Suzaku

That seems really unlikely, since the original prototype version of Guilty Gear: The Missing Link was prerendered 3D, and Guilty Gear 2 was 3D. Back in 2011 he said "2D is best for now."

It proably will get ports for next gen consoles, but other RingEdge 2 games have been ported to current gen consoles so I don't think it'll be an issue.

Ky's costume really looks like it's halfway between GGX and GG2. Then again, you have to wonder if it's just that the designs are meant to feel like the original designs. So, I'm thinking that they're getting this perfect cel-shading effect by using individual states for each frame of animation, with none of the tweening you usually see in 3D animation, except for when 3D effects are actually being used. This gives it a hand-animated look. Couple that with each model (and frame) getting individual lighting (which doesn't interact with environment lighting or other models) so that the shading is always precise. And the FX and hitsparks appear to be 2D, though sometimes rotated at angles. And let's give some props to that song, too. Incredible. I hope more of the game's tracks have quality vocals like that.

So hyped! Can't wait for more information -- E3, maybe?

If the introduction page is anything to go by, it's going to adapt the events of the games, starting with Calamity Trigger. Again, my only real hope is that they'll delve into some of the stories that have been exclusive to print media. Even if it's just flashbacks.

Just had a quick teaser at ArcFes, mostly showing some character art with fancy music. It's titled BlazBlue: Alter Memory. Coming this Autumn.

They had Worthless as the Sun Above Clouds, which was awesome since I voted for Raven in the poll. Nice little consolation prize for me.

I just hope they adapt material from the Phase novels and short stories, since that stuff is never going to get localized otherwise.

It's just one of the keywords that flashes up on the screen during the PV: "零織・十六夜". Likely referring to the technique used to weave Izayoi, or perhaps just a term for the garment in general. Regarding the new structure for story mode, it makes sense to me. Without time looping or shifting they no longer have a way to explain all the various changes and resulting paradoxes in each character's story mode.

Well, looks like story discussions have finally been moved into Zepp Museum, so let's continue on from the Continuum Shift Story Thread and jump into Chrono Phantasma with the miniscule amount of story information slipping out of the loke tests! New Characters: Amane Nishiki - Upon hearing rumors of a handsome, young vigilante, he sets out to recruit them into his troupe. Bullet - A mercenary who was once attached to a certain Sector Seven assault team. She's tracking down Kokonoe of Sector Seven to try and unravel the mystery behind the massacre of her comrades. Azrael - Once sealed away in a prison for commiting a grave crime, this uncontrollable warrior has been deployed to Ikaruga under someone's orders. Keywords: Duodecim, Prime Goddess Amaterasu, Six Heroes, Zero-Weave: Izayoi, Cruel Curse, Amplification Squad, Ars Magus Strengthening, Crimson Eyes, God Dance, Illusion of Time (PV 1:04) Heavenly Cave (PV 3:00) So, Bullet was presumably hired by Sector Seven to work in the same squad as Tager, and left at some point in the past before they were wiped out in his mission in Ikaruga. Azrael's also under mysterious orders issued by an unknown entity and had apparantly been imprisoned by Sector Seven. As for the keywords, I think the Amplification Squad may have been mentioned in the NOL military overview, but I don't have all my documents handy to double check. Ars Magus Strengthening is new, I believe, and will probably get a nifty Latin localization when the game's released in English. Crimson Eyes (or more accurately, "crimson magic eyes" or "crimson demon eyes", is speculated to refer to Rachel. No idea about God Dance. Illusion of Time is obviously the literal translation of "Chrono Phantasma". Heavenly Cave is a reference to the cavern that Amaterasu hid in, in Japanese mythology.

Man, I've been so busy lately that I completely missed this announcement. Time to start paying attention to the BB scene again!

It's definitely BlazBlue related. Allow me to translate... Arc System Works presents... Adventure Project Phase One Another tale of the "Azure." A tale which begins here and now. To live... Is that the only way he can atone for his sins? Project Proposal: Toshimichi Mori The children who resisted fate's designs. The mysterious organization that guides destiny. The "Azure Power" that surrounds and transcends everything. The wheel of fate is now beginning to turn... XBlaze (tentative) Edit: Created a dedicated thread for discussion and news, so this can be kept to BBCSEX news.

Yeah, I remember shortly after the game came out, he talked about the Warcraft 3 Defense of the Ancients mod being a direct inspiration for the game. One of the reasons for going in that direction was that, at the time, it wasn't clear if they'd be able to optimize network play to make a fighting game responsive enough, so he wanted to try and look at another genre that would work well for online play even if there was some latency.

To observe phenomena makes them real. Until phenomena are observed, they are merely possibilities. If they weren't observed, the never actually happened. That seems to be the gist of it. See also: the Copenhagen Interpretation. Edit: Also, thanks for the summary, Zephyr.

He thought Terumi was with Trinity, somewhere else. I'll try and get some more summaries / info posted when I can, but I'm pretty busy.

Valkenhayn story mode summary: Valkenhayn is working in Rachel's garden, preparing her tea. She returns from her meeting with Takamagahara in a bad mood, saying they never stop talking and have decided to make their move, releasing Terumi. Valkenhayn curses them, then apologizes. He wishes they'd killed Terumi when he failed to seal Hakumen instead of just throwing him in the Boundary. He blames himself for not being there to help Hakumen and Jubei. Rachel agrees, but Valkenhayn was watching over her during her "long slumber", then seems to apologize for complicating things that should have been simple. Valk explains that Terumi knows that scheming with Takamagahara to eliminate the Master Unit is the only way he can obtain true freedom, and Terumi can easily capture Noel for them. Rachel thinks there must be more to Terumi's plan, and so she and Valk head to Kagutsuchi to investigate his motives. There, he departs to investigate, and Rachel asks Valkenhayn to take Jin to their castle if he finds him. Jin's power of order is incomplete and he's easily manipulated by Terumi, but they can make him a powerful ally if they can get through to him. Rachel heads off to find Hakumen. Valkenhayn winds up at a scene in which Ragna has just fought Carl. Ragna is injured but gets away; Carl seems more seriously hurt. Bang shows up to take Carl to a hospital, but senses Valkenhayn. He thinks Valk is just an old guy, but when Nirvana attacks him, Bang decides he's a villain and they fight. Valkenhayn wins and commends him on his stamina, and they exchange names. Bang is shocked that it's one of the Six Heroes. Bang thinks it's natural that such a hero should go on to continue fighting for centuries, and Valkenhayn wonders if he doesn't know about the natural longevity of beastkins. Nirvana still seems angry, however, and Valkenhayn apologizes for them sealing her away. But he says it was her previous master, Caelica's, decision. Nirvana leaves with Carl. Valkenhayn goes to the Kaka village. Being a wolf beastkin he naturally makes the kittens a bit apprehensive, but they're curious too. Torakaka and the Elder show up. Torakaka mentions she sometimes works with House Alucard, specifically supplying Valkenhayn with tea leaves. They say Tao will be her successor as village protector. Torakaka also says she was doing a job for Jubei, which was to bring Platinum to Kagutsuchi with her. Valkenhayn assumes he meant to bring "her" (Trinity) and not the "little girl". Valkenhayn leaves and runs into Tager. Kokonoe has some questions for him, but when Tager realizes that Valkenhayn is one of the Six Heroes, he gets really giddy and demands permission from Kokonoe to fight with him. Tager's a big Six Heroes fan (much like Tsubaki, I suppose). After they fight and Valkenhayn wins, Valk thanks him for reigniting the spirit of a fighter in him. Then he talks a bit with Kokonoe, she's upset that Rachel set Hakumen free. However, Kokonoe senses magic and sends Tager off after the source. Valkenhayn heads off, and runs into Jubei. Jubei's wounded, says he was hit by magic. Valkenhayn assumes Nine might be involved. Jubei tells Valkenhayn that Hakumen went to the basement, so they part ways and Valkenhayn goes to find Hakumen. Valkenhayn gets to the Cauldron and it reminds him of the past... Flashback, Valkenhayn is at a Cauldron and Terumi shows up. Valkenhayn thought he was with Trinity. Valk and Terumi don't like each other. They talk a bit about the Black Beast, with Terumi saying it wasn't an "accident" and it wasn't "born", but rather it was "created" and that it's not a "crime", but rather "mankind's punishment". Back to present, Hakumen is there and says the Black Beast was nothing more than a monster. Hakumen calls him the Silver Wolf, asks him why he's there. Valkenhayn demands that Hakumen aid Rachel, but Hakumen declines, so they fight. Valkenhayn wins, and Hakumen says he's grown stronger with age, and that when he's doing something for his master he becomes a different person. Hakumen agrees to go with him, but then Hazama shows up. Valkenhayn and Hakumen say they'll be putting an end to his plans, but Hazama summons Phantom and says it's like a reunion, too bad the cat couldn't be there too. Valkenhayn asks what Hazama did to her, but he says Valk's got bigger things to worry about. He's locked Rachel inside of his "cage". Valkenhayn tries to fight Hazama, but Hazama says he won't be the one fighting, and Phantom teleports Valkenhayn to Relius's location. Ragna is injured nearby. Valkenhayn picks him up and asks him what happened, then realizes Relius is there. Valkenhayn recognizes him and Relius says he's flattered to be remembered by one of the Six Heroes. Valkenhayn asks how he's so young, and Relius explaines that on December 31, 2099, while conducting tests on Boundary Interface Prime Field Device #1, the Black Beast manifested and he fell into the Cauldron, getting warped to not long before the present time. Relius says that transcending time and space has caused him to understand the Boundary even further. Valkenhayn says Relius is still as rotten and ambitious as he was a century ago. Valkenhayn decides he needs to escape with Ragna, but realizes something is wrong. Then Relius explains that they're in Izayoi's domain. Izayoi creates a space that the Takamagahara and the Master Unit cannot see, where there can be no observation and no intervention, and anything happening inside never actually happens. Relius likes to use the place for his experiments, and was experimenting on Ragna. Valkenhayn explains that Clavis fought for a world where humans can determine their own fate, but the world they live in now is one where all the choices are already made. Rachel fights to return those choices to mankind, and Rachel believes Ragna and Noel are catalysts for that change. Ragna comes around and stands up, so Valkenhayn sends him to go rescue Rachel. Relius and Valkenhayn fight, with Relius saying he doesn't know what's going on in Terumi's head but that one of the Six Heroes would make a decent test subject. Valkenhayn wins, Relius thanks him for the data and says Izayoi's power is running out, so he leaves. Valkenayn realizes that he can no longer intervene in the events and that his part in this act of the play is over, so he returns to the castle to prepare for Rachel's return. The end. Alternate Ending: Valkenhayn goes after Rachel himself when he senses magic, instead of searching for Hakumen. Valkenhayn heads to the NOL HQ and finds Hazama and Relius. Tager is there, and a shadow of some sort which exudes magic energy. Hazama explains that they're in Izayoi's domain, and Tager can't communicate with the outside world. Relius says he wants to experiment on Kokonoe's puppet, so Hazama has Phantom teleport Tager and Relius elsewhere. Valkenhayn can only think of one person apart from Rachel who could use such teleportation magic. He asks Hazama if it's her, and what happened to her. Hazama says she's his assistant, Phantom. Hazama says he should worry about the other girl, Rachel. He trapped her in darkness and put her to sleep. Valkenhayn fights Hazama, but he can't really have any effect. Hazama explains that those who are seperated from fate can't change the world. Hazama beats him severely, telling him to "speak", "roll over", and repeatedly "play dead", but Phantom teleports Valkenhayn away before Hazama can kill him. Hazama says it's for the best, killing someone who exists outside of fate could screw up the continuum shift and maybe even make the whole thing reset, and he doesn't want to start from scratch. Hazama thinks Phantom is showing a bit of free will. Valkenhayn arrives at the castle and apologizes for his failure, then wonders if Phantom was trying to save him.

Bump for Continuum Shift Extend. Speculation goes in the speculation thread. New stuff off the top of my head and from Japanese boards. - Calamity Trigger's story digest is strictly the canon version of events (true ending timeline). - Caelica was the previous owner of Nirvana. She and presumably the Six Heroes sealed it away. - Valkenhayn's a wolf Beastkin. - Beastkin have extremely long lifespans, which is how Jubei and Valkenhayn are so old. - Relius got thrown forward to the year 2179 after falling into the Cauldron during his experiment in 2099. - Bang's nail might be Kushinada's Linchpin. Relius mention's Bang's weapon and says Shuichiro's still a bother. - The Susano'o Unit has the power to cut time. - The Tsukuyomi Unit has the power to protect time. - Relius and Valkenhayn did battle numerous times about 100 years ago. - Phantom is almost certainly Nine, if there were any questions left. Relius story mode summary: It begins with Relius waking up without any memories. He slowly pieces together his memories like arranging books on a shelf, unraveling things gradually and enjoying it. He remembers working with Ayatsuki Shuichiro on an experiment with the Gates of Sheol in the year 2099. Terumi, ghost state, appears and Relius tries to obtain some "context" for the strange situation. Terumi explains that they're now in the year 2179. Back to the present, 20 years later. Hazama shows up, they talk a bit about sleeping. Relius says he needs to dream in order to reorganize all his data, and says Hazama always looks drowsy. Hazama says it's only because that's how Relius crafted his body. They talk about their preperations for awakening No. 12 (Noel), such as Hazama slaughtering all those Praetorian Guards for their souls. Then they head off. After they get to Kagutsuchi, Relius takes a detour right away and runs into Tsubaki, examines Izayoi, then gets distracted and leaves for the business district. He finds Tager and Makoto in that museum. Relius recognizes Tager as a man whose entire team he slaughtered not long ago. Kokonoe tells Tager to stand down and teleports Lambda onto the scene. He defeats Lambda with Ignis and thanks Kokonoe for the data. Hazama calls up Relius and asks him to go into the sewers and investigate Arakune. Relius recognizes him as Lotte Carmine (Roy Carmine). Relius defeats Arakune and Phantom shows up to teleport them away. However, the teleportation is interrupted by an invervention from Rachel. He says she was bold to use the Tsukuyomi Unit, and mentions that the Susano'o Unit cuts time and the Tsukuyomi Unit protects it. She tells him to "leave the stage", they fight, he wins, she teleports away and releases the barrier around them. However, with the barrier lifted, he realizes that Carl is nearby. Relius asks him what he wants, Carl basically says revenge for Ada, which Relius plays off like she was a willing participant. Relius praises his work on rebuilding Nirvana, and says Carl must have witnessed a certain phenomenon while doing it. Carl attacks with Nirvana and Relius introduces Carl to his mother's new form, Ignis. They fight. Relius wins, but praises Carl for his hatred. Relius then synchronizes his eyes with Carl's, causing Carl to see Relius's "domain". Everything is black, apart from a single blue light, a dark, inorganic mass, which Relius says is a person's true form. He explains that people are just things, and his goal is to create the perfect human, except that the Master Unit keeps preventing his progress. Carl's then rescued from the darkness by Nirvana. They retreat. Relius gets a call from Hazama. The smelting process is almost complete, Relius needs to hurry up. He gets to the place and examines Mu with Hazama, saying "so this is what the Master Unit accepted as its eyes?" After Hazama asks him of the quality, Relius praises it, then says they have to hurry to prepare for the Imperator's arrival. Relius leaves Hazama behind and looks at the sky, then says "It's incomplete after all..." The end. Alternate ending: He chases Rachel and teleports to her castle, where he attempts to attack her, but she is defended by Valkenhayn. They talk about what twist of fate it is to find each other in the same timeline and have another chance, some 100 years later, to fight again. Relius says it'll be like the good old days. Relius beats him to a pulp and seems disappointed, then tells Valkenhayn to give Clavis his regards in hell. As Relius is about to deal the killing blow... Hakumen appears, summoned by Rachel. Hakumen says that this will be a more fair fight, but that the odds weren't even. Relius agrees that he will now have a real challenge. He decides to send "her" to fight Rachel, and Phantom appears. Hakumen and Valkenhayn are shocked/appalled to see Phantom. However, Relius has intervened too much, and Phantom teleports him away. Relius realizes he needs to make preparations for the Imperator's arrival, but considers that he was truly longing for victory over Valkenhayn.

The term lynchpin just commonly means "the most crucial part of the plan", the thing that everything revolves around. The kanji 楔 (kadoi) basically seems to just refer to any sort of wedge that can be jammed into something to either hold it together or pry it apart. http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/くさび Grimoires have codes inscribed on them that can be used to activate ars magus (ars). Ars were developed by Nine, and they essentially use science to manipulate seither in order to produce the same kinds of effects as magic. Grimoires don't have to take on the form of books. There are also weapons, armor, and other artifacts that are technically classified as grimoires, and those are known as ars armagus (armagus). Izayoi and all of the Nox Nyctores are armagus. Seithr being particle-based shouldn't be too surprising, given, that the Japanese name is styled like a chemical element. I believe Arakune called it that in his CS2 story (in the English translation it's called a particle-type phenomenon). According to the CT Material Collection, a phenomena intervention is an action that violates and interferes with existence or matter. It refers to an "observation" of "phenomena" by someone with "will". As far as I can understand, it refers to any sort of action that intentionally violates reality or causality, which I assume generally means changing 'fate' or causing 'distortions'. The Takamagahara system seems to consider itself responsible for detecting, preventing, or repairing the effects of "phenomena interventions", and seeks to recreate the world without the distortions caused by Master Unit's incalculable level of "phenomena intervention".

in Relius' story since it has no bearing on the canon storyline. None of the arcade story paths are canon. At best, they're just one of the many possible results of the Continuum Shift. You're going to have to wait for the console release to get his actual story mode to know what really happens in the "true ending" scenario. Keep in mind that the game is still Continuum Shift, and the True Ending still applies. We know how their storyline actually ends, with Hazama and Relius hanging out at the cauldron and finding Nu's seemingly perfected body. The new story modes are just going to show some other points of view.

Would you mind posting up a scan of the new timeline? I've been planning on writing up a more detailed, fan-suplemented timeline.

Then Guilty Gear is the series for you!

I'm just going to go ahead and translate the whole article for shits and giggles. BlazBlue Continuum Shift II to get a new character and game balance upgrades this Fall Location test to be held at Akihabara HEY on August 11, 2011 Arc System Work's BlazBlue Continuum Shift II, which runs on the NESiCAxLive TAITO TypeX2 arcade system board, will be undergoing a series of updates beginning this Fall, including adjustments to the game's balance and the implementation of a new character. Additionally, a location test of the title has been scheduled for August 11 and will be held at Akihabara HEY. The following is an excerpt from the release: A new warrior joins the battle: Relius Clover! The newest playable character to join the fray has been a hit with fans ever since he debuted in the Story Mode of the console edition of BlazBlue Continuum Shift, and now the Mad Puppeteer Relius Clover finally takes the stage! Backstory: Relius arrived in the 13th Hierarchical City Kagutsuchi under orders from the Imperator to monitor Hazama's actions. He shows interest in nothing but research, not even his own son, Carl. Relius Clover (CV: Junichi Suwabe) Height: 186 cm Weight: 75 kg Birthday: June 1 Blood Type: A Birthplace: 2nd Hierarchical City Iwatsuchi Hobbies: Research Likes: Opera Dislikes: Unorganized bookshelves Information on the August 11 location test You can be amongst the first to experience the newest character in BlazBlue Continuum Shift II at the location test scheduled to be held at Akihabara HEY. Including the new playable character, Relius Clover, a total of 19 rebalanced characters will be avaible. Fierce competition with your fellow players can also be expected. If you want to check out the next version of BlazBlue Continuum Shift II before it's released, please drop by! Location test exhibition period: August 11 - August 17 Specifications: Two cabinets (four players total) will be installed with all 19 characters available. The location test is completely offline so NESiCA will not be available. NESiCA will continue to operate normally when the actual update launches. Edit: Same content but no watermarks on the images: http://www.4gamer.net/games/118/G011877/20110728102/

Makes sense. The full title of Relius's battle puppet in the Japanese version is Detonator: Ignis (波動兵器（デトネーター）・イグニス, lit. "Wave Weapon (Detonator): Ignis"). It was localized as Fluctus Redactum: Ignis for the English version.

Relius Clover will be added to the Arcade version of CS2 via an update this Winter, and it mentions possible plans for a DLC update for the console versions as well. His gameplay will be similar to Carl's, as he will fight by controlling his battle puppet, Ignis. A loketest is scheduled for August 11 at Akihabara Hey! Relius Clover Height: 186 cm Weight: 75 kg Birthday: June 1 Blood Type: A Birthplace: 2nd Hierarchical City Iwatsuchi (Austria) Hobbies: Research Likes: Opera Dislikes: Unorganized bookshelves CV: Junichi Suwabe Drive: Detonator Backstory: Showing interest in nothing but research, Relius is a man utterly devoid of affection, even towards his own son, Carl. He has a methodical disposition and hates bookshelves that are in disarray. He arrived in the 13th Hierarchical City Kagutsuchi under orders from a high-ranking member of the massive world government, the Novus Orbis Librarium, to observe the activities of Hazama, a member the very same organization's Intelligence Department.

Fullmetal Alchemist is extremely stylized, I wouldn't suggest relying on that as research source for alchemy. Guilty Gear's references to alchemy revolve almost entirely around A.B.A, and there's honestly not much to it, beyond what you find in her backstory. She's a homunculus and "lives in a flask", her home Frasco. The alchemist who created her is MIA.