JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle

Onyyx

[13] Hero
In a couple of weeks, the international release of the most stylish fighting game around will happen, and I was wondering if anyone here was interested in discussing it at all, or even if anyone had imported the Japanese version. The demo's out for download right now, so if you are interested go ahead and get that.

One thing I've heard a lot of people complaining about is that it isn't "competitive", but I don't see why it even should be. It's a fanservice game first and foremost, and you really have to give credit to CC2 when it's their first attempt at a "classic" 2D fighter. There's no doubt that as a JoJo game, it's absolutely perfect.

Another gripe I've heard is about the name changes, but I honestly don't know what people expected. JoJo's never had much of an international release, mostly because of the legal issues of all the prog rock names and such used. This shows that they're still interested in giving the international audience a chance, and we can't ask for more than that.


To stave everyone off in the meantime, there's also the HD re-release of Heritage of the Future on PSN and Xbox Live. It's not an arcade-perfect port, but it is fun with friends. Of course, you could just play the original on GGPO.
 
Hmmm. I think those that have played the game long enough would argue that the game is VERY competitive (although, probably not quite as deep as other fighting games) with a surprisingly balanced roster. There are a few characters that are considered the ‘best’, but almost the entire cast is not very far behind them all.

The thing is, while it was mentioned to be a ‘JOJO game first and foremost’, the reaction to that was poor and CC2 have been thankfully open to criticism and have patched the game accordingly.

Some things to consider:

Despite the game being toted as fan-service and ‘easy’, it’s not really beginner friendly. In fact, it seems to go through the reverse cycle of how fighting games normally play out for most people.

Usually it’s: 1) Okay controls seem responsive, I can move around, and press buttons. 2)I can beast the CPU/My friends handily. 3)Pfft. What so special about these tournament matches? I can do that. 4)Go to tournament/play online… Oh. 5) Either re-evaluate yourself/learn or get frustrated/drop the game.

This game it’s 1)WTF!? 2)This game is crap. 3) Watch a vid of people who know what they’re doing “How the hell are the doing that? Are we playing the same game?” 4)I kind of want to play the game again. 5)Oh, okay, I’m getting used to it. The game’s not bad. 6)The game is pretty fun.

This is my experience with the demo and seems to be the same for a few others. I was looking forward to the game because of watching match videos, but considered cancelling my pre-order when I got the demo. The more I play it, though, the more I like it.

I strongly urge everyone to play the demo for an hour or two, sleep on it, play it again one or twice before deciding.

The thing with this demo, though, is that they picked some bad characters to showcase the game to new people. Jotaro, Caesar and Dio Brando are all considered specialized characters that require a lot of practice to play fluidly. Especially PB Dio. I would avoid him at first.

If you’re interested, here’s some fan-made character guides for those characters.

Jotaro: http://ls57tiger.freepgs.com/jojo/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=6661
There’s not much to him/clunky if you don’t know what you’re doing. Probably the easiest to play of the 3, though.

Caesar: http://ls57tiger.freepgs.com/jojo/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=6628
Mid-range/defensive character. Use zoning to set up traps. Not so much a combo character, but an oki/vortex guy. There’s vid showing set-ups in the link.

Dio Brando: http://ls57tiger.freepgs.com/jojo/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=6503
Range zero/rush down ONLY. Rekkas have weird timing. Can cancel almost anything into superjump. This is how you mix people up. Hit boxes are annoyingly tiny. You’ll have a hell of time closing the gap with him if inexperienced.

Also, don’t just mash square for easy-beat. Those combos are far from optimal (even inputting the same combo manually often does more damage).

Some good JOJO ASB Vids:

Kuroi_aima’s channel:
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMZdCip_8XkRHND7dsvScqw

English commentary of the IVGC French Finals: (Features Ken Bogard, Boodendorf, Baron, Spyx)
Crowwinters does an excellent job commentating.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0RAHoOmYbg
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nX3FxflP-a0
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_n9wKcJU9Hk
www.youtube.com/watch?v=v84WHOBp-uE


Good Kakyoin vs Jolyne set. Old, but good:
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm22456763
type into here: http://www.mmcafe.com/nico.html

(Notice how there isn’t as much grasshopper jumping as some other vids? Efficiency in movement is key to the neutral game).

tl:dr It's a grower. You'll have to give it time before you like it.
 
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I just got the full game this week. Having a lot of fun, but the netcode is kinda BAD. It made me go right to the store and buy some D-link homeplugs to improve my connection. A little bit better... some games teetered on playable, with one almost feeling like we were in the same room (better than what it was at least).

Anyway, if anybody wants to play, shoot me a PM.
 
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