- The game is broke, but not as broke as you think.
Everyone whines about the difference in tiers. I'll fully admit that some match-ups are pretty bad to play (Tager vs Rach/Nu/Arak, Haku vs Rach/Nu/Arak) BUT all things said and done, the majority of the game is fairly balanced. Even these 'terrible' match-ups have been found to be 65% or so in favor. Not nearly as ground-breaking as the internet would lead you to believe. Frustrating sure, but hardly impossible. Now to build off of that. . . - Nu is NOT as easy mode as you think, kiddies.
At first I thought this may just be a slight bias on my part due to being a Nu player, however lots of ranked and player matches have helped to reaffirm this. Thanks to the internet being full of ignorant fuckwads, everyone has the absolute knowledge (not belief. Concrete knowledge.) that you can D spam on Nu and instantly win. What this hilariously translates into is kiddies who either a.) pick Nu because I've beaten the majority of their other characters or b.) are counter-picking Nu because my DCard says Nu on it. (And therefore, there's no chance in hell their main could beat me! They better use Nu!)
So how does this -always- work out in the end? The kiddy sits there and can do the first two swords (ie 2x D) and then doesn't know what else to do. They then proceed to get spanked. People have simply become so entrenched in the belief of all powerful Nu in Calamity Trigger that people seem to be so sure they can pick her up for the first time and instantly do better than they would with their main, without practicing or knowing combos.
I mean sure, I guess I shouldn't complain. It's free wins on ranked or player matches. I just find it pathetic on the people's part that they're so bloody ignorant as to do this, and end up looking like a scrubby right ass. Anyway, I guess that as a Nu player who honestly has put some time into learning his character, it frustrates me that so many gamers still think she requires no effort and skill. - I hate fighting Arakune
I know i just spent a few paragraphs describing that the tiers aren't -that- bad and that higher tier characters such as Nu do require skill, but that doesn't change the fact that I effing loathe Arakune. I think this is due to the top strategy for Arak still looking like:- Curse
- Play keep away in the air
- Whilst playing keep away, mash on your buttons to conjure bugs
- Don't counterpick. You just end up looking like an ass.
A few times now I've had peeps counterpick for one reason or another. This is either a.) in ranked matches where they seem to try counterpicking based off of my D-Card saying Nu) or b.) in player matches where I pick first and then they pick someone based off of that. (Can I prove it? Not quite, but it's fishy when they sit on Jin or Noel or another main, then suddenly move to Nu/Arak/Rachel when they see me pick Hakumen. =| )
This one annoys me for two reasons. The first is that it's once again going back to typical user ignorance. The internet says Arakune or Nu is auto-win versus someone. As such you're showing that rather than use a character you're probably familiar with (oh D-Cards, how I love thee) you're placing your faith in rumor and internet whining without actually having the experience to tell you otherwise.
Reason number two is that I consider fighting games a test of skill. Sure there are match-ups leaning one way or another, but when you drop your main of sorts to try and counterpick you're blatantly showing off that you lack any skill (or at least confidence in your skill) to play who you know best. You're depending on supposed hard coded advantages or disadvantages, and are essentially requiring the use of an 'unfair advantage' of sorts to win. Really tells a lot about a person's character to require such an advantage before they feel they can win a contest of skill.
Now, i realize that this can go a few different ways. One can then question players who main a "higher tier" character anyway, saying they're just learning a good character to have this advantage. Different argument for a different time, though I would agree that's the case more often than not. No, the above few paragraphs are pertaining to peeps specifically picking characters they wouldn't normally play in hopes of said advantages. How would I know this? Glad you asked. - I love D-Cards
Standing for Drive-card, anyone who has played BlazBlue online knows that the D-Card shows off a player's main character, alt character, and win ratios for both ranked / player matches. Now there are a couple evils that this allows, but at the same time it allows me to see the (in theory) skill of a fellow player (their win %), as well as for curiosity's sake who they prefer playing. I like seeing a peep's main since I often hold a lot more respect for someone who goes out of their way to play a character they enjoy, not one who is cookie cutter or "good". Call me generalizing but it allows me to get a first impression of my opponent.
The two downsides come from counterpicking (mentioned above) and flat out refusal to play. Currently I play Hakumen, however I have not played enough matches to make up for the amount of Nu I have played before Haku. On multiple occasions, the pre-fight screen will come up. As soon as somebody sees I have Nu as my main they back out of the match. I'm sorry, are you (once again) so insecure in your ability that you're not even going to bother playing? Are you only wanting to play when things perfectly suit your terms? Why bother going online to play others in a fighting game if you're going to cancel out every time things don't happen to be how you want them? (Though I guess this can apply to ragequitters as well, and we know how they're loved.) Anyway, last for this list. . . - Online play does have its fair share of issues for such a fighting game
At risk of sounding like i'm making excuses, I'm going to bitch about lag. I honestly think if I didn't play Haku I'd have a lot less reason to bitch, but I currently do, so I currently will. While BlazBlue has unusually great netcode, I still find enough times where there's some degree of input (or general) lag that delays my reactions to the game. Such times truly cropping up are typically throw breaks, but far moreso Hakumen's ability to counter. When you take away for the player to make a split second decision such as countering, it means that an entirely major aspect of that character is negated. Normally I'd be able to react and counter an icecar (Vroom vroom) thus punishing the Jin player for it. However with this wonderful concept of lag, by the time I see the icecar it's too late to press the button and actually get an effect. Yes I realize that at this point I should try and anticipate, but I shouldn't be punished in such a fashion when I would normally in person (ie how the game was meant to be played) be able to react and use it accordingly.
Slightly on that topic, I understand now why Jin is the choice character of new players (and general scrubs) ala Ken in SF4. Jin's strategies typically focus on the ability to hit your opponent quickly with a freezing attack, and then make use of that time. In a local setting this isn't an issue, since an opponent can wiggle out of freezing and react accordingly. However it seems like thanks to lag, it's damn near impossible to waggle out before the ice would wear off anyway. If you want to interpret this as whining, then test it out for yourself. Try waggling out of ice online and off, and you'll notice quite a hell of a difference. This difference seems like all it takes for a mediocre or beginner player to get off combos that really wouldn't be working otherwise. I have a hunch that this is partially why Jin's ice got the shit nerfed out of it in Continuum Shift. (Ice automatically breaks as if you were waggling out as fast as possible) It won't be remotely as good / easy to use, and I have a feeling a lot of the former Jin players will be moving onto other easy mode characters since they won't find themselves nearly as 'good' with Jin as they once were.
When that day comes, I will be there to greet you. Both as the White Void, and as Rambda.
Till we meet again in Kagutsuchi.
-Ed Kun Out
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