Blade

It's localized as Flame of Corruption officially. Bedman's english dub calls him this.

I'm not sure if you guys are joking about May or if you're actually serious about that reaction, but if you don't mind explaining, I'd appreciate it. As far as Jack-O's cutscene goes, I-No just went to wake her up... her mind switches from "adult mode" to "Kid mode" so she's pretty unstable... and she ends up running away. I-No's wearing a nice coat and shades though. The coat reminds me of her Lightning the Argent appearance. Edit: If the giant "tuner guy" is really a costume and there's a girl underneath... we'd be right all along about Tuner's gender???? I'm confused. @SoWL: Story mode is confusing enough, I don't need memes from Magical Girl Anime to confuse it further.

You're gonna have to explain that joke to me because I don't watch Magical Girl Anime shows (or at least not recent ones).

Yeah somehow I don't think Slayer will take getting ambushed by Bedman lightly.

I'll be honest, Jack-O' sounds like a total brat. She's like the female equivalent of Troll-Hazama or something. And I abso*******LUTELY can't wait to get cornered by her mini-servants and their constant pressure that keeps you crouching and never jumping. >_>

I'm not making this up, man... it worked for me against a very strong Sol who otherwise was stuffing me in a lot of other attacks. Ky's 2D is suprisingly fast in some cases. And more than anything else it's got good reach, though I suppose you could use 2S too, just doesn't seem like you could do much other than RC Stun Dipper.

Watch out for Sol using 6P as a round starter or anti-air, he can ruin your day off just that. I find 2D to be useful when he's trying other stuff besides Gunflame Oki, assuming you're against a run-up-throw Sol player. I haven't figured out how to deal with his OTG 2K after a knock down (forcing players to neutral tech under a Gunflame), I just end up blocking it and figuring out what to do next.

To understand Elphelt you kinda have to understand her background: ---Same as Ramlethal she met with the Conclave at some point, but it's unclear when this happened, probably right after she was born.. ---Her initial mission was to blend in with Humans, and to do that she misinterpreted "blending in" with "getting married" and somehow tried to marry a rock star. ---Part of the "rules" in her directives stated she couldn't fall in love, so basically how can you "get married" and not "fall in love"?... basically her brain glitched out due to the contradiction for a bit and freaked everybody in the wedding (even the groom) out. ---Her power is the ability to sense the Prime Field Gear Cells and "teleport" near them. So when those powers activated the nearest Prime Field Cells she warped to was near Ky Kiske (I assume because Dizzy or Sin was nearby). She warns Ky about the Conclave's plans for Babylon but nobody initially believes her except Ky himself, they test to confirm she is a Valentine and she is put under Ky's custody while Ky leaves the kingdom to prevent her from affecting the main populace should she self-destruct (the main reason Ky left Illyria though was to avoid the eyes and ears of the Conclave). ---The reason she could sense Prime Field Gear Cells was in order to monitor Justice and Sol Badguy, ensure (subconsciously) that Justice would awaken, and that Sol would not. She also acts as a failsafe to prevent Ramlethal from self destructing or using her powers without due cause, this works the other way as well. ---Her programming basically told her that Sol would destroy Justice if allowed entry in the Backyard, so she prevented him from getting caught up in Justice' transport field (the same field that swallowed up the people of Babylon). She justifies it with a "human response" which confuses Sol even further. ---Right about at the same time she sensed Justice waking up and controlling the nearby Opus, is when her main programming kicked in and she attacked Leo Whitefang. ---After Sol tries to reason with her, her true power kicks in and she turns Black with red eyes. After further talking with him, she becomes troubled by his statements and decides to attack him against orders from Mother that he not be killed. Sol subdues her, but then she gets caught in Ariels' Felion Barrier. ----Later, it seems like she is in Bedman's Nightmare Theater world and under Bedman's personal custody for the day she is ready to fuse with Justice like some kind of power source. Her personality is "still there" sortof, but it's probably being subdued and sealed.

When people talk about Jack-O' "not being born yet", I can't help but remember Zappa screaming: "IT'S BEING BORNNNNN!?!?!" *cue centipedes erupting from his body*

I'll likely be paying more attention to the more subtle nuances: ---We still haven't found the "Hidden Alien" in Millia's Stage yet. ---I'd love to read the "Forbidden Animal" plackard sign in the Opera House stage. ---Nightmare Theater itself was "playing a movie" (Lucy and Woof of Life Amusing) so probably the stage is currently "closed" after-hours. ---I'd like to know what the "white giant red-eyed monster" is in I-No's stage Babylon in 5 Years. ---Still no explanation behind the hands with eyes in the Japan stage. ---What the kanji is for those various "monks" walking around in Chipp's Colony stage. ---A closer look at all the paintings in Slayer's Villa Vampir (not to mention the Coffin-shaped Dimensional portal "a nod to his old intro") Oh yeah and Jack-O's "backyard-like" stage looks a lot like an Evangelion reference.

Ah, I missed that, I wasn't following the JP subs and going by ear. My bad. Still, Merciless Apocalypse/Universal Will are interchangeable.

Minor localization tidbit you guys may not know: Any time in the story the "Universal Will" is referred to they actually mean 慈悲なき啓示 [Jihi naku Keiji] which translates to "Merciless Apocalypse", so they are in fact referring to the same thing. Also worth noting, "Jihi naku Keiji" can also be translated as "Revelator without Mercy". In the recent trailer, "That Man" says: "Jihi naku Keiji no Kodomo Hayai" (The Children of the Merciless Apocalypse are moving fast) So it's not referring to the Universal Will per se, but the "children" instead... in other words the Valentines, also known as: 「慈悲なき啓示」の落とし子 ([Jihi naku Keiji] no Otoshiko) "Fell Child of the Merciless Revelator" (Or as they're referred to in GG2 Overture: "Illegitimate Children of a Merciless Apocalypse") The reason ARCSys decided to localize it as "Universal Will" probably has something to do with the idea that "Mother" is more of a consciousness or master program than a physical being. And the fact this thing existed before Gears were created (the Dawn of Revival in 1999), suggests it's existed since time immemorial. @Tokkan, can you get me the raw text of that bio entry for Jack-O', I'm not so good at eyeballing JP text when it's in image format like that.

Refresh my memory, why exactly did Komori retire her role? (Also I would love to retweet that post for archive some time).

Okay let's put it this way: if you were stranded on an island which game would you rather play constantly to ease boredom? lol

Maybe it's because I play Ragna that I think of KOF, but I still think of Samsho as a distant relative to GG for several reasons: 1. Danger Time system is very similar to the blade clashing system (minus disarming part) 2. Mu no Kyouchi is very much like the "Time Slow" of Roman Cancels. 3. If you've ever played Johnny you'd know how similar he is to Tachibana Ukyo (Level 3 Mist Finer, Ensenga), and Leo fights similar to Bust Kibagami Genjuro (rekkas). 4. EX Mode is like the Slash/Bust modes of Samsho.

As someone who plays and likes both games I will say this: If you like long highly technical combos or stuff that requires precision, BlazBlue is your game. If you like short high damage combos that don't take much effort but allow you the freedom to do various things with them, Guilty Gear might be your game. The only big things that makes GG a step more complex than BB: ---Roman Cancel (Time Slow factor, which is really nice against very aggressive opponents as it slows them down, not to mention all the ways you can use it) ---Blitz Shield (similar I suppose to Crush Trigger, but on the defensive side of things and far more versatile since it can be done crouching or in the air and be charged). BB is closer to KOF if you ask me, whereas GG is a distant relative of Samurai Showdown.

Gah this drives me nuts! TWO RED HERRINGS in so many weeks! Loketesters need to stop spreading False Rumors (or at least stop assuming things and passing them on)!!

From what I remember, someone said Elphelt's voice sounds more robotic now. so probably her body was modified to be better suited to fusing with Justice, not to mention restrictions put in place on her so she couldn't express her emotions or free will. Yep, that Universal Will thingie is a real mean baddie.

Words of Truth: GGXrd's Challenge Mode is more lenient (easier combos to learn believe it or not). BBCPEX's Challenge Mode is the beast since you have to literally figure stuff out for some challenges unless you go on the internet.

So guys, I'm liking this new "plot twist" that makes Valentines a little different from Murakumo Units. They're like the "battery" that wakes up Justice or something.

Grant George as Sol? As in the "Warrior of Light / Kagura Mutsuki / "Toe Fungus Guy"? Hmmmm... I'd have to hear more of his roles but it doesn't seem like the same person.

If my recent Birthday is any indication I'm not getting any younger. That said, there are times when playing games sometimes hurts my thumbs around the joints and wrists. So I am wondering if people have any advice for keeping "fresh": avoiding injuries, keeping your reflexes up, keeping limber, doing stuff like extensive combos (like, how do you keep your energy up when doing very long and aggressive combos and guard strings?) Example: I was playing Nu-13 the other day and trying to do some of her Gravity Seed Cancel combos, and either because of my layout on my dpad or some other reason, I just couldn't do it to a point that my wrists started hurting. I know the simple answer is "take a break"... but at some point players have to learn how to do stuff like this to get good at characters, right? And relatedly, assuming someone DOES get injured... what should they do about it as a gamer? I figured I'd ask you guys since e-sports are a real thing, and therefore injuries are a real thing to consider too!

I got a question for you guys. How do you cope with especially long "cancel" combos? I've been playing on pad for a long time, and Nu-13's combos aren't just about DDDDD I understand that, but now it's also about stance cancels and Gravity Seed Cancels... and it's really hard to do such long combos for me without getting tired or my wrists begin hurting. I don't suppose you guys have advice for training for this stuff? Maybe I'm just feeling old.

I'll just leave this here for people to laugh at.

I'd also like to hear your thoughts. I'm dying to know Sol's VA actually. (Side note: Does anyone have the cast of XBlaze: Lost Memories handy, a lot of their voices sound familiar to me from other anime).