Megaupload: App + Media (update) + Extra + Fanmade (update)
Sendspace: App + Media (update) + Extra + Fanmade (update)
Added the recent QBR Izumi (by a hair's breadth, really), based on LW's Gildersleve but with a special arrow instead of spells, and thanks to Okami31, not only Zero Suit Samus:
But also Katt:
Also, the What is QB? was updated with the recently announced Rebellion character, the Marshland Witch herself.
Coming next: Zelda-Sheik, and Morrigan. And in a matter of days, a new Illustrated Story.
Oh man! You managed to make three characters during holidays! Awesome!!! Thanks for taking time to entertain us and feliz 2012!
ReplyDeleteHaven't played yet, but it's amazing what you did with Katt with such small amount of pics...are you going to do armored Samus later on?
ReplyDeleteAlso, give me 3 more choices!
Happy new year everyone!
ReplyDeleteFirstly: Holy ****! You guys certainly didn't twiddle your thumbs doing nothing since last time I've been here! That's a HUGE amount of new characters, I'm just amazed! Well done guys :)
I've had to spend some time in the hospital (I'm mostly okay now though), had a business trip, a work overload due to both those things and throughout all that my attention got caught in some shiny new (and one old) games, so... Sorry I've been away for so long!
I did have a partially completed Cassandra: I'll post her when I complete her if she's different enough from your version from a gameplay perspective (Since the pics would be the same), but no ETA on that or on any character for now since my todo list is already way too full with other stuff to make promises again...
I haven't got the chance to try any of the new characters yet (currently downloading) but I'll be sure to do my usual reviews and analysis when I'll get the chance to!
Looking foward to read all the translated material too. :) You mentionned that you tried to pay someone to translate one of the mini-books but that it was too expensive: How expensive was it out of curiosity? I have a little something that I'm considering having translated but having at least an idea of the cost beforehand could be useful!
Thanks a lot for all the hard work guys, really looking foward to giving it a spin! :)
Glad to see you back around, ayra!
ReplyDelete@Okami31: Thanks! Getting out a complete Katt was rather hard, and I've yet to play any Breath of Fire game, too ^^U
ReplyDeleteAnd sure, classic Samus Aran is coming.
@ayra: Welcome back, it's been some time! I can't wait to hear your opinions on the recent chars, but don't go and overdo yourself now.
I tried to commission Saha to get the best translation possible for Vanquished Queens, but since it was rather wordy, the guy told me it'd be like 18-20$ per page... so yeah, kinda pricy. If you're going for a normal manga, it should cost less.
Ah, forgot it's about that time with the choices. So, I'll repeat Athena Asamiya, and, let me think... maybe:
ReplyDelete-Nakoruru (even though there are Samurai Shodown chars already, she should already be here)
-Juli & Juni (dunno if those two are that popular, but if the things get rough, the other Dolls may fill in for some attacks)
I'll give Athena a try...never been a big KOF fan though I purchased some of the games to try them out...I do like some characters but many I find quite derivative...they could never overcome the shadow of Street Fighter...
ReplyDeleteI'll choose my own pick latah...got games to play! mwahhaha (Skyrim is eating my free time!)
I'm not going to name any characters personally since A) I didn't fullfil my end of the bargain and B) You guys already did the majority of them :)
ReplyDeleteI got to play one game or two with all the new characters, except for three that I got a little more time to analyze. As for why those three were picked, well... I have the game on a USB key and the character ordering is all messed up with most of the new characters being near the end (but not all) mixed with some regular ones, so I just decided to start from the back and go backward. Katt would have been my first pick to inspect if I went by preference :) She seemed pretty good though, and regular Saber looked amazing at first glance.
I do have a few quick remarks and questions about the ones I only played a tiny bit with though...
Cassandra: How does the Unblockable work exactly? Description says that "The Unblockable is vulnerable to block", so I'm not sure what it's use is :)
Komachi: Played two matches with her and I got some weird things happening both matches, like ending up in a Duck page while picking one of the super move and stuff like that. I might have mistook my actions, but I'm leaning toward the character having some bug... I'll get back to you once I get to play her more with a list of bugs (if any).
Izumi: I'm not sure how the "stat boosting" trumpet work exactly.
Anyway, more indepth reviews time!
Zero Suit Samus: Really good! Mostly consistent image set, average defenses, average offense, good jump bonuses. The paralyzer is pretty incredible: Multiple safe attacks with a 2 turn disable is just awesome. Not enough to put her in top tier, but she's definitively on the stronger side of characters simply due to that move.
Valkyries: Lovely 'refined' image set overall, it's a nice constrast from the usual. High BP but average/low-ish defense (beside Block), low offense, good jump bonuses, amazing conditionless +2 BP heal. Gather Souls / Summon Fenrir are near useless though. Gather Souls is on a low-hit move, seems to have a low completion rate, and on top of that Fenrir forces you to jump on the following turn. It's far too much trouble for a +5 move: Maybe if Gather Souls worked even on a miss it'd be more valuable. Power-wise I'd put them as average-to-good depending on how much you abuse the healing move. The character certainly works fine and is competitive, but I can't help but feel that there's a little something missing to make them exciting to play.
Taki (official): Awesome artwork, does Taki justice. Low BP but excellent defenses (Offhand, I think it's the lowest score pages after Mirim, Echidna and Annelotte), really bad jump bonuses, has a +4 on-demand attack and generally high offense, an extremely favorable matrix (Based on around 20 matches, she seems to get hit very rarely) and the borderline overpowered Stalker stance. Stalker comes from move 22 and 38 which are both good, safe moves, has +0 itself and has a +2 bonus to everything next turn, bringing her with 7 moves at +4 or better. The only things holding her back are a bad block (-2) and a really bad long-range fighting capabilities: If it weren't for that, she'd go right into top tier. Due to those flaws though, "really good" is the best I can give her.
Offtopic: I actually bought Skyrim last month but I haven't tried it yet... I didn't enjoy Oblivion much at all though so I doubt I'll like Skyrim, but... Friend pressure plus tons of awesome comments drove me to buy it anyway, but I can't say I'm having any urge to play it right now :)
ReplyDeleteWhat I'm more looking foward to is Soul Caliber V that's comming out at the end of the month... I'm already missing Sophitia (I detest her daughter's "fighting" style) and Taki (her replacement is okay, but she's no Taki), but no way I'm missing a new Soul Caliber game. At least Hilde is still there :) Anyway, I'm buying the PS3 version, in case some of you guys are going to buy that and want to play some matches someday!
And here's the rest, I don't think I missed anyone! As always, it's all just personal opinion so take it with a grain of salt. There's occasionally a bit of negative in there, but I feel that being honest is more important than just showering praise (Even though the praise is definitively warranted here :))
ReplyDeleteSaber Alter: Seriously creepy image set all the way, pretty fitting! Gameplay-wise, she's about as no-frills as they come. No distruption skills, no special boosts, no special effect, no healing of any kind. She has one purpose: Smack people in the head and she does that purpose well. High damage on most skills at both long range and short range (including a base +4 and a 3+3 with no drawbacks) and 20 BP, though they don't last as long as expected due to attrocious defense. She crushes most opponents in a few turns with no problems but she has difficulty against "controller-types" characters (Low-damage hits that control the enemy is deadly against her since they will still deal significant damage to her due to her attrocious defenses while preventing her from fighting back). She's obviously very strong in most fights (Marvel-level definitively) but I can't place her at the top of the "regular" characters due to lack of defense and flexibility.
Psylocke: Really pretty artwork: It's certainly nice when a character is popular and that there's so much choice to pick. Tiny bug: If you do Psy-Blast at extended range and that doing so closes to close-range, she's still able to use Supers, unlike what's stated on the page. High BP, average defenses, very low damage, bad jump bonuses but decent buff move. Her Ninjutsu skill is interesting, but I don't see it being that useful. The thing is, her long-range game is mediocre and she has no bonuses on Behind You. I know that a few characters have similar 'bad' skills (1-turn disable with no damage) and that they don't have the "far" option, but generally speaking those moves have some redeeming value. For example, Kasumi's is on Blue instead of Orange (Orange is the most commonly blocked option, and Blue moves in general are poorer/less safe so it's a good option to use when forced to use blue), and she can use it when knocked down. Junko's is also on blue and her matrix is set so that she's nearly impossible to hit while doing it (If I remember well, there's only 2 move numbers that result her in being hit, and those are minor hits). She also has a version on Red that actually deals damage (at +1). So I feel that Psylocke's version might be worse than the other existing ones, even with the "Teleport Far" option. Overall, I'd say she'd make a decent QB-level character (Due to BPs mainly), but for a Marvel one she feels very weak.
Izumi: Artwork's a bit less loli than I expected, so that's good! The character itself... Well, 16 bp and average defense is good. Buffing moves is also fun. The arrow is super-swell. Problem is... She has three buff moves that do the same thing (plus one at l.range), and two arrow moves (plus one) that cannot be used after being landed twice. The result is that her actual damage-oriented moveset is absolutely tiny, especially with -1 thrusts, low dodge bonuses and a 0 damage block move. To deal any real damage, she has to Trumpet Shell multiple times which sets her behind. Relatively weak character overall (High BP and arrow saves her from Leina-tier), though the art's okay and the arrow is fun.
ReplyDeleteEmma: Whoa, that's some eye-popping artwork! There's some bugs with the character: I've had a Duck page after using Psionic Fury and Toughness always seems to Psychic Bedlam Low instead. I got to say that she's pretty unique and got some swell moves. Paralysis is possibly the best move in the entire game. Terror's great against the right opponent. On the other hand, Seduction doesn't impress me much (Ultra low damage move that only boost head damage by 1 when she has no moves with high chance to hit head) and Diamond Skin doesn't seem to be very useful since she has no "dangerous must-land" moves that requires the protection. Maybe the move would be more useful is it was Green instead? Either way, due to low-ish damage and extremely low BP combined with meh defense, she'd get squished against regular Marvel characters (Bar Paralysis), but for a QB character she fits right in and she's pretty unique and fun. She'll be one of the very few Marvel that'll go on my "character I play" list.
Katt: I'm a HUGE Katt fan so I expected to be disapointed a bit... And I'm not at all! It's really fitting and that was a great usage of the few available pictures. Plus, having Nina in makes sense considering that Katt and Nina are quite close throughout the entire game. I'm amazed you came up with that without having played the game :) In-game Katt has insane speed (She has over twice the speed of the closest party member), extremely high damage, is one of the only 2 characters that can counter-attack and has utterly horrible HP and defense. To be "accurate", her QB damage would be higher and her BP would be lower, but it would make for very boring fights (I kill you in 2 hits or you kill me in 1) so I approve the way it is right now. Low BP, low defense, meh jump bonuses and no utility moves beside a 1 turn buff but she has high base damage alongside with a huge list of good damage attacks (good for mind games). Overall, I'd rank her as slightly-under-average strength-wise, but I feel it's a pretty fitting rendition of the character and I definitively enjoy her. Oh, Dare's pretty useless but I don't mind since it was as useless (or even detrimental) in the game :)
Cassandra: Tiny note: Leg Wound's picture is actually of Sophitia's daughter. I like the artwork in general beside the one for downswing: It feels very much off, but if there's no alternatives, nothing to do there :) Cassandra's extremely similar to Leina: They have the same damages all across the board at close range, the same BP and the same bonuses. Cassandra does an edge offensively due to Angel's Exile and Angelic Twirl (Leina got nothing to compensate that) and has less defense (Her score pages are 1 higher than Leina all across the board). What keeps Cassandra better than Leina is the fact that her shield cannot be destroyed and has an heal instead. Being "Slightly better than Leina" means "Weaker than average". She's functional but pretty generic, and she doesn't have anything that would put her into my regularly played list. Do note I still haven't managed to find out what the unblockable does, if anything (I only managed to land it a single time for nothing special).
ReplyDeleteSaber: Definitively my favorite from the new characters, although quite possibly overpowered :) Beautiful artwork all around: There's only two that feels a bit out of place, which is simply awesome for a fan-made character. High BP with extremely good defenses (Tied in second place with Echidna after Mirim) with the only flaw being a bad block, good base damage with good jump bonuses, an awesome buff-and-attack, a resource system (a plus in my book, opinion varries) and a potentially amazing heal which is a rarity with characters that also have an heal at extended range. She plays well, has resources to keep track of, and has multiple viable options during a match. Extremely fun, but definitively stronger than every QB-QG character except MAYBE the very top. I'd actually pick her as the favorite against any of the Marvel characters, and in my opinion this regular Saber would absolutely demolish the Saber Alter in a match (Not sure if it's intended :))
Komachi: Definitively pretty artwork, unique and fun character but she has one big flaw: She has no Thrust or Thrust-like abilities. In other words, she can't prevent an enemy from doing Away and deal damage (Her "thrusts" will only keep the status quo) and she either has only 1-shot buffs or doesn't have the move slots that work like thrusts. By the same token she can't really counter some enemy moves due to her extremely limited moveset. If instead of Hook Shield and Hook Leg she had even just a +0 regular thrusts, then she'd insantly be a much more viable (If the Hook Shield and Hook Leg are really wanted even though most shield characters are in fact immune to hook shield, they could always be moved to some of the unused slots). It might not be a huge issue against the CPU, but that one flaw makes her near unusable in multiplayer (For example, if the Komachi player uses the 1-shot super buff Short Life Expectancy, then the other player only has to do Away and be 100% safe). Beside that, she's actually quite fun and the "1-shot big moves" thing is pretty original. I didn't actually encounter any bugs so I might have been dreaming it... I'll make a post if I ever do find one!
Whoa, that was fast :D
ReplyDeleteI'm glad Saber and Saber Alter feel different enough, as I seem to have managed to portray them quite faithfully (skillful knight vs wild berserker). I can't tell if Saber would beat the other one easily, though...
Nice to hear Katt resembles the BOF counterpart, though technically, using Nina was Okami's idea.
As for the bugs:
-You're right about Cassandra's Unblockable, as a slow move that breaks shields, it should obviously belong to the 36 slot, my bad (didn't notice the Leg Wound page not being her, either ^^U)
-You didn't dream about Komachi, it's the same bug as Emma: as it turns out, some characters can duck when doing the 46 move, and it seems I didn't correct that one.
-For Psylocke's Psy-Blast, nice spotting (it seems the "extended/not extended" magic wasn't perfect after all). As for the Ninjitsu, I thought it'd be safer than Junko's and Kasumi's... but it actually isn't. Since she has all moves but the 36 ones, switching 2 might be too much of a hassle, so if it doesn't hurt her much, I'd rather she stay that way.
-About the Valkyries, yep, Fenrir limiting your moves so much might be overkill, maybe it's good enough if it only limits one color, or even none at all?
And just for the off-topic bit, Skyrim doesn't really call out to me, but the new Resident Evil sure does :D
I was thinking in some good ideas for fan gamebooks:
ReplyDeleteFemales:
- Revy (Black Lagoon): Well, she's powerful and faster in her series, and she could fit here.
- Lina Inverse (Slayers): Why nobody already thought about including her on this?
- Athena Asamiya (KOF): Ditto
- Cecily Cambell (The Sacred Blacksmith): Her gameplay could resemble a lot like Leina, IMO.
Males:
- Kenshiro (Fist of the North Star): He could be very powerful, but with short-ranged attacks.
- Seiya (Saint Seiya): Similar to Kenshiro, but with long-range attacks instead.
- Maybe any Saiyan from the Dragon Ball Z series, but it could be overkill :)
- Solid Snake (Metal Gear Solid): Same as Seiya, but with modern weapons like Bazookas, guns, etc.
Those are some of my ideas, don't take it so seriously. :)
I'm not a fan of Metal Gear, but I admit that a Solid Snake moveset would have a lot of possibilities! I don't really know the others on the list (I know how some of them look, but I haven't watched any episode of their show so that's all I know) so I won't comment on those.
ReplyDeleteNah, it's not a must to change Psylocke's Ninjutsu. She's usable without it, and she's hardly the first character with a mostly useless move in her list :)
Considering that you have to land a hard-to-land move before Fenrir, I think the Fenrir cast shouldn't have any restrictions... But as with Psylocke, it's not gamebreaking.
I sort of read Vanquished Queens... Sort of being the biggest keyword. I read the introduction and was a bit wary of what was going to be inside. I read Tomoe's and Irma's pages with some displeasure, but after that I flipped to Nowa's... I read the page, closed the picture viewer, and deleted the folder right after. That's just... no. That's just too dark and evil. That was a situation far too realistic and horrible for me to ever want to read about and I don't dare to read anything else from that book out of fear of encountering something even worse. The artwork is pretty and I do like most Queen's Blade texts (Like the illustrated stories), but this... Just no.
I honestly really do appreciate the translations you make even though I'm personally not able to enjoy all of them :)
Solid Snake would be awesome indeed, and Lina Inverse is a good suggestion as well.
ReplyDeleteAbout VQ, yeah, some of the situations are rather off-putting... more like, practically most of them except for Leina ^^U.
But I think it's just supposed to be a "low point" in their lives, tragedies that most of them have already overcome... though it's not like they add a lot to the plot, so yeah, you don't need to force yourself to read VQ.
Oh, and I think you forgot Storm, Spidey and the alternate Ivy in your reviews :)
Not many pictures of Athena, which doesn't surprise me because of KOF's cult/niche fighting game status plus the sheer amount of characters they have...to compensate I searched for Princess Athena (her ancestor) pics too...
ReplyDeleteI don't know Athena's attacks so I'll leave that entirely to you...(I never picked her...sorry)...
http://www.4shared.com/rar/LFiQUmP7/Athena.html
My next characters are Maya and Meena from Dragon Quest...a dancer and a fortune teller/cleric...
ReplyDeleteAh, good work with Athena Asamiya, you actually got most of her moves!
ReplyDeleteIt's kinda weird that there aren't many pics, I think she's actually appeared in more SNK games than even Mai, maybe she's just more famous in Japan. But now you got me wondering if there's enough images to get the original Athena as well, as she appeared on SvC chaos and Neo Geo Battle Coliseum...
Don't know much about Dragon Quest, but I do know those sisters... just no Puff Puff, lol.