100%. Johnny being on the lower end but definitely feels in a much more better state on release than Sin, Elphelt, Bed and arguably Bridget, Jack O and GL. So Aba being so much more fleshed out than Johnny says a lot.
Her normal mode j.D i think is niche but the more I use it and see top ABA's use it the more I think it is E-sports. Baits anti-airs, crazy low hitbox making it hard to anti-air, can combo on it. Can create some unique ways to get out of the corner. Probably the best tool no one is talking about with her just because it's use is a bit niche.
A.B.A made me get back into guilty gear (not a high level player by any means) and i'm glad to see people acknowledge she's , if nothing else , pretty fun
Same here, stopped about a year ago. Saw the trailer, got hyped, and jumped into the grind. I promptly dropped from floor 6 to floor 2, and only made it back to floor 6 today, but it has been so much fun this entire time. She may be a slightly more complicated and not as high tier character, but her gameplay and visual design make it all worth it for me. I have not had this much fun w/ fighting games for the roughly 1.5 years tht I’ve played them.
I'll repeat this: Base ABA can block while dashing. This will make your life easier as an ABA player. It won't fix her, but it makes zoning against her less effective. Rage ABA has a good dash block, spam that too
So many players nowadays focus exclusively on tier lists and doom any character not in the top 5, so I’m really glad to see the opposite here. Hotashi goated as always :)
I think May is way harder than people give her credit for. I understand a lot of people don’t find her fun, but if she’s so broken, there would 100% be more players than JUST Slash getting good results. Even if people just think she’s “not fun”, people would definitely pick her up and play her just to win, but they’re not.
Sometimes there's just no satisfaction in winning if you don't have fun doing it- and her being broken only makes her even less fun beacuse games get less challenging and its just using the same 3 mixups against all the characters
@@wackyboss5560 Huge, huge disagree. First off, calling her “broken” is just objectively untrue when we had characters like HC in S2. Second off, if you go take a look at Slash’s AWT run, you’ll see that he does a TON of different mixups. And like I said earlier, there would always be people that would play her to try and get free wins, even if they don’t find her fun. But there aren’t any people doing that and actually getting results.
@@picklejar7245 ill still stand by shes not fun to play, and aside from top % of players im talking all the people i go against or even if I rarely play as her its just always the same formula, atleast with characters like hc there's a big skill ceiling and you need to understand the character really well to get good- when I tried may I only needed like an hour or two of training and started winning back to back with no fun whatsoever
@@wackyboss5560 okay well “being fun to play” is subjective so can’t really argue with there, but objectively, May now has a decently high skill ceiling as well now.
I think being forced out of install can be dropped to 5 frames but time freezes like this are bullshit and need at least a little bit of recovery and I think nago should also get 5 frames of recovery coming out of blood rage.
On the last video I agreed that she was going to be bad. But now I have to admit that I knew jackshit and should have waited till compentent people lab her. The biggest problem for Aba in tournament settings: too volatile most likely. Having a matchup spread that includes losing matchups is just not that viable in Strive. Game is volatile and playing a character who can get zoned out by Asuka, Axl or HC or just does not have the base stats to beat the top tiers is not a good time investment. Aba is basically reverse Nago. Nago needs you to use your moves wisely (fuck it, we fu[c]kyo) and Aba needs to wisely build up her resources but becomes brainless when she got them as she just wants to deal damage and keep her jealousy gauge up. I see why they balanced her like this though. Aba is just some steps removed from becoming the Nier of this game. She seems not to be lacking much, just important stuff.
ABA is so much fun, I've played her a lot in +R and I always thought the idea of an install character so cool and wonder if they would ever bring her to strive. After not playing Strive for like, 4 months cause I got bored of it, I'm quite happy that ABA is actually a fun character and was translated pretty well from her +R inspiration (and also glad I managed to get celestial w her (╯▽╰ )). And yh tbh, her parry is probably one of her most non-functional moves in her kit, it only ever really works on a read. Im curious to how Arcsys would change her in the upcoming patch
May is fun but they make her a different character every season so it is kind of annoying trying to play her when a large part of her kit might just change (I know she's been counterpoke the entire time but other stuff changes a lot)
Successful Parry -> No longer RCable but causes guard crush on successful parry (think long range Baiken parry) Do you think this would be better? Worse? The intent is to give ABA some actual + frames without making the situation too unfair. My immediate concern that against air guard crush she might be + enough to raw install and pull up before the opponent recovers. 🤔
I feel like if Keygrab was long range but bad on block, she'd almost be better off somehow. It's likely this short ranged and clunky because they made it a guard crush.
ehh i dunno about that, whiffing keygrab is immensely frustrating but that is insanely cracked when you're actually in the range to use it: a 12 frame +2 guard crush, that generates a good amount of jealousy even on block, frame-traps from K buttons and is a true-string from 2H. paired with her esports K buttons she can run some oppressive strike pressure in normal mode to build jealousy and crank risk. as for comboing, you just need to learn when to use rekka, which is a great option as it builds just as much jealousy and gives a knockdown long enough to enter moroha manually and still get oki. not to mention that it gives you the choice of entering moroha or not, as you might prefer to keep building gauge instead of entering with just a quarter of it and lose it right away
Hard agree. Aba is going to be a threat in bracket tho, not because she is top tier but because she has so much comeback potential and some insane matchups. Like my main is Elphelt and I thought she'd do well against Aba, but holy shit Aba completely anihaltes Elphelt. She enters Jelaousy mode once and you are literally just dead. Comeback potential is again just nuts. This probably gonna be one of those desperation characters that people whip out to get a comback.
what I dont really understand is the whole point about "just play May" like I get that May is a better character and has better frame data but isnt the whole apeal of Aba's character the comeback potantial and not the frame data? Like I dont see top players maining Aba either but she feels like the perfect secondary for a lot of characters. But I am also not a top player so maybe I am just missing something here😭
Crying time. ABA is alot of fun, I really enjoyed playing her in training mode labing combos and early on fun to fight again with very mindless run-in players (obviously) Anyways, now she's like in the top 3 frustrating characters to fight against for me. Getting chipped once is just so punishing, it feels like I should NEVER interact with her. So it turns into a lame out competition.
See her get a change in like 2 patches LMAO Thank god shes fun asf even in normal mode cuz of the rps with high/low crush. For the thing I hate the most is throw still eating away your meter I literally just do not throw her mixup could be waaaay more fucked up if she could actually strike throw too.
my impression on the throw is that it's consistent across all cast for resource gain/loss. I can't really recall any resource characters getting a pause on their gains or losses while being grabbed. Someone feel free to correct me on that.
I would say Elphelt and Sin are pretty lacking in the fun department. I would even say May has more ability than those in that department. But Aba, Johnny, and Asuka knock it out of the park. It could be nuanced but her dolphin cancels are pretty neat and I hope they continue to further explore it.
I rps the shit out of my opponent for tension and a bit of moroha, smack em away with backward HS, hard change, wait to see them try anything at all, command grab, red RC, command grab, full moroha, positive edge with wallbreak
I think parry and grab gauge can be tinkered with, I do NOT think she needs “mask on” recovery. Nago’s punishment for not managing resource is blood rage, abas PUNISHMENT for not managing resource is “mask off”. It should be bad for her that she did not manually disengage, especially when you’re REWARDED for that.
I'll go further: Aba is fun than May BECAUSE you have to work to go into sicko mode and it's not just given to you. The approach of old Guilty Gear was more fun than new Guilty Gear (Strive, but even Xrd to some degree) BECAUSE it was more work. Why are so many young people getting into fighting games playing +R over Strive? It's not like people are starting to play Marvel or 3s or something, but they're playing +R. I don't mind that normal mode is bad. To be honest her normal mode buttons are not that bad (and i'm serious about that, compare to certain other characters) it's her movement that holds her back. She can never actually use her normals in an advantageous situation unless the opponent makes a mistake or the matchup requires them to take risks (which... well... at least some matchups do not require). Her transform is miserable but the real way to play is to transform and just keep your meter high using tricks and setups. You've seen Gobou play. Parry is a fucking travesty. I get they want it to be for a specific situation but in what situation is it good? I'm not even using that shit in the zoner matchups because... why? What do i get from it that i don't get from just holding back? A little meter? Is that tiny bit of meter honestly worth the risk of eating a full screen combo and getting knocked even further away? It isn't. They could make her stuff better. Frankly they could make Moroha stuff better. Her reversal super is supposed to be a trap because getting knocked down is supposed to be really bad (and tbh it might be as bad in Strive as it is in +R which is wild????) but they could at least make it do more damage. It does like 140-200 damage depending on your meter but, not-so-random example, May's whale super just does 170 in a big chunk, hits full screen, doesn't require her to be in a special mode to use it, and doesn't cost all of her resources. You're right about May, though. May's normal mode buttons are as strong as Aba's Moroha buttons, t's just her movement (and maybe Aba's kick super) that makes Moroha good. May's 5P is 4f and does 28 damage. Aba's is 5f and does (in Moroha) 23 damage AND the hitboxes are worse than May's. May's c.S deals MORE damage than Aba's Moroha c.S (yes really), has the same startup, is more + on block, AND has better hitboxes than Moroha c.S. Yes, really. Like, i could keep going and there are arguments on the other side but what the heck? These numbers are, like, don't even seem like they come from the same game. I know i'm being kinda negative here and like, i think Aba is actually pretty good. She may not win tournaments (Gobou may show us otherwise... or not) but she's pretty good outside of a couple problematic matchups. And the fact that there's just no reason to pick her.
Personally I feel like A.B.A. vs Faust is her worst matchup. Faust can just throw items all the time and run away, and when he has meter for Scarecrow RC or lands any hit you go into afro mix with no way out; and if that wasn't enough his normals are so long and fast that you can't even reliably use 236K or 214K to get around them. At least vs HC if you can find a moment to avoid Curse Ball you might have a *chance* in neutral because HC relies on 2 resources.
what prevent me from playing may (or charge characters in general) is the fact that they are better on keyboard/hitbox. Do you need it to win? Of course not. But if you want to reach peak levels on those characters, having the ability to input different motions simultaneously is a game changer.
Two words: frenzy and astonishment. It's free meter (especially from long start-up readable attacks, zoners, and fireballs). You can basically stay in jealous rage using it.
see??? also, I agree, May is such an overtuned character. She's extremely mobile, does absurd damage, has extremely good pokes and has the highest guts for some reason.
Day 1: ABA is the worst character in the game Week 1: ABA is fun but still horrible Week 2: we finally learned how to conserve meter, ABA's good now :) I love the discourse when new characters come out
She’s lacking the “fuck you” factor she has in +R. Knocked down in +R? Fuck you, I use danzai. Opponent is able to outlast moroha or survive the pressure? Fuck you, it’s still my turn, plus in block goku moroha super
As a Ram main. I have to admit, she is definitely not fun. Yeah winning is fun but doing all of that damage for litttle effort isn't too rewarding. Love this character to death but just zoning and beaming gets repetitive and boring.
Isnt fun subjective. I find ram fun aswell as may. But because i played aba in +R for many years they were the closest i can get. Now aba is out and im switching over
Aba should either be install = win, where you have to really work to get it, but once you have it you just win. Or she should be more balanced all around so that it's easier to install, and losing your install doesn't just lose you the game. Right now she has the downside of both
from experience, it feels like f.s and, especially, 5.h eat johnny alive, but i suppose johnny's normals as equally trash so, you know. back dashing does just invalidate this character tho im ngl
Aba is just not my type of character, I'm glad people are loving her but I just cant bring myself to like playing her, I try and I'm just sitting there trying to run across the screen. I'm really hoping the next dlc is a puppet character or something like that
Might just be a me thing, but aba v faust just feels TERRIBLE. If he calls out moroha install by teleport grabbing you he can just force you to sit through that slow ass animation and watch your moroha gauge melt away
I think A.B.A is good because the current meta is very " comeback- y" and Aba can really abuse that. If she gets bursted she gets to pop. If she bursts she gets to pop.
We might need controversial characters like hc in the end, better than a vanilla character like elphelt that dosen't remark in any sector.(Meant in mechanics that explore further the fundamentals of the game, i know that balance is a priority though new dlc won't be bought if they don't bring anything new)
As someone who wanted to play may, I can honestly say I dropped her after realizing how boring she was to play. Shes like a less interesting version of sol with no sauce. Literally dropped her because shes not fun lmao. So speaking from experience, nah, shes just not fun. Mind you my first main was ram, so thats saying something.
@@ZaltZalt-cz1mh That's completely subjective. I've played nearly every character on the cast, but always find myself coming back to May because I find her the most fun. Her air maneuverability with her dust and jump arcs are fun, and I personally find a lot of her dolphin cancel combos, side switch dolphin combos, and mix extremely saucy, you just haven't gotten deep into the character. And again, this is all subjective.
@@Hotashi when u basically say that the average player's opinion is worthless , and that this video is only for people who are "good" at the game, how is one supposed to take that statement
the average player thinks that tier lists apply to them and dont but they constantly yarn for top level player tier lists and opinions and i dont like it, and i very rarely share in discourse for this reason, the average player will take my opinion and run with it for years even though it doesnt apply to their level of play
@@Burtyburtburt8 the tier list is different at different levels of play. A pro's opinion on a character's strength doesn't really matter to most players.
I see how that can be annoying, tho if I didn't know the context, I could see how phrasing things like that would sound to someone. It sounded condescending initially
