Skip to main content

Long read: The beauty and drama of video games and their clouds

"It's a little bit hard to work out without knowing the altitude of that dragon..."

If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.

Upcoming Guilty Gear Strive update promises to reduce the annoyingly-long login time

Valuable input.

Guilty Gear Strive is getting a big patch next week - and it promises to improve one of the biggest issues I have with the game.

Anyone who's played Arc System Works' superb fighting game will be aware of the annoyingly-long login time you face when you start the game. It takes so long I've sometimes walked away from my PlayStation to put the kettle on while Guilty Gear sorts itself out.

Watch on YouTube

Detailing an upcoming patch due out 15th October, ASW said the update "reduces the time required to authenticate the online server when launching the game".

The developer said it's tested this update in North America and confirmed the connection time is reduced "significantly". Hopefully it'll also be reduced significantly on these shores.

There's no mention of any changes to Strive's much-maligned lobby system, though. Hopefully changes here are still on ASW's radar.

Meanwhile, the update makes some sweeping gameplay changes. Perhaps the highlight here is the patch extends the overall input buffer time, which should make the game slightly more forgiving when it comes to timing.

Strive is currently two DLC characters into its first season. Goldlewis Dickinson came out in July. Jack-O' came out in August. The third character is due out before the end of the year, with two more due out next year.

Speaking of Jack-O', ASW said it's not possible to remove the mask at the beginning of the match - apparently the developer received loads of requests from players to do this.