| | | | 2022 "remaster" of the original 2013 PS3 Bandai Namco-published CyberConnect2 fighting game. Supposedly delay-based online play; on the Steam forum there was a thread about the online being dead, but I found a non-ranked match in like .5 seconds so who knows. 50 or 51 or something base characters, two others added free in a patch, seven more still being added via two yearly DLC character packs. |
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Speedwagon's sledgehammer special move does hit OTG ("on-the-ground"), so that guy I faced online was definitely prepared to pwn this n00b. ; ) I fall for a neutral jump every time, too! Neutral jump, combo into knockdown, OTG hit into another combo, repeat. Jeepers! I wonder why he waited until I won the first round before he busted that out. Well, it was nice quick encapsulated reminder of what online is like. ; ) At least it was pretty much instant to find a match, that was surprising. Also, for prime noobishness: I THINK my problem with activating my super was--aside from either it or probably actually my (Josuke Higashikata's) HHA being short range--that I'm so used to playing 1P vs the CPU that I'm now pretty sure I was looking at my 1P OPPONENT's super meter on the left (which was mostly at 2 charges), rather than my own 2P super meter on the right (which was mostly at 0 charges)! ; D
Such a n00b! ; DDD
And now I know that I probably could have used assists to break a few of those long combos!
Didn't go into Options here but they're pretty much the same as in the Demo version.
I'm not really into the "Arcade - Endless Battle" survival-style mode or the "Versus - Team Battle - Total points" 3-on-3 mode that's basically just three 1-on-1 battles that tally up at the end, but the regular "Arcade - Challenge Battle" Arcade-style mode and the "Versus - Team Battle - Knockout" KOF-style 3-on-3 mode seem fine, as does just random 1-on-1 "Versus - Single Battle" vs CPU--although there doesn't seem to be a way to have it do endless auto-re-randomized matches, which would have been nice. You do indeed keep your victor earnings to that point if you quit a Challenge Battle run midway through.
I kinda want to see all the stages' "Gimmicks" but I have a feeling I'll turn them off eventually so I don't have to sit through their repetitive match interruptions.
According to @ev768 on reddit -- https://www.reddit.com/r/JojoAllStarBattleR/comments/x6784h/dead_rubber/ -- the "Dead Rubber" option (default = ON) for the 3-on-3 "Team Battle - Total points" mode makes it so that you still play out the essentially meaningless third match even if you've won the first two. ("Dead rubber" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_rubber is a term from sports, not card games specifically like I'd thought!)
Not sure how much patience I'll have for wading through the arbitrary match goals in the main, All-Star Battle mode...but drat it there are costumes that only unlock through that mode!!--but the little bit I did here definitely reminded me that meeting arbitrary goals in a fighting game is really not my thing! URGH well maybe I'll see how bad the 5-star difficulty parts are.
I even got specials and supers confused, trying to figure out what the hidden goals might have been in that battle mission. o_O
I suppose ASB mode is slightly more my thing than online play, at least. ; ) ;_+ |
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"Drama from All-Star Battle Part 1 Phantom Blood"
All-Star Battle Part 1 Phantom Blood
Jonathan Joestar, Dio Brando, and Robert E. O. Speedwagon in action.
Ah yeah it says "GREAT!" at the top of the "Part" page when you've won all the battles; that switches to "PERFECT!" when you've completed all the Part's hidden missions.
In Japan, the current JoJo's volumes are coming out at the rate of one every four months. In the US, Viz is bringing out English-translated JoJo's volumes that each have twice the page count of the Japanese volumes, every two months; JJBA started in 1987 in Japan and is at 123 volumes there; Viz started this current translation in 2014 and is up to about 41 double-size volumes (still just on pre-orders for the latest ones but whatever); they're only up to the Japanese material from around 2000, but they're catching up at a pretty decent clip now.
Viz's e-book versions, which average maybe about digital 300 pages each, go for between $9.99 and $12.99 for some reason I can't quite figure out. ^ _^ For the sake of convenience if not quite accuracy, if we say a volume = $11, then it would cost about $451 for all of the ones currently on sale in English translation ( https://www.amazon.com/stores/Hirohiko%20Araki/author/B003UWBTDC/allbooks , then you gotta pick "Kindle" format), which are maybe about 12K pages out of the 25K that are out in Japanese so far ( https://in.ign.com/one-piece/193565/news/fans-are-surprised-jojos-bizarre-adventure-is-longer-than-one-piece-manga ) (I said there were maybe 5K JoJo's pages, haha, was I way off ^ D^). |
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"Lisa Lisa vs Joseph in ASB mode Part 2"
Oh hey Wamuu must be Wham!, and Kars would be The Cars, hey hey. ^ _^
The second secret mission for Esidisi vs Avdol calls for the player to "Land the 'I can't take it anymore!' skill"--but Esidisi has no skill by that name! As this page informed me https://www.reddit.com/r/JojoAllStarBattleR/comments/x7unsc/how_to_do_esidisis_i_cant_take_this_anymore/ you actually have to do his "How could youuuuuuu!" skill (his hcb+X counter move--which fortunately for me who is horrible at counter moves, isn't hard to land, 'cause its counter window is huge). Betcha the Japanese version doesn't have this problem. : PPP
Lisa Lisa lost her glasses a couple times! https://jojowiki.com/All-Star_Battle/Lisa_Lisa : "Lisa Lisa always starts the match wearing sunglasses; if she get hits by a HHA/GHA, she will drop them on the stage (making her the only character in the game who can lose an item of clothing during a match)." |
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| | | | Oh it's actually spelled "youuuuuu" 'p'. |
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"Avdol vs Ghiaccio"
All-Star Battle mode Part 2 Stardust Crusaders, page 1
Haha darn that Pet Shop, I had enough of him in Dreamcast JoJo. ; D No more of him in Stardust Crusaders after page 1, whew. Iggy is actually all right here, maybe. ^_ ^
Having to get DIO to cooperate and hit my Jotaro's attack with his correct attack to trigger Rush Mode was a bit of a pain. : PPP
Jotaro's hat fades into hair at the sides and back. = oo (Araki on this phenomenon: https://youtu.be/dTh1woTmDqs?t=106) |
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"Old J vs DIO"
Cool Ice (oh right I think the Japanese DC game just straight calls him Vanilla Ice ^_ ^) and Kars look like brothers = oo
Sure hate the win-by-HGA mission req, made the already annoying Iggy vs Koichi fight way more annoying 'cause I worry about saving up for the super the whole match (I think I kept calling HGAs "three bar" supers for some reason; they only take two darn bars; but still--and Koichi kept taunting one away ghargh), avoid the chain combo for fear of triggering a one-bar super, and just in general get extra aggravating and whiny. 'p'
The "no blocking" thing in the Polnareff vs Cool Ice fight seemed a bit much so I finally tried buying some Support Effects--"sealing" off his supers was definitely worth it! ^_ ^^^
Silver Chariot is so cool in this == ooo; Cool Ice has some really fun stuff too heehee |
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"Josuke 4 vs Okuyasu"
Part 4 - Diamond is Unbreakable, page 1
Definitely gonna buy the mission hints straight off from now on, it helps me cry and whine a little less about trying to completely them. : PP (Only) Halfway through All-Star Battle mode now! Some day I'll be able to do the 60 Arcade run-throughs!!!~~~
Shigekiyo, with his "Offensive" and "Defensive" toggle moves, and specials limited by the number of his little bugs, was suuuuuper confusing for trying to run through his moves to find the one required by a hidden mission requirement. 'p' So yeah no more of that! |
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"Koichi vs Yukako"
Rohan Kishibe, Koichi Hirose, Akira Otoishi, Okuyasu Nijimura, Yukako Yamagishi, Kosaku Kawajiri, and Jotaro Kujo (Part 4) - Diamond is Unbreakable, page 1
Oh man the missions in that second match--have to super-KO an opponent who was reincarnating themselves based on some rule I didn't understand, AND do so while facing a certain direction I didn't know! Blarhghagh. Also I just couldn't seem to hit with my guy's super-slow-moving 2-bar super for that 30-hit super req. Oyy.
I will be so happy when ASB mode is over and I never ever ever have to do it and its arbitrary mission requirements again. Just wanna try normal fights pleeeeeeeeease~~ ;o;; : PPP |
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| | | | (Found the direction for the Dramatic Finish requirement in that second fight at https://www.thegamer.com/jojos-bizarre-adventure-asbr-dramatic-finish-easter-eggs-secret-finishing-moves/#cape-boingy-boing , apparently that stage is "Cape Boingy-Boing.") |
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"Bucciarati vs Prosciutto and Pesci"
According to Barnes & Noble, the US translation of the JJBA manga was on Part 5, Golden Wind when R came out here--so players got characters 3+ parts ahead (JoJolion) of where the comic was in English. |
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| | | | That Pucchi "wallpaper" https://paleface.net/cgi-bin/db/n.pl?i=1670_64_puc_jail_dtop.png was actually a single frame at the end of a round, after the opponent's position reset and before the camera reset: https://youtu.be/X5823AzNyoM?t=1414 |
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| | | | So in theory you can get a clean shot of a character standing idle on any stage at the end of a round; that one was particularly striking since the camera was aligned straight toward the starting viewpoint, nicely framed with rainbows on the right. |
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"Weather Forecast vs Father Pucchi (Final)"
Part 6 Stone Ocean, page 2!
Man that Father Pucchi (Final) is wild! Being required to charge up to and then pull off his very slow, interrupted-on-hit 2-bar stand transformation sequence vs hard-chargin' Jotaro was a BIT of a pain. ; )
I thought at first the Space Shuttle in the background was part of a stage but it seems way too coincidental that he seems to leap right at its cockpit and is then seen briefly in what looks like a shuttle doorway during the transformation.
Oh I do it at 35:50 in the farm stage and he DOESN'T go into a space shuttle. So they made a stage-specific version of that super for the floating space shuttle in that one stage!!
I love that the transformation gives his stand just the forelegs of a horse. ^ L^
The stage with people screaming while falling out of the giant building thing in that background is way too 9/11 = oooooo |
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"Johnny Joestar vs Diego Brando"
All-Star Battle mode Part 7 Steel Ball Run
Lots of playing guys on horseback which sounds super cool except they can barely move when knocked off the horse which got super duper irritating. Just not fun, not fun, blargh. Am I really gonna play their arcade modes? Oghgh at least those won't have arbitrary tasks and I'll be able to turn off the interrupting stage hazards, I guess.
Finally figured out you can call the uh cheats store menu or whatever it's called with a certain button ("X" in this dang Xbox button nomenclature I'm stuck with since the game stopped working with my PS4 stick's PS modes...) from the special conditions screen before the fight, no need to lose first.
I did like playing as the lizard and also having little lizard bros. (Playing VS the lizard in perma-knockdown-proof lizard mode, on the other hand, was blugghghugh~~) |
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"Yasuho Hirose reacting to her bf bricking Dramatic Finish loser on the JoJolion beach = oo"
All-Star Battle mode Part 8 JoJolion is all Josuke 8, vs the 7 other JoJos--then a guest boss! https://jojo.fandom.com/wiki/Ikuro_Hashizawa , the boss of this last part of All-Star Battle mode, Ikuro Hashizawa, aka Boah, isn't a JoJo character: they're from a separate manga series JoJo creator Hirohiko Araki made several years before JoJo began, called "Boah: The Visitor."
Wikipedia/Google says JoJolion started in 2011 in the manga in Japan, and ended in 2021; All-Star Battle R the game came out in 2022--so JoJolion spoilers probably wouldn't have been a concern? So maybe that isn't why there's pretty much no story or other character reveals in the JoJolion part here. Wikipedia says Josuke has amnesia, so that's an excuse I suppose, but eh hm there must be more to why-- Although it could just be that they didn't have any more dev time to make more characters! According to https://jojowiki.com/All-Star_Battle_R#Characters , Wonder of U is the only DLC character from JoJolion, so they didn't use DLC to flesh out the JoJolion part of the cast retroactively.
Ah the girl in the lower right corner of Part 8's panel page is a character in the JoJolion part of the JoJo manga, Yasuho Hirose: https://jojo.fandom.com/wiki/Yasuho_Hirose --and that IS her in the Dramatic Finish on the beach in the JoJolion stage!
So glad to be done jumping through All-Star Battle mode's hoops! Now I can just fight through 60 Arcade modes! ^_ ^ Except I guess I gotta go unlock stuff in the Shop by buying the Medals for 50-some of the cast first--or at least, however many I can afford currently! (Jonathan's were about 21K, leaving me with 260K; ~52 * 21,000 = 1,092,000 so uh dang! I'll have to see about grinding in Arcade - Endless like that one FAQ I was reading suggested, maybe. = ooo)
Got confused about the Assist on/off menu toggle; when the key at the bottom of the character select screen says "Assists OFF," that means that pressing the button WILL turn them off, not that they're currently off. : P |
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As an "arcade" mode, "Challenge Battle" is JUST eight random-ish fights in a row, getting slightly harder as they go--and that's it. I think what didn't help my impression of the thing here is that I randomly got an opponent I find rather obnoxious the last boss (tiny hit box, just throws you from your shins constantly ; PPP).
Oh I got 800 gold per fight, I guess that wasn't that bad.
Three-star difficulty turned out to be way too easy, except for that guy's final shenanigans. But so far I'm feeling like Challenge mode is pretty dead. ; P And I'm getting more and more convinced that beyond the hoop-jumping of the All-Star Battle Mode, they may not have bothered making the CPU interesting to fight--like, at all. Which is pretty BIZARRE you could say given how wild the characters and moves are, but, it's looking like they've managed it somehow.
Buuut I felt like Endless Battle as Jonathan last time was okay-ish, so I guess I'll have to give that at least another shot. I was thinking I'd continue my plan of playing through all the characters one by one, but there doesn't seem to be anything to unlock beyond the medals I already have to pay for in the Shop from ASB mode, so maybe I'll just try some of the DLC characters I haven't played yet.
You can get back to the gold-bonus (I guess?) "Harvest" time mode in Arcade just by popping back out to the main menu a few times. 'pp'
Trying to separate yourself from the opponent in JJBA:ASBR feels like running uphill, for some reason. Like they didn't want the players able to run away from each other in the cleverly disguised giant cylindrical spaces. |
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