Alright, where should we begin? BlazBlue is a fighting game series by Arc System works which is well known for many successful games in the past such as Guilty Gear, Persona, Double Dragon, BlazBlue and countless others. I wanted to make a thread for discussing the game with other fans of the series a few of which I will summon at the end of my post. So far there are four games released so far in the series and another one that I believe was just released in Japan. These games being BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger, BlazBlue: Continuum shift, BlazBlue: Continuum shift II (For PS vita.) and BlazBlue: Continuum Shift: Extend which combines the story for both Calamity Trigger and Continuum shift as well as updating the online game play, adding a new character and a story mode for all the downloadable characters as well as giving you all the downloads for free. Then we have the most recent game in the series; BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma which features seven new playable characters to the game so far being the biggest increase in characters in the series.

Before I continue I want to talk a little bit about the story of BlazBlue, you see the game features Anime cut scenes and play a lot like an interactive novel game except for the most part you fight out every fight in the story yourself. And let me tell you the story does not disappoint in the end, it was even so popular that after years of the fans begging the company to make an Anime for the series that they finally started one earlier in the month with new episodes every Tuesday. (Yes, I need to watch today's episode.)

Probably my favorite part about the game is the way the combat is designed, It's very combo heavy and focus's mainly on the players fighting over the offensive and defensive roles of the fight. In the offensive role you are trying to keep your opponent under the pressure of your combos while making sure you are not countered or giving your opponent a moment to breath. This is easily my personal strong point in the game seeing as with many characters I can commonly win matches without being hit once. (It's not a cheap game, I'm just a really good player with a lot of practice.)

On the defensive role (Oh, and by the way the game doesn't officially say this anywhere, this is just something I eventually learned through tons of game play.) you have to try and dodge, evade and block your opponents attack while not allowing them to keep you in combo chains of a 50/50 mix-up, otherwise even the best defensive player won't last forever. But the thing you really want to do here is try and land a counter attack on your opponent switching the roles and taking the offensive for yourself allowing you to take more control of the battle and if you are skilled enough, even a little bit of control over your opponent.

One of the most interesting parts about the game is the fact that every playable character has a widely unique (To that series.) play style that allows every player to use someone that fits well with their play style. For example the main character Ragna the Bloodedge is a "mow-down" style character who is good at a non-relenting offensive. Another example and my personal best character is the ever so tricky Hazama, he can't sprint, but he has a snake chain that allows him to evade, home in on his opponent and zoom across the screen in a flash of an eye; He is great for confusing other players with versatile attacks and will attack from several angles if someone plays him well, and once a good player has you in the defense zone while fighting him, you are going to have a hard time getting out do to his speed and versatility as a character.

Anyway... I will just continue on and on about every last character in the series if I don't stop soon, and then I'll be up all night writing a guide on the game instead of a discussion thread. Let's summon the other fans of the series that I know.

vanelan : You play this game and you bought the same version and Xbox live for both me and you so we can play this game together, how could I not summon you to this thread?

goodboy : You play this game as well so I figured I would send a summon your way. You use Hazama and Ragna as well, right?

If anyone has any questions about the series feel free to ask.

I am a big fan of this game as well.
I forget what initially drew me to this series, but it was easily my favorite fighter after the first time I played it.

Typically, I use Noel Vermillion. 
Her style is a more of an aggressive style (usually easily countered by Frodlex's stupid Hazama snake chains )

Fans of combo-fighters such as Guilty Gear or the King of Fighters series should try this series out.

Frodlex : I need to get some of those people from your friend list on mine to teach me how to play better.

Fighting games are one of my favorite types of games ever. I wish I could play Blazblue with other people. I only have the Japanese arcade version on my computer. My most frequently played character is probably a tie between Noel and the weird sword dancer person who I have no idea how to even spell their name it's like Nu and a number

Koda : Oh, Nu-13. I take it you only have Calamity Trigger then? Well, seeing as you said "Nu and a number" I would have to guess it's Calamity Trigger seeing as Nu sort of.... Well.... She gets replaced with Lambda-11 in Continuum Shift even though in the end they are really the same person. But you say you only have the arcade version? You're missing out on some great story man. And if you would like I can tell you about some very interesting little known facts and back story behind Nu/Lambda and Noel Vermilion. And trust me, if you're a fan of the story they are interesting indeed. Just ask Vanelan if he thinks they are interesting (Assuming he's played the story.) to him or not. Don't forget he mains with Noel as well.

I have played though the story and watched it on CS: Extend as well.

It definitely is very interesting.

Frodlex : I actually looked it up on wikipedia for the name and the number is 11 so it has to be the lambda person. I'm pretty sure it continuum shift. I do get bored watching the story mostly because they're just sitting there saying all there Japanese lines and the Japanese subtitles. I'd be interested on the story if you wouldn't mind explaining it. By the way the most horrible part is I can't skip the cut scenes so I just watch them over and over...

Koda : Actually, if you're interested in the story while I could explain why not start following the anime? It was made with the intention of helping fans of the series understand more of the story in case they were having trouble with it. It starts with the beginning of Calamity trigger and it's part of the way through Continuum shift now with a new episode coming out every week we are supposed to get like 12 or 13 episodes in total which by then should be pretty far into the story if not farther than the games themselves. But something I may be a little more interested in doing is explaining a little bit of Lambda/Nu's play style to you if you're interested. But seriously, give the anime a shot. It should explain just about everything in the story to you.

While I do like the anime, it might be moving a bit too fast for people that are just getting into BlazBlue.

I think it might seem like the Silent Hill movie for people that never played Silent Hill.
It looks cool and you kinda get the idea, but its almost like they expect you to already know what's going on.

Koda : If you are really interested, on youtube, you can probably find the stories of each character and see how they ultimately tie together.
Continuum Shift Extend put a feature in there that allowed players to just watch the cut scenes for each character from the first game.
Try searching for "Calamity Trigger Reconstruction" or something like that

It's weird: I just saw the summon for this....

Anyways, yep, I have BlazBlue. Continuum Shift Extend for the PS3, to be exact. I'm more of a go for the kill kind of person, but I couldn't defend if it could save my life. However, my offensive is pretty nice, if I do say so myself. I mow-down newbies quickly with a perfect.

And, you're right. I specialize in Hazama and Ragna, the best characters.

goodboy : You know that neither Hazama nor Ragna are quite as strong in my version of the game. Not only that but in extend isn't Relius a little bit more over powered? You know... To the point where he can kill someone in a single combo and all of  that jazz. Seriously though it's been down before. In the end it really boils down to opinion when it comes down "best character" seeing as it is really just a matter of opinion there sort of isn't a best character. As for mowing down noobs. Well, I've been known to land perfect on great players really, it just comes down to who can take advantage of the other player first in the end. Newer players are a lot less likely to do so. But the Xbox community for CSII is so small I like to try and train every new player I come across. After I utterly crush them first that is. (If I can, you never really know.)

goodboy : I need to add you to my list.
My PSN id is MoriyaMinakata

Frodlex : I'd love to watch the anime but I only have Internet access at school so it would be impossible for me. I really hate this I won't get my Internet back at home for 3 more months.