#dash y lily layout | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

dlamp-dictator · 3 years

Text

Allen X Wants to Like Guilty Gear Part 1: Allen X Does Not Like Guilty Gear

Folks, I tried. I really tried. For the last few years I’ve tried to like Guilty Gear. I’ve honestly been playing bits of this series since around the time Accent Core was on the PS3 store. I’ve really tried. I’ve played Accent Core Plus R, Xrd, Revelator and Rev 2, and I’ve been trying my damn hardest to like this series because I can see all the cool and fun stuff in it. I can see the cool grungy-rock meets 90s anime aesthetic. I can see how insane and cool Roman Cancel combos are. I can hear all the awesome music in the soundtracks. And I see all the blood, sweat, and tears poured into this series to make it the coolest hard-rock fighting game it wants to be and I really want to like it.

But I don’t... God, it’s Samurai Shodown all over again.

I just can’t get into this series, man. Something, some things about it keep me from fully enjoying it. Mostly some petty things that just add up and tumble the pile over, but things nonetheless.

And... I wanted to talk about that a little.

I wanted to just let out all my love and misgivings for the Guilty Gear in hopes of finally purging all the negative from my being, or at least write it out in a constructive manner so I can lay all my transgressions bare and maybe... possibly... actually want to purchase and play Strive on launch day.

But first, as usual, a synopsis.

The Guilty Gear series is a fighting game developed by Arc System Works, helmed and created by Daisuke Ishiwatari, who I know as the composer of the Blazblue soundtrack, but has quite the large track record that I won’t go into here. Guilty Gear as a story focuses on the lone bounty hunter Sol Badguy, a human experiment known as a Gear, half-human, half monstrous being of science and magic. The storyline of each game tends to focus on Sol finding the humanity in his would-be marks as well as confronting the still-lingering humanity in himself as he copes with both his self-loathing and loathing the for one who made him this way, a scientist simply call That Man, or Asuka as the most recent games have shown us. The storyline itself is long and complicated but as of Strive it seems the final battle between Sol and That Man is finally at hand and the battlefield will be the United States.

Gameplay-wise, Guilty Gear is a fast-paced, combo-centric series that uses chaining attacks that can cancel into special and super moves, along with the unique Roman Cancels, which slow down time and leave your opponent open for more punishment mid-combo. Think the Chain Shift in Under Night with a bit more hangtime if you want a comparison, or the Rapid Cancel of the Blazblue series with a slowdown effect and more flash.

And with the basics out of the way let’s talk about the specifics.

The Good Things

Of course, that isn’t to say I hate this game series. There’s a lot I like and enjoy about the Guilty Gear series that I’ll go into greater detail in a later essay, but for now I’ll give a brief mention of all the things I enjoy about it.

The Music

I was introduced to Daisuke Ishiwatari’s music through Blazblue, and while I love Blazblue music to this day I’ll also admit that it sounds very... video game-y. It doesn’t sound like something that could be listened to from anything other than a game. But Guilty Gear music sounds like actual music. I don’t mean that in an insulting way toward Blazblue, but... man does Pride and Glory sound like something you’d listen to while driving your pickup truck on the highway. Damn, does Get Down to Business sound like something an actual rock concert would play. And the Xrd soundtracks sound so good man. One Dawn, Enough is Enough, Starry Sky, Lily of Steel, they all sound so damn good. And as cheesy and over-the-top as they sound I love the LA and NY Vocals of this series. Personal favorites are Keep Yourself Alive II, Fuuga, and Suck a Sage.

The Aesthetic

If there was one thing I didn’t really like about Blazblue it was a lot of characters, even the ones I mained, had an aesthetic I just couldn’t latch onto. A weird mix of fantasy, eastern, and early-2000s action anime that just didn’t click with me save for Hibiki Kohaku. Guilty Gear is a lot more my speed with a more rugged look to their characters. Something about a lot these characters just have that good mix of grunge and 90s fashion I love. Some of my favorites being Answer, Ramlethal, and Jam.

Tension

While there’s a lot about Guilty Gear’s mechanics I find unappealing and convoluted I love how building and using meter works in this series, specific in Accent Core Plus R. Dust being a sort of EX button works really well in this game since I personally feel like Dust is kind of under-used a lot of the time save for the universal sweep. This point probably won’t get an entire essay covering it, but I did at least want to give it a shoutout.

Setting

This point will be getting its own essay, but to keep things short and simple I like the setting of Guilty Gear, medieval-esque magitech with a dash a modern-world flavor just hits with real well with me. Like a nice mix of Under Night and Tales of Symphonia.

And that’s it for the good stuff, at least the good stuff I can make into later essays. Now let’s talk about...

The Conflicting Things

Really, my issues with Guilty Gear are similar to Samurai Shodown and Granblue Fantasy Versus, where I love those game aesthetically, but actually playing them is another matter. However, unlike those two games my issues are almost the opposite. Where Samsho and GBVS had a slower and more fundamentals approach that didn’t appeal to my cocaine-esque addiction to combo chains, special cancels and air-dashing, Guilty Gear is almost too fast for my taste, or at least a different kind of fast. This is something very hard to explain. If you've read my initial thoughts on Crystar then you have a good idea about what I mean. This is something very hard to explain to people that haven’t played the game and is likely more a technical part of Guilty Gear’s mechanics that I can explain with an real sophistication aside from saying ‘this game feels weird,’ but... I’m gonna’ try.

The Button Layout

Alright, this is something I can actually explain. I’m... not a fan of 5-button fighters. Really, anything more than 4 buttons is hard for me to grasp. This is mostly due to the fact that I use a standard dualshock controller when playing fighting games. I frankly don’t have money for an arcade stick nor the patience to figure our how to work with one, so I’m stuck with the PS4 controller. For games like Blazblue, Granblue, and even stuff like Tekken and Dead or Alive this works out fine, as even when those games have a fifth or six button they usually aren’t heavily involved in combos or can be supplemented by other means. But games like Street Fighter, Skullgirls, and Guilty Gear the fifth and sixth button are used very liberally. Granted, Dust isn’t used as often as heavy punch, but it’s still a key button used for sweeps and air combos, turning my hands into pretzels as a results.

I don’t you dare tell me to just get use to it or get good. I’m a Carl main. I’m used multi-tasking with my hands.

...

Dammit, that came out wrong, but you know what I mean.

Anyway, a smaller issue I have is just the way Punch, Kick, Slash, and Heavy Slash are mapped both on the controller and on the display screen. It just doesn’t mesh well with me where they’re mapped, and switching the button layout honestly makes it worse because the display proper doesn’t adjust for where I map the buttons.

Roman Cancels

Roman Cancels are just a tool I don’t think I’ll ever find a good use for, or at least something that would take me a long time to use optimally. Like I said before, they’re basically Chain Shift with more hangtime, but it feels like the Rapid Cancel in the sense that I have to move very quickly after activating or I outright lose the combo, and unlike Chain Shift and Rapid Cancel where I can just ignore the mechanic, keep the meter, and focus on small, easy combos with good defense, Roman Cancels feel somewhat needed to do decent damage in this game. Or at least the trial mode really thinks so.

From what I’ve seen of Strive’s mechanics I think Roman Cancels will be a little easier for me to conceptualize and use, but... I dunno’, I’m not feeling too confident on that.

I do recognize that this issue is a me problem, but it’s a probably I have nonetheless.

The Look

Specifically on Xrd, something about the 2.5D makes certain movements a little hard to read and judge. This isn’t something I can really describe that well, but something about that game specifically feels weird. Like the cell-shaded, 3D contrasts a little with the feel of motion in that game. I have a similar issue with the recent Street Fighter games as well. Again, it’s nothing concrete and it’s honestly indescribable for someone of my knowledge on the subject, but... something feels awkward when I’m playing this game in a serious light.

The Fandom

This has nothing to do with the game, but tends to create cracks in me when I play this game. As a guy that got into Arc System Works games via Blazblue Calamity Trigger, seeing a lot of the Guilty Gear be demeaning and insulting toward the Blazblue Community has always rubbed me the wrong way and I have a difficult time getting into this series in a more serious way because of it. I know this is likely a vocal minority, I know this isn’t every Guilty Gear fan, but it feels like a vocal side of Guilty Gear community keeps thinking that Guilty Gear is some sort of antithesis to anime air-dashers like Blazblue, as if the grungy rock aesthetic cancels out the anime aesthetic of Blazblue. This has always annoyed me, but it tends to crop up everytime someone brings up Guilty Gear designs versus Blazblue designs and while I find the idea of discussing and comparing the two interesting it always seems to devolve into insulting Blazblue.

Though to give a short version of my opinion this: I don’t want to hear shit about Blazblue waifus when Baiken mains don’t even play Baiken. And I especially don’t want to hear shit about Blazblue’s pandering fanservice when Dizzy, Ram, and Elphelt exist.

About Strive

I think that covers the main things keeping me from liking Guilty Gear, or at least playing Guilty Gear. So I want to talk about Strive, the next game coming up. This will also be something that will be expanded on in a later essay, but for now I’ll say I’m cautiously excited about Strive coming out and I look forward to at least giving it a shot. Though to give some rapid-fire bullet points on the matter...

Overall, I think Strive looks great, the presentations is fantastic and I love a lot of the new designs for the characters, though I hear that opinion is actually contentious in the fandom.

I heard that Strive is gonna’ have a dub again. I’m... curious, but I’ll save my opinions for a different essay. Long story short, if they get a new director or the old director puts more care into the performances I’ll be happy. I did overall like Xrd’s original dub barring a few performances.

So far everything about Strive looks cool, but it’s still Guilty Gear, so... debating on if I wanna’ get that day 1. Especially since I still only have a base PS4. I’ve no interest in getting the new hotness for at least another year and gamers are self-centered demons that mock those using lesser hardware. That isn’t a Guilty Gear thing, it’s just a gamer thing.

For those wondering, if I pick of this game I’ll probably main Chipp, Ram, and maybe Giovanna.

I have mixed feelings about the soundtrack. Save for Smell of the Game the lyrics in the themes I’ve hard are a mix of okay to... not okay. Hope they have versions without the lyrics similar to Raven in Rev 2.

And I think that’s everything. Next... probably another essay about Arknights.

#your dictator is speaking #guilty gear

4 notes · View notes

corruptforest-blog · 7 years

Text

Chapter 10: Coping With Changes

Leliana’s vision slowly came into focus as she woke up on the bed in her tent. She looked around the space, as if it was unfamiliar to her. She supported herself with her elbows, lifting and eventually sitting body up on the edge of the bed. She managed to stand, and started to stretch, her bones giving off a satisfying crack as they loosened up. She heard the flaps to her tent open up, revealing Ryn, holding an object made of brown leather in her hands.

“Hi, Ryn,” Leliana greeted. “When did we get back to the base?”

Ryn jumped at the sound of her voice, she hadn’t realized she was awake. She looked over at Leliana with wide eyes, and shaking hands as she clutched the leather.

“L-Lily… You shouldn’t be standing yet, you should lay down until you regain your strength. The…events of last night weren’t good for any of us.” Ryn said, trying to keep a calm tone as she gestured for Leliana to lay back on the bed.

Leliana wouldn’t budge. The events Ryn spoke of all came rushing back. She fought the impulse to touch her eye socket. She turned away from Ryn.

“Get me a mirror, please.” Leliana said.

“I assure you, it’s not as bad as y-” Ryn started.

“Please, Ryn.”

She could feel Ryn’s stare on her, until she finally heard a reluctant reply.

“Yes, Lily.”

She returned with a hand mirror, slightly dirty and dusty, as it had been sitting at the back of the camp’s storage tent unused. It was clean enough for her to see what she had wanted to. This time she gave in to the need to touch it. The now forever closed eyelid that had held her left eye. It had small scars around it, ugly, pink scars where claws had scraped at it to get to the eyeball under. Now, tears started to drop, washing some of the dust off the old mirror. Ryn tapped her on the shoulder, making her jump from forgetting that the girl was there. Ryn held out the brown leather object she was holding, and Leliana took it with a dismissive nod. Ryn left without a word. Only once she was sure the other girl was gone, did she put on the eyepatch.

=====================================

Ryn’s next stop was to Anubis. His fresh bandages were already starting to look too bloody to keep on, but the camp only had so many. His eyes hadn’t been completely taken out, but they were sliced open to the point that they might as well have been. He seemed to be adjusting to being without sight well enough, but Ryn still had trouble telling whether this was bravado, or if he really was already numb to the fact that he’d never see again.

“You haven’t touched your berries or jerky.” Ryn pointed out.

“I’m not hungry.”

Ryn looked down in deep thought. “…I could feed y-”

“I don’t need to be fed.” It came out more harshly than he meant it to. But he didn’t care. Admittedly, it felt good to snap at someone after yesterday. If only he wasn’t given a shot of guilt as his reward. “Sorry.” he added, with a sigh.

“I under-… Well, I can’t say I understand what you’re going through.” Ryn said, shrugging. “Only you know how you feel, and yesterday was a lot for anyone to take in. You gonna be okay?”

“I’ll be fine.” he said.

=====================================

“It’d be much more of a nuisance to go searching for a new heir, when she’s got a perfectly broken one right here!”

“Be who you really are! A monster.”

“You desperately try to run away from your fate, try to be merciful to humans. Try to be human.”

The pixie’s words echoed through his head. He didn’t have a nightmare while he was passed out, but he almost wished he did. As if the guilt that made his head hurt wasn’t enough. As soon as he got out of bed that morning, he headed straight to the stream. It used to calm him when he found he couldn’t sleep, or when he found his thoughts heading towards…dark places.

He watched as the small waves splashed against the smooth gray rocks. The mini waterfall that led into the stream made a peaceful babbling noise. For a second, he really did feel relaxed. He felt so unlike the merciless war machine he was raised to be. He sighed out loud.

He didn’t want to admit that the pixies were right. Didn’t want to admit that he wasn’t the least bit human. He really didn’t want to admit that his mother might have broken him a long time ago. Her teaching went bone-deep, every lesson on combat, flight, and war strategy, it all sunk in to make him her perfect, little, obedient minion.

“Jin!”

Jin turned his head, being shocked out of his meditation. Ryn ran up to him, sitting down beside him and catching her breath.

“When I realized…you weren’t in your tent…I searched everywhere for you!” Ryn panted.

“I wanted to be alone.” Jin muttered.

“That’s no way to live.” she teased. “Not for you, anyway. You’re not the tough, brooding, loner type.”

“How do you know that?”

“If you were, you would’ve dropped us a long time ago. Now, what are you doing out here alone?”

“I-I just…couldn’t face them. Not after doing what I did. Anubis is blind, Ryn, and Lily had her eye ripped out. Both caused by me. I don’t even know where’d I start, if I talked to them.”

“How about you stop feeling sorry for yourself, and come back to camp?” Ryn asked.

“I’m being serious, Ry-”

“So am I! The best thing for you to do is to get back to camp, and get back to work on finding us a way out of here. I’m not saying that you should act like nothing’s wrong. Just that you shouldn’t let it get in your way.” Ryn placed a supportive hand on Jin’s shoulder. “You’re strong in the real way. What happened last night wasn’t your fault, I refuse to believe you did that of your own free will. Just know that, none of us think any less of you because of it. Continue being the leader we know you are, and before long everything will be going much more smoothly.”

Jin just stared into the stream, watching the water as it flowed past.

“Nothing will ever be like normal.” he said, still not looking at her.

“No, but we’ll make this our new normal. Keep moving forward, and all that.” Ryn swallowed a lump in her throat. “I’ll admit though, this is a tall hill we’ve got to climb over. But, we’re not doing anything by just sitting here talking about what we should do. What do you say w-”

Her words were cut off by lips being pressed against hers. Her eyes widened, and she instinctively shoved Jin away.

“What are you doing?” Ryn yelled, standing up.

“Sorry, I guess I’m just not used to anyone treating me so…equally. Before I was the high and mighty Corrupted Prince to my mother, a waste of corrupted DNA to corrupts who thought they deserved the title more, and now neither Anubis or Lily, the closest things to friends are gonna want anything to do with me.” Jin forced a lighthearted grin. “Then again, maybe it’s just the effects of going eighteen years without seeing another human being finally getting to me.”

She playfully slapped him upside his head. But, before she could say a word in reply, Leliana dashed into the small clearing.

“Ryn! Anubis left the base!” she announced.

“What? Why didn’t you follow him?” Ryn asked.

“I tried, but he knows the areas better than I do! I lost him. I don’t know how he managed to get so far without being able to see! I didn’t know what else to do but to find you.” Leliana said, her breathing making it sound like she was having a panic attack.

Jin was already on his feet. “Come on! He couldn’t have gotten that far. Can you tell us which way he went?”

Leliana gave a nod, and started to lead the way. Jin grabbed her arm. “It was dangerous enough for you to travel this far alone. Especially in your…condition. Let me lead, just point me in the right direction.” he said, softly.

She looked away, and this time, she hesitated before finally nodding.

=====================================

Anubis may have been blind, but he still knew the layout of the forest. In mere minutes, he had already managed to leave camp all on his own. His hearing warned him to stray away from certain areas where he heard the distinct growl of a primitive corrupted beast. It wasn’t Ragnarok, or else the ground would be rumbling under his feet. He didn’t waste time thinking about who it could be, instead feeling his way forward into a clearing.

Then, right into the side of a big boulder. He scolded himself for his lack of attention to his surroundings, just because he couldn’t see didn’t mean he could keep making these mistakes. He tried to feel his way around it, and soon realized it wasn’t a boulder. It was the side of a stone cave. He could feel the rocky interior, and hear the distant drops of water that fell from the top. He started to wonder if he was further away from camp then he thought. That was when Anubis felt a claw touch his shoulder, and he sharply spun around, fangs bared.

“Easy, easy!” a voice said. It was a corrupt. Going by it’s deep voice, Anubis could only assume it belonged to a male.

“Stay away!” Anubis demanded. “I’m not looking for a fight.” he added. He lowered his defensive stance, but didn’t completely let his guard down.

“I’m not gonna hurt you. I have no reason to!” the voice said, it had a strangely kind tone for a corrupt. “If anything I should be the hostile one. I mean, you are inside my home after all.”

“…Sorry.” Anubis finally said. “I’m used to facing much more violent corrupts.”

“Well, I’ve never been one for fighting, in fact, it’s the reason I’m down here. As a pup, I refused to be involved in battle training.” he explained. “The only reason I’ve lived here so long is by being nomadic, moving from a cave one day to an underground hideout the next. I’m never in one place long enough to attract attention from the beast-”

The corrupt was interrupted by a crack of lightning, and Anubis could feel cold wind blow past him. “I think the second worst part about this place is the weird weather patterns. It was perfectly fine just a second ago.” he muttered. “Anyway, you better get deeper into the cave, sounds like a big storm’s coming.”

“I should be getting back to my own camp, the others might be worri-”

“I insist! It’s warmer than it seems in this place.”

Anubis hesitated, as the storm clouds seemed to get closer. “…Fine.” he said. “What’s your name, anyway?”

“The name’s Tak!”

=====================================

As Anubis and Tak took refuge in the cave, and the others looked for him with no idea where he was, the queen chuckled darkly on her throne in the corrupt mansion. Her assistant sat at her side, looking up at her in delight.

“For every failure comes a great success, Acantha!” The queen said. “The assassin has yet to return with my son’s head, yet the pixies did one better. Nothing like psychological damage to lower morale, isn’t that right dear?”

“Yes, your highness. Before long, his allies will fall, and he’ll have no choice but to come crawling back to his destiny!” Acantha replied, with a cheerful hiss.

“Why wait? I already have one of my more primitive beasts down there with an animalistic desire for blood.” Acantha tilted her head in confusion. The queen chuckled at her oblivious reaction. “You’ll see soon enough, my loyal pet.”

Acantha stared down at her panther claws, and ran her forked tongue over her python fangs. She wasn’t an ordinary house cat, and thus, didn’t like to be referred to as a ‘pet’. But, for her beloved queen, she bit her tongue.

TO BE CONTINUED

1 note · View note