Jona (ジョナ) · @vcJonaKim
22nd Mar 2018 from TwitLonger
BBTAG arclive writeup
So I was invited to play BBTAG today for ArcLive alongside brkrdave! Was a really fun time and I got to play the game a lot more than I did at EVOjapan (one game with tiku where all we did was goof around lol), so I got to have a lot more quality experience this time around. First of all the game feels like BB in neutral until I pick a uniel character lol. Playing the BB characters feels much more comfy than I initially anticipated, as picking up on their new moves didn't take long and they moved fluidly just like in BB. Dash startup exists and is noticable, but it doesn't make the game feel slow or anything. I feel like having neutral assists and a no startup dash would be a little too much anyway. Let's go over some system mechanic nuances first that might not be obvious upon first glance.
System
-Assists done in neutral, without your opponent being in hit or block stun, cost no meter (there're 2 assist bars). Assists done with the opponent being in hit or blockstun result in one bar being taken away
-DP is the same input as pushblock, so 4AD is a built in OS for DP/pushblock. If you try to fuzzy jump with pushblock like barrier in BB, the DP will come out if you have an air version (ragna, gordeau, narukami, etc). Having an air DP sounds rough in that aspect, but im sure there'll be a method to circumvent this in the future. Can't DP>assist btw thankfully
-As mentioned before, dashing forward has startup. So it'll feel a little weird for non kagura/susanoo BB players at first but it isn't too difficult to get used to. Dash>block is also immediate.
-Head invul anti airs exist. They're the buttons you think they would be. Backdashes are also invul
-Throw tech window feels like BB, so there's a pretty big leeway to tech compared to most games. Fuzzy jump throw tech is very real but a button will come out as you jump since airthrows don't exist in the game
-Assist tag is done by calling an assist and pressing 5D, will switch control over to assist character
-Assist install is done by calling an assist and pressing the assist button+5D. Will switch control to other character and allow you to do as many assists as you want (with the character you just switched out of) consecutively within the time limit of the assist gauge going down. This is where all the cool setups will be found lol
-Active Switching (like marvel infinite) is done by pressing assist (or 5D, I don't remember) when getting hit and will switch control to the other character at the cost of your whole assist gauge. Cooldown is extra long if you do this so you won't have your assist for a while. DP punishes lock the opponent's ability to active switch so they're essentially burst safe punishes
-5C (the overhead button) behaves different depending on the franchise the character is from. P4 and BB characters all have very fast 5Cs that cause a hard knockdown on air hit. RWBY and UNI characters on the other hand have slow 5Cs but they move far (especially UNI's). 5C is minus but not punishable, so you can still opt to DP if you think the opponent will try to assert advantage afterwards. Calling assist after a blocked 5C is not possible.
-DPs are air unblockable. Yeah remember there not being air unblockables? Guess they're in the game again lol. This was to prevent jump block from baiting them, so you'll have to stand there in order to block it. Normals are not air unblockable like DPs are (no narukami 2B nonsense)
-Assist recovery is unpunishable. I think you could attack the assist as they were recovering in early builds but you can't for sure anymore. Startup and active frames are still hitable.
That's all I can recall for now when it comes to system stuff. Now for characters that I got to play!
Ragna:
-Has a new move animation. J.AA is his air throw animation lol
-J.C is belial edge. J.214A is nightmare edge
-214C is bloodscythe so it's an exclusive EX move
-2A is old 2B. Can do 5AA (5B>5C) into 2A (2B) lol
-Has both Pre CP deadspike and Post CP deadspike. Input is 236A for old and 236B for new. EX is unlimited ragna deadspike so it's a rekka series
-old 2A is gone :(. still has old 5A (4A now) and it's just as good as it always has been.
-2C (universal sweep) is old 2D and 5C is his CT
Azrael:
-5BB is old 5C>old 3C (not joking lmao)
-5A is old 5B and 4A is old 5A. Both still just as dumb as before w
-2A is old 2D. No longer plus :(
-2B is old 2C. Head invul
-Gustaph and rekkas are same inputs are before. 236C (EX) is valiant charger and it's still an overhead and has the same HNK dash effect
-214A is growler (phalanx cannon still in after you absorb projectile but you have to do it immediately after growler recovery. Can't save it and use it later), 214B is sentinel dump, and 214C is hornet bunker
-J.A is old J.B, J.B is old J.D, J.C is divekick
-his back assist is legit walk up growler lmao. It's really silly looking.
-Forward assist is TCL with last rekka going super far
-Neutral assist is 6C but it ground bounces on hit lol
-holding forward makes him walk. 66 is still the input for his forward dash and it's still jump cancelable. Moving around with him felt identical to regular BB
-Azrael was a lot of fun! Really enjoyed my time with him
Gordeau:
-5A is old 5B
-5AA is old 4B
-2A is unchanged from uniel
-5B is old 5C
-2B is old 2C. The overlord of anti airs
-5BB is mortal slide. Is treated as a normal so you can reverse beat into 2A or 5A lol
-5C is assault J.C. Super slow so you probably won't catch people with this unless they're sleeping or forget it exists lol
-2C is old 3C. Can reverse beat into 2A
-J.C is air mortal slide
-J.A is old J.b
-J.C is old J.c
-236A/B/C is grim reaper. Based on old B grim reaper and the higher the button, the more he spins (B is old 623C animation and C is completely new. Literally grim reaper x3 and it looks hilarious) lol
-214A/B/C is cmd grab. A is UNIST version, B is anti air grab, and C is UNIEL version
-DP is B aiming. Has an air DP that's his new air aiming in UNIST.
Ruby:
-I loved playing her! She was so much fun and I'm definitely adding her to my roster
-5A is a jump cancelable jab that hits crouchers.
-2A is a low jab that chains into itself 3 times. With her 2A and 5A being like this, her stagger pressure felt really nice
-5B is testament close S lol. Good normal
-2B is a solid anti air. jump cancelable on block too
-2C goes far but 5C is slow and reactable.
-J.A is a standard air to air B normal
-J.B is the -god-. Big hitbox and fast startup. IAD forward J.BB is so good since it hits them crouching and it's really easy to confirm.
-J.c is a downward gunshot that stops her air momentum and keeps her in place for a bit. Forgot to test if it was an overhead.
-236A/B/C are the gunshots
-214A/B/C are the backwards moving command dash/gunshot moves
-J.214A/B/C is where she's so much fun. They're command dashes that go through opponents and go in set directions. Can whiff cancel them into each other but only once (so if you chained 236A into 236B, can't go back to 236A while in the timeframe before reaching the ground). It was so much fun moving around with her!
-J.236A/B/C is bad moon but has a gunshot that goes off when she reaches the ground. The shot autocorrects depending on what side the opponent is after she lands lol
-214BC is the trailer ranbu super and 236BC is the rush super that most have seen already.
She's really fun! Probably the most fun I've had today was with her
Weiss:
-5A is mitsuru 5A with 1/3rd less range but is jump cancelable(!!!)
-4A is a shorter version of 5A but comes out faster
-2A is izayoi/mai 2A from BB. Looks strong
-Her 5B and 2B have good vertical presence
-214A/B/C are her lunge attacks that behave differently depending on the button pressed
-236A/B/C set the sigils and they shoot icicles if you let them go immediately. Holding the button keeps the sigils in place so that you can do actions off of them with 214A/B/C+8A/B/C.
-236BC is an ice wave super. Kinda reminds me of kagura's from BB
-214BC is the super version of 214A that looks like Chipps wallbounce super. Does good damage and goes fullscreen
Was so busy finding out how the sigils worked so I didn't get to do much with her lol
I played a decent amount of characters but those were the ones I spent the most time on. The game felt super fun and I'm really excited to play more! Hope to see this game's development go far once it comes out!