How to NOT Buff a Character

[@Ikenhauer]

Props to the editor. Really nice work.

[@bootysensei]

Thanks

[@ramzajp]

Second this

[@Nick-gx4oc]

Third this

Fourth This

[@LegendaryMythril]

two small corrections, his S normals (except cS) have always done chip damage. the only change has been to frame data. similarly, clone has always been a "delete projectiles" move, but now it travels faster and full screen

[@yugimumoto1]

Yeah I remember seeing some old videos saying his projectile has high priority so I was a bit confused

[@LanzaT8]

Thank you for this, but I doubt anyone is gonna take the time to think about that. They just gonna keep spreading nago hate.

[@almightybirthdaycandle236]

Correction 2: His S normals did indeed always do chip damage, but it didn't do MORE CHIP damage (Almost H normal level of chip) with higher blood in the earlier versions.

[@lordknightfgc]

I didn't know about the clone actually, I thought that was from the October patch. Thank you! I should have been a little clearer with how I talked about the chip damage too, my bad.

[@bustoo]

@@lordknightfgc in the October patch the universal mechanics changed so higher priority projectiles erase the lower priotory one. Not necessarily just to his clone.

[@tox4850]

"They want characters to use every single move they have" ***Jack-O' Countdown exists***

[@MommysGoodPuppy]

not been hit by that move once lmao i think its literally the only move that i havent been hit by

[@snkenjoyer4989]

its great for niche twitter clips! lol

[@VilArknights]

From my understanding and interactions with people who are better at jack o than me, countdown is actually used... in theory It's technically her highest meterless punish/ender and setups into them do exist, but whether those setups are used I don't know. It's seen more use in s2 than in s1 but apparently it was technically better in s1 because FED didn't remove goons which allowed for countdown TODs Still horrible the majority of the time, but surprisingly not useless

[@pinkstarmona1695]

May beach ball

[@enigmatic7303]

I-No fully charged divekicks

[@yuhboik.g.8118]

I think ArcSys's strategy with this is pretty unsustainable. Characters should have identifiable weaknesses. But the strategy of "get the players to use the rest of the character's toolkit" can make some characters weaknesses harder to pinpoint, especially if they continue doing it through just buffs. Now, admittedly, if a character's only weakness is that they have a few bad moves you wouldn't use, that's not much of a weakness to begin with.

[@lordknightfgc]

Every character has weaknesses imo, the main thing is that for Nago/Ram/HC, the risk return is just heavy in their favor because of conversion ability + their ability to attack safely at many ranges. It becomes hard to actually target anything that they are bad at because of how good they are at what they're good at.

[@seokkyunhong8812]

This isn't a team game. Built in weakness is a terrible design choice

[@mr_oger]

What you're saying is not "get the players to use the rest of the character's toolkit" issue, but just the toolkit issue. I am pretty much behind the "strategy", there should be no "just for memes"-level moves at all, otherwise why they exist?

[@Sorioku]

I agree. People say Nagoriyuki has weaknesses but in the actual battle its very hard to tell if his perceived weaknesses are actually weaknesses. I never feel like Nago is weak at any stage of the game unless he pops in the middle of the screen. Until then, he's always able to kill you

[@yuhboik.g.8118]

@@lordknightfgc I think that was what I was more what I was trying to say. Especially with Ram. Ramlethal's only listed weakness on DL is that she is bad without her swords. But how do you target that? You have zero control over whether she throws her swords or not. This is different from a weakness like Pot or Axl's which is distance. You have a level of control over how close or far you are from your opponent.

[@mynameteekay9472]

In addition to the fact that they want every character to use every move, I think its also important to mention power budgeting. The biggest example that I can think of is how Anji got fujin nerfed in the most recent patch. Fujin was a very powerful move on an otherwise weak character; making anji strictly stronger makes that a very powerful move on a very powerful character. In order to open up design space for Anji's other tools to be viable, fujin HAD to be nerfed. Anji players didn't like this, however, because from their perspective, their bottom tier character got nerfed, and to some, the most fun part of that character was what got nerfed. Overall, I would say that Anji is in a better place than he was before as a character, and also Anji's design space is now opened up to further buffs in the future. This is where I think arcsys fails with the nago changes, for example. When they buffed some of his tools because players weren't using them enough, they failed to adequately adjust his power budget, and instead just loaded him with more things that he can do.

[@emeraldmann1329]

Fujin still wasn't powerful lmao. The overhead was slow as hell and minus on block, the low was punishable unless spaced, and the other two moves are hard risk and low reward. Even if old fujin was slapped on new Anji, he wouldn't be top tier

[@mynameteekay9472]

@@emeraldmann1329 average anji player when you suggest that anji is anything other than unplayable gutter trash

[@emeraldmann1329]

@@mynameteekay9472 It wasn't total trash, but it wasn't an amazing move. 3 of the 4 options were punishable on reaction, and the fourth was unsafe on block. Not exactly what I would call a good move

[@emeraldmann1329]

@@mynameteekay9472 Hell, I'm pretty sure that against chipp, sol, and leo, it was practically worthless for pressure just because no matter what you did, a dp would punish it

[@CatQueen1323]

I'd say the Kou nerfs were the ones most Anji's were angry about. Fujin is honestly in a better state right now. Maybe a less fun state, but objectively, it's better than before. The issue is that Anji no longer gets a HKD situation off of midscreen combos with a kou ender. This relegates Anji's somewhat decent butterfly pressure to only throws and sweep, which makes him have to gamble way more to get into his "victory condition". Anji feels great when he works, the issue is more about his safety. He has to make reads that most characters simply don't have to and gets punished hard for reading incorrectly. Now reading a fuzzy jump with kou doesn't even give anji HKD making it even less rewarding to try to make that read. If I were to buff Anji I would give the kou HKD back, make fujin safer from throws, make the fan needle follow up hit while the fans are midair instead of only the explosion, and make it so that opponents can't rc to escape a punish off of anji's autoguard. Maybe better recovery on some options like 6p or f.s. Currently, Anji's fun. I enjoy that high risk playstyle, but some of the more janky elements of his kit kinda detract from the experience.

[@complexstupidity9758]

Yo the editing on this is killer wtf

[@riley1675]

Jack-O 2S is the most meme ass, borderline-zero-application move but there aren't enough people playing her for anyone to care

[@spammerman7556]

I feel Jack-O is the least worked on character in Strive. All her buttons are recycled from Xrd despite them being good or bad. The patch didn't address how terrible her bomb is, or how her minion recall is terrible for recalling minions.

[@ronmexico7256]

I use 2S more than I use detonate 😅

[@HellecticMojo]

I care, I just hate her regardless

[@starlord1521]

I'd disagree actually. Honestly 2S is my goto anti-air for crossups. With that said, yeah alot of Jack-O's stuff made 0 sense on release

[@HellecticMojo]

@@spammerman7556 you can use minion recover as a cancel option to make you safe due to quicker recovery. Yeah the bombs do suck thpugh.

[@deckbuildercassen]

And on this blessed day, our Lord has giveth us yet another feast so we may live to one day see the promised land (AKA winter patch notes). Let us pray...

[@uncreativearro]

When will my Axl Bomber loops return from the war

[@neverseemstoAsh]

I think this philosophy is also seen with characters like Axl, who were never really great, but they had one or two tools that made them able to function (axl bomber). the recent patch nerfed bomber loops hard, and buffed some of his lesser used combo tools to compensate (rainwater, winter mantis). however, those moves can't be looped and don't do nearly the damage of bomber, so while Axl now appears to be more versatile, he is actually even more neutered than before, being almost entirely unable to deal meaningful damage when compared to the rest of the cast. some moves need to be niche. some moves need to be strong. if you give every character multiple mediocre options instead of one strong one for a situation, gameplay will start to feel less satisfying as memorization, reads and application kind of take a backseat.

[@milop.9786]

Super high quality video, love this editing style

[@thedanish5523]

Great vid. I'm also not a fan of the "only buff, never nerf" sentiment. Eventually it will change the game on a fundamental level and you may not like what it changes into

[@lotion5238]

You can see it already and they have said they will potentially change the game in a big patch just like with Xrd and Accent Core (too many times lmao)

[@Amsalja12]

Even as a all player, I actually am overall a fan of how they balanced him. They not only buffed some of his weaker options, but actually nerfed his stronger tools to make you have to think more, and use the right tool for the right situation. I don’t have a problem with them buffing an unused move on a top tier, I just think that they should then nerf the strong tools, so that people are actually forced to use the fool kit, without just buffing top tiers

[@SylemGistoe]

Really great video! Also, fantastic editing. I've honestly been pretty happy with their approach to character balance so far- and it *really* has come a long way since some of their older games. I like the approach of making all the character's tools useful, and I feel like at least for regular play (i.e non-tournament) everyone feels great- even those at the bottom. Though I feel most of the changes and buffs and nerfs have been really good for the game, I'm curious what changes will come for a character like Happy Chaos- who I worry as time goes on, runs the risk of crossing the line into being a character a growing number of folks would want to see "punished and banished to the dumpster forever." Which would be bad- you still want people to play the characters. Feels like it's just starting to get a little vicious and toxic. I'm not sure what they'll do, but without even mentioning his moves, he seems to be in a class of his own with his use of the universal wall mechanics.

[@DavidvanderLugt]

Rly loved the editing on this vid. Would love to see more stuff with this kind of editing style.

[@gengarts3447]

This is an amazing video LK and the editing is godlike rip my first ever fighting game character Noel

[@aganaom1712]

Bro I just want sol to be able to play basketball with bandit bringer again

[@Point5_]

As someone who came from the smash scene, it's wild reading the patch notes for strive

[@pikachuattack542]

Thanks for mentioning Makoto. We need buffs for best girl.

[@ankoasmr2510]

Don’t play BlazeBlue, but if I did I would main Makoto and Kokonoe.

[@UODZU-P]

Your editing game has really picked up since the last time I really checked out your channel. Love to see it brother

[@cylondorado4582]

1:50 Yeah, this is why I was never really into the Marvel vs. Capcom games. I wanted to pick the characters I thought were cool (When I was just playing casually at my friend's house, I liked Cap, Hulk, and She-Hulk), but it always seemed like there was a small top tier and a lot of characters nobody used.

[@LegendaryO34]

Excellent, deep, yet concise video. I don't know if I believe that the broader online conversation around fighting games, but videos like these make me hope.

[@Franko_L_L]

When i think of a badly buffed character, Captain Falcon from Smash Ultimate immediately comes to my mind: At launch he was considerend to have a strong moveset, but he was being held back by some unique properties of his run startup that gave him some of the clunkiest movement among all charactes. Even when he was fast, his neutral was extremely commital in a VERY safe game. By now he's clearly the most buffed character in the game, but that property i talked about is exactly the same. Rather, they decided to increase his raw kill power to outrageous levels. And so he is now considered a "robbery" character

[@TheVodkaHaze]

What also made it sad is Ganondorf - a low tier who is a semi-clone of Falcon - got like one buff in Ultimate's life span, which Falcon also got, and it was to prevent rockcrocking. Ultimate had some good balancing, but damn did it feel like a lottery on who got buffed.

[@Franko_L_L]

@@TheVodkaHaze A lottery on who got buffed and what move got buffed. Full on dartboard

[@danielcapodanno1116]

I'd argue that Falco got more effective buffs (falco main not just hopping on Tilde's win). The buffs that made his moves connect better were great, but the changes to Dair gave it huge combos and made falco able to edgeguard with dair and still recover without using firebird. Fox's dair and fair changes come to mind too, they really round out his kit without making him feel unfair.

[@N12015]

@@TheVodkaHaze I'm sure Ganondorf is the only character considered completely unviable in the game. Literal 0 results in this year because his already big weaknesses became more exploitable with the better neutral players developed over the years.

[@Robin_Robout]

At least with Captain Falcon you could make the arguement that his poor retreating dash was designed to make him full on aggro and they continued to buff his offense because of this. Possibly. Or it could have just been straight nonsense

[@NeonKitsune]

Video editor been watchin Sakurai's channel eh

[@maninblack3410]

I thought the same thing! Lol

[@aruretheincomprehensible20]

Buffing a character's weaker moves is usually a good way to buff weaker characters, because in the modern age of fighting games most characters will have some number of good moves while the bad characters are bad because they have fewer good moves. Buffing the weaker moves of these characters helps make these characters more well-rounded, whereas buffing their strong moves only makes them more reliant on a handful of moves. Buffing an already strong character isn't a great idea though. I remember a time in League of Legends where Riot tried to nerf Lucian in some areas (I believe damage with one or more of his abilities) but also buffed his mobility as "compensation" for what they believed to be big damage nerfs. However, the buffs were much more impactful than the nerfs, and he ended up being completely broken after the patch. Compensation for a strong character getting nerfed can produce a huge problem, and I think it's a better idea to allow a character to settle after a patch where they get nerfed so see if they even need to buff them back up. In particular, a strong character might avoid using a particular move because it's a decent tool on a character where everything is good, and if the character's strong tools get nerfed then they might start using their decent tools instead. I don't like the idea of breaking a character's ankles, but there's a sound game design idea that explains why it happens. The idea is "double and half", where when you're looking to make changes to a game, instead of changing values in small ways, make large changes to see a noticeable shift in gameplay. It's entirely possible that dramatic changes in character strength from game to game (or patch to patch) is a direct result of the developers using this double and half methodology to buff and nerf characters. However, the reason this principle is effective is because the designer can then take that data to determine to reign in the values that would make the game better as a whole, and it's possible that designers that use this idea to balance characters either don't bother doing a playtest to check the character after breaking their ankles, do a playtest that provides different data from what the players provide, and/or don't have enough time before the release of the new version to playtest the new version to make sure it's still fair.

[@pian-0g445]

Also, in reality, if the lower tiers are behind the top tiers by quite a margin, the top tiers shouldn’t need big tweaks. Maybe minor but like you said, double and half, but here do double of what you would normally do for low tier and do half for top

[@shaolinotter]

sfv nash was punished for 5 seasons because people mistakenly thought he was good in season 1

[@Whup.]

I just miss doing stupid stuff with Sol's dragon install.

[@ten7554]

I love how you said "the modern fighting game era" with heavy air quotes as if it's a complex or controversial thing to say in general

[@AbhorrentRose]

It's funny you mentioned Valkenhayn granted I watched Jiyuna commentate a tourney recently where someone won against Monarch with them. If that characters ankles were broken and Rachel's I do not want to know how good they were before that lmao. Aside from that I feel Strive is one of the better balanced fighting games out there. However the fact they buffed happy chaos despite him being so oppressive makes me wonder if buffing and nerfing every character regardless of level is problematic for the future. Great video man!

[@M0HAK0]

He wasnt buffed they balanced him. He went from full screen lunatic to a rushdown lunatic. Seems you cant please anyone.

[@AbhorrentRose]

@@M0HAK0 That's kinda the point of having discussions, like while most would agree those were phenomenal patches that were much needed as atleast now Happy Chaos cannot zone *as long as previously*; still the game is not perfect wouldn't you say? Also granted while he had crazy good neutral and keepout buffing that already good neutral while removing some of his keepout is still an interesting choice. I like critiquing things not just because their flawed but I wonder what they will think or do next. Thats not negative right?

[@Zephyrion22]

I think he was specifically mentioning the CS era for these characters. Rachel and Valk got buffed back in later iterations. Noel and Makoto, though...

[@AbhorrentRose]

@@Zephyrion22 Gotcha that makes sense now!

[@kenja0685]

Blazblue's balance is quite a bit different than other Arc System Works games. Characters play almost completely different from one version to another. They essentially remix their movesets so moves behave differently than they used to, even going so far as to delete and replace movepools. Not to mention the system mechanics changed massively from major entries (CT > CS > CP > CF). But in addition to that, the ceiling for existing characters gets lowered from version to version, and the new characters who most likely become top tier out the gate (sorry Bullet) behave like the prenerfed characters. So Izanami, Izayoi, Nine, Es, Mai, Susan feel closer to CS1 style characters in terms of playstyle leniency and freedom. Valk, Makoto, Bang, Ragna, Jin, Tao, Hazama, Litchi, Arakune, Nu/Lambda, Azrael, Koko, etc on their launch or 1 version after felt like how Izanami controlled in CF1. Tons of options, great mobility, solid damage. In CS1, the standard BnB combo damage for a lot of characters like Valkenhayn, Hazama and Makoto were close to 6000 - 8000. Valkenhayn also had his meter deplete almost exclusively on his Wolf specials whereas now they cost nothing and his movements cost more instead. Just different philosophies and development over time.

[@moemanji880]

Really good work on the editing . Keep it up like this .

[@SynderFGC]

My person issue with this specific way of balancing is that it takes away weaknesses in a strong character's kit

[@ManlyPlant]

Games should be made with a clear vision in mind. I'll be honest the approach of always buff and never nerf is a pretty annoying one when it annoys the fact that power creep does in fact exist. Yes characters that are terrible should be buffed. But Nerfs should be more of a thing than buffs imo I invite fighting game players to play card games and still tell me that buffing is always better than nerfing.

[@wdililn]

People like Yugioh and Modern/Legacy MTG though, so I’m not sure that the comparison to card games holds up

[@harrylane4]

I mean I like power creep personally. Sure it may make for a bad experience at like, Evo, but marvel 2 and 3 are basically just power creep (over all of the x men/marvel games) taken to the max and those slap to watch

[@darkcat6530]

@@wdililn bro talk to any yu gi oh player and they will say old yu gi oh was way better

[@reneoliver4080]

@@harrylane4power creep is so painful bro what

[@eduardoserpa1682]

Nice editing. I'm loving the cute drawings.

[@pieoverlord]

+1 loved the editing on this.

[@ErrorGaming64]

I just wish theyd make Chipp shuriken usable

[@elloitsjello3337]

It is usable. Just use it :)

[@Hayden3732]

He has a Shuriken !? (This is a joke, I rarely see the move getting used)

[@pian-0g445]

It’s basically a knowledge check move which kinda sucks

[@ErrorGaming64]

Its only really usable with j.236K FRC 214P. Sometimes you can use it off of a j.D ender in the corner at minimum height, but even then its not plus enough to blockstring into f.S or 2D for Oki, which is needed at the distance you land if youre fighting against a reversal option.

[@BHS289]

Honestly, even as a Nagoriyuki main it feels like they've committed too hard to this "Oh ho he has to watch his blood or else he'll explode!" design and attempts to balance it out - fSSS giving way more blood so you basically never are stuck in Lvl 2 b/c Lvl is so restrictive, now they've buffed Lvl 2 sword normals to be really good, etc. - just make it worse/funnier. I mean, I'll take the weird buffs but at times I wish they had tried something else with him.

[@simplyeyeronic1443]

I think nago is particularly strong because unlike a lot of characters in the game, his "Gimmick" isn't interactive. Stain and shock state, minions and Eddie all can be removed on hit. Blood rage isn't really interactive. While you have to try to get nago to use the move wrongly, him using it correctly has such a huge payoff that the risk reward is heavily skewed. I wish there was a way to punish nago for being at high blood that didn't rely on nago making a mistake with his resource management.

[@positivemike27]

just need to see what he sacrifices for that screencontrol, dmg and ground mobility. Make him loose Def modifier and guts depends on blood level - to be thin as chipp at pre-pop lvl and really one-touch dead in blood rage. then people will think about interactions with him - but for now, meh your bnb combo will take 20% of his bar and if hi guesses right you are dead

[@elfpi55-bigB0O85]

@@positivemike27 yeah high blood should be a massive concern for nago. I think the blood gauge must have come early in development, because it doesn't match the rest of the game's design. What's Nago's downside when most games end in 2-3 guesses anyways? It's exclusively training weights, Hotashi has shown us that the blood gauge can be almost ignored as long as you push the game's system to finish up matches without ever losing momentum from the so called "downside" of the character.

[@niccpolitic6129]

AMAZING editing. Damn!

[@maddamame]

Wayt, you use the same sprite of Shogo from Kyoto?

[@zetsun0]

Now that you play baiken, what do you feel on the anji MU? I feel like it's really hard to deal with him and you can't really use baiken's pokes to any degree of success because if he spins you lose 60% hp

[@HarmonicResonanceScale]

Bro I get mopped by a half decent anji. Baiken's neutral is a ton of poke game and anji just turns that on its head.

[@mikhail21]

Don't forget Faust

[@Link135]

top notch editing

[@TheVodkaHaze]

From the sounds of it, balancing a game based around move usage seems really bizarre. The fact that not every character uses their moves equally is inherent to fighting games. Trying to buff the weaker characters is something they should do now, and if they feel the top tiers are too overpowered, make small nerfs that will matter. Would be funny to see Tekken 8 trying to balance their game around that philosophy though.

[@SLFKimosabae]

A big thing that people don't talk about in regards to the top tiers in this game, is that the magnitudes of the mental stack components are highly favorable to Resource Management characters like Nago, Chaos, and Zato. Trying to make decisions based on Resource Management goes both ways in the character/player matchup, and swings more favorably to the player playing the character due to many reasons, but, most emphatically, IMO, due to the higher muscle memory associated with the player in the matchup that actually plays the character. This of course has been a thing in the Guilty Gear franchise for a long time, but the unique thing about Strive, is that fS can kill you in this game. I think this is the biggest reason why this characters are so strong.

[@lozganon64]

The changes from the giant patch a while back felt so drastic, it took a long time for me to make sense of it all. In the end though, I love them: the switch from massive damage to more mixups meant top tiers didn't have to necessarily stop being good but they had to turn on their brain, and then basically all the low tiers were buffed enough to make them totally viable, even aggressive, like with Goldlewis. The state of the game right now feels pretty fair

[@MommysGoodPuppy]

agree this patch is really fun

[@ShizuoHeiwa]

Idk I still see the same shenanigans happening so I doubt the games changed too much

[@sunnydartz8697]

I’m never going to understand how Arcsys thinks that a full screen projectile with max priority that when connects can be teleported to and can start combos is a good idea.

[@LegendaryMythril]

what are you even talking about, the closest thing that fits that description is grave reaper because it's the only projectile you can teleport to

[@sunnydartz8697]

@@LegendaryMythril dude Nago’s clone. You use Fukyo after clone and it’s practically a teleport. It’s in the thumbnail of the video man come on.

[@seokkyunhong8812]

@@sunnydartz8697 it's half his entire blood stock to just start that maneuver. It better be good if it's gonna cost that much

[@LegendaryMythril]

@@sunnydartz8697 that's not a teleport and has to be done preemptively, you can't confirm a clone hitting into fukyo and still get a combo

[@sunnydartz8697]

@@seokkyunhong8812 does change the fact that it’s overpowers and makes Nago’s nuetral brain dead easy.

[@MemoryDestiny]

I just wanna know why they are gonna buff them again next patch, cuz they will buff them all again right? While also giving minor buffs to most of the cast and everyone wondering post patch what will change (nothing will change again)...except for some major nerfs to Ino again cuz that's an evergreen right?

[@MobyDrip]

If Arcsys wanted characters to use all moves, they would have buffed beach ball. It's useless. Please buff May's beach ball Daisuke!

[@Invader-xy2de]

"this is not the way to buff top tiers" Is there a correct way to buff top tiers without first nerfing them?

[@LloydTheZephyrian]

I'm sure there is, but it's not a thing that's easily done.

[@2ndai385]

Yo whoever this editor is. Pay them more EZ More funny edits with LK voice

[@kurikari1675]

Remember when leo got buffed so his run through an cross at the wall now...why

[@zxy8696]

Honestly i think that change is good because it adds the option of giving up wall but you have to wonder if it’s worth and then if you want to use meter and more choices branch from that

[@HellecticMojo]

need it for the mix.

[@kurikari1675]

@@zxy8696 leo doesnt want wall(or should say rather not have), he rather have u mid space so u can loop that oki. He didnt need that when he is by far top 2-3 in the game. Its like the last patch where they said he couldnt mix up that well in backturn so they let dash cancel off k in backstance

[@spammerman7556]

@@zxy8696 It's even less thinking. Instead of needing to give up corner for his mix, he can just run you to the corner and do his mix anyway.

[@kurikari1675]

@@spammerman7556 WHYYYYYYY THOOOOOO

[@StringKiller]

I don't use Baiken's fS enough, please make it 7 frames

[@GanguroKonata]

Oh, Noel is the Blanka of BB. He was strong once and they never let that happen again lol

[@no_nameyouknow]

Great video as always!

[@willb9259]

At high lvl popping bloodrage is always punished

[@mutatedburger5193]

Thanx my man keep it up

[@HER0333]

Oh is that melty blood music I hear?

[@TheBanimal]

As an Axl player (when I still played strive) when they buffed the Nago clone alongside the Axl nerfs it made a match up that was fun to miserable. The task of keeping Nago out became close to impossible and as soon as he got in it was GG.

[@samuelgreen2443]

Did you drop Strive because they ruined Axl? I haven't touched him since the past. It's sad, but now I play Testament and they're so much fun!

[@TheBanimal]

@@samuelgreen2443 that did ruin some of the fun of the game, he's not ruined just felt much weaker. I played Leo too and that was still fun.

[@kekon3]

LordKnight posts a new video and all is right with the world

[@juniperrodley9843]

Oh yeah my main's in the thumbnail lesgo

[@chardrive]

Great video !

[@tangramman]

It's a shame that characters like Sol and Gio haven't received the same level of combo fluidity as others have; they've been more restricted if anything in comparison. It's silly that Sol's best midscreen BnB is to just route into Clean Hit DP, especially when you compare what he could get in previous games. Hopefully as the game progresses, they add new routes and moves to level the playing field with Ram, Nago, Chaos, etc.

[@h2_]

Release Nago's DP was so useless lol

[@HellecticMojo]

I still stand by that every nago buff except the latest S button depending on blood level were needed and good changes. Nago having no bad moves isn't a sign of Nago being busted, but everyone else needing to catch up in having all moves be valid and useful.

[@guardiansoul5981]

I second this comment

[@CamFGC]

What character has a useless move though. The problem is all of nagos moves are really good in the situations they can be used, as well as situations they put the opponent in

[@rachetmarvel931]

Your reasoning would have been fine, if Strive wasn't a high damage game and Nago a high damage character.

[@HellecticMojo]

@@CamFGC Zato 6k, Goldlewis 5p and jp, Pot 2p, Baiken S Kabari, Axl jD and 2p, Gio 6H, Jack-O detonate are the ones that come in on the top of my head for moves that no one wants to use. I'm sure there's more that I'm forgetting across the entire cast. Goldlewis 5p is arguably an exception due to being a buffer for 862 BT, but it's not like 5p is a vital process for the move itself like Pot 6k is for all of his karas.

[@HellecticMojo]

@vaLy they did nerf the overly good stuff. That's why 2H and beyblade were nerfed. Also making moves actually have use is not buffing things to oblivion. 6p works like 6p. Uppercut, a suicide move, actually has place in neutral. Clone, no longer redundant as spacing tool same as S buttons or beyblade. SSS actually having purpose instead of just being misinput of ss into whatever.

[@animaljones8672]

Perfect breakdown bro...and we agree...STOP buffing Nago...please

[@diallosmith8850]

Beyblade being minus 3 on block makes it punishable by every character in the cast with throw. He's wrong when he says only like 2 characters can punish it. Similarly someone else mentioned already that clone has always destroyed projectiles and he didn't notice that chip already worked on his normals like that. Also important note not discussed, the improvements to FD are a nerf to Nago. Using FD will disrupt almost all his tickthrow setups. Meaning that FD can eliminate his mix so that if Nago is overextended with blood use and you use FD during a blockstring, it will deny him opportunities to get in a command grab. This can force a blood rage or just prevent him from resetting his pressure.

[@coolfish420]

came here to say this, nicely done

[@lordknightfgc]

Strategically using FD was always good vs nago. Beyblade is punishable by throw, however I just think the risk/reward is scuffed compared to Sol/Chipp having normals to compensate in the option set. That's my fault for not being clear. Clone, legit thought that was an October patch change.

[@breakaway4236]

I think you're being very pedantic about beyblade. It's still a move that's very hard to punish, because it's incredibly easy to space it out so it can't be thrown. Hell, the amount of naughty stuff I get away with because I spaced out beyblade and my opponent was two frames late with his punish is too damn high. That move is still goated.

[@diallosmith8850]

I don't think it's pedantic to point out legitimate counterplay to a move. One of the main effects of the beyblade nerf is now it's contestable with throw by the entire cast unless Nago spends blood to continue pressure. LK is right though, the risk reward is still skewed in Nago's favor, which is a consistent feature of any top tier character. Top tier characters usually have access to tools that consistently provide them better reward than most for lower risk options. That doesn't mean there is not counterplay though. I feel far too often when discussing high tier characters people tend to dismiss all counterplay and refuse to learn the matchup. That's why I think its useful to point out habits that will actually improve your chances and changes people tend to neglect, like cheaper FD making it easier to play defensive and run out the blood gauge, challenging forward fukio consistently or using chicken block on reaction to it, or being strategic with your use of burst against Nago so you time it to leave hin full screen with high blood and subsequently poor approach options.

[@lordknightfgc]

It is usually the case that when I talk about strategy, I usually line it up with my own strategy, that's my bad. Usually I will pretty much never challenge with throw (unless I'm Baiken) just because of how option sets stack outside of certain situations.

[@ryangalloway3107]

I like when low effort top tiers get nerfed into the ground. They've been getting free wins for a year. Why can't they get some free losses too?

[@snkenjoyer4989]

the perspective that arcays wants all their characters move to get used makes a lot of their design decisions make more sense (even if i still dont agree with said decisions lol)

[@snkenjoyer4989]

also the visuals on this video are REALLY clean. more like this pls!

[@chemar2778]

You didn't really touch on sols br oki. that's a big hit as well. not getting meaty fafnir/ meaty c.s

[@ultraftriv9261]

3:01 *cries in shuriken

[@MundoSD]

As a Nago enjoyer, I feel like his buffs are enjoyable to have.

[@slkjvlkfsvnlsdfhgdght5447]

i think that buffing moves so thay people use them more is good. however, of the character is already strong, then they need to be nerfed in a different area in order to compensate

[@FhargaZ]

Someday, heavy mob cemetery will be good 😮‍💨

[@ryoji7036]

This move is way too sick to be left alone in the dirt!

[@Encrypt2000]

I see u LK with the production buff.

[@pian-0g445]

I still think Nago is actually really well designed, but he’s one of the only characters really balanced for strive. The others, they’re not bad by any means and are all viable to some extent, as we see in the tournaments (even if recently many winners have been HC). This is more of a sign that everyone else needs to catch up either in a similar fashion or their own way that makes them just as deadly.

[@SylemGistoe]

Honestly, I think most characters in strive *are* pretty well designed, with only a few outliers- even the top tier characters, I think are mostly fine. (someone will always just have the safest risk/reward) I feel nago still has built in glaring weaknesses that promote risky decisions, even if he's very very good. I'm a little worried happy chaos is getting folks toxic and out for blood though- not sure what they'll do, but I see it getting worse. I think HC is in a class of his own when it comes to utilizing universal mechanics like the wall, which would make him really hard to touch.

[@SophistictaedDevil]

I've seen Hotashi being reffered to indirectly in 3 different videos where the subject matter was all the same: Nago is a problem lmao

[@quantumpotato]

FD doesn't cause extra stun!? I haven't played Strive so I don't know the full picture but that seems very uncharacteristic for Guilty Gear!

[@lordknightfgc]

It did on release. However, this gave great advantage for characters that actually had plus frames, so they removed it last October.

[@quantumpotato]

@@lordknightfgc it seems like they change it a lot! Is AC+R the most balanced GG now? Slash?

[@StubenhockerElite]

Goldlewis says hi

[@HellecticMojo]

Nah, he needed it badly.

[@zonkrt3463]

Winning neutral and killing your opponent without doing a single thing right is fair and balanced wym

[@tragicblvd]

Arcsys was like, damn I-no using H-stroke, we should make it literally worse. Oh but people don’t use 2S, we should buff it. Aye arcsys why not both? I’m confused why other characters get to approach and be plus in my face (Jack-O, HC, Goldlewis, Zato), but I can’t be +2 and frame trap with 2K just to get knockdown and go into my game plan. Thanks

[@PinkLemonInc]

It's definitely been a weird approach to watch unfold; though its probably a simpler philosophy than trying to sort through all the different regions/languages & opinions, and Then coming up with the Correct response.

[@Kazner0h]

I don't mind if some characters are strong, so long as no character is particularly weak.

[@SavagePandaSwag]

Its crazy how some characters get punished for being top tier but others dont cough cough Elphelt

[@jscriber100]

Its moreso dependant on the game's pace, rather than buffing the char to keep up with the rest of the roster. In MK9's case, if a char needs a buff I'd say its most important NOT to compare the significance of the buff to any other character's ability because of the game's pace. This a high attack power, high momentum, fast-paced game so its safe to say that said char will need a big buff based off what he/she is terrible or lacking in, not based off of what the other chars have. Basically, don't buff a character based off of another character's strengths or flaws. You knocking it out the park with these discussions, LK.

[@jjwrx8]

Potemkin is #1 in terms of showing how overly nerfing a character just ruins the experience and fun you can have with a character went from top tier fun/hype and a actual threat again after a decade in the beta to bottom tier trash that feels super limited and meter dependent to do anything fun and almost all "optimal damage" linked behind needlessly precise kara inputs that only a select few players can execute consistently. But worst of all when the major system changes happened for Season 2 Potemkin literally was singled out from the rest of the roster with almost nothing gained from it whatsoever and felt 100% targeted without any reason as to why. Screw arc systems for that i mean if they called the update the fk you Potemkin mains update it's honestly not a stretch from the reality of what happened.

[@Gensolink]

honestly most arc sys grappler end up feeling like that. Tager is such a joke of a character when you compare him to even mid tiers it's not even funny. Like poor man doesnt have a decent meterless anti air all his aa options are either commital as hell, meter dependent, or sometimes not even barely functioning (2C not having any invul on actives just end me)

[@vla1ne]

As a tager main, i can say with confidence, that arcsys hates making their original grapplers good enough to compete at the highest tiers. Matter of fact, do any of their grapplers (bar base broly) have any good ccompetitive ability? Lavina, android 16, super broly, i think there's one in dnf, but i don't have the game, i really don't know. Does arcsys even want to have any good grapplers?

[@Gensolink]

@@vla1ne this is just modern grappler balance tbh, most grappler get their power budget focused on grabs hard and then they have subpar/shitty moveset to compensate. Personally I think they should make most grabs have the possibility to combo while having reliable but not too crazy damage on their own. Also Potemkin was kinda cracked in AC and +R

[@MommysGoodPuppy]

I dont mind top tier buffs but arcsys needs to do maybe a smidge bit stronger nerfs

[@DoggyP00]

Didn't Sonicfox randomly out of the blue pick up beerus and say he was top tier when he was still considered bottom tier by everyone else. I think they ended up putting him in mid tier, but it's still weird how common beerus is used as the low tier arcsys example. Why not use Krillin instead who's an infinitely better example since he got nerfed in the first big patch.

[@lordknightfgc]

The sonic Beerus arc in s1 was like 2 weeks max

[@kabukiblooki]

Beachball buffs plz arcsys

[@hcaelBBleach]

I ended up not liking arcys games following dbzf. Ever since LK first talked about how dbzf balances were centered around making players and characters "feel" like they can do something, i ended up hating it. Always feels like running up a mountain when i put ppl in the corner. High defense mechanics just allows for mindless, easy escapes. My scrub take is tht finesse, reliant characters struggle more than characters tht hve very strong defensive tools (gogeta red/blue, ui, etc).

[@botero01]

Daisuke wants the game to be beautiful, it s not only about characters winning or losing

[@kahsaiharmon15]

Algorithm comment

[@ChillJesterSquad]

ill go rhythm, calm ent

[@juniperrodley9843]

Algorithm reply

[@aetherion901]

ArcSys, may I have a Zato 6K please?

[@chasemcfarland2851]

I do not. for a second, believe that they truly want every character to use every move. have you not seen what they did to Giovannas 214S? We have only 2 overheads and have to resort to gimmicky pseudo fuzzies to open someone up because they are both atrocious bad and easy to react 5p them. If they want me to use every move, they're just going to need to straight up replace 214S with anything else, like a real oki option

[@iceking241]

Nah, Rachel players shouldn't be allowed to have fun tbh

[@figureitout2973]

I got click baited when I saw something about not buffing Nago, but then you called us H-Bots and I was like 🤔 ......he is spitting facts

[@guillo387]

I have to say that although it may not be more balanced way I still like the way arcsys balanced nago. I didn't use the clone but when they nerfed beyblade and buff the clone I use it more often, I don't know about balance but using all the moves and having option is mor fun, at least for me

[@OccuredJakub12]

I think the problem with all top tiers is that usually it comes down to consistency. Games need more reasons through mechanics and interactions to reward risk-taking and prohibit boring, consistent tools from becoming the dominant strategy. I would do things like giving Nagoriyuki's blood mechanic a way of being filled up by the enemy attacking him (not a lot though, so not a big risk when his blood is low) as well as giving Nago access to his specials while in BR, like his boss version, at the cost of them prolonging the state and draining more HP from him. Make him more volatile and make people have to work more to keep him consistent. I would rework Ramlethal's sword specials because they give all her other tools way too much power. Plus, the way they work makes no sense and makes her gameplay kinda boring tbh. Leo, I dunno, he's kinda all-around powerful so targeting just his Flash Kick wouldn't do much.

[@cap-ml7ky]

That actually sounds like an interesting nerf tbh. He has stronger moves, but is less incentivized to use them, as the risk of getting a CH is too great.

[@Nimrod336]

The devs need to look at tekken 7 for balance

[@prime1773]

I like the buff patches in Strive so far.

[@MrRyus101]

Buff Nago...but seriously all of the fun things in most fighting games are clearly unfair and to counter that...give one a broken move..problem fix so no one can really complain which really means that the game will be balanced technically due to everyone being...broken

[@lech8873]

Spitting facts

[@suryusuke]

bro been making nago nerf videos for a long ass time now

[@danielmccoy8440]

They broke ssj legs, they took away some of Sols combos and then the people who were complaining about sol still gets their ass washed, water no soap then complain about the other characters that got buffed that they don't know how to deal with