Having a PC version of Guilty Gear Xrd -REVELATOR- has done more for the community than Arc System Works may have predicted. This wasn’t just a port that made the game available on the “Master Race” platform, enabling another profit funnel for the game company (though that certainly doesn’t hurt). When Network Mode turned out to be much smoother and generally more reliable than its PlayStation Network counterpart, a lot of the community turned to Steam’s platform to deliver less laggy and more precise matches at long distances.
As this newfound connectivity found enthusiasm from the community, ideas arose to do more work to feature talented Guilty Gear players in special exhibitions. Originally, Midwest’s Sym, one of the best Millia players in the country, came up with the idea to assemble a league that would showcase such matches with commentary.
“The series was obviously inspired by the FT10s on Jonio’s stream, and the timing feels perfect now that the Steam player base has grown significantly,” he told SRK when the league was announced.
The Slash Series from Mikado was sort of the blueprint for the Super Steam Xrd Exhibition League. Starting in February 2017, new FT7 exhibition matches were scheduled on a consistent weekly basis. They always featured two sets. First, the audience warmed up by watching two (usually) somewhat less-known players. Highlighting talent that’s not as famous was one of the central ideas behind the League. After that, two better-known fighters would face off in the online sets.
Silva, who oversaw most of the league and would later stream it on her own Twitch channel, sees the SSXrdEL as something that fills a gap in the community.
“I feel that the community needs something like this,” Silva told SRK. “Tournament streams are great, but aside from that, the only other thing to watch for Guilty Gear would be training mode or random netplay streams, most of the time. Regularly streamed sets are something that I know I enjoy watching myself.”
One of the most hype sets was between daymendou and Fable|KidViper. This was an especially heated match-up, because less than a week before, the two faced off at Anime Ascension Grand Finals.
“So after AA Grand Finals, KV and I didn’t get to play more casuals in person,” daymendou said. The match was scheduled to be almost a month after AA I think, so I wanted to see how KV would adjust in the matchup. I think our match set a good tone for the league because the matches before ours were pretty one-sided.”
Some players have a certain quality to really rock an exhibition, and having matches that aren’t one-sided is a desired facet. According to Silva, matching players from different regions but with similar skill levels is essential to having an entertaining match.
“No one wants to watch a 0-7, and no one wants to watch a match they could find on YouTube a dozen times. Also, bad match-ups are generally a thing to stay away from, but they can sometimes work out. I feel that attitudes rarely matter in this setting. What matters most is that the players try their best. Still, even though it’s Steam, this is netplay, so it’s important to be mindful of that and not take it as seriously as an offline match,” she said.
Speaking of Steam netplay, there was one player who got on the PC bandwagon pretty late. doren2k, a top Jam player, initially stuck with the PlayStation version. However, when the competitive community at large played on Steam, he eventually purchased a PC.
“At first, I didn’t believe the PC hype, but as more players started converting from PSN to Steam, I decided to give in and try it out. And honestly, netplaying on Steam is 100,000 times better than PSN. PSN is good if you have no other option, but if you can get a PC and play REV on Steam, netplay is way smoother and an overall better experience.”
Silva pointed out that the TSB|mynus vs. doren2k match was one of her favorites, because a lot of the rounds were pixel-health close. Additionally, every match features different commentators, some of which participated in the exhibitions themselves. Sway, who also plays Jam, commentated their match, as well as played in a later match-up.
“They’re both explosive by nature, and you can tell by watching them play just how much experience they both have as players,” Sway told SRK. “It’s hard to hold in my excitement while playing. I remember it ending at 7-6 with mynus winning but no one was disappointed on either end.”
As for what commentary brings to matches like these, Sway, who has experience in the trade, said: “Personally there are times a match can hold its own weight without commentary, but really good commentary can make the experience 100x better. I think of it as something that fills the gaps. So like: backstory, game and character knowledge, etc. Good commentary will immerse you into the match and make you care about the players and the game more than you would if you just watched it on its own.”
Other than that, another notable episode was the European special. While most the League focuses on North America, this feature took it to Europe and highlighted Guilty Gear talent from a different corner of the world. Representatives from Finland, Austria, Russia, and the Czech Republic showed off their talents with Axl, Potemkin, Faust, and Johnny.
“I definitely plan to give more international players a chance to play exhibitions in REV 2, if there is time,” Silva said.
Silva summed up this season’s stats pretty well in one tweet:
random Super Steam Xrd Exhibition League stats
-3 months
-28 commentators
-56 players
-27 unique MUs
-about 27k YT views
idk twitch views— Silva (@silva_hime) May 22, 2017
Watch this special highlight reel below–premiering along with this article–showing some of the coolest moments from across all of the SSXrdEL matches!
Now that -REVELATOR- is out of the picture and we can slowly turn to Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2, SSXrdEL is getting a makeover. The netplay exhibition will return this June under a new name, and zenzen, who participated in one of the exhibitions, will step up to help organize it.
“It might not be possible to keep it a weekly series forever. This summer, I’ll stream every week, but after that, it might have to be biweekly, since it’s a lot of work,” Silva said. “As for the matches themselves, I think more variety with the format would be good. Secret boss players or bonus third matches would be great. Also, because the name doesn’t limit it to Steam this time, maybe a PSN episode will happen at some point. Aside from that, expect a mix of returning faces from ‘Season 1’ as well as yet-to-be-featured players.”
Stay tuned to SRK as always, as we approach Tension Pulse!
SSXrdEL will return in Rev 2 under a new name- Tension Pulse! @shoujozenzen will be helping me organize exhibitions every week, starting 6/1 pic.twitter.com/hZZXThUEP1
— Silva (@silva_hime) May 22, 2017
Source: interviews; Silva