I'm playing Guilty Gear X2 #Reload at the moment and I'm reminded of the great character design.  I mean, they're all very unique and have something special about them.  From what I've been hearing about BlazBlue (especially in Giant Bomb's Quick Look), the character design isn't all that great.  If you're familiar with both franchises (or not), which ones do you prefer?

I really dont think you can take someone elses opinion on character design which is a visual reference - so if you if you read about people or heard that people did not like something, you should check it out for yourself for your own judgement.

I wish they could have just made another Guilty Gear, I agree with you...the character design is awesome.  There were so many interesting characters to work with but they had to start from scratch with BlazBlue.  It might not be their fault that they couldn't use the existing Guilty Gear franchise, but it's just disappointing.  Plus the fact that many of the characters were named after metal bands and stuff was just so awesome, it's a shame we won't be seeing that in BlazBlue.  Venom was such an awesome character as well.

But not just by how they look, but what they represent.  In Guilty Gear, there's a normal dude who's basically haunted and controlled by ghost, a vampire, a cross-dressing monk boy who fights with a Yo-yo and a teddy bear...  I don't know much about the BlazBlue characters right now and I want to see others opinions on the matter.

And like needforswede mentioned, many of the characters were named after metal bands does make it rather awesome.

Blazblue roster is pretty small and their design is strongly of anime influence. I think if your in to anime you'll understand the stereotype of each character.  Guilty Gear felt very metal rock with some characters and anime like with others. Well Blazblue is starting out so they can add some characters that fit in the Blazblue world but have some coolness of Guilty Gear.

To me I feel that Blazblue and Guilty Gear are on par with each other since both do different things.

Seeing as I don't like about half or at least 1/3rd of the whole Guilty Gear roster and the fact the art style of Continuum Shift is a massive upgrade...it is tied for me. I just can't choose between BlazBlue's smooth criminal Hazama and Guilty Gear's gentlemen vampire Slayer.

It's really a toss up for me.  The Guilty Gear characters have been around much longer, so they sort of have this feeling of being more natural in my mind.  Sort of like how I compare a new Street Fighter character like Juri to someone well-established like Chun-Li.  On the other hand, the character designs in BlazBlue don't feel quite like the chaotic mishmash that Guilty Gear's characters are.  It's like there's a greater sense of cohesion between them.

" @Hailinel: Do you prefer that greater sense of cohesion between the BlazBlue characters, though?  Maybe it's favorable for that game, but I always felt that Guilty Gear was an over-the-top fighting game ala Marvel vs Capcom 2 character-wise and it was great that they were all a bunch of freaks assembled together.  Since my last post in this thread, I've played BlazBlue and I do like the characters a lot in there (except for Tager, he's just dumb except for the magnet concept).  I still prefer the Guilty Gear characters, but the ones in BlazBlue are fun as well and it kind of makes me wish we could see both of the casts in a single game, vs. style, fighting game. "

Guilty Gear just has a better style to it. Blaz Blue feels generic in comparison

Guilty Gear.  None of BlazBlue's characters really interested me (except for 1, and I don't remember her name anymore) 

Taokaka.

Blaz has a selection of more charming characters for me.

Guilty Gear is way more dirty, I like it a lot better.
 
Faust is still awesome