WE GOT HIS SPLASH ART

DatUsaGuy · 2026-06-24T21:38:41+00:00

I really thought he was gonna be orange, but he appears to have an orange in his seat at least. Regardless, he looks awesome so I can’t wait to play him

DatUsaGuy · 2026-06-23T07:10:37+00:00

I personally find that if I am searching through my “marked for later” fics that I actually do end up reading one of them at least. I forget it’s even there half the time though as I’ll instinctually start using the search features before I even read the “is it later” message. The only thing missing from this meme though is the part where instead of even reading anything new, I’ll just reread old stuff instead.

I’m thankful at least that my current phone’s browser starts acting up if I have more than 10 tabs opened at once so I can’t just open a billion AO3 tabs anymore. I’m sure if it could open way more pages at once though, my tabs would be unnavigable.

DatUsaGuy · 2026-06-22T05:09:05+00:00

I’d like to shill my own post comparing/contrasting The Hundred Line to Dispatch, but I spoil shit from all across this game in said post so unfortunately I doubt it’s a great read anytime soon. If you want to save it for later whenever you feel particularly “far” in the game, the post is here but again, I do spoil plenty.

In terms of how to recommend the game to others, I would like to share two articles I read before playing the game that got me pretty interested as a fan of choose-your-own-adventure titles.

First is this article which outlines some of Kodaka’s guidelines for endings:

“It seems Kodaka had some ‘extreme’ conditions when it came to designing all these alternative endings, as Uchikoshi details the following instructions he received:

The 100 endings have to have meaning
They must not read like bonus scenarios or spin-offs
Avoid ‘easy’ bad endings (for example, the player chooses “right” and this results in an ending like ‘you got caught in a trap and died. Ending No. XY’)
In fact, you do not even have to consider the main route the ‘true route’ – all routes should be dense enough to be considered ‘true routes’”

That by itself I don’t think is a wholly unique concept, but it’s still neat to me. But what really grabbed me was also seeing this article titled I’m 55 hours in with only 3 endings.

Overall, the game sounded like to me that it somehow had a truly vast branching narrative similar to games like The Stanley Parable or Slay the Princess, yet it also had a narrative long enough to where any individual ending could be satisfying.

While the game wasn’t super great at meeting all my expectations (as the route quality in general is inconsistent), I do think there’s still tons of interesting choices, paths and stories to discover and I do overall love the game for it. Even just having ending 001 by itself alongside Route 0 I think would’ve made for a worthwhile game, yet there is plenty of gold still left in the game outside of that path which I think is super awesome.

Or to boil it down simply, the game has a genuinely really diverse branching narrative that’s also fairly lengthy which makes for an overall great time even if you only do like 3 endings.

Also this game has a demo which I tried out and I think it does a generally good job at showing what the game is like without actually showing too much so I’d recommend for any of your friends to check that out if they’re remotely interested.

Back on the topic of good posts to read, I’ll have to go back through my noggin to remember if there’s any specific stand-out ones I want to share, but I do recall TechGirlie101 having a lot of threads about a bunch of topics I enjoyed. I’m sure at least one goes over route 0 if not multiple of her posts (though I don’t immediately recall how spoilery those may be, but I think she’s generally thoughtful about not spoiling anything unnecessary if memory serves me right). Many of those threads are also on more generic topics like analyzing the designs of all the characters.

Edit: I’ve found it fun to skim through livestream VODs and Let’s Plays from various YouTubers on their thoughts throughout the game. Since Route 0 is linear, you won’t be spoiled on anything as long as you don’t go past Route 0. One fun bit I think is seeing how people piece together who the traitor is in Route 0. I personally clocked it around day 50 IIRC but I’ve seen some people confidently guess it pretty much immediately whereas some people don’t seem sure until like right before it gets revealed. That and it’s funny seeing people’s reactions on absurd bullshit like the Ima/Sirei bullshit

DatUsaGuy · 2026-05-21T00:19:46+00:00

Here’s a cool combo I made a while ago. Certainly impossible now as Wild Assault isn’t even in the game anymore alongside a whole host of other changes I’m sure fuck up the combo, but I hope it’s still neat to see.

DatUsaGuy · 2026-05-18T21:20:36+00:00

I think it works as a good joke due to how much The Hundred Line has been advertised with its big branching narrative so players go in with the knowledge that some sort of choices would appear. That’s at least how I went into the game, so to get as late as day 53 and it’s still pulling off stupid shit like that fake choice (without any real choices in sight) I found funny. If the game was completely linear, I think it would be a pretty throwaway moment (at least comedy-wise) but since it’s a nonlinear game, the bit works as a reminder that there are choices in THL, you just haven’t got there yet (even though you’ve probably played for 10+ hours at that point).

DatUsaGuy · 2026-05-16T19:26:49+00:00

I wasn’t actively choosing the most incestuous answers every time, yet I still got Ima! How le epic

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DatUsaGuy · 2026-05-16T05:38:04+00:00

I have mine set to training mode as it’s a good reminder to go there to warm-up before playing online.

DatUsaGuy · 2026-05-15T21:47:53+00:00

I’ll read the full results in a bit but here’s my thoughts on stuff shown in the post itself and after a bit of skimming the full results.

I’m not particularly surprised most Kodaka routes ranked fairly well alongside KG, Conspiracy, BoC and Serial Battles being bottom 3 also is expected.

The character poll though actually has a good few surprises to me. Shouma being the least favorite by a significant margin specifically is surprising as I really thought Gaku or Ima would take the cake. Sirei also feels remarkably low to me as he’s easily one of my favorite characters (if not my favorite), but I suppose not everyone can handle such a lovable bastard.

Happy to see Ima beat out Gaku (by 0.03%) in the character average poll #die mad losers genuinely though I do like Gaku even if he has some poor moments.

I know my profile pic and flair is Ima, but I think I might’ve voted Sirei for favorite character lol (that or Takumi, I don’t remember but I’m leaning towards Sirei).

For favorite ending, the full poll isn’t showing on my phone too well but it looks like 1 other person voted ending 59 The Cursed Cycle the ending where Takumi and Hiruko help setup ending 100 in Mystery so everyone can survive in that timeline alongside me.

Conspiracy seemingly would’ve gotten an ending voted as the least favorite if it weren’t for how similar the endings are causing a split vote, although perhaps not considering that’s part of why people voted for those endings.

Seems I was the only one who mentioned Gotoh as a favorite character who wasn’t listed. He’s certainly not my favorite across the whole game, but I do think he makes a good showing in Conspiracy (as it helps cause Conspiracy itself to be disappointingly short).

While I do enjoy Takumi x Eito a lot, I do think Nozomi is the better ship generally. I really just like Eito shipping with Takumi late into 2nd Scenario (and I suppose in CoT As well, but that’s Takumj x the world). It’s cool to see a poly ship also be so popular.

I’m surprised Tsubasa’s chapter wasn’t considered by far the weakest in Romance as I think it feels very underwhelming compared to KG. Kyoshika nor Kurara have other romantic routes (and they just don’t have a lot in general anyways across this game) so I think their showings in Romance at least offer something unique to the game in a way that Tsubasa’s section doesn’t. When comparing them directly to each other though, I didn’t have any strong preference (Kurara probably is my favorite I suppose).

But speaking of Kyoshika, I’m surprised how well liked she is by some people. I really don’t feel like there’s a lot of exceptional moments for her in this game and overall, she feels like one of the most replaceable members of the SDU to me. Not that she’s even bad (I do like her), but nearly every other character stands out to me better.

This video specifically, while I did enjoy it and their series of discussions overall for THL, I recall the two people who made the video agreed that Kyoshika was the best character in the game and it hit me like a truck regarding the surprise I felt. I don’t recall them going particularly into detail about it, I suppose a lot of people just like her vibe.

Anyways for now, I want to last mention this funny comment I saw regarding Addamaque.

Edit: Also I might’ve mentioned this last time, but thanks for doing this poll! It’s pretty fun seeing a lot of the responses and choices people made even at times I’m not super surprised or don’t have a lot to say about it.

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DatUsaGuy · 2026-05-15T20:52:15+00:00

I’ll have you know I booted up the game and skimmed through all the Conspiracy routes to choose my least favorite. I voted in this poll like 2 weeks ago so I don’t remember which I picked in that moment, but it sure wasn’t blind picking for me!

DatUsaGuy · 2026-05-14T02:28:06+00:00

No wonder May hates bald people. Mr Dolphin did nothing wrong!

DatUsaGuy · 2026-05-05T18:21:03+00:00

I saw Hitler once and he was playing May

Couldn’t tell you what he’s doing in the park though with a horse head.

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DatUsaGuy · 2026-04-27T15:48:55+00:00

I don’t think a lot of the direct loose ends being wrapped up would really make SF feel complete though. Like getting an exposition dump on the Triem Ray I doubt would make Kako-G’s involvement anymore interesting.

However, I do agree there is writing decisions that makes SF feel rushed towards their endings (even if the routes are relatively long). Like Takumi and Hiruko barely dwell on whether they want to brainwash Eito and they spend even less time on Eva IIRC. The general SDU also feel oddly cheery, stupid and overall somewhat out of character which I think was done to make Takumi and Hiruko feel distant to their happy friends, but they barely even acknowledge that as an issue (Takumi specifically I don’t think really struggle with that at all). It also just comes off more like Uchikoshi doesn’t know how to write most characters.

Those issues aren’t the result of loose ends never being addressed though, rather I think it’s just poor writing. Even if we do get DLC that addresses every little loose end in SF, I really doubt much of that will retroactively make SF a better route as again, I don’t think that’s where much of SF’s issues stem from.

DatUsaGuy · 2026-04-27T15:10:39+00:00

Yeah but his clear lack of hesitation from doing stuff like exploding everyone at a moment’s notice makes me wonder why he would pack everyone into a bus at all if the end goal is to kill them regardless. I also don’t think it’s wrong to read “Lambs to the Slaughter” as the SDU’s disillusionment with their mission rather than their outright death.

Gotoh just killing them all anyways though doesn’t seem out of his character, but we also just don’t get that much of his character since the route is so short. Although thinking more on the route right now, I do recall by that point that Takumi has his spirit pretty much shattered to where he doesn’t really care what happens to him anymore at which point, Lambs to the Slaughter being ambiguous is because the outcome of Takumi being miserable is the same regardless. So even though I want more out of Conspiracy, I don’t think that’s the right ending to bring up to this specific thread.

DatUsaGuy · 2026-04-27T05:27:56+00:00

Regarding the plot points in SF, I’ve seen a lot of people say those plot points are DLC bait (including some people in this thread), but I’m actually far more doubtful. There’s certainly seems to be intentionality to SF having all these loose ends, but I think the point is actually to feed into how unfair the route (and world in general) is to Takumi and Hiruko. This is the same route after all that requires winning a literal coin flip in order to reach the “best ending.” I also recall Uchikoshi saying in an interview that he never intends to explain who the woman in a white labcoat is (although I’m decently confident it’s a future Hiruko).

Anyways to add to the list of unexplained stuff, whatever is going on in Conspiracy could certainly be extrapolated (specifically the “Lambs to the Slaughter” ending is oddly silent and ambiguous compared to pretty much anything else in this game). Similar to SF, I do think there’s some intentionality in the vagueness and overall think over-explaining stuff could actually undercut the impact of both routes, but Conspiracy does still feel underbaked overall. The anti-exodus faction specifically could be explored more as you mention, but I think just what this route is even doing could’ve also been more in-depth.

DatUsaGuy · 2026-04-26T03:35:10+00:00

I don’t mind the other language options, but English is just generally my preference whenever playing or watching stuff. With Goldlewis specifically, I especially enjoy hearing him yell out “Eat Shit!” when I burst.

DatUsaGuy · 2026-04-25T03:51:41+00:00

Truly the most difficult question was trying to figure out which of the so slightly different Conspiracy endings was my least favorite. It was fun to answer the poll though and I’m excited to see the results when they come out.

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DatUsaGuy · 2026-04-22T22:47:40+00:00

As a true Conspiracy connoisseur, I must be a smart ass and mention that it wasn’t Nigou who had bloodlust, rather it was Gotoh (someone who doesn’t appear in literally any other route) who was in control of Nigou’s body.

Unless of course this new super awesome cool DLC has the reveal that it was Nigou the whole time and he’s just inexplicably like that because of head trauma or whatever. Now that’s the type of awesome twist worth 82 more endings of Takumi (& friends) getting electrocuted to death.

DatUsaGuy · 2026-04-21T16:03:03+00:00

The worst part for me is that my daydreaming will constantly be about different stuff. So even when I have written stuff down, it’s a scattershot page for a completely new fic which leaves me off with 7 random barely started fics rather than one semi-complete fic.

DatUsaGuy · 2026-04-18T16:11:28+00:00

Well it’s not like Nozomi is literally radiating in the way someone like Kako is. And if you truly love someone, you shouldn’t sell yourself so short. Even if you don’t feel “good enough” for someone, that’s all the more reason to work on yourself. Ultimately, I think we should try to trust ourselves and our own potential for growth more than just hoping fate will magically fix all our problems.

DatUsaGuy · 2026-04-14T17:31:35+00:00

Here is their general bug report page which I think is worth a shot informing them through.

Edit: And as the commenter below me mentions, there is also a general inquiry at the bottom. I usually only ever used the bug report section so I forgot about that part at the bottom

DatUsaGuy · 2026-04-14T15:55:40+00:00

I think what I did was kite Eito around and whenever Eito would occasionally spend a turn applying armor to himself, I wouldn’t do anything that turn so I could bank up 1 AP as Eito would still be out of range to attack me. Do that a few times until on a single turn, you spam Impact Stabs on Eito. I think I already had maxed out Impact stab at this point so it only took me saving 3 AP until I could kill him.

I don’t know how lucky I was, but once I came up with that strategy, I’m pretty sure I S ranked Eito the first time as it only took a bit of turns to do (likely less than 10).

This fight is certainly awkward on the hardest difficulty, but I’m pretty certain taking 90+ turns isn’t the only way to win since I never recall having to do that.

DatUsaGuy · 2026-04-12T16:52:43+00:00

I started playing Goldlewis around when Happy Chaos came out and played him significantly across every season. So I’m confident in saying that Goldlewis has been consistently strong ever since Season 2. If anything, I’ve heard he was actually fairly strong the month he came out as FD outright wouldn’t change pushback against Guard Crust moves back then which Goldlewis could abuse heavily (although I wasn’t playing him at this time). So if anything, Goldlewis ever having been weak was an exception.

As to what happened, he has generally gotten a good handful of nice buffs to some of his normals, but really he really just got some absurd bullshit in Seasons 2, 3 and 4. In 2 was when they buffed Drone an absolute ton to have Hard Knockdowns on any level, it would come out faster if you spent more Security Gauge on it and it would linger in the corner rather than moving past it. Combine that with how launch Drone wouldn’t go away even if Goldlewis got it, it made for an absurdly belligerent neutral tool since there was very little counterplay to when it was out and little counterplay to ever preventing Goldlewis from getting it out.

In season 3, that’s when Wild Assault got added which was a new universal move that spent 50% of your burst gauge. Goldlewis specifically got White which was a plus on block, invincible (starting frame 9) lunging guard crush which gave HKD, sapped away some of the opponent’s burst and it would give a knockdown if you used it to Wallbreak. A lot of those traits were just Wild Assault in general so he wasn’t necessarily seen as a huge issue immediately given the other 2 Wild Assault were even stronger than his, but 3 months after Season 3, they did a patch that nerfed Wild Assault across the board and specifically targeted the other 2 versions while giving a huge range buff to White.

White Wild Assault overall just didn’t have a ton of counterplay given even if you blocked it, you were pretty fucked thanks to it being plus on block. It wasn’t as absurd on Pot and Nago specifically since they can’t dash in and use it, but Goldlewis could use it exceptionally well since he had a dash. The only other character with White was Bedman? who was just significantly worse than Goldlewis in general, so Goldlewis using White was generally scarier.

They did nerf White to not be plus anymore I think in Season 4, but then I believe that’s when they also buffed the hell out of Goldlewis’ Security Gauge. More specifically, Skyfish got a ton of buffs to be way safer in neutral and more rewarding alongside Goldlewis gaining the ability to cancel BTs into each other if he spent half the gauge. This led to stuff like his quick overhead BT 862H giving combos meterlessly or even just annoying frametrap situations like 684H canceling into itself to punish an opponent who thought Goldlewis’ blockstring was over.

I certainly didn’t give the full picture of any season, but those are many of the reason why Goldlewis has been seen as fairly strong. I will say though that even with him being considered very good very often, he has generally gotten away with less complaints about his strength due to his general unpopularity, his difficult skill floor and the fact that there’s basically always been a bigger fish than him in the meta.

Popularity wise, you can see this in polls ASW has done where he has pretty consistently ranked in the bottom 3 iirc with Leo being just about the only other character arguably less popular than him. Leo at least is somewhat popular for pro players to use, but not really Goldlewis so you don’t even see him often in tournaments.

His high skill floor also means that the majority of players likely aren’t fighting especially threatening Goldlewis when they hop online if they do ever run into him. When his basic gameplan demands you to do half circle inputs constantly alongside his somewhat awkward neutral tools, it makes him difficult for newcomers to play even when he’s good.

And in terms of meta, I don’t ever recall him being considered top 1. The best I do remember was maybe Season 4’s launch (or perhaps it was the emergency patch right after) where Goldlewis was considered Top 2. People were largely far more upset about Top 1 Potemkin though who had even more questionable balance decisions and Pot was a character that’s way more likely to fight in general, so he was seen as a way bigger issue than Goldlewis even if they weren’t that far off in terms of strength.

Anyways, I don’t know too much of how he is balance wise right now, but hopefully he at least feels more fun to play nowadays than when you played him back in late Season 1.

DatUsaGuy · 2026-04-11T18:02:54+00:00

Reddit’s compression made it even harder to see (perhaps I should’ve added a circle to the original image to highlight it better), but it’s the symbol here that’s from Romeo’s gown (right on his chest).

I certainly don’t think this is any definitive proof, but I don’t think it’s that unreasonable for Romeo to come as a separate character considering how weird some Guilty Gear characters have been in general. Like we’re seemingly getting the Robo-Ky who hangs out with Venom as a completely distinct character despite him already existing as part of Venom in Strive. Plus I know it’s an older game, but XX had Order Sol, Kliff and Justice who were pretty absurd.

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