Can anyone give me advice on the BlazBlue games?

[The Wykydtron]

So after randomly picking up Calamity Trigger for under £10 I would love for someone to just tell me what the hell the basic mechanics are meant to be? The manual sort of explains it but I know some people on this site have played the BB games so I would love some sort of advice as the series looks worth getting into.

It's annoying that CT's online community seems to be a hell of a lot less dead than Skullgirls' no offence to the game of course.

Also are the other two BB games worth going for? And are the online communities still at least partly alive? I want to throw multiple games online for no other reason other than because I wanted to end with an Astral Finish.


At least the story looks... Interesting? I guess, if a bit convoluted.

Now i'm going to fumble about with Noel again until I understand what she's supposed to be... Besides a clear Rushdown character, but isn't everyone sort of Rushdown-y? Y'know Negative Penalty and all that.

Except Rachel since she seems like a perfect Keepaway character.

 

[Razentsu]

BlazBlue is something like a slower, more footsie oriented Guilty Gear. At least it feels that way to me. Is there anything in particular you are having trouble with? BlazBlue has plenty of gauges and stuff, but the game is simpler than it looks.

As for the state of Skullgirls, everybody's just waiting for the big Skullgirls patch. The patch is much needed, but the wait really is kind of killing the game, though. :S

I think Extend goes for $40, so Continuum Shift would naturally cost even less. BlazBlue's going to have a new instalment expected to release for consoles next year called BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma. If people are still playing CT, then I'm sure Extend is fairly active.

I haven't played BB in a looooong time, though.

 

[RaikuFA]

A wiki might be your best bet. Roll the dice and try your luck with YT vids as well.

PROTIP: Never ask for help from a FG fan, they hate newcomers as they're apparently the worst thing to happen in the gaming community.

 

[dimensional]

Im not great at Blazblue but if you are getting any Blazblue game you may as well get Blazblue Continuum Shift Extend as its the newest with the most content and characters and probably the most active online (but havent checked that) as for the game well its just an Arc Systems fighter its fast paced has lots of crazy shit going and is pretty combo heavy and a lot of sub systems to get your head around at first like bursts (gold and break) and roman cancels and dash cancels etc.

A standard gattling combo for every character is usually ABCD light,med,heavy,special but its up to the player to experiment the system that reduces hit stun and damage the longer a combo goes on helps stop you from dying/killing too quickly.

Each character has their own gimmick so to speak and so they all feel pretty different which is cool, Rachel was one of if not the best character in CT, Nu - 12? was also up there and is the super keep away zoning character in that game (rachel can do keep away and rushdown pretty well in CT).

Extend is arguably the most balanced version so far (being the latest and all) but I reckon the majority of people playing online will be pretty good so you may find it hard to break into it unless you have a lot of perseverance but there is a lot of offline content in Extend especially.

Also Protip do ask for help from the fighting game community yes there are dicks in it as it consists of people but you will get help more often than not or pointed to where you can get the answer it pays to do a little homework first ofc so you dont ask stuff that has already been answered quite a few times before.

Dustloop is a good place to look for Blazblue among other Arc Systems games and im sure Shoryuken.com has some good stuff as well although they are mainly about capcom games.

Also Blazblue favours aggresion over turtling i.e offence over defence (defence is important tho obviously) you can still be aggressive if youre character is rushdown (shortrange stay in their face until they die) or Zoning (keep them far away and hit them until they die).

Oh and CS Extend has all the DLC characters included for free so you get Makoto Nanaya for free which is reason enough to buy the game on its own.

 

[RaikuFA]

Dustloop is a good place to look for Blazblue among other Arc Systems games and im sure Shoryuken.com has some good stuff as well although they are mainly about capcom games.

Are you kidding me? I've been onm both of those asking questions and just got people screaming at me over being a newcomer. Saying I have no right playing them because I wasn't born with the knowlege.

 

[RaikuFA]

Dustloop is a good place to look for Blazblue among other Arc Systems games and im sure Shoryuken.com has some good stuff as well although they are mainly about capcom games.

Are you kidding me? I've been onm both of those asking questions and just got people screaming at me over being a newcomer. Saying I have no right playing them because I wasn't born with the knowlege.

I remember you mentionning this before.
It's so weird since my experiences with fighting game fans is that they are (mostly) the classiest people you can meet online. Yes, there are some grievers and idiots, but FG fans are mostly a good, if quiet, lot.

If by classy you mean "You deserve to have your arms broken" for losing a game or throwing a fit on a forum just because someone dosen't know what a cancel is nor how to execute it then yes the FGC is some of the classiest people out there.

I'm sorry but when I've heard people outright deny that elitism/arcade mentality/shunning of newcomers/in general a outright problem when theres clear evidence that it happens then they're outright lying or in 100% denial.(note:I'm not talking about you cause I know you're awesome, I'm reffering to the people who thought the Cross Assault incident was harmless fun or thought bullying the new guy that walked into the arcade who wanted to play something else was the highlight of their life.)

 

[Tohru Adachi]

I'm a large BlazBlue fan, I'd go as far as to say it's my favourite fighter (that may change when I get my hands on Persona 4 Arena, being European is suffering...).

I'd easily recommend BBCS:Extend, it's a very extensive package for the price and, in my experience, still has a strong online community.

 

[Halo Fanboy]

http://dustloop.com/guides/bbcs/systemGuide/systemGuide.html

 

[Loop Stricken]

I'd love to help, but alas, I only know two things about this game.

1) I'm not buying another until Kokonoe is a playable character.

2) BEEEEEEEEEEES

 

[Snatcher]

How about you give me some advice. How the heck are you supposed to pronounce ''BlazBlue'' anyway?

 

[Mistilteinn]

How about you give me some advice. How the heck are you supposed to pronounce ''BlazBlue'' anyway?

'Blaze Blue.'

And yeah, you should hit up the Dustloop forums. They're pretty helpful from everything I've heard, and now's a good time too. Since new info on the next BB game is coming out, there are a lot more people checking out the forums.

But if you have any specific questions, I'd be happy to answer them for you. There are definitely a few people here probably much more qualified than myself to help, but I can help you understand the basics that you want to know.

 

[Snatcher]

How about you give me some advice. How the heck are you supposed to pronounce ''BlazBlue'' anyway?

'Blaze Blue.'

And yeah, you should hit up the Dustloop forums. They're pretty helpful from everything I've heard, and now's a good time too. Since new info on the next BB game is coming out, there are a lot more people checking out the forums.

But if you have any specific questions, I'd be happy to answer them for you. There are definitely a few people here probably much more qualified than myself to help, but I can help you understand the basics that you want to know.

Thank you for the information, but I don't actually play BlazBlue games. I just wondered what the correct pronounciation of the word ''BlazBlue'' was.

 

[The Wykydtron]

How about you give me some advice. How the heck are you supposed to pronounce ''BlazBlue'' anyway?

'Blaze Blue.'

And yeah, you should hit up the Dustloop forums. They're pretty helpful from everything I've heard, and now's a good time too. Since new info on the next BB game is coming out, there are a lot more people checking out the forums.

But if you have any specific questions, I'd be happy to answer them for you. There are definitely a few people here probably much more qualified than myself to help, but I can help you understand the basics that you want to know.

I think I need to break the terrible UMVC3 habit of L,M,H,S always, always comboing easily... I actually need to figure out links and stuff :S

So there's an extra guard function that lets you block longer, continuing block strings fucks you over if your opponent uses this counter mechanic thing (I got throw countered twice in a row online and because I was spamming Noel's Drive combo thing) I guess it's pretty important but hey maybe I can actually win one online just by mashing Heavy and Drive... Maybe.

I exclusively play Noel by the way, she's just cool.

I love the Burst button, pretty sure it's horribly impractical and overall not worth the Danger state it puts you in but whatever. Fuck yo' combos son!

I really like the way characters have different lines against each other. It's very impressive.

Noel vs Jin is so badass. They have a duo speech as their intro and it's so epic.

"You're no longer my superior Jin Kisaragi! YOU'RE UNDER ARREST! *boom*"

 

[Dandark]

I played a lot of Blazblue but I suck at fighter games, I could never be bothered to learn to properly combo so I kinda sucked but it was still alright. If you enjoyed CT then I would recommend picking up CS or extend as they are both really good, if your not interested in the story then go straight for extend.

Everybody has their own unique style but from what I can tell there are 3 zoning characters, Nu, rachel and in the newers ones Mu(SCREW HER).

I liked Blazblue because even though I am not a big fan of fighters the battles in that just felt so epic whenever it wasn't a one sided slaughter, the voice acting and different lines they have are great and I loved the distortions and astrals.

I play mostly Hakumen with some Valkenhayn(Newer character, he is a werewolf butler) thrown in and the online community for Extend seems to be fairly active, I assume CS still has one too.
I gotta love Hakumen though, oh no it looks like you got me and whatever shall I do? You have clearly wooo................EMPTY SKY TRUE FORM!!!!! **** THE POLICE!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Mistilteinn]

I think I need to break the terrible UMVC3 habit of L,M,H,S always, always comboing easily... I actually need to figure out links and stuff :S

So there's an extra guard function that lets you block longer, continuing block strings fucks you over if your opponent uses this counter mechanic thing (I got throw countered twice in a row online and because I was spamming Noel's Drive combo thing) I guess it's pretty important but hey maybe I can actually win one online just by mashing Heavy and Drive... Maybe.

I exclusively play Noel by the way, she's just cool.

I love the Burst button, pretty sure it's horribly impractical and overall not worth the Danger state it puts you in but whatever. Fuck yo' combos son!

I really like the way characters have different lines against each other. It's very impressive.

Noel vs Jin is so badass. They have a duo speech as their intro and it's so epic.

"You're no longer my superior Jin Kisaragi! YOU'RE UNDER ARREST! *boom*"

Learning what attacks link to what is definitely the most important part when learning these characters. Some have pretty obscure links, and not all can go A->B->C->D (some characters 'D' attacks aren't even attacks, and most have special properties you need to learn).

That's called 'Barrier Blocking'. When you use that you'll take less chip damage when blocking, as well as push your opponent back a little bit when they hit you. However, it'll decrease your Barrier Gauge, and when that's gone you automatically enter a Danger State--but don't worry, it refills on its own over time.

Noel's got some of the best (if not the best) rushdown in Calamity Trigger, but you'll want to make sure you don't get yourself punished because of that. Some of her moves have nasty cooldowns. Also, don't mash the throw button to escape throws. Doing that will cause a Throw Reject Miss, which basically means you can't escape it, so be sure to time your Throw Rejects to when the green or purple exclamation mark appears over Noel's head.

And the Burst mechanic is actually incredibly useful. As NameIs said, it's basically the only way to break out of long combos that will most likely kill you. You've got to be strategic about using it though, as good players will try to bait your Burst, and if that happens, well, you're screwed.

 

[RaikuFA]

Why couldn't I get this help back way back when? Had to deal with insults and noob shaming...

Disturbing world the gaming community is...

 

[The Wykydtron]

I think I need to break the terrible UMVC3 habit of L,M,H,S always, always comboing easily... I actually need to figure out links and stuff :S

So there's an extra guard function that lets you block longer, continuing block strings fucks you over if your opponent uses this counter mechanic thing (I got throw countered twice in a row online and because I was spamming Noel's Drive combo thing) I guess it's pretty important but hey maybe I can actually win one online just by mashing Heavy and Drive... Maybe.

I exclusively play Noel by the way, she's just cool.

I love the Burst button, pretty sure it's horribly impractical and overall not worth the Danger state it puts you in but whatever. Fuck yo' combos son!

I really like the way characters have different lines against each other. It's very impressive.

Noel vs Jin is so badass. They have a duo speech as their intro and it's so epic.

"You're no longer my superior Jin Kisaragi! YOU'RE UNDER ARREST! *boom*"

Learning what attacks link to what is definitely the most important part when learning these characters. Some have pretty obscure links, and not all can go A->B->C->D (some characters 'D' attacks aren't even attacks, and most have special properties you need to learn).

That's called 'Barrier Blocking'. When you use that you'll take less chip damage when blocking, as well as push your opponent back a little bit when they hit you. However, it'll decrease your Barrier Gauge, and when that's gone you automatically enter a Danger State--but don't worry, it refills on its own over time.

Noel's got some of the best (if not the best) rushdown in Calamity Trigger, but you'll want to make sure you don't get yourself punished because of that. Some of her moves have nasty cooldowns. Also, don't mash the throw button to escape throws. Doing that will cause a Throw Reject Miss, which basically means you can't escape it, so be sure to time your Throw Rejects to when the green or purple exclamation mark appears over Noel's head.

And the Burst mechanic is actually incredibly useful. As NameIs said, it's basically the only way to break out of long combos that will most likely kill you. You've got to be strategic about using it though, as good players will try to bait your Burst, and if that happens, well, you're screwed.

Believe it or not throw breaking is something i'm quite good at in fighting games. It's a bit bizzare for a talent considering i'm not a combo master but I am good at knowing when someone is going to go for a throw reset or some other throw related shenanigans 99% of the time.

Seriously I can announce that someone is going to throw just before they do it. Unfortunately the throw button in BB is Y+B on the 360 controller (M+H) and the UMVC3 sense is telling me forward Heavy... Dammit

I think the amount of Vergil I played really helped. One of the tricks of Vergil is to use High Time during a combo, teleport back down to the ground then as they recover jump up for an air throw back down. Vergil's air throw is literally the free combo button. Almost as hilarious as Valentine's ground throw in SG. It puts someone into a crumple state... That's just not fair.

I think I like Noel because she reminds me of X-23 (the only UMVC3 character I truly good with) plus y'know punching people with guns is cool.

The story looks weird. Apparently I need to do something with other characters before I can 100% Noel's story. I guess she is the main character but come on, win fight with Robot Guy, get erased. Lose fight with Robot Guy, get erased. That makes so much sense game. Thanks

Anyway my CS: Extend is apparently being delivered tomorrow (read: today since it's 4AM and my body clock is fucked) so moar Noel online amazingness incoming. Wonder how much her moveset changed.

Does she still have her Wesker-esque OTG gunshot? I found that move to be endlessly entertaining since it is literally a not broken version of Wesker's Easy Mode OTG downwards gunshot.

I'm not complaining about originality or anything, BB came first anyway so damn copying Capcom! Why can't you use your own ideas!? RAGE FOR NO REASON!

Well i'll be well trained for P4:A whenever it rears its head in the UK. About 5 years from now I imagine :/