BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger (ブレイブルー カラミティ トリガー BureiBurū: Karamiti Torigā) is a fighting game developed by Arc System Works in 2008. The game's name is a portmanteau of "blaze" and "blue," with the "z" sound omitted in the Japanese pronunciation, rendering it similar to the word "bray" in pronunciation. Originally released for the arcades, it was also released for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Windows. A port for the PlayStation Portable, titled BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger Portable (ブレイブルー カラミティ トリガー ポータブル BureiBurū: Karamiti Torigā Pōtaburu), was released in 2010. It was the first title in the BlazBlue game series and extended franchise.
Gameplay
BlazBlue is a traditional 2D fighter where two characters participate in a duel. A round is called a "rebel" and one match can consist of one to five "rebels". To win a round, one player must either incapacitate the other by inflicting damage through various attacks to reduce their opponent's health to zero or by having more remaining health than their opponent after the clock runs out.
Every character has a weak, medium and strong attack, as well as an "unique" technique, called a Drive attack, which is different for each character. Those attacks are also known as "A", "B", "C" and "D". Various combos can be performed by every character through careful input of regular and Drive attacks. A combo consists of two or more consecutive attacks that hit an opponent without them retaliating. As combos become longer, each attack will do less damage than normal to give the opponent a chance to retaliate. Grabs can be incorporated into combos also by pressing the "B" and "C" buttons at the same time. Occasionally, some attacks (e.g. Jin's Hirensou) will use portions of the player's heat gauge at the bottom of the screen. The heat gauge is filled by either dealing or receiving damage. When a character has 50% or more heat, special moves called "Distortion Drives" can be performed. When a Distortion Drive is successfully performed and connects with the opponent, it deals massive damage and is visually flashier than normal attacks.
Along with attacks every character has two types of block. One is the regular block that can be broken with a "Guard Crush". That can be achieved by pushing the "Guard Libra" gauge all the way to the opponent's side through repeated attacks. If the opponent keeps blocking, then their guard can be broken, leaving them open for attack. The second type of block is a Barrier Block, which is initiated by blocking while holding the "A" and "B" buttons at the same time. A Barrier Block cannot be broken like a normal guard, but there is a limit on how long one can be held, which is indicated by the Barrier Gauge. If the Barrier Gauge empties, then the player will receive 150% damage until it regenerates to half-full.
Advanced tactics
A form of an advanced tactic is the "Rapid Cancel". These can be done after any attack to instantly cancel the character sprite's animation frames and reset back to the resting position. However, this can only be done at the cost of 50% of the heat gauge. Counters are one of the easier tactics to perform. All that is required is for a player to strike their opponent while they are in the middle of an attacking animation to stop them in their tracks. This leaves an opponent open for a combo. In addition to a player's regular block options, they can also "Instant Block", blocking as soon as an opponent's attack lands, but reduces the amount of time the character is stuck in their blocking animation and gives you a little heat. If a player is under pressure from the opponent, a "Barrier Burst" can be done at any time to send the opponent away to create some space at the cost of having no Barrier Block and receiving 150% damage for the rest of the round. A Barrier Burst may also be used offensively to break the opponents guard, though the player's character will still suffer the extra damage and be unable to Barrier Block for the remainder of the round. A Barrier Burst can be performed twice at most throughout the entire match.
Plot
Before the events of the game, humanity was on the verge of extinction from a creature called the "Black Beast." The world was saved by six heroes who wielded magic. They helped humanity create "Ars Magus", a fusion of magic and science, to defeat the Black Beast. This event would be later known as the First War of Magic.
After the war, the Novus Orbis Librarium (also referred to as "The Library" or the "NOL") was created to govern the world with the use of Ars Magus. A great deal of dissent was caused by the Library, partly due to Ars Magus' use in nearly every facet of society, and the widening socioeconomic gap between those who could and couldn't use Ars Magus. This dissent would eventually form years later into the Second War of Magic, also known as the Ikaruga Civil War, when the city of Ikaruga openly rebelled against the NOL. Upon winning the war, the NOL imposed a harsher rule on the world, punishing any rebellion against the NOL with death.
In December A.D. 2199, several years after the Second War of Magic, a branch of the NOL was utterly destroyed by an SS-class rebel named Ragna, also known as the "Grim Reaper", in an attempt to destroy the Librarium. The NOL, hoping to stop him, immediately announced the largest bounty ever, available to anyone who could capture him. Ragna possesses a powerful form of Ars Magus known as the Azure Grimoire. This led the NOL, as well as the other fighters, to hunt Ragna not just for his bounty, but also his Azure Grimoire.
