Heartwarming / Guilty Gear -STRIVE-

Per wiki policy, Spoilers Off applies here and all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.

Head here for the main Guilty Gear Heartwarming page.

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• In the 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.

Gameplay/Arcade mode

• 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 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.
• In Ramlethal's outro, her magehound puppy rushes onto the field barking excitedly, leaps into her arms, knocks her over, and licks her face.
• In the previous game'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. 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.
• When we first saw Testament, they were an Anti-Villain 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. It's been a long time coming, but Testament has finally found peace with themself.
  • Testament's battle intros with May have the two happily greeting each other, with Testament commenting on 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 and consider her a comrade.
    May: Wanna see how I've grown?
    Testament: It's so lovely to be back.
• Bridget's arcade story is full of super sweet and heartwarming moments, as Bridget 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!!!
  • Potentially Heartwarming in Hindsight when the more blatant dialogue happens on an imperfect run; sure, a professional Bridget player can breeze through her Arcade story with ease for the respective dialogue, but it means that people who might not be as skilled enough to perform a flawless run can still experience Bridget's growth.
• Sin has special interactions with not just Sol, Ky, and Ramlethal, but also Testament, who was one of his mother Dizzy's closest friends for a key portion of her life. It's here that we finally get to see some of Testament's original pre-Gear personality start to resurface, back when they were a knight of the Holy Order. They calmly and patiently accept his sparring challenge, saying he'll be well rewarded should he win.
  • His designated Arcade Mode sub-boss/rival is Zato, who ends up looking into a possible scam that Sin might have fallen for. Even after confirming to him that, yes, it was a scam, Sin is still willing to let bygones be bygones, believing everybody deserves a shot at redemption and correctly deducing that Zato has also done his fair share of past mistakes, even being willing to lend a hand to him if he's ever in need. Despite Zato not quite being able to show it clearly due to coming Back from the Dead with his emotions greatly suppressed, he's moved by Sin's statements.
• There's something about Bedman's bedframe being the one doing all the fighting for Delilah that sorta screams Big Brother Instinct. Doubly so as that frame seems to have Bedman's soul and will within it, meaning that Bedman will not let death stand in the way of protecting his sister.
  • A small detail, but when Bedman? is hit with Faust's Bone-Crushing Excitement, when the bed is knocked down, Delilah will flop down and check to see if the bed's okay.
  • A bigger detail in Bedman?'s arcade story; the bedframe has gone berserk, forcing Delilah to chase after it. If you get to and beat stage 9, Delilah cries out for the bed to stop, in witch it immediately does. As it goes limp, Ramlethal explains it was trying to find people to destroy it, since it believed it was causing suffering for Delilah. As Delilah hugs the bedframe, Ramlethal also muses on the fact that it's possible it stopped because Bedman thought Delilah was unique; something he taught Ramlethal before dying. Definitely crosses over to tearjerker territory if you know the positive impacts he left on the two.
• On that topic, how Bone-Crushing Excitement happens is another reminder, that even in his current form, Faust isn't entirely gone. After he knocks down the opponent, Faust immediately equips a wheelchair and tries to rush to their aid. Yeah, he accidentally smashes their shin in the process, but props for trying.
  Faust: No. Panic attack! I will, save you!/Goodness, on my way!
• One of Faust's defeat lines almost sounds both congratulatory and self-reaffirming, in his own weird way.
  Faust: Good... You're all better...
• Asuka's Arcade Mode story is a Mind Screw heavy episode involving two other clones of himself that he has created. Each clone is based on the two mutually exclusive aspects of himself, the two personas he cultivated over his century-long existence - himself as a scientist during his days with Frederick and Aria, and himself as a human studying magic and wandering a war-torn Earth pursuing his goals of world peace. His interactions with his "mirror selves" allow him to come to terms with the mistakes he made in the past, and help him understand the value of one's own existence and how much relationships with others really do matter, as Happy Chaos had explained to him in his early years and reminded him of during the main story.
  • A minor moment from his arcade story, but A.B.A is alluded to by Asuka in a throwaway line. Although she isn't mentioned specifically by name, Asuka cites her as the inspiration for creating his homunculus clones. A nice reminder that nearly 20 real-life years later, she hasn't been forgotten.
    • And an even better reminder; A.B.A makes her grand return in Season 3!
• Naturally with the addition of Elphelt to the roster, there's bound to be special dialogue between her and her sister. One such interaction has Elphelt asking Ramlethal to listen to a new song idea of hers, to which she tells Elphelt to prepare for constructive criticism. If Ramlethal wins after said interaction plays, she tells Elphelt that she's excited to see her show and wishes her good luck.
• A.B.A's Arcade Mode story involves her trying to find a way to cure Paracelsus's condition, as he is now falling apart at the seems and cannot maintain his shape. She encounters Testament, who naturally knows Paracelsus due to being from the era when he was at his prime - the Crusades. Testament informs A.B.A that Paracelsus is an Empathic Weapon that takes on a form most comfortable with the feelings of his wielder, and that it is their toxic relationship which is causing things to be out-of-sync for the pair. With some encouragement from Elphelt, the two are able to have a heart-to-heart talk and restart their relationship, with Paracelsus finally being able to take on a more permanent shape, changing his color to an ocean blue hue: A.B.A's favorite color.

Story mode

• 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 "When have I ever called you Aria?", re-confirming his feelings for Jack-O' herself 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.
• 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 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.
• As the credits begin to roll, we get a good look at everyone who appeared in Xrd, and some familiar faces that haven't appeared in a long time, too.
  • The Kiske family are back together again, and now they're joined by Testament, who's finally found inner peace!
  • Anji, Baiken, and Haehyun spending time together in the Japanese Colony.
  • Millia and Zato decide to catch up with their former comrade Venom by paying a visit to his bakery, where even Robo-Ky shows up (despite still reduced to a head).
  • Axl and Megumi, formerly I-No, are reunited at long last.
  • Sol and Jack-O', now Frederick and Aria again at long last, live peacefully near a scenic lakeside and run a machine parts shop.

Another Story DLC

• Ramlethal, while trying to absorb Delilah's out of control powers, gives the younger girl 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 Cooldown Hug and convincing words is what finally calms Delilah down.
  Baiken: We're going.
  Delilah: 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 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 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 What You Are in the Dark, 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."

Image Songs

Every song in STRIVE has vocals, and quote a lot of them feature Character Development or just state wishes. Here are some heartwarming standouts.

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• 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.
• Jack-O''s character theme, Perfection Can't Please Me, 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.
• Baiken's theme, "Mirror of the World", is another excellent showcase of her Character Development, much like Ramlethal's theme. It details her history of feeling as though she were a "time exile" - someone Born in the Wrong Century 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.
• 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.
• Bridget's otherwise melancholic theme "The Town Inside Me" ties into her story with its 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 You Are Not Alone 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!
  I'm not leaving you again!"
  • While not a -STRIVE- song; if one takes the N.Y Vocal Edition of Bridget's theme from XX into consideration, the lyrics toward the end written almost imply that Bridget was on the path to accepting her new identity that she would later solidify in this game.
    "Walking back home not with a heavy heart
    I saw a light at tunnel's end
    One I need to get
    Now I've become someone new
    The world knows me as Bridget"
• Sin's theme, "The Hourglass", is another example of how the soundtrack of the game showcases Character Development over the years, despite Sin himself being considered relatively new to the cast, both figuratively and literally. Though life has thrown him a lot of curveballs, from his family being threatened by forces beyond his control or comprehension leading him to become estranged from his own father Ky, to watching the friend he had only just recently made being forced by her creator to suffer and eventually sacrifice herself, none of it has ever shaken his optimism and faith in people to be better than they think they are. He may not have as much understanding as those around him, but he's always willing to move forward and does his best to make the most of every moment. In a post-apocalyptic world torn apart by war and resulting in many characters coming from tragic backgrounds which have shaped lifetimes of of regret, Sin's simplistic optimism shines through the darkness.
• Bedman?'s theme, "The Circle", is a song that is fairly open to interpretation, leaving room for some heartwarming theories too. One theory is that the song represents the thoughts of Bedman after his death, going along with Happy Chaos's explanation that he became a multi-dimensional being after deleting his "physical ID". He's now in a new dimension that he finds himself unable to understand (something that he would consider his own personal hell considering one of his reactions to his own insta-kill in Xrd), alone with the regrets he has. However, through all his turmoil, he can still glimpse the outside world and Delilah. And in those moments, he realizes that even if he might never be able to be with her again like he always desired, he knows he and his bedframe will be there to keep his sister safe.
  "I may not be able to make you smile
  But I'll never make you cry even once, never!
  I struggled
  To go outside of the circle
  Consuming ten billion years in an instant
  And I'll come to you without a second thought
  I'm here, I'm here"
• Asuka's theme, "The Gravity", can almost be considered the polar opposite of Bedman's in that the lyrics are written in seemingly complex metaphors, but interpreting and deciphering them fully reveals Asuka's backstory and motivations. His entire life has been spent pursuing one thing: the meaning of existence. Sadly, his high intelligence and feverish commitment to his studies left him socially awkward and unable to understand people. Even when he finally found true friendship with Frederick and Aria, his inability to comprehend their feelings led to a series of horrible mistakes that ruined his life and hurt his only friends in the process. But despite all the hardships he endured over a century, Asuka still managed to find his way back to his friends and atone for his mistakes. Having finally accomplished his goals, he has found his answer: there is no definite meaning to existence. It's all about what you do with that existence that gives it meaning, living your life to the fullest and cherishing the relationships and friends you make along the way.
• Elphelt's theme, "Extras", is both metal-as-hell levels of awesome, but also heartwarming considering Elphelt's tribulations throughout Xrd where she was merely a puppet of the Universal Will. Now, much like her beloved sister, she's free to do whatever she wants, and she genuinely wants to bring happiness to the rest of the world through her newfound music career. Even the lyrics state that despite Elphelt still feeling directionless, she's still having fun along the way.
  "I don't know where to go
  I don't know how to keep on
  But don't get me wrong
  I'm having a great time!"
• A.B.A's theme, "Symphony", is as chaotic and unstable as it is evocative of her newfound outlook on existence. When we last left her back during Accent Core she was trying to find a way to give Paracelsus a humanoid body of his own out of both love and a desire to fit into the world she was created in. By -STRIVE-, she's become awed by the world around her and is now content with doing her own thing alongside Paracelsus, leaving their own style of impact upon it just as her creator had wanted to do through her so long ago.

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