This is the best fighting game I ever played

[Newgel]

Not new to fighting games but new to guilty gear, I bought this on a whim fully expecting to refund before two hours but it clicked with me.
MK, injustice and street fighter felt too stiff for me, BlazBlue CF was too complex. This feels just right for someone who likes the movement of anime fighters but sucks at overcomplicated inputs and combos.
If someone had made me listen to the soundtrack and told me the vocal tracks play during fights I would have bought it way sooner. I play KY and Axl and their themes are soo good, Out of the Box feels so hopeful that I don't even get mad when I lose, it's like I just had a friendly spar with a lifelong friend.
This didn't get the steam award for best soundtrack?

[Emerald Lance]

I've been playing anime fighters for as long as they've been a thing, and Strive is my favorite one. Not despite its changes to the formula, but because of them. Just like how the first Guilty Gear codified the anime fighter sub genre, I feel like Strive has created a really nice "2.0" to the format. It feels really fresh to play after every other anime game was trying to be "Accent Core but again" for over a decade. Between Strive and Granblue, I really pleased with ASW's new fighting game direction. I hope Blazblue gets a similar treatment in the future.

[Vassago Rain]

I think of strive as missing link II, and it ranks in super high on my favorite fighting games list. Think I'll place it in second place, right after missing link, but ML is primarily there for the nostalgia and jank.
It's so nice finally having a fighting game that I can show off to complete beginners with a high chance that they'll stick with it.

[dash slamson]

cope