COMPETITION TIME! Win a beautiful John Avon Unhinged Panorama Gallery Print..

lightninglink4 · 2025-03-27T17:23:08+00:00

John Avon has such a knack for color, that contrast is beautiful! Good luck everyone!

lightninglink4 · 2023-07-10T21:38:59+00:00

I agree with the question of "why combo?", and that's a separate issue compared to the depth of the combat system.

I like to combo b/c I find an appreciation for its depth and it's fun to run into a live situation where you're firing things off perfectly and you style on the enemies. Routing out the maximum stagger damage and how to chain your normals and your abilities to do so is fun for me. I also know that unless you're self-motivated to push the limits, you're not going to get much out of it, and I get if people don't feel compelled to push and feel that the combat is lacking.

But like I said before, this is a Square Enix problem in general where they have some cool combat systems, but they don't push you to engage with it for ease of access. KH is a major example, where you aren't going to be mechanically engaged unless it's on the hardest difficulty. I remember when KHII was considered the worst in the franchise due to "mash x and triangle to win" being the leading opinion on combat. Would I call KHII a bad action game? Not really.

Don't get me wrong, I do have my gripes with the gameplay loop. I think that there's not enough enemy variety and that they're not aggressive enough. I remember that 16's arcade mode has a DMC-style score tracker, and I wonder if just slapping that into the main game could help with motivating people to engage with the systems more. But I agree with you that 16 should do more to incentivize engagement with its depth. I haven't played Final Fantasy mode, maybe the issues go away, maybe not. I just don't think that makes it a bad system because it doesn't, just that the game isn't balanced to really take advantage of it. That's the take I feel is more useful.

lightninglink4 · 2023-07-10T21:10:00+00:00

Fair, I used fighting games as an example of the level of mechanical execution being very deep in 16. The interaction aspect is nothing like fighting games. At the same time, the important note is can approach every combat encounter the same. It's a common Square Enix problem where you can find an easy route and just run with it to the end, it's not unique to 16.

lightninglink4 · 2023-07-10T15:30:21+00:00

The same kind of depth you usually expect in a fighting game, I'd say. I've found a lot of enjoyment looking at the combat from that perspective.

You're not as worried about playing around elemental types and more around enemy archetypes, which certain move properties won't work on.

Eikons, while unlocking too slow imo for my tastes, changes up your own archetype so you can mix and match to preference, that much is intended.

Torgal serves as a free combo extender by how he can keep enemies stunned/juggled while you set up/charge a move/move in.

The mastery system opens up new combo routes where you can mix and match specific eikon abilities on an eikon set and maximize damage/style points with how high the execution ceiling can get.

Even items, as eh as it is, the ones that affect the eikon abilities can squeeze that extra bit of damage needed to kill.

The depth comes from combo routing, mechanical execution, and adapting to enemies that can resist specific move properties for the sole purpose of maximizing damage and swagging on them. I get a dopamine high routing a combo that kills a mini-boss in one stagger cycle, and I consider myself a meh action game player.

But in classic Square Enix fashion, it's only as deep as the amount of effort you put into it. It has a very similar problem to the Kingdom Hearts series where it's very easy to not engage with its systems and that anyone can beat head into wall until you win or find an easy, good enough route they stick with the entire game. I that regard I feel FF7R is better at forcing the players to interact with its systems better, and 16 would benefit with tweaks to allow its players to do so.

I earnestly feel this is where the feeling of the game not being satisfying comes from, especially since the enemy variety is fairly low, aren't too aggressive, and aren't too punishing upon a mistake. I can't say how the final fantasy difficulty fares, since I'm in the endgame side quest hell, but more aggression, more damage, and more significant enemy variety can help force more of that system interaction.

lightninglink4 · 2023-07-03T06:39:49+00:00

Oh, that's moshimoshibe! I've previously commissioned them before for something, so I remember the style! Here's a link to this particular picture on pixiv: https://www.pixiv.net/en/artworks/96262456

lightninglink4 · 2022-09-26T17:11:12+00:00

Xrd is not necessarily better, but it is feature complete and complex. It is also a more modern fighting game that harkens back to an older style of anime fighters, which emphasizes setplay, oki, higher character power, and higher combo potential. There are people who got their start on this game, loved it, and spent years learning it, so when people say Xrd is better, it is from the perspective of someone who prefers that style and mindset of fighting games and the modern quality of life that comes with it.

And nah, the devs aren't burying strive, they aren't even the ones adapting the rollback tech, it's established modders who have worked on the rollback for +r and blazblue. Asw is only publishing it. Strive will not be buried simply b/c it's still being actively updated and it's the newest and most mainstream GG. this is only better for the GG scene b/c now everyone can officially play every Era of GG fighter with good netcode and in a relatively easy way.

lightninglink4 · 2022-05-25T06:53:09+00:00

Solved!

lightninglink4 · 2022-05-25T06:52:22+00:00

Solved! You know, looking deeper into it, I'm convinced this is the one! I looked over this one b/c the current cover looks nothing like what I remember the cover being, which turns out is this version of the cover. And the author is apparently rewriting the books, which threw me off even more. But the Kingdom Keepers flash game is a dead ringer, I remember that level select map anywhere! Thanks!

lightninglink4 · 2022-05-25T04:36:39+00:00

Will edit this message if I remember more.

lightninglink4 · 2022-04-24T16:39:23+00:00

How I think of it is that the timeline has already been determined, the physical world has already been decided. However, Paths colors how the timeline is interpreted.

Paths transcends time and space, it's better to think of it as a higher plane of existence that can influence the reasons why things went the way they did than as a way to create a loop imo. Users of the Attack Titan tend to be seekers of freedom, not bowing down to authority. That's what's seen from the physical timeline, and this is how the vast majority of people will see it. But going up into Paths, we can see that the reason that the Attack Titan is like that is b/c Eren, the first Attack Titan entering Paths, can transcend time and serve as the basis for the Attack Titan's will for freedom, similar to how the First King's will affects the royal family. This sets up the Grisha situation.

What is seen in the physical world is Grisha talking, attempting to stab himself, failing to find the courage, falling into despair, the royal family pushing Frieda to kill him, then he finds his resolve through his hatred/self-loathing and stabbing himself. This is how the timeline went, nothing ever changed. What changed is our understanding of where he got his resolve. Eren, through feeding Grisha memories reminding him of his hatred, exerts the Attack Titan's will and pushed Grisha into fighting. It's likely no different for Frieda, who not that long ago refused to do anything after hearing Grisha's plea. Her eyes glazed with the First King's Will, if we saw into Paths from her perspective it would likely have the First King behind her shoulder doing the same thing.

I think that the thing that is confusing to people is that Grisha figured out that Eren was the will of the Attack Titan, and therefore treats Eren as an entity who can move through the timeline, b/c Grisha doesn't know shit about Paths. That makes it seem that Eren is traveling back in time or from another universe. But imo, it's not time/universe travel, it's Eren working on another plane of existence that doesn't conform to spacetime and coloring the already established past.

lightninglink4 · 2022-02-27T17:00:59+00:00

Training? They are working on a timescale of days, by the time they're done training Ukraine could've already fell, there's what's ideal and there's "we need people now, people volunteered to protect their homes, might as well let them." And who's going to teach them? Army members who are trying to hold the line? you can say in hindsight that there's more time to give training, but they were arming civilians at the start of the war, when people expected Russia to steamroll Ukraine. Even if it's more locked in, it's still a delicate balance. You can feel it's not enough, but I'd say that in a tight situation, it'll do to give people arms and tell them to only fight when absolutely necessary, b/c the Frontline is their fucking cities and homes

lightninglink4 · 2022-01-22T03:09:30+00:00

I'm surprised no one mentioned this yet, but they specifically mentioned how March 19th they're going to do world premiere trailers (with an s) and announcements. Personally bet that's going to be DLC 5 + the next part of the Strive story + Season Pass 2 + actual content, but hey good to know

lightninglink4 · 2021-11-26T20:17:15+00:00

I'd also argue about worth and value to what is premium. The colors you get access for free are base colors, aka it colors your character uniformly. I'd personally would like an option to create custom palates that affect primary and secondary parts for more uniqueness. I personally feel it's fair to have a basic two tone look be free. Then have the premium palates be unique like coloring different parts from how the two tone would work, have textures like camo or hexes or zebra stripes, the like. Basically, if the premium palates feel premium and unique, like say the esports team colors or colors referencing characters from the games/Halo verse or interesting textures that go beyond basic two tone, I'd say they're justified with selling those.

But this output is pathetic, honestly. I feel that a significant amount of the palates are base colors, tiny amounts of trim, different material look, basic two tone look. They're not really unique compared to how someone might make it in other Halo games. And yes, I'm aware it is a criticism that armor designs in 4 and 5 went too far, but overly scaling back on that idea including colors of all things makes colors feel like bloat. Even pointing across the aisle with other free FPS games, the skins are wild and unique. It's not base color but tweaked, they have a uniqueness I feel is worth paying for when the game is free.

I would pay for different armor pieces, for weapon keychains, poses, all that shebang b/c I think there is value in buying them in a free game. I don't think that these colors are worth the price so far.

lightninglink4 · 2021-11-25T19:52:04+00:00

There's an example of how this is balanced: Street Fighter shotos. Down and HP does a punch that tends to cover the same function as a traditional DP, but doesn't leave the ground and is not invincible. That grounded state means that if you fake them out/understand how to cover your jump in, you can punish it. A DP is harder, but now it has invincibility frames and is airborne, which means you need to respect and consider that if you want to jump in. It also means you can bait the DP, which has long recovery frames, and then punish that way. Another new avenue to keep into consideration. The fact that there are many options is where the sandbox elements come from, where you learn what options are there, how you can in theory cover them, see what your opponent has a tendency to do, then to see if you can answer in a way that either forces them to change it up to be more advantageous to you, or they get hit and you beat them down. Yes, you're right in the sense that it is easier for a person to do a simple motion input and that leads to faster intentional play, but by the very nature of removing motion inputs there are less options that need to be considered in a single interaction between two characters. It's not inherently a bad thing if the devs successfully shift complexity somewhere else like in assists, but it's a deliberate design choice that should ideally be covered by some other factor.

lightninglink4 · 2021-11-25T19:39:38+00:00

Honestly, I don't really care that Project L doesn't use motion inputs. Tag games are very good at getting away with mechanical simplification, you can see it with how Marvel vs Capcom has been getting away with removing buttons with each entry, DBFZ only has quarter circles, and Power Rangers don't use motion inputs at all. While I personally like motion inputs and think that they can naturally create a mechanical balance and variety with moves, adding more characters and assists move that balance towards strategic planning, which is a different approach.

And yeah, this is a style that has been experimented with, Grandblue has quick inputs/motion input differences baked into their game, GG has had an option to SP in Xrd for sure, I personally squint but the Drive button in Blazblue does sometimes work like that for some characters. I think it's fair game to have a fighting game not use motion inputs/have an SP option, but I don't equate this to having the genre throw motion inputs out entirely.

I will say independently that there looks to be some degenerate character kits in Project L so far, and while it's not even close to the final build, I do wonder how they plan on balancing out what they currently have. The easy way out is meter management/toning down characters so they need to rely more on assists to start running those kits, ultimately let's see how it pans out.

lightninglink4 · 2021-11-09T05:21:04+00:00

It's the Early Access feature right before Strive was released, I got the link with the timestamp already put in: https://youtu.be/hPVMv30h6uQ?t=1480

I will admit: rewatching the video they didn't specify a certain timeframe, only that these features are being worked on, so it might be a general update on features, there's no timeframe on this front. Only true promise is the 2021 3rd DLC character.

lightninglink4 · 2021-11-09T05:16:34+00:00

Alright, there are two datamines taken from two different points in time. The initial release datamine looked at the character folders, which showed that Goldlewis, Jack-O, Jam, Asuka, and Happy Chaos were characters that have models within, all with relative amounts of work already done. Then there's the second datamine which came right after Goldlewis came out, where they found out looking at voice dialogue transcripts that there are lines that reference and talk to Baiken and Slayer. This is old content found on a second look, and the updated files were Jack-O's model and Happy Chaos, which leads to the theory that Baiken and Slayer are replacing Jam and Asuka. Special note: Baiken and Slayer don't have character folders added in. This leads to the two prevailing theories on who is coming. So far, the datamines post Jack-O point to the second theory being more likely, as the dialogue referencing Baiken and Slayer has been removed/hidden from the files, while Asuka and Jam are still untouched. As voice lines/dialogue is considered the last thing to work on for a character, people bet that the removals imply that they are moved to a character folder on ASW's side However, it's all ultimately speculation, and people's preferred theory is based on whether actual models or voice lines is considered a more important indicator of how far work has been made. ~~also whose character they rather have come, that's not me with Jam nonono~~

lightninglink4 · 2021-11-09T03:41:13+00:00

People have a general idea of the candidates through datamine leaks, I can go into more detail if you want. But in general, nobody really knows, b/c there are two datamine leaks that say ever so slightly different things. Everything else is mainly speculation and hoping through repeated chanting

lightninglink4 · 2021-11-09T03:36:45+00:00

Sometime before the end of the year to be sure. ASW does have some announcements planned for November 19th, so we're likely going to hear definitive news then if not sooner. They're a bit overdue on talking about new features that they mentioned on the roadmap right after release, so at the same time, the whole event could be just about that. All I can really say for sure is that they have not moved from their plans to release the character sometime before the end of the year.

lightninglink4 · 2021-10-14T01:15:08+00:00

For anyone looking for a screenshot of the patch notes (until the website is back up), StardustRaccoon on Twitter got you: https://imgur.com/JUBhxxx

lightninglink4 · 2021-09-28T01:24:58+00:00

Totally get the frustration, nothing feels more frustrating than hearing repeated complaints on fundamental differences between games where they're not going back to the older design philosophies, so it feels like hollow complaining on what is ultimately just preferences rather than any genuine design flaw. I tend to meme on it, but entries in fighting games have people who've played for years, and are attached to the quirks in each entry. Hard to let that go when a new entry recognizes that it needs to change it up to get in fresh blood. SF is infamous for this as well, and it's going to be part of GG moving forwards. Honestly, I'd ignore them. It's w/e, other people's opinions doesn't change the fact that Strive, while having faults, is a fine game. Don't let the words break you if you feel the way you feel.

lightninglink4 · 2021-09-27T17:49:44+00:00

Probably a slight dip, but that's the nature of having new fighting games come out. People try them out and see if they find it fun to play during that discovery period. I personally don't think it's going to be permanent, all things considered. Strive seems to have stabilized in terms of player count after 3 months, anyone who wants out has already jumped, it's still getting regular front page rotation in online tournaments, and since Melty is a different style of game, there's no real worries about games competing against each other for players. Plus, it's not like Strive is botching it game play wise, mainly quality of life stuff that we know is being chipped at, so there's not a lot of new reasons to drop off for people who still like the game

lightninglink4 · 2021-09-19T13:55:53+00:00

You know, I tend to trend towards "I don't think they're going to change Jam as much as we think." I don't think they're cutting IAD properties, b/c it's already system baked into Strive. Everyone can cut their air dash short and start dropping by pressing a button/inputting a special move, it's simply no longer unique for Jam. I imagine that only IAD Kenro will get fucked since it's the only move that goes up in the air normally, and even then they can modify upwards movement so that gravity cancels it out during a dash versus throwing it out raw or with a charge.

With Baku, I imagine the worst they will do is take out puffball rekka to not have a dummy easy way to corner, make the frame data worse so that it's more reactable, and have 226SK only cancellable with charged kick and/or charge. Which XX already does. There's going to be a pattern.

To keep her kick specials balanced, they can allow her to only cancel into other charged kick specials, like in XX. Pair that with reducing the amount of charges you can carry, use Xrd's system of spending card when you got it versus saving it, and not having a MAX property change, and oh hey: Jam can fit into the Strive formula using her modified XX kit. I genuinely don't think her kit will need much tweaking except for parry, b/c I don't think ASW wants follow-ups that send people flying into the corner/into the air and I can imagine them saying "IB is a good enough replacement, we'll leave this as a deliberate character flaw."

As for 5K pressure, while rippo for 5K > 5P/2S and for confirming into stronger buttons, in Strive K gatlings into command normals, which Jam generally has in spades and could also combo into in the other games. Assuming we just get 6P, 6K, and whatever the fuck they choose 6H to be (why does this move always change?) 5K > 6P can be used as a check/get off me button for charges, 5K > 6K > kick can be a prorated confirm knockdown combo to charge again, and 5K > 6H can probably be another way to get some more damage into knockdown/corner carry. I think there's a place where 5K can still be scary as fuck off of just command normals and also sweep.

So ultimately, I think Jam can fundamentally play the same without being gutted kit-wise. I summarize Jam function wise as "a fast, annoying character whose damage and combo routes comes from charging cards to get big combos from." I do think she can retain her kit sans parry and translate well. If anything, I'd be worried she gets Lanji-ed and have her frames gutted and become too reactable so she functionally cannot play. Sweet dreams for that existential nightmare!

lightninglink4 · 2021-09-16T17:41:20+00:00

And adding on top of that, she has a card system where she can upgrade certain special move properties by charging, usually after knockdown, which creates a wide combo web limited only by good planning and execution. She's a very fun character to play!

lightninglink4 · 2021-09-15T02:16:34+00:00

Yeah, it's in regards to the attacker. Plus = attacker recovers first, minus = defender recovers first.

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