Ben Reed

Old Joseph looks to have some serious potential. Easy loops with OTG grab, ability to convert backthrow to combo with OTG grab, good range, good damage, a fucking half-bar combo breaker...this old man is headed straight to the top.

Yeah there's like one really weird active frame on jH that doesn't float the opponent on ground hit. I got it occasionally practicing IAD combos but I'm not sure where in the animation it actually occurs. Doesn't seem like it'll be a big execution probelm, though; seems extremely situational.

Kudakero looks more like it's built for combo utility than aggressive standalone use for pressure. Unless it's overhead, maybe then you could use it as an occasional mixup option a la Greed Sever. As for safety, I'd imagine it's probably typical of many specials in Guilty Gear -- negative but can be safely spaced on regular block, more easily punished if IB'ed. Looks like a pretty good move for its intended purpose, though.

Okay, wow. That was amazing. That look of horror on Chipp's face...fucking priceless. Also, could Millia always run under Stinger Aim, or is that new to Xrd?

Does any of the footage currently available show the animation for Heavenly Potemkin Buster connecting? That's the last big thing I want to try and see before the ArcCops come. :P

The acid test of how far Xrd's graphics style goes will be how easy it is to work with. When Ishiwatari says this 3D style isn't THAT much easier to work with than 2D, I think he's mostly right. The main advantage 3D has over 2D for games like these is reduced time for art asset creation. This advantage probably isn't QUITE as pronounced where Xrd is concerned not just because they have a whole new engine to work the kinks out of, but also because they must be busting their asses trying to make models that look right with the lighting in Xrd. (I am SERIOUSLY impressed by what they did with May; she had every right to look hokey as fuck, and instead she looks just as anime as she ever did in 2D. ArcSys' modellers did INSANELY good work on her Xrd model.) But I imagine this approach will still prove easier to work with as time goes on and the developers get more experienced with the Xrd engine. It's still really hard to ignore the advantages of 3D asset creation for professional development. You get the model's proportions, deformation, textures, etc. right in the game engine, it's more or less right for good, and almost all your character animations can just build on top of the model. Mistakes in traditional animation are much more costly and time-intensive to fix, because you may lose a LARGE chunk of your animation if the proportions/intensity of the animation don't look right. And a lot of animation errors are VERY difficult to spot until you're SEVERAL FRAMES DEEP in an animation. (Example: I once hand-drew sprites for an unfinished MUGEN character years ago. I gave him a sweep like Iori's c.D dropkick, which was somewhere around 18-20 unique animation frames, and it took me about 10 frames and about a week of work to realize I'd unintentionally and GRADUALLY ballooned my character to TWICE his normal size during the dropkick animation. And that was JUST me, drawing JUST for FUN. Imagine how annoying/costly that would be for a salary, as part of a development team who's waiting for your assets so that the rest of the project can move ahead. Being able to severely reduce these kinds of animation errors is a MASSIVE blessing.)

Just a few quick questions for ElvenShadow, no rush: - Are Sol's 6P, 6H, and 2D any different from the XX versions? IIRC they're the only Sol normals I haven't seen in screenshots/the trailer yet. - Can you give a better explanation of what Ky's new Grinder mechanic is?

Not _A_ counter hit. MULTIPLE counter hits, from a 100% full guard gauge. 2-3, depending on how fast the guard gauge empties to the point where auto-counter is no longer applied. So depending on who hits you with what starter in Omega Shift, your ride could be very long indeed. Full guard gauge is a pretty damn big deal for anybody. Does the guard gauge just START at 100% in Omega Shift and decrease, or does it STAY at 100% until Omega Shift ends?

Yeah that's what I'm trying to grow into. I'm still really inconsistent with the starter on it, though. Timing the [5B] isn't too hard, but if I hit it too high, I can't get the sweep (whiffs). (And I'm pretty sure uncharged 5B doesn't give me enough untech time for the sweep to combo.) If I can get as far as the sweep (and remember to build enough charge for B Coup) I'm golden though. I mostly worry about my ability to do it in a pressured match right now, as the first significant local tourney in my region is at the end of the week. I've been trying to learn the midscreen CH air throw combos too. Everything in that combo up to the 2DD I can do consistently, but it's REALLY hard for me to get both the right height AND start the second 4B at the right time (and in the right DIRECTION) to pick up after the 2DD. The untech time is getting really shitty by that point (I tried DP initially, but quickly abandoned that when I saw how fast they could air tech), so a lot of times I just forgo the 2B 2DD and settle for ( CH air throw > 5DD > [4B] > 2A+B > B Coup ) to get the ground slide and some corner carry. It's REALLY hard for me to manage Mitsuru's facing in some of these 5DD/2DD combos. But I'll keep practicing. Right now I'm just trying to come up with placeholder combos on my own that, if they don't do damage, they at least end cleanly with B Coup or D Bufula so that I haven't compromised both damage AND oki.

Honestly I feel like one of the biggest barriers in learning Mitsuru execution is charging back TOO MUCH, rather than not enough. Building charge is trivial in this game, but in many cases in this game I think having charge when you don't need it right then and there can hurt your poking game by limiting access to your standing B attacks. In most other games where I play charge characters, building charge whenever your character doesn't need to explicitly abandon charge to move forward (walk forward, run forward, dash forward, jump forward) rarely interferes with critical blockstrings or combos. But charge builds fast in this game in true ArcSys fashion, and a lot of times I feel like I end up accidentally marrying myself into A Coup string enders because my charge interferes with the input for 6B, 5B, and AOA. In order to use 6B and 5B in blockstrings, I have to go out of my way to abandon charge in my strings, which can be risky depending on my spacing, and if I don't hit-confirm a 5AAA on the VERY first A, I'll have too much charge to do any true combo on a non-crouching opponent besides something like 5AAA Coup A. I feel like I can get past this, but it's really kind of a mind-melt. It's not so bad to abandon charge in slow-starting combos such as throw combos or 5DD/2DD combos, where you have plenty of time to partition what's going on ("whee look at the pretty throw, ooh it's ice time, and now we hold back for [4B] goodness"), but in blockstrings and short-notice hit-confirms it's sort of confusing me. Also, is the following combo universal? I'm doing this right now off corner CH air throw because the timing seems easier than the [5B] pickup listed in the combo thread. Tested it on Lab, Mitsuru, Naoto, and Aigis so far. Here it is: - (corner) CH air throw > 2B > C Bufula > 2A+B > B Coup > 2A > 2B > C Bufula > B Coup I know it's not optimized, but I can both pick up and finish it, and it has a clean ender. Trying to ease myself into the better stuff. EDIT: Tested it on the whole cast. It looks like it's universal, but I'm still skeptical I'm doing it right. Freeze mashing was turned on, of course. And I'm getting better at the [5B]. . . combos so I'm not sure if I'll even keep doing this one outside of brain-fart/panic situations.

Does Kanji's 5B actually have projectile properties? It has a spawn limit like a projectile; does that mean it actually IS a projectile?

Actually, I meant the cultural-enrichment thing in more of a touchy-feely "let's all hold hands and level up together" kinda way. Wasn't really trying to start any kind of beef at all. (I'm serious. I've lost my taste for e-fights over the years. Trash talk's not my thing.) Where somebody goes is their own business, and I do realize that for the real contenders it is a real, substantial choice between an EVO seed on another coast and a very large pot closer to home. And honestly, you're probably not the kind of person I was trying to appeal to with my post, because you sound like you've already made up your mind. (That's not intended to sound condescending. You weighed the options carefully and made your decision. That's perfectly valid.) But I'm sure there ARE people reading this thread who are still weighing their options, and I was mostly trying to appeal to people who might have been first seriously considering CEO right up until word of ReveLAtions hit. If you had the intent to go all the way to Orlando that weekend until something closer to home popped up, and you had realistic prospects of being able to meet that commitment to travel -- I encourage you not to shelve CEO as an option just yet. That is all I meant to convey with my post, and nothing more. (If you're a TX player or somewhere else midway between LA and Orlando...I realize things are a bit stickier. But I hope you will give CEO a fair consideration nonetheless, and I respect whatever decision you arrive at -- it IS a real choice.) I just feel like a Florida event needs a little more CIVIL hype than a Cali event does because, let's face it, you guys are the center of activity anyway. We're trying hard to make a similar name for our scene, but so far luck has not been on our side. While there's certainly no malice behind this scheduling conflict with ReveLAtions, it sure doesn't make things easier for us. Since this is the Internet, I should have clarified to say that I didn't actually mean to imply WC has swollen egos. It was meant as a playful, completely un-serious invitation, not a hot-blooded "you guys think you're such hot shit" kinda deal. I don't actually believe that WC in general has any sort of ego problem. I regret that my tone was misinterpreted. That is my last word(s) on the subject.

While I doubt that very many of the California players reading this thread are on the fence about which event to attend, for those few who might still be debating, I feel compelled to say two things: 1. Don't underestimate Florida. We're not as podunk as you might think when it comes to BB. Senkei, Hotnix, Mystic, Lord Cruxis, all very strong players just to name a few. Tsak in particular has really tightened his game since he first got onto BBCS, and I believe that anyone who underestimates his Arakune is in for a very long and painful ride on the Bee Train. And if that doesn't really sway you, well, we're closer to the rest of EC than you guys are, so our prospects are pretty good for attracting imported talent from up north to sweeten the pot. The possibility exists that you guys can mosey on out to the Sunshine State and humiliate a gigantic swath of EC in one fell swoop. Send a shockwave all up and down I-75 and laugh all the way to EVO. How's THAT for food for your egos? 2. Don't underestimate Jebailey. He might look like an upstart to people who have never heard of him, but when it comes to running events he's thorough, he's genial, he's resourceful, he's honest and transparent, and for all the good-natured shit he talks on the game, he believes in the BB community. (And of course he confers regularly with respected BB players like Senkei to keep his finger on the community's pulse.) He's busting his ass to erase the stigma of G.A.-you-know-what from our fair-ish city/state, and any support you can offer by showing up to his event won't just enrich our local scene, it enriches the national scene. Cultural exchange between regions breeds advancement and success in all regions, and for too long the Southeast has been a blind spot on the fighting-game map for all but the one month Final Round takes place. Help us build towards another major and let's milk this new-generation fighting game glut for all it's worth.

Crap...who's bringing To Catch a Predator 3 then?

I can bring a PS2 stick and a PS2 slim + Accent Core. My CRT is pretty puny, though.

Replace "weird" with "annoying" and you're on the right track. It's incredibly obnoxious trying to learn an alt in a game where almost NOBODY has any kind of execution/strategic overlap. Learning an alt in BB is almost like learning a whole other game...and I HATE trying to learn multiple games at once.

Seconded.

HAR HAR NEVER HEARD THAT ONE BEFORE But seriously, at least Bison can't get DPed out of something like c. LP, cs. LP, s. LK xx Knee Press. Vega can't even get that much. Yes blockstrings are ass in general in SSF4, but it just seems so excessive that Vega has NOTHING in that department given how he's already got dick for frame traps, damn near dick for anti-air, and he's lunch meat on wakeup. I only ever used cs. HP for the c. MP xx EX FBA combo, so I forgot that the first hit was actually special cancellable...and I forgot that Vega actually had a special-cancellable move with enough hitstun to land fierce RCF (and therefore EX RCF, which is the same startup). You might be on to something here if the proration isn't too bad. Unfortunately my Super copy is on loan right now, so I can't look at it myself.

Not necessarily. EX RCF is fireball invincible, but it's also slow as balls to start up (20f), so unless they sped it up for AE, you're gonna be hard pressed to tag all but the DUMBEST fireballs (Shoto fireballs...Guile's just going to laugh at your yodeling ass like always) with a HIT EX RCF (although it's fairly easy to get it blocked and it's only -2 on block so unless you're fighting Gief/Hawk/metered Chun, you're not terribly screwed...and why the fuck would you use EX RCF in those matchups anyway unless you KNEW the chip would kill them?) Still, if you can land it it WOULD make for a pretty cool combo. Stylish, but barring a massive buff to EX rollclaw, insubstantial. I'm much more excited about EX Scarlet Terror being a real reversal, though. Becuse God forbid Vega get a fully invincible, metered, un-FADCable reversal that doesn't just make your opponent laugh as you flip into his throw/OS, because having something like that would magically turn him into vanilla SF4 Sagat. Never mind that he STILL has no reliable anti-air for all but the dumbest jump-ins (if you are getting hit by ST/vertical j. HK/air throw...what the fuck are you DOING?) and his blockstrings are damn near nonexistent.

Carl's not that bad but not that great, either. His schizophrenia loses him points (seems like half the BB cast's gimmick to make them artificially interesting is to make them obsessive, mentally ill, or both), but being smarter than the insufferably cliche high-school chicks he went to school with gains him some back. Plus, he has a neat hat. I would rank him mid-mid tier in terms of being offensive to all five senses. (Yes, all five. You can SMELL the stench of failure coming off of Noel.)

Puns are unavoidable when you're dealing with a loud moron with a big nail on his back and a sound effect for a name. He just cultivates that aura of absurdity. Also, you hurt my feelings.

Bang is the greatest character in BlazBlue because he's blissfully aware of all the obnoxious anime bullshit surrounding him. He's a simple man (maybe a little too simple) with two simple goals in life: 1. Fight for burning manly justice avenging his master's death in true period-piece samurai-drama fashion. 2. Bang the SHIT out of the hot Chinese doctor lady down in Chinatown. (I could also say "nail" and get the same effect.) He's just such an endearingly obnoxious manchild. He's like Juicebox if Juicebox had sideburns, a tan and an AMAZING six-pack. He just babbles on and on and creates his own Jam-like psychological warfare by virtue of never shutting up. He's one of those characters whose innermost power is unleashed not merely by petty things like "good execution" or "solid tactics", but by turning HIS obnoxious nature into your own. To my mind, he's one of the LEAST obnoxious characters in all of BlazBlue, which is otherwise quite honestly a game I just hate the look of. Tager is a close second because he's a poor unfortunate soul who believes in science in a world of magical anime bullshit, but is enslaved by a bitchy catgirl with nukes. Also, a slutty squirrel wants to ride his gigantic cyborg nuts. Begin Gadget Finger jokes here! VVVVVV

On the one hand, yay for decent corner combos. On the other hand...ugh for what looks to be run-under for corner BnBs. I SUCK at run-under; I STILL don't understand at what point the axis of input direction shifts.

The funky-looking move where Valk does the Remy Blue Nocturne pose is his 6A, correct? The frame data thread says it has a guard point, does that deflect any kind of non-throw/unblockable attack, or just non-projectile strikes? And I'm guessing the GP is high/mid (when I say "mid" I mean an attack like 2A that can be blocked standing or crouching) only?

GG's just a harder game in general mostly because it's double the speed, almost double the damage in half the time (on average), and half the untechable time on any hit you connect. Shit, I'm STILL hard pressed to get over 150 combo damage with anybody in GG not named Potemkin. I hope eventually to put enough time into the lab and casuals with the old Gear heads in my area to graduate to Solbot status from Potbot so as to play as a character who sounds more like Louis Armstrong (or Fat Albert).