#guts!

First and foremost, the 'blame' does not lie solely on Katano's shoulders.

Ishiwatari said in interviews that he wanted a game that could appeal to everyone of all walks of life.

You have to understand the 'logic' behind what that means.

When someone decides to play a game like Guilty Gear (a game they may have never played before), their first expectations might be intrepidation and concern for how difficult it is to get in and play the game.

This, right here, is the fundamental reason why previous Guilty Gear series games were never as popular compared to mainstream fighting games.

Not GG1, not GGX, not GGXX, not Reload, not Isuka, not Accent Core, not GG2, and not even Xrd Sign, or Xrd Revelator 2.

None of these games (not ONE), can be considered a "simple game" to pick up and play.

Even if you explained to a newbie that Rev2 has a "simple 'Stylish' input mode"… that's going to go right over their heads in terms of fundamentals, gameplay concepts, and not only that has a coddling effect on them, meaning they have to learn a completely different way to play the game AFTER they master Stylish Mode.

So, why does a game like Tekken 7 with its "huge movelists" and "complicated inputs" still maintain popularity?

You don't really need to know those things about the game to go in and start mashing buttons and doing things.

That's the primary and fundamental difference.

Take a character like Ky Kiske for example:

He started out with… 5 special moves and 1 Overdrive (excluding his Instant Kill).

But in the transition from GG1 to GGXX, his gamut of normal attack movements (not including his specials and Overdrives) nearly doubled.

Even for a casual button-masher, it was not easy to use him. Some moves required a forward input, others required a jump or a crouch input, and so on.

Now, transition to Accent Core Plus R: looking at Ky's move entries (courtesy of Dustloop Wiki):

43 Entries.

43 moves that a beginner has to learn. For Ky. Not including generic mechanics or matchup knowledge.

Each and every move has their own nuance too.

Most people who play a game like Accent Core play it for "precisely" that reason:

The complexity.

But what do you tell a beginner? Where do you get them to start?

You can't tell them to button mash, because that's not a smart thing to do in this game… it might work on the A.I. sometimes, but not always.

What motivates a player to keep playing, it's usually different for everyone.

For me, it was because I could cancel one move in to another (Gatling combos and Roman Cancels). That was what motivated me.

What Ishiwatari has DONE to Guilty Gear Strive is THIS:

Taken all of the "complexity" and boiled it down to the most "fundamental" things you need to know about a character.

Of course, that's not all he did.

He made it so that Ky could do things and "get away" with things that no other character (but Ky) can do.

The things we need to know about this game are broken down in to smaller, more digestible bites.

And yes, perhaps that has done some "damage" to the matchup meta… perhaps things are lot more homogenized now that 6P dominates the battlefield as a universal anti-air (in most cases), and disjointed hitboxes rule the neutral space.

But let me ask you this:

If you were going to teach someone how to play Guilty Gear for the first time… what game would you pick?

Out of the whole gamut of games that exist… what game would you get them to learn things from?

GG1? Someone laughs every time I bring that game up.

GGX? Maybe for old times' sake, but it's outdated.

GGXX? Even if they learned anything would it apply to other games?

Xrd? There's a ton of people who hate Xrd mechanics.

AC+R? If you have the patience of a saint, maybe.

Let me just say this… in light of everything I have stated… while GGStrive has its shortcomings… some of which are mechanical errors that still need fixing… I do know that a LOT of players are playing Guilty Gear for the first time with this title.

Is it the only Guilty Gear game out there? NOPE!

Can you spend time to learn other GG games? YUP.

Even if the only reason you hate this game is because of Leo Whitefang and his crossups and parries… Leo isn't the only character in the game. And you could even go so far as to counterpick Leo WITH Leo as a mirror match!

So yeah… there's still a lot that needs to be done with Guilty Gear (as a series).

Was ROME built in a DAY? NOPE!

Can ROME still be BUILT? It takes time, passion, patience, and a STRONG WILL TO MAKE IT HAPPEN.

└ GUTS! and Johnnys Special Medley~~