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!.
- 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.
I should start practicing, if a home release isn't going to be far behind the arcade one. You say this is most like 2002UM, so I'll start digging that up
Less synth, shorter/faster intro, heavier guitar. Alas, I won't get these things unless I pick up my guitar that's been collecting dust and record it myself (won't happen, I suck).
The '99 and 2000 sound tracks were both composed by an SNK sound dream team. I believe it was composed of five people.
From what I understand, they all lost their jobs when SNK went out of business in 2000. Following the company's return in 2003, they were only able to get one of the five guys back. You can sort of tell because 2003's soundtrack is almost all synth, lacking the variety of the pre-2001 KOFs. For XI they were able to lure another guy back, and the sountrack of XI became much more guitar-heavy. Still lacking in variety perhaps, but a definite improvement. I heard for XII they managed to get one more member of the dream team back, but, unfortunately, XII's soundtrack is almost impossible to hear.
From what I'm hearing of XIII's soundtrack, the variety of classic KOF games seems to have finally returned. I'm very pleased.
The '99 and 2000 sound tracks were both composed by an SNK sound dream team. I believe it was composed of five people.
From what I understand, they all lost their jobs when SNK went out of business in 2000. Following the company's return in 2003, they were only able to get one of the five guys back. You can sort of tell because 2003's soundtrack is almost all synth, lacking the variety of the pre-2001 KOFs. For XI they were able to lure another guy back, and the sountrack of XI became much more guitar-heavy. Still lacking in variety perhaps, but a definite improvement. I heard for XII they managed to get one more member of the dream team back, but, unfortunately, XII's soundtrack is almost impossible to hear.
From what I'm hearing of XIII's soundtrack, the variety of classic KOF games seems to have finally returned. I'm very pleased.
The '99 and 2000 sound tracks were both composed by an SNK sound dream team. I believe it was composed of five people.
From what I understand, they all lost their jobs when SNK went out of business in 2000. Following the company's return in 2003, they were only able to get one of the five guys back. You can sort of tell because 2003's soundtrack is almost all synth, lacking the variety of the pre-2001 KOFs. For XI they were able to lure another guy back, and the sountrack of XI became much more guitar-heavy. Still lacking in variety perhaps, but a definite improvement. I heard for XII they managed to get one more member of the dream team back, but, unfortunately, XII's soundtrack is almost impossible to hear.
From what I'm hearing of XIII's soundtrack, the variety of classic KOF games seems to have finally returned. I'm very pleased.
From Ash's story:
THE KING OF FIGHTERSを開催する。 ――以上『R』
"The King of Fighters will be held. Signed, 『R』."
Fuck yes.
Wait wait, what does that mean?
Rugal?
edit: wait, didn't rugal die?
KoF story confuses me.
It's sort of a reference to Rugal, yes. Back in the first two KOF games, the participants were all invited to the tournament with similarly cryptic letters, signed only "R."
But it also suggests that Rose Bernstein is the host of the latest tournament. Rose is Adelheid's sister, you remember. And in the ending, it was revealed that she was being controlled by one of the members of Mukai's/Magaki's/Shion's shodowy group. But Adelheid seems unaware of this. Nefarious deeds are afoot!
KOF's storyline confusing? I don't see how. :?:
You beat up the evil guys behind the tournament.:P
If they went by popularity, it would be K', Kula, Whip. But Maxima is a grappler and adds some diversity to the team. Plus, the KOF roster is short on tough looking guys who aren't in their 20s.
As much as I like Whip, she requires a large variety of moves to be effective. Animating them all would be terribly time-consuming. Also, her military look is sort of represented by the Ikari team.
Plus, my girlfriend won't play this game unless Kula's in it. So that's another reason. :P
If they went by popularity, it would be K', Kula, Whip. But Maxima is a grappler and adds some diversity to the team. Plus, the KOF roster is short on tough looking guys who aren't in their 20s.
On the other hand, having more female character would help average out the male to female ratio in 12.
12 is such a sausage fest. It's even more of a sausage fest than SF4, which is saying something.
Did anybody save the picture everyone is talking about?
It wasn't anything worth saving, really. Just a logo that reads "Team K'."
I'm wondering if the stages are going to be team-specific, like the olden days. Speculation:
Japan stage - Team Japan
London stage - Women's Team
Brazil stage - Ikari Team
China stage - Psycho Soldiers Team
France stage - Elizabeth Team
Egypt stage - Iori Team?
India stage - Kim Team?
Stadium stage - Fatal Fury Team?
??? - Art of Fighting stage
??? - K' Team?
Only two stages left, if they are indeed team-specific.
For the sake of argument, to hell with Kula, they better include Whip. Especially since we already have Clark and Leona.
(Note, I have nothing against Kula, I would just vastly prefer to see Whip.)
If included, I do hope they keep her look, in part because she's among the most distinct female characters in any fighting games (let's face it, in a genre where women tend to wear very little, Whip wears more clothing than most people wear period, and rather distinctive clothes at that). Her actual weapon presents something of a problem, but it's be obviously difficult to change that.
Posts
The series has some of my favorite videogame music ever. I've bought several soundtracks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICADo1n5cN0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cm3pKBNDND0
Steam: TheArcadeBear
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!.
Also, GREAT info Rex Dart.
BEST WEBSITE IN THE WORLD CREATED!
http://game.snkplaymore.co.jp/official/kof-xiii/index.html
You can listen to the team BGMs! They're sounding awesome so far. You should give them a listen!
Also, Andy has a new DM according to the site.
Edit: Also, Ash has some kind of follow-up to his fire kiss move. And what the heck is that d,d+P move for Robert?
Sexy site is sexy.
Only about half-way through now.
Edit
For some reason, I think Gato on Kim's team would work.
Less synth, shorter/faster intro, heavier guitar. Alas, I won't get these things unless I pick up my guitar that's been collecting dust and record it myself (won't happen, I suck).
From what I understand, they all lost their jobs when SNK went out of business in 2000. Following the company's return in 2003, they were only able to get one of the five guys back. You can sort of tell because 2003's soundtrack is almost all synth, lacking the variety of the pre-2001 KOFs. For XI they were able to lure another guy back, and the sountrack of XI became much more guitar-heavy. Still lacking in variety perhaps, but a definite improvement. I heard for XII they managed to get one more member of the dream team back, but, unfortunately, XII's soundtrack is almost impossible to hear.
From what I'm hearing of XIII's soundtrack, the variety of classic KOF games seems to have finally returned. I'm very pleased.
From Ash's story:
THE KING OF FIGHTERSを開催する。 ――以上『R』
"The King of Fighters will be held. Signed, 『R』."
Fuck yes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY7NHkLmoW8
Oh and this one, too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DNvjWdrtZk
Wait wait, what does that mean?
Rugal?
edit: wait, didn't rugal die?
KoF story confuses me.
But it also suggests that Rose Bernstein is the host of the latest tournament. Rose is Adelheid's sister, you remember. And in the ending, it was revealed that she was being controlled by one of the members of Mukai's/Magaki's/Shion's shodowy group. But Adelheid seems unaware of this. Nefarious deeds are afoot!
KOF's storyline confusing? I don't see how. :?:
Ohohohooo.
Does that mean no new faces team? I'm actually a bit disappointed if that's true. I was looking forward to some new new characters.
Not that I don't like him.
After all
Fuck kula.
As much as I like Whip, she requires a large variety of moves to be effective. Animating them all would be terribly time-consuming. Also, her military look is sort of represented by the Ikari team.
Plus, my girlfriend won't play this game unless Kula's in it. So that's another reason. :P
You know what? K' team should be: K', Shingo, and Momoko.
Just the most ridiculous team ever.
On the other hand, having more female character would help average out the male to female ratio in 12.
12 is such a sausage fest. It's even more of a sausage fest than SF4, which is saying something.
I'd die happy.
She has a rekka involving her butt.
Awesome.
Momoko also uses capoeira! Nice.
But nah, yuri filled the cute spot for me already.
The meltdowns would be epic.
Steam: TheArcadeBear
I'm wondering if the stages are going to be team-specific, like the olden days. Speculation:
Japan stage - Team Japan
London stage - Women's Team
Brazil stage - Ikari Team
China stage - Psycho Soldiers Team
France stage - Elizabeth Team
Egypt stage - Iori Team?
India stage - Kim Team?
Stadium stage - Fatal Fury Team?
??? - Art of Fighting stage
??? - K' Team?
Only two stages left, if they are indeed team-specific.
It did give us this, though:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3e1g7mfWkTA
Hey, fuck you, man.
http://bbs.kofunion.net/attachment/Mon_1003/99_10875_6d5821174f951a3.png
For those of you who missed it.
For the sake of argument, to hell with Kula, they better include Whip. Especially since we already have Clark and Leona.
(Note, I have nothing against Kula, I would just vastly prefer to see Whip.)
If included, I do hope they keep her look, in part because she's among the most distinct female characters in any fighting games (let's face it, in a genre where women tend to wear very little, Whip wears more clothing than most people wear period, and rather distinctive clothes at that). Her actual weapon presents something of a problem, but it's be obviously difficult to change that.
Also, Kula also wears full clothing.