Azur Lane: Crosswave adds support characters Atlanta, Amazon, Victorious, Norfolk, Prince of Wales, U-81, and Lexington; character systems detailed
All the latest on the upcoming PlayStation 4 title.
Compile Heart has updated the official website for Azur Lane: Crosswave with character pages for Atlanta (voiced by Aranami Kazusa), Amazon (voiced by Yukiko Amamiya), Victorious (voiced by Eriko Nakamura), Norfolk (voiced by Hiromi Sakuma), Prince of Wales (voiced by Chinami Hashimoto), U-81 (voiced by Haruka Yamazaki), and Lexington (voiced by Minami Shinoda), who will appear in the game as a “Secretary Ship / Combat Support.”
Additionally, the company detailed the game’s character systems:
■ Crosswave-Original Rules
Here, we will explain the differences between Azur Lane: Crosswave for PlayStation 4 and Azur Lane for smartphones.
The characters that can directly participate in battle are those that can be placed in the “Main Fleet” (up to three characters).
You can also set characters in the “Vanguard Fleet” (up to three characters), which offer support through skills and “Fleet Effects.”
When the HP of the characters in the Main Fleet becomes zero, you will be lose the battle.
Characters in the Vanguard Fleet cannot be attacked.
The Main Fleet can include any character, regardless of ship type, as long as it consists of participants in the story’s Joint War Games (i.e. a playable character).
The Vanguard Fleet can include all other members, excluding the two Sirens.
When heading into battle, there are is no oil cost or condition deterioration.
■ Fleet Effects
Depending on the combination of six characters that form your Main Fleet and Vanguard Fleet, the characters in your Main Fleet will receive bonuses.
Total Power – The total value of the stats that act as guideline for the strength of each character. One-tenth of that value is added as a bonus to your HP.
Fleet Effects – A list of all 58 Fleet Effects can be found on the official website.
■ Ship Types
Every character has an established ship type, which is particularly important for characters that fight on the front line in the Main Fleet.
Destroyer – A ship type that boasts overwhelming speed. Its torpedo strength alone is extremely high. On the other hand, it is weak when hit and has little firing power. Its weakness is “standard firing.”
Light Cruiser – A ship type with performance that is a middle ground between the Destroyer and the Heavy Cruiser. With its high Anti-Air stats, is mainly useful for its highly efficient “Anti-Air Gun.” Its weakness is “standard firing.”
Heavy Cruiser – Although it moves somewhat slowly, its “Lock-On Attack” charge is faster than other ship types. By firing Lock-On Attacks one after the next, its firepower can surpass even that of a Battleship.
Battleship – Although its offensive and defensive strengths are extremely high, it cannot rapid-fire with its initial equipment. Its movement is the slowest among the ship types, and it can only guard instead of dash. Its “standard firing” is also extremely strong. Its weaknesses are “armor piercing ammunition” and “torpedoes.”
Aircraft Carrier – A ship type that can only equip various aircraft. The aircraft it deploys will move and attack on its own. (It first moves according to the direction it is deployed, then attacks.) Its attacks have no attributes and are effective against all ship types. However, since it is possible for an enemy’s Anti-Air attacks to shoot down the aircraft, it only truly shines when the number of enemies on the field have decreased.
Ship Type Traits Change Depending on Your Equipment
There is a large number of equipment in Azur Lane: Crosswave, which can change the traits of a ship type. For example, if you equip a gun meant for a Destroyer to a Battleship, it will be able to rapid-fire with the Battleship’s high attack power. Make up for your weaknesses by enhancing your strengths. What you equip to which character is an essential gameplay element.
In addition to the ocean map, rare equipment can mainly be obtained after battle on the results screen and via Akashi’s Research Laboratory. There are many rare items among those that Akashi requires as compensation, but since she will tell you where to obtain them, be sure to go out and find them. You may even obtain equipment that will dramatically change a character’s ease of use.
■ Skills
Unrelated to ship type, each character has several skills that they learn from the beginning of the game. “Lock-On Attack” is also a type of skill. Every skill can be upgraded with items, and will demonstrate considerable strength if upgraded to the maximum level.
While the skills assigned to the Main Fleet and the skills assigned to the Vanguard Fleet are separate, their levels are linked.
When activating skills of the same type at the same time, unlike the smartphone game, it is possible to gain tremendous firepower / defense power depending on your formation since effects are also added.
While skills charge quite slowly in battle, their charge speed will increase the more you defeat mob characters. Using Lock-On Attacks against boss characters is a standard tactic, but if you want to use recovery skills faster, you should wipe out the mobs as well.
■ Difficulty Options
The following difficulty options are available in the game, which can be changed at any time:
Easy – Recommended for those playing a shooting game for the first time. If you choose a Battleship, it will be difficult to lose.
Normal – The standard difficulty setting recommended for those who have some experience playing shooting games. Through skillful formation and upgrades, there will be no need to level up and you should be able to make it to the end of the game.
Hard – The difficulty setting recommended for those who have already completed other shooting games. All boss characters will have increased strength and higher HP, so battles will not disappoint. Depending on your skill, you can get a sense of how each character was meant to be perceived when facing against them.
On Hard difficulty, Battleship-type characters that are unable to dash and move slowly are all the more difficult to use.
It should also be noted that there are no rewards or trophies that can be obtained on Hard that cannot be obtained on Easy.
Among the three characters that make up the Main Fleet, the two characters not controlled by the commander (the player) remain in state called “Defense Mode.”
Characters in Defense Mode…
Automatically defend against attacks from enemies.
Have low aim power, and only offer attack support by attacking in the direction aimed at by the commander.
Cannot use skills or Lock-On Attacks.
The first point is of particular importance. Since you cannot revive when defeated in battle, you should immediately change characters as your party members are weakened. This will temporarily place a weakened party member in a safe state.
Since the recovery cubes dropped by mob characters “recovers 20 percent of the HP of all Main Fleet members,” you can heal up your characters by collecting recovery cubes with your reserve members.
■ Share
From the prologue to the end of the game, there are no restrictions when it comes to using the “Share” feature. Additionally, the game balance has been adjusted based on the Hard difficulty setting. If you just want to enjoy the story, it is perfectly fine to play the game from beginning to end on Easy. On the other hand, by playing on Hard difficulty the whole time from the very beginning, the game enters completionist territory, but those with confidence in their skills can look forward to a challenge.
Be sure to “Share” as you play!
■ Check Out Information About Each Character
In addition to the tutorial, a trove of information is accessible from the start of the game for users entering the world of Azur Lane for the first time with this game. Be sure to check it out before playing. And while not exclusive to this game, there is also information about things that will be used in the series in the future.
Azur Lane: Crosswave is due out for PlayStation 4 on August 29 in Japan, and in 2020 in North America and Europe. Read more about the game here, here, and here. Watch the opening movie here.
