Guilty Gear Xrd: Revelator Announced

[The Big Daddy C-Master]

Am I missing the link you post? Are you hotlinking it into the first phrase? Just making sure.

[Nyu Nozomi Hyuga]

May 30, 2016 1:04:48 GMT -5 The Big Daddy C-Master said:

Am I missing the link you post? Are you hotlinking it into the first phrase? Just making sure.

I don't recall putting links on anything especially on the entire words, I just made a quick edit so all you see are just text and not something like a link or hotlinking.

[The Big Daddy C-Master]

Oh, people usually link the source back to the creator of the content so people know where it came from. I just wasn't sure if you were putting it at the top or bottom.

That's usually the standard, but I know you have your own style. Just wondering.

[Nyu Nozomi Hyuga]

May 30, 2016 4:52:21 GMT -5 The Big Daddy C-Master said:

Oh, people usually link the source back to the creator of the content so people know where it came from. I just wasn't sure if you were putting it at the top or bottom.

That's usually the standard, but I know you have your own style. Just wondering.

I put the source at the bottom very similar to how websites like Eventhubs, Shoryuken, Avoiding The Puddle, Siliconera, Gematsu, & Niche Gamer puts their Source link except I just type websites name (with few exceptions where I put up a link).

[The Big Daddy C-Master]

Gotcha, that's cool.

[Nyu Nozomi Hyuga]

Step Up Your Slayer Game with Optimized Punishes in Guilty Gear XRD -REVELATOR-

Slayer has historically been one of the hardest hitters in the Guilty Gear series. Tanabata, a Japanese Slayer player, is helping continue this trend by exploring the ability to spend his Burst to power up one of his Overdrives. This new mechanic to -REVELATOR- adds invincibility and damage to an already terrifying move: Slayer’s Dead on Time.

While these punishes utilize anywhere from 50% to 100% tension, many of them don’t use it until the end of the combo, and could easily be left out.

Stopping a common Millia pressure string:

Punishing Sin’s jump Dust (while Sin cancels to overdrive here, this concept will beat any cancel he uses):

Punishing Axl’s DP on block, sometimes a difficult task for players:

Blowing through Axl’s most common blockstring:

Stopping Axl’s obnoxious full-screen presence in Sparrowhawk Stance:

Interrupting one of Zato’s most common pressure strings:

Stopping Faust before he cancels into his sweep:

Punishing Jack-O’s 2H (Crouching Heavy Slash) – her multi-hit normal:

In a similar vein, we have a fellow Slayer from Japan (TTK|Moga) who’s happy to share some situational combos.

Stopping Sol’s left/right mixup where he airdashes over you as a Gunflame approaches:

Winning the ‘Blitz Shield battle’ when you and your opponent keep going back and forth using Blitz Shield:

Source: shoryuken

[Nyu Nozomi Hyuga]

Arc System Works And Its Fighting Game Legacy, It's All About The Cool

The world of fighting games is a deeply competitive one, for both the players and the developers who make them. However, one studio has tried to take a different path and so far, it has worked out very well for them. I am of course talking about Arc System Works, and I was lucky enough to catch up with members of the team to discuss all things cool and flashy.

For those not well versed in the fighting game world, Arc System Works broke into the genre back in 1998 with the hit game Guilty Gear. Guilty Gear was a hugely flashy and distinctly anime styled 2D fighting game that made its competition at the time look more than a little dull.

Using a combination of over the top anime styled effects and a strong set of unique game mechanics, it quickly cultivated a fanbase. The studio has built upon that success ever since. Over the years, they’ve also branched out and made games outside the fighting genre, but they tend to stick to their forte – fighting games.

To try to find out what makes this studio tick, I spoke with both Daisuke Ishiwatari and Mori Toshimichi, each helming their own respective fighting game franchises at Arc System Works.

Though Daisuke was quick to explain his role in more detail, “I am a general director here at Arc System Works. One of my primary titles and franchises that I oversee as a director is the Guilty Gear franchise. On my business card it says “chief creative officer” but you don’t have to worry too much about those kinds of titles.”

Mori’s role is slightly different though, as he explains, “I am a producer and director at Arc System Works. I oversee the BlazBlue franchise and I do a lot of things including planning, story and art. The main difference though is that I also take care of more of the production of the games I work on as well.”

Trying to figure out how both these gentlemen got into gaming seemed a good place to start and Daisuke went first. “So I grew up consuming all types of media, including manga, movies and games. I loved all of it, the entire entertainment space. I realized then that I wanted to do everything; I was very greedy at the time. So when I looked at all three industries it became clear to me that the game industry was still very young and if I wanted to do something it was really easy. It was very flexible; I could sway any which way. So that’s what drew me to the game industry initially.”

Mori then followed. “Similar to Daisuke, I grew up with games, anime, manga, movies, all of the entertainment that was available to us at the time. I could probably trace back a lot of my longing for games to a single game back when I was in middle school. This was Final Fantasy III. When I played this game I was so moved that a game could possibly encompass so much emotion, they could deliver as a medium that kind of feeling to me. All this made me realize that this was what I want to make, this is what I want to do. Therefore, I first thought of entering the industry to make a role-playing game. That was sort of my goal and lifelong mission, however, I was then involved in a project to debug a role-playing game at which point I realized “Wow, making a role-playing game sucks!” It was the worst experience you could ever go through. So I re-considered the entire role-playing game aspect of game development. However, if the opportunity presents itself then it might be something to do on my list.”

Joining Arc System Works and Starting Out with Fighting Games

In terms of how they both ended up at Arc System Works, Daisuke explained, “So mine is rather simple. I attended a game development type of school and did a technical type of course at the time and as I came near the end of it I saw an advert that said Arc System Works were looking for people. Sure enough, I came in and interviewed with the president and he told me to show up the following day. That was my introduction to this studio and I’ve been here ever since, which is almost twenty years now.”

It also seemed that Mori was recruited by Daisuke, as he says, “My sort of introduction to Arc System Works was that I was at another company. When I was working at this previous company I was lucky enough to meet Daisuke and he said that I should just come work with them. So that’s how I got my foot in the door and I’ve been here for about thirteen years.”

Daisuke then went on to talk about how they started out working on fighting games. “In terms of Arc System Works making these particular types of fighting games, we certainly do but I wouldn’t say all games we release are so. However, that being said as I am the general director of Guilty Gear I can speak on behalf of that series and its very anime type style. When I first came up with Guilty Gear the fighting games that were available on the market were primarily Street Fighter and Garou: Mark of the Wolves. These two games were very focused on a more realistic world setting, in which the objective was to gather strong fighters from around the world and put them in one place to take part in an event or tournament. Having seen that I really wanted to go in a completely different direction that was almost like the world you would find inside of an anime. This being a setting that is not bound by the rules of fighters that could possibly exist. I just wanted to do something where these fighters were superhuman, with crazy stuff happening.”

It turns out that Mori was very influenced by Daisuke on this as well, “I would say a lot of my direction for creating those sorts of flashy games comes from really Daisuke’s influence. It really began when we were developing Guilty Gear together, way back. I distinctly remember a comment that Daisuke made that really changed the way I think about game development, which is that there are a lot of very good games inside of the arcades and among them we need to stand out. A lot of what we do then really comes from that point of standing out. In this case Daisuke said “just make it as flashy and over-the-top as you can,” that became the sort of central motto in all of our development. This means that when you line up the competition, I want people to be drawn to play our games. So this was the image we had in the back of our minds when we were making everything. Whether it is the effects, the music, the overall performance, or the way it’s all packaged together it just needs to be flashy and over-the-top. That doesn’t mean to say that if you go too far and it’s not properly balanced, you could then up with something quite lukewarm, half-baked and awkward. So I have developed my own sense of cool, which I hope is a really universal language. If you look at or watch something, without even understanding the language you should feel “this is cool.” When I see a Hollywood movie trailer for example, I tend to be able to tell whether that’s cool or not. In that sense, I want to pursue this level of cool that transcends language.”

The cool and flashy element is something that was already key in their process and Daisuke was happy to clarify about that further, “Does cool equal flashy? Are those two really that correlated? I wouldn’t necessarily say that is so, flashy is definitely one of the schools of thought that we come from and I think Street Fighter in its own way has pursued and found its form of cool. So there’s no need for us to proceed in a similar way to them. When we decided to go into a more anime type territory it simultaneously differentiated our games but also opened up the idea towards flashiness, because that’s rather how anime delivers a lot of its emotion and performance. The impact. In doing so, for example in an anime scene you might have something where smoke fills the screen. However, in a game context that could affect gameplay. So the question then becomes, how do we balance this flashiness of engulfing the entire screen in smoke and then preserve the game so it remains playable. When I am asked to put these two on a scale, I often so to make it as flashy as possible but so you can still sort of play the game. That’s cool and my general direction.”

“I know we do develop a lot of functional two-dimensional games but there have been games like Guilty Gear 2. But even having done that game the reason I stick to two-dimensions I believe is I think it’s really easy to communicate to the player what’s happening on the screen. When you think of something in the context of it being a game that a player needs to interact with, for example if there’s a hole on the ground and if you are playing in two-dimensions like in Super Mario Bros. the communication is very clear that if I walk past a certain point then I will fall. In three-dimensions though, you’re dealing with a lot more and as a game it starts to be less and less connected to the gameplay itself. I do want to experiment a lot and challenge myself a lot but I think a lot of times when it comes to the gameplay that you can communicate two players then two-dimensions is definitely a very simple and straightforward way to interact.”

Mori then chimed in on the whole 2D approach they take. “For me, there’s simply an element to the two-dimensional fighting game that I like. As a fan and as a consumer, I like these types of games as well as again Daisuke’s influence on this. Having worked with him so long and having seen his works alongside mine, so that really influenced my own work. That led me to make my own type of fighting game, which I have successfully done fortunately enough through Arc System Works. Now that I have worked in this genre for over a decade I think that there is a part of me that certainly wants to explore other genres. In terms of developing these types of fighting games, this is where a lot of that comes from.”

While there does seem to be an interest to pursue other types of genre, Daisuke clarified that there is still more worked to be done on fighting games before they can do that. “There’s also an element of wanting to complete a project we’ve started and story-wise, gameplay-wise, fighting game mechanic-wise, there are certain facets of both Guilty Gear and BlazBlue that we don’t feel have been mastered to the highest form that we can. This is why until we do that we almost have an obligation, a mission, to complete that before we explore another type of genre.”

Exploring The Fundamentals of Game Design

It seemed important to then try and find out what do they both think lies at the core of a game. This is because in Japan, developers tend to think about core mechanics more directly and build up from them. However, trying to pinpoint what those are is difficult and often shows the focus people in that studio have towards making games.

Daisuke did his best to explain his take on the whole matter. “I know I do develop a lot of fighting games but even despite that I think, logic-wise at the core of every game you need to have the most important part which is whether it is fun. No matter what genre you are making unless you have this part figured out then you don’t have the basics down as a game. If you decide to develop something else, a different genre, whether it’s three dimensions, unless you get the fun element down you definitely need knowledge to make the other genres possible but figuring out the fun element first and foremost is certainly what I think is a common denominator among all games.”

Mori was more of the opinion that rules are important but that there’s more to it than just that. “I think the basics of every game, whether we are talking about logic or fun, there’s definitely an element of logic and it’s almost a dance and an interaction between two parties; whether that party is a person or it could be anything really but the interaction and the negotiation is really what creates the most fundamental form of gameplay. In my mind, there are three games that I think are logically perfect and complete which are chess, shogi and igo. These games, while they have perfected the logical element, part of that reason could be because that there is no guaranteed way to win. It really then becomes a literal negotiation between two different parties. With that in mind, I think that they definitely all bound by a set of rules and these rules are really the fundamental sort of cement for the foundation by which you put the game on top of that. When you have the rules ironed out, which you could call logic in this sense, then you can for the first time begin to think about a game.”

However, Daisuke added on further by stating that having it be too rule based can be problematic, “To add onto that, while I agree that both shogi and igo as games are quite perfect in what they do but there are a few elements that I would as developer like to explore further. In that, to the average person it’s almost too tight, too stuffy, too formal. A lot of what is happening isn’t clearly communicated and the second element is once the scales start to tip in one direction it becomes very hard to overturn and make a comeback. I suppose you could call this rubber-banding if you want but the moves are so set and the logic is so complete that once you let that slip then the subsequent moves are almost already decided for you. It’s then very hard to turn the tables. There’s another game I like to refer to, mahjong. In this of course while the strong player may have better odds, they don’t have guaranteed odds of winning. In chess or shogi, if you have a master versus a beginner there’s absolutely no way the beginner can win. In Mahjong there is that chance because there is an element of luck in the draw, which is something that you can’t affect with skill alone. That element of randomness where the weaker player does have a chance to win, I think that also engages the audience. Once that element is complete and integrated into a game then it becomes much more interesting to play and watch.”

After getting more of an idea of how they approached games in a design sense, I wanted to understand their production process more. Daisuke started by talking quite generally. “I think the very first step in a game’s production is the desire to create something “like that” but have your own spin on it. For example, you could apply the same logic to movies or music, but you will see something or pick out any element that you’ve been exposed to and say “Wow, I want to make something like that!” That’s then where a lot of the juices begin to flow.”

Mori went into more detail though. “I sort of have two schools of thought and you could argue that one preceded the other. Initially I developed games from the intention of what do I want to make and I think you can boil it down for a lot of games, what is the ultimate goal of when the game is complete. For example, in the case of fighting games it would be the moment you defeat the other player. In the instance of a role-playing game it would be the moment the hero goes into the castle and defeats the demon king. This process, this sort of moment of completing that task is the game. Now, I sort of shifted that thinking and instead of just focusing on defeating the other player it’s more about how you do that. It’s not what you are doing; it’s the methodology of how you get there. How, in that process, is the player going to interact and have fun. How are the going to negotiate the process of that. Defeating of the other player is already a given in a fighting game, that’s sort of understood. With that basis of understanding, the question then becomes, ‘how can the player do that?’ Then my job at that point is how can I make a system in which they want to figure out ‘how do I do that?’ Similar to role-playing games, the core element of fun in these games is your character’s growth. It’s not just about how you defeat the demon king. Assuming you are going to do that, then how do you want to grow your own character. How do you want to nurture them to a point where they are capable of doing that? Figuring out how to present certain paths to the player in which they will be able to think about how they want to do it and how they want to get there.”

“A lot of what changed my way of thinking was Diablo 2. At the beginning it was just about how do I get to the end boss and then defeat him but the more and more I played I realized that I actually wanted to collect items and beat other side quests. So I started to explore elements that would lead towards character growth but defeating the demon king wasn’t necessarily where I went or where I sought the fun element from the game. It was more of item collection type of thing for me. So there is that sensation that you can’t really describe when you get an ultra rare item. When you finally get it through playing the game yourself, there is this feeling that you really can’t describe.”

It seems that Mori wasn’t the only one that enjoyed Diablo 2 as Daisuke found it influential as well. “Diablo 2 is certainly a game I can relate to as well. We all played way too many hours together. The fundamental difference and what made that game so revolutionary is that in traditional Japanese role-playing games every element of the game is almost set in stone. You already know what the strongest sword will be, what the best armor is. They are already defined in the game. Compared to that, games like Diablo 2 that have created it in such a way where however slight either through a different direction or slightly better stats and it makes the player think how to combine different elements of the game or to dig deeper to find something that might have one more stat that the previous item didn’t have. I think it’s this act of creating something that people will want to dig deeper and deeper that really makes Diablo 2 so attractive. You could say that in Guilty Gear we tried to do something similar and as a result people have said the curve, the barrier to entry, is a little high for beginners especially because we’ve put in too many elements that we want people to dig and explore in the game system. Though you inevitably make the game difficult.”

Mori then followed that up again in more detail, “In terms of the game making process, what I keep in my mind all the time is that of course what we are doing is creating entertainment. If you then ask how to define entertainment, I suppose it’s about how stimulated you could make your audience. The level of stimulant that you apply and deliver to the audience is what will define the quality of your game. You don’t want to front load all your stimuli in a game, you want to make sure it is spread out in steps. It’s about thinking about these steps and organizing the work in a correlated way. Of course, when do I add a little bit of stimulus, where do I add it, how do I add it? These are what I think about and I don’t know if that really affects my planning but this what I think about. It’s what in the back of my mind every step of the way. When you keep doing this and you add more stimulants along the way, like most things you are going to have inflation. Before getting there, I definitely insert moments of deflation. Moments where the player can relax take a breath and then start to build up the stimulus again. So it’s really about playing and organizing the game, the story, the elements around this building in steps.”

On Production and Planning Tasks Via Key Words

While many tend to focus on design and the conceptual side of things, ultimately games have to get made one way or another. This requires a production methodology, and again this differs greatly between studios. The setup in Arc System Works is an interesting one though, as it’s based around the usage of key words.

Daisuke started off. “I think the most basic form of game development and how we organize a lot of my tasks is to boil everything that we are about to do down to one word. Once you have one word you can constantly cross-reference what you are doing against this one word. For example, take Street Fighter II. If you ask the question what kind of fighting game do you want to make and you end up with the game Street Fighter II, I would say that the word that correlates is “mainstream”, Street Fighter II is the defined mainstream fighting game. If we then take our word, which let’s say is “cool,” how do we make something that’s cool not necessarily mainstream but strictly just cool. Every step of the way we have to cross reference what… these add or subtract from our axis of cool. Then you can break this down into smaller sub-tasks. Every time we design a new character or music, we can make a word for each element. We have cool, so now what’s this character’s word going to be? This character’s one word. Once we have that, we constantly check against that as we are designing it. What then makes the game really dynamic and interesting for me and especially tying it into the original word, which is cool, is seeing how different these individual words are. The more differentiated one character’s word is from another, the more dynamic and visually flashy the game becomes.”

“To really break it down by a more step by step, at the very beginning there is the planning and the concept. From there, once we have a solid concept we list what we need to make this concept a reality. That’s the second step. Once you start listing out and breaking down the sort of elements that create this concept and then what translates that into an actual task. This applies to the whole game, not just the overarching concept but individual pieces as well. Once you have a list of what it will require to make this concept a reality then you start to figure out the nittier, grittier parts. The time elements, the resources. You then try to estimate and calculate it to the best of your ability. Once we have all those calculations and estimates, we take it to the president and if he likes the numbers then he either says okay or no and go try again. When he does say okay, that’s when the process begins. So we put all those parts and elements that we listed out into motion. There’s also a unique element of our company’s style of game development, which is that it never actually works according to the concept documents. So there are certain things that just don’t fit in the concept document that people want to do and they will start to tap into other elements that aren’t really shown in the concept. Like the element of ‘I just want to put my blood and sweat into this and really make this something that I can be proud of.’ That extra element of trying hard is really what makes up that gap. That’s what I guess makes our games what they are.”

Mori then finished off by giving a great example of how they go about game production. “If people want to know more about how this process works, then take any element. Pick up, for example, my business card case. Any element that you can find… begin to reverse engineer it. Think about what you think is going to be necessary to make this from scratch. Then write it all down. That alone is a large part of the game development process. Thinking about the result and then engineering the pieces that allow that to happen.”

Keeping Their Core Fighting Game Skills with Modern Game Engines

One of the biggest surprises of recent years was Arc System Works announcement that they would be making their next Guilty Gear, a 2D fighting game, using Unreal Engine 3. This is surprising because the Unreal Engine is primarily geared towards making 3D games, and the fighting games Arc System Works make are mainly in 2D. Picking this kind of engine is unexpected and I was curious as to their reasoning behind the choice.

Daisuke explained the process. “Initially in my concept we wanted to develop our own engine specifically to suit our needs but in order to do so the resources and time just weren’t available. We then went to our backup plan, which was to look at existing engines and figure which ones we could use and then integrate what we wanted to do into the engine’s functionality. Having touched quite a few of them we arrived at the conclusion unanimously that Unreal Engine 3 is what suited our needs and was the most intuitive when the team played around with it. That’s how we arrived at Unreal Engine 3. It’s been about three years since we started using the engine and through that there hasn’t been too many moments where people on the team complained, as an engine then it feels quite complete. In terms of Unreal Engine 3 and what we want to do and how we want to use it, we just don’t really feel the need to upgrade since we already have a system and pipeline in place that is really based on Unreal Engine 3. Unless there is some function that is game changing for us we don’t see a need to transition all of our work over to Unreal Engine 4.”

“Unreal Engine is a 3D software designed for 3D games specifically. However, what we did before we even started looking at engines, was we went and used various 3D software including XSI and created the look that we wanted. In doing so, our first goal was to create a video of just the visual style that we wanted. To help define everything that was going to go in the game and help benchmark a potential engine. That’s what we wanted to nail, the visual style of the game. So we had our baseline, a brute force rendered video. In doing so, we went through various different engines and felt that the customizability of Unreal Engine 3 offered really allowed us to pursue what we had in that preview video we made and possibly even more. The engine had options that we could explore and tweak shaders that would allow us to do even more explorative styles of art. That’s really what drew us to Unreal Engine 3.”

“In terms of how we managed to get the new Guilty Gear to look so good in Unreal Engine 3, our artists began to learn shaders. We had an artist who was actually writing shader scripts to really perfect that style we wanted artistically but through, of course, mathematics. Due to those people being really studious and energetic about the project and the style that they took it upon themselves to really pursue that visual look. It’s thanks to them and our programmers that we were able to really get it that far.”

Fighting Game and Other General Influences

Obviously, other games play a huge part in how studios approach the games they make themselves. In that sense, finding out the influences people have can often be fascinating, and neither Daisuke and Mori disappointed.

In terms of the type of other games they enjoy, Mori was keen to explain that the player’s imagination is a big part of that. “I think personally the most important element of any game, and it transcends genre really, is how well it draws you into its world. To me that is one of the most important elements of any game and I know when you rewind the clock twenty years a lot of that was dependant on the player’s imagination. So when you were looking at 8-bit pixels and you are playing Tower of Druaga – you are thinking that when you are fighting a boss you imagine that it must look like something really impressive, and what the world probably looks like. That level of imagination was partly what drew you into that world and how they presented it and how the players interpret it and then was drawn in as a result. Since the move to photo-realism, a lot of that has been taken away from the player. The need for imagination, as the world is already entirely there. It’s not that I just like older games, as I love new games like Star Wars: Battlefront and Batman: Arkham Knight – all games that still pursue a high visual fidelity but… draw you into that world. So it might not necessarily be entirely visual based but there is definitely this sort of element that draws you in. That’s something I really try to pursue when I think of new ideas or design games as well. That element of how well a game is able to draw you into its world.”

Daisuke was more focused on what was available at the time. “I don’t know if I would necessarily say one specific type but I will say that there’s a part of me that feels a “boom” but you might call it a trend or a wave if you will, of what I feel is a result of time multiplied by circumstance. In that sense, I am interested in things at different times and different circumstances. However, if I was to go into a videogame store I would probably first reach for a first-person shooter because that genre is really accessible and simple.

“I would say the first Tomb Raider is one of my favorite games. A lot of that stems from when I was younger I imagined what if Indiana Jones was a game, what would it look like. That question always nagged me. So when I played the first Tomb Raider I thought that this is it. They nailed it. This is Indiana Jones translated into a game. So it’s a really important and influential game for me.”

Mori’s choice though for his game was nicely hardcore. “I would say from perspective one of the most complete and influential games for me is Tactics Ogre. The reason being that Matsuno-san, the creator, I think he really perfected the art of game making. You can really argue that is one of the five all time great Japanese games as well. The game really taught me that it really boils down to numbers, rules and that unexpected element. These three things are what can form a perfect game for me. Though the Petro Cloud spell was pretty unnecessary, as it was way too strong. It broke the game I suppose.”

Moving on from the games they enjoy, I wanted to know if their gaming preferences influenced them at all. Daisuke wasn’t so sure, saying “I would say whether or not it influences me, it might not necessarily be a conscious choice as it works maybe at a subconscious level. I am not actively pursuing wanting to make a game just like that, it’s more that in the process of developing and making games I think that there is a part of me that can subconsciously feel that this was “cool” or that I liked that element. Then you sort of formulate it and re-forge it in your own way. In the example of Tomb Raider, there are a lot of really cool caves and underground ruins, so when I think about making one of those there is an element where I might pursue a similar path but not necessarily be completely influenced by that. I definitely don’t want to copy anything other artists have done either. So I think that having that element of the unexpected is very important and that’s what often creates the impact, which is very important for us. When I sense something is becoming too close to something else I will definitely choose to diverge, but in terms of ‘does it influence me?’ I would say probably, but it’s not an active choice to be influenced… more subconscious kind of feeling.”

Mori seemed to be more openly influenced though. “I would frankly say that I am probably being influenced left and right. There’s no denying that there are influences everywhere and that has then affected my process of game creating. Similar to all forms of entertainment I think that as long as it has been around, people have explored and tried new things, that really what’s out there right now someone has already done. In a way, for better or worse, a repackaged version or one that borrows elements and turns it into a sort of different assortment of entertainment. If you really tried to trace an origin you could probably find something that is very similar to or it finds its own inspiration from. What I really try to think about is despite all that, how do you make it fun. Tying it all back into the fun and trying to create a new game design. I am not sure what the future has in store but you really have to escape the 2D surface and that might be where it is. In that sense lots of VR devices have been announced and I am not sure what that will do but I think that it is important to at least consider and think about what kind of new interaction can be done with the new tools that will be available to us. That really of course ties into the idea of fun because in terms of straight up ideas or just gimmicks I think a lot of that has been just done already, so it’s about finding that new fresh way to take advantage of the medium.”

Naturally, I had to ask what their favorite fighting games were, and this was met with a flurry of discussion and then they settled on some interesting choices. Mori went first, “Vampire Hunter, Tekken 3, as well as Garou: Mark of the Wolves. The reason why I chose these three in particular is because of the amount of time I spent playing these games. A lot of that really isn’t explicable as a lot of each of these games weren’t even balanced. Yet they still somehow contained an element that really made me want to play. Also Street Fighter Zero 2, that has a special place in my heart. There are a lot of friends of mine in the game development industry, and when we were all learning and being students, we were playing games. I’d spent an obscene amount of money on this game that we all just got together and realized that we should just buy a board. It would have been cheaper for us to have all chipped in and buy the entire thing so we could then play as much as we wanted.”

Daisuke’s choice was very specific and came down to a unique game system. “I would certainly say my favorite fighting game of all time is Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike. Of course all the games that Mori mentioned as well, I have also spent a lot of money on those games in the arcades. However, there are certain elements that I can pinpoint in 3rd Strike that really drew me to it, which is the system. It’s very simple, the animation is high quality and it looks beautiful. In terms of a game and the way it has been packaged and delivered it’s really of a very high standard. The other element, whether you call this a fault or a benefit, I find it very interesting is the parrying system. What makes this system so insane is the fact that if done, the person who performed that will have a 100% advantage by nature of the way the game was designed. Given that we now enter a new realm which is the element of actual execution and most fighting games players will play within the realm of what they feel comfortable executing. You could say that most fighting games are designed around that. Most aspects, combos, elements or whatever it is in the fighting game is designed to be executed but I feel that the parry system is so difficult, although it is 100% advantageous, it is so difficult that has almost been worked into the risk/reward balance of the game itself. There is an element of beauty to the fact that there is a system right there that will give you the advantage but the execution and the risk that you have to spend to reap the rewards that makes the overall balance so amazing. They didn’t leave the game systems and balance within the realm of the game itself but actually brought in the physical factor into it. I think that is why Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike is my fighting game.”

Keeping Their Japanese Advantage and Looking to The Future

It seems that fighting games are still very much a Japanese specialty and it’s clear that experience has a massive role to play in that.

Mori was pretty emphatic when he clarified their advantage over other studios. “In terms of our advantage at making fighting games, there really is no other answer except… experience. There is a sheer brute force, track record and history of experience that really stems and informs the way we design fighting games.”

Daisuke also pointed out that Japanese companies are bit different in the way the staff move around a lot less than their overseas peers. “There’s also the added benefit that the staff doesn’t really change in terms of its makeup that often compared to most Western studios. So once we acquire a certain amount of experience you get to either keep that or people build and grow their experience in a different way possibly compared to in the West.”

Finishing off, I wanted to ask what they both hope they could make in the future and Daisuke was quick to chime in. “In the latest Guilty Gear we put a lot of emphasis into the story mode, so the delivery and communication of how the story develops. In doing so, I realized the importance of a message and what I always try to keep in my mind is that fundamental message I want to communicate to the players. What I want them to walk away with after having played the game. So what that really got me thinking is that in the next game I certainly want there to be a strong message. Whether that’s a new experience that people should undergo or certain words and thoughts I had at the time that I feel are of value and should be shared. I definitely want to think about the delivery of such a message to the players that are interacting with the games that we create. One big goal that I have for our next game is a message that can be understood and consumed by adults and children alike.”



Mori’s response was both very humble and interesting as well. “What I am about to say might deny my entire existence, but even at that risk I think that it’s important to get out there. The moment someone sees the game I want them to know instantly that this is a game Arc made. I think a lot of other companies have successfully done this and I will use Pixar as an example. As the moment you see a Pixar movie you can tell it’s a Pixar movie. Just by looking at it. What I would like to experiment with and try pursuing is a game which when anyone sees they know Arc made that. Not that this is a game Mori made or so-and-so made but really the Arc System Works brand if you will. By using Pixar do I mean it needs to be largely accepted, no. It doesn’t necessarily need to be completely accepted by everyone but just as a sort of identity of the company and of its face as well as to the customers we are held responsible to I feel an interesting place to pursue in terms of that this is a game that Arc made and only Arc could make. So Frozen or Big Hero 6 that’s slightly different route of Disney but still very excellent in what they do. The moment you see it you know what it is. Same with Dreamworks, you see it and you know. It has a different flavor, taste and nuance than something another company would make. I think that sort of identity of a company is really important and the message that kind of delivers to their core fanbase and their audience. Genres aren’t even the focus here, you could pick any genre but what really makes it interesting for me is, for example you could take something shogi and if Arc were to make this game what would it look like? That is the question I feel I need to and want to answer.”

“If I were to make a game based on something that wasn’t a complete original, which is what I have done in the past, it would be based on the intellectual property of RWBY. So each girl has their own kind of color, theme that they are associated with and the original creator has sadly passed away. If we were to ever make a fighting game of this, I would want to really spearhead that if possible.”

Daisuke then gave his final comments about his remaining ambition for him and the studio as a whole. “I know overseas live action is a very popular medium but that is what it is. Just a medium. Although that is what people tend to consume, it’s not necessarily the only route to take and that’s why I think that when Japan tries to make live action it turns out to be cheesy and lacks realism. In order to do that the way Cagliostro and Laputa integrate that and told its story in that single space is really fascinating. That’s why I think live action aside, games and anime are the best source of expression that we have. Using those media effectively, I think that there are other stories, ideas or worlds that could told that could potentially inherit that same level of gravitas and importance that its predecessors did. So I would definitely like to be a part of something like that or even be the person responsible for that.”

Getting to talk with both Daisuke and Mori was very interesting, and they were eager to talk at length and really explain their points of view. I can only hope that the studio’s future games will continue to be as successful, if not more so, as their prior hits. At the very least, I know they will be both visually stunning and really cool.

Source: forbes

[Nyu Nozomi Hyuga]

Guilty Gear Xrd Revelator now available in North America, 'Dizzy joins the fray'

Guilty Gear Xrd Revelator is officially available in North America. PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 owners can now get their hands on the latest in the series, which includes new characters, modes, and polished game mechanics.

Along with the five new fighters: Johnny, Jack-O, Jam, Kum, and Raven, the console version of the game adds Dizzy. Voted #1 in Arc System Works' character poll, the trailer shows a quick silhouette of the returning combatant.

You can purchase Guilty Gear Xrd Revelator for $59.99 and $49.99 on PS4 and PS3, respectively.

Source: eventhubs

[Nyu Nozomi Hyuga]

You Need A Good Memory To Use Guilty Gear Xrd: Revelator’s Kum Haehyun

New characters joining an existing character roster is always an exciting event. You’re getting an opportunity to possibly find a new main and employ new strategies that revolve around new, perhaps even unexpected, movesets. Guilty Gear Xrd: Revelator introduces Kum Haehyun, Jack-O’, and Raven to the cast, and each one of these characters requires you to think a little differently about how you play the game. Kum Haehyun, in particular, requires a keen understanding of her moveset and a careful means of judging the flow of battle.

Kum Haehyun is the most straightforward of the new characters. She’s a Tuner that rides inside of a robot that looks like an old man. From her outward appearance, you’d expect her to play like Potemkin, but looks can be deceiving. Her attacks do feel quite deliberate, since she doesn’t use the gatling system for combos and relies on a link-based system that alters attacks with subsequent button presses, and she has large hitboxes, but she’s more newcomer friendly than the other fighter, doesn’t move slowly, and has no armored moves. 

For those unfamiliar with the terms, other Guilty Gear characters utilize a gatling combo system, where you can be in one position with one attack, then continue to lead into additional attacks or specials from that point by pressing additional buttons and directional inputs. With Kum Haehyun, pressing additional buttons after an attack will alter that attack and lead into additional hits.

Plenty of her attacks show how one little alteration can change how Kum Haehyun’s ability works. Tuning Ball is perhaps the best example. This is her standard projectile special. Pressing slash at the end of a 236 forward semi-circle move will send off a basic, blue projectile that hits once and can be moved forward and back with the forward and back directional buttons after it’s launched. If someone presses heavy slash instead of slash, it’ll instead be red and hit your opponent multiple times. You may want to go with the charged version if you’re able to stagger your enemy with a Command Normal beforehand. The Falcon Dive kicks can be held at the end to charge the attack and break through a guard. Aerial Falcon Dive also offers varying trajectories with the forward and back buttons and I’ve used it as an anti-air move. 

Even Kum Haehyn’s Enlightened 3000 Palm Strike and Celestial Tuning Ball Overdrives can be customized. Enlightened 3000 Palm Strike alters the attack in one of two ways, depending on the attack pressed at the end of the input sequence. It’s unblockable if you press heavy slash at the end, which some may want to do to perhaps guarantee damage to their opponent. Pressing Dust at the end will lower the Burst gauge in exchange for enhancing the attack. Both options also allow you to move the opponent closer or further away from you with the directional buttons. Meanwhile, Celestial Tuning Ball is an upgraded version of the standard Tuning Ball that can be moved all around the screen with the directional buttons. You can send it anywhere you’d like, not just forward and back like the standard tuning balls. Each one gives you control over the battlefield and situation. Even if the setup isn’t ideal when you launch into the Overdrive, the ability to move your opponent or the oversized Tuning Ball projectile will help you land a substantial hit.

All of this means that people using Kum Haehyun need both a good memory and to have the ability to read the flow of a fight. You need to know which moves are and aren’t right for any given situation and the inputs you need to make things work in your favor. You have to have practiced with her enough times to move the Tuning Ball projectiles around quickly and efficiently once launched. It’s even important to get the timing right so you can use a Command Normal at the right time to stagger a foe, so you could maybe transition into a Falcon Dive or Enlightened 3000 Palm Strike.

The funny thing is, despite the intricacies of her moveset, Kum Haehyun isn’t one of the hardest Guilty Gear Xrd: Revelator characters to use. It could take two weeks or so before you perfect her, but it isn’t too difficult to start understanding what does and doesn’t work. Especially if you take the time to go through the Dojo mode with her. Though, I’d also recommend taking her through as many online matches as you can. While the Dojo is a tremendous help, the best practice is against other people. You’re going to want to experience a wide range of matchups to figure out when certain variations of her Specials and Enlightened 3000 Palm Strike Overdrive should be used. Just make sure you don’t use Stylish, unless you’re trying to capture screenshots. You need the precise inputs only Technical can offer.

Simply put, Guilty Gear Xrd: Revelator’s Kum Haehyun is a character that requires you to read a battle and not hesitate when it comes to triggering specials. She gives you a lot of options, which means you can switch things up as the battle’s pace ebbs and flows. Learn how to control projectiles properly, as a means of anti-air defense and to hit while staying out of reach of certain characters. Know when to go with a standard or charged special. If you put in enough time, she can be a rather versatile fighter.

Kum Haehyun is immediately available in the North American PlayStation Store and free until June 21, 2016.

Source: siliconera

[The Big Daddy C-Master]

I've always liked games where characters have interesting mechanics.

[Nyu Nozomi Hyuga]

Keep the Pressure Going with Novril’s New Guilty Gear Crash Course Episodes

Whether you’re a veteran or a newcomer who just picked up the latest entry in the series, Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR-, Novril’s “Crash Course” series is a great way to pick up on subtleties in the anime fighter.

Episode 12, titled “Pressure Extenders,” explains how to stay on the offensive despite limitations in characters’ gatlings. Some ways include running up, using jump-cancellable moves, or attacks that have frame advantage. Novril also highlights an often-overlooked weakness of the Faultless Defense feature in the game.

The series started out in late 2015, and there’s more to come in the future. Novril stated in the comments that the next series will cover an extensive pressure guide applicable to fighting games in general.

Source: shoryuken

[Nyu Nozomi Hyuga]

Get a taste for Raven in Guilty Gear Xrd -Revelator- with this killer combo exhibition

Now that the Revelator update has hit consoles, Guilty Gear players have been able to get their hands on the newest iteration of Raven, and he's looking quite formidable.

HurtboxTV has put together a pretty beefy combo video to showcase the new, old Guilty Gear fighter in his latest form.

www.eventhubs.com/images/2016/jun/11/raven-combo/

Source: eventhubs

[The Big Daddy C-Master]

One thing I do like about this game are the lobbies and how they handle that entire system. SF5 could definitely learn from that.

[Nyu Nozomi Hyuga]

Prey On Backdashes as Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR-‘s Raven with this Okizeme Guide

Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR-‘s Raven doesn’t rely on huge damage to secure a victory, but instead wears his opponents down by swooping in and harassing with projectiles and strong okizeme.

Keeponrock.in has been busy producing short Raven clips that cover various techniques, and his latest provides an in depth explanation of Raven’s Ball okizeme. After getting a knockdown, Raven sends out a projectile that stays on the enemy, at which point he proceeds with his special glide dash to confirm into a combo. Since this setup is designed to beat backdashes, and since the Guilty Gear cast has loads of intricate differences between characters, Keeponrock.in goes through the best way to use the technique against each fighter.

In order to perform this, the player needs to know how to proficiently control the glide, which is explained on the Guilty Gear Wiki. There are many more videos on Keeponrock.in’s YouTube page which cover specific aspects of Raven.

www.dustloop.com/wiki/index.php/GGXRD-R/Raven/Strategy#How_to_control_the_airdash

Additionally, www.keeponrock.in is a useful resource for viewing archives of current, competitive Guilty Gear matches.

www.keeponrock.in/?title=GGXrdR%206%2F18%2F16%20-%20Karinchu%20%28Johnny%29%20Matches

Source: shoryuken

[Nyu Nozomi Hyuga]

Learn How to Turn May’s Mixups into a Touch of Death in Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR-

May has always been a heavy hitter. It’s built into her character design: easily lugging around an anchor that rivals her size. However, in Xrd, she has been given a slew of new mixup tools that make her pressure much more complex and difficult to block. May can set a hoop, release a dolphin from it, and ride the dolphin—this is old news. The newer mixup comes from the fact that she can then cancel this dolphin ride into an air normal and maintain the extreme forward momentum. This creates a devastating 50/50 mixup based on whether she chooses to hit high or land and hit low.

Now a player (Ice Cube) has turned this concept into a 100% combo off the 50/50 mixup. It requires the small amount of guard gauge from the few blocked normals beforehand, as well as 100% tension and burst meter.

High hit using j.H (jumping Heavy slash):

Low hit, faking out with j.2H (jumping down+Heavy Slash):

If you’re cornered against May, it’s likely you’ve already taken some damage, and therefore the guard gauge may not be necessary–maybe not even the second overdrive. But who doesn’t love finishing an opponent with the whale super?

Source: shoryuken

[Nyu Nozomi Hyuga]

Over 50 percent damage in a single combo, fireball wake up setups, and more - check out Hurtbox TV's Kum Haehyun combo video

Kum Haehyun is certainly one of the more interesting additions to the cast of Guilty Gear Xrd.

Hurtbox TV recently uploaded a combo video featuring Kum that explores some of what she's capable of, and certainly shows off her damage output.

The ability to control the velocity of Kum's fireball makes it one of her most valuable tools. It's often used to zone, or pressure on wakeup, but can also be great for extending combos.

www.eventhubs.com/images/2016/jun/17/kum-haehyun-combo/

Source: eventhubs

[Nyu Nozomi Hyuga]

Need more Guilty Gear in your life? Check out these Raven combos, most of which require no excitement

As the Guilty Gear community continues to tear into the new Revelator update to Xrd, we're eager to see exactly what the newest characters can do.

Today we have for you a Raven combo video that'll help you learn the basics for the character. Most of the combos don't require Raven's excitement meter to perform, meaning you'll be able to do them at any time.

Not all of Raven's combos are simple though, as you'll see the one below accumulates over 70 hits when it's all said and done.

www.eventhubs.com/images/2016/jun/21/nevermore/

Source: eventhubs

[The Big Daddy C-Master]

Who is your favorite in GG?

[Nyu Nozomi Hyuga]

Available for 7.99

Images from eventhubs & Video from shoryuken

[Nyu Nozomi Hyuga]

Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- 1.03 Patch Notes Translated


At the end of Evolution 2016 Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- finals, the creator of the game, Daisuke Ishiwatari, graced the stage to make a series of announcements. He revealed the first footage of Dizzy and explained the future of -REVELATOR-.



Two patches are coming, and version 1.03 already hit users like Jam’s Ryuujin with major changes for some of the cast, in particular Sin, Johnny, and Elphelt. Those received the hard end of the balance stick, while Jam, Haehyun, and Venom got considerbale improvements to their toolset.



Other than that, there are many changes to hurtboxes across all characters.



NikkiSlash compiled an English translation of the changes on Pastebin.



[Sol Badguy]

-Crouching Hurtbox

Hurtbox Increased upwards



– Hurtbox while getting hit

Hurtbox increased



– Hurtbox on the ground/crumple

Hurtbox OTG and during crumple increased



– 6HS

Bug where Sol wouldn’t get CH while active fixed



– Air Throw

Recovery upon touching the ground increased by 4F



=====



[Ky Kiske]

– Hurtbox on the ground/crumple

Hurtbox OTG and during crumple increased



– 3HS

Time to cancel unto Special Move increased by 4F



– j.S

Hitbox increased downwards



– Split Ciel

Stagger duration increased by 2F



=====



[May]

– Crouching Hurtbox

Hurtbox increased upwards



– 6HS

Upon holding the button, it automatically charges to Maximum



– j.HS

Damage increased from 35 to 38



– j.D

Damage increased from 33 to 35



– S Applaud

Wall Stick from dolphin ride decreased by 4F in order to make it equal to other versions



=====



[Millia]

– Crouching Hurtbox

Hurtbox increased upwards



– Dash

Hurtbox more even during movement



– Iron Saber

Upon using right next to the opponent, if it does not hit, the move ends



– HS Tandem Top

Upon using Red RC, the projectile no longer follows Millia



=====



[Zato-1]

– Dash

Hurtbox more even during movement



– Hurtbox on the ground (with the back on the ground)

Hurtbox increased



=====



[Potemkin]

– Crouching Hurtbox

Hurtbox decreased



– Throw

Causes Ground bounce, allowing combos with RC



=====



[Chipp]

– Hurtbox Standing/Crouch

Hurtbox mode more even



– Hurtbox while getting hit

Hurtbox on the front increased



– 6P

CH state lasts only until the active frames end



– Throw

Causes Ground bounce, allowing combos with RC



=====



[Faust]

– Hurtbox on the ground (with the back on the ground)

Hurtbox increased downwards



– Going My Way (follow-up version)

Damage increased from 12 to 14



– Hop

Movement duration reduced from 18F to 16F



– During Pogo, P

Untechable Time increased from 28F to 32F



– During Pogo, K

Untechable Time increased to 54F from 60F



– During Pogo, S

Untechable Time increased to 28F from 32F

Untechable Time of the charged version increased from 40F to 46F, knocks up the opponent further



=====



[Axl Low]

– Haitaka no Kamae

No longer able to cancel stance after the 6th hit



=====



[Venom]

– 6P

Active Frames increased from 4F to 7F

Added Jump Cancel

Recovery reduced by 3F



– 5HS

Special Cancel window increased by 3F



– j.HS

Untechable Time increased from 14F to 16F



– Ball Summon

Tension gain increased from 50 to 75



– Stinger Aim

Tension gain increased from 150 to 250



– Carcass Raid

Tension gain increased from 150 to 200



– QV

Tension gain increased from 150 to 200



– Mad Struggle

Tension gain increased from 150 to 200



– Throw

Blitz Shield bug after Throw fixed

Burst bug after Throw fixed



=====



[Slayer]

– Helter Skelter

Now has throw invul upon hitting the ground

Upon using YRC the projectile stays active



=====



[I-No]

– j.236K

On CH, launches opponent away and bouncer higher



– j.236S

On CH, launches opponent away and bouncer higher



– Dead Angle Attack

Throw invul decreased from 38F to 33F



=====



[Bedman]

– Throw

Throw range reduced making it equal to Sol (and other characters)



=====



[Ramlethal Valentine]

– 6S/6HS (with the swords equipped)

Time to be able to use again the swords after they attack or Ram defends reduced to 38F



– PK4K

Last hit is now cancellable on whiff



– Slide Detruo

CH bounces up equal to normal version



=====



[Sin Kiske]

– 2S

Damage reduced from 32 to 27



– 6HS

Damage reduced from 42 to 38



– 2D

Prorate 90% added



– j.6HS

Damage reduced from 44 to 36



– Hunger animation

No longer able to Purple RC



– Special Moves

All moves except “Maybe I’ll hit something” and “Leap” Tension Gain reduced from 150 to 100



– Beak Driver

1º hit damage of normal version reduced from 46 to 36

Recovery increased by 10F

Charged version damage reduced from 76 to 66



– Air Beak Driver

Damage reduced from 50 to 40



– Elk Hunt

Prorate increased from 90% to 85%

Recovery increased by 2F



– Eat

On 25F, fills up 1000 points

On 43F, fills up by the same amount as previous version



– R.T.L.

Damage reduced from 60 to 50

If a hit whiffs, Sin is no longer able to do the follow up



=====



[Elphelt Valentine]

– Air Throw

Ground Bounce lowered



– Berry Pine

Hurtbox increased (easier to be knocked away by the opponent)

Direction the grenade flies upon being hit is now based upon opponent’s character position



– Berry Pine (self damage)

Elphelt can now block the explosion

Explosion knocks up Elphelt further

Prorate decreased from 50% to 80%



– Roll (Shotgun K)

Strike invul reduced from 16F to 10F



– c.S

Hurtbox increased upwards



– f.S

Hurtbox increased forward



– 2S

Hurtbox increased upwards



– 2HS

Hurtbox increased upwards (before being able to low profile)



– 6HS

Hurtbox increased forward



– j.S

Prorate added: 85%



– Miss Confille

Tension Gain of Reload reduced from 150 to 50

Tension Gain of Perfect Reload reduced from 200 to 100

Tension Gain of Shot reduced from 400 to 200



– Miss Travailler

Tension Gain of Reload reduced from 100 to 50

Tension Gain of Shot reduced from 200 to 100



– Launch (Shotgun S)

Attack level reduced from 3 to 2

Hurtbox increased upwards



– Shot (Shotgun HS)

Normal Version (close range): Damage reduced from 35 to 30

Charged Version (close range): Damage reduced from 60 to 55



– Bridal Express

Attack level reduced from 4 to 3



– Air Bridal Express

Recovery upon touching the ground increased from 3F to 7F



– Hurtbox on the ground (backside up)

Hurtbox fixed and increased



=====



[Leo Whitefang]

– Standing Hurtbox (while blocking)

Hurtbox increased upwards



=====



[Johnny]

– Guts

Reduced from 4 to 3



– Dash

Tension Gain reduced from 30 to 15



– 6P

Recovery increased by 3F



– 6K

Attack level reduced from 3 to 2



– f.S

Hurtbox increased forward



– 2S

Recovery increased by 5F

Hurtbox increased forward



– 5HS

Damage reduced from 42 to 38

Hurtbox increased forward



– 2HS

Damage reduced from 48 to 42

Hurtbox increased forward



– 6HS

Damage reduced 65 to 52

Hurtbox increased forward



– 2D

1º hit damage increased from 25 to 30

2º hit damage reduced from 25 to 20



– j.S

Hurtbox increased



– j.D

Damage reduced from 44 to 36



– Mist Stance

No longer gain Tension upon entering Mist Stance



– Mist Finer (all)

Tension Gain changed:

Lv1 = from 480 to 100

Lv2 = from 960 to 150

Lv3 = from 1080 to 200



– Mist Finer High (Lv1)

Dano increased from 29 to 30



– Mist Finer Lv3 (all)

Grounded Version: Damage Reduced from 70 to 60

Aerial Version: Damage Reduced 60 to 55



– Baccus Sigh

Upon hitting Mist Finer while the opponent is blocking with Baccus Sigh, causes stagger

Prorate increased from 70% to 60%

Bug where the effect wasn’t removed upon Johnny getting hit fixed



=====



[Jack-O]

– f.S

Recovery increased from 16F to 20F

Hurtbox increased



– 2S

Recovery increased from 18F to 22F



– Ghosts

Now has a cooldown upon a Ghost being killed to spawn another

Tension Gain next to the Ghosts reduced from 5 to 3

No longer gains Tension during the cinematics



– Servants

Hurtbox increased



– Throw Ghost

Attack Level reduced from 4 to 2



=====



[Jam Kuradoberi]

– Crouching Hurtbox

Hurtbox while being hit increased upwards



– 6K

Knocks away less when hit

CH state ends when the active frames do

Special Cancel window increased by 8F



– 2S

Special Cancel window increased by 7F



– 2HS

Special Cancel window increased by 2F



– 6HS

Special Cancel window increased by 4F



– 2D

Knock up the opponent further



– Throw

Number of hits during combo does not change the height the opponent is knocked up



– Charge

Charge time for 1 stock reduced from 44F to 41F

Charge time for MAX stock reduced from 86F to 77F

Stock does not go away if Jam gets hit during Charge after 41F



– Ryuujin (Power-up)

Ground Version: Damage increased from 75 to 80

Invul increased from the moment she leaves the ground until 1F after the attack activates



– Kenroukyaku

Normal version is Invul until activation

Power-up version in the air is Throw Invul

Normal version has prorate 90%



– Hamonkyaku

Knocks up the opponent further

Hitbox increased upwards



– Hyapposhinshou

Hurtbox during dash decreased downwards



– Senrishinshou

Hurtbox during dash decreased downwards



– Pao-Saishinshou

Bug during Overdrive animation fixed



=====



[Kum Haehyun]

– 6P

Recovery reduced by 3F

Knocks up on normal hit



– 6HS

Untechable Time increased from 38F to 48F

Rolling time on CH increased



– Throw

Opponent stays in OTG state longer



– Air Throw

Opponent stays in OTG state longer



– Arakan Sanzenshou (236236HS)

Forced Prorate on 2º hit removed

Prorate of 60% added on 2º hit

Forced Prorate of 60% added on 1º hit



– Shinkyuu Choudengan (236236S)

Time active increased from 180F to 240F

Harder to fill up Tension during that period



=====



[Raven]

– Glide

No longer possible to Air Throw during the movement



– Schmerz Berg (236P)

Hitbox increased downwards



– Koko ni Saretai

Raven can’t get hit until the animation is over



– Getreuer

Stun rate adjusted

Gameplay and Patch Summary

Niconico streamed an Arc System Works Post-Evo Festival, which showcased top Japanese talent playing with the balance patch applied (which is hitting Japanese arcades August 4th).



The video shows Machabo, Omito, Rion, and Nakamura experiencing the patch changes. Notably, Machabo starts considering playing Ky Kiske again.



American player Oso created a humorous “visual” patch notes video, which doesn’t showcase every single change that’s taken place, but provides useful examples of new things.



Source: shoryuken

[The Big Daddy C-Master]

I wonder how the meta of the game will be now with those changes.

[Nyu Nozomi Hyuga]

Guilty Gear Xrd Revelator Glitch Leaves Dizzy’s Fish Frozen on Screen

Guilty Gear Xrd Revelator’s newest character, the returning veteran Dizzy, released last week on July 18, to much fanfare, after winning a character poll last year. As players all over the world have been searching for any and all tech they can find, a strange glitch has also been discovered.

Dubbed “Fish Install,” if a player grabs during a small window of either version of her ice fish move, “We talked a lot together,” before it hits the opponent with its lunging animation, the fish will become stuck in place, losing both its hitbox and its hurtbox, rendering it nothing more than frozen graphics filling up the screen–unless a new fish is summoned and hits within the same area, at which time the old fish will take on the properties of the newly-summoned one. The P version hits three times in front of Dizzy, but does not track the opponent, whereas the K version will track horizontally before hitting twice.

You can see a pair of videos showing off the glitch below, courtesy of ImperiousGent and yoefu02, as well as some Tweets explaining more about how this works.

With Patch 1.04 scheduled for a Fall 2016 release, hopefully Arc System Works can patch this out as they add the new Digital Figure Mode.

Source: shoryuken

[Nyu Nozomi Hyuga]

Guilty Gear Xrd -Revelator- is getting an all new mode; introducing GG Digital Figures

This is not a new fighting mode, but it does look quite interesting for those who enjoy collecting and accessorizing.



Come Fall Guilty Gear Xrd -Revelator- will be updated with its new Digital Figure Mode, which allows players to collect digital statues of the game's characters, customize them and then use them to create unique dioramas.



You'll be able to customize your characters' poses, colors and backgrounds, then place them next to each other to create scenes as you express your more artistic side.



We imagine players will need to grind through the game's other modes to unlock different figures and options in DF Mode. This will lend itself well to those of us with a more completionist approach. Hit the jump to view the DF Mode trailer.



Source: eventhubs

[The Big Daddy C-Master]

A digital figure mode? Sounds interesting. Never hurts to have more things to unlock.

[Nyu Nozomi Hyuga]

'I wanted to create a fighting game inspired by universes in manga or anime,' - Toco Toco puts the spotlight on Guilty Gear's Daisuke Ishiwatari

The Toco Toco show over on YouTube is aimed at introducing Japanese artists and creators to the world. They are currently working on a special series that features the creators of video games, and this time around Guilty Gear's own Daisuke Ishiwatari is in the spotlight.

Each Toco Toco episode feels a bit like a mini-documentary; not only do you get a bit of insight behind each creator, but you also get a small glimpse into their workspace to really get a feel for what they do, and Ishiwatari's feature is no different.

Over the course of the video, Ishiwatari speaks quite a a bit on designing Guilty Gear, ranging from his inspiration behind the creation of the series, to the little things he does or thinks about to help keep him grounded during the creation process.
"I know when something has reached its best form and should remain untouched, but still, I can't help myself to add something more." Ishiwatari says, speaking about a habit that he has when it comes to the creation process. He goes on to state that he feels that this push to add something more to what could be percieved as complete could summarize the spirit of Guilty Gear.



Source: eventhubs

[Nyu Nozomi Hyuga]

Alex Jebailey Promises $1,000 Pot Bonus to Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- at CEOtaku if It Reaches 200 Entrants

The majority of the pot bonuses we see today come from corporate sponsors–primarily from the game developers. While Atlus has already supplied a $1,000 pot bonus at CEOtaku for The King of Fighters XIV, and Degica has supplied a $250 pot bonus for Koihime Enbu, the Arc System Works titles on Alex Jebailey’s roster has been left out in Orlando’s balmy September weather.

Jebailey, however, aims to change that. He has thrown down the gauntlet to Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- players: offering a $1000 pot bonus supplied by himself, should the game break 200 players by September 26th. As of press time, the game currently has 156 players in the running for the event in Orlando that runs from September 30th to October 2nd.

With 10 days left, it looks likely that Guilty Gear will reach the 200 player mark. To help ensure the game gets the numbers to get its pot bonus, you should definitely point your browser to CEOtaku’s website to sign up for the event.

ceogaming.org/ceotaku

Source: shoryuken

[Nyu Nozomi Hyuga]

Check out How the Digital Figure Mode Works in the Upcoming Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- Patch



As promised right after the 2016 Evo Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- championship, a Digital Figure Mode is making its way to the Arc System Works game later this month. On September 30th, the mode will be available thanks to a free patch alongside some as yet unannounced balance changes.

In an introductory trailer, the company explains how the mode works. It functions like a diorama: it allows to set a scene between two characters in any background available from the game. The trailer shows off how flexible it’s going to be. For example, it’s possible to put Sol Badguy in his motorcycle from Story Mode and change his facial expressions and color. Naturally, the game allows to freely move the camera around in 3D and zoom in on the details. PlayStation 4 users can then take a screenshot and share it across social media by using the Share feature.

There’s also a contest tied to a #GGXrd_Photo hashtag that will run until October 10th.



Source: shoryuken

[Nyu Nozomi Hyuga]

Arc System Works’ Limited Edition Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- Arcade Stick Now Available at Arcade Shock



Back when Guilty Gear Xrd first launched for home consoles a couple of years back, there were two special arcade sticks released for the game: a Tournament Edition 2 variant from MadCatz and Arc System Works’ own Guilty Gear Xrd-themed arcade stick. For Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR-, Arc System Works and Sanwa Denshi are updating the latter arcade stick for this edition of Xrd.

shoryuken.com/2015/01/05/shoryuken-review-mad-catz-guilty-gear-xrd-sign-arcade-fightstick-tournament-edition-2/

shoryuken.com/2014/09/12/arc-system-works-and-sanwa-denshi-releasing-arcade-stick-alongside-guilty-gear-xrd-sign-console-launch/

This Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- Fight Stick features the same heavy duty form factor as the previous version. Its large top panel (perfect for resting big hands on) sports a full array for Sanwa Denshi parts for everything, including the control panel buttons on the upper left of the top panel. New to the -REVELATOR- version is the top panel art of series protagonist Sol Badguy, as well as three additional alternate top panel art pieces that users can swap in.

For those interested in picking up this super limited edition stick (only a bit over 300 made), Arcade Shock have brought a very limited number of these sticks over the the US. More importantly, they will be selling them at no markup whatsoever–the $220 price tag is a direct 1:1 conversion of the original Japanese price.

Expected shipping date for these is sometime in October. Interested folks can pre-order them now over at Arcade Shock.

arcadeshock.com/products/guilty-gear-xrd-revelator-fight-stick-by-arcsys-imported

Source: shoryuken

[The Big Daddy C-Master]

Sweet design. Are you picking one up?

[Nyu Nozomi Hyuga]

Patch Notes Revealed for Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- Version 1.04

Earlier this morning, details of the latest patch for Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- were released in Japanese. These notes have since been translated. The patch is dropping this Friday, so make sure to brush up on these changes so you’re ahead of the game come the 30th. Of the listed changes, the characters with the most changes appear to be Potemkin, Johnny, and Dizzy–with nothing but buffs for all three of them.

CEOtaku is merely days away, with a lot of excitement around it. The patch is releasing a day before CEOtaku so Alex Jebailey, head organizer of CEOtaku, was asked that any competitors that are bringing setups to turn off automatic downloads on their PS4s to prevent the patch loading on their systems.

I’m reminded of Killer Instinct, when that game updated in the middle of Combo Breaker. They were able to have that situation resolved, so hopefully CEOtaku can get everything worked out.

Revelator Patch 1.04 Character changes:

Millia
>6K : Increased leg hurtbox on frames 1-4

Potemkin
>2P Hitbox and Hurtbox increased upwards.
>j.K Damage increased from 22 to 24
>j.S Damage increased from 32 to 36
>j.HS Damage increased from 40 to 45
>j.D Damage increased from 45 to 50
>j.D now groundbounces on Counter Hit
>Fixes a bug where Tension did not increase on Ground Throw.

Axl Low
>c.S Into 3P Gatling Added.
>Fixed command grab bug where opponent would become inoperable.

Venom
>Increased hurbox on his wallsplat, extended upwards.

Slayer
>6K Landing Recovery reduced from 5 to 4 frames.
>Helter Skelter throw invinicible 1f before landing

Bedman
>2K proration increased from 80% to 70%
>Can't airthrow during Air Movement 2 (downwards). (Unsure on this one)

Ramlethal
>3K hurtbox reduced downwards.
>Swordless f.S Gattling to Sword 2HS added.
>Sword 2S Damage increased from 60 to 70.

Sin Kiske
>2K Proration changed from 80% to 70%
>Crouching guard hurtbox reduced downwards.
>Beak Driver 2f less recover. Charge Takes 2f longer.

Elphelt
>Command Grab Proration changed from 70% to 60%

Leo Whitefang
>F.S>P Recovery reduced from 62 to 52. Holding the button allows you to extend the guardpoint for 10 more frames.
>5H>P Recovery reduced from 61 to 51. Holding the button allows you to extend the guardpoint for 10 more frames.

Johnny
>2K Prorate changed from 75% to 70%.
>f.S Hurtbox extended downwards.
>2S Startup increased by 1 frame (9 to 10)
>2S hurtbox increased forwards.
>6H hurtbox increased forwards.
>Crouching guard hurtbox reduced downwards.
>Low Mist FIner lvl1 now behaves the same when it hits people who were standblocking in the mist and when it just hits normally. (Bugfix)
>Bugfix when treasure hunt hits Sign costume elphelt

Jam
>Ryujin (max level included) proration changed from 75% to 80%.
>Air Ryujin Invulnerability reduced to only cover startup frames.
>Ground Ryujin damage changed from 100 to 80.

Raven
>Airdash hurtbox expanded downward
>cr.K prorate from 90% to 80%
>far. Standing S hurtbox increased forwards
>j.P prorate changed from 100% to 90%

Dizzy
>2P proration changed from 70% to 80%
>f.5S and 5H cancel window increased by 9 frames.
>2H attack level increased from 2 to 4
>Charge Blitz now counters until the end of recovery (?)
>236S and 236H hurtbox reduced downwards
>421S, 421H, 236P and all fishes Tension gain increased by 50.
>Aerial Fishes reduced recovery. Landing recovery removed.
>Grounded S/H/D Fishes recovery reduced.
>Bubble Pop hitbox increased. Travel time increased. Recovery reduced by 1frame.
>Burst Imperial Ray increased damage.

Source: shoryuken & pastebin