A new character trailer for BlazBlue Central Fiction has been released. The trailer shows off the new playable character Es. Es is one of five new characters that are being added into the BlazBlue series, premeiring in BlazBlue: Central Fiction. The other characters are Nine the Phantom, Hades Izanami, Naoto Kurogane, and Hibiki Kohaku. In the trailer for Es, her move sets are shown off as well as some backstory to her character in the Japanese language trailer. Es is the first of the console exclusive characters, the other new characters being available to play in the arcade version of the game which was made available in Japan November 19th 2015. The new trailer for Es can be viewed below.
BlazBlue: Central Fiction features a lot of changes that make it particularly interesting for fans of the series. This installment in the BlazBlue franchise will serve as the conclusion for the Azure Saga, a storyline that has been going on since the release of BlazBlue Calamity Trigger.
The combat system is said to build upon the one that was made for BlazBlue Chrono Phantasma Extend, the game that preceded it, with the addition of a few new cosmetic changes. The overdrive activation now has its duration displayed on the player’s HUD, underneath the burst gauge. The duration is displayed for the player in the form of a timer that counts seconds and split seconds to display the duration of activation. The avatars for the characters in the HUD now shake whenever a player take damage during a fight. The character specific emblems now show up at the beginning of matches, after the iconic phrase of “wheel of fate is turning” is said by the game’s announcer.
BlazBlue Central Fiction introduces two new game mechanics as well: Active Flow and Exceed Accel. Exceed Accel allows the player to perform a kind of overdrive move, that is character specific, and shatters the background. Exceed Accel also deals a lot of damage but will immediately end the player’s overdrive once executed. Active Flow is a status change that allows the player to boost damage and recover their burst gauge quickly. Combined with Exceed Accel it can lead to some deadly combinations. Active Flow can only be unlocked if a player is playing aggressively, adding incentive for players to make their play styles ore in the aggressive side.
BlazBlue Central Fiction is planned for an October 6th release in Japan for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4. The North American release will be sometime this winter, with a specific date as of yet not being announced.