It’s high time the famous Swedish Baiken published his combo movie. This is definitely a big moment for any Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 Baiken main, but it’s also a treat for those who main other characters or those who don’t partake in Guilty Gear as much.
Set to a fitting rock theme, Shinjin shows off some very practical punishes, which is Baiken’s speciality, after all. But what’s more, he shows some optimized combos that decimate the opponent’s life bar as long as they are close enough to the corner for her damaging Dust loops. Midscreen, Shinjin shows some special juggles with the chain and a follow-up, Tetsuzansen. What’s really informative though is the corner throw section which teaches various Burst-baiting and Burst-safe spots, making Bursting unadvisable in those moments, because it would net a punishing, damaging combo. The rest is a visual treat, as it includes some stylish set-ups, like with Faust’s black hole item.
In addition to this must-see REV 2 video, Shinjin also has some great older Accent Core Baiken combo videos — highly recommend seeing them!
Last night’s Arc System Works Fighting Game Awards 2017 show was eventful in a few ways. Not only did we get to see some top notch Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 and BlazBlue: Central Fiction action, but we heard a few excitement announcements.
While unfortunately it’s not a new character reveal, we now know that every version of REV 2 will receive a balance patch that will cover every character. There are no details about it at this time, such as of the gravity of changes or the timing. As Evo Japan is coming up, we may hear more information about it there and whether the company wants to add more DLC to REV 2.
January is sure a busy month for fighting games, and while many turn their attention to Dragon Ball FighterZ, we can’t forget about Dissidia Final Fantasy NT, which will finally be unleashed on the PlayStation 4 on January 30th. In the meantime, everyone can test out the game for free, if they own a console!
The open beta — which has just launched — will feature 15 rotating characters, unlockable gear, weapons, and skills, and two gameplay modes: Ranked Match for online battles and Gauntlet for offline duels against AI. Note that any progress won’t be carried over should you decide to purchase the full game.
The open beta will last until January 21st; the Dissidia Final Fantasy NT official website has a breakdown of which characters will be available during certain windows.
When you’re ready to jump in, visit the Official PlayStation Store page to download the Dissidia Final Fantasy NT open beta client. Note that a PlayStation Plus subscription is not required to play!
As the Dragon Ball FighterZ open beta is coming soon, a wide range of fighting game enthusiasts and Dragon Ball fans will finally get their first taste of the Arc System Works and Bandai Namco production.
Whether you’re typically a BlazBlue, Street Fighter V, or a Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite player, your stick preferences might be different. As various communities join in the search for the Dragon Balls, they’ll have to figure out how to configure their buttons, depending on their favorite game. Luckily, Tsuntenshi has made up some very useful and inclusive stick layout examples to cover diverse approaches to controlling the game. Each image describes which layout is comfortable for which players. Also, take note of the techniques with multi-button presses.
Check them out below:
Read up on the Dragon Ball FighterZ open beta for more information about how to get ready for it!
The International Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2018) has been going on, and one surprising fighting game appearance at the techy show is SoulCalibur VI. A player from the 8WayRun forums had the opportunity to play a build, and compiled a list of some impressions.
Futabot reveals a change that is certainly going to be a shock to veteran players of the series: B+G throw is no more. Traditionally, the Soul warriors had two base throws, performed with A+G and B+G, with the A or B button to break out of them, respectively. Now, according to Futabot, we have “back” and “forward” throws performed with just A+G and a direction.
“Throws are now 5, 6 and 4 A+G. Breaks are 6A and 4A. 6A+G and A+G are both forward throw. Sorry for the confusion. Sophie also has 66A+G,” they write.
B+G has another use, however — it’s used for the new Reversal Edge. A+K is not used for now. Futabot also talks a little about movement, saying that Step Guard is gone. The startup of eight-way-run movement is really quick, so the character can actually get around quickly by pressing G intermittently.
When it comes to the Impact Counter mechanic, that occurs whenever a player tries to Guard Impact or Reversal Edge an unblockable strike or a Critical Edge attack. They don’t work against such attacks. And speaking of Guard Impacts, there’s only one type, the window on it is fairly large, and it counters low attacks as well. Missing five Guard Impacts makes the character’s guard bar flash red.
The world’s most famous Bang player in BlazBlue: Central Fiction is back with new content in his channel. As usual, Dora invited a very strong player onto his stream to showcase some high-level Japanese gameplay.
This time, Dora faces Tamai and their Hibiki in a first-to-ten set. While both are sort of “ninja” archetypes, their toolkits are pretty different. Bang is a little more mix-up-oriented with some nail specials to back him up, while Hibiki has strong reset pressure with a Drive that helps him approach. Both players show off really strong pressure; it often takes almost the whole life bar before the other player takes advantage, which is seen in the first matches. After that, though, Dora goes on a dominating streak, warming up to the Hibiki neutral and shutting him down a lot.
The Mikaten matches continue with another excellent FT10 between two very skilled Japanese players. As usual, Joniosan’s channel is host to top-level Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 talent. This time, it’s Fumo’s famous Elphelt versus 2Rio’s excellent I-no.
Both characters are rather offense-oriented and lack defensive options sans Tension. Therefore, the fights get very one-sided from time to time; while I-no excels at quick movement with fast knockdowns into okizeme setplay, Elphelt sometimes only needs one good hit to eat away most of I-no’s lifebar. Fumo used to play A.B.A. in previous versions, so he’s a rather methodical, smart player. It shows how evenly they are matched, too, especially in the score, going head-to-head in the first few sets.
Also, make sure to adjust your computer’s sound settings to hear MajinObama give informative commentary in English. Levels on the left have Japanese sound, and the right ones emit English.
This coming weekend is going to see some incredible action in anime games. Players of the highest caliber in Japan are gathering for intense show in the name of Arc System Works. The Fighting Game Awards 2017 (numbered that way, as it looks at last year) gathers top competitors in Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 and BlazBlue: Central Fiction. Among the online qualifiers and the invited players — who are mostly from Japan — is one American.
PAG|Grover is a BlazBlue player, famous for his achievements as Carl Clover. Being the highest-placing non-Japanese player at Evolution 2017, he is invited to the ASW Fighting Game Awards. It’s a unique opportunity to inject some overseas competition into the more traditional “top-tier” Japanese participants. We’ve capitalized on this opportunity to catch up with Grover and ask him some questions about his training, impressions of his previous stay in Japan, and strategies for the tournament.
Woocash: You’ve represented USA before at Arc Revo in 2017, what was the experience like for you? What did you draw from it?
Grover: Overall, the experience was great. I enjoyed my time in Japan with friends, and I am excited to be able to come back. For Arc Revo 2017, it was a little irritating having heard of the cabinets being switched to Nesica 2 with only a three-day notice when it was not announced publicly to the players, but it’s their decision and we would just have to adapt to that final decision. Aside from that decision, the atmosphere of the event was amazing. It was fun trying to talk to a few other players at the event participating in Persona 4 Arena Ultimax and BlazBlue, as well as playing a bit of the new Blazblue Cross Tag Battle build that included Hazama and Rachel.
As for results, well, I think you’ve seen what happened. SuperKawaiiDesu and I couldn’t make it further than we had hoped. One thing I definitely noticed was the change of gameplay there was from playing in an arcade setting as opposed to playing in America. Aside from the input delay, they are well versed on how to approach matchups/opponents, probably due to being able to play stronger players as well. It also helps that every match they play (in arcades) is like a money match that is also three out of five rounds.
Woocash: How are you preparing for the ASW Fighting Game Awards? What’s your regimen like? For example, how do you divide your time between labbing and playing people? Do you pick specific people to play against?
Grover: The way I am preparing for the event is mostly watching videos of the players, the characters, and using training mode for certain situations, both on the offense and defense. There is a decent amount of Carl footage on the internet, thanks to Jourdal, so watching what their decision-making in matches is like helps me see what I should be doing or could be doing better. I do watch my matches at times as well and try to apply the small details that I picked up and try to incorporate them into my play in the future.
Unfortunately, I do not really play too many people, if any. I do not really enjoy netplay. It can be a different game at times and if the delay is big enough, it can make playing Carl kind of annoying and a struggle. The added frames do affect certain setups. If I can not manage to pull it off, then it feels like I am not really playing to my fullest. I can only see myself netplaying if I had no other means to play. I can only really play by traveling up to TSB for offline games, but even that is a trip from New Jersey.
Woocash: What are your thoughts on the other Japanese players in the tournament?
Grover: I think the other Japanese players are all strong. ASW has already revealed the bracket, so I have a good idea of who I will play against and who I might play against. My first opponent being Iwashi Ragna. I think I am okay fighting Ragna, but matches vary, as do playstyles. My second match will be either between Fenritti’s Jin or Gackt’s Hakumen. Personally, I would like to get the chance to play Fenritti. I enjoy watching him play a lot. His Jin is very cool, artistic, and it would be a pleasure to be able to play him in tournament. On the other side of the bracket, I hope I get the chance to player either Monster or Dora. In my time at Arc Revo, Monster was one of the few players I was able to socialize with, as best as I could. As for Dora, he is also a friendly person to socialize with. The times we did meet in tournament, I failed to beat him on more than one occasion. Getting a runback, again, would be cool. Seeing as there are not that many Kokokonoes and Lambdas in the states, I would like to get the chance to also play Meister/Matoi. However, in a tournament setting, anything can happen, which means I will play whom I must.
Woocash: When watching high-level tournaments like these, what should people watching pay attention to?
Grover: The thing most people should pay attention to, I think, would be the players’ decision making and adaptation. Many times people will want to learn why did this thing work out for him, but not for me. There are a lot of quick decisions that are made on the spot, based on what the opponent has presented to the other (does he recognize this situation or not), on each of their resources, testing the opponent’s reactions, etc. It is why a lot of times when people analyze match videos, they can take the time to slow things down and realize, to an extent, what could have been running through each players’ minds. With the tournament being a double elimination, two-out-of-three format, it also gives players more time to adapt to their opponent. Every move a player makes serves a purpose.
Woocash: Any comments to our readers? Anything you’d like to share or say?
Grover: The event is soon, I will be traveling to Japan very soon (Jan 10th). The players are all strong, so it is definitely an event that should be exciting to watch. As opposed to Arc Revo 2017, this event will be played on console, so I have the luxury to be able to play on pad, but with that being said, I do feel a bit more pressure to perform better. My first Blazblue game was Chronophantasma, and looking back at my five years of play, I would have never imagined that I would be given this opportunity by picking up a game, that has been out for some time, so late.
I would like give shout outs to Lord Knight, SKD, Lich, the NY scene, friends over at Rutgers, and Psykotik (Canadian Carl player), who have all helped me improve. I probably would not have reached this point without a strong scene. As the only American in this event, wish me luck. I have seen a number of negative comments about me being the chosen participant, but those comments will never affect my mentality. To everyone else who is cheering me on or enjoy watching me play, thank you.
Tune in to Arc System Works’ Twitch account on Saturday (Friday night in some countries) to catch Grover playing BlazBlue: Central Fiction, and the other Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 matches.
It’s time for a fresh take on a popular Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 character, Jam Kuradoberi. The fierce Chinese martial arts master treats her opponents with a solid dose of fried rice and hot mix-ups. American Jam player, OkaySway, put together a brand new video of the character for the REV 2 version of the game.
Choreographed to a funky song, the video shows off stylish, damaging combos. Most of the sequences try to show off something different. For instance, there’s a corner wake-up attack example that evades Slayer’s throw with a quick instant air-dash, one of Jam’s specialties. Jam can also easily punish Sol Badguy’s Gunflame with her Ryuujin. Sway also shows how to combo lightweight Baiken after getting around her Sakura counter from Suzuran, definitely a useful battle technique. Other than that, Sway displays plenty of high-voltage combos that take advantage of Jam’s power-up card system.
Sway also briefly talked about his combo video on Twitter:
Fun tidbits on the combos:
I had a goal for each combo Ky my goal was to carry to one corner then back.
Baiken I tried to use every card
The hardest combo was probably slayer or jacko
Jam screaming in sync with the song was an accident at first
— Sway @ Hyperbolic Time Chamber (@OkaySway) January 8, 2018
Give the fledgling video creator a follow on Twitter for more Jam-packed content. For an alternate take on the character, check out this REVELATOR Jam combo video by the Japanese player, Teresa.
Winter is still here — in most regions, at least — so it seems appropriate that the latest Brawlhalla character embraces the cold. A recent stream unveiled Kaya, the new Bow and Spear Legend available in the 3.08 patch of the game.
Partnered up with an ice mammoth that shows up during certain attacks, Kaya emphasizes fast movement and good defense. She can pull off precise, powerful attacks with her bow in a variety of directions to send her opponent flying. When she switches to the spear, she can either do quick pokes or grab the opponent to whisk them in a certain direction.
Check out her gameplay reveal below, and keep scrolling to see a longer stream with the developers.
If you’re interested in viewing the stream when the character was revealed, check out this longer VOD with a lot of Kaya gameplay:
