Silmerion

I dunno how much of this will actually help you, but here's my guide to Training Mode if you haven't already seen it.

YOU GUYS. 5D -> Kokuu works in AC+R. If you do the Kokuu low enough to the ground, the opponent is unable to tech for a long time, generally either landing on the ground or teching just above it. I haven't tried any midscreen shenanigans yet, but in the corner this is another way for us to get tensionless Bomber loop reps. EDIT: Just did 5D -> Kokuu -> 66 -> 5P -> 6K -> 2S -> sj.H -> sj.D -> Kokuu on Anji from training mode starting positions.

Beginners already can't do everything right out the gate. Ever watch a new fighting game player play Persona 4: Arena? P4A is the easiest fighting game Arcsys has ever made, but newbies still can't do much more than autocombos and other basic things like Yukiko's projectiles. I've watched many otherwise experienced gamers struggle with fireball motions for literally days. On the other hand, newbies can still have a lot of fun with P4A because of autocombo; they know it doesn't do much, they're not stupid, but they're also relieved that they can do something worthwhile, instead of nothing like with most fighting games. I'm not saying that GG should be as mechanically simple as Persona (though, full disclosure here, I don't think I'd mind so much if it were - I like Persona a lot, minus the whole hold-button-to-tech thing). What I'm pointing out is that we, as competitive fighting gamers, are at risk of losing perspective on our own situation: fighting games are complex affairs, full of frustration and the embarrassment of losing to your fingers rather than to your opponent, and GG is one of the more involved entries in the genre. A little more accessibility in the right places, whether that's FRCs or not, wouldn't kill us.

It takes me maybe ten minutes to get most FRCs semi-consistently nowadays. It takes me maybe two minutes a day afterward to stay in practice, nothing major. But GG was the first fighting game I tried to learn, and when I started FRCs felt impossible for a while. They're intimidating, make no mistake about it. Most people aren't used to the kind of muscle memory fighting games demand. It feels like work.

All right! It's definitely a tight link, but it's doable. So, one change to Axl that never really got brought up is that Kokuugeki no longer sends the opponent more or less vertically upward; it now shoots them off at something of a 45-degree angle. This is mostly irrelevant, but makes it harder to do gimmicky stuff such as midscreen non-CH Kokuu (FRC) -> ..., and basically makes it impossible to do combo into Kokuu (FRC) -> 66 -> j.D -> Kokuu outside of the corner (not that that was ever the optimal combo).

I'm having a lot of trouble with this. Can you link a video?

All right, so I've been playing around with this combo all morning: (From starting positions in Training Mode) 5K, 3P, 2H, 2D, Rensen (FRC), 66, 6H, 5K, 2S, 623H 623H This combo is totally sweet. You sacrifice relatively little damage and put your opponent straight into knockdown in the corner (and it knocks down on everyone.) It works on the whole cast, but against Jam, Baiken, I-No, Bridget, May, Millia, and Kliff (the floaties) you'll want to do the 6H earlier than usual so that the first hit of 623H will whiff.

I dunno if that's always true, I haven't combed the frame data, but there are situations where that's not really true. Axl's S Raei FRC is set up such that one frame is before the move hits and the other is immediately after the move hits, so it's less like a single 2-frame FRC and more like two 1-frame FRCs.

So, if we're being honest with ourselves here, the GG community is full of awkward people. We all know this. I'm in a fraternity that tends to attract such people. One of the ways we recruit introverts is to make sure that whatever event we're holding, there are multiple things to do. Holding an ice cream social? Bring board games and see a movie after the event. That sort of thing. The reason we do this is that awkward folks, when they feel cornered (perhaps they just lost really badly in GG, a game they've only just picked up, and they're embarrassed) will look for an escape plan. If there aren't multiple things to do, some of which are pretty casual and easy to get into, then that escape route is going to be "leave and don't come back." They need a reason to stay. I think small gatherings have this issue where they're all about the game. Plus, everyone who's there probably knows everyone else (except for the newbie), so the world feels closed to them. It sounds kind of stupid, I know, but gatherings like these could benefit from simple icebreakers and things that let the new person relax in the company of strangers who are all better than them. Did New Person X just lose twenty times in a row? Invite them to take a break, grab a beer, and join a game of Cards Against Humanity or something. Again, I know this sounds pretty silly, but people are going to come to gatherings if they feel like they can relax, have fun, and socialize.

Risk-reward doesn't have to come from technical difficulty. It can come from things that aren't incredibly off-putting to newbies. I'm not saying that we should widen FRC windows, I'm just saying that "tight FRC windows are a net good for the game" doesn't follow from "it helps keep risk-reward in check." Not quite sure what you're trying to say here, but I'm guessing your talking about stuff like FRCs that could either whiff or hit? In that case, I fail to see the problem. If we're adjusting FRC timing, it'd be easy to muck with the move's properties until it only gives what the designers want it to give.

Trying to balance a game by adding mechanical difficulty is a plan doomed to fail. It will hold characters back, sure, but not forever. The longer a game lasts, the better people get at playing it, and the better difficult characters do - if you make a character very strong, but mechanically tough to use, odds are that by the end of the game's life span that character will be in the same place on the tier list they'd have been if they were piss-easy.

We're way past release by now, I suppose, but I have +R for the Vita if anyone less lucky would like anything tried out.

O hai, what's going on in this thread Arc Revo Cup GGXXAC+R: Joruno.Jobanna (AX) vs OsakaB (FA) 5/18 Mikado AX vs. SO around 5:40 KY vs. AX around 5:15, OsakaB (FA) vs. AX around 11:30 OsakaB vs. AX, OsakaB vs. AX around 11:45 OsakaB (FA) vs. AX, DI vs. AX around 4:50, OsakaB (FA) vs. AX around 9:45

You and poon agree. What you're calling "Holy Orders Remix" is officially titled "Holy Orders?".

If you do, the Axl Video Thread is very up-to-date. *Eyebrow waggle*

2/19/13 Mikado Random 2v2 AX vs. JA Man, Jam just melts people's faces when they don't know the match-up.

Yaxl (ヤクセル) has been the most common Axl player in Mikado vids for a few months now. He's pretty good. EDIT: Other active Axl players include Takarin (たかりん) and BLUE (BLUE). I haven't seen anything from Akira or Dennou since +R dropped.

Yeah, they brought back the dustloop (in slightly shorter form) for Sol in +R.

As far as I can tell, there hasn't been any news since December. They say they're fixing things, but what they're fixing is indeterminate: "In addition, based on user feedback, various other problems and issues within the game content will be fixed."

2/16 Playland http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm20152971 Lots of Axl in here.

2/19/13 Mikado JO vs. AX Yaxl (AX) vs. En (SL) Yaxl (AX) vs. Madatoro(?) (JO)

Yeah, I should mention you had really nice graphics in this. Good job.

That seemed pretty good to me! Might show a few to my friends after a couple more are made. If you're ever unsure of what to say about a certain character I'm sure you could find people on DL to fill you in.

Some notable differences between GG and BB: - Knockdowns and oki are stronger in GG than in BB; they're weaker in BB because of more invincibility on wakeup and the ability to ground roll - Because of GG's strong oki focus and because of generally lower hitstop, combos in GG are often both shorter and take less time - BB is less technically complex than GG; BB doesn't have FRCs and has generally easier combo timings - Throws in GG are instant and have very short throw-break windows; throws in BB have start-up and are easier to react to - Characters in GG generally have strong anti-air options (plus instant air throws), so they spend more time on the ground than BB characters do Guilty Gear-specific stuff (I don't know BB all that well): - All throws are inherently option-select-y (the input is 4H or 6H) but in general you don't need to constantly option-select to be successful - Many characters have unblockables; Anji, Bridget, Eddie, Johnny, and Testament have unblockable blockstrings or set-ups (some harder to set up than others) while Axl, Potemkin, and Zappa have moves that are inherently unblockable and you must avoid (there might be more but these are the ones I'm sure of) - Some oki is pretty dumb (Millia's is mostly unreactable high/low silliness that ends in corner KD when you guess wrong, Dizzy and Venom will throw projectiles at you forever, etc.)

Haven't had any problems, been playing on a slim PS3. Haven't tested in a crowded and/or hot environment yet though.