We’re slowly discovering more and more information regarding the upcoming BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle. While we still don’t know the rest of the DLC cast, the RWBY team is almost complete, which must be exciting for fans of the series — as it is the ladies’ debut in an Arc System Works fighting game.
During their latest stream, the company showed off a brief demo with Blake Belladona. Blake has a mix of interesting abilities; she has a handgun, a sword, and sort of a hook-chain to cover the screen. She can be effective at close range with quick slashes, bring the opponent closer, or dash across the screen in her combos, landing close to the opponent or further away. She also has a sort of shadow clone ability that absorbs a strike and either detonates a smoke cloud or an explosion. The demo below is over two minutes long, and shows some combos with Ruby in tandem.
With the inevitable collision of universes imminent in BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle, we’re finally hearing some details on the US release of the game. Arc System Works has clarified several points, including the frequently-asked-about English dubbing.
Without further ado, BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle will have a full English track and dual audio option available. So while we already knew that the RWBY girls will be voiced by their actresses, the rest of the characters feature English voice acting too (marking the debut of Under Night In-Birth fighters in English, as well as certain BlazBlue newcomers, like Es).
Furthermore, there has been much debate about the BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle price, but Arc System Works confirmed details for the US version:
Retail price for physical and digital: $49.99
Individual DLC packs (there are six): $4.99
Complete DLC bundle: $19.99
Deluxe Digital Edition (the game with all the DLC): $69.99
The release date is still as expected: May 31st for the Japanese version, and June 5th for the US version. BBTAG will be available on PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
Arcade users in Japan are lucky to already experience the newest Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 patch, and they’ve been busy exploring the impact of the changes. In the meantime, the rest of the world is hungry for details and footage, to see how much their main character/most hated opponent have changed.
While the consumer patch won’t hit until about March (pending a confirmed date), we have to rely on social media to get some info. As per usual, many Japanese players turn to Twitter to share short clips of noteworthy changes. This is just a sample of posts that came out up to this point and more are showing up, so feel free to point things out in the comments below, and enjoy the clips:
Faust has some new pressure options with flower YRC:
The time has come for the next BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle character introduction! The sixth iteration — per tradition — reveals three more characters. Each colliding world in the game receives one warrior (except for RWBY).
Check out the trailer below to see BlazBlue‘s Platinum the Trinity in action, who brings a variety of items to the fight (though the typical Platinum gauge for items seems to be missing.) Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st]‘s Orie joins the battle with her quick and precise fighting style. Lastly, plenty of Persona 4 Arena fans will be thrilled to see that Kanji Tatsumi, a grappler with a Persona who uses lightning attacks, joins the fray.
Keep scrolling to see some pricing details revealed during the Arc System Works stream.
The pricing chart above lists the “All-in-one” DLC, which contains all characters, at 2,400 yen. Yang and Blake are free DLC (which will always stay free, it’s not time-locked), and then each character pack is 600 yen, with three characters each. Note that this character pack, containing Orie, Kani, and Platinum, will be free for those who pre-order.
It’s that exciting time again for Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 players. The latest patch just hit arcades in Japan, which means that fans around the world are rifling with anticipation for match footage and discovery of the changes in action. The REV 2 2.1 patch, which applies the same changes as we saw in the loketest patch notes, changes quite a few things for the majority of the cast.
You can find plenty of famous Mikado players in the four-hour clip below. Nage’s Faust and Ain’s Ky battle around the 1:58:00 mark, so make sure to catch some of the new Faust changes, which include more flower power than ever before. FAB’s Potemkin also joins in, and later on, Kedako’s May makes an entrance around the 3:12:00 mark. You can also spot a new corner combo from Chipp at 1:53:00 or so — which takes him out of the corner, but it doesn’t mean he’s out of options. Raven’s changes are also quite exciting, as he has many new combo possibilities and some tuning to his mechanic.
Note that the YouTube clip is the last four hours of the Twitch stream, so if you want more footage, just check out the Twitch archive below this YouTube embed. Among others, you can see Baiken and Johnny in action around the 9:00:00 mark.
Yesterday, Arc System Works streamed for over an hour, showcasing interesting developer interviews with the top developers. The famed Daisuke Ishiwatari of Guilty Gear andToshimichi Mori of BlazBlue were present, alongside Mike “Ninja Viking,” who translated Japanese into English. James Chen acted as the host, leading the show and asking the two developers questions.
Here’s a breakdown of the show:
James Chen first met Daisuke Ishiwatari about twenty years ago at University of California-Los Angeles, where he obtained his first copy of Guilty Gear. Unfortunately, it wasn’t signed as he thought!
Mori wanted to make a “dream match-up” of the various fighting game universes, which is how Cross Tag Battle came to be.
Mori has always been a fan of Monty Oum and caught wind of RWBY in Japan. Before the show was localized, Mori wanted to collaborate with Rooster Teeth on it. The collaboration happened thanks to a Forbes interview which the Rooster Teeth team saw and then reached out to ASW. The companies first met for a “greet and meet” before actually working together.
While Mori is very excited about BBTAG being part of the Evo 2018 lineup, he feels a little sad that BlazBlue: Central Fiction isn’t on the main stage (which is the title that he heavily worked on over the years).
When it comes to the release of BBTAG, Mori emphasizes having as much of an even start for players around the world as possible, which is why the release dates are close and there isn’t an arcade release.
When asked about their favorite weapons, Mori said that there is a “very high scythe ratio.” Chen asked if there will be any fan weapons, showing Amane’s fan, but the developer points out we already have Yukiko Amagi. Ishiwatari answered: “Azrael’s fists.”
Mori’s favorite character from Guilty Gear is Order Sol, and Ishiwatari’s favorite BlazBlue characters include Taokaka and Nine, but lately he’s intrigued by Haku-men.
When asked if Mori intends to continue the BlazBlue story after CF, he said he can’t really share anything just yet.
Mori presented his game designers with the challenge of integrating the characters from different games into one and making their systems work.
When asked which characters were the hardest to design, Ishiwatari feels all of them more or less were very difficult. Mori said Ragna and Litchi. It took a lot of time to capture the “protagonist look” for Ragna, and as for Litchi, well, Mori said it’s best to have male designers work on characters like that. Her design is Chinese-inspired, which is fairly common in Japanese manga/anime. Designing Litchi taught him a lot, but he can’t go into specifics.
Ishiwatari simply wanted more people to listen to heavy metal and through naming a lot of attacks in his games; he wanted to share names of songs and bands he likes.
Picking characters for BBTAG came down to balancing the game. It’s a combination of selecting which characters from different series should make it and making a balanced game.
Ishiwatari would love to feature some Capcom, Tekken, and Virtua Fighter characters in his games as playing their titles inspired him to work on fighting games. Mori brought up Powerpuff Girls.
Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st] is a mouthful. Commonly abridged as UNIST, this fairly niche anime fighter from French Bread — published by Arc System Works (Aksys Games in the West) — occupies a strange space in the fighting game realm. Though it has an intensely anime aesthetic, it’s not an air-dasher, and it places more emphasis on a sort of rock-paper-scissor fundamentals. At the outset, it shines with excellent sound, graphics, and feel of combat, and it hosts a fairly large cast of 20 characters now. While it’s overall easy to pick up — it has auto combos, and can be fun to play without delving in too deep — there’s enormous depth below the surface awaiting patient and dedicated gamers.
Late[st] lags about two years behind its arcade release, bringing additional characters and balance changes. We see modifications to series’ mainstays like Gordeau, a menacing scythe wielder; Waldstein, a grappler who fills the screen; Vatista, a zoner that attacks with beams, and others. Everyone can find a fit in the diverse cast. The flow of battle is still governed by a Grid at the center of the screen, which fills with blocks for both players. Whoever has more at certain times enters an empowered Vorpal state and accesses Chain Shift, a sort of “YRC” or “Rapid Cancel” in loose translation that cancels most actions, pauses the game to get a quick look, and gives meter back to the user. It’s crucial to pay attention to this tug of war, as well as to remember that the resource meter conserves between the rounds. Being unable to attack after recovering in the air also distinguishes this title from related ones, keeping the action more grounded. New to UNIST is a Cross Veil Off mechanic, which reminds me a bit of Gold Bursting in BlazBlue: Continuum Shift. A fighter can extend their combo by releasing the rest of their energy to unleash multiple super attacks in a row.
While fans of the series will pick apart the nuanced balance changes between UNIST and its predecessor, UNIEL, the biggest difference between the two is the single-player content. The [Late]st edition packs a sprawling Tutorial mode, Mission mode (combo challenges), and an expansive story mode titled Chronicle. The Tutorial is a welcome addition, since it thoroughly explains the nuances of French Bread’s fighter.
Other than tune-ups for each member of the cast, four additions make their way to the roster. Mika is a small girl with big fists, while whip-wielder Phonon can dominate from long range. Most notably, Late[st] adds console originals Wagner and Enkidu. Both of them stand out in their own ways, but gel with the rest of the cast. Enkidu seems very beginner-friendly, as the martial artist has lots of rekkas — his special moves have easy follow-ups, and even his normal B and C attacks can be repeated up to three times in a row. Wagner resembles SoulCalibur’s Sophitia a bit with her short sword and shield, and her specials ignite the stage with quick, drill-like dashes. She can further enchant her sword or shield to strengthen moves. I found both fighters to be exciting choices that are flashy and fun to play, even if Enkidu is generally regarded as a weaker character.
Unfortunately, the netcode isn’t on par with BlazBlue: Central Fiction’s, so it will be a little tough (but doable) to be a netplay warrior. I’ve compared my connection with a friend with whom I played stable BBCF games; the UNIST lag with the same person amounted to about 4-6 frames, just a bit beyond a good threshold. However, I still had quite enjoyable games with someone in my city and a someone in an unknown location (a 3-bar). Network Mode also feels a bit barer than Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 or Dragon Ball FighterZ as it lacks the avatar lobby and unlockable goodies, it’s only plain menus. To be honest, though, it doesn’t detract from the experience very much. [Note these impressions are based on network conditions prior to the wide retail release in the West. – Editor]
Chances are though, if you’re looking for some content, you’ll spend some time in the new to Late[st] story mode. The Chronicle Mode is definitely worth rifling through if you’re a visual novel fan. The well-written chapters — which focus on specific characters — humorously clash between supernatural Night creatures with reminders of daily, modern life. Yuzuriha points out the inconvenience of laws prohibiting carrying around Japanese swords around civilian areas; shortly after she gets a smartphone for the first time with an app called “LINNE” for communication. We witness Byakuya’s traumatizing transformation from blissful, prosaic life and discover how his powers came to be. It’s a bit verbose, but overall, the language paints the action and the emotion through scenes that show how many of the characters in the series came to be who they are.
While it’s meaty, it can be picked apart in digestible, shorter chapters, which focus on telling the origin of the cast and how the Night creatures came to be, and how people discover their EXS powers (incidentally, the name of the main power resource). As a side note: there’s undeniably a large amount of text in the game, but sadly, the translation has quite a lot of misspellings and mistakes which can distract from enjoying the tale.
And speaking of EXS, you’re not alone when it comes to wading through the breadth of fighting game terminology. As some may have already heard, the Tutorial Mode is incredibly robust this time, covering not only tech specific to this game, but it also does an excellent job teaching methods applicable to most air-dashers (if not simply most fighting games in general). You’ll learn how to do an empty jump into mix-up, a reversal backdash, how to Dragon Punch out of pressure, and even learn some UNIST-specific option selects that the game is famous for. While some crafty players can use record functions to program an enemy dummy to practice situations in most fighting games, UNIST comes ready with an exercise for nearly every technique it presents. Even if the explanations are a little terse, this is practically a complete, interactive Wiki right in front of you. It may be tough to get newcomers to muster up the will to sit through so many segments, but it’s easier than ever before to get on par with such an in-depth fighting game.
There are some things holding back the English release of Under Night, however. January has been packed with some big fighting game releases, so it’s tough to see this rather niche title gaining much traction among them (or sustaining the attention of those who play multiple fighting games). Furthermore, many fans of this series probably already grabbed the Japanese-language version. It’s a shame, because I feel it’s really worth getting the localized UNIST for its robust Tutorial and lengthy Chronicle Mode. In a time when single-player content sometimes doesn’t make the cut, UNIST raises the bar for all fighting games when it comes to teaching its players how to master it.
It’s never been easier to get into this title, but it won’t succeed without a reasonably-sized community. UNIST features a memorable cast and intensely strategic elements that forge a unique title — even if at the outset it looks similar to other anime games. Although the market is getting crowded, we still enthusiastically recommend this title to the fighting game community at large. You may be surprised just how much you’ll like it; the game does require dedication, but it rewards you a lot for it.
Under Night In-Birth Exe: Late[st] is available now on Amazon and PlayStation Network for $49.99 on PlayStation 4, 3, and Vita. Review copy and screenshots provided by Aksys Games.
It’s a pretty good time to be an Arc System Works fan, particularly if you care about Evolution 2018’s lineup of main stage games. Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 enthusiasts will not only have their game as part of the main event, but it will also have a spot in the arena on Sunday. Furthermore, series creator and director Daisuke Ishiwatari announced during the Evolution 2018 stream that REV 2 will get its next patch sometime in March.
Teasing a game balance-focused patch, a short clip was showcased some of the upcoming changes, teasing new possibilities for the cast. Partially captured in the GIF below, there isn’t much concrete information regarding the update — except from a REV 2 arcade loketest. While the community helped translate the official Japanese patch note document, we can’t be sure if the listed changes will go into effect until the patch launches sometime in March. Ishiwatari stated that the patch is expected to roll out simultaneously globally.
What we do know, however, is that the patch — titled 2.10 — will launch in Japanese arcades on February 14th (effectively February 13th in some parts of the world). This will be a great opportunity to check out players in Japan adjusting to the rebalancing.
If you were watching the Evolution 2018 lineup reveal, you’ve heard some exciting news; the upcoming BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle is one of the eight main stage games! As Mr. Wizard showcased each of the games, Arc System Works showed the BBxTAG game trailer that we’ve already seen. However, there were some surprises toward the end; while we already knew Blake Belladonna is coming to the game as a DLC character, it turns out she will be free of charge!
RWBY fans have had their eyes peeled for the last member of the squad: Yang Xiao Long, Ruby’s sister. We surmised that she will be a DLC character, but Arc System Works revealed that she will be free as well. During the announcement, game producer Toshimichi Mori urged fans to support the title and pre-order the game.
Team RWBY is now complete! Both Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long will be joining the roster of #BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle for all players at no charge! You can't break up the dream team. #BBTAGpic.twitter.com/VcYRB1LXPq
It’s unclear whether this was planned all along, or if it’s a reaction to some of the backlash after the Blake and DLC roster announcement, which revealed 20 core characters and 20 additional, downloadable members.
BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle will launch on PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Steam platforms on May 29th in Japan, and June 5th in North America.
Arc System Works announced that an upcoming patch for Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 is on its way. After Evolution Japan 2018, we found out that a loketest is taking place in Japan. As players will begin to experiment with the rebalancing and tuning of the entire cast, the company has already released a patch notes document.
If you can read Japanese, you can go ahead and read the Xrd REV 2patch notes in a PDF format. However, members of the fighting game community have already turned to translating the notes, naturally. Currently, multiple translations are underway. You can check out GREATFERNMAN’s Evernote containing EnglishXrd REV 2 patch log, an ongoing work as of press time. If you prefer a video overview, vibratingsheep translated the notes live on Twitch.
There are many changes coming to most characters, so REV 2 might be a very different game in the 2.1 version. Stay tuned to Shoryuken for continued Guilty Gear coverage.
