Blazblue: Continuum Shift II - 3DS/PSP/X360/PS3

[briareos_kerensky]

It's good to be back to Calamity Trigger times, when people would just quit seeing your D-Card and Nu on it. Of all matchups I had more than half were canceled before I could see whom I was against as I came from training while waiting.
And to close the evening some trying Platinum told me that Lambda is for less skilled p*ssies after beating him. Wait, he wasn't trying Platinum, he had a PSR above 100! I ignored the message, met him again and beaten him again.
During the first match I rushed down and took all opportunities to do damage, during the second match I stood still between two/three attacks and saw him just mashing 2A while I was doing absolutely nothing on multiple occasions; if he was able to corner me he would just rush in an mash buttons: a well placed roll and counterassault and I was free of the corner. I've never pinned him into a wall and went C crazy: effective but not exactly hard to pull off and surely not funny to watch. I did repeat some combos, but smart players are able to block them and reply.

Now, I have tried Platinum in ranked matches. Lambda looks like a pretty bad matchup for Platinum even with long-range drives available, but if you are able to climb your way to PSR 100, you should know a few combos. Spamming 236B is not a combo. 2C is fast, has a good range and opens up for nice combos, especially near a corner. 214A, B and C can trap enemies. 236A lets you jump over Lambda's swords, is quick and again it can be mashed into multiple hits, bring the opponent down and then go for 22C. Platinum can also floats in midair with 236C, making some attacks and drives useless.

I shouldn't this get to me but I thought level 50 players were good enough to admit defeat and not whine about character imbalances.

[briareos_kerensky]

I don't care if he held back, it's worth more than a thousand victories.

[speedlolita]

You should do a 236C when they're caught in a 236D. Free launch, just wait until it's almost done.

[briareos_kerensky]

You should do a 236C when they're caught in a 236D. Free launch, just wait until it's almost done.

Not always, depends on how far the opponent is. 6D is somewhat safer, but against LiEUTENANT I forget everything and let the button mashing begin. My goal is not give him a perfect victory :P

[briareos_kerensky]

Adding a bit of depth to fuse's initial post on the 3DS version, based on the US build: there is no option to use the analog nub as main controller, but there's a diagonal assist option that greatly alleviates frustration over bad inputs. Compared to the PSP, the 3DS d-pad is smaller and its position makes it a bit harder to properly input quarter and semi circles, though it's easier on the thumbs as it doesn't rise too much from the console's body.

The 3D doesn't add much and small fonts look crispier with the 3D effect disabled; the 3DS' screen is smaller than a PSP-2000, but there are less jaggies on the 3DS; the 3DS version also has a bit more effects and, for example, Lambda's Astral Finish looks better and closer to its home counterpart.
I, too, noticed some slowdowns when notified of online friends during Lambda's Legacy Edge. Other than that, no frame skips or hicchups compared to the PSP - both version have less frames than the home consoles, but that's a given.
Colors on the 3DS are more saturated, but portraits during pre-battle screens look a bit washed out and during such events there could have been more 3D layers; it's a trivial nitpick, but it would have improved the overall presentation.
Where the PSP comes clearly superior is plain 2D graphics, the gallery and event image simply look better thanks to the larger screen; fonts on the 3DS are a bit small, but readable.
I'd say it's a draw in graphical quality between the two.

Loading times are clearly in favor of the 3DS, sometimes even when compared to the PS3: basically there aren't black screens between battles and introductory screens can be skipped well before they have completed their animation. Unfortunately saving times are dire on both systems (and, in fact, on the PS3 too), but suspending and restarting the game is much faster on the 3DS.

The US version has, like the home ports, the option to display English or Japanese text and chose between English or Japanese dub. Heard no differencies between sound compression, though the 3DS speakers might give it a slighter edge.

[briareos_kerensky]

A wild Wall of Text appears!
Player uses tl; dr! It's not that effective...

I've begun playing story mode on the portable version to see the two new scenarios but I forgot how much text CS had in its story mode. There's no skip option unless the text has been already "read", so it's hammering A to skip through it.
As said before text is readable on the 3DS' screen but everything is a straight port from the home consoles, some screens don't look as good as they did on large TVs: each character's introduction screen and the bad end screen could have used a bit of tweaking.

Back to the home consoles...

A wild Platinum appears!
She uses 236B! It's no longer that effective...

I don't know the situation on XBL, but every player on PSN wants to play as Platinum. I often criticized and joked on how many Jins and Tagers were to be found on PSN but Platinum beats everyone, it's strange to find someone not playing as her.
Luckily most players went past the "dash, 2A" and "236B" phases so matches against Platinum are becoming more interesting by the day.

It is rather interesting to see so many player moving to Platinum, especially when Valks and Makoto didn't get so much attention. I was going the same route because I never really had a character that I could call my "sub", but after being beaten by essentially everyone, I decided to stick with Lambda; maybe go with Mu just to remain in the "spam C and D" territory.
But, yeah, Platinum over Makoto? I mean, Platinum might have the longest hairs in BB yet, but Makoto's equipment is far more interesting...

If I'm not mistaken Platinum and Makoto share the same English VA, though she doesn't fit Platinum very well. Platinum has some cool lines, like her mean personality (Luna) says "weaksauce" while blocking, but overall Luna comes off a bit too adult for such a small frame.

[briareos_kerensky]

Finally defeated enough Walls of Text to read through EX1 and EX2, the two extra story snippets included in this version.
EX1 is about how Tsubaki, Makoto and Noel met and became friends, while EX2 is about Tager's creation, how Relius and Kokonoe met, how Nirvana came to light and how Ignis was created.

[Largo]

Got the update but haven tplayed in ages, might get back into it tho

[briareos_kerensky]

Drop me a message when online if you want, always a pleasure playing with someone you know.

[eastyy]

never ever thought i would say this but i think this game is a bit to hardcore for me....the timings are just insane for me and the challenges got very few done

[briareos_kerensky]

A wild Missing No. appears!
It swallows Tager as a whole!
A second Missing No. appears and eats Makoto too!
It's hard to understand what's going on!

<I should really stop this>

Discovered a bug in the 3DS version of BBCSII. In Makoto's arcade mode, the fourth battle is against Tager and both Makoto's and Tager's sprites will be shown as a dotted grid or as the previous battles' last character frames. Apparently hit boxes are fine (but it's hard to understand what's going on) and there's no impact on save file or following battles, but sure it's nasty. No sign of this bug in the PSP version.





And here's how things look in movement (it's in 720p for those caring):



Sorry for the shakycam.

To test this out on the PSP I used the US version without install data...its loading times are horrible. Worst thing is that the loading screen stays on with no audible action from the UMD drive, first time I thought the game locked up.

Anyway, I was able to reach level 20 in the 3DS version. Levels are up to 20 and they are used to unlock things in the gallery: images but also additional colors and characters' unlimited versions (those are no longer linked to Score Attack); all DLC stuff is on the cartridge (or on the disc for PSP users), including additional battle voiceovers. So long standard BBCSII announcer, welcome back standard BBCS announcer, my ears are safer now.

[briareos_kerensky]

I've been trying to complete Abyss mode and it's the hardest mode this game has.
Take unlimited characters, give them boost in speed and look at them zipping through the screen without being able to land any kind of hit. At level 666 there's unlimited Ragna with 50 extra points in speed (it should be twice as fast, probably more) and with my character being unlimited and 50 extra points on all four stats (attack, defense, speed, heat gauge) I was just able to land a few jabs on him. Comboing is almost impossible as the AI techs as soon as it can and it can keep up with an ungodly fast character while you simply can't...not to mention that even with diagonal assist it's not easy to pull what you want when you want.
And with Nu (unlimited Lambda) available it's a sword-spamming fest and the 3DS is not able to fully keep up with so many sprites: slowdowns during D combos are evident, and fighting against Mu is painful for how many frames the game skips, though priority is given to commands and character sprites; there situation is not great, but it's playable.
Though, with the Makoto/Tager bug described early, the 3DS port of BBCSII is clearly the inferior one.

Also, I wonder if Arc implemented power saving features correctly: with Pilotwings and Steel Diver I used to pause the game (or leave it on a menu), hit Home and close the 3DS, wireless and streetpass on; this way the batteries would last for four commutes, but with BBCSII the stand-by would last less than eight hours, forcing me to recharge it while at work. I'll have to test if the new firmware drains more power, but stand-by lasting time without BBCSII running is the same as before.
If the game is running (no Home button pressed) and the 3DS is closed the in-game clock continues to tick, I did this one night and found the play time was well over 30 hours, when I play it 1 hour a day on the train...I like the fact that Arc has ported the game on the new Nintendo handheld, but really, they should have paid more attention to how the console works, it is as certain 3DS features weren't implemented (correctly or not at all) because the PSP handles things differently.