Some other impressions from playing VF4 PS2!

After playing the VF4 PS2 for a crazy 7 hours straight (yes I am hardcore!), here are some other things that people haven't mentioned about the game:

1) The new stage, although it DOES look really nice and is a pleasant change from the other stages, has a couple irregularities. Firstly, the water is ALWAYS shimmering and moving a bit, even when both fighters aren't moving. And the water splashing when you move looks the same as when you actually fall down into it. In other words, the splashes are all the same. It woulda looked a lot better if the fall-down splashes were larger than the mere walking-around splashes.

2) The fence in Jacky's stage is CHANGED! it's a friggin chain-link fence now! Looks really cheap, compared to the arcade fence. I was disappointed.

3) The settings for KUMITE mode cannot be changed from the options. It's set at a standard 45 seconds, best 3-of-5 rounds. This makes sense, you can't change the settings & difficulty expecting to zoom through Kumite mode. /versus/images/icons/smile.gif

4) The replay options has a "CD-ROM" option; this is a collection of SAVED replays of matches between famous players! AFAIK none of these matches have been uploaded online. I would recommend everybody to watch the Kyasao vs. Chibita match, it's awesome! It's the only time i've seen Chibita be CREAMED... and be dominated by awesome Kyasao Kage play too!! Mr. Bungle will love this match.

5) When your AI character is fighting the CPU or another person, you can tell him when he's doing well or poorly, this has been reported before. But you can't just enter these cues anytime you want; you have to wait for the blue text on the little bar (as if it's asking for your encouragement or discouragement). The +GUARD, etc. displays in red and tells you that your AI has gone up in that particular skill.

6) Moving up rankings in Kumite mode wasn't exactly easy to understand. If you go undefeated for 20 wins, say, you'll be almost at Sho Dan level, and you'll get a couple of special items. But I was challenged as sho-dan by a 9th kyu player for a RANKING MATCH?! It was odd.

7) Tested the curse items by losing heavily in kumite mode... you can combine curse items with good items.

8) Gameplay wise, Vanessa's b,b+K+G causes KD now (woot!!). Aoi's TT-low punch is slower, but her b,f+P, P+G hit-throw is much easier to land now. Akira's SDE definitely seems throw counterable now, but I need to test this some more. All the other changes have been reported elsewhere i believe.

9) When you're editing your character, don't forget you can use the analog sticks to ZOOM and TWIRL the camera around your character... to examine those funky items! And although you can change the color of your character's outfit manually, there are also 6-7 preset color schemes you can pick. Some of them are extremely gaudy.

10) This game is EXTREMELY addicting when you're trying to train up your AI character, or when you're trying to progress thru Kumite mode yourself. Aiya! Plus some of the CPU characters have EXTREMELY gaudy outfits (neon green shoes, yellow pants and purple top for "Black Moon Nail" Sarah... yikes!)

 

Cheers Moby, you've answered some significant questions for me. It's great you can choose character costume colours! Could you please address three more things though.

1. Do the two extra stages appear in Arcade mode or are they training/VS mode only?
2. Is Sarah's stage now set in the daytime/with a different sky or is this just an alternative look to the stage?
3. If Sarah's stage in an alternative are there others?

 

Hey Moby, thanks for the great post! The meatiest final PS2 impressions I have yet read. How is everyone getting their's so early? I'm ordering mine from NCSX 2nd day air and they told me it wouldn't arrive until Monday....GRRRR...

 

Hey Adio, here are your answers:

1) Two extra stages? AFAICS there is only one extra stage... PALACE. And this stage is not available in arcade mode, since each stage in arcade mode is played on the CPU character's own stage. But in Versus Mode (and also in arcade mode if somebody challenges you), you can select PALACE stage. If you have your options set to "STAGE SELECT" you can select it outright.

2) Yes I forgot to mention this! Sarah's stage looks *way* brighter than in the arcade, and I could definitely classify it as daytime. The sky in between the clouds is REALLY bright, it definitely looks like the sun is behind there.

3) No it's not an alternative. /versus/images/icons/smile.gif I haven't yet seen any alternative stages yet, or any bonuses/easter eggs either...

 

Question, can you use your memory card like the vf.net card? Take it over to a friends house, and it shows your ranking?

 

1) Two extra stages? AFAICS there is only one extra stage... PALACE. And this stage is not available in arcade mode, since each stage in arcade mode is played on the CPU character's own stage. But in Versus Mode (and also in arcade mode if somebody challenges you), you can select PALACE stage. If you have your options set to "STAGE SELECT" you can select it outright.

I think he's counting the training stage -- the construction yard level.

 

Yes Shadowdean, you can use your memory card like a VF.NET card. If you plug it into the P1 slot, only P1 can use the characters on that card. P2 obviously can't access the characters on there. So this pretty much means anybody who goes to a gathering has to have their own memory card! You can't share characters on the same memory card with somebody you want to fight!

And for those curious, each character on a card takes up practically no space. We have 4 characters at near sho-dan level, and the 8 meg card was still practicall full...

 

Thank you Moby for replying.

Damn...I loved the darkness of Sarah's arcade stage, it was just like back in VF2, the lightning and everything was so nostalgic... /versus/images/icons/frown.gif

There's always a price I guess...

 

Was chatting with Myke about this via PM, but thought I'd post this on the VFDC forums as well...

ver.C Kage (based on PS2 play)

bbK+G knocks down only on MC. Doubt anything's comboable after a normal hit, although if you PPb+P, and the opponent blocks it, at least you retain initiative.

Jumonji P+K is a stomach KD on normal hit. If you hold P+K to exit Jumonji, you can DPK or d+P+KK as a guaranteed followup. (I'm sure there are better followups, but this is what I'm using for now.)

Jumonji K+G is a head KD on normal hit. I usually use Jumonji PKK to follow up.

f+K+G knocks down only at close range (ie. both feet have to hit); if so, you can follow with d+P+KK (probably DP as well)

 

awesome..!!!

 

And for those curious, each character on a card takes up practically no space. We have 4 characters at near sho-dan level, and the 8 meg card was still practicall full...

You mean "pracically empty" right?

This basically confirms one of my suspicions about VFnet... The only data that is saved is probably just a few bytes long code. Everything is in the game program, and the code keeps a running tally of your win/loss record and either turns things on or off (for accessories) or changes colors for costums. Should make it easy to hack different character appearances with a Gameshark.

I like the ability to move the camera around and zoom in/out during character edit. Is camera movement available during the replay of matches too?