Blood Magic... again?

[H E L O]

One of my biggest complaints about DFF's Emperor was his seemingly mismatched EX Mode ability. And now that you can't even EX Guard Counter (if at least just against the computer), it's even more useless, if you ask me.

They had an opportunity to improve his EX Mode by giving him something -- ANYTHING more beneficial, but they still give him Blood Magic? So basically all one has to do is stay away from The Emperor's traps until his EX Mode runs out.

Couldn't they have given him something like Kefka's EX Mode? Like, mines with every attack or a special trap w/ R+[] or something?

Anyway... If I'm missing something here, someone enlighten me. How does Blood Weapon compliment The Emperor?

[Kraid]

It's just the mechanic he had in FFII a long with Astaroth in Pandaemonium. He could drain your HP with (Physical) attacks.

It does actually compliment him because Firion and Emperor are tanking machines. Every HP hit done to these two are very valuable. It can be very hard to approach the Emperor and gain that crucial HP attack for A LOT of characters.

Yes, I wish he had something better than Blood Magic BUT it can REALLY turn the tide of battle for the Emperor.

[Bladeviper]

also he dosent have too many options from what i remember from 2

[Cookies]

I personally like it, but that's more from the point of view of someone who isn't great as The Emperor. I like it because I tend to get hit alot whilst setting up, thus it's simply a useful survival tool for me.

I would have liked maybe a little something to go with it though :/

[Ben Wylde]

Blood Magic was way more helpful on DFF, when you was able to build up EX force fast - but now, well - it's mostly a survivor gimmick, which CAN turn things but well - we should have got some new stuff like a R + [] Attack or something like that.

[SawronZXZ]

IIRC, someone said it was going to heal twice the damage...I guess that was a lie. It would've been nice to get something else though :/

[Kotei]

I agree with Blood Magic being not really good for an Ex Mode. They should have added something else, like an increased absorb on all traps, making it harder to dodge, something like Kefka indeed.

[Yorunightcast]

I wish they gave him the status effect attack like slow...
If the mabey had something like:
Sticky bombs- cause slow on hit ( slow movement for X seconds)
Crests- cause curse on hit ( halves the damage of the next attack)
Mines- cause blind on hit ( next physical attack misses)
Staff attacks- cause poison on hit ( opponent takes 1/30 of hit's damage for 10 secs)
and then they could have made only starfall or something new absorb hp damage, and it would be fine.
It would also make sticky bomb-thunder crest-mine-starfall very much win

[musicremedy]

I really doubt they would have changed an EX mode from the previous Dissidia but I guess if you could pull off a bravery break, launch ex mode, and some sort of hp attack you could potentially gain a lot more HP especially when going against a bulky level 100 foe.

[Kraid]

I really doubt they would have changed an EX mode from the previous Dissidia but I guess if you could pull off a bravery break, launch ex mode, and some sort of hp attack you could potentially gain a lot more HP especially when going against a bulky level 100 foe.

Gabranth gained a slightly different Ex-Mode (Very slight) where he's immune to EX Break. That's about it. They could have changed something but honestly I still think Blood Magic is a-ok on him. It's not the best but a lot of Ex-Modes are no longer worth any hassle, this isn't just true with Emperor.

[somec]

Blood Magic can go well with Shantotto's Manafont, but i'm okay with blood magic......much better than Gabranth's

[Zero_Ruzai]

Flare+Bombard moves>cause opponents to dodge in midair>Jecht Summon>dodge punish>EX mode>ground dash to around the point opponent will land>Flare just before opponent hits ground>Hit>EX burst.
Works for me.
Or:
Thunder Crescent>Aerith assist just before it runs out>opponent binded by Aerith>EX mode>Flare>Burst
Or:
Aerial Flare, Ground Flare, Dread Cell(s)>Aerith's HOLY Assist>Starfall>opponent decides, 95% of the time, they're hit by Flare/Flare/Cell's/Holy/Starfall (and since both Holy and Starfall are magic resistant they have to get close)>win.

[Mad_Cartoonist]

I'd say screw Blood Magic.
Just give us something that makes his traps more menancing.
I've been saying this since DFF, that I want invisible traps (or at the very least, partially invisible) or ANYTHING that could actually make your opponents fall for the trap. >_>

[Vamper62]

Blood Magic can go well with Shantotto's Manafont, but i'm okay with blood magic......much better than Gabranth's

Considering how much time Gabranth spends in EX Mode, Jammer (opponent cant gain stage bravery from EX Breaks) is an essential ability. The horror it would be if it wasn't there...

On topic, I think Blood Magic is fine. I mean, not every character really needs (or has) a great EX ability.

[Sol Diviner]

I'm guessing some of the EX Mode Abilities were supposed to be references to the respective character's qualities from whatever games they came from, and for those characters whom they couldn't come up with references for, they pretty much "freestyled" their abilities. In The Emperor's case, he was able to drain HP everytime he landed a physical hit, which explains Blood Magic. Same goes for Firion whilst equipped with the Blood Sword in Final Fantasy II. Still, it would've been nice for that extra absorbtion effect on his traps in EX Mode, but considering how weak a character's EX game really is in Duodecim (save for Gabranth, I guess), it's not as if The Emperor would've been able to do that much in EX Mode anyway - same goes for just about everyone else.

[TheCuddlyDevil]

I think everyone brings up good points, but I'm just gonna have to side with the nay-sayers here about how bad Emperor's Ex-mode is.

And in regards to not everyone getting beneficial boosts, I think I can say that, of all the duodecim characters, Emperor is the one that gains the least from his ex-mode.

[SwordSkill]

Well I need someone to clarify this to me cause I've yet to discover Mateus gameplay... I mean, how is he supposed to play when on field? I've seen many Youtube videos that show him play blocker and then Light Crest the enemy to bath him on Flares... If that's the case what's the point of Light Crest to stay in play after it's been cast since no one is dump enough to go step on it...
Also on what according Ex-Mode... What's the point on gaining life from HP Damage when you rarely get the chance to deal one?
Also what's wrong with Mines? For a long time I thought that Emperor's gameplay consisted on having him surround himself with traps, more like creating a wall of traps only to lure the enemy to get in with Starfall putting some serious pressure, but since Mines can be dashed through, that prevents any human from dashing though them and attack? Just because AI is dump and dodges instead of dashing when you fill the place with mines doesn't mean that this works on an online match... Seriously there are so many things wrong with Emperor..

At least Kefka (Probably the only one except Emperor that doesn't have a hack-and-slash gameplay unlike most of other DDFF chars...) has Wobity-Bobity Firaga or whatever is it called which can back up his gameplay...

[TKG09]

The Emperor actually has one of the best EX Modes in DDFF, alongside with Firion, he just doesn't have the tools to abuse how good his EX is. The best use of EX is clearing the opponents Assist Gauge so they can't assist change out of your assist combos, that will lead to an HP. 99% of the time it's better to EX Burst here, meaning most character's won't even get a chance to benefit from their EX bonuses. What makes Blood Magic so good is that even if you immediately go into a burst, leaving EX, you will still benefit from the EX bonus. And this bonus is huge. It basically recovers him somewhere from 1.4k to 3.5k HP, depending on weather or not Empy broke his opponent, and that is huge.

Unfortunely, the Emperor doesn't gather EX any quick to abuse this. When he does have EX, he will rely on Assist Punishes to land this, because he doesn't have many assist combos.

[G.SummonerBWM]

I did some studies on Emperor Mateus and I believe that I have come to a conclusion.

Blood Magic is still in good use since it can allow you to actually drain health. Also, they kept Blood Magic in the game because in FFII, his Hell Form actually drain health. Since they are keeping the tradition of his hell form, they could also add in the fact that his hell form in FFII can inflict blind, slow and/or curse. I prefer Slow and Curse. Don't know how Blind would work in Dissidia though but with slow, the opponent will move, attack and dodge more slowly and the curse would lower the stats. Would they include slow and curse as an added ability to his Ex Mode or as something as another bravery attack, I do not know. I see it more as an added Ex Mode ability.

While we are still on the subject, since he tend to use Thunder X in the FFII game. I believe that Thunder X could have been another Bravery or HP move for him to use. It can have a different name for all I care. Still, we cannot take away Blood Magic from him because Firion has Blood Weapon (The series game weapon that has appeared many times.) and this would make Firion the only one in actually gain health from an HP attack. The Emperor must have it to oppose Firion.

That is a couple of options but from studying on him, he also tend to strengthen himself in battle in FFII with Blink and Haste.The Blink effect will increase his evasion ability even more while the haste effect will allow him to cast his spells faster. Before you argue with me on this, look at Onion Knight with Strength Booster and Magic Booster in 012. The Emperor has the right to have those two effects if the Onion Knight was given those two Booster skills as Bravery skills.

But anyways, Blood Magic is still a good Blood Magic Ex Mode skill. The only thing that all of you have to work on is how to actually get a HP hit with The Emperor.

[LonelyGaruga]

The Emperor doesn't need status effects. His gimmick is traps. The blood draining effect was shared by only Astaroth in the original FFII, and was one of the Emperor's most unique abilities, along with Starfall X (and I guess Flare XIIII, but only for being his only other damaging spell in the final battle). Giving him debilitating spells would clash with his gimmick of traps. He doesn't need to directly hinder his opponent by reducing their ability to fight. Thunder X is yet another generic spell that doesn't need representing, although Thunder Crest and Light Crest do pay some vague homage to it (admittedly, Thunder Crest represents one of Palamecia's traps more than the spell). Might as well give the Emperor the ability to use Elixirs or something in battle lol.


Still, we cannot take away Blood Magic from him because Firion has Blood Weapon (The series game weapon that has appeared many times.) and this would make Firion the only one in actually gain health from an HP attack. The Emperor must have it to oppose Firion.

Before you argue with me on this, look at Onion Knight with Strength Booster and Magic Booster in 012. The Emperor has the right to have those two effects if the Onion Knight was given those two Booster skills as Bravery skills.

I lol'd.

[SwordSkill]

That is a couple of options but from studying on him, he also tend to strengthen himself in battle in FFII with Blink and Haste.The Blink effect will increase his evasion ability even more while the haste effect will allow him to cast his spells faster. Before you argue with me on this, look at Onion Knight with Strength Booster and Magic Booster in 012. The Emperor has the right to have those two effects if the Onion Knight was given those two Booster skills as Bravery skills.

If someone should have buffs that would be Gilgamesh first of all, since 'Protect-Shell-Haste' trio is his trademark.



Anyway, I was actually asking about his Dissidia gameplay purpose rather than what he should have gained from his respective game..
For example put Emperor against Squall, Squall can just win a pure victory by spamming Rough Divine all the time since not only it Breaks almost all Traps but also passes through Dreary Cell before it even appears.. Sephiroth could just Octaslash all the time by having low chances to be hit by Dreary Cell as well, not to mention that Mateus would probably have a hard time Dreary Celling around while dodging Octaslash as well, Cloud could use Braver all time with about the same results as Sephy's Octaslash.. What else? Tina could spam Meltdown all the time, Even Firion could use the HP Bow attack all the time.. At the very least I think Flare should had higher priority and not being shattered so easily..

Now the thing I wanted to discuss about his Blood Magic is that Emperor needs to rely on the opponent to come closer in order to fell for the trap which doesn't occur all the time, as a result Emperor loses much more time comparing him with other characters, wasting his Ex-mode and literally begging for his prey to fall victim to one of his traps... Not to mention that most of the time he won't have the time to cast any traps since he would probably be chased by means of Free Air Dashing and such by the enemy, the only one who doesn't use this technique against him is A.I.

First of all let's make one thing Clear. Almost every character in Dissidia are Hack and Slashers, meaning that they will probably focusing on getting at a certain distance from the enemy to start Bravery/HP attacks the only exceptions on this are probably The Emperor and Kefka, since they both rely on metagame or generally some kind of strategy in order to win. So how one of these defend against so many Hack-and-Slashers? Kefka has the Wobity-Bobity Firaga which prevents someone from directly charge onto him from fear of being followed by the fireball. Even midair dodge to get near Kefka while he has a couple of those fireballs wouldn't work since they are moving quite fast, possessing a serious threat. Then if the enemy goes to far away, he would just Trine/Forsaken him and generally having a good time, and when he finally gets to Ex-mode is a dead end for the other guy... Sure it requires quite some time to be prepared but it actually has some potential to win unlike Emperors gameplay. Up to now all videos I've seen featuring him in online battles show him run, run, run, then at some point block and then Light Crest and HP attacks.. Which rarely happens since everyone is doing HP attacks when they finally getting close to him....... So how is he supposed to win?

[LonelyGaruga]

1) It would make more sense to base Gilgamesh off his weapon collection than buffs
2) You don't understand how PvP works if you think Squall or most characters in general can win like that
3) You're heavily generalizing the cast with the phrase "Hack and slashers". If you're going to divide playstyles into "melee" and "magic", I suggest taking a deeper look into the game. Characters like Cloud and Terra both have quite a difficult time fighting the Emperor.
4) You need to watch more videos. Seriously. I don't even see a reason to bother linking, you just haven't tried looking.

[G.SummonerBWM]

@Garuga ??? I didn't think it was that funny. XD But anyways, I was thinking that what I had stated can be in the form of a trap. Lol at the Elixir. Still, I was just merely stating as to what he could have been given if the people here are complaining about Blood Magic (Though I believe that he is fine with the Bood Magic Ex ability.)

@SwordSkill Gilgamesh do not need any buffs. -_- His fighting style is to be made unpredictable with his weapons. You just have to hope that the weapon that you want comes out against your opponent. Gilgamesh is a random character. -_- And I doubt that a Squall player would even spam Rough Divide all the time since anyone can actually time their dodge well to get out of the way. This is even true for the other characters such as Terra spamming Meltdown. Spamming gets boring. Trust me.

Also, in case you did not know, Dreary Cell is an unblockable move. this means that it will catch anyone, even those with a melee high attack and do damage. And flare having a higher priority? It has a Ranged High priority. How higher can it get? I am fine with it.

And also, I would rather cross out the Kefka part. In case you do not know, The Emperor's traps allows him to keep characters that fight up close away from him so that they will not be able to get a hit in. This will allow him to do whatever (Charge up Starfall, use Flare to have it tracking them while charging up Starfall, charge up dynamite and hope to hit the person)> XD The funny but miraculously thing is that THe Emperor has Bombard, which is ranked as Melee High. This will allow him to reflect attacks and not only that, if the person do get up close, he can use this attack to tell anyone to get the heck away from him. Emperor Mateus' attacks are pretty well ranked in the Unblockable or high category for most of his attacks.

People dashing after Emperor Mateus? That is why he has traps. Dashing has a low priority and his traps are pretty well ranked above that. Dashing can only deflect low range and special attacks (XD Which there is nothing special about Mateus' attacks, lol). Go on ahead and dash after him. Your opponent may end up getting caught in the trap. I guess now I know why the A.I. won't dash after him. XD They are too smart in not getting caught in his traps.

Still, the super focus that we should be thinking on is his Blood Magic so LET US STOP STRAYING AWAY FROM THE TOPIC! Blood Magic is Ex Effect. It is still good. Not a waste since Ex mode (All of them anyways) has a regen effect that restores health (Or bravery if you have the bravery regen ability equipped). Him wasting time? Nope. He will still shoot out his tracking Flares, both orange and blue, lay out three Dreary Cells, shoot out a Thunder Crest and then prepare himself with StarFall. XD He can just hide behind a building and charge up Starfall and since he can move with it, your opponent will have to go against time to get to him before they get caught in the meteors.

[LonelyGaruga]

@Garuga ??? I didn't think it was that funny.

Of course you wouldn't :3


But anyways, I was thinking that what I had stated can be in the form of a trap.

What, exactly, in the form of a trap? Status traps? That still wouldn't make much sense.


Still, I was just merely stating as to what he could have been given if the people here are complaining about Blood Magic (Though I believe that he is fine with the Bood Magic Ex ability.)

You mean whiners? It would be better to argue about why Blood Magic was fine instead of tacking on bad ideas like status effects.


@SwordSkill His fighting style is to be made unpredictable with his weapons. You just have to hope that the weapon that you want comes out against your opponent. Gilgamesh is a random character. -_- And I doubt that a Squall player would even spam Rough Divide all the time since anyone can actually time their dodge well to get out of the way. This is even true for the other characters such as Terra spamming Meltdown. Spamming gets boring. Trust me.

In case you do not know, The Emperor's traps allows him to keep characters that fight up close away from him so that they will not be able to get a hit in. This will allow him to do whatever (Charge up Starfall, use Flare to have it tracking them while charging up Starfall, charge up dynamite and hope to hit the person)> XD The funny but miraculously thing is that THe Emperor has Bombard, which is ranked as Melee High. This will allow him to reflect attacks and not only that, if the person do get up close, he can use this attack to tell anyone to get the heck away from him. Emperor Mateus' attacks are pretty well ranked in the Unblockable or high category for most of his attacks.

Go on ahead and dash after him. Your opponent may end up getting caught in the trap. I guess now I know why the A.I. won't dash after him. XD They are too smart in not getting caught in his traps.

Him wasting time? Nope. He will still shoot out his tracking Flares, both orange and blue, lay out three Dreary Cells, shoot out a Thunder Crest and then prepare himself with StarFall. XD He can just hide behind a building and charge up Starfall and since he can move with it, your opponent will have to go against time to get to him before they get caught in the meteors.

Thanks for making my day. The Gilgamesh part was the best.

[SwordSkill]

People dashing after Emperor Mateus? That is why he has traps. Dashing has a low priority and his traps are pretty well ranked above that. Dashing can only deflect low range and special attacks (XD Which there is nothing special about Mateus' attacks, lol). Go on ahead and dash after him. Your opponent may end up getting caught in the trap. I guess now I know why the A.I. won't dash after him. XD They are too smart in not getting caught in his traps.

Ever tried to dash through Mines?

[LonelyGaruga]

If you're using Mines alone, without any other traps active, you're playing the Emperor wrong.

[G.SummonerBWM]

So what if dash can deflect mines? Best to have mines in conjunction with the other traps. :D LIKE THUNDER CREST AND DREARY CELL!

@Garuga: XD I was thinking of status effects as Ex Mode abilities rather than attacks that may help Blood Magic become better. XD Oh well. Sounded good at first.

[LonelyGaruga]

>Mines + Thunder Crest
>Air trap + ground trap

Ummmm...yeah...that doesn't work.

[ProfileJC98]

Blood Magic is completely useful; it just doesn't make things easier, change his stats or give him 'special moves' like a lot of other characters. Instead, it can actually turn the fate of an entire match around.
For instance, if Mateus cought the opponent in Thunder Crest, whipped out some mines (Breaking them heresay) and then they took Hp damage (Either from a Dreary Cell or Blue Flare), then he could potentially regain over 1/5 of his Hp (Or even more) of his Hp.
It's intended for Match-turn-arounds, not something like Sephiroth's somewhat pointless 'Glide'.

[XZero264]

Slightly related, partially off topic, post (video from DFF)
It also gives him the ability to absorb health when he dealt no damage.

At 0:12 seconds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a32egRIop9s


On topic, it is a useful tool if turned on at a moment you are absolutely guaranteed to deal HP damage with high numbers. That tactic has saved me multiple times and has turned entire matches around.

[Starfall XVI]

Blood magic aint exactly the best on emperor, seeing as opponents can just run away during ex mode, and starfall wont always lure them forward (examples: ExDeaths maelstrom, Kuja's Ultima etc etc). But as said before, it can turn entire games around.

Talk about other ex abilities: Perhaps add and R + square elixer ability: it will act as a hp attack but in reverse, instead of damaging the opponent it heals the user. This would be a good move to use if ex mode is running out, you need health recovery and you cant land an HP attack. You'd have to make some kind of cost for it though. Longer brave recovery time than normal hp attacks? No brave recovery at all and leaving it at 0? Or perhaps a small charge up time to use it (much like Black Fang, Time Crush and Heartless angel).

If not that then perhaps a boost to his attacks: In final fantasy 2, the emperors hell form has starfall "X". But there is a starfall XVI too. So perhaps an empowered starfall could work (thinking charge up time here), perhaps have his orange flare tracking too, make his light cres traps invisible until activated, anything along those lines.

In any clase, at least he's got something: blood magic, and it aint the worst ex mode ability in the game.