The Heavy Day Before Christmas: Guilty Gear Xrd

Though you probably haven’t noticed, I’ve been trying to avoid making as many news-related posts on this blog in the last month or so. Because why should I waste your time providing information easily found on other sites? Even if I inject my opinion into it, it typically doesn’t make for unique and interesting content. It’s tough to find new ways to approach news-related content, unless something big goes down.

But here’s one about Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-‘s release date, a topic I didn’t plan on posting about because I figured you already knew everything from other blogs and websites — perhaps with the writer’s snark on the side. Turns out, I misjudged the level of popularity Guilty Gear draws, and I saw numerous people complaining about the lack of coverage on blogs and websites. Big sites have other things to worry about, but blogs not posting about this is a little surprising. GG may get more attention than a series like Blazblue, especially in the west, but it’s still niche in the overall grand scheme.

Despite Aksys Games originally saying it would release in America by the end of the year, I was losing hope. I figured that announcement confirming a delay was coming any time now, given that we’re in mid-October. It was given a December 4th release date in Japan a while ago (no, not December 3rd, sadly), alongside details about a limited edition only for the PlayStation 4 version. It will include a Fight Pad with six face buttons (even though Guilty Gear generally requires four) created by Sanwa Denshi compatible with PS4 and PS3, and the Guilty Gear Xrd Vocal Collection soundtrack CD containing ten tracks. Said CD will also be available with the standard edition’s first-print version on both consoles.  If Aksys wanted to release this game simultaneously with the Japanese version, they were running out of time.

Fortunately, time didn’t expire. They announced that Xrd is releasing here on December 16th, a mere twelve days after the Japanese version hits. We’re also receiving an LE for both consoles, though the contents will be different. Though ours will also include the Vocal Collection, it will also have a Guilty Gear Codex art book and a Sol Badguy “FREE” keychain (as in, the words “FREE” are inscribed on it). Sorry, no controller for us. They haven’t said whether that will be available separately at the moment either, though I’d be surprised if it wasn’t. Hopefully they keep the same covers as the Japanese version for both editions, which have excellent artwork from Daisuke Ishiwatari.

In our brave, new region-free world, we might have to deal with some inane region restrictions with the release dates in both territories being so close. Arcana Heart 3: LOVE MAX!!!!! (actual title, not my dramatization), for instance, was also published by Arc System Works and Aksys in Japan and America, and surprisingly imposed a region restriction on its online servers. And while Persona 4 Arena Ultimax is published by Atlus, the American version won’t let you use Japanese voices in its Story Mode. Reverse importation isn’t as heavy of a problem as most Japanese companies believe, but good luck convincing them. These guys live in their own world.

In my previous post including GGXrd, I mentioned that the home version would include Sin Kiske as a playable character. Since then, another character has been revealed: Elphelt, a girl with a wedding dress and rabbit ears. Guilty Gear characters are always tend to have elements that are homages to hard rock and heavy metal bands and songs, and she’s no different. She uses guns as her primary methods of attack, and wears a gigantic bouquet of roses on her dress. Continuing the wedding theme, her dress also includes the words “You Could Be Mine.” I’ll let you put two and two together, but just in case you don’t see it.

I’ve seen plenty of complaints saying her style doesn’t fit in with the other GG characters by being too “anime,” making her look more fitting for a Blazblue game, and I have no clue of what these people are going on about. She fits right in with the rest of the cast in terms of design. This was bound to be the reaction to any new character who wasn’t one of the seven MIA characters from previous titles, but saying she’s too “anime” for GG is a special form of denial.

With her use of long-range attacks, Elphelt has to play a decent keep-away game to be utilized efficiently. This was demonstrated incredibly well by 4Gamer, who posted a lengthy tutorial video showing how she, along with the aforementioned Sin, can be used. It’s not surprising that a GG character will take a little while to get used to, but anyone who played Dizzy might feel right at home here.

(Of course, with Elphelt’s style being reminiscent of hers, this spawned plenty of complaints asking why Dizzy wasn’t included instead. You guys are so predictable.)

Elphelt will be available as free DLC for a short amount of time after the game releases in America. After that, she’ll cost you, yikes, $7.99.

Hopefully we receive the opportunity to play the demo currently available on PSN for Playstation Plus subscribers in Japan, for a chance to try out Sol and Ky, along with seeing how the game looks on our TV screens and monitors. It would be nice if they gave it to us sooner rather than later.

P.S. With the unfortunate passing of voice actor Iemasa Kayumi, Arc will have to recast the voice of Slayer eventually. They could potentially retire his current form for the next installment, similar to Zato-1 becoming Eddie after his original voice actor died — at least for a short time.