Kikirin

Dengeki article on Naoto: http://dengekionline.com/elem/000/000/753/753528/ Dat Venom Zapper attack angle! http://dengekionline.com/elem/000/000/753/753532/p4u2_004_cs1w1_720x.jpg \o/

Probably moot with the official release coming up soon, but for the curious, translations on normals, specials, and combo routes are mostly done. A couple new(?) tidbits: + 8500 health + 5AA is a low-hitting kick. + 5C/2C can be canceled into AoA. = "Safety" (4x) followup of Furious Action is a backstep cancel. Not sure if can be done without catching an attack. The new bullet gauge system sounds rough. From my understanding, it sounds like bullets are now a resource to be managed, albeit more akin to Orgia meter than Aigis bullets. This does seem to explain the addition of a bullet-less Aim stance attack. Again, link to it is: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yBIQ5J1HjP5yfuftDAQWpwvEJpSGM7u_YDdsK3gvZ7I/edit?usp=sharing Stay tuned for supers and combat impressions. Edit: With knowledge of the backstep follow-up of Furious Action, this is what one of the fatal counter recovery items should read as. So regular backstep itself isn't that bad for us.

Ahiru made a big, end of loketest summary post of the changes for Naoto. Will rough translate it later today.

Sweet, this completely answers my question. Thanks, all, for the discussions/explanations regarding it.

Hm, interesting. I would think that blockstun begins on the first frame after the attack is received, so the remaining active frames would then be added to the gap before the next attack goes active, if cancels can only be made on the recovery frames and not the remaining active frames. To clarify, by "recovery" frames, I mean the amount of time between the attack's final active frame and when the attacker returns to neutral, which I assume is the meaning of the Recovery column on the wiki. I don't think remaining active frames are skipped after an attack hits/is blocked, because otherwise that would mess up the static difference calculations. Though if the remaining active frames count as part of the "recovery" for this calculation, which'd be a slightly different definition of recovery than the one above, then that math works out.

Thanks! The wiki does have attack levels for moves as well as a table that (generally) maps blockstun values to them, so that aspect is covered. The CP individual character pages even conveniently have a column for blockstun for those who haven't memorized 'em. From my understanding, the math for determining the frame gap would then be: [ Blocked attack's remaining active frames ] + [ startup of next attack ] - [ blockstun from blocked attack ] ( +/- other modifiers ). ...subtracting an additional 1 to beat it outright instead of trade/clash. So taking Rachel's 5B > 5C as an example: - 5B is Lv 3 (16f blockstun), with 5 active frames - 5C has 17f startup Assuming 5B is blocked on its first active frame, the frame gap without modifiers is then: 4f + 17f - 16f = 5f? I think the wiki mentioned -3f for instant block, so that would be a large enough gap to IB and punish with 5a/2a for a lot of characters?

I'm currently trying to do some frame math to figure out what gatlings/cancels I can mash out of after an IB on defense. Characters with late gatlings aside, what is the earliest that a normal can be canceled? Is it on the first recovery frame? Or the frame immediately after the attack connects, i.e. possibly during remaining active frames?

I tried to decipher more of the content from Ahiru's blog posts, but my Japanese grammar-fu is too weak. If you're interested in looking at half-intelligible snippets, you can take a peek at my Google doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yBIQ5J1HjP5yfuftDAQWpwvEJpSGM7u_YDdsK3gvZ7I/edit?usp=sharing A couple highlights: - SB Pistol super is super sexy. Shadow Naoto can use them in burst-safe shadow berserk corner combo routes that take all the fate counters. Might have enough meter/time leftover for Hama oki. - j.C hits overhead

I'm not sure if any of it stuck to this loketest, but I thought it'd be nice to list some of the previously unmentioned loketest #2 changes. From http://blog.goo.ne.jp/ahiru06081/e/3ad555e372bc9c172edbe24db7c0b8b4 + 5C dash cancel's static difference reduced. + SB Aim has one additional bullet. + 4D added. Hikona moves across the screen slower. + Venom Zapper has some Head invulnerability. + Hamaon has faster startup. - Removed ability to Counter Shot without catching an attack with furious action. - Backstep > Air Fangs removed. - Attack level of shots reduced. - Aim 6D has SMP? A few things for loketest #3 were mentioned in another post: http://blog.goo.ne.jp/ahiru06081/e/70a8e240298760874f5c3cd2029e4018 * Aim 6D untech time reduced. Can't include as a combo part even on FC. Unusable as a combo ender. * Untech time on air SB Fangs reduced. No ground pickup after. * Throw > Dash Cancel removed. * 5B > Dash Cancel added. * FC recovery: furious action, backstep, entirety of Aim (unconfirmed) * 2[C] charge time reduced? * CH D Megido > 5C > IAD JB JC > 5C > IAD JB JC > 5C doesn’t connect after trying many times. Inserting 2 IADs seems impossible.

Thanks for the correction! I've edited my post for it.

Naoto stuff posted on a blog: Loketest #2 stuff not previously mentioned? http://blog.goo.ne.jp/ahiru06081/e/3ad555e372bc9c172edbe24db7c0b8b4 Loketest #3 Day 1 stuff: http://blog.goo.ne.jp/ahiru06081/e/70a8e240298760874f5c3cd2029e4018 Loketest #3 Day 2 Shadow Naoto stuff: http://blog.goo.ne.jp/ahiru06081/e/6e5daaf219ab19f7ddc9661f1b6446f6

I'm a novice at this, so apologies in advance for any inaccuracies: - D traps aren't broken by jump attacks. - Bullet count system preserved. - Even when bullets are exhausted, can still use Aim 6D. - Still can't use Counter Shot when furious action doesn't catch an attack. - Combos have difficult-looking extensions, but pressure-preserving movement seems possible. Could be interesting.

Question about netplay and match intros: I know that the general word is to let it play through all the way, but would it be fine to skip it once it looks like it's running at "normal" speed? I'm under the impression that the background synchronization is done by that point.

I actually use left thumb 8 almost all the time. My problems likely stem more from sloppy inputs (2369 as 239) and/or incorrect timing (hitting the attack button too soon after the motion or too late such that the special input is no longer in the buffer). The HitBox does output Left+Right inputs as neutral and Up+Down as Up. I imagine this behavior can be changed if you used modified firmware for your controller. Also, I'm of the opinion that it's the game that's poorly coded if it doesn't handle Simultaneous Opposing Cardinal Directions gracefully.

HitBox is pretty awesome overall, though I still have a hard time with getting half-circle and TK motions consistently when trying to do them quickly. With the former, I'll often get 63146 and eat a counterhit for my trouble when trying to get a super reversal out. With the latter, 2147 and 2369 often doesn't end well, though I've found that 214~8 and 236~8 get me more-consistent results. One-handed 720s are also pretty rough for me, but they're a snap when done two-handed (i.e. right thumb for 8). The instant block trick mentioned earlier is pretty cool! I'll have to work that into my defense.

Caveat: I'm currently not near the game to confirm the numbers, and these are based on how Extend does damage calculations. But I imagine the damage calculation aspect of BBCP should be roughly the same. Based on what I understand of it, the formula calculates the damage a particular hit will do and is generally used for the second hit of the combo onwards. Using your example for Mu, the calculation for the combo will be: First Hit (5a): just use the base damage here since there are no preceding hits, i.e. 300. Second Hit (5b): use the formula with character combo rate, 1st attack's p1, and 1st attack's p2 applied. So 530 * 0.80 * 1 * 0.77 = 326 Total Combo = 300 + 326 = 626 If there were a third hit, you'd use the formula with character combo rate, 1st attack's p1, 1st attack's p2, and 2nd attack's p2 applied. It looks like the CP wiki doesn't have an example up yet, but you can check out a CSE example here: http://www.dustloop.com/wiki/index.php?title=Damage_(BBCSE) Addressing your individual questions in-line:

Kokonoe @ ~0:54 - did she just pull a Fat Albert? :o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDT7GP9l1-I

Chiming in to say that I'd be totally down with a PS3 and/or PC localization. While I have no particular preference to one or the other, more of my friends would prefer the former. Will hit up their Facebook and Twitter later.

It looks like it's already up. It's not so much a live simulcast where it goes live and is gone if you miss it, but rather that they upload a video for you to watch by the specified time. This is the direct page to the series in general, and the episodes list will be updated each week: http://www.funimation.com/shows/blazblue/anime

Totally calculus if the rate of change at various points in the health bar were factored into the calculation!

SMP's a good solution - he totally respects it already when not fighting for serious!

My usual opponent doesn't use guard touches much, but I would think the main thing is to stagger your blockstrings, use safe projectiles, and tick throws. There might not be much that can be done if the opponent can guard touch B and C attacks consistently, as they are easier to guard touch due to their longer blockstun with increasing strength. Perhaps (5a/2a) x N > dash > (5a/2a x N) staggered pressure would be good? The risk/reward of guard touching 5a/2a - eating a full combo on a failed guard touch (a punishable neutral touch or burst comes out) vs returning to roughly neutral with 1 stock wasted and 9 seconds of touch cooldown on success - is stacked in the attacker's favor. Combine this with tick throws, and the opponent may be distracted enough to forget about attempting guard touches. Projectiles can't be guard touched, so they can help rack up guard break. However, the safer ones are pretty punishable on startup, depending on distance. Some non-projectile specials (and maybe a lot of SP specials) can't be guard touched either. Caveat: I'm not sure if there are defensive option selects to deal with these options simultaneously. From some experimentation, plinking D~A+C seems to allow for a guard touch / throw tech option select, so perhaps there's an attack / guard touch / throw tech one, too? Even if you get (ground) guard touched, you should generally be safe, albeit under pressure, after being on the receiving end of a guard touch as long as: 1) you aren't pushing buttons or 2) it wasn't a strong (red?) guard touch. Being guard touched off a jump attack can be particularly dangerous though since the opponent can anti-air or get additional left-right mixup if you air tech, or oki if you don't.

Assault touch isn't something that I personally use often, though the guard bar reduction, ability activation, easy in, knockdown/oki, and swag mid-combo OTG pickups are nice reasons for using them. I can see a case for it when getting a mixup/oki heavy character in with a good buff, but it has its risks as well. It does lock you out of your touch options for a whole 15s and reduces stock for your metered options (incoming char will have 3 stock at best). Either can be pretty devastating depending on the current state of the match. I imagine there's quite a few strategies to meter usage. Hoarding it to maximize damage output, maximize footsies options, keep control of the meta world, avoid big damage and/or pressure, etc.

I'm personally not well-versed on the subject since I usually run random teams, but here's a few obvious things that might be helpful to consider: - Bern has pretty low health, so pairing her with a higher-health character would help offset this drawback. - Bern has pretty good mobility with all those air movement options, so she'd make a good partner to get in for a lower-mobility one. - Bern needs meter for her defensive and more-damaging combo options. It'd be helpful if her partner isn't as meter-reliant, to let Bern stay on the bench longer. - Bern's ability is tied for longest duration, so she won't be the "weakest link" when determining duration of stacked abilities in meta world. Pairing this with longer-lasting utility abilities like Dlanor's armor or 410's break boost can help keep you in a buffed state for a good amount of the time. This may not matter if you use Attack Touches frequently, as I think Meta World stacked buffs don't stay on character switches. - Tied to the previous point, there aren't many Meta Supers that can be thrown out with impunity in a neutral or pressure situation, so the extended Meta World time via her ability might not help much. That said, fighting Beatrice or 410 in a longer Meta World sounds absolutely annoying to deal with. Overall, I'd say Dlanor, Bronove, 410, and maybe Beatrice seem like solid partners for her.

Looks like Relius used his evade special there. Also, thanks, Moy, for the info on bursts. I'd never really thought of jump-cancelable attacks as potentially burst safe.