Well, they have a similar thread in the SSF4 forum, so I figured we could use one here.
This shall be a place to air your grievances about matchups and game mechanics or impart your glorious wisdom to the masses to solve those problems. Just to add some content to this thread, I will try to start off with some basic FAQs.
What are the controls?
For the record, the control scheme usually used is numbers 1-9 to describe direction, and letters A-D to describe the button used.
Imagine your character is on the left side facing the opponent on the right. the stick by default looks like this.
7
8
9
4
5
6
1
2
3
So if someone says "236C" for example, start at the bottom and rotate the stick a quarter-circle forward (or QCF in Street Fighter terminology) just as you press the C on 6.
By default, the A-B-C-D on a controller looks sort of like this.
B
/ \
A C
\ /
D
If that looks awkward, blame the shitty formatting, but on a 360 controller...
A=
B= 
C= 
D= 
And on PS3...
A=
B= 
C= 
D= 
Feel free to change it to whatever suits you, that's why we use A through D instead when referring to button presses. Or just buy a fighting stick (unlike me).
How do I play this game?
There's a tutorial mode at the start menu. Go into it, and the voice of Rachel will teach you all the basics with Ragna, possibly the closest thing they have to a Ryu we have in this game, though don't expect any fireballs with him.I don't wanna do a training mode!
Look, this training mode doesn't just teach you about the game, it teaches you the basics not just for Continuum Shift, but some fundamental things about fighting games in general like cancelling, guard breaking, and pulling off combos with special moves. Just deal with it. You'll even get an achievement/trophy for finishing it![...]
You're still here, aren't you?
Okay fine, I guess I can try and sum up the basic mechanics that are relevant to this particular game.
-- Movement: Pushing the stick towards your opponent moves your character forward. Pushing it in the other direction moves them backward. Pushing the stick down will cause your character to crouch, and pushing it up makes them jump. Simple, no? Pushing backwards while the opponent attacks will make your character automatically attempt to block it. Pushing diagonally down and backwards will make your character block low, while pushing normal backwards will make him/her/it block high. This is important, as low attacks will go under a high block, and overhead attacks will beat a low block. On top of that, there are special grapple and unblockable attacks, but don't worry about those yet. Master basic motor functions, then come back.
-- Basic Attacks: Pushing the A-D buttons will cause your character to attack with varying degrees of speed and power. For example: the A button will usually be a short, fast attack with minimal damage. Such attacks are useful for poking your opponent to gauge the distance of your attacks or to pre-empt your enemy when he/she/it tries to launch a stronger but slower melee attack. B button attacks will often have longer range and more power, but are slightly slower than A. C attacks are useful for dealing out pain, but are not as fast as the previous two.
-- Drive Attacks: Every character has a unique Drive that can be activated by pressing the D button. Ragna's Soul Eater allows him to steal a tiny fraction of health and dish out more damage than normal when he connects. Jin can freeze you in a block of ice. Noel can dance around and perform gun-kata moves. Taokaka can fly across the whole screen and claw you in the face. Try different combinations of the D button with the stick and see how it works with your character.
--Barriers: If you ever touched a fighting game before, you know that pushing the stick away from your opponent as he/she/it attacks will make your character block. Pushing block and hitting the A+B at the same time, however, will bring up a barrier in front of your character that will block the attack AND any chip damage. Unlike your normal block, it takes slightly longer for you to transition into an offensive move. However, barriers can cause the enemy to be pushed back a little further when he/she/it strikes your barrier. Keep in mind that like a normal block, barriers can be beaten if, for example, the enemy uses a low attack while you block high or vice-versa. Also, you can run out of barrier energy if you use too much at once, so be careful not to turtle with barrier too much.
--Meter: That blue glowing bar on the bottom of the screen lets you do Distortion Drives, Astral Heats and some special cancelling. Like SSF4, you can gain meter by attacking your opponent, blocking your opponent, or eating your opponent's moves. Unlike SSF4, you gain more meter by wailing on the opponent than having them wail on you.
(NOTE: Hakumen's meter is slightly different in that it will charge up with time passed, regardless of what you do with it. The downside is that nearly all of his special moves require at least some dots above the meter, or "magatama", to be filled and will have to be refilled once the special is launched.)
--Instant Blocking (IB): If you block or block with barrier at the exact moment your opponent's attack hits you, then your character will briefly flash, giving you an extra few frames of time to counterattack. Quite useful when your opponent is spamming you with Jin's Ice Car or Ragna's Hell's Fang, and as a bonus, you get some more meter filled! As Rachel says in the tutorial, time your block/barrier block just a moment before you think the attack will hit you, so if you're right, you get an IB. If not, then you get a normal block and take less damage anyway.
--Rapid Cancel: There are normal cancelling moves you can do by dashing or jumping when the animation for an attack is just about finished, essentially stringing together combos that would otherwise be difficult with your character's reach. There is also a Rapid Cancel in this game. If you have at least 50% meter, hit A-B-C at the same time in the middle of a combo. The announcer will say "RAPID" and your character will drop whatever he/she/it was doing so you can restart your combo or transition into a new one. Be certain you have some other attack lined up when you use this, because otherwise you just pissed half of your meter down the drain for no reason.
--Bursting: Hitting all four attack buttons at the same will cause your character to unleash a sort of anime chi explosion that will send your opponent flying across the screen. Particularly useful if your opponent is rushing you down and/or raping you in the corner. However, you only have a total of 2 to use in the entire match, so don't plan on using it unless you really have to.
(NOTE: If you play in Beginner Mode, you will not be able to Burst at all. On an unrelated note, if you continually play in Beginner Mode online I will hate you forever.)
--Guard Primer: Those little yellowish nubs below your health bar? Those indicate your "Guard Primer." This is done to prevent turtling, and the amount of yellowy nubs you have varies from character to character (for example: Tager gets 10 while Noel gets 4.) Some attacks will weaken or eliminate a Guard Primer when they hit a guarding opponent, and when all of them are gone, the character enters Guard Crush. Essentially, this means you are stunned for several seconds and the opponent can go to town on your ass. Also, Bursting will eliminate half of your Guard Primer as payment.
--Throwing and Escaping Throws: To do a basic throw move, hit B+C at the same time. Every character has three different basic throw moves: the standard move which can be triggered by hitting B+C with your stick in neutral or forward position, the backwards throw that is done by hitting B+C and moving the stick away from the opponent, and the air throw that can be used, well...by hitting B+C in the air. Some characters also have special throw moves as well, like Tager's 360 A or B. To escape almost any of these throws, whenever you see a green or purple exclamation point above your character's head, mash B+C as fast as you can or you will be tossed like a fresh salad. If the ! is green, you will only have a few frames to escape. If the !! is purple, then you will have a slightly longer time frame to escape.
--Superjumping and Airdashing: One cool thing about this game is that you can fly around the screen to create wicked combos or at least keep some distance from your opponent. If you have to braincells to spark together, you should know that pushing the stick up will make your character jump. To do a "super jump," briefly tap down on your stick before you tap it up again to let your character achieve greater heights than before. As for airdashing, after your character jumps in the air, simply tap forward or backward twice and your character will dash towards or away from the opponent.
(NOTE: Tager can do a standing backdash and a normal jump, but he cannot dash forward or airdash at all due to his GIGANTIC!TAGER size. Taokaka and Arakune can airdash twice, and Bang can do it as well if he hits a well-placed nail.)
-- Distortion Drive/Astral Heat: You know what a super/ultra attack is? Essentially, the screen gets a bit darker as your character pulls off a super special move that can turn the tide of battle or humiliate your opponent if used correctly. Every single character has different Distortion Drives to learn and conditions to be successful, but the one thing they have in common is that you need at least 50% to pull them off. Some, like Ragna's Carnage Scissors, can be used to cross the screen in an instant. Others, like Tager's Magna-Tech Wheel, require you to be within a short distance of the target. Practice them to learn the situations for when they will or will not work or you will have burned through half your meter for nothing.
As for Astral Heats, there are a few conditions that have to be met before you can pull one off: First, you need 100% of your meter filled. Second, you must have at least one Burst icon left. Third, your opponent must be at 30% or lower health (their health bar will be orange to indicate this). Fourth, the round where you pull off the Astral Heat must be the last one you need to win the match if it connects. Like Distortion Drives, every character has a different method and a different animation to pull them off, so be aware of them as well.
Having said all that, Astral Heats are mostly used to humiliate your opponent rather than a reliable tactic, so if you are a beginner to this game, do not worry so much about pulling them off and focus on the basics instead.
Where can I find some more info on this game?
Look, I'm not the best BB:CS player (after all, I'm currently maining Tager fer crissake), but you can learn from people who are better than me at this thing or main the character that you prefer.
For starters: go to the Dustloop forums. They have everything you want from general strategies and videos to character-specific info and threads. People there will be willing to answer most of your questions if you wish to delurk and post, but like all forums with...dedicated people, there are posters who will verbally chew you out if you sound too whiny.
Also, Taunt Loop and the BBVlog post some interesting BB:CS videos on YouTube every so often, so check them out.
How do I unlock Mu-12?
Beat the Story mode's "True Ending." At minimum, you have to run through the stories of Ragna, Jin, Noel, Tsubaki, Hakumen and Hazama before you can reach the True Ending. Winning the matches in story mode on default difficulty is about as hard as beating up a 5-year-old, so don't worry about it, though Unlimited Hazama can be annoying on some characters' stages. It should take you about 3-5 hours if you get the Clear story ending for the aforementioned characters, though every character (except for Hakumen and Hazama) has three endings: a normal CLEAR ending, an alternative "bad" ending (which results in a "Help Me, Professor Kokonoe!" sketch), or a Joke ending which can range from annoying to hilarious. Except for Lambda-11. All her endings are just depressing.
If you want a summary of how to complete each story path and can deal with Kokonoe hating you, then go here.
Or if you would prefer not to deal with the story of ANIME: THE GAME and have money to burn, you can pay the equivalent of $2 and unlock Mu-12 instantly from the XBL/PSN marketplace.
How do I unlock Unlimited characters?
Beat the Score Attack mode, you will unlock the Unlimited version of the character you beat it with. I'm sorry, I know you are probably going to rend your garnments and gnash your teeth just to win with a good character, let alone Rachel, with this method. Unfortunately, this is one of the ways that ArcSys hates you. The first character may hurt beginners, while the Unlimited Versions with the cheapass AI will make even the experts curse everyone involved in the making of this game.Alternatively, you can pony up $1 to unlock an individual's Unlimited mode or $5 for the whole set, so if you have an hourly paycheck or can beg your parents for enough cash I'd say go for it and save yourself the stress-inducing ulcer. Don't feel bad, even some of the tourney-level players hate this grinding method. On the other hand, do consider that you won't be able to play an Unlimited character outside of a Player Match or offline match that allows it, so ask if you really need to spend money on it.
On another note, the DLC characters come packaged with their Unlimited mode already unlocked.
(NOTE: Unlimited chars on PSN are $5.99 but the package includes Mu-12)
How do I unlock Makoto/Valkenhayn/Trinity?
Pay the equivalent of $7-8 each when they come out. There might be a combo pack when all three are released, but right now I don't have any proof if that will happen, just conjecture. I know, you don't want to hear this, but do consider that you already got the game $20 cheaper than a normal release would have run. The online patches will allow you to still play against people who do have the character, so if you don't feel like playing as Squirrel Tits or Vampire Butler, then save your money and beat on those who paid for them with your favorite character. Welp, that's it for now. If there are any more questions that need answering, I will do my best to answer them, but for most character-specific questions you should probably lurk around Dustloop rather than listen to me. I will do my best to sum up stuff I find, and hopefully others around here will contribute as well.
Log in to comment