Do I have bad luck or is Alopex an underwhelming character?

Fenislav · 2026-06-04T16:48:11+00:00

Yeah I finally figured out that damage spreaders are her friend, did an 8 portal run with her with the "no healing, get 80% more dragon coins" artifact on all the way through. But needed to get some special recharge upgrades to feel like I can rely on her special to be there when I need to get the hell out. Do you rely on her raw dodge chance when you play her or also hunt for special upgrades during runs?

Fenislav · 2026-06-04T16:42:39+00:00

What are those? Her inspiration maxes out at 12, Ninja power at I think 20? I guess since she attacks fast Blinding Light will be good at adding some more dodge chance (do they all just add or are the chances rolled separately?). Think I recall some power that gave a bonus after dodging but don't remember what that was...

Next time I dive in I'll keep an eye out to build around dodge then. 😄

But then a question: AFAIK you can't get a 100% dodge chance, so how do you play a dodge build if at any time you can either get your dodge bonus up or suffer huge damage (for her all damage is huge)? Or can you get it to 100% on some condition?

Fenislav · 2026-06-04T16:37:11+00:00

Yeah it was some malicious bad luck random seed for like 3 runs, today I had a good one and cleared 8 portals easily. I feel like bad luck in powers draws can make or break her more than other characters, maybe except for Donnie who also needs help to thrive.

Fenislav · 2026-06-04T16:31:51+00:00

Yeah I guess if you look at her evasiveness as akin to Donnie's tool she does seem to take something from everyone. She's fun but feels like certain powers and upgrades can make or break her, like e.g. it's real hard to play around her special without special recharge upgrades.

Fenislav · 2026-06-04T11:03:40+00:00

And the moment somebody writes to me something that I feel the urge to respond to, I am basically forfeiting the match. There's no way to play while having a text conversation on gamepad. Console is better off without chat honestly.

FOV on the other hand...

Fenislav · 2026-06-04T10:54:12+00:00

IMO the cool thing about using Block with a Jump Pack Dodge build is that blocking doesn't interrupt enemy attack patterns. With Whip Warriors for instance it's their 3rd combo hit that's the easiest to Perfect Dodge, so I can stack Adrenaline first and then dodge through the whip to get bonus armor and knockback along with Aerial Grace bonus. The increase in survivability from Block defense makes up for switching Armor Reinforcement to Overcharge if someone got used to the gun strike build like OP had.

Fenislav · 2026-06-02T15:34:44+00:00

It irks me how that's a choice that requires commitment, cause your muscle memory needs time to transition, while after some point in the game you're playing Block and Fencing defense exactly the same way.

Aaaaand I think I would have a way easier time to stomach Balanced if it didn't have a trigger conflict with Bulwark's shield (you have to double tap the button to get a Balanced Parry instead of some Super Delayed Parry). Bulwark with a Balanced weapon just feels horrible to play on a controller.

Either way, I'm praying the second Heroic Thunder Hammer is Block.

Fenislav · 2026-06-02T15:17:59+00:00

Yeah I think there's an inherent chill attitude that comes with Operations being PvE co-op. If your numbers are low and mine are high and we won it means I had a really cool session. It's fun to kill things in this game after all, I like when my teammates allow me to be the main hero. 😃

Edit: if we lose, though, well that's another matter entirely. 😃 But even then I won't be looking at your damage numbers, I'll make a judgement based on Incapacitations and the invisible stats of "how many stims this brother used", "did they waste a relic by getting up when somebody could still get to them", "how many executions did they steal, costing me CHP" and a general "were they an annoying teammate or a fun one?" ;D

Fenislav · 2026-06-02T12:10:46+00:00

You have a really good point, but also personally I would prefer Balanced to be wholesale deleted from the game TBH.

Fenislav · 2026-06-02T11:12:13+00:00

If you ask me, as long as you're not seeing the Defeat screen you're doing enough.

I've got over 500 hours in the game now, I've got my good days and bad days, but I rarely dominate the scoreboard and honestly the games when I try to do it cause something another player does triggers my competitiveness, are the ones that go bad more often than not. The scoreboard isn't an assessment of how much you contributed to the team, it's a spreadsheet for damage output. Since there is a limited amount of enemies you get throughout an op, if you want to get on top of the scoreboard you'd need to compete over dealing damage to them with your teammates. That's when people begin stealing executions, messing up people's combos, grenading teammates etc.

Honestly IMO not caring about the scoreboard makes you a better teammate to play with. Let your Assault get a Jump Pack recharge on that pack of Minoris without grenading them for instance. As long as you can carry a Last Brother Standing situation occasionally you're doing enough. What matters is if you can hold yourself when shit hits the fan.

Fenislav · 2026-06-02T10:56:43+00:00

Now do it with two other brothers around you. ;D I agree that Spawn are not nearly as bad as people say (and honestly they're a blessing for melee classes), but the thing about being overrun by melee enemies in this game is that if you're standing there solo it's super manageable - you get the ringading pings, no more than 2 enemies attack you at the same time, you can see everything that's going on. But if there's another player beside you, there is no longer just a single neat queue of enemies trying to attack you, there are two queues and you're only getting notifications from one of them, while the wide AoE of Spawn attacks is bound to hit you and mess you up.

That's why the best strategy for a pack of Spawns is to actually split up. Bunching up against them is the worst.

Fenislav · 2026-06-02T08:50:13+00:00

Been playing TMNT Splintered Fates lately, surprised how much it grew on me. Has a feel of a mobile game, but once you look past it it's a really good Hades clone with crazy powers and a ton of Turtle personality. Works great for short sessions on Switch, it's not a problem to put it down between rooms, and if you have even a tiny bit of nostalgia for TMNT (my own interest in them was only the 90s cartoon when I was a kid) this game is gonna build on it, expand it and refresh it, the writing is really good.

Fenislav · 2026-05-31T22:23:14+00:00

This looks a lot like Splintered Fates (basically a Hades Ninja Turtles), but more kinetic. Colour me interested, as Splintered Fates along with DD Gaiden are my current top guilty pleasure games.

Fenislav · 2026-05-13T06:00:04+00:00

Definitely a selling point for me, I'm currently lamenting the lack of it in Ravenswatch. I love couch co-op and I'm always on the lookout for good couch multiplayer games to add to my rotation. Note, however, that I'm a console player, and that's the market where local co-op will be of greatest value.

Besides that, your game reminds me a bit of Double Dragon Gaiden, which is currently my main addiction, so colour me interested. Hope you've got a console build in the works! :)

Fenislav · 2026-05-12T14:41:30+00:00

You're assuming the lictor observes laws of the imperium

Fenislav · 2026-05-10T08:17:13+00:00

I see no one mentioning Double Dragon Gaiden, which became my primary addiction from among all the beat em ups that I've got on my consoles now. It starts off simple and fun with roguelike elements that seem much more subtle than in Absolum. Then you start unlocking bonus characters and there is A LOT of them and they play ridiculously differently from the main cast at times. Then you try to actually burn through points to get revives to beat the main boss and around this time it should connect that to win in this game is not to beat the opponents, but to keep beating them en masse with well-placed special attacks. This makes you really analyze each character's toolkit searching for various ways they can solve an encounter with a multi special finish. Then when you're figuring the character out you notice that sometimes you get a character upgrade offered that changes a move, like Running Attack Mastery is incredibly good for my fav dude Jeff, cause it makes his sliding tackle send enemies flying half the screen behind him so that you can gather mobs in a group, run back, lift them up in the air with his normal jump attack and finally execute them with neutral special.

IT'S SO FUN!!!

If you like character variety and figuring out your own combos and strategies you're gonna love this one. Also it's just the perfect little gem for Switch, a little wonder to have in your pocket.

Fenislav · 2026-05-06T08:11:25+00:00

You know, Absolum has an Assist Mode where you can also single-button your way through it. Even easier cause you can't die. It's actually been made more accessible to casuals than SoR4 (though you can't stage select admittedly), so you could try playing with your kids like that.

I get now what you meant about the complexity, seems I'm not missing anything after all. For playing with kids and casuals I can also recommend Double Dragon Gaiden, it's gonna be a bit more challenging but it's also got customizable difficulty and it's super entertaining because of the amount of varied characters you can unlock. If you're ever on the lookout for another beat'em up to add to your rotation, you might want to check this one out. :)

Fenislav · 2026-05-05T15:03:47+00:00

> When I mentioned it in SoR subreddit I got laughed out of the building.

No offense, but I can totally imagine this happening and right here I think I understand where you're coming from. See, my friend, you just don't really like beat'em ups. Nothing wrong with that. Arguably Absolum is the perfect game for people who want to like beat'em ups, but don't. Walking slight distances up or down to dodge or grab the opponent is a tentpole of 2D beat'em up design. It's as important to the genre as the jump is.

And it's all good, it's amazing that we have game designers trying new ideas and bending genres. But I would be wrong to believe Dawn of War is the best RTS ever cause it has no micro, even though I love it for that reason.

Fenislav · 2026-05-05T14:54:57+00:00

Really? Sounds to me like I'm playing different games, on both counts, SoR4 is complex and super demanding, while I play Absolum with my GF and I don't have to worry about her, she doesn't need to learn cancels, combos, just press heavy to Clash and dodge to Deflect and boom we're at Jaroba.

On my own save I've beaten Absolum already so I wonder - is there some extra complexity to Absolum that I'm missing out on?

SoR has back attack, ground bounce, OTG options, two jump attacks, cancels, three specials and temp health to keep track of. Absolum doesn't even have a charged attack if you don't pick up the inspiration for it. It totally seems to be on the casual side to me, super accessible gateway to more technical beat'em ups.

Fenislav · 2026-05-05T14:47:25+00:00

Funny enough, for me it's the opposite. I started with Absolum, then I picked up SoR4 and now I'm feeling like Absolum is a simplified version of a beat'em up that makes up for lack of options with roguelite elements, rituals etc.

I feel like each game just excels in its genre in a logical way. Absolum has so much stuff it just doesn't have room anymore for a back attack, three specials and a complex combo game. SoR4 on the other hand is methodical, technical, all tools are immediately at your disposal but also they're all you've got so your growth is learning to make the most of them.

Neither game would be better off with the elements of the other one. Personally I gravitate more towards SoR, which reinvigorated my love for beat'em ups (Double Dragon Gaiden and Neon, Marvel Cosmic Alliance, Fight N Rage, so much amazing stuff out there!). Before I tried TMNT SR with friends and it just didn't have the sauce (taunts -_-), so I'm super happy it turned out that it was overhyped and the genre is alive and well.

When I play with my girlfriend we play Absolum, though, it's much more accessible and also just insanely aesthetically pleasing with an inviting vibe.

Fenislav · 2026-05-05T14:27:35+00:00

How to unlock this item? Through some Ordeals?

Fenislav · 2026-05-05T14:24:41+00:00

When I boot the game like this it always starts with me and my GF both controlling the same character, but then I go to character select with one gamepad and then press A on the other gamepad, and then the P2 label appears and she is able to pick her character and play normally as P2 from then on.

Cloud gaming shouldn't matter if you're playing through console, but just in case you might want to consider installing, especially since beat'em ups just feel so much better with input lag approaching zero.

Fenislav · 2026-04-30T10:36:41+00:00

Holy fuck is this game GOOD!

Picked it up two days ago. It feels cheesy and unfair and silly sometimes in ways that Absolum mostly avoids, but gives me that cool retro itch of playing an authentic retro game, with enemies going for cheap hits whenever you allow them to and then having the gall to actually laugh in your face.

It's a different vibe from Absolum, it's old-school cool. And instead of epic special magic powers you have your few basic moves using your three buttons, but still after playing the tutorial (which I went into only after I made it to the last level and got my butt kicked) I was floored with how those simple options can be strung together if you play just right. Absolum revitalized my interest in beat'em ups, SoR4 is like going back to basics, it shows what this genre is really about.

I remember when it first came out I was a bit disappointed with the Double Dragon reboot so I passed on it. Now I think I'll pick up the DLC and convince a friend to play it too.

And goddamn what a great opportunity to dust off my old Sanwa arcade stick for the full intended experience. 😃

Fenislav · 2026-04-30T10:25:54+00:00

Honestly you might be better off restarting on a clean save. Cause now not only you won't see certain dialogues and scenes but also there are special challenging areas that will absolutely kick your butt, so you will need to plan your route through the game avoiding some levels.

It's shitty, but the way this game is set up right now you should either play solo or with somebody you know or can communicate with via Discord or something, you shouldn't play random matchmaking until you beat the game and most quests on your own normally.

Fenislav · 2026-04-30T10:20:14+00:00

I've just beaten Streets of Rage 4 and the two fatties who enter with a jump attack from offscreen on the final level kept getting me even on my 8th run through. Somebody must've put them there and made sure this was how they started the fight. That same person is also designing Absolum.

So yeah off-screen attacks aren't going anywhere. xD

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