Soviet Bear

In previous versions, it used to be just "input shippu follow-up whenever" but in CP, it's a bit stricter. Speaking of Yukis and Shippus, there seems to be a Shippu frame, right before he slams the sword to the ground, where you can cancel it into Yukikaze. It works as baiting against some distortions, but not against others. Like when they try to avoid your Shippu slam or projectile with an invulnerable start-up. For example, if I do a Shippu to bait a carnage scissors from Ragna, it won't register my Yuki input. If I do it against Azrael's lunge distortion (no idea what it's called), it works. Any idea why?

People picking the character you used to prove how easy mode you are, only to lose and then complain how you're a scrub regardless.

I'll stick to being reserve, but if you need to me jump into the team, please let me know on June 6 so I can plan accordingly. Although by the looks of it, seems like there won't be any need.

GGs to the people I've played in mAc's player room.

Blade Symphony is a Source engine sword-fighting game, a few years in the making and gone through extensive testing in Steam's Early Access. Basically, it's a mix of Bushido Blade and Jedi Outcast's multiplayer. You choose between four characters and four types of weapons, mix-matching whichever combo you prefer. The actual combat revolves around a stance-based combo system, while the weapons determine whether and how you parry, block and/or feint. Modes that exist are 1vs1, 2vs2 and Free-For-All. Free for all is like this very MMO-ish lobby. You basically just hang around and challenge other people to one on one duels. Think BlazBlue's arcade lobby, only you fight in the lobby. This also means that people have created a bunch of games in free-for-all, like King of the Hill, or team duels where people duke it out on a narrow bridge. There are no perks or unlockables beyond cosmetics. It also has Steam Workshop support, so you can download and use a bunch of new skins and models for both characters and weapons. I got a bit less than 10 hours in right now, but my experience with it so far has been extremely positive. The combat feels right, it's tactical and the community has been quite friendly and helpful so far. You can get the game on Steam here. The fact that it's also made in the Source engine means it should run on potato hardware. Also, Judgement with a Jian sword is basically Hakumen. Screenshots:

Can't people just make an account from one of the supported European countries? Or do they block you based on IP like Steam does? I mean, my country doesn't even exist according to PSN and yet 70% of my PS3 library is digital.

I want to watch this streamed. Also, feel free to add me to euro reserves.

I've play regularly against a Ragna, but it's reached the point where I'm learning to play VS the player as opposed to the actual character. Some ways you can condition him to do his DP is hitting a lying Ragna with 5C or otherwise pressuring him and making him recover early in the match. After you've done that, guessing whether he'll DP from wake-up or throw turns into trying to read your opponent correctly. When in doubt, you can jump and then either hit him with 5B/Agito/Tsubaki if he's doing a regular recovery, or go into a jD or barrier if you see the DP (which means you have to get the jump height right to have enough reaction time). However, if you make a habit of this, the Ragna can always Rapid his DP on your jumping barrier and punish you. Basically, the best way I've found to deal with Ragna's DP is to try and force him to use it when I can. When you manage to bait one with a D, you have to guess, based on your opponent's playstyle, whether they'll try it again right away or drop that approach for a while. Sorry if the advice is a bit too general. As for 5b, what's causing you trouble exactly?

Here is some utterly trivial knowledge I found out today in training mode. Since Agito is a full projectile, it can go through Hakumen's Astral without any issues (even if you hop Agito, it doesn't matter how close or far you are). The real funny stuff was that you can cut through Agito with 5C or 2C and create a Fuumajin. What's possibly even funnier is that the Haku who did Agito can just 2C into the opponent's Fuumajin, creating another Fuumajin and they just cancel each other out.

I'm currently in the process of moving to a different city, but after all those costs are over, I'll try and contribute.

Aside from possibly framerate, input and piracy are a silly excuse. There's enough piracy on consoles and you can use different types of inputs on consoles as well. If FPS can work on consoles, then there's really no excuse for fighting games to be on PC.

GGs to BanBears2. Always fun to play your Haku.

+1 to Twitter flood. They fav'd it, so I'm guessing they're doing so to have easy reference ("X amount of people tweeted to us").

Are there any good articles or videos that cover the history of the GG series?

I don't see what's wrong with Tager getting some normal buffs? I really hope they make Hakumen's 6D usable again, but I doubt it. I'm expecting damage nerfs though.

I really wish that was Robo Ky and I am so sad that it isn't Oh well, bunch of other characters to play. I'm hyped regardless.

The Hakumen in this set of Taokaka matches consistently managed to do a Throw > Fully-charged Shippu: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_pn5Lf6KxQ&t=20m29s Is this just a gimmick, or is there really nothing certain characters can do against this? EDIT: A few more examples in this Tager fight: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmi36B2MqvU&t=21m19s

Awesome. Thanks, everyone.

Yeah, that was the first non-laggy Kagura match I ever had (making it the second Kagura match ever, I guess). Regarding your Ragna 2B comment, you mean kishuu/renka after landing a 2B? Is that on counter hit only?

That didn't cross my mind at all for some reason. Thanks! As for improving wake-up, what I'm getting from all these posts is that Hotaru isn't as good as it used to be, so it's either guarding or playing guessing game with counters and 6B? I see different people have different experiences with this, so I'll experiment a bit and see what can work. But blocking+counter throws should be reliable, right?

I try to play aggressively in the same way a knight can charge in with his shield up.

Uploaded a few more matches for feedback. It's been less than a month since I started learning how to play an arcade stick, so if anything looks like a mis-input (like a 5C > 5C > 5C instead of 5C > Zantetsu > stuff), it likely is. I'd appreciate feedback on how to actually wake-up properly, because I seem to crumble whenever I'm in that situation and I can't figure out what to do exactly. I've also taken to heart the previous advice on learning combos, but I don't really show them up in these videos. Any other notes are also welcome, even if it's "you still need to learn X, like I mentioned last time". VS Kagura http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9hYMiP-XSI VS Ragna http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dLCuWX6Ko8 VS Jin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ARGkhOFfwI

Definitely too much jumping around. Also, use A and B moves during jumping, not just C moves.

When people go AFK on me, I also make a note of how much Magatama I had with Hakumen, so I keep spending it to stay on that value until they return. Would feel like cheating if we continued and I was on 8 instead of 2 magatama.

Nice choice of artwork for the Hakumen stick.