This is a great video, +R was my first fighting game after only playing SFV casually for a few months in 2020, and i've never understood why people see it as some ridiculously difficult game. I think FRCs are one of the only uniquely difficult hurdles this game has compared to games like Xrd or Blazblue, but that's because it's a mechanic that demands a time investment rather than a pure execution check. But if you enjoy playing the game there's always more to learn and more to improve at while that muscle memory builds and it's why i always come back to it
The game mostly suffer from having a tons of tech and not enough new player to safely practice on, so new player got intimidated by the amount of things they have to learn and the nutty Testament guy that keeps whooping them 0-50 online. But if you play with a friend who's roughly on the same skill level it's a ton of fun. IMO the game control beautifully, every character just feel satisfying to hit buttons and move around, and there are so many different thing that you can try to improve on that you'll never hit a wall like in Strive.
I'm really enjoying how deep the game is, I'm used to getting bodied by absurd stuff coming from MBAACC, so I've definitely built up a tolerance lol, I can definitely see how that persuades people away tho.
I'm pretty much a fighting game noob, only been playing for about a year, but +R is my game of choice currently and I agree with you that the game is hard, but you can also just pick Sol and do button, button, 2D bandit revolver into a jH safejump and that's good enough if you just want to mash with your friends, but of course kire sidewinder loops are absurdly difficult. I have been trying to learn Baiken lately though and her bnbs are pretty challenging, I'm getting there though. I have a bad habit of clicking with characters with execution harder than I can really manage. I've been trying to get into MBAACC and I've actually been having a harder time with that. I feel like you have to press a lot faster to combo than you do in +R. I haven't taken any real time to really learn the game though, mostly just been screwing around with it... but the character I did click with was F-VAkiha so that might have something to do with it. Not that I can do Aoko's air combos either.
People psyching themselves out is the #1 reason why +R has the impression of being unapproachable (and because the community was 40 dudes in California sucking themselves off for a decade). It's a really fun game with unbeatable value, and probably the most playable kusoge ever made despite Zappa and Baiken being on the roster. FRCs are another topic of misunderstanding: you say that they're crucial or very important, but that only applies to one or two FRCs for most characters. Ky, sadly, has the vital Stun Edge FRC which is incredibly annoying to do, whereas Faust can thrive literally without ever using the mechanic. A lot of FRCs are also really easy to time once you actually know they exist, like Kliff's 236S FRC which is used in his max damage /ToD combos. I'm sad to hear you didn't get into Xrd when you tried it, and I went looking to see if you had a video about it but there doesn't seem to be anything there. I'd like to hear your impressions of the game since I think it's one of the best fighting games ever made, but also very misunderstood by people outside its community (which has been happening since it was the "main" Guilty Gear game).
I am more open to trying Xrd again, I just wasn't finding a character I enjoyed at that time and I was way more comfortable and into french bread games.
The best way to describe this game to new people imho as a veteran player for 20 years is this. The game rewards people with the technical ability and timing to execute pressure strings. But at the same time affords you many many defensive options. So there is a real suffocating feeling for new players playing against veterans. A few simple things to try when you're a new player. You have a 0 frame wakeup throw. So while this is very very punishing against players who may be good with combos and pressure strings but bad at timing and spacing, veteran players are aware of this so be careful to not be baited. Burst timings are used both offensively and defensively and a lot of thought should be put into their use. Also Dead Angle attacks are very effective and very underutilized. Other than that just using things like wake-up supers and practicing your movement go a long way for beginners. The game isn't that difficult, it just has a steep learning curve that quite frankly feels more rewarding than most other fighting games.
I recently started with a pal of mine, and have barely touched anybody but Zappa thus far and I'm still able to have a blast. The barrier to entry in this game (and nearly all other fighting games, I think) is mostly dictated by the skill level of your peers. Since there's so few noobs and the skill ceiling is absolutely staggering, I think people starting out and hopping online don't get to engage with things smoothly. That said, if you do have someone to get the foundational skills going with then things feel a lot less hopeless.
the Phonon player picking Faust lmao but yeah I totally agree with the video, I didn't understand Gear at all until I picked up +R Faust, there's so much more you can fuck up, but it also means that you have a lot more right decisions you can make compared to something like Strive. Like, if you don't want to fuck with slashback for the first two years of picking up the game, you don't have to (especially when you're playing Faust!). Learning a b&b and how to run oki is good enough to take games off of people in quick play. I think if you're picking up Sol/Baiken/I-No, then yeah you're gonna have a uphill climb especially if you're not familiar with Xrd and new fighting game players should consider other picks. Outside of those three, I don't think there's anyone that has an execution barrier that would be prohibitive to someone who could only practice for 20 min a day. Even a lot of the FRCs are easier than you think, like Testament's most important FRC is 7 frames and you can input it right away after startup. You can also implement a lot of the character specific tech into your gameplay at your own pace. Like for Faust FDC, it's known mostly as a way to get 13~ frame overheads, but you can start off by just using it to alter your falling momentum to beat out anti-air attempts and go from there when you're more comfortable.
0:58 I don't think Baiken in this game is all that hard when compared to much of the cast. I-no, Eddie and Zappa are the ones that stand out as the most difficult to me.
Saw this right now on the Nintendo E shop for four dollars and I’m like do I really wanna spend money on this game even though I have a few other guilty gear games on PC, decided to bite the bullet and then I realized I had five bucks in store credit so I basically got the game for free
Even as a MBAACC player do you still feel +R has a big technical barrier? I'm genuinely curious 'cause as a noob I always felt MBAACC itself is a very technical game, and that always made me feel very insecure about trying to play it
It's definitely different, I find a lot of the FD based tech in +R really cool, FRCs can be difficult to land as well depending on the move. I would say MBAACC is a bit easier, but its also way faster, +R is more technical but varies greatly depending on character.
