow character against him presented a helluva challenge, and he claimed to have barely any experience with fighters before we started hanging out. Of course, the reason we had Gold char battles was because he had no game beyond that, but his insane ability to perform that input so easily on demand was mind-boggling.

I was going to write a long ass post, then I settled on a tl:dr version. simply put, I think "resets" in GG are overrated, and I wholeheartedly support the hold=tech option.

Assuming GG will be on Saturday or Sunday (due to scheduling BS, I'll be coming in on Friday evening) count me in. I call dibs on BLEED's old palette (EX+P) so NOBODY FUCKING USE IT BUT ME

Well obviously I would have included a disclaimer, something like "Please ignore this if... etc" so the unintended recipients wouldn't be weirded out. That said, a message was sent. Hopefully we can play GG casuals!

Well, that's a relief... I had assumed the worst >_>; this feels like a dumb question, but... to which Alex are you referring? I know at least 2 of the people who carry that name on the first page, and there seems to be another that I have yet to meet. Fun as it'd be to try and option-select a PM to all of them I'd rather just be honest in my confusion...

Seeing as how it worked out so well last time, I guess I could go with this route again... I kinda need a room. I'm down to play AE2012/KOFXIII/GG casuals (bringing my PS3) and I'll sleep on the floor if I have to. I promise I'm not evil, faultydefense can tell you

Where do I sign up? (Assuming I'm even eligible of course )

Are Oregon players eligible? I wouldn't mind floor crashing, especially if it ends up being cheap enough.

I made this exact suggestion 4 pages ago, and found it strange that while it very obviously was directed at Hecatom without including a quote of one of his statements in it, nobody commented on it.

Speaking as one of the very people you hint at, I am just as concerned. Much as I love GG, I am an individual severely lacking in charisma/wit, and feel deeply embarrassed that what remains of the scene has the reputation it does. I wish I could support my favorite game more constructively, but am at a loss in terms of what exactly I could possibly do to help.

Or they could just, you know, make the input buffer method work by altering the FRCs of whatever moves have these "variable outcomes" based on input timing so as to make them work the same way every time. I mean, how many FRC-able moves even have this sort of functionality? Granted I don't play a character who has one, but even if I did, I don't think I'd mind losing a couple of what are likely some very niche options to begin with, if it was in order to make the game easier for everyone else.

Well, that settles it. Time to buy a fucking Vita I guess >__<

I tried it that way first (granted it was a fairly long time ago) but I didn't like that I still had to squeeze my left finger and press my right thumb at the exact same time. What is often fairly rapid succession between the two is necessary for a lot of RCs/FRCs, but for me trying to do both at once (especially having to hit a different trigger than my usual RC macro to do so, and not having any other reason to press that other button) was quite uncomfortable. Anyway, strictly speaking there really isn't a "better" (or "worse") way to go about execution, ultimately what matters is that the player can do what they want in a way that's comfortable for them. Based on how it's worked for me so far, I suspect that it'd be easier for more pad Johnny mains use my method, as it requires less memorization to ditch the P+K+S macro entirely for it as opposed to the one you describe. It's a change that requires adjustment, but instead of having to fight against your "old" muscle memory in order to adapt, the change only requires a small addition (holding the button input a bit for specials) as opposed to having to hit a different button for FRCs, or compared to something as significant as switching to stick (or going "Claw-style" for that matter, which is comparable IMO) so all things considered it's likely the lowest price to pay for such players compared to other options.

Actually, there's this neat pad trick I've been telling people about whenever I get the chance that makes transport FRC... well, work like other FRCs. The game menu doesn't have a P+K+HS macro, but it does have P+K+S+HS. The interesting thing about this macro (and GG's other in-game macros) is that it won't input a button for the macro if you're already holding it separately. Thus, if you happen to be holding S (for example, after you input KJT) and hit the "IK mode" macro, the macro will input P+K+HS, which FRCs the transport (provided you time it correctly, of course.) Also, if miss the FRC this way it won't cause you to prematurely trigger KJ as a result either.

They must be hella busy developing Xrd already