RWA Announcer

Looking to get back into the groove after a bit of a break, and I've got a seemingly simple question, but it's still giving me fits. What exactly is the "rhythm" for the Valiant Combos? I can land it and hold forward to chase them, but I can only get about 1-2 5Cs in before they drop out. I assume it's a timing thing? I know I need to keeping tapping 6 to keep it going, so should I just hold forward, let go to return to neutral, hit C, then immediately hold forward again? The window for it seems a bit tight, but that could just be because it's left muscle memory since I haven't played in awhile. Ragna and Tager are my training dummies if that makes any difference.

I just wonder how big the gap between S and A really is. I appreciate that Dora's A is as crowded as it is, but I don't want to see the "Big 5" running the table either, especially since they're STILL the usual suspects. He did say that he thought 2.0 was more balanced than 1.1, in terms of having more viable characters, but while he mentioned that the characters weren't listed in order within the same ranks, he didn't comment on how wide the gap between ranks actually was. Granted, he speaks from the perspective of a player whose main has improved GREATLY in the update, but it's really nice to see some positivity about it, after all this talk of it being "unnecessary" and several top players, including our EVO champion, quitting entirely due to displeasure over changes. I'm trying to maintain my optimism though, since I have a few things to look forward to myself. (Nu and Lamda being separate, Noel buffs, Azrael's new corner game, Makoto being a character again, and perhaps a more interesting Kokonoe, despite her having less options on the whole.)

As thrilled as I am you guys finally getting the respect and fear that you've deserved for years, I've got to ask, if Tager's chopping up Nu, what chance do my poor Azrael, Lambda and Noel have against this finely-tuned beast? I honestly many vids on how those fights go yet, but I'd say he goes even with Az right now in 1.1 IMO.

Litherain-XIII's already covered Noel better than I ever could, so I'll move on to my other characters. Azrael: Didn't get a whole of time with 1.0, since I waited for U.S. release due to Graduate School, but I liked LK's analogy of calling him a stronger Kanji, because while I've NEVER played a grappler character before, outside of dabbling with Hakan (and don't plan to start anytime soon, because I just don't like being slow and inactive,) I always thought that his unique, Slayer-esque, Teleport dashes, combined with stubby, inconsistent normal, was what the "Grappler Struggle" would be like. 1.1 is obviously his most powerful version, as he's Top 5 (I refuse to believe he's better than Carl,) due to all of his bad matchups being nerfed and his handful of Quality Of Life improvements. However, I've always appreciated that he tows the line of balance, despite being strong, because if you look at all the charts, LK had him right on the line in 1.0, Dora has him in Top 3, but also right on the line in 1.1, while the East/West Lists had him slightly to the side of "Has Faults." As for his future, I'm VERY optimistic, his core is intact, the new corner game looks BRUTAL, and the buffs to Gustav and Instant Phalanx were the only things I ever wanted, and are worth the loss of Growler IMO, since he still has his health and backdash. He still seems like he can hang with everyone, has no true hard counters, and while he's getting kicked out of the penthouse, he's dragging his biggest threat (Koko) down with him, and feasting oh her flesh, and if Hazama, Carl and Valk are his biggest annoyances, (and mine!) then that's O.K. Kokonoe: I can compare them, but do I really need to? She's definitely worse in 2.0, but outside of forced resource management, I think she'll be O.K., even though, like Rachel, Gravitrons ARE this character, so we'll see how she develops, since, even if they're weaker, all of her tools are still present in her kit for the most part. I have faith that if anyone can salvage her remains, it's going to be Matoi and BananaKen though. Lamda-11: My memory's pretty fuzzy on her since it's been so many years, so I'd like somebody with more knowledge, like my man BloodWolf, to come help me out. I didn't spend a lot of time with her EXTEND version, and I liked her CSII version okay, but I feel like her CS1 incarnation was the most well-equipped, even though she always hovered around that A-B Rank, save for Satoshi putting her in S in EXTEND, but I recall someone here calling her "The most balanced character in Blazblue," it may have been Xie, and I always appreciated that. Makoto: I honestly don't remember enough about CS1 Mak, outside of the Parry Loop to compare her to her CSII version, in terms of which one may have been absolutely better, but I'm looking forward to her seemingly returning to form in 2.0.

I didn't see a specific thread for intermediate players, so I assume this would be the place to congregate? I haven't played in MONTHS, due to the combination of real life and other games, but I'm looking to get semi-serious again and shake off some rust before EXTEND drops, even though I'm annoyed that I let it get this close, though with no U.S. release date, I guess I shouldn't be TOO worried yet? But anyway, I'm up for beatings if someone's willing to put up with my rust and help whip me back into shape! "It's time to feast!"

Not exactly sure how effective I'll be, since I'm confined to PS4 pad at the moment due to TE2's selling out like hotcakes, but what the heck, I want to learn! I dabbled a bit in Accent Core and +R when it released on PSN, but I come more from a primarily Blazblue and Persona background when it comes to Air Dashers, but I've got a lot of general fighter experience in a variety of titles. PSN: RWAAnnouncer (PS4) Location: Jonesboro, Arkansas (CST) Characters:

Digital Watches brings up a good point. I know we have our matchup threads, and the console characters are still REALLY young, but has there ever been an actual matchup chart put out for this game, either by a community consensus, or a top player, besides that inherently flawed Eventhubs one? I know the arcades had something like that but, IIRC, that was just based off of data for those specific machines in each establishment It seems like it could be really idea if the right people wanted to get the ball rolling and hash it out after everything has a bit more time to develop.

Definitely watching these videos, but thanks for actually writing Fuzzy Jump down for us Anne! Been looking to both add that to my game and practice grabbing people out of it if I can program a Training Dummy to replicate it now that I have the inputs.

Good catch Mynus. I just realized he mentioned he was just Re-Tweeting it in his post. I was sleepy when I found it, heh. Nice to hear an opinion from a fellow Ramlethal, and a top one at that! As for video of Kazunoko's Leo, there's about 3 hours and 22 minutes of him playing him on the GodsGarden stream in some Ranked matches in their Twitch archives.

I haven't spent a TON of time with him myself, but from what I've seen of him, even in the hands of Kazunoko, there's nothing that just immediately jumps out at me as crazy, so I'd agree with you Kyosuke. I think StunEdge just left him off because the newest character and certainly hasn't had the time to be considered fully developed, especially since he's fresh meat as opposed to a returning veteran.

Here's the most recent Japanese Console Tier List, as of January 8th, courtesy of StunEdge/Ho-Chan, in order from Left to Right. S: Milia, Zato-1, Ramlethal, Faust, Elphelt A: Sol, I-No, Venom, Sin, Ky, Chipp B: Other (May and Bedman) C: Slayer, Axl, Potemkin. Not Sure/Unranked: Leo Whitefang http://www.twitter.com/hc0519/status/553103296995794944

Touche.

Interesting observations guys. I'm looking forward to the regular buffs FOR SURE, but I hope S. Naoto can still find a niche in the metagame in the wake of all of the Shadow changes. I just want to use BOTH, without one being outright superior to the other in the majority of situations. That's not too much to ask for, is it ASW? I'm pretty optimistic though.

Do we have fully translated changes yet?

Thanks. After having it laid out like that, outside of the Knives disappearing on hit, (which I guess is to compensate for them becoming a Low, even though I thought some moves already destroyed them, like Liz's 5B?) that really doesn't sound too bad at all. We're certainly all speculating at this point, and that's what I told him too, but I personally like the fact that they're improving his pressure and neutral, which is what attracted me to the character in the first place form watching DIE-Chan matches last year. I'm a little worried about how he'll stack up against Yu now, but we'll all find out together and he still seems SUPER SOLID anyway. I just thought some of those nerfs might be evening us out overall, so I appreciate the insight.

I know there seems to be a pretty large air of positivity amongst us, but nerfs to Command Grab, even if they were justified, Moon Smasher, Survival Knives disappearing on hit and throw no longer knocking down seem like some decent hits to me. I know it's SUPER early regardless, and there's are CERTAINLY things I'm hyped about, like 5C Ground Bounce and the crazy Rekkas, but it's like R-Squared was telling me earlier, "What's to stop people from just blocking when Command Throws aren't as threatening and his Teleport seems to be even more punishable?" Would somebody more knowledgeable than me, like Hitmarkers or Vulcan mind breaking that list down for me a bit more?

Gotta agree with Ichipoo on this one. I absolutely ADORE the Glass Cannon archetype, and since Liz, at least in my mind, doesn't really fit that role anymore, I'm glad that Naoto's going in that direction, on top of retaining what initially attracted me to her in the first place: the fact that she's just a well-balanced J.O.A.T., who can do a bit of it all, without being super weak or crazy strong. (Like Yu!) I am a little concerned about how less time on Status Ailments could impact Shadow Naoto, but with the general changes to that group, she'll probably remain as vicious as ever, if not becoming even MORE viable when you give her all of these buffs on top of that! Above all else, I'm STOKED that Naoto, and Elizabeth for that matter, seem to be comfortably settling into some clearly defined niches with proper gameplans, as opposed to be a random assortment of tools. 2.0 looks like a whole new world, and I'm READY for it!

Been a month or two since I've played, but I think this would be a great way to shake off some rust. Depending on the time, I'll be in!

Saw this coming from MILES away! Hopefully the delay between releases won't be too long, and it'll just be $40, so my wallet can live a bit. Cross-Play with the PS4 version sounds GREAT though, since it should keep the online competition fresh. Time to brush up after so much USF4, Ultimax and Xrd! I wonder if they'll do anything with the arcade lobbies after implementing them in other games now? I know I'm a few pages late to respond to some of Airk's argument, but I'll say my piece anyway. Why is everyone who doesn't play Azrael so quick to tap dance on the Mad Dog's grave?! I disagree with the Top 3 sentiment because of Carl, not that being #4-5 is a BAD place to be, mind you, especially when Dogura was the only truly kicking heads in with him, but he didn't get changed as drastically as say, Kokopuffs. Rachel, Litchi, or even Hazama, most of his current stuff still works, and most of his "nerfed" moves actually provide him MORE corner carry, which is what he wants because now it's Wallstick City. Most of us in the Azrael Forums are pretty excited and honestly, maybe I'm just optimistic, but I'd rather deal with Bang, Jin, Ragna and even Nu, as SILLY as she looks, than an army of Litchis, Kokos, Hazamas, Rachels and Carls any day, since they're more straightforward, just like him. He's still going to be a threatening gorilla at the end of the day, even if a few matchups are slightly worse. Who do you play though, since you haven't mentioned them yet?

For anyone who wants to see a visual comparison between Quality and Speed mode on the PS3, James Xie made a short video about it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaeSOCRccAs&list=UUNUmWSJa3vJQrNmxwVekm6g

Any idea who's voicing Dizzy in English yet? Glad to hear Michael McConnohie is returning for Paradigm. I love that man in EVERYTHING he does! LOL! So Liam's Johnny too? With a Southern accent? I've got to hear this. I'm expecting it to be hilarious. Price as Leo makes sense though.

Just heard Chipp. I have no idea who it is, but her sounds adequately silly enough for the role, especially since Chipp has always struck me as a pretty delusional character, what the thinking he was born in Japan, but clearly being American thing. Almost like Sodom from Street Fighter. Can we post links to the demo videos here? I'll check the rules on that, because I could link you some English Venom Blade so that you can hear him and form your own opinion on him.

Is there a clip of English Chipp on Youtube anywhere? Haven't had the chance to hear him yet, and he's the only one I think I've missed so far. Faust is FANTASTIC, and while I-No and Ramlethal weren't exactly what I was hoping for, they're fine enough that I can stand listening to them for as much as I'm going to play them, since Ram is going to be my #1 main and I'm interested in I-No now that her execution requirements have gone down a bit. Really interested in how Elphelt and Leo will sound. I'd love for Elph to be Christine Marie Cabanos if they could get her, since she'd nail Elphelt's gushing over love and weddings just as well as she nailed Mako's signature crazy speeches, but we'll see in a couple of weeks.

Just read your post Circuitous. So if I buy the PS3 version at launch, but then decide to upgrade to PS4 later on, I get my DLC, Save Files, and presumably, Trophies, ALL carried over and preserved on my new system? Wow. That sounds AWESOME!

Are we talking in general Angry, since it could also apply to Street Fighter, or something else specific with Blazblue? Sad to hear such negative reception, since this is the series that got me into AirDashers, and I'm legitimately excited for Noel buffs, Azrael changes, who honestly looks better to me here, since his bad matches took a larger tumble, trying out Nu, since I never played CT, and above all else, FINALLY having Lambda back properly! Such a shame, since I love 1.1 right now as it is.