To give some context for Ky, his song (at least in my opinion) is all about how everything he believed before has been muddied. He has lived his whole life fighting what are called gears and believing they were all enemies but by this point, he's created a family with a gear and one of his closest friends is a gear. So the point is that while his view has been messed up, he's going to move forward doing what he believes is right in the moment Also, I'd say you guys are pretty spot on about Sol's lol
To me Sol and Ky always represented freedom and responsibility each. A lonely all mighty bounty hunter and a honourable soldier made king. That's what makes them such a great rival duo , and it's perfectly represented in their theme songs
King Ky has developed over the years amazingly actually. From a hero leading the sacred order of knights who saved mankind and slew many "monsters"/gears to a king shackled with the weight of humanity's safety on his shoulders who did the unthinkable: realizing these monsters aren't so bad and making one his queen, though he had to keep her, his son, friends, and ever expanding family a closely guarded state secret because humanity would absolutely demand their heads out of fear. Ky is no longer the light that destroys the dark, but a king who walks the difficult grey path striving(heh) to create a world where gears need not hide and he can proudly declare "this is my family".
In lore Ky fought Sol once for real because Sol wanted him to stop holding back and fight seriously because Ky usually plays with honor and Sol is canonically part Gear so he's got some near God like power he can unleash. That one time Ky showed him how he would fight seriously against gears and decimated him in a couple of hits by strategically fighting dirty and throwing dirt in Sols eyes and tripping him up. Because in a life or death fight between what is essentially a regular human against one of these gears in this universe you can't fight fair to survive. He just fights with honor and chivalry in a spar, especially with friends because he's a pretty humble kind of friend. His faith and pride has also led to letting Sol raise his kid while he has to work and yeah that was a bad idea, because despite sending plenty of money to raise and provide for him while he had to be away, Sol just blew it off and was unintentionally kind of a Vegeta Goku mix of just letting Kys kid handle himself and not doing much. Fortunately Kys kid is naively wholesome and nice and is highly positive to a fault and didn't see anything wrong with explaining the sugar water Sol would give him for being good as a treat to his mortified parents when visiting them. They both probably would have killed Sol if he were present in that moment.
Sol isn't Part gear he is the Prototype Gear, until strive it is only the restrictor he built into his headband that keeps him from loosing control. Also since no one else really mentioned it in my quick perusal despite how Unga McBunga in your face Sol fights he is also a multiple PhD level Physicist and one of the most intelligent people on the planet probably only less so than Asuka R. Kreuz and Happy Chaos.
find your one way: an old man from a bygone era who had his life and the people he loved taken away from him unfairly. spent decades searching for some semblance of peace in a world seemingly determined to be against him, finally found it and settled. but when faced with powers threatening to take it all away again without willing to compromise, he stood his ground and said 'no' roar of the spark: a man born in war, knowing nothing else but the life of a soldier ever advancing forward, in hope or desperation he does not know. struggling to come to terms with his own shortcomings. chosen to lead by those who came before him, he is a light that walks blindly. he finds something meek and pitiful and decides to guard it. he finds himself to be a lacking guardian and falters but finds his footing in time and presses on again knowing someone follows him who will carry on when he no longer can. so he struggles to be as bright as a light he can be.
Guilty Gear Strive is an amazing album with a pretty neat game bundled in for free Also, some light lore/background on these guys. TLDR: Sol is a former scientist who was unwillingly turned into the first of a race of immortal super beings called Gears and has been travelling the world as a bounty hunter and zero-hour hero for hundreds of years, being forced to kill his (mind controlled/insane) wife or some clone or reincarnation of her a frankly ridiculous number of times to save the world, and just trying to live free and do the right thing in his life; Ky Kiske is a former war hero of the Crusades against the Gears, who became one of the Crusade's leaders and eventually one of the Three Kings of Illyria (what's left/rebuilt of europe), who fell in love with a Gear and has been struggling to reconcile his wartime zealous militantism with the acceptance and love he feels, and the tolerance and harmony that he feels necessary to create a new, better world from the ashes of the old one. Long(er, but not complete) version: In Guilty Gear's timeline, magic was reintroduced into the world in our modern day (a few years ago at this point, i think). It was combined with science and technology to create a new golden age, until a certain team of scientists, including Sol, his wife Aria, and his friend, known for most of the series only as That Man, created super soldiers called Gears, of whom Sol and Aria were unwillingly turned into the first ones by That Man. Eventually the Gears rebelled and the world was plunged into a long, long dark age. Aria was sort of mind controlled and was made the Queen of the Gears, mind controlling other Gears in turn, where as Sol, the "Guilty Gear" (roll credits) spent long years trying to find out how to free/neutralize Aria and occasionally helping the Crusaders, of whom Ky Kiske was a young hero and, later, leader, until eventually Sol killed the Gear Queen and ended the Crusades. Looooooooong story shorter, fast forward many years and several other world ending threats, and Ky Kiske is one of the Three Kings of Illyria, the kingdom that encompasses the remains of europe. Sol, for the most part, travels the world living day to day as a bounty hunter and getting invariably called on to save the world from whichever game's Big Bad. Meanwhile, Ky, as one of the Three Kings, fell in love and married a surviving Gear, Dizzy (who it turns out is Sol and Aria's child, making Sol, his long-standing rival/asshole friend... his father in law. there's a very funny scene in Xrd when they both realize this), and even had a half-Gear son, whom he named his Sin. Ky and Dizzy even gave custody of him to Sol to raise on the road, as their relationship was kind of a secret and he still felt very deeply conflicted about it (The irony here being that Dizzy, being an absolutely adorable gem of a girl, was absolutely *adored* by the general populace, and when they eventually revealed their marriage that everyone kinda sorta already knew about unofficially, Illyria was absolutely ecstatic to have her as their Queen lol) Eventually he comes around to fully changing his world views. He has spearheaded efforts to promote tolerance and acceptance of Gears in the world, attempting to erase the stigma created by the several-hundred year Crusades. His song in Strive is about how even though he lost his zealous militantism and is no longer 100% sure of what's right and wrong, he nevertheless must keep his faith and tread the path he believes is right (namely fighting for the good and peace of all, humans and Gears alike), bearing the pale fire that guides the light to a better tomorrow. This is, in fact, the same thing he has always done, even as a young zealous Crusader, it's just that what he believes that path is has changed, and that sort of full circle in his faith is why that piano(? i'm bad with instruments) that runs throughout his whole song - the one that the song starts with that made Beth go "that's a cool sound he's got" - is actually the main melody of his old character theme from a previous game just directly transplanted into the foundation of a new, different song. Also, "pale fire" is a way to describe lightning, which is the power he wields (his sword is actually one of many fragments of the superweapon Sol created to end the Crusades, with each piece controlling a different element - Sol wields the piece that controls fire - and used by various characters that Sol entrusted the pieces to after defeating Aria) and that weird power coming out of his eyeball is actually Gear power coming from one of Sin's eyes - to limit Sin's power (Gears are.... terrifying, and a baby Sin could cause untold devastation on accident) he swapped one of his eyes with his son's before handing him to Sol. As for Sol, he is simultaneously a much more simple character.. and the most complicated to talk about, because he's deeply connected to every single major plotline of the series. Which is... A Lot (tm). As short as i can make it... I mentioned earlier that his wife was turned into the Queen of Gears, and that he's had to kill her, a clone, reincarnation or some other version of her a ridiculous number of times. Well, other than being called on to save the world by killing his wife AGAIN, he spends most of his time travelling around, living on the road as a bounty hunter, protecting people in his own way, and keeping an eye on certain important things, such as the fragments of his superweapon (i.e. his and Ky's swords). As of the starting point of Strive, he has a travelling companion - Jack-O, who is YET ANOTHER CLONE OF HIS DEAD WIFE. Specifically, Jack-O is a copy of the evil Aria clones known as the Valentine sisters which were created by one of the Big Bads (who may or may not have been God, but they're dead now, kinda). She was created to hold the last fragment of Aria's original soul so that Sol's wife could be reborn for real and they could finally live happy, but the events of the last game made Aria's soul kind of traumatized and she refuses to get out of the proverbial storage room she's locked herself in within Jack-O by taking control of her body. Incidentally, Jack-O, who's always known of her own purpose as a vessel for Aria's rebirth, and never considered herself any more than an ephemeral tool, has, in her travels with Sol, discovered that, uh oh, she kinda loves being alive, and she kinda loves Sol. And while Sol is not necessarily aware of Jack-O's burgeoning feelings, as she keeps reminding him that she's just a vessel for Aria and that she's sorry it's taking so long, well... that's his situation right now. Just trying to live free and do his own thing, while travelling around with a woman who kinda sorta is his wife but also is just a fleshy robot carrying his wife's consciousnes, who is learning about living and feeling and OH NO THERE'S ANOTHER BIG BAD TIME TO SAVE THE WORLD AGAIN LETS HOPE HE DOESNT HAVE TO FUCKING KILL ARIA ONE MORE TIME and that's how Strive begins.
I can't wait to see you react to the other themes they're so good. In Strive every character (new and old) is given this deep meaningful theme that really tears into them and analyzes who they are as people. The more you know about their lore the more value and impact you get out of the songs. I love all of them equally but Ramlethal and I-No are my favorite.
Yo a fellow Ram theme enjoyer. Though my second is Baiken's theme. I-No's is better now that I know the lore and backstory (as much as a newcomer can), but knowing the lore just makes it even more sad than I could already feel it was.
I think what's also really interesting about these two is their elemental affinities, Sol is fire, he is always growing, always latching on to something new and expanding as growing is it's nature, meanwhile, Ky is lighting, lighting strikes at the highest object, it clings to something nearly instantly, whereas Sol is growing and changing more or less of his own accord, he's living his own life, Ky needs a lightning rod to be drawn to, he needs that faith and that pride in something to define his ideals. That's my interpretation anyways I'm not an expert on Guilty Gear lore so I don't know how much of this is accurate
If you are interested in learning more about the characters and their themes, I recommend Gekkosquirrel's video which goes into detail explaining the meaning behind the character's themes: th-cam.com/video/4VzRhScn0rs/w-d-xo.html
Since ya'll are reacting to the Guilty Gear Strive themes, here's a good recommendation when do you all the characters that come before Bridget, "What Does Each Strive Character Theme Mean?" by GekkoSquirrel, he throws in a bit of lore for GG Strive and his channel also explain Fighting Game Terminology, Stereotypes and Archetypes. And to explain Ky Kiske's ability to "reinforce his skin", it's a power-up called Dragon Install, he was only capable of doing this after taking his Gear son Sin Kiske's Eyeball (Since Sin was getting too strong and this was apparently a way to reduce his power) and swapped his son's eyeball with his own eyeball, Sol Badguy could also Dragon Install in the last game, but his Dragon Install in Strive is only shown through a super attack, so there's no power-up for him in Strive gameplay.
It's cool how Ken unknowingly nailed the religious aspect of Ky from his theme, and the both of you noticed their character traits- Sol values freedom, Ky values faith and responsibility. To add more context to the characters, Sol despite his looks is a former scientist (with a PhD in theoretical physics) turned gruff bounty hunter, whereas Ky is a former Holy Knight of the Sacred Order of Holy Knights (who where directed by the church) that ended up becoming a king. The world they live in has had many periods of darkness, with the main one being Humanity's 100 year long war against the Gears (biological androids) that hated humanity, known as the Crusades. Ky started off as a soldier of the church filled with blind faith- which is apparent by simply looking at the title of his original theme "Holy Orders - Be Just or Be Dead". However, over the course of the games, his clashes with Sol over their differing outlooks, as well as those of other characters, and the discovery that the Gears he had spent years fighting as enemies were also victims in their own way, cast doubts over his dogmatic faith- especially after meeting a certain character. When he was young, Ky lost his mother in the war and soon after became determined to stop running from the Gears and face them, making it his mission to be strong enough to join the Knights. He became a prodigy swordsman as part of the Knights and was tasked with exterminating the Gears. Sol was actually his squadmate at one point as both of them wanted to wipe out Gears, but his rough and anti-social personality caused him to leave the Order and go back to being a bounty hunter- Being a deserter (and stealing a holy artifact) brought him into conflict with Ky.
Sol was originally just a normal scientist, but a certain person basically did a mr. freeze situation. that guy then to fix the situation, turned sol into an immortal super soldier. So, in here, his theme is mostly about his attitude for the way he lives as a bounty hunter (apparently, in japan bounty hunters are good people doing good things for money), so we're just following one of his latest missions. Ky is a devout christian. He became one of the kings of his kingdom (the main king), but he still has a weird life. He's married to a super human, and his child is another super human. He swapped one of their eyes to make his son, "Sin" weaker. So his theme is mostly about him trying to make sense of what is happening.
You should totally listen to each of the Valentine's themes (Diva, Diva of Despair, Marionette, Juno, Necessary Discrepancy and Perfection Can't Please me) since they all take inspiration from the original Valentine's Theme (Diva) which is imo one of the best songs from a videogame ever, and I think that'd make for good comparisons between them. Themes: Valentine - Diva Ramlethal Valentine - Diva of Despair and Necessary Discrepancy Elphelt Valentine - Marionette Jack'O Valentine - Juno and Perfection can't please me
I VERY highly recommend "Let Me Carve Your Way" and "Love The Subhuman Self" bonus points if you do them at the same time because of how closely linked the characters are. Drift is also great.
Omg yes, pleeaaase do more reactions to the music. There's a couple of tracks down the line that will really shock you in terms of how characters are portraid and what their back stories are. Leo and Zato's are the first that come to mind.
Now that I’ve watch the video, I’ve never seen anyone blind react and actually get this much meaning out of the songs, I LOVE this reaction, really great hearing what you both thought of the lyrics!! Though trust, the lyrics may get more confusing or overwhelming as you go but you’re doing good so far imo!
It’s so cool to hear opinions about the characters based on their themes, since they reflect each other so well. Hope you guys will react to more themes!
If you are going to react to them in pairs here's some suggestions of themes about characters that share storylines: Out of the Box (Axl Low) - Requiem (I-No) - Tragic relationship with existential time loop shenanigans Mirror of the World (Baiken) - Rock Parade (Anji Mito) - Two survivors of Japan's destruction, the whole country got destroyed in the storyline. Love the Subhuman Self (Millia Rage) - Let Me Carve Your Way (Zato-1) - Members of the assassin's guild, both of them have a complicated relationship. Zato has died and been resurrected before, so a lot of his stuff has to do with feeling apathy due to that experience. His whole personality changed after he died. Also some random songs that I think are just really good: Alone Infection (Faust, psycho turned goofy character turned depressive character in strive, probably because of guilt over past actions), Drift (Happy Chaos, villain, goofy maniac so above everything that doesn't seem to care much) and Like a Weed, Naturally, as a Matter of Course (Testament, past game villain that seem to have chilled out over the years)
@@AmadeyAzalinOh yeah makes sense, tho I also thought about Armor-clad Faith and Play the Hero together since Chipp and Potemkin are polar opposites in playstyle
Great introspective analysis on the themes. It actually goes in line with Sol and Ky’s in canon story and characteristics with their roles, personalities and outlooks on life. Especially considering when comparing the two themes it further cements why Ky’s sense of obligation, and responsibility as a leader whose ideals may seem self righteous and rigid in contrast with Sol’s free spirit and indomitable will. It’s why they’re such great rivals.
Honestly, this was a really great breakdown of their characters after only just listening to their songs. Was very interesting to hear your thoughts on these characters. Really enjoy hearing you guys' thoughts in your reactions, it adds a lot of interest content that goes beyond just a reaction.
Interesting reaction series to do! The character’s OSTs are designed to be a reflection of their stories, so the lyrics will be an interesting one to to decipher as you go along.
Sol Badguy's theme is very much a look into how he is rough; he's not nice; and won't mince words with you: but when the chips are on the table: he won't push others to do what needs to be done. Just don't push him and all will be good. Ky Kiske's theme is actually his reflection of previous game's/prior story events: how he came to be in his position and questioning himself on if he made the right choices or should he have done things differently; and hoping that even with all that has been, his story will help be a guiding light for others.
Sol is basically the rock n roll protagonist even his name is a reference to Freddie Mercury (his real name is Frederick Bulsara), so a wild bounty hunter who's very down to earth and fights his way through his problems. In the story he and his girlfriend basically got turned into monsters by their best friend (to actually save the dying girlfriend) but it ended up creating a huge amount of problems and he had to fight both his gf and the monsters that were created as a result and kill them. "Find your one way" his theme is basically just the spirit of Rock and how you may need to create your own path in life regardless of the obstacles or rules that get in your way. On the other hand Ky is pretty much his "rival" (although this has changed over the course of the series) and polar opposite, he was a crusader fighting against the same monsters Sol was trying to defeat and later on became a King and leader after the war. So a very responsible and by the book "hero" who tries to do the right thing. He also married Sol's daughter and has a son so he fights to protect both them and his people. "Roar of the spark" his theme is probably a reference to the fact he wields a lightning sword but also how this lightning is white and pure light just like his personality is that of a spotless white knight while still being fierce. Overall guilty gear lore is very complex and sometimes very obnoxious but it tried to explain it as best as i could.
To elaborate a bit on Ky's theme, note that the last verse said "I want to fill the world with all kinds of light" In broad terms, he was an orphan turned soldier turned king, who was very adamant and steadfast in his beliefs to protect his people. Now, he ended befriending criminals, enemy factions and even monsters whom he fought so passionately against. His journey is about coming to terms with the reality of his previous black and white world.
You guys were really spot on and how some people pointed out the Ky has a little more of a be a example and let a legacy for the future generations to follow now that he is a family man.
Wow, I was not expecting this but now I'm really looking forward to it. You need to do Armor Clad Faith and Love the Subhuman Self, they're two of the three best songs on the OST
To put ky into perspective he used to belong to a holy order. He spent his life believing sol was responsible for some major atrocities so in the early guilty gear games he would hunt sol down but eventually sol and ky became more of a goku and vegeta dynamic
There are like a dozen of sol vs ky themes. You should check them out. Also in their old costumes sol had the word FREE on his belt while Ky had HOPE. Sol is FREE and will never be told how to live while Ky wants to give HOPE to a world destroyed by 100 years of war.
guilty gear strive has IMO one of the best soundracks in any game. after you've reacted to all the OST's i highly recommend watching a video titeld "What Does Each Strive Character Theme Mean?" by GekkoSquirrel. the video basically gives some detail into the meaning of the OST's
I'm genuinely kinda surprised that your descriptions on the characters based on the song were kinda accurate. Not fully correct, but the message the song was trying to say was identified! Would love to see more of these on more strive songs or other osts!
two of my favorite themes from Strive are Love the Subhuman Self (Millia’s theme) and Hellfire (Leo’s) theme, they’re both really good songs with well thought lyrics, you can get a sense for just what kind of characters Millia and Leo are just from their themes. If you do another one of these you should definitely include those two !
Most of your discussion on what you think about the characters from their themes is actually pretty true, i would recommend reacting to the lore, but there's a lot so be prepared for some complicated stuff
These songs are very catchy to informative on the characters background story, as I never thought you react to theme songs from video games. As each OST for video game is a nice touch to listen and understand story. 😄 I hope future ideas of listening to VGOST be a nice content to grow more on you guys channel. As I got some great game ideas to listen to OST that you both would like to listen to.
Hi ! I don't know how video requesting works on your channel and sorry if this is not on topic. But while we are on the OST topic, I think you would really like the Persona 5 OST, preferably Last Suprise (battle theme), Life Will Change and Rivers in the Desert (theme of the final boss). PS: Great video (again)!🥰
I love all the guilty gear music from the entire series, but Strive is easily the best imo. The lyrics do a great job of showcasing the backstory and mentality of every character in the game, and also they’re just really fun to listen to as well lol
Guilty gear themes clearly shows how genius of a writer the creator of the game is (he is the chara designer, the composer and writer of the songs, but not the vocalist) That guy can put all the lore and story of a character from a series that lived more than 20 years in one song, and everything will make sense. If you can I recommend you to listen to: -Ramlethal theme --- Necessary discrepancy -I-no theme --- Requiem -Zato theme ---- Let me carve your way -Baiken theme --- Mirror of the world
Am really happy seeing you guy react to the music of strive 🤟🏻, If the plan is to react to 2 songs for video I would recommend some pairings base on characters relations Anji and Baiken Ramlethal and Sin Kyske Millia and Zato
You were spot-on about Ky being religious. He was a member (and briefly the leader) of the Sacred Order of Holy Knights at the end of the Crusades, a 100-year war between Gears and Humans. They believed God was on the side of Humanity, which makes it all the more ironic that Ky would eventually marry a half-Gear named Dizzy (Sol’s daughter) and father a quarter-Gear named Sin (Sol’s grandson).
Next themes you need to react for Guilty Gear Strive are Ramlethals *(Necessary Discrepancy)* and Zato's *(Let me Carve Your Way)* Such bangers and my two favorite themes of the entire soundtrack.
good thing yall started with these two there rivalry is similar to ken and ryu from streetfighter. in a way,but there beliefs drive it further of course
There are a lot of good music in Guilty Gear, so I hope there will be more videos like this (Of course, other game music!) Thank you always for the good videos.
If you wanna keep the fighting game content going, I suggest you watch Blasted Salami's Tekken 7 character overviews and make a character draft for it! It'd be interesting to see who you two choose
Can't wait for Zato=1/Eddie's theme. Also here's somethign funny for you guys to check out even on your private time. Sin, Ky's Son, explaining the "birds and the bees". th-cam.com/video/hLXRUgFqLJ0/w-d-xo.html
To give some context for Ky, his song (at least in my opinion) is all about how everything he believed before has been muddied. He has lived his whole life fighting what are called gears and believing they were all enemies but by this point, he's created a family with a gear and one of his closest friends is a gear. So the point is that while his view has been messed up, he's going to move forward doing what he believes is right in the moment
Also, I'd say you guys are pretty spot on about Sol's lol
From my understanding, that's pretty accurate
To me Sol and Ky always represented freedom and responsibility each. A lonely all mighty bounty hunter and a honourable soldier made king. That's what makes them such a great rival duo , and it's perfectly represented in their theme songs
Agreed. Lawful good and chaotic good in a way.
There are unfortunately no vs theme songs in strive, like imagine strives versions of things like Keep The Flag Flying
@@LeFisheboi maybe theyll introduce some in a future season or something like that...
FREEDOM 🦅🦅🦅
To quote someone in one of the uploads for Find Your One Way, "this song sounds like a bar fight, and you're winning."
So true
Reacting to this game's OST is such a genius idea to have, please do more
lol ok buddy
Potemkin PLEASE
Same, i like seeing GGS get some recognition.
@@sean5038 what are you laughing about bruh
Dude I dropped a comment suggesting this on one of their other videos, and TH-cam didn't even notify me that they posted this!
King Ky has developed over the years amazingly actually. From a hero leading the sacred order of knights who saved mankind and slew many "monsters"/gears to a king shackled with the weight of humanity's safety on his shoulders who did the unthinkable: realizing these monsters aren't so bad and making one his queen, though he had to keep her, his son, friends, and ever expanding family a closely guarded state secret because humanity would absolutely demand their heads out of fear. Ky is no longer the light that destroys the dark, but a king who walks the difficult grey path striving(heh) to create a world where gears need not hide and he can proudly declare "this is my family".
The title "Strive" gotta be one of the most apt names for a story with so much character development going on at all times.
"This guy considers himself a leader" He is a king haha
In lore Ky fought Sol once for real because Sol wanted him to stop holding back and fight seriously because Ky usually plays with honor and Sol is canonically part Gear so he's got some near God like power he can unleash. That one time Ky showed him how he would fight seriously against gears and decimated him in a couple of hits by strategically fighting dirty and throwing dirt in Sols eyes and tripping him up. Because in a life or death fight between what is essentially a regular human against one of these gears in this universe you can't fight fair to survive. He just fights with honor and chivalry in a spar, especially with friends because he's a pretty humble kind of friend.
His faith and pride has also led to letting Sol raise his kid while he has to work and yeah that was a bad idea, because despite sending plenty of money to raise and provide for him while he had to be away, Sol just blew it off and was unintentionally kind of a Vegeta Goku mix of just letting Kys kid handle himself and not doing much. Fortunately Kys kid is naively wholesome and nice and is highly positive to a fault and didn't see anything wrong with explaining the sugar water Sol would give him for being good as a treat to his mortified parents when visiting them. They both probably would have killed Sol if he were present in that moment.
Thanks for sharing that lore with us 😀
Sol isn't Part gear he is the Prototype Gear, until strive it is only the restrictor he built into his headband that keeps him from loosing control.
Also since no one else really mentioned it in my quick perusal despite how Unga McBunga in your face Sol fights he is also a multiple PhD level Physicist and one of the most intelligent people on the planet probably only less so than Asuka R. Kreuz and Happy Chaos.
We will watch your reactions to the entire OST with great interest.
😎🤟🥳
find your one way: an old man from a bygone era who had his life and the people he loved taken away from him unfairly. spent decades searching for some semblance of peace in a world seemingly determined to be against him, finally found it and settled. but when faced with powers threatening to take it all away again without willing to compromise, he stood his ground and said 'no'
roar of the spark: a man born in war, knowing nothing else but the life of a soldier ever advancing forward, in hope or desperation he does not know. struggling to come to terms with his own shortcomings. chosen to lead by those who came before him, he is a light that walks blindly. he finds something meek and pitiful and decides to guard it. he finds himself to be a lacking guardian and falters but finds his footing in time and presses on again knowing someone follows him who will carry on when he no longer can. so he struggles to be as bright as a light he can be.
Guilty Gear Strive is an amazing album with a pretty neat game bundled in for free
Also, some light lore/background on these guys.
TLDR:
Sol is a former scientist who was unwillingly turned into the first of a race of immortal super beings called Gears and has been travelling the world as a bounty hunter and zero-hour hero for hundreds of years, being forced to kill his (mind controlled/insane) wife or some clone or reincarnation of her a frankly ridiculous number of times to save the world, and just trying to live free and do the right thing in his life;
Ky Kiske is a former war hero of the Crusades against the Gears, who became one of the Crusade's leaders and eventually one of the Three Kings of Illyria (what's left/rebuilt of europe), who fell in love with a Gear and has been struggling to reconcile his wartime zealous militantism with the acceptance and love he feels, and the tolerance and harmony that he feels necessary to create a new, better world from the ashes of the old one.
Long(er, but not complete) version:
In Guilty Gear's timeline, magic was reintroduced into the world in our modern day (a few years ago at this point, i think). It was combined with science and technology to create a new golden age, until a certain team of scientists, including Sol, his wife Aria, and his friend, known for most of the series only as That Man, created super soldiers called Gears, of whom Sol and Aria were unwillingly turned into the first ones by That Man. Eventually the Gears rebelled and the world was plunged into a long, long dark age. Aria was sort of mind controlled and was made the Queen of the Gears, mind controlling other Gears in turn, where as Sol, the "Guilty Gear" (roll credits) spent long years trying to find out how to free/neutralize Aria and occasionally helping the Crusaders, of whom Ky Kiske was a young hero and, later, leader, until eventually Sol killed the Gear Queen and ended the Crusades.
Looooooooong story shorter, fast forward many years and several other world ending threats, and Ky Kiske is one of the Three Kings of Illyria, the kingdom that encompasses the remains of europe. Sol, for the most part, travels the world living day to day as a bounty hunter and getting invariably called on to save the world from whichever game's Big Bad. Meanwhile, Ky, as one of the Three Kings, fell in love and married a surviving Gear, Dizzy (who it turns out is Sol and Aria's child, making Sol, his long-standing rival/asshole friend... his father in law. there's a very funny scene in Xrd when they both realize this), and even had a half-Gear son, whom he named his Sin. Ky and Dizzy even gave custody of him to Sol to raise on the road, as their relationship was kind of a secret and he still felt very deeply conflicted about it (The irony here being that Dizzy, being an absolutely adorable gem of a girl, was absolutely *adored* by the general populace, and when they eventually revealed their marriage that everyone kinda sorta already knew about unofficially, Illyria was absolutely ecstatic to have her as their Queen lol)
Eventually he comes around to fully changing his world views. He has spearheaded efforts to promote tolerance and acceptance of Gears in the world, attempting to erase the stigma created by the several-hundred year Crusades. His song in Strive is about how even though he lost his zealous militantism and is no longer 100% sure of what's right and wrong, he nevertheless must keep his faith and tread the path he believes is right (namely fighting for the good and peace of all, humans and Gears alike), bearing the pale fire that guides the light to a better tomorrow. This is, in fact, the same thing he has always done, even as a young zealous Crusader, it's just that what he believes that path is has changed, and that sort of full circle in his faith is why that piano(? i'm bad with instruments) that runs throughout his whole song - the one that the song starts with that made Beth go "that's a cool sound he's got" - is actually the main melody of his old character theme from a previous game just directly transplanted into the foundation of a new, different song.
Also, "pale fire" is a way to describe lightning, which is the power he wields (his sword is actually one of many fragments of the superweapon Sol created to end the Crusades, with each piece controlling a different element - Sol wields the piece that controls fire - and used by various characters that Sol entrusted the pieces to after defeating Aria) and that weird power coming out of his eyeball is actually Gear power coming from one of Sin's eyes - to limit Sin's power (Gears are.... terrifying, and a baby Sin could cause untold devastation on accident) he swapped one of his eyes with his son's before handing him to Sol.
As for Sol, he is simultaneously a much more simple character.. and the most complicated to talk about, because he's deeply connected to every single major plotline of the series. Which is... A Lot (tm). As short as i can make it... I mentioned earlier that his wife was turned into the Queen of Gears, and that he's had to kill her, a clone, reincarnation or some other version of her a ridiculous number of times. Well, other than being called on to save the world by killing his wife AGAIN, he spends most of his time travelling around, living on the road as a bounty hunter, protecting people in his own way, and keeping an eye on certain important things, such as the fragments of his superweapon (i.e. his and Ky's swords). As of the starting point of Strive, he has a travelling companion - Jack-O, who is YET ANOTHER CLONE OF HIS DEAD WIFE. Specifically, Jack-O is a copy of the evil Aria clones known as the Valentine sisters which were created by one of the Big Bads (who may or may not have been God, but they're dead now, kinda). She was created to hold the last fragment of Aria's original soul so that Sol's wife could be reborn for real and they could finally live happy, but the events of the last game made Aria's soul kind of traumatized and she refuses to get out of the proverbial storage room she's locked herself in within Jack-O by taking control of her body. Incidentally, Jack-O, who's always known of her own purpose as a vessel for Aria's rebirth, and never considered herself any more than an ephemeral tool, has, in her travels with Sol, discovered that, uh oh, she kinda loves being alive, and she kinda loves Sol. And while Sol is not necessarily aware of Jack-O's burgeoning feelings, as she keeps reminding him that she's just a vessel for Aria and that she's sorry it's taking so long, well... that's his situation right now. Just trying to live free and do his own thing, while travelling around with a woman who kinda sorta is his wife but also is just a fleshy robot carrying his wife's consciousnes, who is learning about living and feeling and OH NO THERE'S ANOTHER BIG BAD TIME TO SAVE THE WORLD AGAIN LETS HOPE HE DOESNT HAVE TO FUCKING KILL ARIA ONE MORE TIME and that's how Strive begins.
"Light lore" my ass lol
@Just Chill hey, i gave a TLDR!
Also, trust me, even the long version is "light".... guilty gear is... insane lmao
@@marcog.verbruggen674 oh I'm *well* aware lol
@@marcog.verbruggen674 I just imagine them opening this comment and being like "nope"
@@Erblorg wouldnt blame them lmao but they've replied to similar comments by other people before so who knows
Man I saw “Sol and Ky themes” and got so excited omfg, you guys are in for a TREAT. Daisuke is a genius composer
I can't wait to see you react to the other themes they're so good. In Strive every character (new and old) is given this deep meaningful theme that really tears into them and analyzes who they are as people.
The more you know about their lore the more value and impact you get out of the songs. I love all of them equally but Ramlethal and I-No are my favorite.
Yo a fellow Ram theme enjoyer. Though my second is Baiken's theme. I-No's is better now that I know the lore and backstory (as much as a newcomer can), but knowing the lore just makes it even more sad than I could already feel it was.
I think what's also really interesting about these two is their elemental affinities, Sol is fire, he is always growing, always latching on to something new and expanding as growing is it's nature, meanwhile, Ky is lighting, lighting strikes at the highest object, it clings to something nearly instantly, whereas Sol is growing and changing more or less of his own accord, he's living his own life, Ky needs a lightning rod to be drawn to, he needs that faith and that pride in something to define his ideals. That's my interpretation anyways I'm not an expert on Guilty Gear lore so I don't know how much of this is accurate
The lady with the hat was I-No and you should definitely check out her theme
If you are interested in learning more about the characters and their themes, I recommend Gekkosquirrel's video which goes into detail explaining the meaning behind the character's themes: th-cam.com/video/4VzRhScn0rs/w-d-xo.html
This. God, I hope they see this comment
Can more people like this please?
Since ya'll are reacting to the Guilty Gear Strive themes, here's a good recommendation when do you all the characters that come before Bridget, "What Does Each Strive Character Theme Mean?" by GekkoSquirrel, he throws in a bit of lore for GG Strive and his channel also explain Fighting Game Terminology, Stereotypes and Archetypes.
And to explain Ky Kiske's ability to "reinforce his skin", it's a power-up called Dragon Install, he was only capable of doing this after taking his Gear son Sin Kiske's Eyeball (Since Sin was getting too strong and this was apparently a way to reduce his power) and swapped his son's eyeball with his own eyeball, Sol Badguy could also Dragon Install in the last game, but his Dragon Install in Strive is only shown through a super attack, so there's no power-up for him in Strive gameplay.
Oh and Bricky also a made a vid on Guilty Gear Strive as well! Although it's not really much about lore but more about how good the game is.
I wouldn't recommend Gekko, lots of his takes in that video are pretty bad and some are just out right wrong
@@LeFisheboi Still entertaining, and he ain't wrong when talking about fighting game terminology.
Can't wait for Baiken's theme.
It's cool how Ken unknowingly nailed the religious aspect of Ky from his theme, and the both of you noticed their character traits- Sol values freedom, Ky values faith and responsibility.
To add more context to the characters, Sol despite his looks is a former scientist (with a PhD in theoretical physics) turned gruff bounty hunter, whereas Ky is a former Holy Knight of the Sacred Order of Holy Knights (who where directed by the church) that ended up becoming a king. The world they live in has had many periods of darkness, with the main one being Humanity's 100 year long war against the Gears (biological androids) that hated humanity, known as the Crusades.
Ky started off as a soldier of the church filled with blind faith- which is apparent by simply looking at the title of his original theme "Holy Orders - Be Just or Be Dead". However, over the course of the games, his clashes with Sol over their differing outlooks, as well as those of other characters, and the discovery that the Gears he had spent years fighting as enemies were also victims in their own way, cast doubts over his dogmatic faith- especially after meeting a certain character.
When he was young, Ky lost his mother in the war and soon after became determined to stop running from the Gears and face them, making it his mission to be strong enough to join the Knights. He became a prodigy swordsman as part of the Knights and was tasked with exterminating the Gears. Sol was actually his squadmate at one point as both of them wanted to wipe out Gears, but his rough and anti-social personality caused him to leave the Order and go back to being a bounty hunter- Being a deserter (and stealing a holy artifact) brought him into conflict with Ky.
I didn’t expect this, hope you react to more themes, this entire OST is amazing
Sol was originally just a normal scientist, but a certain person basically did a mr. freeze situation. that guy then to fix the situation, turned sol into an immortal super soldier. So, in here, his theme is mostly about his attitude for the way he lives as a bounty hunter (apparently, in japan bounty hunters are good people doing good things for money), so we're just following one of his latest missions.
Ky is a devout christian. He became one of the kings of his kingdom (the main king), but he still has a weird life. He's married to a super human, and his child is another super human. He swapped one of their eyes to make his son, "Sin" weaker. So his theme is mostly about him trying to make sense of what is happening.
Can’t wait to see May’s theme! Always love hearing some Guilty Gear music lol
You should totally listen to each of the Valentine's themes (Diva, Diva of Despair, Marionette, Juno, Necessary Discrepancy and Perfection Can't Please me) since they all take inspiration from the original Valentine's Theme (Diva) which is imo one of the best songs from a videogame ever, and I think that'd make for good comparisons between them.
Themes:
Valentine - Diva
Ramlethal Valentine - Diva of Despair and Necessary Discrepancy
Elphelt Valentine - Marionette
Jack'O Valentine - Juno and Perfection can't please me
Oh yeaaaaah I would love to see more ost reactions
I VERY highly recommend "Let Me Carve Your Way" and "Love The Subhuman Self" bonus points if you do them at the same time because of how closely linked the characters are. Drift is also great.
Omg yes, pleeaaase do more reactions to the music. There's a couple of tracks down the line that will really shock you in terms of how characters are portraid and what their back stories are. Leo and Zato's are the first that come to mind.
Now that I’ve watch the video, I’ve never seen anyone blind react and actually get this much meaning out of the songs, I LOVE this reaction, really great hearing what you both thought of the lyrics!!
Though trust, the lyrics may get more confusing or overwhelming as you go but you’re doing good so far imo!
you absolutely need to make more of these, each and every song is absolutely amazing character pieces
I hope they do more reactions of these, seeing people react to the GGST soundtrack is always awesome
Love the character themes so much, hope you guys do more!
Please do the rest of the ost, yall basically were spot on with your analysis and i would love to see more
That game franchise honestly has some of the most Banger theme songs I’ve ever heard.
Guilty Gear music reactions are a great idea, can’t wait to get to the stranger tracks that hit later aha
Let's GOOOOOO! I have been waiting for the OST reactions since you guys first reacted to the character roster and overdrives.
It’s so cool to hear opinions about the characters based on their themes, since they reflect each other so well. Hope you guys will react to more themes!
Actually, Ky's theme from the original Guilty Gear is called "Holy Orders" and you can hear the similarities.
If you are going to react to them in pairs here's some suggestions of themes about characters that share storylines:
Out of the Box (Axl Low) - Requiem (I-No) - Tragic relationship with existential time loop shenanigans
Mirror of the World (Baiken) - Rock Parade (Anji Mito) - Two survivors of Japan's destruction, the whole country got destroyed in the storyline.
Love the Subhuman Self (Millia Rage) - Let Me Carve Your Way (Zato-1) - Members of the assassin's guild, both of them have a complicated relationship. Zato has died and been resurrected before, so a lot of his stuff has to do with feeling apathy due to that experience. His whole personality changed after he died.
Also some random songs that I think are just really good: Alone Infection (Faust, psycho turned goofy character turned depressive character in strive, probably because of guilt over past actions), Drift (Happy Chaos, villain, goofy maniac so above everything that doesn't seem to care much) and Like a Weed, Naturally, as a Matter of Course (Testament, past game villain that seem to have chilled out over the years)
Fausts theme is called alone infection now
Maybe, Kiss of Death and Armorclad Faith together, due to being themes of heavyweights and patriots?
@@mydrillasanjay5397No way I just got Armor Clad Faith'd I'm still living in the beta 💀 thanks for correcting me
@@AmadeyAzalinOh yeah makes sense, tho I also thought about Armor-clad Faith and Play the Hero together since Chipp and Potemkin are polar opposites in playstyle
@@hmmmmmmhm also makes sense, iirc Potemkin encouraged Chipp's idea to become prez, right?
Great introspective analysis on the themes. It actually goes in line with Sol and Ky’s in canon story and characteristics with their roles, personalities and outlooks on life. Especially considering when comparing the two themes it further cements why Ky’s sense of obligation, and responsibility as a leader whose ideals may seem self righteous and rigid in contrast with Sol’s free spirit and indomitable will. It’s why they’re such great rivals.
Honestly, this was a really great breakdown of their characters after only just listening to their songs. Was very interesting to hear your thoughts on these characters. Really enjoy hearing you guys' thoughts in your reactions, it adds a lot of interest content that goes beyond just a reaction.
Interesting reaction series to do! The character’s OSTs are designed to be a reflection of their stories, so the lyrics will be an interesting one to to decipher as you go along.
Sol Badguy's theme is very much a look into how he is rough; he's not nice; and won't mince words with you: but when the chips are on the table: he won't push others to do what needs to be done. Just don't push him and all will be good.
Ky Kiske's theme is actually his reflection of previous game's/prior story events: how he came to be in his position and questioning himself on if he made the right choices or should he have done things differently; and hoping that even with all that has been, his story will help be a guiding light for others.
You seriously need to do more of this, Guilty Gear OST is amazing! :> Great video!
Sol is basically the rock n roll protagonist even his name is a reference to Freddie Mercury (his real name is Frederick Bulsara), so a wild bounty hunter who's very down to earth and fights his way through his problems. In the story he and his girlfriend basically got turned into monsters by their best friend (to actually save the dying girlfriend) but it ended up creating a huge amount of problems and he had to fight both his gf and the monsters that were created as a result and kill them. "Find your one way" his theme is basically just the spirit of Rock and how you may need to create your own path in life regardless of the obstacles or rules that get in your way.
On the other hand Ky is pretty much his "rival" (although this has changed over the course of the series) and polar opposite, he was a crusader fighting against the same monsters Sol was trying to defeat and later on became a King and leader after the war. So a very responsible and by the book "hero" who tries to do the right thing. He also married Sol's daughter and has a son so he fights to protect both them and his people. "Roar of the spark" his theme is probably a reference to the fact he wields a lightning sword but also how this lightning is white and pure light just like his personality is that of a spotless white knight while still being fierce.
Overall guilty gear lore is very complex and sometimes very obnoxious but it tried to explain it as best as i could.
I would love to see you continue reacting to Guilty Gear stuff.
To elaborate a bit on Ky's theme, note that the last verse said "I want to fill the world with all kinds of light"
In broad terms, he was an orphan turned soldier turned king, who was very adamant and steadfast in his beliefs to protect his people. Now, he ended befriending criminals, enemy factions and even monsters whom he fought so passionately against.
His journey is about coming to terms with the reality of his previous black and white world.
You guys were really spot on and how some people pointed out the Ky has a little more of a be a example and let a legacy for the future generations to follow now that he is a family man.
A surprise to see but a very welcome one since I listen to their osts all the time
Wow, I was not expecting this but now I'm really looking forward to it. You need to do Armor Clad Faith and Love the Subhuman Self, they're two of the three best songs on the OST
To put ky into perspective he used to belong to a holy order. He spent his life believing sol was responsible for some major atrocities so in the early guilty gear games he would hunt sol down but eventually sol and ky became more of a goku and vegeta dynamic
curious it was your first guilty gear strive video reaction that introduced me into the game
This games OST is legendary
I hope you enjoy it 👍
GekkoSquirrel has a fantastic video that gives a short breakdown of each character’s theme and how it ties to their story!
I love kys theme cuz it fits so well with his lore and crusader rock is a vibe
Really liked the thoughts after the fact, I really hope you listen to the rest of the OST, it's a masterpiece.
There are like a dozen of sol vs ky themes. You should check them out. Also in their old costumes sol had the word FREE on his belt while Ky had HOPE. Sol is FREE and will never be told how to live while Ky wants to give HOPE to a world destroyed by 100 years of war.
guilty gear strive has IMO one of the best soundracks in any game. after you've reacted to all the OST's i highly recommend watching a video titeld "What Does Each Strive Character Theme Mean?" by GekkoSquirrel. the video basically gives some detail into the meaning of the OST's
Was hoping this series was gonna be weekly. I need your guy's reactions to certain tracks.
Oh my you guys are doing OST’s now. Bridget and Jack O’ have pretty awesome themed in the game
I'm genuinely kinda surprised that your descriptions on the characters based on the song were kinda accurate.
Not fully correct, but the message the song was trying to say was identified! Would love to see more of these on more strive songs or other osts!
Sol Badguy’s theme is the best one for me. Second hash to be Bridget’s. They both just bop when listening
Guiltelicious is a word I thought I’d never hear
I would definitely love to see more ost reactions from this game. Most of the characters themes hint at there past or what they aspire to and more.
two of my favorite themes from Strive are Love the Subhuman Self (Millia’s theme) and Hellfire (Leo’s) theme, they’re both really good songs with well thought lyrics, you can get a sense for just what kind of characters Millia and Leo are just from their themes. If you do another one of these you should definitely include those two !
Most of your discussion on what you think about the characters from their themes is actually pretty true, i would recommend reacting to the lore, but there's a lot so be prepared for some complicated stuff
Cant wait for them to react to Happy Chaos's theme! Or Zato!
These songs are very catchy to informative on the characters background story, as I never thought you react to theme songs from video games. As each OST for video game is a nice touch to listen and understand story. 😄 I hope future ideas of listening to VGOST be a nice content to grow more on you guys channel. As I got some great game ideas to listen to OST that you both would like to listen to.
fun fact sol has a phd in magic physics and makes weapons capable of killing gods because he’s bored he’s one of the r smartest characters in the game
and is ky’s father in law
Finally…..the reactions I’ve been waiting for
Sols outlook on life comes from having to be the guy who fights dudes for a living everyday for like 100 years
Hi ! I don't know how video requesting works on your channel and sorry if this is not on topic.
But while we are on the OST topic, I think you would really like the Persona 5 OST, preferably Last Suprise (battle theme), Life Will Change and Rivers in the Desert (theme of the final boss).
PS: Great video (again)!🥰
Please do more of GG Strive songs! They are amazing
If you're going to react to more of these, i heavily reccomend checking out Faust's theme next, imo it's one of the standout tracks of the entire ost
I love all the guilty gear music from the entire series, but Strive is easily the best imo. The lyrics do a great job of showcasing the backstory and mentality of every character in the game, and also they’re just really fun to listen to as well lol
You two should take a look at the I-No and Happy Chaos themes since they're both the antagonists of strive. Very good themes too.
Cant wait till they do my favourite theme , Chipp's theme 'Play the hero' 🥳🙌
😎🤟
Guilty gear themes clearly shows how genius of a writer the creator of the game is (he is the chara designer, the composer and writer of the songs, but not the vocalist)
That guy can put all the lore and story of a character from a series that lived more than 20 years in one song, and everything will make sense.
If you can I recommend you to listen to:
-Ramlethal theme --- Necessary discrepancy
-I-no theme --- Requiem
-Zato theme ---- Let me carve your way
-Baiken theme --- Mirror of the world
You should check out their older themes from Guilty Gear, GGX, GGX2#Reload & Accent Core R.
Oh wait...there aren't that many.
Am really happy seeing you guy react to the music of strive 🤟🏻, If the plan is to react to 2 songs for video I would recommend some pairings base on characters relations
Anji and Baiken
Ramlethal and Sin Kyske
Millia and Zato
The witch character is called I-no and her theme is defnetly my favorite. I would love if you guys reacted to it
(the theme is called Requiem)
So excited; definitely my top 5 video game ost
omg yall reacting to game music now!? 😍this soundtrack is so good.
You were spot-on about Ky being religious. He was a member (and briefly the leader) of the Sacred Order of Holy Knights at the end of the Crusades, a 100-year war between Gears and Humans. They believed God was on the side of Humanity, which makes it all the more ironic that Ky would eventually marry a half-Gear named Dizzy (Sol’s daughter) and father a quarter-Gear named Sin (Sol’s grandson).
I find it ironic that he eventually learns no God was not on humanities side....
Next themes you need to react for Guilty Gear Strive are Ramlethals *(Necessary Discrepancy)* and Zato's *(Let me Carve Your Way)*
Such bangers and my two favorite themes of the entire soundtrack.
Someone once described Sol’s theme as a bar fight and yea, I think that checks out
Oooo I love this! And would love to see more
Was into the ost before I even played a single Guilty Gear game. Looking forward to more
good thing yall started with these two there rivalry is similar to ken and ryu from streetfighter. in a way,but there beliefs drive it further of course
There are a lot of good music in Guilty Gear, so I hope there will be more videos like this (Of course, other game music!)
Thank you always for the good videos.
If you wanna keep the fighting game content going, I suggest you watch Blasted Salami's Tekken 7 character overviews and make a character draft for it! It'd be interesting to see who you two choose
Man I can't wait for you to hear Millia and I-No's themes
Please, please, please do more of these!
If you want like a good recap to guilty gear i think woolie vs made a really good one plus been help by arcsystem works themselves
PLEASE do Happy Chaos next. You'll love his!
I don't know what it is about Ky's theme but it always gives me goosebumps.
I REALLY like this idea.
Can't wait for Zato=1/Eddie's theme.
Also here's somethign funny for you guys to check out even on your private time. Sin, Ky's Son, explaining the "birds and the bees".
th-cam.com/video/hLXRUgFqLJ0/w-d-xo.html
Pls do more of this for strive, strive has amazing music and the creator is the composer so all the lyrics for the song mean something.
Finaly you react the OST of guilty Gear strive
Hm, I hope you do BlazBlue Themes too.
Oh I can’t wait for Hellfire(Leo’s theme) and Let Me Carve Your Way(Zato’s theme).
Can't wait til you get to Baiken's (Mirror of the World) and Millia's (Love the Subhuman Self) themes, although there are several other bangers.