The "Picking a Main" thread

[Nemesis]

One of my best friends wants to get into Anime games, he wanted persona but ultimately he decided to try BB since CP is coming out soon. The thing is, he comes from SF/CvS2 games, he's very adaptable but wants a character that matches his style in those games which is "neutral game heavy and punish your mistakes during that part" so who can I reccomend him to use in CP? I'm a bit lost here, I thought Mu-12 since he's zoning-ish with good pokes which is what he liked, but I'd like to hear others' opinions too. Thanks.

Mu-12 can fit the bill easily enough -- but she is complex and difficult to master... to the point that I cant really recommend he pick her up as a starting character ... unless hes got srs waifu love for herand is willing to take the beating that comes with learning her stuff especially from a beginner standpoint

Ragna/ Hakumen are really great starting choices in my opinion because they will force you to learn aggressive and/or defensive gameplay, their simple combos, drives, and DDs are straightforward and easy to understand -- whereas Mu - while she is truly wonderful - he would have difficulty perhaps with timing and placement of her Steins and lasers and such... which are integral to her design

[Celerity]

Hakumen.

Stahp.

Oh, but Hakumen might actually be the right suggestion this time... *runs away*

Mu-12 should be fine as well, she's fairly beginner friendly even though it'll take some time to grasp the nuances of her spacing.

[Dreize]

I love how Celebrity posted pretty much exactly what I was going to post except funnier.

Thank you.

[hipikachu]

"neutral game heavy and punish your mistakes during that part"

Punish your mistakes? Tier whore this shit:

Hakumen - Punish the opponent for trying to hit you

Valkenhayn - Punish the opponent for not picking a character with Unlimited Tager health

Ragna - Punish the opponent for playing the game

[Diveman]

Hakumen sounds good for him, he likes having projectiles though so I don't think Ragna or Makoto would be suitable. He plays guile, sagat and shit lol

[TD]

lambda might be a good option, fullscreen projectiles that punish a lot of the cast's main moves. and she can take the initiative on a turtling opponent, keeping the pressure on while actually creating more opportunities for mistakes

[Airk]

Hakumen was the first character that came to mind, but any of the relatively non-fancy up-close types (Ragna/Makoto/Tsubaki) also seen like reasonable choices.

Fact of the matter is that he can just change later if he decides he sees someone cool he wants to play.

[Dazardz]

Hey guys.

I've played Blazblue since CT, but now I wanna try Persona 4 Arena (mainly because I'm into the Persona games). Actually, I have already tried it, but now I want to play it seriously. Since CT, I've mained Nu and Lambda, but that was because of their ability to also play rushdown and zone at the same time, even if they were disadvantaged at rushdown. I like Lambda especially, because she actually has an Oki. In Persona, I understand that Chie and Yu are addicted to Oki, but I just won't play them, too much rushdown and mixup. So, Oki with both rushdown and zoning. Is there a certain character like that in Persona? I was thinking Liz, but I want everybody else's opinions first. Thank you.

[SuperOast]

I haven't played much Blazblue so i can't compare Lambada and Nu to characters in Persona, so take my advice with a pinch of salt, but I'd say Teddie or Naoto would be a good suit for you.

[Wild Candy]

For you requirements.

Yukiko could be a great choice considering her Zoning style is fairly keep away based like that of Nu, and she focuses on hurling fans from a distance, while working in tandem with her Persona more then most characters. Yukiko has strong Oki, but her health is fairly low, and she's reliant on instant blocking. Finally, a Persona Break is much more devastating for her since she's dependent on it for Oki and all of her specials.

If your willing to sacrifice Oki for a strong rushdown game, you might wanna go with Naoto Shirogane. Naoto zones somewhat like Rachel. Naoto uses her Persona's speed, gun shots, and mine like traps to make it hard for the opponent get in, and once there hit, Naoto can go in for a great rushdown game. Naoto has the highest damage output potential in game thanks to her SMP loop, but her weaknesses include having the 2nd lowest health in the game (Only being beat by Elizabeth), slightly subpar pokes when compared to the rest of the cast, and she's reliant on meter for damage and defensive options

Yu and Chie use a lot of Oki, but they don't excel at zoning, (Chie's actually a strong rushdown character whose like beefed up version of Makoto in P4A)

Aigis could also fit to, considering in her normal mode, she mostly focuses zoning with a set amount of bullets, but she can go into whats called Orgia mode to go in for a devastating rushdown game. The downsides to Aigis though are her lack of Oki options, a lack of versatility with her Persona, and she has to play keep away when not in Orgia Mode/when Orgia mode's cooling down. Finally, because of her set amount of bullet's Aigis has to be very careful with her Zoning, and not waste a single bullet.

Hopefully that helps!

Edited August 9, 2013 by Wild Candy

[DerQ]

Naoto would probably be a good pick, but she probably excels more at moving on the screen than zoning. Once she gets a hit by forcing the opponent to over extend to catch her, it's corner carry into trap oki. I wouldn't say her rushdown is excellent, but the knockdowns will either be safe jumps or trap oki which works really well. You can also utilize 5D at neutral to try and get some offense started even without knockdown. Fairly good defensive options for meter.

I can't say I know the other two characters as well, but Yukiko feels more zoning oriented. Play the neutral, control movement and space, solid pressure all around with persona attacks. As for Liz, I feel she doesn't have that "Rushdown" aspect and is more geared towards pressure in general. Take these two comments with a grain of salt.

[Celerity]

Yukiko is definitely the most similar to Lambda. She has pretty good setups and rushdown, she's much more of a momentum character than Naoto is. She relies more on pressure and controlling the pace of the game. She also has a much better reversal. Naoto's playstyle is very unlike any other character I've played; she's like half of a character, but she deals double damage when she hits you. Her zoning is mediocre, it's mostly used to make the opponent uncomfortable. I would recommended Yukiko.

[DerQ]

Naoto not momentum based? I feel that's pretty inacurate. With proper corner carry combos, she can land one or two good confirms into knockdown, next thing you know she has trap oki and if you guess wrong you die. That's why part of playing against her is keeping your burst for SMP. Even so she has tools like shotgun or One more burst silence to keep momentum. But yes, she doesn't quite Zone you, her greatest asset is movement unlike lambda/yukiko which is why she feels so odd when you treat her as a zoner type character

[Wild Candy]

Again, I think Naoto zones like Rachel, baiting the foe to make a mistake whether they set off a trap, get hit by her gun, or get hit by one of her Persona's sneaky attacks. And then let the rushing begin.

Not to mention, with the fate counters and her one hit KO supers that are easy to combo into are something you should be wary of. It's situational, but if Naoto manages to bring your Fate Counter to Zero by hitting you with her traps and gun shots to often, be careful not to get hit by a Mudoon or Hamoon.

Edited August 10, 2013 by Wild Candy

[Dazardz]

Hmm... I'm tied between Yukiko and Naoto, I tried them out yesterday and my results are... I find Naoto to be my type.

1. I actually do use her trap Oki, and I can easily open the opponent up and then land a combo into the oki again.

2. I can play rushdown easily with her.

3. Her guys shoot in a similar direction as Lambda's swords/drive.

4. Alreadyd did the SMP

I'm still trying Yukiko, I might change to her eventually, considering she has an even greater oki, a gdlk mixup, she zones better(for turtling situations) and her combos are harder to peform = greater damage, which is what I actually liked about Lambda. For now, I'm sticking with Naoto until I become use to the game (baiting a DP etc.), but I'm sure I'll convert to Yukiko later on, I saw some high level play and... well...

Thanks for all the help though guys.

MUDOON

[Delrian]

Hmm... I'm tied between Yukiko and Naoto, I tried them out yesterday and my results are... I find Naoto to be my type.

1. I actually do use her trap Oki, and I can easily open the opponent up and then land a combo into the oki again.

2. I can play rushdown easily with her.

3. Her guys shoot in a similar direction as Lambda's swords/drive.

4. Alreadyd did the SMP

I'm still trying Yukiko, I might change to her eventually, considering she has an even greater oki, a gdlk mixup, she zones better(for turtling situations) and her combos are harder to peform = greater damage, which is what I actually liked about Lambda. For now, I'm sticking with Naoto until I become use to the game (baiting a DP etc.), but I'm sure I'll convert to Yukiko later on, I saw some high level play and... well...

Thanks for all the help though guys.

MUDOON

I thought Yukiko had terrible damage... did they find some new tech for her?

[Airk]

I thought Yukiko had terrible damage... did they find some new tech for her?

Her damage was semi-fixed in a patch ages ago. She's not really much below average now, I believe.

[Wild Candy]

Yukiko's damage output isn't something to write home about, but I think she makes up for it by being able to keep up to the momentum thanks to her great Oki and Mix Up game. Her supers are pretty damaging to, and she's capable of creating unblockable setups thanks to her Fire Break special and her Maragidyne specials.

[Ajantas]

Though it has been a month since the last activity I guess it would be best to ask this here.

It is not exactly about picking a ‘main’ as such but more of a character I could use to help with fundamentals, I imported JP CS during release out of interest and my first ever experience playing a fighting game with the intention to be ‘good’ was using Hazama. I have been playing Blazblue on and off ever since and everything I know about fighting games has been through experiencing online matches (plus AI for hit confirming) using Hazama (a bit of Ragna in CS2).

I would say the problem is that I have gotten into the deep-end before actually learning fundamentals so I feel like I am always encountering the same problems every match, P4A (Naoto) has improved my blocking but I have a problems with getting out of pressure and safe movement. I was thinking maybe I should use Hazama less with his unique movement options and sometimes (chains are 50/50 sometimes good sometimes straight into an Anti-Air) I can’t seem to use any of his pokes to get out of pressure due to their range, wiffing most of the time. Thinking of a character that will make me understand normal movement, footsies and most likely learn about dealing with corner pressure. (Though maybe such a character doesn’t exist).

Though I will be lucky enough to most likely get BBCP on day one thanks to easy shipping from Japan to Thailand and thinking of learning Azreal and Terumi but I am not sure if it would be good to start learning more characters at my current situation or maybe learning more characters would benefit me?

[Sadeyo]

Can I rush down with Bridget? I understand Yo-yo positioning might become a nuisance but appreciated once learned. Trying out most of the characters on the roster and just playing with the few who just fits most comfortably with me without going for the few common mains I would normally tend to play. *cough* Sol, H.O.S., and Ky*cough*. I settled for playing with Millia as a main since she just welcomed me with open arms and just learning her became a thrill all by itself, I won't say I'm tournament level threatening with her but one of these days she'll be formidable.

This is just me speaking out of GGAC+ and possibly GGAC+R. Potential main and sub change after Xrd is available.

[Delrian]

Can I rush down with Bridget? I understand Yo-yo positioning might become a nuisance but appreciated once learned. Trying out most of the characters on the roster and just playing with the few who just fits most comfortably with me without going for the few common mains I would normally tend to play. *cough* Sol, H.O.S., and Ky*cough*. I settled for playing with Millia as a main since she just welcomed me with open arms and just learning her became a thrill all by itself, I won't say I'm tournament level threatening with her but one of these days she'll be formidable.

This is just me speaking out of GGAC+ and possibly GGAC+R. Potential main and sub change after Xrd is available.

Bridget isn't really about rushdown, he's more of a hit-and-run and zoning. (More here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ikFr0gOoV8)

[Sadeyo]

Bridget isn't really about rushdown, he's more of a hit-and-run and zoning. (More here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ikFr0gOoV8)

I did see that video a while back and if I can apply the tools properly it just enforces my idea a little bit more that I can rush down with him. May not be the proper way to play the character but who follows the rule book anyway? Seen plenty of characters taking outside their comfort zone to a formidable foe but I'm guessing they're more familiar with the game and possibly the frame data.

[Delrian]

I did see that video a while back and if I can apply the tools properly it just enforces my idea a little bit more that I can rush down with him. May not be the proper way to play the character but who follows the rule book anyway? Seen plenty of characters taking outside their comfort zone to a formidable foe but I'm guessing they're more familiar with the game and possibly the frame data.

Rather than try to speculate why Bridget is not very good with rushdown, I'll let you have some fun then.

[Airk]

Just saw this (sorry for the delay) and thought I'd throw out a couple of comments.

It is not exactly about picking a ‘main’ as such but more of a character I could use to help with fundamentals, I imported JP CS during release out of interest and my first ever experience playing a fighting game with the intention to be ‘good’ was using Hazama. I have been playing Blazblue on and off ever since and everything I know about fighting games has been through experiencing online matches (plus AI for hit confirming) using Hazama (a bit of Ragna in CS2).

I would say the problem is that I have gotten into the deep-end before actually learning fundamentals so I feel like I am always encountering the same problems every match, P4A (Naoto) has improved my blocking but I have a problems with getting out of pressure and safe movement. I was thinking maybe I should use Hazama less with his unique movement options and sometimes (chains are 50/50 sometimes good sometimes straight into an Anti-Air) I can’t seem to use any of his pokes to get out of pressure due to their range, wiffing most of the time. Thinking of a character that will make me understand normal movement, footsies and most likely learn about dealing with corner pressure. (Though maybe such a character doesn’t exist).

Sounds like there are a few different things going on here; First, there's blocking. Blocking isn't really a "fundamental" because it is at once too basic and too hard. It's too basic in that there isn't really much to learn about HOW to do it. It's too hard because it's basically reflexes and knowledge of your opponent's options, both of which are really just things you have to build up through practicing. It mostly doesn't matter what character you choose, though some characters are more likely to end up having to block than others.

Next there's movement - it's true that playing Hazama isn't going to teach you jack all about how to move around the screen as anyone else, but that's not necessarily important - if you want to play Hazama, you need to know how to play Hazama, and it doesn't matter if you know how to move around as Ragna or Tao. While it's important to know what those character's movement options are, there's no real value in your being able to use them yourself. Just playing against the different characters will teach you how they can move around. If you _want_ to learn these characters, that may hasten things along, but it's absolutely not required. Similarly, Hazama doesn't really play standard airdasher footsies - there's no reason for him to do so, because he doesn't really have the normal tools for it, and the tools he does have are hands down better. You don't need to be able to play footsies to play Hazama.

Lastly, pokes; First off, if you are somehow failing to use Hazama's pokes to get out of pressure due to whiffing, then you are trying to poke out of pressure at completely inappropriate times. You should pretty much NEVER be pushing buttons on the defense if your opponent is so far away that your jab will whiff. If you're just whiffing his 5A over the head of crouching characters, use 2A instead - Hazama has the fastest 2A in the game, coming out faster than some character's 5A. (He ALSO has the fastest 5A in the game, and one of the fastest 5Bs in the game. His normals, actually, are retarded good and he has no business having normals as good as he does, but that's neither here nor there.) But this, again, is just a matter of practice. Or you can just hammer on 2A whenever your opponent is close enough, until you learn when it's a bad idea.

So basically to summarize - if you are concerned that learning Hazama isn't teaching you how to play other characters, you're probably right. But that's not necessarily a problem. If you want to main Hazama, main Hazama, and learn the skills to be good with him. He's stupid good, and continues to be stupid good in the next game. (Emphasis on the stupid sometimes. :P) If, on the other hand, you want to have some sort of generalized "Arc Sys airdasher skills" then yes, you should probably put in some time on someone like Ragna or Jin or Makoto to learn the more 'standard' aspects of the game. But that's only if you're interested in that.

[Dark Ranger88]

Airk is right, but I think there is some value in learning other characters when it comes to defense. If you have trouble getting out of a particular charater's blockstrings, then learning that character can help you understand and think through his/her pressure when you're using Hazama. Studying blockstrings on footage and actually knowing them yourself are two different things.

If you learn a character you will instantly know what moves are unsafe or escapable when used during pressure. It will also help if you have the problem where "all of my opponent's moves look the same, it's hard to know when to escape." At the very least, learning a character you have trouble against will let you see how skilled players escape their pressure by firsthand experience (e.g. Wow people always IB 2A after that move, maybe I should start doing that.)