Posted June 13, 2020
Beat the game 3 times so far and want to share some thoughts and maybe constructive feedback on the things I feel detract from the enjoyment, because I think the developers went way too far in some parts.
By that I mean, I've recently played again from Hard to Normal and in Stage 12, it made almost no difference, the problem there isn't the damage, it's the enemy type combinations.
Not necessarily with swarming you, a bunch of Galsia with no knives/broken bottles probably won't even so much as touch you, more so when they combine even 2 of them on the screen (Goro + Pheasant in the hotel lockers, Z + D. Signal + Sparrow in the castle, 2x Z + Baabo also in the castle), those will can become a major headache. They're the real killers in this game, because every enemy has a unique way to screw the player, but when a lot of them are combined, you become very restricted by them and can get destroyed fast.
On the more notable, Barney. Barney's grab is actually busted and no other grab in game compares, not even the Commissioner's, his grab is an almost unstoppable Dash and it can grab you in the air too and when combined with what said above, oof.. it's best to just bite the bullet, go full reckless there I think, to waste that taser and fast, because cautious play is punished a lot by him.
Next on Bosses.
Something I have mixed feelings over, the first 2 bosses seem way too much, almost to the point I wondered why Nora wasn't the first boss, Diva the second, then Commissioner, then Estel, then Barbon and so on?
Other things specific to bosses.
- Diva. She's got too much health. I know this sounds like I'm asking her to be easier, but don't you think she's among the hardest right now, because of her health and because her fight includes several other enemies?
- Barbon.. Maybe it's my fault, but I just don't get this guy at all.. what I mean by that is, when is he vulnerable? it's almost impossible to tell. When can I jump kick him? after he does his hyper armor roundhouse kicks? Probably? Either way, it's not that I hate this fight even, for instance, I love that Sugars comes in ONLY if you break their bikes.. That is cool and a good way to control the fight, or make it harder, if you don't want any health, or if you want to fight all of them.
- Shiva was I guess fine, but nothing really stood out and his clones probably didn't do much in order to be fair.
- Max Thunder, not too bad honestly, because I get his fight, he's a complete tank and you can't flinch him, you have to play around that and stop when he's about to do a move.
- DJ K-Washi, he needed something more to do himself and hopefully not in that yellow tracking thing, he was quite disappointing really. He looks awesome, has a sick beat, but is overall kind of a punching bag.
- Mr. Y, now this guy here... This one I think is the best boss in the game honestly. I'm honestly really impressed how much fun it is to fight him, despite being a Gunner type boss in a Beatemup game, which are usually the worst and cheapest pricks.
Ms. Y. I'll go into more things about her, because I have a bit of thoughts on her. First off, Stage 12. I don't like this one, I think overall this is the one stage I believe the game could've done without.
You may feel free to disagree here, but I think the game could've ended perfectly with Stage 10, right after DJ K-Washi you had the last fights. The arena is awesome, the music is kickass, it's a perfect place to pull out all the stops with the final encounter and Mr. Y.
Secondly to this, I think the problem with Ms. Y is that she's very predictable, or made easy, because of the fault lying overall in Stage 12 and, I think, the game could've honestly done without Stage 12.
How Ms. Y could've been made better? well, there's a couple of ways, take this one idea:
1. More moves. This one's the easiest idea, she's too easy and I think the blame is mostly on the parts of Stage 12 before her. The Stage before both of them is the real final boss and I think, it should've been the other way around.
2. You fight both of them and beat Mr. Y, she grabs his gun and some of his artillery to use with some of her moves, a 70% of her moves combined with 30% of Mr Y's.
3. If you beat Ms. Y first, you have Mr. Y take her Rapier and continue, with some of her moves incorporated and mixed with his, similarly to the mentioned above, 70% his and 30% Ms. Y's.
4. If you decide to just wear both of them down, they both get more moves, similar to how this goes with Mr. Y alone.
I think fighting them both is where the final battle should've gone, the spider robot could've been a last ditch effort from the two brothers and made less, basic?.. because if you sit in the left or right corner, you can't get hit by it. This one I don't really know, but something could be made with it I think, maybe make it a Self-Controlled AI kinda thing.
Last point, on some of the mechanics..
Maybe I just don't really understand the intricacies of beatemups here but, how is it that enemies get some extra range diagonally on you and you don't? I know sometimes you do, but it feels a bit unfair there if every attack of all enemies has that.
Another thing I don't get there and I think this might just be jank, or a bug. Enemies like Galsia or Sugar charging you, hit you if you touch their backs, almost like their entire bodies are an active hitbox when they charge.
For some closing thoughts, I shared most of my frustrations and mixed feelings on the game, but anything I didn't mention, I didn't because I enjoyed the game a lot despite those things... I think the music is the biggest one for me, Stages 2, 6 and 9 I could play on repeat. These stages' music transitions send me flying.
Next, Mr. Y was a nice fight. I think this might be the best boss battle I've seen against a gunner in one of these beatemups, because those tend to be overly cheap and restrictive, where as in this one you get lots of breathing room and he gets better with the grenades and rolling around.
Commissioner I grew to like more, he stands out the most next to Mr. Y as a boss battle and has good telegraphs and cooldowns to his moves.
I haven't yet played every other character, but I'm looking forward to them, I think I'll still play the game to complete all other characters despite all I've said.
I tried to keep this constructive, so the feedback isn't just just destructive bs. I really like this game a lot despite all I shared here, had a blast beating it.
By that I mean, I've recently played again from Hard to Normal and in Stage 12, it made almost no difference, the problem there isn't the damage, it's the enemy type combinations.
Not necessarily with swarming you, a bunch of Galsia with no knives/broken bottles probably won't even so much as touch you, more so when they combine even 2 of them on the screen (Goro + Pheasant in the hotel lockers, Z + D. Signal + Sparrow in the castle, 2x Z + Baabo also in the castle), those will can become a major headache. They're the real killers in this game, because every enemy has a unique way to screw the player, but when a lot of them are combined, you become very restricted by them and can get destroyed fast.
On the more notable, Barney. Barney's grab is actually busted and no other grab in game compares, not even the Commissioner's, his grab is an almost unstoppable Dash and it can grab you in the air too and when combined with what said above, oof.. it's best to just bite the bullet, go full reckless there I think, to waste that taser and fast, because cautious play is punished a lot by him.
Next on Bosses.
Something I have mixed feelings over, the first 2 bosses seem way too much, almost to the point I wondered why Nora wasn't the first boss, Diva the second, then Commissioner, then Estel, then Barbon and so on?
Other things specific to bosses.
- Diva. She's got too much health. I know this sounds like I'm asking her to be easier, but don't you think she's among the hardest right now, because of her health and because her fight includes several other enemies?
- Barbon.. Maybe it's my fault, but I just don't get this guy at all.. what I mean by that is, when is he vulnerable? it's almost impossible to tell. When can I jump kick him? after he does his hyper armor roundhouse kicks? Probably? Either way, it's not that I hate this fight even, for instance, I love that Sugars comes in ONLY if you break their bikes.. That is cool and a good way to control the fight, or make it harder, if you don't want any health, or if you want to fight all of them.
- Shiva was I guess fine, but nothing really stood out and his clones probably didn't do much in order to be fair.
- Max Thunder, not too bad honestly, because I get his fight, he's a complete tank and you can't flinch him, you have to play around that and stop when he's about to do a move.
- DJ K-Washi, he needed something more to do himself and hopefully not in that yellow tracking thing, he was quite disappointing really. He looks awesome, has a sick beat, but is overall kind of a punching bag.
- Mr. Y, now this guy here... This one I think is the best boss in the game honestly. I'm honestly really impressed how much fun it is to fight him, despite being a Gunner type boss in a Beatemup game, which are usually the worst and cheapest pricks.
Ms. Y. I'll go into more things about her, because I have a bit of thoughts on her. First off, Stage 12. I don't like this one, I think overall this is the one stage I believe the game could've done without.
You may feel free to disagree here, but I think the game could've ended perfectly with Stage 10, right after DJ K-Washi you had the last fights. The arena is awesome, the music is kickass, it's a perfect place to pull out all the stops with the final encounter and Mr. Y.
Secondly to this, I think the problem with Ms. Y is that she's very predictable, or made easy, because of the fault lying overall in Stage 12 and, I think, the game could've honestly done without Stage 12.
How Ms. Y could've been made better? well, there's a couple of ways, take this one idea:
1. More moves. This one's the easiest idea, she's too easy and I think the blame is mostly on the parts of Stage 12 before her. The Stage before both of them is the real final boss and I think, it should've been the other way around.
2. You fight both of them and beat Mr. Y, she grabs his gun and some of his artillery to use with some of her moves, a 70% of her moves combined with 30% of Mr Y's.
3. If you beat Ms. Y first, you have Mr. Y take her Rapier and continue, with some of her moves incorporated and mixed with his, similarly to the mentioned above, 70% his and 30% Ms. Y's.
4. If you decide to just wear both of them down, they both get more moves, similar to how this goes with Mr. Y alone.
I think fighting them both is where the final battle should've gone, the spider robot could've been a last ditch effort from the two brothers and made less, basic?.. because if you sit in the left or right corner, you can't get hit by it. This one I don't really know, but something could be made with it I think, maybe make it a Self-Controlled AI kinda thing.
Last point, on some of the mechanics..
Maybe I just don't really understand the intricacies of beatemups here but, how is it that enemies get some extra range diagonally on you and you don't? I know sometimes you do, but it feels a bit unfair there if every attack of all enemies has that.
Another thing I don't get there and I think this might just be jank, or a bug. Enemies like Galsia or Sugar charging you, hit you if you touch their backs, almost like their entire bodies are an active hitbox when they charge.
For some closing thoughts, I shared most of my frustrations and mixed feelings on the game, but anything I didn't mention, I didn't because I enjoyed the game a lot despite those things... I think the music is the biggest one for me, Stages 2, 6 and 9 I could play on repeat. These stages' music transitions send me flying.
Next, Mr. Y was a nice fight. I think this might be the best boss battle I've seen against a gunner in one of these beatemups, because those tend to be overly cheap and restrictive, where as in this one you get lots of breathing room and he gets better with the grenades and rolling around.
Commissioner I grew to like more, he stands out the most next to Mr. Y as a boss battle and has good telegraphs and cooldowns to his moves.
I haven't yet played every other character, but I'm looking forward to them, I think I'll still play the game to complete all other characters despite all I've said.
I tried to keep this constructive, so the feedback isn't just just destructive bs. I really like this game a lot despite all I shared here, had a blast beating it.