- Zoning
http://testyourmight.com/threads/injustice-zoning.30958/#post-791947
http://testyourmight.com/threads/injustice-zoning.30958/page-11#post-1014838
So that I dont repeat myself.
The problem, I fear, lies in awkward balancing ideas. I cant help but once again look at the classics – SF has melee or zoning characters, but once melee gets through “fireball forest” his tools are far superior to that of a zoner.
Injustice zoners have very powerful melee tools, combined with multiple options to shake off pressure makes them overall a better choice. With no true options to counter projectile spam, game pace become slow and boring.
That is even further enchanced by one of the slowest walk speed Fgs have seen.
Everyone has options to counter the "fireball forest" whether it be up projectiles, armored specials, traits or the use of interactibles. The goal in this game (as it should be for all games) is to know how to use the tools at your disposal. All games are designed that while Character X is not in his element at a certain distance, that at no time the player should feel "hopeless" or "helpless". A rushdown character that gets in on a zoner should be rewarded while at the same time the zoner shouldn't feel that all he can do is let go of the controller and watch himself die. If I as Catwoman get in on Superman, Black Adam, Sinestro, et al, it's 50/50 mixups all day long and yes, even the OP Superman is in deep shit. But, if one of these characters' players correctly yomis my next move, zoner or not, I deserve to be hurt and knocked away more towards his ideal range and out of mine.
I am also getting sick and tired of people bringing up the walk speed. First off, the walk speed is not uniform and is character-based. A big character should move slower than a little one. Also, to counteract this, Injustice has one of the fastest dashes out of any game to compensate. Also, the majority of the cast have specials and kombo strings that aid in their mobility. We just have to think of mobility as a way to get around the screen as opposed to just "walking".
- Jumps
A lot of characters in the game were given multiple ways to change jump arcs – divekicks, air projectiles, air dashes etc. However , lack of reliable AA's (or specifically, ridiculous hitbox on jump atacks) makes this options obsolette.
Apparently this has been made to avoid inability of jump atacks to crossup, which occurred in early builds. But finalized version seems raw and counter-intuitive.
Jumping is a necessity, especially in a game like Injustice if for no other reason than it's a visually exciting thing and brings the "comic book feel" to the game. AA were buffed and many characters have crossup attacks. The problem with them is, that the timing is generally pretty strict on whether or not the move will crossup.
I'm also not sure what the gripe is here since most of the things listed shouldn't be dealt with with a simple D2 AA anyway. Divekicks need to be blocked and punished, Air Dashes require the use of air or vertical projectiles, air projectiles with well-timed up projectiles or blocked and punished accordingly. There are also characters that would be lost without their godlike jumping attacks (IE> Catwoman's J2 or Lex's J3). If they didn't have those difficult to punish attacks, getting in would require more meter use than it already does.
- Frame data (moves balance)
Why Superman f23 is fast, long range, cancellable juggle starter, while b23 slow, no range and deals 8%?
Why Bane f2 is -23 mid, while f2d (same move basically) is neurtal on block overhead?
Why movelist is filled with trash moves, which only purpose is excuse for a cool name (like “dark knight rising” or “final hour”) next to it?
Eventually we end up with “two days of f23” as someone described EVO 2013. It could easily have been “two days of b13” (Green Lantern) or “two days of b23” (Black Adam). Character moves are not balanced, not only between roster, but even between that same character movelist.
Each move needs to fit a role. Safe, damaging, fast – pick two. The rule as old as fgs go.
I find it a little hard to argue this other than the "characters are unexplored" argument. I remember Tom Brady saying on a podcast that he had good fundamentals with Aquaman until he found out how stoopidly good Scoop was. Then when Scoop was normalized, he had to go back and relearn the character because he relied on one trick too much. I don't believe there has ever been a "trash move" in any game, just that we haven't found (or bothered to look for) a use for it. It could be very situation-specific or it could be simply a different way to do something that your opponent may not expect. Superman's f23 does what it does and b12 (I'm just throwing out numbers here as an example) is another kombo string that does the exact same thing as f23 but no one uses it because it does 2% less damage for the same results. So why would you use the b12 string? Because no one's using it and odds are you opponent won't be ready for it. The road to victory isn't who does the most damage but who does more damage than their opponent. If you're biggest damaging string is the f23 but you opponent is checking you every time you use it, it's not you most damaging string now is it?
- Buffening
Game timings are way too strict. It goes back to MK9 and I dont see a reason for it to stay this way. Lack of buffer windows for normals make online play excruciating.
Online play is excruciating because it's online play, not because normal don't buffer. I can input b1 2 d3 bf1 all at once and it will come out as the string I want cancelled into Cat Claws. Using online play as proof of anything negates your argument.
- Ranked play
Ranked play is the best part of online Fgs and its a total failure.
If I am a begginner from Asia and get paired with KDZ from USA, not only Im going to suffer a horrible death, but its also going to be slow. In all senses.
No way to skip opponent, no way to see how good your connection is, no way to separate beginner from expert. Those problems are LONG SOLVED in other online games. How come Injustice falls so far behind?
Agreed.
- Patching
Generally, patching is a good thing. As someone coming from Japanese Fgs I know how developer inability to adress ridiculous bugs laid waste to entire communities. However, I cannot comprehend logic behind patches.
KF slide is broken. KF resets are broken. Even if it would deal 10% dmg it would still be. Does it get patched? NO. Everyting else does.
Same for Scorpion TP. Or Superman f23. Or Batman bats.
The broken stuff IS obvious. But everything gets patched. Everything, but the broken stuff. Its as if NRS is forcing us to abuse this shit even harder.
The recent patch left me confused. As “universal” D2 improvement actually buffed Black Adam, Superman and GL, as you no longer can jump at them for free with most characters.
The problem here is that the word "Broken" gets thrown around so much that no one really knows what the word means anymore. The only thing that remotely resembles "broken" is Scorpion's Tele-Punch and as we have seen, even that is debatable. Is KF's Slide hard to deal with? Of course. Just as it was when Sub Zero had it in MK. Broken? Not a chance.
The AA buff was universal in response to us complaining about jumping for free. A universal buff benefits everyone including the top tiers. This is what we asked for and this is what we got. We can't go back now and say "Hay! I only wanted my character buffed, not the ones that I already have a hard time fighting!"
To conclude.
Injustice is a disappointment and a lot of players will drop it after EVO. As a fan of MK9, I, among others, had high hopes for Injustice and saw it as a game, that would unite different Fgs communities. Franlky, I feel even MK9 was a better FG than Injustice (except for p1 advantage). Do you feel the same way? Do you agree with my points?
If yes, maybe, together, we can reach NRS ears and their next title finally reaches the goal.
After watching the GF and sitting through 2 days of mostly Superman, Black Adam and Green Lantern, THAT will kill this game more than anything else. At one point during the top 8, I was screaming for someone to pick Scorpion even. When the booing happened during Grand Finals, there was nothing I could do to argue. Watching one guy spam jumping Eye Lasers while the other crouch-blocks is just painful to watch. I love this game and won't drop it. I just hope at some point people see what I see in it (and learn how to shut Superman's ass up....)
