When Harder is Easier

When I first picked up Guilty Gear Strive over COVID, it was with a resolve to learn that had been absent my previous forays into the genre. Previously I'd dabbled with classic Street Fighter, Smash, and some Blazblue and Undernight, but my dabbling was limited to fucking around with friends or trying (and failing) to play mediocre story modes. I tried to learn to wavedash in Melee at one point, a project that lasted all of about an hour. With Strive, I was looking up combos, studying matches, asking friends for advice, and all the things that go in to first learning a fighting game. I started with I-No, then Ramlethal, and finally landed on Testament when they released in the spring of 2022. During that time I found a new side of friendships, grew as a player and training partner, and got a first taste of the drama and stress of open brackets online and in person. However, while I initially put in quite a bit of time, I found that once I'd gotten passed the initial hump of learning…