The Blazblue series is not like most fighting games. Where Tekken, Street Fighter, and Mortal Kombat are all based around fighting tournaments in order to bring their menagerie of fighters together, Blazblue tells a wholly different story. It is a complex tale filled with many foreign terms and a web of interpersonal relationships between the fighters, there for those who want to become immersed in this crazy world. For the gamers who just want a solid fighting system and the ability to challenge other people online, Blazblue has that. There may not be as many characters as Super Street Fighter IV, but none of them play alike. Fighting enthusiasts can spend hours trying to master each one, but it's the story that gives Blazblue a truly unique flavor for many. Even during combat the dialog between characters gives a sense of relationships, story, and even past events. The original game had a tale that even casual fighters could get into though its labyrinthine nature made it difficult to fully understand.

It is those more casual fighting fans that this feature is meant for. It's possible that some gamers missed out on Blazblue: Calamity Trigger even though their friends raved about it. With Continuum Shift II due out, adding much of the DLC and bonus content of the console version, those same gamers may be interested in picking it up. The game does try to catch new players up in its Story Mode to what happened before, but I feel that more detail is necessary in order to truly prepare casual fighters for what the story is about. To that end I will describe the original game in three overarching sections: The World of Blazblue, The Characters of Blazblue, and The Events of Calamity Trigger. Let's begin by talking about the World:

One hundred years ago, a being known as the Black Beast ravaged mankind to near extinction. The creature had appeared from darkness with a power that knew almost no limit. But, when times were at their most dire, six heroes appeared from the unknown and introduced humanity to magic. Scientists quickly discovered that magic and technology could be fused together to create incredible objects that were more powerful than either component alone. These objects became known as Ars Magus (sometimes shortened to Armagus) and grew to be the pillar of man's fight for survival. Along with the six heroes, the humans who could use Ars Magus fought a brutal and costly war against the Black Beast until it was finally destroyed. Humanity had survived the struggle that would eventually become known as the First War of Ars Magus, and the six heroes became immortalized for their efforts.

The Black Beast had one final curse for mankind though. From its corpse spread a dark mist that slowly engulfed the planet. The seithr, as it came to be called, wreaked havoc on the human survivors unfortunate enough to suffer prolonged exposure to it. The mist slowly ate away the body and caused a plethora of detrimental effects to its victims. There was no way to completely dispose of the seithr so humans were forced to limit their exposure to manageable levels by building massive cities atop the tallest mountains in the world. These Hierarchical Cities were the last safe haven of humanity. For as much detrimental effects that seithr has on the human body, it is ironically needed to fuel the power of Ars Magus.

It was during this seithr crisis that an organization called the Novus Orbis Librarium (NOL) was formed to regulate Grimoires, texts that taught and allowed people to use Ars Magus. The Library, as it was commonly called, continued to research the Grimoires and created vast advances in all facets of technology. Living in the new Hierarchical Cities, humanity finally entered a period of reconstruction where it eventually began to thrive. As time passed, the Library began to use its leverage as keepers of the Grimoires to establish itself as a supreme dictatorship of most of the world. This power would go unchallenged for decades as Ars Magus became the determinant factor in all of mankind's affairs and the daily lives of normal citizens. Ars Magus was not perfect though. The use of one could cause a range of effects solely based upon the person wielding it. In particular were the Nox Nyctores, ten Ars Magus that were considered the most powerful in existence though each had severe effects on the person wielding it. The Library closely monitored those with aptitude for Ars Magus and brought all of them under its wing, which caused a socioeconomic rift between the populace as those unable to use or control the objects accused the dictatorship of promoting repression and inequality.

Tensions finally boiled over with the creation of the Ikaruga Federation. This rebel faction declared itself free of the Library's control, but the Library would not stand to have its power challenged. The Second War of Ars Magus began and, for the first time, humans used Ars Magus against one another in brutal displays of power. The Ikaruga Federation could not hope to stand up to the Library's vast resources and was soon destroyed. Paranoid that further conflict may erupt, the NOL displayed its total subjugation of the people by declaring that anyone who defied its will would be put to immediate death. However, the Ikaruga Foundation wasn't the only group who defied the Library. A group of like-minded scientists who rejected the use of Ars Magus in favor of pure science and technology called Sector Seven sought the end of the Library and its overuse of the objects. They never engaged in direct combat though as Sector Seven was simply unable to fight the Libary directly. Instead, they chose to find ways to bring the Library down from within.

However, unknown to a vast majority of the public, each Library stronghold spread across the world houses an object known as a Cauldron. Little information is known about the Cauldrons, but they are believed to be gateways to the Boundary, another dimension where time and space are distorted and unfathomable powers await. However, several years after the end of the Ikaruga conflict, one man began targeting these Cauldrons and dared to resist the might of the NOL to achieve his goals. This man was somehow able to challenge a branch of the Library, considered to command a force equal to a small nation's army, and completely annihilate it. He would then destroy the Cauldron that they protected as well. The few survivors of these attacks spoke of a "Grim Reaper" that became known as Ragna the Bloodedge. Ragna was quickly declared an SS-class criminal and issued the largest bounty for an individual in the history of the planet.

It is now December of the year 2199 and Ragna has been rumored to be heading for the 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi. Wanted posters are plastered everywhere to alert the populace, but this attention has had the side effect of bringing a wide variety of groups and individuals to the city. All of them are interested in either capturing Ragna the Bloodedge or taking control of the power he possesses. It is in this setting that the story of Blazblue: Calamity Trigger begins.

Blazblue's story is unlike any other fighter. The backstory alone seems deep enough for a classic JRPG, but it is only a small part of the tale though necessary to understand the motivations of the characters and the events of the story. Be sure to check back tomorrow to learn the histories and motivations of the many characters within Blazblue.