Things I like
- Milliaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa ❤ ❤ ❤ ASW has done the impossible, and has somehow made the best waifu of GG even hotter. She was already goddess tier; now she is on a different plane of existence
- The new roman cancel system. This is easily the most significant change that Xrd has brought upon the GG series, and I feel that it was superbly implemented. The execution requirement for learning FRCs is gone, and to replace it there’s this new YRC/RC/PRC system that makes meter usage a lot more flexible than before. In addition, the slowdown effect of roman cancels makes it way easier to hitconfirm stuff and assess the situation. Lots of really exciting possibilities with this system.. can’t wait to see how things develop in the next few months.
- Updated graphics, music, etc. Pretty much everything related to the game’s presentation was done perfectly. But that should be a given
Things I don’t like
- Character specific changes. Unfortunately, while the new RC system gives everyone more options when using their meter, it is clearly not the case for every character’s individual moveset. Most characters got downgraded and/or lost options compared to their AC+R counterparts. This is most apparent when you look at every character’s command list: everyone’s moveset shrunk! There is NOTHING cool about losing options. In addition, several characters lost important move properties, like the vacuum effect on Pot 2s, Pot megafist knocking down on hit, I-No’s 2s hitting low, Millia j.d knocking down on ground hit, Ky j.s having a crossup hitbox, etc.
- Using #Reload as a base. The main reason that every character lost options is because they are based on their #R counterparts. But there are other reasons why I feel using #R as a base is questionable. For one, that game had a lot of stupid things that were eventually toned down in later versions, like the high stun modifier on many of Slayer’s moves and Eddie in general. So it is irritating to see them return in Xrd. #R also has terrible balance: not only does it have a god tier(Eddie), but it also has an absolutely terrible bottom tier. At one point in that game’s life, the character rankings even went down to G tier! I played #Reload a LOT, and it is definitely the GG game that I grinded out the most since it is where I made the most progress as a fighting game player. I have a lot of good memories with that game and I had a lot of fun, but I would never want to go back to it after all the great things the GG series got in Slash, AC, and especially AC+R.
- Higher damage. The stupidly high damage from #R is back again in Xrd, and one of the main reasons for this is because the life totals have been reverted to 420. In AC+R, there was a universal health buff to 460, making it seem like everyone did lower damage. I admit that it is funny and somewhat hype to see Zato do 70% damage off of one unblockable setup. But the damage levels in AC+R were a lot more reasonable.
- Removal of throw breaks. Throw breaks were first added to the GG series in AC, so of course they’re gone in Xrd. Although I don’t think they make that much of a difference in the gameplay(because of the small break window), it is pretty silly to have a 2014 fighting game be missing this mechanic.
- Not being able to use 25% meter to increase combo damage. Yes, I know I wrote that I loved the new RC system earlier, but this is one of the things I don’t like about it. It gives more flexibility to meter usage in neutral game and defensive situations, but it is a lot more limited when it comes to combos. Basically, YRCs cannot be used when the opponent is in hitstun/blockstun, so if you want to use meter to extend a combo, you must have at least 50%. This is probably one of the reasons why the meter gain is significantly higher in Xrd than in previous GG games. Anyway, this really hurts characters who relied on 25% meter options(FRCs and FBs) to do damage in previous games, particularly I-No, Axl, and to a lesser extent Slayer.
- Danger Time. This mechanic is stupid and I cannot understand the logic in adding it. It disrupts the flow of a match and doesn’t add anything to the game.
- Small cast size. Well, this is something that will probably get fixed up in later revisions, but the cast size is pretty underwhelming right now. Just 13 characters, when the previous game had 25!
- Hellfire. This is a new mechanic added to Xrd: once you get to 20% life and below, you enter Hellfire state, which powers up your Overdrive moves and makes them do more damage. In addition, it also makes your opponent’s IK activation a lot faster. So fast, that it becomes very easy to combo into Instant Kills. Basically, Hellfire is a kind of comeback mechanic, which is something GG has never had in the past. It’s nowhere near as problematic as say, ultras in SFIV and X-Factor in Marvel, but I feel that comeback mechanics have no place in competitive games.
Neutral
- Blitz Shield. I’m not really sure how I feel about this yet. Personally, I never felt that GG ever needed a parry, and it was fine that it was a char specific mechanic(for Jam). But right now, the parries look ok. They don’t look problematic like they are in Third Strike. And the main reason is that the GG blitz shield has 1) a cost, which is 25% meter and 2) a whiff animation. I’ll have to see what gets discovered with them in the future
Lovers Arcana Yamada Lvl99 