I feel like I've made no secret of my absolute love of Guilty Gear whether in articles, Shack Chats, or on streams, but for those who don't know, that franchise is my absolute favorite. As our resident anime fight guy at Shack, of course I've been in on early access of the open beta that's going on tonight for pre-order players. With that in mind, I thought I'd go ahead and share my initial thoughts on each of the characters so far.
And hey, as a bonus, check out this collection of all character supers I helped put together recently.
Sol Badguy
Sol's as heavy-handed and brute force as he ever was in the Guilty Gear series and has a lot of great options for the rush down game. If you're good at getting close to your opponent, Sol can drag them into the corner in a hurry and that's great in Strive because of the new wall-break mechanics. One thing that blows my mind is that they took away his Riot Stamp move which was a great combo starter in previous games, but everything else is pretty intact to make a well-rounded rushdown character.
Ky Kiske
Ky has always been Guilty Gear's epitome of the do-it-all character. That's true here too. He's got good normals, solid specials, easy-to-connect combos, a projectile game, a dragon punch, an overhead, a low slide, and the kitchen sink. His Ride the Lightning super is great for wall-breaking opponents as well. I haven't played him as much as I'd like to, but I think he's got an incredibly well-balanced kit in Strive. Hell, they even gave him Sol's move enhancing Dragon Install super this time. What's up with that? A go-to if you want a character that all your basics covered.
Ramlethal Valentine
The scary big-floaty sword boss of Guilty Gear Xrd has returned looking more frightening than ever in Strive. Seriously, Ramlethal has a pretty incredible kit for this game. She's got reach, a mean projectile game, and some tricky jumping and comboing options. The main thing to worry about is that when you throw her sword projectiles out it can leave her pretty vulnerable. That said, this is the character Sonic Fox has been maining through early access and I have to believe a champ like them saw the reward vs. the risk and liked everything about it.
Axl Low
As a former Axl main in Guilty Gear Xrd, I'm of a mixed opinion about Axl in Guilty Gear Strive. He's the resident long-range zoner, but I'm not fond of some notably missing features of his kit this time out. For one, most of Axl's normals used to hit foes going out and coming back in. The second "pulling" hit seems to be missing on most of his moves, leaving nearly all of the combos I used to know with him useless. He's also missing Artemis Hunter, which was great for bouncing pressure heavy foes away from him on wake-up. I'm also not wild about the fact that his Soaring Chain Strike only hits if opponents are at lengthy distance. He's got a new cool time-stopping JoJo's Bizarre Adventure super, sure, but I just don't think it's enough to make up for all of the things I feel like they took away from him.
May
May terrifies me. She has always terrified me and she looks as good as ever in Strive with some tricky projectiles, good charge moves, and a wealth of big damage attacks. Add to this one of the most frightening supers in the whole game. Once she's got more than half a bar, it's not a matter of if she'll bring out the Yamada-san whale super, but when. And if you aren't watching for it, expect to eat massive damage. This rotten little tyke looks set to destroy in Strive.
Millia Rage
If you want trickery with a side of speed, Millia is your gal. She's looking as good as ever in the air game, has her frightening ground slight, some delayable special moves to help cross you up hardcore, and plenty of more tools to keep your foes guessing which side to block and for how long. With the rollback netcode in Strive, Millia will be easier to play online than before, but you've still better have the finger speed to keep up with her moveset.
Zato-1
Difficult as ever to handle, but perhaps the most rewarding if you can figure out how to properly utilize him. I'm not wild about the way Zato's shadow moves are looking in Strive, especially his usually Invite Hell ground drill, but his kit is undeniably still there. I especially like Oppose, which makes the shadow into an advancing projectile and move shield that will also swing to help you start combos.
Faust
Faust's creepy new look belies his same-old tricks. He's a floaty jerk still capable of bombing you from above and locking you down with his grab-bag "What's Going to Come Out?" move. He looks just a touch slower than he didn in previous games, but the teleport business he's got going on is still going to be a mindgame nightmare to deal with in the right hands. If tricks and randomness are your jam, the doctor is in.
Potemkin
Guilty Gear's star grappler has been pretty hobbled through the recent games, but he's looking downright nasty in Guilty Gear Strive and I think I can put my finger on exactly why: There's less screen real-estate in Guilty Gear Strive than in any previous game. That means for a grappler like Potemkin, he has to do less chasing, less cornering, and less work to get close enough to hit you with his ground and anti-air command throws. It also helps that his input difficulties for these very moves have been reduced. If you want disgusting damage in just a few attacks, learning Potemkin looks like it's going to pay dividends in Strive.
Chipp Zanuff
If Millia is trickery with a side of speed, then Chipp is speed with a side of trickery. He's still hella fast, but I find him to be far more straightforward about his nonsense then Millia. He's still got some tricks to watch out for mind you, but the biggest nuisance is just how much he can stay on top of you and belt you with his rapid fire arsenal. I saw a lot of online players that ultimately relied on building his bar to do his supers as fast as possible. No lie, they're pretty good.
Leo Whitefang
I'm not gonna lie, I haven't noticed a single thing about Leo that's changed from his Guilty Gear Xrd appearance. Everything about the king of cross-ups is still intact. Decent projectile, stance change moves, good combo game, good (obviously) cross-up game, good supers. Honestly, if you liked Leo in Xrd, there's nothing about him in Strive that should deter you from picking him up again. For the uninitiated, just get use to his stance change and cross-up game to make the most of him.
Giovanna
She's my new favorite character. Giovanna is the rushdown brawler of Guilty Gear Strive, and has a hefty supply of fast kicks for any opponent that gets caught in the crossfire. I saw a lot of people ready to write Giovanna off as too boring or straight forward, but they're dang fools in my opinion. Her normals are fast, long reaching, and combo well, her specials as much as I need them to fill the gaps, and she's even got a special feature where the more super bar she has, the more damage she does. Barring newly revealed characters being better, I think Giovanna is going to be my go-to main.
Nagoriyuki
When I first saw Nagoriyuki, I wondered why Arc System Works called this masked samurai a one-shot character. Then I saw his supers. Nagoriyuki is a ticking bomb and you'd better kill him before he gets to his Blood Rage state. From that point on, he can hit you nearly anywhere on the screen and destroy your health bar in a handful of moves. Go with this guy if you want to play high-risk, high-reward and bet it all on a wrecking ball finish.
And that covers all of them. Hope to see some of you as the Guilty Gear Strive open beta hits! The game is looking and feeling gorgeous, so jump in, find the character that suits you, and get ready for a knock-down drag-out fight!
