Arcana Heart PS2 import 10/07

EOJ · Post by **EOJ** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 7:37 pm

GaijinPunch wrote:
The game looks identical to the arcade
The arcade runs at 480p. AFAIK, this is 480i only. Kind of bad.

Well, it looks damn fine in RGB. And wouldn't the PS3 be able to do 480p (or whatever XXXp) for this anyway?

Post by **Shatterhand** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 11:53 am

I've got this on the start of the week, have been playing it with friends (Still haven't touched any single player modes)

The game just rocks. It may be considered slow for Guilty Gear players, but I find it to have the perfect speed, and the matches are pretty intense anyway. It's not that hard to get the gripes with it (Unlike said Guilty Gear), but like any other fighting game, it will take ages to master it. (Finding out which arcana is better to each fighter and your fighting style will really take some time)

This IMO is much better than Melty Blood. Anyone complaining the game is 'slow' didn't get the game yet.

howmuchkeefe · Post by **howmuchkeefe** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 4:43 pm

Neat game, but the load times can get to you. I'm surprised I haven't dreamed about that music yet.

Post by **Shatterhand** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 5:04 pm

post 666 from you!

Yeah, the loading times are a bit annoying. At least you have the cut-scene before the fights that try to cover it

Lilica kick ass, so far my fac character in the game.

CIT · Post by **CIT** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 5:45 pm

EOJ wrote:Well, it looks damn fine in RGB.

Imo component is the only way to go for highres games.

And wouldn't the PS3 be able to do 480p (or whatever XXXp) for this anyway?

Yip!

It'll be in 480p then, that's the maximum resolution for PS2.

Of the last gen only a few X-Box games can go higher that.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 5:47 pm

Does anyone know of a semi-comprehensive (English) FAQ for this game? I've managed to piece together a decent amount of how everything works from various reviews and whatnot, but I'm wondering if a decent "how-to" is all in one place somewhere...

Kevin · Post by **Kevin** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 6:08 pm

This should get you off to a good start.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Wed Nov 07, 2007 6:41 pm

Thanks, that should do nicely.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 9:48 pm

Something I thought some might find interesting - if you've never read Game Informer before, along with the monthly sales charts for domestic consoles and PC, they have a Top 10 sellers list for Japan. In the latest issue, the PS2 port of Arcana Heart is set at number 5 in that list. I'm not sure what their source is for this, so someone might want to double-check that with a more reliable list, but I was a tad surprised to find a title like AH on there, especially considering that I can't recall having seen a KoF or Guilty Gear on there, at least in any of the issues I've read (predictably, there's almost always at least one or two Pokemon or DBZ type titles on there). If this data is accurate, it's a rather impressive showing for AH, since the list comprises all consoles, portables included (the only other PS2 title on there was a DBZ game, at number 2).

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Thu Jan 31, 2008 8:19 pm

News from Insert Credit, if no one's seen it yet - Arcana Heart's coming to the US in early April, priced at 30 bucks. Also, apparently P-A has the JP version for 30 bucks now.

Official site here.

Post by **BulletMagnet** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 3:54 am

Okay, I promised to post impressions of the US version of the game, which I picked up earlier today, and here they are -

After just having a quick look around and messing around a bit, it looks like Atlus did what they should have done when it comes to the localization - translated the text, changed the region coding, and left pretty much everything else alone. The (admittedly basic) modes are here, the gallery's here, both "normal" and "full" versions of the characters are here, and the options are here - pretty much everything from the voices and music to the menus seem pretty much identical to the JPS2 version. As a disclaimer, I suppose I ought to say that I'm not enough of an expert at the game to say whether the timing of moves or character balance or anything like that has been changed, but I honestly doubt that any of the aforementioned applies here, considering how little everything else has been touched. Of course if anyone more experienced than myself notices anything I hope they mention it.

It's unfortunate that the game will likely not do very well sales-wise, due to the lack of name recognition, twilight of the PS2, and the theme in and of itself (this isn't helped by the fact that the back of the box reads, in Indiana Jones font no less, "Humanity's Last Hope Is One Big Catfight!"), since not only is it a good game to begin with, but it got a worthy localization (and can be had for only 30 bucks new).

D · Post by D » Thu May 15, 2008 7:59 am

CIT wrote:
EOJ wrote:Well, it looks damn fine in RGB.
Imo component is the only way to go for highres games.

And wouldn't the PS3 be able to do 480p (or whatever XXXp) for this anyway?
Yip!

It'll be in 480p then, that's the maximum resolution for PS2.

Of the last gen only a few X-Box games can go higher that.

For the last time, a 480i ps2 will get upscaled on the ps3 to any resolution resolution you want: 480p, 720p, 1080i or 1080p, but it will still be smutchy, because the game is 480i.
A ps2 game that has an option to be in 480p makes a huge difference!
That's why I'm always so anal about ps2 games having a 480p mode.
480p means crispness, arcade quality graphics.
All developers that ommit a 480p mode in ps2 games should burn in hell.

10 years ago Dreamcast games were standard 480p, ten years later ps2 games developers still go below that with a measily 480i. It's unbearable.

Kaiser · Post by **Kaiser** » Thu May 15, 2008 8:15 am

D wrote:
CIT wrote:
EOJ wrote:Well, it looks damn fine in RGB.
Imo component is the only way to go for highres games.

And wouldn't the PS3 be able to do 480p (or whatever XXXp) for this anyway?
Yip!

It'll be in 480p then, that's the maximum resolution for PS2.

Of the last gen only a few X-Box games can go higher that.
For the last time, a 480i ps2 will get upscaled on the ps3 to any resolution resolution you want: 480p, 720p, 1080i or 1080p, but it will still be smutchy, because the game is 480i.
A ps2 game that has an option to be in 480p makes a huge difference!
That's why I'm always so anal about ps2 games having a 480p mode.
480p means crispness, arcade quality graphics.
All developers that ommit a 480p mode in ps2 games should burn in hell. 10 years ago Dreamcast games were standard 480p, ten years later ps2 games developers still go below that with a measily 480i. It's unbearable.

Agree, red star looked fucking excellent in 480p,
480i sucks shit

honorless · Post by **honorless** » Thu May 15, 2008 1:05 pm

I'd like to add that several bugs were actually fixed for the NA release. One of the Atlus employees is on SRK (White Rob) and asked the big AH players there about bugs they'd found in the JP release.

Unfortunately, budget constraints meant that they couldn't actually afford to have Examu fix everything...but I hear that the game-breaking ones (already pretty rare, I think) were squashed.

CIT wrote:It'll be in 480p then, that's the maximum resolution for PS2.

AFAIK, Gran Turismo 4 on PS2 has 1080i support. Haven't gotten around to trying that out though.

The n00b · Post by **The n00b** » Fri May 16, 2008 4:32 am

honorless wrote:I'd like to add that several bugs were actually fixed for the NA release. One of the Atlus employees is on SRK (White Rob) and asked the big AH players there about bugs they'd found in the JP release.

Unfortunately, budget constraints meant that they couldn't actually afford to have Examu fix everything...but I hear that the game-breaking ones (already pretty rare, I think) were squashed.

CIT wrote:It'll be in 480p then, that's the maximum resolution for PS2.
AFAIK, Gran Turismo 4 on PS2 has 1080i support. Haven't gotten around to trying that out though.

It's not really 1080i, it's just upscaled so it's more of a "fake" 1080i. Gamespot ran many many articles debunking this in their gamespotting feature.

bay · Post by **bay** » Fri May 16, 2008 6:43 am

any chance the hex hacking of the iso could work like on some of the ps2 shooters it seemed successful on (to get it to 480p)

as discussed here:

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=17808

honorless · Post by **honorless** » Fri May 16, 2008 12:10 pm

The n00b wrote:It's not really 1080i, it's just upscaled so it's more of a "fake" 1080i. Gamespot ran many many articles debunking this in their gamespotting feature.

oh

Thanks for the correction—I never really investigated it (just saw it in a "list of PS2 games with HD support") because I don't care about Gran Turismo.

D · Post by D » Fri May 16, 2008 12:50 pm

to go even further OT,
Gran Turismo on the ps3 doesn't even run at 1920X1080.
It is my understanding that there is not a single game on the ps3 that runs at 1920X1080
It is guestimated that it runs at something like 1280X1080.
1440X1080 at most.
But this is something we'll not know definetly for a while.
PD are low on supplying details!
Of course you can upscale any game to any resolution you like.