King Of Fighters Thread
- Thread starter ChopperMan
- Start date
Amanda
[12] Conqueror
Ghengis_John
[13] Hero
So I bought this and I must say. Not worth as much as was charged. For 20 dollars less I'd have been a lot happier. The game just feels unfinished in a so many regards. Or maybe it's fair to say, it's not the value I'd expect for a console release.
There are so many ways it's dragging it feet or actually behind other recent kof's like 2003 or KOF XI. Terrible netcode, 5 stages, truncated move lists, throwback mechanics that eliminate both tag out and limit you to one super bar, a complete lack of any story or an infamous snk boss, a training mode that neither lets you program the dummy nor see your command inputs so you know where you're screwing something up. It's like "oh man I need to practice against this string my friend keeps doing" well I hope he's in the room with you. Even if you wanna say "they were shooting for an old school feel" why go and remove any improvements you've made to practice mode? Speaking of that old school feel the fighters don't even talk trash when they win. I mean they were doing that since fatal fury, even if they didn't make a lick of sense they were trying. It's just here's your time, onto the next battle. I'm not saying it's important but it just all lends itself towards a general feeling that this game isn't finished.
I was hoping when this game was in development, when it was winning best of show awards and making the kids drool, that it might bring over some converts from among the graphic whores and gaming fashionistas who were finally paying it some attention. They'd see a series I love and fall in love themselves. But I don't see anything to make them fall in love. It's kind of hard to form an attachment to the characters when they don't show any character at all. If you didn't already know what's up they'ed just be a random bunch of guys. And speaking of which the default english voices are awful. All the guys sound like they're the same wimpy, tired guy, I was amazed to find out that there was actually more than one male in the English cast. Normally snk doesn't even bother with english voices (at least not in the 2d KOF). While I applaud the attempt at localization if you're going to bother fellas, take the time to do it right.
And speaking of rush jobs, here we have all the important story characters, we have mature showing up from seemingly the dead, irori without powers and we have no plot to explain it all. It seems like it's just something that was intended but didn't get included somehow.
Blazblue by contrast had great netcode, gobs of story, extras up the wazoo for regular retail price, and the english voice actors were all so good (professionals appearing in such series as Hellsing) that I never switched them out. Which is a rarity in fighters believe me. So what am I saying? We have to acknowledge that BlazBlue is a pretty tough act to follow. They (arc system works) had a lot of eyes on them and they launched that game like it was a flagship product. They treated it seriously and all the effort they put in just screamed "love me" and forced itself a seat in the theatre of your mind. Snk said this was the "Rebirth" of kof. If they wanted to attract a new audience they didn't treat this thing like a flagship product. Maybe they were just being literal and this is the very rebirth of kof, the stage where the baby doesn't really do much, everybody's happy to see it and it sure is cute but if it isn't yours you might decide to go watch television. This is of course our baby. We are the fans and this is a game for the fans. I don't think it's going to win any converts though and that's a shame.
That said how is the fighting? It's great. Without a story there's really no impetus to play by yourself so I hope you've got a friend handy. If you do you're in for a treat. I'm not speaking as a pro with only a few hours experience but initial impressions are that it's fast, it's fun and in a statement that's sure to cause some controversy it's better balanced than blazblue. They tore up the character's move lists but you adjust, because everybody has been predated equally it's not like anybody wound up with more tools than anyone else. The critical counter mechanic is pretty fun and I found a way to strip my opponent of half of his lifebar as ryo. I am certain that even more sinister combinations exist online but we're not at that level of play yet. I can see why everybody expected the best of this game. It really is fun to play.
And it is gorgeous. Albiet some of those fat french ladies need to be removed, they blight the landscape and rock out way too hard when somebody wins a match. They could serve as metronomes for punk music. Back to the graphics. The stages, limited as they are are truely a treat. The russian arena and night time stadium are particularly pretty. The graphics are not as sharp as blazblue's by nor the style as flashy but the smoothness of kof's animations makes blazblue's look stiff and cheap by comparison. It's like comparing a slideshow of a modern pixar film to classic disney animation running on a projector screen. Infact I get the distinct impression that so much of the development cycle went into this animation and graphical splendor than the developers suddenly found themselves with no time for all the extras that make a game look properly polished. The crappy ending sequence is just salt on the wound.
You might enjoy this game if you try it. I highly encourage a rental is nothing else. But I must say that I am disappointed, SNK. I wanted KOF to become a household name. This game is not going to accomplish that. And I feel like I paid too much for what I got. Maybe patches will help. Maybe 13 will turn out to be SNK's lucky number. I really hope so.
There are so many ways it's dragging it feet or actually behind other recent kof's like 2003 or KOF XI. Terrible netcode, 5 stages, truncated move lists, throwback mechanics that eliminate both tag out and limit you to one super bar, a complete lack of any story or an infamous snk boss, a training mode that neither lets you program the dummy nor see your command inputs so you know where you're screwing something up. It's like "oh man I need to practice against this string my friend keeps doing" well I hope he's in the room with you. Even if you wanna say "they were shooting for an old school feel" why go and remove any improvements you've made to practice mode? Speaking of that old school feel the fighters don't even talk trash when they win. I mean they were doing that since fatal fury, even if they didn't make a lick of sense they were trying. It's just here's your time, onto the next battle. I'm not saying it's important but it just all lends itself towards a general feeling that this game isn't finished.
I was hoping when this game was in development, when it was winning best of show awards and making the kids drool, that it might bring over some converts from among the graphic whores and gaming fashionistas who were finally paying it some attention. They'd see a series I love and fall in love themselves. But I don't see anything to make them fall in love. It's kind of hard to form an attachment to the characters when they don't show any character at all. If you didn't already know what's up they'ed just be a random bunch of guys. And speaking of which the default english voices are awful. All the guys sound like they're the same wimpy, tired guy, I was amazed to find out that there was actually more than one male in the English cast. Normally snk doesn't even bother with english voices (at least not in the 2d KOF). While I applaud the attempt at localization if you're going to bother fellas, take the time to do it right.
And speaking of rush jobs, here we have all the important story characters, we have mature showing up from seemingly the dead, irori without powers and we have no plot to explain it all. It seems like it's just something that was intended but didn't get included somehow.
Blazblue by contrast had great netcode, gobs of story, extras up the wazoo for regular retail price, and the english voice actors were all so good (professionals appearing in such series as Hellsing) that I never switched them out. Which is a rarity in fighters believe me. So what am I saying? We have to acknowledge that BlazBlue is a pretty tough act to follow. They (arc system works) had a lot of eyes on them and they launched that game like it was a flagship product. They treated it seriously and all the effort they put in just screamed "love me" and forced itself a seat in the theatre of your mind. Snk said this was the "Rebirth" of kof. If they wanted to attract a new audience they didn't treat this thing like a flagship product. Maybe they were just being literal and this is the very rebirth of kof, the stage where the baby doesn't really do much, everybody's happy to see it and it sure is cute but if it isn't yours you might decide to go watch television. This is of course our baby. We are the fans and this is a game for the fans. I don't think it's going to win any converts though and that's a shame.
That said how is the fighting? It's great. Without a story there's really no impetus to play by yourself so I hope you've got a friend handy. If you do you're in for a treat. I'm not speaking as a pro with only a few hours experience but initial impressions are that it's fast, it's fun and in a statement that's sure to cause some controversy it's better balanced than blazblue. They tore up the character's move lists but you adjust, because everybody has been predated equally it's not like anybody wound up with more tools than anyone else. The critical counter mechanic is pretty fun and I found a way to strip my opponent of half of his lifebar as ryo. I am certain that even more sinister combinations exist online but we're not at that level of play yet. I can see why everybody expected the best of this game. It really is fun to play.
And it is gorgeous. Albiet some of those fat french ladies need to be removed, they blight the landscape and rock out way too hard when somebody wins a match. They could serve as metronomes for punk music. Back to the graphics. The stages, limited as they are are truely a treat. The russian arena and night time stadium are particularly pretty. The graphics are not as sharp as blazblue's by nor the style as flashy but the smoothness of kof's animations makes blazblue's look stiff and cheap by comparison. It's like comparing a slideshow of a modern pixar film to classic disney animation running on a projector screen. Infact I get the distinct impression that so much of the development cycle went into this animation and graphical splendor than the developers suddenly found themselves with no time for all the extras that make a game look properly polished. The crappy ending sequence is just salt on the wound.
You might enjoy this game if you try it. I highly encourage a rental is nothing else. But I must say that I am disappointed, SNK. I wanted KOF to become a household name. This game is not going to accomplish that. And I feel like I paid too much for what I got. Maybe patches will help. Maybe 13 will turn out to be SNK's lucky number. I really hope so.
tiggerkiddo
[09] Warrior
lol, there is no controversy about KOF having better balance than BB.
Fair review though. I do think it's a bit limited due to the fact that this is the rebirth of KOF and they wanted to take a very cautionary step first. KOF just doesn't have the same appeal as SF.
Fair review though. I do think it's a bit limited due to the fact that this is the rebirth of KOF and they wanted to take a very cautionary step first. KOF just doesn't have the same appeal as SF.
Ghengis_John
[13] Hero
I just gotta cover my bases lest some guy comes in and goes "WHAT? HOW DARE YOU RAR RAR RAR!". Ghengis John's mind is always on defense.
And thanks kiddo.
And thanks kiddo.