BlazBlue!!

[LocoColt04]

Anyone who isn't playing this on PS3 is insane.
The 360 doesn't even have a remotely viable D-pad.

I've become somewhat brutal with Jin Kisaragi. I'm still having a hard time picking a favorite... Taokaka is pretty high on the list, as is Bang. Bang is sick once you get the hang of him.

[Cain Highwind]

Anyone who isn't playing this on PS3 is insane.
The 360 doesn't even have a remotely viable D-pad.

Then lock me up and send me off to the asylum. I have no interest in this title whatsoever.

No seriously. Everyone was talking about Guilty Gear X/X2 like they are talking about BlazBlue now. OMG HI REZ SPRITEZ! ROCKIN' SOUNDTRACK! I actually got hyped up from all the reviews, played it, and felt very underwhelmed. Within maybe two hours I had already shelved it and went back to playing KoF 2000 for PS2. It just felt so hollow. I wasn't into the characters at all, had an annoyingly steep learning curve, and just wasn't FUN at all (except for the few times with Friends where we'd just go crazy with Gold and Shadow characters). So I refuse to let myself be fooled by this game, because it just screams of being the same shallow, one trick pony.

You kids have your fun, I'll be taking TvC and KoF XII thanks.

[SOLDIER #819]

Those of you who have it for the PS3, let's be friends? PM me or something if you care to. LOCO. Loaf? Well, if you don't I'll just get impatient and VM you.

Cain, your post makes me sad. It would have been cool if you had enjoyed it, with you seeming to like the fighter genre a lot in general. I didn't find it hard to get into, but I don't really have a reference point to go off of. Saying it's shallow, however, seems strange (to me). How do you mean?

[Cain Highwind]

Those of you who have it for the PS3, let's be friends? PM me or something if you care to. LOCO. Loaf? Well, if you don't I'll just get impatient and VM you.

Cain, your post makes me sad. It would have been cool if you had enjoyed it, with you seeming to like the fighter genre a lot in general. I didn't find it hard to get into, but I don't really have a reference point to go off of. Saying it's shallow, however, seems strange (to me). How do you mean?

Yeah sorry I hate to be "that guy". I'm just still a bit bitter over my disappointment from Guilty Gear X2.

As for what I mean by shallow. Well I said hollow too. And well, I really did like parts of the presentation. The slick menus, the bright vibrant colors. I disliked the artwork, I didn't like the blaring rock music, which just didn't sound very distinguished or memorable to me. I didn't find the characters interesting at all, the sprites moved so stiffly. Omega Gear (remember him) and I would clash about this. He thought I was nuts preferring older SNK titles over the "clearly technologically superior" Guilty Gear. It's like the Xeno series, some people LOVE it, and some like me just don't "get" it. It just rubs them the wrong way.

Ironically, the creator of GG and BB and his team used to be part of SNK, and they created The Last Blade series which is one of my most cherished and loved Fighting Game series.

I'll take your advice and rent it sometime or buy it when it becoms uber cheap, but I'm just saying I've got my eyes on TvC and KoFXII much more than this. BB's sprites are indeed cleaner and HD, but they've still got GG's lack of detail and animation (not to mention over the top flashiness that just seems like overkill to me) KoF XII's are still a bit behind (their sprites are at GG's 640x480) they've got old school pixels but some breathtaking detail and fluidity that's just about on par with SFIII:TS only higher res.

[SOLDIER #819]

This is me being Captain Obvious, but it's really okay by me if you don't like it. More often than not I'm in your position so I understand that it's easy to end up hating something you've really looked forward to.

I sort of agree with you on the music... they have a certain rock theme going where the tracks tend to really blend together after a while. Some would say it's background music and serves its purpose and others would say it's distinct. I personally have trouble telling the difference, but I haven't really sat down and listened to it. I'm too busy wanting to throw the controller at the TV to do that.

I think the graphics look great, however. I don't have much experience with sprite fighters, but I think the lack of "fluidity" has more to do with the way the system is structured rather than some flaw with its animation. Some of can moves look quite fancy, but the main idea seems to be to chain various moves together into combos at seemingly eye-blink speed. There just aren't enough frames to make the flow of battle seem graceful without slowing the game down considerably.

Not to go too off topic, but how does Street Fighter and King of Fighters handle combos nowadays? Is it as fast or heavy as Guilty Gear? I think that could be the key difference. It may be more appropriate to hate its system rather than the graphics... which is probably worse!

Edit: And now I will bother everyone for PS3 usernames. Feel free to ignore me.