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100% Orange Juice
So I'm going to use this thread mainly to document the results of matches I've played in this game. Also gonna throw whatever random thoughts I have on the game, here.
For those who don't know, 100% Orange Juice is a 4-player virtual board game. It was made by the doujin circle Orange_Juice, as their 5th anniversary game, a crossover between the universes of their previous games, which were all shmups. Surprisingly, this game is probably their most famous game internationally, and I think it's been far more successful than any of their other games.
In this game, you choose a character, choose cards to contribute to a central deck, roll dice to move around a board, fight regular enemies and bosses and other players in dice battles, choose different paths to go on, accumulate "stars" (which are like currency), draw cards, play cards, and more, just to try to be the first person to achieve certain increasingly demanding level up conditions (land on a home panel while having enough battle wins or enough stars) six times in a match. There's a lot of randomness, but also a lot of player choice with regards to how to use that randomness, so the game both has depth of strategy while not being overly competitive. Also, the playable characters are all quite distinctive and there's a lot of amusing running jokes amongst the playerbase with regards to them.
Anyway...
For those who don't know, 100% Orange Juice is a 4-player virtual board game. It was made by the doujin circle Orange_Juice, as their 5th anniversary game, a crossover between the universes of their previous games, which were all shmups. Surprisingly, this game is probably their most famous game internationally, and I think it's been far more successful than any of their other games.
In this game, you choose a character, choose cards to contribute to a central deck, roll dice to move around a board, fight regular enemies and bosses and other players in dice battles, choose different paths to go on, accumulate "stars" (which are like currency), draw cards, play cards, and more, just to try to be the first person to achieve certain increasingly demanding level up conditions (land on a home panel while having enough battle wins or enough stars) six times in a match. There's a lot of randomness, but also a lot of player choice with regards to how to use that randomness, so the game both has depth of strategy while not being overly competitive. Also, the playable characters are all quite distinctive and there's a lot of amusing running jokes amongst the playerbase with regards to them.
Anyway...
Comments
White Winter - Freeze, Charity, Battlefield
Mixpo, Kiriko, Krila, Marc (me)
1st place as Marc (2nd Krila, 3rd Mixpo, 4th Kiriko)
Sweet Heaven - Confusion, Miracle, Charity
Tomomo-CSE, Sweebo (me), Flying Castle, Suguri
1st place as Sweebo (2nd Suguri, 3rd Flying Castle, 4th Tomomo-CSE)
Practice Field - Home Roulette, Bomber, Mystery
Kai (CPU, then player), Aru, Yuki (me), Suguri
2nd place as Yuki (1st Suguri, 3rd Aru, 4th Kai)
Pudding Chase - Regeneration, Charity, Sprint
Krila (CPU part of the way? I can't remember), Saki (me), Poppo, Suguri
1st place as Saki (2nd Poppo, 3rd Krila, 4th Suguri)
Generally my goal is to beat a 25% win rate, which would be what I'd get by pure chance. I guess I did pretty well today. That said, the second match win isn't fully deserved since the Suguri player was...acting weird. Like, playing Accelerator and then not attacking me, just to get stars. CPU players do tend to do stupid things like this, but not human players.
The play of the day is probably a time in the fourth match when I laid a Big Bang Bell and the other three characters sorta tussled right around it for a few turns (letting it cook) and then someone stepped on it and it went boom, giving me a huge lead in stars, whereas I'd been in fourth place before since Poppo had stolen my stars down to literally 0 at one point about 1/3 of the way into the match.
The dumb thing of the day, on the other hand, is me attacking Suguri while she had Accelerator active. She proceeded to roll a 10 to attack me and creamed me. That cost me the lead in the third game, and probably cost me a win.
Suguri (changed player at chapter 10, due to ragequit), Tomato+Mimyuu, Aru (me), Tomomo
1st place as Aru (2nd Suguri, 3rd Tomomo, 4th Tomato+Mimyuu)
Christmas Miracle - Charity, Freeze
Yuki-D (CPU, player starting chapter 41), Starbo, Aru (me), Marc (CPU, player starting chapter 40)
4th place as Aru (1st Starbo, 2nd Marc, 3rd Yuki-D)
Pretty bad matchup as Aru, as everyone else has offense capabilities while all she can really do is dodge. I came close to winning, but then one bad fight and there it all goes.
Farm - Bomber, Treasure, Amplify
Krila, Starbo (CPU starting chapter 2, player starting chapter 4), Hime, Kyousuke (me)
3rd place as Kyousuke (1st Hime, 2nd Starbo, 4th Krila)
I should have stopped on home and leveled up to 5, then I would have been in 2nd place, since Starbo was stuck on level 4. Oh well.
Planet Earth - Bomber, Random Warp, Charity
Yuki-D, Yuki (me), Alte, Hime
2nd place as Yuki (1st Hime, 3rd Yuki-D, 4th Alte)
Particularly amusing as Alte dressed in her halloween costume, complete with razor-brim hat, and she (or rather, her player) described herself as a vampire hunter since Hime was dressed in her halloween costume which involved red horns, red bat wings, and a red devil tail. Ironically, Alte failed multiple times at killing Hime, while I succeeded a few times (once by chance, since I was using my hyper card which just randomly selects someone to KO). At the end of the game, Alte challenged Hime to a fight, which Alte lost, at which point Hime bragged that she "had satan on my side", and then immediately rolled just right to land on another player's home panel and win the game.
Meanwhile, the two Yukis in the game met in battle a few times but none of the (semi-literal) catfights were particularly interesting.
Kyousuke, Yuki (CPU, then player in chapter 1), Star Breaker (me), Syura (CPU, then player in chapter 29)
3rd place as Starbo (1st Yuki, 2nd Syura, 4th Kyousuke)
Sunset - Battlefield, Home Roulette, Mystery
Chicken, Aru (CPU, player in chapter 34), Starbo, Tomomo (me)
4th place as Tomomo (1st Chicken, 2nd Aru, 3rd Starbo)
Christmas Miracle - Backtrack, and two other events i forget
Tomato+Mimyuu, Kae (me), Miusaki, Starbo
3rd place as Kae (1st Miusaki, 2nd T+M, 4th Starbo)
I needed 21 wins today.
Took me a while but I got them. First game I was never close to winning, but I almost did win in the second and third games. In the third game I held onto my hyper (which reduces defense and adds to attack) too long, to refrain from antagonizing the Mimyuu/Tomato player since they were in last. By the time I did use them, I used them on Miusaki, who basically shrugs them off because she always only takes up to 2 damage at a time when defending against an attack (not to mention she also already has trash for defense).
The other players were a bit on the weird side. One of them kept on spouting "MLG" gamer memes and such with piles of irony. Apparently he and this other player knew each other. And eventually someone named "stupid ho" joined.
time to play: Saki, Krila, or Starbreaker.
Sealed Archive - Regeneration, Minelayer, Confusion
Krila (me), Suguri, Yuki-D, Kiriko (CPU, player from level 12, CPU from level 15)
3rd place as Krila (1st Kiriko, 2nd Suguri, 4th Yuki-D)
This game was basically trap hell, because I brought traps, Yuki-D brought traps, and Minelayer also laid traps. And it was hilarious. I laid so many traps I might have done double the amount needed for my daily.
Highway Heist - Charity, Confusion
Miusaki, Sora, Yuki-D, Kyoko (me)
1st place as Kyoko (2nd Yuki-D, 3rd Miusaki, 4th Sora)
Won a game as Kyoko. Most interesting thing in this match was how Sora had packed three Extraordinary Specs and hit Miusaki once, then used up Miusaki's Solid Witch, and then finally revoked Miusaki's fishing license (so described because Miusaki was using the fishing costume), right at the end of the game.
Vortex - Regeneration, Battlefield, Bomber
Nath, Miusaki (me), Robo Ball, Star Breaker
1st Nath, 2nd Starbo, 3rd Miusaki (me), 4th Robo Ball
Sweet Heaven - Miracle, Confusion, Treasure
Kyousuke, Tomomo-CSE (CPU choice, but player starting chapter 2), Store Manager, Sweet Breaker (me)
1st Tomomo-CSE, 2nd Kyousuke, 3rd Sweebo (me), 4th Store Manager
Sweet Heaven - Miracle, Confusion, Freeze
Nath, Mixpo (me), Sham (CPU, player starting chapter 2), Sora-M
1st Mixpo (me), 2nd Sora-M, 3rd Sham, 4th Nath
Icy Hideout - Sprint, Freeze, Amplify
Mixpo, QP (me), Yuki-D (player until
chapter 18, then CPU), Peat (CPU)
1st Mixpo, 2nd QP (me), 3rd Peat, 4th
Yuki-D
Farm - Sprint, Freeze, Amplify
Mixpo A, Mixpo B (player until chatper
19, CPU until chapter 23), Syura, Yuki
(me)
1st Mixpo A, 2nd Mixpo B, 3rd Yuki (me), 4th
Syura
Sunset - Sprint, Freeze, Battlefield
Kae, Alte, Sora, Tomomo (me)
1st Alte, 2nd Sora, 3rd Tomomo (me), 4th Kae
joined at chapter 25
Planet Earth - Regeneration
Starbo (me), Kyousuke, Tomomo, Mixpo
1st Kyousuke, 2nd Tomomo, 3rd Mixpo,
4th Starbo
Hime, Shifu Robot (me), Yuki-D, Tomomo
Christmas Miracle - Miracle
1st Tomomo, 2nd Hime, 3rd Shifu Robot (me), 4th Yuki-D
Starbo (CPU pick, player join on chapter 2), NoName, Kyoko, Seagull (me)
Treasure Island (Night) - Amplify, Battlefield, Minelayer
1st NoName, 2nd Starbo, 3rd Seagull (me), 4th Kyoko
To be fair, this is partly because I joined one match well into it, and then heard that I need to play -- and win with -- certain characters to get their Valentine's Day event cosmetics.
Well, neither of those attempts went very well. And I'll have to win six of these...
joined chapter 9
Sherry (CPU, then me), Tomomo (player, then CPU on chapter 19), Kiriko, Peat
Vortex - Charity, Sprint, Freeze
1st Peat, 2nd Tomomo, 3rd Sherry (me), 4th Kiriko
This was a very strange match, where Kiriko insisted on using battle cards until she was reduced to 2 max HP, and she also sat on wins norma the entire time
Peat (player until chapter 2, then CPU, then player starting chapter 9), Ceoreparque (me), Kai, Fernet (CPU, then player starting chapter 30)
Sweeet Heaven - Charity, Sprint, Freeze
1st Ceoreparque (me), 2nd Fernet, 3rd Peat, 4th Kai
Kai, Repa, Nanako A (me), Nanako B
Warfare - Charity, Sprint, Freeze
1st Kai, 2nd Repa, 3rd Nanako B, 4th Nanako A (me)
During this match, both I and the other Nanako player fought each other and we both played Deploy Bits, and the random distribution of bonus stats ended up being the same for both of us -- +3 attack, +4 defense (for a total of ATK +3, DEF +6, EVD +1). I screenshot this moment, but sadly I accidentally deleted the screenshot. I ran a disk recovery to try to get it back but only got back the low-res thumbnail of it.
Kiriko (player joined chapter 1), Chicken (me), Fernet, Star Breaker
Treasure Island - Charity, Sprint, Freeze
1st Fernet, 2nd Chicken (me), 3rd Kiriko, 4th Starbo
Starbo, Peat (CPU, player starting chapter 7), Flying Castle (me), Aru
Training Program - Charity, Sprint, Freeze
1st Aru, 2nd Starbo, 3rd Peat, 4th Flying Castle (me)
Witch Forest - Sprint, Freeze, Battlefield
Kae, Marc, Starbo, Store Manager (me)
1st Marc, 2nd Starbo, 3rd Store Manager (me), 4th Kae
Chicken A, Kae, Chicken c (player until chapter 2, then different player starting chapter 5), Chicken D (me)
Pudding Chase - Air Raid, Battlefield, Treasure
1st Kae, 2nd Chicken C, 3rd chicken A, 4th chicken D (me)
Clover - Battlefield, Sprint, Freeze
Suguri (until chapter 35), Kae, Peat C, Peat D (me)
1st Peat C, 2nd Peat D (me), 3rd Kae, 4th Suguri
(For any of you who want to get into the game -- these are cosmetics of various kinds, and can be purchased using in-game currency (specifically "oranges" gained from playing multiplayer) in the "mystery bag" feature, even after the event ends.)
Starbo, Repa B (CPU, then player at chapter 35), Repa A (CPU, then player at chapter 34), Aru (me, joined at chapter 10)
Star Circuit - Sprint, Home Roulette
1st Aru (me), 2nd Starbo, 3rd Repa B, 4th Repa A
Training Program - Regeneration, Sprint
Starbo A (CPU, player starting level 12, then CPU due to disconnect around chapter 25, then different player starting level 30), Kae (CPU due to disconnect around chapter 25, then different player starting chapter 36), Robo Ball (me), Starbo B
1st place as Robo Ball (me), 2nd Kae, 3rd Starbo B, 4th Starbo A
Received the Valentine's Day swirly-dice, and also the chocolate Robo Ball for winning as Robo Ball.
Christmas Miracle - Miracle
Aru (CPU, player starting chatper 7), QP, Shifu Robot (me), Suguri
1st Aru, 2nd QP, 3rd Shifu Robot (me), 4th Suguri
Suguri drew two accelerators, but neither of them worked out in her favor.
Frost Cave - Freeze, Sprint, Battlefield
Fernet, Peat (CPU until chapter 15), QP, Store Manager (me)
1st Peat, 2nd Fernet, 3rd Store Manager (me), 4th QP
It felt like there just weren't enough battle panels on this map for Store Manager to have fun with. Also, lots of draw panels that I kept having to avoid.
Shipyard - Battlefield, Mystery, Sprint
Sham (CPU until chapter 11), Shifu Robot (me), Kai, Marc
1st Marc, 2nd Shifu Robot (me), 3rd Kai, 4th Sham
This match had Marc sitting on 14 "wins" (i.e. victory points mainly gained from fighting dice battles), enough to win the match) for a while, though she still had to deal with getting back to home panels to level up her norma enough times to threaten a win, and not getting KO'd while trying to do so. During that time, all of us other players actually were able to catch up to her and all threaten wins, but she won in the end anyway, with 17 wins (she got one more from fighting a mook and two more from KOing someone with her x16 Big Rocket).
Farm - Confusion, Backtrack, Freeze
Aru, Poppo, Hime, Seagull (me)
1st Hime, 2nd Aru, 3rd Poppo, 4th Seagull (me)
Poppo played her hyper, Ubiquitous, on me, early in the game, and I later got revenge by playing my hyper, Jonathan Rush, on her.
joined starting chapter 10
Icy Hideout - Minelayer, Miracle
Syura, Kai (CPU, player starting chapter 26), Yuki (CPU, previously player), Hime (previously CPU, now me)
1st Syura, 2nd Hime (me), 3rd Kai, 4th Yuki
Pudding Chase - Minelayer, Miracle, Freeze
Nanako, Store Manager (me), Sherry, Alte
1st place as Store Manager, 2nd Sherry, 3rd Alte, 4th Nanako
This game was REALLY lopsided. Mostly because I had three early wins against Alte. People were barely getting to norma level 3 when I won (i.e. I got to norma level 6). So, as penance, I promised to play the following game as one of the universally-regarded-as-worst characters: Flying Castle.
Anyhow, by winning as Store Manager, I also got the Store Manager chocolate skin.
Warfare - Regen, Charity, Miracle
Poppo, Starbo, Flying Castle, Sweebo
1st Flying Castle (me), 2nd Starbo, 3rd Sweebo, 4th Poppo
...and then I won the game. Despite starting off with everyone saying how bad Flying Castle is. Despite having a pretty poor matchup -- Starbo (i.e. Star Breaker) has a hyper that sets invisible traps that reduce the victim's HP to 1, and HP is basically the only good thing Flying Castle has (max HP is 8, the highest in the game, while it has crap defense and evade and can't even counterattack like everyone else can). The RNG has a thing for irony.
This win also rewarded me with Flying Castle's chocolate skin. I also got some ideas for building a better Flying Castle deck.
Sealed Archive - Minelayer, Miracle, Treasure
Sweebo (CPU, player starting chapter 8), Seagull (me), Sherry, Fernet
1st Sweebo, 2nd Seagull (me), 3rd Fernet, 4th Sherry
Chicken (me), Kai A, Alte, Kai B
Sealed Archive - Charity, Miracle
1st place as Chicken (me), 2nd Kai A, 3rd Kai B, 4th Alte
Winning as Chicken got me the chocolate skin for Chicken.
Sealed Archive - Charity, Freeze
Yuki, NoName, Syura, Shifu Robot (me)
1st place as Shifu Robot, 2nd Syura, 3rd NoName, 4th Yuki
And winning as Shifu Robot got me the chocolate skin for Shifu Robot.
Somehow the RNG kept picking Sealed Archive, despite the map selector being set to "random". That may have helped me (though I didn't know it when I picked my character), since Sealed Archive is a huge map, and both Chicken and Shifu Robot benefit from being far away from opponents, as Chicken has poor attack and defense and low HP and its only good points are its mildly-above-average evasion and the fact that getting KO'd in battle makes you lose only 1/4 of your stars rather than 1/2, and only gives the winner 1 win point rather than 2 that they usually get from KOing opponent players, and Shifu Robot starts off the game (or after being KO'd) with just 1 HP and slowly gains HP.
Compare Store Manager, who has high HP, high attack power, meh defense, below-average evade, can't gain stars from bonus panels, and downright has an allergy to cards (can't use most cards, and discarding damages you). He would be expected to shine on a small map like Pudding Chase where opponents -- i.e. juicy targets that give wins and stars -- are all quite close together.
Won 6 of 12 games tonight, including one of two matches I joined in mid-match.
I also got all the chocolates I needed to complete the Valentine's Day event, and unlocked the Vanilla Baker QP, Chocolate Baker QP, and Sweet Guardian QP costumes, as well as a collectible card that was added to all in-match decks during this event.
As for the Valentine's Day event's extras, I also have 9 of 11. I'm still missing:
* pink dice with a rose on the one face (random drop)
* the chocolate skin for Seagull (need to win a game as Seagull)
Christmas Miracle - Miracle, Charity, Regeneration
Tomato+Mimyuu, Sherry (CPU, then player at chapter 12), Seagull (me), Suguri
1st Suguri, 2nd Sherry, 3rd Seagull (me), 4th T+M
I had a 35/36 chance of winning barring card uses. But then Sherry brought out Whimsical Windmill, and nabbed me (I was at 2/3 HP) but not Suguri (who was at 3/4 HP).
Frost Cave - Regeneration, Backtrack, Treasure
Seagull (me), Aru (CPU, player joined chapter 16), Starbo, Hime (CPU pick, player joined chapter 1)
1st Aru, 2nd Seagull (me), 3rd Starbo, 4th Hime
Tomomo's Abyss - Confusion, Backtrack, Treasure
Chicken, Seagull (me), Hime, Sora
1st Hime, 2nd Chicken, 3rd Sora, 4th Seagull (me)
Clover - Backtrack, Sprint, Treasure
Seagull A, Suguri (player left chapter ~5, another player joined chapter 8), Seagull B (me), Suguri V2
1st Seagull A, 2nd Suguri, 3rd Seagull B, 4th Suguri V2
Sealed Archive - Random Warp, Confusion, Backtrack
Seagull (me), Tomomo-CSE, Store Manager, Star Breaker
1st Tomomo-CSE, 2nd Seagull, 3rd Starbo, 4th Store Manager
Icy Hideout - Random Warp, Confusion Bomber
Store Manager, Seagull (me), Starbo, Suguri V2
1st Suguri V2, 2nd Seagull (me), 3rd Store Manger, 4th Star Breaker
Space Wanderer - Mystery, Treasure, Amplify
QPD, QP, Seagull, Aru
1st QP, 2nd QPD, 3rd Seagull (me), 4th Aru
White Winter - Mystery, Treasure, Amplify
Seagull (me), Krila, Kae, QP
1st Krila, 2nd Seagull, 3rd QP, 4th Kae
Came so close...but then I died to a Robo Ball. And I would still have won, too, had someone else not drawn Poppo's hyper.
Practice Field - Mystery, Treasure, Amplify
QP, Suguri, Mixpo, Seagull (me)
1st Suguri, 2nd Mixpo, 3rd QP, 4th Seagull (me)
Well, this was embarrassing.
Planet Earth - Mystery, Treasure, Amplify
Chicken, Syura, Seagull (me), Aru
1st Chicken, 2nd Seagull, 3rd Syura, 4th Aru
It was a Bird vs. Bird race at the end; we both needed a 6 to win. Chicken rolled a 6 first, of course.
Sealed Archive - Home Roulette, Random Warp, Freeze
Seagull (me), Starbo, Krila, Hime
1st place as Seagull, 2nd Hime, 3rd Krila, 4th Starbo
Finally.
Let's start with the core characters - these 12 characters are the core 12 that were unlockable in the original 100% Orange Juice game, including the pre-Steam-release DRM-free English version (which is still available, btw). The first four of these are your choice for starter characters -- pick one and you start the game playing them, and you can unlock the others later.
Before we begin, here's a quick glossary of terms. Don't need to read this unless you don't understand the commentary in the rest of the post.
Glossary of terms
* ATK = attack bonus, which is added to a 1d6 attack roll during dice battles.
* DEF = defense bonus, similarly added to a 1d6 defense roll. Take (modified attack roll) - (modified defense roll) damage from an attack, minimum 1.
* EVD = evade bonus, similarly added to a 1d6 evade roll. Beat the modified attack roll to take no damage; otherwise take the entire attack roll's worth of damage.
* REC = recovery value. When you lose all your HP, roll 1d6 to revive (with full HP) by meeting or beating a target value. That value starts at 5 for most characters, and goes down by 1 every turn you fail to revive.
* level = "norma level". You start at level 1, and your objective is to reach level 6, by getting enough "stars" or "wins" and stopping at select home panels around the board five times to increase your level. Cards have a level requirement for you to be able to use them. Each time you level up, you can choose a stars norma or wins norma for your next requirement. You need 200 stars or 14 wins to win the match.
* stars = an in-game currency, checked in norma checks to level up, and also spent to use cards. Generated by Bonus panels (see panel types below), and also received every turn as the game progresses. Can easily be won and lost.
* wins or victories = points you get for winning dice battles. Beating an NPC enemy gets you 1, beating a fellow player gets you 2, beating an NPC boss gets you 3. Can never lose wins once you get them, but they're harder to get.
* chapter = a turn, basically, or rather the exact duration, in game mechanics, between what you're doing now and the next time you'll be doing it. For example, if you play a card that lasts 2 chapters, its effect will be active once you play it, and it'll stay active for your next turn, and then its effect will run out right before you get to play cards the turn after that.
* cards: a fresh deck contains 48 cards: 10 cards contributed by each player, plus 8 blank hyper cards (see below), shuffled. Draw cards to have them in hand. Use up to one Boost/Event/Trap/Gift card per turn; use up to one Battle card per battle. Most characters can carry only up to 3 cards; extras must be discarded at end of turn.
* hyper = a special card containing a character's signature ability. Players have an 8/48 or 1/6 chance of drawing a hyper from a fresh deck, and drawing a blank hyper immediately turns it into your character's hyper. (Note: sometimes a character may end up with another character's hyper card!)
* Boost, Battle, Event, Trap, Gift = types of cards. Boost and Event cards can be played before you roll to move that turn; boost cards generally help you, while event cards generally affect everyone or the board. Battle cards can be played upon entering battle, and take effect for only that battle. Trap cards always cost nothing to play, and are laid face down on a panel, to hit whoever steps on them. Gift cards have a continuous effect from being held, and the effect is clearly indicated to other players.
* panel types -
* Home panels (always 4 per map) are for norma checking, and also heal 1 HP; you can stop on your own.
* * Bonus panels, gain level*1d6 extra stars (levels higher than 3 count as 3).
* * Drop panels, lose leve*1d6 stars.
* * Draw, draw a card from the deck.
* * Encounter, fight one of three regular enemies.
* * Boss, fight the boss.
* * Warp, warp to a random other warp or warp+move panel.
* * Move, roll to move again.
* * Warp+Move, warp to a random other warp or warp+move panel then roll to move again.
* * Ice panel, slide across without using up a movement count.
* * Blank panel: does nothing special.
Here are the four starter characters.
Kai (original character)
He's the main character of the game, and that is (intentionally?) his most notable feature. The game lampshades this -- Tomomo literally says that she made him a male character so he'd be less popular so fans would pay attention to her more. A common joke is that he's supposed to be the main character but no one pays attention to him. Poppo starts his plotline by stealing his wallet.
Stats: HP 5, ATK +1, DEF +0, EVD +0, REC 5. Mainly "average" stats but with an attack boost.
Hyper: Protagonist's Privilege (Boost, level 3, 20 stars) - for your next three chapters, if you attack first in battle, the opponent can't counterattack. Somewhat useful.
QP (from QP Shooting and its remake QP Shooting - Dangerous!!)
A dog-girl who absolutely loves pudding (generally shown to be crème caramel, a variety of pudding that's common in Japan). She's from a shmup set in a typical fictional modern-day Japanese school, except with various supernatural elements (such as a dog who loves pudding, a girl with demonic powers, a store manager who's a giant manly blob, and other weirdness). Poppo starts her plotline by (to no one's surprise) stealing her pudding.
Stats: HP 5, ATK +0, DEF +0, EVD +0, REC 5. The most "average" stats.
Hyper: Hyper Mode! (Battle, level 1, 10 stars) - add +2 attack for this battle. Also, if you get KO'd in this battle, you don't lose stars, your opponent gains no wins, and you revive on your next turn. With its easy accessibility and combination of offensive and defensive benefits, this is considered one of the more powerful hypers in the game.
Marc (from Flying Red Barrel)
The pilot of the plane Red Barrel, from a shmup set in a roughly early-20th-century or steampunk ish setting, and named after the French word for pomace brandy, though her name was once misspelled "Marl". Poppo starts her plotline by stealing her rocket.
Stats: HP 4, ATK +1, DEF +1, EVD -1, REC 5. Somewhat of an attacker tank, and reasonably consistent as long as she can keep her HP up.
Hyper: x16 Big Rocket (Boost, level 1, (level*10) stars) - deal (level) damage to your choice of opponent. If you KO them, get 2 wins (as if you defeated them in battle). However, you don't win any stars from doing so, and this card is also quite expensive, especially in late-game when you're level 4 (40 stars) or level 5 (50 stars). Furthermore, considering that anyone you KO eventually revives with full HP, and KO'd opponents can't be targeted by various effects, this card is actually situational, despite its seeming power. You can use it in early game to weaken an opponent in order to mug them for stars, but in late game this weakening strat can only be done to high-HP characters; otherwise you're just getting wins. If you're going for wins, though, this is obviously a good thing.
Suguri (from the Suguri series)
An "altered human" (a cyborg, I guess) from a dystopian sci-fi setting. Poppo starts her plotline by getting her and her friend Hime (from the same setting) to play a dice game.
Stats: HP 4, ATK +1, DEF -1, EVD +2, REC 5. The most difficult starter character, in my opinion, due to her focus on attacking and evasion, in light of her low HP and DEF. You really need to understand the evasion mechanics to make her work. A running joke is that she has two speeds: fast and dead, most likely dead.
Hyper: Accelerator (Boost, level 3, 30 stars) - roll 2d6 for movement, for bonus, for drop, and in battle, for 1 chapter (so other people can't just mug you before it's your next turn). Somewhat expensive hyper, but potentially very powerful (though also potentially quite useless if you roll snake eyes). Generally, when you're behind your desired target (such as whoever's in the lead), play this card and challenge them to a battle.
Next time: the other eight original characters. I mentioned Tomomo and Poppo...we'll get to them!
Yuki
A cat girl. Leader of the Waruda gang. Likes games of chance. Carries a gun.
The attack power from her claws does not stack with her gun.Stats: HP 5, ATK +2, DEF -1, EVD -1, REC 5. Somewhat of a glass cannon; either she kills stuff dead, or she risks getting blowback.
Hyper: Gamble! (Event, level 3, 13 stars) - randomly chooses any non-KO'd player (including the user) and KOs them. Generally considered relatively useless, or situational for when you're being pursued and want a chance to either KO yourself (to prevent your stars from being taken) or your pursuer; obviously works better if one or two other characters are KO'd.
Aru
A bunny girl, who also happens to be Santa. (Actually has blue hair, so she's sometimes hard to identify if you forget this and see her wearing something other than her Santa outfit.) Main character of Xmas Shooting and its remake Xmas Shooting - Scramble!!. Likes to give people presents.
Stats: HP 5, ATK -1, DEF -1, EVD +2, REC 5. Can keep up to 4 cards, rather than the usual 3. Sorta useless at battle, obviously; makes up for it with higher evade, special passive ability, and her hyper.
Hyper: Present for You (Event, level 2, 30 stars) - all players draw cards until they have a full hand; those with a full hand draw 1 card. User gains stars equal to 10*(total number of cards drawn by all players). This card can give you at least 10 stars (and up to 100 to 160, depending on who you're playing against) on demand, making it a pretty powerful effect. The downside is that you've just given all your opponents new cards.
An earlier version of Aru had only EVD +1, couldn't hold 4 cards, and didn't have the "full hand" clause on her Hyper, and so she was generally considered the worst character back then.
Other core characters from Flying Red Barrel
Peat
Marc's rival, and pilot of the Blue Crow. Memetically known for asking Marc to dogfight him, addressing her by her plane's name ("Fight me, Red Barrel!"). Named after an important ingredient in some times of whiskey.
Stats: HP 3, ATK +1, DEF +1, EVD +1, REC 4. Low HP; other stats are beautiful to make up for this key fault. REC 4 means he starts with a 1/2 revive chance (roll 4 to 6) rather than a 1/3 revive chance (roll 5 or 6).
Hyper: Blue Crow the Second (Battle, level 2, 10 stars) - gain +X ATK, +X DEF, -X EVD where X is the number of cards in your hand, including the hyper card you just played. Obviously can't be used to help you survive a battle at 1 HP (when you'd need to evade), but it is helpful for defeating opponents and for defending against them when they attack you.
Fernet
Former classmate of Marc, and a noble with a haughty demeanor. Commands a fleet of airships. Named after an Italian liqueur.
Stats: HP 6, ATK -1, DEF +2, EVD -2, REC 5. High HP and defense make her the game's first "tank" character, while her poor EVD balances it out so she generally takes chip damage gradually.
Hyper: Air Strike (Event, level 2, 30 stars) - deal damage to all opponent players; each player takes 1 to 3 damage, individually randomly chosen. A revision to this card added the following perk: gain 15 stars per opponent KO'd this way. Somewhat unwieldy/situational hyper.
Characters from Suguri and the remaining two original characters, next time!
Sora (actually from the game Sora)
Another "altered human", designed to be proficient with all manner of weaponry, except all she actually wants to do is to live a life without being used as a weapon. Apparently, the orb on her chest can produce a shield.
Stats: HP 4, ATK +1, DEF +0, EVD +1, REC 5. like a less extreme version of Suguri, basically.
Hyper: Extraordinary Specs (Boost, level 3, 30 stars) - roll six for movement, battle, bonus, and drop. Similar to Suguri's hyper (same level and cost), but instead of having the potential to go up to 12 and an expected value of 7, it guarantees that you'll always roll a 6. Her hyper, along with her lack of negative stats and also general demeanor, have given rise to the fan meme of her being predictable and loyal but also somewhat boring in personality.
Hime
The final boss of the first Suguri game. With a name that means "princess" in Japanese, you'd expect her to be elegant in manner and dress, which she is. Known for using chains to limit her enemies' movements. Enjoys dancing, and at least in 100% Orange Juice, enjoys playing with Suguri.
Stats: HP 5, ATK +1, DEF -1, EVD +1, REC 5. like something between Sora and Suguri.
Hyper: Binding Chains (Event, level 3, 10 stars) - skips everyone else's next turn, basically giving you two turns in a row. A revision to this card added the effect of giving -2 EVD to anyone while they're under its effect, allowing Hime a better chance at KOing an opponent. However, despite the card's dramatic effects, it's considered a mediocre hyper, mostly because it doesn't drastically change anything about the game, because it can't do much to give you a clear advantage or to slow someone else down.
Other core characters original to 100% Orange Juice
Marie Poppo, commonly just called Poppo
A diminutive girl with animal ears and a penchant for stealing things. The de facto mascot of the game. The fandom treats her as a number of different memes, because her blank stare and smile in the official art make her look like she's up to no good but you don't know what, and frankly speaking, she probably is up to no good given her mischievous nature. Her interactions with other characters kickstart all of the campaign scenarios, and her popularity has led to a number of extra costumes only for her, generally acquirable during an in-game event in late summer, commemorating the game's release anniversary. There used to be arguments over what animal she is, with goat being the most common guess (because the developer artist Hono drew her as a goat, but he also drew her with Saint Seiya armor, so...), and then one day Hono revealed that his inspiration was a hamster.
Stats: HP 7, ATK -1, DEF -1, EVD -1, REC 5. Basically sucks at doing anything other than being a piñata full of stars for others to whack, but she usually can take at least a couple whacks before going down.
Hyper: Ubiquitous (Boost, level 1, 0 stars) - This card teleports you to a target (non-KO'd) player's location, then you steal 10*(their level) stars from them, and then you roll to move. It's perfectly in-character for Poppo, and it's also regarded as one of the most poweful hypers in the game.
Tomomo
This is essentially the final boss of the game's scenarios. She's a powerful character who hits hard. Actually has noticeably better stats than other characters. At first, multiplayer lobbies just let her in, then she got banned because she's OP, then she got selectively banned using a per-lobby setting of whether to allow her, and finally the devs settled on giving her a new set of less-OP stats for multiplayer. Canonically, she created the game, all its worlds, and all the characters based on existing Orange_Juice game characters (so canonically, they aren't the exact same characters as their selves in other games), in order to have fun with friends. Casts herself as the final boss for attention.
Single-player stats: HP 6, ATK +2, DEF +0, EVD +1, REC 6. Her only drawback is that it's harder for her to recover after being knocked out; otherwise she has clear perks in HP, ATK, and to a lesser extent EVD.
Multiplayer stats: HP 4, ATK +2, DEF +0, EVD +0, REC 6. Her distinctive attack power is kept, but she no longer has an evasion boost, and to make up for the high attack power with no battle drawbacks, she still has a harder time recovering after KO, and also has less HP.
Hyper: Magical Massacre (Event, level 4, 40 stars) - KOs everyone who is at full health. A revision added the benefit of reducing the user's recovery value for the next revive roll, by the number of opponents KO'd using this card. While its effect is very dramatic, this card is generally regarded as the worst hyper ability, because it is very expensive and very situational (best used when other people are at full HP but you aren't), as you can't use it to recover your own HP, and it often doesn't do much to stop someone else from progressing/winning either.
Next time: the first set of DLC characters, or a note about the "six Sweet Gods".
Practice Field - Regeneration, Battlefield, Amplify
Kae, Store Manager A, Store Manager B (me), Suguri V2
1st place as Store Manager B, 2nd Store Manager A, 3rd Kae, 4th Suguri V2
White Winter - Backtrack, Freeze
Kyoko (CPU, chapter 4 -> player), Yuki (me), Star Breaker, Store Manager
1st Store Manager, 2nd Kyoko, 3rd Star Breaker, 4th place as Yuki
Anyhow...about the six "Sweet Gods":
For whatever reason, sweet foods are sort of a running theme for several characters, and six of them have been designated the "Sweet Gods" or "Gods of Sweets". QP is one, to no one's surprise considering her love of pudding, but the others are a bit of an assorted bunch. The full list so far:
* QP (also QP (Dangerous), a bonus character, to be discussed later) as Sweet Guardian, with her characteristic love of pudding. In the game QP Shooting - Dangerous!!, pudding no longer exists in the world, and she's the only one who remembers it, and she's going to fight to bring it back.
* Saki as Sweet Baker. She's from the Suguri universe and has a tendency to use weapons themed on musical instruments (the maracas she holds are grenades, and a giant explosion she can cause is called the Big Bang Bell), but for some reason she also bakes cookies. "Saki's Cookie" is a card which heals the user by 1 HP.
* Sweet Breaker, and that's literally her name, though she's sometimes nicknamed "Sweebo". She is somewhat of a militant pacifist, though, and sometimes threatens to seal up sweets in order to prevent conflict.
* Tomomo, as Sweet Eater. A later DLC variant of her shows her off carrying a red bean popsicle, which is her trademark favorite food. If this Tomomo variant plays her hyper card, Magical Red Bean Ice Cream, she basically gets a magical girl transformation.
* an unrevealed character, suggested to have the title Sweet Blogger.
* an unrevealed character, suggested to have the title Sweet Creator.
All four revealed Sweet Gods are already playable characters, so it's likely that the last two will be as well.
First, the enemy units, all of which have 3 HP, one +1 stat, and two -1 stats. As enemy units that show up in Encounter panels, they basically have no recovery value, nor do they ever use cards. One of the three enemy units is randomly chosen, and it's at whatever HP it was from the last battle it survived, or just reset to 3 if it got KO'd. If you KO an Encounter enemy, you get 1 win, and same goes if you KO one of these units when they're a player-character (whereas you normally get 2 wins for KOing opposing players). Only for playable versions do the REC and hyper mean anything. Originally, these enemy units became playable with no changes aside from REC 4, so they were basically intentionally underpowered units, but now with other changes and hypers (with card art by done by fans!) they're actually rather reasonable.
Seagull (from Flying Red Barrel)
Two flocks of seagulls appear in the first level of the source game. They're not particularly threatening enemies there, which makes this one sort of amusingly threatening. One campaign scenario has Seagull as a CPU opponent player, named "JONATHAN", so "Jonathan" is considered its canonical name (and is also in the hyper name). Unlocked by playing enough games to reach multiplayer level 25.
Stats: HP 3, ATK +1, DEF -1, EVD -1, REC 4, opponents only gain 1 win when they defeat you in battle. The attack stat means that this unit can roll a 7 to attack, and "7gull" has a reputation for being quite the surprising hazard.
Hyper: Jonathan Rush (Boost, level 3, 20 stars) - fly over to an opponent's location, then battle them immediately. They get an additional -1 defense for this battle. Afterwards, your turn is over. Obviously good for surprise-mugging weakened opponents, and this is also one of only two cards in the game that allows some degree of "teleport control" -- being able to choose where you go. The other is Poppo's hyper.
Robo Ball (from Suguri)
Another basic enemy from a shmup, this is just a robotic unit from a futuristic setting. Has never shown up in a campaign scenario, unlike its fellow enemy units, so it has no canonical name, though I've joked that it should be "Jenny", partly as a reference to the recurring creature type named "Jenny" in Ittle Dew and partly as a reference to how "Officer Jenny" refers to a variety of different but identical-looking characters in Pokémon. Unlocked by playing enough games to get to multiplayer level 15.
Stats: HP 3, ATK -1, DEF +1, EVD -1, REC 4, opponents only gain 1 win when they defeat you in battle. The hardiest of the enemy units, but this just means it's more of a speedbump to anyone hoping to get a quick win off of an enemy. It's not very threatening.
Hyper: Reflective Shield (Battle, level 1, 5 stars) - can only be played when going second. It sets your base ATK to 0 instead of -1, for this battle, then "absorbs" up to 2 damage from the opponent before you actually take damage, and then if you survive, you get the amount of damage absorbed as an additional attack boost for your counterattack. A full-HP Robo Ball would thus be able to survive up to 4 damage, which is a sizeable amount considering it also has +1 defense to begin with. This goes perfectly with Robo Ball's defensive nature, and is a very useful card to hang onto as insurance in case someone does challenge you, considering it not only protects you defensively but also improves your attack -- something that QP's hyper also does.
Chicken (from QP Shooting)
I think this is just one of the various standard enemies that show up in the shmup where it originates. One campaign scenario has Chicken as a CPU opponent player, named "HARUO", so "Haruo" is considered its canonical name. Also, the fact that it lays eggs leads some to consider its canonical gender to be female, despite the fact that "Haruo" is a masculine name. Unlocked by playing enough games to get to multiplayer level 6.
Stats: HP 3, ATK -1, DEF -1, EVD +1, REC 4, opponents only take 1/4 (normally 1/2) of your stars and gain 1 win (normally 2 wins) when they defeat you in battle.
Hyper: Golden Egg (Trap, level 2, 0 stars) - if a Chicken steps on it, the next three Drop panels they step on are treated as Bonus panels. If anyone other than Chicken steps on it, the next three Bonus panels they step on are treated as Drop panels. It is currently the only card whose effect depends on the identity of the character it affects.
Next time: the boss units.
All three standard boss units were adapted into playable units. However, their stats and attributes were massively tweaked for balance, of course. Like the regular enemies, they originally didn't have hyper cards either.
There's also been one other boss unit that has appeared, but it's a variant of Poppo. I'll mention it later. It has no playable version.
Store Manager (from QP Shooting)
Stage 5 boss of its source game, but it first appeared as the final boss in a game called Mid Night Pleasure. It appears to be a big dark vaguely-man-shaped intimidating blob, fitting labeled "BOSS" on its forehead. It shows up generally on maps inspired by QP Shooting.
Boss stats: HP 8, ATK +3, DEF +2, EVD -1. Has the highest attack power of the boss units.
Playable stats: HP 6, ATK +2, DEF +0, EVD -1, REC 6, can only use Gift cards, get no stars from Bonus panels, and take 1 damage every time he's forced to discard a card. Gift cards are a card type that was added sometime after the Steam release, and before that, Store Manager had EVD +0 but couldn't use any cards at all, but the update that introduced Gift cards also gave Store Manager his hyper.
Hyper: Banned for Life (Gift, level 1, costs 1/10th of how many stars you have, rounded down I think) - Basically, this is a "hot potato" style Gift card that, as long as you're holding it, you can't use any other cards except other Gift cards (of which there are few anyway), and if you try to discard it, you have to discard your entire hand along with it. This is a devastating card to have, so most other players (who are probably carrying hands of cards they've saved up for their usefulness) would play it (and pay 10% of their stars) to pass it to someone else, but for Store Manager, it's a blessing, because discarding this can empty an overflowing hand of cards at the cost of only taking 1 damage rather than being dinged to death by discarding cards, and he can't play other card types anyway.
Shifu Robot (from Suguri)
Its name was originally mislocalized as "Schiff Robot", before it was understood that it is a robot associated with a character named Shifu. Shows up generally on maps inspired by the Suguri series.
Boss stats: HP 7, ATK +2, DEF +3, EVD -2. Has the highest defense of the bosses.
Playable stats: HP 5, ATK +1, DEF +0, EVD -1, REC -. While it says "-", its REC is essentially 1, because it always revives the turn after it is KO'd, but with the caveat that it revives with 1 HP. It also starts every match at 1 HP. But it has the ability "Auto-Repair", which lets it recover 1 HP every third chapter, up to its maximum.
Hyper: Turbo Charged (Boost, level 2, 20 stars) - Drops you to 1 HP and then takes the HP amount you dropped and gives you that as an attack bonus. The effect lasts that same number of chapters, too, and the bonus decreases by 1 every turn until it disappears, so basically the bonus is as big as the number of turns chapters left on it. Obviously you'd want to be at full HP to start with, so you'd generally expect to get +4 attack (total ATK +5) the chapter you use it, and the effect would diminish gradually over 4 turns, but others characters with more HP can use even more effectively. You can heal before the effect is over (it's not HP-dependent after you first use it), though not in the same turn you use it.
Flying Castle (from Flying Red Barrel)
The final boss of its source game, and correspondingly generally shows up in maps inspired by said game. Because three of the maps that have it as a boss are split maps, which are somewhat less popular among players, Flying Castle is probably the least-seen of the three bosses.
Boss stats: HP 10, ATK +2, DEF +1, EVD -3. Its battle stats are less intimidating than those of the other two bosses', but it has the highest HP.
Playable stats: HP 8, ATK +1, DEF -1, EVD -2, REC 6, and it has an odd quirk where it's not allowed to counterattack when it's on the defending side of a battle. However, when it's defending, opponents can't use battle cards against it, even though it can use battle cards against them. One of the most difficult units to play effectively.
Hyper: Immovable Object (Boost, level 3, 20 stars) - Essentially, this card makes you sit in one location for 2 turns, and forces everyone passing you to stop and take one turn to battle you, but during this effect, you get +2 defense (starting you at DEF +1 instead) and you also can counterattack. Can use this to change your position relative to the other players as they go around the map, or to delay someone who might win, or to trap someone whose stars you want to take, though they get a first swipe at you.
Those are the regular bosses. There's one more boss that was added in a later update, that may spawn when players are using certain Poppo cosmetics:
Stats: HP 12, ATK +1, DEF +1, EVD -1.
Commonly known as Big Poppo or Boss Poppo, this is basically just a giant Poppo that doesn't really have anything particularly distinctive, aside from having a giant pool of HP. It's actually the least threatening boss going by attack power, and ties with Flying Castle at having relatively low defense for a boss. Its appearance is based on the "Cyborg Poppo" skin, and it debuted with the update that introduced that.
Big Poppo was actually teased, kind of, on the April Fools' Day prior to that, albeit with much more powerful stats:
Christmas Miracle - Miracle
Suguri, NoName, Aru (me), Kai
1st NoName, 2nd Suguri, 3rd Aru (me), 4th Kai
Treasure Island (Night) - Air Raid, Mystery, Treasure
Peat (CPU, player from chapter 22), Aru (CPU, player from chapter 6), Miusaki, Poppo (me)
1st Poppo (me), 2nd Miusaki, 3rd Peat, 4th Aru
I picked up one Ubiquitous, lost it to Scrambled Eve, then picked up two more, and then never used them. The occasion never presented itself, and I won anyway.
Highway Heist - Backtrack, Mystery, Treasure
Marc, Suguri V2, Sham (CPU), Yuki (me)
1st Yuki (me), 2nd Sham, 3rd Suguri, 4th Marc
The Marc player had an excellent opportunity to attack me late in the game when I was at low HP, but didn't, for some reason.
Pudding Chase - Mystery, Freeze, Treasure
Suguri (me), Yuki (player until chapter 11), Tomato+Mimyuu, NoName (CPU until chapter 20)
1st Suguri (me), 2nd Tomato+Mimyuu, 3rd NoName, 4th Yuki
The match ended at chapter 22, so the player who joined at 20...yeah.
I should probably learn to play Kiriko, Miusaki, and NoName at some point.
Sunset - Charity, Battlefield, Treasure
Nanako (me), Sham, Kyoko (CPU), Yuki
1st Sham, 2nd Nanako (me), 3rd Yuki, 4th Kyoko
Training Program - Home Roulette, Freeze, Amplify
QP, Suguri V2, Syura (me), Yuki
1st Yuki, 2nd Suguri V2, 3rd QP, 4th Syura (me)
I went for the 5 wins norma for whatever stupid reason and I never got 5 wins. lol
Sealed Archive - Battlefield, Regeneration, and something else
Star Breaker, Poppo (CPU, player joined chapter 35), Hime (CPU, player joined chapter 36), Kiriko (I joined on chapter 22)
1st Poppo, 2nd Hime, 3rd Star Breaker, 4th Kiriko (me)
Christmas Miracle - Regeneration, Minelayer, Amplify
Syura (me), Suguri V2, Miusaki (player disconnected chapter 2), Krila
1st Miusaki, 2nd Syura (me), 3rd Suguri V2, 4th Krila
Sunset - Random Warp, Confusion, Mystery
Suguri V2, Hime, Sora (CPU, player joined chapter 19), Kai (me)
1st Sora, 2nd Suguri V2, 3rd Kai (me), 4th Hime
Lagoon Flight - Mystery, Freeze
QPD, Kai (CPU), Suguri V2, Yuki (me)
1st Yuki (me), 2nd Suguri V2, 3rd QPD, 4th Kai
Anyway, time for the first DLC characters!
Syura (from QP Shooting - Dangerous!)
I know her as the first boss in her source game. She's a school friend of QP, and also a doujin game developer (and in that shmup, she literally attacks with CDs and cardboard boxes). Apparently she has a tendency of forcing QP to quality-test her games. I've also heard that she's also formerly a demon from hell? Not sure. Also she is associated with these cute little multicolored chicks named "Piyo".
Stats: HP 4, ATK +0, DEF +1, EVD +0, REC 4, Gains +1 ATK and +1 DEF when at 1 HP. She's the only character with 4 REC who doesn't have only 3 HP. Anyway, her passive ability encourages her to be on the edge as much as possible. Her hyper does the same.
Hyper: Beyond Hell (Battle, level 1, 0 stars) - +n to all stats where n is every HP count that you are below full. Obviously, Syura's natural maximum would be +3 for all stats if she's at 1/4 HP, which -- combined with her passive -- give her +4/+4/+4 (though her defense stat doesn't really matter at 1 HP). Obviously, the low level requirement and zero cost means that this is the kind of card you spring on people by surprise, both defensively and offensively. Can also use this to respond to tough battles like bosses.
Syura's actually not the best user of her hyper -- anyone with more HP would be better, obviously, and the winner in this regard would be Flying Castle (imagine it getting an additional 7 points to ever stat when at 1 HP, giving it +8/+6/+5). On the other hand, she's also reasonably resilient (positive defense, REC 4, and a zero-stars hyper), so she is sometimes surprisingly aggressive compared to other characters with no positive attack stat.
Nanako (from Suguri)
A shmup boss from a different game. Short, though not as short as Poppo. Fights using remote-controlled robotic "bits", which is reflected in her hyper here. Often looks upset about something.
Stats: HP 3, ATK +0, DEF +2, EVD +1, REC 4. The best combination of defensive stats among all characters (some have +2 EVD but have negative DEF instead), better than Sham's +1 for both DEF and EVD. And her hyper is quite powerful, being useful for both defense and offense, albeit a little unreliable at times. Nanako's only drawback is that she has little HP. Mocked in the following video:
Hyper: Deploy Bits (Battle, level 2, 20 stars) - randomly distributes seven +1's over her three stats (ATK, DEF, EVD). Most of the time, you'll get a distribution that'll do you some good. The expected value, obviously, is adding 7/3 or 2 + 1/3 to every stat, or +2.3/+4.3/+3.3, which is a quite solid stat spread, though you sometimes can get lopsided spreads instead, which may or may not be what you want (e.g. +0/+5/+5 total when you want to take someone's stars to prevent them from winning, or +4/+5/+1 total when you need to survive a boss at 1 HP).
Next time - the first bonus character!
Shipyard - Regeneration, Charity, Bomber
Alte, Tomomo (CPU, player joined chapter 20, left chapter 33, another player joined chapter 35), Nath, Manager
1st Alte, 2nd Nath, 3rd Manager (me), 4th Tomomo
Starship - Charity, Home Roulette, Mystery
Marc, Aru-S, Poppo, Sham
1st Sham, 2nd Marc (me), 3rd Aru-S, 4th Poppo
Warfare - Random Warp, Battlefield, Treasure
Kae (me), QP, Chicken, Krila
1st Krila, 2nd Kae (me), 3rd Chicken, 4th QP
Vortex - Air Raid, Miracle, Backtrack
Nanako, Shifu Robot, Marc, Suguri
1st Marc, 2nd Suguri, 3rd Nanako, 4th Shifu Robot (me)
Sunset - (no field events)
QP, Syura, Seagull, QPD (me)
1st Syura, 2nd QPD (me), 3rd Seagull, 4th QP
Pudding Chase - (no events)
Tomomo (me), Yuki, Starbo, Store Manager
1st Store Manager, 2nd Tomomo (me), 3rd Starbo, 4th Yuki
Vortex - (no events)
Yuki, Saki, Seagull, Suguri (me)
1st Yuki, 2nd Seagull, 3rd Suguri (me), 4th Saki
White Winter - Charity, Freeze
Kiriko, Krila, Alte, Robo Ball (me)
1st Robo Ball (me), 2nd Kiriko, 3rd Alte, 4th Krila
I'll post about QPD later.
Alte (CPU, player joined chapter 5), Suguri A, Suguri B, Repa (me)
1st Suguri B, 2nd Repa (me), 3rd Suguri A, 4th Alte
Space Wanderer - Random Warp, Battlefield, Amplify
Sora (CPU, player joined chapter 9, left chapter 11, another player joined chapter 19), Miusaki, Nanako (me), Tomomo-CSE (CPU, player joined chapter 2)
1st Sora, 2nd Tomomo-CSE, 3rd Miusaki, 4th Nanako (me)
Practice Field - Regeneration, Backtrack, Mystery
Suguri, Hime, Krila, QPD (me)
1st Hime, 2nd Suguri, 3rd Krila, 4th QPD (me)
Shipyard - Regeneration, Minelayer, Backtrack
Saki (me), Hime, Marc, Suguri (new player joined chapter 9)
1st Suguri, 2nd Hime, 3rd Marc, 4th Saki (me)
Another failure reel night.
Lagoon Flight - Air Raid, Mystery, Treasure
Yuki (CPU), Nanako, Marc (me), Kae (CPU, player joined chapter 9)
1st Nanako, 2nd Marc (me), 3rd Kae, 4th Yuki
Vortex - Charity, Minelayer, Sprint
Kai (CPU), Sham, Yuki (me), Sora (CPU, player joined chapter 28, left chapter 34)
1st Yuki (me), 2nd Sham, 3rd Sora, 4th Kai
Star Circuit - Regeneration, Sprint
NoName, Starbo G, Suguri (me), Starbo P
1st Suguri (me), 2nd NoName, 3rd Starbo P, 4th Starbo G
Planet Earth - Regeneration, Air Raid, Mystery
Sweebo (player until chapter 32, different player starting chapter 39), Kai, Starbo P, Starbo G
1st Starbo G, 2nd Starbo P, 3rd Kai (me), 4th Sweebo
----
Anyway, QPD.
QP (Dangerous) (from QP Shooting - Dangerous!)
Frequently abbreviated "QPD", this is the first character to be given out based on one's ownership of another Steam game. The idea was, of course, to cross-promote the games, especially since 100% Orange Juice is so much more popular than other Orange_Juice games, as far as I know. Anyway, this is also the first alternate version of an existing character, and so far all these "promo" or "bonus" characters have alt versions of existing characters. (Though two alt characters are one of the DLC packs, so not all alts are promo characters.)
Stats: HP 5, ATK +0, DEF +0, EVD -1, REC 5, but whenever she's holding cards whose names contain the word "Pudding", she gets bonuses: +1 ATK for each Dangerous Pudding, +1 DEF for each Bad Pudding, and +1 EVD for each Pudding. (This is because pudding is the most important thing to her, canonically.) This gives her a somewhat customizable set of stats, though generally most builds end up being (1) whatever people can pick up, and (2) if they have a choice, usually one or two Dangerous and one or two Bad, resulting in +2/+1/-1 or +1/+2/-1. Riskier plays may involve three Dangerous (+3/0/-1). Rarely does anyone hold more than one (regular) Pudding. QPD actually used to have +0 stats across the board, like regular QP, but a balance patch changed this (which also makes her the first alt character to have different stats, something which wasn't repeated until a while later). The fact that QP has to keep on holding these cards (especially Dangerous Pudding and Bad Pudding, which are generally considered low-level traps of only mild usefulness) means she can have seemingly overpowered stats, but it also means she's dependent on these cards, and can't really hold/use other cards (and is vulnerable to effects that mess with her cards, but that goes for a lot of characters).
Hyper - Sweet Guardian (Boost, level 3, 20 stars) - just draws the first two cards with the name Pudding in the deck, and puts them in your hand. Very specific to QPD, obviously (though arguably the recent DLC character Yuki (Dangerous) can also make use of this; I'll cover her much later), and sometimes situationally useless (if you already have the cards you want). Can make up for bad luck in drawing puddings yourself, giving you at least two pudding cards (assuming the deck has them). Though, despite having a 3-card hand size limit, you CAN potentially get up to 5 or more cards (up to 8 I think, if your opponents are all Aru and all play their hyper the same turn) in the midst of a turn (each of which could be a pudding card), with the help of this hyper. And you get stat bonuses from each of them. Usually though, this latter usage is only usually used for getting 4 puddings then going into battle with someone with your temporarily-only-somewhat-buffed stat spread.
Next time: Saki and Kyousuke, the second pair of DLC characters!
Anyway, 100% OJ now has minigames, at least as part of a special event called "School Crashers".
I don't have much commentary on it yet.
Today's match results:
Pudding Chase - Miracle, Bomber, Mystery
1st Poppo, 2nd Yuki (me), 3rd Sham, 4th Suguri
Marc (CPU, player from ch 32), Peat (CPU, player from ch 19), Kae (me), Tequila
Clover - Random Warp, Sprint, Freeze
1st Kae (me), 2nd Peat, 3rd Tequila, 4th Marc
Suguri, Starbo (me), Hime, Nath
Vortex - Treasure, Battlefield, Miracle
1st Suguri, 2nd Starbo (me), 3rd Nath, 4th Hime
SuguriV2, Hime, Nath, Aru (me)
Christmas Miracle - Miracle, Treasure, Regeneration
1st Hime, 2nd Aru (me), 3rd Nath, 4th SuguriV2
Sweebo (CPU), SuguriV2, Sherry (me), Sora
Sakura Smackdown - Air Raid, Miracle
1st Sora, 2nd Sherry (me), 3rd Sweebo, 4th SuguriV2
Witch Forest - Home Roulette, Mystery, Random Warp
1st Yuki A, 2nd Yuki B, 3rd Miusaki, 4th Robo Ball
Alte (me), Chicken A, Peat (CPU, player joined chapter 25), Chicken B
Space Wanderer - Minelayer, Miracle, Battlefield
1st Chicken B, 2nd Peat, other placements ???
I forgot the rest of the placements, but I might have been last in this match. But this match was most notable in that the Chicken who won won by beating up Peat.
Krila, NoName, Alte, Sora (me)
Vortex - ?, ?, Battlefield
1st NoName, 2nd Alte, 3rd Sora, 4th Krila
Tequila J, Tsih, Tequila G, Starbo (me)
Warfare - Home Roulette, Mystery, Treasure
1st Starbo, 2nd Tequila G, 3rd Tequila J, 4th Tsih
The G one was wearing green. The J one was wearing purple which I associate with the letter J for some reason. Probably jelly. Anyway, I also learned that it's a somewhat-bad idea to attack Tequila, but it's better to bait Tequila into attacking you so he doesn't get his battle bonus from taking damage first.
Chicken, Kiriko (CPU, player joined chapter 1), QP (CPU, player joined chapter 5), Poppo (me)
Sunset - Air Raid, Battlefield, Sprint
1st Poppo, 2nd Chicken, 3rd Kiriko, 4th QP
I knew the map going in, so I picked Poppo. It worked out right. Almost didn't though due generally to my moving slowly and lack of draws.
Tomomo (me), Sora (CPU), Hime, Kai (CPU)
Space Wanderer - Air Raid, Bomber
1st Kai, 2nd Hime, 3rd Tomomo, 4th Sora
Yeah, CPU win. bg.
Sora-M, Kyousuke (me), Yuki, Tsih
Pudding Chase - Charity, Miracle, Treasure
1st Kyousuke, 2nd Tsih, 3rd Yuki, 4th Sora-M
I normally suck at Kyousuke, so I don't know how this worked out.
Nath B, Miusaki (me), Yuki, Nath P
Pudding Chase - Charity, Miracle, Treasure
1st Miusaki, 2nd Nath B, 3rd Nath P, 4th Yuki
To be fair, the Naths threw the game a couple times. Mainly because it'd be funny for them to use Another Ultimate Weapon.
Space Wanderer - Sprint, Mystery, Battlefield
1st Tomomo, 2nd Hime, 3rd SuguriV2, 4th Nanako
I made a crucial, game-ending mistake by not Deploying my Bits when I had the chance. That put Tomomo over the top.
Kae, Store Manager (me), Hime, Nanako
Clover - Mystery, Treasure, Amplify
1st Store Manager, 2nd Nanako, 3rd Hime, 4th Kae
Some unexpected things happened. Such as me attempting to teleport away from Kae, but getting teleported in front of her with just 1 HP left, then managing to evade her attack and knock her out.
Afterwards, I played a couple single-player games. The current event involves (in part) gathering multiple body parts of this one cyborg/robot character, and you can get them in multiplayer or singleplayer. I got one in multiplayer last night; got one in singleplayer today. Also made a basic deck for Nath and got some practice playing as her; I haven't really played as her before.
Practice Field - Random Warp, Mystery, Treasure
1st Sham, 2nd Miusaki, 3rd Marc, 4th Kyousuke
NoName (CPU, player joined chapter 4), Suguri, Kai (me), Nath
Warfare - Regeneration, Confusion, Amplify
1st NoName, 2nd Suguri, 3rd Kai, 4th Nath
Also did more single-player stuff. Made a basic deck for Kiriko and also NoName.
NoName, incidentally, is that cyborg/robot character whose body parts I had to find. Ended up getting three of four parts in single-player, and used that chance to practice some characters I wasn't used to playing.
So now I have all his parts, which gets me some school outfits for the characters and also permanently unlocks the Sakura Smackdown map. And I've gotten five of six of the other items from this event.
I waited to place my Big Bang Bell on a draw panel next to an exit teleporter, and that placement paid off. Was a relatively late placement on my part (I passed up multiple opportunities earlier to place it because I wasn't in the center square of panels), but the game did continue for a while after that, which allowed it to stew long enough. I was expecting someone else to step on it, but eventually I did...and took Yuki down with me. Yuki had earlier beaten me up and taken my stars, so that was beautiful revenge. Poppo was closer to a home panel, though, and won the match before I could. (Yuki and Flying Castle weren't in contention at that point. Flying Castle was at one point, and so was Yuki.)
Practice Field - Battlefield, Confusion, Freeze
1st Miusaki, 2nd SuguriV2, 3rd Hime, 4th Tequila
SuguriV2, Sora (CPU until ch 27), Aru-S (player until chapter 7), Sherry (me)
Practice Field - Battlefield, Confusion, Freeze
1st Sherry, 2nd SuguriV2, 3rd Sora, 4th Aru-S
Fernet (CPU until ch 2), Nath, Peat, Kae
Practice Field - Battlefield, Confusion, Freeze
1st Nath, 2nd Kae, 3rd Fernet, 4th Peat
Kae, Poppo, Sora-M, Saki (me)
Planet Earth - Treasure, Miracle, Air Raid
1st Poppo, 2nd
PoppoSora, 3rd Kae, 4th Saki(Sora was wearing a Poppo mask.)
Poppo, Yuki (player until ch 4, CPU until ch 8), Flying Castle, Poppo (player until ch ??, CPU until ch 20)
Icy Hideout - Miracle, Confusion, Treasure
1st Poppo, 2nd Saki, 3rd Yuki, 4th Flying Castle
Sakura Smackdown - Miracle, Sprint
1st Yuki-D, 2nd Tomomo-CSE, 3rd Nanako, 4th Sham
Sora, Tsih (CPU, player joined ch 14), Flying Castle (me), Tomomo-CSE (became CPU on ch 39)
White Winter - Air Raid, Battlefield, Confusion
1st Flying Castle, 2nd Tomomo-CSE, 3rd Sora, 4th Tsih
Miusaki (CPU until ch 9), Kiriko, Krila, Ceoreparque (me)
Sakura Smackdown - Air Raid, Miracle, Backtrack
1st Miusaki, 2nd Krila, 3rd Kiriko, 4th Repa
Had I used my Deploy Bits against the boss I might have taken it out in one hit rather than losing 2 of my 3 HP as Nanako to it leaving me to try to survive Sweet Eater Tomomo's +3 attack with that Deploy Bits on evasion.
Somewhat disappointing early start. My fave character is probably Saki, and one of my daily tasks was to lay trap cards, so I played as her obviously. (I haven't introduced her yet so I'll do that in a moment.) Unfortunately, I got pasted, though this isn't particularly unusual as Saki. Tomomo opened up an early lead by winning fights, and kept that lead, winning the match.
My second match featured me playing original QP, and someone else playing the variant QPD. We both finished last, lol. And at one point, QPD was holding onto three Puddings, which basically made her Suguri, i.e. gave her +2 evade.
Third game I played as Star Breaker. Pretty fun game, with lots of violence (which is advantageous to Star Breaker), even though I didn't win.
Came back to notch in a win as Saki. I don't remember anything particularly notable about this match, aside from me being able to run around and lay traps in nice places. Such as opponents' home panels. =D
I still needed to lay more trap cards. Another player did too, So I reused Saki again, and then Krila (another trap-spam character, even more of one in fact). Won neither of these games, while that person who was trying to trap-spam just walked in with a deck full of traps and played characters that had nothing to do with it, then won (as Poppo and Robo Ball). He won again as Shifu Robot in another match. This was particularly ironic since Shifu Robot's early-game this match was (as is typical for Shifu Robot) rather painful -- two defeats in three rounds, I think. In fact, I was surprised that I had 7 wins within like 5 rounds (from beating Nath, Shifu Robot twice, and a random enemy, if I recall correctly), so I had an early lead. But eventually Sherry overtook me in wins, while Shifu Robot managed to take a lead in stars and ride it to victory -- without even using its hyper.
After this we were all done with dailies, and I just took map suggestions. I was thinking of finishing the evening on a high note, and I was close to 200 oranges from doing dailies; I needed two more matches specifically. So I was hoping to bring in Poppo, since I know how to play her pretty well.
That same other player suggested to me Starship, with Home Roulette, Air Raid, and Bomber. Home Roulette is something Poppo can deal with, especially on Starship, but Air Raid and Bomber are somewhat disadvantageous, and Starship's close quarters are rather bad for Poppo -- you're pretty much gonna have to run into combat, one way or another, and Poppo is crap at combat.
So I picked Tomomo. Not quite the best at combat -- arguably, Marc is better based on survivability, Store Manager has basically better stats, and Yuki is a wash between worse combat stats but more HP and a marginally better hyper, but Tomomo still has a rather prominent presence with her characteristic +2 attack and neutral defense/evade (and even literally, as in her sprite is rather large).
The match fundamentals were mixed for Tomomo -- tight quarters, and the low-attack Aru and Nath (starting out) as opponents, were favorable things. QPD's stats are of course variable depending on what she's holding. Meanwhile the field events -- Bomber (randomly-placed bombs that detonate for 2 damage) and Air Raid (1 damage to everyone ever 5 turns), specifically -- were both unfavorable to Tomomo surviving, given that Tomomo has only 4 HP and also 6 for REC (so she has a harder time getting back up after going down). The one good thing is that the board is small so going back home and healing takes only a few turns at most -- one can touch home plate twice between two Air Raid rounds.
Anyway...Aru opened up an early lead by playing her hyper, Present For You, which gave us all free cards and gave her bundles of stars. I think she even got to level 4 first and triggered the boss. Meanwhile, I played Tomomo more like a star-gatherer rather than an attacker, despite her attack power, because Air Raids could leave me with dangerously low health ripe for others to mug me, and so I even passed up encounter panels when I had the choice, preferring to run back home for healing. Eventually, I KO'd Aru, followed shortly by Nath KOing me, so we started to spread the stars around somewhat. Many turns later, I ended up beating up Aru again, and eventually picked up enough stars to win, and hung onto them long enough to actually win.
Last match of the evening was another "this character shouldn't have won" match. Flying Castle is generally maligned by players, because of its infamous inability to fight back when challenged from behind -- and given the linear corridors of Night Flight, the early rounds of this match consisted of a frequent number of battles where I repeatedly took chip damage from characters who normally would avoid combat (Fernet and stackless Nath), though for whatever reason NoName left me a lone the few times he could have smacked me. (Not sure why.) I just tanked the hits (not like I had much of a choice), and later "desynched" my route from Fernet and Nath, picking my paths to stay behind them or away from them when possible. At the end of the match, Fernet threatened a win, while I successfully won against NoName to claim enough stars to threaten a win as well. Then I got lucky and landed on a home panel that's not my own, to win the match.
Pudding Chase - Minelayer
1st Tomomo, 2nd Sora-M, 3rd Poppo, 4th Saki
Suguri, QP (me), Poppo, QPD
Treasure Island - Treasure, Amplify
1st Poppo, 2nd Suguri, 3rd QP, 4th QPD
Sora-M, Marc, Starbo (me), Krila
Witch Forest - Air Raid, Backtrack, Freeze
1st Marc, 2nd Krila, 3rd Starbo, 4th Sora-M
Saki (me), Marc, Tsih, Hime
Sakura Smackdown - Miracle, Bomber, Freeze
1st Saki, 2nd Tsih, 3rd Marc, 4th Hime
Tequila, Tomato+Mimyuu, Poppo, Saki (me)
Lagoon Flight - Air Raid, Backtrack, Freeze
1st Poppo, 2nd Mimyuu, 3rd Saki, 4th Tequila
Or maybe I switched 3rd and 4th. I forget.
Krila (me), Tomomo, Tomomo-CSE, Robo Ball
Warfare - Minelayer, Home Roulette, Amplify
1st Robo Ball, 2nd Krila, 3rd Tomomo CSE, 4th Tomomo
Sherry, Repa (me), Nath, Shifu Robot
Clover - Minelayer, Confusion, Amplify
1st Shifu Robot, 2nd Sherry, 3rd Repa, 4th Nath
Tomomo, Aru, QPD, Nath
Starship - Home Roulette, Air Raid, Bomber
1st Tomomo, 2nd Aru, 3rd Nath, 4th QPD
Fernet, Flying Castle, NoName, Nath
Night Flight - Regeneration, Treasure, Sprint
1st Flying Castle, 2nd Fernet, 3rd Nath, 4th NoName
A post about Saki and Kyousuke, comin' up.