Showing posts with label BlazBlue. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BlazBlue. Show all posts

Thursday, June 7, 2018

The Importance Of Being Thorough And My BlazBlue Video Review

By now you've no doubt read my "BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle" impressions article. In all honesty it didn't paint a very good picture of the new entry, and like the IGN review itself you were no doubt left with more questions than answers. Since that article posting I was given the opportunity by Aksys Games to play through, and review the game myself. To experience it for myself, and share with you what I experienced. In this instance I decided to do things differently though. I decided to do a raw hands-on review via Twitch to allow everyone to get my reactions as they happened in accordance to the features contained within the game in the most genuine fashion possible. That and to also disclose important need to know details in a manner that would be more beneficial to someone than having them to read through ten paragraphs of technical breakdowns regarding in-game features. I think I succeeded in doing so, but you will have to sit through nearly two hours of video, and commentary to get the most of it. Supposing you can you will get enough coverage of the game's inner workings to be able to decide for yourself if this is a worthy fighter to add to your collection. At least I think so.

Saturday, October 29, 2016

BlazBlue: Central Fiction (PS4)

What have I gotten myself into!? I never thought I'd see in the series of BlazBlue such utterly harmful design decisions. This not only applies to the tweaked gameplay, the returning features, and the new characters, but also an in-game community forum that delves into more darker territory with it's potential ramifications. As a former fan of Aksys fighters I've taken to Twitter, and Youtube often to express my woes in regards to BlazBlue, and various other fighting games from their studio for the hope that the series might see a brighter future. I've pointed out that there needs to be a change for one reason or another, but mainly pertaining to online functionality, and harmful character designs. While I find those are mostly not addressed here yet again that's not what really bothers me. Within it's new features BBCF has an even darker side motivated by political agendas, and hidden propaganda. Both things of which the game has you agree not to participate in before taking advantage of it's new forum community feature. It's these double standards which Aksys has stated in the bold print that they'll hold as legally binding towards gamers. Never before have I seen a game take such a bold, politically driven, and motivated stance in the realm of online gaming, and interactivity. It effectively cripples your right to complain about the game within the game (specifically the forum feature), and holds you criminally liable should you even slightly overstep your boundaries. The studio uses the vague term "slander" and "discrimination" as a way to explain away what could simply be potentially harmful views against the game or even the company. Even calling out cheaters as cheaters is prohibited. I digress though ...

Thursday, October 20, 2016

BlazBlue - The Good & The Bad

In the past, on this very blog I've covered extensively some of the BlazBlue games. From Calamity Trigger to Chrono Phantasma EXTEND I've owned, critiqued, and played every release in some form or fashion. In each encounter I've both praised them, and even talked badly about them in regards to their constantly evolving, and longstanding features. Regardless of the good, or the bad I feel BlazBlue could be greater than it is. In fact I hope it does improve for the sake of the gamers willing to continue investing in the series. I feel there's definitely a need for change in several aspects of the game, and that the developer desperately needs to make these changes lest the series continues to attract or maintain a lesser and lesser audience ...

Monday, July 6, 2015

BlazBlue Chronophantasma EXTEND (PS4)

BlazBlue is a fighting game experience that is closely akin to it's Guilty Gear predecessors. In it you'll find an assorted variety of different character archetypes some of which are very close to what Guilty Gear has offered in the past. You'll also find one of the richest, if not the richest of fighting game mythologies surrounding said characters within the game's structural story mode confines. At heart this unique mythology, or lore does have subtle nods to Guilty Gears timeline of events, but seems to pick up after some of it's own world changing tragedies regarding a magic war against a recurring threat. There's various governing orders involved, and characters whose given abilities vary according to their role in the plot. Some characters wield a type of Seithr driven magic known as Ars Magus while others use science to do their bidding. There's even a council of seven heroes whose past feats have come back to haunt them in the form of an apocalypse seeking group of puppeteers. There are constant clashes between the law abiding NOL "Novus Orvis Librarium", the renegade lone wolves like 'Ragna the Bloodedge', the science foundation built/managed by Kokonoe, and the "Phantoms of Time". The conflicts are many, and those involved are continuously getting dragged into the fray whether they like it or not. While Chronophantasma is not by any means the conclusive end of the story at hand it does clear up a lot of details while advancing the ongoing plot significantly. Along with the story, and it's provided mythology/history are also plenty of offline, and online activities to enjoy as usual. Each of which offer the gamer more bang for their buck.

Saturday, July 4, 2015

BlazBlue Chronophantasma EXTEND - Preview Review

In my time spent with the latest release of BBCPEX I've come to realize that I'm going to have to invest some quality time in a proper playthrough of the game in order to gain an understanding about everything it offers, and to give it a fair chance. So far I've sampled the key modes of play, and features, but have yet to try out the two new characters. I can say that for the most part the game remains the same as the last version technically, and functionally. It is also a mostly all-inclusive port. By "mostly all-inclusive" I mean that you don't have to pay for a majority of the lobby, color palette, or stage DLC that you had to pay for in the vanilla version of the game. This can all be unlocked through the gallery via the in-game currency you earn as you play online, and offline modes. Aksys Games did create some new DLC though that you will have to pony up the dough for in order to obtain. This includes a couple new color palettes, some new voice-over options, and a handful of lobby avatar items. As far as the new characters go one is a third Carl Clover clone (Celica), and the other a Nu-13 clone.

Saturday, June 28, 2014

A Comprehensive Review - BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma (PS3 / PS VITA)

In the world of fighting games you'll find that not all games are created equal. You have your easy to play, and understand fighters such as that of the "Street Fighter" series, and then you have the more elaborate fighters such as "BlazBlue", and "Marvel vs Capcom" which demand so much more from the player. While BlazBlue, in general utilizes the same core practices as that of 'Street Fighter', or "King of the Fighters" including things like special button inputs to release certain attacks, and combo oriented fighting it still stands apart from the rest of the fighting game genre's offerings by making the applied mechanics more meticulous in nature.

Additions such as BlazBlue's exclusive 'OverDrive', 'Astral Heat', and 'Break Bursts' greatly alter the gameplay at hand. In doing so it demands dedicated attention from the player in order for that said player to come out victorious amongst the top tier players that make up it's faithful online community. Another huge thing that sets Arc System Works latest fighting franchise apart from the rest is the massive amount of content that comes with every game. A fully fleshed out 'Story Mode' with it's own in-depth character mythology as well as intricately laid out character specific interactions are among the many features that make the setting, and it's inhabitants all the more realistic, and relative.

Sunday, April 20, 2014

An Open Letter to Fighting Game Developers

It has come to my attention that the fighting game genre, in general has been adopting some very bad mechanics, and character rosters that cater to the worst sorts of players. I firmly believe that fighting game developers have become so desperate for money that they are reaching out to the "CoD" community with fully exploitable features intact for the sole purpose of appeasing such gamer types. There's simply no other viable explanation. Take the latest release of "BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma", for example. The game is so broken in structure that it's damn near impossible to get into a fair fight. In the game the blocking, and recover mechanics are so severely limited, because of a special meter that it leaves you open to infinite attack strings with no way out. The character roster in BBCP is another thing that does the series a huge disservice. Most of the characters have exploitable projectiles, or have zoning attacks that make the "in & out" tomfoolery a piece of cake. Characters like "Izayoi", and "Arakune" who have the ability to phase in, and out of existence make landing combos, or hits a trying ordeal, especially when the gamer using them is playing a heavy keep away game.

Thursday, March 27, 2014

BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma (PS3)

In the world of fighting games you'll find that not all games are created equal. You have your easy to play, and understand fighters such as that of the "Street Fighter" series, and then you have the more elaborate fighters such as "BlazBlue", and "Marvel vs Capcom" which demand so much more from the player. While BlazBlue, in general utilizes the same core practices as that of 'Street Fighter', or "King of the Fighters" including things like special button inputs to release certain attacks, and combo oriented fighting it still stands apart from the rest of the fighting game genre's offerings by making the applied mechanics more meticulous in nature.

Additions such as BlazBlue's exclusive 'OverDrive', 'Astral Heat', and 'Break Bursts' greatly alter the gameplay at hand. In doing so it demands dedicated attention from the player in order for that said player to come out victorious amongst the top tier players that make up it's faithful online community. Another huge thing that sets Arc System Works latest fighting franchise apart from the rest is the massive amount of content that comes with every game. A fully fleshed out 'Story Mode' with it's own in-depth character mythology as well as intricately laid out character specific interactions are among the many features that make the setting, and it's inhabitants all the more realistic, and relative.

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Gamestop Power Up Rewards: "BlazBlue Jubei Plushie"

I thought I would share some pictures of my latest Gamestop Power Up Reward. I thought it was a cool little item especially since it was a character from the BlazBlue fighting games. The plushie is of a character named Jubei from 'BlazBlue: Continuum Shift'. He's not a playable character in the game which is kind of unfortunate. In the game he basically mentors 'Ragna the Bloodedge' in the ways of combat, and teaches him about his replacement arm, the Azure Grimoire via the story mode. I hope you enjoy the look at this fairly cool, and kawaii little plushie! ...