I do love me my fighting games, especially the anime esque gorgeous 2D ones. There have been a lot an increasing amount of 2D fighters these days (with Yatagarasu coming up as well), and I can't say that I'm not pleased with that, but I AM a little bit concerned that many of them may not live up to standards (I'd use Blazblue as a benchmark for these types of games). "Under Night In Birth:Exe Late", or simply UNIEL was one of those 2D fighters that I picked up quite some time back, and honestly, while its one of the wonkiest AND weirdest fighters out there, I've been having a lot of fun.
I haven't gone excessively in depth with many of the characters in the game, but I've tried EVERY character sufficiently for me to give me 2 cents about the characters in the game. Some OBVIOUS power differences in this game, but without ado, here are my impressions of the characters in UNIEL. As usual, everything is in my opinion, so don't take my opinion as fact.
Hyde
Hyde is Narukami's personification in UNIEL. It doesn't get any more Yu Narukami than this, Hyde fights with a long sword, is the main character of the game, and takes very little effort to do relatively well with. He's pretty much just your typical shoto character with a sword and some different variations. Being the main man, he has to be easy to use, and if there was a character that you'd want to learn coming into this game blind, Hyde would be one of my top picks because of his ridiculously ease of entry. Easy combos, good moves for many situations, and many of his attacks even chip as his unique in-game mechanic. Hyde is strong for someone of his calibur, making him a solid choice for beginners.
Being a shoto, Hyde has got a hadoken styled projectile and a powerful DP that's unfortunately easily punished. His projectile, Dark Orbiter, CAN be followed up with a strike or by exploding it for more damage. He's got a Fei Long styled special that can be easily added to combos with Vacant Shift. His damage is rather insane, but its understandable because he's not the fastest of characters and can be outmanuvered by a good portion of the cast. His normals are really good though, and using that to your advantage always means you get easy BnB combos on your opponents.
+ Beginner friendly
+ Easy combos that deal a lot of damage
+ Does plenty of chip
+ Has plenty of tools to deal with a variety of enemies
- Easily punished
- Can be outmanuvered
Linne
Linne is great. I love playing rushdown characters with tons of mobility, and Linne's just right up my alley. I main Linne in this game, and for good reason. Linne is fast, her running speed is insane, she's got multiple jumps, air options and plenty of ways to advance in on her foes. Sure, because she's short, fast, and has a very high potential hit counter, she's a little bit on the punishable side, she really easy to punish compared to most of the cast. Still, she's a simple character to pick up and play, albeit she does have limited ranged options. Not as easy as someone like Hyde, but I'd still put her up on the top 5 easiest characters to play in this game.
Linne is a rushdown character, simple as that. Think of her as Yun from "SF IV" but with more options. She has a quick running speed, air dashes up the ass, as well as a dive kick, Linne is the definition of "going in" on your opponents. She has Kuuga for some decent poke, though she shouldn't be relying on it. Getsurin is a decent DP, albeit its punishable, and Mujin is a wonderful special for ending combos. Hien is a little tricky, she jumps towards her opponents for a few quick strikes. The B version hits high, which is great for crouch heavy opponents. Spamming dive kicks are a really cheap and easy way to get in on her opponents, since her normals are kind of sucky. The name of the game is to keep up the pressure with Linne, once she gets in, most of the cast has issues trying to keep up with her.
+ Very fast, easy to outmaneuver opponents
+ Can easily close in on opponents
+ Beginner friendly
+ Very strong pressure when she gets in on her opponents
- Easily punished
- Short ranged normals
Waldenstein
I hate playing against this guy, I really, REALLY do. Waldenstein is close to being one of the most broken characters in the game. Yes, he's movement is retardedly slow, but who needs speed when your normals and most of your specials reach over more than half the god damn screen. I swear this guy is armored on some of his move (not sure if he really is), either that, or his moves have INSANE priority. Waldenstein is one of THE strongest characters in the game, despite having his ridiculously long ranged normals, he has insane damage AND also has the highest health in the game. His hitbox is massive, which can be played TOWARDS his favor if he wants it, he can launch himself around the field with ease with some of his moves. Waldenstein is crazy, but he's not easy to play. You can easily cheese your opponents with him, but to play properly? You'll need some skill.
As mentioned earlier, Waldenstein is huge. He uses his body to fling himself around the field, or maul you with his ridiculous normals, but because of this, he's also very easy to hit. Sure, the chances of him hitting you is much more than you hitting him, but the risk and chances are there. Also, many of his moves actually CANCEL out projectiles. Yes, he is potentially quite good against zoners, but of course, he isn't the fastest of characters. For rushdown characters, he can zone them either with normals, or by using his grapples when their in his face. Waldenstein is a f**king beast, and there's not much you can do about it. Pray that you're running Gordeau or Merkava, they hard counter this guy.
+ Massive reach with normals and specials
+ Extremely tanky
+ Can cancel out projectiles
+ Can function as a grappler or zoner
- Massive hitbox
- Horrible mobility outside of specials
Carmine
Carmine is the Terumi incarnate of UNIEL. He's one fun son of a bitch of play around with, imagine a cominbation of Terumi and a reversed Ragna...you get Carmine. Its very hard to determine what kind of character Carmine is on the battlefield, simply because you can play him very differently. He can rush down, he can do mixups, he can play as a zoner...he's got options to get around. However, there's a catch: a majority of Carmine's attacks do damage to himself. His attacks use up blood, and creates blood pools all around the ground. He can interact with these pools with certain specials for some really crazy shenanigans. With that being said, Carmine isn't exactly the easiest character to use if you want to draw out his maximum potential.
Carmine's attacks drain his health, that by itself means he's a suicidal character. His normals are good, but not the best in the game. He can restore health with his command grab (though it requires 100 meter), but that's pretty much his only way to replenish lost health, and that move by itself is risky as balls since you NEED to use it at close range. He can throw out spinning blades that act as semi projectiles/anti airs. He can protrude the ground with spikes for massive damage, or he can simply just surround himself with spikes that also act as anti-air. Carmine excels as a control character with his various projectiles that go at different directions, but he's no slouch when up close either. Good Carmines manage blood pools well, making him one of the slighter harder characters to play as in the cast.
+ Great control and pressure around blood pools
+ Very versatile overall
+ Can restore health at the cost of 100 meter
+ Good normals allow him for easy follow up on combos
- Most moves sacrifice his own health
- Hard to master
Orie
Orie is a rather strange character. Strange, but its easy to narrow down what she can do. She's somewhat similar to Mitsuru from "P4A", albeit with slightly more varied attacks. She lacks any sort of poke or ranged commitment, but, she has her ways to pressure against enemies who want to come in on her. She deals well against rush down characters or characters who constantly try to get in on her face. She struggles somewhat against zoners, but otherwise, she has a lot of good matchups. Most of Orie's special attacks revolve around her summoned being Thanatos, which is quite a bully. She excels at controlling rush down characters, and if you want to play a character that're more of a control type than anything else, Orie's a good pick. She takes some practise, but otherwise, she isn't the toughest girl to use.
Orie can close gaps with her rapier thrust, though its generally not very safe. She has a strong DP in Sacred Arrow, but honestly, the only reason why you're playing Orie, is because of Thanatos. Command Order has Orie summoning Thanatos for a simple strike, but she can follow up Thanatos for multiple attacks after that. Command Order is crucial for a startup, and you should always connect it first. It has a nice startup and decent range, you can use it to punish opponents. She can follow up with Thick And Fast or Succession, which can further be extended in the proper situations. Sealing Hoplon is great if you actually pull it off, and the EX version even tracks your foes. This allows Orie to go in for mixups.
+ Good control against melee opponents
+ Summoned being gives a lot of opportunities
+ Sealing Hoplon allows for mixups
- Struggles somewhat against zone heavy opponents
Gordeau
As much as I wanted to main Gordeau, people wouldn't let me. Gordeau was THE character I wanted to main the moment I started this game, I mean, just LOOK AT HIM. He has a great sense of fashion and his hair is fabulous as f**k! Plus, Kosuke Toriumi is his VA. He is THE best character in the game, my absolute favorite. How is he as a character? He's broken, BROKKEEEEEN. To my knowledge, Gordeau is the best character in the game. The effort other characters need to destroy their opponents, Gordeau only requires probably half the effort, except maybe Wald, Merk and Linne, otherwise, he shits on everybody else. Gordeau excels at mid-screen control and dealing tons of damage. Tons and tons and tons and TONS of damage. He also has multiple command grabs and moves that reach for almost full screen distance to ensure his prey don't escape. Yeah, that's fair. He can also steal GRD, the game's universal meter at the bottom.
Gordeau bops on everybody, end of story. Even without proper combos, he stomps on everyone. Mortal Slide into Shade Harvest into Assimilation is probably the easiest way to continuously shit on your foes. Mortal Slide is blockable, but it PULLS enemies towards him, it has a MASSIVE range, and it can be followed up with Shade Harvest and Assimilation, which is UNBLOCKABLE. He can even use Mortal Slide in the air! His C normals has insane range as well, which can then be followed up into Mortal Slide! Grim Reaper is a massive move that acts as a gap closer, a control move AND a DP, though its quite hard to combo afterwards if you slot it into a combo. He also has Aim Opponent for an OTG in his combos, if you ever decide to try that hard at using him. Gordeau is a f**king monster, he's as hell to use, and if you choose to master him, he becomes EVEN scarier.
+ Insane damage output
+ Mortal Slide > Shade Harvest > Assimilation is just brutal
+ Absurd range on normals
+ Can steal GRD
+ Beginner friendly
- There are no weaknesses, he can be easy to predict since you SHOULD get used to fighting him
Merkava
If Hakumen ever went full retard, the result would be Merkava. Outside of Gordeau, Merkava is probably the second best character in the game (with Wald right behind), simply because he's got SO much up his sleeve. He reminds of of Super Skrull from "Marvel 3", only a lot more deadly because of the sheer amount of things he can do to f**k around with his opponents. His unique trait is flight, but we all know that flying is only the tip of the iceberg. Merkava's control of the battlefield is EXTENSIVE. He has a DP, full screen command grabs, dive kicks, projectiles, long ranged normals and single button overheads. With flight added on to all that, he's probably one of the most annoying things to fight against. Of course, if you don't intend on just cheesing your enemies with his sheer amount of bullshit, he's going to be quite tough to use properly.
Merkava is the true meaning of an annoying piece of shit. This bugger just flies around and you can't do anything. His control is just disgusting. He flies up, spits fireballs at you. When you get close, he flies to the other side of the screen, he grabs you, then down you go. Merkava has SO much to work with. On the ground, he can zone with his full screen grabs. These are blockable, but they come out VERY quickly. He can do Dio punches to extend combos, he's got dive kicks in the air, or just spam you with his ridiculously good normals. There isn't much you can do against Merkava as a zoner, he is the ULTIMATE ranged character counter. Oh yeah, he does respectively well against melee opponents too because of his insane amount of zone control options.
+ Plenty of options to deal with plenty of different opponents
+ Flight is pretty damn OP
+ Full Screen command grabs? Bitch please
- Hard to fully utilize his entire kit
Vatista
Vatista is, IMO, the hardest character to use in the game. She's got so much to utilize, but most of her moves are very execution heavy and it takes A WHOLE LOT of dedication to actually do stuff with her. Babababa, babababa! Vatista is mostly a zone control character with tons of moves that require set-ups and proper positioning. Thankfully, a lot of her moves do tend to knock enemies away, giving her breathing room. Despite that, she has some decent combos up close, but those are just meant to keep her enemies away, as the good ones tend to leave her moving back and knocking enemies away. Anyway, Vatista is one tough loli to use properly, that's all you need to know. However, if you want a zoning type character that locks you down all day and plays mind games on your opponents (somewhat like Mu-12 or Rachel), then look no further.
As a zoning type character, you can expect Vatista to be a little bit cheesy. F**k it, if you're good, you can make her a total piece of shit to play against. Aside from firing slow moving balls that she can follow up with for mixups, she can fire more balls at varying speeds, and Doctor Doom styled beam lasers that go from one end of the screen to the other. As you can see, she's going to be soooo fun to fight against. Other than that, she can set bombs that she calls fragments all around the map. When any of her projectiles come into contact with the bombs, boom, instant damage. With proper set-up, she is potentially one of the most deadly characters in the game. While her ranged prowess is amazing, she's got a whole deal of moves she can use up close to extend combos.
+ Zone control
+ Combos usually end by keeping her safe
+ Insane damage with proper set-up
+ Potential mind games against enemy
- Very hard to use
- May not be the fastest character
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End of Part 1
