Translating the Yagami team blog entry.
IORI
- Iori's strength is the many ways he can attack when he's at close range. In particular he has low jumps which make his jump attacks hard to counter. On top of that he has his Sotoshiki: Yurifuri, and his command grab 203 Shiki: Tsuchitsubaki, making him a character with a lot of offensive options. In addition he has a new move Sotoshiki: Kui, which is an overhead, further improving his offensive capabilities.
- They thought about what sort of moves to give Iori to bring out his ferociousness in spite of losing his flames, and they settled on the image of him tearing things to shreds with his nails.
- EX 401 Shiki: Shougetsu has Iori move forward more than the regular version. It's also invincible until the attack comes out, and gives Iori frame advantage on block.
- EX 104 Shiki: Nueuchi gains invincibility and does 3 hits, making it a good anti-air move as well as a good move for interrupting attacks.
- EX Forbidden 1211 Shiki: Yaotome makes the background turn red on the final hit. The same goes for the EX versions of Mature's and Vice's DMs.
- It also has longer invincibility, making it good (again) for anti-air or interrupting other attacks.
- His NeoMAX is a new move called Forbidden 1218 Shiki: Yatagarasu, where he slashes violently above him in an arc. It's slow on startup, but has good priority and is great in combos. If you connect it at the moment the move starts up the move's animation looks like the KOF'96 Yagami team ending where Iori slaughters his teammates.
- They changed the animation in response to feedback from location tests that the move looked too plain
lol).
- They've re-added Iori's close B attack, to at least make his normals feel like they used to, even though his specials have completely changed.
- Iori's 10th color matches the color scheme of his old outfit. At the second location test they added a crescent to the back of this outfit to make it match the old one more closely, and it became the most popular colour chosen
lol).
- They indicated that Iori's ending will be something to look forward to.
MATURE
- Mature is a fast character with lots of moves just like in previous games (I guess the KOFXII version doesn't count). This time you can use her Ebony Tears as a shield to advance behind just like in previous games, so Mature users should be happy.
- EX Ebony Tears does 3 hits and allows for followup attacks
- EX Death Row can be input up to 5 times instead of up to 3 times, making it easy to hit confirm and great for chipping.
- EX Despair has some invincibility on startup, making it a very important move for Mature who does't have many moves that let her counterattack quickly.
- EX Nocturnal Lights has a different animation from the regular version (the background turns red, as mentioned before). Apparently they had problems getting the blue Ebony Tears effect to look good on the red background, .
- Mature's NeoMAX is called 'Awaking Blood', where she removes her eyepatch and her eye flashes, at which point a large tail-like energy wave smashes the opponent. The range is pretty long, making it good for combos as well as a standalone move at long range. Also, it hits overhead.
- It's hard to make out on the sprite, but apparently Mature's eyepatch conceals a snake-shaped birthmark.
VICE
- Vice is a power character with a focus on throw moves, much like earlier games, but unlike Daimon and Clark she has good striking attacks too, and has some good combos.
- After the location tests they gave her back her mid-air throw DM Overkill. It looks like it's difficult to combo, but you can in fact super cancel it after Mayhem -> Splash, right before the Splash hits.
- EX Decide has 'everywhere priority' (wtf does なんでも判定 mean?)
(SAB-CA note: it means anywhere juggle!) and lets Vice follow up with a close C after it connects, creating a combo opportunity.
- EX Negative Gain has an effect where a skull appears on the screen (I guess like one of the energy pillars in Mature or Rugal's moves?)
- Her NeoMAX has the same name as Mature's (Awakening Blood). She removes her jacket slightly, and the birthmark on her back flashes, at which point a large energy wave shaped like a snake's tail knocks the opponent down at high speed. Because the snake appears from the edge of the screen behind Vice, it can be easily used as a counterattack when Vice is cornered.
- Mature's and Vice's 4th color makes their color schemes match Iori's.
Next week? The AOF team.
