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[Papercuts]

Man, Carl is so beyond my grasp of understanding. He was the last one I needed for Arcade, so I set it to one round Beginner level and STILL lost to Arakune and Hakumen. :lol

 

[Ryn]

Arakune and Hakumen are pretty much beasts in this game if someone knows how to use them..

Though a friend of mine just picked up the controller yesterday and was beating me up while he was using Arakune. That was cruel ;_;. Or I just blow at this game.

Anyone up for games later tonight? (360: sakuraryn)

 

[brandonh83]

Liking the game a lot so far, I just can't believe it came in LE packaging with bonus discs and a soundtrack in separate Blu-ray casing for only $59.99. Had to drive out of town and hit two Gamestops before finding a copy though :lol

 

[soultron]

My Scrub Zone experience was awesome today. I played for about 4 hours after watching the tutorial disk.

Ragna all the way, bitches. I completed the Arcade mode on normal before going online -- V13 took me about 20 continues before I realized the best strategy was just to rush the fuck out of her and use my Ds all day long. Still haven't figured out what Ragna Unlimited does, or how to select him.

Online was a pretty awesome experience -- buttery smooth, aside from some minor lag before the round actually started. I found a guy who would keep playing me, and we went for about 20 rounds. His main was Rachel, and there were a few rounds where I came back and just fucked him up with D finishes. However, he brought his Jin out and was just killing me with him.

So, my main problem now is learning to guard against combos so that I don't get rammed into a corner and be forced to Barrier Burst. I really want to pull of an Astral, but I doubt I'd be able to take a final round so long that I'd get 100 Heat.

All in all, straight from the Scrub Zone: this game is a fucking blast.

soultron (XBL) if you want free wins. If you see me doing Dead Spike over and over, it's probably because I'm trying to launch Dead Scissors at you -- stay the fuck away! Haha.

 

[Papercuts]

Ragna all the way, bitches. I completed the Arcade mode on normal before going online -- V13 took me about 20 continues before I realized the best strategy was just to rush the fuck out of her and use my Ds all day long. Still haven't figured out what Ragna Unlimited does, or how to select him.

Unlimited Ragna is in a constant state of Blood Kain, you select him with S(taunt). By default that'd be LB IIRC.

 

[TP]

So, my main problem now is learning to guard against combos so that I don't get rammed into a corner and be forced to Barrier Burst.

Try Counter Assault ->+A+B
Page 18 in the manual, requires 50% heat

It's better than taking extra damage, but it's not always the best idea

 

[Papercuts]

I still haven't really used Counter Assualts of Rapid cancels yet, 50 heat is a lot. :\

Is Hakumen able to do that stuff? If so, does it take 4 bars or something?

 

[soultron]

Try Counter Assault ->+A+B
Page 18 in the manual, requires 50% heat

It's better than taking extra damage, but it's not always the best idea

My only problem with CA is that it drains Heat. Can you do it any time or do you actually need 50 Heat? My understanding of the Drive Specials is that you need 50 Heat first; thus meaning with Ragna, you'd need a full Heat gauge for an Astral Finish.

I think I just need to work on blocking and Barrier management. I'm okay in that, for example, I'd use my Barrier against V13s D Special (the 40 hitter) so that I could avoid chip damage. I don't like to use my Barrier when people get in my face, but I just find that I get messed up most of the time if I don't. Then I get panicky and Barrier Burst.

Maybe I need to work on keeping people out of my personal space first. Haha.

 

[soultron]

Unlimited Ragna is in a constant state of Blood Kain, you select him with S(taunt). By default that'd be LB IIRC.

That's some serious stuff. So, aside from the fact that your HP would constantly be draining, you could initiate his Astral with only 50 Heat?! That's brutal.

 

[Lostconfused]

I guess Rapid Cancels and Counter Assault is for the higher level players who can capitalize on that minor advantage they get. Because yeah 50 heat is a lot and i guess newer players would prefer to save that for a special attack or something.

 

[Papercuts]

That's some serious stuff. So, aside from the fact that your HP would constantly be draining, you could initiate his Astral with only 50 Heat?! That's brutal.

Oh, he doesn't work the exact same way as normal Ragna in Blood Kain. He DOESN'T have health drain, and the Astral still takes 100% heat but he constantly gains some anyway. The biggest perk is the move you can pull off at 50% heat with the same input as Blood Kain, I keep forgetting the name but he grabs the person and it seems to do over half their lifebar in damage, and you gain that much back. Really easy to get perfects with him if you finish with that move.

 

[Callibretto]

so, I've been reading a little bit of the thread. just want to ask something before I decided to buy it or not. I consider myself casual fighting fans. I played plenty of fighters but honestly never bothered to mastered them fully like checking frame counting or any of that stuff.

my current fighting game is SF4 and occasional Tekken 6 BR at arcade. I have friends that love both the franchise so these 2 games are perfect for me. other fighters I've bought like VF 5 and SC 4 end up collecting dust after a few weeks because I have no friends to play with, both games have pretty boring single player component to me, and I've never actually interested with the game mechanic itself.

now move on to BlazBlu. I've got a chance to play it for a short time a couple moths ago at arcade. I tried pretty much every character and while I have no idea what I'm doing most of the time. I'm very intrigued by the game mechanic. every character felt very different and have their own mechanic on how to use them. the game got into my radar after that and now that the game is out. I'm a bit torn whether to buy it or not in fear of the game collecting dust like VF and SC. I only have one friends that love Guilty Gear and he don't have HD system and couldn't come to my place often.

so, is the game has pretty good single player campaign just in case I really don't have people to play with? how's the story? I found myself to be more attached to a game if the story is interesting to me. how's the difficulty? I tried playing one of Guilty Gear on psp to understand the story and I just can't beat the boss so I got frustated and stop playing. oh, and my internet connection is just terrible for online play so I never put that into consideration at all.

 

[WHOAguitarninja]

Am I missing something or does the computer gain certain...ah...advantages when you play against it? For example, Haku-men. The computers gauge seems to fill up much much faster than mine does.

so, is the game has pretty good single player campaign just in case I really don't have people to play with?

Well, there is a lot to the single player mode. How good it is ultimately depends on how much you enjoy the game. This is, for me at least, the most fun I've had playing a fighting game since Tekken 3.

how's the story? I found myself to be more attached to a game if the story is interesting to me.

Ah, well, there is a surprisingly large amount of plot there, actually. The story mode has a good bit of dialogue between each fight, and branching paths. I don't understand any of it, but it seems like it might be interesting if I knew the basics of what was going on. In the realm of fighting games though, this is like war and peace. Quite frankly though, that's not saying much.

how's the difficulty? I tried playing one of Guilty Gear on psp to understand the story and I just can't beat the boss so I got frustated and stop playing. oh, and my internet connection is just terrible for online play so I never put that into consideration at all.

Difficulty is pretty adjustable. It's a solid challenge on normal, and can be brought down well below that. It's not nearly as hard as SF4 on the easiest settings, for me. Beginner is, well, quite easy.

Honestly though...if you're not going to be able to play against people, online or offline, it's probably not worth it. Fighting games just aren't worth it if you're only going to play against the computer.

 

[Papercuts]

so, is the game has pretty good single player campaign just in case I really don't have people to play with? how's the story? I found myself to be more attached to a game if the story is interesting to me. how's the difficulty? I tried playing one of Guilty Gear on psp to understand the story and I just can't beat the boss so I got frustated and stop playing. oh, and my internet connection is just terrible for online play so I never put that into consideration at all.

The story mode here is actually one of the most surprising aspects of the game to me, it's surprisingly long and enjoyable. It's a lot like a visual novel with different paths, and while it may be annoying to 100%(win and lose every fight in every branch, some fights need to be finished a certain way), it's a lot of fun for me to go through. While arcade may get a difficulty spike on the last two fights, and score attack is batshit insane, the story mode never pulls stuff like that.

For my personal background on this, I've never been big on fighters. The only ones I even own are Soul Calibur 2 and 4, I was never able to get into Street Fighter, never even touched Guilty Gear, but I am loving BlazBlue...I'm also just using the standard 360 pad and not having any issues. I have close to 30 hours played, just finished Arcade with everyone, still have a while to go in story...feels like I'm basically still scratching the game's surface.

 

[Darkman M]

Found this on dustloop.com thought some of you may find it interesting, it's basically a character usage chart someone pulled from xbox live and PSN.

 

[Ferrio]

I guess Rapid Cancels and Counter Assault is for the higher level players who can capitalize on that minor advantage they get. Because yeah 50 heat is a lot and i guess newer players would prefer to save that for a special attack or something.

Something tells me counter assault isn't used too much, least I don't think dead angle attacks in GG were used much so just a hunch.

As for Rapid Cancels, I have yet to try any combos with it... but it's very useful if you wiffed a move or did an unsafe move and need to recover quickly.

 

[Xevren]

Found this on dustloop.com thought some of you may find it interesting, it's basically a character usage chart someone pulled from xbox live and PSN.

Not too surprising, the only characters I have seen online are Noel and Ragna.

 

[Ferrio]

Yeah. Because that dvd isn't working for me.

http://www.dustloop.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5753

Most of her combos seem to revolve around her 6C, B+C, 6C loop and her drive juggle which i've seen setup two ways so far (from her command throw, and from her 22C)

 

[Volcynika]

Only chars I haven't seen online in a fight are Hakumen, Rachel, and Carl.

 

[scy]

I guess Rapid Cancels and Counter Assault is for the higher level players who can capitalize on that minor advantage they get. Because yeah 50 heat is a lot and i guess newer players would prefer to save that for a special attack or something.

That and Instant Blocks help accrue a lot of Heat. I guess it depends on the character, though; with Rachel, Baden-Baden Lily isn't that amazing short of when they're incapacitated in a combo/stun/George XIII so I don't mind using my Heat on non-Distortion Drives. Hell, I'd love to trade my Heat for more Silpheed bars personally.

Also, Ragna's Astral Finish requires 100 Heat regardless (as do all Astrals). I think you're mistaking his third Distortion Drive (Blood Kain -> Devoured by Darkness) for his Astral, though it does take 100 Heat (50 for BK, 50 for DbD). Unlimited Ragna can pull this off at will though which is a nice perk, especially at the 50 Heat cost due to not having to activate BK.

 

[soultron]

Not too surprising, the only characters I have seen online are Noel and Ragna.

I've only played online today, but in Player Match, most I saw were Arakune, Hakumen, and Rachel.

 

[Darkman M]

Man i still gotta wrap my head around this 2c,6a noise seems kinda complected.

 

[Quixzlizx]

What exactly does Nu's Gravity Shield do? Does it just hold someone in place who enters it?

Also, it's funny how much the difficulty ramps up when you fight an Unlimited character. I went from cruising through the first 9 matches of Arcade Mode to fighting the urge to stomp on my stick after reaching Unlimited Rachel. Fucking frog.

 

[soultron]

Also, Ragna's Astral Finish requires 100 Heat regardless (as do all Astrals). I think you're mistaking his third Distortion Drive (Blood Kain -> Devoured by Darkness) for his Astral, though it does take 100 Heat (50 for BK, 50 for DbD). Unlimited Ragna can pull this off at will though which is a nice perk, especially at the 50 Heat cost due to not having to activate BK.

Oh, okay. This makes sense. I thought DbD was his Astral. What is his Atral then, exactly, and what's the command/condition? (Outside of final round, opponent <20% HP, 100 Heat.)

 

[Volcynika]

Man i still gotta wrap my head around this 2c,6a noise seems kinda complected.

Yeah, I'm still getting used to it myself, after not using it, getting to understand it without having to look hasn't become quick yet :lol

 

[Xevren]

Oh, okay. This makes sense. I thought DbD was his Astral. What is his Atral then, exactly, and what's the command/condition? (Outside of final round, opponent <20% HP, 100 Heat.)

QCB, HCF+C
No other condition outside the normal astral stuff I believe.

 

[soultron]

What exactly does Nu's Gravity Shield do? Does it just hold someone in place who enters it?

Also, it's funny how much the difficulty ramps up when you fight an Unlimited character. I went from cruising through the first 9 matches of Arcade Mode to fighting the urge to stomp on my stick after reaching Unlimited Rachel. Fucking frog.

You can destroy Rachel's frogs with low attacks, as far as I know. I usually use Ragna's low C to get rid of them. I think if you land a hit on Rachel it does away with the frogs too.

Also, Nu's gravity shield (from my 40 round bout with her on Arcade...) basically sticks you in place, and slows your movements when you're overtop of it. It makes dashing up to her really hard since when you hit the spot on the ground, you basically move at a regular speed.

 

[autobzooty]

ugh, i want this so bad, but gamefly will take forever! maybe i should just shell out and buy the damn thing, cos i can't wait any longer!

 

[Teknopathetic]

I used rapid cancels with Nu as often as possible. More damage!

 

[Quixzlizx]

You can destroy Rachel's frogs with low attacks, as far as I know. I usually use Ragna's low C to get rid of them. I think if you land a hit on Rachel it does away with the frogs too.

Also, Nu's gravity shield (from my 40 round bout with her on Arcade...) basically sticks you in place, and slows your movements when you're overtop of it. It makes dashing up to her really hard since when you hit the spot on the ground, you basically move at a regular speed.

Thanks for clarifying on the gravity shield.

I'm almost certain that hitting Unlimited Rachel does not get rid of the frog, and I don't believe the low attack eliminates it either, although I may have been too enraged to notice whether I ever actually hit it. :lol

 

[soultron]

I used rapid cancels with Nu as often as possible. More damage!

Remind me never to play against you.



EDIT: Serious question now: how many times do you usually pull off a RC when in a round? If it requires 50(%?) Heat, I can't see myself implementing it into my arsenal if I'm only going to be using it once per round at most. I know it comes down to knowing when to use it, rather than using it every round, but damn, that's a steep cost.

EDIT2: Thanks for the Ranga Astral info, everyone.

 

[scy]

Ragna's Astral is 2141236C (QCB + HCF + C). Only other requirement I can think of is it has a slow start-up and it's just a melee swing from him so it might be hard to catch someone with.

Also, it's funny how much the difficulty ramps up when you fight an Unlimited character. I went from cruising through the first 9 matches of Arcade Mode to fighting the urge to stomp on my stick after reaching Unlimited Rachel. Fucking frog.

Rachel frogs are also destroyed by attacking her or doing I think 700 damage to them, though I'm not sure on the properties of Unlimited Rachel. I'm surprised I haven't unlocked her now that I think about it considering I main Rachel.

 

[rainking187]

Found this on dustloop.com thought some of you may find it interesting, it's basically a character usage chart someone pulled from xbox live and PSN.

I'm surprised Noel is so high and Arakune is so low. Is there an appeal to Noel besides looks? I've fought a bunch of Noels online and only two of them have given me any real trouble. And I suck. Not surprised at Carl though, he's the only character I haven't encountered online yet.

 

[Volcynika]

Remind me never to play against you.

Just use Noel and piss him off! :lol

 

[qcf x2]

I'm a bit disapponted that Noel is so popular. The majority of people seem to stay away from chicks in most fighters. Guess I have to pick up someone else now. ~_~

 

[Darkman M]

I'm surprised Noel is so high and Arakune is so low. Is there an appeal to Noel besides looks? I've fought a bunch of Noels online and two of them have given me any real trouble. And I suck. Not surprised at Carl though, he's the only character I haven't encountered online yet.

Supposedly she can spam the hell out of drive :lol , Arakune is somewhat technical im still learning the game as Arakune though.

 

[Volcynika]

I'm a bit disapponted that Noel is so popular. The majority of people seem to stay away from chicks in most fighters. Guess I have to pick up someone else now. ~_~

Not to sound mean or anything, I just don't get the logic of "well tons of people use this character, so I don't want to use them."

Is it just more for being a character not many people know how to use, and therefore, how to counter, skill wise?

 

[Papercuts]

Thanks for clarifying on the gravity shield.

I'm almost certain that hitting Unlimited Rachel does not get rid of the frog, and I don't believe the low attack eliminates it either, although I may have been too enraged to notice whether I ever actually hit it. :lol

Unlimited Rachel frogs don't go away when you hit her, and stay forever unless you specifically attack and get rid of it. I think it may take more than one attack though.

Oh, and the gravity shield doesn't seem to hold you in place unless you're right where it was made. If it's made and inbetween you and Nu, it's still possible to dash to her right through it without slowing down.

 

[Ferrio]

I'm surprised Noel is so high and Arakune is so low. Is there an appeal to Noel besides looks? I've fought a bunch of Noels online and only two of them have given me any real trouble. And I suck. Not surprised at Carl though, he's the only character I haven't encountered online yet.

Spamming her drive. It does a shit ton of a damage, so it's bad times if you get caught up in it. I'm finally learning how to avoid that crap.

 

[Quixzlizx]

Unlimited Rachel frogs don't go away when you hit her, and stay forever unless you specifically attack and get rid of it. I think it may take more than one attack though.

Oh, and the gravity shield doesn't seem to hold you in place unless you're right where it was made. If it's made and inbetween you and Nu, it's still possible to dash to her right through it without slowing down.

OK. I'm actually using Nu myself, but didn't really get much use out of the shield while going through Arcade mode. I'm pretty bad at 2D fighters, so I was feeling good about not using a continue until the last match, at which point I probably ended up needing 7 or 8 continues.

 

[Dreavus]

Only chars I haven't seen online in a fight are Hakumen, Rachel, and Carl.

I haven't played too much yet either, but we had a player room going last night with Ragna, Jin, Arakune, Hakumen, Tager, and Nu. Seemed pretty varied. I got my ass kicked every single time though... freaken level 30 players. :lol

 

[Guled]

I envy those who are playing this now

 

[Teknopathetic]

"EDIT: Serious question now: how many times do you usually pull off a RC when in a round? If it requires 50(%?) Heat, I can't see myself implementing it into my arsenal if I'm only going to be using it once per round at most. I know it comes down to knowing when to use it, rather than using it every round, but damn, that's a steep cost."


I dunno, maybe 2-3 times a round? I don't use the distortion drive outside of the rare chance I get to do her guard break setup.

 

[sixteen-bit]

ZealousD, Tokubetsu, bistromathics, Jube3, sonicspear64, Foxix, and anyone I'm forgetting, great games tonight. Even though I got my ass handed to me a lot.

I have some replays of the night's shenanigans. :lol

Ragna gets caught off guard
lol slide tackles
Ayo Jube + Hakumen damage output = sad GAFfers

I wish I could save other player's replays
That Bang vs. Tager finale was amazing. Were any of you folks able to record it?

 

[Volcynika]

If only the PS3 version had YouTube uploading stuffs on it (not sure how you recorded that 360 version). Oh well, still great without it

 

[bistromathics]

ZealousD, Tokubetsu, bisromanthics, Ayo Jube, sonicspear64, FireClad, and anyone I'm forgetting, great games tonight. Even though I got my ass handed to me a lot.

I have some replays of the night's shenanigans. :lol

Ragna gets caught off guard
lol slide tackles
Ayo Jube + Hakumen damage output = sad GAFfers

I wish I could save other player's replays
That Bang vs. Tager finale was amazing. Were any of you folks able to record it?

robopuppets represent. i'd also like to see that replay...for some reason i just keep picturing bang doing dan's whiffed-ultra animation from sf4.

 

[qcf x2]

Not to sound mean or anything, I just don't get the logic of "well tons of people use this character, so I don't want to use them."

Is it just more for being a character not many people know how to use, and therefore, how to counter, skill wise?

There's nothing mean, it's just a preference. Generally speaking, the majority of people gravitate to a character if they are very familiar, very beginner friendly, or both. I like using the more different and difficult characters and thus I've never once mained someone who was top tier. That's just how I am, I guess. If there's gonna be a million and one Noel's out there, I'd rather be the guy who spends time developing skills with a character most initially write off as trash.

Anyway, I found my new backup character. Bang muhfuckin Shishigami. His super start up puts Dan's ultra to shame!

 

[rpgfan16k]

Congratulations GAF and IGN hype machine(s). I now own this game because of YOU!

What should I know before popping this game into my 360 tomorrow?

 

[DrFunk]

Oh man, I wish I could have joined in the festivities...but I was too busy having a very unsafe 4th

 

[qcf x2]

Congratulations GAF and IGN hype machine(s). I now own this game because of YOU!

What should I know before popping this game into my 360 tomorrow?

Rush or die!