Guilty Gear Strive (Open β #2) -- Local Matches #2
1Be sure to tell the crazy people that heavy metal and ponies don't mix:
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I suspect I may have a problem. A small one. A small, possibly medium one... that could indeed be quite large. It's not normal to be so engaged with a genre you have very little business messing around with, is it?
That's right! I should stay far, far away from the serious sports simulation genre! Whew, glad we cleared that up!
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Match #1 -- Seventh Heaven District
Chip Zanuff vs. Zato-1
If there was one sticking point that made P2 feel negatively towards the previous "beta" session... it was the fact that "Dust doesn't feel right!" ...no, I don't know what that means precisely either... but I think it probably has something to do with how much more IN YOUR FACE they are now, which naturally puts a lot of emphasized stop and go into their execution.
In theory, this should make them more exciting and more easily reacted to... but... if you're not actually aware what everything's suddenly zoomed in and subjected to a metric ton of hit stop for, you might not realize you need to take it as your cue to press up to chase your hapless foe skyward. (There's also the not so small factor of COUNTER hits being especially prone to similar hyperbolic feedback, so there's the risk that you mistake or grow desensitized to the slightly "subtle" details in the cues you're being fed.)
Beyond that possible avenue for confusion, there's also the fact that you can charge them up now, meaning there's a little more thought to be put into their execution... and you also can't just squeeze down on the button for dear life and let it fly... you need to peck it and let go if you want an especially FAST Dust strike.
And lastly, we have the fact that a Dust follow-up isn't actually your standard air combo anymore, but rather a particularly specific assortment of attack options that you won't have any preexisting familiarity with, and hammering any one of them repeatedly will just end the thing in a similarly exclamatorily-punctuated fashion, which can add another jarring layer to the whole experience.
It's definitely handy either way that you see a character heat up with an orange glow while readying a Dust, though, so that's a nice touch.
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Match #2 -- Jellyfish Skyarium
May vs. I-No
I don't especially relish in the idea of getting too cautious and languishing on the sideline preparing a series of charge input specials that any opponent can see coming and be rightly annoyed by... but I honestly never had much of an idea what to "do" proactively as May before... ... ... and now her game plan got a lot narrower with the simplification of her moveset... so... This is totally entrapment!
It only gets worse when you're starting to feel cornered and it's no longer safe to just jump in there and lay into someone with a giant anchor...
However... that really IS May's greatest strength, because that hitbox is as big as she is and does some seriously meaty damage for minimal effort if you start swinging it around. (Just be careful, because at least part of it also makes your own hurtbox stick its neck out!)
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Match #3 -- 12-Dimensional Flux Laboratory
Potemkin vs. Faust
I've always been nervously aware of the looming threat of Negative Penalty for avoiding taking a more aggressive stance in battle, but it feels like insult to injury when I have to explain to P2 that it's a thing and "why did I lose all my meter?!" is a question that will never have a particularly satisfactory answer to soothe that wounded spirit. (This is even more frustrating when approaching Potemkin at all is the very LAST thing you want to do.)
That said, I have to say that this particular match shows that threat of the game judging you for being "too defensive" has never seemed so picky and even downright spiteful. Guilty Gear is already a super aggressive game, and it's not like Faust STOPPED attacking... so much as reasonably avoided over-committing to anything that might get him to suddenly go Bust for his trouble.
Then again, maybe I shouldn't be questioning this "gift" when my feel for getting close and giving nice big hugs was back on the low side of things, since I hadn't given out any since the previous demo... (Everyone just needs more hugs!)