Compassion is not the same as weakness!
Blargh. I am horribly, utterly, ruined from PT. I don't know how everyone else is still able to do sit ups and push ups since their school days. I sure can't. After running so much, I'll have thighs the size of Chun-Li's, albeit very sore thighs. BUT I'LL MAN UP AND FINISH THIS DAMN THING.
Okay. Time for the XX series of games, where the series has been in a never ending Street Fighter 2 rut. Except where SF eventually evolved into the best fighter ever, 3rd Strike, by creating such a new smooth flowing fighting system and purging it's trite ethnic warriors with a group more suitable for the aptly titled street fighting*, GG has just been kind of a chilling at this point. Oh well, at least most updates haven't just been a slight increase in speed so that gives me more to talk about (sadly for the both of us).
I'm not sure how I'll do the character descriptions, since three of them are introduced in seperate updates, and one of them is really from a spin-off game and another is from a title we never got. OH WELL, I'll cross that bridge when I get there.
*Okay, not really, but I do like them new characters like Remy and Alex more than blockheaded Americans who look like Nazi's from the second arc of Jojo, russian bears** and starving indians, OKAY?
**Just kidding, I like russian bears.
Guilty Gear XX: The Midnight Carnival
2003 - Arcade/PS2
Characters introduced: I-No, Bridget, Slayer, Zappa and Eddy (not really "new", but in terms of storyline...)
Story: Only a few weeks after the Dizzy fiasco, the mysterious Post-War Administration Bureau begins making it's moves after observing the cast for long enough, using their Robo-Ky units to do the dirty work.
And to make matters worse, I-No appears, attempting to neutralize any percieved threats to her master...
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Here's where the series hit it's stride with even more refined tweaks to the gameplay (roman cancel!), even better graphics and more detail to the backgrounds, introduced quite possibly the most iconic characters in recent fighting games (to me at least) and rocked hard with it's soundtracked preformed by a full band.
And even better, we got the storymode. While Guilty Gear's plot is not the best in the world, it really holds up for being character driven (like Persona 3), and theres no better way to convay a story than with Guilty Gear's motley crue of characters as every one of them is interesting enough to see what happens to them, even if they're not fun to play as (except Jam, who I still don't like, but she actually has a important role in this so I trudged through her game).
With the gameplay changes, false roman cancels make my life easier than roman cancels ever did, and the burst attacks was a great idea thrown in to save you from pesky aerial combos.
In the aesthetics department, the visuals are top notch. The character sprites carried over from By Your Side but are a pinch better and some attacks were redrawn (and for the better) such as Millia's "Lust Shaker". The backgrounds too have been carried over, but more detailed has been given to them such as London having bystandereds, and the ghosts at the Colony.
Musically, all that I found wrong in By Your Sides soundtrack has been fixed by adding a live drummer and bass player, not keeping the synthasizer on near mute and depth to the guitars. While a few songs are weaker to their predecessor ("The Original"), most are greatly improved such as "Keep Yourself Alive II" and "Holy Orders (Be Just or Be Dead)", and the new tunes kick a lot of ass such as "Haven't You Got Eyes in Your Head?" and "Simple Life".
Honestly, I'm split between recommending this or Accent Core. While Accent Core features every character, I really enjoyed Midnight Carnival's storymode. If you can understand Japanese though, AC's update, Accent Core Plus is available and it features a new storymode and it's on the PSP so you can play it region free.
This is seriously, the most rockin' fighter ever.
CHARACTERS
ZAPPA
Theme songs:
Good Manners, Good Customs (all games)
Seizures (#RELOAD)
Home Sweet Grave (Isuka)
Zappa is a poor Australian with a bit of a problem. He happeneds to be possessed by not just one ghost, but a legion of them. And he's not really aware of that fact either.
The main ghost is S-Ko, a Sadako clone who is rumored to be Axl's girlfriend from the 20th century. Among others are the three centipieds, a black dog and Rhoul from Fist of the North Star.
He seeks out Faust to help him figure out why he constantly blacks out and comes too with injured people all around him.
He happens to be somewhat modeled after Dio from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, and was my old namesake at this place.
BRIDGET
Theme songs:
Simple Life (all games)
Crash and Burn (#RELOAD)
Drunkard Does Make Wise Remarks (Isuka)
Here we go. Everyone knows Bridget is really a young boy dressed to be a girl. Despite his story being told countless times, I'll go over it again.
He was born in a village that believes twins born of the same gender are cursed. To hide the fact that his mother bore two males, they rose Bridget up to be a girl. Now that he's old enough, he wishes to prove his masculinity by becoming a bounty hunter.
I-No gives him a false list of bounties at the beginning of the game, and he inadvertadly assists in her plot.
SLAYER
Theme songs:
Haven't You Got Eyes in Your Head? (all games)
The Vampire Saga (#RELOAD)
Push a Bush (Isuka)
Oh man, another update, another incredibly badass character to challenge Sol. Slayer is quite frankly the baddest vampire ever created, outside of Dracula. Demitri wishes he could be him.
Anyways, as stated, Slayer is a ancient vampire, and founder of the Assassins Guild a hundred years before The Missing Link, only to disappear soon after it's creation. But after Zato-1 dies, he reappears and announces that he is disbanding the Guild, only to enrage Venom.
He knows the most about what's going around the world and seems to know Sold pretty good as well, judging by their dramatic intro in Accent Core. He confronts various characters to warn them about a coming threat along with "That Man" (I guess I should get around to discussing him soon).
He's married to a undying entity named Sharon, and he never truely loses a fight.
EDDY
Theme songs:
Feel a Fear (all games)
Dementia (#RELOAD)
Push a Bush (Isuka)
Not truely a new character, but Eddy is the shadow that Zato-1 controlled when he was still alive, granted to him as a new type of bioweapon from the P.W.A.B..
Though Zato-1 has died, Eddy took over his body and is quickly trying to find a new host before Zato-1's corpse begins to degrade, while at the same time being hunted down by Millia and Venom.
The truth behind Eddy's sudden existence in the series is that Zato-1's original voice actor had died and as respect, put Zato-1's character to rest.
I-NO
Theme songs:
Shadow Festival (all games)
The Midnight Carnival (boss mode)
Blacklight Babe (#RELOAD)
Sheep Will Sleep (Isuka)
Maybe I refrenced Elton John too soon with Justice.
I-No, is quite frankly, the most despicable villian this side of Hitler. Her origins are a mystery, as her P.W.A.B. report just repeats "UNKNOWN!!" over and over before assigning her with the risk rating of "S+" in their description of her.
All that anyone knows about her, is that she can time travel, doing so once to change history so, ironicly, Ky may live during the an important battle against the Gears during the war. She's supposedly loyal to That Man, but that itself is questionable.
She takes great pride in harming those around her, especially Dizzy. She and Sol seem to have a past together, and in some of their intros it's clear she hates him as some of her moonspeak is humorously bleeped out. During storymode, she gives Bridget and Jam false bounty lists which helps her get rid of a few of her hits, and also enlists a dying Eddy with false promises of saving him by having him attempt to take over various new hosts.
After causing enough trouble, her master and a another of his servents, Raven, show up and generally save whatever character she was about to murder even though she claims it was for the good of his goals.
Well, that's all there is to say about this, lets move onto it's first update #RELOAD
Guilty Gear XX: #RELOAD
2003-ish PS2, 2004-ish Xbox, 2005-ish PSP as part of Guilty Gear Judgment
Characters introduced: Robo-Ky
Story: Same as Midnight Carnivals.
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#RELOAD is, or at least was, the most well known of GGXX's updates as it was the only one we had for awhile, and on the Xbox of all things. I didn't play much of it, as the Xbox controller sucks and no one else was on Xbox Live except two people (half of them were me), so I can't really tell what was "updated" in terms of gameplay, outside of Eddy being rather weak.
But it did get two big additions. One, Robo-Ky who technically has been around since By Your Side, has became his own character rather than a Ky-sprite edit, and almost as big, is the Korean edition. While I need to save stuff for his biogrophy below, lets just say his move set is borderline insane, and he plays quite differently from everyone else due to his unique tension gauge and his pressure gauge.
For whatever inane reason, the Korean edition of #RELOAD features a brand new background for Chipp Zanuff (pretty cool looking) but even more, a totally different soundtrack by a band called N.EX.T. rather than Daisuke's music.
While the Korean OST is divided amongst fans, I enjoy it quite a bit, going so far as to say I like a few songs, mostly Baikens and Anjis, over the original music, but stylisticly it's rather drastic. It's heavy sounding since the bass plays right along with the rythme guitar. It's got some techno-influences (don't worry, it's still metal) with a lot more synthasizer leads than usual. And the most noticable aspect is the fact how dark it sounds. Before I truely knew what #RELOAD was back in the day, I got the impression from the music that crap was going down hill for our heroes (Heck, just look at the song titles).
Anyways, the Xbox version of this game is largly skipable as you can get #RELOAD for the PSP (I've never had problems with fighters on that thing) which also includes the some what cool Guilty Gear beat 'em up, Judgment. But then again, the Xbawks version is also cheaper so... do as you wish. Of course it's stupid to buy this because of Accent Core.
Characters
ROBO-KY
Theme songs:
Holy Orders? (GGX-GGXX: Midnight Carnival and Isuka)
Under Construction (Day/Night) (#RELOAD and forword)
Vortex Infinitum (#RELOAD)
P.W.A.B.'s android agent, based on extensive research into Ky Kiske. Though there are dozens apon dozens of Robo-Ky's built, one of them appears to have a few bugs in his programming and is on the lunatic fringe.
By Accent Core, the P.W.A.B. begins views this lone Robo-Ky as a threat, but not a major one and assigns him with a "D" risk rating.
Okay, onto the title we never got, and I never played! This will be (thankfully) short!! I'm only writting it up because of one key factor introduced.
Guilty Gear XX SLASH
Characters introduced: Order-Sol, A.B.A.
Plot: Ditto
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Right. I never played this. I quickly looked it up at reputable sources (wiki) and it says new moves were added to the characters. So. Yeah.
But one thing we're all aware of that was added, was A.B.A. from the enjoyed/hated Isuka game, and another (paradox)-challenger to Sol's badasses, is his younger self as Order-Sol from his Holy Order days!
Now those I can comment on! A.B.A. has more moves and is generally more playable than she was in Isuka, and she now has a rather cool Instant Kill, not like you'll have a chance to ever use it since she's god damn slow.
Order-Sol though, is completely awesome all the way around, and seems kind of over powered too. In addition to his tension gauge, he also has something I'll call a rage meter, because it's name has slipped me.
His attacks seem rather weak at first, but the more filled the rage meter is, the more powerful (and cool looking) his attacks become. But to fill up that meter, leaves you standing wide open so you'll have to look for moments when you can successfully charge up. And he also happens to have a psuedo-instant kill, called All Guns Blazing. It's more like his overdrive attack, plus one more strike to add more pain to his punch (but because how much damage the overdrive does, plus one more super hit, chances are enemy X will be dead after all said and finished).
Of course, that more or less just took away a good portion of what I could of saved for Accent Core, so lets mosey onto the...
Characters
ORDER-SOL
Theme songs:
Get Down to Business (SLASH and so forth)
Keep the Flag Flying (vs. Ky)
Oh man, this is just awesome. Sol. In his Holy Order uniform!!!
Anyways, fanboyism aside, this is Sol during the war against the Gears. Instead of the Fireseal, he weilds a big ass caveman sword that looks like it could hurt more. And for a sprite edit, theres more effort put into him than Ken, Lilith, those twins in Street Fighter Alpha, Shadow Dio and so forth.
Anyways, in SLASH, under the right conditions during the boss fight against I-No, when she loses she'll open a time portal to escape and there is a chance you'll get dragged 2172 A.D. and face off with him.
His storymode in ACPlus is how he obtained the Fireseal.
A.B.A.
Theme songs:
Keep in Gates (SLASH and beyond)
Quicksilver (Isuka)
A.B.A. is a artifical lifeform built at Frasco, a creepy mansion/lab/chapel thing. Before she woke up, the scientist working on her was taken away the military, and when she came to, she found herself alone, and lived that way for ten years. During this time, she developed an affantiy for keys as they represented the possibilty of opening doors to a new world to her.
While wondering outside of her home one day, she stumbled across a giant, key shaped living weapon from the war laying on the ground. She instantly claimed it for her own, naming it Paracelsus, and sat out on a quest to find a artifical body for it.
I just want to take a second here, and make a theory that the scientist who was working on her could of been Crow, who shows up as a P.W.A.B. scientist with a horde of Justice clones. The two has a shared ending together, but because I lack knowledge in Japanese, I'm most likely wrong.
Okay! Next!! Accent Core!! I'll just tackle Plus, since outside of the addition of story mode and Justice and Kliff being playable, they're largely the same.
Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus
AC: 2007 - Arcades, PS2, Wii ---- ACPlus: 2008 - PS2, PSP
Characters introduced: None! (Well, Crow, but he's a NPC)
Story: Having to deal with I-No and the sudden onslaught of Robo-Ky's sent by the Post War Administration Bureau onto our heroes, now a scientist from the P.W.A.B. named Crow has appeared and has unleashed a horde of clones based on the most feared Gear of them all, Justice.
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I'm mostly going to focus on Accent Core Plus, here. This is what struck me to write this lengthy blog, as it comes off as a "farewell" game. Not the end of Guilty Gear for sure, but the sign of a coming rest for the now.
Accent Core Plus features every character up to this point, dead or alive, tweaked to perfection with every background in the series (older ones need to be unlocked), many of the songs including a few classic ones such as "No Mercy", "Still of the Dark" and "Fatal Dual" and of course, it has it's massive storymode where casualties kind of run high (depending on your ending of coruse, and depending how well I can tell what's exactly going on).
ACP is quite frankly, a packed game. Among all of that, theres a brand new gallery with a majority of Daisuke's art and a bunch of amature stuff, Master of Medals is back, tag, 3 vs. 3 from GGX Advance Edition and you can unlock interviews with all of the voice actors, playing their characters (so cool!)
The version we have released, plain old Accent Core features none of that but none the less it's the perfered version to get right now since it has nearly all of the characters and all of the tweaks so far, but I highly recommend getting Accent Core Plus for all of the bonus features, whether your understand them or not. Plus it's GG on the go!
Anyways, since theres really no new characters introduced, I'll discuss all of the NPCs mentioned thus far.
CHARACTERS, YEEHAWWW
THAT MAN
Theme songs:
The Man (GG2)
The creator of the Gears. He's still virtually a mystery, and only Sol and Aria/Justice knew him before the war. He is hunted by Sol Badguy and Baiken, and to the former he was the lone figure she saw walking towards her when the Gears attacked Japan during the War.
He, along with Slayer, seems to know of a coming threat that will require all of the cast to team up and battle against but so far no word on what that is, but when shows up in Guilty Gear 2, he comments that Sol's Tyrant Install is what will save humanity from this new enemy.
RAVEN
Theme songs:
Worthless as the Sun Above Clouds (GG2)
So far Raven appears to be the only truely loyal servent to That Man, as Justice and I-No both appeared to have their own agendas.
Like That Man, nothing is known of Raven except he is a parallel existence to Axl Low, which is why he's forced into timewarps, and he is virtually unkillable as he shrugs Sols and Fausts attacks in one of the novels. In Guilty Gear 2, Sol calls him undying and diseased, refrencing to his super healing abilties.
The coin over his left eye may mean that he maybe a undead entity.
CROW
A scientist working for the P.W.A.B., he seems to be the creator of the Robo-Ky's and the Justice clones running amock (and as I theorized, A.B.A.'s creator as well).
Because I don't truely understand moonspeak, I can't comment on his motives outside of how absolutely creepy he looks when confronting people (sorry, couldn't find his storymode picture).
POST-WAR ADMINISTRATION BUREAU
The P.W.A.B. appear to have became something of the prime antagonist of the series, sending out their various weapons to capture people who are proficiant in various fields of magic, or kill any threat to the organization.
They were made during the war against Gears originally to help rebuild the world after we won against the Gears, but it appears back then they had their own agenda as they're the ones who transformed Testament into a Gear, and later on, gave Zato-1 the bioweapon "Eddy".
It's still unknown who they truely are, and it appears they're long gone by the time of Guilty Gear 2: Overture.
PARACELSUS
That big key thing with the mean face that A.B.A. weilds around. In Accent Core Plus, during her storymode, he'll occasionally go crazy towards other characters. Perhaps he wants their bodies?
SHARON
Slayer's wife. She's immortal, even surviving having her blood drained by Slayer, and it appears nothing can harm her as evident in one of Eddy's endings in the Midnight Carnival.
TSUYOSHI
Chipp's master and father figure, who was killed by an assassin named Volf. Appears in flashbacks in one of the novels.
VOLF
The assassin who killed Chipp's master, he was sent on another mission to take out Erica, the president of America, only to fail and get killed by Venom for his incompetence. Only appears in one of the novels.
ERICA
President of America in 2187, who plans to form an alliance with Zepp to rid themselves of the Assassins Guild problem. A murder plot was made on her, but ultimately Chipp saves her life.
GABRIAL
The current president of Zepp, the floating nation that still uses technology, he helped throw out the military dictatorship that ruled over Zepp with Potemkins help by the end of the Missing Link, and has strong ties to the Johnny and Erica.
JELLYFISH PIRATES
All female-sky pirate team, plus one penis named Johnny. All of their names are that of months.
ROGER
Bridgets self-aware teddy bear weapon of death
So yeah. That takes care of the Midnight Carnival. Next, and hopefully last, the rest of the lot like the much reviled Isuka, Judgment and Dust Strikers (to which all are just fine except for the last)!!!
!!!
