The game is alright but I wish that throws were two attack buttons. I’ve been practicing and focusing on 6 buttons that I forget about the other two buttons of my stick…
I had no interest in this game to begin with, but since it went open, I figured I’d give it a try. Regardless of what I think of the game, the netcode is pretty stellar so far. Impressively so. Granted, one button game makes it a lot easier for not dropping inputs.
My issues with this game are… so paralleled to my issues with Street Fighter IV that it’s frightening. I feel like I am starting to come to the conclusion that roman cancel mechanics in slower-paced footsie fighters just don’t work for me – they just make me go insane. That doesn’t mean I can’t win, but it just turns the matches into such a boring mess. The same issue is always on my mind “Is he going to uppercut” and with it being one button away, it is even more likely. I mean, at least it’s not intruding itself on your normal meter, but that also means you can do them with an even greater excess. I thought at first that having them be so carefree would help the game bring out this sort of fast-paced cancel pressure meta, but instead, it’s just SFIV, with even more FADCs. I don’t know how safe they are, but the same issue I have with FADC’s is present, to make something safe via canceling it, you are free to always move forward, and not backwards. This single-minded concept irks me immensely, because it removes the ability for your opponent to effectively predict your “FADC” and punish it. In-fact, since backdashes are really rather slow in this game, you are better off dashing in or jumping.
It is a questionable road. I guess all of those who loved the lack of commitment in SFIV will flourish to this game. I however, am again, shunned by it.
I’ll continue with the negative aspects first, since that makes the most sense (there are positives!). I am forced to question, and this was my first thought when I heard of this MMO (DFO-esque) layout fighting game: How are you supposed to get away with jumping in this game? My thought was that the game would have a larger emphasis on using the correct anti-air, forcing a game of knowledge, or perhaps have multiple aerial options or something. My shock when I loaded this game up and found that it had NO aerial defensive mechanics whatsoever, and moreover, that anti-airs were rather swift and a lot of the time invincible! It’s like SFIV all over again, only it’s one button, so you can never not get your anti-air. The only time I didn’t anti-air someone in this game is from my own hesitance on remembering just what button I assigned that to. This blows my mind, and I’m really questioning how you’re supposed to jump in this game. Unless you are already in and going for a cross-up, anti-airs will get you every time. Cross-ups seem to work fine – in-fact, jumping close-up seems like the only viable time to jump. Auto-correct isn’t very good, and the game has dedicated cross-up attacks with HUGE hitboxes and are 10000% consistent, and require 0 jump precision.
Positives and other random stuff:
- Netplay is absolutely incredible at the moment.
- There’s not a lot of music, but I’ve liked the ones in it already.
- The visual and sound assets are alright, though not amazing in any specific way.
- I like the personality of the characters and their voices, even if I do think humanoid robots are in a bit of an abundance.
- Most certainly has a lot emphasis on footsies, however, due to limited buttons, you are quite limited in this area.
- Seems to have plans for character and playstyle variety, by picking special options and what you can spend your meter on. This could open a lot of doors in the future. Right now, it is fairly limited.
- The potential for this game to grow into something great is above average. So it might be worth following until then.
- Is most definitely a very easy-entrance fighting game, and will likely be a great stepping stone for new players for the FGC. Invincibility, armor and other such properties are all portrayed visually in game, to help players grasp with the concept. This is something that makes a lot more sense visually in a robot fighting game than one with people. Though I guess we all glow yellow when we EX our brains out…
- Input is easy, as expected, but there is still depth to the execution in some respects.
- Pace is very slow, mirroring SFIV in… too many ways. This really kind of just feels like baby’s first SFIV. Which is funny, because I considered SFIV: baby’s first street fighter.
Having now played it, I am positive this will never become the norm for fighting games, but it is a worthwhile experiment. However, If the above issues aren’t addressed, I will likely never pick up this game on it’s release. I think SFIV players, specifically those in the middle range of play in that game, will really like this game. It’s very clearly not my thing at the moment. I am still eager to see if it changes though, and I will be loosely following it. Also playing it, while the alpha is still about, because my opinion may change, who knows. I was really into it last night, then I played it today and felt faaaar too many SFIV vibes from each match, and it made my skin crawl – that game is dead for me, for good, yet it lingers in these robots. It… scares me.
The way KAs are handled in this game do remind me of what the old alpha builds of SFIV were supposed to be like, at least based on EGM’s old writeup. For those who didn’t read that old article, the way they described it there was that, instead of using focus to cancel, you could simply dash cancel out of EX attacks.
I wonder if Seth is trying to replicate that somewhat with this.
Also, to give credit where it’s due, the game does address SFIV’s other big issue - hard knockdown for days - by making you able to quick stand and back roll out of almost anything (throws and super seem to be the exceptions, with the former still allowing quickstand). That, plus the game doesn’t have a universal anti-footsie tool (focus). Some matches probably feel SFIV-ish due to players not taking advantage of these, but things will likely change as soon as more players start learning to use these better.
Side question - would SF4 be better if you could dash out of EX attacks instead of spending 2 Super gauge bars to FADC and extend the combo?
Hmm should they add some SFAlpha-style air blocking and a proper alpha counter?
It does solve the hard-knock-life issue, yes. However, the more and more I play, the more and more I’m thinking “This is SFIV.” It’s not going away, only growing stronger. It’s actually, in it’s own way, even harder for me than SFIV, because I have so few buttons to work with. I can’t make creative use of priority and come out on top, I have to play within this very limited spectrum of normals, which sometimes (and often times), don’t cover the areas I need to cover. The same sort of abject feeling I had when playing SFIV is very prevalent in this game. It’s sort of a 3S player’s woe : I know what he’s going to do, I know exactly what normal he is going to do, and I know what he’ll cancel into… but I can’t do anything about it. In SFIV, I had to grasp at straws and master an absolutely tedious amount of priority and counter poke knowledge and stop things before they started, which is an utterly ridiculous expectation every single time. Here, I am even more limited in options.
I think I’m just getting really sick of games being so scared to add mechanics. Specifically defensive mechanics. It doesn’t have to be some game changing mechanic, I just want my proper defense to yield me some sort of reward, yet the games releasing now adays just seem to really be hammering it in that doing a random special is a better defensive option than blocking pressure successfully for 10 seconds, finding their pattern and the proper hole and getting out the proper way. I did the same thing in SFIV, and it blew people’s minds how patient I was on the defense in that game (because no else was), but the reward was non-existent. At best I would return to neutral having dealt zero damage, or evened out the chip damage I probably took during the pressure. Maybe I would have made them spend most of their meter doing their “read” uppercut, which they “coincidentally” canceled instinctively despite thinking it was a “read.”
I want to point out that my defense is only good against pressure, I don’t claim to be a god-tier footsie player, I am most certainly not. I do well with my back to the wall. I actually feel more comfortable in the corner in most games than at neutral. Unless it’s against Necro/Ken in 3S… then not so much.
I dunno man, yatagarasu I felt was too similar to 3S, and this game feels too similar to SFIV. Both will probably become different from their obvious inspirations, but they are both too similar right now in base design for me. I hope Rising continues to push itself further and further away. Give me something to spend my meter on that isn’t an FADC – I don’t even cancel my uppercuts, fuck that shit! Puuuunish me! I improperly read the situation, punish me 100% stun style!
I also gotta say, haha – the one button thing is really more a detriment to me than to most. I have pretty piss poor reaction times, I am a very anticipatory player. I’ll be buffering what I need, for when I need it. Not having to do that here makes that ability very minuscule in worth. I don’t even whiff punish by reaction, I just think “He’s going to do a c.MK, so I’ll back up a couple pixels, pause for for blah-blah frames, then do a c.MK to counterpoke” and I just do it, I don’t react to it coming out, I just do it beforehand and play it out. My reaction times are piss poor for a fighting game player, haha. Still, I get by somehow, and can somehow hit-confirm moderately well.
Yeah and Chel walking speed is making me insane, can’t play a whiff punish game whatever I would like to do.
Feel like playing a SF4 low tier.
after playing this game for a couple hundred matches … it’s pretty legit. amazing that an alpha is this playable. everyone in the cast is pretty weird and interesting in their own right, except for Chel, and she’ll probably get there
gotta say though, not being able to see the other guy’s meters. I hope that experiment ends pretty soon. doesn’t add any depth like I thought it would. specials on cooldown I think does some interesting things to the meta but not being able to see those cooldowns ?ehhhhhhh
Chel is the best at making other players hate their life though.
I love it.
I set it up this way with JoyToKey since I only had a 6-button stick, but after too many times of missing the Light+Medium input for Throw or accidentally activating Overdrive with Medium+Heavy when trying to combo, I decided to buy an 8-button stick.
I got a few hours in of this and I’m not sure if I’m going to stick with it. A lot of things I don’t like from SF4 on present here like jabs converting to big combos, the set play with knockdowns, FADC-style move to keep things safe. It’s better paced than SF4 and the quick-rise as it is now is helping with knockdowns. I’m not feeling the cooldowns. That shit messed me up more than I would like.
Please elaborate. What big combo can you do from jabs? What “setplay” beats quick rise and DP?
Chel, Edge and Dauntless all have hit confirm combos off of light attacks, and these are safe on block of course. Chel and Edge especially can do pretty good damage. Kinetic Deflect/combo breaker/burst helps fight this somewhat, but it’s a pretty considerable advantage to have. They also retain the option to throw and then cancel it with Kinetic Advance/FADC/roman cancel and combo afterward, and Edge can even link out of his overheads into combos.
So does Talos. L xx Spartan Rush xx Super does a lot of damage
I did say that quick rise helps with knockdowns. I play Talos so DP isn’t gonna help me.
Like TS said, Edge, Chel and Daughtless are the biggest culprits when it comes to converting jabs into big combos. Daughtless can go for days when she uses KA and links into super.
Talos doesn’t need a DP with that new godlike throw variant.
Might as well call it a dp. Serves the same purpose.
So, while I wait for my real first fighting game, Street Figher V, I’ve been having a lot of fun with Rising Thunder since the alpha release, I’m Master IV/V (it’s been floating up and down a bit) and I only play Talos, since I started, though I’d like to learn Crow.
I think the game is really good to teach new players certain concepts like spacing, mind-games and whatnot, I’d love to see this game get big, but with time we’ll see, really enjoying it, if you ever want to fight me, just tell me something since now we can have player lobbies.
FChamp vs. SonicFox
Inaugural tourney playlist (Rising Thunder at the Foundry):
edit: Stupid auto-parsing. You’ll probably have to copy the link if you want the full playlist.