Kil-sumer Reports: Crab Cake > Lobster Roll

I Think BlazBlue Is a Really Good Game Because... [BlazBlue Impressions]

Forgiveness please for the writing assignment title.

There are a number of unabashedly enjoyable things in Guilty Gear's spiritual successor.

Noel's ground string (forward B > forward C > down C > down forward C > down, down C > dash in, forward C > neutral Drive) was learned within a few attempts, though the timing on the last three hits is pretty tight. This leads to her Chain Revolver combo for nice damage or into an air combo (j.A, j.B, jump, j.B, j.C, Revolver Blast or Air Distortion). Revolver Blast alone is a stylish special attack to note, as it builds Heat gauge while completing the aerial rave. As a character, Noel is hard to compare. A little baby Cable, I'd say, and her Chain Revolver easy combo seems familiar, though only the forward special of the Fire Emblem characters in Smash rings a bell.

Abandoning Guilty Gear's suave gentleman vampire Slayer, Blazblue introduces Rachel Alucard, a young vampire princess with de riguer bat and cat familiars. She plays a zoning game planting electrifying bat rods, and uses wind gusts to manipulate the positions of her opponent, herself, and her projectiles. Then she can wind dash in on a shocked opponent with a rushdown style reminiscent of Dizzy. Her simplest damage dealing move is her wind dash spin (forward, forward D, forward C) which mutates a short range command attack into a visceral screen-crossing assault.

The Red Devil of Sector Seven, Iron Tager stands in for Potemkin as the game's archetypal grappler, though his Drive ability to magnetize an opponent and attract them into grabs significantly alters the traditional tactics of closing in.

The complexities of the cast as a whole are a confirmation of the intricacies of character design and gameplay. Even the most familiar characters (Ragna ala Sol and Jin ala Ky) are given a new dimension by their Drives. And hell, don't get me started on Arakune... It's like Testament and Venom (Marvel) had an abortion.

All in all, a really fresh, engaging take on 2D fighting in the same furious, technical vein as GG and MvC2. As much as I like the classic, clean mechanics of SFIV, there is definitely an appetite for this kind of advanced, hyperactive direction.

I'm hoping I can cajole some interest out of Legoman. Don't know why he's so stuck on Bang Shishigami...

Pop Songs Rewritten for Fighting Game Relevance

In Miley Cyrus' single The Climb, in my own mind, I would hear the line

"Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose"

as

"Hitting dives like I'm Kindevu"

whenever I've been having a run of good fortune with Rufus in SFIV. His dives (aka Vulture Kicks) are a key component of his game, and the pinnacle of mastery is definitely Japan's Kindevu, the top ranked Rufus in the world, and the only fatty that has given Daigo's Ryu a run for his yen.

This alone really didn't merit a post, until I started hearing Gaga's Love Game reimagined to be about Blazblue's Ragna and his Distortion Drive Blood Kain.

"Doin' the Blood Kain."

My Noel Notes

Sorry guys, this is here for my reference. Still trying to get the hang of BlazBlue. This is not for public consumption.

Type IX: Muzzle Flitter
- A hop command grab that can also be used for combos.
- Leaves them knocked down and can be followed up with an OTG attack.
- Drive 6C and back throw combo into it. Great damage.

Drive: Chain Revolver
- Begins with an attack which activates and leaves her in Drive.
- Can be canceled out of with specials after any Drive attack.
- Will reload with recovery if it is not canceled into anything.
- Can continue into 4 continuing Drive attacks which leave her in Drive.
- Cannot be canceled into the same Drive attack twice in a row.
- Can finish into Drive ending attacks unless canceled by a special or allowed to reload.

Starters:
Neutral D - High invincible, can beat out overheads. Used in both air and ground combos.
Forward D - Moves forward and hits low. Doesn't knock down, hits them up.
Back D - Attack that moves her back, can be used to make attackers whiff.
Down D - Two-hit hop that hits high. Low invincible.
j.D - Air attack that hits directly below her in the air. Can be used to guard crush or potential use as a fake cross up because it moves her quite a bit before it comes out in the air.

Continuing attacks:
Neutral A - Quick attack, used to chain drive attacks together.
Forward A - Another quick attack in which she steps forward before hitting, also used to chain drive attacks together.
Neutral B - Kicks that move forward, fair amount of push back.
Forward B - Quick overhead 1 hit attack.
Neutral C - Shot that she moves up to do. Has a fair amount of push back.
Forward C - 9 hit revolving attack that moves them away. Combos into 214A
Neutral D, Forward D, Back D, Down D - Same as starter

Ending attacks:
QCF D - Type III: Bloom Trigger: Finishing attack that moves forward and hits. Good to end with after Drive 6B. Supposedly doesn't put her at disadvantage on block.
QCB D - Type V: Assault Through: Moves forward a lot and attacks from behind. Dangerous if read.
Down, Up D - Type VI: Spring Raid: Launching attack that allows aerial followup depending on spacing. Will get punished on block.

It's the Non-Sequitor that counts.

In lieu of an actual gift, I gave Big Sis Prinny a card that caused her to laugh so hard she cried. Or perhaps she cried due to the tragic failure that was my choice of card. I may never know.

VGL; KIL MIA

To: Killa
From: Big Sis Prinny
Sent: Sat, Jul 11, 2009 at 5:35 PM
Subject: Video Games Live

The VGL show was pretty good. They changed the program up only a little bit from last time. They did away with the music from Advent Rising and instead included the music to Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross, which was cool. One of the highlights was, before the show they had a Guitar Hero contest. Then in the second half of the show, they brought the winner up on stage. They told him if he could score 200,000 points on "Sweet Emotion" on hard mode, he'd win a sweet AlienWare laptop. He insisted that they put it on expert mode, so they put his shit on expert. Tommy Tallarico goes, "Dude, are you sure? It's for the laptop" but the kid insisted. He then proceeded to get a 609 note streak---unlocking an XBL achievement in the process, which was hysterical---and went on to score 300k points (the previous high score for that song on the console was 257k), only missing 5 notes in the whole song. It was crazy. Also, there was a costume contest with a bunch of small kids dressed as Link, a Guile, a Naked Snake, and a chick dressed as the Scout from Team Fortress 2. Ultimately, a guy dressed as Pac-Man took the prize. There was also a Yuna and an Auron, but they weren't as impressive. I looked for Guile after the show because I wanted to get a picture, but I couldn't find him. It was a pretty full house, some seats under the roof were empty but the whole lawn was full of people.

Fwd: FWD: did you know that the bartender was 105. bill said he talked to him and he does that to keep moving

Omg, you watching Wimbledizzle?

I Now Pronounce You Keif and Legoman

Yup, the big day is here.

Killa Blog has always been intentionally vague regarding personal stuff for liability reasons, but today I will be a little more open. My roommates, Keif and Legoman, are getting married today.

KB tends to dwell on the minutia of life. The small things about which people talk. Pet peeves, videogame stuff, delicious apple cultivars. But sometimes, big stuff happens in life, and this space, I reckon, ought to pay some respect to that.

It's a big analogy, really. Killa Blog is a revolutionary, ground-breaking piece of interactive media, but it's made up of all the little things in my life. My friends' life together is likewise made up of small things: vet visits, omg srsly crazy parties, grilled flatbread pizzas, lazy days at the beach. But the sum of these things is much, much bigger.

Like, spiritual union big.

Wish me luck with the toast, yo.