Recent reviews by Rexford

I was really enjoying this game for the first month of play and the Sony decision to force PSN linking caught me off guard. I have a PSN account so it wasn't going to affect -me- but I supported the backlash as others couldn't get PSN accounts or simply didn't want one.

With the revision on this decision from Sony I can safely give a positive review to Helldivers 2.

Lots of the FOMO has been removed because the Warbonds never expire.
Micro-transactions are truly 'micro' and everything can be unlocked through normal play.
Servers are far more stable which means joining randoms or finding randoms is possible now.

Weapon balance is a never ending issue/discussion but there are multiple ways to play and with new weapons coming out every month chances are you'll find something that is fun to use.

Freedom / 10
Would Dive Again

So I'm probably the kind of audience a game like this was meant for. Someone who could benefit from the removal of execution of special moves and who always wanted to get into fighting games but just didn't have a driving reason to really go for it. I heard about games like Rising Thunder but by the time I showed up the game was already bought out and Fantasy Strike was the next up on the list. I don't know much about David Sirlin, I don't know much about Yomi, but the more I researched the more I approved of what I found.

I'm not gonna talk about Mr. Sirlin though, if you want to form an opinion go to the official discord and speak with him personally...he's there a lot...like seriously a lot.

What I -will- talk about is the bottom line and how it related to all of us because I feel like my opinion is well formed enough to write it out and I've played the game long enough to decide that I'm not going to suddenly get bored. So, here we go. Should you buy Fantasy Strike?

TLDR: Yeah, if you think a pre-alpha game with distinct characters and a back to basics approach is a title you would be interested in. Its twenty bucks which is lower than retail and its got a small community that wants to grow and help new comers learn the game. I'm a newbie and I feel like I'm improving, you as someone who wants to improve can do the same.

And now for the above but in more words sprinkled with my own thoughts.

As I've said before I'm new to fighting games but I'm not new to fighting games. I almost got into Skull Girls forever ago and I own Injustice 2 for the PS4. I've considered buying SFV for my PC a number of times but never went for it because I had a feeling I wasn't going to give it the attention due. I owned a copy of BlazBlue for the PSP forever ago and Disidia was quite a bit of fun too.

However, I've never really wanted to really work at a fighting game before. It just never came up until now and I think there are a few major reasons why its happening with a game like Fantasy Strike. I'll list them off shortly just to get the point across and let you draw your own conclusions.

1. The game isn't trying to hide anything: Command-throws remind you they are jumpable if you get hit, finding out frame data is pretty simple to experiment in the practice mode. A lot of information is there for the taking if you go looking.

2. The game was built around accessibility: This isn't a "hard" game to play. You want to push some buttons? Throw some specials around? Maybe use a super? Go right ahead but don't assume the match will go your way just because your fireball comes out every time. There are plenty of other things going on in this game beyond just inputs. You -will- end up bodied if you play someone better.

3. When you make mistakes the game makes it obvious: Watching your health melt? Finding the reason is super easy and if you just think about what the opponent is doing your mistakes are spelled out pretty clearly. Jumping in and getting anti-aired? Maybe using too many command throws? Can't stop throwing fire-balls? Being punished for that is obvious and its up to you to change the behavior.

4. Characters are labeled clearly by type: Ever walk into a fighting game and wonder "Alright, which one of these characters is gonna be well-rounded?" Fantasy Strike points them out right off the bat as "Zoners". No need to spend hours figuring out what the characters are doing or worse playing them the wrong way. You can certainly try to play Jaina another way than zoner but at least the game had the curtesy to give you the answer first.

5. I'm enjoying myself: And isn't that the most important part? Sure, I can get salty but at the end of the day there is just me pushing buttons. I can't blame anyone else and if I'm not willing to try and improve or ask for advice, I probably never won't.

So yeah. I'm having fun, you might have fun too.