History Heartwarming / GuiltyGear

* I-No going out of her way to comfort Axl with a speech after Jack-O' reveals that the latter isn't human to begin with ''and'' that he may have lost his chance to return to his own timeline for good can come off as this, seeing as it's a rare out-of-character moment for a rather villainous woman to do something nice for somebody else just like she used to before her StartOfDarkness.
** HeartwarmingInHindsight, given that in ''-STRIVE-'' [[spoiler:we learn that I-no ''is'' Megumi - or at least an older, more cynical AlternateTimeline version of her. Axl's speech about how his girlfriend would support him in his decision was truer than he knew.]]

* Sol and Ky's fight. Specifically, how Ky reacts to Sol goading him by calling Dizzy a monster. Note that at this point, Ky knows Sol well enough to know he doesn't mean what he said, but he still responds by ''flipping out'' and kicking his ass ''so hard'' that Sol's left flat on his back in the middle of a smoking crater. It just goes to show that it doesn't matter who you are or what your intentions were, ''you don't speak badly of Dizzy in Ky's presence''.

!Meta
* ''Arc System Works'' hiring a modding team to implement rollback netcode (explaination [[https://ki.infil.net/w02-netcode.html here]]) in ''Accent Core +R''. The team (assembled primarily through [[https://discord.gg/EwyGbew western GGXXACPR discord server]]) were still working on GGPO when ASW took note of this and decided to pay them for real under the name ''Team French [=CaliBurst=]'' (though some members have to be dropped, likely because budget quota) And player count shot through the roof when [[https://steamcommunity.com/games/348550/announcements/detail/2961640281611459955 open beta]] launched in 29th October 2020. It's reassuring that the company listened to fighting game players' needs, and old guards of the series will not be left behind no matter what ''Strive'' ended up being.
** One for the western ''[=+R=]'' player communities such as [[https://www.dustloop.com Dustloop]], various streamers and tournament organizers who managed to keep holding itself together for 8 solid years, long enough to push the drive for Rollback netcode through.
* [[https://twitter.com/Koyasu_Koki/status/1483061579033702402 This]] particular tweet gained a lot of traction within the Japanese FGC overnight. [[https://twitter.com/jiyunaJP/status/1483353603566075907?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw As it turns out]], the tweet was from Kouki Koyasu, son of Zato-1's voice actor Creator/TakehitoKoyasu, who not only mains the character his father voices, but managed to reach the Celestial Floor in Ranked Match, being met with much congratulations from the community.
* Testament's reveal as the fifth DLC character in ''Strive'', also revealed them to be a non-binary character, with a redesign to match that. Normally, these kinds of things tend to be tricky. The majority of the Guilty Gear fanbase, however, welcomed Testament and their new identity with open arms, celebrating their excellent appeal to the genderfluid and trans community, alongside the fact that a long-missing character had finally returned to the series.
* This was then followed by an ''explosion'' of rejoicing and approval when Bridget's long-awaited return to the series as the first character of ''Strive's'' second wave of DLC came with the reveal of her officially coming out as a trans girl at the end of her Arcade story. This is especially heartwarming as Bridget was previously the subject of ''extreme'' controversy among the trans community, being seen as one of the codifiers (if not THE codifier) of the now-badly-aged "trap" joke - now, she's being welcomed with open arms.

* From ''REVELATOR 2'' [[https://youtu.be/JTjgwTswuqE?t=12m43s After Story A]], Ramlethal and Elphelt meet up with Ky, Dizzy and Sin for breakfast, while they're discussing whether the crowds would want Dizzy or not as Ky's consort. When Dizzy offers to stay in hiding, Elphelt protests and pulls out a newspaper and reads part of the main piece, that of reader submissions from the citizens singing praises to [[AllLovingHero Dizzy]], [[OneHundredPercentAdorationRating calling her an angel or a goddess, and really wanting her as their Queen]]. This makes Dizzy cry TearsOfJoy, since it means [[EarnYourHappyEnding the normal crowds are warming up to her]].

** In GGX, she makes friends with the most unexpected people considering that she is a wanted criminal and a feared command-type Gear. She makes friends with Potemkin, a military man, Ky Kiske, a police officer[[note]]Whom she'll later ''marry''[[/note]], and especially, Johnny, a pirate who took her in his group.
** In the Drama CD, we learn that Dizzy's wish is to [[IJustWantToHAveFriends have a friend that will accept her despite what she is.]] Later when Jose, Dizzy's only friend, apparently abandoned her, Testament gave the words "I'm with you" and told themselves that their new purpose in life is to protect her. This is very heartwarming when you connect it to Testament's story which they narrated earlier where they were a kind person who was turned into a killing machine.

** In ''Accent Core,'' Dizzy and Testament fought over the idea of trusting humans. Realizing that Dizzy is determined to live as a human, they told her never to see them again. Instead of being hurt, Dizzy kindly replied that Testament will one day learn to forgive humans and they will see each other again.
** For that matter, in spite of all their aggression and misanthropy towards humanity, if Testament beat Kliff in AC+ Arcade Mode their win quote is a meek "Father...I..."
** Dizzy's has an ending in ''Midnight Carnival'' where Sol calmed her down after she lost control of her power. She woke up crying, feeling warm and comforted and asked herself if Gears like her have parents. Sol watched her from afar.
* Johnny's moments with May and the members of his crew, despite the [[NeverLiveItDown fandom's joke]] of Johnny being a paedophile. Johnny as we know it, is a womanizer with dashing looks and sex appeal. But still, he choose to stick with his family, and treasure May the most. It is stated in his profile that his father died from a Gear attack when he was 13, yet still, he looked for Dizzy and happily took her in.
* In the Battle of Rome, Ky fought an army of Gears alone with no means of escape to save a person while Sol does the same to rescue him. In the original timeline, Ky dies and Sol cries at his demise. In the current timeline, where things are better, the young captain (who is in fact dead serious all the time) smiles in relief when Sol arrives.

* Venom's and Millia's respective endings in ''Accent Core'' where they [[HerHeartWillGoOn finally moved on]] from losing Zato and agreed to stop fighting each other. This is much more poignant because of Venom's love for Zato [[AllLoveIsUnrequited that is never returned.]] Despite Millia betraying the man he loved most, Venom, knowing that Millia suffered the same as he, pardoned her crime.
** After Millia and Venom's confrontation, we have Eddie, the beast that lives on Zato's corpse, asking Millia to remember him before he dies. Millia agrees and vowed herself to keep on living to carry on the memory of the people she killed.

* The GG Xtra Manga offers a scene where Ky met Kliff, his idol, for the first time. [[LonelyRichKid Ky, who is around 7 years old,]] runs alone in a snowy town and tells himself that if he doesn't fight ''he'll just die.'' When he arrives at where Kliff is, the commander asks if he lost his mother. Ky replies that she's dead and he wants to fight in the war. Kliff tells him that he might got killed, [[{{Determinator}} but Ky remains determined]]; finally, Kliff raised his [[{{BFS}} Dragonslayer]] on Ky and [[ScareEmStraight scares the shit out of him.]] Kliff explains that he's just a kid but was really impressed. He pats Ky's head and tells him to survive in five years and meet him again. Ky runs off crying with a brave face.

* Sin's dialogue with Ky at Missions 15 and 16 in ''Overture''. Ky arrives with an army to help Sol and the others defeat the Vizuel Army. Sol left Sin with his father and an awkward meeting follows. After exchange of words, Ky admits to Sin that he wasn't a good father to him and explains his duty as king. Sin was then annoyed at Ky because he's "always right" and asks him why he cares more about other people than his own family, but soon after, the kid promises his father that he'll "save his ass" for his mother's sake. After a father and son tag team versus the lolita army, Ky sends of Sin to follow Sol. Sin hesitates to leave his father in the middle of battle and the two had the following dialogue:

-->Sin: Don’t...start acting...like my dad! The old man is my only dad. But at least...now I know that you love Mom. That's why...the same goes for you. If you die and make Mom sad, I'll never forgive you.

* Ky's official bio information has been slightly modified. His dislikes are no longer listed as Sol, and his likes have been changed from "smiles" to...Sin and Dizzy.
** And Dizzy's reunion with Ky and Sin in Xrd melted many a Guilty Gear fan's heart. Topped off with Sin finally calling Ky "Dad".

* Whenever Sol and Ky have a friendly conversation that showed how much their relationship has evolved, particularly; when Ky asked Sol why he cared for Dizzy and Sin even if he vowed to kill all Gears. Sol couldn't answer and Ky told him that he should not be consumed by his past and that they [He, Dizzy and Sin] are his new home.
* All the efforts Sin did to make Ramlethal laugh and learn emotions. This includes giving Ram a magical puppy, partying with her and Elphelt for an entire day, and telling her why he believes in God.
* Sol Badguy was distrustful and a bit mean to Elphelt most of the story but when Elphelt was being robbed of her will, he's the one most passionate about trying to save her, relentlessly pushing her to fight against the Universal Will's control over her.

** Related to the above is that even Bedman pitched in on the effort, once he realized Ramlethal was no longer a blank slate. He immediately yells at his employer for trying to make him kill "a young woman", and showed Ramlethal that an exact replacement of something is not the same as the original.

* Ky's [[AmazonChaser literally starry-eyed]] reaction to Dizzy's Instant Kill has a feet here and another on SugarWiki/FunnyMoments, since it shows that he loves Dizzy with all of his heart - including [[BadassAdorable her immense power]] that caused her so much pain in the last.

* I-No going out of her way to comfort Axl with a speech after Jack-O' reveals that the latter wasn't human to begin with ''and'' that he may have lost his chance to return to his own timeline for good can come off as this, seeing as it's a rare out-of-character moment for a rather villainous woman to do something nice for somebody else just like she used to before her StartOfDarkness.
* When the Universal Will tries to tear down humanity to Sol's face by point out all of their flaws and reminding him that he's just a monster in their world Sol replies with what can only be considered all of his character development in one short speech. He's finally gone from a cold loner to realizing [[YouAreNotAlone he has people around him that care.]]

''VideoGame/GuiltyGearStrive'' has its own [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Heartwarming/GuiltyGearStrive Heartwarming page]].

* This was then followed by an ''explosion'' of rejoicing and approval when Bridget's long-awaited return to the series as the first character of ''Strive's'' second wave of DLC came with the reveal of her officially coming out as a trans girl at the end of her Arcade story. This is especially heartwarming as Bridget was previously the subject of ''extreme'' controversy among the trans community, being seen as one of the codifiers (if not THE codifier) of the much-maligned transphobic "trap" joke - now, she's being welcomed with open arms.

!! ''Guilty Gear Strive''
* In the [[https://youtu.be/Yhr9WpjaDzw?t=28 opening movie]], Sol and Jack-O' are simply driving down an open stretch of highway, and you can see how relaxed and happy both are.
* In Ramlethal's outro her magehound puppy rushes onto the field barking excitedly, leaps into her arms, knocks her over, and licks her face.
* Last we left Sol, he'd come to an understanding with Asuka, he'd accepted he wasn't alone anymore, he'd embraced his having a family, he'd gotten his beloved back at last, and (albeit begrudgingly) had become the world's hero. His new theme, ''Find Your One Way'', is a strikingly motivational track for the titular Guilty Gear, speaking of common understanding, fighting for your own heading, and not being alone in the world, speaking to Sol's new attitude towards life and his finally having gained a renewed sense of hope.
--> ''Need it back! Yes, nobody is gone''
--> ''I'm just saying and step it, buddy!''
--> ''Do it out of turn!''
--> ''Don't freak out! Yes, nobody is wrong''
--> ''You and I both just have our views''
--> ''That's all''
* Zato's theme, ''Let Me Carve Your Way''. Despite the dark and sorrowful tone of its lyrics, it suddenly turns into a love song towards the end, proclaiming that if he finds out about his past and doesn't like the person he once was, he will still always love and support Millia.
* Ramlethal's theme, ''Necessary Discrepancy'', really shows how far she's come as a character. It's an epic prog rock number with beautiful lyrics describing her fascination with the world her "mother" the Universal Will claimed was worthless and insignificant because of humanity's flaws. Having finally discovered her own emotions and becoming self-aware, she has come to love the world as it is and now fights to protect it and ensure a bright future for it.
* Baiken's theme, ''Mirror of the World'', is another excellent showcase of her CharacterDevelopment, much like Ramlethal's theme. It details her history of feeling as though she were a "time exile" - someone BornInTheWrongCentury and feeling alone. Towards the end, however, she comes to finally find answers and hope for herself, desiring to share her enlightenment with any comrade she comes across.
* Despite Jack-O' having inherited Aria's memories, the parts of her consciousness specific to Aria's identity haven't come back and even by the story's end, they never do. However, that doesn't stop a brought-down-to-mortal Sol from putting everything on the line to save her when she attempts to trade her existence to stop I-No. Even as Jack-O' reminds him that she isn't Aria, Sol simply replies with - "[[ArmorPiercingQuestion When have I ever called you Aria?]]", re-confirming his feelings for Jack-O' and his decision to be with her regardless, even if it means risking the world. She may not be the same person he once knew, but Sol loves her all the same.
** This realization also serves to accentuate the lyrics of her character theme, ''Perfection Can't Please Me'', which talks about the way she wants to experience life, presumably the one she wants with Sol. And after the events of the story, she can finally experience that life for herself. It is perhaps the happiest song in the entire soundtrack for this reason.
--> '''[=YouTube=] comment''': "You're an artificial being made only to become someone else, and yet, the one person you're doing this for decide that they love you for who you are, despite the fact it goes against logic. Jack-O' is just happy, she doesn't have anything super meaningful to say in the song, but that's alright. She's ready to just live life to the fullest she can."
* The beginning of the game has Jack-O' note that Sol dropping everything to return to the castle is unusual behavior for him, since he normally hates the place. Sol reveals that Ky bribed him with an opportunity to visit an abandoned military zone for "vacation", which catches Jack-O' off guard and initially seems to be just Sol being [[LaboriousLaziness his usual lazy self]]. Then it turns out that this was the ideal kind of quiet and beautiful location where Sol had always wanted to settle down and retire, likely with Aria; in other words, while Jack-O' had been angsting about whether she had the right to love Sol and whether he considered her to be good enough, Sol was getting excited and worked up because he wanted to go on a date with her for a few days ''that badly''.
* After decades of battles and loneliness, Sol who lost his Gear powers is now living quietly with Jack-O' in a place where he hoped to retire. His last scene was together with Jack-O', with his arm on her shoulder while looking out over the lake.
* Axl is at long last reunited with Megumi (who is revealed to be none other than I-No herself, but from an alternate timeline). You can see the joy on his face upon seeing her.
** And on top of that, I-No was the one who did it. After the countless timelines of suffering she's endured, she was finally able to fulfill her true dream, to give at least one person a bright future - her fellow time-traveler.
** Just before I-No is erased from existence, she finally realizes that the one memory she treasured the most, spending time with Will (alternate timeline version of Axl), was real all along even after countless timelines resulted in her memories becoming hazy and leaving her jaded to the point that nothing mattered anymore. Through all of her suffering, she never forgot him.
* After nearly two whole centuries spent fighting against forces who would wish to harm the world, Asuka R. Kreutz is finally able to accomplish his two main goals. The first is to kickstart the path to peaceful coexistence between humans and Gears. The second? To see his best friends Frederick and Aria live happily together. Retiring from science, he becomes a radio host to bring forth world peace in his own way and to at last find his own path.
* In the previous entry's After Story, the two Valentine sisters were at a loss at to how to refer to Sol.[[note]]By his relationship with their biological mother Justice aka Aria, he could be considered their father the same as Dizzy. However, Jack-O's nebulous Valentine classification means he could be considered a "brother" from that angle. Ultimately, it was left at nothing in particular.[[/note]] As of this entry, when in one of her taunt dialogues with Lucifero, when mentioning "guys she likes", Ram brings up those in a familial relationship to her, starting with Ky and Sin, then refers to Sol by name -- but stops short and, after some hesitation, corrects herself and decisively refers to him as "father". [[note]]It helps that Jack-O' after being recompleted is no longer considered a Valentine, but rather the complete Aria Hale to eliminate the prior confusion.[[/note]]
* The game notably goes out of its way to compliment you whether you win or lose a match. You can see how many matches you've won and lost, and above it says "Victories and defeats. But the results are not all.", as the game's way to encourage you to keep on playing and having fun, whether you win or lose. No matter just ''how'' [[https://i.redd.it/re3l9yw7vy871.jpg many matches you keep losing]], the game will always try to make you feel better.
** Nagoriyuki is also a good sport when he defeats his opponent, praising them for doing their best and telling them not to wallow in their defeat.
* When we first saw Testament, they were an AntiVillain who was incapable of disobeying Justice's orders against mankind. After a little while watching over Dizzy, Testament has gotten over their resentment of humanity and has taken up a wide variety of hobbies[[note]]As in, too much for the infobox to list[[/note]]. It's been a long time coming, but Testament has finally found peace with themself.
** Testament's theme, ''Like a Weed, Naturally, as a Matter of Course''. It's a surprisingly sweet thrash metal ballad about their feelings for Dizzy and how much of an impact she had on their life. After all this time, Testament never forgot about the girl they devoted themself to protecting and her dream of living in peace among humans. And now that said dream has finally come to pass and they have found inner peace, they are eternally grateful to her from saving them from all the despair they suffered over the course of their life, as a human fighting alongside their adoptive father Kliff against the Gears and as a Gear themself, forcibly converted into one and brainwashed by Justice to carry out the Universal Will's plan of humanity's extinction.
** Testament's battle intros with May have the two happily greeting each other, with Testament commenting on [[ShesAllGrownUp how much May has matured]]. They clearly haven't forgotten how May and the rest of the Jellyfish Pirates were willing to take Dizzy in [[TrueCompanions and consider her a comrade]].
--->'''May:''' Wanna see how I've grown?
--->'''Testament:''' [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall It's so lovely to be back.]]
* Ramlethal, while trying to absorb Delilah's out of control powers in ''Another Story'', gives the younger girl [[WhenSheSmiles a genuine smile]] through the pain, reassuring her that "It's okay" and Delilah will be fine.
* Baiken was originally pushed into protecting Delilah by Anji in ''Another Story'', and is partly mystified by his parting line of "Check my mirror someday." Baiken later realizes what he meant by "mirror" when Delilah's emotional breakdown threatens to destroy a large town due to losing control of her powers - ''Delilah herself'' is just like Baiken on wanting revenge against "That Man" (namely, Happy Chaos) for causing the deaths of their loved ones (Baiken lost her family, Bedman was Delilah's older brother) and caring little about their own lives. Baiken's CooldownHug and convincing words is what finally calms Delilah down.
--->'''Baiken:''' We're going.\\
'''Deliah:''' Huh?\\
'''Baiken:''' We're going. Together. And we'll stay together. Night and day. We'll eat and we'll laugh together. And our revenge... Let's give it up. Together.
** Even more heartwarming, all the things Baiken promised to do with Delilah to help her overcome her trauma, are the exact same things [[https://old.reddit.com/r/Guiltygear/comments/ugzbul/anji_helped_make_more_than_one_mirror/ Anji has done for Baiken]] over the years to help gradually pull her away from her need for revenge, making Baiken the "mirror" of Anji as well.
* Despite the fact that he looks and sounds absolutely '''''TERRIFYING''''', and barely hanging onto what's left of his sanity by a thread due to the fact that ''[[OurZombiesAreDifferent he's already dead]],'' Faust is still a source of heartwarming because he ''still wants to help those who are sick and injured!'' There's WhatYouAreInTheDark, and then there's a selfless ideal so core to your existence that your ''own undead soulless corpse still holds to it.''
--> '''Faust:''' "Won't... abandon... patients."
* Bridget's arcade story is full of super sweet and heartwarming moments, as Bridget [[TransTribulations struggles with finding her identity]]. She's even much more hesitant to say "I'm a boy" than in the past, adding that "it's a long story" when Goldlewis asks her about it. But thanks to the help of Goldlewis and Ky, Bridget comes to realize that she is happy being a girl. Though said exchange only happens in an imperfect run, the dialogue on a flawless run can still be read as Bridget choosing to come out. Either way, Ky in particular tells Bridget that she is always welcome to come to him and Dizzy if she ever feels unwelcome from other people. ''Awww!!!''
** Bridget's otherwise melancholic theme ''The Town Inside Me'' ties into her story with it's triumphant final chorus causing the somewhat listless and sad tone to burn away as Bridget wholeheartedly embraces who she is, with previously faltering, nervous lyrics being delivered with full confidence. It's not often you get to see someone directing a YouAreNotAlone moment to ''themselves'', but it's a sight to see.
--->''"I'm out of patience, my body is light\\
Let's paint the gray haze into sky blue\\
I know who you are!\\
[[YouAreNotAlone I'm not leaving you again!]]"''

--->''"I'm out of patience, my body is light

* Despite the fact that he looks and sounds absolutely '''''TERRIFYING''''', and barely hanging onto what's left of his sanity by a thread due to the fact that ''[[OurZombiesAreDifferent he's already dead]],'' Faust is still a source of heartwarming because he ''still wants to help those who are sick and injured!''

* Despite the fact that he looks, and sounds, absolutely '''''TERRIFYING''''', that he's only barely hanging onto what's left of his sanity by a thread, and the fact that ''[[OurZombiesAreDifferent he's already dead]],'' Dr. Faust is still a source of heartwarming because he ''still wants to help those who are sick and injured!!!!''
--> '''Dr. Faust:''' "Won't abandon, patients."

* Despite the fact that he looks, and sounds, absolutely '''''TERRIFYING''''', and that he's only barely hanging onto what's left of his sanity by a thread, Dr. Faust is still a source of heartwarming because he ''still wants to help those who are sick and injured!!!!''