I have a confession. I suck at fighting games, I’m the type spamming the special cool attack never ending with Ike in Smash Bros. So in an effort to erase my bad habits and try a different approach than usual, I decided to boldly try a new series, but this time get my feet wet to learn the ins and outs of the genre. I decided to pick Guilty Gear - The Missing Link(GGML), from first glance the character designs look wicked, and the music upon hearing seems rock-solid and a story that can be intriguing to piece together since the franchise started back in 1998. Multiple main entries, updated revisions, and spin-offs have arrived currently, looks like the IP is alive and well. I decided to start with the first entry, not only for the reasons above, but I also added a goal to play every mainline before ending things with Guilty Gear Strive. Will I make it? Not sure, but I’ll strive to do so! If not you all have permission to guilt trip me! Too much? Well, I guess I’ll stop the future gear jokes I had…maybe
…Anyway moving on, I’ll start with the basic overview for those unfamiliar, then head into the good stuff, featuring the story, characters, unique qualities in the game I didn’t expect, and mixed feelings and finish it off in my final thoughts.
Gameplay is a standard affair for the fighting genre, two characters(called Gears as their in-game universe designation) will duke it out on screen in the best of 2 of 3 rounds, draws can happen. Concerning controls I primarily played on my Xbox controller, but you can also play using the keyboard. Features on the right side of a controller, a six-button layout, punch, kick, and two weapon attacks(a slash and hi slash), and the last two being used for special actions like taunt and respect. Pretty robust movement controls in the D-Pad, utilizing 360-degree movements from jumping up, jumping forward, walking forward, ducking, duck/blocking low, walking back/block, and jumping back. Also features a training mode and a versus mode for those looking to battle their friends in local sessions. And a limited amount of options in the settings to reduce the duration of each round, but no changing how many rounds or difficulty. What's unique about GG is the mechanic [tension gauge] allows players to become stronger once filled by either landing hits or receiving damage while inputting special moves called [chaos attacks]. Respectively when a character is under a yellow bar on their health they enter a state of [chaos mode] granting players unlimited [chaos attacks]. And finally the [instant kill](IK) move whereupon inputting a set amount of thankfully not too complicated moves you can eliminate your adversary so fast in a cool animation and win both rounds as quickly as possible. Pretty nifty considering there is no special gauge or tension or chaos mode to utilize it. The only catch is to execute the move and land the hit then any attack move. Sounds simple, but executing the combination takes effort and there are ways to circumvent it entirely. Personally, I have mixed feelings about the IK move I’ll discuss later, for now, let’s talk about the story.
The story is fragmented, there’s barely any in-game. Most of which is delegated in the physical manual, which to its credit does a bang-up job in detailing the universe in ways I didn’t expect. And further in bits and pieces in interviews, drama CDs, novels, and soon to be an anime series coming along in 2025, connecting to Strive. I highly recommend reading through the manual to get a sense of the setting and background on the events before the main game begins. It's fascinating, in the age of magic in the future, specifically the 22nd century. Gears are borne from mixing human and animal DNA with magic, creating powerful figures of strength and spirit. A state monopolized the creation of gears bringing lands under their control and subjecting their will similar to slavery. But when a rebel gear rose up and gathered fellow like-minded fellows, they declared war on all of mankind, thus began a hundred years of warfare that became known as the Crusades. Sounds familiar, since our history has shown a similar long period of battle. Our narrative begins after the Crusades, now after the dust has settled a new tournament has popped up, and the winner will be granted any wish. Sounds familiar to Fate/Stay Night with the grail right?
Kinda.
First, we don’t start with a visual novel and we aren’t summoning previous ‘heroes’ from an age gone by. Rather we’re jumping straight into the thick of combat, clashing with other hopefuls in the [the normal mode] against ten fighters. Do so and you will unlock a specific individual’s ending along with their reasons for participating. I liked it enough to complete each cast’s arc to see their conclusion. Though fair warning you don’t have to finish every character’s arc like I did, the plot will always stay the same in the end. But at least it does give interesting, amusing, and sometimes horrifying insight into their background/personality.
And for the origin point in the series, I can give it a pass because I don't usually play these types of games to know the story, though bonus points if they do! The absence of a primary narrative shifted me to appreciate the finer details the game entails, one quality is victory quotes. It’s nice to witness laying the final word after defeating their adversary, like with May, a small girl carrying a big ship o’l anchor and whipping it around like Sonic will say “Gosh, you’re ugly!!! You look like a sasquatch!” good lord complete jaw to the floor, she’s a riot! These are specific when facing a certain foe, so you won’t notice a randomly used phrase. Another example is Chipp who looks like someone decided to smash one of Wolverine’s bone claws onto his forearm and extend it to the point it's like a long sword arm, looking like a punk will say "In a battle, everyone's an enemy... even children." Jeez, war criminal already? Or Zato-One, with long blond hair to the middle of his back, wearing a headband covering his eyes, so must be a blind guy battling, but the real kicker is his shadow is alive. The dude has moves making me think this clearly must be a Symbiote-like from Marvel. He has a line saying "And you used to be a hero, old man? Can you even see?" Pretty ironic because the dude is going in action with a headband over his eyes. The rest in the lineup have varying degrees of amusing, eyebrow-raising, or intriguing dialogue capturing a sprinkle of their personality/background and I have to admit made my whole experience richer to know the eclectic cast better.
Speaking of the cast! Wowzers! They’re lateral designed, meaning as Kayin a game developer puts it “a divergence from the expected interpretation," A typical cowboy isn’t only the classic hat from the west along with some rope to tie up some unscrupulous fellas. No, every member of the cast embody the term to a T where conventional tropes are thrown aside, creating a unique person. Sol, a badass-looking guy with loose red clothing displayed prominently on the cover is a former knight turned bounty hunter carrying a sick-looking sword that looks like it was jury-rigged together, and to think this sword is one of the Order’s most valuable treasures and looks like something you can pick up from the junkyard. Kliff, an old man wielding a huge ultra greatsword and swinging it around nearly effortlessly is a crazy fella. The old guy can still whip youngins! Then there’s Axl who always brings a smile to my face. I thought he was an isekai fella who unfortunately got dropped into this tournament, but reading his backstory, he’s from London’s worst parts, the gang member look-alike fashions a dual kusarigama to the point bullets don’t affect him, and he got the short end of the stick, taken from his time in the 20th century and dropped two hundred years in the future. His lines about wanting to go home and in a strange environment facing individuals looking to square up against him are so relatable. There’s more featuring a Dr. Bald-head who yes lives up to his namesake being truly bald and is a doctor, but wields a long staff, and a Rapunzel/medusa-like character crossed with Cammy decides to fight using her hair… yeah. Trying to imagine that it is better if you see her in video form. She became one of my mains to use. Mains as in my regular fighters I prefer to use than others, I found five I liked using and five not so much, though all of them were distinguishable.
There’s a special care in how each combatant is designed not only from their lateral designs and specific music corresponding to their personality/background but in ways they’re tied to the actual game. Distinct from others to not feel samey, but at the same time maintain a presence and abilities unique only to their skills/abilities. Tailored with their pros/cons are inevitable, when a character excels, they usually will have an inherent weakness/s associated with their powers. Potemkin is a HUGE guy resembling the Hulk a bit, with an extremely large muscled body but, has long-range attacks that honestly can wipe out a chunk of an enemy's health, most inputs I had using the man were hitting near to the point I became victorious in six to ten hits flat. The problem? He’s slow compared to the faster individuals, moving him and initiating combos just feels cumbersome, though makes sense considering his bulky strong body. If faced with an agile soul, then the scales are tipped in favor of the opposing combatant. But here’s the rub, just because a they can feel overpowered, skill can overcome raw power. Using someone like Millia or my favorites I didn’t have trouble wiping the floor. However, sometimes a match-up is bad, if I can’t prevail with a new person I can’t gel with. Case in point Chipp. The punk war criminal? He has decently fast combo potential, but his range is pitiful and weak, and don’t get me started on his attacks which are low to medium in impact. Dealing enough damage versus someone like Potemkin becomes a case of launching multiple hits against a brick wall compared to squisher opponents. Compared to fellas like Sol the bounty hunter, he felt very beginner-friendly in terms of controls. Having a mix of short, medium, and decent long-range abilities coupled with a nice fire element accompanying his attacks offers quite a varied arsenal in stringing attacks together. In contrast to the other main fella on the Playstation 1 cover, Ky Kiske the Order Knight uses a sword styled almost like a rapier, his body motions feel graceful, with no wasted movements, and a blue electric-like element accompanies some of his skillsets, elegantly introducing raw form, but deadly. Though I felt awkward trying to string multiple moves in quick succession with Ky, Sol flows well enough in my Rambo-like playstyle. Observe the difference? The ups and downs display an immediate raw characteristic inherent solely to their person. Forget balancing! We're going all in!
Masahiro Sakurai(Creator of Smash Bros. among other games) adds further validation to the concept. In his video, Amplify Both Strengths and Weaknesses he posits in the procedure of balancing fighters “The obvious solution is to lower peaks and valleys... but in the process you lose individuality, giving off a bland feeling. So instead" He favors peaks and valleys, leaning into the strengths and weaknesses! Smash Bros. and games outside the genre such as Elden Ring and EDF can count outside the competitive territory are examples. Guilty Gear most definitely applies the peaks and valleys among contemporaries, Briefly, when I look back on my limited experience in the genre, on my past games Final Fantasy Dissidia, Mortal Kombat Armageddon and I believe Soul Calibur(SC). Though I admit I forget which title for SC, somehow I was in a dungeon of sorts? Regardless, those were my limited history then came Smash Bros. Brawl, and man that’s how I discovered Ike despite not playing a lick of Fire Emblem. I mention these examples because everyone will undoubtedly have a main or favorite they gravitate to or may not unknowingly realize that. Reinforces what Sakurai says on ‘peaks and valleys without being bland.’ I'm not exploring a list of details on combatant intricacies for GG, because I feel a player should try them out initially, what works for me may work for ya, no shame if they don’t. Fun to find out, I'd say. Not everyone is on the same wavelength and finding our comfort zone in a usable fighter is key experience in finding favorites or least favorites. There’s a reason why I favored five and five not so much, the weaknesses in their inherent playstyle just didn’t gel well with my modus operandi. Short reach, very low recovery, no tricks, no gap closers, little damage, susceptible to big damage, awkward to use, whereas going the complete opposite of the con’s reaches into the territory of likeability. The list goes on without going too technical on fighting terminology.
Thus, each fighter offers something on the table for everyone and I believe that's awesome to not only witness visually their powers but also their combat capability on a player’s experience. The weight of their actions lends a sense of believability to differentiate themselves from others. One might be a cheeky devil’s advocate and say well don’t combatants in the genre share diverse qualities to stand out in a roster? And you’re right except getting that feeling down to the fine grain in making a character fun is a process, also not becoming bland and boring like their counterparts is a hard task. Makes them approachable for the player. A clear and precise message from Sakurai in the same video which I believe as a creator tries his best to balance strengths and weaknesses. He remarks "Due to social media and echo chambers, biases spread quickly-making this harder than it used to be- but as a creator, you simply can't shy away. People seek "Answers" Instead of trying it themselves. "Variety among things like fighters is the very lifeblood of the game! It's what keeps things fresh!” there’s more, but that’s basically the gist of what Mr. Sakurai said, but I’d rather not paste everything. Do highly recommend his video/s on his channel, pretty insightful game development stuff in an Explain like I'm Five format, easily digestible to the brain. I admit I’m guilty of looking for answers before struggling, I prefer a ‘best’ experience, but sometimes in the process of searching, we miss out on the blank slate. There’s a reason some go the path of blind or blackout and I think that's wonderful considering I've done the same too. In terms of the clashing blows genre, I believe Sakurai’s statement on ‘answers and variety’ rings true.
The following mixed feelings shouldn’t be taken as a positive or negative, they’re simply my concerns, troubled ruminations, oddball notes of observation and sometimes encouraging thoughts as I continued to play GG.
My experience in the first couple of hours can be summed up as a rough beginning. Oh my lord I was rusty as heck, took me plenty of time to WD-40 away the rust in my gears, you wanna know my total average playing each fighter in terms of hours? 1.2 hours per user and there are a total of ten, for the normal mode. Several are easy for me to finish a chosen character’s arc in a short amount of time like 30 min. But various hard-to-use individuals can take 3 hours. I want to preface this since I like to go in a trial by fire without using the training mode inside. It is foolish I bet for a newbie, but I figured I should learn the hard way, punishing my mistakes to learn my chosen dude/gal and be better. To this end, I want to gently remind readers to take my times learning a fighter with a healthy amount of salt. Every player is different, in learning mechanics and adjusting to their tolerance level crossed with the difficulty. There’s no shame in taking longer than intended than others, similar in facing bosses in the Souls series. What one can defeat in a single battle, another will only triumph after a grueling amount of trial and error sometimes taking hours. I like to picture myself in the latter category myself, since I'm a slow learner and aging, I'm not as quick as my youthful friends! Still, this shouldn’t be discouraging, on the contrary I continued to persevere and enjoyed the glowing areas despite what I said above and will soon say below. Honestly if it wasn’t for my fellow fighting friend enthusiasts such as master Phantasm, expert Hunter and a friendly Senpi among others, I likely would’ve have quit early on. Their continued support, patience, helpful links(I’ll link below) and easy explanations allowed me to further enrich my knowledge on the genre I never would’ve thought possible. One day I hope to properly duel yall in a 1v1, to show my appreciation of everything i've learned thus far!
For a good chunk of my playtime I despised instant kill moves, for those unaware, you and your enemy can unleash a move so powerful it instantly defeats them and if that’s not enough, the adversary automatically wins two rounds already. I’ve tried dozens of attempts at it and still cannot land a single successful hit. So either I'm too garbage or the AI is ridiculously too smart to instantly block the move. From what I read online, it seems feasible, if your foe is in a state of daze, though trying to reach that state from continuous blows is admittedly proving a challenge for me. However after some hurdles, I must admit I was able to launch an instant kill move with Millia, I guess something clicked, very satisfying pulling the ability to wipe off the attacker in a sick visual. I think if you can memorize the pattern and catch your foe unaware to land a solid hit then your chances of winning becomes instant. In the end, I don’t hate the mechanic as much, but must give voice to my past self who suffered countless deaths by AI in a decisive finishing move. I should’ve learned early on how to block and how to evade the dastardly mechanic! Though, it does fill me with a great sense of relief when the developers talked about the game in 1998, Hideyuki Anbe(main programmer) said "I and Ishiwatari eventually came to a decision that we didn't need the Instant kill mechanics after all." In retrospect after my countless defeats from the unique mechanic, I still managed to win without paying too much attention to the feature, thus I can see where they’re coming from.
Wish there were more options. To decrease the difficulty of every competitor, as you progress past your fifth engagement, fights become progressively difficult to the point I spent hours and close to an hour trying to stubbornly succeed versus the AI. Usually, a mix of combinations, instant kill moves, and sheer damage favors your enemy. Regardless of skill level, I felt that was too brutal for newcomers to try and I think an option in the settings to reduce the AI intensity could’ve smoothed matters than simply ‘git gud’ remarks. I do however appreciate an option to cut rounds shorter, to take advantage of needling an opponent's health and prevail by default if your health is bigger than theirs. However, as I stated earlier the AI can dish out a lot of damage in such a short amount of time so it can be frustrating etching out a win from a lightly fatigued foe versus you within an inch of passing out. Lastly, a lack of no instant kills would’ve been appreciated as well. I like squaring up on an even playing field without automatically losing a fight from the get-go within 10 seconds if they manage to pull the instant execution, keeping the ground rules fair.
Can’t return to a previously fought opponent in normal mode. You have to struggle against a gauntlet of fighters before reaching your last fought adversary. So if you quit the game prior to stage 10 you have to redo every stage beforehand, no quick loading, no resuming. While this may seem minor for fighting enthusiasts who don’t mind, I mind since I don’t want to repeat those matches to ‘git gud’ or practice a lot of hours, I want to finish off from the last match I started. I have no desire to reiterate the 3-hour slog with a single guy I tried.
Wish the normal mode was a bit more refined. Within the designated mode, each main fighter would engage in combat against adversaries in a structured way to showcase their rival, some do this like Sol ending with Ky, or Ky to Sol in the end, but I’d like a bit more dialogue leading up to fights. Think of it like a pre-banter, or a prelude before launching blows, maybe sprinkle on some extra words to determine if someone is a major boss, acquaintance, friend, not-enemy, or friend, etc. A simple “you know I used to know someone wielding a sword, didn’t end well for either of us. I walked, they didn’t.” Watch, a little bit of an extra character interaction would be something I’d like to wish for going forward.
To expand on what I said for AI, Overall, they seem to be unnecessarily tough. and I couldn’t help but keep this leftover thought in the recesses of my mind as I struggled and fought my way to the end for each of my member’s arcs in the [normal mode]. In searching for validation I found out the creator, Daisuke Ishiwatari in a 2016 interview said “I really wanted to make a fighting game that was very hard.”
NO WONDER! I was panting black and blue in my matches! In addition to all the above I already stated in my mixed feelings, Ishiwatari’s philosophy certainly bleeds through specific tug-of-war matches when facing an opponent through the usage of AI versus an unskilled player. But I do want to gently remind everyone the game isn’t truly head-banging to the wall insurmountable. It can still be fun. He mentions in the same video above how his rival and comrade in arms Toshimichi Mori who created BlazBlue remarked on games saying "If you don't have fun playing, you just miss everything. But the way you have fun is different with every player" I 100% hands down agreed. In the case of GG, I felt at times during certain match-ups when facing unfair hostiles, I had to reverse course out of my Rambo-like playstyle and bad habits from Smash Bros. embracing a play-smart mentality and using tricks in my arsenal to win. Setting the timer to 30 seconds, abusing any moves to take advantage of the AI’s shortcomings, blocking when necessary and not going all in, waiting for an opportunity of attackers overextending then punishing them severely with a counter-attack! Rinse and repeat until you achieve victory. The catch is how much tolerance can you withstand to inch closer to a win and the perseverance to keep going. Moving forward is a key belief from Daisuke and I personally follow as well.
In the end, I felt a sense of earnestness and passion from what Daisuke and his team of 12 put out for a hard, but decently fun fighting game. Despite my mixed feelings, the grains of having a [training mode], a doable special command list for every individual, and a setting to reduce round times, along with a gradually increased difficulty progressing through [normal mode] help instrumentally to even the cards. And I can’t fault the creator Ishiwatari since he is also the producer, designer, and one of the composers for the whole soundtrack along with Takahiro Uematsu, Hatsuaki Takami, and Takuya Moritou. If that’s not enough he also voices Sol and has continued to be part of the franchise to the latest installment in Guilty Gear Strive. Talk about commitment to his craft! The past interviews I’ve read and watched from him give off a sense of an earnest man trying to make his mark with other solid titles of the past and embrace a cool anime-like aesthetic, a rich world in our fictional future, an eclectic cast of gears who at times can be both humorous to downright terrifying reading about and a soundtrack I can’t help but appreciate for being decently rock-solid. A rough stone to polish, and I certainly had pains in seeing the totality, yet what remains for me is a deeper appreciation not only for Guilty Gear, but the genre as a whole. I hope these thoughts bring a better light to the first installment. I don’t think it is a bad game, difficult to recommend to newcomers since it is origin point and doesn’t showcase their best all-around performance, but as a starter and period piece, I can sort of behold the vision in striving to appeal beyond notable franchises out there before GG’s inception as a very hard fighting game. If nothing else, my journey has given me more of a drive to go into future entries like Guilty Gear X, so we’ll see how that goes.
5.8/10
References & Additional Material:
Lateral Designs - From developer Kayin in literalism vs. lateralism
Masahiro Sakurai - Amplify Both Strengths and Weaknesses
1998 - GG Developer Interview from Playstation cover
Archipel - Daisuke Ishiwatari, Game Creator
GG OST credits & GG Credits
Helpful links:
GG Manual
Fighting Game Glossary - Terms you don’t understand? Check here
Numeric Annotation System - common fighting game inputs from a numpad illustration, immensely helpful
Community Built Information Hub for Arc System Works' Games - Almost everything you need is here, topics can range from: getting started, pros/cons on fighters, frame data, combos, notation, general articles, basic, intermediate, advanced techniques, macro concepts etc.
