A series of new footage from the Guilty Gear Strive was released yesterday, when GameSpot launched nine minutes of gameplay with Ky, Sol, Axl, Zato-1 and newcomer Nagoriyuki.
We certainly noticed Ky Kiske’s new Dragon installation technique, but Rooflemonger details this and three other notable points in the showcase, one of which is an update on the way Nagoriyuki’s new, vampiric blood meter works.
The cyber vampire certainly has a ton of intrigue about him, as he is one of Strive’s additions to the Guilty Gear franchise, and he has unique mechanics that serve as a kind of double-edged sword: his blood meter. This gauge is filled throughout the fight and gives the character enhanced skills, but it also drains his life continuously by filling up.
Rooflemonger points to a rather large update to this mechanic compared to the little we have seen before, notably that the meter fills up gradually rather than in instant pieces. There is much more to this fighter as it was used in the showcase, as potential properties of his berserk activation sequence, but let the content creator go into the details there.
Another major point of interest in the shoot is the showcase of the new downtime of the Axl Low Super. The returning Guilty Gear character now has the ability to freeze his opponents in place in order to prepare for a combo of his choice.
We only have visual aids for our analysis here, of course, but it seems that this Super must be stocked before being implemented in the action. Axl stocks the technique and accumulates a purple glow over it to indicate that it is now in play (not unlike M. Bison’s V-Skill 2 in Street Fighter 5), but then activates it and freezes his enemy anywhere on the screen .
During filming, the maneuver is used while opponents are in shock from previous attacks, which leads us to speculate that Axl will simply not be able to activate it at any time and make it work. Enemies can very well block the freeze if they are not caught in the middle of a combo or in some kind of long boot or recover the animation from one of their own attacks.
Check out the full video here for all the interesting information you may have missed on the first screening. Is there anything else that hasn’t been highlighted by anyone yet? Follow the comments with your thoughts, notes and reactions.