Testament has made me fall back in love with GUILTY GEAR STRIVE, if I was ever so enamored with it to begin with. I want to express my joy of finally being able to take this game seriously, and I want to bring you all along for that ride.
GUILTY GEAR STRIVE is a game I’ve had an on and off relationship with since it first released. Mainly because, while I didn’t have much experience with the franchise, I simply could not find a character I was excited to play. Sure, I played versions of the original Guilty Gear XX back before I was a competent fighting game player and I casually messed around with Guilty Gear Xrd and the iterations which spawned from it, but that does not equate to anything more than sampling. The series itself was always interesting, but BlazBlue and Street Fighter IV were the games currently at the forefront of the FGC when I took competitive interest.
Delayed based netcode and isolated communities due to cross-platform compatibility not being a thing, meant you had a far more limited scope of players. If you combine this with the fact that I had a weekend job, then you get a recipe for only playing games with dedicated people or whichever fighting game had the largest number of players. Guilty Gear Xrd, which actually came out while I had learned to play competitive, was something I picked up on Day 1 but never fully grasped beyond a basic understanding of its gameplay and systems.
To highlight what I mean, let’s look at the combo video I created. I created a combo video called, “Waifu with a Shotgun” which featured my main Elphelt Valentine. However, the entire video was done on Ky Kiske, and did not know that uniform combos weren’t really a thing. Dependent on hitbox size, not every single combo would work on every single character. I also heard that Ky had a weird hitbox compared to others. Unfortunately, this meant that my “Guilty Gear Xrd” combo video is more akin to a “Guilty Gear Xrd, Ky Must Die” combo video. This basic fundamental fact was apparently present within Guilty Gear XX as well, meaning that I did not even play the series enough to know even this.
I started off playing I-No when GUILTY GEAR STRIVE first released, doing my best to learn the game and making my chosen character work. I’d always appreciated I-No’s design, rushdown gameplay, and move effects and figured she’d fit me. Also, I’m sometime a bit of a Low Tier Hero, so her character strength wasn’t much of an issue since I was very used to struggling upwards. I sought out challengers, tried my best in the tower, and even interested into the ICFC (The Intercontinental Fight League) a few times. Overall, I did not stick with the game after they improves I-No’s hover dash in a patch. Yes, it improved the character but timing and everything else needed to be relearned and I did not love the game or character enough to put in that work (shout out to the Yasuo mains, I have no idea how you guys do it).
I did try Testament when they came out, but did not find them to be to my taste. Yes, I absolutely loved the aesthetic, all of their moves, overdrives, and the “stain” ability. However, I was never someone who played zoning or space control characters outside of Hilda in Under Night In-Birth; and that’s only because she could be a rushdown character with relentless set-play when piloted aggressively. I also believe Testament has that ability, but I did not know at the time.
Elphelt released and I was GREATLY UPSET. While I believe many characters upgraded their look with the new redesigns present in GGST, I feel like Elphelt’s was a step backwards. Sure, it does look good, but not as good as the previous bridal attire. Also, it bothers me that she’s devoid of the bunny ears which gave her a more adorable appearance. In addition to this, they changed her core gameplay style to one I absolutely ABHOR. I hate rekka and rekka-esque characters. If you’re unfamiliar with that, the definition of a rekka from The Fighting Game Glossary is “A type of special move that has multiple stages, as long as you input more commands to continue the sequence”. Other characters which have rekkas or a rekka-esque play-style within GUILTY GEAR STRIVE are Anji, Sin, Ramlethal, and Unika. Giving my previous main and character I waited on a new part of her personality (Death Metal singer), new outfit without the rabbit ears, and a play-style I hate meant she was dropped (Extras is an absolute BANGER of a song, however).
I was originally excited about Asuka due to them being known as “THAT MAN” by most people within the GUILTY GEAR fandom. His original, ominous look seemed like the type of dark character I’d love. While his face was finally revealed in Xrd, I also liked his appearance with the neko ears (why they scrapped them? I’ll never know). Everyone saw his trailer and thought he’d be the most giga-brained, difficult, “I need a PHD to pilot this character” ever. Yet, he turned out to be someone who was mechanically dense while understanding adaptation during mana management.
I tried to play Asuka and feel I did a decent job, but it was difficult to feel any real joy playing him. Asuka is a character which demands perfection and is not sufficiently rewarded for that endeavor. Sure, within the right hands he can be overwhelming; I think Gobou proved that. Yet, he is punished amazingly for mistakes or unfortunate spell luck and is not as interesting as I would like. It’s just a bullet-hell zoning style which aims to massacre your opponent with geometric death cubes. I eventually dropped him because his gameplay loop was not something which excited me to improve.
A.B.A. was undoubtedly my favorite Guilty Gear character due to her look within Isuka and +R. I never learned to properly play her, but was happy when she was added into Strive. I spent some time learning her, entered some tournaments, and did my best. Unfortunately, playing A.B.A. as a main means you’re going to have an extreme amount of polarizing match-ups.
A.B.A. is an all-or-nothing character, possessing the scariest rushdown potential within the entirety of GUILTY GEAR STRIVE. Yet, her downsides are so severe that she can instantly be in a nigh unwinnable situation the second her Jealousy Gauge is depleted. I hate this considering I feel there are characters with A.B.A.’s insane power without the fear of her becoming so much weaker without proper gauge management.
My name is “RoK the Reaper” because I love macabre imagery. Obviously with Testament’s title being “The Elegant Grim Reaper”, I wanted to try them out; especially since their “stain” mechanic and succubi looked especially cool. However, initially I was not much of a fan of the zoning and keep-away style. Moreover, Testament is a character that isn’t as straight-forward as some characters due to them having to dramatically change their play-style dependent upon the match. That’s true to a degree with every character, but I feel that it’s more extreme adaptation within Testament’s case.
I found myself wanting to play them more from a combination of two things: Watching Idom and Genmu.
Idom is a professional fighting game player most known for this domination within Street Fighter V. Playing GUILTY GEAR STRIVE, they’ve been the most prominent Testament player. While you do have others who have showcased their prowess with the Elegant Grim Reaper, such as Symphuukai (who’s a Unika traitor lately), no one has managed to do as consistently well with them as Idom. While I hardly ever see things which I could call “Amazing” as far as conversions and set-play goes, their decision making and ability to control space is second-to-none. It shows you what’s possible when you think ahead and are able to read opponent’s intentions and counter accordingly.
Genmu is a Testament player I met through another streamer, a Giovanna player named Void. Genmu is a Vanquisher-level Testament who often favors set-play over straight combo damage. However, she has shown me what’s possible through a combination of great confirms, set-play via safe-jumps and stain-state mix-ups, as well as how overwhelming Testament’s offensive pressure can be when things string together properly. Plus watching them lab and asking for advice has helped level up my game significantly, though I’ve still a ways to go.
At the time of this article, I am a Diamond-2 Ranked Player who typically breaks even or negative within TNS (Tampa Never Sleeps). I often find myself struggling to figure out combo and conversion routes with Testament due to their awkward structure. I find them to be more infuriating to learn than other characters due to some things not quite clicking for me because of the way they were implemented. Their buttons are big and all, but not as much as Ramlethal’s. Their zoning is pretty good, but it doesn’t have the pressure of Happy Chaos. Stain is a great mechanic to apply pressure and convert stray hits into combos, but it lacks the ability of looping back into itself like Lucy’s Short Circuit mechanic without burning an overdrive or sacrificing combo damage for the set-play.
Testament I’ve found is a character which is amazingly honest compared to many of the other characters. Whiffing a button has consequences, and even mistiming something can put you in dire straights. Their game-plan feels quite simple and straight forward, until you understand the foresight and knowledge that is required to successfully implement it. Good rounds can make your opponent feel as if they are locked down by a foe who makes it impossible to gain any ground while having no choice but to take risks to get anything started. Yet when things go poorly, you can feel outclassed with every move being a wrong one and your strategy not being grimy enough to compete. It’s a slippery slope between Godhood and unabashedly human.
However, winning with Testament feels good, which is something that I haven’t had the pleasure of experiencing since I started this game. It feels a bit like playing Makoto back in Street Fighter IV, where you are upset about some of the tools you’re given, but can feel unstoppable when all the dots connect. I’m hoping to get more consistent, learn match-ups more, and hopefully become more comfortable against a variety of play-styles as I progress.
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