This thread is intended to discuss anything related to the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's -The Battle of Aces- PSP game that was released January 21, 2010, be it the game play itself or the alternate universe where it takes place.

Since this is a discussion thread, linking to PSP emulators and ripped versions of the game is prohibited as well as asking about how to hack your PSP. Anything relating on how to get the game or the contents of the Lyrical Box edition of the game should be asked in the merchandise thread.

Official site

Hohum, haven't finished the game yet. Still have to finish Reinforce and Shamal routes. Anyway, I really miss Reinforce playing this. I mean, I like Rein, but Reinforce is awesome, too.

The story is a bit meh from what I understand, but it's the characters that make it fun to read. Most of the time. I kept falling asleep doing Chrono's route.

Dark Piece Hayate is really cool, too. T_T;Do they have the box thing in their avatar when you start up Story Mode? 'cause for some reason, I couldn't do Fate → Chrono → Signum to unlock Material-L, yet I could do Vita → Nanoha → Zafira for Material-S. Ended up having to re-do Chrono after completing Signum's route. -w-;

Kinda meh as a game, Nanoha is 1-button-spam and balance needs fixing. :(

But it does add an alternate flavor to the A's story in any case...

Time to spam my Yellow Machismo knowledge, OOOH YEAH, DIGG IT!!!!

Hayate was the first story mode I finished and she's okay. No far distance bind is a downside, but a watered down white Divine Buster makes up for it a little. I love Ragnarok Breaker. The computer for some reason can make her summon a ball of purple energy up, which I still can't figure out how to work. Circle-Close Range capture is funny, as she sucks the opponent into her book and releases them, lol. Hayate talks so heavily in Kansai-ben that I thought Sakuya was in the game instead of her(I don't remember if she had that heavy an accent in A's though).
Reinforce is probably my favorite character of the game(besides Hayate), MP Gain like crazy and she is awesome with close combat. Not to mention the Diabolic Rasengan! >:) The story is definitely a little more interesting than Hayate, defense is amazing.
Shamal is also a very interesting character to use, Triangle-Wind Barrier is freaking broken, it can even soak up a Nanoha Divine Buster and if she's stupid enough to run into it, it damages too. Tornado spam, etc. The Full Drive is definitely interesting, suck the Linker Core out and destroy it, lol.(Which should disable their ability to use magic, right? o_O)
Chrono probably has the second fastest bind aside from Nanoha, but the bad thing is aside from charged Seeker shot(Square), which doesn't do that much damage, it's only good for rushing Chrono in to use his EX Drive attack.
Signum is average, her capture from far away is pretty good, not much more.
To be frank, as much as I like Fate, she is slow, and I mean REALLY slow. Haken saber is the way to go with her, Thunder Rage Bind is okay. Accel Loader is supposed to make up for her being able to move fast, but it is still kind of slow compared to Nanoha's ability to spam Divine Busters.

Havn't played with Dark Hayate yet though.

As of right now, I have a Blue box on the bottom right of Signum and Chrono. I have a gray box on the bottom right of Hayate, Reinforce, and Shamal. I unlocked Dark Hayate, so I figured the boxes meant completed story modes. To test this, I redid Fate's Story Mode, but I still didn't unlock Material L.

This thread title should be changed to Official Nanoha Game Thread so we have a thread to discuss all future games, including MBA. Time to wait for my Lyrical Box. (EDIT: Also waiting for the Fate PSP Accesory set, :))

Oh, and the Opening is Silent Bible by Mizuki Nana.

The little boxes are gotten by defeating the two extra enemies in the story mode (The ones that go WARNING and are not counted as a stage per se). To fight then, you have to win by Full Drive a round/match before stage 3 and 5. Maybe not losing a round, though i did lose many rounds with Zafira and i still fought the extra enemies so not so sure on that.

So the characters without a box are ones I have to redo in order to get a box and the boxes lined up mean you unlock the Material character for the column?

Also, is there a difference to the color of the box, like the far right row is all gray and the middle is like all blue?

Yup, first column is Material-S, second is L and third is the one that looks loke Hayate.

It only tells you which Material you are unlocking as far as I know.

MBA is fan-made and has its own thread in the game part of AS. Changing it to Official Nanoha Game Thread might be a good idea if they actually do release a StrikerS version. I guess we'll leave it for now until something like that appears?

And the ED theme is Tiny Rainbow by Tamura Yukari. plz don't forget to mention my hime-sama. ;3;I completed Vita's story without using FDB. She was the first person I used and at the time, I didn't know how to use them. Lmao, brain was thinking BlazBlue probably.

I don't think I lost at all, though. Actually, I don't think I started to use FDBs until my fourth try at Story Mode with Hayate. >___>

Weird, i didn´t lost with Nanoha or Fate and the extra enemies didnt appear... huh. Maybe it has a double condition for that, though that would be weird.

Edit: Seems like i was wrong and it is not losing a round before stage 3 and 5 for the extra enemies. My game or memory must have been glitchy. Also Shamal´s story mode is a chore.

If you're talking about Reinforce, just hold Triangle if you're using the default control scheme. It's kind of cool how the spheres can take hits. They'll also fire if they're on the field and you use the uncharged attack.Eh? Dark Piece Hayate is the one with a really thick accent. Normal Hayate's isn't that thick, is it? o.oJeebus wiggly, I do not know how to use her at all.

And now I have to poke Arcade Mode later. I am enjoying Material-L way more than I thought I would. :s

Exactly how many characters are there supposed to be, including secret unlockable ones? What are the controls, system etc.? I can't figure out what the site is telling me.

Will this have an English translation, or is it No Export For You again?

Funny thing about Shamal, is that a charged triangle button does nice damage, and with pressing circle button you place yourself in the exact rangea of the attack, and you can avoid pretty much everything by using the non-charged triangle button. Add Chrono´s Drive Ex-C and she is a moster. Though you should use Zafira´s Auto-Guard because she has no loving defense. It actually sounds like i have an idea on what i am talking about.

Only need to unlock Material-L finishing Fate´s story mode. Also Arcade mode is just story mode without the story, ´cause the enemies are the same, at least with Nanoha.

There are 12 characters, 13 if the unisoned Reinforce that you use in the last stage of her story mode is counted She is h4xx i tell ya The controls are simple,

L: Full drive, Full drive attack.
R: Guard
Square, Circle, Triangle: Attack
X: Dash

And you have to range, short and large. Attacks and tecniques change and all that. Fun when you change yopur mentality from "how do i not get defeated?" to "let´s see how fast i can kill them =D"

Probably the latter. Though if they do the same that with Fate/Unlimited codes i will love them~

I don't equip the skills in story 'cause having less health than I normally do scares me. ;_;Beating Arcade mode with a character [without losing two rounds against one, I'm assuming] unlocks them in the Character Model thing.

M-Material-L. 'A'! *giggles*Not unlockable. You can see her in the Character Model thing, from what I've been told.

Edit:
Mizuki Nana's thumbs are sore from playing the game, lol. If there's another Lyrical Party, she wants to have a tournament. owo!

1st week sales

1.New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Wii, Nintendo) - 115,700 [3,118,400]
2.Senjo no Varukyuria 2: Gallia Ourisshikan Gakko [Valkyria Chronicles 2] (PSP, Sega) - 101,200
3. Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A's Portable: The Battle of Aces (PSP, Namco Bandai) - 76,500

Not bad.

I think No Export For You is highly likely, at this point. Considering how badly A's and the first season sold in USA, I doubt the company that licensed and dubbed it will go through the trouble of creating an English translation for the game.

Nope, I'm talking about Hayate, she can do the energy ball for some reason with computer, but I can't do it. It's a close range attack and it isn't her circle counter.

Material L's accent isn't thick at all, seems more normal than Hayate. o_o

Why does everyone keep complaining about Shamal? She is easy to use, probably because I keep soaking up Nanoha's Divine Busters with the far away Triangle-Wind Shield.

...I didnt want to keep playing, i didnt want to TT_TT /goes to beat arcade mode

Valkyria Chronicles 2!? Awesome I´ll miss Selvaria though

Isnt that her circle attack? If its not then i have no idea

Except when you fight against Zafira who is a close range fighter and pretty much avoids everything. Then again different playing styles.

Probably one of the close range combos then. Haven't been able to check these out as I just really want to beat Arcade Mode with everyone first. ._.

The rest here.I'm not talking about Material-L. D:

There's regular, normal Hayate. There's Dark Piece Hayate (闇のカケラはやて). Then there's Material-L.Because other than that, I don't understand how to use her. ;___;

I need to work on my close range. ( ._.)I don't want to either, but.... but....

I like hearing the voices and stuff and swirling the camera around and HEHEHEHEHE FATE AND MATERIAL-L. 'A'; orz

Thanks for the combo list.

I see what you mean by Dark Piece Hayate. I meant material-D at first, lol.

With close range Shamal, you cna't do it. Spam maybe two tornados with square, then go in close and EX Attack or just continue with square spam.

has anyone tried downloading the DLmagazine Digital Nanoha from the PS Store yet? i've tried inputting the code given with the game, but i'm getting nothing. upon further reading, i noticed the the date of Feb 2010. would it be available then or is it a special service they're having at that time for people who've downloaded this extra already? i'm hoping just having a JPN PSN account is sufficient enough to get this because it would be such a waste, especially since i saw a Nendo Fate and Hayate in the booklet.

I can't help wondering why Yuuno and Arf aren't made playable. Are they despised that much by the makers? I mean, Yuuno maybe defensive but they could make him counter-centric a la ExDeath.

I cannot see Yuuno doing anything but binding his enemies and do some..melee ? Maybe he could team up with Arf to balance between range attack and melee attack...?

Well, it's not like he's that weak or something...it's just..from what I've seen in the anime, what he's done mostly in combat is basically binding the enemies to give Nanoha some time to do her attack (?). CMIIW

I can't imagine Yuuno to be someone like Exdeath....it's kinda...scary o.o; Especially to make a counter-based character in this game.

I had just played this game a couple of minutes ago. It's quite fun, eventhough I don't understand it at first (had a couple of try to do some melee combat and just spamming Divine Buster to my enemy). And, is it just me or do they make Nanoha too strong in this game ? :heh:

Also, Material-S is cute >w< (Dark nanoha / starlight destroyer(?) )

I'm tempted to try and translate some of the stuff on that wiki. Mostly the story related stuff since translating the game itself seems a bit difficult....Ick, Material-D is insane. I don't remember her actual talking at all because I was light headed from the lack of blood because deep voice Ueda Kana is hot, but Dark Piece Hayate is so cute.

Whenever I get around to Shamal in Arcade Mode, I'll try stuff. >__>;Didn't get the Lyrical Box [might ask a friend to grab it if it's still stocked to see if I can get *cough* Fate oppai mouse pad], so can't help.

Hmm, the few Nanoha blogs I've seen haven't talked about it in detail.... Odd. Sorry. D:The Book of Darkness doesn't care about Yuuno and Arf, so no Dark Pieces of them. (/ω＼)Nanoha is crazy, yeah. Signum in the hands of a player is scarier. So glad the computer isn't really smart with Signum. <_>;

There's already a Dark Piece Nanoha, plz don't confuse me using that term for Material-S. I like saying Material-S 'cause Nanoha is S anyway Starlight Destroyer is fine!

well, after one day of owning the game, i've gone through 4 characters stories already (Fate, Nanoha, Hayate, Vita, and currently on Signum), and i must say despite all the negativity of the game.....i really like it. sure it's not in depth or technical like Blazblue or as combo crazy, but darn it there's nothing like dishing out Divine Busters at point blank range. anyways, i felt like giving small thoughts of the game that i liked via list style:

-Vita's story was enjoyable out of everyone's so far (lol'd @ the post event of Zafira's battle)

-3rd round song for Fate's battles is the best battle song....EVER

-Fate's Material counterpart (can't remember the letter) is one of the coolest characters designed. didn't realize she had black tips on her hair, and the way she speaks is vastly different from Fate (Nazeeee?!.......so adorable). you so rock Mizuki Nana!

Well, I believe the TVTropers have discussed that, well, you can choke a *itch</meme> with chains, put a barrier in the right place for someone to dash headfirst into, etc. You could have Yuuno casting that barrier at three separate ranges like with the Shadow Fiend's Shadowraze from DotA. Of course, his fighting style would necessarily be quite different, but I suppose you could make a Lethal Joke Character from such a conceit.

T'was probably too much creativity and effort needed from the game-makers, though.

I'm getting my Lyrical box tomorrow, can you tell me how you get access to Japan PSN?

I don't recall that being discussed on TVTropes as far as I can remember, but I do remember those exact tactics being mentioned on the Day in the Life fanfic. O.o

Just unlocked Material L! She talks like Touma from Minami-ke. lol

alright, i'll have to rack my brain a little to remember what i did (and i'll try and create a new one so i know what steps to explain). i'll go step by step for those who don't have one yet either and have literally no idea where to go.

*note before you start, have an email address you'd like to use for signing in for the future. and if you do have a PSN account already, you can't use the same email address for the Japanese one. one email account to one PSN account.

1) on the XMB, go to the Playstation Network section and choose Sign Up for PlayStation Network

2) choose Create a New Account (New Users), continue

3) under Country/Region of Residence, choose Japan. everything then changes into Japanese, so if you know a bit of Japanese things will be easier for you.

4) skip down to the section that says 生年月日 which is basically your birthday. that's right, lie to your hearts content because it's not like they'll check it out for real.

5) next choose the button that says 次へ to move on

6) next is the privacy policy. in other words, you're not going to read it at all especially in Japanese right? so while it's loading you may as well get the cursor ready and press down until the bottom buttons are highlighted or else you'll have to scroll down the whole policy. choose 同意する to move on.

7) hopefully you have an email address in this day and age because you'll need it now. the first section is the email address you'll use for being able to sign in so a real email will be needed. i created a new one specifically just for the PSN account so you don't have to really use it as a every day one. after you enter it, a notice will pop up so just choose OK.

8) the second section パスワード is the password you'll choose. you'll need at least 6 characters with one of them being a numerical number (ex nanofate2)

9) 3rd section is just a confirmation of the password from the previous step. the little check box below it is to remember the password.

10) 秘密の質問 = Secret Question . just for the sake of being easy, choose the top one which is "where were you born?". this time, you'll need to type in Japanese so good luck choosing one you'll remember if you don't know Japanese.

11) choose 次へ after you're done

12) if you did it right, you'll be taken to the next section which is choosing you're online ID. choose what you want, but keep these in mind (it's what the yellow text is sayin)
-has to be 3-16 characters. use hyphens ( - ) and underscores ( _ ) if you want to space
-don't use you're password as your ID.....i don't know who would but oh well
-don't share with anyone yadda yadda
-not sure the last bit, something about you can make the account only once and no changes will be allowed (don't take my exact wording for this though)

choose 次へ after you've got an available ID

13) it's time to make up stuff again. i think it's asking for your first and last name for the first two. the third one is what gender. choose 次へ when done.

14) next section is a doozy. only because it's asking for your address of where you live. but since we don't live in Japan, well.....time for make up your info time again. like i said before, they won't check and it doesn't matter. choose 次へ once you've had a blast believing you really live in Japan.

15) check the box confirming everything you've inputed. choose 次へ

16) it's reviewing everything you put in. not sure how to type the one you need to pick, but it's in the same place that you usually saw 次へ (the far right button at the bottom). and then.............

badabing. hopefully you got in because i was doing it at the same time as i was typing this. choose whatever was popped up, and then sign in (auto sign in if you know you're going to forget your ID and password).

so when you input the code whenever they make it available, go to the store, select the button that has 12 and a pencil next to it which is located at the top right of the screen. from there input the code that you find by scratching the area with the silvery stuff on the card that came with the game.

*phew* i think i've covered everything. hopefully this helps everyone. now let us all enjoy the Nanoha goody that awaits us......well, for those who can anyway

Hmm... Interesting... =3

I found these while browsing the Gamespot forums. :D
The translations are courtesy of Heavenwargod from the mentioned forums.





And what's this? Hayate's skills don't just include Norse Mythology?


I find it extremely ironic that most of Hayate's skills can be done WHILE moving when every bit of information about her skills given in StrikerS say, "Stand in one place and fire away.":p





Only these are available so far. But it does make some more sense out of the game. :3

(Well, it's not like I have a PSP in the first place *mumblegrumble*)

YESSSSS. YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS.

Material-L. <23<3@<@<21@#<123<#33234 /deadThis made me so confused, but it's better than just hovering there firing away.

Or sucking people into the Book at cross range. ololol.I could try to translate the rest of the character profiles from here if you'd like. Though I'm no better than google translate, really.

Just got my Lyrical Box today and found out two problems.

1) For some reason, my PSP is unable to read UMDs, Laser doesn't light up, spindle doesn't spin, need help to somehow fix this. T_T
2)

Would anyone like to explain basic plot? Why's Rein kicking around in this?

Plot takes place right after the end of A's, Reinforce survives, but the Book of Darkness is emitting dark fragments of the A's characters around and everyone is basically fighting to stop this.

Oh. What're Rein and the fragments like? Character-wise?

The real Reinforce is kind of emo from what I remember. She's always saying she's sorry for what's happening. iirc, you fight the real Reinforce with one of the characters in Story Mode because she's trying to finish the job herself. She's still cute, though. Oh gosh, every time she says "waga aruji", I lose a bit of blood.

Anyhoo, the dark versions vary. I kind of forget what some are like because my memory sucks, sorry. D:

Dark Piece Nanoha = .... is not much different from the real one from what I remember, lol.
Dark Piece Fate = Emo. srsly, she was going off about how she's always alone and stuff and I zzz'd. Buuut, Fate vs Dark Piece Fate is interesting because of that. When you Full Drive Burst against her, Fate even says "We're not alone." ;s
Dark Piece Hayate = Really friendly and thicker kansai-ben. It's so cute~
Dark Piece Chrono = Basically, what Chrono was like during A's as he was searching for info about The Book of Darkness.

The Wolkies are very different. They haven't met Hayate.

Dark Piece Reinforce = tbh, I don't remember much about her. I think she was a little sad because she didn't think she'd find a decent Master.
Dark Piece Vita = Think of berserk Vita from ep1 of A's. 200% Tsun.
Dark Piece Zafira = He's also insane like Vita. :s
Dark Piece Signum = I don't think she was much different from the real one.
Dark Piece Shamal = Er, she just seems sad. Don't remember much about her either. ~_~

iirc, Dark Piece Signum and Shamal realize that they're memory fragments in some characters' Story Mode. It's kind of sad because when you beat the Dark Wolkies, the character sometimes tells them how the future is bright because they have a kind master/go into slight detail about Hayate. Everyone tells the defeated Dark Pieces that they're just having a nightmare and it's time to sleep. Nanoha vs Dark Piece Hayate was sad, but cute....

Er, I'll just talk about this now since I'm sure you or someone else will ask about the Materials. The Materials are the defence program thing of The Book of Darkness. Made from the remains of The Book of Darkness, they're trying to bring the book back. They're very different from their counterparts.

Material-S = The Starlight Destroyer, she is Nanoha's counterpart. She represents Logic. Serious and polite.
Material-L = The Thunderblade Assailant, she is Fate's counterpart. She represents Power. Okay, so she's like Touma from Minami-ke when she speaks, lolol. She's very brash.
Material-D = The Ruler of Darkness, she's Hayate's counterpart. She represents "King" [being able to rule I guess?]. Not superior to the other two, so don't get confused. She's the polar opposite of Hayate minus kansai-ben iirc.

Alright, thanks both of you. I like the Wolkies and Rein a lot so I've really been dying to hear about the plot and characterization in the game.

Hopefully someone will do script translations eventually. Maybe on gamefaqs or something...

Responses in bold.

Oi, practice thing doesn't count! zzz Chrono vs Fate. But I mean, Hayate vs Nanoha? I was wtf-ing the entire time, especially when Nanoha FDBs:

RH: Excelion Mode.
Nanoha: Hayate-chan, I won't lose! Starlight Breaker!
RH: Starlight Breaker.
Nanoha: Full burst!!

Yeah, dood, full burst SLB. Wtf. Just wtf. This isn't Nanoha vs Fate from S1. D:

And Dark Piece Vita hurt my ears. I can barely hear some of the other characters sometimes *COUGHSHAMALCOUGH* and then Vita has to be all.... loud. :|

So I guess Rin finally got Saber after all. Yeah, I don't really like Material-D. She scares me. Material-L ftw.

So, it's February. Has anyone tried the download thing from Playstation Store yet?