How Defense Defines Games

[@PeuPater]

I hear Strive players are deathly allergic to this.

[@zkmk8593]

i didnt get daredevil edition to hold back fd

[@snowflake4108]

Guilty gear in general LMAAO. I will not block a four way mix up from may even if I want to 😭😭. At least deflect shield exists 💀

[@trialsjack01]

Same with Hwoarang and Law players. Fuck take the low, fuck take the throw, real men take the blow

[@LonngYT]

impling that you can block shit even if you wanted to

[@Untimable]

​@@snowflake4108 this will be very worse when you consider testament pre-strive, bedman (not bedman?), chipp pre-strive, zappa

[@ImCaitlyn1003]

As someone's who recently got into DMC, I now scream ROYAL GAURD any time I block or parry under any circumstances. If my roomate throws an empty water bottle at me and I block it, I will yell ROYAL GAURD.

[@Master_Matoya]

This only works if you let it hit you, if you attack the bottle and deflect it you'd be Swordmastering.

[@nickel-ab]

@@Master_Matoya If you straight punch the bottle and red effects and sick sound effects come out, it's still Royal Guard

[@nickel-ab]

Tell me you strike the pose too

[@GhengisJohn]

I kinda wanna be in the room just to yell STYLISH! In that one moment.

[@ReneGade405]

Parrying is the cooler version of blocking

[@Len-rx78]

Objectively true

[@JRPGLOVER]

Parry this you filthy casual "loads gun"

[@ryanlally8116]

One of the first things I learned when playing Strive was how to block; Faultless Defense, grab breaks, everything that needed to be done to beat the allegations

[@FionaAnimatesBagels]

The absolute best part about Bloodborne's defense mechanics IS THAT THEY COMBO INTO EACHOTHER If you're out of bullets, and you draw blood to make new ones, that's *not* just a flat health cost. That gets turned into rally like you've been hit. Meaning you can quickly attack any nearby enemy to get all that health back. You can literally have INFINITE BULLETS at your disposal, without using a *single* healing item, IF you're really good at the game Bloodborne's fucking siiiiiiiiiiiiiiick

[@Lockedupmymouthandthrewawa-x6b]

Actually I don't think you get 1:1 damage to rally conversion but if you have a lot of health and are really good you _can_ have basically infinite bullets, more than you would usually need (unless moon presence :[)

[@SerpenSquamata]

​@@Lockedupmymouthandthrewawa-x6b Can't you boost that healing with runes or something? It's been years since I've played some Bloodborne so I can't remember.

[@Lockedupmymouthandthrewawa-x6b]

@@SerpenSquamata yeah you can, but idk the cap for that and I don't even have runes yet so :b

[@SerpenSquamata]

@@Lockedupmymouthandthrewawa-x6b No problem, thank you.

[@CalWhimsical]

i didn't pay 60 dollars to block

[@kaivenn7887]

🔥

[@maxcar7298]

I mean, you are not wrong

[@FlareMan133]

As a Jack-O' main. I took that personally

[@WaffleOnions]

Sol badguy is that you?

[@ReneGade405]

Just parry

[@rogeras5966]

16:33 "Like if a really attractive woman just said hi to you" *Shrek rips off paper* "ha, like if those things ever happened"

[@joelschwartz2955]

Im glad this "Defense in Fighting Games" video evolved into an "Im gonna gush over Bloodborne" video. You have excellent taste. 😊

[@jackalreeves4161]

It's like a curse. If it gets mentioned at all, it becomes a main point. Peek game, what can you do lol

[@feifeifeifeife]

Most popular defensive techniques is "parry", down back (hold 1) judging you silently and *charging*

[@Mas-cm6cy]

FLASH KICK

[@somedude2221]

You forgot the "ah fuck it" defensive techniques (armored moves and invincible reversals)

[@DeliciousOrange]

Offense defines how you can affect the game. Defense defines how the game can affect you.

[@S_Boomer98]

I would like to shout out the Mario & Luigi series as well. One thing I like about the Mario RPGs in general is that they actually allow you to avoid damage based on your timing. In particular, I like how the Mario & Luigi series handles it the best; encouraging you to pay attention to enemy attack patterns so that you can dodge, and possibly even counter-attack.

[@sebbo._.]

As someone who prefers to play with a more defensive playstyle in most games, this is gonna be an amazing video. :)

[@SumRndmPenguin]

Ultrakill mentioned. Billions must play.

[@PandarenBa]

Considering that the newest Street Fighter is truly defined by it's defensive mechanics intertwined with offensive ones, it's important to have options while blocking (ie. parry, perfect parry, pushblock, etc)

[@AdrijanRudolf]

27:40 btw the green railcanon gets heavily nerfed in any difficultly above normal with the higher amont of permadamage

[@frankaxe6700]

8:08 "MOON RIVER WIDER THAN A MILE IAM CROSSING YOU IN STYLE SOME DAY!"

[@HighAndNoble]

What version of the song is this?

[@frankaxe6700]

@@HighAndNoble from Bayonetta The one playing in the background of the time stamp

[@thebackcorner1427]

If we're gonna talk about fromsoft games and defensive mechanics, I think it's important to mention the shields in armored core (with AC6 as my example here). As a machine with 4 slots for various types of weapons, you can equip an energy shield in the right shoulder slot that be activated by holding down the right bumper, reducing damage while active. It even has its own version of a parry window, reducing damage even more in the earliest part of said activation. However, most weapons with bespoke animations (such as charge weapons, bazookas, or melee weapons) will deactivate the shield and leave you completely vulnerable. The shields also only block what they can physically deal with, meaning some types of missiles and other weapons can still hit you from the side or above. You also, of course, give up one of your 4 primary damage-dealing slots for the defensive tool. Armored core is still a game of expression through sickass robots, so there are options within this subcategory- such as a red shield that completely encases you but reduces damage less, or a large tower shield that actually inverts the parry window and gets stronger the longer it's held out. Overall, AC's shield mechanics are simply some of that good shit.

[@RunicBlade98]

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin has a super cool defensive mechanic with the Void Knight job. It has the unique command called Runic which makes you immune to damage and lets you absorb magic attacks, recovering your MP, and charges up a counterattack, which can enemy HP if you absorb enough attacks. It's niche, but it can invalidate certain enemies and bosses if they specialize in magic attacks. It also basically has no cost since it only takes 1 MP block to use, and you'll just absorb the MP back anyway.

[@noobus.4615]

PEAKKKKKKK god this video is seriously so goooodddd I didn't check the patreon in ages so i went completely blind, AAA this is seriously amazingg

[@jackalreeves4161]

The quality started going up and just didn't stop ramping up so fast. Took the subs and RAN with em ❤

[@Amalgam03]

I really like Sekiro’s parry mechanics, because the combat of the game is built entirely around it. The more you block, the lower they’re posture gets, and when it breaks, you can remove their healthbar, so it’s a balance between blocking the opponent, and sneaking in swipes to keep their posture down

[@garbageknights]

Doppelganger stance alowed for 2 person coop in DMC3, and later the second person got to play Virgil

[@Angelos_Kon]

This is honestly one of your best videos!!! It's entertaining and exploring simple concepts in depth is something I would love you do more of. Keep up the amazing work.

[@Kalx-Kobalt]

I felt the baiken parry joke as soon as you started to say hi. The flashbacks from when I started GGST and playing against Baiken will never be forgotten.

[@umbralbushido8636]

I feel like for honor is a game that exemplifies all of these, depending on your character you gain any number of defensive options, or make others more rewarding to go for

[@boxedfoxstudios6479]

5:56 This chapter screen didn't need to be this long, you just wanted us to listen to dmc music

[@thatbluegamet]

Royal Guard my beloved. At best I am okay with you but SPARDA does it feel good to do it perfectly

[@yugijak]

Note: Bayonetta *does* feature a parry mechanic but it is an optional accessory you have to purchase

[@gamemastergreen5064]

I was led here by a twitch notification before a KZbin notification. Damn

[@Maxler5795]

How'd the line go again? The best offense is a good defense, and the best defense is a good offense.

[@someaccount5200]

I feel like you should have covered any variation of guard cancels like Dead Angle, Counter Assault, Shield Bunker, Guard Thrust

[@yorgino13]

6:53 "This shit's hard, Dude!" Bro don't know what Ninja Gaiden is

[@cinema_roll6296]

This will help me out next time I see my step dad

[@mavrik16]

I only found out this was uploaded because Geko went live

[@theanimalman44]

I literally wrote a paper about this for a class, defense is just as (if not more so) important than offense in my opinion. Games that only have offense or only have defense feel weird to play (I won’t say they are bad since they can be fun, but the feeling is still unsatisfying)

[@roboticjanitor3332]

Mina the Hollower puts an interesting twist on Estus flasks & lifesteal by making the amount of hp recovered by your flasks proportional to the damage you've dealt since you last drank one.

[@memorableman3709]

I loved this video! I would love to see more general game design videos from you :3

[@HotCrossB1S]

I second that 🖐😌

[@mixmasterX28]

27:37 the moment gekko learns how to railcoin is when he will understand....

[@alexandreturcotte6411]

Parry (specifically the 3rd Strike one): [Happens] Me: "Bap"

[@Cassapphic]

I've recently gotten into the kingdom hearts games and think they should come up here. You start the game with basically no defensive mechanics, best yoj can do is jump or walk away frkm anh enemy you can't stagger by hitting first. If your attack clashes with theirs it can cancel them out and give you tech points fkr bonus exp, which matters because in kh1 guard is level locked, but guard isn't a traditional blocking stance, its another parry wooo. Giving a reliable way to deal with telegraphed attacks, especially projectiles as it reflects them back. You also get a dodge roll similar to souls, and a command dash in kh2 like dmc, you can also combine the two! You also get mkre air movement like double jumps and glides. This leads to a really cool progression where early on you feel weak and exposed, all the heartless are scary because you dknt have the tools to let them get a chance to attack. But as the game goes on it shifts and you have so many tools to navigate the arena and those basic heartless feel like you can fly rings around them.

[@jayeri656]

One of my favourite defensive mechanics is slashback is XX, just slashbacking a burst is the most disrespectful and best feeling ever in a fighting game since if you miss that 2 frame window you just cant block for 30 frames.

[@DukeApples]

How are you gonna call shooting games with zero thought of defense? They are called walls, walls are immortal, keep you alive, everyone always thinks of this defense.

[@mcklu12]

Except for when they don't

[@sleppybanana]

I think another nice part about bloodbornes parry which is a lil obvious is that it lets you back up out of the attack range and parry almost consequence free except that if you do hit the timing and are too far away you miss the visceral. I personally use any parry mechanic I ever can and have become a lil obsessive with using them as much as possible. But friends of mine who don't often use it actually did use it in bloodborne because of course the games built around it a lot but also because of this kinda softball approach which lets you ease into learning the timing and how to use it best.

[@redshadowstar]

i mostly play Destiny 2, and while there are plenty of passive defense mechanics, there isnt many parry mechanics except 1, and it was so broken that it had to be nerfed directly and indirectly multiple times over 3 years and this was the exotic leg armor Anteaus Wards for Titans while this power may have been limited to PvP they hold a place of infamy within PvP meta history and were one of the many reasons why Titans were the best classes in PvP for a while.

[@GhengisJohn]

I can really identify with how rewarding you seem to find Royalguard mode in DMC. There is a game called Vindictus that I have been playing for 15 years now, almost entirely on the strength of how damned good it feels to play the shield toting, parrying tank, Fiona. Not only do perfect blocks not consume your stamina bar but they can also block attacks a standard block won't, they open up your offensive options by letting you shield bash or skip the first two attacks of combos you do afterwards to get to the heavy attacks you want and they also give you this satisfying tonk sound and green flash of light. You can only block if you haven't started a combo but if you have you can do a mid combo parry where fiona drops her combo to deflect an attack. If you time that perfectly you can resume your combo with a damage multiplier and you get another satisfying noise and a blue flash of light. Blocks, counter attacks, mid combo parries, 👌. Feels so good and that's just the defense, lol. The other characters have their own power fantasy fun elements like speed or timing or being able to body slam a dragon but I love me that lady who can guard and deflect any attack.

[@ProvenParadox]

I play Chargeblade in Monster Hunter. (For the uninitiated, a big stupid sword and shield that can combine into a bigger, more stupid axe, all of which occasionally explode.) Learning the guard points was *really* fun. They're periods in animations where you bring your shield up as part of another action. So you can swing twice and then pause for just a moment to put your shield up and deflect an attack, get a little tick of counter damage, and then >continue your combo

[@someaccount5200]

Strive players are deathly allergic to blocking Xrd Slayer players are very allergic to blocking cause they want to mash command backdash into pilebunker(D-D-DDDDANNNDYY!!!!)

[@EliTheGleason]

I'd love to see your take on the rivals 2 systems, obviously shields add a ton but stuff like crouch canceling floor hugging and others really give a ton of depth

[@mikextru2242]

Also good defensive options has ZZZ or Zenless Zone Zero. You can dodge on the right moment or character switch like a counter

[@Parelf]

Game feel is most important. Yes, how it FEELS is number 1. Dark Souls 2 is an example of BAD game feel. Its why so many people don't like it until they adapt to the scuffed game feel.

[@NormalPersonYes]

Honestly ds2 is way too hated. However, the only piece of hate that I feel is justified is the walking mechanics. It's so peculiar how there are "dead zones" in your movement. The bridge to the last sinner was more difficult than the boss herself, lol

[@FikosoEva-lz2kq]

What is this de-fense? A new kind of setup?

[@maxuwl]

TF2 engineer:yes

[@hydrolur3959]

I cannot wait for the Ultrakill video Mr.Squirrel

[@crickitbug9038]

One thing that I wished was mentioned was how important kiting can be in games. Like in dont starve together, it is really the only defence you got. Maybe in a following video?

[@kaceejones2282]

Alpha Counter in the Street Fighter Alpha series are neat too they can range from countering an attack either high or low or just countering the attack depending on which game you're playing in the Alpha series. Tho not as effective as a parry it can keeping from being guard broken or being killed from chip damage. God of War's parry is is cool in the old God of War series not only u can parry attacks, then follow up with whatever combo you want but with projectiles once u parry you're able to chuck it right back at the enemy. Guard Cancels in Gaoru MOTW after u Just Defend u can immediately cancel into a special, super or T.O.P. move

[@starapton5374]

This just makes me want to try ultrakill or play a dmc game

[@drakath5727]

And then you just have Hollow Knight's sharp shadow where with it equipped you just deal damage if you shade cloak through an enemy.

[@evangedeon2194]

I've always loved a good COUNTER. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time put me onto defensive playstyles in action games, and that's usually my go to in fighting games.

[@giantdinoboy8264]

GG XX slashback is the closest thing in the Guilty Gear Series to a parry and it's sick as fuck. I'm pretty sure you can even slashback burst for some really stylish punishes.

[@ShoesOnTheFreeway]

O hell yeah! I'm listening 👀

[@DestinySpider]

Good video but it felt kind of odd talking about Royal Guard and bringing up the RG meter, and then never even mentioning Release or Royal Release. If anyone here hasn't played DMC before they'll probably be very confused what this supposed benefit of doing blocks even is, when it's obviously that you can get a ton of damage out of it

[@uniquename6925]

Never played DMC, but by the way he talked about guages, I assumed it had something to do with increased damage

[@arashi618]

@@uniquename6925 Nope, which is why it needs to be talked about. Royal Guard has another move, Release, which dumps all the accumulated meter into one attack with decent damage. It has another variation where doing a Release while the enemy is attacking (basically a counter-attack or an offensive parry) turns it into a Royal Release, which is one of the most damaging attacks in the game that melts everything, including bosses.

[@nickel-ab]

@@arashi618 it also has the best sound effect in the game

[@DestinySpider]

@@uniquename6925 Yep what the others said. Royal Release is like the most satisfying thing in videogames. Also if you haven't played DMC before I can highly recommend it. You can frequently get those games for dirt cheap since Capcom is pretty good about offering discounts

[@soniclechat2825]

This video was made just to talk about baiken and I love it

[@psniornote]

Dunno about favourites but one of the goofiest defense mechanics IMO is Chain Attacks in the Xenoblade games. They're meant to be massive big damage group attacks, but just so happen to give you complete invulnerability for the duration. Meaning that your characters can kind of just stand there awkwardly while the boss throws essentially a fucking sun at them and be completely unaffected. It's dumb as hell and I love it.

[@Kora_exe]

I'm a may and aba player i have no idea what your talking about

[@Kora_exe]

@Gabriel.780.i makes sense now

[@smashflame2136]

sturdy and/or focus sash is a neat concept to me. regardless of how tanky you are you're always tanking at least 1 hit. i suppose dead ringer also counts but i hate the dead ringer

[@AshZucchini8168]

One defensive mechanic I really like that changes how the game feels is uh. None of em. No im not being sarcastic. Games like Shmups, the Mega Man series, and Ys 6: the Ark of Napishtim have no guard, parry, or dodge, and it leads to a gameplay style where your main defensive option is simply not being in the way of the attack. I think that’s pretty cool. And in pvp, it pretty much defines the “Shmup Fighter” genre that games like Maiden And Spell and Acceleration Of Suguri fall into, and those are some of my favorite games.

[@AnnCatsanndra]

THIS IS A BAR

[@darkthunder301]

SSB4 perfect pivots was GOATed for defense, *especially* cause neutral was more about spacing out your moves. Was still risky cause you're foregoing (slow-ass) shielding trying to force a whiff so you can have more options to respond with, and hoo baby that's when the fun *_begins._* Opponent starts over extending to compensate? Pivot towards them, shield, and now they're _super_ minus on block. Cross-ups? No need to guess! Pivot one way or another to *force* a same or switch. You got them _scared_ to approach? Offensively use perfect pivots in front of them to freak them out. That tech alone made my main Ike way more terrifying than he should be with his long, hard-hitting disjoints. Fucking hell I really miss perfect pivots...

[@ScoutOW2]

Yes! Id love to hear your non-fighting game opinions aswell!!

[@ЯлюблюЧАЙ-в3з]

Why no Sekiro??

[@wolvertox311]

Sekiros combat is just simon says with a couple extra steps. It's a fine game but in comparison to most of the games shown in the video, it's very shallow.

[@uniquename6925]

​@@wolvertox311 Sekiro's combat is literally the best... Only second to Lies of P, imo. The guard guage on bosses is freaking genius, and the killing blows is the best feeling in any game. The fact you turn the opponents attacks into damage against them, it's so good. And the way it rewards both agression and defense... Cinematically, mechanically, intuitiveness, Sekiro wiped the floor with everything that came before it.

[@maximilin4564]

​@@wolvertox311I think it's just worth mentioning that in Sekiro parry works in two ways. For player and against it, because there are many humanoid enemies that can parry player's attacks

[@freshporkbun]

this is pedantic but you actually can’t parry every strike in 3s. the center of akuma’s kkz is unparryable

[@chlep5095]

okay you've mentioned Vergil, but you haven't talked about his teleport which is the best teleport in the existence, it's trickster on ultra steroids. also i feel like parry from mgrr is very interesting and resource management from doom eternal is something if you want some ideas for the future. also I'm going to 100% dmc 5 so i know some more about these styles and how to use them through experience so imo this video could use some more info and better gameplay of dmc. still cool

[@nunchukGun]

I love DMC. Dark souls is very defined by its defense too

[@saltybreaker2066]

Parry,reflect,counter

[@somenerd8401]

All this "meter management" and "complex RPG decision making" becomes pointless when your damage negation passes 70% and you're a 700lbs walking tungsten statue.

[@ScientistTomziWhiteCloud]

One of my favorite Strive's defensive mechanic (that does not revolve fully around RC - this stuff is too great, but also too grand to get into in comments) is just clashing, second would be using low/high profile moves.

[@axeoseilez3207]

Tiger drop the best defensive move

[@wweis6772]

12:00 Bro, I'm trying to pull through a workday. I, too, work hard on whatever the shit I'm doing. Please, let me be...😢

[@mrpinguimninja]

offense wins games, defense wins tournaments

[@WoomiestWoomy]

In Guilty Gear 2 you block by just not pressing anything, what do you think of that

[@guga5708156]

What is the last silhouette on the thumbnail ?

[@leonlindkvist]

Devil may cry defense makes you feel like a god Dark souls defense makes you feel like the victim

[@sorensouthard927]

The I didn't pay 60 dollars to block scenario.

[@Whodagod]

I wish you talked about monster hunters defense

[@1000Tomatoes]

It's all about the verbs.

[@3_14pie]

darksouls really is the darksouls of darksouls

[@vayneinsane]

Next Video idea: Opti in Fighting Games and Speedrunning (trust me)

[@et1033]

>character action game section >no hi-fi rush I cry. The offense and defense of that game are uniquely interconnected by the action economy of EVERYTHING IN THE GAME BEING OBLIGATED TO HAPPEN ON BEAT OF THE SOUNDTRACK. As in, regardless of when you press the button, it will only happen in that beat and worse compared to having pressed it on beat. Hell, you have a triple dodge from the first stage of a playthrough but only if EVERY DODGE WAS INPUTTED ON BEAT. Its parries are also fantastic, borrowing from the sekiro school of thought that a successful parry contributes to a stun meter which, when full, makes enemies stagger on hit! And then there are D-Parries that need you to move towards the incoming attack while parrying and give you brief invincibility so that, if it's a sequence of enemy attacks, you can parry the first hit and give them a couple love taps in between- I could be talking all day. Please play Hi-Fi Rush.

[@Edo江戸江戸]

Yeah, I've been waiting for this...

[@kurtisgibson2929]

i can program and watch youtube i watch this while making video games. your opinions are noted.

[@ihidded6785]

Parries and Fromsoft mentioned, but no Sekiro?

[@appliedatoms7066]

Fun video, but TF2 feels tacked on. Fighting games have multiple examples, stance fighters have multiple examples, soulslikes have multiple examples, but TF2 is just brought up to show how evasion is useful, and other examples cover that better. If there had been a whole section about hero shooters and their defensive play (like how Overwatch removing a tank in the sequel changed how the whole thing feels) it would've fit, but as it is it's out of place. Now that I think about it, there are plenty more things that could've been interesting to work in. How about the counter mechanic, like in the Arkham games, which automate the counterattack in service of the power fantasy? Or the ever-present guard option in JRPGs?

[@shadowfrces3171]

Erm actually, Baiken’s 236P is actually a reversal since on activation it bounces by the opponent’s attack with another attack nyeh 🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓

[@chrisre7662]

6:31, confirmo

[@Ratharaine]

23:19 team darkside would like to disagre with you there

[@considereclr]

incredibly banger video

[@adrianlee2893]

The block option in Final Fantasy games is literally waste your turn.

[@nickel-ab]

Nooooo the video ended :(

[@coolmanwilliams7069]

Are you a fan of the mad milk

[@toosiooo]

ROYAL GUARD

[@theoneandonlybananafrom1776]

TF2 MENTIONED!!!!!

[@chlep5095]

royal guard!