Guilty Gear is a franchise well-known for its fascinating storytelling and tight, well-balanced gameplay, and Strive is no different. With the game’s story getting delivered in a purely cinematic experience, the fighting aspect of Guilty Gear Strive gets to breathe on its own, which allows for more balanced gameplay and QoL improvements on the multiplayer side of things.
Online play in any fighting game can be a bit intimidating, especially with a franchise like Guilty Gear that has been around for quite some time. However, many systems in play will help newcomers and veterans have the most optimal experience against other players that it suddenly becomes a more approachable game than others in the genre.
Updated October 13, 2021 by Seth Parmer: Guilty Gear Strive has been out for several months now, and we have learned a great deal about its online mode since then. This update includes updates to outdated information, and also addresses the game’s Celestial Floor.
12 Rollback Netcode
On February 8, 2021, Arc System Works announced that the beta for Guilty Gear Strive would use their Rollback Netcode System, moving on from their previous Delay-based System used in their earlier titles. With its massive support by fans, Arc System Works also expressed interest in adding it to their older titles as well.
Essentially, Rollback Netcode offers a smoother, more accurate experience and is quite crucial for online fighting games. Rollback Netcode helps minimize lag and enables correct player inputs, which allows them to feel in control of their character and the fight without struggling with delayed information or horrendous lag. Guilty Gear Strive’s implementation of Rollback Netcode is very well done and was even praised during the game’s beta.
11 The Tower
In Guilty Gear Strive, you will have access to The Tower when using the game’s online modes. The Tower acts as a hub for players to match up with one another, watch saved battles, and even fish. The Tower is also where Guilty Gear Strive’s Ranked System comes into play.
The Tower is essentially the main matchmaking lobby in Strive and has you move up, or even down, floors as you level up and become better at the game. There are a total of ten levels to the Tower, with each floor getting progressively more challenging due to hosting more skilled players. Reaching the tenth floor will be no easy task, but it will be a fun challenge to try and obtain. There may also be another floor that lies ahead as well (more on that below).
10 The Park
In contrast to the Tower, the Park in Guilty Gear Strive acts as a more social hub and has no rank gating. Here, you will also have access to matching with other players, watching saved battles, and fishing.
As mentioned above, the Park is more or less a social hub without the worry of moving up or down floors if you win or lose. The benefit to the Park is that you will be able to try out different characters with no concerns or penalty of getting knocked down a few floors. Players will also get a chance to view their opponent’s rank (detailed below) before jumping into a fight, allowing them to find an equally matched opponent.
9 Player Rank
Unlike most online games, Guilty Gear Strive doesn’t have an overall player rank but, instead, displays the player’s currently selected Entry Character level. Guilty Gear Strive’s ranking system is based mainly around win streaks, floor placement, and the opponent’s skill rank.
An Entry Character is basically who the player will be playing in their next match and can only be changed outside of a game and before locking into the podium. This feature allows players to assess who their challenger is and if they want to risk fighting them. Naturally, the higher the opponent’s rank, the better – or more knowledgeable – they are with that fighter and vice versa.
8 Player Avatars
While moving around the Tower and Park mentioned above, each player will have their own unique Avatar that they can customize in a variety of different ways.
Players can customize their Avatar’s body, size, skin tone, eye color, and choose from hundreds of different clothing options. There is a shocking amount of customization options for your Avatar, allowing for each player to personalize them to their liking.
7 Replay Theater
After each online match, the game will automatically save a replay which the player can watch in the Tower and Park. Many players may not give this feature the time of day, but it is rather important.
The Replay Theater offers a chance for you to go back and see what you did wrong that ended up costing them the match. It is also a great way to go over what you did right and figure out ways to build off that and build a more solid strategy. Rewatching fights can help you take new approaches to a battle that you otherwise never would have done; it can reveal flaws you were unaware of during the heat of the moment.
6 R-Codes
In Guilty Gear Strive, each person has their R-Code that others can view. An R-Code essentially is a compilation of the player’s stats and a variety of additional data. Viewing other players’ R-Codes will give you a sense of their accomplishments and skill level in Guilty Gear Strive.
Within the R-Code, players can view previous match outcomes, rank with each character, view and equip badges, and a lot more. The R-Code gives the player quick access to practically every stat line in the game, allowing them to identify their win/loss ratio, assigned Tower floor, and even total hours spent in each of the game’s modes.
5 Fishing
As mentioned earlier, each player has a unique Avatar that they can customize with many different hairstyles and clothing options. However, there is only one way to obtain these items, and that is via the Fishing area.
In Guilty Gear Strive, anytime the player levels up, wins a match, or completes offline activities, they are rewarded with in-game currency, which they can then spend on fishing. Players will be able to go for one fish (200 W$) or ten fish (2,000 W$), with each fish bringing in a unique item. However, you may end up with a duplicate item, which gets turned into a Rare Fish. After you obtain ten Rare Fish, you will get an item they currently do not possess.
4 Player Match
If you want to set up your own lobby to play with custom match rules, you can do that via the game’s Player Match option found on the dashboard under the Online tab. If the Tower is Ranked, the Park is Socials, then Player Matches is essentially the game’s Private Matches, which you may be familiar with from other games.
Here, players will be able to change many of the in-game settings, such as round limit, time limit, Tension settings, etc. The host of the Player Match can also set up a password for a Private Lobby or leave it open to face random challengers.
3 Quick Start
For those who want to avoid the Lobby aspect of Guilty Gear Strive’s online altogether, the Quick Start playlist is here for you.
Quick Start allows you to bypass all the steps it takes to find a match in Strive, essentially finding a game with a player in your skill range while you train with your currently selected character. This is an excellent option for players who don’t like the game’s social aspect or just want to get a quick match in.
2 Celestial Floor Challenge
The Celestial Floor is the highest in Guilty Gear Strive, and requires lots of dedication to reach, especially for newcomers. Getting to the Celestial Floor is no easy task unless you are a veteran of the genre or the series. But, even then, it can still prove challenging to some.
To reach the Celestial Floor, you will first climb your way up to the Tenth Floor. While the Tenth Floor may seem like the last stop at first, you will eventually realize that if you win a handful of matches in a row, you will get the opportunity to take on the Celestial Floor Challenge.
The Celestial Floor Challenge essentially has you try to win five matches without losing two. You will gain full access to the Celestial Floor for the remainder of the month if you can do that. However, losing two matches will boot you back down to the Tenth Floor, where you will have to fight your way back to the challenge. Keep in mind that the challenge pits you against current Celestial Floor members or other players currently taking the challenge. So, be prepared before taking it.
1 How To Get To The Celestial Floor
If you have successfully tackled the Celestial Challenge, congrats, you are now amongst the top five percent of players in Guilty Gear Strive. From here, it’s all about honing your skills and trying to perfect your strategies and matchups. You will also have the bonus of not getting demoted for losing, which is nice if you’re trying to test new tech.
However, if you cannot remain in the top ~300 players in the Celestial Floor, you will get booted back down to the Tenth Floor at the beginning of the following month. Which, don’t feel bad if that happens to you, you will likely reach Celestial Floor again almost instantaneously whenever it resets!
The Celestial Floor is a testament to your hard work, time commitment, and overall evolution from when you first started the game. You will match up against adamant opponents here and will likely get destroyed now and again. However, with that said, that’s not a bad thing in the slightest, and it will help you learn and improve the more you keep playing against the best of the best.
NEXT: Guilty Gear Strive Opening Movie Shown, Season Pass 1 Detailed
