Game:

Guilty Gear -STRIVE- (2021)

Duration: 27:02

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It's been a good long while, but what better excuse to get back into Guilty Gear Strive than with a new character? Happy Chaos, the Gunslinging Broken Messiah makes his playable debut!

His backstory is...extremely convoluted, so I'll sum it up as best I can. Once known as The Original, he was humanity's first and greatest magician and basically is the catalyst for all of the problems in this world. He is the creator of I-No, herself the embodiment of a brighter future for humanity, as well as the Universal Will, a magic AI that ultimately betrayed him and sealed him within her. On top of this, The Original had sealed away and absorbed half of I-No's godly powers so this, combined with the isolation drove him mad, turning him into the demon we see now. Now Happy Chaos wants just that; he loves to just mess with people and make things interesting and has no real grander goal than amusing himself. Which ties into how he fights.

Chaos is another "shooting" type character, though he fits that better than Ramlethal. Armed with an enchanted gun, Chaos can fire bullets that hit opponents from anywhere on screen. Despite being a super strong magic user he'd rather just starter blasting to keep it "fair." You might notice that none of his special moves really do any damage; they all just exist to make him shoot better. A dodge roll to get away or cross-up opponents, a scapegoat that opponents have to get past to get to Chaos, or he can lob a "curse" at the opponents to make his own shots more accurate.

His gun has a LOT of limitations built into it; once pulled out he can no longer block and if he two-hands it he can't move at all until he puts it away! Furthermore he has both ammo to worry about and the Concentration gauge that goes down over time and with each shot fired. Using Chaos well means learning how to manage multiple different resources. He can manually reload or refill Concentration with special moves and both of his supers also refill either his bullets or Concentration (not that I use much of the latter). If you know when and where to shoot your shot you can juggle opponents and move from one end of the stage to another and score huge damage...or you can just mash the gun and watch as nothing hits. Let's see how well I do!

Match 1: L'oro Di Illyria
Happy Chaos (WashOverU) vs. Happy Chaos (me)

Man I love his mirror match intro! And I love Robbie Daymond's portrayal here. He really knocked it out of the park. Now, actually playing AGAINST Chaos is very...chaotic! He can attack at ANY time, but we also both have to manage our bullets and meters and it's...a lot. For a first match it was definitely weird and with the character still new it's hard to really see what they can do yet.

Match 2: Seventh Heaven District
Anji (MZPhil) vs. Happy Chaos (me)

Oh boy, an Anji to bully! I think this match does a better job of showing just how difficult of a match up Chaos can be in some situations. Of course, Anji can do big damage up close so it's trouble if Chaos lets him get in and do his Fujin mix-ups. I really love the moment at about 9:53 where after his panic super I just sock him right in the face. And can we talk about stealing victory for the jaws of defeat in that last round of the first match?!

Match 3: Caste of the Silver Fleet
Ky (Klassy Jihad) vs. Happy Chaos (me)

This Ky was a lot more troublesome to deal with; he has that range and speed that makes it easier to get in on a zoner like Chaos...and he ALSO has projectiles! To make it more personal he closes out the first match by killing me by activating Dragon Install...well now you're just being cocky!

One big thing I noticed with Chaos is when you do down and kick in the air he does this little pogo kick that pops him back up in the air, but if I hit with it and try to do jumping Slash afterward he's often facing the wrong way. Not sure if that's a glitch or what, but it's probably a sign I over rely on it anyway.

Match 4: Seventh Heaven District
Happy Chaos (me) vs. Nagoriyuki (Galvatr0n)

We'll close this out by having Nago get some revenge on the man who enslaved him for most of Strive's story! At this point I don't think it can be disputed that Nago's a good character and I swear I struggle with him more than a lot of other characters. He's got range and sheer power on his side and in some ways he really screws up Chaos' gameplan. Good to know HIS clone goes through mine! "This is why I hate katanas!"

Overall Chaos is fun, though a bit too technical for my liking. This game's still fun and at least for now there's enough people in my general skill level that I actually feel like I can go online and not get smacked around too bad. No easy feat! So yeah...vote for Strive to win Best Fighting Game at the Game Awards or whatever. (Shame it wasn't nominated for best soundtrack)

Until next time, keep smelling that game!

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