Kaizen

Are there any SHMUPs with bullets with proximity triggered explosions? I know next to nothing of the genre.

From what I saw from the Famitsu mechanics demo, Vanishing Guard reduces pushback, blockstun, and negates chip, and uses a button(s) press instead of instant blocking. The question though, is that if somebody VGs my attack, then retaliates, can I Vanishing Guard against that retaliation, even if I'm in recovery from my own attack? That's what Recoil Guarding is in EFZ. It is an instant block that does all the aforementioned, and can be cancelled into any move on success. If you miss your RG, you get hit. What sets RG apart is that two players can continuously RG back and forth, but as the RG war goes on, the frame window to Recoil Guard gets smaller the more RGs there are. The window to RG shrinks from 5 frames, gradually down to 1 frame. That's what makes Recoil Guarding exciting: it allows blowing up the bullshit blockstrings that the game intentionally allows (A lot of moves are ridiculously + on block), at the expense of having the opponent read the RG and do it back. Imagine if Blitz Shield had no meter cost, but got progressively harder to do. Seeing RG wars in EFZ makes it hype as fuck.

Aside from setting the CPU to jump, recording jump ins, etc., In Mission mode, there is a mission which allows you to practice wakeup airthrows against a preset string. Essentially, you just want to make sure your spacing is appropriate: Generally underneath the opponent, and your horizontal airthrow range is higher than you'd expect. You can also practice a string of air j.Ps, instant blocking them, and throwing between them. For burst baits, on top of the automatic burst function, I've found it pretty limited, as most opponents will not burst the moment they get hit, and some opponents will burst OTG (Xrd is an exception to XX in that OTG burst can still be thrown). 1. In slot 1, record the CPU mashing burst. 2. In slot 2, record the CPU hitting burst in short intervals. 3. In slot 3, do the same for slot 2, just with different timing. Maybe make the intervals far longer. 4. Make each recording a little longer than the length of the combo you are practicing. 5. Set CPU playback to random 6. Practice combos, play recordings whenever. This way, the bursts you get can be random, so you can practice baiting them a little better. Smarter opponents will never burst the same way consistently after you bait them once or twice.

Wait a fucking second. Are you saying N+B has Recoil Guarding?! My interest in this game just went from mild to through the roof. Also blarg Meat Monster.

What Dizzy players have you been playing/watching? They do it all the time and it's a pain in the ass.

Hyped for Overture. Hyped for ass. According to the interview with Ishiwatari by 4gamer, she's supposed to be easy to play, and I find that incredibly hard to believe considering she's based off of a game which is a 2D-Beat-Em-Up and RTS lovechild.

Pretty sure the GTS is just a defense buff, and for some reason was localized with the word "armor". There's no super armor nor HP increase that I've noticed. Sin only drops medals, so that shouldn't be what you're missing. The Golden Armament severely drops your mobility, so I would not recommend using it unless you play Pot already. The problem with checking the map is that you'll be told who drops what, even if you haven't actually received the item. The two M.O.M. trophies are for the following: -Treasure class 14, -Having at least 1 of every item in your inventory. Go through your item list and see what you have and don't. Blade's item list in post #10 will help you with that.

If the empty slot ends up being Fanny I will die laughing.

Not playing as much anymore since it takes 500k+ to level up, but noticed some more things. Possession bonus gives no noticeable buff to accessories. However, it seems to increase the drop chance for duplicate items. This might just be the RNG on my side, but it feels as if I've gotten items more frequently when I already have a few of them. That said, I sold all of my duplicate accessories just so I could level up because I don't really need them otherwise. "Super Mode" activating at 33 for stages 100+ is either random or glitched. Sometimes I get it, sometimes I don't. Streak 36 and 40 are consistent, though. Ran into Super Mode Sin at streak 26. Couldn't even kill him once, because he's not really weak to anything. Despite what I said about Thundergod's Raiment and Giant Tortoise Shell, the Shell appears to be superior. Anti-Armor Rod is found at stages 159 (Zato), and 166 (I-no). 166 is only three spaces away from Sin. For beating Sin, particularly at streak 21+ (Nets over 25k medals), I use this setup, now: Equips: Tyrant Rave, Emerald Rain, Remote Bomb, Dark Angel / AA Rod / Sacred Edge Accessories: Fireseal, Bracelet of Calling, (And then any two of the following: Electric Protector, Corundum's Shield, Giant Tortoise Shell, Thundergod's Raiment) -Electric Protector will help if you get hit by RtL, Sacred Edge, or pretty much anything else he throws out, at the cost of mobility. Corundum's Shield will significantly reduce the chip from Sacred Edge. Open with Tyrant Rave, knock him down and cancel your KD move into Remote Bomb, blow him up and do it again. When you knock out his first health bar, back the fuck up and E. Rain and Dark Angel/Sacred Edge, to eat away at his armor He'll either Sacred Edge/DIVV/RtL based on your distance to him, and potentially do another as followup, followed by an attack pattern. He has a few patterns: -IAD Vulture Seize * 3 -Elk Hunt > Bull Bash * 3 -Beak Driver * 2, Beak Driver Charged. His taunt window is extremely small, so unless his armor is already really low, stay away from him and throw projectiles again. Stock up on more E.Rain's, too, because it'll speed up the cooldown.

I'm still unsure if there's any possession bonus for accessories. I tried blowing up a remote bomb in my face on two occasions, one with 25 leather jackets equipped, and then one with 1. I believe I noticed a visible difference, but if it was there, it was extremely minute. I'm also not selling 13 Raiments on a whim for a test. One thing I did manage to pick off was what stages activate "super mode": streak 33 and on: Stages > 100. streak 36 and on: Stages > 50. streak 40 and on: Stages > 14 (I don't believe levels 1-14 can go "super mode") Stages 200+ might activate past 30, but I have yet to test this.

That's why I used the Anti-Armor Rod. It negates boss mode armor if they're within its range. I've been out of town for the last few days so I haven't been able to test anything. I'll check to see if there's any accessory bonuses for extra possession.

Back when it was confirmed that Bursting counted as RRC state as opposed to yellow, I wanted to test something, but I was only just in the frame of mind to confirm it. If an opponent bursts, you can easily RRC on reaction if you keep an eye on the burst meter (which you can do during combos if you've drilled them in enough). Since RRC startup is only 1 frame, and burst startup is 19f (? Are they AC speed or #R speed?), you have 18 frames to react to a burst, as the meter empties the moment the game registers the input. Now what I wanted to test was if ArcSys would overlook being able to RC non-YRC'able moves in reaction to a burst. Sure enough, you can RRC VV and GV on reaction to getting bursted. This is a notable point because of: A): Players' tendencies to burst during the VV ender in a combo. A lot of players seem to want to avoid taking the knockdown, and are used to bursting at this point since the YRC OS pre-patch was null. Now that you can RC during VV, if they go for a burst at the end of your combo and you have 50 meter, you get a reset. B): Players' tendencies to burst during the end of GV, intentionally having their burst whiff and getting a punish. If you have 50 meter, again, you can RC against the burst and get a reset, or if you're in the air and you've already passed the burst, you can at least kind of save yourself on the fall. This is something I've been wanting since I started playing Guilty (I began with AC), as there were countless times I would try to RC GV on reaction to a burst, but the game wouldn't allow it as once the burst started, the active window of GV was not making contact, and thus could not be RC'd. In other words, fuck 'em up.

Buckle of Freedom is Stage 169 Bracelet of Calling is Stages 158, and another that I can't recall. Sin is difficult if you're playing a character without elemental attacks. Additionally, I generally don't remove the Buckle of Freedom when fighting him because I want the damage boost, but it's not really wise considering his tendencies to do AI Reactionary Poke > R.T.L. as well as throwing out traditional RTL and Sacred Edge because he feels like it. I've been chipped to death pretty frequently. One thing I noticed is that grey chests seem to have their hit requirements lowered. What felt like 12-14 pre-patch has been reduced to 10 hits to open, which is significantly easier. Did a bit of a changeup to my setup due to Rosario's Defense Buff equating to shit, and to getting some mileage out of other stuff: Swapped the Bomb for Tyrant Rave (6): Apt. 3 Swapped the Exciter for Emerald Rain (8): Apt. 4 Got Five more Freedom Buckles Swapped The Rosario of Oath for the Thundergod's Raiment (9): Apt. 4 Got to level 160. God this is a pain in the ass. If I didn't enjoy M.O.M. I wouldn't understand why I bother.

Been playing pretty religiously since the game came out. M.O.M. was my favorite single player mode in AC and +R, so I was surprised when they transformed it for Xrd. A few other things to note: -A full map of MOM can be seen here: (Credit to Silfurbor_Negla of GFaqs for posting and to the creator for the map). http://image02w.seesaawiki.jp/g/e/ggxx_matome/b040d6788e6232e1.jpg http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/730873-guilty-gear-xrd-sign-/70821754 According to Gfaqs: -Aptitude level increases damage/effectiveness/duration(?). For accessories, it does the same. -Possession bonus buffs cooldown for items, probably buffs effectiveness for accessories. -Once you hit level 150, the medal requirement to increase stats shoots up tenfold as a soft cap. It takes 36,650 medals to go from 149>150, but 370,000 to go from 150>151, and it continues to increase from there. -Physical (HP) score is not particularly useful for item aptitude, so while I once had about 30 invested in HP, I sold all of it to level up other areas. Max HP went from ~7900 to ~4900, but whatever. -When your win chain exceeds 30, if you hit a stage past 150 or so, you'll run into a super-powered enemy with a ludicrous amount of HP (probably somewhere around 50,000). In exchange, you get a shitton of medals just for knocking out ONE health bar (I've gotten 30k medals just from one, have yet to actually defeat an enemy like this). The medals will continue to scale with your chain: I've fought these enemies at chain 40+ (once with a Bonus Stage attached), and gotten nearly 60k from one knockdown, all the medals were shining purple and large enough to take up half of the screen. -The best strat I've found for this is finding an enemy that is extremely weak to fire (Like Millia near the top left corner of the map, level 172), using nothing but fire items or boosts (Bomb and Remote Bomb for oki, Exciter and Sickle Storm for damage), and using Sol in conjunction with (Fireseal, Heat Gauntlets, Buckle of Freedom, Lion's Drawn Sword), manage to knock off two health bars out of four. This is kind of nuts. -As an addendum to the above, I have been unable to determine exactly where this activates. I've fought enemies at chain 46 that didn't activate this mode, but have run into this predicament at chain 33 against level 113 Sol. Experiment/try not to die. -Oddly enough, the Thundergod's Raiment sells for more than the Giant Tortoise Shell and is unavailable in the shop, despite the GTS only being available from one stage, while the TR is available from two. As there is no transparent method of determining which gives higher defense, we can assume the TR gives more based on its price. -ALWAYS check enemy weaknesses before jumping in. You never want to fight an enemy with high defense and weakness to poison without poison items equipped, and lose your streak. -Increase your treasure class as quickly as possible, if you haven't already. Higher Class = More medals. The max is 14, as per the achievement. -Purchasing an "increase item drop chance" and using a Master Key guarantee an item drop. -If you purchase an "increase item drop chance", but don't open/fail to open the chest, it carries over to the next chest you open. I'm currently at level 154 and counting. Current build is thus: Sol: Physical: 0 Strength: 54 Technique: 34 Magic: 28 Spirit: 38 Bomb (14 owned): Aptitude 4 Sacred Edge (8): Apt. 2 or Exciter (3): Apt. 4 (just started using the latter) Remote Bomb (50): Apt. 5 Anti-Armor Rod (8): Apt. 3 Lion's Drawn Sword (8): Apt. MAX Buckle of Freedom (2): Apt. 3 Bracelet of Calling (4): Apt. 3 Rosario of Oath (2): Apt. 5 Bombs are good because enemies generally don't block immediately on wakeup, and don't reversal either. Remote Bombs are excellent in addition that they can be activated while in blockstun, Sacred Edge is fast and eats up health/armor ridiculously fast. Anti-Armor Rod is a godsend. Lets you plow through Boss mode easily without worry of invuln. Other items of note: RTL and DIVV both have startup invuln, so it gives you a reversal when you don't have one. Glimmering Bangle is awesome. Pretty much free stuns on BS for anybody who doesn't resist stun. Golden Armaments. 18k. Sell them.

I've found BS to be a significantly better alternative to Slashback, and hardly anybody used that anyway. It's not as useful not being able to do it while in blockstun, but I've caught a lot of players off guard with it. The only habit I've yet to ingrain is to go ahead and super when you land one, since that's the only thing that is a guaranteed followup. 80% prorate isn't so lovable but for a 12f counter window, that's still pretty good. Throws whiff on rejected, since it technically counts as hitstun, and only works as a read if they counter BS. People always compare it to Guard Impact, but it also feels a little reminiscent of EFZ's recoil guard, if you could BS during blockstun. The fact that you said this with an Akatsuki avatar amuses me more than it should.

Pissed that I couldn't make it. Next week, hopefully.

GG was still hosted at Super's Wednesday Night fights, and if that resumes, having the two clash with one another wouldn't be wise. Unless I'm misremembering though and WNF was moved or something of the matter? It's been a long week. I've been mixing up dates all month. I've got some folks who are definitely interested in the area. I'd like to see this get big, too.

Are we planning to have this established and continue even after Super Arcade relocates? UGC is significantly closer to where I live, and is less of a hassle to drive to for me than Walnut. While I cannot show tonight, I would love to become a regular here. 10 p.m. is a little late for me but I can make do.

When you're getting Throw to BB > Fafnir > GF > whatever (That's 55 + ~30*3 + whatever you feel like going into afterwards), Sol is definitely capable of breaking 200 damage with 65% forced prorates. This is why you don't get hit by CH 6H. Combos out of that do 280+. Meterless. Sol is a pain generator.

No, he's completely right. She doesn't have a 4-frame jab so she's obviously garbage.

Has it been mentioned anywhere that OTG bursts aren't throw invincible anymore? The damage from the airthrow still gets scaled down to OTG level damage, but hey, now you can grab kick your friends while they're down and they can't tech.

I can bring a console.

PSN: DQRF, West Coast US I'll be getting the game for JP release but won't be on until late on the 4th or early 5th, most likely. Main: Sol, trying Bedman, Sin, Elphelt. Also got an I-no and Axl player who might jump in occasionally.

Sourenga's translation might be direct, because the 4gamer wiki lists mids as "high", and actual overheads as "mid", for some reason. Rest assured that Low Blitz Shield only beats lows and mids, not overheads.

Instant Blocking in GG reduces blockstun by a set amount based on the level of the move you IB. There's a chart for those values here: http://www.dustloop.com/wiki/index.php?title=Attack_Attributes_%28GGXRD%29#Attack_Level Because the difference is a set amount, you're not guaranteed to get Frame Advantage for IB. For example, Ky's 6H is a level 5 move, but it's +15 on block. If you IB the last hit, Ky still recovers 11 frames before you. But since he can't really combo into 6H normally, you'll be using IB in other situations to open holes in more traditional blockstrings.