My goal was to make this community post relatively short in comparison to others in the past, but.... I wanted to discuss Asuka's balance changes in [1.48], along with a few other topics such as ArcRevo in Senzan, and Asuka's new voice lines.
But before we jump into those subjects, I'd like to provide a brief overview on Lucy's story in GGST - and that's only because Asuka plays a big part in it:
**Spoilers**
Now, I did not play Lucy's story mode, but I watched someone else complete it. Early on, she befriends Axl; and according to Sol, Lucy died when she crossed over to the Guilty Gear world, and a person who Sol refers to as simply a "wizard" brought her back and had a hard time recreating her weapons. This was corroborated by Asuka R♯, who referred to Sol as simply, "my friend," and stated she was lucky he found her soul wandering throughout the Backyard - because had he not, then she very well could have been there for eternity. Using her soul, he curated a body for her (think of Jack-O's creation in I-No's Xrd story mode), along with her weapons. He also said he installed an ad hoc patch to keep her consciousness connected to GGST's world. It took Lucy some time to get acclimated with this new body of her's, and at last, Asuka R♯wanted to test the strength of his "guinea pig" (Lucy's words). After Asuka R♯runs out of stamina (I'm assuming, because Axl and Lucy could not even defeat Sol, and in the lore, Asuka R Kreutz is stronger than Sol), Asuka R♯creates a portal that sends her back to Night City. Lucy wakes up thinking it was a very realistic dream, but makes a remark that those she met in her "dream" were cool people, like those she would hang out with in Night City... Asuka R♯is now even with Asuka R Kreutz, as both have created artificial life - but sadly, we can assume Lucy's appearance in GGST is non-canon, like that of the characters in the Marvel vs. Capcom series - you won't find any mention of those crossovers in games outside of said crossovers, because those characters are not owned by a single company. I know SNK and SF collaborations are different, but they're the outlier, not the common denominator for crossovers. For me, the biggest takeaway from Lucy's story mode was Sol's form of endearment for Asuka, is calling him a "wizard;" while Asuka R♯'s is using the term, "my friend." Asuka R Kreutz's form of endearment for Sol, is simply calling him, "Frederick." Cute...
Back to the topic of Asuka's balance adjustments in the latest patch:
Well, ArcSys, after several balance patches throughout the years that have resulted in nothing but making Asuka a weaker character overall, you've finally given us Asuka users a patch with only positive reinforcements (buffs). Thank you for that...
Moreover, many of you may be wondering how big of an impact these enhancements were to Asuka - and if they were enough to make him viable in tournaments again. I must apologize in advance, but it is far too early to infer the strength of such a complex character that received only two buffs, and previously had much more taken away that still has consequences on his very essence to this day...
On the positive side, Asuka users can now easily wallslump the opponent to regain precious resources and spells without having to use Tension; and with the Low-Pass Filter Gravity spell, F-Shiki (fuzzy overhead) routes are easier to connect. A remark made by a viewer on Gobou's live broadcast after watching him utilizing some Ice setups was, "The next patch to weaken Asuka after Gobou using it." I have full faith in Gobou's skill as a player, and that if he decides to play Asuka in this version of the game, he Will find a way to "Solitaire" with Case 2 - as he was already getting to that point prior to switching to Zato for ArcRevo in Senzan...
Regarding ArcRevo: As witnessed at ArcRevo in Senzan this weekend (8/30-8/31), Gobou utilized Zato throughout the entire event. For many, this may have come as a surprise, due to Gobou seemingly only having 2 weeks to get his Zato "tournament-ready" - especially with how long he's been off of the character...
So, what made him choose Zato (main) and A.B.A (sub) at ArcRevo in Senzan? The primary constituent was character compatibility and match-ups...
Prior to the ArcRevo in Senzan event, Gobou commenced a live broadcast where he discussed character pairings of two (character compatibility); the final pairings were (main/sub): Venom/Unika, Venom/A.B.A, Zato/Asuka, and Zato/A.B.A - there were alliances that included Goldlewis, but he was excluded about halfway through the pairing analysis process... it's also important to realize that Venom/Asuka was discarded very early on, due to both having many bad match-ups that neither character can cover - one popular tournament character that single-handedly disqualified Asuka in the alliance with Venom was Elphelt (why didn't someone inform me this character was considered harder than a 5.5:4.5 match-up for Asuka?)...
Furthermore, how Gobou settled on Zato/A.B.A came down to how confident he felt in a match-up, while also taking into consideration how the character fares in said match-up (if it's a good/or bad match).
To test this hypothesis, Gobou had played some matches with Asuka in ranked mode; followed by A.B.A. In spite of his amazing Asuka gameplay, Gobou had deduced a concerning matter that many Asuka may have overlooked - Asuka's hard match-ups have failed to improve - and in fact, some have become more difficult. Allow me to explain:
Although Asuka has received nothing but enhancements for this balance patch (version 1.48), with the Low-Pass Filter Gravity spell adding ground bounce to all cubes, and the "Ice" (commonly referred to as 氷 (こおり) by Japanese Asuka users and Japanese commentators) allowing Asuka users greater character expression and combo/setplay potential; under that cloud of euphoria one may be experiencing from their main character being strengthened, lies one major issue - and while I'm happy the spell Gobou always referred to as a "cursed (Aquila Metron) has been reworked into a strong, usable spell, I'm not quite sure it was worth Asuka now offically having the worst defense in the game...
With attention to this, during his "character evaluation" of Asuka and A.B.A, Gobou discovered Asuka's match-ups against in-fight characters like Sin, Chipp, Leo, Gio, Slayer, and I-No have become harder (even Daru_I-No stated the Asuka/I-No match-up has now gotten easier); this is because any player who understands the basics of Asuka counterplay will first focus on his spells on hand. With the threat of an invincible reversal being eliminated from the equation, these characters can continue their pressure relatively uninterrupted - because the need for hypervigilance - or the obligation to show respect to an Asuka user who has Aquila Metron in their repertoire has now ceased. System mechanics, which can all be exploited, is now an Asuka user's only line of defense in any match-up...
The new Asuka buffs make for a fun and refreshing approach when operating the character; on the negative side, Asuka users are now at a much greater risk of losing the round/game once they're put on defense...
Heuristic Girl
You Surpise Me, ASW...
My goal was to make this community post relatively short in comparison to others in the past, but.... I wanted to discuss Asuka's balance changes in [1.48], along with a few other topics such as ArcRevo in Senzan, and Asuka's new voice lines.
But before we jump into those subjects, I'd like to provide a brief overview on Lucy's story in GGST - and that's only because Asuka plays a big part in it:
**Spoilers**
Now, I did not play Lucy's story mode, but I watched someone else complete it. Early on, she befriends Axl; and according to Sol, Lucy died when she crossed over to the Guilty Gear world, and a person who Sol refers to as simply a "wizard" brought her back and had a hard time recreating her weapons. This was corroborated by Asuka R♯, who referred to Sol as simply, "my friend," and stated she was lucky he found her soul wandering throughout the Backyard - because had he not, then she very well could have been there for eternity. Using her soul, he curated a body for her (think of Jack-O's creation in I-No's Xrd story mode), along with her weapons. He also said he installed an ad hoc patch to keep her consciousness connected to GGST's world. It took Lucy some time to get acclimated with this new body of her's, and at last, Asuka R♯wanted to test the strength of his "guinea pig" (Lucy's words). After Asuka R♯runs out of stamina (I'm assuming, because Axl and Lucy could not even defeat Sol, and in the lore, Asuka R Kreutz is stronger than Sol), Asuka R♯creates a portal that sends her back to Night City. Lucy wakes up thinking it was a very realistic dream, but makes a remark that those she met in her "dream" were cool people, like those she would hang out with in Night City... Asuka R♯is now even with Asuka R Kreutz, as both have created artificial life - but sadly, we can assume Lucy's appearance in GGST is non-canon, like that of the characters in the Marvel vs. Capcom series - you won't find any mention of those crossovers in games outside of said crossovers, because those characters are not owned by a single company. I know SNK and SF collaborations are different, but they're the outlier, not the common denominator for crossovers. For me, the biggest takeaway from Lucy's story mode was Sol's form of endearment for Asuka, is calling him a "wizard;" while Asuka R♯'s is using the term, "my friend." Asuka R Kreutz's form of endearment for Sol, is simply calling him, "Frederick." Cute...
Back to the topic of Asuka's balance adjustments in the latest patch:
Well, ArcSys, after several balance patches throughout the years that have resulted in nothing but making Asuka a weaker character overall, you've finally given us Asuka users a patch with only positive reinforcements (buffs). Thank you for that...
Moreover, many of you may be wondering how big of an impact these enhancements were to Asuka - and if they were enough to make him viable in tournaments again. I must apologize in advance, but it is far too early to infer the strength of such a complex character that received only two buffs, and previously had much more taken away that still has consequences on his very essence to this day...
On the positive side, Asuka users can now easily wallslump the opponent to regain precious resources and spells without having to use Tension; and with the Low-Pass Filter Gravity spell, F-Shiki (fuzzy overhead) routes are easier to connect. A remark made by a viewer on Gobou's live broadcast after watching him utilizing some Ice setups was, "The next patch to weaken Asuka after Gobou using it." I have full faith in Gobou's skill as a player, and that if he decides to play Asuka in this version of the game, he Will find a way to "Solitaire" with Case 2 - as he was already getting to that point prior to switching to Zato for ArcRevo in Senzan...
Regarding ArcRevo: As witnessed at ArcRevo in Senzan this weekend (8/30-8/31), Gobou utilized Zato throughout the entire event. For many, this may have come as a surprise, due to Gobou seemingly only having 2 weeks to get his Zato "tournament-ready" - especially with how long he's been off of the character...
So, what made him choose Zato (main) and A.B.A (sub) at ArcRevo in Senzan? The primary constituent was character compatibility and match-ups...
Prior to the ArcRevo in Senzan event, Gobou commenced a live broadcast where he discussed character pairings of two (character compatibility); the final pairings were (main/sub): Venom/Unika, Venom/A.B.A, Zato/Asuka, and Zato/A.B.A - there were alliances that included Goldlewis, but he was excluded about halfway through the pairing analysis process... it's also important to realize that Venom/Asuka was discarded very early on, due to both having many bad match-ups that neither character can cover - one popular tournament character that single-handedly disqualified Asuka in the alliance with Venom was Elphelt (why didn't someone inform me this character was considered harder than a 5.5:4.5 match-up for Asuka?)...
Furthermore, how Gobou settled on Zato/A.B.A came down to how confident he felt in a match-up, while also taking into consideration how the character fares in said match-up (if it's a good/or bad match).
To test this hypothesis, Gobou had played some matches with Asuka in ranked mode; followed by A.B.A. In spite of his amazing Asuka gameplay, Gobou had deduced a concerning matter that many Asuka may have overlooked - Asuka's hard match-ups have failed to improve - and in fact, some have become more difficult. Allow me to explain:
Although Asuka has received nothing but enhancements for this balance patch (version 1.48), with the Low-Pass Filter Gravity spell adding ground bounce to all cubes, and the "Ice" (commonly referred to as 氷 (こおり) by Japanese Asuka users and Japanese commentators) allowing Asuka users greater character expression and combo/setplay potential; under that cloud of euphoria one may be experiencing from their main character being strengthened, lies one major issue - and while I'm happy the spell Gobou always referred to as a "cursed (Aquila Metron) has been reworked into a strong, usable spell, I'm not quite sure it was worth Asuka now offically having the worst defense in the game...
With attention to this, during his "character evaluation" of Asuka and A.B.A, Gobou discovered Asuka's match-ups against in-fight characters like Sin, Chipp, Leo, Gio, Slayer, and I-No have become harder (even Daru_I-No stated the Asuka/I-No match-up has now gotten easier); this is because any player who understands the basics of Asuka counterplay will first focus on his spells on hand. With the threat of an invincible reversal being eliminated from the equation, these characters can continue their pressure relatively uninterrupted - because the need for hypervigilance - or the obligation to show respect to an Asuka user who has Aquila Metron in their repertoire has now ceased. System mechanics, which can all be exploited, is now an Asuka user's only line of defense in any match-up...
The new Asuka buffs make for a fun and refreshing approach when operating the character; on the negative side, Asuka users are now at a much greater risk of losing the round/game once they're put on defense...
**Continued In the reply below**
3 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 16