Phew, time to get blown up again, but that's fine (anyone whose opinion I give a shit about has moved on to Discord, anyway...). I'm always willing to discuss things in a civil manner. I'll be ignoring any shitty responses. If you disagree, great, but please address the issues brought up and provide valid reasons, and I'll be happy to like your posts and admit any wrongness on my part. That said, here we go:
Injustice 2 is a "problematic game". What does that mean? Well, I think now, more than ever, we can feel the influence of WB over NRS. Rather than releasing a complete, working title, NRS has released a mess of of a fighting game with lopsided matchups, unfinished characters, input bugs, and money-grubbing strategies. Let's start with the gear system...
Gear
I was more than willing to give the gear system a shot. With a competitive mode included, I figured "great, I can customize my character and it won't affect gameplay. That sounds pretty damn cool." Unfortunately, it's not pretty damn cool. It's pretty damn shitty the way it's force down out throats. Rather than being an "optional" component, we are forced to play with gear enabled by default. This completely ruins any non-Ranked online game modes for those of us who want to play with baseline characters.
Even turning off gear is purposefully confusing. You can't just turn off gear. You have to turn on a mode that has the effect of turning off gear. It's purposefully ambiguous. Your average online player probably doesn't even realize how to turn off gear. WB, and by association NRS, want you to play with gear. They want you to spend 2,000 Source Crystals to transform a single piece of gear. They want those of us who paid $100 to still have to spend money on premium skins. The entire gear system is just free-to-play nonsense included in a $60 (or $100) game. It's criminal. It's insulting.
Not only is gear a cash grab, but moves that could have been included in characters' base sets were set aside as gear-only. This has ruined more than a few of the game's roster. Many character feel totally inadequate until you equip a move that should have been a default part of their move set to begin with. This is catering to the casual crowd (i.e. the piggybank) on an unprecedented level. I fully understand that NRS is a business and they need to make money, but they are doing so on the backs of their most loyal customers. They have sold us out to nickel and dime the Gamefaqs and Eventhubs casuals. Gear was supposed to be optional, but it has overtaken every facet of this game. Rather than making money by releasing a quality title that thousands of people will buy, they're releasing an incomplete, buggy, $65 (or $100) title that tries its very best to goad you into dropping as much additional cash as possible. It's shameful. Fuck you Ed Boon. Fuck your eyebrows too.
Bugs
Do I even need to mention the input bug? I've been playing fighting games since 1991 and I have never experienced anything like this. It kills me knowing time that could have been spent making a great fighting game was devoted to that anal wart they call they Gear system. The game is borderline unplayable in its current state. I play on Hitbox, and even going to neutral before going for a punish is futile, as the game holds the down or back input for an eternity.
As discovered by Red Raptor (or Red Reaper? I always get those two confused), the game is also riddled with option selects. I'm sure they'll be removed eventually (it's not like my $100 game should be complete or anything...), but for now characters can safely go for tic throws with no repercussions. Again, would this have been an issue if NRS wasn't wasting time on the gear system? Who knows.
Character Viability Discrepancy
This is the section I expect to get blown up on by NRS loyalists and character fanatics, but anyone who can't see the difference between Batman and Captain Cold or Superman and Brainiac is simply in denial.
This game is riddled with 7/3 and 8/2 matchups, which is really nothing new for NRS. Those of us who played Injustice 1 remember the block infinites on big-body characters. However, at least in that game, the big-body characters had some tools in some matchups. In this game we have characters like Captain Cold, who has a 3-hit all-high string. What? We have Brainiac, with a trait that goes away on hit or on block. We have Wonder Woman, whose trait is random for some unknown reason.
The issue is that the top 5 or 6 characters have all the tools. Batman shouldn't have the best zoning and the best rushdown. Neither should Superman, Black Adam, or Aquaman. But nonetheless we have these characters with extremely strong ranged presence also able to hold their own up close against any character in the cast. Why play Wonder Woman when you can play Aquaman and do everything she does, but better? Why play Cyborg when I can just play Batman and dominate from full-screen or up close?
It's insane seeing something like Batman's trait, which allows him to full-combo punish any gap or negative move in the game, which never goes away once called, and which he gains access to once every few seconds, alongside something like Brainiac's trait, which is slow, less + on block, can't punish gaps, and goes away on hit or block, or Captain Cold's trait, which must be charged while putting Cold at great risk. Who balanced this piece-of-shit game?
As it stands, there is no reason to play 90% of the roster; the top 5 or 6 have all the tools necessary to dominate any matchup. Any tournament players you see doing well with Cheetah, Robin, Joker, or anyone else are simply amazing players; it's the players doing well despite their characters' flaws.
Conclusion
It's late so I've got to wrap this up without saying everything I had in mind. If you enjoy the game then I'm genuinely happy for you. I've been waiting to play as Black Manta since I1 was first announced, and I plan to stick it out purely to play as him. But it is not a pleasant experience. The game is flawed in many, many ways. If you have an issue I have not brought up, please feel free to share it in the comments.
I have hope that NRS will begin correcting their mistakes. They'll give us a reason to use characters who are simply taking up space at the moment. They'll give us the option to make a competitive-only KOTH or room. But until then, I have to concede that this game is the worst example of corporate greed and incompetence, that it is a flawed and incomplete experience, and that even those some of us who paid $100 for the joy of playing it, WB and NRS expect us to dig deeper for the pleasure of getting zoned out and rushed down by the same 5 or 6 characters who do everything out characters do, only better.
TLDR: This game is a money-grubbing, incomplete, insulting piece of shit, and NRS should be ashamed.
