Take solace in the fact that this game slows down the longer you play it. Very much the opposite of SF where it plays really slow when people don’t know what they’re doing and faster when people do. The constant blur of attacks in GG will start to slow down once you get used to seeing them, and start to understand the different gatlings that characters have. Recognizing just what each character can do is the best knowledge to have in defense. A good example for those who face my Jam and struggle with her, is I tell them that if they ever see me do 2H, that her pressure is almost over, and that’s basically my last attack before I have to take a hard read on how to continue pressure or burn meter. So I tell people to learn how to deal with each option Jam can do out of 2H, which results in a massive reduction in Jam’s arsenal, most of which are reactable, and a lot of which can be covered in various ways that also cover other options Jam would have.
In the case above, it’s obviously a lot more solid oki than anything Jam could ever hope for, and making a hole in Ky’s pressure is pretty damn hard since he is plus a million on a lot of his stuff, so even IBs don’t make him negative. For starters, you should always take what you can get with Ky’s oki, because he will always throw stuff on top of you, forcing you to block. Since his fortified charged stun edge hits a ton, you should get into a habit of always IBing all of it’s hits to get some free meter and up your tension pulse (I assume this exists in Xrd, but this determines how fast your meter builds) as much as possible. In regards to blocking Ky, a lot of it is reaction, but most of it is recognizing how he approached and when. Depending on the distance, you may be able to recognize that he may only be able to hit once in the air before hitting the ground and things of that sort. A lot of blocking (and this spans every game) is about recognizing your opponent’s options beforehand, and more importantly, it’s about block rhythm. Even in boxing, if you just blocked a right hook, for the next brief period, you can pretty much ignore any strong attack coming from the right for the next so-and-so amount of time. Here, it’s about recognizing what gatlings are available and whether or not you should be blocking high or low for the next blocking phase (the next attack).
Part of understanding a person’s options can get as detailed as understanding how much an FD will push them back on the next available hit for them. Jam example would be f.S, if you FD f.S Jam is pushed COMPLETELY out to the point where nothing of hers will connect, she would have to IAD back in, which would be grossly in your favor. (Honestly Jam is fucked by FD no matter what but the F.S pushback is nuts).
Anyway, for blocking while the projectile is on you can be as simple/difficult as just paying attention to Ky and nothing else, which can be tough in GG because it can hard to see with effects going on and such. Once you get used to seeing it, it will slow down a bit. It’s watching out for the throw mix-up which is the most difficult for me against Ky, since that can double as an empty-jump low while blocking stun edge. Tricky stuff, but there’s usually a subtle difference in approach that each player will give off, which you just need to figure out. Some players like to back slightly before going for a throw for instance – everyone has a tell somewhere.
I don’t believe in guess blocking. Except against Chipp’s Kunai super, because fuck if I can even SEE the screen because of all the screen shake. Fuck that. Get rid of that super.
In other news, I really want my double puff ball man. Meterless knockdown and combo extension, yes please. A small thing that people might overlook is just how much Meter Jam is going to gain from that. Puffballs give a TON of meter on hit, and if you can hit with both – oh boy, I hope they didn’t nerf the meter gain on them in Rev2. I’d like to gain a bar for two attacks please.
