VF4 on test in Hayward, CA

Just spent the last few days playing VF4... not a whole lot of time to spend posting today, but just wanted to let everyone know the absence of the evade button isn't nearly as bad as it would have seemed. Now tapping up or down does what the old evade would have done, so it's still quite easy to do like E, CD, if you just tap down, then d/f, d/f.

Moving in the "8 way" style is also pretty simple, just hold up and you start moving upwards, or d,D to start walking downward, and once you start walking going in 8 directions is pretty easy...

Just to be complete, to duck you need to hold D.

Moves using the evade button have changed, most characters have an "evading attack" type thing if you hit PKG while they're evading. For example, that's how Akira does his escaping bodycheck. To do it quickly from a standstill position, the double tap comes in useful, such as dd+pkg to do the move.

Lion's special dodges are still in. b+pkg for the old u/b+e. Now you have control over his forward moving special dodges, by chosing u/f+pkg or d/f+pkg.

Ok that's it for now...

-Jason

 

Just wanted to note that David Liu, or Yamcha, also has been spending some time playing the test version; and posted his coments over at VFZone.com. That's where several of us regulars started posting during VFDC's downtime. It's a nice site, and I was actually enjoying the discussion over there. Since it is a new site, and we don't really know the host Rax, discussion seemed pretty straightforward with no bickering. I'm gonna keep posting at both places for a while. I'd encourage everyone to check it out; even though you've gotta dig through a few forums to find everything.

In less than 13 hours, I'll be hitting the test version myself.

Spotlite

 

Here are some of my observations and other people's comments that I remember from playing the test version of VF4 at Southland mall.

General:

Hop moves have a longer hang time so it seems like they seem to float in the air.

When you are knocked down you are VERY vulnerable to ground hits (like tekken), so you are pretty much forced to use the quick getup.

When you use the quick getup you can immediately block high attacks but you seem to be vulnerable to low attacks. Not really sure if this is true or if people just wasn't blocking the low one.

Everyone has at least one evade attack done with P+K+G while evading.

I'm pretty sure you can only evade up or down.

I couldn't figure out how do to the high pounces, d, U+P don't seem to do it anymore.

Throwing felt weird to me. Even when you got the throw the grappling animation would still appear and that kinda threw me off. There were even times when it looked like the throw would connect but then the opponent was still able to get an attack in, but I might have just been seeing things =P. Also it seems that it was much easier to duck a throw.


Akira:

SPoD has been changed. Tried doing it and it would not come out so someone else there tried doing it with a b,d/f+P+G instead of the b,d/f+P+K and he got 2/3's of it to come out. Never did see the whole thing completed so either they drastically changed the timing or the last part was also changed.

His evading bodycheck is his evade attack.

His double fisted strike is his charge move, which you all probably know already anyway from all the movies.


Aoi:

Her b+P and b/d+P inashi's seem to be gone unless they changed the commands to do it.

Her D/F+P automatically adds on a throw if it hits as a major counter.

When she is on the floor I noticed that pressing P+K made her do sort of a flinching animation that might be a reversal of some sort but was unable to find anything with it to work on.

You can do the ground throw on a KO'd opponent =)


Shun:

I couldn't find a way to take a single drink, pressing d+P+K+G results in him sitting down. While sitting down he is still able to take his 3 drinks.

d/f+P+K is a new move for him which has a long execution time and knocks down, it looks like a low punch attack.

Both his hands and head turn red when he drinks.

His evade attack is his dodging cartwheel attack.


Lau:

seems like his 4 sweeps is gone unless it has been changed. He can still do a double sweep, or a sweep into a low crescent d+K, d+K+G.

Has a new overhand attack that looks like the one from VF2 b+P, can add on a kick afterwards.

His new evade attack is a single palm.

They changed the command for the double palm, it's now just P+K and can be charged.

His u/f+K seems to float a lot easier now, I remember hitting without a major counter and still adding on a pppd+K.


Pai:

Her f+P+K inashi is now quite different, she now walks behind the opponent and strikes them from behind which forces then into a sort of stagger. Not sure what kind of advantage she has afterwards though. Also I'm pretty sure it still works on high punches and elbows, but the elbow one might end in a different result which I can't remember.

I found that pressing d+P+K makes her do sort of a low stance with one leg stretched out behind her. Was unable to find out if she was able to do anything while in that stance and after awhile she automatically goes back to standing.

I noticed some players making her turn around without an attack, but unsure of the command to do this.

Also her d/b+K+G only seems to knock down on a counter now. On a normal hit it just staggers the opponent


Kage:

He has a new kick attack which sort of looks like Ryu Hayabusa's handstand from DOA which is done with d,f+K. Seems like he can do some other attacks while he is in the handstand.

He has this new thing where he starts off little hand animation. Then I've seen him do a sort of roll that goes completely around the opponent. I also saw him do other stuff but my memory of that is quite hazy now.


Jacky:

Some of his old moves look like they have new animations now. Also the second part of his low sweeps looks like a low crescent and knocks down.

He has a new backdash sort of thing with him where he would back up pretty quickly then do a little leg lift up animation. I'm unsure what moves he can do then but I do remember seeing some sort of a sidekick.


Lei-Fei:

He has a lot of strings and can get quite nasty when you are floated or by a fence.

Some moves automatically change his stance.

I noticed that he has a reversal, not really sure if it can only be done in a certain stance or not though.

His P+G throw is where he sort of holds on to the opponent and jumps up and kicks them in the head. One time I reversed it and the opponent sort of blocked the kick and pushed him away, looked pretty nice.


Wolf:

Can't really remember much about him except that he did a lot of evade into throws kind of things. Not sure if this was his evade attack or something else.


Stages:

One of the stages has tiles on the ground and when someone falls down the tiles break apart.

On the coliseum stage there's a storm going on and lightning sometimes destroys pillars and statues.

Most of the stages have fences around them to prevent a RO, but some of them can be broken. The wooden fences seem to break fairly easily but I didn't see any of the metal fences break. When you fall past the fence it is automatically RO even though it looks like you can continue the fight there.



That's pretty much all I can remember. I will try to go back there a couple more times before they get rid of the machine so I'll try to pay more attention. heheh

BD

 

some quick notes

last move of spod is still the same. just couldn't get it out that day, but i got it out plenty today.

pai's little stick the back leg out thing is a evade reversal. basically it trips the opponent who goes in that direction. pai has a nasty new p (either b,f+p or f,b+p i forget) that "inashi's" p, elbow, knee, high kick (?) - just about everything, can follow up with another p

pounces are limited to one, though for some it's a high pounce (lion) and others it's a low pounce (aoi, lau)

i don't think throwing is all that more difficult, though it's definately different. i love how you kinda step in a bit for a throw, esp for like wolf's GS, making p, GS with wolf easy to do, and so far pretty effective.

aoi's inashi is now b+pkg. (dunno about sidekick one) interesting thing is you can hold it as long as you want, and just wait for the opponent to p or high kick.

shun hit u+pkg for single drink

ok more later

-jason

 

Anyone saw Dural by the way? Does she have real time reflection now!?
How many stages are there per game? 8? 10? Lottery style? Pre match character screens?

<font color=orange>Imagine losing to this bozo...</font color=orange>

 

" It's funny that you mention the civil discussions going on over there when it essentially was the same crowd from versus city Was Rax that intimidating?"

Bah, dont let me scare you. I dont delete posts unless they're blatantly offensive or illegal. I say go for the throat!

As far as movies, I can put up a couple on vfzone.com.

Maybe between the two sites we can get them all up.

 

<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr>

You can do the ground throw on a KO'd opponent =)


<hr></blockquote>

LOL... that's just plain cruel, man. I like it!


<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr>

When she is on the floor I noticed that pressing P K made her do sort of a flinching animation that might be a reversal of some sort but was unable to find anything with it to work on.

<hr></blockquote>

Hmmm... maybe this is a reversal for attacks that attempt to hit Aoi while she's lying on the ground. Think Sarah's d/f "plus" K soccer kick or Lion's d/f "plus" P swipe (heh, what's with the lack of love for plus signs on this message board?). I assume that Aoi can only do this move while she's lying on her back facing upward with her head close to the standing opponent. Is this the case?

At any rate, thanks to you, Jason Cha, and Yamcha for putting in the time to type up detailed gameplay reports of VF4 at its current stage after trying it out at CA.

Kruza

 

"If I see one more Kage uf+K+G or DPx2 I'm gonna scream!"

I thought that was scary as well, but now I know true fear after seeing Akira chain two standing palms together in the Sweb clips.

 

i hope they change that in the final version
[censored] makes no sense...the palm in on top..u're lying on the floor...it shouldn't even touch u!

seems like the MC priority is kinda weird...hope the final version is not like this...

btw...if it is the final version..where the hell is vanessa on the selection screen?

load of crap...
Sweb is a load of crap.

<font color=red>~~~ 'enemy not SPODED, enemy not DOWN/versus/images/icons/mad.gif~~~'

 

thx Jason! All the Best!

 

Hmm just reading a few posts, esp from John (on another forum) and i just want to make doubly clear -

people complaining about 3d movement haven't quite figured it out. it is at least as good in vf4 as it was in 3, because you can do vf3 movement in vf4 just by tapping up and down. it works pretty much the same, they prolly have tweaked the timing, but people complaining it was difficult to dodge were probably trying double tap, which not only takes more effort, but also begins the '8 way step'. now i need to double check to see if double tap down does a vf3 style dodge then walk or just goes straight into walk (i think it's the latter but i need to double check) but if players just tapped up or down when they want to dodge, i'm sure they will quickly realize that it's just like vf3 in many ways.

-jason

oh i also noticed a lot of the lion videos on ps2.ign.com are me.. hehe, don't criticize me too much! i'm giving a lot of rounds to the scrubby ign people who were there.. (18 win streak with lion.. my right arm hurt as i was playing, because i was using my thumb on guard, while the machine had vf2 style buttons.. i.e., hand at a strange angle to use thumb on guard..)

 

Oh no.... are they using VF1 and 2 US button layouts? uggh..... (I should have known)...

-Chanchai

 

You're right, I still haven't quite figured out the movement yet. So you're saying that tapping d or u during an opponent's attack will do a VF3 style dodge? I may have done this once or twice but I haven't seen it that much. Any tips on movement would be helpful.

Although today I did make decent use of the dd or uu PKG. When Wolf does it, it turns into a little catch throw that seems kinda cheesy to me. Also tried different type of techs, but only found the handspring.

Kage's TFT...I am by no means an expert on TFT combos but the knee seems a LOT easier to get out than before. However, even when it hit early, I never quite got the last hit of PPPK. Could be Just me. Also by hitting PplusK Kage goes into the little stance which will cause him to get behind his opponent if hit by a punch at any level (I think), however, kicks will still get him.

Two of Sarah's new moves are f plusPK and b plusPK, one of them is two kicks in the style of Dural's triple kick, both will end up in a stance with her leg raised, where she can kick high or low, I think pressing punch will get her out of it.

Pai has another move, f plusK,K which again looks a bit like Dural's triple kick with only two. Also I made a mistake, her d/f plusP,P,f plusP still floats pretty high. Also she has a PKP combo. Her ura is also similar, just a scissor kick then dodge over a fallen opponent.

Jacky seems to have some kind of parry/reversal attack with b plusP...that's about all I know.

Wolf's giant swing seems to have a bit of dash built into it...doing the command will result in Wolf dashing forward a bit and executing the move, making the move really powerful (from what I can tell).

Aoi's D/FplusP adds on a throw when it counters as previously mentioned. Also she has a new throw done f,f plusPG, and also seems to have a new low multi-part throw.

Shun's K after a PplusK seems to go forward more. Also one can be ringed out OVER the wall. I remember I saw Bryan aka spotlite do a dashing shoulder with Akira on Pai which knocked her clear over the wall. I'll let him talk about Akira when he gets the chance.

That's about all that I can think of for now. Kinda sad seeing the machine deserted. When I was there, it was just Bryan, me, and a friend mostly playing, with a few scrub challenges here and there.

 

haha
skilless /versus/images/icons/laugh.gif

<font color=red>~~~ 'enemy not SPODED, enemy not DOWN/versus/images/icons/mad.gif~~~'

 

Dural!!! I want to know if Dural is around! Is it so hard to answer yes or no!!!

<font color=orange>Imagine losing to this bozo...</font color=orange>

 

Spotlite beat the CPU, says Dural isn't in the test version.