lets talk blazblue

[Theo Rob]

So I've been playing a lot of blazblue lately, and I'm really happy with the progress I've mad with getting better at it, the only true downside is that i cant play for crap unless I use bang.

That said, i want to know what people like and dislike about the series, you know the drill: characters you like and hate, how the story's turning out, hype for chrono phantasma and so on.

 

[Maximum Bert]

I quite like it but I dont play much anymore I only have time for a few games so am mainly sticking with Darkstalkers 3 for fighters with Skullgirls to be taken up again after Squiggly hits also P4A is finally coming out over here next month so will be trying to play that as well.

Top reason I like Blazblue is Makoto Nanaya dont know why dont normally like those kinds of characters but as soon as I saw her in Calamity Triggers story I wanted to play as her shame her playstyle isnt my strong point I am better with the slow but hit hard characters usually although in Blazblue Hakumans probably my strongest (note I am not very good).

I like the art style and humour, story sections and battle quips of Makoto and Hazama are awesome Arakune does my head in because of the broken speech thing I know why its like that but reading it pisses me off t.l.s li.e .hi. it gets annoying after a while.

Presentation is nice the music does a good job of getting you hype but can be a bit much after a long play session backgrounds are top notch up there with KOFXIII for possible best of the gen imo character models are also very nice but have been surpassed by Skullgirls and the aforementioned KOFXIII.

Castwise I like a lot of them but apart from Makoto and Hazama I feel it is considerably weaker than Guilty Gears cast which imo is up there with Darkstalkers 3 as the best overall cast of any fighter ever.

Fighting is good but takes some getting used to I like the do something cool button but the combos go on a bit long for my liking this reason is also why I am not a huge fan of Marvel 3 or Tekken but then again I have no problem with long combos in some other games so thats a pretty weak reason my own double standards I guess or maybe I dont like how they look whatever the reason it bugs me anyway.

Story I must admit hasnt grabbed me I like playing Makotos story and Hazamas and thats about it the joke endings are fun though.

I am looking forward to Chrono Phantasma I didnt play extend much as I only got calamity trigger shortly before Continuum Shift came out so I had been playing for quite a while and felt burnt out on it tbh I am not going to look forward to it too much as its not even out in Japan yet (excluding arcade) and it takes approximately 12 months to localise from the American language to English or even longer if they have to add other European languages in.

I am interested in what Arcs new IP is going to be on the PS4 I am also crossing my fingers for a FFVII game in the style of P4A, limit breaks and materia should fit nicely into the game.

 

[Razentsu]

I love BB, and I'm happy to see quite a few BB fans on the Escapist. BlazBlue is special to me because the first game, BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger, was my first real foray into traditional 2D fighting games. In CT to CSII I played Ragna. Now I play Noel. There's a good chance I'll keep playing Noel in CP, but I am interested in Izayoi.

I love BB's story, setting and cast. I especially like the cast. The only character I dislike is Hazama, but that's because he's a total douche. He's one of the trolliest villains in gaming, I think. I hate him, but I guess that makes him a great antagonist.

I do have my gripes with the series though. Combos are needlessly long in BlazBlue. They're getting shorter with each instalment, but I feel they are still long enough to hurt the pace of the game. BB becomes a single player game for 10 seconds, as there is nothing the combo'd player can do outside of bursting. Your match becomes a combo video for a while. This is also why I am reluctant to play Skullgirls again (still totally going to get back into it, though). Though to be fair, Skullgirls has it worse off [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UU1FXuOCxHA]. Combos are even longer, and resets are far more potent in that game.

I'm hoping Arcsys tones down the combo length to Guilty Gear or Persona 4 Arena levels.

Anyway, I'm super hyped for BB:CP. Also, with the two new recent character announcements, there is some hope for the inclusion of Jubei. *crosses fingers*

 

[The Wykydtron]

People bitching about combos? Please, after over a year of UMVC3, your standard BB combo is NOTHING in comparison. There needs to be a Burst in every fighting game ever by the way. Best mechanic ever.

My favourite characters are Makoto (who doesn't love her though?) Mu-12 and Hazama. I would LOVE to be good at Carl because controlling Nirvana is fun as hell. A really good Carl is untouchable. Nirvana has about 75/85% of all of Carl's moves, several antiairs, a command grab, two supers, a few armoured GET BACK moves, a projectile or two... and so on. Fucking cool.

Then Relius comes in and has the audacity of being Easy Mode Carl... Dammit just summoning and unsummoning Ignis is cheating.

Hazama just makes the entire story mode fun to play. He is so entertaining! He's evil and he loves it! His playstyle seems to be to trololol around the screen with his Drive and not much else.

I love games where I actually get into the flow of Mu online. Guns, guns, Arrows of Heaven, more guns, random Divine Light of Punishment,even more guns. She's such a *****! She has at least 3 pushback moves that you can end a combo with or randomly throw out. No touching the Mu-12 please, I insist. She can poke people to death so I need no swag combos because her base damage on all her moves is pretty damn high.

I have no idea why I randomly picked up Mu. When I first checked her moves I thought sentry guns were just wrong to have in a fighting game and moved on. I guess the True Ending made me reconsider.

Please tell Mu is still in CP in her own right, not just some hybrid Noel thing? The zoning in CSEX is just too fun to remove.

Noel was my first character when I played CT but since CSEX has Makoto and Mu... Yeah.

Oh and how the fuck do you pull off a Space Counter with Makoto? Does the block string have to be decently long? My life would be complete if I Space Counter an Inferno Divider.

The only thing i'm hesitant about CP is the lack of Makoto. I mean replacing Makoto with an entirely new character? Come ON ArcSys! I'd like to see Bullet punch someone through The Moon! Ehh maybe she'll be DLC again. Two boxers would be pretty funny.

 

[Fappy]

I love BlazBlue, but I never really play it online. Me and a friend of mine play each other locally a few times a month and it is always great fun. I'm good with Bang, Lambda and Noel, but I think I am going to try and learn Valkenhayn. If anyone on here has it on 360 I'd be happy to play some Extend at some point. I'd say I am pretty decent, though I only know a small amount of combos.

 

[Theo Rob]

The only thing i'm hesitant about CP is the lack of Makoto. I mean replacing Makoto with an entirely new character? Come ON ArcSys! I'd like to see Bullet punch someone through The Moon! Ehh maybe she'll be DLC again. Two boxers would be pretty funny.

REJOICE! Makoto is still there
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEQg9F-oWAA

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

they finally gave a Japanese release date for the console version which is this fall. They also revealed two new character in Kagura Mutsuki and an alternate version of Hazama that has him going by his real name of Yuuki Terumi.

Kagura apparently is a charge character, but his Drive allows him to switch stances with his initial stance allowing him only a projectile and an anti-air. In the story he's the leader of the Mutsuki family of the Duodecim, the twelve governing families of the NOL. He's apparently coming to blows with the Imperator and is planning a coup.

Terumi is apparently a very meter-reliant character, having more Super moves than Special moves. His Drive let's him build meter quicker. He's apparently pre-order DLC, though I wonder if it's to unlock him rather than have to finish parts of the game.

The story mode will also be divided into three sections not including the True path. They are Chronophantasma, Sector Seven, and the Six Heroes (this apparently being an abridged retelling of the Japan only Phase Shift novels)

Here are the new guys:

http://shoryuken.com/2013/04/16/blazblue-chrono-phantasma-heading-to-playstation-3-in-japan-on-october-24-two-new-fighters-announced/

BB is probably my favorite fighting game. I love how the Drive system really shook up the status quo by allowing radically different fighting styles for all the characters without being cluttered. Plus it has by FAR the best story I've ever seen in a fighting game with characters I actually care about. My fav characters to use are Ragna, Makoto, and Valkenhayn, though I'm working on Hazama, Mu-12, and Relius. Of the new guys Bullet, Azrael, and Izayoi interest me.

 

[Mister K]

Love it. One of the better fg's of modern game era.
Now, analysis:

1.Gameplay. Worthy successor of GG. Short combos are easy to do (even with tankish chars), with long combos requiring a lot of practice.

2.Characters. I like everyone, exept Platinum (to hell with maho shojo).

I main Tager, because he is a: 1)grappler with combos (he kinda looks like what would have happened if Potemkin and Magneto were combined); 2)cyborg with god damn Tesla Coils in his arms (Power of Science); 3)gentleman. Calm, sophisticated, the only thing he lacks is lord-ish attire (tux, monocle, etc.)

I also like to play as Makoto because she is nice to use (I just feel comfortable playing her) plus she has nice personality: kind, cheerful, a bit tomboyish, but you must never, ever ever, hurt someone precious to her. Although, I would have changed a mini-skirt for short shorts anytime.

Special mention: Hazama. While I can't play him, I like him as a character. I like his looks, I like his style, but most of all I like his personality of this... Snake, that injects it's venom inside of it's victim and slowly, patiently destroys it.

Also, I want to try out Bullet and Azrael in the new game. They look interesting.

3.Story. I'll be short here: I like it, but it's not really well written. I bet that devs don't even know half of things that they will show in the end. They just make things up as they go, which will, if the worst comes, to disasterous ending. Still, one of my favorite fg stories, with tons of good, non-sexual, fan service.

Overall, this game is boss.

 

[deserteagleeye]

I can't offer specific details about the character playstyle because I only rented the games, but I can tell you that it was fucking awesome. I love the story more than anything because it's so fun and all over the place with multiple endings and the gag reels. I love their humor especially with the chibi version characters. I'll make sure to buy CP when it comes out.

 

[Ghaleon640]

Carl Clover is my favorite. I've always just liked puppet characters and I love his mechanics. I haven't seen all the story yet and hope I don't figure out how to do his infinite combo, because at that point it just becomes less fun.

 

[-Seraph-]

I've been playing since Calamity Trigger first came out, and have been maining Hakumen since the beginning. Favorite character for a lot of reasons, but mainly because he clicked the most with me when I was using him. I guess it helps that he is similar to Baiken from Guilty Gear which was my first main before I started using Chipp and she became my sub. I like the way he plays and he has one of the best character designs in the game in my opinion. His striking appearance augmented with his ability to counter any attack with a well timed Zanshin make him stupidly intimidating in the hands of someone who knows how to use him.

I have mixed opinions on his Chrono Phantasma changes, some are great while other are seemingly dumb changes that could have been handled better. The changes they made to his drive are just dumb really, that is NOT how I would go about balancing his drive at all *sigh*.

Though I do love 'Agito', his new special, just a really strong new tool over all with great utility. Zantetsu's new properties are a damn welcome change to that move. And I am gonna miss the slide effect from Tsubaki though...

I am still baffled as top why they just didn't make Mugen his Overdrive the same way they did with Ragnas Blood Kain and Fu-Rin-Ka-Zan; no, now we have this laughably powerful Mugen+OD augmentation because Mugen by itself sucks even more than it did in the past.

As for the game itself, I like almost all the mechanics at play save for a few that are thankfully being changed or need changing. I like the new burst system being more akin to Guilty Gear, less annoying burst spamming. Being a Hakumen player, it's down right annoying executing a high magatama combo and then having it all go to waste because "lol burst". I understand why they did it, but it's still annoying throwing away half my meter and only doing half of what I was gonna do. The new burst system means no more double bursting and other annoying bullshit; and gold bursts always did feel like a bit of an afterthought and incomplete mechanic.

Though I can't say I am too happy about X-Fac-I mean Overdrive system. I don't like it that much because...yea...smells like bullshit comeback mechanic. Freezes the timer, lasts longer the lower your health is, OD combos being unburstable, just all reeks of overpowered nonsense. I'll get used to it, but it's one of those love it or hate it mechanics.

I'll miss Guard primers because i kinda of liked them, but I've warmed up to crush triggers more. Some characters can't get away with spamming guard primer moves, thus just raping your defenses. Crush Triggers have more resource commitment to them which makes them less spammy thankfully, plus their usage as combo filler due to their proration gives them good potential.

The ONE mechanic that need to be fucking fixed because of how annoying it is due to scrubby players is throws. Now I am fine with throws in of themselves, but pink throws can fucking die. The main reason I hate pink throws (when an opponent throws you while still in block/hit stun resulting in a pink "!!" indicator) is because they do 100% damage. Every other attack in the game either has a minimum damage % or scales from proration, but throws will always do 100% unscaled damage. Scrubby players LOVE to abuse the shit out of this by just throw spamming, and because of lag and other stuff, you won't always be able to tech every throw. Why they don't scale in damage, I do not know, but they should have something like 50% repeat proration to make them less lame over all. I've got into pink throw happy fights before, and it's a great way of making you want to rage quit the game.