I honestly think Parry characters, when balanced properly, are incredibly important additions to the roster. They force opponents to play honest and commit to the fundamental tool of all fighting games: the read. Too many players rise through the ranks without ever properly learning how to read their opponents, and so they get hard stuck in "good but not great" tiers until they either learn what they've been missing or drop out. Enter the Parry Character, your number one coach in learning how to read enemies and recognize patterns.

Parry is a lot like grappler. The pressure of the option is what gives them power. This is also exactly why they are great characters for funny videos.

I think part of why I love playing these guys is because it's just so damn satisfying to punish your opponent for being greedy with a hard-read.

Regarding the ego thing about parrying - honestly yeah lol I initially picked up Hakumen because I love masked characters, I ended up staying with him because the frustrated noises that came from my friends whenever I hit a parry lit neurons in my brain.

"Parries are about Ego" you're absolutely right. Parries are my favorite kind of move, I'm an Anji main and catching something with spin into a 50% combo makes me feel like the coolest person alive. It's an ego boost, not to mention Parry Super, that shit makes my day. I also do love winning on many different interactions

Can't discuss parry characters without talking about the godfather of parry characters: Geese Howard There is truly nothing like hitting a parry with geese and hearing him yell "PREDICTABOL" That does so much mental damage to people that it can make them second guess their options

Thanks to Geese Howard, I love Parrys. “PREDICTABO!!”

Definitely one of mine favorite archetypes in this video. I don't know if it is a to much unknown archetype, but what about the Set Play characters? I always get kind confused about that one since is not a archetype that you can say: Hey! This character is a full Set Play character

Welcome to archetype aechive, we have Midrange: "i have a big stick and i'm gonna use it" Bully: "NO" Brawler: "this is a single player beat em up game now and you are the NPC" Item throw: "after 1000 rolls i finally got the item that will guarantee i lose this round... Yeahhh!!!" Boxer: "king in the ring, dies in the sky" Parry: "UNO reverse card"

Anji player here, I appreciate the accurate breakdown of Anji's spin as his true mixup (as opposed to Fuujin) and the idea of ego dictating how parry players operate. Personally, I enjoy Anji's spin incorporating situational awareness into how it functions; you have that second of a successful dodge to assess the gamestate and what kind of attack hit you. A close heavy attack? A cS into 5H, probably. A crouching attack? You get a cS into 2H confirm on all but a handful of obscure moves. A light? You'll have to settle for a throw. A projectile? The game doesn't freeze like when you dodge a strike, but you can try to buffer in a cheeky parry or low-profile move if you think your opponent is going to aggress. I love how Anji's playstyle in Strive exemplifies him as a trickster, the type of flashy character who commits to unnecessary flourishes to his own detriment but definitely knows more than he shows.

(gasps for air) god...finally...i've been starving for archetype archive for so long...it is finally here...

Hell yeah! Been waiting for this one! Love your content as always!

Man this is great content and a great video. Shocked you channel is not bigger.

One of if not my favorite version of a parry character is sir nighteye from my hero ones justice 2. His main gimmic is his counter which when triggered does a little damage but specifically triggeres his quirk. His quirk allows him to “predict” every attack the opponent does which shows their input before it happens. It gives him a snowball type play style where if you keep countering you’ll just keep winning but also let’s you play in insanely weird ways

I love characters with parries, so much that I enjoy playing Remy with his crappy parry and feel like a god when I do pull off the full thing. I also would say that parry characters aren't actually about ego but getting rid of my own ego and focusing on the opponent instead. I noticed that, once I have some experience, when I look at the opponent on the screen instead of myself, I can play better than normal. And parry characters kinda require that you read what the opponent does and not yourself.

Absolutely excellent video my guy! Earned my subscription and thumbs up

nothing beats the massive psychological damage you inflict when you parry their wakeup DP twice in a row

Thanks for covering my favorite archetype!

Another arch vid, whoo! 🙌

Ah "BlazBlue Central Fiction" is a game that is arguably just as complex as "Guilty Gear XRD Revelator," with the game like Revelator having legacy skill, meaning if you haven't stuck with the game since the original back in 2008 you have a MASSIVE hill to climb in learning frame data for each character's normals, gatlings, and overall mobility options that can be used on offense and neutral. Then there are the game's plentiful system mechanics, such as having a half a dozen options on defense that you need to master such as having four ways to block based on specific scenarios for example, and the game having a multitude of wake up options with each having a specific use, and that's not even going into the Drive mechanic, which is a unique action for each character, which there are OVER 35 of, which MOST of the cast plays VASTLY DIFFERENT from each other. Mainline BlazBlue games were HUGE in japan, with it being popular in many Japanese arcades, and as Majin Obama stated in a podcast with Blasted Salami that the series had at one point been up there even with the almighty Tekken in terms of popularity. With many veterans like Dogura ( who is one of the best players in Guilty Gear who uses Slayer) and Fenrich ( who is arguably the best BB player, and currently one the best in DBFZ) representing the series for a long time . Sadly, The series just never took off over here in the west. However, the lack of popularity nationwide doesn't equate to the game's quality.The fact that is arguably the most unique AND complex 2D fighter on the market, but isn't talked about hardly at all in the west was always baffling to me. Especially when I read comments, and watch videos of people in the FGC complaining about how boring fighting games have gotten recently, or how easy it has become and yet will REFUSE to give the game a try. Thankfully, that seems to be changing, for instance Lord Knight, a tournament player who plays a variety of different fighting games recently made a fighting game tier list and put "BlazBlue Central Fiction" near the top, as well as popular Guilty Gear content creators like Majin Obama saying on blasted salami's podcast that "BlazBlue Central Fiction" is HARDER than Guilty Gear Xrd. Even Punk, argueably the best Street Fighter 5 player says BlazBlue is one of his favorite fighting game series. For those who want to see high level game play in order to get a grasp of how hype this game can potentially be for you, I'd recommend a video titled "BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma Grand Finals - Evo 2014" on youtube, and while the game represented there is not Central Fiction, I think it works, since Central Fiction is more of an evolution of Chrono Phantasma any way. Other channel's include "Burst Recap" and "Jourdal" for more high level Japanese play. Finally, BB TAG and mainline BlazBlue games are two SEPARATE things all together, with BBTAG having it's own set of rules with the system mechanics, and SIMPLIFYING ALL of the characters. It's for these reasons that you can't approach "BlazBlue Central Fiction" in the same way that you would BBTAG. Glad to see a another youtuber give the game some recognition. Even if it is in a broader context.

I love the Parry character, and while I'm no good at them my second favorite is Grapplers. Nothing feels as good as seeing a player who is CLEARLY better than you know they STILL have to respect the options you have when employed correctly. Hakumen might be my favorite fighting game character of all time now, just because of the moments someone didn't respect my wake-up yukikaze when I'm on the magic pixel

Great video, my man! Fgc all the way, the new Golden Age is here. Everybody, get on your fighting games!!

Thanks for the video!!! Loved it!! My best friend is bringing Injustice 2 to my house today and i'm gonna try Black Canary and her super fun parrys today, i'll have the advice of this video in mind hahaha

Muse Dash as the example rhythm game? Dare I say, based? Also excellent analysis across the board, especially the psychological elements at play. We can always use more people that actually know how to express complex concepts effectively.

4:15 As an Anji player, that's me. I like to play long sets, I'm talking 20+ games. I enjoy slowly conditioning my opponent, playing on deeper levels of yomi. I've seen a few players mindbreak and flail near the end of a set, clearly frustrated that they got hit by roundstart grab.

I'll will be waiting for the Healer archetype in the next future

Hakumen’s like a mix of a brawler, midranger and parry character. When you have meter he plays like a brawler where you use his A and B normals, as well as 214A and 623A to keep your pressure going or just to get in. Most of the game you’ll use his normals like 4C, j.C keep space and gain meter as well as beat zoners. Then his counters tie it all together by disrupting the enemies offense and preventing the enemy from playing aggressive. Maybe more of just a footsies character than a midranger but I play him like one depending on the opponent.

I was playing strive and then I fought against a Baiken that parried me to death in a round, but with the knowledge that he would try to parry I proceeded to play a little slower so the parry timing was off and I got the combo consistently.

YEEEEE A NEW EPISODEEEE

Whenever there’s a parry character in a game I main them, I love the archetype and wish it was a universal archetype. Even if I’m loosing my mind on a 10 game loose streak, and ponder changing mains, my fun for the game is shot through the roof if I land a counter. Like it’s the embodiment of the highest highs and lowest lows. If you can’t make a read, then you’re about to hate the next few minutes, but if you can get reads and counters then you’ll have more fun you’ve ever had in fighting games.

Still upset they gutted Baiken's parry in strive. Xrd was my entry into the series and Baiken was the perfect character for me. Cool combos, great lines, extremely satisfying parry, execution, great theme and design - she had everything,

my favorite parry character is and forever will be hakumen it feels so good to land and since it's on one button and I don't have to react super quick if I get it it feels pretty effective even though I can't convert it at my level

Ayy yall, if you're new to fighting games, or on that sf6 grind, don't click off this shit. This man has some sauce that is fighting game universal, he is speaking HIGH KEY facts.

I play Sol in ACPR but I want to learn Baiken and yes you are absolutely correct, getting to say "No you dont" is very satisfying to me. Some random thoughts on shotos relevant to the series as a whole that you have definitely already considered but I am typing anyway. Having a fireball, dragon punch and move that brings you up and forward doesn't really say anything about what the character actually Does, does it? You could fit those three moves into the toolkit of any archetype and they would still be that archetype and a shoto. Mostly just a thought I had. Also Terry, Rock, Sol and Ragna are Terrys. They are similar to but distinct from shotos. This is one of the sillier hills I will die on.

My favorite parry character is asuka... Because everyone ALWAYS miss time their attacks since her parry has a huge varying active time... Sometimes i hold it for a sec then i suddenly counterhit them... Other times i just let the whole parry rip, then they attack into it, giving me free damage.

You ask about archetypes to focus on, so I actually have one I never see mentioned, save to denigrate a certain playstyle as "turtling", and that's the defensive character. Often charge characters (thanks to stand-outs like Guile), but the characters that focus heavily on defense and punishing pokes and whiffs as their primary form of dealing damage. Usually come with short but hard hitting combos and better than average reach with quick start-ups (but usually longer than average recoveries), this is an archetype that seems to be disappearing from fighting games, save for a few hold-outs... much to my annoyance, or finding their kits retooled to make them more offensive (see: Blanka). I'd really like to see this one addressed in some way.

cool video, what are your thoughts on "one-shot" characters like nagoriyuki?

Honestly one of my fav archetypes is the altered mobility characters. Examples being Anakaris, Twelve, I-no and Full Moon Warrachia. Basically characters with altered mobility or added mobility without locking them out of options. So it ends up tying their options together.

I really hope we'll see a puppet character episode some day, i say that as a puppet char player, but im sure a lot of people would appreciate shedding some light on this otherwise obscure archetype Ps. I appreciate the use of Risk Of Rain

YES MY FAVORITE TYPE OF CHARACTERS!!!! DEFENSE ALL DAY BABY!!!

I think that there are 2 things in this video: counter and parry characters. To me a counter is kinda automatic, your opponent tries to hit you you get a counter that triggers automatically. A parry is find it similar to a dodge in the sense that your opponents is left wide open for an attack but your are free to choose what to with that opening. Coming from DBFZ Videl has a dodge that can make enemies whiff and you can get a medium starter combo. But also you’ve got Jiren that has 2 counters, 1 for hits only, and the other for any attack and then trigger a certain counterattack kinda immediately. Idk what to do with this info but while being similar I think that they also can work separately. Or not, with UI Goku having a dodge that transports him next to the opponent but also a lvl1 counter that ALSO transports him next to the opponent but this one actually has a automatic attack attached to it when triggered

I think it'll be pretty cool if you cover the steamrolling characters like hakan and jamie from street fighter and susanoo from bbcf

God damn this song is like the Rules of Nature of guilty gear. amazing song with an absolute god-tier part

"The way of the silent fist"

My favorite one is Anji Mito, autoguard is always so fun to hit

Geese Howard's "Predictable!" and "Too Easy!" voice clips probably do the most mental damage of any parry sound effect.

The parry character archetype got to be the most big brain archetype

Baiken plus R is such monster I always be wondering what they were thinking with that 😂

i require a video about Snowball characters. my favorite archetype.

Gasp a platypus GASP PARRY THE PLATYPUS!

I wonder wich character in For Honor would be a parry hero? Or are they all parry characters?

And what about "catch" keyword? Like in Axel's and Tastament's kit. Or Freeman's super from Garou. Do they count as parry?

As a Strive Anji player, I'm glad that he's getting a bit of a spotlight here. That said, I really feel like his AC+R form is much more indicative of a Parry playstyle, as his Guard Points are a lot more engaging than just Anji's spin in Strive. Anji could throw moves with guard points and practically have a dance between them and the opponent, where if the opponent tries to step out of the gap that Anji makes he can keep going and punish the opponent for doing so. It sounds more like an armor character, but I still find it to fit a bit closer to a Parry Character. To me, Anji in Strive feels more just like a bluffing character, that is to start with safe strings and build up a lot of RISC and meter, then to open them up once the opponent is paralyzed into blocking. Spin is a supplement for Anji to further call out an opponent, either after conditioning them to get impatient and throw something out or just in general as a means to dissuade approaches. It's complicated, but I like what your video covers here.

You fool, this is how I play sol badguy in XrdR2

what's the song that started playing around 9:50?

I fucking love parry character. Anji, Hakumen, Kasumi Todoh, Geese Howard (he technically counts as a chameleon but I play him as a parry character) etc etc etc I love them all. So fucking fun

with how much you push Ego, I'm surprised there was no Blue Lock refferences.

baiken keeps parrying the engagement ring

Chaka from Jojo's HTFT

4:40 Muse Dash moment!

Love the risk of rain ost

Hm, would you consider characters with emphasized armor as parry characters? Midori in Fantasy Strike has a strong parry: if hit during the active frames, no damage, throws out a fast attack, usually punishing whatever hit. On that punish hitting, he gets a buff: he will automatically do a special throw if in range of the opponent. His super art has 0 startup and transforms him into a Dragon who has moves with infinite super armor. So a common strategy with full meter is to read an attack (eg, predict oki when waking up), reversal transform to Dragon, reversal from that to start a long range command grab with infinite super armor.. his overall gameplan depends on hitting you when you think you're hitting him. So I think he's a parry character as opposed to say, "an install character" or "snowball", curious what others think

I'm offended by the lack of Jiren in the video. but yeah, I never considered, but I do end up gravitating to parry characters

Hakumen is my Lord.

I purposefully play anji like I am on loads of crack It works like a charm because people never know what 300 IQ play (read: crazy ass uncalculated) appraoch I am gonna do next time, and I can always say that it was all planned if it works Yeah, I did just combo my hit cS into my parry super and wasted 50 meter but by god if you aren't in their head after doing that nothing will get in their head

I love belligerent bully characters and dominating parry characters, and one day they made a beautiful baby named Geese Howard. I am also one hundred percent fueled by ego and only gel with a character when I can absolutely dunk on somebody by reading a move they were going to throw out sometime next week. something something predictable

I don't understand how JP's parry/counter defines his neutral and offense? I don't think I've ever seen a good JP player use it in neutral or during their own offense. Only when he's in defensive situations.

My favorite archetype is a hyperspecific subarchetype which I call the remote boomerang setplay zoner. The only characters in it (as far as i know) are Miss Litchi, Bridget, and Menat. They all have a zoning projectile that they can throw out and have set on the stage and then they can call it back, hitting the opponent on the way back. Miss Litchi and Menat are both also effectively mode shift characters this way, as Miss Litchi's available special moves change whether she has her staff or not (more rushdown focused when unarmed but more defensive options with the staff) and Menat's normals are faster and safer when her orb's out, plus she can cancel most normals by calling it back to extend and optimize combos. Miss Litchi and Bridget also have moves that, once the staff/yoyo is set, will have them jump to it allowing for more movement options.

I didn't know Anji was a grappler character

Hey, my comment was in this one!

every sam sho and last blade 2 character is a parry character

... Incineroar in smash? I'd argue revenge is as important as his alolan whip.

I usually call it a counter never a parry

I have mad respect for people who plays Parry characters. I cannot use them for crap in most games.

Parry the world.

The girl with the anchor; which game is that footage?

I'd expand this archetype out to "turn stealers" as there's notable characters who play in this manner but with more emphasis on evasive tools than parries, such as Feng from Tekken

My favourite thing about this series is how unique the choices are. Everyone knows how to fight a zoner, but how to fight a parry character? That information isn't so readily available.

Yeah man, asuka jun and my girl baiken be the funniest characters i've played, the sheer joy of UNO REVERSE an easy read, it got to a point where when i play them against my Friends and i do a parry we all go "OOOOHHLEEH" during the animation 😂

Parry = defensive state that neutralizes damage or creates an advantageous situation for the defender Counter = Special state or stance that causes an attack when interacted with What attack comes out when you parry in SF3 or 6? What attack comes out when you use Baiken's 'parry'? Yall fucking up the terminology.

That parry from the first guilty gear games looks so broken 😂, she can hit you from any block?

go ahead, guess if my A17 is gonna use bubble or overhead, i dare you, mash after my blockstring is over, itd make my day (yes i know he is a rekka character but shhhhhh)

what is the game at 0:16 ?

I love Geese and other characters with great Powerful feeling parries none of this SF parries give me those SNK giga flip parries. Also you never mentioned Geese man's literally got 4 fucking

i assume youre familiar with the other archetype archive on youtube?

What about the footsies characters?

Baiken 😫

Bro you a character colour swap of Leon Massey 😭? Jk your style is pretty interesting and it's entertaining yet concise.

I've been told I'm a bit of a "parry character" myself.

As for the "ego", this applies to all players who like to win by dominating. Why does no one say that perry is the same as dp, blitz shield or any other reversal. And a good opponent, who knows the matchup, will not let you parry yourself just like that, in short, that's all bullshit.

Before I watch... I wonder if there's a mention of Geese Howard in here EDIT: Either I missed it, or there wasn't one. Kind of strange, considering he was one of the first real Parry characters(to my knowledge) to ever exist

Crazy to put kof on the screen in a video about parry and not include geese Howard

zangief tundra storm kek

I just wish Blazblue had a faster parry based character…..basically Hibiki Kohaku but the air counter is an everything counter.

My darling Hisako didn't make the video :(

I don't think being able to parry deserves its own category. I feel that characters that can parry have tools that better describe their playstyle EDIT: After watching the video, the only characters I can truly put in this category are hakumen and xx baiken. Baiken past xx becomes less reliant of the parry mechanic and the parry on anji's spin does so little for him as a character that I only ever see spin as movement. I have neither utilized it or seen it utilized as a significant part of his game plan outside of low elo knowledge checkers

You made a video...... About The Parry Archetype.... and you didn't even show a Glimpse of GEESE HOWARD!?!? Okay but for real, Good Video 👍

I feel like your ego definition is a bit broad, especially for category 3. Can you explain how liking more interactions in a fight is an ego-driven style in a way that doesn't also make literally all other styles also ego-driven? I don't disagree fundamentally and types 1 and 2 I think you're right stem from ego more directly

It's sad that Baiken became a character with a parry in Strive,from being a parry character in older Guilty Gear. She became a typical rushdown character in strive, from a unique defensive character in past games. Going from ac+r Anji to what we get in Strive is a disappointment. Anji went from "attack is the best defense" with his auto parries in ac+r, to "u w u pleae don't prc my spin" in Strive. And thats only about their parry mechanics,don't let me get into how Strive gutted and butchered ac+r Anji's other special moves 😂.

You main baiken for her parry, I main baiken because she is hot, We are not the same