Ishiwatari says Blitz Shield got a lackluster reception at the first loketest, but he seems to imply he expected as much. Pachi goes over its primary purpose, then goes on to say that it should also be good for characters who don't have good anti-air options. He also says they were conscious of it possibly having a negative effect in an offense-oriented game like GG, so they took care to make sure it wasn't too strong a tool. Ishiwatari then talks about them realizing that it might not mesh well with YRCs and taking measures for such. Pachi goes into a bit more detail, but my reading comprehension is too low to tell what he's saying.
The interviewer asks just what the hell is up with Danger Time, but Ishiwatari points out that a random mechanic like that isn't new, citing the times in Samurai Shodown when two characters would lock weapons and the players had to mash to win that exchange. When the interviewer points out that modern gamers tend to prefer having more control, Ishiwatari's reply is basically, "Yeah, me too, but I want people to experience those same illogical, 'why am I mashing so hard right now' moments that I did." Pachi then reveals that he actually wasn't on Team Red at first, and when he learned about Danger Time after joining, his initial reaction was something like, "Are you kidding me with this?!", but then says that he came to like the idea of surprising players with something they're not expecting that could happen at any time. Regarding Mortal Counters, their main concern was that if it had too small an effect, both players would just wait it out, but Pachi acknowledges that there are pros and cons.
The main thing to worry about at first is to play the game as basic as possible when you are first learning. Slowly let the more complex stuff trickle into your gameplay. The problem a lot of people have with learning GG or BB is they try to learn everything at once.
