Rhiya

Err, I derped. Gonna edit that. >_> That's what I get for writing it at 5 AM.

For P4A, it's going to be best to keep your hand how it naturally sits on the buttons and switch rows as needed.

It's better to have the update with the same online than no update, IMO. Especially since GG isn't that netplay-friendly anyways.

There is -always- someone willing to play with you to help you learn. I promise that. You may need to ask around a little, but you will find someone. And no one will get angry with you for trying things out in casual netplay matches, either. I know I like it when new players are willing to experiment, because they improve faster. You're correct not to use stylish: it's a crutch that you can't even use to learn to walk.

I think Sirlin can explain it better than I can, especially at 5 AM. http://www.sirlin.net/ptw-book/love-of-the-game-not-playing-to-win.html Honestly, it wouldn't be bad to read all of Playing to Win at some point, but the first part of this section ("Basic R&D") most clearly addresses your question. Think of it like this: you can't use tools you don't have to win, no matter how seriously you're taking a match. When you're starting out, you have to acquire some of those tools before you can become competitive in any real sense. Playing to win before you have the skills to win is counterproductive, and there are a lot of skills you need to win in FGs that aren't obvious on a first, second, or hundredth glance; I definitely still lack quite a few myself. When you're learning, acquiring tools and skills has to come before winning, whether you like it or not. If you don't play to learn now, you'll never be able to play to win later. Take pride in learning, too. We all started at square one, and there's no shame in that.

Not gonna lie, I actually just assumed there'd be fuzzies. And that's not how fuzzies work. Fuzzies are your standing hitbox getting nicked by a high move while you're low guarding because you got trapped in the standing block animation somehow. Crouching hitbox has nothing to do with fuzzies. Everything else, well, lolme. Does j.B not even give more reward than j.A to make it worth using instead?

Where does it say that? I honestly don't find this being that likely, especially if they're testing a new system at the same time.

Safest when done off one normal. That's easy enough to call out or block if it gets repetitive. And, really, no one's even said how it's safe. No gaps at all? Frametraps? No gaps on normal block and IB? And, really, a character as momentum-heavy as Rachel has more than enough reasons to have an option like that, and more than enough reasons to not use it all match (since the reward is low compared to other options). I'm also assuming it's a bit of an equalizer, since Rachel has a huge hitbox and is easier to fuck with mixups. ...Out of curiosity, how many fuzzies does Rachel have to deal with because of her hitbox?

Okay, I seem to have used a shitty (or at least confusing) example because I haven't played this game in so long. Just imagine I said Relius 214C instead. @Rachel's IOH being safe: that's actually fine, since the damage is so weak, and her defensive options suck.

Heartless Potemkin and Sora-May? KH III IS ACTUALLY GUILTY GEAR ANCHORS ARE KEYBLADES

Well, there are some where the overhead itself is safe, but that normally requires doing something unsafe as setup (imagine throwing out Relius's Duo Bios super in the middle of some random string, and then using it to cover airdash mixup). I can't think of any completely safe overhead strings in non-broken games that aren't part of an oki game.

The circle is complete. Daisuke has influenced Mike Z has influenced Daisuke.

I'm not gonna lie. May looks like someone mashed up Sora and Reimu, turned their clothes orange, and gave them an anchor.

I'll take a stab they were trying to find a good spread to run a loketest with. I think this makes sense, from that perspective.

Record yourself doing the string, then play it back and attempt to mash out of it yourself. Alternatively, record yourself mashing 2a. The first is probably best.

No one said they'd be unusably bad. Several characters would barely notice, especially as of AC. However, that doesn't mean that losing FBs won't hurt the characters that do use them -- possibly in notable, if uncrippling, ways. I do think the loss of FRCs could be legitimately crippling for some characters, but that, we'll just have to wait and see on.

Forums practically exist for argument, in its politer forms. A forum without some kind of debate is probably a dead forum.

This is thing: you keep splitting talk into "tools" and "options." No one is saying that having more "tools" is inherently better, which is what you seemed to be arguing against. Everyone is saying having more viable options is better. You basically addressed a giant post to no one and addressed an argument branch that didn't exist. It took me a reread to even notice how you divided things up. Also, to be extra clear, I'm assuming: Tools: set of all your character's moves and capabilities, including things deriving from interactions between your character's specific abilities and the system mechanics Options: the subset of tools that are useful and match-viable; the moves you actually choose between while playing

You got the letter of the argument, but not the spirit. I can kill it with a simple statement: options you don't use shouldn't even be considered options from a balance perspective. They don't involve significant choices, and they're exactly what you said they are: deadweight. However, even ignoring the removal of FBs , there's no way to pretend that the removal of FRC isn't bad for the core gameplay of GG. I can't think of a single character that doesn't love the shit out of at least one of their FRCs, and would hurt from the loss of the mechanic as a whole. While you understand a lot, you're applying it in the wrong places. Also, note, GG is so matchup-centric that lots of options are useless in one matchup and great in another. 99% of the time, as Millia, there's no reason do use H disc FRC as Millia when you can use FB disc instead. However, that option, useless as it might seem, is useful the 1% of the time you're up against Baiken. For this reason, it's really hard to say what is and isn't useful, since everything needs to be viewed through the lens of matchups.

I'm less afraid of the effects of removing FRC (though they're going to be negative: it's an options reduction, and that's just bad for the cast balance), and more afraid of the potential effects of the new RC system. Such a sweeping, open option scares me, because that kind of option tends to end up very lopsided. At least one character -- and I would place money on this -- will be able to do something unbelievably stupid with a mechanic like this, while the rest of the cast will have fewer or weaker uses, because their moveset can't take advantage of it as well. At best, everyone gets something unbelievably stupid. I just don't like the uncontrolled nature of it. RCs had a limitation before, at least, which helped keep them in check. This... not so much.

It doesn't work like that, though. Game systems are cohesive wholes, and removing one part damages the others. Adding parts does the same, if you're not careful. The thing that concerns me is that they're removing certain things without a proper form of compensation. FRC scares me the most, if it's gone. While FRC certainly isn't beginner-friendly, FRC is also what separates GG out from every other anime game. Once it's gone, there's nothing unique that GG has as an edge, system-wise, over P4A, Melty, etc. Sure, there are some things people may still prefer about GG to those games, like how the guard bar functions -- but those are minimal in comparison to difference FRC makes.

This is hilariously false, btw. Good players will do what they think will hit you, not necessarily play safe.

While Xrd clearly isn't a sequel to anything but the franchise itself, it also seems really odd to chuck your last 7 or 8 years' worth of matchdata and balance work right out the window. It's not like SF, where they're trying to revive the franchise, and SF3 wasn't something they felt comfortable repeating. They -just- released +R, and as far as I can tell, the reaction has been positive. It seems odd not to take what you know works, especially in a franchise with such a delicate balance scale as GG. EDIT: Also, as regards supers: how many characters in this game regularly use their supers, anyways? The Xrd system encourages you to save for supers, sure, but they don't have the greatest track record for usefulness from everything I've seen. It's not even like BB, where they're guaranteed damage. They'd need to implement some serious changes to the supers to make them more worthwhile.

Dem self-admissions

Out of curiosity, are FRCs normally mentioned in official system explanations of GG?