shrine-write

Sigh. I’ve stooped down so low that I have nothing better to do than to form an opinion about a recently released sequel to a fighting game I don’t even like much. Oh well, no use in being bitter about it. Let the wheels of fate keep on spinnin’, like a record!

If you follow fighting game jargon, you are most likely already aware of the recent release of the sequel to high definition 2D fighter, Blazblue: Calamity Trigger, now undertaking the subtext of Continuum Shift. Due to the messy character balance in Calamity Trigger, an updated sequel was very much necessary in the eyes of its fans, however whether or not it has cured that dilemma is still uncertain.

Note: All information below is written by an unprofessional lowlife who gathered the information from several dark corners of the internet, therefore you should interpret the following as faulty data that is subject to change, if you wish to crucify the author then please contact him about it via one of the several methods, but not now he’s busy.

Story

Continuum Shift’s storyline starts from right where Calamity Trigger left off; the time loop has ended (professional plot device), Ragna and ν-13 never merge to form the Black Beast, thus the destruction of the Cauldron and Dead End for ν-13 ( half the Blazblue fans mourn and the bitter half applaud). Now instead of the world focusing on Ragna, it seems the attention has been slightly shifted to Terumi, the sole source of everything that is wrong in Blazblue universe.

And in recent events, Ragna is now lurking in the shadows of Kagutsuchi in searches of Terumi’s head. Jin’s hospitalized after his battle with Ragna, but like a rebel cleverly escapes and jumps back into Kagutsuchi where he finds out some bad news: he’s been targeted for assassination by NOL and therefore cuts his ties with the Kisaragi family. But the biggest problem of all is that his beautiful big brother’s hanging out with the gun wielding moeblob Noel now (ew aren’t they like siblings?). So now he’s back to finding his bro and getting rid of that aforementioned problem.

Ironically after the events of Calamity Trigger, Noel runs to the hospital to check up on her superior who of course is absent, oblivious to the fact that she is the subject of assassination by her old friend. Not knowing what to do being the super duper true Azure Grimoire holder, she’s sticking with Ragna and hiding from NOL. This of course will inevitably end splendidly according to Japanese story plot law.

Rachel this time around seems to not be such a “spectator” and is after Terumi’s life for unknown reasons, besides him being an all around dick. She frees Hakumen from the bonds of Kokonoe and together the two form a super justice alliance organization with the same goal of violently murdering Terumi into pieces.

Taokaka’s chillin’ as she did in the first game. Tager this time around is ordered by Kokonoe to capture Noel (thus leading to more quality ends) since she’s now known as the successor to the Azure Grimoire. Litchi’s looking for Kokonoe, seeking help in saving Arakune, who’s also searching for the Azure Grimoire still believing it will complete him (goddamn there’s a lot of searching and looking around in this game).

Bang’s now taking a trip away from the main plot (even more) and is searching (told you) for the young lord, the son of the previous lord Tenjo (who died by Jin’s hands), whom was said to still be alive by Valkenhayn in one of Bang’s endings. I still like to think this is the true end to Blazblue though.

Carl is (you guessed it) looking for Ragna. Nothing new. Though in his travels he lost the device that permitted his sister to clap more than once.

Hakumen was sealed by Kokonoe after being defeated by Ragna, but Rachel ends up liberating him and is then kind enough to install all her tier rank from her Tsukuyomi Unit into his Susanooh Unit via proper transfer methods. In return he agrees to become one of her servants, referring to her as oujo-sama and wearing a maid outfit at all times.

And now we shift towards the new characters, starting with the remake of a certain magical yandere mecha musume,  Λ-11- aka Lambda, is the predecessor to ν-13 who is reactivated with ν-13’s salvaged soul, minus the Ragna incest lust (or not). She completely serves under Kokonoe which is giving me the hopeful impression that she and Tager form their own robo combo team as they search for the Azure Grimoire.

If you beat Calamity Trigger’s “True End” you’ll remember what Tsubaki’s goal in this game is: she’s been ordered by Hazama to assassinate Jin and Noel, her former companions. Copy paste’d because I have no idea what this means: “first lieutenant of the 0th Division, the Imperator’s loyal servants, she’s equipped with the “Fuuin Heishou: Izayoi” (lit. “Sealed Soldier’s Garb: Sixteen-Day-Old Moon”).”

Hazama, the current host that Terumi is using, is doing what he naturally does, being bad. He’s creating all powerful Murakumo units (think ν-13) hoping to forge the perfect one, a Nox Nyctores weapon named Kusanagi – the blade that cuts the gods. Creating more blatant allusions to Japanese mythology, his goal of course is the destruction of the “Master Unit: Ameterasu,” origin of all that is good and mother to us all.

The story is still a jumbled train wreck of person A searching for person B searching for person C tied together with messy plot devices and I’m disappointed that there are some (myself included) who divulge themselves in fighting game story lines that don’t make a lick of sense. But at least this time around there’s no god forsaken time loop, hopefully.

Gameplay

And now for the stuff people actually care about. After several location tests, we can now deliver the finalized update that is Continuum Shift. First of course is the revamped layout of the game, the in game HUD is changed, the stages are altered to different settings, the character sprites are redrawn, all the characters have been revoiced giving a fresh breath of air, and in general new special effects have been brought out.

Besides visuals, the game has undergone quite a few system changes as well. The old Guard Libra system has been replaced with the Guard Primer system. Instead of a traditional guard meter, both characters have a stock of “primer” that are different depending on which character you’re using. Guard Primers are depleted upon the guarding of certain moves that are all character specific, and of course once they’re all depleted the character will undergo a guard crash state, however they can prevent the final primer from breaking by Barrier Guarding (and possibly Instant Blocking).

The next big change is the Burst system, which is now more reminiscent of Guilty Gear. Now called a Break Burst, Bursts no longer force the character into a “Danger” state and can be performed as an offensive comboing tool as well. Characters start with one Burst and may receive another the next round if they did not spend the initial Burst in the first round. The limit of Bursts seems to be two.

The last big system tweak is the inclusion of Fatal Counters. Getting a Counter Hit with a move that removes Guard Primer will count as a Fatal Counter. Fatal Counters seem to cause reverse proration which in the end cause higher combo damage potential. The amount of such and what moves exactly determine a Fatal Counter are still undergoing testing. Exaggerated and situational, but the most destructive example of a Fatal Counter combo so far belongs to Hakumen as seen here.

Character Examination

Ragna the Bloodedge

Protagonist and object of lust from half the cast of Blazblue, Ragna returns to Continuum Shift as a moderately unchanged from his Calamity Trigger counterpart. With minor hitbox tweaks and damage changes, Ragna plays just as he did previously, a solid well-rounded character with no particular significant strengths or weaknesses. Biggest changes seem to be the lessening of health drain from his Drive moves, but on the other hand Belial Edge (that’s the official name, I know) is a great gimmicky pressure tool and combo extender for him. Most likely going to stay an average-above average character.

My opinion: I’m probably going to be annoyed to hell by him now. Ragna back in Calamity Trigger was a hit or miss, either I demolished him or he murdered me. I can only feel that with the nerfing of everyone else while hardly changing him will come back to bite me. Belial Edge (thankfully isn’t an overhead) will probably end up locking me down nicely.

Jin Kisaragi

VROOM VROOM. Jin, like Ragna, suffered damage output and hitbox nerfs, but was compensated with quicker moves, notably his 2D ice sword Drive and new j.C aerial poke. Still a solid character with a variety of mix up tools and combinations. He only seems to lack very solid damaging combos now, especially with shorter freeze durations, but that should be subject to change once the game has been played long enough. Ice car is still ballin’.

My opinion: Jin’s always been a weird one for me. I’ve always hated that he had a tool to counter me in every situation, but I’ve fought so many of them that I’ve grown used to it. Him getting nerfed I think would give me that slight edge that would allow me to win just about every Jin match I play. Not sure though, it’s too early to see what Jin will turn out to be at this point.

Noel Vermillion

Name: Noel=Vermillion

Status: Hospitalized

Cause: Broke her back posing for the Continuum Shift art

orz

Noel is victim #1 of the mighty Arc System Works nerf hammer. In just about every place you can think of she got worse. Her damage output was massively drained, her hitboxes grotesquely distorted (6A anti-air is not an anti-air), and with her old combos removed plus new inputs for her Drive attacks, old Noel players will have to spend a lot of quarters (or whatever Japanese people put in arcades) before they can start handling Noel again, if ever) Her greatest blow however is the changing of her old 2D into the form of a normal instead of an overhead, greatly reducing her mix up potential. Despite all the nerfs in every area from the top of her silly hat down her delicious flat chest and passed her perfect slender curves finally to the bottom of her cutely shaped toes, she still has a few saving graces in the form of her new 5C that removes guard primer, and her ability to perform powerful combos off her still-good 3C low shot.

My opinion: DAT BITCH IZ MAH MAIN! I’m serious. Call me what you want I’m maining Noel no matter what. Why? Why I do that? I was never shown to be a Noel before, so why would I? The answer is simple and you already know it. Because she’s hot that’s why, mleeeegh (Tager was hotter in Calamity Trigger, but Arc System Works put something in his mascara in this game).

Rachel Alucard

Victim #2 to the grand judgement of the Nerf Chief Executive at Arc System Works, and probably the only character who is crying more than Noel nowadays. The biggest problem seems to be the wind recovery rate being slower along with nerfed speed in just about all her old specials. She is now quote unquote “not a zoning character” which is a major blow to her gameplay and pride, yet seems to be the truth. Rachel now tends to focus more on rush down tactics in assistance with her wind and animal friends, but a character with bad normal attacks is bad to pressure with. She does have some new tools like her useful aerial Sword Iris and Dahlia Distortion Drive. Only time will tell if she can make the leap out of bottom tier however.

My opinion: I’m neutral. I subbed Rachel for a good time in Calamity Trigger so I do enjoy using her, but I’ve not the effort to painfully train myself to make a bottom tier character good again. I’ll be using her for the hell of it time to time but I don’t see myself putting as much effort into her any more. It’s yo fault Arcsys.

Taokaka

Nothing worth noting really. She lost some combos and gained some. No real change besides new attack animations. Will most likely stick to mid tier in rankings.

My opinion: I actually like Tao a bit more now. Some of her old combos are really hard to do now (that I never learned anyway) but she gained some new easy looking ones, which means that I may end up finally being able to use her. Definitely interested in CS Tao.

Tager

Iron-notsosovietanymore-Tager. Tager has overall been buffed and bumped out of his old spot as way bottom crap tier, but he paid for it with damage output. However he was given new toys and tweaks to upgrade him into a solid character. His new Drive attacks are fast but the magnetization duration is shorter. His new ability, Gadget Finger, pulls an opponent from a knocked down state and magnetizes them in front of him, susceptible to a grab including Tager Buster. However he still seems to have trouble with the zoning characters of the game, and is still victim to sword frenzy (now including Hakumen) but should the opponent not play their cards right, Tager can deal that damage right back and more.

My opinion: I’m done with Tager. At least with this game. I used Tager in Calamity Trigger because he was… actually because I thought he was cheap and easy to use at first. But him losing what made him GIGANTIC in trade off of becoming a ‘normal’ character made me lose my motivation in using him. Have fun with your Tager Busters guys.

Litchi Faye Ling

The big tit and elegant China doctor, Litchi returns better than before. By not much really, but compared to everyone else, she’s good. Good new moves that provide new mix up options, but her corner game was nerfed a tad. Not much to say besides that there’s a sudden storm of Litchi players at the moment. Probably will stay in a similar area as Ragna.

My opinion: Litchi was the other character I could never use. While I am interested, I may net ready myself to jump myself on her (teehee) as there are quite a few other characters I wish to experiment first. She doesn’t seem invincible in the corner anymore which is all that matters to me, so it’s all good.

Arakune

KISAMA, KISAMA, KISAMA, YOU TOOK AWAY MY UNBLOCKABLE BUGS!!! With the new system of Arakune’s Fever Mode in which he has to build up meter to curse his opponent, Arakune is no longer impossible to beat. His absolute control over the stage and brilliant mix up game has been nerfed with the changes to his overhead cross up leaps and his aerial Drives no longer hitting low. Still, while Arakune has trouble normally against mobile characters like Hazama, should Arakune heat up Fever (doesn’t take too many hits really), he returns with his Crimson Swarm – armada of bees once again, now no longer air unblockable, but still plentiful in numbers and larger in mass. Home sweet home!

My opinion: I like the new Arakune. He’s still good and plays much like he used to, he just isn’t massively broken anymore and has to work for the win. I’ll most likely be spending some time learning him in this game. KI-KISAMAAA!!

Bang Shishigami

Hot blooded ninja hero Bang Shishigami returns as a powerhouse. Added to his already agile gameplay are his new powerful combo tools leading to real damage BnB combos. His main combo fodder seems to extend from his 6C (that now hits everyone) and new j.C, both of which look identical. I’ve yet to see it work, but I hear his new Distortion Drive is a grab as well which sounds very promising. Bang fans should definitely be pleased with the new changes they’re receiving.

My opinion: I’ll most likely take a break from Bang in Continuum Shift. Not that I don’t like him, just I had enough Bang fun in Calamity Shift already. He looks to be a very powerful opponent though and I feel like I’m going to work even harder to get around his even better pressuring now.

Carl Clover

CARULOO CROWBAR has lost his infamous clap loop from Calamaty Trigger, but in return gains a variety of new buffs in several areas turning him into a solid character, which is exactly what he needed. Without the clap loop he can no longer perform extremely powerful combos, but even then still has several other combo options with the use of his sister. Damage output seems to have increased on normals and his new projectile is becoming a very interesting gimmicky tool as well. Definitely one of the stronger characters.

My opinion: Pretty much everything I thought Carl needed changing happened in this update more or less. j.2C no longer being an overhead does deal some damage to his high-low mix up game, but he has other options that are more than good enough to make up for it. Definitely going to be using more often this time around.

Hakumen

It seems that the cries for help among Hakumen players have finally been answered. Gaining several new changes, most for the better, Hakumen’s become one of the best looking characters so far, winning the first Continuum Shift tournament already. With the inclusion of his new 4C stab attack and new long range j.C, Hakumen has gained tools to safely cover both ground and air positions and keep safe until he builds up magatamas before unleashing devastating combos. He still holds the weird projectile shield, which I believe is completely unnecessary now, though I don’t think it’ll be very applicable anyway.

My opinion: Eh. Not that I don’t like him, nor will I not not be using him from time to time, I just think it’s a tad disappointing they had to change his gameplay into a series of safe poking and hit confirms to bring him out of bottom tier (ala Chun Li from 3rd Strike, Yui from Vanguard Princess).  And, a shield that appears when you cut projectiles? Are you shittin’ me?

Λ-11-

Legacy of the notorious high-tier nu, lambda returns as your favorite sword summoning robo girl. Of course Arc System Works had to respond to the horde of angry fanmail they received, and as such toned lam down much from her sister nu. Despite the downgrade, she’s still very good with a good arsenal of strong combos and new tricks with her pulser dash abilities. However all of her swords have been nerfed in just about every way, smaller, slower, worse range, and not guaranteed (disappears if she gets hit). Still excellent punishes, only not good to lock down from across the stage any longer.

My opinion: Sounds good to me. I always enjoyed using nu, and only didn’t often because I felt guilty for easy wins. Now that she’s more solid, I’ll accept the weaknesses and build upon her new abilities. Plus she’s hot as hell.

Tsubaki Yayoi

Tsubaki joins the cast in attempt to assassinate Noel and Jin. Both of which shouldn’t be a problem at all. Tsubaki is looking to be a very solid character, boasting a variety of guaranteed abilities with no real faults. Her Drive ability, Install, can be compared with Order-Sol’s ability in that she may charge up a meter in order to power up certain moves. In general Tsubaki was created in order to be an “easy” character and plays like a “normal fighting game character” as opposed to the quirky and unique styles of the rest of the Blazblue cast. Definitely at least average in terms of ranking if not higher.

My opinion: I always complained about Blazblue being too whack and unorthodox as a fighting game, so I am indeed interested in using Tsubaki. Yeah yeah, original, so what. It seems that if you’ve played any other 2D fighting game you should be able to adapt to Tsubaki well, so hell, I’ll take it. Plus I love her silly hat and funny voice.

Hazama

Insert horde of MJ jokes. Now that that’s done, Hazama possessed by Terumi enters the ring with some cuh-ray-zee skillz. His Drive, Ouroboros, allows him to grapple points in space and drag himself to it (or the other way around), and as such is at times a very mobile character. As for actual play, he seems to be a mediocre character so far, better than that of his previous location test versions, but still nothing amazing. Definitely a formidable opponent in the right hands with a lot of potential as new tricks become discovered.

My opinion: A good addition to the roster, but nothing amazing. Neither was Tsubaki, so I can’t help but feel Continuum Shift as a mere minor version update as opposed to a full sequel. Still, Hazama riding looks fun and his moves in general look very cool. I don’t think he’ll join the rest in the cast in annoying the hell out of me when playing against, interestingly.

All in all my opinion on the game so far is as previous stated, Continuum Shift feels like the update that Calamity Trigger needed in terms of game balance, but beyond that is lacking anything much more to call it a real sequel (besides the extension of the story that will end just as abruptly). Clipping the wings of top tier and a grand total of two new characters is all this game has shown off so far, but hopefully by the time home edition is released we’ll be rewarded with a few more surprises to really make the inevitable $60 we’re paying worth it. While I’m ready to shift to Continuum Shift, I’m not killing myself in anticipation and believe there are a few slightly more important things to look forward to in the year. ’til then, let’s keep turning the lopsided wheel that is Calamity Trigger guys!

Links:

• English How-to-Play Instructions
• English Movelist
• Dustloop General
• Continuum Shift Tag on Nico Nico Douga

ps – apologies for those shift jokes

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 at 1:11 am and is filed under Game. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.