That Guilty Look
I’ve been a big supporter of Guilty Gear Strive since it was announced last year by Arc System Works. With the additions of Rollback Netcode, some killer graphics, and a fast-paced fight system, I’ve dug the game so much that I decided to design my website around it.
I should also point out that I’m not actively playing Guilty Gear Strive since the Betas have been exclusive to PS5 (the elusive console). When the game launches on PC, I’ll be right there to write up what this game really feels like. It’s a departure from Xrd, but man is this game pretty.
Hope the gameplay holds up.
Like this art I made for the website. Check it out below:
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The Camel (Guilty Gear Strive Beta #2)
I’ve watched a ton of the second Beta over the past weekend and have come away with mixed feelings. The first Beta was fast-paced with the cheap stuff kept in the game. Really, the only universal complaint (except for some characters’ limitations) was the God-awful online lobby system, something seemingly inspired by a Terrance and Phillip short from South Park.
Guilty Gear Strive Lobby 
Terrance and Phillip from South Park
After the first Beta, the lobby system was terrible enough for Arc System Works to push back the release of the game until June from April, and most of us expected some major fixes.
TL;DR: nah, not really.
The addition of pixelated fight cabinets in the lobby is a fun idea, but it doesn’t fix the functionality of the lobby system and menus. It is still too difficult to find matches, and if a player is clamoring to fight someone specifically in their lobby, the game tends to crash or cease matchmaking entirely. So, with lobbies still functioning at an abysmal level, what has ArcSys been working on the past month?
Seemingly, nerfs to characters. Again, I’m a hypocrite here because I haven’t played the Betas because of a lack of PS5, but universally it seems like some of the fun stuff from the previous Beta was siphoned out. To me, this is the flaw with player feedback.
Relatedly, I was listening to Ricky Gervais on the Smartless podcast give this anecdote about test audience feedback. One note that was given after the initial test screenings of Rain Man was this, “I liked the movie, but I wish the little guy would have snapped out of it in the end.”
This misunderstanding of the heart of the project is the problem when reviewing feedback. I don’t know to what extent Arc System Works makes gameplay changes based on feedback, but it seems the changes made in Beta #2 were made specifically from vocal complaints on social media.
Ever hear the maxim: a camel is a just a horse built by committee?
That seems to the case with the current state of Guilty Gear Strive; it is now a camel.
I hope Arc System Works will hold onto their original ideas instead of trying to please character specialists or the most vocal on Twitter because the game, before, was originally frantic and fun to play.
But perhaps this is just the way of developing a modern fighting game. Street Fighter V went through something similar. It needed a few years of struggle to figure out what it was, and then it could be brave and try new, exciting things.
Maybe after a few seasons, GG Strive will be just as enticing.
I just wish we could speed up the process and become braver sooner.
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The Uselessness of Chair Reviews
I bought a new desk chair over the weekend (the Herman Miller Embody). When I buy things, I research the hell out of them. Inevitably, this brings me down the rabbit hole of YouTube review videos. Find a thumbnail of the item of your choice, along with the derpy face of a content creator pasted beside it, and click on the inevitable video title “My Review”.
What follows is an endless stream of nothing-much-said.
Why?
Because YouTube reviews are mostly useless.
Aside from sponsored review videos (which are, really, paid advertising for the content creator and the product), the bulk of review videos are mostly descriptive, as was the case when researching the chair I bought.
“This chair has a seat. As you can see here, with me sitting in it, it also has a back. And these things down here? These are levers and knobs that adjust the chair. Self-explanatory? Cool, because I didn’t point out the wheels yet.”
“This chair has WHEELS mother$#$%!”
This will be 90% of your video.
The last 10% is what you came for: the verdict. Usually, it goes something like this, “It’s a great chair, but it all depends on what you’re looking for.”
If you find your eyes burning like hot coals, your fingers sprouting claws that stab into the keyboard, a tuft of gargoylish hair encroaching over the nape of your neck, with two pointy horns suddenly on either side of your skull, and the unholy, damning fires of hell consuming your laptop from rage…
Don’t worry, this is normal.
You’ve just felt the effects of having your time wasted.
How is, “depends on what you’re looking for,” a useful verdict in a review video?
By nature, YouTube review videos are dependent upon if you, the viewer, think you are similar to the reviewer. Therefore, if they like the product, so will you. If a reviewer shrugs and says, “It all depends on what you want,” I’m just as indecisive. You’ve just told me to go to another review to make up my mind (which, on a conspiratorial level, might be the point—YouTube videos exists for views and clicks, not as guides to personal decisions).
And that’s what I did: I watched review after review after review…None of them authoritative, none of them useful.
Until I did the only review that counts when buying a chair: sitting down in the damn thing.
That’s when I knew I wanted it. That’s when I understood the con of watching review videos.
And I’m still reeling from my choice to watch so many of them; my YouTube home page is flooded with related/unrelated chair review videos, all thanks to a naïve assumption that they would be helpful.
I didn’t even like the people making them. To me, a derpy face in a YouTube thumbnail implies a derpy personality. But I suppose content creators who make reviews are just practicing their true trade without calling it as such:
The art of making silly faces.
For that, to their credit, many of these content creators are well paid.
But I love the chair. I’m glad I went with it. And that’s all I have to say, except for my official verdict:
Go sit in one yourself, then you’ll know.
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Also, there’s a pretty great piano version of “Pink Pony Club” that I’ll post below:
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Dirty Dishes Out Now!
And here’s a new story after a long sabbatical. It’s the longest one I’ve posted on here, but I think it works well.
Disclaimer: there’s explicit language in this story.
Enjoy and I’d love to read your comments!
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Hoping everyone is as well as they can be. You’re not alone out there,
