For The Doubters. From Rexdart from SRK. And just for Option. Mature is back and with a VENGENCE.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fpwl6krWQAo
"So I just got back from my trip to Akihabara, fresh full of KOF XIII hype. Game is goddamn amazing. Just fantastic. According to the flyer, the game is 70% complete.
Here're some gameplay observations for the curious!
- Kim got his d+K follow-up to his d charge, u + K move.
- Terry's EX Power Geyser creates two geysers, but the animation is the same.
- Terry's EX Rising Tackle is crazy. I saw it do 15 hits against one opponent, and 20 against another. Earlier reports said 25, which I don't doubt. But I can't figure out why there's so much difference between them.
- Joe can TNT Punch (P repeatedly) -> Drive Cancel -> qcf,hcb + P DM. It hurts!
- Kensou's EX Psycho Ball is crazy fast and goes through any other projectiles. Looks useful!
- Earlier reports said Kensou lost his qcb+A/C moves from XII, but that's incorrect. He's got 'em.
- Kensou: crB -> crB -> qcb+A -> qcb + C -> (qcbx2)+P = 54 HITS OMGWTF STOPPUNCHINGME He does his "tired" animation afterward, however. But he's safe as long as the super connects.
- Iori's new df+C looks a lot like Yashiro's f+A.
- Mature can cancel out of her (qcb+P) x 3 rekka after the second attack with Despair (dp+P).
- Mature's EX Ebony Tears hits three times.
- Ralf's EX Ralf punch (ground pound, qcb+P) hits three times as well.
- Clark's gatling punch, looks just like the 2000 version. Didn't see it connect, though.
- Leona has a new close D. It resembles her classic KOF one (the two knee strikes) but it looks like it leaves her airborne?
- Leona's EX X-calibur is the classic version of the move (i.e. the close-range air projectile).
- Mai can still jump off the stage walls, although it looked a bit strange. As if she was jumping off the space right in front of the corner, rather than the corner proper. Not sure if it was a glitch or what.
- King can Drive Cancel her tornado kick into her aerial Venom Strike. Useful for the extra damage or to keep you safe if the tornado kick was blocked.
- In the corner, Kyo can do qcf + K -> rpd + D (after two hits) -> Drive Cancel -> aerial orochinagi. This combo hurts a lot. The home version should come bundled with a cyanide pill for when Kyo gets you in a corner. (Or SNK could just tone him down. Either way is good.)
Of course I also encountered a few glitches. It wouldn't be a loke test without glitches!
- Mature attempted to throw Yuri in the corner, but Yuri broke the throw. However, the animation wasn't interrupted and still hit Yuri.
- Joe KO'd Leona while she was doing her X-Calibur, and her body was left floating in the air. Joe didn't seem to mind.
- Ryo's f,b,f+P move usually sucks the opponent into it if it connects, but in one instance the opponent remained a step or two away from him. Just a graphical problem, though.
Some other impressions:
- London stage looks really impressive. I tried in vain to see if I could spot any spectators that were copies of each other, but had no luck. I'm sure they're there, but they've been hidden very well. Every single onlooker I saw was very detailed and unique. Bravo.
- The revamped Egyptian stage is crazy-go-awesome! When the guys in front of the fire start doing the wave, they cast eerie shadows against the back wall of the temple. Looks very creepy and quite cool. Amazing atmosphere.
- The special effect when you KO someone with a DM seems very excessive, but also extremely cool.
- In general, one-hit DMs (like Haoh Sho Koken, Power Geyser, V-Slasher) seemed to do very small damage. I assume this will be fixed in the final version, because, currently, I think some EX moves do more damage than the DMs.
- No one I saw had figured out how to use Hyperdrive mode effectively. Invariably what would happen is: they'd activate it, their opponent would go into defensive mode, they'd do some moves, and their opponent would hit them out of HD mode as soon as they had an opening (which usually didn't take long). I assume you can activate it mid-combo somehow, but it seemed no one had learned how yet.
- Also in general, SDMs seem to have the same animation as their DM counterparts. That's probably why some people have taken to calling them EX DMs.
- I think Kyo and Kensou might be a bit over powered. Just my impression.
- Of the three leading ladies, I think Yuri feels the strangest. Playing her without her uppercut takes some getting used to. I think her biggest problem is her lack of anti-air options. Her Saiha (qcb+P) is the best one, but it's a bit slow. It is safe, though.
- XIII King is the greatest fighting game character to ever happen to me. Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but I really like her. The combination of her normal venom strike, aerial venom strike, and double venom strike DM is excellent for keeping opponents out. When they do get in, she has her surprise rose, tornado kick and slide to deal with them. As has been said elsewhere, the surprise rose is surprisingly safe, and it can cross-up. (If it connects with an air-borne opponent who is too high, however, the rest of the move won't hit.) Tornado kick goes through blocking opponents, so, (if used at close range) you can stay out of trouble. The slide is more vulnerable, but its range is quite good. While I generally don't play zoning characters in KOF, I had an absolute blast with King.
Fun with color edits!
- Lots of crazy color options. Truth be told, I think a few too many crazy options. Just my opinion, though. Here are some memorable ones...
- Bluegreen-skinned Goro.
- Zombie Joe.
- Kyo has a Rock-outfit, and an evil version with red eyes. Also a flamboyant one with pink hair and a bright purple jacket.
- Red-skinned Ryo.
- All-blue Raiden. With red teeth? Why, SNK, why?
- Kensou has a Duolon outfit. Pretty cool looking.
- King has a Kula outfit.
- Terry and Robert's color swap is really impressive. When Robert has Terry colors, he looks almost identical to Terry minus the hat. Mark my words, someone is eventually going to see Terry-colored Robert or Robert-colored Terry and comment "OMG! Terry got a ranbu!!" or "OMG! Robert learned Buster Wolf!!!" Mark my words.
Concluding stuff...
- KOF XIII essentially plays pretty close to 2002UM, but with much better graphics. I loved it, even though it wasn't what I was expecting / hoping for from the sequel to XII. It seems like an extremely solid system presented in a beautiful package. I just hope they nail the balance.
- The producer, Masaaki Kukino, was there watching the loke test. Guy looked exhausted. Understandable I suppose, since he'd apparently been standing in an arcade for almost three-days straight watching people play KOF. That's a long-ass time to be watching people play KOF. He was quite friendly when I asked him a question, though. His English isn't bad either.
- After playing, you were given a survey to fill out about your impressions of the game. I made only two (rather small) criticisms.
- I asked for XII's camera zoom be included as an option, since I liked it. Screw you, pixel-haters!
- I asked for Terry to say "ARE YOU OKAY!?" before the Buster Wolf. If that gets added (which is probably won't) I expect full credit!
- And in the section where they asked what characters you wanted to see, I said K', Kula, Yamazaki and Vanessa (in that order). I chose them partly based I see them requested by fans more than most other characters. Since I know a lot of KOF fans outside of Japan can't go to the location test, I did my best to make sure your requests were (indirectly) heard.
... Thinking back, I should have just requested Ryuhaku Todo, Duck King, and Heavy D!.
Sorry, this ended up a bit long."
YOU Blazblue.
