4 posts tagged “vanguard princess”

Official art is officially impressive (and incredibly well done)

...It wasn't too bad.  It's a bit awkward at first for us since we didn't know how to use the loli support character that well, but after a few matches into the night we were picking it up pretty easily.  Combos are still a bit of mystery to us, so alot of our time was spent trying to out footsie the other.

I did pick up a few bits of strategy while playing, and it seems the most beginner-friendly assist is the mecha-loli しえら (Shiera).  Forward and D fires a full screen gunshot 4 times, which helps getting in and limiting the other person's movement.  Down and D is your "smart bomb" attack -- if you crossover your opponent, you can trick them into guarding the wrong direction. 

There's lots of strategies for the other assist characters...I'm sure with a bit of creativity and fortitude you can find some pretty amazing setups as well.

As far as tiers:

In my opinion, after seeing what most characters are capable of (and depending on which assist you're using), I'd say the tiers would go something like this:

A Tier: Yui, Eri
B Tier: Saki, Lilith, Ayane, Kaede, Haruka, Natalie
C Tier:  Kurumi, Luna

Yuri and Eri are just waaaaay too good...refer to the match video down below. 

Regarding C Tier: the problem with Luna is her lack of a normal throw (she can only do it out of a stance) and lack of forward / back dashes.  People like Eri can stay in her face with no worries whatsoever, so either Luna has to make you stay out with well placed gunshots, or employ a really patient defense / turtling game. 

It's important to note that Kurumi (with Eko assist) has an easy time of charging up her meter, as well as having a redizzy infinite.  Her only problem is her lack of moves and range.

I've been looking up match videos around Nico Douga and Youtube, and I think this one (out of the handful of vids out there) is the best example of high-level play.  Note the use of redizzy infinites.

Lilith prepares to send Saki packing with her vampiric pro-wrestling moves

Doujin games typically fall into either one of two categories: either wonderfully majestic to behold, or clunky and boring.  This game on the other hand, falls into neither category.  That's right, neither, because this title totally blows anything before it completely out of the water. 

Vanguard Princess looks fairly normal when you see the title screen, but as soon as you select your character and venture into story mode, the visuals slap you in the face and shower your eyes with bright, rainbow-colored pixels that look like they were soaked in skittles sauce.  It's almost on par with BlazBlue in terms of fluidity and animation -- it's that good!

The game system itself is also a bit interesting.  At first I thought it'd play like most other doujin fighters with dial-a-combos and air-dashing (too much BlazBlue, I know) but it has none of that.  Rather, it plays more like a stylistic version of Street Fighter with Arcana Heart's partner system.  Don't bother trying to combo using the standard method, using your partner in combos is an absolute must.  Take this for example:

It looks easy, but it's much more complicated than it looks.  The results are reeeeeally worth it though, look at that damage!

Nonetheless, you can't argue with the fact that it's FREE.  It costs absolutely no money to play, despite the undeniable polish this game presents.  Zepy over at Canned Dogs reported that the game was made by ex-Capcom employee Sugeno Tomoaki, so that might be a reasonable explanation for such high quality.  It's very impressive work for just one man! 

So for you fans who can't / haven't been able to afford BlazBlue yet, here's your free hookup!

Sugeno's Blog (Official Site)
Vector Download Page (Japanese)

Here's more drool-worthy pics for your pleasure: