The "Picking a Main" thread

[The Loli Otaku]

I use Labrys in persona and Lambda in blazblue. Maybe I like robots girls, or maybe its because they share an Asuka colour pallet XD

[Silmerion]

Hello!

I used to play BB a little, and now that Xrd has been announced, I'm trying to get into GG, so I got ACplus for the PSP.

My favorite character used to be v-13. Are there any similar characters in GG I should try? I'm currently using Ky, but that is mostly because he is supposed to be beginner-friendly.

Hey there!

I'd say Dizzy is a good first place to look. She's big on projectiles, keepaway, and oki traps.

[Vashimus]

After toying around with some characters in and looking at the Guilty Bits videos, I settled on having I-No as my main. She felt weird at first, but once I got used to the hoverdash, it works great for mixups. I heard she's extremely technical, but I'll put in the work. She's too fun.

Edited June 22, 2013 by Vashimus

[Fundamentals]

so I've recently come from sf4 and injustice I've been really interested in blazblue for a long time. I had the original cs but never really took it seriously so decided to buy ex. I'm extremely good at ssf4 and my main in that is ibuki with cammy and evil ryu as subs. I also like the in your face play style with the ability to mix up my opponent now and again.i also have pretty good execution in both games. But i'm pretty much a beginner in bb and i like the following characters.

Jin- because he's cool lol but I hear he's just we

Tsubaki- because she seems like the rush down type and i like female characters

Hazama- he just looks like a troll and fun to use lol

Makoto- because she looks like she should be rush down oriented and again i like using female characters.

[Airk]

so I've recently come from sf4 and injustice I've been really interested in blazblue for a long time. I had the original cs but never really took it seriously so decided to buy ex. I'm extremely good at ssf4 and my main in that is ibuki with cammy and evil ryu as subs. I also like the in your face play style with the ability to mix up my opponent now and again.i also have pretty good execution in both games. But i'm pretty much a beginner in bb and i like the following characters.

Jin- because he's cool lol but I hear he's just we

Tsubaki- because she seems like the rush down type and i like female characters

Hazama- he just looks like a troll and fun to use lol

Makoto- because she looks like she should be rush down oriented and again i like using female characters.

Tsubaki and Makoto are pretty much your choices if you want to play a female rushdown character. Sadly, between the two of them, you have the bottom tier of the game pretty well covered. On the plus side, neither of them is terrible tier, just "definitely more work" tier. And on the upside, if you pick Tsubaki, folks on the character forum here totally have your back.

Jin is solid, and, intriguingly, since his tools are so vanilla on their own, he needs to be played in a fairly tricky fashion to do well. Fortunately, he has lots of tricks.

Hazama is just mean, but he probably has a slightly higher "figuring out how the hell all this stuff works" curve than the other three characters you mention.

The good thing about this game is that it's impossible to completely screw yourself over with your character pick.... so... yeah. Pick someone and get practicing. It's not worth agonizing over, you've got a lot to learn regardless, and a lot of it will transfer on some level if you decide to change mains. Welcome to BB.

[Sadeyo]

So I picked up P4U at least two weeks ago and struggling on making up my mind on playing a character up my alley. My focus was never really on oki but solid mix-up and various hit confirms from whatever you land. To me it kept the fight strongly entertaining to which you can add various attacks to your confirms and still get meaningful results for hard knockdown, heat gain, or damage. Normally this type of archetype ends up being my main while I choose another character with similar attributes but possibly troll with them, in which Elizabeth seems like a solid secondary option. I'm all for using the whole move list to make the best out of the character so here's who I play if it helps out any.

MB-C-Arcrueid C-Ryougi (4 years)

BB- Ragna and Hazama (4 years)

SSB- Peach and Lucario (4 years)

GG- Millia and no sub (I barely scratched the surface on this one but I wouldn't mind a suggestion for this one as well)

ps- I hate charge and grappling characters. I don't have the patience to learn them and I'm all for RTSD. Please suggest two characters and I ask that you remove Teddie and Yu from the suggestion as well.

[Elochai]

I would suggest Akihiko or Chie for RTSD. Chie can confirm into hard knockdown in most cases which leads to oki and amazing mix-ups. Akihiko is pressure heavy and stays in the opponent's face; his tool set allows him to do so very well with 5D/Thunder Fists. Chie is one of the best in the game though, so that may influence your decision. Akihiko doesn't really get oki either IMO, or I just haven't really seen it.

However, if you play Elizabeth, the guys in that sub-forum are very informative and welcoming if you have questions. Elizabeth takes a lot of work to use effectively though, and I don't really believe she fits into your wants of an RTSD character with good mix-ups.

Unrelated, but I was a Ryougi player too; even though I played H-Ryougi.

[Sadeyo]

Good to know there's still some other MB players that still exist out there but I haven't really played the game anymore since 06' and I haven't bothered to get into MBAACC, still waiting on UNiB but that's just a latent dream at this point. I show videos of my two characters but I erased all videos like two years ago so I'm barely on the web anymore.

You're the second to suggest Chie and there's some chemistry every now and then with her but do you mind explaining why Aigis wasn't a choice? Orgia mode does make her god status in the game even if it's only temporarily but at the same time I guess you have to understand a piece of her zoning and delaying some attacks to make her effective, personal thoughts at this point so I can't give a solid opinion but go by speculation.

I'm more for punch and kicks and utilizing the whole body in combat since it makes the character don't feel as lazy. I'll take other opinions but your post was definitely helpful, I'll be sure to stay in the training room a little while longer the next time I get on.

[Fundamentals]

Thanks for the reply i really appreciate it i think I'm going to main tsubaki then because i like her best and i don't mind the working hard part because i like the rewarding feeling of using a harder character. But is hazma overwhelmingly hard to use for a beginner. For example should i get a decent grasp on tsubaki and the game before trying him?

[Elochai]

Good to know there's still some other MB players that still exist out there but I haven't really played the game anymore since 06' and I haven't bothered to get into MBAACC, still waiting on UNiB but that's just a latent dream at this point. I show videos of my two characters but I erased all videos like two years ago so I'm barely on the web anymore.

You're the second to suggest Chie and there's some chemistry every now and then with her but do you mind explaining why Aigis wasn't a choice? Orgia mode does make her god status in the game even if it's only temporarily but at the same time I guess you have to understand a piece of her zoning and delaying some attacks to make her effective, personal thoughts at this point so I can't give a solid opinion but go by speculation.

I'm more for punch and kicks and utilizing the whole body in combat since it makes the character don't feel as lazy. I'll take other opinions but your post was definitely helpful, I'll be sure to stay in the training room a little while longer the next time I get on.

Not an Aigis specialist by any means, but I wouldn't call Aigis pure RTSD due to Orgia meter. For the same reason, her mix-up can be lacking. When she's not in Orgia, her pressure isn't really dominating. In other words, she's a quasi rushdown character since you also have to know how to zone with her while waiting for Orgia to recharge.

Lol, if you want punches/kicks, Elizabeth is totally not for you. She's probably the "laziest", holding that book/tarot card in her hand and only making minor gestures for Thanatos to attack.

[Airk]

Thanks for the reply i really appreciate it i think I'm going to main tsubaki then because i like her best and i don't mind the working hard part because i like the rewarding feeling of using a harder character. But is hazma overwhelmingly hard to use for a beginner. For example should i get a decent grasp on tsubaki and the game before trying him?

Your mileage may vary, but I think Hazama is kindof in his own little world - his movement is extremely nonstandard compared to other characters, and he has a weird hybrid keepaway/runaway/rushdown game going on. Also, his normals are retardedly good, and you don't want to get used to that. :P

So he's not super hard, but he requires a different mindset than many of the characters in the game. I suspect he's also somewhat more executionally challenging in terms of combos than a lot of characters.

I think the important thing when learning a new game though, is to stick with one character long enough to understand them. If you start jumping around a lot too early, you're in the fastlane to "spent lots of time on the game but aren't actually good with anyone." which many people find frustrating.

[Celerity]

so I've recently come from sf4 and injustice I've been really interested in blazblue for a long time. I had the original cs but never really took it seriously so decided to buy ex. I'm extremely good at ssf4 and my main in that is ibuki with cammy and evil ryu as subs. I also like the in your face play style with the ability to mix up my opponent now and again.i also have pretty good execution in both games. But i'm pretty much a beginner in bb and i like the following characters.

Jin- because he's cool lol but I hear he's just we

Tsubaki- because she seems like the rush down type and i like female characters

Hazama- he just looks like a troll and fun to use lol

Makoto- because she looks like she should be rush down oriented and again i like using female characters.

If you want a female mixup character, Rachel is the best. Tsubaki is the easiest. Litchi is the hardest. Makoto is the cutest.

[Airk]

If you want a female mixup character, Rachel is the best. Tsubaki is the easiest. Litchi is the hardest. Makoto is the cutest.

I would seriously question Tsubaki as "easiest". I don't think she can even compete with Makoto for "most straightforward". Having a whole extra gauge to juggle complicates matters a lot in terms of what you should be doing in a given situation - even moreso even than Litchi's "Where is my staff" combo decision tree, IMHO.

[Errol]

tsubaki's special gatling system is also designed to fuck up newbies. She's not easy, even though she was billed as easy

same as Izayoi, who Mori says is a great character for beginners.

[YukiBlue]

What specifically makes Tsubaki "Not easy"?

[Zeromus_X]

-Resource-based playstyle requires much more situation-awareness than other characters

-More damaging combos require situational starters, resources, and/or heavy execution

-Poor matchups with practically the whole cast (in EX anyways), easy to get disrespected and bullied by chars like Ragna due to Tsubaki's low damage off random hits.

[TheGreatReptar]

Even when she was good in CS2, you still had to learn her unique resource management, which includes finding time and space to manually build resources.

She also has her unique chaining systems. Her followup normals can be chained into on whiff, which can kill you if you're new and mashing out strings. Playing her with any sort of proficiency requires you to understand how her 2 sets of specials that chain together work, when they chain on whiff/block, and hit and how to take advantage of them.

[YukiBlue]

You could argue every character in the game bar one or two have certain intricacies that equal or surpass that of resource management and a funny chaining system. Amongst the rushdown crowd though, I can see your point.

[Mugen Tux]

Hey, I've played BB and GG for a good amount of time(but on the PSP, so only AI fights :/), and I was going to go for P4A. Still haven't actually bought it, though.

I mained Hazama and Hakumen, with Jin and Tager as the main-subs. In GG, I mained Robo and Slayer, with Ky as a sub.

I guess I like the "stand-out" characters the msot, but ones that aren't too execution-heavy.

Who would you recommend?

[Zeromus_X]

It's true that every character has their own intricacies and what-not, but it's especially significant for Tsubaki, since she's reliant on charges for better damage, neutral, and mixup options, etc. While most other characters have some or all of these things without needing to charge up a bar that can get you killed trying to do so.

Edited July 1, 2013 by Zeromus_X

[Errol]

You could argue every character in the game bar one or two have certain intricacies that equal or surpass that of resource management and a funny chaining system. Amongst the rushdown crowd though, I can see your point.

No, I don't think so. Personally, I also think the insinuation that rushdown characters are really easy is funny. Gameplay might be simple but these are also the characters that require the greatest grasp of fundamentals. W/e.

[Airk]

You could argue every character in the game bar one or two have certain intricacies that equal or surpass that of resource management and a funny chaining system. Amongst the rushdown crowd though, I can see your point.

Tsubaki has what is probably the hardest resource management game in the game, because even when you have a character like Rachel (Who I think is generally regarded as somewhat complicated), who is dependent on a little meter...that meter COMES BACK. By itself! While there are certainly some decisions to be made about how much wind you burn under what circumstances, the only thing you need to do to get more of it is be on the ground for a while. You can be doing a combo and your wind will come back. You can be blocking and your wind will come back. You never have to make space and put yourself in a vulnerable position just to fill up that gauge.

Which characters do you feel have all these extreme nonstandard intricacies?

[Dreize]

-Poor matchups with practically the whole cast (in EX anyways), easy to get disrespected and bullied by chars like Ragna due to Tsubaki's low damage off random hits.

Easy to win with =/= easy to use.

[Sadeyo]

Hey, I've played BB and GG for a good amount of time(but on the PSP, so only AI fights :/), and I was going to go for P4A. Still haven't actually bought it, though.

I mained Hazama and Hakumen, with Jin and Tager as the main-subs. In GG, I mained Robo and Slayer, with Ky as a sub.

I guess I like the "stand-out" characters the msot, but ones that aren't too execution-heavy.

Who would you recommend?

New guy here is trying to pick up a character in P4U but you guys are arguing about Tsubaki pros and cons. Save that for her boards and don't derail the topic of helping out individuals. Honestly speaking at least the last 8 post can be erased as if they never existed.

On another note for P4U characters as a person who's a spectator for most of the combat I would suggest Mitsuru would be up your alley as flashy or stand-out with not so much demanding execution in my opinion. I believe her only downside was being a charge character in my opinion.

[Airk]

Easy to win with =/= easy to use.

True, but they are also not completely dissociated.