The second location test for Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 is going on this weekend, and with it, there’s a new wave of fairly substantial changes for almost every character. The translated patch notes cover the mechanical nitty-gritty, and they have been officially provided by Arc System Works in Japanese. Most of the changes from the first location test still apply.
What’s interesting is that the changes, even if they are subtle, introduce new routes or even new styles of play entirely for some characters. For instance, Raven received somewhat of a makeover to his excitement mechanic that should affect his gameplan a lot. Now, most special moves increase his gauge, while using one of the Overdrives depletes it.
While taking footage of gameplay isn’t allowed at location tests, Japanese players tweet out their impressions which reveal intriguing implications that aren’t easy to see from patch notes alone. A few English speakers kindly have been translating the tweets.
Pretty big deal for Baiken, as not being able to YRC her counters has been a point of dispute for long.
Kuchinashi is the dragon-punch like counter that Baiken has. It seems that there’s a different way to perform Azami, which is the move she uses before her counters come out. Holding affects certain timings. And hey, good-sounding voice actresses are important too (Baiken’s in-game voice got added in this location test).
A lot of May’s special moves work a little bit differently, and Jam received a lot of big buffs alongside a few nerfs.
One of the more interesting changes in Faust’s toolset is the low probability of getting super versions of his items. The tweet indicates about how often you could expect that.
Sin’s combo flow is changing a lot, especially when deciding when to eat. jD is a new way to get an air knockdown, but since Sin will be still in the air, he won’t get that much time to get lunch. “I’m Sure I’ll Hit Something” is the stabby follow-up to Beak Driver.
The Raven changes, in particular, will alter playing the character a lot.
Sol and Ky have received new 6HS attacks. The combo properties of Sol’s seem very similar to his current 6HS, but no one can tell much about actual frame data.
That’s the majority of translated impressions at this time, though there are some more tweets if you want to check out @HiagoXYZ and @MurderofBears’ timelines.
Stay tuned to SRK for more Guilty Gear coverage.
Sources: HiagoXYZ; BjornSonOfBears
