PXZ Project X Zone 2. It's out everywhere now.

[eclipse]

After playing a few chapters I've noticed that the bosses seem to be tougher.

They have more HP and hit harder.

The Red Hiding Hood in chapter four had already >10000 HP and almost oneshotted one of my units.

Are you taking advantage of the equips and accessories? The bonuses they give are a huge help, to the point where I've got one roaming pair that doesn't give a crap if they're countered. Upgrade your moves, as well - it really REALLY helps against the massive walls of HP you see! One point in the A-S moves for starters!

That's Akira/Kage, and I jacked their HP like no tomorrow. All I need is a support that extends the CRT window, and they will be the scariest thing on the field, full stop!

Just finished Chapter 17, still haven't used Mirage Cancel. Have some more impressions~!

- I would love a joke set of weapons on the Resonance of Fate guys, because Leanne with a frying pan is hilarious!

- Alisa's active skills look like pure utility. . .not that it's a bad thing!

- I am unimpressed with the new God Eater ladies, even if they happen to have Strider-range.

- Dante's more serious (because Vergil), but they still cause mayhem whereever they go.

- June looks. . .interesting. I kinda want to stick her on the .hack boys, but Aty's pre-battle convo with them is too funny to pass up.

EDIT: More stuff

Edited February 18, 2016 by eclipse

[Breezy Kanzaki]

wait I'm just at the end of 15 God Eater is soon :D

Anyway umm more from me I guess totallynotcopyingeclipese

Dante still does tons of damage

Strider does tons of damage

Chun-Li saved my ass in the Axel chapter by literally solo-ing the robot Axel side of the map

Bosses do a fuckton

I keep forgetting to do the upgrades at base and whatnot

What's mirage cancel

The dialogue in this game is fucking hilarious

So are the chapter names

[Jedi]

Making me want the game more, darn money issues

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Some of the character choices sadden me deeply. The lack of Frank West is like a gnawing void in my heart. :'(

Oh no, Frank West is gone!? :.(

He was one of my favorites.

Who's taking pictures now?

Are you taking advantage of the equips and accessories? The bonuses they give are a huge help, to the point where I've got one roaming pair that doesn't give a crap if they're countered. Upgrade your moves, as well - it really REALLY helps against the massive walls of HP you see! One point in the A-S moves for starters!

Only had like two in the beginning of chapter 5.

However I noticed that not only the bosses have higher HP than in the prequel, but also my units.

The bosses still hit way harder though.

The main boss in chapter 5 (forgot name) killed Demitri, who had 5000 HP left.

That means I've to use way more healing items not to overrestimate the remaining HP of my units.

Edited February 18, 2016 by Mister IceTeaPeach

[Dwlr]

Oh no, Franks West is gone!? :.(

He was one of my favorites.

Who's taking pictures now?

Not that hack Chuck Greene or the worst of the series Nick Ramos, they just cut out representation for Dead Rising entirely which kind of bothers me. Frank could have easily paired with Chuck Greene to make a unit that made sense they already teamed up in Case West and the non-canon Dead Rising 2: Off the Record.

I don't really get why they paired Vashyron with Zephyr making Leanne the solo unit either, sure Zephyr and Vashyron were a team, but Leanne and Zephyr make more sense IMO.

I'd also like to point out the spoiler they included with their character choices for Xenoblade and somewhat for Fates, I would have included Robin and Chrom instead of Lucina, sure both Xenoblade and Awakening have been out for a good while and Lucina isn't really a big spoiler, just seems a bit silly to include spoilers in a crossover game that could generate hype to play the games represented after playing the crossover. Haven't really played it myself but I imagine .hack//GU will be spoiled by having Kite and Tri-Edge in there as well as Resonance of Fate with the Cardinal.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Honestly I'm surprised that many gender mixed duos like Yuri x Estelle, Soma x Alisa and Zephyr x Leanne are split in PXZ2.

Prefer them over one gender pairings.

[Dwlr]

Honestly I'm surprised that many gender mixed duos like Yuri x Estelle, Soma x Alisa and Zephyr x Leanne are split in PXZ2.

Prefer them over one gender pairings.

It's not that that bothers me, it should be by pairings that make sense, some of the pairings seem pretty random and then others are alright, but not apt for no real reason at all. If you ask me being a cross over game they should let you build your own units and all them be single units having 2 classes of characters support and main type characters so you still form effectively 3 person team. It'd add a degree of crossoveryness and add some strategy when combining units since some pairs wouldn't mesh as well as others. It'd open up the ability to create a tank to absorb strong enemy attacks, create damage units, combo units, etc etc

[secondworld]

I don't really get why they paired Vashyron with Zephyr making Leanne the solo unit either, sure Zephyr and Vashyron were a team, but Leanne and Zephyr make more sense IMO.

Well that's how it was in the last game, they probably wanted something different.

[Dwlr]

Well that's how it was in the last game, they probably wanted something different.

You mean Zephyr and Leanne being a pair? It's pretty arbitrary to split them up, they left Chris and Jill paired together and they had a myriad of options they could have went with. Chris and Piers, Leon and Helena, Sherry and Jake (I probably would have went this route since I see them being the stars in future Resident Evils considering how old some of the characters are getting), Leon and Ada, Sherry and Leon, Chris and Leon, Chris and Sheva, Chris and Claire, Parker and Jill, Hunk and Ada, Claire and Leon, they could even have went Chris and Wesker if they wanted to do the whole pair up with your rival thing like T-Elos and KOS-MOS in the original, but they decided to keep Chris and Jill together and split Zephyr and Leanne.

[eclipse]

Only had like two in the beginning of chapter 5.

However I noticed that not only the bosses have higher HP than in the prequel, but also my units.

The bosses still hit way harder though.

The main boss in chapter 5 (forgot name) killed Demitri, who had 5000 HP left.

That means I've to use way more healing items not to overrestimate the remaining HP of my units.

Check the shop! They sell more than just healing items! Accessories usually provide DEF, and both equipment and accessories can provide HP, which is really powerful early-on (still good from where I'm standing at the end of Chapter 20, but it's bonkers-crazy-good earlier).

Oddly enough, Demitri is my only character down, but that was on Chapter 3. Bosses usually are 2-3HKO'd for me. Equip the anti-counter skills, and use those characters to soften the bosses!

If you don't have some characters with healing skills, you should get them pretty soon. Don't be afraid to spam Apple Gels or Apples (both heal 30%, one is for an individual unit, and one is for everyone). You get a ton of money, and the healing is more than worth it!

It's not that that bothers me, it should be by pairings that make sense, some of the pairings seem pretty random and then others are alright, but not apt for no real reason at all. If you ask me being a cross over game they should let you build your own units and all them be single units having 2 classes of characters support and main type characters so you still form effectively 3 person team. It'd add a degree of crossoveryness and add some strategy when combining units since some pairs wouldn't mesh as well as others. It'd open up the ability to create a tank to absorb strong enemy attacks, create damage units, combo units, etc etc

Have you played the game itself, or are you simply talking about what you've seen?

- The units are the way they are due to story reasons, especially the ones that got reshuffled.

- Part of the PxZ's charm are their attacks, which are pair-specific. Thus, stuff like the unique supers would be gone (and part of the fun is watching my characters go ham on some enemy)

- The Defend option absorbs a hell of a lot of damage, and it's relatively cheap

- You can already tank/combo/do ridiculous shit with most of the cast. . .unless. . .

- you're Megaman, and your super is underwhelming

- you're Yuri, and your super is worse than Megaman's

- you're the yakuza guys, who combo well with themselves, but not so much with support (or perhaps I need to shuffle my supports, because Ryo is NOT working)

- you're from Sakura Wars, and your hitboxes carried over from the previous game

Now, for the "ridiculous shit" I mentioned earlier. . .

- KOS-MOS tanking two boss hits (one multi-attack, one proper super, IIRC), despite not having any defense to her name. She was alive by the skin of her teeth, but where I'm from, "alive" is all that matters.

- Strider nearly killing a boss. . .by doing 55K/58K of the boss' life. Oh, and they can nullify every disadvantage of diving behind enemy lines (all status effects and side/back attack bonuses the enemy would have).

- Sometimes, I'll use a multi-attack to finish off a boss. . .or two. . .at the same time. . .hey, don't look at me like that, I ran out of super meter while countering, 'k?

- Kite + Backstab + critical Data Drain = dead things. Except I rarely get Backstab off, but that's still ~50% on a boss.

- Akira turns critical hits into map clears, because innate crit hit boosting damage is insane. If the better equips allow for it, I'm thinking about a build that will cause crits to deal something like 60% more damage than normal.

- Reiji and Xiaomu can use Soul of Arisu (ATK booster) multiple times. I'll leave the carnage to your imagination.

Edited February 18, 2016 by eclipse

[Dwlr]

Have you played the game itself, or are you simply talking about what you've seen?

Haven't played this one yet. By pairings that make sense I mean pairings that make sense before they make their story-line which is going to be contrived and just plain poor like all the others before it have been. It simply doesn't make sense for Leanne to be a solo unit given the story of Resonance of Fate either Vashyron or Zephyr should be paired with her, but considering Vashyron being Vashyron and essentially shipping Leanne and Zephyr in-game it makes most sense for Vashyron to be the solo unit.

Jill and Chris hardly makes sense anymore given the recent storylines in Resident Evil 6, it'd make much more sense to have to have Jake in some way shape or form as the Resident Evil rep, he could easily play a solo unit while Leon and Chris are paired considering given the events of RE6 having Piers wouldn't make much sense which leaves Sherry, Chris, Jake, Leon, and Ada as the still relevant characters depending on what point in time they were crossed over Carla would make sense for the rival unit if they were before that they should have had Wesker shown instead of Ada as a non-playable.

In terms of having X and Zero, adding Axl in some way shape or form would have made some sense if they wanted to change things up a little bit considering he's basically next gen they could have even opened up the Zero Virus arch and have Zero as an enemy that could convert it'd make more sense than

temporarily disabling Ryu's unit to fight Ken however they're handling that solo units being converted would make more sense and if that's the reason for Leanne being a solo unit then Zephyr would make more sense to have converted given his origins of being a homicidal maniac (more or less)

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Check the shop! They sell more than just healing items! Accessories usually provide DEF, and both equipment and accessories can provide HP, which is really powerful early-on (still good from where I'm standing at the end of Chapter 20, but it's bonkers-crazy-good earlier).

Oddly enough, Demitri is my only character down, but that was on Chapter 3. Bosses usually are 2-3HKO'd for me. Equip the anti-counter skills, and use those characters to soften the bosses!

If you don't have some characters with healing skills, you should get them pretty soon. Don't be afraid to spam Apple Gels or Apples (both heal 30%, one is for an individual unit, and one is for everyone). You get a ton of money, and the healing is more than worth it!

Honestly I wanted to ignore the shop for the entire run.

I thought that the game would give me enough of healing items and good equipment.

But after telling me this I really should check it out.

I still think I can come out with my healing items, but I definitely need more equipment and accessoirs.

[eclipse]

Haven't played this one yet. By pairings that make sense I mean pairings that make sense before they make their story-line which is going to be contrived and just plain poor like all the others before it have been. It simply doesn't make sense for Leanne to be a solo unit given the story of Resonance of Fate either Vashyron or Zephyr should be paired with her, but considering Vashyron being Vashyron and essentially shipping Leanne and Zephyr in-game it makes most sense for Vashyron to be the solo unit.

Jill and Chris hardly makes sense anymore given the recent storylines in Resident Evil 6, it'd make much more sense to have to have Jake in some way shape or form as the Resident Evil rep, he could easily play a solo unit while Leon and Chris are paired considering given the events of RE6 having Piers wouldn't make much sense which leaves Sherry, Chris, Jake, Leon, and Ada as the still relevant characters depending on what point in time they were crossed over Carla would make sense for the rival unit if they were before that they should have had Wesker shown instead of Ada as a non-playable.

In terms of having X and Zero, adding Axl in some way shape or form would have made some sense if they wanted to change things up a little bit considering he's basically next gen they could have even opened up the Zero Virus arch and have Zero as an enemy that could convert it'd make more sense than

temporarily disabling Ryu's unit to fight Ken however they're handling that solo units being converted would make more sense and if that's the reason for Leanne being a solo unit then Zephyr would make more sense to have converted given his origins of being a homicidal maniac (more or less)

I'm not sure if the demo has the prologue chapters, but download it and play it anyway. There's a theme throughout the game's story, which explains some of the more nonsensical pairings (for the Resonance of Fate trio, one of Zephyr/Leanne had to be the solo unit - the effect would've been lost on Vashyron). It also explains why the Fire Emblem duo is in there. If you're unable to get the game, see if there's a YouTube playthrough, complete with the chapter dialogue that you can watch.

Honestly I wanted to ignore the shop for the entire run.

I thought that the game would give me enough of healing items and good equipment.

But after telling me this I really should check it out.

I still think I can come out with my healing items, but I definitely need more equipment and accessoirs.

One of the things you get after every battle is gold. You aren't going to use it on much else, sooo. . .

---

More thoughts~! In the middle of Chapter 23 (or so).

- For FUCK'S sake, Chrom and Lucina! Your damage output is middling, and your dialogue is bland! I'm trying to get the special start/end battle quotes, but the only one I got was Heihachi's pre-battle one (which was mildly amusing).

- Yuri/Flynn seem strong, but they've got a lot of levels on everyone else. I need to kick Estelle out of their group, and put someone funnier in there (like Phoenix Wright).

- Finally ate a one-shot on Chapter 23. Not that I'm complaining, since I sort-of put the underleveled glass cannon up against a boss. . .

- Strider's still sexy. And does a ton of damage.

- The yakuza guys are still a pain in the ass to combo with.

- Best group (for pre/post-battle quotes): Ichiro/Erica and Felicia

[Jedi]

- Best group (for pre/post-battle quotes): Ichiro/Erica and Felicia

This sounds like an absolute riot.

[eclipse]

This sounds like an absolute riot.

So, if you're SUPER-INTERESTED in what's said. . .

Pre-battle: I forgot, because. . .

Post-battle: Ichiro gets chewed out by two nuns for peeping into bathrooms

Just hit Chapter 24.

Time to make every last Dural Reiji's plaything.

EDIT: Oh, right, mechanics note. You'll either want some sort of HP-boosting equip on your guys, or you want as few bosses in range of your guys as possible. That one-shot I mentioned earlier was by <2000 HP.

Edited February 19, 2016 by eclipse

[Jedi]

So, if you're SUPER-INTERESTED in what's said. . .

Pre-battle: I forgot, because. . .

Post-battle: Ichiro gets chewed out by two nuns for peeping into bathrooms

Oh dear hahaha, That sounds great.

Also I'm so torn, I want to get this AND Fates when my money comes in, but i'll only be able to manage one.

[Breezy Kanzaki]

Yay my turn!

Dialogue is still great

Chapter titles are still great

Bosses still do a ton of damag

I need to pair Segata with Chrom to see how it goes

Dante does a metric fuckton of damage

Strider is still my bae and does everything

Alisa's support skills are actually amazing so <3

Segata is a thing and I'm not sure how I feel about it

Pairing up Erica with Ichiro was the best decision ever

[Tsunami922]

Oh dear hahaha, That sounds great.

Also I'm so torn, I want to get this AND Fates when my money comes in, but i'll only be able to manage one.

Not that I'm biased or anything, but I'd go for Fates.

So, is the game overall better than the first?

[secondworld]

Hey people who have the game, just how amazing is Segata?

[Jedi]

Not that I'm biased or anything, but I'd go for Fates.

So, is the game overall better than the first?

Just from the demo I can tell you, they fixed pretty much all the issues from the First one, and this is coming from someone who actually liked the first quite a bit.

[Masked And Dangerous]

My list of characters that probably should have been in the game. This is nitpicky as hell, so prepare yourself

Sega

• Valkyria Chronicles - They had three reps last time and they just rereleased the original. Where’s my Welken and Alicia?
• Phantasy Star - While modern Phantasy Star games don’t really have characters, there’s nothing stopping the awfully chatty Alys and Chaz (or Chaz and Rika) from popping up. Once again, this franchise has an expansion coming out for it’s popular MMO and could have used the boost.
• Shin Megami Tensei - Sega owns Atlus now, and even if you limited it to just games from their era of ownership, that still gives you Flynn and Isabeau from SMT IV or Yu Narukami and friends from the Persona spin-offs. Also, maybe characters from the recent Etrian Odyssey remakes too, as those have characters who you can talk to

Namco Bandai

• Dark Souls - Look, I realize that technically Bandai was only the publisher of this series, but cut me some slack. Having Solaire as a guest would probably pay for itself a half dozen times over.
• Time Crisis - Who hasn’t played one of the Time Crisis games in the arcade? It would have made an excellent addition to the roster, and rounded out the cast with more gun toting police officers who EVEN WORK IN PAIRS. Plus Wild Dog is pretty much perfect miniboss fodder considering how often he pops up and his over the top antics.

Capcom

• Dead Rising - Once again with disappearing rep syndrome. Frank and Chuck could have made a pretty awesome tag team once again
• Dino Crisis - I know, I know, it’s RE with Dinosaurs. But considering the time travel elements of the game that take over the plot, and the lack of female lead girl-guy pairings (I checked), having Regina and Dylan back in action could be interesting
• Bionic Commando - A classic game that had a (relatively) recent day in the sun. Having Rad Spence and Super Joe along for the ride would make things so much more fun, and you get to punch Hitler Master D in the face

[Dwlr]

My list of characters that probably should have been in the game. This is nitpicky as hell, so prepare yourself

Sega

• Valkyria Chronicles - They had three reps last time and they just rereleased the original. Where’s my Welken and Alicia?
• Phantasy Star - While modern Phantasy Star games don’t really have characters, there’s nothing stopping the awfully chatty Alys and Chaz (or Chaz and Rika) from popping up. Once again, this franchise has an expansion coming out for it’s popular MMO and could have used the boost.
• Shin Megami Tensei - Sega owns Atlus now, and even if you limited it to just games from their era of ownership, that still gives you Flynn and Isabeau from SMT IV or Yu Narukami and friends from the Persona spin-offs. Also, maybe characters from the recent Etrian Odyssey remakes too, as those have characters who you can talk to

Namco Bandai

• Dark Souls - Look, I realize that technically Bandai was only the publisher of this series, but cut me some slack. Having Solaire as a guest would probably pay for itself a half dozen times over.
• Time Crisis - Who hasn’t played one of the Time Crisis games in the arcade? It would have made an excellent addition to the roster, and rounded out the cast with more gun toting police officers who EVEN WORK IN PAIRS. Plus Wild Dog is pretty much perfect miniboss fodder considering how often he pops up and his over the top antics.

Capcom

• Dead Rising - Once again with disappearing rep syndrome. Frank and Chuck could have made a pretty awesome tag team once again
• Dino Crisis - I know, I know, it’s RE with Dinosaurs. But considering the time travel elements of the game that take over the plot, and the lack of female lead girl-guy pairings (I checked), having Regina and Dylan back in action could be interesting
• Bionic Commando - A classic game that had a (relatively) recent day in the sun. Having Rad Spence and Super Joe along for the ride would make things so much more fun, and you get to punch Hitler Master D in the face

[spoiler=Just a few thoughts]Savan from Dragon's Dogma if you ask me would have been a good Capcom Rep especially with the talk of a sequel coming out. Hagar and Cody from Final Fight would make more sense than Bionic Commando as a classic game rep considering the absolute failure they had when they tried to reboot Bionic Commando they prolly just want to forget about it. Dino Crisis is a fairly obscure game and it's pretty old at that, the people buying Project X Zone are probably younger than those who really recognize Dino Crisis and nothing has really been re-released to keep it somewhat relevant for a wider audience. A lot of the reps from classic games have had their games re-released on the virtual marketplace.

IMO

Capcom

Savan - Dragon's Dogma

Hagar and Cody (pair unit) - Final Fight

Viewtiful Joe - Viewtiful Joe

Namco Bandai

Siegfried - Soul Calibur would make more sense IMO than the rep they've chosen.

Lloyd - Tales, makes more sense quite a bit of sense for the longest time he was basically the Tales mascot.

I'd like to say Solaire prolly wouldn't generate hype, people play Dark Souls for the gameplay, not for the character development. Namco Bandai made the Sword Art Online: Infinity Moment, Asuna and Kirito probably would have been characters that would have generated interest if they were going that route they also have the precedent for video game avatars to be in the game with Kite and Haseo. They make the Budokai DBZ games so it's within the realm of reason that they could have put in Goku. I feel like Namco Bandai reps are fairly fine as they are.

Sega

Sonic - They clearly have no qualms with putting off characters in the game and he is there mascot so his inclusion wouldn't have been that absurd and you can't say any other character represents Sega better than their own mascot.

Billy and Jimmy - Double Dragon, who hasn't played Double Dragon, it's been re-released fairly successfully recently as well and they'd fit right in with the Tekken and Street Fighter characters.

They made the Hatsune Miku game and that's a character that would certainly generate interest if they could have acquired the rights to use her also with Ulala she wouldn't be woefully out of place even. I would suggest Neptunia, but Compile has been able to reacquire most of their IPs from Sega so they really have no claim to her anymore.

I agree with some of your list like Dead Rising they could have even used all 3 protags from Dead Rising like they did with Resonance of Fate which seems to be an include a lot of people don't recognize as is. I'd ignore Shin Megami Tensei personally whenever you have to go on a technicality of ownership it can get complicated, a company can own a series and produce more of those series, but there can be exceptions in the ownership that causes conflict with using them outside of that series. As mentioned I'd also not consider Solaire, Dino Crisis or Bionic Commando at all personally.

Edited February 19, 2016 by Dwlr

[Jedi]

Sega

Sonic - They clearly have no qualms with putting off characters in the game and he is there mascot so his inclusion wouldn't have been that absurd and you can't say any other character represents Sega better than their own mascot.

Sonic isn't big in Japan, and PXZ is more to appeal to Japanese fans than Western fans, plus he doesn't fit in with the more realistic proportioned characters. Sakura Wars was Sega's Japanese flagship for quite some time so thats probably why they have 2 whole pairs.

Phantasy Star and the like would also have much more right than Sonic for a more Japanese appealed game.

Plus Capcom didn't throw in Megaman Classic nor did Namco throw in Pac-Man, they like some more obscure games getting limelight as well in Namco x Capcom/PXZ/PXZ2 by the looks of it.

Edited February 19, 2016 by Jedi

[Dwlr]

Sonic isn't big in Japan, and PXZ is more to appeal to Japanese fans than Western fans, plus he doesn't fit in with the more realistic proportioned characters. Sakura Wars was Sega's Japanese flagship for quite some time so thats probably why they have 2 whole pairs.

Phantasy Star and the like would also have much more right than Sonic for a more Japanese appealed game.

Plus Capcom didn't throw in Megaman Classic nor did Namco throw in Pac-Man, they like some more obscure games getting limelight as well in Namco x Capcom/PXZ/PXZ2 by the looks of it.

Last I checked Chris isn't very popular in Japan if that was they case they probably wouldn't have included him and would have used Leon in the first game given Leon's popularity in Japan.

X is really not that different from Megaman in terms of art style. Sonic isn't too terribly different in art when drawn to a little more detail as he has been before, even then Shadow could have been used given his precedent for using guns and what have you. Pac-man doesn't really 'fight' per say and has never been drawn with any level of detailing that would have at least hit the minimum of X, but with that said they have video game avatars in the game, there clearly isn't exactly a precedent for normalcy.

They don't have any terribly obscure games in the game. The most obscure I can think of off the top of my head is Valkyrie. And in that regards if they wanted them all to be the realistic fighting type there'd be no real difference from Billy and Jimmy than Ryu and Ken. Streets of Rage is basically Final Fight, Hagar and Cody would have been no different than Axel. If they're going for obscure games getting the limelight they certainly missed that mark including mostly the largest franchises from several of the devs. Further more in terms of a Japan appeal game, Virtua Fighter wouldn't have been included if that were the case either, last I checked it's popularity in Japan has fallen dramatically.

[Breezy Kanzaki]

Fun fact

Sonic isn't in PxZ/PxZ2 because the creators wanted the cast to be humans/human-like

So like

Also the dialogue in this game is great