GET HYPE GET GET GET ICHI NI MASEN?

I get Blazblue on THURSDAY.
So instead I'm playing THIS:

It's free too, you know you want it poverty fans!

So a more thorough rundown, this game surprised me.
For one thing is it really unique and different.
First off, if you mash in this game you will lose hilariously and all the anime girls will laugh at you.
There are almost zero chains and almost zero 2-in-1s (special cancels).
No mashing ABC for three hits here, you'll get nothing.
Instead, the system has you heavily rely on your assists to fill in the gaps.
In fact since everyone is relying on rather situational assists pretty much every combo out of an assist setup requires link timing.
Some characters have target combos (very specific chains), everyone has tons of command normals, some people can chain jabs, and I think two? characters have actual 2-in-1s off specific moves.
So yeah your assists, you have one of four (with a hidden fifth), and they basically are an extension of your character, rather than an assist.
Playing this game without using your assist is like say, playing a one button version of a normal fighting game, it won't work.
They make up for your lack of chains, they make up for your lack of 2-in-1s, they can also do some really fucked up shit like guard for you (stupid mixup) or alpha counter or cast gravity pits or curses or projectiles or other wacky effects.

As for the character I was trying out, she is one of the lucky two characters to have a 2-in-1, hers is into her rekka.
She can also actually chain her 5AB, so 5AB rekka is the break and butter here.
Throw in the Yayoi (shoto) assist and you get the loops you see here.
Because she's closest to a normal fighting character as you'll get in this game, she has some really good loops and combos.
Unfortunately she takes a lot of damage, plus her combos don't do that much.
Comparatively, sword girl one does like 75% off a one assist zero dizzy 6 hit into super combo.

Oh yeah, the characters.
Well obviously this is moe bullshit.
It's extremely well-drawn well-animated moe bullshit though.
You have Yui: Sword girl 1 (fucking powerful, long ass range, stupid damage)
Haruka: Wand girl (keepaway, reflectors, funny crossup)
Lilith: Vampire loli grappler (holy crap setups for tick spd off anything and everything, damage absurd)
Luna Himeki: Gun kata plus Gurren Lagann Yoko (actually needs a flowchart to understand as after she goes into a stance just pressing a direction changes it, it's really confusing if you have no clue)
Kurumi: One move joke character that's not a joke (her assist recharge is insane, plus she has a target combo, she only has one special move but her normals feel really fast)
Saki: Sword girl 2 (If Yui is Ryu then Saki is Ken)
Kaede: Waitress (I believe she has a 2-in-1, fast mobility, has some pretty screwy loops, slow assist recharge)
Natalia: Pilebunker (I know nothing about this character yet except she has a pilebunker)
Eri: Tonfa loli (Also has a 2-in-1 into her rekka, low damage and life, stun loops)
Ayane: Bow girl (Setup character, not too sure about her either)