BlazBlue series

One game that’s influenced me is probably the Blazblue series. It’s different from any other fighting game I grew up playing, with an interesting cast of characters, all with their own unique game play. In most fighting games, story isn’t very important and that may also apply to Blazblue as well. However, Blazblue is probably one of the only fighting games that’s so heavily influenced on a story that develops these character’s strengths and personality with each entry through the series.

The characters I believe are what make this game’s story interesting. It’s not your typical cast of fighting game characters like the martial arts expert, the large wrestling characters with the cheapest grab moves, and the evil dictator whose hosting a tournament to gain every fighting ability to rule the world. Blazblue’s characters stray away from that tradition with it’s own unique style. With a half vampire who lost his arm, an officer with amnesia, a blob of living sludge that shoots insects, you always ask the question “how in the world did these characters get like this?” It made me actually wonder about the plot of this game and though it is extremely confusing to follow, it still keeps me interested in how it’s all slowly unraveling.

From what I’ve gathered, the story is about Ragna, a rebellious fugitive, who searches for his younger sister who was kidnapped by an entity named Terumi. Having his arm sliced off and left to die, he was turned into a half vampire by Rachel Alucard, a vampire with seemingly ungodly powers, who watches over everything from her own Halloween type realm. Ragna goes to a city in hopes to find his sister there but only finds his younger brother along with the rest of the cast of the series there waiting for him. It turns out he has an S class bounty on his head for attacking NOL branches and destroying devices known as Murakumo units which are robotic copies of his sister and also have developed a human emotion of love towards him.

The Story at first felt like it was all over the place, with each character having there own path to walk. However it all ended up being connected and the characters actually had progressing relationships with one another and that carries over into the next game. I never knew that this type of thing could be possible or even remotely interesting especially in a fighting game. While I may not think that story is that important in fighting games and it may not be that important in this one either, I find it fascinating that the affects from the previous story slightly changes the character’s game play and fighting style in the next entry. I’m currently waiting for the third entry which is supposedly the conclusion to the series, but as long as the hardcore fans enjoy the hardcore fighting engine, even though the story may end, I think the game’s going to be around for a while.