BlazBlue!

[Calamity2007]

Aug 11, 2014 12:36:57 GMT @alberenza said:

Hakumen scares me half to death whenever I meet him online. Those damn sword swings! Such reach and power.

No kidding. It doesn't help one of my close friends mains him. Which is sort of fitting since I main Ragna. Also I get similar feelings towards Tager. Bottom-tier my ***.

Oh also everyone, on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays, at 5:00 EST I will be participating in a Casual room called Online Cypher. If your online during those times, I might send you an invite if your interested. The rooms usually last 1 and a half to 2 hours.

[Indigo]

Aug 11, 2014 7:21:06 GMT Stove said:

I saw Hakumen and immediately-
THE NAME IS HAKUMEN
A SOLDIER RESSURECTED TO A VILE AND DEVASTATED WORLD
...I dunno, I probably butchered that.
Leaving now.

Pretty much why I started using him.

My username is my only name. I was going to add both of you today, but you can try to beat me to it.

Hakumen's pretty scary, but he doesn't have many options for anything, and his counter is abusable against him, and anything he can do besides poking involves use of his 'heat' meter. I still don't get how Tager can be considered terrible, though, he's even done well in competitive play before.

[Deleted]

I think it's because Tager can be more predictable than most of the cast.

Also, Hakumen isn't necessarily a huge problem, but he fights different enough to the rest of the cast that he can still catch me off guard.

[Deleted]

I finally finished Chrono Phantasama's story mode!

It was actually pretty damn good, this was probably the first time I had been fully engaged in the story of a BlazBlue game. They've always been messy in structure and very repetitive, the structure in this could use improvement (since it tries to accommodate for the sector seven and six heroes story lines, which weren't nearly as long or as important to keep separate to the main story line) but it was much better and much more cohesive.

I hear a lot of people really didn't like Celica, more for her role rather than her actual personality. She is in fact the Chrono Phantasma of the title, and in many respect she really does completely devour the storyline thanks to how she is used and her importance against the villains. When it came to episode 16, however, I finally got on board with her character and was extremely relieved that she wasn't going to go full on Mary Sue. It felt like a subversion of the concept in minor respects.

Really good. I'm very much looking forward to the next game's story.

SPOILER: Click to show

You know, this game solidified three major villains. Terumi, Hazama, and Saya. It almost feels like their evil plan is a parallel to that of the developers... They're sick of the repetitious world controlled by a God-like Master Unit that limits their evolution. There's a set beginning and end, and the humans have free will in between, but they can't actually change the outcome, and as such their evolution is limited. Relius wants to completely raze the world and rebuild it to maximize it's possibility so that there is infinite potential, and Saya herself talks about creating 'the true BlazBlue' this refers to the Azure Grimoire in-universe, but something tells me that they want to completely overhaul the entire BlazBlue universe rather than simply releasing roster, system, and balance updates. I think they'll be at least one more fighting game, but maybe a future BlazBlue wont even be a fighting game? XBlaze wasn't. Arksystems and Atlus have been working closely, so maybe Arksystems will give Atlus a BlazBlue to design, just like how Arksystems designed two Persona 4 games...

[Deleted]

Just had some really good games with Claxus. I'm really tired though, so I thought I'd let him end on a win.

Still though, I kept the fact that I was learning Kokonoe a secret. I was really worried I'd lose my first match against him, so I'm glad I was just about able to steal victory from his viscous Bang, which is still the best I've ever played. Not bad Hakumen or Bullet either, but Carl definitely needs some work. He still uses Carl better than I could ever hope to.

[Indigo]

It was a lot of fun, it's been so long since we've squared off. Bang's still my best, likely due to how much muscle memory I had with him, and I'll probably keep maining him. He has so many great new options, but I gotta start learning some of his new combos as only his BnB is intact here.

Carl... I had no idea what I was doing really, 'till the later half using him. I kept doing his little combo that ends with Cantible (the little slider grabber thing) and calling Nirvana during it as that used to lead up to his all-purpose combo, but he no longer can do that, so it was kinda awkward. Pretty much all of Nirvana's attacks have new properties now, too, and completely new knockback... So yeah I dunno what to do with him, but I got the hang of controlling them separately at least, but I need to learn a ton of new stuff with him.

Hakumen was a bit troublesome, combo starting with him is rather difficult, and Kokonoe makes it a nightmare, though he can abuse the fireballs to get counters on Kokonoe if she tries to run in with it as a shield. Though in the end I just really suck at his playstyle.

And Bullet was so fun, probably second main right there. She feels very, very similar to Bang, and is so fun with that lock-on and a lot of grappling-style moves. She has DAT HERO RUN like Bang, except SHE RIDES ON THE ENEMY ACROSS THE SCREEN LIKE NIRVASH. That was my first time using her outside of Training, but she was really fun. And she has some BURNING FINGER stuff and stuff.

Anyway, good games, we definitely have to play more some time soon.

P.S. I was one attack away from finishing that last fight with Bang's astral but you died ;o;

[Deleted]

Yeah, great fun. I think there's potential with Bullet but Bang just has so many more options for me to worry about.

I'm having difficulty deciding weather or not to main Kokonoe or Relius. On the one hand, I feel like I can get more damage from Kokonoe, and I've only been using her for for under, like 36 hours, and obviously not constantly so probably more like 9 or something. On the other hand, I've been using Relius for years but I can't get high damage off of him because I suck at using his distortions and I always break Ignis.

Who did you think I was better with? I know we only had one game with Relius, though.

Oh, and Kokonoe's Astral is basically impossible to land. I think it's meant to be a corner reversal, because it's input is one less rotation away from being identical to Tagers. I can only really pull that off when I'm recovering.

[Indigo]

I can't judge your Relius much honestly. That was when I had absolutely no idea what to do with Carl besides calling Nirvana. But I feel as though I wasn't pressured as much as I used to be before... I mean, I was getting in a lot on you with just Carl alone. Sometimes I used to be barely able to move against your Relius with Bang. And I broke out of your corner pressure a few times, and I remember you used to have crazy blockstrings with him and Ignis, not to mention a deadly corner combo. And I beat you a round with Carl without using a single combo... And got close on another.

I think you just need to get back into things with him, because I remember it was a battle of its own just fighting with Ignis while trying to get to Relius. It felt like you rarely sent Ignis at me which was strange, you used to be relentless with her huge spinning attack and her attacks where she attacks on her own right next me.

So I guess right now I would say your Kokonoe was better... But I know there's a lot missing from your old Relius. Kokone is interesting to fight with her gravity stuff... I fell into a ton of those lightning traps.

Speaking of rotations, Bullet's hero slide is two rotations > A. It's weird... I was able to pull it the input off a few times on you though (it only connected once), off of air dashes. What's funny is that during the move, you can do three more rotations > D to chain another part of it, and then another three rotations > D, depending on her heat level.

Bullet's really fun though, she's not very combo-centric but based on short stylish combos and how hot her soul is burning. I think I'll be a lot better with her next time we battle.

[Deleted]

I look forward to it!

I've been playing a lot with Relius since getting the game a few weeks ago (I'm level 11 in ranked with a 52% win ratio), but I'm not very good at switching characters without a warm up, at least when playing seriously, and I hadn't used him for the past few days. While under normal circumstances I would disagree with you saying that my Ignis pressure has weakened (although it was still lackluster when I was fighting you, I admit) but my combos don't do as much damage, either, and I find it harder to pull off now. It's just one part, but it frequently throws me off and it requires my timing to be even more precise. Essentially, after my last 5C in the corner, I used to follow up with a 4D from Ignis before jumping up for the air combo. In Chrono Phantasama, Ignis simply wont react to the 4D input if I'm in the middle of that specific combo. I can still jump into jB, but the timing is really, really hard. The combo itself doesn't do nearly as much damage either, I think Relius' Ignis damage or at least his j214B was nerfed.

Too be honest, I'm also more interested in Kokonoe right now anyway. I just don't want to feel like I'm using this game's metaknight (whose been announced to return for the next smash by the way) again though, and the community still seems to be bitter towards her because she used to be able to pull stuff like this before the 1.1 patch. Even now, she's still top tier from what I've been told.

Please develop your Bullet, I want to know what a good Bullet looks like. Because I certainly don't know how to do it.

[Indigo]

I've been doing just that. I have to admit, she's probably around Ragna levels to learn, if not easier due to her playstyle which chains constant specials rather than normal attack inputs. Now that I got some real combat experience and got some muscle memory going, I've been in Training with her since we finished, and got down some pretty easy combos off 5A/5B that do 2-3k depending on her heat level.

And 4.8k off of a 6C. The combo? 6C > 623C > 623D > 6C > 623C. Lol. It requires her level 2 heat but that's it. 6C is also extremely punishable, but that's massive damage for no heat meter if you want to risk that 6C. And it's just 6 attacks, or in fact, just 3, since it loops into itself once.

I already feel like I'm way better with her, and can dish out way more damage than with Bang... Unless I'm missing something here, she's almost a joke to learn for this kind of fighting game... She's based on very short but powerful combos that are semi autopilot (though they do require her heat levels to be powerful). Which is fine by me, I can focus on her control and super stylish moves.

And I have no hard feelings for Kokonoe... She has annoying range, and attacks, but she's a setup character. Meaning all it takes is going rage mode like I did with the last Bullet vs. Kokonoe and take away all her options and momentum.

[Deleted]

Lightning and PowPowPow and I win!

But no really, I get really worried when you decide to go on the offensive Koko is pretty good at keeping people at a distance until she wants to move in, but her fire ball needs a lot of room to use effectively compared to most projectiles.(although I haven't quite got the hang of using the Graviton repel function, which is arguably one of her most useful tools). You might force me to keep you in place with overdrive gravitations if you're not careful.

I might use Terumi a little in our next battle. I don't really want to main or sub him (he's the non-hipster choice) but he can be really, really fun.

Oh, and also, you might want to unlock Kagura by going through story mode. It will take a while, but story mode is good and Kagura just screams 'Claxus' to me for some reason. Maybe because he looks similar to an avatar you had once. I'm not sure how much you'd like his playstyle though, and I'm told he's garbage tier. Still, I hear Bullet is supposed to be bad too but you used her really well.

I just realised that in order to stand a chance against real people in BlazBlue I have to be using condescending, sociopathic scientists in a world of magic and not/heavily pseudo-science ars magus. Weird how that played out. Unless Nine counts on account of being Kokonoe's mother, looks like I'm stuck for the rest of the series unless I pick up, say, Araukune again (who come to think of it was my main in CT.) then again apparently all Roy was good for was making coffee around the lab.

[Indigo]

Dragon's Blade - Kagura surfs on his sword to whip at his foe for two strikes (If for some reason you still can't tell yet, this is always my favorite signature attack in games, along with boomerang-like attacks which this game lacks)

I'm pretty fond of Kagura really. He's supposed to be very appealing, anyway I think... You could fool people into thinking he's the main character. I do prefer his design over Ragna, at least. Maybe I'd even have him as a secondary. I just don't like what I've been hearing of his personality, and the fact that I believe he's the 'Cloud' of this game. I would have given him a run by now if he started out unlocked, since I also am fond of his playstyle (^). And I love any swordplay style with stances (SoulCalibur, Raphael and Siegfried). As for my avatar, I think the only non-mech avatar I ever used was Kazuki from Busou Renkin? I suppose they are a bit alike.

Tiers don't mean much to me... Or if anything, I prefer the lower tier characters because I'm a hipster like that. Even Tager can be amazing in the right hands in this game, so it won't stop me from using Kagura, or... Bang or Bullet, all three of them are close to each other on the low side of the tier list. I tend to stray away from the good and common characters like Jin.

So yeah, I have to start going through story mode. I want to... But every time I start up the game it's hard to not indulge in all of its action and combo-learning. I like the idea that it's linear, though I will miss its VN style with every character having different paths, in the long run, I may actually understand half of this game, and hey, my two mains (as Carl is a bit asided for now) get something going.

P.S. Bang can destroy the world.

[Deleted]

My only problem with Kagura's personality is that he's exceedingly lecherous, although he tries to pass himself as gentlemanly. Otherwise, he's a fairly cool guy who eventually grew on me, but he doesn't have the best first impression, and actually is legitimately gentlemanly when he's not asking Makoto to show him her breasts. He calms down a bit towards the end of story mode. I still prefer Ragna basically in terms of gameplay and story, though.

I hear Jin's supposed to be mid tier in this game. I think Azrael, Valkenhayn, Litchi, and Kokonoe are widely considered to be the game's domminant forces. I think people worry more about Azrael than Koko these days, mainly because growler is godlike (it really is quite possibly the best special in the game) and his raw damage is insane.

I find it interesting to look at tier lists, as the best ones will often give you very calculated and heavily tested pros and cons for each character that are useful to keep in mind. Plus, it's just nice to keep up with the community. I try not to live by them either, but I have a tendency to pick characters who are above mid tier, and usually very strong anyway. Even Relius is considered about mid tier despite the Ignis meter being seen as a huge limitation. (it really is) Just the way the dice rolls I guess.

I might use Kagura for jokes the next time we play too, just so that I can show you what he's like (of course, you could just look for one online or watch videos, but whatever) bear in mind that I basically don't know how to connect more than two hits with him though, unless I spam A or something.

[Indigo]

The thing about tier lists as that they're partially determined by who wins a matchup how many times, and who wins tournaments. So at least a small factor in them is how much a character is played, as they'll see less overall wins.

Well, on second thought, I'm just going to skip through the story quickly to unlock Kagura. For that, and to avoid of the feeling that I really want to just get story done to unlock him. I tend to take my time very slowly through stories like these, so I think it's best to just do that first.

[Indigo]

Unlocked him... Didn't know the story would be so spoilerific even if you just skipped through. At least the ending anyway. Never would have thought a non-playable character would end up as a huge final boss like that, with all the characters uniting to fight.

But it looks pretty clear that this is the best BlazBlue story so far. There were lots of extra characters, and it looked as if a lot of the characters start getting together as a big cast rather than doing their own things in their own story modes. Lots of CG/artwork pictures and anime cutscenes, and with a finale like that... I'm really looking forward to actually go through it, and seeing some of the scenes I caught glimpses of.

[Deleted]

What happened in that last match? Did your internet commit suicide?

[Indigo]

Well... That's strange. I was pretty certain you just disconnected, since the PSN is showing you as offline. My internet's been fine over here... Are you seeing me as offline? I was just waiting for you to log in again.

I lost some muscle memory with Bullet overnight, I was dropping tons of opportunities, however, I went back into training after that and I think I got it going again now. And yay I was able to pull off that combo off 6C that's a short series of air grapple attacks and does massive damage.

It's a pretty tough matchup for both of us... I have trouble approaching and finding time to heat up, but when I get momentum going it gets very difficult for Kokonoe. I noticed something with the combo you usually use that has a long range low attack thing, you always end it very unsafely... I think that's pretty much why I started winning more later, since every time you attacked and I blocked, I was getting punishing you easily every time.

Hope we can get a few more matches in tonight.

[Deleted]

Oh, I switched off when it disconnected. I was planning on going to bed but I, uh, haven't.

I'll come on again soon, and yeah I've got to stop using 246A in blockstrings.

I want to use some different characters just because, though.

[Stove]

I wish I had a PS3 more than ever now...oh well, just gotta wait for Smash 4.

[Deleted]

In the meantime Steve you can see quite possibly the most awesome fight to come from this game. But seriously get a PS3. But wait for the next Blazblue, you probably wont have to get DLC for extra characters. Actually, that will probably be on PS4 since Xrd is... oh well.



I'll have to respond to my games with Claxus when I wake up tomorrow. Until then, I need to learn some new stuff with Kokonoe. I need practice, her tools must become mine rather than hers. Brushing up on Relius couldn't hurt either, and I suck balls with Terumi.

Oh, and I like the Kokonoe/Bullet matchup. We don't want either of us to be away from each other, yet we both NEED to be away from each other. Kokonoe needs to set up and Bullet needs to charge her flames.

You know, I just realized that I haven't once bothered to try using Tager beam. Hmm. I guess it is the biggest risk/reward distortion in the game.