MBAACC 1.05 and 1.07

The last time I wrote about Melty here, it was in the early months of 1.05's release.  Now 1.07 is out and the game is looking better and better.

1.05 was very short lived, and the response to it was very mixed.  There were just as many people who loved the changes as those who thought they were terrible.  The game was drastically different to the point where many people felt it didn't play like Melty anymore.  There was still one thing that everyone agreed on though, and that was the game needed more time for playtesting before release.  Specifically things like C-Kohaku's 5c giving easy OTG relaunches and Powerd Ciel in general made it really obvious that the game wasn't thorougly tested.  The new OTG relaunch mechanic, which I felt gave the game some extra spice, was also kind of a mixed bag.  The main problem was that some characters could abuse it to no end(C-Kohaku), while others literally gained nothing from it(Wara).

Surprisingly 1.05 ended up being a very balanced game.  The top tier was very silly, but 1.05 gave a lot of improvements to characters who have been traditionally terrible in the series.  C-Roa, C-Seifuku Akiha, and C and H-Arc were some characters who were completely garbage in the previous 2-3 revisions of Melty, and this version was able to give them some nice tools from both system changes and character specific changes to make them competitive.

The game didn't last long enough for there to be a tier list made by surveying top players, but there was one that the entire Japanese BBS basically agreed upon.  It was:
S Kohaku PCiel HisuKoha Ryougi
A+ Shiki Arc Nanaya Warc Satsuki Miyako Len Aoko
A Everybody else
A- VSion Mech-Hisui

Top Nero player SAT also made his own list, which is almost exactly the same:
A+ Kohaku HisuKoha Ryougi PCiel
A Everyobdy else
A- (Nero) Mech-Hisui VSion

And top Miyako player Kanna made his own list as well:
A+ Leo's Ryougi, PCiel
A Everybody else
A- VSion
Leo best character in the game!

1.07 is out right now, and it's brought a few new things to the table.  First off is a new character in the form of Archetype Earth, who was previously a broken boss in the PS2 version of AA.  She's probably the most unique character in the game, having an omnidimensional flight mechanic that drains meter.  OTG relaunches are still in the game, but they seem to have been toned down considerably.  The damage in general seems to have been lowered a bit, compared to 1.05.

Archetype Earth, or Hime as the Japanese are calling her, is a really interesting character.  I originally thought that her flight mode was balanced by it 1)draining meter and 2)disabling her ability to block.  But from all the footage that's been released, it does seem like she can block during flight.  Maybe the vulnerability only lasts for a few frames in the beginning of her flight?  I'll have to actually play her to figure this out.

Hime seems pretty strong right now, as her flight gives her unparalleled movement options relative to the cast.  Her normals and specials also have a ton of range and are easily hit confirmable into combos.  Her damage seems to be on the low side, but I suspect this is because it's an early stage of the game where people haven't yet ironed out optimal combos.  Her defense modifier seems pretty terrible: if I had to estimate she looks like she's between Warc and Wara.

If the main theme of 1.05 was buffing characters who were traditionally bad, I would say the theme of 1.07 is charged moves.  Almost every single character in the game has gained new charged moves, which is a pretty funny way to add new moves into the game without drawing any new animations.  It's hard to say how much these new moves add to the game from the footage we have, but some characters like C-Wara and C-Akiha get some nice new combos.

The overall reception to 1.07 right now has been overwhelmingly positive.  Some people on the BBS think it's the best version by far.  I'm really happy with the direction Melty has been going since 1.05, so I'm pretty hype for 1.07's PC release.  Archetype Earth is a really cool character too, and as the sole character in the game with any kind of cleavage, I am obligated to play her!