#gg2o

Valentine.

Though we now know that these beings were created to fill the void left by the Soul of the "Ultimate Gear" Justice upon her death, nonetheless they were born within the Backyard and wield powers bordering the unimaginable.

The first Valentine had no established consciousness, but soon learned to tap in to her own emotions, chaotic though they were.  Unfortuantely she lost her life all too soon in that struggle.

Subsequent Valentines have learned how to become something resembling human, but they may or may not be the next step in human evolution.

Now after so long a time, I'm finally able to sit down and play this "Black Sheep" of the Guilty Gear Series for an extensive amount of time.

There's really a lot to take in and think about, not just in terms of combos, items, and resources, but the overall means through which this game was expressed.

This version of the game is a lot more developed than I remember, and that can only be a good thing.  Resources like Tension and Item Cooldown are better managed and don't burn out as quickly.  I found myself using Special Tension moves more liberally, and if I ran out of juice, I'd buy an Item or shuffle Servants over to a nearby ghost base to recuperate.

After a while, you focus less on individual troops and more strategically grouped squads, planning your assaults like a pincer strike.

There are probably players who can cycle through the organ menu like an MMO master by now, knowing exactly what to queue and pair up.  I have a long ways to go, hehe.

Even running through each map takes skill and timing, but the game is generous with Tension, so Blast Drifts aren't too difficult.  Though Campaign Mode "cheats" a little by spawning enemies on the other side of a map without warning, forcing you to sprint to put out fires before they get worse.

The details are so stunning.  This game actually lets you walk up to the base of the St. Elmo Lightning Tower in Illyria which glows during a storm.  Trioria really DOES feel like a village of witches, complete with creepy trees and rocks with faces, especially spooky in the Fog version of the stage.

GG2's Japanese voicework was very extensive.  Lucifero of GG2 was a gentleman compared to GGXrd's "thug" paired with Ramlethal.  Sin was very serious, Izuna was fun to listen too (he's a great swordsman too), and Raven took everything as banal.  You see sides to characters that are easy to miss.

This game is a thinking man's fighter, despite initial appearance.  Countering other strategies is just as tough as clashing with other Masters.

Music and Story speak for themselves as some of the best in the series, even the sound effects were good enough for GGXrd to recycle them!

Maybe if GG2 came out before GGX, our expectations for the series would be that much broader.

I give GG2 for Steam a 7/10: Very Very Good, especially for its time, though it needed tiny adjustments.