Being called "Just a dude" makes me very happy. People tend to overthink or get nervous when they play vs me and at the end of the day I'm just a guy who's been playing Strive for the past year.

This man has mastered the theatrics of fighting games. Can't wait to see the next chapter of this new best anime!

Bro 1:12:30 it is unreal how hype this was. This whole video was so well done it seriously set you apart from any other fg content creator I've watched over the years. Cheers sir, psyched for your journey to continue ✊️

The premier was hype, it was like watching an exiting movie with an exited audience. Love you Gekko

Even tho as a Leo main that ending hurts, the editing is actually insane. The song, the evolution from gio to baiken, all of it was crazy good

The pacing on this episode is much better than the last one, glad to see the improvement. Also, NOOOOOOOOO! Geo died!

As the second Ram in your Evo pools. I thought it was hilarious at the line “how many steps ahead was he thinking” uh… -4 Great matches tho it was a blast being able to play so many great players including you

God damn how do your music choices hit every. single. time. Honestly though it was great meeting you at VSF and ik I speak for all the ZBI bois when I say we love having you around the server, so glad we could have been a part of this :^)

This was AMAZING omg everything from the narration to the music and of course the editing, everything was so so good !

The editing, music choices, and transitions are all just top quality. Each time you did a special opening for the player I leaned closer to the screen in my chair because it was so hype. I tend to watch these longer videos over days or even weeks, but I could not keep my eyes away from beginning to end when watching this video! It makes me wanna get better at Strive, cheers Gekko!

The cuts between Baiken and Gio legit had me tearing up.

I realized how much I've listened to The Only Thing I Know For Real (Special Edit) when I was able to identify it instantly from the damn wind sound used at the start

I know this should not of made me emotional but it did, im very happy to be here for this adventure, best of luck gekko, im sure things will get better from here

1:16:00 bro….. this was one of the best editing moments I’ve ever seen, the hype, excitement, the song combined with it, made me cry, as I’m still a Gio player, I’ve always looked up on you, now knowing that you changed to Baiken was a shock, when I saw the flashbacks to Gio’s moves and cutting back to action itself, I was crying, like, amazing game, but I’ll miss the Gio main that I always liked, looking forward to this next chapter of strive, good content, great movie documentary and good luck in the future

1:13:14 Holy shit that edit showing Gio momentarily was excellent. Using The Only Thing I Know For Real as vocal only was a wild, amazing choice. Edit: OKAY SHOWING GIO THROUGH THE MATCH AS A SORT OF "FOR THE FALLEN" TYPE OF THING MADE ME DOUBLE TAKE GOOD LORD

This series is a masterpiece. I hope there's a season 2 with new goals after you finish your current goals

Absolute cinematic master piece. It was dramatic, hype, paced beautifully, tragic, and overall amazing. You’ve become by favorite fg content creator by far and I hope that you get more recognition because you definitely deserve it.

THERE WILL BE BLOODSHEED!!! That final montage got me soo fucking hype. Thank you for sharing your fighting game journey with the rest of us and thanks for playing those strive games with me

The editing on this video is actually insane. Fantastic work

Another crushing banger, got me 5 minutes from the end, seems like this series is made to make me cry, keep up the good work man

What a fun time! That ending edit was so hype. I saw how you were taking on Baiken more and more, and we saw Giovanna start fading as a new character's muscle memory set in

Yo this was so so enjoying to watch, the storytelling and editing are just fire!! 🔥So much so it actually made me want to pick up strive again and get good thx man. It was so cool to watch your whole journey through your own experience with the game all while getting so good and playing amazing at the same time!

i swear everyone is trying to brainwash me into becoming baiken main these days and its working

This was such a hype video, really cool watching it live, can't wait for the next one!

That was one of the sickest cinematic masterpieces I have ever seen. I wish you luck on your next goal and the future ones to come. I'll definitely be cheering you on.

35:14 as much as I wanted you to play Anji, I can appreciate your use of his theme in this segment ❤

Brilliantly edited and created. Really enjoyed the journey. Keep up the good work :)

Thank you for giving my daft little tournaments a mention 🙂 loving the series

VS Fighting was my first tourney ever and being able to meet you there was the cherry on top, so thank you and keep at it!

This series is so good dude, this is exactly what I want to watch as a new fighting game player just getting into GGS. Your use of the neon white soundtrack was excellent as well (all music was great, but those tracks stood out as I haven't seen them used before)

This series has sparked my want to get better. After a little bit of break, came back and got to floor 10 for the first tine as a dirty Ky main yesterday. I just want to thank you these awesome videos and pushing me to better myself. Celestial is the next target I got my sights set on.

I love your music choice for these videos, especially during that last montage. Keep up the awesome work, man!

YESS another episode of .y favourite gekko series, this editing is phenomenal and hearing ultrakill and dmc music in some places warms my heart a lot, this journey really is unexpected with u swapping ur main out of nowhere cos of s2 patch but i love how u brought it back up like the real gio guy u are

That montage at the end gave me real chills. This was actually super inspiring to watch and the content is awesome. Keep up the great work

I loved the first episode but you outdid yourself on this one Gekko, really. You did a great job improving pacing and editing!

God damn, what a story. That was amazing to watch and beautifully edited as well.

Excellent movie Great work man!

One of the best fgc Videos i ever Seen. Thank you for your content ! Best wishes from germany

I seriously love these vids. They make me wanna actually take fighting games more seriously and even try to maybe make a series in line with this for smash since I’m goin so hard on ultimate recently

The fact you used songs from two very amazing raid series in FFXIV, to which i both jam out on regularly, and then finish with one of the most hype montages i have seen together with one of the best songs in the entire MGR OST, holy shit my guy this was amazing. I was sitting on the edge of my seat for such a large portion of the video.

I started learning Baiken 2 days before you posted this video so this is a nice treat

😁 I had to watch it in parts but MAN!! Fantastic editing and great storytelling :)

For those wondering, the song in the beginning is from FFXIV

Low key from the length of this video I thought it was a stream dump and instead it was amazing. Thanks Gekko

you have impeccable music taste, absolutely fantastic video and you make me want to play strive so god damn much

The eddit is amazing. Baikens relentless rage that stands for the part of yourself that you have lost in Gio. It's poetic really how fitting this is

The most epic FGC video I've ever watched. Thanks for this master piece

Gotta love that Baiken Spaghetti bro, keep up the great work dude!

What a wondefull video, i felt on my skin the last fight, keep it up Gekko

Great vid, dude. That ending gave me chills. Superb editing. On to the next episode! (Btw, subbed and liked, of course.)

okay I just started playing strive and was just searching for youtubers to watch talk about the topic (because naturally it's waaaaaaay better than playing the game yourself, right?..) and I just wanna throw it out there that this is somehow the hypest thing I've seen in a while, especially the music fight montages (seriously the track choice is immaculate and the editing is top-notch) so yeah, I'm really glad I stumbled upon these tournament recap videos and oh my god how do you only have 38k subscribers that's illegal

This video is so validating, I felt the exact same way about the patch! I actually stopped playing the game entirely after I saw the Anji and Gio changes... But watching this, I think it might be time to come back. I'll give it another go

Glad to have you as our queen, and great to meet you at vsf, hope we see each other again sometime soon man!

THIS WAS UPLOADED ON GIOVANNA'S BIRTHDAY, HOLY SHIT I JUST REALIZED THAT. I'm sitting here rewatching parts of this because it's just... so goddamn good.

fucking gorgeous video. that final montage of baiken vs leo was gorgeously executed; i am VERY excited for part 3 (and 4 if need be)!

The cuts in the leo match at the end showing u versing him as gio was fucking beautiful and super hype

Your choice in music is impeccable.

Surprisingly sentimental seeing you drop geo, I remember fighting you one time on a discord call and you looked so confident in your play while I got my ass beat. But glad to see you’ve been doing good on Baiken despite the switch. Also your editing fantastic here and honestly from what you’ve shown it looks like it’d be a great time grinding it out to get better at this game.

28:52 As a longtime Summoner Main on FF14, I feel this in my soul (For clarity, Summoner is really the only job (read: class) in Final Fantasy 14 that has been there since the beginning of the game and has been completely changed… Every. Single. Expansion. Each time I get used to the new summoner, I enjoy it, I more or less fall in love all over again, and then every two years they take my job away and give me a new one to have to get used to all over again.) 45:30 And speaking of FF14, loving this music!

I'm sorry but 23:34 the RC pressure and extensions with Mittsies in the background, that was insanely slick

this editing reads like an AMV and i honestly kiinda dig it

The church of Baiken welcomes you.

"Am I biased?" ". . ." This is why you're a legend Gekko. Keep at the hustle man, I'm rooting for you.

Gekko, your consistent quality, humorous, and charming content has made you one of my go toes when it comes to fighting game content now, Especially Guilty gear. I am newly subscribed and am excited to see more 😊👍

Your content is inspiring. Been thinking about picking up some other characters to better learn matchups.

Just saying thank you because the first episode made me main strive

The Leo fight editing at the end was so fucking awesome!

The finale literally gave me 3 seperate waves of chills

Bro these edits go so damn hard

I love, and I do mean love, seeing someone play my main. Good stuff, GekkoSquirrel.

HOW THE HELL did i get teary eyed from that last fight against the Leo? The blending of the Baiken and Gio screens to show the journey you had to make and the result of this hard choice you had to do by leaving Gio behind

there is another competitive show made by Revz Cards and about YGO and not bying singles only relying on the hard draw of the cards and you switching mains is like Revz switching decks or certain strategies due to the banlist, which perfectly fits in the patch notes being the banlist for a FGS to make certain strategies for characters. kinda makes sence why this series is so appealing.

THIS SERIES IS SO GOOD OMGGG

All I can say is amazing stuff GekkoSquirrel.

I thought I'd die before part 2 released

So I'm a Gio main and I've stopped playing strive a couple of weeks ago, partly because of feeling unable to do well with my character anymore. I actually went to fps games to tell you how bad I was feeling. That might sound crazy but you actually made me want to play Gio again. Acually making me want to play the game itself is pretty nuts. So yeah great video, thank you.

God damn this series is some of the best Strive content out there.

Between your EVO pools and more recent happenings on stream, you really have just earned yourself the unofficial title of Honorific Ram Slayer Congrats on your advancements gEggko

*the balance patch.*

I saw the flash at 1:37:57 and just had to marvel at how good this fucking video is. Holy shit you know how to tell a story.

Absolutely legendary episode

This final was sick!!! omg dude

Using Fallen Angel at 31:14 was an amazing choice for music for needing to make a choice that is heavily underrated

Good show! 10/10 I just hope you haven't stopped playing Gio completely.

Part 1 inspired me to play the game, hardstuck floor 10/9 tho. The thing i've struggled trying to find was specific match up discussion/run downs.

The mgr Song was an absolut perfect fit for the end! I know im late with this comment but this Video deserves IT!

I enjoyed the first one so much I have watched it at least three times

I'm a fellow Gio player, but I actually do think she needs a little help. We don't have a solid win con, we have really skewed risk reward on offense, and our defense really lacks anything outside of pure system mechanics. Which is fine, but our offense doesn't justify our defense being so mid. I don't think they even have to change much; but 1-2 really minor changes would make her competitive in the viable solo tournament runs. Flip kick was ignorant habit to get into; and even before the nerf I found I was getting punished by good players even then, and I'd take buffed Travao over flip any day. If we wanted advantage, we should have been using Travao even before the patch. It does kinda suck the move is worthless, so I hope it gets reworked. She was definitely nerfed overall though. Also they announced the balance patch was going to be dec back in Evo pretty much haha, so she might be back. She really fits my play style, so I guess I have to stick with her though thick and thin. I'm not sure Arcsys even remembers or cares she exists though. Certainly not in the story lmao.

Ah the patch era where you spend months learning something just for them to change something that was really cool just to feel different and make you feel like trash.

This is one of the best movies I've seen all year.

I fucking love these

ngl If I want to get good at fighting games again I have to get out of my own Ego and really double check myself and use a lot of what i herd in this video from you.

The use of ultrakill music was phenominal man, also, the first 30 minutes are an excellent 1/3 reason why I dont/cant get into fighting games, I like my little guys, for them to get a drastic change after putting tens of hundreds of hours that make or breaks them doesn't feel great.

That ending match had to be the hypest shit I've ever watched. Man really said, "Respect your roots" without uttering a word. So Fucking R A W

Sweet new video.

Once again, You're SO FUCKING GOOD AT EDITING HOLY SHIT

As a Gio main, I feel this so hard. Like you say, it's not whether she was buffed or nerfed, it's that she was changed so much. All of the combo routes I'd been trying to master just don't exist any more, or do way less damage, or have unrecognizable timing. Movement changed. Specials changed. Her whole gameplan is different. It's like they chopped off my legs and replaced them just when I felt like I had finally learned to walk (or at least stumble around a bit). Are the new legs better? Does it matter? Arc Sys then said they were going to have another balance patch six months later. It took me six months to get where I was, and now I feel like I'm right back where I started. Why would I bother learning this new setup only to have the rug pulled out again? What's the point? Playing Gio feels horrible now. The thought of switching characters feels horrible. And any other character is just as likely to get drastically changed next patch anyway. I haven't played Strive since season 2 dropped. I don't know if I'll ever bother to again. And even if I do, I have no idea if I would stick with Gio or pick a new main. All I know is this: the game just isn't fun any more, so I walked away.

YO YOU FOUGHT TEMPEST?? That is sick, keep it up

"Why the fuck did they buff ky???" I feel like i be saying this every patch lol

That gio tribute at the end got me