So, you've decided to try out the Guilty Gear series?
Congrats! Guilty Gear is a series of Fighting Games with the Aerial and Speed style, meaning, the gameplay will be geared (pun intended) towards varied combos, launching your opponent upwards to continue these combos and frantic fights. It is closer to Marvel Vs Capcom 1 than Street Fighter in terms of speed and special effects.
The Arc System Works team is renowned for the quality of their fighting games in most senses (character design and awesome speed-metal soundtrack included), so you can expect a solid fighting system with balanced and varied characters. You have all kinds, from the grapplers, to the arena controllers and so on, so if you don't like a character's play style, you nearly always have options to switch to. Their designs are as varied as their playstyles, with lots of interesting characters to pick from, from women who fight with their hair and venom-esque undead to kusari-gama wielders and holy knights.
Now things get a bit dicey. These games have LOTS of inner mechanics, that may scare not only newcomers, but seasoned fighters from other games as well. While they seem daunting and overly complex at first, some visits to the tutorial will make things a bit better and always, always go to the training sections in order to get acquainted with your character of choice. The tutorial and challenge area will not only teach you about the inner mechanics, but also about combos, giving you a solid base to start from.
Which game should you start from? I honestly suggest the newest ones (Revelator, Sign or Strive), because their tutorials and challenge areas are more refined, and not much is lost between games. If you choose a base character such as Ky or Chip, you'll find that their playstyles barely changed. Not helping matters is that the naming of the franchise's sequels is insane at best, with words seemingly tossed at random, visit a Wiki without guilt to check which ones are the latest.
Now, about the story...
Guilty Gear is set in a world where a great cataclysm forced mankind to replace anything electrical with magic. Gears are magical beasts that come in all sizes, shapes and flavors, were used as war beasts till a special 'commander gear' called 'Justice' controlled them and set them against humankind. A lot of the planet was wasted, japan was nearly destroyed with Japanese deemed under 'threat of extinction' and a crusade made against the gears, ending with Justice killed and mankind saved.
That's the bare minimum you need to know. Before you go on, ask yourself this: "Can I handle a story so cheesy it will kill anyone lactose intolerant in a five-mile radius, and so needlessly complex it would make Metal Gear Solid look like an 80's action movie?"
If no, PlayTheGameSkipTheStory, without any guilt. Don't even dare to look at the 'story modes'. If you're curious, visit the Wiki and ONLY THAT. Sign's "Completed the story" achievement was reached by literally 10% of the played base, and that happened for a reason.
If yes, oh boy, grab a bucket of popcorn, gather the friends, and don't take ANYTHING you see seriously or else your brain will pop. Daisuke Ishiwatari (the serie's creator, designer and writer), is really good with designs and music, but oh boy, he writes like an unhinged George Lucas cranked up to 11. The first games in the series were straightforward 'street fighter' storytelling, with each character having its arcade mode. Sequels introduced an interesting 'visual novel' style where choices, and more importantly, how you played could change the outcome of the story, before they were switched by a 'machinima-esque' straightforward visual novel story separated from the gameplay. There are TONS of side-content hidden within novels, audio dramas and even pachinko machines, so visits to the wiki are inevitable, sadly.
Why is this important? Four words, two characters: Sol Badguy, That Man.
Sol is the main character of the series and an 'alter ego' of the creator himself (by his own admission), and That man is the antagonist, responsible for the gears, the wars and Sol being 'cursed'. The problem is... the creator absolutely loves both characters, and the narrative is often twisted to not only make them shine, but to save them as well. Sol is an immortal prototype that is deemed one of the most powerful characters in the series, but he behaves like an angry, frustrated teenager that always stays in a corner and fires snide remarks whenever someone makes a speech, and That Man committed dozens of atrocities, nearly wiped out mankind, but his plans are always deemed 'too cryptic' to understand, and no one can touch him, no matter how powerful they are. He always says that everything done was 'part of his plan' (that we will never know) escapes, and that's it. it's all made worse with the reveal that he was good all along and actually there was someone else with the same name of 'That Man' that did all those atrocities, this was never mentioned or even hinted before. In previous games you could just play the arcade mode of other characters and be happy with their contained stories, but in the newest titles, this isn't possible anymore.
And the writing is so bad, it's hilarious.
The pacing is often as rocky as a country road, with battles being interrupted by exposition, dramatic scenes come from nowhere and go nowhere, plot points are shoehorned in the middle of dramatic scenes, and everything needs at least five twists. And Sol is always, always needed to save the day due to the sheer power he wields and he will receive all the credit for saving the world, even if he barely acted, even if everyone else was responsible for the plans and execution. Villains will either have plans within plans, or be inside the plans of other villains. The saddest part is that there is a very interesting scenario and magic system based on music hidden within all this mess.
Hope this guide was useful, and have fun trying out Guilty Gear!
A Comprehensive Guide For Newcomers.
So, you've decided to try out the Guilty Gear series?
Congrats! Guilty Gear is a series of Fighting Games with the Aerial and Speed style, meaning, the gameplay will be geared (pun intended) towards varied combos, launching your opponent upwards to continue these combos and frantic fights. It is closer to Marvel Vs Capcom 1 than Street Fighter in terms of speed and special effects.
The Arc System Works team is renowned for the quality of their fighting games in most senses (character design and awesome speed-metal soundtrack included), so you can expect a solid fighting system with balanced and varied characters. You have all kinds, from the grapplers, to the arena controllers and so on, so if you don't like a character's play style, you nearly always have options to switch to. Their designs are as varied as their playstyles, with lots of interesting characters to pick from, from women who fight with their hair and venom-esque undead to kusari-gama wielders and holy knights.
Now things get a bit dicey. These games have LOTS of inner mechanics, that may scare not only newcomers, but seasoned fighters from other games as well. While they seem daunting and overly complex at first, some visits to the tutorial will make things a bit better and always, always go to the training sections in order to get acquainted with your character of choice. The tutorial and challenge area will not only teach you about the inner mechanics, but also about combos, giving you a solid base to start from.
Which game should you start from? I honestly suggest the newest ones (Revelator, Sign or Strive), because their tutorials and challenge areas are more refined, and not much is lost between games. If you choose a base character such as Ky or Chip, you'll find that their playstyles barely changed. Not helping matters is that the naming of the franchise's sequels is insane at best, with words seemingly tossed at random, visit a Wiki without guilt to check which ones are the latest.
Now, about the story...
Guilty Gear is set in a world where a great cataclysm forced mankind to replace anything electrical with magic. Gears are magical beasts that come in all sizes, shapes and flavors, were used as war beasts till a special 'commander gear' called 'Justice' controlled them and set them against humankind. A lot of the planet was wasted, japan was nearly destroyed with Japanese deemed under 'threat of extinction' and a crusade made against the gears, ending with Justice killed and mankind saved.
That's the bare minimum you need to know. Before you go on, ask yourself this: "Can I handle a story so cheesy it will kill anyone lactose intolerant in a five-mile radius, and so needlessly complex it would make Metal Gear Solid look like an 80's action movie?"
If no, PlayTheGameSkipTheStory, without any guilt. Don't even dare to look at the 'story modes'. If you're curious, visit the Wiki and ONLY THAT. Sign's "Completed the story" achievement was reached by literally 10% of the played base, and that happened for a reason.
If yes, oh boy, grab a bucket of popcorn, gather the friends, and don't take ANYTHING you see seriously or else your brain will pop. Daisuke Ishiwatari (the serie's creator, designer and writer), is really good with designs and music, but oh boy, he writes like an unhinged George Lucas cranked up to 11. The first games in the series were straightforward 'street fighter' storytelling, with each character having its arcade mode. Sequels introduced an interesting 'visual novel' style where choices, and more importantly, how you played could change the outcome of the story, before they were switched by a 'machinima-esque' straightforward visual novel story separated from the gameplay. There are TONS of side-content hidden within novels, audio dramas and even pachinko machines, so visits to the wiki are inevitable, sadly.
Why is this important? Four words, two characters: Sol Badguy, That Man.
Sol is the main character of the series and an 'alter ego' of the creator himself (by his own admission), and That man is the antagonist, responsible for the gears, the wars and Sol being 'cursed'. The problem is... the creator absolutely loves both characters, and the narrative is often twisted to not only make them shine, but to save them as well. Sol is an immortal prototype that is deemed one of the most powerful characters in the series, but he behaves like an angry, frustrated teenager that always stays in a corner and fires snide remarks whenever someone makes a speech, and That Man committed dozens of atrocities, nearly wiped out mankind, but his plans are always deemed 'too cryptic' to understand, and no one can touch him, no matter how powerful they are. He always says that everything done was 'part of his plan' (that we will never know) escapes, and that's it. it's all made worse with the reveal that he was good all along and actually there was someone else with the same name of 'That Man' that did all those atrocities, this was never mentioned or even hinted before. In previous games you could just play the arcade mode of other characters and be happy with their contained stories, but in the newest titles, this isn't possible anymore.
And the writing is so bad, it's hilarious.
The pacing is often as rocky as a country road, with battles being interrupted by exposition, dramatic scenes come from nowhere and go nowhere, plot points are shoehorned in the middle of dramatic scenes, and everything needs at least five twists. And Sol is always, always needed to save the day due to the sheer power he wields and he will receive all the credit for saving the world, even if he barely acted, even if everyone else was responsible for the plans and execution. Villains will either have plans within plans, or be inside the plans of other villains. The saddest part is that there is a very interesting scenario and magic system based on music hidden within all this mess.
Hope this guide was useful, and have fun trying out Guilty Gear!
And remember: Stay the hell away from Overture.