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.
Tiamat
[11] Champion
KOF12 is one of the most balanced fighting games I've ever played. It's kinda freaky how balanced it is, especially considering how unbalanced all the other KOF games are.
Nuez
[09] Warrior
i gotta agree with genghis john on almost everything there ... the game screams out "we ran outa time" ... but im glad they spent as much time as they did on the gameplay itself ... hopefully the next time around brings in more new ppl
unfortunately i have already showed up to two kof tourneys that were cancelled due to not enough people signing up and have yet to play some decent offline comp ... gonna check out chinatown fair this week some night and see how it goes there
unfortunately i have already showed up to two kof tourneys that were cancelled due to not enough people signing up and have yet to play some decent offline comp ... gonna check out chinatown fair this week some night and see how it goes there
Ghengis_John
[13] Hero
Anybody know if there's any way to make the characters taunt or are there just no taunts?
Tiamat
[11] Champion
no taunts. sucks I know.
on the plus side the game is absurdly well balanced compared to nearly everything I've ever played
on the plus side the game is absurdly well balanced compared to nearly everything I've ever played
t3h_mAsTarOth
[09] Warrior
ya the balance is very well done... it's not really the characters really... the new system is what's at play as weaker characters can use the cc, guard and clash system to get even with the stronger ones... and grapplers being weakened and given tools to use *brain* rather than just whoring it... fast characters having to think before blindly rushing down... weaker characters getting stronger cc... stronger characters like goro receiving weaker cc... it's all the awesome work of the new system... snk truly made a masterpiece... now to just hope they fix online and understand how to attract casual audience to them same as bb did for the release of xiii... i hope they take the same graphics and fighting engine and extra unnecessary crap that attracts casual gamers... not for my sake because i love and play and will play kof games for as long as they make them... but fanboys don't earn them more than 100k max... they need a few millions from the casual scene...
Tiamat
[11] Champion
1.02 patch is out for PS3
only 13 mb in size. raiden glitch vs elizabeth fixed, other glitches probably fixed as well. online still sucks IMO but I haven't gotten to play anyone on better than yellow bars
only 13 mb in size. raiden glitch vs elizabeth fixed, other glitches probably fixed as well. online still sucks IMO but I haven't gotten to play anyone on better than yellow bars
Nuez
[09] Warrior
... xbox 360 patch plz ...
thank god there's ppl still playing this game ... i've already been to 3 tourneys and all cancelled
at least the last one was 8 ppl on the list (one was justin wong o.O) but when i asked if the tourney was running they told me not unless i walked around the hotel and found all 8 players and then ran the tourney myself ... i had a 4 hour drive ahead of me and it was getting late so i let it slide or else i might just have done that out of desperation
thank god there's ppl still playing this game ... i've already been to 3 tourneys and all cancelled
at least the last one was 8 ppl on the list (one was justin wong o.O) but when i asked if the tourney was running they told me not unless i walked around the hotel and found all 8 players and then ran the tourney myself ... i had a 4 hour drive ahead of me and it was getting late so i let it slide or else i might just have done that out of desperation
t3h_mAsTarOth
[09] Warrior
patch is OUT... and so far theres ALMOST NO LAG... yayyyyyyy...
Tiamat
[11] Champion
I like this game a lot it's just I don't have many people to play it with. I'm gonna try the online again later, it is possible that I just happened to play people who hadn't patched yet or bad connection for other reasons.
t3h_mAsTarOth
[09] Warrior
hows the online working out for everyone? i've picked up terry in hopes of stop being frustrated with the new grappler's nightmare system...
Amanda
[12] Conqueror
...that game sucks online,so i think i stop playin it online just a waste of time with that ultimate lag -.- such a pity.
Tiamat
[11] Champion
yeah I still have too much lag to enjoy online matches
there was a tournament in NC recently with 26 people, so while tournies for the game are rare, they do happen in some places
there was a tournament in NC recently with 26 people, so while tournies for the game are rare, they do happen in some places
t3h_mAsTarOth
[09] Warrior
u don't have the patch yet... wait till the patch gets released for 360... after the patch i've been having mostly great matches...
Ghengis_John
[13] Hero
Wait for post patch. But maaan what another month or two in the pressure cooker coulda done for this game.
Amanda
[12] Conqueror
yeah ,but i cant understand why ignition is so lazy and then they blame microsoft for the patch lol(look at their site on king of fighters 12 facebook,i posted the url a few posts earlier) anyway..ok i just wait then another month for it -.-