Sup guys. Just for fun (and practice), I decided that I'd try and translate Heruru's VF5 impressions from his blog for everyone to read. It's awfully rough, since my JP's grown rather rusty in the time I've been away, but I still think it makes for an enjoyable read.

"I've been at Shinjuku since this morning, and boy do my legs hurt... I was there from the moment the place opened. My first impression was 'the background scenery is beautiful!' The light patterns in particular... Sometimes the light is so strong that you can't see the hit effects.

But, the quality of vf.tv is magnificent! Going from a chat with a certain famous person inside the arcade (let's call him "boss"), they doubled the effort on the game just to make vf.tv so good. The match data gets sent to the server in realtime, and you can watch it as it's being played. Isn't that cool? You get to see ranking statistics and the character's outfits in realtime. Whoever thought of all this is a real genius! It's incredible."

His Lei-Fei impressions:

- Basically, everything Srider said here about his new lying-down attack and options. + following , upon hit, is a huge combo opener.
- He was quite surprised to see the 2P topless costume. Apparently Lei was unexpectedly thin.
- Lei is one of the characters whose changes based on stance. (I believe this varies from character to character, based on what I've read so far. I may be wrong.) Apparently foot position changes if he low punches after + - it significance is unknown. (Sorry, not a Lei player here, so this may not be accurate...) If you're in a standing position, you really need to aware of stance before low punching.
- His combos/combo ability hasn't changed much.
- He suspects the range on the senshippo will be lowered a little in the final release. (I'm not sure which command this refers to. Again, not a Lei player.)

He posted some thoughts on other characters, which I'll get to a little bit later. I'll see if there are any other interesting blogs/bbs posts of note for you guys, as well. Hope you like

Just say the word if you need help with translating. I'm not a very good player, but what I'm lacking in VF I have in languages
I'll help if I have time

Thanks for the time spent translating this, keep it coming ^^

yes thank you very much... keep it coming when ever you find time to translate.

Other characters:

Akira:
"He really hasn't changed that much. I'm not sure what sort of usefulness + has. + -> and followups... it's almost like the opponent is weightless."

Lau:
"You can see his deteriorating condition in his face. But besides that, I don't think he's changed much either... just aged a lot."

Pai:
"Her motion animations and other stuff has changed." He mentions something about her "abare image" that I don't really understand.

Sarah:
"She's a panchira character now! (panchira is a slang term for being able to see a girl's panties. I'm sure knowing this will be very useful for you all. ) How risque. Her new throw can cause the opponent to stagger. Her face looks exactly like you would expect a gaijin to..." (jeez, I understand the sentiment here, just dunno how to put it in English well...)

Jacky:
"As always, it's all about the elbow. From slant () he has a high kick variation. It seems to be connected to a counter."

Shun:
"Insane old man factor at MAX! Since the time after KO is longer, he can get more drinks in. Crazy newfangled technology..."

Wolf:
"He got MUCH bigger. His arms are crazy thick now. I didn't see any big changes in his attacks."

Jeff:
"He's gotten bigger too! His arm hair is really kinda gross, hehe. Again, I don't think his skills have changed too much, but he wasn't a popular character."

Kage:
"He has a new stance that makes him look like he's gathering energy for a Kamehameha... I thought of Raven from Tekken. What a strange ninja."

Lion:
"He seems pretty gay. At least, that's the impression I've heard from foreign folks..."

Goh:
"His look is quite stylish... but strangely pathetic. (in a pitiable sort of way, like a puppy sitting in the rain.) As for new skills, after his hammer, he can do a kick. It's an interesting combination."

Brad:
"HG." (note: HG is a very popular entertainer in Japan right now. He is very... how we say... flamboyant. I've seen VF5 Brad and him compared on several JBBS sites.)

Vanessa:
"She looks more like a soldier. I don't know if too much has changed."

El Blaze:
"It looks like his running's going to be very annoying. He's about half Jeff's size." (I think he says something about him being the smallest of the throw-oriented characters, as well. I'm having a bit of trouble with these comments.)

There's a few interesting posts of various BBSes I've noticed. If I can find the time I'll see about translating those here as well.

Goddamnit, now whenever I watch Brad slip and sway I'm going to hear him saying "Sei, sei, sei..."

Are you guys as bothered as I am by all these comments of "they seem the same as before?"

One of the big differences between Tekken and VF is that a player in VF must completely revamp his/her understanding of a character in order to do well in the next iteration. Whereas in Tekken it is much less so. My Tekken 3 Paul is pretty similar to my Tekken 5 Paul. My VF2 Kage is COMPLETELY different from my VF3 or VF4 Kage.

I'd be disappointed if VF5 broke this tradition...

it's still very early keep your pants on ok

"He seems pretty gay. At least, that's the impression I've heard from foreign folks..."

Hey Zero-chan. Did you forget about Aoi or was she missing from impressions?

/KiwE

She's missing from the impression.
Link to the blog:
http://yaplog.jp/heruru/archive/222

He writes that Pai looks like nothing more than an abare-character(a rampaging/violent character)