If Guilty Gear had a drive system a la BlazBlue, what would it be for the characters?

[Domayv]

With Revelator on the way, I thought that I should talk about what it would be like if the Guilty Gear characters had a drive system like what the BlazBlue characters have. This is my idea.

 

Notation:

* L replaces P (punch)

* M replaces K (kick)

* H replaces S (slash) and, to some extent, HS (hard slash)

* D (dust) is the same

* E replaces HS (slash)

 

Sol Badguy: His HS attacks will burn the opponent, dealing "afterburn" damage (formula: damage of attack x 0.1 x 3 seconds). Afterburn damage ignores regular blocking and instant blocking, but can be negated by Faultless Defense. Afterburn damage is subject to proration a la Yuuki Terumi's Force Eater. Effect cannot be cured but it lasts fairly quick. Dragon Install doubles the afterburn duration.

Ky Kiske: His HS attacks will electrocute the opponent, leaving them in an Paralysis state, where they cannot move (i.e. walk, jump, airdash, etc.). However, Ukemi and moves that automatically move the character can still be used. In terms of status effect, it will follow a similar rule to Jin Kisaragi's Freeze Count, where there's a limit to how many times Ky can electrocute someone in a combo. Effect lasts until it either wears off or the electrocuted opponent hits him.

May: ???

Millia Rage: ???

Zato-1/Eddie: Shadow summon (NOTE: he might lose his original HS attacks)

Potemkin: ???

Chipp Zanuff: ???

Faust/Dr. Baldhead: His HS attacks will invert the enemy's controls on hit, causing the status effect Confusion. Similar to Ky, there's a limit to how many times Faust can apply the confusion status effect in a combo. Effect lasts until it either wears off or the confused opponent hits him.

Axl Low: ???

Baiken: Her HS attacks will steal the opponent's Barrier gauge and add it to her own a la Ragna the Bloodedge's Soul Eater drive (that is, if Faultless Defense had its own gauge like BlazBlue does as opposed to being tied to the Tension gauge). This mechanic is meant to offset the low health she has. It works regardless of hit or block, but does not work against Faultless Defense. Youzansen, Sakura, Ouren, Tetsuzansen, and Tsurane Sanzu Watashi are the only non-Drive moves that can steal Barrier gauge and add it to her own.

Testament: His HS attacks will poison the opponent, dealing poison damage (formula: damage of attack x 0.15 x 5). Unlike Afterburn damage, blocking the attack will not cause the opponent to take the Poison status effect. Effect lasts until it either wears off or the poisoned opponent hits him.

Kliff Undersn: HS attacks deal 2.5x the amount of stun (it refers to the fact that Kliff can be easily stunned, so why not make his attacks stun easily)

Justice: Nuclear Blast. (press 236E) to detonate. (NOTE: she might lose her 5HS and 6HS attacks. 2HS is now 3H and j.HS is now j.2H)

Anji Mito: His HS attacks have an auto-guard period, in which the attack itself can block most incoming attacks. After blocking the attack, he can press any of the attack buttons (except E) to perform an auto-guard-based attack (like Kou is you press P and Sou if you press K)

Venom: He will deploy his pool balls (NOTE: he might lose his original HS attacks) (press 236E or 214E to change ball formation) (NOTE: 2HS is now 3H)

Johnny Sfondi: His HS attacks will "silence" the opponent, preventing them from using their Drive attacks. Similar to Ky, there's a limit to how many times Johnny can apply the silence status effect in a combo. Effect lasts until it either wears off or the silenced opponent hits him. 

Jam Kuradoberi: ???, possibly something similar to Izayoi's drive

Dizzy: Summons (a.k.a. My Talking Buddies) (NOTE: she might lose her 5HS and 6HD attacks; 2HS is now 3H and j.HS is now j.6H)

Bridget: Deploy/Release yo-yo

Zappa: S and HS Sword, Raoh and Triplets normals, and D normals from Dog are now reconfigured as Drive attacks..

Slayer: Something similar to Noel Vermillion's Drive attacks.

I-No: HS attacks will absorb the opponent's Burst gauge and add it to her own.
Robo-Ky: ???
A.B.A.: Damage dealt by her HS attacks will slowly replenish her Blood Pack supply (maximum: 4 Blood Packs) (formula: damage of Drive attack x .25). Each Blood Pack can heal 120 health.
Order-Sol: HS attacks are the same, but deal Afterburn Damage at levels 2 and 3 (forumla: damage of Drive attack x .075 x 3 (Level 2); damage of Drive attack x .15 x 3 (Level 3)).
Sin Kiske: HS attacks electrocute the opponent if Sin is above 8000 Calories. Unlike Order-Sol, his drive attacks consume his charge gauge (125 calories). Should Sin be at <=8000 Calories, then his HS attacks will not electrocute. Unlike Ky, Sin does not have an electrocution limit, but if multiple attacks that electrocute are done in a combo, then the electrocution duration will last shorter than it they were done separately.
Bedman: HS attacks will put his opponent in a "scanned" condition that lasts for 300 frames on hit, similar to Rise Kujikawa from P4AU. While the opponent is scanned, all of Bedman's projectiles will home in on the opponent.

Ramlethal Valentine: Deploy sword (6S is now 5E, 2S is now 2E, 6HS is now 6E, 2HS is now 3E) (NOTE: 5HS is now 6H, 2S is now 2H, 2HS is now 3H, j.HS is now j.2H)

Leo Whitefang: Brynhildr Stance (NOTE: Leo might lose his 5HS and 6HS attacks. 2HS is now 3H and j.HS is now j.6H). The L/P (anti-air), M/K (sweep), H/S (footsie) and D (counter) followups remain the same, but the HS (overhead) followup is now 6H. A 6P (command throw) followup and a 6K (projectile) followup is added). 

Elphelt Valentine: Ready, Miss Confire and Ready, Miss Traveler (press 22E to swap weapons). (NOTE: Elphelt might lose her 5HS and 6HS attacks. 2HS is now 3H and j.HS is now j.6H)

Jack-O': ??? (details of her have not been revealed in full)

[Rele]

If Guilty Gear had a drive system a la BlazBlue, what would it be

Horrible

[SoWL]

I believe this is about the third time we had this thread, except that this time the Drives are mostly Original Mechanics Do Not Steal rather than the existing mechanics getting a new button.

And we have more than enough info about Jack-O' to know that she already does have a Drive button, pretty much.

[Poultrygeist]

You can't just slap a drive button onto GG like that, the game isn't built around it like BB is.  

[Vashimus]

I personally don't like the idea of giving every character an obvious gimmick button. It's why I got turned off of Blazblue, no offense to those who enjoy it. All the characters I want to play heavily rely on / have some crazy skill ceiling regarding their Drive, and it makes learning a new character a chore rather than fun.

 

It's not that I'm lazy, I just I like GG's simplicity with the characters. You'll have a few characters with some meter or mechanic unique to them, but they don't seem as prevalent. I also find gimmicks much easier to learn and remember when relegated to specials, rather than learning a 5D, 2D, and j.D, plus some characters have stuff like 6D, 4D, j.2D, plus learning the Drive specials. My brain just couldn't keep track of it all.

[Maker]

The idea doesn't fit GG for the same reason it does fit in BLazblue. BB is meant to be user friendly to some degree and for that better or worse (I like both really well) the BB side of things is simpler in controlls and gameplay. Whereas GG has "Simplistic" Inputs but in the end the gameplay is more varied in GG from my expierence with both games.

Take this example. You have 5 attack buttons with GG and for the most part just like BB they have their individual functions. The difference is the Drive mechanic has an anchor to some mechanic that in guilty gear would otherwise be a character wide mechanic. Most notibly not tied to a button but spread out among their entire movelist.

If you try to jostle that up between individual charactes it becomes a problem. Much in the way bang or ragna feel like they belong in GG because of the Drive attacks IMO. Whereas chara teea like Carl, Tao and Hakumen do not. The same could be said of some GG characters the otherway but iI'd bet on it being fewer. Reasoning on this is fairly simple.

More buttons and more variable move users create a deeper character. GGxrd May is IMO more complex than a lot of BB characters by comparison. (Though that may be through a limited opinion from an old Dizzy main as I could only ever really handle bang and hazama in BB)

[Poultrygeist]

The idea doesn't fit GG for the same reason it does fit in BLazblue. BB is meant to be user friendly to some degree and for that better or worse (I like both really well) the BB side of things is simpler in controlls and gameplay. Whereas GG has "Simplistic" Inputs but in the end the gameplay is more varied in GG from my expierence with both games.

Take this example. You have 5 attack buttons with GG and for the most part just like BB they have their individual functions. The difference is the Drive mechanic has an anchor to some mechanic that in guilty gear would otherwise be a character wide mechanic. Most notibly not tied to a button but spread out among their entire movelist.

If you try to jostle that up between individual charactes it becomes a problem. Much in the way bang or ragna feel like they belong in GG because of the Drive attacks IMO. Whereas chara teea like Carl, Tao and Hakumen do not. The same could be said of some GG characters the otherway but iI'd bet on it being fewer. Reasoning on this is fairly simple.

More buttons and more variable move users create a deeper character. GGxrd May is IMO more complex than a lot of BB characters by comparison. (Though that may be through a limited opinion from an old Dizzy main as I could only ever really handle bang and hazama in BB)

 

Er, I'm not sure that's quite what it is.  It works in BB because each character is designed around it.  For example you can't just make Zato's Eddie into a drive because his entire gameplay and buttons are based around them being special moves.  It has nothing to do with "BB is for babies so it has glorified specials mapped to one button."

[D.R.F.]

Whoa BB inputs. Pls stop:((((

[Domayv]

Er, I'm not sure that's quite what it is.  It works in BB because each character is designed around it.  For example you can't just make Zato's Eddie into a drive because his entire gameplay and buttons are based around them being special moves.  It has nothing to do with "BB is for babies so it has glorified specials mapped to one button."

I guess this will all be determined once ASW makes that hypothetical BlazBlue vs. Guilty Gear dream match game (which would pretty much mean mixing in gameplay mechanics from both series) once the fourth BlazBlue game comes out possibly next year.

[D.R.F.]

I guess this will all be determined once ASW makes that hypothetical BlazBlue vs. Guilty Gear dream match game (which would pretty much mean mixing in gameplay mechanics from both series) once the fourth BlazBlue game comes out possibly next year.

BBxGG... hmmmmmm

[Maker]

@poultry: that's the point of that post

[Blade]

For BlazBlue, Drive was the gimmick.

 

For Guilty Gear, Attack Levels are more/less the gimmick.

 

See, back in the first Guilty Gear, everybody had a chargeable attack.  Whether it was Volcanic Viper, Stun Edge, or Living Lancer, even Pote's Slide Head was chargeable (it was called Graviton back in the day).

 

Basically nearly everyone has moves that have chargeable/upgradable states.

 

Sol: charges with Dragon Install (somewhat like Order-Sol's gimmick)

Ky: charges with Stun Edge/Split Ciel

May: relies on "delays" in her attacks (6P, Dolphin delays, ball bounces)

Johnny: relies on coins to power up his Mist Finers

Jam: relies on kick cards

Baiken: relies on guard cancels/attack seals

A.B.A.: relies on blood packs/super armor

Zappa: relies on Souls and ghost randoms

Testament: relies on Voodoo dolls for traps

Venom: relies on balls and charging balls

Zato: relies on Eddie

 

Anyone who doesn't have "item based" gimmicks pretty much has their own style of play which makes them unique (I-No, Bedman, Justice, Kliff to name some), and is also something that makes GG different from BB for the simple reason that the characters are not "tied down" by gimmicks, and can have their own style with or without gimmicks.

[Domayv]

 

For BlazBlue, Drive was the gimmick.

 

For Guilty Gear, Attack Levels are more/less the gimmick.

 

See, back in the first Guilty Gear, everybody had a chargeable attack.  Whether it was Volcanic Viper, Stun Edge, or Living Lancer, even Pote's Slide Head was chargeable (it was called Graviton back in the day).

 

Basically nearly everyone has moves that have chargeable/upgradable states.

 

Sol: charges with Dragon Install (somewhat like Order-Sol's gimmick)

Ky: charges with Stun Edge/Split Ciel

May: relies on "delays" in her attacks (6P, Dolphin delays, ball bounces)

Johnny: relies on coins to power up his Mist Finers

Jam: relies on kick cards

Baiken: relies on guard cancels/attack seals

A.B.A.: relies on blood packs/super armor

Zappa: relies on Souls and ghost randoms

Testament: relies on Voodoo dolls for traps

Venom: relies on balls and charging balls

Zato: relies on Eddie

 

Anyone who doesn't have "item based" gimmicks pretty much has their own style of play which makes them unique (I-No, Bedman, Justice, Kliff to name some), and is also something that makes GG different from BB for the simple reason that the characters are not "tied down" by gimmicks, and can have their own style with or without gimmicks.

 

Although this isn't related to Guilty Gear or BlazBlue, some of the P4Arena series characters' Persona Rushes (D normals) have gimmicks: Aigis's has counters like Hakumen's, Rise's fires lasers a la Dizzy's 214S/HS, Akihiko's pulls the opponent towards his persona Caesar a la Kokonoe's Gravitons, Kanji's does a lightning strike that can be directed based on the directional input (2D for close, 5D for medium, and j.D for far), Shadow Labrys's allows her to control her persona a la Carl Clover and Zato-1, Teddie's throws items a la Faust's What Could this be? attack, and Yukari's throws balls that make her arrows home in on the opponent whenever the arrows touch the ball.