BlazBlue: Centralfiction

BlazBlue: Centralfiction (ブレイブルー セントラルフィクション), known outside Japan as BlazBlue: Central Fiction, is the fourth game in the BlazBlue series, and the final game of Ragna’s story as the main protagonist and the final C-Series mainline game.

Plot
――When the man woke up, he had forgotten everything. Not knowing where he is and who he is, he goes to the 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi, as if he was being led there by something.

What he understood is that he’s a rebel called the “Grim Reaper”, who owns something called the “Blue Grimoire”, and a large group of vigilantes and soldiers of the World Void Information Control Organization are pursuing him.

While remembering the sense of situation, relying on his own sense, he goes to the deepest part of Kagutsuchi, to the place called the Kiln.

Is it the “pre-established harmony” left in his memory, or the Centralfiction – the dream seen by a god――

General changes

 * When Overdrive is active, its duration is shown under the Burst Gauge in the form of a countdown timer (which counts seconds and split-seconds).
 * When a character takes damage, their portrait near the health bar shakes.
 * Custom account names now override the selected character’s name in combat.
 * When the first round begins, character’s emblem appears at each character side when the phrase “The Wheel of Fate Is Turning” shows.
 * Arcade Mode stories are now separated into 3 acts.
 * When a character is close to entering Active Flow, there is a purple pink circle that surrounds the Overdrive Gauge.
 * The Stylish mode is changed completely. It now functions akin to Technical mode, but the player can still use the Special button, “SP”, to perform easy special attacks as usual.
 * Two new game modes: the Speed Star Mode and the Alliance Mode.
 * Same Move Proration is removed, allowing all special moves and/or specific attacks affected by it prior to loop into one another in a single combo. At a cost however, massively increased damage scaling is applied which will cut down damage harder than before whenever this happens.
 * All characters who have had below 10,000 now have an HP total increase; the actual lowest amount of HP is now 10,000 as a result.
 * A huge majority of Fatal Counter attacks have been reallocated for many characters, to the point where the most common form of Fatal Counter is now 6C instead of 2C (as the very latter types of Fatal Counter moves have been removed).

New game mechanics

 * Exceed Accel: A special type of Distortion Drive, which is executed either by pressing A+B+C+D in Overdrive or holding A+B+C+D after Overdrive is activated. It begins with the character performing a specific attack in their moveset, and once it connects the rest of the background shatters away into the Overdrive background effect when the attack is performed. It dishes large damage, but immediately ends Overdrive. Finishing off an opponent with this counts as an Overdrive Finish.
 * Active Flow: A new mechanic, which acts as the opposite of Negative Penalty status. A character that fights aggressively goes into an Active Flow, which boosts damage and recovery of the Burst Gauge. Active Flow also increases damage of Exceed Accel (and may add extra effects and animations for certain characters). When a character enters Active Flow, their emblem on the health bar glows purple pink as the announcer yells out “Active Flow”.

Release history

 * A brand new version 2.0 which includes Jūbei as a playable character was released in the Summer of 2017, which includes more balance changes, and has a diamond-shaped countdown timer to differentiate from the vanilla version’s circle-shaped timer.

Playable characters
Returning characters: blue &middot; New characters: purple &middot; DLC only characters: green 


 * Ragna the Bloodedge (Icon, Centralfiction).png Ragna the Bloodedge
 * Jin Kisaragi (Icon, Centralfiction).png Jin Kisaragi
 * Noel Vermillion (Icon, Centralfiction, 1).png Noel Vermillion
 * Rachel Alucard (Icon, Centralfiction).png Rachel Alucard
 * Taokaka (Icon, Centralfiction).png Taokaka
 * Iron Tager (Icon, Centralfiction).png Iron Tager
 * Litchi Faye Ling (Icon, Centralfiction).png Litchi Faye Ling
 * Arakune (Icon, Centralfiction).png Arakune
 * Bang Shishigami (Icon, Centralfiction).png Bang Shishigami
 * Carl Clover (Icon, Centralfiction).png Carl Clover
 * Hakumen (Icon, Centralfiction).png Hakumen
 * Nu-13 (Icon, Centralfiction).png ν-No.13-
 * Tsubaki Yayoi (Icon, Centralfiction).png Tsubaki Yayoi
 * Hazama (Icon, Centralfiction).png Hazama
 * Mu-12 (Icon, Centralfiction).png μ-No.12-
 * Makoto Nanaya (Icon, Centralfiction).png Makoto Nanaya
 * Valkenhayn R. Hellsing (Icon, Centralfiction).png Valkenhayn R. Hellsing
 * Platinum the Trinity (Icon, Centralfiction).png Platinum the Trinity


 * Relius Clover (Icon, Centralfiction).png Relius Clover
 * Izayoi (Icon, Centralfiction).png Izayoi
 * Amane Nishiki (Icon, Centralfiction).png Amane Nishiki
 * Bullet (Icon, Centralfiction).png Bullet
 * Azrael (Icon, Centralfiction).png Azrael
 * Kagura Mutsuki (Icon, Centralfiction).png Kagura Mutsuki
 * Kokonoe (Icon, Centralfiction).png Kokonoe
 * Yūki Terumi (Icon, Centralfiction).png Yūki Terumi
 * Celica A. Mercury (Icon, Centralfiction).png Celica A. Mercury
 * Lambda-11 (Icon, Centralfiction).png Λ-No.11-
 * Hibiki Kohaku (Icon, Centralfiction).png Hibiki Kohaku
 * Konoe A. Mercury (Icon, Centralfiction).png Nine the Phantom
 * Naoto Kurogane (Icon, Centralfiction).png Naoto Kurogane
 * Hades Izanami (Icon, Centralfiction).png Izanami
 * Susano'o (Icon, Centralfiction).png Susanoo
 * Es (Icon, Centralfiction).png Es
 * Mai Natsume (Icon, Centralfiction).png Mai Natsume
 * Jūbei (Icon, Centralfiction).png Jūbei

Practice

 * Tutorial Mode (チュートリアルモード) — Learn everything from the basics of 2D fighting game mechanics to the advanced and unique systems of BlazBlue, as the characters walk you through the fundamentals.
 * Training Mode (トレーニングモード) — Practice moves and set a variety of parameters and enemy actions. Use this mode to brush up combos or improve the execution of special attacks.
 * Challenge Mode (チャレンジモード) — Take on up to 20 missions set for each character. The missions will increase in difficulty as the previous mission is cleared. Do you have what it takes to finish them all?

Story

 * Story Mode (ストーリーモード) — Enjoy the story of BlazBlue deeply. The new Blue story. The fate of Ragna, Jin and Noel…? Is this the end of the story…?!
 * Glossary (用語集) — A glossary explaining all the terminology that shows up in the Story Mode. It will also cover some 2D fighting terms you should know so even you may one day become a BlazBlue expert.

Battle

 * Arcade Mode (アーケードモード) — Enjoy the characters’ individual stories while fighting your way through the computer opponents, just like in the arcades.
 * VS Mode (ブイエスモード) — Fight against a computer or your friends to your heart’s content. When there’s a party at your house, this is the mode you want to be in.
 * Grim of Abyss Mode (グリムオブアビスモード) — Strengthen your character with a grimoire and clear the dungeons. By using the “magic workshop” you can customize the grimoires that you have. Let’s clear all dungeons with powerful grimoires you’ve created!
 * Score Attack Mode (スコアアタックモード) — Choose your course and fight against the computers with regulated settings and compete for the highest score. Scores will be logged in the rankings.
 * Speed Star Mode (スピードスターモード) — Defeat enemies that appear one after another. Time will be added if you deal high damage or finish with special move.

Network

 * Network Mode (ネットワークモード) — Connect to Network Mode to battle with other players, and compare your stats online. This mode cannot be played without connecting to PlayStation™ Network.

Collection

 * Replay Theater (リプレイシアター) — Store and replay match videos playback matches of the past to hone your skills, or show off to your friends. You can even analyze matches with the top fighters.
 * Gallery Mode (ギャラリーモード) — View the illustrations in Story Mode, guest illustrations, watch videos, and more. Some items will require P$ so be sure to keep playing BlazBlue to rack up those P$s.
 * Item Shop (アイテムショップ) — Purchase character colors and battle BGM that can be used while in-game. Be sure to keep playing BlazBlue to rack up those P$s.

Reception
BlazBlue: Central Fiction received "generally favorable" reviews on Metacritic getting a metascore of 84/100 on PS4 and 86/100 on Switch (Special Edition). On whatoplay.com, it receives an aggregate score (playscore) of 8.56 on PS3 and 8.70 on PS4.

Trivia

 * This is the first game in the series where the Arcade Mode has three parts rather than one.
 * This is the first game that doesn’t have an English dub, which was announced by Aksys Games on their Twitter page. This has caused a lot of controversy among fans of the series to the point that a petition was created that appealed to Arc System Works and Aksys Games with the expression of a dub being created as downloadable content. Various English members of the cast backed this petition. This included: Patrick Seitz, the voice of Ragna; Mela Lee, the voice of Rachel, and Cindy Robinson, the voice of Makoto. The petition was never recognized by ASW and it is currently closed, sitting at 6,690 signatures as of January 2019.
 * Following the announcement from Aksys Games on Twitter, Seitz would published a post on his official Facebook page about the situation and revealed that neither him or the other VA's were contacted to be told they would not be returning.
 * This is the first installment that releases a demo version of the game.
 * The console-exclusive characters (Es, Mai Natsume and Susanoo) were included in the Arcade version at December 8, 2016 via the Patch 1.30.
 * The Steam version of the game includes all DLC content from the very beginning, except for Jubei, which is sold seperately.
 * The Nintendo Switch version includes all DLC, including Jubei, and will also include the Neon Red/Blue colors that were in BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle. However, it doesn't include the (64-player roomed) online lobby mode that was included in the previous home versions.
 * All characters color 13th is related to characters from another media (anime, cartoons, etc.) i.e.: Izanami as C.C from Code Geass, Kokonoe as Princess Bubblegum from Adventure Time, Es, Izayoi, Taokaka and Bullet as Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long from RWBY, Susanoo as All Might from My Hero Academia, Nine as Kneesocks from Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt, etc.
 * Continuing on from BlazBlue: Chronophantasma and its Extend version, there are color options for the playable cast that reference other characters from BlazBlue as well as characters from two other Arc System Works games, though this time they are Guilty Gear and XBlaze. They are as follows: