ikeTATARI

yeaaaah snowflake princess!

One reason it's good to stop mashing - you can't buffer directional inputs in this game, so if you have dash cancels in your combos and you try to mash them out you get step forward step forward B instead of dash B (or whatever input you need). I know everyone says to take it to practice mode, but here's another thing I do (but I'm a musician so): When I take a combo to practice mode, I listen to the rhythm of the moves connecting. I try to find a rhythm I can push my buttons to get the combo I want, so I don't ever have to depend on what I'm seeing or what's actually happening to do a combo - I can just tap out a rhythm on my stick and get the combos I want. It might sound silly, but it may also help you to add flourishes or flairs to your inputs - for example, I used to have a really hard time getting Lambda's j214D at the end of her air combos to come out, but I started making it REALLY pronounced and it helped. Also, BBCS has a more lenient buffering system - if you hold a button for a bit longer, it'll "mash" it for you - so instead of TAPPING the buttons immediately, it might help you to hold them for a split second longer - this ensures the move is going to come out, without the input being 5CCCCCCCCCCCCCCC.

You could play on pad. Or you could spend 40~50 dollars on a stick specific to the system you play on. Sticks aren't really expensive anymore, and there are so many to choose from - at least, if you want to keep it to one specific system. My opinion though, easiest character to play on pad would have to fit these criteria (for me, personally) - Not a lot of dash cancels in their combos, not a lot of high jump cancels, and not a lot of crazy inputs (720s, tk9's, etc). With that said, I play Lambda on a pad (waiting on my stick) and do just fine - if you can TK crescent saber with the analog stick, you can do anything you would be able to do on a stick on a pad. The only thing I miss on on are the 236C 5CCCCCCCC 6C 66 2DD tk214D 66DD -> air combo combos, but that's pretty ridiculous anyways (and not integral to her gameplay).

I think instead of talking about SBX we should talk about how fantastic Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Eternal Frontier is. Ready? GO!

If the Carl you're playing likes to be right next to Nirvana, you CAN hit him with 5D/6D. This matchup is really annoying - and a local player is picking up Carl and is pretty okay with him, so as he's learning the matchup I have to continuously change my game. 236D~C is useful in this matchup - it's fairly fast, and if Carl is at the range of it it's entirely safe unless he's already started a Nirvana move. If you 214D~C and Carl is right next to Nirvana it hits him for a free combo - but any good Carl won't be right next to Nirvana. I had decent success with jumping in with 2D - if you position yourself right in front of Nirvana, and just above her head, she won't block the 2D - and if you hit Carl, you don't have to worry about 8D. Generally what I do in this matchup is try to get behind Carl so that he can't hide behind Nirvana and take advantage of 3C if he's on the ground or 6A if he's not. Also, if you DO get around Nirvana, a lot of Carls like to IAD back to get behind Nirvana - you can catch him with 6D at this point. It's definitely not in your favor and it requires a LOT of patience - if you're too antsy, you get counterhit by Nirvana's moves, and most of those cause huge amounts of stun, so you're GOING to get sandwiched.

The trick with aggressive Tagers is to make them defensive, at least when playing you. You have to condition them to either block or eat damage. The first thing I do when I play a Tager is 214D~C from fullscreen. If they block it, I'm playing someone with a brain - if they B Sledge, I happily CH 5D them for their troubles, and if they somehow magically time an A Sledge, I start sword pressure. The choice they make is showing you what they think of the matchup - if they're B Sledging they obviously either don't know it or think that for some reason it'll be safe this time. Blocking it? Defensive Tager, you win. Timing A Sledge means they actually know this game and know how to play their character. Additionally (though someone earlier called the Japanese Tagers bad, or something), if you watch the videos from the previous page you see the Lambda continuously pushing Tager away with sword pressure strings - I believe the basic idea of the one they use is 2DD 6DD j5DD j2DD j214D~C. And then he either lands and waits to see what Tager does, or does another 2D(D) and then lands and waits to see what Tager does. This is a VERY good strategy - the trick in this matchup is to use 236D(~C)/214D(~C) to force jumps, and then pressure with 2D. If they're trying to use that ghetto Tager airdash you'll get combos, and if they're blocking they end up a fullscreen away from you. Also, just for everyone who says "DP GADGET FINGER"! If you DP after a Gadget Finger and Tager backdashes, he can 360/720 you for free because his backdash is longer than hangovers. The only way for this to be entirely safe is to gravity seed RC backdash... But that takes a lot of meter, and if you've committed to it you'll lose your chance at combos. I generally wait for the first gadget finger and see what they do - if they just mash into a blockstring/360 I DP the next time I get GF'd - generally this is a Tager that is unfamiliar with this matchup and so doesn't know how to beat your DP. What I -do- do is backdash, though - depending on what he does it generally gets you out. I do have to say, those Japanese Tager vids, even if they weren't as useful for American players trying to learn the Tager matchup, were some PRIME examples of Lambda sword pressure. That was FANTASTIC keepout on the Lambda side.

Senshi-Con is the convention at the Student Union at UAA. I didn't go to Auroracon before it died (RIP...) but that may have been where it was. Really, though, I had a lot of interest when I set up Melty Blood, it's just not as accessible as Blazblue - the combo system fuels the ENTIRE game, so you can't really play casuals with people who play seriously. Even sandbagging I owned people just because combos are so similar in that game, so I'd be hitconfirming into them all day long. BBCS is much easier to sandbag (imo) so it's easier to get people into it. I'm trying to convince my friends to come to your ranbats. You may already have some of them showing up, but damn if I wouldn't be at every single fighting game related event in AK if I still lived there. Guess I should've started lurking dustloop sooner.

Dude, you really need to get this out there. I -just- moved to Tucson from Anchorage and never knew there was a scene for anything that wasn't SSB. You should really see about having gaming tournaments at senshi-con - when I was there I got them to let me set up Melty Blood and Immaterial and Missing Power. If there had been enough interest I would've set up a tournament, but given that Blazblue is really stylish and anime, all you'd have to do was get some people playing and I think you could garner tons of interest. I would also say, you should make up flyers and get them on campus at UAA - there are tons of nerds there that would probably at least stop by, if not stick around. When I go back to visit family, I'll have to get some contact info and play some games. I had no idea there was actual BB play in AK, let alone anything other than SSB. EDIT: I'm linking this thread on my facebook - I know a few people in AK that play Blazblue casually that might be interested in taking it more seriously if they were aware there was a scene.

it depends on what you want to play on - if you just want it for one system it'll be fairly cheap (even if you get AIAB or someone to make it for you). If you want it to be cross-system for something that isn't XBOX360, it's reasonably priced - however XBOX360 has some really stupid controller "security" that makes it a pain in the ass to have sticks that are cross platform for that. For everything else, there's the MC Cthulu.

I think everyone is ignoring the fact that without wallbounce from 22D, Tsubaki hits something like 3.5k with 3 charges and 50% meter. She's still a terrible character because they removed all of her options to do any sort of damage WITHOUT charge (or with 1 charge), but in doing so, removed the ability for her to do damage even WITH charge.

I really want my AIAB stick. Like right now. Playing on a pad after two days straight of playing on stick is just... Annoying.

I think Valk is probably gonna be balanced a lot more - it IS just the first loketest. He does seem like a pretty good character though - I'm hoping they balance him appropriately.

Litchi's changes don't seem that bad - and it's still only the first loketest. They added more gatlings without staff, so it'll probably just shift some of her combos around a bit - Her damage wasn't decreased, and neither was her meter gain, and those two things are what make her scary. Seems like they just made it a bit harder to hit confirm into her combos (since you have to RC 6A combos). God knows WHY they made Ada's gauge recover slower - it's already really annoying as is. Hopefully they'll either make her gauge bigger to start with or do something else to balance it out, because he already depends entirely on Ada as it is - making it harder for him to use her will make his game suffer. I'm actually pretty mad about Lambda's changes - hey I know, let's make her SLOWER. I already have a hard enough time catching people with swords, and now I have to be psychic? No thanks. All I have to say about Tsubaki is FUCK YEAH INSTANT STOCKS. Also, all Makoto loses with parry cancel is her retarded midscreen meter gain/damage - she's still ridiculous in the corner, since they didn't change any of her other normals, it seems.

OMG SO CUTE. -cough- I may or may not be picking up Platinum. I think if she has a multiple personalities thing, like Zappa, I will play her till the day I die.

That was awesome. I love it. I love that this is like my source for funny videos...

Hi. You don't have to be breaking a throw to option select. Read my post, please. Also, if it was removed, how come it totally works? I don't really understand how you can remove something as simple as you tech with A+B and just hold the buttons and continue holding back.

Option select can be used to tech and then barrier block on the first available frame as well! The basic description of option select is combining two inputs into a single input - for the example, you tech with A+B and hold back to block. This way, you tech and then instantly start barrier blocking - it beats a lot of things and if they try to tech punish and throw it out late/do it incorrectly you IB it. A few other examples of option selects, mostly with bursting: Arakune can burst (ABCD) and then hold the inputs and release them however he wants for bugs. Carl can burst and hold D to keep Nirvana activated. Option selects aren't something that EVERY character finds useful, but I think this would have to get character specific to really point it out. It's not that useful for the characters I play, so I can't tell you anything but the information above.

I am really upset that I missed RSVPing for SSFIV bootcamp. I really wanted to go! I wanna pick up Rose. ._.; I guess it's a good thing though - the list of people that DID RSVP are all better than me, and since I don't have the game at home right now s'not like I can really practice.

I had NO idea AIAB did BB on Saturdays. Shows what I know!

I'm just talking about my experiences vs Ted (I play Lambda he plays Mu, sooo....) But I may just be going about the matchup wrong - my Lambda isn't that amazing.

Gravity Well is useless. 13 second timer, and they have to be on top of you (and I MEAN on top of you) or else you get CHed all day long. Mu's average BnB off an un-optimized hit matches most of Lambda's fullscreen non-CH options, and gives her much better oki. The reason that Mu excels in this matchup is BECAUSE of her steins - she gets a knockdown, and suddenly you are limited to certain areas of the screen and certain moves because she can punish with popped steins for stupid damage. Lambda has nothing like that on knockdown. Also, Lambda's normals aren't bad on PAPER, but Mu's normals all outrange hers, excluding her drives. Sure, Lambda's 6A is better than Mu's and Lambda's 3C beats Mu's, but if you're that close, Mu has much better options than 3C and 6A, and if you're that close with Lambda you're doing something wrong. Sweep defense works to a point against rushdown!Mu, but she can just jump and set a stein and all of your grounded normals are worthless unless you're in her face. Even with all of these things, it's not a TERRIBLE matchup for Lambda, it just has to be played VERY carefully - which seems to be the case for some of Lambda's even matchups - they're only even if you play very defensively and carefully. Because Lambda can cover so many vectors from so far away, she can stop Mu from doing a lot of fullscreen stein setups - however, you have to fish for these moves and they don't really give you oki or high damage unless you RC them (or get Mu into the corner for TK loop, I guess.)

Hazama != Lambda. They're very different characters. Hazama has some decent mid/close range normals and a reversal for lots of free damage (yay jayoku houtenjin~) whereas Lambda has almost no reversal, and most of her close range normals get beaten out by all of Mu's. However, I don't see how it could be anything but even - I don't see Hazama having the advantage at all. Yes, he can use his drive followups to dodge steins, but they don't give him any advantage other than forcing you to set more steins. His drive gets shut out by laser zoning, making it hard for him to approach, but once he gets in it's fairly hard to get away since he can hitconfirm anything into 30~ meter and knockdown... I would say it's even. The Mu v Lambda matchup is in Mu's favor, though. Maybe not by much, but Lambda doesn't have the closerange normals, and at optimum range for all of her attacks you're always in range for most of Mu's good pokes.

I know, I was joking. <<

I am so late to this party. Also I am somewhat offended that I'm not on the roster. SN: ikeTATARI Name: Ike Location: Tucson, AZ PSN: IkemotoTATARI BBCS: MB: F-Kohaku

I really, really wish I could do this combo. I can't get the 9j214D method of tking this to work - I was hopeful because it seemed that being able to alternate 9/7 tks is the most stable method of getting the loop down. Currently though I can't even get the 6A to link after the 2147D. The video is helpful for the timing - and for knowing that it builds enough meter to end with distortion (for a yummy 6k damage) - but any tips on TK9 input as it pertains to Lambda's corner loop or getting the 6A to link? I'm not sure if I'm just not linking it right or what.