What character to play for a beginner ?

[Fanta_Stick]

Hi,

Been playing the game for a time with friends, i have every characters but Elphelt and Johhny. I played a lot of MK before, but i'm still very new (less than 50 hours) into GGST.

Who would you recommend to learn the game well with ?

[Sally05]

You can learn more about the game in detail in the tutorial and missions.
It is good to start with a character you like, using ease of use as a guide.

I recommend a character with 4 stars or more to get started.
On the other hand, characters with less than 2 stars would be difficult to touch at the beginning.

[Leo]

Just play who you think looks cool. At lower levels it doesn't really matter how easy or hard a character is. The most important part is to just enjoy the game.

But if you specifically want some character recommendations, then I learned the fundamentals of the game when I first started playing with May and Ky Kiske.

[Vassago Rain]

Whichever character you think looks cool, but if you're completely new to real 2d fighters, a couple hours on very fundamental characters like Sol, Ky, and May provide a good foundation, and let you get a feel for the game.

[Mr.I]

Ramlethal.

[AHotdogVendor]

play whoever looks the coolest, only thing i'd keep in mind is:
A) don't get pigeon holed. remember you can play multiple characters
B) hard characters are going to be hard. cope and seethe.
C) it's a good idea to pick up another character to learn parts of the game you're struggling with (especially if your character has 1-2 stars in difficulty)
D) have fun. if it isn't fun then why the ♥♥♥♥ are you playing.

- An example, AKA the below doesn't matter -

I like Faust. but Faust can be confusing.
His air-dash is ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up and pretty everything about him is messed up and his combos are not very friendly to someone who doesn't play fighting games (at least to me they weren't).
So I picked up Millia, for some reason.
I learned rush down and basics of combos, and came back just as confused but at least I knew why I was confused.
Faust also has really ♥♥♥♥♥♥ frame data, so I picked up Anji, for some reason.
He has a move called Fuujin, which is a 4 way (technically 5) game of rock-paper-shotgun.
The overhead is BEEFY, but slow and loses to high-block. The sweep is faster, but you're still boned if they low-block it. You can jump and toss a projectile which is good when blocked, but you're easily swatted out of the air. You could just nope out of there, but while you don't get hit you don't hit them. Then there's the hop, which is a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ move that loses to mashing but you just hop, grab them, and hop again. This taught me the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ that is frame data and hitboxes.
...and that parry mechanics are NUTTY.
Playing other characters taught me things that would've came a lot harder to Faust, and now I have two other characters in my back pocket when I'm having a bad day on Faust.
In the future, I'm gonna pick up Slayer (once he's out) and Potemkin to learn patience and punish game. Play to your strengths. Fix your weaknesses.

[Valentine (Lunaticus)]

Just try the characters and see what feels good to you, for whatever reason. It could be the characters looks, personality, some move(s) they have.

I never expected to main Anji in this game, I just tried him in training and I just started coming up with red roman cancel combos and he just felt good. After that he kinda became my main without realizing it.

[n00bdragon]

1. Play who looks cool. The reason for this is because a character you like is one you'll stick with and one you stick with is one you actually learn and the one you actually learn is the one you'll play best with.
2. Play lots of different characters and try them all out, then stick with the one that feels best. Some characters might just feel good to play even if you aren't super into their aesthetics. Like above, the one you stick with is the one you'll learn best. Also, while you don't have to main all the characters at once, having a passing familiarity with all characters will immensely improve your gameplay with your main. A good goal is to be able to play all characters 2-3 floors below your main.

[Nauct]

Ram - Big Normals, easy to play/learn
Elphelt - Easy offense, just mix with rekka
Ky - good all rounder, Dragon Punch, Projectile, Neutral skips, good survivability

[JuggFTW]

bedman, you get to skill check your opponents, and as a wise man once said "this will be on the test and the test is blocking this overhead"

[Emerald Lance]

If Elphelt and Johnny are the only two characters you like, then play those characters. They're both easy to pick up and play anyway.

[Guck Bippy]

If you're committed to improving and want to learn the game's fundamentals, play Sol. If you just want to hop on occasionally and get max value for minimal effort, play Ky. Do not play Ky if you actually want to learn the game — his kit is extremely ignorant (speaking as a Ky/Chaos main).

Side note: Baiken is the top tier version of Ky with the drawback of requiring a little extra effort consequently.