arcaynefgc-streams-and-journal

[arcaynefgc-streams-and-journal]

NOW LIVE!

More Strive! Come find me in the tower (EC)

https://twitch.tv/arcayne_fgc

[arcaynefgc-streams-and-journal]

NOW LIVE!!

More Strive ranked games! Will I reach Celestial again? I hope!

https://twitch.tv/arcayne_fgc

[arcaynefgc-streams-and-journal]

I wish my depression didn't stop me from streaming more... But I'm still happy with how my 2024 streaming went. Here's to another great year!

[arcaynefgc-streams-and-journal]

Final clip

[arcaynefgc-streams-and-journal]

More clips

[arcaynefgc-streams-and-journal]

Have some clips from stream

[arcaynefgc-streams-and-journal]

Strive time! Get in here!

https://twitch.tv/arcayne_fgc

[arcaynefgc-streams-and-journal]

Strive ranked! Come on in!

https://twitch.tv/arcayne_fgc

[arcaynefgc-streams-and-journal]

Asuka cannot escape the fraud allegations after this one. Why do block when extremely late super do better?

Taken from my stream on Sunday night!

(Also not shown from this stream: me using deflect shield against Nagoriyuki's blood rage install burst thing, which I didn't even know you could do)

[arcaynefgc-streams-and-journal]

Hey there! Welcome to this lil' side blog. This will be a dedicated blog to posting my stream links, as well as general ramblings about Guilty Gear Strive or anything fighting game related!

Da Twitch

[arcaynefgc-streams-and-journal]

Well, then... The first post ever here. For those that know me, you need no intro, but if you're just now coming across this, hello. I go by ArCayne online. I'm 26 (at writing. I'm turning 27 in two days), non-binary, and I play Guilty Gear Strive competitively for Railfire Legion. I stream my gameplay on my Twitch channel.

Well, at least I was.

I've taken a bit of a break from the game. In all honesty, I'm waiting for the Season 4 patch to drop so I can look into all of the changes (I main Baiken, btw). And I know for some players, hearing "Baiken" gives you war flashbacks to getting parried over and over again. Or that she was "too good", which she was. At her launch, Youzansen was really powerful, the parry was risky without meter, but very rewarding since it chunked health like crazy (I'm cheating by mentioning Chipp when talking about damage, but it chunked a good 25% off of his already miniscule health bar).

Tether was also very risky, but very rewarding to use. Using it allows her to get combos not otherwise possible, since the move literally ties her and her opponent together. But at the same time, if you leave a big enough gap in your block string, the opponent gets that same benefit of being able to get combos that aren't possible without it.

All of this is good. But as more and more characters were released, Baiken was kind of thrown to the side. She didn't get a ton of changes over the three years she's been out. Some good ones include S Kabari (her tether move) being made faster, and using 6[D] (her throw that doesn't apply the tether) allows for a continued combo when tether is applied or just in the corner thanks to it making the opponent float in the air for longer.

She also got some stuff that was a bit poopoo garbage. Youzansen blowing the opponent away didn't help her at all when it came to confirming, and... Need I mention the double Tatami Gaeshi that literally zero people use?

For those unaware, Baiken has a move, Tatami Gaeshi, where she stomps so hard on the ground, a Tatami mat appears to launch her opponent. It's her main combo extender, and can be used on the ground and in the air. For whatever reason, Arc System Works (whom I will call ArcSys from here on) made it so if you use Tatami Gaeshi in the air, like for a safe jump, the moment you land you can do a ground Tatami Gaeshi.

I don't even need to explain why this is so god damn pointless. I mean, sure. You can catch opponents off guard who aren't expecting it. But if they block the first Tatami, then they will most certainly block the second one. The moment you press 236K for Tatami on the ground, you have now lost your turn and your offense has ended.

While some of the special moves stuff doesn't seem all that bad, she also lacks a lot of things that other characters can freely use, mainly in having confirms off of buttons like far S and 6P. She cannot naturally combo from those moves without a Counter Hit or without spending meter. Meanwhile, characters like Sol, Ky, and Sin can combo with no problem off of those buttons, or if they don't combo their long reaching moves position them to be at the advantage.

All of this complaining aside, I have just not been having fun with her. In matches I normally would win I'd easily lose. I get negated completely by zoners (fuck HC, how did ArcSys not learn their lesson from Elphelt in Xrd????). I feel like Baiken has to work way too hard for such little payoff. It has just really effed with my head, and made me really feel like I was just no good at the game and that I'd never get better. Those that watch my streams know that I rarely get mad. I have always treated every single match, whether I win or I lose, as a learning experience. But the mood I've had recently just sent me down a self-destructive path.

I was getting frustrated. Not at the game, mind you, but rather myself. Because I know that I can get better, and keep improving. Hell, I want to be able to go pro one day. But I felt like I hit a brick wall. That everyone around me would improve, but I'd stay stuck in the same position. That those dreams I had of going pro would be crushed by me not being good enough anymore.

I've been slowly but surely digging myself out of this hole. The recent changes (I've seen) of Baiken in Season 4 look promising. I've not played the game a ton, but I have been still playing. I've been trying out new mix-ups and pressure, and I've been feeling good. Hopefully, Baiken will have some feet back once Season 4 comes around, but we'll just have to see.

I'll end the first little diary entry here by saying that if you want to watch, I hope you follow me on my Twitch. And I hope you follow me here. I'll use this for posting stream links, but also as a journal for you all to be able to see into the deep recesses of my moist mind. I have lots of thoughts about this game, and I will share them here. That is all.