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BlazBlue Guard Mechanic Evolution

Posted in Game Design by Robert Gee
Feb 10 2013
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The blocking (or guarding) mechanic in BlazBlue has undergone some interesting evolutions with each iteration of the game. In this post I want to talk a little about the different mechanics and what each one brought to the table. In between I’ll talk a little bit about why I think they may have changed it to the next one.

Guard Libra – This is the first system used in the original Blazblue: Calamity Trigger. It was a tug-of-war style system where blocking attacks was countered by forcing the opponent to block attacks. Players could temporarily stop the bar from moving by using the limited barrier guard system. This system had problems with slower characters like Tager who were forced to block often versus long range characters like Nu. Even though Tager had moves which pushed the bar further he never got the chance to use them before getting his guard broken in many cases. This character based discrepancy was addressed in the next version with…

Guard Primers – The primer system appeared in Blazblue: Continuum Shift and introduced specific moves that would break primers unless barrier guarded. This system allowed the designers to more easily differentiate the characters and more clearly represent how much it would take to break a given character’s guard. Most characters had 5 or 6 primers while more mobile characters had 4 and Tager had 13. This changed addressed the major issue with slower characters needing more defense and had the bonus of being able to balance attacks based on the number of primers they removed. This allowed the designers to incentivize otherwise difficult to use skills by allowing them to remove primers and to also vary the ease of primer removal on a per character basis, which helped to differentiate the feel of each character.

Crush Trigger – The new mechanic for BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma does away with any type of guard meter and instead simply has special moves which break guards. By pressing the button during certain normal moves the player can use a portion of his super meter to make that move break guards. The opposing player can still use the barrier guard system to prevent it. I don’t want to comment too much on this system before I’ve tried it, but it seems like it could still be prone to issues from the previous iterations of mechanics depending on which moves gain this property.

Blazblue continues to be fun game for me to follow both as a fan and as a game designer. I’m looking forward to watching the evolution of their systems as they continue to iterate.

Tagged as: Blazblue

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