Necessary to use more characters?

[Heavy_Mental]

Learning the combos of another character will teach you NOTHING about that character. It'll just be a waste of your time. Time you could have used learning the damn matchups.

Yeah, I totally agree 100% here. Learning the other characters, understanding their move properties, their combos and strategies will do absolutely nothing to help you understand the matchup. I mean, how stupid is that? I agree, better to just stick with one character and look at matchups from your perspective solely. Guaranteed victory.

Just look at the best of the best. Name one single top player and tell me you have seen him play more than one character. It's pretty rare that you'll see the best of the best stray from their main character. Why? Because it's a waste of their time to learn another character when they could be getting even better with one character.

I agree here, I mean look at Kaqn man. He's so good with Ragna, he won't even need to touch characters like Nu, Taokaka, Jin, or Hakumen. And Isa's Eddie is so good he wouldn't even need a secondary like Sol. Man, and don't even bring up Justin Wong. Guy's so good at SF4 he doesn't even need any other character 'cept Rufus.

EDIT:

<sighs>

POST FIXED FOR PEOPLE WITH A SEVERE AND UTTER LACK OF THIS NIFTY THING

[Heroic_Legacy]

Man, and don't even bring up Daigo. Guy's so good at SF4 he doesn't even need any other character 'cept Ryu.

Fixed for accuracy

[Senxo]

Personally, I believe that if your fundamentals are solid sticking to one character will do you just fine. You'll learn what to do and what not to do against a certain character simply by playing against them. For Example, I have zero idea how to play Ranga, but I know how Ranga plays. Know what I mean? But I would definitely agree that learning different characters will help you learn different styles of play. Maybe if you're terrible at mix ups, learn a character thats all about that. Or if you have no clue how to zone, play that type of character. That's the kind of thing I look for when playing multiple characters.

[kro_]

Personally, I believe that if your fundamentals are solid sticking to one character will do you just fine. You'll learn what to do and what not to do against a certain character simply by playing against them. For Example, I have zero idea how to play Ranga, but I know how Ranga plays. Know what I mean?

But I would definitely agree that learning different characters will help you learn different styles of play. Maybe if you're terrible at mix ups, learn a character thats all about that. Or if you have no clue how to zone, play that type of character. That's the kind of thing I look for when playing multiple characters.

Agreed. You don't actually have to use other characters to fight them well, but you do have to know enough about them that you could probably use them pretty darn well if you took the time to commit things to muscle memory - which shouldn't take much time at all if you're familiar with the engine and fighters in general. Unfortunately, that's not the case for many people.

In short, it's probably in your best interest to at least dabble with all of the characters. You'll get more out of the game that way and increase your familiarity with various fighting game archetypes. Don't burn yourself out trying to get better with just one character in one game. Without a broader perspective, you won't be able to get very far against experienced players.

fundamentals > character-specifics

[bbq sauce]

Yeah, I totally agree 100% here. Learning the other characters, understanding their move properties, their combos and strategies will do absolutely nothing to help you understand the matchup. I mean, how stupid is that? I agree, better to just stick with one character and look at matchups from your perspective solely. Guaranteed victory.

I agree here, I mean look at Kaqn man. He's so good with Ragna, he won't even need to touch characters like Nu, Taokaka, Jin, or Hakumen. And Isa's Eddie is so good he wouldn't even need a secondary like Sol. Man, and don't even bring up Justin Wong. Guy's so good at SF4 he doesn't even need any other character 'cept Rufus.

You are srsly using the comparison of players that have been good at fighting games since you were learning long division, as the reason this guy who's played BB (a game with terrible fundamentals) for an entirity of a week, should pick up new characters to learn the match ups? Good job. Quality post.

OP, learn the game and it's fundamentals, and the match ups with your character, then, as you feel more comfortable with the game, try moving on to other characters and experimenting.. Don't overload yourself at the beginning.

[DoomieJ]

Dont make me get my boy sogos up in here. IMO:Play who you want, learn matchups through playing against characters not playing as them.

[mAc Chaos]

^What he said.

[tolore]

Yeah, I totally agree 100% here. Learning the other characters, understanding their move properties, their combos and strategies will do absolutely nothing to help you understand the matchup. I mean, how stupid is that? I agree, better to just stick with one character and look at matchups from your perspective solely. Guaranteed victory.

Learning how to do another characters bread and butters is worthless, understanding thier move properties and strategies is incredibly important, but simply doing their combos? I completely agree with Matt, doesn't help at all.

[Hellmonkey]

It is not hard for good players to pick up new characters generally because having strong knowledge of the game system leaves only learning a new set of moves and maybe new movement. You already have a good idea of their oki, poking options, and even combo timing simply from watching or playing against decent players enough. For any good fighting game there is enough depth that even top players cant compete with other top players using more than 1 or 2 characters though. Comparing bb to gg though, since blazblue has fewer combo routes, options from nuetral, and a smaller cast (fewer matchups) the learning curve to top level play is lowered drastically and almost any decent player can have multiple mains with ease. The potential benefit from doing so is also lowered in my opinion, since the game is at a level you dont need to play most characters to understand them nearly completely. You also don't see it that much because the cast is pretty limited and most players aren't interested in many chars.

[Sophisticat]

Learning how to do another characters bread and butters is worthless, understanding thier move properties and strategies is incredibly important, but simply doing their combos? I completely agree with Matt, doesn't help at all.

Is it really completely worthless? You can always check to see which gaps are going to be easier to tech out of, what's going to come next, options at the end of the combo, etc. No need to actually practice them, but knowing what's what is (at least to me) useful.

Well, sticking to one character is the best idea no matter what. I mix it up with other characters every once in a while to see how they play. Personally, it gives me a better understanding of what I'm up against as a whole, rather than in the parts I'd see from my character's point of view.

But that's just preference on my end, I wouldn't automatically call it necessary. It makes it easier for me to learn the match-up, so if that's what makes it for you, then go for it.

[MisoSowee]

All I know is if I used haku in all of my player matches with my friends I'd be bored as hell. Carl to the rescue! :D

[tolore]

you can get the same effect by going into training mode and have someon eelse record the combo on the training dummy(or you do it yourself, only gotta do it right once) and then you can practice against their strings without knowing the char.

[A.X.I.S.]

All I know is if I used haku in all of my player matches with my friends I'd be bored as hell.

Carl to the rescue! :D

i pick jin then proceed to mash C and ice carz but i rarely do it...one time i out ice car noob a ice car noob, shit was hillarious...

note: don't do it ever unless your a troll. like me.

[Heavy_Mental]

You are srsly using the comparison of players that have been good at fighting games since you were learning long division, as the reason this guy who's played BB (a game with terrible fundamentals) for an entirity of a week, should pick up new characters to learn the match ups? Good job. Quality post.

Congratulations for taking my post out of my context. If you had bothered to take a closer look, you'd realized I was responding to Matt's post and not the OP himself. Good job. Quality judgment.

[tokyobassist]

I only use 2 characters just because of certain match ups but honestly find 2 characters you feel is right to you. I never planned on playing Taokaka but she fit well for me so she my sub (about become my main). As long as you stick with it and come here for tips I think you'll at least learn a nice handful of non character specific combos in a week (if you're seasoned at GG or fighting games). Feel free to add me on PSN if you want and I'll show you at least what I know to get you started

[Prototype909]

Playing Hakumen and Tager at least once is a pretty good way to counter them. Just learn what Air Dash C -> Grab and Backdash -> 360/720 look like and boom. Once you figure out how to beat those two things you can probably beat 95% of all Hakumen and Tager players online. Once you fight people who know what they're doing you might have some trouble.

[AudioCG]

I have always taken the same approach for the last decade or so (god im getting old), I usually learn my "favorite" char for a few weeks/months until I am very comfortable with them, then I learn a sub, after I am comfortable with both chars I tend to branch out a bit and learn the BnBs for most of the cast. This has worked well for me, but I cannot learn a ton of chars at once, im not built that way I guess.

[User Fluff]

Mmm, I'm new too, but I kind of got the opposite problem. I can't stick to one character, instead I just play around with all of them (because they are all so fun to play with...well, besides Carl:arg:).

The result? I don't know a single combo beside ABC, and I I can't remember half of all the specials that exist in the game, meaning I usually lean on a singular, repetitive strategy throughout the whole fight:eng101:

Moral of the story? Specialize if you like winning:kitty:

[kenja0]

Luckily, every character in BB has a particular play style. Just learn the characters with the play styles you like and use them for those styles.

I use Nu/Lambda because I was a Dizzy main, I sub Ragna because I love rushdown, I sub Jin for his DP reversals, and I play Taokaka/Litchi/Bang/Carl when I like mixing it up. My worst characters are Rachel because her combos and range are hard to manage for me (and in CS, those stick out much more since they are quite terrible), Tsubaki because her attack strings seem very forgettable to me, and Hakumen because I can't manage his bar very well- however, I'm interested in learning Hakumen since in CS his combos depend much less on them.

Since everyone plays a particular play style, it got boring being the same few people over and over again- so I picked up other characters for the fun of it. I'm not even half bad with Carl (and in CS, he's ridiculously good)- that's how bored I got.

Is it necessary? Maybe to learn their ins and outs, but if you ever get bored- it's really fun to play the cast.

[Skye]

Well, learning more than one character is fun, opens up some options, have a bit more fun, accumulate more knowledge, if you have time to, I think you should know at least 2 characters.

But learning the character is half the fight, anyone can spend a few hours in training mode, but that only lets you know of they damage and what not. Knowing how Arakune pulls off a 6c loop isn't going to help you avoid the setups, it's just going to allow you to know how he can do it.

That said, when you learn a character, you must learn their match ups, this is where the universal knowledge of knowing multiple characters come in.

[smooshman]

well, I play Jin and sub Ragna

with Jin I know a lot of tricks and where to do the correct option

with Ragna... I can do a couple combos but overall I don't know the character's abilities and options well enough to be very good.

with everyone else....

so overall learning more than one character is not bad, but prepare to be spread thin skill wise. I recomend 2 characters for people of low to mid skill level, and always devote your skill to 1 character, that's your main. Otherwise you aren't focused on a playstyle, and your game suffers. if you're above average to great, then yes learn more characters.

in short, play only the # of characters you can handle.

[Ichipoo]

After almost a month a half of playing BlazBlue, I've been playing as Noel 100% of the time..... But I think now, I may have found a sub.

[Zevali]

As for me, I started out with Bang when I first got this game since he seemed the easiest an manliest for me. Then, I slowly branched out to Jin, Tager, Carl, Hakumen, and finally, Hazama. Some people say that it's better to just work on one character and become good with him/her rather than playing as several, but I find it fun to play as other characters. If anything, playing as Tager helped me learn what he is and what he isn't capable of doing. Same with Jin, Carl, Hakumen, etc.

[Penguinlord3792]

Well I'm not very competitive, BUT I DO think it is important to be proficient with at least two characters, for me it's four. I mean I don't think it's good to put all your iguanas in the same sack, right? I don't know, I think it makes you an overall better player if you at least try to, even better if you do. I mean maybe by exploring other character, you might find someone who fits your fancy more than Noel. (Not implying anything.) Like me, back when I was a total shot in the dark noob I picked Hakumen (OHHHHH, WHAT A SUPRISE!!!!!) & was very good with him, but some of my friends brought up the subject that he's a boss character, blah, blah, cheap ass, blah, blah. So I picked up Nu, once again boss character, cheap ass, etc. so I picked up Ragna, I loved him & finally my main Jin (YAAY ICE CAR!!) came about, so four character I now excel in (Nu not as much.), see? Probably not, I never make fucking sense when I post, or think, or write.....

[Kain]

I picked Hakumen (OHHHHH, WHAT A SUPRISE!!!!!) & was very good with him, but some of my friends brought up the subject that he's a boss character, blah, blah, cheap ass, blah, blah.

Your friends suck if they seriously think Haku is broken because he's a boss character. >_>