I've had "Chrono Phantasma" for quite awhile now, and the review will be up soon. But before that, I want to do some character impressions on the new addition to the game. I'm about 30-40 hours in, finished story mode 100% (god that was long as f**k), played all 3 courses of score attack, and dipped a considerable amount of time into most of the other modes. Yes, even freaking "Unlimited Mars", f**k "Unlimited Mars", and I've given all characters a try.
While most of the old characters remain similar, they have gone through some drastic changes one way or another in terms of game play (to me, especially Rachel, Tsubaki and Ragna), but listing those changes will take awhile, so let's skip that. Instead, I'll do impressions on the new characters, because they seem to be the most interesting, and they deserve the spotlight. Now I haven't got to play Kokonoe (I never bought her), but since I've fought a good deal of her and seen a lot of videos, I'll give her a spot too.
Let's freaking go!
Amane Nishikki
I really like Amane, really, I do. He's one of the most uniquely designed characters in the game, and yes, his appearance plays a part in that. The way his game play works is also incredibly unique, albeit a little bit difficult to grasp. He is currently one of the hardest characters in the game to properly master, because of how...awkward he works. He's slow in terms of mobility, but he controls the space of the field like no other. In the right hands, he can really wreck face, but like I said : in the right hands. I tried using him, but as it stands, I'm still pretty bad with him.
As I said, Amane's specialty lies in his range, not his speed. His heavy attacks reach out quite far ahead, but they only hit opponents FAR AWAY and don't touch the ones close to him, which can lead to some really awkward situations. He can control space well with his drive, "Spiral", and its many different uses, though its mainly used to chip the living f**k out of opponents. He can keep away or close in well with quick glide moves, and he has a ranged command grab. His distortion drives leave a little bit too much to be desired, though " Kaizoku Senkō: "Gōkai Rasen Renpa" can be continued if Amane moves ALONG with it. He's one for the pros.
+ Controls space decently well
+ Good ranged lockdown
+ Dat f**king chip damage from "Spiral"
- Very hard to use properly
- Slow on the mobility side
Bullet
Bullet is probably the dick magnet for "Chrono Phantasma", just in terms of character design alone. I totally dig her design and looks, but there'll be people who won't. Game play wise though, Bullet is as simple as she goes. She's a rush down character similar to the likes of Makoto, Bang or Valkenhyne. She wants to get in your face, beat you up, then get heated up for even MORE power. She has good potential up close, but like most rush down character's, she'll need to either get IN to her opponents, or let her opponents come to her for her to be effective.
Bullet has no proper tools closing in, which probably makes up for most of her issues. Her damage is only decent up close, but when heated up, she can do a lot more, ranging from more damage to better command grabs and combo finishers. That said, she's not really hard to use on her own, though it can be hard to lean all of her match ups. Her distortion drives are pretty sub par IMO. She's easy for beginners to pick up, because there's not really anything too tough about her.
+ Decent if she goes in on her opponents
+ Even more powerful when heated up
+ Her drive "Locks" onto enemies, easy to punish hasty players
- Hard to get in on opponents
- Very little to deal with ranged enemies
Azreal
Azreal is pretty beast, both in the story and in the game. Just look at that majestic beast of a man, its not surprising at all that he's called "The Mad Dog" of sector seven. Anyways, if you want to feel like a badass and crush people's face in, then you can't go wrong with Azreal. He is, in many ways, a rush down character, BUT, unlike many other characters, he doesn't suffer the problem of needing to get IN on his opponents, because his free dashes do it for him. Well, if I were to compare, he feels a lot like Wesker from MVC 3, but more powerful in many aspects.
As I mentioned, the free dashes are a problem, they are just double taps on the same direction, which is pretty broken. You can't really control the distance though, so if it takes a decent Azreal player to properly make use of these. Other than that, he has some mean and powerful attacks. His normals are more on the slow side, but hurt like crap, and if he strings a combo, prepare for a world of pain. And yeah, his drive, "The Terror", not only allows him to inflict major damage on weak points, it opens you up for some really powerful combos. He has a ton of other tools to make life hard for you, like "Growler field" to absorb projectiles or moves to close in on you from REALLY far away if you are struck by "The Terror".
+ Can close the gap really easily
+ Does a lot of damage and is really tanky
+ Has a lot of tools to f**k up the opponent
- Normals can be rather slow
- Hard to use properly
Izayoi
Poor, poor Izayoi. She's probably the hardest of the new characters to use, and thus is the most under appreciated. She's melee, she's rushdown esque, but she takes a lot of effort to learn because of her move set. I do agree though that Tsubaki should permanently be in this design and outfit, screw her old outfit. But if I were to describe Izayoi, she's the closest thing the game has to a flight based melee character with teleports. I have seen good Izayois, but they are far and few.
Her teleports and flight mode when she activates her drive are really good for getting around the area, and she has a good deal of aerial moves to make her work decently well. Her flight isn't the fastest thing in the world though, so that means she can be punished and opened up by characters with a lot of anti air. Still, most of her high end combos can only be executed at a very close range, meaning that she'll have to put herself in danger whenever she goes in. One of her distortions though, "Slaver Trans AM", is very strong and is like a call back to Strider's Ouroborous. She'll need skill to play, that's for sure.
+ Can move around the field quick with flight and timed teleports
+ Strong in the air
- Very hard to use properly
- Need to find an appropriate time to close in on opponents
Kagura Mutsuki
Kagura is awesome. Not just about his design, everything about him just oozes with awesomeness, that's how badass of a man he is. Game play wise as well, he is able to kick your ass far and wide with his many different "Black Gale" techniques. He may not be the fastest character on the field, but he has PLENTY of ways to cross you up, close the gap or even get in in the air OR from the air. Kagura is an unpredicatable character, but he still requires skill, because honestly, you'll need to use the proper skill at the proper time and situation.
As mentioned earlier, "Black Gale" is DAMNED good, and Kagura has answers to many situations, provided that you have the proper reaction. "Sky Dragon's Strike" is a ridiculous gap closer, "Dragon's Ascent" is a massive anti air, and "Dragon Spirit" is an annoying as shit projectile. He has a lot to respond to you, and its hard to read him because you never know what he might throw out next. Being slow is his only weakness, but crossing him up can be a bad choice. Still, I'd say he's of moderate difficulty. His distortions are okay.
+ Many responses to many situations
+ Damage is on the higher side
+ Good at countering and going in on opponents
- Slow in terms of mobility
Yuki Terumi
Well, as my new main, I've got quite a few things to say about Terumi, though I won't rant for too long. Terumi isn't all that different in designs when compared to Hazama, but game play wise, while they share some similar normals, they are quite different, let me tell you. While Hazama is a control type character, Terumi is more of a rushdown character that shows NO MERCY. You do not let up as Terumi, you have one of the best gap closing moves in the game which is just the press of one f**king button. Then again, when you're in, opening up your opponent can be an issue.
Well then, I'll be the first one to break it: Terumi is not that hard to play. In fact, he's cake, he's easy as hell to play, like, Ragna or Noel standards of easy. Still, being easy does not mean that its easy to MASTER playing this douche bag. He has a shit ton of distortion drives, all of which are situational, though "Sotenjin" is similar to Hazama's "Hotenjin". Terumi's corner combos are where he shines, and his drive allows him to gain meter really fast, giving him access to those huge number of distortions. So there you have it, that's how you play Terumi, stack meter in a single combo and end with a distortion for some nasty damage.
+ Very easy to play
+ Very nasty at rushdown and corner combos
+ Stacks meter incredibly quickly
- Pure melee, suspect to lockdown characters
Kokonoe
Kokonoe is too strong right now. As mentioned earlier, I do not have Kokonoe, but I've fought enough of her to tell you this. She's got way too many tools for a lockdown character. She can close in well, she has a very powerful overhead, her normals are amazing, and then there's that ridiculous "Flame Cage" that drops on top of your head like freaking poison. She's so hard to deal with and she's got so MUCH to deal with YOU. The only minus is that she's got low HP.
Kokonoe's play style revolves around her drive, the "Graviton". With it she repels, attracts or uses it to pull fire balls on your face. While you're stuck on the "Graviton", she then opens up on you with 157 different attacks. Not literally, but you get what I mean. She can freeze you, shoot gattling guns, place even MORE traps on screen....and then she can teleport to safety if you go in on her. F**k this mad scientist dude.
+ Very strong with a lot of tools for a lockdown type character
+ Can practically win a match without the opponent moving
+ "Flame Cage"...f**k that shit
- Low HP
Peace!
