******************************************************************************* =========================== Guilty Gear XX Slash =========================== FAQ and Stuffs v0.65 Written by Talon Redd Circa 2006, 2007 =========================== GGXXS000: Table of Contents =========================== GGXXS000: Table of Contents GGXXS001: Introduction GGXXS002: Overview GGXXS002A: Basic Movement GGXXS002B: Gauges GGXXS002C: Attacking GGXXS002D: Defending GGXXS003: Modes GGXXS003A: Arcade GGXXS003B: M.O.M GGXXS003C: Vs 2P GGXXS003D: Vs CPU GGXXS003E: Training GGXXS003F: Survival GGXXS003G: Mission GGXXS003H: Gallery GGXXS003I: Sound GGXXS003J: Options GGXXS004: Version History GGXXS005: Contact GGXXS006: Special Thanks =========================== GGXXS001: Introduction =========================== Well some of you may be wondering why I decided to write an FAQ for this great fighting game and there are two very simple reasons for this. The first is that there wasn't one. Simple enough, no? The second is that I've never written an FAQ before and since I wanted to compile stuff on this particular game, I thought it'd be good to do everyone else a service and help out anyone who needs it. Now I am American, I am not Japanese nor am I Korean, nor can I speak or read either of those fine languages so although all the menues and such are in easy-to-read English, the story and mission modes are a bit tougher on me. That's what you get for importing, I suppose. So if any of you guys who knows both languages would care to help me out a bit, just drop me a line, my info is at the bottom of the page. The Guilty Gear series began in 1998 with the original break out game in the series "Guilty Gear: The Missing Link". Since then this fighting game and it's sequels have graced the Playstation, Playstation 2, Dreamcast, Game Boy Advance, NEO-GEO Wonderswan Color, XBox, PSP, Nintendo DS and so to be, Nintendo Wii. As you can see this game really gets around, so why don't very many people know about it? Well, Guilty Gear and it's sequels, Guilty Gear X: By Your Side and Guilty Gear XX: The Midnight Carnival, suffer most obviously from printing issues. Guilty Gear has been out of print for years, and I don't expect we'll see another run unless it comes out in a jam pack for PC someday and Guilty Gear X had a short run on the ill-fated Dreamcast, and even though it was one of the best fighting games for it, very few copies made it out of Japan. The same goes for the special edition of GGX, Guilty Gear X 1.5 (also known as Guilty Gear X Plus for the PS2). Only recently has Guilty Gear in form of the third game in the series, GGXX, and it's offshoot, Guilty Gear Isuka, been able to garner some attention for the series on the PS2 along with the subsequent release of GGXX #Reload for the XBox in America and Europe and the PS2 in Japan. So what is Guilty Gear XX Slash then? Well Guilty Gear XX Slash is essentially "Guilty Gear XX: 3rd Edition" or maybe you could call it "GGXX Version 1.3". However you want to refer to it, Guilty Gear XX Slash is essentially the second revision to the Guilty Gear XX system, the first being #Reload. This calls for some balance tweaks and a few move set revisions here and there incorporating some things from #Reload and Isuka while restoring some things to the way they were in the original GGXX. Now after putting this FAQ down for a year, I thought someone would have pre-empted me and written one up, but low and behold, after checking the FAQs page here I found that it's still as empty as when I started. So here I go again. Now with Guilty Gear XX Accent Core coming out, the NEXT revision to the series before Guilty Gear 2 finally comes out, why would anyone need Slash, anyway? Well, Accent Core, despite being the first localized version of GGXX in a while has had a few things removed from it according to what I've heard as well as everything being rebalanced, so Slash is still unique amongst the games holding the Guilty Gear XX moniker. So anyway, here we go again! =========================== GGXXS002: Overview =========================== Guilty Gear XX Slash is a fighting game, so like any fighting game you have to know how to use the controls before you'll be able to do anything more than button mash. Here's how the controls work, if your character is on the left side of the screen. D-Pad: Up - Jump Down - Duck Left - Move Backwards Right - Move Forwards Square - Punch X Button - Kick Triangle - Slash Circle - Hard Slash R1 Button - Dust R2 Button - Respect Start - Pause --------------------------- GGXXS002A: Basic Movement --------------------------- Okay, in a fighting game movement is always relative to the edge of the screen and your opponent; forward being towards your opponent, and backwards being away. This is the most basic idea in fighting and if you have EVER played any fighting game you should be familiar with this. Now onto the more unique concepts in Guilty Gear. Dashing: Dashing is done by pressing forward twice or backwards twice and gives your character a quick burst of speed in that direction. You can't block while dashing so anticipate this before diving into trouble. Different characters have different methods of dashing. Some like Sol and Ky hop backwards while they run forwards, their backdashes being relatively short while their dashes being sustainable indefinately, this is the norm, but some have odd forward dashes that send them into the air while characters like Potemkin have no forward Dash at all, so try to familiarize yourself with your character's workings before rushing into danger. Air Dashing: Dashing in the air performs an airdash which you can use to get out of or into situations in the air or quickly cross the screen while staying off the ground in order to confuse opponents. Unlike regular dashing, Air Dashes do generally have length limits and the characters tend to float or fall downwards at an angle afterwards. You can also backdash in the air and each character has their own specific types of dashing. Double Jumping: Pressing up again while in mid-jump causes your character to "dash" upwards and make another jump. This is useful for extending combos and putting some distance between yourself and the opponent in midair. Some characters, like Chipp for instance, can triple jump and some can float. High Jumping: Pressing down then up in quick succession will cause you to perform a high jump which has much greater height and hangtime than a regular jump. You cannot perform it in the air though and you cannot double jump after a high jump. --------------------------- GGXXS002B: Gauges --------------------------- On the screen there are several gauges that are plainly visible during the fight. These are the Health Meter, the Tension Gauge, the Guard Gauge, and the Burst Gauge. The Health Meter is the same as in every fighting game, as the more damage you take, the lower it gets and when it empties completely you are KOed and you lose the round. The others are a bit different though... Tension Gauge: The tension gauge is at the bottom left and right hands of your screen and gradually fills up as you dash, inflict damage or recieve damage. Tension is used for many things, but is not carried over between rounds. It changes from blue (empty to a quarter-full) to green (a quarter to half full) to red (half full to completely full) to gold (completely full), which denotes at a glance what you are able to do with the amount you havein that gauge. If you sit back and don't make any attempt to attack or approach your opponent, then you will recieve a Negative Penalty and your tension gauge will be dumped, taking it down to zero. Guard Gauge: This gauge is sort of like a punishment scale. It goes up when you block an attack and down when you recieve an attack so if you constantly block the gauge will fill up and if you constantly recieve damage the gauge will empty. If you manage to avoid taking any damage or blocking any attack (pretty much generally avoiding getting hit at all) the guard gauge will make it's way back to its neutral position (half full). The guard gauge assists people who take punishment and punishes people who turtle just as the Tension Gauge does. The more you guard, the fuller your gauge gets, the more shots will hurt if they connect and the more damage you take (at three-quarters full, all successful hits against you will be "Counter" hits). The more empty it is, the less damage each shot will do, helping add to the decreasing damage curve of large combos. Burst Gauge: In this installment of the Guilty Gear series, you have what's called a Burst Gauge (taking the form of the word BURST next to your Guard Gauge). It fills up in the exact same manor as the Tension Gauge, but is carried over between rounds of a fight. To use a "Burst" you have to hit an attack button and the Dust button at the same time. There are two Bursts, a blue one and a yellow one. The Blue Burst is a Counter Burst, if the Burst is used during an attack it will be a Counter Burst and will immediately stop your opponent's combo, pushing them back slightly so that you can launch a counter attack. This uses the entire Burst Gauge, but if you complete the counter attack then you will recieve a third of the Burst Gauge back. The Yellow Burst is an Attack Burst, launching an attack that takes up two-thirds of the Burst Gauge. The attack is very quick and hard to connect with, but if successful fills the Burst Gauge completely. The Bursts are very good for mix-ups and getting out of tight spots early or late in a fight. --------------------------- GGXXS002C: Attacking --------------------------- Basic attacking is performed by pressing the Punch, Kick, Slash or Hard Slash buttons and pressing those buttons in conjunction with certain directions on the controller. These enable you to perform a variety of "regular attacks" with your character. These will be the meat and potatoes of your fighting experience, especially when you start off. Each character handles differently from the others, some like Sol and Ky are fairly basic and easy to figure out while some such as Robo-Ky and A.B.A. take a lot of patience and experimenting to figure out how to use properly. Try to find out what you like and take the time to learn the character. Dust: Dust attacks are unique to the Guilty Gear series and originally performed by pressing Slash and Hard Slash together, this made for some problems though during the heat of battle as Dust attacks have a very long wind up, a long recovery, and generally do little damage; meaning you could really screw yourself in the middle of a combo if you accidentally performed one. In this installment however, the Dust attack has been given it's own button, which makes it a ton more useful as it can be used when you want it and not used when you don't. While it still has all it's downsides, the Dust attack has one very important aspect; it's an instant pop-up if it connects. The Dust attack sends your opponent VERY high into the air and by pressing up, you can "chase" your opponent, which gives you the chance to unleash a massive air combo on them. Due to it's downsides, it still remains a strategic weapon, so use it wisely. Sweeping: Crouching and performing a Dust attack causes your character to perform a sweeping action which knocks the opponent down if it connects. Your opponent must be crouching as well in order to block this. Air Dust: Pressing the Dust button in the air will perform a unique attack which, if it connects, will send the opponent straight backwards against the wall or straight down to the ground. Throws: A throw is an unblockable move that's performed when directly next to the opponent by pressing either Forward and Hard slash or Backward and Hard Slash at the same time. This causes you to grab your opponent and begin the throw. Once a throw connects, it cannot be escaped from and you cannot throw someone while Dashing, so you must find other means to get in range in order to throw your opponent. Air Throws: Exactly the same as a regular throw, except you and your opponent must both be in midair. It's also unblockable and seems to have a slightly larger range than a normal throw. Special Attacks: The special "moves" for each character, which are done by pressing a sequence of movement and attack buttons. These are unique for each character and is one of the main things that makes that character's particular "style". Overdrives: The equivalent of "super moves" in other games, these as extremely powerful attacks that your character can do to turn the tide of a fight or clinch their victory. Each character has at least one of these and they require half of your tension bar. The only exception to this are Justice and Dizzy's Gamma Ray, which requires a full bar (being they're two of the most powerful single attacks in the game). You know one of these by the flame parralax background that's imposed over the darkened background. Ichigeki Hissatsu: Another controversial part of Guilty Gear, the Ichigeki Hissatsu or "One-Hit Instant Kill" is more or less what it sounds like. It is an attack that if it succeeds wins you the round, regardless of how much life your opponent had at the time. To perform this attack you must hit all four attack buttons (except Dust) at the same time. The screen will darken and your character will glow red from then on as your tension gauge turns into an "Attack Meter". The amount of tension originally in the gauge determines how full the attack meter is when you start. Now from here, as long as the attack meter is on the screen you can perform the Ichigeki Hissatsu by performing two quarter circles forward and hitting Hard Slash (this is the same for everyone), causing them to go into their attack which varies depending on the character. If the attack connects the opponent is DESTROYED and automatically loses that round. If the attack doesn't connect your tension bar is disabled for the rest of the round, preventing you from performing anything that requires tension for the rest of the round. If at any time you want to shut down the attack meter and get your tension gauge back, then just hit all four buttons again to return to normal tension mode. If your attack meter runs all the way down, you will start to take damage as long as you are in that mode. Buffering: Buffering is the art of performing the actions for a special attack during a standard attack so that the special attack comes out immediately after the standard one, totally negating the standard attack's usual recovery time. Most characters' standard attacks can have a special move buffered into them save a few exceptions here and there. Most characters have special attacks that can be easily buffered for use in extended combo and some aerial special moves can be buffered as well. Jump Canceling: Sometimes you can cancel a standard attack by jumping immediately after it connects. This is useful for setting up air combos as well as anti-air counterattacking. Not all moves can be used for Jump Canceling, so practice a bit before attempting in a critical situation. Roman Canceling: A unique concept to Guilty Gear, Roman Canceling is performed by pressing any three attack buttons (other than Dust) at the same time. This immediately interrupts the recovery animation and allows you to attack immediately. It costs half of your tension gauge to do this and you can only do a Roman Cancel if your attack makes contact with your opponent, although you can still do it if the attack is blocked. When you acheive one, the announcer will say "Romantic!". False Roman Canceling: This apparently works almost the same way as a Roman Cancel, except that it's restricted to certain attacks and the timing on this is VERY strict. (Somewhere within two frames or about 1/30th of a second I'm told.) Now it only costs a quarter of a tension bar to perform and some False Roman Cancels can be used without the attack actually connecting as well as on some projectile attacks. (A regular Roman Cancel can only be used on physical attacks.) The announce will say "Romantic!" for this as well. Instant Air Dash: A bit fuzzy on this one, so if someone knows about this, please help me out and drop me a line! Jump Install: Someone tried to explain this to me but I still don't quite get it. If anyone could help me out with that, I'd be very appriciative. ^__^; I know it has a lot to do with Roman Canceling and Jump Canceling but I can't do it for the life of me. XD Dizzied: With each attack there is a small chance that you might become "dizzied". This is noted by the wierd... angel rice ball looking thingies flying around your head. While dizzied, you are COMPLETELY vulnerable. Dizzing will go away with time but the only two ways to get out of it quicker is to button/control-pad mash or take damage. Staggering: Getting hit by certain moves will cause a character to stumble backwards, this is called staggering. During this stagger, the character is unable to react to anything, much like a dizzy, but this only lasts a couple of seconds and can easily be nullified by button/control-pad mashing. Still it does interrupt the flow of one's mojo in a fight. >__>; Also, I've been told that some moves cause staggering that is particularily hard to break out of for the purpose of intentionally setting up comboing oppertunities. --------------------------- GGXXS002D: Defending --------------------------- A good offense is the best defense they say but more often than not there will be points during a fight in which you need to defend yourself. The simplest way of doing this is blocking. Manual blocking is performed simply by holding back or down and back during an opponent's attack. Standing blocks will protect you from anything but crouching attacks and sweeps. Crouching blocks will protect you from anything but mid-level attacks and overhead downward swings. Airblocking will protect you from any and all air attacks but it won't protect you from attacks from an opponent on the ground. You also take block damage from certain attacks such as specials and overdrives, so be wary of this. Now onto more advanced defensive techniques... Faultless Defense: As it's name would imply, the Faultless Defense is perfect. By holding down either the Punch and Kick buttons or the Slash and Hard Slash buttons while guarding, you activate the Faultless Defense which encases your character in a clear green sphere. At this time you will take no damage while guarding, your guard gauge won't go up, you can block any attack that can be blocked including overdrives and you can even block ground based attacks in the air. The only problem with this is that it uses tension and it uses a LOT of it. Your tension gauge will gradually go down while you use the Faultless Defense, and the more damage you take while in this mode the quicker it will drop so be mindful about this. The Faultless Defense can also be used to cancel the lag after dashing, allowing you to attack right after a dash or even completely shut down the dash itself. This is known as Faultless Defense Breaking. Air Recovery: After being knocked into the air, if you hit an attack button (except Dust) while you are reeling, you will right yourself and be able to attack, airdash, or double jump from there. Unfortunately, the time for this ability to kick in varies due to the attack you were hit with, if it was a counter or not, and some attacks can not be air recovered from. Dead Angle Attacks: These work as instant counters and are performed by pressing forward and any two attack buttons (except Dust) at the same time while in a guard. It takes off half of your tension gauge and should only be used in despiration due to the short range and negligable damage of these attacks, so save them for when you REALLY need to get out of a combo. Instant Blocking: If you block an attack at the same time it would hit, then you can "parry" the attack. By doing this, your character flashes white and takes no block damage from the attack. It also doesn't knock your opponent back as much and puts you in a prime position to counterattack. It take's very very precise timing to pull off though and is sometimes called a "lucky block". Opposing Shots: If you and your opponent attack with attacks of about the same damage at the same time, then there's a good chance the attacks will bounce off of each other and neither one of you will take damage. After this happens, you can immediately cancel into another attack if you wish. =========================== GGXXS003: Modes =========================== This is an overview of the various modes available in the game and just what they do for you! Okay, once you start the game you get to see the SEGA and Arc Systems Works screens and one or two other developers screens before we get a nice little intro to the tune of "Feedback". After that, we come to the GGXX:Slash title screen. Press start and you go to the Mode screen where you get the following: Arcade - The traditional game mode in which you select a character then attempt to kick the asses of everyone who stands in your way. It doesn't get much simpler than this. Luckily for me, I don't even have to know any other languages to enjoy this mode, all you have to do is pick up the controller and have at it. M.O.M - Not a clue, some sort of coin/medal/thingermabobber collecting thing where you hit the other guy to make these things fly out and then you pick them up for points and... er... I'll let you know when I figure it out. Vs 2P - Beat someone elses ass other than the computer for a change! Vs CPU - Beat the computer's ass some more at your leisure! Training - Hone your skills on a dummy, the computer, or practice with a friend. It has lots of gauges and settings to play around with so that you have just the enviroment you like to practice your techniques in. Survival - Play through various matches in order to gain levels and fight secret characters. Mission - Play various missions focusing on each character's strengths and weaknesses. Gallery - Watch movies and other things here. Sound - Sound adjustment, plus a BGM and SFX test. Options - Game adjustment and other things. Quit - Returns to title screen. ------------------------- GGXXS003A: Arcade ------------------------- In Arcade mode, you pick a character and run them through 10 stages of heated battle with progressively more difficult opponents. It's pretty straight forward really and follows the standard arcade mode formula. Best two out of three, by default, wins. The characters you meet will be random although the last three battles will always be the same; your character's destined battle, I-No, and Order Sol (which follow Boss rules.) Once you defeat Order Sol (regardless of how many continues you use) you win and now get as peice of artwork in the Gallery for your trouble as well as unlocking #Reload mode for that character in the character select screen menu. (Press start when you're selecting your character to get this). ------------------------- GGXXS003B: M.O.M. ------------------------- Medal of Millionares Mode. Basically twenty rounds, each with a different opponent. The more hits you inflict on your opponents, the more the "Medal Gauge" on your screen fills up. You gain points by collecting Medals and filling up your gauge, which in turn allows you to collect bigger medals with higher point values. You do not regain health in between rounds in this mode, but at varying intervals a life power-up may pop out which, if picked up, will restore a little bit of your life bar. (Somewhere between 5 to 25%.) Just like in Arcade mode, once you defeat all 20 opponents, the game is over and you win. ------------------------- GGXXS003C: Vs 2P ------------------------- Standard two player versus mode. Works just like a standard arcade bout. Not much to figure out here but little details forthcoming. ------------------------- GGXXS003D: Vs CPU ------------------------- Exactly like Vs 2P except it's against a computer opponent of the difficulty level currently assigned at the options screen. Little details forthcoming. ------------------------- GGXXS003E: Training ------------------------- Polish your skills here, info on the options and little tweak switches is forthcoming. ------------------------- GGXXS003F: Survival ------------------------- In Survival mode, you select a character and run them through a seemingly endless gauntlet of characters. What's different about this mode is that the characters for the most part are much easier (early on anyway) than their arcade counterparts, the level system, and daredevils. Instead of a score, you have levels, which you earn depending on how much damage you do to your opponent in the course of beating them. Combos and overdrives with large hit counts seem to level up the fastest. You will be notified everytime you earn a level (I seem to average about 6 to 8 a fight). Your health carries over from fight to fight, which means you don't get a full health bar for each fight, but it will recover some health (about 25%) after every fight, so the less you get hit, the better off you'll be overall. Another thing is that for each attack, successful or otherwise, you'll recover about 1 or 2 points of health. It's not much but it does add up if you're especially active. Now, very twenty levels or so, the fight will suddenly be interrupted by a challenger. These are called Daredevils and they are harder, about what you would expect out of an arcade mode CPU opponent. They usually have some special color scheme (the first ones you'll encounter are the Shadow types) and are somewhat mean. They can both be a curse and a boon, on one hand they're especially hard and you don't recover health from attacking during Daredevil fights. You also don't gain levels during Daredevil fights either, but you do start out the fight with a full health bar, regardless of how much health you had when you were challenged, and you recover a good bit more health than you would from a normal opponent (about 40% to 50%). Each Daredevil you defeat unlocks something special... Level: Opponent: Unlocks: 20 Shadow Potemkin EX Potemkin 40 Shadow Chipp EX Chipp 60 Shadow Anji EX Anji 80 Shadow Millia EX Millia 100 Shadow Eddie EX Eddie 120 Shadow Venom EX Venom 140 Shadow Ky Kiske EX Ky Kiske 160 Shadow Faust EX Faust 180 Shadow Zappa EX Zappa 200 Shadow Bridget EX Bridget 220 Shadow Axl EX Axl 240 Shadow I-No EX I-No 260 Shadow Slayer EX Slayer 300 Shadow May EX May 320 Shadow Johnny EX Johnny 340 Shadow Baiken EX Baiken 360 Shadow Testament EX Testament 380 Shadow Dizzy EX Dizzy 400 Shadow Robo-Ky EX Robo-Ky 420 Shadow Kliff Kliff 440 Shadow Justice Justice 460 Shadow Order Sol EX Order Sol 480 Shadow Sol Ex Sol I will get you more info as I beat these guys. ^_^; --------------------------- GGXXS003G: Mission --------------------------- Mission Mode. Basically this is a skill challenge for you and works as an alternative way of unlocking the different character modes and palettes if you are unable to do so in Survival Mode. There are three levels for each character in Mission Mode (with the exception of Order-Sol) and within each Level there are four Missions. Once you complete all the Missions within that Level, then you can proceed to the next. (From 1-1 to 1-2, 1-3, and 1-4, then to 2-1 and so on.) Each mission has different requirements to pass which are seemingly chosen at random, so if you can't beat one, don't fret, just exit the mode and retry it. The various requirements can be as follows: - Must be 2 Hit Combo to Damage - Must be 3 Hit Combo to Damage - Must be 4 HIt Combo to Damage - Must be 5 Hit Combo to Damage - Must be 7 Hit Combo to Damage - Must be 10 Hit Combo to Damage - Win while Poisoned - Win without jumping (you are unable to jump) - Win without special moves (you are unable to use them) - Win without Overdrives (they do not affect the opponent) - Win using standard moves (nothing else affects the opponent) - Win as the result of a Judgement - Win the match (no requirements) After the first three stages, for the fourth stage you will fight against a mirror version of your character. Level 1 - Mirror Match (1 Round Match) Level 2 - Vs. EX Form (1 Round Match) Level 3 - Vs. Gold Form (Standard 2 of 3) Note: If you didn't get them from Survival Mode. Beating Levels 1 and 2 allow you to use the EX Version of your character from the character select screen menu. Beating Level 3 allows you to select the Special palettes for yoru character from the character select screen menu, including the Gold and Shadow options. Note: On the first three stages of a level (ex. 1-1 through 1-3), the Ichigeki Hissatsu WILL NOT WORK, HOWEVER, it WILL WORK on the fourth stage! --------------------------- GGXXS003H: Gallery --------------------------- A gallery of various art and videos you get by beating the different game modes. I'll propigate a list as soon as I start unlocking stuff. ^_^ --------------------------- GGXXS003I: Sound --------------------------- Sound options, BGM Test and SFX test. I'll propigate a list of the awesome music in this series when I have time and put it up for you guys. There's really not much more than a couple slider switches and the tests here though. --------------------------- GGXXS003J: Options --------------------------- Game options, fight settings, memory card save/load things and all that. I'll make a list of what's here soon. ^_^ =========================== GGXXS004: Version History =========================== 08/22/06 - v0.50: Here goes nothing! 09/16/07 - v0.65: Wow, has it been a year? o_o; Added FRC, M.O.M. and a few more details such as how to get the EX and #Reload Modes. =========================== GGXXS005: Contact =========================== E-Mail: GrayscaleRain@GMail.com My only rule is don't be an idiot. Okay? :D But seriously, if I have anything horribly wrong or you can help me with info or you're Japanese or Korean and know something I don't and can read that funky GGXXSlash Manual or the website, then drop me a line! ^_^ I appriciate it, really! =========================== GGXXS006: Special Thanks =========================== Thanks to SEGA and everyone at Arc Systems Works for making this awesome game. Especially Daisuke Ishawatari for some of the greatest music in a video game ever! Thanks to: ~Joel~ Attacking Overview Defending Overview Cornejo M.O.M. Mode supersonicx01 M.O.M. Mode Training Mode Mission Mode Mr. Neo Attacking Overview Defending Overview Arcade Mode M.O.M. Mode Mission Mode