In order to start a match with another player in the betas, one had to whip out their weapon and then meet another player who also have theirs out. Instead of a traditional matchmaking service or a 3D lobby like other Arc System Works, -STRIVE- uses a sprite-based 2D lobby system that caused constant headaches for players. While a lot of things were divisive during the betas, the online lobby system was universally despised by players.Now the PS4 native version is laggiest with five frames. Still slightly behind the Steam version a bit but far more manageable. This has thankfully been addressed after launch as the PS5 version had its input delay drastically reduced across several updates, bringing it in line with the PS4 Pro version to about three frames of delay. The PS5 version reportedly had the most delay out of all of the entire genre. To put things into perspective as to how bad this is, all fighting games worth their salt aim for a smooth 60 frames-per-second to maximize player control, so 8 frames of delay meant over a tenth of a second between you inputting and the game responding. Porting Disaster: On launch, the Playstation 5 version had around eight frames of input delay, as opposed to the PS4's four-ish, and the PC version's almost none.It also didn't have the Tron Costumes unless you used a mod until they were finally added as DLC on Steam alongside a price drop for the game, but that's minor in comparison, especially considering that you could mod it (and the game has a thriving mod scene). Its only major problem has been a bug known to the developers and unfixed since launch where running the game in 4K causes massive frame drops for both players when a big counterhit happens. Polished Port: -STRIVE- PC port is widely considered the definitive version because on top of working and running well, it has less input delay than the console versions (Less so after updates improved the delay for PS4 Pro and PS5 versions, but still ahead).It turns what should be a beautiful moment of acceptance and character development into one that's unintentionally silly. But all of this happens while Bridget is still doing her usual idle animations, which involve her moving and grooving to the music with exaggerated and passionate dancing. The moment where she decides that she's done running from who she is, with Goldlewis and Ky encouraging Bridget to stop worrying about what anyone else thinks of her and promising to support her, is also suitably triumphant. Narm: Bridget undergoing her Trans Tribulations in her story arc with Goldlewis and Ky is appropriately dramatic.As a result, he has a good and respectable fanbase in the west. His weight is never used for cheap laughs nor does it define his fighting style (something common in fighting games), he's got a cool personality and voice, and as a bonus, he's very supportive about Bridget being transgender. He looks like an anime Eagleland stereotype, but that's the thing: he only looks like one. His name sounds outrageous, he's a large and fat southern man, and his weapon is a metal coffin containing an alien. Mexicans Love Speedy Gonzales: Goldlewis Dickinson.The fact that his older-gentleman Stout Strength build evokes the Bara Genre doesn't hurt, either. Goldlewis has a substantial LGBT fanbase, both because he helps Bridget decide to come out and because there are (more ambiguous) hints that he might be queer himself.As a result, the game and both LGBT characters received quite a bit of attention from LGBT players. The first was Testament being revealed as non-binary, and the second was Bridget coming out as a transgender girl. Two factors caused a sizeable number of queer gamers to take a look at -STRIVE. So even if -STRIVE- deviated from them, the older games have a new lease on life and are still readily available for those that prefer their gameplay or style. This rift has been mended somewhat by Accent Core Plus R, considered one of the peaks of the franchise in terms of raw gameplay, getting a rollback netcode update on Steam with this later applying to Rev 2 as well. How much the gameplay affected this result is a matter of debate. In the end -STRIVE- became the best-selling Guilty Gear in its launch window by a huge margin with 500k units shipped, and lifetime sales of over one million. Others felt changing the gameplay doesn't really do anything to push sales or appeal to new people, similar to arguments surrounding Street Fighter V early on. Some felt the series needed to reinvent itself to some extent if it wanted to succeed rather than survive.
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