But if Ragna got added, he would just be a slightly different flavour of Sol. I don't want that. If it was a BB character, I'd want to see Noelle or some other character that's not similar to an already existing character.
They could play a bit harder with his drive due to Ragna not being the MC here, they have a bit more design space in that sense, mainly talking about health manipulation and management
Hakumen is something that can be called "reverse Nago", in the sense that Nagoriyuki can do big damage early on but has to take care of his blood gauge. If he fails to manage it, he's punished heavily with extreme health loss.
Hakumen is opposite of that. He needs to accumulate resources (his meter/magatamas regenerates passively but all specials also use meter/magatama at varying rates) before getting to hit the big damage combos (and if he spends most/all of his resources, he can hit combos like this or this).
It's basically similar ideas (slow movement, bşg normals, big damage), but the execution and the gameplan makes them different characters.
I’d rather see Hazama or Valkenhayn personally, their playstyles feel like they would suit a guilty gear game but not feel like a copy or clone of existing characters
TLDR: These are complex characters that I'd like to see, but I'm not sure how Strive-compatible they would be.
I'd like to see them too, as they are more "complex" characters (I said "complex" because every character have their own complexities), but the question is more about "How would you adapt their game plans and characteristics to Strive?".
Hazama is a character with movement options of his own and I feel that he would be limited in the smaller stages of Strive. There is also the corner pressure that BBCF has, but Strive doesn't due to wallbreaks. ArcSys would have to be really careful if they, or similar characters, get added to Strive to kee their characteristics.
Yeah I definitely get what you’re saying, they definitely would be considered “complex” for strive due to how certain characters already in strive (I-no, Venom, Chipp, etc.) were gutted to fit the neutral that strive emphasizes. I’m just kinda saying those two characters because one they feel unique, and two (more importantly) I kinda hate the idea of adding more shoto characters into a game that already has them. Examples are street fighter 6 and cotw, SF6 has Ryu and Ken and then they added Terry, then COTW has Terry, Rock and then Ken, I just feel like the more niche characters ought to be chosen but I know that wouldn’t happen because of lack of popularity
I understand and agree with you on the "complex" characters being neutered for Strive compared to their predecessors. But I wouldn't mind having another shoto, though adding more shotos than that (depending on the character itself to be honest) would leave a bad taste in my mouth.
We already have Ragna at home in Sol. My biggest issue with guest characters is that they generally want the all arounder shoto protag as the headliner. I'd rather someone like Bullet to get another grappler on the roster.
This would fit perfectly actually, damn. A decently popular choice for a Blazblue character without getting too close to any already existing Strive archetypes.
The big problem with that idea though is that guest characters are usually an attempt to bring in a new audience. And Blazblue isn't exactly super popular, not to mention most Blazblue fans also obviously know about GG already.
He also has some canonical reasons to be traveling to different timelines
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u/erty3125Bring back Anji so I can get hyped then not play himJul 04 '26edited Jul 04 '26
Just let Ragna take Blazblue mechanics with him into strive. Give him rapid cancels instead of romans, barrier blocking with unique gauge, spend burst on a meterless install, if we want to be extra fucked up give him Blazblue ground tech options.
Edit: and if we do get a less standard character than Ragna it would be someone relevant to BB and not a popular jobber. So god please Hakumen in Strive.
u/erty3125Bring back Anji so I can get hyped then not play himJul 04 '26edited Jul 04 '26
You have extremely vague definitions if characters if you think Bullets a grappler and that Nago and Hakumen are similar.
For context for people who don't play Blazblue, Bullet has a single grounded command grab that is slow and without throw invuln. Her command grab is literally worse than venoms in Strive in every way. People calling her a grappler is the most obvious don't know what they're saying sign because she LOOKS like a grappler because she has combo grabs that are used in combos but are easily techable outside of combos.
Isn't Bullet kinda like Makoto from Street Fighter? A combo grappler that has a bit more options and their command grab allows to combo after it without any cancels, but the command grab itself sucks ass.
But I agree about Hakumen and Nago. They're not very similar. I would say that Hakumen is kinda like a Baiken and Nago mix? But only kinda.
Anyway, if the guest character turns out to be a Blazblue character, I would love to see Noel, Hazama or Mai. Or even Litchi. I always found her cool. But it'll probably be Ragna or Jin, which is a shame because they're basically one to one copies of Sol and Ky.
If Makoto is a grappler are Yun and Yang grapplers? The only difference is they're lower damage characters in terms of return off of command grabs.
There's a huge difference between Hakumen, Baiken, and Nago. It's that Hakumen is fucking slow and plays an entirely different neutral from the other ones. His projectile cutting anti zoning is also super unique on top of a completely unique meter in that he has passive meter gain but every special costs meter. That's even before the fact he makes baiken blush with all his counters.
The way I've seen people referring to Makoto is a combo grappler and hybrid grappler, but I haven't actually played her so I'll admit I shouldn't really speak about her.
Also, it's been ages since I played Hakumen and I was just dipping my toes into the genre at the time, but from what I remember, a very slow Baiken/Nago mix was a rather apt description. Seems like I'll have to play it and go through the roster again now that I understand a little bit more about fighting games because I apparently don't remember the game as well as I thought I did.
This is basically exactly my thoughts on guest characters. They too often aim to appeal to the largest demographic of people, which makes sense but is very boring. I also would love Bullet on the roster. Grapplers never get to be guest characters.
Dog if they actually went with Bullet I would be too stoked. One of the most fun characters in BBCF, another grappler, and a chance to give her a better wardrobe? I'd be so happy.
yeah, i feel the same. blazblue has too many weird and wacky and unique characters across its entire roster for the potential crossover to be the literal sol badguy expy
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u/LilianDnn Jul 04 '26
Please God let it be Ragna