BBCF/FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does the PS3/PS4 version not have rollback?

There is no official statement on why PS4 does not have rollback, though one speculated reason is that there is PS3 crossplay, and PS3 software can no longer be updated to compensate.

Does that mean PS3/PS4 version is a no-buy?

This would depend on the region where you live. If you live in Japan, the PS4 BBCF is still active and most of the time the connection would be good enough without rollback. Also, the PS4 version has lower input delay than PC; this might be a deal breaker if you want to attend (PS4) local competitions.

Do I need to buy all the iterations of Blazblue?

If your goal is to only play online fighting game, then Central Fiction will be your only choice.

If you want to read the whole story, BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend includes a simple rushdown on how the story of BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger goes. Then from there, you can buy BlazBlue: Chronophantasma Extend and BBCF to complete the story. Most of the time the Steam bundle of CT, CS, CP and CF will come at a discount in which you technically get BBCT for free, so that is also an option.

Where is Jubei?

You need to pay individually for him as DLC.

What are the optimal Settings for PC?

The optimal settings for BBCF for PC are

Anti aliasing off
Vsync off
Bloom off
Fullscreen

This lowers native input delay of 5.5 frames to 3.5 frames. (The PSN version has 2.5 frames of input delay.) Source

How Balanced is this Game?

Good enough that you can get good and blow up anyone with any character.

I hear this game is very difficult.

On one hand, not really. In terms of execution difficulty, most of the cast's moves and combos are not as hard as you might think (of course there are exceptions). There is also a fully comprehensive tutorial mode that you definitely should check out if you are playing this game first time.

Of course on the other hand, the game can be real difficult when you are in an actual match. BlazBlue's cast ranges very differently, from a common Shoto to characters that are basically playing their own mini-games. Lacking the match-up knowledge can make the game unfun. Unfortunately, that difficulty is part of the game.

What should I focus on then?

Early on, it's best to start with actually figuring the game out. Focus on starting small. Work your way up from the basic mechanics to the crazy stuff later. Make sure you're having fun.

You can (and should) go through the Tutorial mode the game has provided; it is a bit wordy but well-written nonetheless. The best thing about BBCF is that it has individual tutorials for each character. Definitely check those out if you want to try out all the characters and understand their plan fast. There is also Combo trials if you want to take a shot on how combos for each character works. These combos can range wildly in how useful they will be in a real match, but they can give you an idea of how their combos work and you can build off of what you've learned.

Once you found your character, get used to your character's buttons and inputs first. Get used to figuring out what to do in neutral. Learn to mix Barrier with regular blocking. Get familiar with movement.

There's no reason to overload yourself with the hard stuff first. If you want to be a lab monster, that's absolutely fine. If you want to be a player, it's best to start with actually figuring the game out. You can start in the lab and get an idea. You can start by playing and figuring it out as you go. You can start by watching footage and gleaning that way. Regardless of how you do it, it's best to get into the cycle of doing all three. All you need to do is start.

Mechanics

How different is this game from other ArcSys games?

Every ArcSys game is wildly different from each other, in short. You don't necessarily compare them for the sake of "game X is better than Y". Nevertheless if you are still curious, we have compiled the differences of some commonly compared games:

BlazBlue Itself

There are many changes over the 10 years of development. We have compiled it into a table, if you are interested in the changes across the iterations:

	BBCT	BBCS	BBCP	BBCF
Overall	Negative Penalty is one way BlazBlue forces offensive interaction between the players. Making too many defensive moves will cause you to enter a negative state. A Red aura will surround the character if they suffer from Negative Penalty and will take twice as much damage. Rapid Cancel is the good old Roman Cancel from Guilty Gear XX series. With 50 Heat, you can cancel the attack and return to neutral on hit or on block.	Characters now receive 1.5x damage during Negative Penalty. Minimum Damage is introduced. Most Distortion Drives and some moves will now guarantee some amount of damage regardless of the proration. Same Move Proration is introduced to prevent looping combos.	Negative Penalty now only depletes Barrier Gauge and does not come with extra damage penalty. Rather, Barrier regeneration is disabled until you leave Danger state. Proration system is now time based rather than scaling based, meaning every combo now has a hard time limit. The limit now also depends on the starter you used. Same Move Proration now also affects hitstun decay, by adding more time on the combo. Heat gain is now affected by proration rather than being static move-dependent. This greatly reduces the heat gain in match. The hitstop is overall reduced by 1, making the game faster. The overall damage is slightly toned down with Overdrive giving more potential damage output.	Counter Hit now deals +10% damage. Same Move Proration doesn't affect hitstun decay anymore. The overall damage is slightly toned down again.
Offense	Purple Throw makes its debut. You can throw people that are in hitstun or blockstun, though they have a longer time to tech out. Throw Reject Miss is introduced. This is to make Throw Rejects harder, to punish opponents that mash Throw Rejects or abuse a powerful Option Select to escape throws. Astral Heat makes its debut, similar to the Instant Kill in its predecessor (Guilty Gear). Landing the Astral immediately wins you the game, but it comes with restrictions: 100 Heat is required; opponent's health bar is below 20%; you are on matchpoint.	Astral Heat now changes its restrictions: 100 Heat is required; opponent's health bar is below 35%; 1 Gold Burst Icons is required and consumed; you are on matchpoint. Fatal Counter is introduced. Certain moves will come with Fatal properties; landing a Counter with such moves will increase the hitstum/untechable for that combo, allowing new routes.	Astral Heat has its restrictions changed again, by removing the Burst requirement: 100 Heat is required; opponent's health bar is below 35%; you are on the matchpoint.	Active Flow is introduced. This is a buff that happens when you do a lot of offensive actions (Positive Bonus). You gain 10% more damage, burst recover 4 times faster, and the damage of EA doubles.
Defense	Guard Libra is the first iteration of BB's defense system. This gauge basically functions like your traditional fighting games' Guard Bar, but instead of having an independent bar for both characters, you two shares one bar. When the Libra fills up completely to one side, the guarding player will undergo a Guard Crush. Barrier Gauge makes its debut, which has its own gauge rather than its predecessor (Guilty Gear). It deals more pushback, negates Chip damage, allows ground moves to be air blocked, and prevents Guard Libra from reducing. If the Barrier Gauge is emptied, you will enter the DANGER state, where you take 1.5x damage. You will leave DANGER state when your Barrier is half full. Instant Block (IB) works by rewarding opponent predicting the attack correctly. (BBCS) You recover from guard stun 10F quicker in the air, and 5F quicker on the ground. The pushback is reduced, you gain 3% static Heat every time you Instant Block, and you can use IB to guard the air unblockable. Instant Barrier combines the best of the both options and is an even stronger defense option. Counter Assault is a metered attack that can be performed when blocking, allowing you to break free from the pressure.	Guard Primer replaces Guard Libra to refine how the defense works. A character will have 4~10 Primers that indicates how many heavy hits you can take: certain moves will deplete some amount of Primers, usually one. When the Primers are depleted, the guarding player will undergo a Guard Crush. Barrier Gauge has some rework. Now instead of preventing Guard Libra from reducing, it will prevent you from a Guard Crush when you have only 1 Guard Primer left. Instant Block is nerfed: You no longer can use IB to guard air unblockable attacks. (BBCS2~) You recover from guard stun 6F quicker in the air, and 3F quicker on the ground. (BBCS2~) Counter Assault now depletes a Guard Primer.	Guard Primer is now completely removed and you no longer will be guard crushed by blocking too long. Crush Trigger is introduced to manually guard crush an opponent. It is a special attack that costs 25 Heat and break the opponent's guard unless they're using Barrier. On Barrier Block, a portion of the Barrier Gauge is drained, and the attacker can delay the Crush Trigger to throw off the opponent's timing. Instant Block is nerfed again: You gain only 1% static Heat everytime you Instant Guard. Characters in DANGER state now take 1.2x damage.	Crush Trigger is now faster, but the uncharged version now won't deal extra barrier damage, and their Guard Break duration is shorter. You will leave DANGER state only when your Barrier is full. Thus, DANGER state lasts for longer (15 seconds). Entering overdrive will re-enable the use of whatever Barrier you have regenerated and end danger state.
Burst/Overdrive	Burst is introduced to act as a combo breaker, however comes with significant disadvantage when used: You will have no barrier gauge and are in permanent Danger Condition until that round ends. The startup is variable depending on your Barrier Gauge, making bating more easy when blocking too much.	Burst is reworked and has its own Burst Icon; each Burst will cost 1 Gold Burst Icon. You start with 1 Gold Burst Icon and 1 Gray Burst Icon. Gray Burst Icon will become Gold once you lose a round. You can only have 2 bursts total in the entire match, regardless of how many rounds are in the match. There are now only 2 different types of bursts in the game: Gold and Green. The amount of Barrier does not matter now. You get a Gold Burst if you burst when you are at neutral (meaning you can move freely and attack). Gold Burst can also act as a combo starter or extender, as it blows the opponent up rather than away. Bursting at any other time gives you a Green Burst (getting hit or blocking any enemy's attack). As a penalty, you lose half your Guard Primers (rounded down) for that round.	Burst is reworked again and only has 1 icon. It now also regenerates like in Guilty Gear, instead of a preset number of bursts per match. Overdrive is introduced and shares the same gauge as Burst. Overdrive grants the character powered up versions of their Drive and stops the timer, similar to Ragna's Blood Kain. You also gain more powerful Distortion Drives during Overdrive. Overdrive will retain 30% of the Burst Gauge, while Burst will deplete all of it. Gold Burst is removed; Burst now triggers on block or on hit. (BBCPEX) Guard Cancel Overdrive is introduced. You can now activate Overdrive on block to turn the tide of the battle. (BBCPEX) Burst now only triggers on hit.	Overdrive Cancel now activates in combos, making jump-cancel cancel Overdrive technique impossible. Exceed Accel is introduced. EA is a Overdrive-distortion that grants Active Flow (if not happened before) and can be served as a reversal or combo ender.

BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle

BBTAG is its own beast basically. ArcSys basically merges some aspect of each game and combines them to a package called BBTAG.

As Partner is not part of mainstream BB, most difference related to Partners will not be listed.

There is now a universal overhead/low (5C/2C).
There is a universal DP (Reversal Action).
EX moves exists for all characters, which cost 1 bar (25 Heat equivalent).
Only 3 different ground options on knockdown (Forward/Backward/Neutral Tech); all of them are fully invincible.
- No delay ground tech; you automatically tech as soon as you can.
Reject Guard is BBTAG's answer to Barrier; 1 bar required.
Burst (Cross Burst) deals damage (will not kill), but costs Partner gauge and is not fully invincible (can be anti-air'd).

Resonance Blaze replaces Overdrive as a universal install when there is only 1 character left.
- Move properties do not change during Resonance Blaze.
- Specials are Super-cancelable.
- Astrals are available with 9 bars (only possible during Level 4 RB) and can be performed when the opponent has only 1 character left, regardless of remaining health. All Astrals can combo as well, even Hakumen's.

No barrier; almost all attacks can be blocked mid-air, except Ground Reversal Actions and air throws.
No Rapid Cancels.
Chip damage cannot kill.
No Instant Block.
No Fatal Counters.
No Crush Trigger.
No Counter Assault.

Guilty Gear Series

While Blazblue is mostly known as a successor of Guilty Gear, they still diverse wildly in many ways. While Gear Series are known for their knockdown-Oki gameplan and BlazBlue also follows, 4 different ground tech options makes the guessing game continue even after knockdown. BlazBlue characters are also less system-mechanic reliant; they have their own Drive that helps them achieve their own goal.

We only mention the common differences across all main version of GG (+R, Xrd and Strive).

There is no universal overhead, though 3C is a universal sweep much like 2D.
A new attribute system on all attacks.
- Invincibility now depends on the attributes of incoming attacks rather than hitbox interactions.
Faultless Defense is replaced by Barrier which has its own gauge.
- Negative Penalty depletes Barrier instead of Heat (aka Tension).
- Corresponding, there is universal "guard break" option (Crush Trigger, 5A+B).
Rapid Cancel is the equivalent of Roman Cancel, though you can only cancel on hit/block (aka only Red Roman Cancels). Also as in +R, no slowdowns on RC.
4 different Ground options on knockdown instead of "nothing you can do" in GG (Rolls, Quick Tech, Neutral Tech).
Normal throws have way longer startup and tech window (7F startup, 17F tech), however it is comboable almost anywhere.
- One can also throw characters in hitstun/blockstun (30F tech).
Astral Heat is the equivalent of Instant Kill, though it can only be activated with 100 heat, match point and opponent has low health. No need for IK mode though, and most casts' AH can be comboed into.
Burst shares the same meter with Overdrive (Blazblue ones).
- Burst only happens when on-hit; on-block and neutral you will get Overdrive. Hence there is no Gold Burst.
- Burst always depletes the Burst gauge rather than "keep 1/3 on hit".
- Burst is not throwable.
BB has Fatal Counters, which increases the hitstun/untech by 3 frames for the rest of the combo.

No RISC gauge, so blocking longer won't increase the damage you take.
No stun values (so no dizzy).
No staggers; a similar effect would be Crumple, which does not require you to shake the joystick (pressing a button is enough).
No Tension Pulse; every Heat gain is static.

Persona 4 Ultimax Series

They have a better page.

How do I perform Rapid Cancel/Burst/Overdrive/EA more smoothly?

BBCF provides a macro for ABC and ABCD combination, so use it if you want.

If you don't (or can't, for example in arcades) want to use macro, refers to here to see how to activate OD simpler. If you are using a keyboard, check if your keyboard supports pressing all buttons at once. If you can't, use a macro.

As for RC/Burst/EA, unfortunately there is no such shortcut; you need to input all 3 (or 4) buttons in a continuous 3F window (the input buffer) in order to perform RC/Burst/EA. As EA overlaps everything, it is also not recommended to do special cancel EA when you have more than 25 meter, as it will probably do something that is not EA (Crush Trigger, Rapid Cancel) when not using a macro.

Keep practicing!

Why are my half-circle motion not working?

In BBCF, half circle specifically is not lenient. You need to input the full 63214 without missing any of the direction; 6324, 6214 are invalid. It will not be changed and will remain as-is.

However, half-circles that return to the original positions (632146 for example) still allows you to miss one direction except start and end (63246 works, for example).

(PC) How do I do high jumps more consistently if I am using WASD (or similar)?

Your space bar is automatically bound to jump. So for high jumps, you can input S~Space. Forward jump would be S~[D]~Space, and backwards would be S~[A]~Space. The latter might be more troublesome than just S~[A]~W, so pick one that is more comfortable for you.

Lambda-11 and Nu-13 seem to look and play identically, what's the difference?

Quite a lot when you peel back the mechanics. This table summarizes the main points:

Character Comparison
	Lambda-11	Nu-13
Gameplan differences	Lambda emphasizes lockdown and approach Lambda's gameplan focuses on suppressing her opponent and moving in with mixups, ideally corner carrying them into her strong oki tools where she can close in and perform her various mixups from up close. Most of Lambda's special moves are attacks that have long recovery if they miss or are blocked, but tend to make highly rewarding callout tools.	Nu emphasizes evasion and long range Nu's gameplan focuses on staying away from her opponent while using her long ranged superiority to harass them from relative safety. Her main high-low mixups exist at medium to long range. Nu's Act Parcer and Gravity Seed look similar to Lambda's, but they are not attacks; instead, they're used to keep distance from her opponent or to close in since they can be whiff-cancelled into other options.
Drive Differences	Lambda's Drive focuses on space control Drives have negligible deadzones. 2D and 6D are active for longer. Sickle Storm and Spike Chaser are highly active and advantageous, making them strong oki tools to cover approaches. Crescent Saber is an Overhead that covers a large area close to Lambda. Air Drives have more reward if they hit, but they suffer from bad landing recovery.	Nu's Drive focuses on long-ranged sniping Drives spawn further away, reducing the time it takes to get to the target. 2D and 6D accelerate twice as fast. Sickle Storm is a full-ranged low that is used as a mix-up with 4D. Luminous Slave is a powerful threat to prevent approaches and punish mistakes made at any range. Crescent Saber is a long ranged Overhead that can be mixed up in various ways. Air Drives recover in the air, but lead into only modest damage.
Cancel options	Lambda's cancels mix together Normals, Drives and Specials more fluidly Drive followups are forced to activate if the first attack hits or is blocked. Second hit is considered part of the same move and may Counter Hit Carry. All cancel options (except Rapid Cancel) only apply to the followup hit. Lambda can cancel the final hit of most C normals into Drives. Lambda can use all four grounded Drives in one chain, but cannot repeat any Drives in a single chain. Lambda's Drives can (and do often) link back into normal moves in various combos. Lambda has a complex Rekka chain which is used extensively as part of her mixups, stagger pressure and combos.	Nu's Cancels emphasize Drive flexibility Drive followup attacks are manually activated and thus optional. Drives can cancel into other Drives and back again (in chains of three before any jump cancels). Chains only reset if Nu goes fully neutral (Jump startup counts). Drives can cancel from the first or second hit. Nu cannot cancel any other normal attack into normal Drive attacks. Nu can cancel her special attacks into other specials; for example, Sickle Storm can cancel into Gravity Seed on block/hit, and into Luminous Slave on hit. Gravity Seed can whiff-cancel into any move, which is used in combos like a Rapid Cancel. Nu can cancel Drives into Act Parcer on hit/block. Sickle Storm and Crescent Saber can also cancel into Act Parcer in OD.

Interface

How do I reset to Center and Corner quickly in Training mode?

Hold one Direction while pressing the Reset button you've assigned will reset you to different positions:

Left + Reset to reset both characters to the left corner (P1 in the corner);
Right + Reset to reset both characters to the right corner (P2 in the corner);
Down + Reset to reset both characters to round start position.

What is the meter that runs below the combo counter in Training Mode?

It is the hitstun/untechable timer. Full gauge is 30 frames (the untechable can exceed but it will not show). Some moves will have several different hit effects; in such case, the timer will take several resets.

Others

Are there Dubs in this game?

No, and it will probably never have one. There are custom mods that take Dubs from older titles and BBTAG to fill it up, but for other characters there is no luck for you.

Will they add X in this game on future updates?

For QoL additions, maybe. For gameplay changes (dash button for example), never.

How do I get access to Unlimited Characters?

There is no official way to do such in BBCF. You can modify the files to play offline with yourself, but don't bring them online; this ruins everyone's experience and it sucks.

In other versions, you can exchange the characters via Gallery using P$. BBCSEX will require you to reach certain level before you can exchange.