Monday, June 21, 2021

TOP TEN GUILTY GEAR CHARACTERS

TOP TEN GUILTY GEAR CHARACTERS



GUILTY GEAR ~ STRIVE is here! And in honor of the latest entry in the series, we here at Blood Work want to celebrate with our Top Ten favorite Guilty Gear characters! Fighting games are practically a religion here at Blood Work. We love them! We try to play a fighting game every day. From Street Fighter, King of Fighters, Darkstalkers, Samurai Shodown, and more, we've been playing these games since the 90's and still love them to this day.

It was around 2004 when a group of us went to an arcade called FAMILY FUN CENTER. I remember staking claim to a Capcom Vs SNK 2 cabinet while another friend stood at King of Fighters 2003 and yet another at a Soul Calibur cabinet. Then there was the last of us, a stoic fellow we call Red. He stood at a cabinet none of us were familiar with: Guilty Gear XX. And he never left it the whole time we were there. Eventually we gathered around to leave and all Red could talk about was this new amazing game he discovered. The next thing we knew, Red had purchased every Guilty Gear game he could find and sat us all down to play.
 
Beautiful 2D animated sprites, explosive and flashy effects, a killer metal soundtrack, lightning fast pace, and some of the most badass characters in all of video games. Guilty Gear is one of the greatest fighting game franchises of all time. Debuting in 1998 in an already crowded genre, Guilty Gear managed to differentiate itself from the pack and offer something unique and incredible. Thanks to our friend, Red, we here at Blood Work were introduced to this franchise and Guilty Gear became an all-time favorite game of ours.

Still rocking Guilty Gear to this day, here is the list of our personal favorite characters to play as from the series. These are the characters we enjoy playing with the most, the ones we're the best with. This is by no means a list of which characters are better than others, simply that these are the characters we can actually play with somewhat proficiently as well as a few we just like. If you're favorite characters aren't on the list that just means we're not very good with them, not that they're bad characters.

HEAVEN OR HELL!

DUAL ONE!

FIGHT!




THE BONUSES





#12
JUSTICE
First Appearance: Guilty Gear (1998)
 
The original final boss of Guilty Gear, Justice is one crazy character. Guilty Gear leans on the anime esthetics heavily with most of its character designs and Justice is their take on the giant robot "mech" character. Full disclosure: we're not very good with Justice. But you don't need to be good with Justice to win as she's (yep, that's a she) way overpowered. I love Justice's design and her story. She's one cool and unique character among fighting games. She's a bonus because, well, admittedly we're not very good with her, but she is still a lot of fun to play and so very cool.


 
 
 
 
 
 

#11
ZAPPA
First Appearance: Guilty Gear XX (2002)
 
 If Justice is one of the most unique characters in all of fighting games, then Zappa IS the most unique of them all. In all of my days playing fighting games, I've never seen any character quite like him. Zappa is not a fighter, but a man possessed by a legion of evil spirits. And when the spirits take over his body he becomes a force to be reckoned with. As Zappa you can fight with a spectral hell-hound, a trio of ghosts, a demonic sword, and Raou - the manifestation of the lightning god itself!

Not only is the character concept and design entirely original and unique, but so is the execution and strategy needed to play Zappa expertly. The whole plan with Zappa is to get enough spectral orbs to summon Raou. A successful attack with one of the spirits possessing Zappa gains you a spectral orb. Once you have enough and you summon Raou, he has enough power to kill an opponent in one or two hits. And Raou is one amazing looking character. Only one of our friends has mastered Zappa and it is because of him that we're recognizing Zappa on this list! And, if we're being honest, Zappa is pretty cool.

 
 






THE TOP TEN

 
 
 
 
 

#10
FAUST
First Appearance: Guilty Gear (1998) ~ as Dr. Baldhead

Faust is a completely bonkers character right out of some wacko children's show. To be honest, I don't have a whole lot of personal love for Faust, but man, he's a great character to play as. His strength is his ridiculously long reach (he's super tall, insanely flexible, and wields a giant scalpel as big as he is) and his speed. Fast characters are abundant in Guilty Gear but Faust is a particularly unique case. Keeping him constantly moving across the screen almost always guarantees victory. And there's something strangely satisfying about wielding Faust effectively. He's a difficult character to fight against, especially against someone who can keep him moving.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
#9
MILLIA RAGE
First Appearance: Guilty Gear (1998)
 
Beware the hair. Millia Rage is one of the original fighters of GG and embodies everything Guilty Gear means. With the most head-bangin' hair of the entire roster, Millia is a force to be reckoned with. She's fast and furious with a Chun-Li-like rapid-fire attack (except with her hair, not her legs). But what makes Millia really deadly is the varying length of her hair, going from long-range to short-range in an instant. She's sporting a simple yet sleek design and has a stoic, badass persona. She reminds me of Medusa (from Marvel Comics, not the mythological Gorgon) and that's not a slam. Both Medusa and Millia are awesome characters.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
#8
KY KISKE
First Appearance: Guilty Gear (1998)
 
The "white knight" of the Guilty Gear series, Ky Kiske is one of the poster characters for the series and arguably the co-star of the franchise. Ky is awesome but he's never been the top of my list. He's among my better characters for sure and is a ton of fun to play as. For three of my friends, however, he's one of the best. He's either their main or their second. I'm fair with Ky but nowhere near as good with him as my friends. Ky's design is wicked cool, a futuristic holy warrior of a sort. If you go with Ky Kiske you won't go wrong! Ky has some deadly high/low combos that make him a beast in the ring. And he's definitely the projectile king of the series (or a good candidate anyway).

 
 
 
 


 
 
#7
VENOM
First Appearance: Guilty Gear X (2000)
 
Remember my buddy, Red? The man who introduced me to Guilty Gear? His mains are Ky Kiske and Venom, the pool-playing assassin. Venom is one wicked cool and unique character. I'm nowhere near as good with Venom as Red, but I'm not too bad either. Venom's not nearly as fast as some of the characters on this list but he doesn't need to be. He can fill the screen with pool balls and send them careening across the screen as well as massive energy balls that, if you get behind them, are devastating. Then there's his pool cue that can lay the smack down with efficiency. I've seen this for myself, Venom, in the right hands, is one of the best characters in the series.

 
 
 
 
 
 

#6
DIZZY 
First Appearance: Guilty Gear X (2000)
 
 Dizzy is one of my favorite characters in the entire series... that I'm shamefully not as good with as I want to be. Dizzy has one of the best character designs I've ever seen with a gentle and reserved personality that makes her all the more endearing. I'm not bad with her, but she's not my best nor even really a main... though I wish she was. I like her more than I'm good with her (if that makes any sense). She debuted as the boss of Guilty Gear X and has since figured centrally into the plots of several games to follow. It was revealed that she is the daughter of Sol Badguy and Justice. Eventually she marries Ky Kiske and becomes queen of the world. The Guilty Gear team clearly cares about Dizzy too, but I feel subsequent games have limited her more than improved her gameplay (this coming from the guy who admittedly can't play as her). Anyway, I love Dizzy and think she's one of the best characters in all video games.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
#5
POTEMKIN
First Appearance: Guilty Gear (1998)
 
 Guilty Gear is know for its fast characters. Potemkin is, by far, the slowest character of them all. But what he lacks in speed he more than makes up for in raw power. A single hit from Potemkin can take off a fifth of your life bar. He has the power to take down his opponents in only a handful of hits. And combine that with a reach that can stretch over half way across the screen, and you've got one of the most brutal characters in the game. In Guilty Gear there are certain characters with moves that "shrug off" enemy attacks, and Potemkin has one of the best shrug-off moves in the game. I rely heavily on that shrug-off attack as part of my strategy. Combine that with his sheer power and he's one of my favorite characters to play as in the series. If Millia is Marvel's Medusa, then Potemkin is Marvel's Hulk. And I do love me the Hulk!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
#4
I-NO
 
First Appearance: Guilty Gear XX (2002)
 
The end boss for Guilty Gear XX, I-No is one of the most rockin' badasses of the entire franchise. Sporting a wicked cool design with the Hogwarts Sorting Hat to boot, I-No fights with her electric-guitar, mic-stand, amps, and music (yes, music has been weaponized). She's like a witch-rock star. All of the characters on this list are cool, but I-No takes coolness to a whole new level. Many characters embody the rockin' esthetics of Guilty Gear and I-No is particularly exemplary of it. You can imagine I-No being the character playing the series' metal soundtrack. For as petite as she is, she packs a ton of power (as she should being a boss character). She also has decent speed and some great combos that make me love playing as her.




 
 
 
 

#3
ZATO-1 a.k.a. EDDIE
First Appearance: Guilty Gear (1998)
 
It sure seems like Daisuke Ishiwatari, Guilty Gear's creator, loves Marvel Comics. Earlier on this list we had analogs for Medusa (of the Inhumans) and the Hulk. Here's Guilty Gear's take on Eddie Brock/Venom (and in XX Zato-1 was renamed Eddie... because Venom was already taken). Zato-1 is an assassin that's bonded with a symbiotic creature that has weaponized Zato-1's shadow. Zato-1 is an incredibly imaginative character in design, brilliantly realized once you start playing. At first glance he looks incredibly simplistic but, once you begin working the shadow, the character completely transforms into some amazing. Zato-1 can disappear into the ground where he's untouchable. He can fly high in the air out of reach, and switch between close and long range attacks on the fly. He's an incredibly versatile character that can keep your opponents guessing. I love playing as Zato-1. He brings a ton of options to the table.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

#2
SOL BADGUY
First Appearance: Guilty Gear (1998)
 
The poster boy and central protagonist for the Guilty Gear series, Sol Badguy (what an awesome name, right?) is kind of the "Ryu" of the series and introductory character, the 'ol reliable' if you will. He's powerful, well balanced, and user friendly. He has an array of moves that flow together well which can be devastating if they connect. In the right hands Sol is a force to be reckoned with. Now, Ryu is commonly referred to as the "novice" character. But to say Sol's a novice character is a disservice. Just like with Ryu, there's good players and great players. With Sol, my tactic is to overwhelm my opponent with Sol's speed and power, mixing high and low attacks. All it takes is for one attack to connect to chain into another attack to deal serious damage. This lethal combo makes him one of my best characters, one of my mains. I also love his design and anti-hero attitude. Simply put, Sol Badguy is awesome.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
#1
BAIKEN

First Appearance: Guilty Gear (1998)

My main, my favorite, the most badass character in all of Guilty Gear... Baiken. Guilty Gear is populated by an embarrassment of riches in terms of great character designs and overall awesome characters. For me, Baiken is the cream of the crop in design, personality, and playability. She's like Rurouni Kenshin merged with Yagyu Jubei and more. She's got one eye, one arm, and a stoic badass personality befitting her bushido persona. I'll admit she isn't the easiest to play with (I have to try harder with Baiken then I do with Sol or Zato-1), but that means she isn't as easy to read as other characters. I try harder with her and that brings out a whole new level in me.

She started off as a secret character in the original Guilty Gear and has become a mainstay ever since (although sadly missing from Xrd - Sign, Xrd - Revelator, and STRIVE). Like Cammy in Street Fighter, she's the character I always look for when a new entry in the series is announced. She better show up in the following updates to STRIVE otherwise I'll put off buying it for a while. Rumor has it that a Guilty Gear character may show up in the recent SAMURAI SHODOWN for PS4 and Baiken's the one character who'd be perfect among the SamSho cast! Anyway, I love Baiken and could keep going on about her all day. Mercifully for you all, I'll end it here.
 

 

And there you have it!

My favorite characters from the Guilty Gear series!

Who are your favorite Guilty Gear characters?

Leave your favorites in the comments below!

And for more video game posts check out these others below!















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Monday, June 7, 2021

CASTLEVANIA SEASON 4 (2021)

 CASTLEVANIA SEASON 4 (2021)

To anyone who knows me this goes without saying; the Castlevania property is one that is very close to my heart and has been for a long time. I feel very invested in it's story and characters, music and gameplay, and history. I just recently acquired a playable demo for the long lost, never finished, never before released, cancelled Dreamcast game: CASTLEVANIA RESURRECTION (a dream come true to see and play!). This may be one of, if not the, favorite video game franchise of mine. As you can probably imagine, the Netflix Castlevania animated series is high on my radar.

The first season was short but amazing, the characters and story feeling very faithful to the video game. Season Two expanded the narrative a bit, introducing new characters as well as characters who would figure central in future games and storylines. It took a few liberties with the story, left out a main character in Grant Danasty, but overall delivered a great story while still maintaining a degree of fidelity to the game. It even utilized my favorite Castlevania music track: Bloody Tears. For the first three seasons, Season Two was the high point for me, but that's nothing off of how great the first and third seasons were.

Season Three went a little further off book, exploring a section of time between the video games and setting key pieces in place. Bringing in Saint Germain and the Infinite Corridor was done masterfully. Alucard's treatment and role was strange and largely unnecessary though. Despite that, I thought Season Three was great and I could see how it would lead into a largely faithful adaptation of CURSE OF DARKNESS. At their present pace of storytelling I foresaw at least two more seasons before ultimately wrapping up this section of the storyline.

Then Warren Ellis, the writer of the show, was cancelled by Twitter. He was let go from all of his employers and suddenly the future of this show was cast into doubt. I wasn't sure this show would continue at all for fear of what Twitter might do to those involved should it continue. Then two months ago Netflix teased Season Four. Then they said it was the final season. Surprisingly Warren Ellis was allowed to continue his work on it, of course under the auspices that this will be the last work he contributes to the show.

It has taken me a while to get through this season and then finally collect my thoughts. As a result I have mixed feelings about this season. I definitely feel there is some appeal to Twitter in the writing and execution of the stories and characters within this season. And then there's the rapid pace and abrupt conclusion here because of this being the final season. I like that the company behind this show was willing to keep Warren Ellis on and let him finish. But I can't help but feel that his "cancellation" at the hands of Twitter is why this is the final season and why the show wasn't allowed to continue. To Twitter I say this:

"Your words are as empty as your soul. Mankind ill needs a savior such as you!"

"BUT ENOUGH TALK! HAVE AT YOU!"


INITIAL IMPRESSIONS

Wow, the cast of voice actors for this show is astounding! In particular, Bill Nighy and Malcolm McDowell?! How the hell this show ever got these two immense talents (along the numerous other amazing actors herein) I will never know. I was sad to see that Barbara Steele did not reprise her role as Miranda though (she's such an amazing actress and horror icon). Richard Armitage, Graham McTavish, Jason Isaacs, Matt Frewer, along with every amazing actor to grace this show is truly mind-blowing.

The first episode was great, showing Sypha and Trevor battling night creatures over the course of six weeks, slowly uncovering a mass plot to resurrect Dracula. Then the second episode shifts to Hector and his servitude to Carmilla. And for me the show really slowed down here. Carmilla is essentially the "fill in" villain while Dracula is away and she's a serviceable villain at best. And Carmilla's court, the three vampire women with her aren't even characters from the games, they're here only to flesh out Carmilla. And this season gives the two least interesting of them an entire episode to themselves, ultimately leading to them abandoning Carmilla and contributing nothing to the plot. Netflix bloat at its best.

Showing Carmilla essentially becoming everything she hates is fine, but focusing on her court was a waste of precious space. There's only ten episodes in this season and there's two seasons worth of story to tell. Hector should've been the focus of the Carmilla sequences, building up his ultimate revenge and redemption into a hero. Hector schemes during his scenes but ultimately is the damsel in distress that gets rescued... by his arch rival, Isaac, no less. That's pretty disappointing considering Hector is a full hero leading a big game in the franchise. Saint Germain, a minor character in Hector's game, gets more to do than Hector.


And then there's Isaac, who basically loses two seasons worth of character development as well. Season Two set up Isaac's complete devotion to Dracula and utter hatred of humans. After Dracula's death, Isaac was set on a course to destroy Carmilla and restore Dracula. Here, after his biggest battle, he suddenly loses his hatred and becomes a perfectly well adjusted character who's practically invincible. He also suddenly doesn't care about Dracula anymore, literally the only person who ever treated him with kindness and humanity. Sure, let's just forget about avenging Dracula's death, because that makes perfect sense. Now, Isaac's siege on Carmilla's castle was awesome, the battle with Carmilla being epic! That was one of the best episodes in the season. But then that's it for Isaac. His avenging Dracula was only to kill Carmilla? She barely did anything to Dracula. His character turn here makes zero sense.

I get wanting to give Isaac more character growth, but shouldn't it make sense? After taking over a town and defeating an evil wizard, suddenly after he's wanting to rebuild the town for new people to move in? I thought he hated humanity? And after rebuilding the town and talking with that insect monster, he loses all drive. His reasoning, that they are more than tools to be used for a singular purpose, is sound. But how he gets to that point, seemingly out of nowhere, doesn't feel natural nor does it serve the plot in any way. It's a contrived convenient way of finishing his character and giving him a happy ending. Again, I'm fine with this happening to the character eventually, but it doesn't feel natural at this point in the story. Had we another season to work towards this, then sure. As is this feels like a compromise of storytelling because this HAD to be the last season.

Then there's the trouble with Alucard. There's a reason why Alucard disappears from the games after the events of Castlevania III. In the game Alucard willingly enters a death-like sleep in order to end Dracula's bloodline. He remains in this sleep until the events of Symphony of the Night when the Belmonts disappear. It's a convenient plot devise, sure, but it works to explain away an otherwise overpowered character and why Alucard isn't always saving the day. I love Alucard. He's a great and iconic character whom many prefer over the Belmonts. But he's better in small doses, his appearances made all the more impactful by their infrequency.

Alucard's Season Three storyline, while interesting, felt rather superfluous. His Season Four arc did nothing with his Season Three arc, eschewing a dark turn for the character and opting instead to introduce a more Symphony-like Alucard. "Hey, recognize that shield?" Thankfully he's given more to do in this season, leading a besieged people to the safety of his castle. His fight scenes are pretty cool, but this season reduces his character in ways. Instead of the ominous possibility of becoming the next Dracula (like Season Three implied), Alucard is a swash-buckling hero who's now inexplicably dumber and speaking like a rube. He says in the show that he's been around Belmont too much, hence his lunk-headed thinking and vulgar speech. He's dumber in this season and has less of clue of what's going on than the random leader of the village he's helping. And ultimately he contributes little to the conclusion of the season.

I understand wanting to keep Alucard involved as most gamers love him and he was such a cool and tragic character in the first two seasons. But after Season Two he has nothing of significance to add. Had the filmmakers followed the games and let Alucard "commit suicide" at the end of Season Two, ending his cursed bloodline and following his parents in death, it would've made a tragic yet fitting end for the character's arc. It would've added more tension to the subsequent events in Season Three and Four, Trevor and Sypha no longer being able to rely on Alucard's power, in effect rendered weaker by his absence. Instead we received two uninspired arcs for the character, dumbed down where normal people like Greta prove more capable than himself, and the lingering question: if Alucard is here, what need is there for Trevor and Sypha? I love Alucard. He's one of my favorite video game characters of all time. But he should've left the show at the end of Season Two. As is, his treatment over the last two seasons has been a disservice to the character. 


And then there's Trevor and Sypha. These two should be the anchor of the show, our core. But they get shoved to the background after episode one. And when we get back to them Trevor gets progressively weaker and dumber for no reason whatsoever. The characters say they're getting rundown from the constant fighting, but Sypha isn't experiencing the same effect. In fact, Sypha gets stronger, more assertive, and mentally acute. I love Sypha but honestly I was hoping for her to get her ass kicked by the end of the show just so I could see that she wasn't being turned into a Rey Skywalker. Sypha has only been living this kind of life for a few months while Trevor has lived this his whole life. Sypha lived as a Speaker most of her life, not a physically strenuous lifestyle like Trevor. Yet somehow she's on par with Alucard now with her physical aptitude, dexterity, and limitless stamina. As her magic power has grown exponentially for no reason. It didn't make any sense, it was frustrating, and it felt like an appeal to a certain group of people Warren Ellis wanted to apologize to.

The first episode of the season was great. The subtle hints of Death maybe making an appearance had me very excited. But then the show tapered off by going to Hector and Carmilla's Castle where Hector meanders about and schemes. Then we get an episode about Isaac meandering about and waxing poetic. Then we get a recap of Saint Germain meandering about in the Infinite Corridor (which was pretty cool, I'll admit. We'll keep this one). Then we get an episode of Carmilla's generals meandering about in their tent (before a cool yet pointless fight scene all to further motivations for characters that no one cares about nor characters that hold any significance to the story). Then we get an episode about Varney and the other vampire talking and killing. 

Among all of this dialog was a lot more swearing than previous seasons which cheapened the characters, in my opinion. I'm not opposed to swearing, but it always felt somehow dignified in the previous seasons (a little going a long way), where in this season it felt overused and crass. And then we get Alucard coming to a random village for aid where we meet Greta of Danasti (was that really supposed to be Grant Danasty?). 'Snore'

"Are you still with me?" asks the show.


Honestly I really lost steam and enthusiasm for Season Four by this point. After getting through all of this, the last three episodes took discipline to finish. I nearly let the show fade to the background; me, the Castlevania fanatic! Saint Germain's plot to resurrect Dracula was easily the most fascinating subplot of the show. And honestly, I couldn't stand the two new vampires, Varney and Ratko (Ratko? Who is this guy? And why the hell is he beating the crap out of Trevor? TREVOR! The man who stood toe to toe with Dracula!). But when Varney made the turn and revealed himself to be Death, my mind was blown. The Death reveal was great and really elevated the entire season (although I wish he had been present in the background throughout the entire series). Needless to say, I loved episode nine, Trevor alone against Death. This single episode saved the season for me.

The final episode though, where everybody gets their happy endings, was a bit much. So, Dracula and Lisa are back, alive and well, happily living ever after? How the hell are we supposed to get to the other games stories now? And why do we need Belmonts when Alucard will be out and about? In fact, it appears everything is hunky dory with no need for either Alucard or Belmont anymore.

GAH!! 

This season is so incredibly frustrating! The first three seasons were done so well, and that's probably what makes this season hurt all the more. I have more grievances with this season than praises it seems. Generously I'll say half the season was good and half of it was aggravating. Such a shame. The show piqued with Season Two but was strong in the surrounding seasons as well. Season Four, the final season, drops the ball like no other season before it. If I could call for a redo of this season, I would. But bizarrely, I am the only one, so it seems, that didn't like this season.

Overall Ranking: 5 out of 10

 

It's a real shame how this show ended up. The creators teased that if this season does well, potential spin-off series could happen (obviously without Warren Ellis). If Season Four is any indication of how the spin-offs would be handled, I say look to the first two seasons rather than the last. I hate feeling this way about Castlevania, but, wow, what the hell happened here? All I can surmise is that this season's story was drastically altered and hamstrung by the decision to end the show, hence the abrupt character changes and plethora of happy endings.

Okay, I'll shut up now.

For more of my ranting and raving about Castlevania, should you want to subject yourselves to more of my horrid thoughts, check out the posts below. 

I truly do love Castlevania, honest!

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