Disclaimer: A copy of GUILTY GEAR -STRIVE- SOL VS, KY demo deck was provided by Level 99 Games.
Introduction
I’ll be honest, I’ve never been good at fighting games. I barely competent enough to beat M. Bison on easy mode while playing Street Fighter II Turbo on my Super Nintendo back in the day, but my button mashing sister still had a decent chance to beat me. I knew how to do a hadouken, but never grasped the combos of any other characters. Try as I might, executing Mortal Combat Fatalities has always eluded me.
As a teenager, my friends and I got heavily invested in some anime focused fighting games, like Naruto: Ultimate Ninja, Naruto: Clash of Ninja, or Dragon Ball Z: Budokai and Budokai 2. Fun fact, I’ve never watched or read the Dragon Ball series, but I have a pretty good grasp on the story, just from playing the myriad of video games. As an adult, my fighting game of choice has always been Super Smash Brothers. As for skill at these games, I exist in a weird state, where I’m better than my friends, but the few times I seek out other enthusiasts, I get utterly crushed.
All of this to say, I have enthusiasm for fighting games, but no expertise. It’s a genre of game that I’ve dabbled in, but never submerged myself in.
How to Play
Guilty Gear -Strive- is a two player, head-to-head fighting game featuring characters from the titular video game. Each character has their own persistent ability, and a set of 10 unique cards that are combined with 30 base cards, that makes each character deck unique.
The game board has a main track in the centre, and each player places their character card in one of the specially marked slots. During the game, players can choose to move forward and backward along the X axis, putting space between themselves and their opponent, or, closing the gap for hand-to-hand combat. That character card also shows what ability that character has, and if they move into Exceed mode, the card is flipped over showing a more powerful effect for the rest of the game.
Each basic card in the deck has two parts, an attack, and a boost. If the attack is used, the stats down the left side of the card dictate how the attack can be used (range, damage, etc). The boost prepares the card to be used on future attacks.
The game begins with the randomly determined first player drawing 5 cards, and the second player drawing 6. Then the game is ready to start. On a turn, a player takes one action, then ends their turn. If a player did not strike for any reason, they also get to draw a card. So let’s talk about what actions are available.
As a basic action, a player can choose to move any number of slots on the board. If they do, they need to generate force for every spot they wish to move. Force is generated by discarding cards from your hand, or from the gauge area. Each basic card is worth 1 force, while ultra attacks (denoted by the red banners) are worth 2 force. You also need to pay an extra force if you choose to move through your opponent. Many of the cards also have movement as part of their effect. Advance and retreat keywords will have to move toward or away from your opponent, pushing and pulling will move your opponent away from or toward you.
Striking is how you deal damage to your opponent, and ultimately, win the game. When you strike, you choose one of your cards, and place it face down. Your opponent must respond, by playing an attack of their hand, or, by choosing to ‘wild swing’, places the top card of their deck face down in response. Both players then reveal their attacks. The faster attack (higher speed) is resolved first (ties go to the attacker). Determine how much damage is being dealt (attacker’s power vs. defender’s armour), and adjust the health gauge accordingly. When any damage is dealt, you check to see if the damage done is higher than the opponent’s guard, and if it is, the opponent is stunned. A stunned character doesn’t get to counter-attack.
Any successful strike card gets placed into the gauge area, building up towards ultimate attacks. In addition to normal strikes, you can also choose to use an EX Attack, which has you play two cards of the same name face down. After the reveal, one of the cards is immediately discarded, and the remaining card gets a +1 to all its stats (except range).
Another basic action is Boosting, which allows you to play a card from your hand, to your Boost area. Boosts with lighting bolts are instant effects and are consumed immediately. Otherwise, the boost is considered ‘continuous’, and the effects of the card will buff your next attack. After the next strike where the boost is used, it’s discarded from your play area. It’s important to note that whether you hit or not, used boosts are discarded. Make your shots count!
Some boosts also give you the option to ‘cancel’, which lets you spend one card from your gauge area to take another action instead of ending your turn. You play multiple cancels in a single turn, if you have the gauge to pay for it.
All the actions I’ve talked about up to now will drain cards from your hand. The Change Cards action allows you to spend force to draw new cards. Discarding ultimate abilities, or cards from your gauge area are great ways to restock your hand. Alternatively, you can simply Prepare, which allows you to draw a card. In case you forgot, this would end your turn without striking, giving you a second card as well.
LET’S ROCK!
Review
Guilty Gear (the video game) has been slick as hell for the better part of two decades. With game after game of iconic characters, tight gameplay, and the slick visuals of the 2D/3D style, it’s the kind of game that grabbed onto a fanatical fan base and never let go.
If you’re not in the know, Guilty Gear -Strive- The Board Game is powered by Level99Games Exceed system, making this the 7th season of Exceed. I have no prior experience playing Exceed, but now that I’ve had a taste, I’m thirsting for more.
While the past seasons have adapted other fighting game staples, such as BlazBlu and the king of them all, Street Fighter, among other, less expected properties, like Shovel Knight. One thing to say for sure, if you’re a video game and anime fanatic, Level 99 Games is making products just for you.
If you’re like me and look at ‘7 seasons’ and feel a pit in your stomach, fearful of the investment that it would take to get ‘caught up’, there’s no need to fret. Cross-season play is fully compatible, and while the graphic design of each of the cards is tailor-made for the set it belongs to, they all conform to the same system. Curious if Shovel Knight could beat up Chun-Li? This is the way to find out! I don’t know if I would recommend mixing all the seasons together, however, as each season features its own twist, and the disjointed graphic design of the cards can be a bit jarring. But still, it’s nice to know that the option to do so exists.
I want to get my complaints out of the way first, which mainly have to do with the art on the cards. The portraits on the cards look like blurry screen-grabs from the video game, which don’t translate well to the printed media. The wide sweeping visual effects make sense and look slick when they’re paired with actual movement on a screen and timely sound effects, but when a wide green arc is static on a card, it just looks unimpressive. Some of the caracter models on the cards look like a blurry, muddled mess, and I feel like this is an aspect that could have really been improved on. To compare it to a completely different game, Disney’s Villainous feature cards with scenes right out of the films that those characters come from, but the art has been recreated in a dynamic style and framed appropriately for the medium of a playing card. The lacklustre character art is particularly frustrating, considering the source material is well-known for a stunning visual style.
That’s pretty much my only critique, because this game SLAPS! I’ve heard praise for the Exceed fighting system before, but I regret not getting into this game earlier. If you have a gaming partner who likes head-to-head combat games, pick up Exceed!
I wish I had a deeper knowledge of what came before Guilty Gear -Strive-, but from what I can tell this season’s twist is the cancelling, which is a mechanic I have a hard time imagining living without. The excitement of chaining actions together to do something wildly unexpected, at the expense of your gauge, is delicious. It’s exciting and visceral, harkening back to the adrenaline fuelled video game. I don’t know how Sol and Ky play on the screen, but on the table, Sol cancels into bone shattering powerful attacks, while Ky excels at dancing around his opponent. I can’t wait to explore how all the other characters interact with each other!
The gameplay of Guilty Gear -Strive- is fast and tactical. On your turn, take an action, then play passes over to the other player. Your hand will dwindle as your gauge grows, then, after a flurry of activity, players are depleted, and need to refresh their battle plans. Rarely does everything go according to plan, but when you manage to land a strong blow because your opponent was caught flat-footed with no armour cards, it feels utterly satisfying. A poorly planned Strike turns into an opportunity to punish your opponent, and stunning or taking the advantage does a lot to make you feel like you’re in control of duel of fates.
If you’re coming from the video game world, obviously some things had to be stripped out. There is no mechanic for smashing your opponents out of the ring, and air juggling is (thankfully) absent. Reducing the mechanics makes for a easier and faster game to play, one that is inviting for those who are used to only pushing buttons and letting the computer work out the timings. Level 99 Games’ Exceed system is a natural fit and has been adaped well to Guilty Gear -Strive-.
As I said above, if you have a gaming partner who enjoys head-to-head games, Guilty Gear -Strive- raises the bar for dueling games. Doubly so if you have any love or history with 2D fighting games, or the Guilty Gear franchise itself. The demo box is available for free (plus shipping) from Level 99 Games website if you want a taste of the action. I can’t wait to see what surprises each of the upcoming characters holds. Level 99 Games excels at making fun games (like Bullet❤️ or Millennium Blades), and with just this demo deck, they’ve converted me into a believer of the Exceed system. When Guilty Gear -Strive- hits my table, I put on the electric heavy rock soundtrack my hear immedately begins pumping. Win or lose, I’m always clammoring for a rematch!
Guilty Gear -Strive-: The Board Game comes to Kickstarter on August 22nd
Meeple and the Moose 