BlazBlue!

[Indigo]

You had your chance, Steve, you rejected us.

Super secret Kagura training. He doesn't really have any huge combos either, so he's been fairly easy to pick up as well, he just has a massive moveset with weird executions. He's more or less like a more offensive Hakumen. At least, I was surprised how well I did against you with him those two matches, even though they weren't serious. And DAT ETHER-RENDER BLADE (sky rendering blade astral) ending! I'm not sure who's easier, him or Bullet...

And I just realized why I seemed to be dropping a lot of combos with Bullet... Her running grapple attack doesn't connect if you're getting hit in a crouching state (or just plain crouching)... Her other combo ender grapple attack doesn't connect if I start the combo from the edge of her range. So I started using her lock-on drive a lot at the end there... Which is actually more amazing than I thought. Once heated up it can get massive range and get her some crazy momentum very easily from a distance (both in positions and netting her a heat level), and it can cross-up if I jump over you and use it quickly. It felt so abusable and easy... I think it's punishable at least.

I've been having so much fun with Bullet and Kagura I forgot about Bang...

Hey, Kokonoe and Bullet are also rivals in the story.

(make 3 round fights pls)

[Stove]

I did not. I didn't have enough for a PS3 anyway and would've had to sell stuff to get enough money to.

[Indigo]

Aug 1, 2014 3:35:59 GMT Stove said:

Kinda odd seeing a new post in "other video games" and it actually not being part of the nintendo section for once.
That aside...see that post where I said I'd be getting a PS3 soon? Well, I didn't for a multitude of reasons, but most importantly all the money I was saving I ended up spending on my newfound obsession, Fire Emblem. I might get a PS3 eventually, but with things like two smash bros titles, Hyrule Warriors, Gen 3 Pokemon remakes, etc incoming, it won't be any time soon.

Only going off of what you told us.

[Stove]

Aug 15, 2014 1:52:06 GMT Indigo said:

Aug 1, 2014 3:35:59 GMT Stove said:

Kinda odd seeing a new post in "other video games" and it actually not being part of the nintendo section for once.
That aside...see that post where I said I'd be getting a PS3 soon? Well, I didn't for a multitude of reasons, but most importantly all the money I was saving I ended up spending on my newfound obsession, Fire Emblem. I might get a PS3 eventually, but with things like two smash bros titles, Hyrule Warriors, Gen 3 Pokemon remakes, etc incoming, it won't be any time soon.

Only going off of what you told us.

Like I said though, saving. I still didn't have enough.

[Deleted]

They're kind of rivals, but the story is more of a 'everyone gang up on Relius!" affair, aside from the few he manipulated.

I think it's Ragna who displays the most aggression to Kokonoe at any one time actually, although I'm not sure who the person that dislikes her the most is supposed to be or if she even bothers to make rivals. If you watch her arcade ending, she's unnervingly apathetic. She's like Relius if he was somehow a good guy.

Anyway, I need to use my gravitons in more interesting fashions and learn some better combos. I've been watching some videos of her, and it's irritating everyime I try to pull off different combos and fail miserably. It really is down to the gravitons, if I could use them in air combos more efficiently I could follow up with a charged 6B on the ground, which allows me to follow up with A version lightning. At this point I only ever use the graviton for predictable fireball set ups.

[Indigo]

They've got a sort of past relationship, I assume. Bullet really sounds like she's after Kokonoe for something, relating to her own past I think, saying that she should remember... That's going off their in-battle voice clips and victory dialogues, so I don't really know as I need to get to that part of the story, but they seem rival enough at least.

If Kokonoe has more options and combos with those gravity things, you should really try to start learning that. The fireballs alone are very tough to deal with despite being predictable.

As for Bullet... I already know almost everything? It's strange, but I guess it's due to her playstyle. I already used all of her main combos. All that's left is a few corner combos that stem from her normal combos and some overdrive canceling stuff. Kind of a shame really, I feel like I've been using a character that only has a Stylish control mode...

[Deleted]

There's always some more creative stuff online for you to discover, and some longer combos I'm sure. My Bullet knowledge is reletively limited though. Have you tried challenge mode?

And yeah, Kokonoe can use and is supposed to use the graviton in a lot of her stronger combos. She can end an air combo by throwing the opponent across the screen, and immediately setting a graviton on top of them and repelling it. Repels in combos count as a hit, and it causes the opponent to flop to the ground, and can only tech on the ground. Kokonoe can run up to the falling body and follow up.

She also has a teleport that you may have noticed me using a few times, usually it only teleports about a step in front of her but it teleports next to a graviton if one is set, so it can be used to instantly apply pressure or create distance.

But all in all, it mainly all comes down to effectively using the repel feature, and I haven't worked it out quite yet. I mean I know the input obviously, but I still find it tough to use in combos.

[Indigo]

Rogue Legacy all day for the sads.

I spent... A lot of hours just in training. I think my execution with Bullet is getting very too notch. Learned a lot of new stuff, grab and wall combos and combos from heat-up chain attacks, even rapid cancel and overdrive combos. She has some crazy cornering game, she can start a corner combo pretty far from a wall...

I see why she's not considered too good, she doesn't have many approach options and has very little mixup, a bit predictable, but dang, she can really toy with enemies once she gets a good flow. I also found out her running grab is completely invincible against projectiles...

And Bang... Doesn't have many different combos from what I've been doing. Looks like he's just got lots of variations. He lost his main corner combos since his falcon punch no longer wall bounces. His other BnB mid screen is kind of dumb, requiring perfectly timed IADs, frame-perfect delays and perfect hits. Not sure if it's worth the trouble or if even tourney players could pull it off consistently... Well, learned a few new things with him.

Kagura is surprisingly hard to learn after all. Stances + direction charge attacks + tiny frames for linking his attacks.

[Deleted]

I had an interview yesterday, I was tired and not really in the mood for BlazBlue so I just wanted to play something I could grind. Sorry, I probably wont be able to match your skill in a fight at this rate.

That said, If I'm playing another game and you really want to play with me, feel free to invite me to a room anyway. I seriously wont mind unless I send you a message stating otherwise. If I don't join you or send you a message back then I'm probably AFK.

[Deleted]

Good games Claxus! I'm glad I'm back to form with Relius again. I still find myself dropping combos annoyingly though, for some reason the Id Luger doesn't seem to rejester sometimes in the air, neither does the drill follow up. It's weird, I don't get that anywhere else in the game.

I was almost disappointed to see myself doing so well with Relius again, especially after getting thrashed using Kokonoe. Plus your Bullet really caught me off guard, you use her like a runaway truck coming straight at me!

But yeah, I hadn't even used Relius in a few days, I hadn't even been playing Blazblue that much and when I was I was using Kokonoe, and I was kind of hoping I'd be getting better with Kokonoe by now. I desperately want to train with her more. While I enjoy the classic Bang/Relius matches, I enjoy matchups with the new characters more because they're, uh, new, and Kokonoe is the only other Blazblue character who I think I could really get to learn and use well. Sub material for sure at this point. But yeah, I'm not using her again against you until I've trained with her for many more hours.

[Indigo]

There's the old Relius hax. You weren't nearly that threatening with him last time we fought.

I had been practicing some Bang combos but I kept dropping a ton trying to do Bullet's inputs... At least I learned how to abuse the counter-attack drive attacks that help immensely against Relius. Man, Bullet has almost no answers against Relius. Her anti-projectile run doesn't go through Ignis, air dashes can be unsafe, she's outranged in neutral game, and her hop-dash makes it very difficult to approach fast enough during any opening... At the very least she can find a second or two at times to heat up freely, and can maximize her game when Ignis isn't active or disabled, and with heat, she can linger in the air with lock-on to start combos away from Ignis. Maybe I just need to figure out if any moves can cancel out Ignis...

Well, Chrono Phantasma is faster overall, so inputs are naturally tighter than before. And of course, online has that tiny delay you need to get used to, it's not a problem if you know combos by heart, but it can make another millisecond of a difference if you mostly go by visual cues.

I was surprised I put up a good fight with Carl, I think I've been getting used to his latest iteration.

It's also time I learn to start learning to predict and break grabs, and react to the slow combo grabs... Well, I broke your Kokonoe wall for now and I have a lot of skills to improve against Relius... I'm just still not sure if I should stick with Bang or Bullet. I really feel the latter is much more my style, but Bang is Bang...

[Deleted]

Yeah, I'm not sure who your better with yet either to be honest. Bullet has better raw damage but Bang has better options in neutral. His drive is the bane of my existence, and if he manages to poison me my first instinct is to panic and try to get a hit on you as quickly as possible, however detrimental that may be to me in the long term.

But in the end Bullet is as new to you as Kokonoe is to me, so we just have to keep going I guess and we'll figure it out eventually. At this point I do feel a little disappointed that you're better than me with much more characters, I'm hoping that I'll like Celica when she's released.

I would be interested to see what happens if you try to select Kokonoe or Terumi on the character select screen, since offline their icons are simply invisible and I assume that you didn't buy them. I guess it would just lock you out?

[Indigo]

Right now, I'm better at more characters, but I still can barely keep up with your Relius. I had an easier time with Carl, but that's likely just the matchup, as they have the same gimmick but Carl has much more control.

DLC characters just show up for me with a lock over them. Don't really plan on buying them just because they aren't the type of characters I'd even use if they were free, but I've been contemplating buying some of the colors, as I've had $4 sitting on my PSN uselessly never used up on any purchases, and... The starting colors are pretty bad. I'm disappointed you only get 5 extra colors with the game, and the two free ones are so terrible I'm sure it's some sort of joke.

By the way, I was just in training. A good little kick from Bullet can stop Ignis' approach attack easily, and with some timing/prediction, her fire punch neutral stops the wheel attack... I always focused too much on dodging that thing, it seems attacking it is a pretty good option like against Nirvana. I really wish Ignis didn't eat my flame projectiles though.

Much as I like Bang, his fighting style is just kind of meh aside from his supers and drives. He does have way more approaching options though, the nails and 'bumper' flags. And two air-jumps or dashes, along with a fast ground run. A good nail umbrella thing could probably shut down Ignis, too. And that distortion he gets if he has all four seals teleports him from anywhere on the screen directly behind to grab the opponent. Bullet's just so fun with all those pseudo-grapple attacks and explosions and very fast and powerful, and distortions rivaling Bang's. She just sucks at approaching... But her flow once she does is amazing, and all her attacks feel so incredibly burning heart. At least, I just found out her 623B is a reversal despite being a grapple attack, that should help my game, too.

By the way, I really think you should start abusing Ignis' distortion that's a long punch flurry. Like Carl's, those supers are amazing and grant instant unbreakable pressure.

Hope you keep it up, I've been training relentlessly every day. Also I want to advice you to block more patiently... You never blocked a full string from me. And that's no good considering Bullet has non-existent blockstrings . It's difficult to just sit there blocking but it's important, I wouldn't last nearly as long as I do against you if I didn't... And, I also just suddenly remembered COUNTER ASSAULT! You know, 50 heat for a free combo breaker, Forward + BC while blocking... I should really make use of that considering Bullet barely even needs meter unless I want to top a tiny bit of more damage or risk the reversal distortion.

This post is long.

[Deleted]

Yep, I can't block to save my life. On top of that, my Relius block strings may be long, but they're also predictable. I need to work on that, too.

Every time I try to use Ignis's distortions I mess them up. I'm bad at inputting laser-orb Falcon Punch and my opponent's usually have the ingenious strategy of simply jumping over her in all other instances. The super lasts a long time but if it misses, I wont be able to use her for a looong time since I'll probably also have to desummon her to restore meter. It's a lot of risk for very poor reward in my opinion, so I use it as a last ditch effort most of the time. The overdrive version is awesome, though, but I always waste it by bursting early. In fact, I suck with Relius' distortion. His gear one is my favourite, it's input became easier between games and doesn't require Ignis. Even then, it's too situational and the only one that deals a useful amount of damage is the one I find the most difficult to use. I really should be using more counter assaults, guard crushes, and rapid cancels.

[Indigo]

Just set up the distortion, use it during a blockstring or on my wakeup, and it practically guarantees a free opening if you play good mixup with it, as there's no time to jump away. Rapid canceling I only use if it's a dire situation, because really, you shouldn't be ending up in a situation during your own offensive where you need to rapid cancel unless it's for a rapid combo.

Same with bursting, a lot of times it makes me happy when you waste it when I'm just doing a small combo not even heated up. It keeps me away at that moment, but then you can't use it if I'm going to pull off a strong combo. And where you use it can determine maches, too. It's especially worth using once you're cornered, or if you can push someone into a corner with it, rather than just shrugging off something midscreen.

Blocking's fairly easy, just block low 100% of the time, block high against an airborne enemy, and react to overheads which are always slower. If you get hit by an overhead, well, 95% of the time they only weaklead to weak combos or none at all. The real problem is finding the patience and determining when you have the frame advantage to start attacking or jump away. You should also try to react to a flashing opponent by attacking with a fast attack in this iteration as everyone can guard break for just 25 heat.

The hardest part is the grabs... I'd block your onslaughts but those grabs always got me always. Just gotta predict those and do the grabbing input yourself while you're in blockstun since there's nothing to risk just pressing it when you expect it, just be careful you don't do it while not in blockstun. And definitely gotta learn to react against red !! grabs. That said, my anti-grab game is horrid, but I broke free once and I was happy.

[Indigo]

I feel pretty dumb. You can buy colors 7-16 in the Gallery.

I also just noticed the game stores every single replay automatically, so all of our matches are still there for watching...

And next time, we really ought to meet up in the lobby mode instead. Walking around with little avatars and chatting with emoticons and fighting at arcade machines is really neat. Wonder if it'll still have those unskippable victory quotes... I love those but they only get in the way after more than one fight.

And... I was no aware of this:

[Deleted]

Victory quotes are skippable, the lobby is awesome (a little bit unnecessary though?) and I forgot to mention that colours 1-16 are free. Don't bother with DLC colours, you get five but two of them are full green/gold colours so you really only get 3, and they're colours you can probably miss. I know this because DLC characters come with all their colours, and I don't use any of them past 16. Colours 10-16 also have references too, so you can look them up. I think 11 is Guilty Gear, 13 is an anime character from anything, 14 is a reference to another BlazBlue character, and 15 is a reference to a persona character.

[Deleted]

*Sees Claxus go offline*

He was online?

*sees two invites*

I'm hopeless.

[Indigo]

[Deleted]

For the past two days I saw you come online but it didn't show you playing any games. It confused me.