BlazBlue!

[Funky Flump]

Im definitely going to get the limited edition chrome Xbox controller with a pop-up D-Pad (I love personalised controllers/special controllers) should make hitting Tao's Astral Heat move a lot easier (Quite easy already though)

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

The "blazblue" is just the name of the azure madosho that Ragna uses, it's not stupid at all lol. As for the characters, they're not anime tropes, they're parodying generic anime tropes, trust me, there's a huge difference between the two. As for the effects, that's just detail man, most games have a whole progression of events to put stuff up on, fighters only have the fights themselves, they're just doing the honest work of making a detailed game as though it would be an rpg. After a while you barely even notice the absurdity factor and the over-stylized moves become typical.

Naming you're entire video game after the weapon used by ONE of the characters, which in itself has it's own pointless name when you can just call it a flipping sword? Yeh, it's stupid.

If those characters are parodies, then they're the bad kind of parodies that just do exactly what they're trying to make fun of without actually making fun of them. I'm all for making fun of generic anime characters, but I'd prefer some real creativity.

It seems to me like the flashy particle effects are only there to cover up sub-par animation. Just look at a game like the new Mortal Kombat reboot, the fighting is both fluid and fun to watch but doesn't have to rely on cheap 2D effects clogging up the screen to look impressive. They even get creative with the new x-ray moves that utilize complex character models that literally contain simulated muscles, bones and organs.

But like I said it's a good game, the gameplay is full of cool, creative ideas that make it shockingly complex and original.

It's not a weapon, it's the magical grimmoir that holds the Azure, God-magic basically, it's the game world's Excalibur or Masamune, definitely fitting name for such a title.


You just don't really know what they're parodying, how Bang's speeches about bell peppers and what have you are Kamen Rider spoofs and whatnot. How Noel is basically every girly archetype into one, but suddenly turns into this killing world destroyer, which is the absolute antithesis of those helpless types.



Mortal Kombat is pathetic, sorry but it's sluggish, not fluid, the hits have no sense of impact, the x-factors were better performed in Tenchu, over 6 years ago and there is a metric ton of blood and chopped bits covering up everything, which is much worse than particle effects. The art style of everything is so ugly that you comparing it favorably to something as gorgeous as Blazblue seems troll-like.

 

[-Seraph-]

None of that really matters, they are pretty identical and the D-pads aren't that much different. The PSP has all the buttons required to play the game, and unless you have gigantic hands, the systems button lay out works. Then again I never understood peoples complaints about the systems control layout to begin with as it's identical to the GBA and never got these hand cramps I hear about.

Hell I've played the PC version with my game pad which is identical to a PS3 one and there was no issue. The transitional issue is an inherent issue when going from any one control type to another really.

The only character in that game from my experience that suffers from a D-pad is Tager...or just doing astrals to begin with, but astrals are pretty useless anyways.

 

[Souplex]

I'm a Taeger player myself.
Gigantic Taeger!

 

[Palademon]

I bet I would've liked it if I could understand the fighting.
Why do I have to get the collector's edition to get a tutorial?

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

I bet I would've liked it if I could understand the fighting.
Why do I have to get the collector's edition to get a tutorial?

If you're talking about calamity trigger (since continuum shift contains tutorials in-game), that game was sold as a limited edition for normal game price, it was the first print, you should have gotten it back then. The tutorials from that version's dvd are all extremely out of date and up on youtube anyways, you could have found them there since fall 2009 or so.

 

[Palademon]

I bet I would've liked it if I could understand the fighting.
Why do I have to get the collector's edition to get a tutorial?

If you're talking about calamity trigger (since continuum shift contains tutorials in-game), that game was sold as a limited edition for normal game price, it was the first print, you should have gotten it back then. The tutorials from that version's dvd are all extremely out of date and up on youtube anyways, you could have found them there since fall 2009 or so.

Yeah, I found the tutorials on youtube. Not that helpful. I guess I just suck. But, the idea of getting a tutorial in-game in the first of the series, when you pick it up a little late because of lack of interest, isn't too much to ask, is it?

Also, in that case, would you recommend Continuum Shift? Would I miss something from failing at Calamity Trigger? I couldn't even get passed Hakumen in Ragna's story.

 

[natster43]

It is probably my second favorite fighting series. My favorite character is either Nu or Noel.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

I bet I would've liked it if I could understand the fighting.
Why do I have to get the collector's edition to get a tutorial?

If you're talking about calamity trigger (since continuum shift contains tutorials in-game), that game was sold as a limited edition for normal game price, it was the first print, you should have gotten it back then. The tutorials from that version's dvd are all extremely out of date and up on youtube anyways, you could have found them there since fall 2009 or so.

Yeah, I found the tutorials on youtube. Not that helpful. I guess I just suck. But, the idea of getting a tutorial in-game in the first of the series, when you pick it up a little late because of lack of interest, isn't too much to ask, is it?

Also, in that case, would you recommend Continuum Shift? Would I miss something from failing at Calamity Trigger? I couldn't even get passed Hakumen in Ragna's story.

Ideally you should play the storymode, it's a whole lot of cool stuff. You could do the tutorials in CS, get rid of "teh suxorz" from your system, then go back to CT and beat just the story to get the events, and then devote the rest of your time on CS.

 

[Motakikurushi]

BlazBlue is a brilliant fighting game franchise with a vibrant style, great characters, good balance and a surprisingly good story for a 2D fighter. Best of all it's really, really fun to play.
My main was Ragna, because I love his juggle combos and the way he saps health. I loved using Iron Tager though, and his Emerald Tager Buster. Magnetising people and pulling them in for grabs is so satisfying. I think the fighting mechanics are brilliant. They're simplistic at first but it offers plenty of opportunity for experimentation. It's simultaneously fun to play but challenging to perfect.

 

[Gigatoast]

It's not a weapon, it's the magical grimmoir that holds the Azure, God-magic basically, it's the game world's Excalibur or Masamune, definitely fitting name for such a title.


You just don't really know what they're parodying, how Bang's speeches about bell peppers and what have you are Kamen Rider spoofs and whatnot. How Noel is basically every girly archetype into one, but suddenly turns into this killing world destroyer, which is the absolute antithesis of those helpless types.



Mortal Kombat is pathetic, sorry but it's sluggish, not fluid, the hits have no sense of impact, the x-factors were better performed in Tenchu, over 6 years ago and there is a metric ton of blood and chopped bits covering up everything, which is much worse than particle effects. The art style of everything is so ugly that you comparing it favorably to something as gorgeous as Blazblue seems troll-like.

The mere fact that you know what any of those words mean proves how ridiculously cryptic the name is.

And really? Have you seen any Mortal Kombat footage? ... that wasn't from the 90s? ... or early 2000s? Well truthfully I never really liked Mortal Kombat, I was more into Soul Calibur. But MAN, the visuals and overall flow of the gameplay in the reboot are damn impressive, and I'm talking from the perspective of a computer/video game animation major.

MK isn't any slower then Street Fighter, the animations are the best in the business, and it has a real good sense of scale. Look at Blazblue where any one character can survive 50,000 stabs with a surfboard sized sword and walk away with out a scratch, in MK9 they have procedurally generated battle damage and moves that would kill someone in real life deal a decent amount of damage. The fatalities are a relic from the old days when violence was the only thing that made it stand out, but I bet you, if you stabbed someone through the chest with an icicle some blood is likely to come out.

In today's fighting game market where games like MVC3 are sold on hype and flashy graphics as opposed to quality of content, Mortal Kombat 9 is a shining example. Sure it's not a flipping anime, but I think we have enough of those games in the industry as it is.

 

[Ghengis John]

Recently got Continuum Shift and was wondering if anyone else likes/is a fan of the series,and what characters/aspects of it you like. Im enjoying the game a lot but Im a noob to the whole series.(starting to play a lot more fighting games) My favourite character so far is Taokaka, love the speed and style of her moves!

I would also advise if you like the story (I know some people find it impossible to understand but I liked it) then pick up the first game.

As for who I play I'm a rush-down type. Always have been in every fighter. I play Bang and Tsubaki. I hear after 2.0 hits they nerf bang back into the stone age (Calamity Trigger) so I might have to look into Makoto for my rushinations.

 

[Sabinfrost]

I love BlazBlue, I'm an old school Guilty Gear fan, same guys behind BlazBlue.

IronTager is my favourite character, I'm a fan of the big guys in fighting games, I used to play Potemkin in Guilty Gear.

My second favourite fighter series as well after Street Fighter. I like Mortal Kombat 1,2,3,9 and cannot stand Tekken/Dead of Alive/Soul Cal. The whys of that would take all day.

 

[Lullabye]

Omg....I main Bang.
FU RIN KA ZAN!!!!
Best special ever.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

It's not a weapon, it's the magical grimmoir that holds the Azure, God-magic basically, it's the game world's Excalibur or Masamune, definitely fitting name for such a title.


You just don't really know what they're parodying, how Bang's speeches about bell peppers and what have you are Kamen Rider spoofs and whatnot. How Noel is basically every girly archetype into one, but suddenly turns into this killing world destroyer, which is the absolute antithesis of those helpless types.



Mortal Kombat is pathetic, sorry but it's sluggish, not fluid, the hits have no sense of impact, the x-factors were better performed in Tenchu, over 6 years ago and there is a metric ton of blood and chopped bits covering up everything, which is much worse than particle effects. The art style of everything is so ugly that you comparing it favorably to something as gorgeous as Blazblue seems troll-like.

The mere fact that you know what any of those words mean proves how ridiculously cryptic the name is.

And really? Have you seen any Mortal Kombat footage? ... that wasn't from the 90s? ... or early 2000s? Well truthfully I never really liked Mortal Kombat, I was more into Soul Calibur. But MAN, the visuals and overall flow of the gameplay in the reboot are damn impressive, and I'm talking from the perspective of a computer/video game animation major.

MK isn't any slower then Street Fighter, the animations are the best in the business, and it has a real good sense of scale. Look at Blazblue where any one character can survive 50,000 stabs with a surfboard sized sword and walk away with out a scratch, in MK9 they have procedurally generated battle damage and moves that would kill someone in real life deal a decent amount of damage. The fatalities are a relic from the old days when violence was the only thing that made it stand out, but I bet you, if you stabbed someone through the chest with an icicle some blood is likely to come out.

In today's fighting game market where games like MVC3 are sold on hype and flashy graphics as opposed to quality of content, Mortal Kombat 9 is a shining example. Sure it's not a flipping anime, but I think we have enough of those games in the industry as it is.

I know the names by virtue of speaking Japanese, nothing more. It doesn't take any work to know them even if you don't, just play the game's storymode while not being drunk or suffering from a concussion and pay attention.





For a games animation major you sure seem ignorant of the workings of pixel art. Blazblue uses HD sprites and runs on 60FPS, for every second of animation, there is 60 frames (still images) of the character that have been put together by HAND. Do you realize how absurd it is requesting for every type of cut or bruise or in general result of physical damage to have it's own thousands of frames drawn by hand? And for every combination of such?


In a 3D game you just make the polygon, animate it, then make a few varieties of cuts or bruises or tears, put them on it in reaction to hits and you're done. You can't expect them to have millions of frames of a character for every combination of injuries they may sustain, that's hilariously unrealistic for a small budget 2D fighting game.

 

[nuba km]

rented it, it was OK, (loved playing as the bug guy) but I think it failed at providing a good tutorial for the game and it wasn't really my style of fighting games.

 

[Gigatoast]

I know the names by virtue of speaking Japanese, nothing more. It doesn't take any work to know them even if you don't, just play the game's storymode while not being drunk or suffering from a concussion and pay attention.


For a games animation major you sure seem ignorant of the workings of pixel art. Blazblue uses HD sprites and runs on 60FPS, for every second of animation, there is 60 frames (still images) of the character that have been put together by HAND. Do you realize how absurd it is requesting for every type of cut or bruise or in general result of physical damage to have it's own thousands of frames drawn by hand? And for every combination of such?


In a 3D game you just make the polygon, animate it, then make a few varieties of cuts or bruises or tears, put them on it in reaction to hits and you're done. You can't expect them to have millions of frames of a character for every combination of injuries they may sustain, that's hilariously unrealistic for a small budget 2D fighting game.

Oh, thanks for insulting my intelligence by saying I know nothing about my friking college major, I'm sure that'll make this discussion much more civilized. Especially since as an animator I was also required to take several classes in 2D animation as well as 3D, I know what a bleeding frame is.

You obviously very little about the intricacies of computer animation. Any ponce on DeviantArt can draw an anime character a bunch of times, but actually modeling, texturing, rigging, animating, processing, and stringing computer animations together is a titch more complicated then "you just make a polygon and animate it".

2D game animations are easy to get looking good, because what you see is literally what you get, a series of GIFs pasted to a hitbox that handles all the gameplay. But games with really impressive 3D animation, like MVC3, can look just as good and be twice as versatile if the animators are willing to go the extra mile.

The guys who made MK9 went even further and actually modeled layers and layers of additional animations inside each character model. And like I said, the combat damage is procedurally generated, meaning it changes depending on all the factors of the fight.

 

[Funky Flump]

I love the animation style anyway TBH one of the reasons I got it, stuff like street fighter is too...Real...to be fun, kinda feels like im actually hurting someone. And surely in a fast paced fighting game you want to know what animation means so I can clearly tell if my person is Stunned for example rather than them having a unique animation at all times for their HP, Heat bar Etc. (This is my own opinion I dont know to much about animation)

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

I know the names by virtue of speaking Japanese, nothing more. It doesn't take any work to know them even if you don't, just play the game's storymode while not being drunk or suffering from a concussion and pay attention.


For a games animation major you sure seem ignorant of the workings of pixel art. Blazblue uses HD sprites and runs on 60FPS, for every second of animation, there is 60 frames (still images) of the character that have been put together by HAND. Do you realize how absurd it is requesting for every type of cut or bruise or in general result of physical damage to have it's own thousands of frames drawn by hand? And for every combination of such?


In a 3D game you just make the polygon, animate it, then make a few varieties of cuts or bruises or tears, put them on it in reaction to hits and you're done. You can't expect them to have millions of frames of a character for every combination of injuries they may sustain, that's hilariously unrealistic for a small budget 2D fighting game.

Oh, thanks for insulting my intelligence by saying I know nothing about my friking college major, I'm sure that'll make this discussion much more civilized. Especially since as an animator I was also required to take several classes in 2D animation as well as 3D, I know what a bleeding frame is.

You obviously very little about the intricacies of computer animation. Any ponce on DeviantArt can draw an anime character a bunch of times, but actually modeling, texturing, rigging, animating, processing, and stringing computer animations together is a titch more complicated then "you just make a polygon and animate it".

2D game animations are easy to get looking good, because what you see is literally what you get, a series of GIFs pasted to a hitbox that handles all the gameplay. But games with really impressive 3D animation, like MVC3, can look just as good and be twice as versatile if the animators are willing to go the extra mile.

The guys who made MK9 went even further and actually modeled layers and layers of additional animations inside each character model. And like I said, the combat damage is procedurally generated, meaning it changes depending on all the factors of the fight.

I don't need to know the intricacies behind it to know that it's easier and far cheaper to make polygons than HD sprites. That's common knowledge. I wasn't looking into insulting you but your "why didn't they do real time damage like MK" was one of the most ridiculous complains about BB I've ever heard and showed a seeming lack of understanding of the labor that your request would entail.


Because it's easy to make a generally decent-looking pixel art it is important when the especially good ones are made, sprites like those in Disgaea 4 for example are not the same as the generic anime sprites one would find on deviant.


MvC3 relies too heavily on flashy stuff, it's more about hype than style which is what Blazblue does. MK's way is ultra-realistic, which is sort of cliche for it due to it being the "western fighter" and all, but beyond that there's really nothing interesting about the stiff animations and the lack of fluidity in the game. (notice, I'm not talking about the animations as animation, i'm talking about the gameplay, about how it feels to play the game, not about how it looks as a video)

 

[Funky Flump]

Im trying to think of something to add to this topic that wont make me sound stupid....All I can come up with is that it looks pretty and plays better than most fighting games...