Annon-Guy: Any thoughts on Trinity becoming a playable fighter? Imagine if they added her to BBTAG and Entropy Effect X...
Unfortunately, I have the PS3 Version and it looks like Switch owners are out of luck too, sadly...
I havenāt heard anything about CrossTag, but the EEX team have teased that they have a new character coming up. Since they havenāt made any official statements, it could be anyone (including another crossover character,) but I have a hunch that it will be Trinity based on this teaser on Twitter.
It seems a little suspect that theyād link their teaser directly to the CF one if it wasnāt related, and adding her to both games makes for convenient cross-game publicity. It doesnāt look like theyāve mentioned anything on their Bluesky account though, which saddens me! : (
This is actually the second time that silence from the Entropy Effect team has been a sign of something upcoming for BlazBlue as a whole. Theyāre usually pretty on top of communications in their Discord server, where theyāll post a few months of their plans ahead of time. Last time I noticed theyād been unusually quiet for a while, we got the Entropy Effect X story, and this time I was thinking āitās not normal for them to not be sharing any updatesā a few days before Trinity was announced. Itās just a neat little pattern, but it might be something to keep an eye on in the future!
Back to CF- itās unfortunate that we havenāt gotten to see any of Trinityās gameplay, but they did say this decision was made too recently to be able to have anything prepared in time for the desired EVO reveal. I prefer that to them rushing her!
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
ā Live Streamingā Interactive Chatā Private Showsā HD Qualityā Free Actions
Free to watch ā¢ No registration required ā¢ HD streaming
Part three of this ask from @annon-guy2 ! Time to discuss the third row from the left, Naoto through Valkenhayn! There's a surprising amount of Bloodedge Experience characters in this batch, which just has me really really bitter about not being able to read the novels.... AUGH.
[ Part I ] || [ Part II ]
NAOTO
I really donāt feel like I can have any opinion on Naoto. I donāt have any deeper feelings about the guy than if I was seeing him for the first time today. I canāt read Bloodedge Experience, I wasnāt super interested in his part of Central Fiction and itās been a good long while since I last played CF-- so all together I really didnāt retain much about him. I wonder if Iād absorb more on another playthrough, now that my brainspace isnāt being monopolized by Ragnaās story developments and such... man I want to read Bloodedge Experience... we need a non-AI translation!!!
RAGNA
Unsurprisingly for a BB fan, I like Ragna. It's hard not to. Heās a genuinely likable guy, and I am obsessed with the early themes he introduces with his relationships. We see him introduced with two primary motivations; one for revenge against those who took his family from him, but also, this really strong desire to lay his family to rest. He kills the Murakumo units to put his sisterās ghost to rest and to prevent further desecration of her memory. And these two goals, to let the past rest vs to seek retribution, are at odds with one another. It makes a compelling case for why he canāt let hatred overpower love as his motivation, for why the threat of losing himself to the Azure Grimoire should be something he avoids at all costs.
NOEL
Noel's probably the character I spend the most time with. I use her as a sort of base unit of measurement for, like, all the BlazBlue projects I do. Sprite edits, drawing practice, character analysis, I pretty much always use Noel as my starting character. Not due to any particular favoritism or anything. I donāt think I feel too strongly about her, actually. I was overjoyed with how she was handled in BBās epilogue; we knew from her CT story that she never wanted to be a solider, that her strongest motivation has always been her family. At that time, it was her parents, and now at the end of her story we see her choosing family again, dedicating her life to offering her sisters the same experience her adopted parents gave her. A life away from the lab, away from being a weapon, a peaceful life out in the woods.
Makoto
Makoto falls into this area in larger fan spaces where sheās either Waifu Supreme or Forgettable Peppy Girl, based on the personal taste of any given viewer. For a character who's routes are dripping with "protagonist of her own story" vibes, she seems to sort of fade into the background when standing next to the rest of the BB cast. The interesting scifi horror shit she has going on with Relius, her Boundary travel, her whole double agent thing... I also like how she's just as much of a liar as the rest of her Torifune trio. All three of the girls spend so much time telling the other two āstop trying to take on all your problems alone,ā then turn around and go āIām the only one... who deserves to sufferā the second their friends arenāt looking.
RELIUS
A pain in the ass to write! My best friend is really into him, so he comes up in conversation and in projects a lot. But heās so annoying! Heās incredibly, INCREDIBLY childish, and imo actually a pretty simple (and hedonistic) man, but he paints it all under this veneer of sophistication and stoicism. I think the kids call this āreddit atheistā behavior??? Or maybe Iām using that term wrong. Even more infuriatingly, he manages to hide his inner workings on even a meta level, since his big villain arc got completely (or near completely) cut out of CF. Dude who the fuck are you??? Where did you come from??? Why are you a dark void damning so many of BBās most interesting subplots to obscurity??? WHERE IS MY CLOVER FAMILY LIGHT NOVEL???
VALKENHAYN
And so we end this post as we started it; mourning my inability to access Bloodedge Experience. Reading Phase Shift and seeing a different side of Valkenhayn was SO FUN, and itās created a lot of fun in my replays of the C-Series as I watch him keep trying and struggling to curb that old temper. One thought that comes to mind is that, at least to my memory right now, I donāt think there were any hints that Valkenhayn recognized Ragna as Bloodedge from the war. Am I just forgetting some or did they really not do anything with that??? I guess the two of them didnāt interact MUCH before Ragna left that time period, but surely Valks isnāt THAT senile???
Time for the second part of this ask sent to me by @annon-guy2 ! I was tempted to wait longer to post this, with Platinum's birthday coming up VERY soon, but I decided to go on with it anyway. Today I'll be talking about the second (from the left) row of characters, Hazama through Platinum!
[ Part I ] || [ x ] || [ Part III ]
HAZAMA
You stand at a crossroads. You find yourself unable to choose your path, and thus, unable to proceed. You could take the road that ebbs right- a path where you are incomprehensibly horny on main. You would show off your keychains, wall scroll, body pillow, pins, etc. You may reveal some of your own kinks as you discuss what you like about this character. You would make a fool of yourself.
Or, you could steel yourself, remain stoic, and take the road ebbing left. You would attempt to discuss this character from an objective standpoint. But you are not more powerful than lust. Undoubtedly, as you discuss your interpretation, you would once again reveal all your fetishes. Your analysis would break down into a pathetic rant against popular fandom interpretations of this character that, frankly, you find far too sympathetic to get off to. You would make a fool of yourself.
KAGURA
I'm surprised by how many people in Western fandom hate this guy! I mean, I can respect it; sex pest if a nasty trope, and there are lots of characters in other media that lean into that so much I canāt stand them. Kagura doesnāt feel like he crosses the line for me though. I think Kaguraās relationship with Ikagura is compelling. With Tenjoās death and the whole NOL coup, heās a man whoās already failed in his lifeās purpose. He was raised as a tool much like Hibiki was. But with Homura still alive, heās forced to live past what he probably wishes was the end of him- and a lot of his behaviors can be interpreted as depression, pent up feelings of helplessness, and a āIām the hero, Iāll handle everythingā complex born from a desire to live up to the standard heās already fatally fallen short of.
CELICA
When I got into BlazBlue (properly, not the āalmostā moment I had with Nu) it was RIGHT before Chronophantasma Extend released. I started plotting ideas for a sorta BlazBlue OC kinda deal, and I was REALLY interested in maybe working with one of the automatons, like Ignis and Nirvana. Then the trailers for Celica dropped; a time-displaced brunette with Minerva at her side. And I threw a big silly fit, because I felt there was too much overlap between her and my idea!
Once I was over that I absolutely loved her. Some folks think sheās one-note, but I donāt think sheās a flat character for that. The endless cheer she exudes is a conscious choice for her, and one that reads (to me) as Compelling Mental Unwellness with the context of Phase Shift and Lost Memories.
LITCHI
THE woman for tragedy enjoyers. Every person I know who likes her is also terminally dependent on Doomed Romances or some such. On my end, Iām fond of her sort ofā¦ tangentially??? More because my friends are fond of her, rather than her leaving a big impression on me. She was wonderful in the first two games, but as the cast expanded, I felt she got sidelined, to the point that I sorta forgot she was around. Her relationships with other women are consistently great; Kokonoe, various members of the Kaka Clan, Linhua, her parallels with Tsubaki, the implication of her stepping up as a parental figure for Platinum in the epilogue, etc. I wonder if BlazBlue Entropy Effect X will give us new insights into Litchi, through whatever the hell is going on with Lime...
PLATINUM
Honestly I think the fans are too hard on them. Yeah, theyāre brats. They suck. Theyāre annoying. But I think thatās an okay way to write a child. Luna isnāt MEANT to be mature, level-headed, reasonable. Neither is Sena, no matter how much he likes to pass himself off as better than Luna. Heās not more well behaved, heās just quieter, and more concerned with not getting caught being a little shit. Iām also forever obsessed with how Variable Heart teased what their purpose is as a PFD, and gave us some crumbs to canonize their relationship with Trinity. What the fuck do you MEAN ā2095 test model 28ā ??? Where the prior 27 never activated??? How long has this project been going, if there are nearly thirty test models in 2095 ALONE??? Were more manufactured in the following years, up until CTās 2099??? Wait, Iām losing my mind and this isnāt even really about Platinum anymoreā¦
Usually these kind of coincidences are deliberate, so I think these characters in Entropy Effect X are āalternate possibilitiesā of Sector Seven members, or something about BlazBlueās Timeline is causing them to repeat history similar to possession. The Azure manipulates how Souls are born, but it can also manipulate memories, or just simply transfer copies of older events. Or at least thatās how I see it.
Oh 1000% this shit is deliberate, and unraveling the mystery of what exact connection the EEX cast have to the Sector Seven team will likely be at the core of the game's story.
I shared these thoughts with some folks on Discord the night the trailer came out.
Transcript; "Calling my theories now; the story is something like 'alternate reality Kokonoe realizes she's alternate reality Kokonoe and tries to figure out everything she can about the BB world'. Or some sorta 'alternate reality Kokonoe gets possessed by/makes contact with our Kokonoe and tries to save the BB world,' but that seems more farfetched considering our Kokonoe seems fine in the CF epilogue. Still possible, considering this game is assumedly noncanon (a Cross Tag) or only quasicanon (a BBDW). I think the MOST concerning thing for me, or the biggest question, is Fox just straight up BEING IN the Torifune uniform. Seems a little on the nose. Is this still the BB setting, with Torifune Military Academy and the NOL just, straight up existing?"
Official materials say that the game is, in fact, "set in the BlazBlue universe," but considering how the BB universe works, there's no way to tell this early on what sort of alternate reality/world/timeline it could be.
BlazBlue implements some crazy awesome unexpected shit sometimes, so I don't want to speculate MUCH until we have the game in-hand... but god, I am DYING for more info.
THERE'S SO MANY QUESTIONS! What level of canon will this be??? Does this connect to the phenomen- wait maybe I shouldn't use that word in this context- the case we see happening between Ragna-Touya-Naoto, Rachel-Raquel, and Makoto-Yuki Himezuru??? Am I overthinking the trailer or are they specifically tying this cast to the events of Collisions, with Roy's corruption being clearly connected to whatever's going on with Cafe, and the talk of the Hakumen retrieval mission- WAIT DIDN'T THEY PUT HIM BACK IN THE BOUNDARY AT THE END OF CF??? SO TECHNICALLY HE'S OUT THERE TO BE GOTTEN??? AM I OVERTHINKING THIS???
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
ā Live Streamingā Interactive Chatā Private Showsā HD Qualityā Free Actions
Free to watch ā¢ No registration required ā¢ HD streaming
Annon-Guy: In terms of the options for the XBLAZE Remake/Remaster Poll, have any thoughts besides the Thrid Game (which you and I voted for)?
Let's see...
An English Dub of the XBlaze games would be great. As a native English speaker, I'm much better able to understand the tones of lines in English, and that can add another layer to character or scene analysis.
More animated scenes might be fun, but I always felt that the animated scenes in the BB franchise were a little weak or off-model. They just don't have a big enough budget to make those feel great, for me, so they instead feel sort of distracting. I guess it would depend on how they were done!
Similarly, I'm just not personally too interested in mini games or stuff like the BlazyBloo game. They just don't add anything to the experience for me! Changes to the Phantom Field of Lost Memories could be interesting, but I worry they wouldn't be super impactful. More obstacles could just be frustrating. I could see something fun with a little RPG mechanic of some kind, but that might be too much of a shift and also just feel out of place. I'm not sure- I just think it might be cute.
On the other hand I would absolutely LOVE an Expanded Story. I don't exactly think it's necessary for the XBlaze games, but it would be a WELCOME expansion. I'm constantly hungry for more of lore from the BB universe, so any additional look at the world would make me happy. I desperately want to see the rest of the Ten Sages, and learn more about how the XB world overlaps with or deviates from the BB world. But even outside of big plot stuff, just getting to learn more about the characters would be fun too.
It's hard for me to form an opinion on the idea of a simplified TOi system, as I can't conceptualize it. I kind of like the idea of dialogue options, and the intractability they bring, but I don't know if I'd want it at the expense of the TOi. I like the unique way it gave us some glimpses into the characters interests and online personas.
I think a lot of people would love a remixed soundtrack! It would probably be fun! But it wouldn't do much for me. I have a hard time processing multiple things at once, so I generally either play my games on mute so I can focus, or if I do listen to the soundtrack, I really don't digest it. To really appreciate the music, I have to sit down with it alone and consciously focus my attention on it, and I haven't done that with this series yet. I probably should!
I'm conflicted on an Elise route. On one hand I would love to see more about Ishana, and more of Elise in general, and it would be good for her to bond with people outside of Kuon. On the other hand, I worry a romance with Touya would feel forced (the Mei end felt sort of shoehorned for me in some ways already, though I've found an interpretation I like since) and even more than that, I worry it would do harm to her writing as a sapphic woman. She's already in dicey waters as a gag character who's status as the only openly queer member of the cast is kind of played as a punchline, so if she were to have a straight relationship that was written with a serious tone, while her wlw relationship with Kuon was still left as mostly a gag, it would leave a bad taste in my mouth. I don't think it would do her justice.
On that subject though, although they would feel just as out of place in a lot of ways, this does have me wondering about an Acht route or a Yuki route...
And lastly, I would kill a man for a Bloodedge Experience adaptation of some kind. We desperately need a reliable way to experience SOME of that story in the English speaking fandom, or even just get a taste of the characters in their own environment (as opposed to their CF cameos.) It could even get more attention on the series, and perhaps prompt the release of the next god damn volume.
As mentioned before, I've been working on combat sheets for some BlazBlue characters, to use for a TTRPG I run. As part of that project, I like to write up a guide for how each character acts in a fight; what are their options, what do they prioritize, what patterns do they have, etc. I want each character to have their own rhythm in battles that my players can notice, adapt to, and exploit. Here's something I'm working on for Trinity!
Below the cut is a transcript of the text shown in the image above.
OVERVIEW
Remarkably skilled with magic and a genius when it comes to assessing the information in front of her. Trinity fights with the magic she learned at the Magesā Guild. During the Dark War, she uses the Nox Nyctores Muchorin, made specifically for her, to cast her spells. The staff can be summoned to her, though she is usually carrying it.
Before the staff was made, it is unknown what she may have used as her weapon. She fundamentally dislikes combat, so she may have gone without, instead casting barehanded as needed.
Growing up in Ishana, Trinity is proficient in Sorcery, a technique that calls upon Mana, and both Magic and Alchemy, which utilize (comparatively small) amounts of Seithr. Her personal specialty lies in Alchemy; this will be what she always defaults to, unless there is significant reason to use one of the other arts.
Due to her aversion, Trinity has never trained for combat, and her offensive capabilities are her weakest magical skill. She will almost never engage in a fight if alone- she would rather settle things with conversation and understanding, and in most cases, this approach works well for her.
When she must fight, Trinity places herself on the sidelines, out of the way of the main fighters. She finds a place where she can watch the battlefield and track the flow of information, looking for ways to end the fight without anyone getting significantly injured. Her focus will be to support her allies with healing spells, defensive magic, and strategy.
Had a crazy thought just now when Nightmare Fiction came up on my playlist. I'd never given much thought to the title of the song, but it just occurred to me how similar it is to Ragna's title of the "Central Fiction". And at the same time, that reminded me of how central Terumi himself is to the structure of the world, and how his involvement in Ragna's life is also so central to his character and role in the world and like. Sometimes it strikes me how far ahead some of this stuff must've been planned out. I wonder if Daisuke was told about all this stuff when he named the song? God Blazblue is so cool I miss it real bad
THAT'S SO COOL I DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE !!!
I'd be, like, 98% positive that Daisuke was up to date, considering what close friends he and Mori are.
That attention to detail is something I've always loved about BlazBlue. The story is intricate, and after you've played all the games, replaying the early ones and seeing all the cohesive foreshadowing is SO MUCH FUN. The one that always comes to my mind is how Terumi was calling himself "The One True Susano'o" since at least his playable Chronophantasma appearance, and even before that he was making comments about Hakumen borrowing the Unit. He told us from the start what was up- we just didn't have the context for it, so the line went in one ear out the other.
I love that kind of character writing. All of the characters can be put under a microscope, and you can see how the information they're working with impacts how they act, talk, etc. Characters that know way more than the audience does CONSTANTLY allude to that information in a way that feels natural- it isn't in your face, it doesn't give away anything until you already know it's there.
