The latest DLC character for Square-Enix’s Dissidia Final Fantasy NT is now available for purchase. Kam’lanaut, the archduke of Jeuno, has been released for PlayStation 4.
Originally a non-playable boss character from the MMORPG Final Fantasy XI, Kam’lanaut became playable in arcades in Dissidia Final Fantasy as part of its September update. Now, players on PlayStation 4 can purchase him for $5.99, or as part of the $29.99 Season Pass.
To celebrate his arrival, Square Enix has released a new trailer for him that pays homage to his MMO roots.
With the arrival of Kam’Lanaut, only two more DLC characters remain in the game’s Season Pass. These are a female from the newer half of the Final Fantasy series who’s a veteran of the previous Dissidia games, and a male character from the same half of the series, who is making their Dissidia debut in this game.
The definitive way to play SoulCalibur VI is here with the HORI Real Arcade Pro. SOULCALIBUR VI Edition for PlayStation 4/3/PC and Xbox One/360/PC. The two fightsticks are gorgeously designed with semi-translucent cases and well-made with Hayabusa parts. There’s a lot to love about this pair of fightsticks but it’s worth mentioning there were certainly some questionable decisions made when developing this momentous fightstick duo.
The bold color choices will immediately set these fightsticks apart. The deep red and blue cases are partially see-through and are sure to stand out in a sea of silver and black fight sticks. There’s no doubt that this pair of sticks are visually stunning, and they are a must-have collector’s item for that reason alone. It is interesting to note, however, that if the two sticks are meant to symbolize the SoulCalibur and the Soul Edge the shades are a little bit off, but it’s not too huge an issue since the sticks look so good in their own right. That being said, the PlayStation 4 stick is a little darker, and you miss out on some of the translucent effect.
The stick art that was chosen for the two controllers is phenomenal. The PlayStation 4 stick makes sense thematically with Siegfried fighting his past self and eternal foe, Nightmare. The Xbox One stick is designed more with fan service in mind, with the entire female cast (minus Seong Mi-Na) front and center. It’s an odd decision to include Tira, a character who is a bonus for the Season Pass and not found in the base roster, instead of Seong Mi-Na, and this is coming from someone who has been a fan of Tira since SCIII. It appears there is room for the additional fighter on the side of the stick, but alas, she will have to be remembered another way. Maybe with a sticker.
Overall the button placement does not get in the way of the stick art, but the start button, which is covered by a latch, is a bit of an eyesore for two fightsticks whose main focus comes from their art. It is nice the button is recessed a little and that the latch is there to avoid accidental button presses, but it would be much preferred on the top, around where the touchpad is on the PS4 stick. The function buttons on the top are well aligned on the Xbox One stick but the PlayStation stick cuts a lot out of the image, while the pieces cut out aren’t detrimental to the entire aesthetic and there isn’t anywhere else Nightmare could have been placed without losing more of his focus points, it does show that perhaps the buttons could have been placed on the side to alleviate some of the image cutting. Bear in mind, this is all coming from someone without any icons on his desktop, so this is really just personal preference, for functionality’s sake, the buttons are great where they are.
The fightsticks are a good weight with rubber stops on the bottom so they don’t slide and they fit comfortably on your lap. The sticks do not open without being unscrewed, so easy modding is not a focus for this special edition offering. The attached USB cables are a good standard length, running at three meters, this length does get shortened a bit when using the cable cover since the cutout for the cable is on the far end. You only lose a few inches, so in the end, it won’t matter much, its just an interesting design choice. The cable compartment is nice and roomy so you won’t have to worry about crunching up your non-replaceable USB cable.
One final note on the design is how bland the PlayStation stick’s packaging is in comparison to its Xbox counterpart. It must be due to certain licensing requirements from Sony because its hard to believe the decision was intentional. And while a difficult business decision to make in regards to supply and demand, I am sure there are players on both consoles who would have preferred the opposite stick design. Unfortunately, there is no DLC to have both Yoda and Darth Vader with this fightstick offering. (Bad SoulCalibur IV joke.)
Function:
The fightsticks feel great to use and are made of standard HORI Hayabusa parts. The main buttons are all matte so your fingers will be less likely to slip off when changing inputs. Some may prefer the glossy feel when sliding to input combos, but with SoulCalibur VI only running five buttons, that becomes less necessary. HORI was even nice enough to include a recommended button layout for the stick printed on the back of the box. The joystick is very responsive and I have found myself more successful with inputs than my previous bouts with my Madcatz TE+ stick, which uses Sanwa parts. The stick and the buttons also create a lot of audible feedback, which is something I prefer when it comes to controllers, it helps me know for a fact that an input was made.
It is pretty standard fare though, so if you have used a Real Arcade Pro stick before, this is bound to feel familiar, just in an utterly stylish package. That being said, the components included within the RAP controllers are tried and true and have continued to impress. So whether or not this is your first RAP or another for your collection, it’s definitely worth checking out for its core components.
Oddly enough, both sticks do not retain the same features. The PlayStation model has additional functions like the ability to utilize the joystick as either the directional pad, or the left/right analog sticks, and a turbo mode. The Xbox version of the stick (which didn’t actually come with an instruction manual but a QR code leading to one and once you get there its just one page of information printed in multiple languages which could have easily been printed on the same piece of paper with the QR code) cannot be used as a right stick, has no Turbo function, but does have the ability to adjust game and chat audio by holding down the Right Stick Button or the Left Stick Button and a desired direction of the joystick. You can even mute your microphone by hitting the three main function keys at the same time.
It gets even stranger when you read further into the Xbox instruction manual and find that when connected to an Xbox, even if you switch the function to the left stick, it will always be read as the D-Pad and that when it is connected to PC the same problem will occur if the Xbox One drivers are chosen. Utilizing the Xbox 360 function, however, allows complete control between D-Pad and left stick on PC.
All of the strange design decisions aside, the two sticks are great to use while implementing their main function: playing fighting games. The pair of fightsticks are now my favorite weapons of choice to enter the FGC battlefield — primarily due to their impressive looks — but also because of how good they feel to use. The two controllers will be a great addition to any SoulCalibur fan’s arsenal especially when celebrating the release of SoulCalibur VI.
Pros:
Eye-popping casing with beautiful stick art.
Matte-surfaced Hayabusa buttons keep your grip without slipping.
Stands up on its own for display.
Cons:
The start button is in the top panel, cutting off portions of the art.
Both sticks do not have the same functions.
Requires tools to open and mod/repair.
Both sticks are launching alongside SoulCalibur VI today at GameStop and Amazon, so be sure to pick up your stick soon to play the next title in style. Links for purchase can be found below.
Heihachi has been the oft-neglected Mishima of Tekken 7, with Kazuya, Devil Jin, and Jin himself taking the forefront of most competitive play. You’ll often hear as much electricity as a God Fist produced from the crowd in the event that JDCR does pull out Heihachi in competitive play.
This combo video shows the technical side of the character, with some of the best damage Heihachi has to offer. Showing off some precise electrics in combination with some amazing stage interactions, this combo video is one to watch.
Noctis has been considered an easier character to learn in the grand scope of Tekken 7, with easy-to-utilize tools that can quickly shut down inexperienced players. Taking that character to the highest level still requires some finesse though — you don’t often see Noctis at the competitive level.
TheMainManSWE shows off some of the character’s best traits, and how to use them to your advantage. He also addresses some of the changes Noctis received in Season 2, which you can also use to augment your chances of success with the character.
Critical Arts are supposed to blow up any armored attacks in Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, and it has been that way since the very beginning. Unfortunately, there’s something else that’s been there since the beginning — Birdie’s incomplete CA.
I checked @WydD DIFF site. It seems the cancel version of Birdie's CA does not have armor break property flags on its hitboxes (like all Supers usually do). His regular version does, but not when canceling into it.
Apparently has been like this since release. Oopsie by Capcom.
Birdie’s super normally breaks armor like everyone else’s. But because of an incorrectly set property, Birdie’s CA won’t break armor if it’s cancelled into: something discovered recently by RumoursOfGhosts — the hard way — in his match above.
When the inevitable Season 4 happens, I think it’s safe to say we already know a buff Birdie will (or at least should) get.
America, 1899. The end of the Wild West era has begun. After a robbery goes badly wrong in the western town of Blackwater, Arthur Morgan and the Van der Linde gang are forced to flee. With federal agents and the best bounty hunters in the nation massing on their heels, the gang must rob, steal and fight their way across the rugged heartland of America in order to survive.
The Think, Don’t Mash! series has been slowly weaving a narrative about fundamentals over the past four tutorial-based episodes of Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition gameplay. Today’s episode is the payoff — Press Button Win shows that everything he’s done to build his Chun-Li game plan from scratch is so basic to learning fighting games that it can be broadly applied to the whole cast.
So: in comes random select.
Armed with a standing medium kick and big dreams, PBW’s newly-hatched Birdie took to the ranks to show how footsies and fundamental control can teach you a lot about the way fighting games are properly played. This is a concept that transcends character and game — it all comes down to you.
After his most recent video focusing on team combos, Final Showdown has moved back to combos for single characters in Dragon Ball FighterZ.
Cell was one of the more dominant characters in Dragon Ball FighterZ prior to the recent patch. Though he’s been toned down somewhat, he still packs quite a punch. The video below demonstrates new maximum damage combos for Cell, which expand on existing concepts for the character.
Next up is Vegito, one of Final Showdown’s favorite characters. Again, this video focuses on max damage, leading up to a combo that may be the most damaging solo combo off a jump in, without sparking or assists.
Of course, once assists, DHCs and Sparking are added, Vegito gets to do a near Touch of Death combo off a jump in.
Teen Gohan is yet another favorite of Final Showdown. This new video focuses on further exploration of his bomb loops, demonstrating a new extension that he discovered to allow the loops to be started much more easily from mid screen.
As a bonus, Final Showdown also shared with us this expansion of his previous, team combo video for Vegito, Teen Gohan, and Goku, demonstrating a new touch of death combo.
What is it about SoulCalibur that has created such a robust and passionate community?
Bandai Namco continues to explore the world of SoulCalibur ahead of SoulCalibur VI‘s impending release this week; in the second part of their mini-documentary series Swords and Souls, we get to hear from hardcore fans and gameplay experts such as MarkMan, Maximilian, Kayane, Aris, and others on how SoulCalibur VI connects to the SoulCalibur legacy.
If you missed Part I of Souls and Swords — which covers the history of the franchise and its community — check it out below:
SoulCalibur VI hits retail for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on October 19!
The weapons-based battler For Honor continues to grow: its latest expansion, Marching Fire, adds a new faction (the Wu Lin) and four new heroes, technical upgrades, and new single and multiplayer modes. Have a look:
For the new players that Ubisoft is hoping might be drawn into For Honor by the buzz around this new expansion, they’ve also readied this new “What Is For Honor?” introductory trailer to break down what the game is all about.
