Anime and Video Game Insight

Soul Calibur 3 has been out for awhile, at this point everyone who plays more or less knows their characters.  The arcade version is out now and Tira plays quite differently from this.  None the less, I’ll just cover basic Tira for console.

Tira is pretty much the worst character in this game (lowest tier), on the ground floor with Raph and to some extent Rock.  Playing her at a tournament level requires a good deal of patience and absolute knowledge of the basics.  Her damage is bare minimal having very very few good natural comboes.

A few things about her stances and infinites, they’re unsafe, and won’t typically work more than the first time you throw it out.   So more or less just avoid using them.

Top 10 List

A,A – Natural combo and fairly safe to throw out anytime you have frame advantage.  Know how to do basic lock downs with A’s.

2A – Shuts down anything agressive that is close range, deals with anything that A,A may not deal with.

4A – A decieving low, on lock down, this is mind games and fair damage.  On counter hit you get 6B free.

B,B – This is most of her damage.  Spam it often on frame advantage.  It beats out people who try to duck A,A spamming if you can read it.

WsB – Huge damange off of tech crouch.  Tira doesn’t have much of that, making this amazing if you can catch wiffs, highs, or punish extremely slow moves.

WsA – Amazing range, a good overall fodder move.  Safe as long as you don’t wiff.

WsK – Tech crouch fodder move, it’s just a good move throw out at close range.

6,6A – Knocks down, decent range, this is the move to catch steppers for the most part.  Punishable by A,A on block by most characters, but for what it does, it’s a solid move.  You can mix it with throws, or buffer 4A and fake people out with it as well.

6,6B – Safe launcher.  Just juggled with A+B.  Pretty spammible, pretty steppible, use when you want to punish from a distance, overall safe if you can force them to block it.

3,3B, A : A – The _best_ move Tira has.  This can be 60 to 90% of your real damage.  It’s a step punish, it’s NATURAL COMBO.  It’s HUGE damage.  Make sure you can just frame the last input most of the time if you plan to make Tira your main character.  Without good placement of this move, Tira really will have pretty much nothing…

So that’s the top 10, stuff I left out are throws (good damage, make sure to memorize which way they ring out), and her B+K jump moves which are fairly decent.

So there you have it, a quick guide to the worst character in Soul Calibur 3.

Bonus: Tira Cosplay.

~Fei

Season 2 of Albatross 18 started today (8-3-06).  Out of habit, I pretty much logged on to see what was going on, what was new, the usual.  So out of a few hours of play, I’ll do a quick overview.

However, I’m going to try something alittle different with this.  Instead of starting with the new stuff, and what’s happened so far.  I’m going to go over what we don’t have, and what hasn’t changed first.  without further ado:

Even though it’s Season 2 now, we have no Arin yet.  We know that Arin will be the only new character coming up until season 3, where we’ll see Kaz.  So twelve more months starting now, give or take.

No matter what you do to this game, it is still the same game.  For better or worse.  Though season 2 does a good job of sugar coating it and giving it a new dress.

New Course, Silvia Cannon.  The course itself is based on playing golf on top of battleships.  Cannons, helicopters, giant fans,… all sorts of rage inducing stuff.  There is new music to this stage, which I thought was cool, until about 30 mins in, where I turned it off… Unlike the other songs that play, this one doesn’t have the same “timelessness” to it, and thus, made it rather annoying to listen to.  Overall, this course is very cool, there is a lot to see and experiment with.  But if you’re shooting to keep a low OB%, this stage can be rather frustrating if you’re trying to keep a good score at the same time.  At this point, I would consider this to be the hardest A18 course, clearing WizWiz and Windhill by leaps and bounds.

New Interface was rather confusing at first.  But it is rather nice to look at.  After a year of A18’s season 1 backdrop, this was a good change of pace.  Something I’d like?  To have the option to change interfaces.  No reason other than wanting the option.  Minor note is that there is a new splash screen, but it’s almost implied with the new interface motif.

Some new music.  The stuff in the intro is good, but like I said earlier, the new Silvia Cannon music is pretty annoying.

You can Dye Hair now, in my opinion this is pretty big.  There are only a few dyes released, but it will give a lot of variety to what we see when we play now.  Instead of stoic models that looked the same in every way shape and form.  Now they’ll be the same shape, but different color!

Lots of smaller changes, for example, in your profile, it shows you the number of days total you’ve played, converting all the hours in your play.  It takes up a little less text space for some people,…

Website updated.  I like it more now than before, overall, it’s what Pangya’s website looked like during their season 2.  A note is that they have now locked down their old forums and made a new one.  People who like to whore out posts and post counts have lost everything and have to start over again.

They have a new rewards system now.  Everyday you play you get a “stamp.”  Some days have bonuses.  No clue what the prizes are yet, but it’s an interesting gimmick to get people to play regularly.  It’s definitely obvious that all they’re trying to do is to get you to play each day.  Hopefully baiting you into spending money in the game (I still don’t think it’s a bad deal if you plan to invest more than 40 hours in something).

Season 2 stuff to look forward to:  More outfits, swimsuits, a few more courses, a few more club sets, a few new items.  Season 3?

Overall, a decent update.  The more I look at this game, the more I wish I didn’t start playing it until now.  I enjoyed the game fine when it first game out in betas until a few months after release.  But had I started now instead, I’d think I’d have gotten a lot more out of my time.  With that said… old players that arn’t heavily addicted get nothing really great.  New players are in for a treat: A free game that looks nice, and has a LOT of options for customization.

For those who don’t know what Albatross 18 or Pangya are, try the links below.

http://www.albatross18.com/

http://www.pangya.com/

~Fei

I would have written something about Tekken sooner or later, if I weren’t so occupied playing my new copy of Tekken DR for the Psp.  I’ll do a full review or something at some other time, for the most part it’s a very faithful port of Tekken 5 for the arcade and Ps2.  Low load times, no lag or slowdown, accurate controls, more content added to the game.  This game provides exactly what a portable needs; short, non commited spurts of play  that’s fun!  Only complaint is that the Psp system is hard to play on when you’re so use to holding a controller a certain way.  But you get use to it.Random note: It doesn’t have a “5″ in it, so for the Psp, it’s not actually “Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection” like it is in the arcade. 

Also important note for Psp owners who use Eloader or firmware versions 1.5, Tekken DR is 2.60.  Therefore it’s Eloader safe and you can proxy 2.60 for your 1.5’s without a hitch. If the previous lines made no sense to you, don’t worry about it.

Rather than doing a full on guide to the game, or even an all inclusive FAQ to a character, I’m just going to do a top 10 moves list for Julia.  I feel that for _most_ characters in Tekken, basic to early advance levels of play really just revolves around a top 10 list (While advance advance play is really just memorizing character to character matchups to counter a top 10 list).  So therefore, the following can almost be considered a guide on how to win with Julia.  (Julia hasn’t changed much since Tekken Tag, so this guide can actually be used for Tag, 4, 5, and the arcade version of DR.  To some extent T3 as well.)

Top 10 Moves

1 - Julia has one of the fastest standing punches in the game (at a mere 8 frames).  You use it to break practically any agression.

d+1 - Julia’s second aggro control move.  Any move that Julia’s 1 won’t stop, this will.  It’s anti lockdown.  You can safely follow it with ws k anytime it’s blocked or connects and feel completely safe.

ch1, 1, 1 – On counter hit, this is garenteed launcher off an 8 frame jab.  If 1, 1, 1 is blocked it’s VERY punishable.  Learn to see when 1 or 1, 1 is blocked and NOT finish it.  The juggle off of  this is 5x f, f+2 (elbows).  If they hit a wall at any time during this juggle, just hit 4, 4, 4.  40-45% life off of a 8 frame jab is great.

1, 1, 3, 4 – Mix up to 1, 1, 1 for when the first hit is blocked but you want to continue string.  Versus newer players, this move is overwhelming and can single handedly win you games.  I dub this Julia’s newbie killer.  On block it, like 1, 1, 1 is VERY punishable.

f, f+2 – The most aggressive move Julia has.  Completely safe on block and has near no counters to it.  It knocks down, it tech crouches, it’s fast, it’s used in juggles, it beats most any move in the game.  Use this to control games.  For advance players, make note it’s -2 on block.  Meaning if you follow a blocked elbow with 1, 1, 1 anyone without a 10 frame jab or a FAST tc move will either have to block the 1, 1, 1 or eat counter hit and lose 40%+ life.  Ie Frame trap!

ws k – High priority, safe, fast…  It’s good.  Use this anytime you block a low to see if you get it as free damage.

fc, d, df+3, 4 – It’s natrual combo on a low hit and knocks down.  Mix up with uf+4 into 35-40% elbows juggle.  Very punishable on block.  Still fantastic mindgame tool.

4, 4, 4 – When you can’t safely spam 1’s… Spam 4’s!!!  This move is good.  Use the variations of it etc as your fodder plays that set up for you bigger damage.  Ie 4, 4, d+4;  4, 4; d+4, d+4; and d+4, 4

d, db, b, f+2 – Mad Axes is her best throw (faster than normal throw opening, small break window).  Learn to buffer it in to ANY move.  Ie 1 ~> Mad Axes.  Df+4 ~> Mad Axes.  Mad Axes ~> Mad Axes.

d+4 – Fast low.  Wins games.  You can generally use this as dps.  Mostly safe.

So there you have it.  A quick top 10 moves list for Julia and what to do.

~Fei