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[gear-project]

I don't know if this has been asked yet, but was there ever a piece of Guilty Gear's lore that you never particularly agreed with?

I'm usually not real fond of Censorship or Retcons, if that's what you're asking.

I'm not real keen on pandering just to appeal to mainstream, either.

Being a purist, as I am.

I prefer the unfiltered history of fighting games, so to speak.

Characters made the way the original author intended them to be, not just what the new team of developers making the game thinks.

I hope that speaks for itself.

Keep in mind though, GG has a history of Japanese Nationalism tucked away in its dark past, so it's not like this game was immune to that.

I also prefer a plot that is organized and not sloppily written, as is sometimes the case with localization.

I could go in to more details, but I think you get the idea.

[gear-project]

Annon-Guy: Apologies for asking you this before, but what's your opinion on fighting games with an all female roster like Arcana Heart?

It's not like I haven't played the games before, but they don't appeal to me as much as more balanced rosters would.

Though, I have a predilection for sword and weapon-based fighting games. It's just my personal style choice.

I also feel semi-hypocritical every time I make a female character in Soul Calibur at times, but them's the breaks...

SNK Heroines did catch my interest and was on my radar for a while, but the price tag didn't sit well with me.

But, even so, I still own a copy of Arcana Heart 1 and 3 somewhere in my library... I just don't play it that often.

If Mori had decided to put Arcana Heart characters in BBTAG (BlazBlue Crosstag Battle) in a more serious way, I would've appreciated that, though.

I have a firm belief that fighting games need to be expressed in a way that engages more than one type of person in order to be balanced. That's the way Street Fighter does it. That's the way lots of games used to do it. The way of the "World Warrior" you could say.

I'm sure there's people who appreciate these kinds of games plenty, but I'm too old for that and it's just not my cup of tea.

I've seen plenty of fanservice Mahjongg games in the same vein, so if they ever did some Ero-fighting game stuff, it would NEVER really appeal to me.

This is a fighting game community, not a brothel, if you catch my drift.

[gear-project]

Annon-Guy: Slayer

Is Slayer taking fashion advise from Bang Shishigami too!? Considering he LOSES his clothes in one of his Overdrives!

That's something of a joke between heated characters like Bang and Soriz... that is to say, they PUNCH SO HARD their clothes burn off!

It's just fighting game humor for the most part.

Side note: Slayer's Cloak is a Dimension that leads back to his Castle Villa Vampir.

His suit also fully regenerates even if he gets stabbed like when he got in a fight with Bedman in Xrd.

[gear-project]

I don't know if people asked you this question on your blog, but do you think that Slayer may have influenced Sol's combat style? I have noticed in their GGXX intro clashes that some of their moves are similar, and Slayer's new cinematic Overdrive (which looks like a Tyrant Rave) makes me wonder if he either taught Sol the basics of combat or if Sol may have just picked up on a few things from their battles over the past 17 decades. Also, am I the only one who thinks that his younger self resembles Frederick as much as it does Anji?

Aside Frederick's namesake of "Sol" which Slayer coined, there's no real evidence to state that Slayer taught Sol Badguy how to fight.

They did encounter one another, and they did have interactions, but beyond that, Sol's history didn't really become public until he became a fully-fledged Bounty Hunter around the time he saved Kliff Undersn as a child around 2099.

Prior to joining the Sacred Order around 2172, Sol kept to himself privately and hunted down Gears and Gear Research and was pretty infamous for acting in secret according to American Authorities.

Apparently a lot of people became "fans" of Sol's "anti-establishment" activities (hence the t-shirt we've seen).

Beyond those, Slayer's "All Dead" / "Dead on Time" / "Pile Bunker" / "Undertow" / "Mach Punch" (Mappa Hunch) etc weren't something Sol learned how to use.

(By the way, when they release a Starter Guide for Slayer, you can expect me to cover his move-list history in-depth later.)

Frederick when he was younger didn't have very long hair, by the way, at least not in the style Slayer uses for his hairstyle. Anji's hairstyle is a bit closer to that style (and Anji wears Pince-nez similar to Slayer's Monocle).

Regardless of all this, Slayer's primary design is based on Alberto of Impact from the Giant Robo animation film/series.

Still, Sol seems to indicate that Slayer is NOT the only Vampire he has previously encountered (based on his interactions with Nagoriyuki), so it's going to be enlightening to discover how much history Sol has with Vampires.

[gear-project]

Annon-Guy: Now that Slayer's trailer dropped...

It appears Slayer's been taking fashion advise from Castlevania's Dracula and Persona 4's Kanji Tatsumi. What do you think?

So, his new Overdrive has him turn younger after drinking his opponents blood (if you look closely, his side burns go away after he bites his opponent off-screen). What's the deal with that?

Kanji "Freaking" Tatsumi is a bit of a stretch, I think Slayer has more style than him.

He's a Vampire, and supposedly drinking the blood of humans can restore their youth, albeit temporarily… this was most notable in the story of famous Countess Elizabeth Báthory de Ecsed who would bathe in the blood of her victims.

By the way, if you're curious here's a current list of all known Vampires~

[gear-project]

Was there ever a point in previous Guilty Gear content and lore that Slayer has reversed his age or made himself younger? Or is this just the only time he does it?

The concept itself was discussed in interviews with regard to mechanics for Slayer in Guilty Gear Xrd that they were trying to develop but because of technical complexity and production limitations got shelved for the final build of Xrd as a game.

Beyond that though, no, there hasn't really been much story topics related to Slayer reverting to a younger version of himself (even if he is a Vampire).

Still, as a piece of odd trivia, Slayer mentioned to Anji Mito at one point that he reminded him of himself when he was "younger", and I can't help but state that the resemblance is remarkable (and somewhat uncanny).

[gear-project]

Faces you should RUN AWAY FROM AT ALL COSTS

Young Slayer Edition.

[gear-project]

. . .

A DANDY HAIKU FOR THIS BLOG:

A DANDY TRAILER EXCITEMENT OVERFLOWING ROMANCE ONCE MORE

[gear-project]

Kayumi Iemasa is probably grinning up in Heaven.

[gear-project]

Slayer's Korean voice is Kang Ho-cheol (For comparison, original Korean voice was Kang Goo Han)

[gear-project]

It's most impressive that they managed to keep JB Blanc after his stint in Xrd.

[gear-project]

Well, it was only a matter of time...

By the way, DANDYISM IS A TAG on my blog.

[gear-project]

OSU!

[gear-project]

Annon-Guy: Batman Arkham Scenario

I suppose to wrap things up about who's able to face the Combat and Predator (Stealth) Maps.

Jack-O', Haehyun, Answer, Nagoriyuki, Giovanna, Goldlewis, Chaos, Bedman? and Asuka/Asuka#.

Guest appearances by Chimaki, Fanny, Leopladdon and Judgement.

Jack-O' plays similarly to Harley Quinn, actually... i.e. she sets traps for targets (her servants do the work, basically). She's very acrobatic, so combat's not a big deal to her, she was forced to learn stealth from Asuka to keep herself hidden from the Merciless Apocalypse early on.

(Side note: Aria Hale is nothing like Jack-O'... she had a high intellect but it was not based on Computer A.I., and her physical capabilities were very limited... she was just an ordinary lab geek when she dated Frederick.)

Kum Haehyun is very combat-oriented due to family techniques, but Kum's pride as a Tuner gets in the way of "stealth" so she's not suited for it. She's better off as a Doctor/Healer like she currently operates as. She'd rival Batman in terms of medical techniques (Bruce Wayne's father was a surgeon by the way... probably not as good as Faust was, but still...)

Answer is a Ninja, so Stealth is a given, he's not AS gifted as Chipp is in the combat talents, but he's been training, so maybe one day he'll catch up. He spends a lot of time on the phone though, so not much time for heroics unless Chipp calls in a favor.

Nagoriyuki was buried under a BUILDING for 60 years, that's pretty stealthy if you ask me! Aside that, his combat abilities are second to almost none save Sol. In terms of stealth technique he's a Vampire, so his potential is probably very high... but his pride as a samurai probably prevents him from taking underhanded "stealthy" measures... so I'd assume he prefers to confront people directly.

Giovanna works for the United States Secret Service... that's pretty stealthy work in and of itself, though she much prefers to relax on the job, she's still a professional in both combat and stealth.

Goldlewis: his background is VERY STEALTHY, but he won't tell you anything even if you ask. The guy is all about black ops, despite his rotund size. Combat wise, it's easy to see why he's the SECRETARY OF ABSOLUTE DEFENSE.

Happy Chaos: Stealth and magic are his fortes, though originally he knew next to NOTHING ABOUT COMBAT... he basically used the Backyard to download the knowledge in to his brain and learn from there. He isn't really a fighter, but his skill with a gun will make people hesitate to draw. Whoah... he knows Gun-Fu!

Bedman? The 8th Generation High Density Bedframe was built with Romeo's specs (and powers) in mind, so being a combat machine that can fight Gears (and even Vampires) seems to be part of what it was built for... in terms of Magic potential it can only do a limited amount of things via Bedman's influence, otherwise it's a hunk of junk without that Magic power driving it. The fact it's heavily damaged means things like combat and stealth are very limited for it.

The only reason the Bedframe is still decent at combat is because of its drive to protect Delilah. By the way, Delilah is very good at Stealth and Magic power, but combat is something she's still scared of, being 12 years old isn't easy.

Asuka # "Sharp" Being a "combat clone" of Asuka Kreutz, you'd think combat would be second nature to him, but you'd be incorrect... neither Asuka or Asuka #R are very good at physical combat... in fact they BOTH get tired very easily!

The fact Asuka R. Kreutz is also over 170+ years old with a body that got reduced to the youth of a child for a few months means he's not really built for physical activity in the first place. Of course, he probably still needs the exercise.

In terms of Stealth, all Asuka would need to do would be to cast Invisibility and that'd be the end of that. His Magic makes everything ELSE look very easy. Asuka Sharp is no exception either.

Still, between the two of them, I wouldn't expect either of them to play vigilante any time soon... they're better off sticking to Science.

Switching Gears... Fanny was an old assistant to Dr. Faust a great many years back and was still searching for him last we saw in GG Petit. She's a sweet young girl, stealth and combat really isn't her thing, though she probably has techniques to keep up with Faust at least.

She inherited her giant Needle weapon from her mother, who was also a Nurse years ago.

Raymond (Judgement) was originally a Scientist who worked for the P.W.A.B. and Sacred Order, so combat was something he observed on the daily, but this also made him deranged.

He later took his research to Isene Island and did diabolical experiments there to the poor residents, so despite becoming a cool-looking character, his morality is really suspect.

He also died not long after due to his miscalculation on Inus' powers as a Demihuman (Underworld King).

If he'd managed to survive though, Combat would come very easily for him, but I doubt he'd be all that interested in Stealth as a concept.

Moving on, LEOPALDON:

A large Megadeth Class Gear who "hides" in the Antarctic continent. That's pretty stealthy despite their size.

Leopaldon used to rescue humans who got stranded in Snow Storms on the continent, and it's semi-unclear if the P.W.A.B. even knew he existed or not.

Sol apparently met him once, but that's all we know, honest!

Sentient Gears aren't exactly geared for combat, as they are pacifists in nature (despite being built as weapons, they dislike being treated like weapons).

Still, make no mistake: LEOPALDON IS A MEGADETH GEAR.

That means Leopaldon's combat potential is immense, enough to level a city in minutes if not seconds. Somehow a group of thugs surrounding Leopaldon would be the height of folly.

Leopaldon does his best not to get noticed by humans, so he's gotten pretty good at stealth, but it might be only a matter of time before he gets fully discovered... maybe Ky can help him out one day?

Lastly, CHIMAKI:

A prideful Mononofu Samurai if ever there was one.

His sword is nothing to laugh at.

But, in terms of tactics or stealth... or even thinking...

Well... don't expect much.

Don't mess with Chimaki's topknot and you'll be just fine. He'll leave you alone in peace.

Unless you offer onigiri... then he may follow you home.

[gear-project]

Annon-Guy: Out of four the characters with an Easy to Use Rating of One Star (Jack-O', Zato-1, Asuka and Chaos), who would you say is the most difficult to master between the four characters in question?

It's funny you ask me that:

Jack-O' was actually easier to play as and learn in Guilty Gear Xrd Revelator than her current incarnation of Strive (most of my issues when playing her is the fact her servant command inputs come out regardless of whether or not servants are even present, and that makes me drop inputs easily, I wish they'd fix that one day...).

Asuka is... a challenge to learn starting out... but once you pick up the flow for his Decks, picking up on situations intuitively and setting up situations with your spell decks isn't as tough as it sounds at first glance.

It helps to read plenty of guides on these characters, to be honest, but even then, it boils down to practice, which might take years for some players (myself included).

Zato / Eddie has always been a technical character from day one... but once you get past the initial hangups of his style, it's not that hard to intuit how he plays... but mastering it is another matter entirely... only high level players can really take advantage of his offensive powers.

Okay... Happy Chaos... what to say...

He got nerfed several times in patch updates throughout his tenure as a character, so that's not something to laugh at. He's THAT powerful in potential scraps.

It's only a matter of time before they come up with the "perfect balance" for his fighting style in relation to the roster. I find him fun to play as too, personally. He's like my dark muse at times.

In terms of learning how to play him, it's actually NOT that hard in terms of resource management, in fact he's probably easier to pick up than Asuka is... but maintaining his matchups is the challenge in his case.

If I'm being honest, the characters I struggle the most with aren't even the hardest characters to play as... it's more along the lines of being familiar with matchups now than it is how to learn the characters.

GG Strive has a strange effect on the roster, because most characters are so easy to pick up.

That is to say, as a result: everyone KNOWS how to fight these characters, so that makes the matchups and meta knowledge all that harder to apply and get wins from.

As someone who lost plenty of matches in this game, I can tell you that the longer this game exists, the tougher it's going to get for players starting out.

You really have to choose who you practice against.

Ideally, you want someone who can teach you how to improve, and not someone who mops the floor with you to the point of absolute confusion.

That means picking your opponent that is close to if not exactly near your current skill level.

My advice: get close friends to play this game with and just bounce ideas off them as much as you possibly can... do the research, do the labbing (practice), and just keep playing.

The game's rabbit hole gets deeper the longer you play.

[gear-project]

Annon-Guy: Batman Arkham Scenario

Our next Dardevils to tackle the Combat and Predator (Stealth) Maps are Sin, Izuna, Dr. Paradigm, Raven, Bedman/Romeo, Ramlethal, Elphelt and Leo.

For additional guests: Tyr and Mizuha (really wish these two were playable in StrIVe!)

Discussed Raven already... he's pretty much GG's equivalent to Batman, only stronger, older, and more deranged.

Sin is.... not good at combat OR stealth... I mean he's strong physically... but he's very haphazard when he fights. Uh, I feel sorry for bad guys who get hit by him.

Bedman is a genius both on and off the battlefield... he'd be a rival to Batman in every sense of the phrase. Good at combat, good at tactics, good at tech weaponry, great at Magic, literally psychic... what can't Romeo do? Hug his sister, that's what. ;_;

Ramlethal's current job with the Mobile Brigade makes her out to be an investigator/detective similar to Batman, actually... so combat and stealth are part of the job in her case, which is interesting.

Elphelt is... much like Sin, not very good at combat OR stealth... well, in combat she can at least point a gun and shoot, for the most part, but she's still working on her imperfections a little at a time.

Izuna... for a fox in sheep's clothing, he's pretty good at Stealth, actually... combat too, surprisingly... he just... doesn't like to stand out all that much.

Paradigm: good at tactics, semi-good at Magic combat, physical combat is something he lacks due to physical limitations, he's actually good at stealth, since he hid away from Humans for many years on Ganymede Island. He also hid in a secret chamber in Illyria Castle for Leo Whitefang to find (Xrd's events).

Leo Whitefang: He has the mindset of a Detective, but tactics aren't his forte, since he's pretty straight forward (Ky backs him up in that regard). Stealth is just not his bag. Combat on the other hand is something he excels at.

Tyr: Little Dragon Boy Wonder is pretty GOOD at combat, better than most even... but he's a little oblivious when it comes to stealth or tactics. His absurd magic powers make up for that though. He made a good side-kick to Kliff Undersn for a while.

Mizuha: for most intents and purposes she was originally just an ordinary Japanese girl with some traditional upbringing, that is until she found out about her Gear-like heritage. Kotodama (the art of using one's voice in Ki) is her forte, so she's more of a singer/songstress than a fighter, but it's because of that that she makes a good partner to Tyr as she was able to calm down his raging magic powers at one point (see GGXtra manga for details). Otherwise, she's pretty clumsy at stealth.

Geena: Tyr's rival on the other hand is very good at combat AND stealth... she was the villain of GGXtra and worked for the P.W.A.B., unfortunately her pride for vengeance got in the way of doing anything important, so she needed to reset her priorities if she had any hope of becoming a better person.

[gear-project]

In case you missed it, Harada's Bar featured a segment with Ishiwatari getting interviewed (sorry no translation yet).

EVO Japan is still ongoing, so we should get more news and info soon.