I posted this in my team chat on discord and just wanted to share the message with everyone else who was interested in the game: so the good ole copy and paste came in handy. Mostly good stuff to say about the game honestly.
My initial approach to the game was rather lukewarm because while it was a Blazblue game, it wasn't from what I heard and saw from gameplay of both seasoned fighting gamers and those new to fighting games. Many adjustments to characters, move properties, controls set up, new systems, and more threw myself and many others for a roller-coaster trying to find our place in the game, especially coming off of Dragonball FighterZ - DBFZ, a game similar in concept to XTB. Day One of the Online Beta was about me understanding that this game should be treated as it's own and not like anything before it. However, my impression of this game has greatly started to favor the game for more than just the franchises through it’s concept, it’s purpose and what it could mean for the fighting game franchise as a whole. Starting from the characters, I feel they were well represented, fighting wise, from what I could see between fighting them and listening to feedback of people who mained said characters from their original games, especially since I only played two characters, which I feel were handled properly. There were some major changes but only to accommodate the system but not enough to feel like "oh this character is unplayable/bad". When asked "Who did I think was the worst character in the trial?" I'm still, even now, am unsure because I feel so far there's not a character that's outright bottom tier - all of them felt really solid and with the auto-combo system, felt very encouraged to try new characters & team combinations. Defensive’s in this game is probably my favorite part and that the part that makes this game fulfill it's purpose more than DBFZ. When I finally learned all three, my time spent being juggled in combos was significantly lessened which is the fear when playing fighting games. My only gripes towards this game is the movement, distortion/special command, and button lay out. Button lay out can be mitigated by customizing controls, the distortion command is linked to your grab button which serves as an issue because grabs do a run up to close the distance; which in turn if you mistime the motion, you will run up towards your opponent which can fuck you up big time. Having your only movement be running instead of walking is a bit of an inconvenience when it comes to approaching the opponent when running was originally just tapping forward twice. However, even with these issues, I feel the game even from a demo was a great learning experience in both understanding the game and even improving myself without feeling overly taxed, physically. The challenges right now from what I can see is really just defensives (both when and how) and understanding your team composition both individually and mutually, of which you can learn at your own pace without feeling left behind.
The Mission of Cross Tag Battle!
This game is really the first step easing the barrier of entry that many people had with fighting games (disregarding online gaming subscriptions like PS+ and financials to purchase it and DLC) in which it required so much time investment to learn your characters and the game itself which can take weeks, months, sometimes even years before you could fully understand it, to a point where a portion of your life must be dedicated to it. Of course the fighting game community - FGC, is very helpful and will support you but it really requires a consistent drive and patience to make progress in competitive fighting games. That being said, the game does just that and perhaps even better than DBFZ in specific areas. Don't get me wrong, not saying either game is bad or better than one another, I acknowledge the pros and cons of both game and value them equally on a personal level. However, regardless if you plan to play competitively or not, XTB is a good entry level game to the fighting game franchise; it's systems are simply enough to not require a ridiculous amount of time to even scratch the surface but with enough depth to keep seasoned fighters happy and rewarded for their time invested - especially in the team combination. It's something I feel was needed to make fighting games welcoming to just pick up and see yourself doing something, such as block strings, punishes, and even combos from a single button or two instead of just throwing jabs at the air. Whereas in Blazblue Centralfiction, Tekken, FighterZ (at times): I couldn't really enjoy myself playing against people who were new/learning unless I played a character I had 0 knowledge so that games wouldn't be one-sided, discouraging people from even wanting to play (and even then it's still one sided due to understanding the system, better fundamentals, etc.). I do 100% recommend this game to anyone who has never played Blazblue (or any 2D fighter) and would like to especially to just play casually, flail around, have a good time, experiment etc etc.
