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Nomake Wan | Posted: Jan 1 2008, 03:59 PM |
ShiMACHaze Group: Advanced Members Posts: 19,542 Member No.: 5,394 Joined: Feb 5th 2005 Location: Drydock | Okay, I'm not sure how many of you have actually followed a little series called "Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha" and/or its subsequent sequels, but for me, it gave a whole new spin on the "magical girl" genre as a whole. It also made me look around for a fighting game, but alas, none had yet been created. Which was too bad; the spells were awesome! Well then I saw "Magical Battle Arena." The cool thing is, it's not just characters from that one series--so far, confirmed characters are also from Slayers and Card Captor Sakura. The demo version of the game was released at winter Comiket 73 yesterday, and is version 0.10 of the game with only basic play modes and two characters (Nanoha Takamachi and Lina Inverse). According to the official site, the final version of the game will have more characters (Fate Testarossa and Sakura Kinomoto confirmed, more to be added) and support for online play. The tentative release date is summer Comiket 2008. For those curious and want to peruse the Japanese site, it's here: http://fly-system.net/product/mba/index.htm For those who just want to see the game in action, here you go! https://youtube.com/watch?v=_gJ-RJ16QJY AND NOW, THE GAME HAS BEEN RELEASED! Enjoy!!!!! Magical Battle Arena v1.00 Full This post has been edited by Nomake Wan on Aug 16 2008, 02:38 AM |
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BOZZ | Posted: Jan 1 2008, 04:08 PM |
IDW Posts A Freaking LOT Member Group: Advanced Members Posts: 28,412 Member No.: 1,414 Joined: Mar 9th 2004 Location: Update Profile | This is a Doujin game, right? |
Nomake Wan | Posted: Jan 1 2008, 04:43 PM |
ShiMACHaze Group: Advanced Members Posts: 19,542 Member No.: 5,394 Joined: Feb 5th 2005 Location: Drydock | It is not an officially-produced game, no. |
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BOZZ | Posted: Jan 1 2008, 07:27 PM |
IDW Posts A Freaking LOT Member Group: Advanced Members Posts: 28,412 Member No.: 1,414 Joined: Mar 9th 2004 Location: Update Profile | Go figures, the only game featuring a huge cast from different shows would be SRW or the ACE games. |
Nomake Wan | Posted: Jan 1 2008, 08:58 PM |
ShiMACHaze Group: Advanced Members Posts: 19,542 Member No.: 5,394 Joined: Feb 5th 2005 Location: Drydock | Being a doujin game doesn't make it any less win though. Sure, the VAs in the game aren't the ones in the shows. But they're close. And you can add your own BGMs at least (without hacking). Wouldn't be surprised if someone figured out a way to open the main sound file and splice in stuff from the shows. EDIT: Speaking of putting in one's own BGMs, I converted "The Grimoire for Alice" to WAV format and put it in as a custom BGM... it works so well!! This post has been edited by Nomake Wan on Jan 1 2008, 09:10 PM |
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Stargate | Posted: Jan 1 2008, 09:09 PM |
Night Life @ Roppongi ★Gate Group: Advanced Members Posts: 1,570 Member No.: 24,315 Joined: May 6th 2007 Location: Brampton | Sounds like the Lina Dragon Slave, Fireball, Gaav Flare are just straight ripped from the anime though. |
Nomake Wan | Posted: Jan 1 2008, 09:11 PM | ||
ShiMACHaze Group: Advanced Members Posts: 19,542 Member No.: 5,394 Joined: Feb 5th 2005 Location: Drydock |
Same with Nanoha's attacks. Like I said, the voices are damn close. My only complaint so far is that Raising Heart's voice is too soft, but this is only version 0.10 of the program so. | ||
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Stargate | Posted: Jan 1 2008, 09:17 PM |
Night Life @ Roppongi ★Gate Group: Advanced Members Posts: 1,570 Member No.: 24,315 Joined: May 6th 2007 Location: Brampton | Iam sure it'll be fine. The game does look cool. I remember hearing about it previously but let it slip off the radar. Can't wait to try that. |
brian mayhem | Posted: Jan 1 2008, 09:30 PM |
IDW Goldmember Group: Advanced Members Posts: 4,294 Member No.: 13,958 Joined: Oct 22nd 2005 Location: Binghamton, New York | Epic gameplay footage. Looks like this is going to be a hit. @Nomake: How exactly did you come about the existence/information of the game? Google? This post has been edited by GC8Vdrifter on Jan 1 2008, 09:31 PM |
InitialDRulz | Posted: Jan 1 2008, 10:00 PM |
Over One Billion Double Penetrations Group: Advanced Members Posts: 3,721 Member No.: 2,912 Joined: Sep 2nd 2004 Location: Update Profile | Just test drived version 0.10 after meddling with my PC a bit I managed to run it on my Pentium III, so there shouldn't be a worry. Pentium III 866mhz/512ram/GeForce4 mx440 Run: 100% perfect, no lag, even with Trillian and Windows Live running. Alright. Lets cut to the chase Graphics: still a demo, feels like the graphics of DragonBall Z Budokai 2-3ish?. Anyways, to need to run those 3D graphics on a shitbox graphic card, and it runs? thats pretty good Rating: 9/10 Gameplay: Love the techniques, however controlling them is hard on the controller. yes, its like an arcade ported to a PC. However, if you have used programs to play MAME/CPS2/CPS1 games onto the keyboard. then you shouldn't have any problems. Like Little Fighter 2 style buttons. The Beams and stuff are sick ass. I WAS ROFLING MYSELF when i won the CPU lvl1 1v1 match. BUT I GOT MY ASS PWNED on a Free for all 1v1v1v1 on CPU lvl1 xD Rating: 9/10 (could have made the button style easier) What does it feel like: EPIC MIXED WITH AWESOME Problems: there was a problem that took me and Nomake Wan 30 minutes to decode what was the problem. Turned out that you need .NET Framework 2.0 to actually run this game. after i installed .NET. HERE WE GO!!!! Theres also another bug where you get an error and then it closes by itself while on first boot for me. but then it disappeared. Favourite Snapshot while playing: its been paused so yeah thats why the box was in the middle Download: Sendspace Note: This demo is 32mb download, 102mb extraction. It is compressed with .lzh compression. To extract it. you need WinRAR or any extractor that can extract .lzh (again, WinRAR) One thing i would like to mention that you need .NET Framework 2.0 in order to run it, or else you will get (0xc0000135) error. Follow these instructions 1. Download and extract 2. change the folder name from MBA-gibberish- to MBA 3. Click on MBA.exe 4. PLAY! This post has been edited by InitialDRulz on Jan 2 2008, 12:48 AM |
Nomake Wan | Posted: Jan 2 2008, 01:33 AM |
ShiMACHaze Group: Advanced Members Posts: 19,542 Member No.: 5,394 Joined: Feb 5th 2005 Location: Drydock | I'm pretty sure your error is because you're running MBA without AppLocale or setting your Non-Unicode Language to Japanese (considering the title bar of the program isn't Japanese in your screenshot). To anyone with a non-Japanese system wanting to play: While IDR's instructions will allow you to play the game, you may get random error messages. These can be avoided by either using Microsoft's AppLocale utility to open the program in Japanese mode, or by setting your system's non-unicode language to Japanese. But since IDR is playing the game right now, these aren't really necessary unless you get annoyed by error messages. GC8VDrifter: I actually saw the game listed on Tokyotosho and thought, "Magical Battle Arena? I wonder if it's a Nanoha fighting game." Then I googled it and was like OMFG! So I guess I should review the game too? Kay. Firstly, it takes very little hardware to run the demo. Refreshing considering most games nowadays push hardware to the limit. But that's not to say the graphics or gameplay suffer--they really don't. It's just nice to see a well-developed game use so little resources. Maybe current modern game developers could learn a few things from Fly-System? Anyway, if for some reason you're using a computer with even less hardware than IDR has, there is in fact an option in the Options menu to decrease CPU usage (at the cost of loading times). Neither IDR nor I have had to enable it. So, let's get right down into the thick of it! Graphics Really, it's a 3D Magical Girl fighting game. You kinda have to expect it to be decent. And it is; my only complaint is that the current version of the game only supports a maximum resolution of 1024x768 and is not optimized for antialiasing or image filtering or even vertical sync. If the final game comes packaged with these optimizations, it's going to improve my opinion of the graphics by a tremendous amount. In conclusion, the graphics are perfectly playable but suffer from jagged edges and lacking vertical sync. ~7/10~ Sound For a demo, it sure does have great effects. All the sound effects sound very similar to their respective TV series, the music is orchestrated quite well, and the voices of the characters are realistic and clear. You may want to adjust the volume level of the music a bit, though, because at the moment the characters voices are sometimes drowned out by it. A plus is that you can create a folder named "BGM" in the main game directory and place any WAV-format music you like in there as long as it follows the naming scheme "bgm0#.wav" where '#' is a number from 1-9. Currently I have "The Grimoire for Alice" by Dobu Usagi as a custom BGM and it fits very well. Big thumbs up here, no complaints aside from the high default volume settings. ~9/10~ Modes The demo allows you to play 1P/2P versus with up to four players (two of which must be computers, if playing with four players), or enter training mode to practice your abilities. It's pretty limited, but Fly-System has already stated on their website that the final version of the game will include support for online play. However, the versus mode itself is split into two modes; Battle Royale, which is your traditional one-kill-you're-out fight, and Point Battle where you are revived until your points run out. My score represents the future addition of online play; ~10/10~ Characters This is where the game really shines through. While the demo only contains two characters (Nanoha Takamachi [Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's] and Lina Inverse [Slayers]), the future game will have at least six (Fate Testarossa [Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's], Sakura Kinomoto [Card Captor Sakura] and two as-yet unannounced characters), but could have more. If the two characters in the demo are any indication, then it's truly the faithfulness to the characters that makes the game. Both Nanoha and Lina are incredibly detailed and retain all of their signature moves, complete with voice. While the voice actresses are not the originals (to be expected, since the game is not official), they are incredibly close. I can't give the game enough praise for this. ~10/10~ Controls I'm using an Xbox 360 controller, which the game automatically detected and mapped buttons to. I did end up changing the buttons, but the defaults actually worked very well (with the exception of 'start' and 'select' being 'fly up' and 'fly down'). When you first pick up the game, it's a bit tricky to figure out what controls do what and what combination of buttons performs which technique. But once you have the basics down, you can usually do pretty well. Since the controls don't constantly frustrate me, this gets a good score. ~9/10~ Gameplay For a demo, the gameplay is quite fast-paced and smooth. There are no graphical glitches at all, it's just smooth smooth smooth (well, FPS wise anyway). The nice thing (frustrating for some, I'm sure) is that unless you're performing an ultimate attack, any technique you attempt to perform can be countered and/or cancelled. So if I'm playing Nanoha and decide to charge a Divine Buster, then Lina can just shoot me with a Flare Arrow and cancel the charge (which also reduces my special meter to 0!). Lots of games tend to have a "specials can't be cancelled" philosophy; it's nice to see this one doesn't. As for ultimate attacks, while their charge phase cannot be cancelled, their attack phase can be dodged or blocked. So again, adding weaknesses to what could've been some very broken techniques. My big complaint right now is that the melee system is too basic; you get two combos (normal and super, more on that later) and two "knock away" attacks. Getting in melee range is hard enough, but the current melee system makes it difficult to land anything. Once you do, though, it's pretty easy to keep up. I've had a 29 Combo before. The other issue I had is that you cannot land anywhere; characters are constantly in flight. While I understand the reasoning in some levels, in others it makes more sense to be able to land and walk around. Anyway, each character has three special techniques, two ultimates, a magic shield, and some sort of powerup technique. It's not too hard to pull anything off, but it takes just enough time that you need strategy to perform anything particularly special without completely wasting your magical powers. All in all, a very solid game engine with a few rough edges. ~8/10~ Final Thoughts It's entirely obvious to me that this game is going to be a thing of beauty when it's finally finished this summer. I'd advise anyone who has been secretly harboring wishes for a magical girl fighting game to just hurry up and nab the demo, try it out, and then get a copy of the game upon release. Just makes me wish I were in Japan so I could pick it up at Comiket and be the first to play! Final Score: ~8.8/10~ This post has been edited by Nomake Wan on Jan 2 2008, 03:43 AM |
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InitialDRulz | Posted: Jan 2 2008, 02:27 AM |
Over One Billion Double Penetrations Group: Advanced Members Posts: 3,721 Member No.: 2,912 Joined: Sep 2nd 2004 Location: Update Profile | Currently getting buttraped at CPU Level 2 now. its hacks man, when you get flipped. Thats it, you'll be stuck there for like 10 seconds >.< Anyways, i've found out that The error only occurs in 2 areas 1. When you boot up the game. You might get a 1st error saying something. But then you get a 2nd error which leads you out of the game 2. When you goto restart, an error might pop up, when you click ok, you might think, oh its still working, nope, you get an error from Windows saying MBA.exe must close ---- I would like to mention that if you like button bashing games, this is the perfect game for you ------------- I would also like to note that i'm hooked on this game ever since this morning xD |
Nomake Wan | Posted: Jan 2 2008, 03:43 AM |
ShiMACHaze Group: Advanced Members Posts: 19,542 Member No.: 5,394 Joined: Feb 5th 2005 Location: Drydock | Character Breakdown Okay, this is where I get to show off each of the demo's two characters. I'll split them into their own sections and fill each with pretty-pretty pictures! First of all, I think I should give a quick rundown of the controls, eh? You have 9 buttons, which can all be changed for both 1P and 2P from the options menu. The buttons here are in the order they appear in said options menu. Button 1: Melee Attack Button 2: Ranged Attack/OK Button 3: Guard/Cancel Button 4: Dash Button 5: Powerup Button 6: Switch Targets (for 3P/4P mode) Button 7: Fly Up Button 8: Fly Down Button 9: Pause Menu Universal Techniques:
This post has been edited by Nomake Wan on Jan 2 2008, 04:50 AM |
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hngrY | Posted: Jan 2 2008, 03:45 AM |
kawaii-ness? :o Group: Advanced Members Posts: 1,348 Member No.: 17,471 Joined: Apr 26th 2006 Location: Melbourne, Australia | And now you got me hooked you slut xD Post directed @IDRULZDUNG btw. This post has been edited by hngrY on Jan 2 2008, 03:49 AM |
Nomake Wan | Posted: Jan 2 2008, 04:45 AM |
ShiMACHaze Group: Advanced Members Posts: 19,542 Member No.: 5,394 Joined: Feb 5th 2005 Location: Drydock | Finally finished the move list two posts up. Whew! |
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brian mayhem | Posted: Jan 2 2008, 09:39 AM |
IDW Goldmember Group: Advanced Members Posts: 4,294 Member No.: 13,958 Joined: Oct 22nd 2005 Location: Binghamton, New York | Question. Any thoughts on what PC USB controller is best/suffice for MBA? I was thinking a logitech controller that I saw at my Target store, but I am open to suggestions. EDIT: Logitech Dual Action Gamepad This post has been edited by GC8Vdrifter on Jan 2 2008, 09:44 AM |
Spike Razzor | Posted: Jan 2 2008, 11:19 AM |
The lazy racer, getting faster with less effort. Group: Advanced Members Posts: 969 Member No.: 24,227 Joined: Apr 29th 2007 Location: Mississauga, Ontario | Hmmm, looks interesting, I might consider playing. Wonder where Fragger is? Hes a lurker, but he should of locked onto a topic that had anything to do with CLAM XD. |
Nomake Wan | Posted: Jan 2 2008, 04:12 PM | ||
ShiMACHaze Group: Advanced Members Posts: 19,542 Member No.: 5,394 Joined: Feb 5th 2005 Location: Drydock |
Any controller with a thumbstick and 9 buttons will do fine. Keep in mind, however, that 8 out of those 9 buttons must be within easy reach while playing. The 9th button is the "pause/menu" button so it doesn't count. | ||
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HashiriyaR32 | Posted: Jan 2 2008, 10:21 PM |
Unlimited Request Works Group: Advanced Members Posts: 1,468 Member No.: 18,031 Joined: May 27th 2006 Location: Toronto, Canada | I thought Nanoha's Rasing Heart was the original, until I spotted the detachable box magazine. |
Stargate | Posted: Jan 2 2008, 10:55 PM |
Night Life @ Roppongi ★Gate Group: Advanced Members Posts: 1,570 Member No.: 24,315 Joined: May 6th 2007 Location: Brampton | At least its not the Giga Slave the one that summons the lord of chaos herself. Ranuga Blade is relatively "Safe" to cast compared to that. At least she doesn't have danger or destroying the planet. Man this game is going to be sweet! I hope they add some more Slayers women in the mix.. Amelia would be a great touch.. To bad Val Gaav is a guy otherwise he'd be a even better touch. |
xiao | Posted: Jan 3 2008, 03:43 PM | ||
moon bunny Group: XIAO Posts: 5,735 Member No.: 13,323 Joined: Oct 4th 2005 Location: Update Profile |
Epic review is epic. If I was the editor in chief of a doujin game magazine, I'd hire you in a raising heartbeat. I totally concur with your thoughts on too much flight, not enough landing/jumping. On to pressing matters... anyone want to take a stab at who the two unannounced characters are? My guess -- Touhou's Reimu and Marisa. My wish -- Yuki Nagato and Dokuro Chan~ *crosses fingers* | ||
Nomake Wan | Posted: Jan 3 2008, 11:34 PM |
ShiMACHaze Group: Advanced Members Posts: 19,542 Member No.: 5,394 Joined: Feb 5th 2005 Location: Drydock | Dokuro doesn't have enough abilities, not to mention so far the game doesn't support blood... which would be an absolute requirment were Dokuro included as a playable character! A Touhou character is a very good guess, however. That might actually turn out to be true, considering how popular Touhou is over there. Yuki Nagato might work, but on the other hand, wouldn't it fit the theme of the game more if Battle Maid Waitress Mikuru were a playable character? Mi...Mi...Mikuru BEAAAAAAM! At first I thought that Li Syaoran would be one of the mystery characters, but he's a guy and the intro to the game clearly states that the game is a "Fast-paced Magical Girl Action Game." So guys are out. So I'm not sure. Whoever it is, I'm sure they'll be great! Who am I rooting for, though? Well I know that there are already two Nanoha characters, but... Vita. I mean, come on. Someone, agree with me here! |
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xiao | Posted: Jan 4 2008, 12:24 AM |
moon bunny Group: XIAO Posts: 5,735 Member No.: 13,323 Joined: Oct 4th 2005 Location: Update Profile | I was thinking of Yuki in her witch outfit, but a maid clad Mikuru beam sounds just as good. :3 And Vita, now that would just complete the trifecta of awesome weapons. |
bROCKoLEE | Posted: Jan 4 2008, 02:07 AM |
whut? Group: Advanced Members Posts: 4,416 Member No.: 6,453 Joined: Apr 2nd 2005 Location: ¯\(º_o)/¯ | lol, after having watched StrikerS, i must say that Vita has got to be the most toughest loli I've ever seen lol I take it that it's going to be a PC only game then? |
Nomake Wan | Posted: Jan 4 2008, 03:23 AM | ||
ShiMACHaze Group: Advanced Members Posts: 19,542 Member No.: 5,394 Joined: Feb 5th 2005 Location: Drydock |
Yep, PC only. Doesn't look like they really have the resources to port it anywhere else. | ||
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