Ben Reed

Yeah there's like one really weird active frame on jH that doesn't float the opponent on ground hit. I got it occasionally practicing IAD combos but I'm not sure where in the animation it actually occurs. Doesn't seem like it'll be a big execution probelm, though; seems extremely situational.

Not _A_ counter hit. MULTIPLE counter hits, from a 100% full guard gauge. 2-3, depending on how fast the guard gauge empties to the point where auto-counter is no longer applied. So depending on who hits you with what starter in Omega Shift, your ride could be very long indeed. Full guard gauge is a pretty damn big deal for anybody. Does the guard gauge just START at 100% in Omega Shift and decrease, or does it STAY at 100% until Omega Shift ends?

Yeah that's what I'm trying to grow into. I'm still really inconsistent with the starter on it, though. Timing the [5B] isn't too hard, but if I hit it too high, I can't get the sweep (whiffs). (And I'm pretty sure uncharged 5B doesn't give me enough untech time for the sweep to combo.) If I can get as far as the sweep (and remember to build enough charge for B Coup) I'm golden though. I mostly worry about my ability to do it in a pressured match right now, as the first significant local tourney in my region is at the end of the week. I've been trying to learn the midscreen CH air throw combos too. Everything in that combo up to the 2DD I can do consistently, but it's REALLY hard for me to get both the right height AND start the second 4B at the right time (and in the right DIRECTION) to pick up after the 2DD. The untech time is getting really shitty by that point (I tried DP initially, but quickly abandoned that when I saw how fast they could air tech), so a lot of times I just forgo the 2B 2DD and settle for ( CH air throw > 5DD > [4B] > 2A+B > B Coup ) to get the ground slide and some corner carry. It's REALLY hard for me to manage Mitsuru's facing in some of these 5DD/2DD combos. But I'll keep practicing. Right now I'm just trying to come up with placeholder combos on my own that, if they don't do damage, they at least end cleanly with B Coup or D Bufula so that I haven't compromised both damage AND oki.

Honestly I feel like one of the biggest barriers in learning Mitsuru execution is charging back TOO MUCH, rather than not enough. Building charge is trivial in this game, but in many cases in this game I think having charge when you don't need it right then and there can hurt your poking game by limiting access to your standing B attacks. In most other games where I play charge characters, building charge whenever your character doesn't need to explicitly abandon charge to move forward (walk forward, run forward, dash forward, jump forward) rarely interferes with critical blockstrings or combos. But charge builds fast in this game in true ArcSys fashion, and a lot of times I feel like I end up accidentally marrying myself into A Coup string enders because my charge interferes with the input for 6B, 5B, and AOA. In order to use 6B and 5B in blockstrings, I have to go out of my way to abandon charge in my strings, which can be risky depending on my spacing, and if I don't hit-confirm a 5AAA on the VERY first A, I'll have too much charge to do any true combo on a non-crouching opponent besides something like 5AAA Coup A. I feel like I can get past this, but it's really kind of a mind-melt. It's not so bad to abandon charge in slow-starting combos such as throw combos or 5DD/2DD combos, where you have plenty of time to partition what's going on ("whee look at the pretty throw, ooh it's ice time, and now we hold back for [4B] goodness"), but in blockstrings and short-notice hit-confirms it's sort of confusing me. Also, is the following combo universal? I'm doing this right now off corner CH air throw because the timing seems easier than the [5B] pickup listed in the combo thread. Tested it on Lab, Mitsuru, Naoto, and Aigis so far. Here it is: - (corner) CH air throw > 2B > C Bufula > 2A+B > B Coup > 2A > 2B > C Bufula > B Coup I know it's not optimized, but I can both pick up and finish it, and it has a clean ender. Trying to ease myself into the better stuff. EDIT: Tested it on the whole cast. It looks like it's universal, but I'm still skeptical I'm doing it right. Freeze mashing was turned on, of course. And I'm getting better at the [5B]. . . combos so I'm not sure if I'll even keep doing this one outside of brain-fart/panic situations.

Does Kanji's 5B actually have projectile properties? It has a spawn limit like a projectile; does that mean it actually IS a projectile?

Actually, I meant the cultural-enrichment thing in more of a touchy-feely "let's all hold hands and level up together" kinda way. Wasn't really trying to start any kind of beef at all. (I'm serious. I've lost my taste for e-fights over the years. Trash talk's not my thing.) Where somebody goes is their own business, and I do realize that for the real contenders it is a real, substantial choice between an EVO seed on another coast and a very large pot closer to home. And honestly, you're probably not the kind of person I was trying to appeal to with my post, because you sound like you've already made up your mind. (That's not intended to sound condescending. You weighed the options carefully and made your decision. That's perfectly valid.) But I'm sure there ARE people reading this thread who are still weighing their options, and I was mostly trying to appeal to people who might have been first seriously considering CEO right up until word of ReveLAtions hit. If you had the intent to go all the way to Orlando that weekend until something closer to home popped up, and you had realistic prospects of being able to meet that commitment to travel -- I encourage you not to shelve CEO as an option just yet. That is all I meant to convey with my post, and nothing more. (If you're a TX player or somewhere else midway between LA and Orlando...I realize things are a bit stickier. But I hope you will give CEO a fair consideration nonetheless, and I respect whatever decision you arrive at -- it IS a real choice.) I just feel like a Florida event needs a little more CIVIL hype than a Cali event does because, let's face it, you guys are the center of activity anyway. We're trying hard to make a similar name for our scene, but so far luck has not been on our side. While there's certainly no malice behind this scheduling conflict with ReveLAtions, it sure doesn't make things easier for us. Since this is the Internet, I should have clarified to say that I didn't actually mean to imply WC has swollen egos. It was meant as a playful, completely un-serious invitation, not a hot-blooded "you guys think you're such hot shit" kinda deal. I don't actually believe that WC in general has any sort of ego problem. I regret that my tone was misinterpreted. That is my last word(s) on the subject.

While I doubt that very many of the California players reading this thread are on the fence about which event to attend, for those few who might still be debating, I feel compelled to say two things: 1. Don't underestimate Florida. We're not as podunk as you might think when it comes to BB. Senkei, Hotnix, Mystic, Lord Cruxis, all very strong players just to name a few. Tsak in particular has really tightened his game since he first got onto BBCS, and I believe that anyone who underestimates his Arakune is in for a very long and painful ride on the Bee Train. And if that doesn't really sway you, well, we're closer to the rest of EC than you guys are, so our prospects are pretty good for attracting imported talent from up north to sweeten the pot. The possibility exists that you guys can mosey on out to the Sunshine State and humiliate a gigantic swath of EC in one fell swoop. Send a shockwave all up and down I-75 and laugh all the way to EVO. How's THAT for food for your egos? 2. Don't underestimate Jebailey. He might look like an upstart to people who have never heard of him, but when it comes to running events he's thorough, he's genial, he's resourceful, he's honest and transparent, and for all the good-natured shit he talks on the game, he believes in the BB community. (And of course he confers regularly with respected BB players like Senkei to keep his finger on the community's pulse.) He's busting his ass to erase the stigma of G.A.-you-know-what from our fair-ish city/state, and any support you can offer by showing up to his event won't just enrich our local scene, it enriches the national scene. Cultural exchange between regions breeds advancement and success in all regions, and for too long the Southeast has been a blind spot on the fighting-game map for all but the one month Final Round takes place. Help us build towards another major and let's milk this new-generation fighting game glut for all it's worth.

Carl's not that bad but not that great, either. His schizophrenia loses him points (seems like half the BB cast's gimmick to make them artificially interesting is to make them obsessive, mentally ill, or both), but being smarter than the insufferably cliche high-school chicks he went to school with gains him some back. Plus, he has a neat hat. I would rank him mid-mid tier in terms of being offensive to all five senses. (Yes, all five. You can SMELL the stench of failure coming off of Noel.)

Puns are unavoidable when you're dealing with a loud moron with a big nail on his back and a sound effect for a name. He just cultivates that aura of absurdity. Also, you hurt my feelings.

Bang is the greatest character in BlazBlue because he's blissfully aware of all the obnoxious anime bullshit surrounding him. He's a simple man (maybe a little too simple) with two simple goals in life: 1. Fight for burning manly justice avenging his master's death in true period-piece samurai-drama fashion. 2. Bang the SHIT out of the hot Chinese doctor lady down in Chinatown. (I could also say "nail" and get the same effect.) He's just such an endearingly obnoxious manchild. He's like Juicebox if Juicebox had sideburns, a tan and an AMAZING six-pack. He just babbles on and on and creates his own Jam-like psychological warfare by virtue of never shutting up. He's one of those characters whose innermost power is unleashed not merely by petty things like "good execution" or "solid tactics", but by turning HIS obnoxious nature into your own. To my mind, he's one of the LEAST obnoxious characters in all of BlazBlue, which is otherwise quite honestly a game I just hate the look of. Tager is a close second because he's a poor unfortunate soul who believes in science in a world of magical anime bullshit, but is enslaved by a bitchy catgirl with nukes. Also, a slutty squirrel wants to ride his gigantic cyborg nuts. Begin Gadget Finger jokes here! VVVVVV

On the one hand, yay for decent corner combos. On the other hand...ugh for what looks to be run-under for corner BnBs. I SUCK at run-under; I STILL don't understand at what point the axis of input direction shifts.

The funky-looking move where Valk does the Remy Blue Nocturne pose is his 6A, correct? The frame data thread says it has a guard point, does that deflect any kind of non-throw/unblockable attack, or just non-projectile strikes? And I'm guessing the GP is high/mid (when I say "mid" I mean an attack like 2A that can be blocked standing or crouching) only?

GG's just a harder game in general mostly because it's double the speed, almost double the damage in half the time (on average), and half the untechable time on any hit you connect. Shit, I'm STILL hard pressed to get over 150 combo damage with anybody in GG not named Potemkin. I hope eventually to put enough time into the lab and casuals with the old Gear heads in my area to graduate to Solbot status from Potbot so as to play as a character who sounds more like Louis Armstrong (or Fat Albert).

Is there any video footage of loke test Bang yet? I wanna see the situation on the ground, such as it is. As long as they don't Rachelize him I'll probably keep him in my back pocket over my hack Tager, but I'm mostly looking at Valkenhayn right now as the long-awaited 3rd character in this entire game I deem cool enough for me to play (the other two, of course, being Bang and Tager). EDIT: Also, do we know that the command is for Valk's wolf-rush super (I hereby christen it "Wolf-funka"), or is that the hcb, f + whatever ground super? When the translation mentioned it was like one of Chipp's supers, I thought they meant the gimmicky one where he disappears and slashes back and forth across the screen.

As long as Bang can make up for lack of damage with reliable momentum and still-disgusting nail pressure, I think I can deal. I'll just treat him like SF4 Bison (God, I would KILL for a charge character in BB, to the point where I'd even consider *shudder* Platinum if I saw she had a movelist like [2]8C, [4]6A, etc.) -- tiny bits of damage, but when he gets in, he tends to stay in and bullshit people with ludicrous normals and showers of nails. Not gonna lie, though, I'm gonna miss top-tier firepunch Bang something fierce. His and Tager's were the only BnBs I could finish with regularity...nice, ground-centric, jump-cancel-minimal combos with a lot of leisurely hit-confirms and ludicrous momentum attached. Hopefully Wolfman Jack will prove similarly cheesy without requiring TOO much more homework on my part. I guess the REAL answer is to play more Guilty Gear so that this game becomes artificially easier. It should say a lot about my preference for game pace and execution requirements that my favorite game is CvS2.