The Question of Depth in GBVS
Riding on the success of Guilty Gear Xrd and Dragon Ball Fighter Z , both known for fast pacing, radical combos and intense decision making in game-play, Arc System Works' choice (and Cygames by addition) to base their new game on simpler Street Fighter II (per Word of God) sounded like a recipe for failure. More so when fighting game players learned that many features traditionally used to add depth and excitement into fighting game formula such as metered Lag Cancel technique (ex. Roman Cancel, FADC) or Alpha Counter (a special type of attack that push opponents back while in blocking animation) don’t exist in GBVS, adding to general confusion. This, combined with alternative ‘simple input’ system for special attacks and auto-combo feature led some fans to accuse Arc System Works of over-simplifying in an attempt at cash-grab at the expense of entire genre (a dominant trend in game industry to reach more audience at the time)
But the amount of players that continue to play the game well into Season Pass 2 period (COVID-19 and frustrating delay-based netcode for online play be damned) seems to suggest that GBVS might not be a complete mistake on ASW’s part. If the game was just ‘an anime Street Fighter II clone with better graphics and pretty Granblue boys/girls’, players wouldn’t stick around to lab combos and strategies for this long given the saturation of 'anime-style' media, did they?
A Balancing Act – Source Material, Accessibility and a Different Kind of Fun
“Skill” is what GBVS refers to 4 special moves unique to each character in the same vein of other 2D fighters. But how the game handles the system can be baffling to long-time FG fans: while Light and Medium skill variants work similarly to those in most other games, using its Heavy version (colloquially called EX Specials in fighting game jargon) will cause that skill to enter a cooldown timer that completely prevents player from using any version of that skill. While it doesn’t cost any Skybound Gauge (aka. Super Meter) with the gauge only (and strictly only) being used for Skybound Art and Super Skybound Art (the latter being usable at low hit-points), the inability to just ‘do stuff’ freely is often criticized as very restricting.
Yet if we examine the audience of GBVS we would come to understand why the combat system as a whole is designed that way: those coming from source Granblue Fantasy mobile game, players new to the genre, and regular fighting game players who can play at high-level.
- GBVS roughly mimics the skill systems in source mobile game. While the player controls a party of four instead of just a single character, the game-plan is similar: time the skill cooldown of each character to maximize utility in response to enemy’s pattern. The goal is the same, just moving the context from PvE environment to 1v1 PvP game. Skybound Gauge being used purely for attacking is also a carry-over, though we could say that ArcSys added a second attack as comeback mechanic. Knowing these, GBVS set up a scene for the source mobile game immigrants to quickly get familiar with before they dive deeper into other aspects of the game.
- Restriction on skills and Skybound Gauge also helps alleviate common issue new fighting game players have to face, namely player getting constantly beaten down without a breathing room to learn the game. Losing scenario still occur as with any other PvP game, but the prevention of spamming and reduced reward of non-EX Specials give new player time to recognize the attack itself, or temporary lift their mind away from that particular move to focus on other aspects of gameplay. Trimming down the actions player can perform means there is smaller mental load so newbie can concentrate on getting good through visual recognition and mind games, without having to spend too much time on input execution.
- So where does that leaves the experienced players? Skill cooldown timer forces the player to choose either to play it safe their skill usage, or to ‘cash-in’ with EX Specials for big reward (damage, positioning etc.) to keep the opponent in losing state. Round timer and player attack/defense habit also come into play during decision making. For example: “Should I use Katalina’s EX projectile? Will it leads to KO scenario given the remaining time? What if they block it? If I can convert it into full combo, what options do I have after that against [x] from the opponent while the move is on cooldown?” The dynamic caused by the system adds depth in the form of long-term strategy aspect that players will eventually have to learn if they want to get better at the game. The traditional meter-based resource system that always rewards better attackers is transformed into a different, cooldown-based system that gives GBVS its unique nuance and identity. It should be noted that this dynamic adds no extra execution barrier that often gives newbie headache: if a player knows how to execute a simple special move, even it’s weaker ‘simple input’ version, they can form and utilize strategies around cooldown timer from the get go.
