------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Melty Blood MiniFAQ Version 1.2 Author: Kevin Deane E-mail: kaioshade@yahoo.com Table Of Contents A FAQ History 1 Introduction 1.1: What is Melty Blood? 1.2: System Requirements 1.3: Game testing 2 System 2.1: Control 2.2: Gameplay Modes 2.3: Gameplay Basics 2.4: Advanced Gameplay 3 Miscellaneous 3.1: Combo System 4 Game Troubleshooting 4.1: General Issues ------------------------- A FAQ History ------------------------- 1.0 Initial Version 1.1 Small Fix, spelling errors and some informational errors. 1.2 Added To the System Requirements, with tests and recommendations on configurations. (Thanks to yunari for the results.) ------------------------- 1 Introduction ------------------------- 1.1: What Is Melty Blood? Melty Blood is the newest fighting game from Watanane Seisakusho, a japanese doujin game company. Melty Blood was developed under the guidance of Type-Moon, who owns the rights to the characters in Melty Blood (MB) 1.2: System Requirements MB does not have very high system requirements. Minimum requirements are a Pentium 2/Celeron class processor at 333 Mhz. A Pentium 3 class processor at 450 Mhz or Higher is recommended. 64 Mb of Ram is minimum, with 128 Mb being the recommended amount of system ram. Standard GeForce card are the minimum, but anything over a GeForce 2 will do just fine. A gamepad of some sort is recommended, and MB is compatible with just about any USB device out there. I personally prefer to use a PSX-Usb converter myself. 1.3 Game Testing (Credit to yunari for these results) RAM - Melty Blood actually uses about 150+ MB of RAM. Despite the cover saying 128 would be fine, 192 would be the realistic amount of RAM to have in your computer. If you are experiencing long load times with the game, RAM is most likely the culprit. Graphics Cards - Geforce 2 cards and higher will run the game just fine with no slow down. yunari has conducted some tests with different video cards to determine which cards can run the game well. Test System - Pentium 3 700 MHZ 192 MB RAM - RIVA TNT2 Will usually acheive 60 FPS with some slight slowdown (about 45-60 FPS). Couldn`t do 60 FPS in stage that have moving object in background in some system too (Some system did not have but my system had). Stage selection is very slow and that is sped up with a faster processor so I assume that function use in this point is not available in hardware and need to use software instead. Have glitch in stage that have town with black building that shadow of town is not rendered. Need to use low graphic to fix. Conclustion: Somewhat acceptable but did not recommended if your cpu is not above 1 ghz. - Matrox G-200 8 MB VRAM Game always run in 60 FPS except some situation that use a lot of effect like Kohaku EX throw bomb and when guarding Shiki knife slashing. Conclusion: Recommended. Those slow down is usually not in combo so that is not effect gameplay much. - Matrox G-400 Always do 60 FPS without any slowdown. Conclustion: Highly recommend of course. - Matrox G-450 As same as G-400 - SIS 630 SYSTEM ram 128 MB This card is played on my friend system and always set graphic to low. Game usually do 60 fps and always have slow down a bit in all effect. Conclustion: Acceptable. - Trident cyberblade 3d This card is tested on Melty blood demo. Those stage in demo is equal to set graphic to low. Game usually run in 60 fps have slow down a bit. Conclusion: Acceptable. Other card that tested with QOH2001 before. Since game still use same engine so result should not different much. - SIS6326 Got around 20 FPS. Speed is equal 60 fps if set speed to rocket. Conclusion: This card is out of order for gaming now. Go to second hand shop to buy some cheap low end card instead. Or some of new lowend card like redeon 7200 or geforce 2 mx-400. - ATI rage mobility. Always have slow down in all effect. Couldn`t do 60 FSP in Yu`s stage with fog is on. Framerate dropped to 7 FPS with Subaru`s earth dragon flying to sky. Conclustion: If you used to that slow down there should be not much serious problem since only who have to stick with this card is notebook user which have no other choice. - VOODOO3 2000 Always do 60 FSP except Subaru`s Earth dragon flying to sky. Text in game and character texture in character select screen down sample by half to fit texture limit 256x256 in voodoo3. Have some glitch in some lighting effect. Conclusion: Acceptable since those problem did not effect gameplay at all. ------------------------- System ------------------------- 2.1: Controls MB has very simple controls. Button 1 is weak attack, button 2 is medium, 3 is hard attack, and the fourth button is seal (see section 2.4) movement is like any other fighter before it, with up being jump, back to block, etc. The controls are easy enough for anyone to pick up and play without any trouble. 2.2: Gameplay Modes MB has the standard Assortment of modes for play. MB has a very in-depth story mode, which is essential to unlocking the extra characters, a VS mode, in which a player can go against either a computer controlled opponent, or another human opponent. MB also has a very decent training mode, in which you can save and replay any moves, or combos you may have created. These replays can be shared amongst other Mb players. And Mb also has the standard assortment of options. 2.3: Gameplay Basics MB borrows a lot of elements from other fighting games and adds its own creative touch to them. For starters, you have your standard life meter at the top of the screen, much like any other fighting game. The vitality meter is very similar to the guard meter used in many of Capcom's fighting games. Every hit you sustain, any accumulation moves (to be explained next section), seals and air dashes you execute will slowly decrease your vitality gague. When the gague is depleted, your character will become dizzy. However while your character is dizzy, they are still able to move around, block and attack as well. The trick to being dizzy is your character is unable to recover from air/ground combos. Being in this state can lead to being the victim to some very devestating combos from your opponent. The Magic Circuit is your Special Meter. It is similar to Capcom's traditional 3-Level gague system, but instead of showing levels 1-3 it shows a percentage from 0-300%. The Magic Circuit gradually fills up slowly on its own, but attacks from your character will charge it much faster. The Magic Circuit can also be used to execute EX versions (section 2.4) of the characters' existing movesets, at the cost of 100%. Super moves take anywhere from 150% to a full 300% of the Magic Circuit. 2.4 Advanced Gameplay Mb has a good bit of depth to it. Even with a lot of techniques borrowed from other fighting games, MB manages to have a unique system. Accumulation: One of MB's most unique parts of gameplay. Every character has a unique attack that can be "accumulated", or charged for about an extra second to improve damage, launch the enemy, or stun. To execute an accumulation, hold down the button of the attack and quickly tap and hold the down button on your joypad. If done successfully, a quick blue burst will eminate from your character. Accumulations use about 20-25% of your vitality, depending on the character. Each characters accumulation will be in their movelist section. Dash/Air Dash: MB has a rather simple dash system. Dashes on the ground can be accomplished by tapping twice quickly in either direction. Air dashes are a bit different, but easy to understand. Each character can do two moves while in the sir after they jump. you can either jump straight up again, dash foward, dash backward or you can execute a small hop step by tapping down twice quickly (certain characters only). Every air dash uses about 5-10% of your vitality. Also to note you can dash and move around before the round starts, so being trapped in the corner should not be a problem. Launch/Air Combos: MB also has a launch/air combo system like the vs series of games. The technique and execution is roughly the same as the vs series it mimics. However, the timing of the air combos is fairly strict and precise and will take some degree of practice to do properly. Each character has a launcher of some sort, and for each character it will come from a different move, not just down+attack like the vs games. Seal: Seal is MB's definition of a parry. Similar to Street Fighter: Third Strike, or Garou: Mark of the Wolves, Sealing is a more advanced block of your opponents attack. A successful seal will leave your opponent stunned for a second and will allow you a counterattack before your opponent recovers. However, Seals can not be executed indefinitely. Seals use approximately 10% if your vitality gague. If used too often, you can be dizzied very quickly after depleting your vitality. EX Moves: In MB, special moves are accomplished using all 3 attack buttons. If the Magic Circuit is 100% or higher, executing a special move with the Hard attack button will unleash an EX version of that move. most of the time the EX version is stronger and more effective than the normal version. Recoveries: MB has a recovery system similar to Street Fighter Zero (Alpha) 3. If you are the victim of an air combo or counter in the air, you can recover by pressing Light+Medium Attack simultaneously. If you get knocked to the ground, quickly tap back or foward twice to recover much more quickly off the ground and bounce away to safety. ------------------------------ Miscellaneous ------------------------------ 3.1: Combo System MB's combo system is not very hard to get the hang of. The basic combo structure for MB is Light Attack --> Medium Attack --> Hard Attack. Some characters have attacks that hit more than once, so adjustments in timing will have to be made. Most characters also have the ability to combo backwards 1 attack level, so it is also possible to execute a Hard Attack --> Medium Attack or Medium Attack --> Light Attack. Some characters can go further, others cant. Depending on the character, you can also follow up with their launcher in the combo. In an air combo, the same ligic to a ground combo applies, although doing backwards combos is extremely limited to a few characters. ------------------------------ Game Troubleshooting ------------------------------ 4.1: General Issues Q: Why do the sprites look garbled? A: Update your drivers to the newest version. Also if possible, try to use direct X 8 instead of direct X 9. MB seems to have problems on some machines that are using DX9. Q: Why did i lose my ability to pause? A: If you have the originl MB and have updated to version 1.002, you will lose the ability to pause anywhere, except training mode. whether this was intentional by Watanabe or it is a unexpected side effect of the patch i do not know. Q: My USB gamepad was working before and now it isn't. A: Whenever you unplug a usb device or change one (even if it was the exact same type as the previous one) then MB will sometimes try to revert to an original configuration. to fix this, run the game, and when the first screen pops up, select the first option on the bottom left. This is the controller configuration utility. There is no need to configure the axes, just hit the button you want for button one (light attack), button 2 (medium), button 3 (hard) button 4 (seal) and button 5 (start). The utility will exit then run the game as normal. Thanks to: (in no particular order) Boochi: Moral support and a lot of questions about replays. I will figure those things out. Looking foward to your manual translation. Hideki: For getting me the game. Without him, this FAQ would not be on your screens. Oracle: For letting me use your computer when i didnt have one to play the game for as long as i did all those times. UnitG: For pushing me to learn more about the game, and moral support. I want Raigard. You better hurry up. Azrael: For playing against me, even when you said i was being a cheap little punk. Thank you for reading my FAQ. This FAQ will alays be hosted at gamefaqs.com and animetoshokan.com. Any other sites, please ask for my permission before using this faq. I will most likely say yes, i just would like to know where my FAQ is being used. Thank you.