[Innocence R/Hearts R] Combo Collection

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As the name implies, this isn't a proper combo video that you'd normally see on my channel. They usually have more editing and stuff going on but for this one I just wanted to get some ideas out there now that I'm actually able to record Vita footage. As to how that's possible, thank the Vita modding community for making a plugin that lets you stream video over the Vita's USB port directly into a program like OBS. Stick an AUX cable into the headphone jack and you'll have audio as well. The framerate is lower than with a PSTV + capture card combo but this solution is completely free (if you don't count the AUX cable but they're really cheap anyway) so it's actually kinda insane how well it works.

The R games don't really get a lot of attention, especially not Innocence R, so I wanted to dig a little deeper and see what I could find out about the gameplay for that one specifically. Haven't done an awful lot of testing in Hearts R but Stuns are consistent there too, that I do know.

Firstly, enemies gain "knockback resistance" after 30 hits meaning they'll be launched lower and pushed shorter once that threshold is broken. The same happens at 60 hits, leading to even less launching and stuff. This is really easy to test with a character like Hermana who can dish out a bunch of hits really really quickly (Bakugadan is great for this.) The same might happen again after 90 hits but I never checked. This might affect enemy stagger time as well, worth looking into more.

Second, knockdown is basically the death of a combo as there's no OTG that I was able to find. Burst Blow in Innocence R knocks down but immediately OTGs as soon as you attack but from the testing I did it seems the OTG effect is only there if the enemy was hit by Burst Blow in a standing position. You can keep the combo going longer after a knockdown with Stun but it's situational and requires good knowledge of when a Stun is going to happen next.

Third, Stun is consistent in this game. Once an enemy's been stunned, their stun counter goes down to zero and from there you can route a Stun into your combo really easily since it'll happen at the same point in the combo every single time.

Knockdown being nerfed into the ground is no surprise given the clown fiesta that is Vesperia but it unfortunately turns quite a few artes into little more than combo enders or, in the case of Ruca's Maou Bakuensou and Hermana's Ryuuoutenku, Iron Stance breakers.
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