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5/27/14

Titanfall Beta Gameplay Footage and Initial Impressions

After Call of Duty: Ghosts left such an awful taste in my mouth, I thought I’d never play another modern FPS. I’d grown comfortable with the fact that I’d stick to fighting games and the occasional MOBA and leave competitive gun slinging safely in my past along with gas station taquitos and Wings reruns.

Then Titanfall came along.

Like many people, I was lucky enough to get into the PC stress test this weekend and I have to say, it was incredible. It’s like someone sat down and took everything good about every past FPS and found a way to fit all of those little pieces together into something that doesn’t look or feel like an FPS equivalent of Frankenstein’s monster.

The gameplay is fast, the maps are huge (but not so huge that it feels like you’re never in the action), the fields and corridors are filled with NPC fodder that you can easily kill to gain experience (and points toward victory in Attrition mode), the weapons are incredibly fun to use and to top it all off the parkour elements and the ability to double jump make it feel like I’m controlling a space-aged version of Ezio Auditore. I also can’t say anything about Titanfall without mentioning the melee kills. I was a fan of the commando pro perk in MW2 because it extended the knife’s effective range. There is no knife in Titanfall, you just cram a rocket-powered boot into your enemy’s chest or, if you’re behind them, break their neck in a cinematic fashion. The effective melee range is comparable to the commando pro knife range, so I feel right at home flying around and sticking boots into faces.

Though open beta testers only have access to a very small amount of weapons, two maps and a single titan, the game still feels complete; it is still something that I would readily purchase in its current state. That it is going to have 14 total maps, about ten times as many weapons and more titans on release sounds almost too good to be true.

And if you’re looking to try the beta yourself, follow this link to the official signup page. The beta is set to end on Thursday, so don’t wait!

[NOTE: Through uploading this video, I have discovered that my video quality until now has been rather subpar. This lack of beautiful visuals was easy to overlook in fighting game videos, but it’s not easy to overlook when things become so blurry in a game like Titanfall. For the moment, I am without a way to fix this quality issue, as I do all of my editing with Windows Movie Maker (I don’t have another program to do it currently). About an hour ago, I did some research to find out at what point in the process my video quality had degraded from the 720p that I recorded in to… whatever exactly is currently on the YouTubes. I found that the drop occurred when I moved the file into Movie Maker for editing, which compressed the file into .wmv format, resulting in a drastic reduction of  visual quality.

For now, I’m going to spend some time looking into alternative editing programs that aren’t in the Adobe price range, as that is just unrealistic. If anyone knows of a program that will allow simple editing without a reduction in quality, please let me know!]

The Goofiest Weekly Vortex Ever. Seriously.

This is the longest video that I’ve uploaded. It clocks in at just under 18 minutes and I honestly didn’t have the heart to cut any more of the footage than I did. I tried. I just couldn’t do it.

I had an incredible amount of fun recording these matches, and it probably has something to do with the fact that I had, just prior to playing, spent about five hours reading a book that I was just not into at all. I’m not, nor have I ever been a fan of the Romance genre, but hey, sometimes you have to read stuff that you don’t want to because it’s on the syllabus. For those curious, the book was Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie. It was well-written (as far as, like, word choice is concerned), but the pacing was just really off.  Way too slow. It could have been a short story. I also didn’t care about any of the characters involved; they were all pretty one-dimensional and served only to prop up the protagonist who I didn’t like. It felt like I was reading Bridesmaids and I’m pretty sure I fell asleep when I was watching that, so, yeah.

Anyway, this isn’t Lance’s Awesome Book Blog, so let’s get back to the video: I did live commentary this time and the hype levels got downright remarkable at a couple of points. The matches don’t really demonstrate my best performance, but man, I don’t mind that at all. It was the most fun I’ve had making a video for this site (and I’ve been making videos for close to a year now!)

So seriously, check this one out. You won’t be disappointed.

Marvel Locals Recap and More!

The turnout on Saturday was pretty good. In total, there were five of us who played Marvel and a couple of people who were there just to hang out (my money is on converting them to players in the near future).  I’m told that there were two people who came to the previous gatherings that weren’t able to make it out this time and I know that I have at least one more friend who intends to go to the next meeting, which would bring our total up to eight. Eight people. That’s a very respectable amount of like-minded individuals who intend to throw hams with one another.

We ran two setups and people traded off spots with the odd man out at random–but fair–intervals. Obviously, once we have more people attending we’ll need to either get a third setup going or run matches in a two out of three or first to three format to keep everyone playing and involved. I think I’d prefer the option of keeping two setups and rotating people in; it will allow people to take time and watch each other play, which can be just as important as actually sitting down and unleashing a dark Wesker of your own.

Perhaps the most interesting element of the entire evening was seeing the array of different teams used and the skill range present. I was pretty securely in the middle of the pack with my Zero/Wolverine/Doom team. The people who were able to beat me, though, did so with finesse.  These near-perfect victories (as most of them were) for my opponents came in two forms: armored attacks from Hulk covered with a Haggar assist–and me, stupidly, pressing buttons–or, level four Frank West. Once those chainsaws are out, man, somebody is going to lose an arm. I lost several.

The obvious solution to dealing with the Hulk team is to just not get fooled into hitting buttons when I shouldn’t. That’s harder than it sounds, especially when I’m used to teleporting around like a crazy person with no ill effects and tossing out pizza slicers as often as my H button will allow. As for the Frank West team, well, I just need to learn to deal with his pressure without getting hit. It all comes down to a lack of being able to maintain an active defense while still putting out damage, something that I’ve always struggled with in Marvel. This is the kind of thing that can only truly be improved through play.

Playing with a variety of new people showed me that I’m basically back where I was with this team before I stopped playing several months ago, and, just like several months ago, I’ve fallen into a comfortable, predictable pattern of play. Every match would look exactly the same if my opponent did nothing. I can watch replays of myself using Zero/Wolverine/Doom and say out loud, “next, I’m going to back dash twice and fire my buster,” which, without missing a beat, unfolds on the screen. I can predict the angles of approach I’m about to use on Doom (which are always incredibly rushdown heavy, something that I naturally favor) and I can tell when I’m going to use a berserker slash with Logan. It’s just too predictable overall.

It’s a tough rut to get out of, and it’s one that I fell into with Ibuki a while back. Granted, I still have bad habits with Ibuki, but not nearly so many as I had. The way that I was best able to overcome the issues that I had with her was to spend a great deal of time with other characters. I picked up Evil Ryu and played him exclusively for a few weeks. I went back to Chun-Li and played her for a couple of weeks after that. Taking time away from Ibuki made me miss certain tools that she has that other characters don’t, specifically her command runs and her back+MP. Once I went back to Ibuki with fresh eyes, I was able to put these tools to better use.

That means that I’m going to try messing with some different characters in Marvel. Right now I only have one requirement for the team: at least one character must be able to tri-jump. I’m leaning toward Storm, but I have no idea who to put with her. I’ve seen some team compositions that use Strider, Dante, Wesker, Akuma, all sorts of characters to take advantage of what Storm brings to a team, but I have no idea how to play any of them. This will undoubtedly be an adventure. If I had to pick three characters that I have no idea how to play, it’d probably be Dante/Storm/Strider, but that’s a lot to learn from a few very high-execution characters. I’ve got a month to pick up some new stuff, though, so we’ll have to see how it goes.

In other news, I recently had the pleasure of playing several matches of AE with my overseas friend from the blogosphere, o0 InFraRED 0o. I was surprised by how good our connection was. Sure, we had red bars, but there were maybe two incidents where the game actually stuttered noticeably. It was, overall, just a touch sluggish, but I’m so accustomed to online play in that game that I can adapt fairly quickly to that sort of thing. I’ve got a mean under water Ibuki and I always pack my snorkel.

Be sure to check back Friday for a video. It could be pretty much anything at this point.

Marvel Locals On the Horizon, GET HYPE!

Tomorrow is the day. After months of daydreaming about having a local scene, tomorrow is the day where I’ll make the 45 minute trek to a nearby city and hang out in the apartment of a complete stranger with a couple of my buddies. We plan to play only Marvel. The guy who hosts these monthly meetings believes that it’s easier to get a group together to play a single game than it is to have everyone show up with a copy of their favorite game.

“What do you mean you guys don’t want to play Aquapazza?”

It’s a good idea to focus on a single title. It makes people train in that specific game, even if it’s not the game that they typically play. No one feels cheated because they spent all week training in P4A. No one is surprised.

Here’s a rough look at how I’ve been preparing for tomorrow:

(I said it was rough, okay? Like, really rough) I have to admit that I’m a little nervous. It’s sort of like going to a tournament for the first time. I’ve never met these people, have no idea who they play and have no idea how good they are. They may have all just picked up the game a couple of months ago, or they may have placed at EVO two years ago.

Who knows!

It’ll be exciting. I’ll give you guys a recap on Tuesday!

The Results Are in! Also, There’s a Video!

The poll closed a week ago today, and the answers were basically what I expected to see. All but a couple of stragglers said that they want to see more AE matches with Ibuki. The first-to-five idea was pretty popular (37.5%), as was the regular ranked match option (25%). In keeping with the votes, I’m going to see if I can get some people to agree to do some sets with me. It’ll be a good break from the online warrior style.

There’s something about being able to fight the same person several times in a row that changes the game. It helps to build a set of skills that apply directly to tournament play: learning to read how an opponent plays and being okay with losing a couple of matches to learn how to deal with what they’re doing. Ranked matches are the opposite. You get, at best, one round to figure out how the opponent plans to abuse your character. If you fail to figure it out in time, better be ready to, ahem, Hold that L.

Today’s video is just a standard ranked match lineup with some live commentary. I’ve been spending a great deal of time exploring Ibuki’s anti-air options and it’s starting to show up in my play. At least once in this video, I manage to follow an agemen with something damaging! The damage increase is substantial. It’s no SRK into ultra, but it’s certainly a start.

Ibuki anti-airs have fascinated me since around the time SFXT released. I was struggling with the necessary execution for her combos off of agemen in AE at the time, so the system in SFxT was a welcome change–it didn’t require a command dash cancel to do a follow-up. When I realized that, I made my first video. For the sake of nostalgia, here it is:

Life before my Elgato was difficult. I had to stack a pile of about 20 text books on top of my nightstand and park it in front of my TV to be able to record this footage. I seriously taped (yes, taped. scotch taped) my camera to the top book of the pile to guarantee a steady shot and hit record. The editing was a nightmare… and the screen is crooked.

More Ibuki vs. Bison and a Couple of Shotos in the Mix in Today’s Weekly Vortex

When I sat down for my recording session earlier this week, I ended up fighting the same Bison player several times. I had enough footage of Bison matches to make an entire Bison video. I almost did it, too. Then I realized that I still have obvious shortcomings in the match-up, so I decided to take a couple of the best matches and throw some shotos into the mix.

By now, I have an incredible amount of experience as Ibuki against Bison, the problem that I currently run into online is figuring out what type of Bison I’m fighting while also trying not to lose the first round by doing so. Some Bisons like buttons a lot more than others and will walk you to the corner with their s.MK; some Bisons seem only to throw specials and the occasional sweep and spend a great deal of the match turtling and punishing mistakes that you make; then there are the ones somewhere in between. It usually takes a round for me to figure out which style the Bison employs (and I probably don’t win that match) and then I’ve got an uphill battle on my hands.

All that said, I’m getting a lot better at punishing his bad decisions. I still really need to work on punishing EX psycho crusher with Ultra 2, but that comes with experience.

Back to the Basics: More Ibuki Ranked Matches in Street Fighter!

Today’s video is a return to Street Fighter. I have LOCAL SCENE!!!! (woo!) Marvel matches coming up for the first time in a couple of weeks, but before I have a chance to get to those, I have an appointment to face off in Street Fighter against a very special guest! The exact details will remain on the down-low until the footage is actually captured, so as not to get any hopes up, but I am very excited about what the next couple of weeks have in store for KunaiVortex.com! The video is set to be a first to three (or five, we haven’t decided for sure yet) and I should be recording this week at some point when our schedules sync up.

As this week has proven particularly busy already–incredibly long space opera (Leviathan Wakes) to read for class on top of the regular load, as well as a second interview for what could be a decent enough job, I’m going to be keeping the videos rather simple. I won’t be doing live or post-recording commentary, but the videos will still be uploaded and will contain the standard 3-6 matches, depending on how long each takes.

I’ve recently come under the impression that the perfect length for my video uploads is between the nine and twelve minute mark; they don’t take too long to upload at that length and, I hope, no one has time to get bored in that period.

Today is the last official day in the poll for future videos, so get those votes in! Polling will end at midnight EST!

More Marvel! This Time Featuring Commentary and A New Team Lineup!

Wolverine on point has been realized in today’s video. It feels good. It feels right. It feels like the sort of thing that I should have done months ago. Does this mean that I’m done with Zero? Nah. My dropping Zero permanently would be on par with Josh dropping Wesker permanently.

I mean, the first arcade stick that I ever owned was one that I built [Note to self: make a post about building arcade sticks]. I finished putting it together a couple of months before Marvel released and I said, “man, I really should put Zero on this thing.” So I was locked into maining Zero before I had even seen someone play him. Luckily, he ended up being exactly my playstyle: Low risk mixups, decent damage (incredible damage at high levels of execution) and tools to control any part of the screen when applied properly, which, oddly enough, doubles as a fair description of Ibuki.

I decided to try yet another angle on commentary in this video. Though I’m playing in the matches, I tried to keep everything third person. It just sounds better that way. Instead of having to worry about what I was thinking at any moment during the matches, I was able to–more easily–just look at the match objectively and say what I thought was going on and why I thought it was going on.

My recent poll about future video content closes in just four short days! Get your votes in while you still can!

Week of… WHEN’S MAHVEL?

Get hype! It’s time for me to break away from Street Fighter for a little bit and get some Marvel back in my system. In complete honesty, I haven’t played this game for more than half an hour per month since… well, I don’t even remember when. Thankfully, those little bursts of play have left my combos mostly intact; my movement and blocking, on the other hand, have suffered greatly.

I can’t really do any of the fancy touch of death Zero combos that Flocker and all those other popular Zeroes can, but I’ve still got a decent BNB that is so easy to execute that I (almost) never drop it. Wolverine is simple enough for a toddler to pick up and do what I’m doing, so he’s golden, and Doom is Doom. If his foot touches you, you’re as good as dead. The team that I currently run is incredibly high tier, which is something uncommon for me (Ibuki has only pretty recently been accepted as above a solid C tier character). At one point, I even had Vergil instead of Wolverine. I dare you to make a higher tier team than that!

Check back Friday for some more Marvel footage as I work the kinks out of my movement and blocking and maybe even brave a lightning loop attempt or two on film.

This video is just one of the many directions that future content could take. If you like it, let me know in my poll, which will remain open until January 28th!