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Rivals of Aether (Smash-like)

Yeah I think I'll pick it up on early access unless the preliminary reviews are just abysmal.
 
Hit early access today. Getting favorable reviews. I won't get to play it until late today. Any one else?
 
I've been watching this game for a few years now, so I'm pretty excited. Kinda strapped for cash this month, but I'll see what I can do. Worst case scenario, I'll probably end up getting it next week.
 
It doesn't really seem to separate itself from Smash enough to warrant me picking it up ATM considering how out of money I am. I also really don't like the art/character designs.
 
I'm not a Smash player, so I won't speak too much to that, but here is a list of how it is different (from what I can gather it's not super different, but the differences are fairly noticeable?).

I think the move lists are generally more interesting... for instance the rock guy (Kragg) who can build a tower of rocks to save from falling.

The reviews are quite positive (1 bad one and 70 good ones), and for me the biggest seller is that it is on the "one true platform".

It looks like a blast on twitch, and hopefully the community is good (a few hundred in Twitch watching it and almost 1k playing it right now).

I picked it up, but I had to go to work, so I didn't get any time to play it. I'll be able to report more about how it plays later though.
 
When I do get the game I think I'll try out forsburn first. His smoke gimmick looks very interesting. Plus he wears a skull, and that's cool.
 
I like the green squirrel and the cat-orca.
 
This game makes me happy

 
Combos are really free in this game. The lack of defensive options are a little concerning. It's very fun, but I'm not sure what's going to happen at high level play.
 
So I'm having a freaking blast with this game. Offense is definitely powerful as Grangach said, but I like it to be honest. You get some legit comebacks that don't feel filthy.

I'm having a blast with it, but my time is pretty damn limited, and my controller skills are definitely not up to snuff.

On that note, are there some weird controller interactions? Occasionally, I'll reverse direction, start running in that direction, do neutral special, and the special will come out the opposite direction.

I also despise playing vs the Bird... he's annoying as balls. The big dumb flame lion is also annoying. Neither seem necessarily OP but just super annoying.

In any case, I'm glad I spent the money. Even if it is something I don't ever take seriously, it has been worth it.
 
Spencer said:
On that note, are there some weird controller interactions? Occasionally, I'll reverse direction, start running in that direction, do neutral special, and the special will come out the opposite direction..

It's like in a fighter when you get a lp when you wanted light srk. You just gotta clean up your inputs. That's actually a thing, you basically press away slightly and press b to make neutral b come out on the opposite side.
 
Grangach said:
It's like in a fighter when you get a lp when you wanted light srk. You just gotta clean up your inputs. That's actually a thing, you basically press away slightly and press b to make neutral b come out on the opposite side.

I can actually do that one (usually). It is necessary for Orcan's best ledge save if you're facing away from the ledge (reverse neutral special move). This is different (though no doubt also a result of my inputs). It's kind of like a reverse, reverse neutral special. For example: I am going left. I flip and start moving right. My neutral special still comes out left.
 
So like 5 hours in and I'm getting 0 to 70% combos consistently that really doesn't bode well. Games got shitloads of hitstun and very little knockback. Zero to deaths are very possible and will likely be very easy when the game develops.
 
I don't think I've seen a legit 70% yet, or at least not to the point where you will see it all the time. You can mash airdodge out of most "combos". Then comes the airdodge baits.

At the moment, I feel like kragg is pretty nuts. The hitstun on his attacks are nuts and that upb is also pretty whacky.
 
I think Kragg is top 3 but zetterburn is at the top.
 
DI is really strong. If you are getting 0-70% your opponent is DIing very poorly.

Forsburn can get like 0-40/50% on Kragg though cause he's so fat.

EDIT: I feel that when people get used to Kragg he will go down, way down. He's a pretty typical big heavy

My pick for top 2 is Zetterburn and Wrastor.
 
I think Zetterburn is just easy. He may be top tier, but his potential is being filled faster than others so it is really, really hard to gauge.

My week 1 tier list:
Zetterburn
Kragg
Wrastor
Orcane
Forsburn
Maypul

I think overtime you'll see Orcane climb the ranks, and I suspect you'll Zetterburn drop a little bit.
 
Yeah I completely agree on that tier list. I think maypul is going to stay trash. I don't see what she has going for her. She even has a smaller parry window than the rest of the characters. Kragg might drop once people figure out how to edge guard him and parry his attacks.

Tomo009 said:
DI is really strong. If you are getting 0-70% your opponent is DIing very poorly.
Not if you're right near the edge. Edge guarding is so strong that a lot of people just DI in rather than be put offstage.

If any of you guys want to play some sets add me on steam
 
Yeah, Maypul is going to need some buffs. I'd like to see what people can really bring to the table with her; she's obnoxiously fast. But, I also don't see what she has going for her.
 
Wrastor I have a hard time placing in top 3 because I feel like he is pretty inefficient at scoring a KO compared to most characters. His combos can go on for days but they don't really wrack up too much damage compared to what other characters can do.

I'd say top 3 is Kragg, Zetterburn and Orcane in no particular order. Orcane has some pretty dumb stuff.

I don't think Maypul really needs buffs outside of having one of the worst recoveries.
 
I'm wondering who the last two characters are going to be.

Totally a Kragg main here still.
 
8 years of melee muscle memory is ruining me. it is so awkward not being able to block at all, and of course I keep trying to L cancel.
 
So I just realized

unlike in melee, you can wavedash by just doing left/right + jump + airdodge. You don't have to do diagonals like you do in melee unless you want a shorter wavedash
 
I think Kragg will drop down the tiers to the very bottom.

He is really easy to edge guard if he isn't recovering really low and if he is recovering really low you can probably just send him back off stage or parry him coming up with an attack.

EDIT: His on stage presence is definitely there and he can grab surprise early kills but I feel he crumbles under smart pressure and he will end up suffering from "Big Heavy" syndrome.

I'm not sure about Orcane, Maypul and to a lesser extent Forsburn, I think they could all become a lot better as the game is discovered. Zetterburn will likely move down as people lean to tech out of most of his stuff.

Right now I feel (lol week 1 impressions)

Zetterburn = Wrastor
Orcane
Maypul
Forsburn
Kragg
 
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herbvijkl said:
8 years of melee muscle memory is ruining me. it is so awkward not being able to block at all, and of course I keep trying to L cancel.

I don't miss L cancelling. Don't get me wrong when I play melee or PM I can do it 90% of the time, but I don't think it adds anything to gameplay. There's a lot of ease of use design choices that I think are large improvements on the smash formula.

I think it was a big mistake to remove grabs and blocks, really simplifies the game and not in a good way. Feels like he watched a bunch of smash 4 and went as far in the opposite direction as possible by removing a bunch of defensive options completely. There's no mental calculations about what is or isn't plus on block, just constant pressure. Parries... they're fun to do but I don't think they're a valid replacement for blocking. I think parries complement blocking and add to risk reward calculations, but by themselves?...

This game feels a lot to me like rising thunder. There's all these things I really like, a lot of really smart design choices, and then there's stuff that I'm really not a fan of. Leaves me feeling some kinda way.
 
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Grangach said:
I think it was a big mistake to remove grabs and blocks, really simplifies the game and not in a good way. Feels like he watched a bunch of smash 4 and went as far in the opposite direction as possible by removing a bunch of defensive options completely. There's no mental calculations about what is or isn't plus on block, just constant pressure. Parries... they're fun to do but I don't think they're a valid replacement for blocking. I think parries complement blocking and add to risk reward calculations, but by themselves?...
This is why I haven't bought it yet. The Rising Thunder comparison is actually really accurate, but in a different way IMO; it makes some nice decisions, but it also changes a lot of stuff I don't think needed to be changed just for the sake of being different. Grabs were important in Smash and really helped spice things up. I'd understand they'd need to remove grabs if they removed blocking, but why would you want to remove blocking in the first place? Parries aren't a good replacement, especially in a Smash game. It would've been nice actually if they kept blocking and parries, but having no blocking removes so much from the game.
 
they removed grabs because they're hard to animate, but I don't think that claim holds water.
 
I think grabs are unnecessary so long as there are no blocks, and I don't see a strong case for block except to slow the game down and/or make it more defensive. I think that will come down to preference, but I actually like how aggressive it is right now.

Does anyone know what Smash techniques are still relevant? Dash canceling, crouch canceling, wave dashing, reverse neutral specials, DI, waveshine(?), teching. Anything else?

@RemiKz

Yeah wave dashing is super easy in this game. Have you found much use for it though? I play Orcane, and it just doesn't seem worth it most (all?) of the time to move around like that.
 
I don't find wave dashing very useful at all in this game. Moves have very small recoveries, and if you're going to wave dash why not just parry and give yourself a better punish. Wavedashing in smash was a little like a parry, and it's kind of irrelevant in this. When I try to crouch cancel I always get knocked into the air. Might as well just go for a parry.

It's good for a game to be aggressive, but you shouldn't sacrifice depth to do so. Neutral and mixups feel very simplistic.
 
In a game with limited defensive options, I bait out things and punish with a wavedash all the time since it isn't as heavy of a commitment as trying to parry. A lot of people love to dash attack at you so just wavedashing backwards and punishing is totally a common thing for me.

Wrastor also makes great use of it with the jet stream in effect. You can wavedash forward pretty far and fast and get a quick dtilt to start your juggles.

Also the only character with a sort of waveshine is zetterburn with his jump cancel neutral b.
 
Wave dashing has like no recovery frames, you can do it super fast, I'm pretty sure it is faster movement in general than dashing. Also the good old dash forward wavedash back bait is stronger than dash forward dash back because dashes tend to be quite small in this game.

EDIT: Also yeah, Zetterburn waveshines are useful, though not as useful as a smash spacie's
 
Fought a good maypul. Completely changed my mind, I think she's the best character in the game.
 
I fought a good one too. Annoyingly tough to even hit. Still think that was the player desire the character.

Watched Mango play Wrastor yesterday. That character is horrifying. Also tough for me to separate such a good player from his character though.
 
Just got the game, haven't had much of a chance to play it, but from what I did get in, it seems really smooth.
 
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