Guilty Gear Strive
is an extremely beginner friendly installment in the
Guilty Gear
series, with tons of features geared towards new players and veterans alike. These features include game modes, quality of life changes, as well as special game play mechanics the game might not make clear on its own.
A lot of these things go unexplored since there's so much to unpack in
Guilty Gear Strive
. However, they can make or break a player's experience with the game for sure. With that said, it's more than likely that players have not discovered yet since the game's release. As they experience the game, players should be sure to explore for themselves.
Dash Macro
Dashing in
Guilty Gear
can be performed just like it can in any other fighting game, where players double tap forward on their controller for an air dash or ground dash. In
Strive
, players can also map this input to a single button. This makes dashes way faster and more reliable in the heat of battle.
Many fighting games have switched to using dash macro inputs recently. These make for more interesting mechanics that newer players can grasp quickly.
Faultless Defense Dash
Movement in
Guilty Gear Strive
is toned down a bit from
earlier games in the series
, but it still has its own levels of depth that players can explore. Players can dash with the press of a button in this game, meaning quicker dashes than those that required a double-tap input.On top of that, players can also cancel the dash motion and maintain some forward momentum by using Faultless Defense while dashing. This technique is great for baiting enemy reversals, blocking projectiles, and other defensive maneuvers.
Quick Roman Cancel
Roman cancels are an amazing tool that can be used in just about any situation. As the game develops, so do players' uses of certain mechanics. Quick roman cancels are a more advanced version of regular roman cancels that can be used to catch opponents off guard, and extend combos.
Quick roman cancels don't trigger the same slow downs as regular roman cancels, so they're harder to use. To perform one, players just have to input another move before the roman cancel explosion.
Online Training Mode
Online training mode is an amazing feature
for new players to learn a fighting game and develop strategies with friends.
Guilty Gear
allows for players to create player lobbies and change the rules from matches to training mode. Training mode lets players see their move list, play an infinite number of rounds, and change certain properties of the match.
It's a welcome feature that more games should have, especially with the rise of online play in fighting games in 2021. The online training mode wasn't a promoted feature of
Guilty Gear Strive,
so not all players may be aware of it.
Set Computer Actions
Training mode is important for players looking to improve and learn about certain characters and strategies. In most fighting games, players would have to input things for a computer to do. This could put off new players who don't want to learn a new character, just to practice their block strings and combos.
Guilty Gear Strive
allows players to automatically input computer responses to certain situations, without needing to do it manually. This feature is great for rehearsing offense and learning what moves are safe or unsafe against an opponent.
Correlation Maps
The lore and story of
Guilty Gear
has been developing for over 2 decades at this point, which means there's a lot of details to convey to the player.
Guilty Gear Strive
is the latest installment in the series, and it makes a point to help the player understand what's going on between characters with correlation maps.
The maps themselves seem complex, but they're actually easy to follow and are full of useful information for newcomers and veterans alike. When players are confused about who is who during the story mode, correlation maps can save the day.
Play Dodge Ball
In the lobbies of
Guilty Gear Strive
, players can walk around and interact with other avatars by exchanging information and engaging in battles. What the game doesn't tell players is that they can also interact with certain objects in the lobby.
In each lobby are balls on the ground, which players can pick up and throw at each other . To pick up a ball, just walk up to it and crouch. To throw the ball, press the right shoulder button, which is usually used to slide.
Negate Projectiles
Another use of roman cancels is to traverse the screen and punish the opponent for unsafe special attacks. A great example of this is using the blue roman cancel to slide through projectiles. If players input a dash while using a blue roman cancel at the right time, their character will slide forward and end up in front of the opponent.
This ability is great to use against certain zoners and mid-range characters. However, it's important to practice it in training mode, since some projectiles are exempt from this technique.
Aerial Instant Blocks
Instant blocks are an advanced defensive feature for players to use that negate all push back from attacks that players block. Usually this is used for when players are too predictable on offense and makes punishing certain moves easier. This technique also has a use for offense as well.
When baiting reversals, players should be careful. A reversal that's blocked normally actually leaves the offense at a disadvantage. That said, using instant block when baiting a reversal in the air actually gives the offense an advantage, so they can punish accordingly.
Faust's Super
Faust has two supers in his command list, like every other character in
Guilty Gear Strive
. However, he also has a secret super that is not listed. This can be done by inputting an extra quarter circle forward motion in his "What Could This Be?" super.Using this version of the super attack calls forth more items than normal and actually requires 100% of the tension gauge, as opposed to 50% like every other super. It's interesting to see a secret super in
Guilty Gear
 — which raises the question of what other secrets the game might be hiding.