Blade

Well, you develop habits from game to game, so they change over time...for example, I can barely play CS1 Ragna anymore due to how many ways he changed. There is such a thing as Universal Habits, one of them is simply training more and habitually (that is to say, do some warmup combos in training before jumping online, loosens you up). If you play the A.I. cranked up it can teach you a few things about the holes in your offense and how strong or weak your defense might be...but these aren't the best conditions, especially considering the A.I. can pick apart any Haku-men's D moves and cause you to anticipate things in live matches that may never happen with real people. If you can find a friend that's better than you who is more than willing to kick your ass constantly, but patiently show you what you did wrong, that is best. Also it wouldn't hurt to have a good rotation of friends, since playing one person for too long teaches you about their own habits and you get too acclimated to them enough to adapt to another player's style...as no matter what you may think, no two Ragnas fight alike (even if they are similar in some ways). You need to stay loose about how you learn to play, don't lock yourself into one style, don't think there's only one way of playing the character you chose, and do lots and lots of experimentation. Watch combo vids, save replays, download replays from the leaderboard ranking, etc etc. There's some core habits to get started with...

I'm not gonna say dropping Haku-men is a good or bad idea, but I will say that you have to think more in terms of offense and defense with every character. That is to say, Ragna is offense oriented, Lambda is offense oriented at certain ranges, Bang has an offense/defense thing going on, Tsubaki has lots of offense options but requires defensive charging to be effective, Carl is offensive while using Ada as a Shield, Arakune is evasive and attacks indirectly, Tager is all about defense and counter-throws and resets...the list goes on. You basically have to start thinking that every character is different and applying that to your style, and file away that individual character's style that you've developed, and only bring those techniques out when USING that character. For example, I can play Ragna, and I can play Tager...with Ragna I'm a pressure machine, but with Tager I relax and let the opponent's mistakes happen to themselves while playing with their guard and finding 720 opportunities. I won't say they are polar opposites, as similar things could be said of other characters to Ragna. Just think in terms of what can you do with the character you chose that you can't do with Haku and go from there and treat them as separate.

Googling "Death and Republic" and some other stuff, and I came across this: http://jpfiles.eu/2011/04/09/album-s-s-h-summer-vacation-game-music-festival-2002/ Warning: HUGE LONG SONG, I suggest copy-paste song info from the blog into the song so you can remember, lol.

As someone who plays with multiple characters, I'm not what you'd call the type to "drop" a character. Autopiloting can happen to anyone, the first thing you need to be aware of is not so much what you are doing as what the opponent is doing. If you do the same combo over and over throughout the match, and consistently land it on the opponent, that's not necessarily autopilot..the "means" and "method" of how you landed that combo is what's important, even if scrubs complain. You also want to broaden your mental "options" of what your character can do to trick an opponent, if you have only three methods, it's only a matter of time until someone catches on and punishes you, what's more don't lock yourself into practiced strategies alone, be aware of the situation at all times, life bar, guard primers, heat bar, burst, your opponent's state, everything. When adapting from CS1 to CS2 with Ragna, I learned that a lot of moves I used to use as point of entry for combos needed to stop being used, either due to unfavorable situations post-combo, or I was getting countered a lot for using a certain normal. No matter how much auto-piloting you think you're doing, your body is still capable of learning through trial and error. Make enough mistakes and you'll definitely ingrane what to do and what not to do. First learn what normals will work the most, then things like high-damage combos come later, when your body is more accustomed to the repitition and strategies and adapting to what an opponent aims to do. I'm actually picking up Tsubaki for the first time, because of this, even though I barely touched her in CS1. Many of her combos are repititious, but her methods to those combos vary from situation to situation, either due to jumping height, spacing, enemy size, or other factors. After playing Tsubaki for a couple hours and getting maybe THREE combos down...I got tired, you know why? Because in a lot of situations she is always "doing" something, be it charging, moving, spamming 5B, or other stuff...she's a very "active" character to play with, and isn't a character you can autopilot with very easily. She isn't the only "active" character...Carl is another character that requires lots of thinking about the situation, where he is, and where he needs to be for certain combos. Active characters can tire anyone out, hence the desire to autopilot with simpler characters...that's why you need to rest now and then. Haku-men is not a very "active" character so much as he is a "reacting" character. He will do more things based on what the opponent does, rather than what he himself can do. Baiting DPs, pressuring, high low mixups, tick-throws, Ds...people think he's someone you can autopilot because of the raw power behind his combos...but really you have to be more aware of what his answers to an opponent's movements could be. Charged 6C, TK Tsubaki from a jump-cancelled normal, 6B(1)>D overhead as a guard primer tool/D move, j.B as a crossup tool, using 6D between opponent guard string openings...using 3C once on counterhit and taking the opportunty to IAD when the opponent is down to reposition yourself...and other things...

I was talking about the excessive fangirling part, but that's cool too. Though I am interested in that sword of Tomonori's...it sounds similar in function to Haku-men's...

I should clarify: CS1 Bees is unblockable, BUT it doesn't have full screen range and you have to be at a certain jump height, so in other words, unless Tager is fishing with Atomic Collider, people I've played seldom see it. CS2 Bees is a blockable low, but in exchange for that, it hits anywhere on the ground where the opponent is...I suppose that's a decent trade, but I'm not sure how people's reaction speed is to block a TK version of it if Arakune is doing j.D/2D/5D shenanigans at the same time. TK version is ultra low to the ground, and can pretty much be used in any Jump Cancellable String as a low. Probably even worse to predict during Curse.

For Carl matchups, I never let him lead me around, instead, I make him try to pressure me (which usually fails or is an attempt at crossup or lows or airdash j.A/j.C/j.2C)...if he's leading off with Ada, so long as it's not Super Armor, one or two hits should stop her, trying to destroy her takes your attention off Carl, so just one or two hits should get her off you so you can focus on Carl and his crossup shenanigans. As for Arakune, since I sub him often enough...most people try to use 2A on wakeup which usually results in me 6C'ing right through it (or if they block low right away). I play with their guard with 2A 6A or just 5D or j.D or warp games. If you're stuck between anti-jumping cloud, 6D bell bug, and 2D bug, you can still backdash you know. Otherwise the cloud is the safest thing to deal with, and even if you do get cursed, the only thing you have to avoid blocking is D Bug(2), the rest you just have to avoid Arakune's overheads/crossups since no bugs are overheads during curse. 6C, 2C, and j.C will take primers though, so be careful... Also Arakune now has TK instant curse Distortion Drive shenanigans, so don't stay on the ground blocking for too long. j.214214D is unblockable and hits anywhere on the ground now for instant curse.

If there was a way to convert magazine scans of high quality into drawn vector, it'd be easier (y'see I have GG 10th Memorial scans)...

I'm hoping you do something with In Slave's Glory someday. Maybe even a full organ-remake of Writhe in Pain the way it should sound, instead of just harpsichord.

We really need a cure for this....

Sorry Tong, no response from ArcSys yet about getting Kliff and Justice... I wonder if I could get my hands on some GG: Missing Link arts for you though....

*insert joke about Slayer being Millia's OutRage Hair Stylist*

I don't even use imageshack anymore... use either imgur or something else...

Well, the fact that these battles are non-canonical and proxy in the first place is irksome to me, so I can't really do anything beyond put facts on the table. As far as experience goes...ehhh... Ragna was trained by the strongest of the 6 Heroes (namely Jubei/Mitsuyoshi), so you can't really say his lack of experience is a problem. Certainly he hasn't been fighting for 100 years like Sol (unless you count some alternate universe Bloodedge who is immortal like Haku-men or something, but that's jumping the shark). Of course, if you were to parallel the idea...Haku-men HAS been fighting for 90 years (cited by Valkenhayn) and Ragna barely managed to beat him WITH the BlazBlue...but you have to consider the idea that the Susanooh Unit is pretty much built like a truck, plus the Ookami is able to cut raw magic (meaning Ragna's wounds won't heal). Parallel Haku-men with anyone in the GG Universe and he'd be more akin to Slayer, what with his OutRage dagger being able to cut through magic chords, no other OutRage is said to actually be able to do that...though I suppose they can, they're the only weapons that are similar to Nox Nyctores. That said, I don't know how strong the Fireseal is, but if Sol can tap into it as a Gear, then clearly it's very strong, but unless he uses it solely for cutting magic chords (or in this case an Ars Armagus incantation) he cannot nullify the Blood Kain effect directly like Haku-men can (to suppliment this, Sol was unable to disable Valentine's barriers in Bel Canto Valley, though strangely Izuna was able to). The Fireseal is primarily a sword that either produces fire element or amplifies fire element. In fact, most OutRage are simply MEANT as chord magic amplifiers...so take that as you will... As for Ky and Jin, the only difference between the two in terms of talent, skill, capability, experience, etc. that I see...is that Jin has a glaring arrogant streak...that arrogance makes him show off and not fight seriously like most would. If it was Sol, who almost never fights seriously with raw skill and power that trumps Ky's that's another story, but...Jin is a welter to feather weight at best...so he has to rely on escapes and skill and luck to win. Ky is fast to learn, being a tactical genius, humble in most all facets, and above all, has experience ruling a kingdom that adds to his repetoir of tactics...I'm gonna say Ky has the upper hand over the "current" Jin...I'd say Jin is more on par with Sin, than Ky, and Sin loves to play around when he fights. If Jin learns anything from Jubei, he might get stronger, but he's lost to Ragna several times already...so I can't say for sure what's gonna happen to him.

I don't know why people keep saying that. I've been playing Guilty Gear for years...only FRCs and Slashback were difficult...the rest was learnable. Hell, even matchups can be learned....I've seen Faust (ElvenShadow himself) beat Eddie, so I know it's true.

I play BB, GG, and a shitload of others...my only difficulty is transportation and lodging to places.

"Eventually" could be sooner than we think.

If the A.I. dodges too much, you need to use Projectiles AND HP attacks at the same time to corner him, if you can.

I'm pretty sure that doesn't apply to Guilty Gear artwork, at least not yet. As for #R arts, you can find them at GuiltyGear.ru, same as the others. Including Overture stuffs.

I think that's supposed to be Gil decked out in full Genji armor (FFXI?). That said, his FFXII look is still possible, since DLC outfits have I think something like 8 extra slots per character (iirc, according to people who found hacking codes for costumes) Ah--! I stand corrected. It's Type-0. All the same though, have they said if/when the Special Edition DLCs will become mainstream? (i.e. KH Cloud?)

WAT?

This is a dumb question but, has anyone thought about...you know, putting together a band dedicated to GG and BB music? I mean obviously it'd be like a garage band or something...but I was just wondering if people would go that far...?

I can now picture her becoming Bang's Apprentice. :O

I'd request I-no's hot-pink outfit (EX color in AC+) Alas, I have not seen any BlazBlue story mode templates yet (i.e. the story mode renders/emotes that Circ ripped a while ago). Also, someone needs to get Arc-Sys' permission to release Kliff and Justice renders!!! I'd help with that, but things are legally complicated on my end. Has anyone tried e-mailing them?

Cigarette = Nice Touch. I doubt the next GG will be THIS hi-def though, hehe.