Recent reviews by SnffnFingers

Baldur

Absolutely fantastic roguelike

I will preface this by saying I enjoy mk1 however I do not believe it to be worth the $70 price tag. It's lacking of basic fundamental qol features in a modern day fighting game alone speaks in regard to that. There are plenty of reasons that while having solid and rewarding gameplay this game fails at being a triple A fighting game experience. I'll go over the pros and cons.
Pros:
-Solid gameplay foundation with exciting pressure sequences, fun and unique setup opportunities, cool combos, and overall great design in the visual aspect as well.
-The game is gorgeous with stunning stages and absolutely amazing character renders that trump even mk11's graphics.
-Mk1's story is an overall improvement in writing quality compared to mk11 and is the same fun we have come to expect from NRS story campaigns.
- The new/returning characters are all welcome additions that add a lot of fresh faces to the mix
- The kameo system is robust and fluid allowing for creative gameplay for a variety of different characters. A character can be impacted by a single kameo in similar ways that they would differ in variations (ofc this depends on the kameo/character synergy)
-character taunts are a major improvement and many have fun unique ones
-fatalities are absolutely gorgeous in this game and pound for pound are an improvement over mk11's fatalities
-Brutalities, while still not as good as mkx, are better implemented in mk1 than mk11 with many characters having organic brutalities you can easily fit at the end of combos for cool finishes as well as challenge brutalities that require more setup.
Cons:
-The netcode of this game is not good. It is rollback netcode however it is more comparative in quality to sf5's original "rollback" rather than say mk11's rollback. This was worsened by the recent omniman patch,
-The gear system in general has taken a huge step back in this game. The gear system has been relegated to a singular piece of gear that can either significantly alter your character's look (havik helmet) or make a change that is hardly noticeable in moment to moment gameplay (geras chest piece).
-The collection system in mk1 has also taken a step back from mk11. There are no more towers and there is no more krypt. The Krypt has been replaced by a gamemode called invasions which is a glorified challenge tower stretched into several board game styled maps. The maps themselves do offer variety in terms of looks and approach as well as secrets obtainable. However these positives apply to the krypt as well so as a replacement it does not improve on what was already established in my eyes.
-The training mode.
-Character interactions and presentation have taken a step back. What I mean by this is the presentation and interaction of characters in this game has been stripped. Intro dialogue has been relegated to one phrase for each character as well as being separated from the characters respective intro animation (characters will talk ♥♥♥♥ to each other and then walk in all cool instead of doing it at the same time.) Round end taunts also are a little worse. while animations for round end taunts are still fantastic I find that there's a lot less dialogue for the characters between rounds with most resorting to grunts, laughs, war cries, or simply silence.
-Premium currency in a $70 fighting game title. It began with SF6 and it's continued into mk1. It's one thing to have skin packs for characters however it's another to introduce a premium currency with a rotating shop that's overpriced. (Halloween fatality looking at you)

Mk1 is a great gameplay foundation with a lot of hanging qol, netcode, and gear issues. The good news is many of these can be fixed with updates adding new gear, netcode fixes, training revamp, and general qol improvements to ui and other aspects. However in it's current state I would not recommend mk1 for it's $70 price tag and would suggest waiting for a sale or at least a patch to fix the current performance issues plaguing the game since the omni-man update.

85/100

In terms of raw gameplay Guilty Gear Strive competes with a lot of the top names out there in the fighting game world for the average player. The roman cancel mechanic is one of the single best mechanic introduced into a fighting game. The freedom it allows is staggering and ends with very inventive combos/mixup opportunities. Defensive mechanics could use a little fine tuning as well as potentially the inclusion of new defensive mechanics altogether, but that's a different topic.

Presentation is top notch as well with fantastic cel-shaded anime inspired graphics backed by an engaging soundtrack with each character fitted with their own personalized themes. The UI is user friendly with a clear indication of how to reach everything available in the game. Each character is also intricately designed and unique enough that there will be at least one character that appeals to you.

The Issues with the game stem from the tedious collection progression, lack of single player content, and buggy lobby/online system. Fishing in the game is slow and sucks dookie ass (it's a journey I can say I've taken.) The collection of music, trophies/figurines, lobby furniture, and lobby character items are all tied to fishing. You fish by using in-game currency collected from generally playing the game. Fishing is extremely slow and monotonous. It's not an interesting way to unlock a majority of the collectibles in the game. The single player campaign is non-existent; instead arcsystem chose to include a story "movie" that's completely non-playable. Other than the story-mode "movie" the single player content extends to arcade mode and dojo.... The lobby system is great in theory, but bad in execution. With buggy duel systems kicking you out multiple times until you find the exact duel system you're allowed to use is lame as ♥♥♥♥. Since the addition of crossplay, yes the game has crossplay wooo, it is very troublesome to find a match. While in NA East I will consistently disconnect from multiple matches that are queued before I even have a chance to accept them. This is a consistent issue since crossplay's inclusion.

Overall GG:ST is a very solid game with the potential to be one of the greatest games if arcsys chooses to do the one thing that would fix the game in it's entirety. Add sex.

It's kind of like overwatch and I love overwatch great game