RifleAvenger

Issue is, it is a suggestive shot. And all the characters LOOK young (Rachel technically has the body of a child). See where I'm going with this? If I didn't know any better, and knew nothing of blazblue, I would assume that cover art was for an ecchi game (or worse). Obviously it's not that, and it's actually one of the tamer things I've seen come out of official BB art (some of the gallery art makes me feel dirty just unlocking it for achievements...). I don't particularly like the LE box art myself, though I wouldn't ban it.

Because when people listen to music, they turn on their PS3 and TV and go into training mode, while holding their character in the crouching position so they don't do idle stance lines. On disc DLC is on disc and also DLC. Thank you for informing me. That's worth considering.

If it does, and I did buy LE, I'd be looking to trade someone for a regular box. As to if it would happen or not, I'm unsure.

How "limited" is the LE edition usually? I'm really weighing whether to even get a NA copy, and dropping $80 to get some extras I don't have already actually seems better than $60 for English story mode alone. I'm just wondering what the estimate is on how long I'd have to consider whether to commit or not.

Some of the people I've seen were definitely Japanese. I played with a small group of players who originated from central america too (had ok connections with them though). However, for the most part I think they're just people in North America who either live too far away from me (though I live in the midwest...) or just have really poor connections (some people don't get that wireless = no good for fighting games, or can't get a wired connection). As for the segregation issue, you have a point. But bad connections are bad connections. Back in the day, I dreaded being paired up against Aussie teams in Halo (bet they hated it even more, since NA got host more often). Fighting games are even less tolerable in lag. I've enjoyed the few times I've found a foreign player with a miraculously good connection (played Liz mirrors against a jp player in P4A into the morning, the matches I had in CP with the central america players, etc.). I just can't take the frustration of the more common result: a match that winds up playing like I'm in molasses. Winning or losing feels awful in those conditions.

More like plenty of people, mostly shit connections, and the people with good ones are already playing, and they or their opponent always go for the salty runback. Half the people in there have connections so bad I cannot even start a match with them. And I won't play 0 or 1 bar unless I'm desperate or it's someone I know. Most people try to stick to 3 bar and up.

They even reused the summoning animation. It really is Noel's own little magical girl transformation sequence!

Bikini? I'd expect them to just throw him out there in a tight speedo.

Shows up after. The hotsprings scene involves: Ragna, Noel, Tao, Litchi, Rachel (Nago and Gii too I guess).

I mock shippers (or rather, their ships and pairings) for fun. Just like bad anime. How dare you get angry at what I do for fun! Take your ships as seriously as you want. It's within my rights to think they're dumb and baseless. As for the anime, watch it for the "so bad its good" and the occasional hilariously badly drawn frame.

It can go down if you lose a lot too. Cool colors mean you're not doing too hot, with blue being the worst. I'm at green myself...

Yeah, unless the loser decides to be considerate and wait a few seconds for someone to get on, you need to countermash them. Personally, I wish the loser's no rejoin were a slight bit longer.

Yes. Given the frame data the move Noel uses has 25 frames of startup followed by two active frames. Our backdash is 26 frames, the last 6 of which are vulnerable. Assuming Noel times her 6D to correspond with our wakeup, that would put the active frames at 26 and 27 frames after wakeup. To backdash this, we would have to start our backdash 7 frames in or later, so that we're still invulnerable by the last active frame (Of course she could delay it an equal amount of time, but doing so intentionally sounds pretty crazy). However, waiting like that would open you up to having to block her anytime she could toss out a jab at you after wake-up, let alone meaty you. Using Growler safely would be an even longer wait.

Are you taking auditions for all characters now, or just the ones that show up in the first few episodes?

What a waste of an episode. When you've only got 12 episodes, whose insane idea is it to waste half an episode on hot springs? Oh wait... ecchi studio and Mori...

Wait... there are people who don't mash into the next round, win or lose? Anyways, for some reason I can't confirm air hits with any of my characters not named Azrael on netplay. And it's really starting to piss me off when I stuff a roll with 2A etc., only to have them air tech into possibly a better situation than if I just let them roll (since my followup attack will be busy whiffing).

Noel forums found an option select that covers both our wake-up DP and our wake up backdash. Mashing jab or throwing will beat this though.

Tao rips off Makoto's tail. Wacky hijinks ensue.

I played a Ft50 with a friend who plays Hakumen, and had an awful time of it. I had to switch to Azrael partway through, because the matches weren't even close with me on Rachel. Neutral is a nightmare. I can play pressure fine and block him alright, but I'm getting stuffed in neutral. He gets in that range where his sword just dominates me, and any good hit he gets eats through my health. I'm just looking for advice on how deal with this guy.

LOL at all the Hakumen comments. I'm actually more concerned about Koko breaking 6K off a throw for 25 meter. At least Haku needs some time in OD.

Alright, since I posted this, matchup threads have all gone up, so I moved my question there. Thanks!

That Chaos player is my hero.

Hi, Azrael player here. I've been playing the local Arakune's, and decided to share my take on the match. Pre-curse Arakune wants to be in the air and/or away from Azrael, and Azrael wants to be close and keep Arakune on the ground. Arakune has better options for harassing Azrael and for escaping in the air. Being in the air will also help keep you safe from Phalanx Cannon, Azrael’s fireball he gains access to if he uses Growler to absorb a bug. Getting hit by Cannon is bad, since it stuns you long enough for Azrael to start making his way in. Far away Arakune wants to frustrate Azrael's approach by any means necessary. Cloud is one of the best examples. Various Arakune j.D’s can frustrate things like Azrael TK’ing into 236A out of dash, which can cover a lot of ground, or just harass Azrael. Even 3D can do a good job of discouraging Azrael dash into gustaf, as the bug covers the ground in front of Arakune and takes a moment to burrow in. However, Azrael can beat this by canceling his dash into a jump and air dashing over. Basically, you want to have multiple things out on screen at the same time, preferably one that will block aerial approach and one that will stuff a ground approach. Keep it up until Azrael either breaks through, or he blocks/gets hit by one too many drives and you gain curse. Azrael has situational access to two attacks that go nearly fullscreen. One is his fireball, which he can only use after absorbing a projectile. The other is the super Black Hawk Stinger. If he’s anywhere closer than absolute full screen with 50 meter, and you try setting up cloud or anything else that take time to come out on the ground or low to it, Azrael can activate this move to smash you. It does have four startup frames after the superflash, so if you can keep hitboxes onscreen you can discourage him from doing this. In addition, both PC and BHS will whiff on a foe who is sufficiently high in the air. More reason to try and keep to the air. At mid-range the game becomes both sides trying to bait the foe into doing something dumb or whiffing. Here Azrael wants to use 236A, (5C ->) Gustaf/6C, or careful movement to get in without being cursed. If Arakune can dodge these options he can either escape to long range, or punish Azrael with a combo into curse depending on the situation. Frankly this is the area that gets the muddiest for me to explain, but it also seems to be an incredibly important area. Neutral is the key to this match, and this is the location where the advantage in the match can swing one way or the other. Sorry that I cannot elaborate any better. Up close, it’s Azrael’s game. His A and B normal are faster than Arakune’s and are either positive or neutral on block. Azrael's 2B is slower and -3 on block, but is used more like his 5C for its longer reach and for whiff punishing. He’s got a fair number of highs (jumping moves, 5D, 6D, 236D) and lows (2A, 3C, 2D, 3D, 214D), and can cross up easy with j.B or dash through. Counter assault, or trying to call and mash or jump out when Azrael’s going to try a jump in, dash through, or a drive high/low are your best choices, and those all carry some risk. You can also try backdashing, and this is actually quite effective since his individual strings are short, giving you plenty of places to back off. Gives Azrael a taste of his own medicine. But beware, since if Azrael predicts it he’ll follow with 236A or 6C. Outside of the corner Azrael has a hard time dealing with rolls, so use that to your advantage. In the corner however, he can more reliably use sentinel dump (623C) to catch rolls. When you have curse, the only thing that makes this match different from normal is Growler. Like Skye said, try to predict when Azrael will try this and bait it. Also, even if he does growler a bug, he’ll have to stand still for a little bit. Stop summoning until the growler ends, and move closer to prepare to mix him up. Beware of Phalanx Cannon at that point though. I agree fully with this assessment. Arakune is outclassed in close range, and Azrael only needs to make one or two good reads (or mistakes on Arakune's part) to get in. This is why I think this matchup favors Azrael. It can be tough for Azrael to get in, but once he’s in, he tends to stay in. Whereas the Arakune player needs to be constantly on point at the long and mid-range neutral games in order to hold Azrael out and build up curse. If he can get curse, however, it's bee time as always.

#20 is pretty much always combo into astral.

Hi, I don't have any matchup specific advice to give, since I'm the Azrael AND the Rachel player in my college scene, but I thought I'd clarify some of the more unclear things in this post. Comments are in bold.