translation by BioBooster
Good shit Larry. Will definitely be there! Hopefully this game generates enough lasting hype so it doesn’t end up in “the room” lol.
Lol you use pad?? I try to use stick for everything these days besides Tekken and MK, where I use ps2 pad + inPin. Not going to lie, I feel more comfy on pad with KoF games, no shortcuts and those funky supers. But prob just use stick.
Can anyone elaborate on how Mai got better? Heard she wasn’t so hot before, but never really comprehended the reason why.
Agreed, the Leona changes looks like a solid tradeoff, at least from what I’ve been told and read about her in XIII. Seems like less gimmicks, more options. Still looking like Shen/Leona/Rob for me, though I’ll prob replace Leona down the line since I’m unsure whether I want to commit to her. Since XII was a shitty starting point to pick her up, or any character for that matter…
I’ll ween myself into stick for KOFXIII. My PS3 TE doesn’t work on my laptop so I’m kinda stuck playing with the type of controller I’ve been using for most of my fighting game experience, which is a PS2/3 pad. But, games that I can take seriously and picture myself playing in arcade then I’ll give it the time of trying to learn it on stick. Games that I just dabble on, then I just play with my pad within my own comfortability.
Mai was kinda balls in XIII for a few reasons. One factor, though not that huge of one, is that her projectile was too slow. It was about as slow or slower than the recovery of 98 Mai’s projectile; there was almost no reason to use it as the return wasn’t great. Her Ryuuenbu lost the vertical hitbox it had in the loketests and from past KOF games so her ability to zone and control the ground and hop space to force the opponent to full jump was simply not there. Even if it was good, her frametraps and blockstrings using heavy attacks wasn’t present. If she did something like cl.C xx qcb+A or cr.C xx qcb+A on block, the Ryuuenbu would whiff and totally null her pressure. C Version would work, but the opponent doesn’t have to guess or read with a guard roll on the cr.C to get a full hop-in combo. The opponent could guard roll on the first hit on C Version of Ryuuenbu rather than on the cl./cr.C so it was simply reactable. So that meant that Mai didn’t really have much sort of zoning and trap pressure as she had in previous games. Stack on lack of damage output that better characters could do and that zoning overall is generally weaker due to the lack of damage conversion per individual hit, Mai wasn’t so good. So her zoning returned, has more means of confirming HD combos, what she could combo in HD is better, system changes to Neomax and meter usage helping her, and gaining more tricky/gimmicky mix-ups really buffed her up. I like her j.CD in XIII as it’s like an aerial version of A Version Ryuuenbu so her air dominance and ground dominance zoning should really be formidable now.
Leona wasn’t more gimmicks, it’s more about her having a really good reversal that was safe on block and recovered to quickly to actually punish. If anything, she could set up more gimmicks now with that faster f.B overhead in conjunction with other tools. For me, the end result is that she got better than compared to arcade version. I’d say go ahead and stick with her but feel free to play around with the whole cast.
Personally, I want to get to the point that I could be really cool and play 3 Random Edit just like how Dakou could body GGPO fools with 3 random characters in 98. I guess since I already main these characters in 98 and they’re really catered to basic spacing and fundamentals, I’d have EX Kyo and EX Iori as my mainstays and perhaps Terry and Benimaru and switch out between those two for the third spot. If it’s possible, I want to run EX Kyo/EX Iori/Iori but who knows if that’ll be possible. But yeah, SNKP said that the DLC characters will be intentionally stronger and it just so happened that EX Kyo and Fireball Iori are my 98 mains. Fireball Kyo is not a character I’m that fond of although I must admit he’s a bit more fun in XIII than his other iterations. I don’t really play or study 02, but I’ve been messing around with that game more on GGPO and I’ve been picking up K’ and Billy to kinda get a primer for them so I’ll be generally familiar with them when XIII console hits.
Right now what my game is lacking is means to stop really stupid play and gimmicky play. I’m more scared of a bad player making stupid decisions and do very “high” things rather than a smart solid player. So I need things that generally shut down almost everything and control space with long active frames. So I’ve been trying to pick up K’ and trying to abuse slightly delayed “safe hop” set ups that stop most stuff on oki. What most people here don’t generally know about old KOF is that in games like 98 and 02, there is a small bit of invul frames during oki when doing a reversal super jump and shit like that messes me up among other things. So characters with j.CDs like 02 Andy or K’s j.CD really limit badly pushed buttons, reversal super jumps, sloppy air-to-airs and other stuff.
I originally didn’t want to cave in and play K’ like other people did, but I’m also kind of tired of letting silly things slip. To keep that in consideration, Leona’s j.CD kinda falls into that category. A j.CD with long horizontal reach that can’t really be air to aired nor but has a deep enough vertical hitbox to preemptively stop most grounded anti-air attacks as well. To add upon that fact, in XIII there is no push back for the character initiating the j.CD attack. There’s only push back for the receiver; that means that you could pretty much almost indefinitely lock a cornered opponent with j.CD pressure. If Chris was in the game, he’d be broken.
I digress. I have a feeling I’d be blown up a bit more by tick throw gimmicks now that Alternate Guard is nerfed. For certain characters, it’s pretty much nonexistant so I’d have to deal with more Western/Hispanic mix-ups that are actually legit now. At least rolling and GCCD is nerfed a bit so those gimmicky people that just abuse backward rolls in multiple successions should be easier to deal with.
It’s been along time since you’ve been to FR. Everything is in the same room now sir! We’ll have atleast 8500 square foot ballroom for FR15 next year.
Appreciate the feedback man! And yea I see why you’re on pad right now. The one time I played XIII I used inPin and PS2 stick. Wishing I could get in some decent playtime before end of next month but my guy’s laptop randomly crashes, so that won’t be the case. Gonna be all about the mental training until then.
I won’t pretend like I’m this OG KoF player. But I put in a bit of work in some in the past, so just trying to get a grip on XIII’s system(didn’t ever really play 2002UM much) and then I can definitely go from there.
I used A groove Mai in CvS2 so I was just wondering, and especially since I haven’t saw her in many matches, so that’s nice to hear in case I get the urge to fuck with her. Might stick with Leona if only because the way you describe j.CD sounds so enticing. That annoying pressure is my calling. About K’, don’t do it! I’m so sick of seeing him, although I know why. And I bet anyone who’s played this game for any length of time to get blew up by shenanigans hovers that cursor over K’ from time to time until they eventually say “why not”? On the flipside of you, THAT’S what I’m the most worried about. The solid play from an excellent character. Because I AM the stupid, gimmicky player lol. Already got a few nice guys here who will be using K’ from jump. As well as EX Iori. And they will be utilized. That’s the shit i’m going to try to get around.
Do you think the balancing done will ultimately affect K’ in any way? Or he’s just the intentional beast mode chara? Also kinda hoping Scratching Iori edges out Fireball Iori, if only because I got so sick of people bitching about him in XII when he was one of the best charas in the game. Bitch about the game, not the “complete” character you’re using, because that was few and far between in that game. So the massive horde of dudes grinning and saying, “I got my flames back. It’s over now”, I just want to death fist them with Woo if I can manage. Asap matches. So yea I will be definitely playing this game.
Haha good to know and yea it has. FR is usually during my birthday weekend every year so unless my gf has something planned for me here I try to make it, and that has been the case these past 2 tourneys lol. But I’ve just about already confirmed next March so I’m looking forward to seeing everyone and getting on the T6/KoFXIII/MK9/SCV brackets. 
I’m going politely disagree here. First of all I wrote up a mini impression about her back when I was using her last year as I mained her for awhile and even used her in several tourneys. You have to remember that with Ex moves now, that you have to have an enhanced version of each special move (in this case speed) so that’s why her Kachosens are slower IMHO. Also with her dash speed and incredible pokes, they actually work well if you chase after them for added pressure. It’s all part of her redesigned zoning package.
You don’t have to always end in a special and you can still combo her qcb C off a s.A if you wanted to. You can always use her light attack blockstring: d.B x2, s.A and hit confirm a qcb+P that way she’s not susceptible to GCABs.
Her damage output is really what hurts her as her DM scales horribly and hence you see in the SNKP Mai video they opted to skip her DM and go straight into NM instead.
Moon Slasher is not safe on block for any version.
Even Dune feels like her nerfs were a little excessive; I’m with him, she feels nerfed.
Yeah, I’d most probably rock EX Kyo/Whatever/Whoever in the end at the least. K’ will depend on what kind of playstyle I’m playing against and how many air to air j.Ds > run under cross overs I want to do.
In regards to K’ balancing, I think they did enough to make him a bit more easy to play against. His design, based on the Nests Saga/02um version, is just naturally overpowering and somewhat one dimensional. Characters such as Iori have to really space and know what ranges they have to hop in with certain jump in attacks. If Iori does a j.B or j.D when he’s supposed to use j.C in a certain range, he’ll be anti-aired by a cr.B combo and eat big damage. If he does a j.C from a bit too far outwards, he’ll whiff and perhaps eat a sweep punish or by a grounded anti-air. K’s j.D simply covers air-to-air and air-to-ground effectively with all a single move. If he needs a bit more of an extended jump-in that automatically starts with a lower hitbox, he has j.CD and j.C to cover that range. So he pretty much could just keep hopping around just pressing one button then mix up whenever with another button when he wants to. It doesn’t help that his hop arc and acceleration is a bit lower and quicker than in past KOF games, so it’s not as easy to anti-air it with a st.A or something like that. In the console build, they adjusted that so you should be able to anti-air it when appropriate.
Otherwise, as I recall he just had other minor damage nerfs, less recovery on Ein Trigger so he can’t just keep doing cr.B > cr.B > Ein Tigger > cr.B > Ein Trigger > Ein Trigger on block and still be safe, and etc. that made him kinda dumb. But, he’s still a strong character and received a few token buffs that help him out like the freeze portion of his Chain Drive doesn’t let the HD Meter drain until he starts attacking, helping him get more Max Cancel combos. He’ll be strong and he’s intentionally strong in design, but he’ll be putting up with a stronger cast now that have more opportunities to land big damage just as he was able to.
Unless Scratch Iori’s hcf+P turns into O.Yashiro’s hcf+P with invul then no lol. Flame Iori is just a character with all the fundamentals to win. He’s a battery, he’s an anchor, he can turtle/zone, and he could rush down with grappler oki. He also will have that damage output now thanks to his new qcf+PP to stun people and get another combo in, as well as his moveset lending well to HD mode. Scratch Iori got better for console, but whenever I play him I feel a lack of getting people wanting to hop against him from mid and full screen due to the lack of projectiles and his consistent lack of a good sweep (it’s never good.) Fireball Iori could just keep tossing projectiles then zone with Far D, neutral/hop back j.B/D/CD, DP, cr.B anti-air attacks; and that projectile helps coax people into wanting to hop or jump. So I want to get in with Scratch Iori so I could do cool pressure, right? Qcb+K doesn’t work as intended on block and feel really negative so he can’t really end any blockstring with a special attack for a slight about of chip, unlike Flame Iori who could do that easily. So I can’t really chip, so I have to go for some basic high/low/throw mix ups using the command throw he has. The thing is that the invul on it is nonexistent and EX version has to be used so he won’t lose to abare defense. So he can’t really tick into it against a mashy player and it’s not like it’s just an abare dp that’ll win. I could bait out the mash, but if it’s a cl.C or something, we’d be left at neutral advantage after block and I can’t really get much out from it. Then if I do land a bnb, unless if it’s a HD combo confirm I’m not going to do big damage. Flame Iori could do his cl.C f.A xx rekka series and delay the last hit to get more frame advantage on the hard knockdown and go into an ambiguous roll mix-up that is also involves some command throw mix-ups. So if you do block on the correct side, you might still be thrown and hit for a full bnb that leads into another mix-up, or you could try to jump out on oki but be hit by a meaty and comboed anyways as well. Flame Iori has more mix-ups, damage, utility to do everything, and could be played in any spot on the team. Arcade Scratch Iori is pretty much played only on anchor. If I play Scratch Iori, it’ll be me trying to land command throws and going into j.D, 68 damage hit resets into crossunder/fake crossunder mix-ups that involve ambiguous cross-ups, lows, and tick throws. And I’m the only one that plays like that, for better or worse. It’s like I’m playing O.Yashiro with an expanded mix-up after the command throw-hitreset, but what’s lacking in this regard is that O.Yashiro could actually stuff out grounded attack with the huge invul on his command throw whereas Scratch Iori cannot. I could do it if I use meter, but that’s using meter. So I have to play perfect and really scare people into blocking first so I could normal command throw them, but it doesn’t stop them from actually pushing buttons to hit my command throw
I’ll still rock Scratch Iori in XIII console, he could actually do cl.C f.A xx qcb+C > DM without needing any drive bar and his qcb+K supposedly got better in frame advantage so I’d have to see what’s good. But naturally and because he’s a DLC character, SNKP will intentionally make Flame Iori a strong character and already is due to his design.
She isn’t that much redesigned. St.B hits more crouchers, Far D is more useful as it’s more like a beefy st.B, cl.D is almost like the new Far D and lost the vertical coverage it had in old games, Far C covers better range and is like the old qcb+B from past games, j.CD is like an air-ryuuenbu, st.A cancels, cr.B doesn’t overlap with a slide so she could do more running, cr.B pressure. She’s buffed but her fundamental design is still there. I wouldn’t say she’s redesigned. Just because she has EX moves doesn’t mean that normal Kachousen should be terrible beyond 98 terrible. There’s a reason it was buffed up to 02 levels of recovery between arcade and console verison. It was pretty much useless and just because the EX version is good doesn’t justify why the normal version is trash. Remember, Mai is one of my mains in 98 and 02 and it’s not like I don’t know how to play her. It’s not like I haven’t studied Ching Lung or other good Mai players or that I’m not familiar with her or of how the adjustments between XIII and her older incarnations have an affect on her overall gameplan.
You don’t have to always end in a special and you can still combo her qcb C off a s.A if you wanted to. You can always use her light attack blockstring: d.B x2, s.A and hit confirm a qcb+P that way she’s not susceptible to GCABs.
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That still weakens her ability to blockstring then frametrap with cr.C then further pressure with Ryuuenbu. Isn’t st.A xx qcb+A still just as susceptible to a guard roll just like cr.C anyways? She had similar strings in older games such as 98 and 02 where she could do cr.B, cl.A xx qcb+A/C so the cr.B x2, st.A xx qcb+A isn’t particularly that new or different. She lost the mix up of walk forward and pressing A once or twice, then frame trap with cr.C and scoring a hit. It makes it less obvious when to guard roll and make the opponent want to look out particularly for a cr.C to Guard Cancel Roll. If if they roll on a blank cr.C, then you have enough frame advantage to meaty with another cr.C as they recover from the roll to continue pressure.
Pretty much in the same agreement.
What do you punish it with? In the few times I played the game it seemed difficult to run forward and land a cl.C. It’s just my unfamiliarity with the timing. It doesn’t make it any less difficult to deal with.
- Voltec Launcher chips less guard meter (Nerf, but does it even matter that much?)
- Strike Arch (directon move) comes out faster (Buff)
- Fierce V-Slasher has different angle; weak travels short, fierce goes far. EX version is the same as the arcade. (Buff)
- Ground Saber has longer recovery when blocked. About even when fierce version gets blocked. (Nerf, but didn’t have much application on block anyways)
- Moon Slasher has less hitback when blocked. All of them (weak, fierce, EX) are easier to get punished than the arcade. (Nerf, but it if it could already be punished as you said, then it shouldn’t really matter. It’s just easier to deal with now but the return should remain the same as arcade.)
- EX X-Caliber comes out faster. Still can’t be comboed from a normal or direction attack. (Buff)
Just with the list, she has about as many nerfs as buffs and her buffs out weigh her nerfs. Did she lose damage output? Did she lose her ability to hitconfirm and combo into knockdown from cr.B? Did any of her anti-air normals such as cl.C, cr.C, st.A, Far D get slower/nerfed? Did her DMs get nerfed? Did the start up get any worse for Moon Slasher? Did she actually lose her Drive and HD combos? Did she lose her j.A instant overhead on the whole cast? Did she lose her ability to instant overhead with Neutral Jump D into X-Calibur? Did she lose her priority with j.D and j.CD? Did she lose her air-throw option select? Did she lose or was nerfed of her main zoning tools?
She’s buffed unless there’s some hidden stuff that wasn’t mentioned in the list.
On a different tangent, you asked some really silly questions during those interviews such as (paraphrased) “Do you think gaining more meter by being hit by Neomax is a sort of comeback factor?” And I believe one of your co-hosts said it’s most probably because you could use more EX moves. The whole time, I was just wondering, “Can’t you guys just figure it for yourselves in your head rather than asking Dune the obvious?” EX moves generally seemed be nerfed in invul for Console XIII, so obviously EX moves in the sense of being used as abare reversals for comebacks isn’t the case. Having more meter just means that when you, yourself, land a hit that you have a chance of doing more damage during a hitconfirm into HD mode and have more options during that mode to use EX moves and DMs to do a large combo to come back from being hit by a Neomax combo. Technically though, it’s not a comeback mechanic. A comeback mechanic is an actually separate subsystem that helps you come back. Getting hit to get meter is just a natural mechanic of the game that simply was just buffed to balance the give and take nature of the damage outputs.
Sorry, it just peeved me when I heard you guys asking such basic questions for Dune during the first interview. It’s like, “WHY?”
This part specifically caught my attention. If you had no idea that the invulnerability was getting nerfed or about the game in general, asking basic questions are important. It’s not just an interview to get information for the interviewers, but for everyone that is listening who probably knows very little about the game in general. I think that’s basic reporting skills right there. You should never assume your audience knows everything.
Getting hit by something and getting more meter for it is pretty self explanatory and asking the question is somewhat demeaning towards the audience. Unless the audience connect 1 to 2, I won’t give them that sort of mental disrespect. You have to think about audience, but you also have to think about the target audience. Who exactly will be listening to balance changes on eLive Pro? People that utterly don’t know anything about fighting games or people that are already familiar with fighting games and multiple subsystems. People don’t need to be explained to that getting more meter means bigger return when you land your hit. The target audience will be mostly people that are interested in learning KOF and people already well familiar with it. Ask better questions such as “How many points of guard points does Clark have during his new hcf+B” or how much unsafer are certain attacks are on block compared to arcade version and what could be used to punish those unsafe attacks at what ranges. Such as if a run up cl.C is optimal or if that’s not possible but a fast sweep in lieu.
If anyone is coming to FR15 the online early bird badge discount special ends tomorrow. The EBS = $25 instead of the $40 at the door.
ah, nevermind. Hyped for this game. Despite coming around at the same time as Ultimate MvC3, I think with the current state of affairs this could get a lot of people’s attention. Really interested to see how the combined character changes play out in the grand scheme of things.
Mmm contemplating FR for this game depending how munch money I have after my job ends in January/buy my new PC. Only live in Savannah so getting there isn’t the biggest hassle.
Hopefully I have enough time to be confident in the game enough to make it out 
Hey man sorry if you felt mentally disrespected, at least we were nice enough not to mentally fuck you, :). Lol but really we’ll take the advice of asking better question’s there’s always room for improvement, and we definitely aren’t gonna act like we’re beyond that.
now on the comeback mechanic thing, sure the meter gain itself isn’t really something that has it’s own seperate subsystems that say, " Hey use this for a comeback!!", but none the less that’s the point of it’s implementation to give opponent a better chance of staying in the game and making a possible comeback. The meter gain on certain block strings and on hit is so substantial that it cannot be taken lightly and shouldn’t be disregarded as very obvious thing because it effects the overall flow of the match significantly different than the arcade. And don’t look at ex’s as just a way to escape thats not the only thing I meant by the question. while in game play when a certain character has an ex he’s able to shutdown certain options. for example chin’s ex roll goes through ground fireballs, and if used correctly it will lead to a full combo, ultimately shutting down the fireball game which is an advantageous strategy against a chin player. but if he almost always has stock that part of the game is very dangerous for you to play. Also consider the advantage of using meter to guard cancel roll
Yeah, sorry if I came off as harsh. Had a bit of a tizzy earlier and was in a rotten mood. So I apologize. But yeah, the worst thing for me during the interview wasn’t only the questions but they were asked in such an awkward yet unenthusiastic manner. So it seemed quite, how should I say, very off putting and seemed if you were asking it just to ask it rather in earnest or as if you’re asking it for another person. It also seemed as if you guys seeked out Dune’s answer as if his opinion is only what matters. I felt you guys should have put in your own two cents and interpretation of the data.
Yeah, the thing about stuff like Chin’s EX Rolls escaped my mind in terms of stuff like projectile invulnerability. If that were the case during the interview, it would have been nice if you did a larger run down of what exactly is capable and available with a bit of extra bar. Such as that although EX attack generally lost invul from Arcade to Console, that specific/unique attacks such as Chin’s EX Roll or Kyo’s EX hcb+K opens up a few more options to keep the opponents on their toes along with the ability to HD combo with a bit of extra meter in reserve in comparison.
It’s like you guys ask questions, but you didn’t give a a more complete run down with the information available, and left it at the obvious but didn’t explore the not as obvious. If you guys don’t hate me, I personally would like to be on board during the interviews/podcasts when it comes to character analysis and tossing back and forth some suppositions and possibilities.
Here we go (anyone who reads the whole reply is crazy).
I guess we’ll agree to disagree. She seems redesigned to me but I guess that’s subjective. Is she completely different? No. She still is Mai like Maxima still is Maxima, however they play slightly different and IMHO refreshing after you get used to it.
It’s just used differently. Duo Lon’s qcb+P in the arcade is slow as hell, but it’s just not used in the same manner as say Athena’s Psycho Ball but it has it’s uses. As for Ex moves in general, it’s true, it’s feels like they nerf a lot of special moves so that Ex moves maybe warranted (Joe’s dp+K). I kinda missed the days when Ranbu A and C versions would have different uses, now it’s mainly Ex or non-Ex but I guess it’s to be expected with the new system.
I’m not doubting your knowledge of '98 or '02 but I’m just saying overall comparing her to an older iteration is pointless since it’s a different game. Just because XIII Billy isn’t '02 Billy doesn’t make him crap.
Of course you can still GCAB the s.A, but it’s a lot harder to react than the d.C as it’s so much slower and you have like two years to GCAB that hit.
Well of course you have to factor in pushback and and distance in general but her Moon Slasher is:
-21/-30/-21 (A/C/Ex) so of course it depends on the character but really anything pretty fast like Ex moves or DMs. If they’re dumb enough to do it pretty close you should be able to unload a full combo with no problem.
When I personally talked to Yamamoto-san at Evo, he mentioned there were several characters that have minor changes since they felt they were pretty balanced to begin with: Chin, Leona and King if my memory serves me correctly.
You’re looking at the list just in black and white but in reality she was a very solid character in v1.1 and the moves that did get nerfed were not extremely abusable in the first place. You didn’t see people abusing Moon Slasher all day, or chip people to death with Voltec Launcher, or put someone in a continuous blockstring with her Ground Sabre–they were unnecessary nerfs.
If anything, they should just tone down her HD combos as they definitely were on the high end.
Apparently a little according to the Evo build at least.
She still has great tools, I’m not arguing that. I’m not saying she’s low tier, I’m just feeling that she’s nerfed compared to her arcade version overall. The faster overhead and the adjusted V-Slasher angle doesn’t make up for her Moon Slasher and Ground Sabre getting worse IMO. Bottomline, is she’s buff but she isn’t buffed lol.
I’m sorry you were disappointed at our interview, we will continue to work on improving ourselves. We just feel that Dune has a lot of insightful perspective and we love for him to share what he and perhaps some of the Japanese players are feeling. Despite the question being seemingly rhetorical it’s still provide interesting food for thought.
Yamamoto-san did expressed that he wanted the game to have more high damaging combos and I suppose all the changes to NM and meter gain is help aid this. I’ll call it a comeback strategy without feeling too gimmicky like some other fighting games may feel.
Our goal is to grow the community, and like great teachers you sometimes have to ask simple questions that will help people understand the mechanics of KOF better. You and I may have 17+ years behind our belts, but not everyone has played as long as us.
I think you’re only catering to a certain group of players that are already familiar with how fighting games work; we designed it so that everyone can get something out of it. Also, your point about mental disrespect can go both ways. Just because one personal knows a lot doesn’t mean they should unload as much as they possible can, whenever they can; this isn’t a testosterone pissing contest. We’re trying to think long term and try to encourage new people to play the series as well.
See this goes back to the front page debate on SRK about what makes good commentary. Everyone is at a different level and everyone wants to hear different things. First of all, Dune doesn’t have the data to how much GP Clark’s hcf+B has, nor does he necessarily need it. I went thru 12 KOF without knowing or hearing about frame data and IMHO I consider that I turned out fine. A lot of the technical babble bores people and is really not necessary when most competent players can just discern if a move lags or not and what you can punish and what you can’t after trial and error.
Finally, in regards to the interview itself, we did not want to take too much of the Professor’s time and Dune’s time as they were conducted at odd times as mentioned in the interview, furthermore the Professor was at least 1-2 second lagged and it made it even harder to conduct a proper back-and-forth conversation. We’re saving our own input for another elive session for all the SoCal players to see their input and this isn’t because we’re being elitist, but it’s due to the mere fact that we’ve played the game for over a year so it’s fair to hear some input from people that have played hundreds of hours.
I really like that meter gain change myself. It’s cool how this game has a lot of freedom in the way the juggle mechanics work, but that paired with the HD system led to there being lots of really long combos, which could really make the game get boring at times. In the arcade version, people would almost always opt to use HD mode to simply do the biggest combo possible, which would frequently involve one player looping the same 2 special moves repeatedly until the HD gauge ran out while the other player would be sitting there waiting for it to end.
Now they’re giving you a good incentive not to use those long combos. Doing a longer combo may net you a bit more damage, but now you have to decide if that bit of extra damage is worth your opponent gaining a fairly large chunk of meter that they could use to shut down your momentum or deal some big damage in return. If you think it would be dangerous to let your opponent get that much meter, cut your combo short so you don’t give it to them. They made Neomaxes cost less during HD mode to make it easier to do this. You might also choose to do a reset in the middle of an HD combo for a mix-up into another HD combo. Hopefully, with this change, people will consider the benefits of these different options so we end up getting more interesting gameplay from the HD system than we did in the arcade version.
stream is on