Things has been rocky ever since the news knowing that 20 characters, including Blake Belladonna of RWBY, will be coming as DLC for Blaze Blue: Cross Tag Battle.
Since then,Director Toshimichi Mori did an interview with Famitsu giving more details of the game as well as the DLC that is planned. The main points from the interview are as follows:
- Given enough support, he want to continue the Blazblue: Cross Tag Battle as a series.
- The game is on home console only. Mori wants to address the skill and ability divide between Japanese players and international players. He created the game in mind of keeping everyone to be on the same playing field and skill level.
- Game is made with Game Pad controls in mind.
- Arc System is planning to release the game at a lower than normal retail price in order to get more people to play. Afterwards, they can purchase the DLC if they enjoy the game
- Getting the Base game and then DLC aftewards won’t cost more than a full priced game.
I imagine that if they set the price at $40 at most, they will set the DLC as season pass at $20. While this may be a fair reason, it still feel somewhat alienating . The fact remains that half of the roster remains locked behind a pay wall. They only want customers or die hard fans who fully commit themselves to the game to buy the DLC. This isn’t like Street Fighter V or Smash Bros. in which they release individual characters down the line. These are characters you expect to be in the game. The characters from their original games are already playable right from the start. So why we have to pay for something that is already available before?
Only 2 character representation from RWBY of Ruby and Weiss is ridiculous. You do not separate the team and leave Blake and Yang as DLC. At least keep a minimum of 4 characters to represent a series each. What if people want to play only the DLC characters like Blake, Yang or the others? For a newcomer, it feels as you will not get the full experience without the rest of the characters. As I discussed in the last Nintendo Entertainment Podcast, this is why you delay games. It feels incomplete and I wished they delayed it to put these characters in. Yes, it will be disappointing that its coming out later, but I at least know they are giving the time and polish to make the game more full and complete.
BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle will release on May 31, 2018 for PS4, PC and Nintendo Switch.
