Guilty Gear +R is far more complicated than most other fighting games. It has air mobility, chain cancel options, metered options that can remove all recovery frames from attacks (sometimses on whiff), multiple defensive options, and the characters can do wacky shit. If you played another game competitively and put the work in to learn how to get good, you already have a mindset that will help you here.
- If you played a platform fighter like Smash, or an airdasher like Melty Blood, you should be able to learn movement a little easier.
- If you played a more traditional 2D fighting game like Street Fighter you'll have a base to learn and structure a ground game. It actually does exist in this game, but you need to know the "airdasher" elements before this becomes relevant. It will give you an edge when you're competent at it though.
- If you played a 3D fighting game like Soul Calibur hopefully you learned how to outguess your opponent. If you played Tekken maybe you'll have a better sense for frame trapping and punishing unsafe moves. I feel like fewer skills from those games will help you here, but like with traditional 2D games something will "click" when you've learned enough of the basics.
However, you're here to play I-No. I-No stands out among the Guilty Gear cast because her movement is unusual, her execution is difficult, and she requires precision with her positioning, timing, and move choice.
You need to learn how to control this character, which is hard to do well, while also learning all the nuance the game has to offer.
I don't recommend learning an "easier" character first just to learn the game. Each character is so complex that you'd invest a lot of extra time into techniques that apply to the other character more than I-No.
Playing multiple characters will definitely help you get better at the game in general, but it's a lot of time to commit when you're figuring out how the game works. Getting better at a single character will help you learn about the game in ways that learning the bare-basics with more than one character will not. If you really like +R, pick up a secondary character later.
Get a feel for controlling the character. Study up on system mechanics so you can understand the game and apply pre-existing knowledge. Spend some time drilling your execution because this character is demanding. You'll see results somewhat quickly. Every listed practice string has a "why am I learning this" that you can click on. You'll learn blockstrings, mixups, and pieces of combos that you can string together to make more advanced combos later.
If you have prior experience you can look at other players early and emulate them so you can make quick progress. However, if you're already competitive at some other game I think it's worth it to figure out a bunch of shit for yourself first, and feel out what you think works using your unique experience as a base. If you copy another player's style and techniques you'll never be better than that player. Stand on the shoulders of giants so you can reach a little higher, but if you sit on your laurels up there you can only go where they're carrying you.
If you want maximum win rate with minimum time investment, copy other players right away. But heed my warning that you need to put some work into understanding why the things you're doing are a good idea. Otherwise you'll never be better than the people you're learning from.
If you just want to pick up +R on the side because some friends play it, but you don't want to put in a lot of effort, and you still want to win as many games as possible, then maybe look at another character (Faust or Testament). I-No will take work no matter how you play her, even if she's more accessible than she used to be in Accent Core. Good luck though because the skill ceiling is pretty high even if you play an "easy" character.
