Stepping to the side, KoF2000 has the best ending credits music ever.
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I was in the room interpreting the [interview] (http://shoryuken.com/2016/01/30/yasuyuki-oda-mixes-old-school-expertise-modern-conventions-in-king-of-fighters-xiv/) about XIV that went up on SRK a month or two ago, and Oda never mentioned anything about them wondering whether or not they needed multiple jumps — that’s one of the things they considered “essential” to KOF alongside guard cancels etc., that would absolutely be in the game no matter what. My takeaway was more that they don’t want the game to turn into a one-touch kill HD combo nightmare like KOFXIII. Which is good! We’ll see how it turns out.
The question did come up about whether Max Mode activation freezing the game for a second was an intentional riff on recent mechanics like Chain Shift in under night in-birth and V Trigger in SFV etc., and he did say they were in the middle of tweaking that. Sure enough, it sounds like they removed the freeze in the most recent version of the game. I don’t get the sense that they’re trying to diverge from 98/2002-style game feel much in a lot of other areas, though. I’m more willing to believe that stuff is just the result of them having to figure out how to make this stuff look acceptable in 3D with a mostly new team and an insane end goal to meet. Growing pains, basically.
Something about their decision to get back into game development because KOF XIII sold well on steam, and are now working on a fighting game with 50 characters and no DLC because “we’re SNK” did strike me as slightly insane, but I can’t deny that there’s something weirdly inspiring about the whole endeavor. The positive buzz I’ve seen on twitter to recent trailers from less serious players makes me hopeful the game will be received well, because uhhh man a lot of the crazy KOF people I know sure didn’t like what they played of the demo.
Man I knew Sylvie’s attacks looked familiar.
[quote=“mosesplan, post:127, topic:128”]
The positive buzz I’ve seen on twitter to recent trailers from less serious players makes me hopeful the game will be received well, because uhhh man a lot of the crazy KOF people I know sure didn’t like what they played of the demo.
[/quote] Do you know what their issues were? That’s a big damper.
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Oh man, if Slyvie is canon to Waku Waku 7 in some bizarre way like being a younger sister human cyborg android something, that’d be so wonderful and delicious.
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It was all general game feel stuff. Jumps felt wrong, Iori’s rekkas were too slow, etc. All stuff that I assume will be tweaked to feel a lot better once the game gets closer to release.
Stockholm syndrome, but I agree
Thanks. Sounds like either I misremembered or read a mistranslation. I do remember his addressing the jumps in a discussion of what was and was not necessary to make it feel right.
EDIT: KOF14 devs acknowledge visual complaints - MMCafe / The Madman's Cafe
“Before going on to adding new systems, we went through a reevaluation of all the systems in KOF. For example, whether we really needed 4 different kinds of jumps, whether the Maxmode is good, which titles were most loved by the players, whether there were unneeded systems, and so on. After doing so, we decided to brush up on each of the system and make them new.”
This seems to be what stuck in my head.
Also on the topic of jumps, there’s this: KOF producer Interviewed by FGC Magazine - MMCafe / The Madman's Cafe
Q: Players who got their hands on the demo in the first day were complaining about jumps being too “floaty” or slow.
Oda: Jumps have always been powerful in the KOF Series. Therefore, we prepared the PSX build in that way. I admit they are still a bit “slower” compared to KOF XIII, but we will work on their adjustment from here on out.
I don’t agree. It’s one of the aspects where I think they surpass most other 2D fighting games!
Except in 2003 when they inexplicably replaced a lot of hit sounds with some limp, unsatisfying versions for some inexplicable reason.
There are a few exceptions here and there. I think the ranbus feel like that to remain close to how they were in AOF.
I loved Indestructible basically since my second listen
As far as the team spectators go, those left in '99 because the system switched to strikers and it became logistically weird to have the team members still standing back there. And then in 2003 we moved to tag, which made it even harder to do. Though, actually, it would be kind of cool to see teammates pop in and out of the background…
Anyway. After many years of logistics rubbing them out, it’s understandable that SNK’s just not doing it anymore. It is a bit of a shame, though. I thought that added some nice dynamism and ongoing narrative to the fights. Every win or loss changed who was back there, doing what. Every block or strike or loss caused them to react. Given the focus of story in this series, and that every match is by necessity so drawn out, it made sense to fill each match with an ongoing narrative, showing the consequences of actions.
I stopped typing this response and only just came back to it now after an hour, so I feel like I’m missing a conclusion that I was working toward. oh well.
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LIKE IN GROOVE ON FIGHT???
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I think teammates in the background would have also been especially great for the six-player Party Battle mode in KOF14, where maybe the people playing the teammates in the background could choose different animations and reactions during the active round.
But I am hopeful that the game keeps the pre-fight chatter since I think the second or third KOF14 trailer showed some custom dialogue between Kyo and Iori. You can’t really tell the context but hopefully it’s something akin to the conversations from previous games. KOF13’s dialogue was entertaining and once again gave everyone and their relationships a lot of character. I do wonder if going fully voiced would mean shorter conversations though, perhaps sticking to just custom intros.
Part of the leaks was that this new story arc and the new China team revolve around the dragon spirit. This is exciting because this is something that’s been festering in the background for over a decade but never got major development. Since it involves so many characters it’s nice to hear that its being given a focus. There’s the two new people in the new China team. Kensou is in and he’s important since his manifestation of the dragon spirit power was what kicked this all off. This also gives reason for Bao to come back since he uses the dragon spirit just like Kensou. And if Kensou and Bao are back, that means Ron, Misty, and the Flying Brigands come back since they are following Kensou and Bao’s progress. And if Ron comes back, that means Duo Lon could suitably return as Ron’s son and hunter but more interestingly Lin could finally make an appearance again as someone else hunting Ron. And while none of this is likely in any way it was mainly all setup to say I hope this opens a path to bring our queen and savior Xiao Lon into the main cannon.
We need Falcoon costume dlc for this game.
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Speaking of plot threads, they really have to do something with Adelheid eventually. Aside from all the sub-plots going on with him and Rose, having someone around with the Rugal moveset would be nice.
Adel had everything laid out for a big role in 13 but was left out because time/budget, he’s even pretty prominent in the story mode. At this point I’d rather have proper Rugal back, considering they somehow managed Nakoruru in this it can’t be a real problem.
Rugal acts like a regal gentleman but he’s got the wit of an elementary schooler.
Announcing the 1995 King of Fighters tournament.
The event will be conducted as the previous one,
and we welcome both new and old victims - er, teams. Break a spine… ®
The Ash Saga has so much stuff sitting on the cutting room floor, I’m sure. It was a bungled arc for a wide variety of reasons but it’s unfortunate that there are a ton of side-characters that are introduced but left untouched. Adelheid and Rose at least appear in the story scenes and Adelheid was a hidden character in the KOFXI console version, but what about all those members of Those From the Past? Shion was cool in KOFXI and was setup to be important but never appears again. Shroom and Rimelo are people I guess? But everyone else never even got a moment to drop their hoods. Then again, that is a large number side-characters to fit into a fighting game story of all things and KOF has always had a tradition of side characters being plot important but not being playable (at least not initially). One of the people in the New Invitation Team are supposed to be relevant to KOF13’s ending and in the leaked roster picture the middle member looks like they’re wearing the robe from Those From the Past so maybe SNK’s set the new arc up in a way so they can still make use of them in the future.
My biggest disappointment is still Ash himself though. Having the arc revolve around an anti-hero who is hunting the previous protagonists and stealing their powers is a cool idea but he was so veiled in mystery there was nothing to him until the ending cutscene of KOF13.
A new trailer is incoming, per SNK’s twitter. Additionall the KOF14 demo at the KVOxTSB FG tournament next month will have 20 playable characters!
Kim’s Master’s Wife and the first of the Team South America reps:
They’re really pushing these trailers out fast now!
in the still it looks like she has ballmer-grade sweaty pits
They’re having lots of fun with that “Burn to Fight” screen at the start, lately.
Nelson looks like he plays exactly like Vanessa. Who, in turn, plays like Rick Strowd. Which is good, in that Vanessa handles exactly the way I’d expect a skilled boxer would in a context like this. The downside is, as long as he sticks around I guess we won’t be seeing Vanessa!
Luong looks like a great character. Feels very authentic KoF.
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If he can’t puncher weave or puncher vision (the quick step) then he’s no Vanessa. It was hard for me to get a sense of where his normals ended and specials began but he honestly made me think of TJ Combo more than anyone else. Here’s hoping for a boxing team in KOF15 (Vanessa, Nelson, Heavy D!). The big mystery about Nelson is why his artificial arm keeps switching places. Initially it’s switching between left and right arm, appearing on whichever arm is in the background (1p side is left arm, 2p side is right arm). But then one time he’s shown on the 2p side he has the mechanical arm in the foreground, on his left arm! Maybe both arms are mechanical.
Luong looks like a Falcoon character. She’s the closest we’re getting to Xiao Lon alt 2 I guess!
Maybe it has Dead or Alive 5 sweat tech just for the idol character.
Wow. I’m super sold on this KOF by this point, to be honest.
~The Dream Match never Die~
