Recent reviews by I>U

Hey Hey people

This game represents very well what I want to do with Steam and all the people involved with the last decade innovations of it.

A short remark you won't find in other reviews: it's not devs banning people around in Discussions. It's Steam Support. They can ban you for something like that https://imgur.com/a/qu7U9cf . At any rate, IT'S NOT DEVS, as some people are speculatting on reddit over increasing number of [banned] users. I have contacted at least two others on that.

Now, to the game itself:

Personally, I was expecting another round of stylish-only club with auto-combos and homing attacks after BB:Crosstag and DBFZ, but ASW decided to break that pattern, and, dear Lord, they've made it astounishing. "Smart" inputs aren't MUST inputs in this one. At the same time, you don't have to remember the values for initial\in-combo hitstuns for each move - there are more intuitive sources for combos, namely catching opponent mid-air, wallbounce and chaining your specials. Those 3 makes for 90% of combos avialable in the game (characters like Lowain and Beelzebub have other sources, though). On the one hand, that allows people to have fun from get-go with smart skills and stock combos showcased in the training mode itself; on the other, it gives you a load of possibilities to hone your skill, since there are mechanics like "guts" or "hitting assists" that won't be relevant to your playstyle unless you are aware of them. Also, the game is much more frame-sensitive than previous ASW's "technical" titles (buffer times are shorter, no safe frames to cancel your move into defence on Overdrive\D-Drive, etc) and ussing technical input on specials gives you a number of benefits over the easy inputs (including plain damage buff on some moves).

Three words about the port:

1) They have fixed issues with keyboard. Completely. So, older reviews are no longer relevant on that aspect.

2) Good word about Netcode. Personally, for me it's stellar. Synchronization casts literal miracles - I have 3-4F delay in most of the matches over Europe and, holy wholesomeness, those 3-4F is a big difference with 3-4F delay in Xrd (even after they've fixed 30 FPS issue). 70% of matches are completely stable - no spikes at all, no inputs are getting missed. I saw a lot of reviews stating this, but replays, somehow, show a number of "unsprung" moves on opponents side from time to time, mostly, when they are showing you their back with something like "pfff, get yourself some Internet, Wi-Fi pleb" (I'm not on Wi-FI, I'm just not from Europe, but pshhhhh).

3) And a Bad One: Sync-phase may take up to 2 minutes depending on the time you've logged in, and there is a real chance between 19:00 and 22:00 GMT that you will wait even more just to get into the game (it's negotiating something with their servers even before you ask for that, so be prepared to wait for 3-4 minutes just to play a singleplayer game within the said timeframe). It can also kick you out of the lobby AFTER the match or durring the sync phase (you can abuse that to kick from the full lobby whoever you want, by the way) or even erase your profile, if you would spam "confirm" button while trying to log-in. Sounds terrifying, but matches themselves are unaffected. Oh, and those connection bars in rooms and ranked queue are traditionally broken: Light Blue could mean over 10F spiking to 16F while a lot of matches on Red are within playable 2-6F margin.

4) And something ugly about netcode at last: some people experience crashes while trying to set up a match in a room or lobby. That's completely different from the issues I've listed above. You can confirm that in the pinned thread. Personally, I have no such issues, but this worth mentioning since I've been through it with BB:CF and they have NEVER fixed this (I'm aware that this one is not an ASW's port, but it bears so much resemblance with that case) . As the rule of thumb: hit some lobby right after you've finished with initial matches to check whether you are affected or not while you are within the refund window.

5) English VO. It's attrocious. I can't imagine anyone ussing it in their good faith. Don't be such a troll, please, because your opponent would be forced to melt their ears on that cacophony as well.

A little bit of advice to wrap it up:

1) Most of the people use New York or UK's lobbies to play their games regardless of their actual locations (other non-asian regions died out a week after release).
2) Don't try to be smart on Discussions forums. I've only posted a Goat Simulator MMO video to show people that you can't add GGPO in three clicks. Somehow, other users got the joke, but, apparently, not Steam Support. That week-long ban for "spam" (I've only posted this link once ever on Steam) is real. People are getting banned here around another user that is really active on one of the SS member's page. Maybe, it's just a coincedences, of course, and the person who banned me for spam here and the other, that found "no abuse" in that action did it by mistake. Probably, they just don't play videogames (safe for god-sims) and are not absolutely good with all those silly references.

Well, if RoR1 was 4-direction platformer, this one feels like whole 8 (or, maybe, even nine, lol). There are all kind of stunts you can pull here that is not technically possible in RoR1. As the reference: the game gives you wall-climbing with item pick up, and there is a single class that can target it's abilities 8-ways.

Also features RPG mechanic, so it's not just straight leveling up as in RoR. No, it's a working one, just like in Vagante (you pick "a sign" at the pre-phase that would determine your cordinal stats).

Content-wise, this game has more than RoR1 had in EA release. Enemies are fun, but scarce, classes are well-build and abudant.

The game bears signs of good EA like Batlle Brothers and ONI had in a sense that EA release being far from the first itteration of it's gameplay. You can see how Swordsman's dodge-roll can be chained into wall-climbing and then falling attack, for example. Naturally, all three abilities were independent entities in the past, but were brought together through the polishing. Game holds enough traces of such polishing, just like other potentially "good" EA's.

Of course, there are downsides. Online only works through Remote Play. which introduces too much input lag on client's machines for the game like this. There are rare random stuttering as well which isn't related to RAM, VRAM or CPU ussage and the whole items' wheel cries for a redesign. But, hey, the game got the first content update in a week after release.

The game has a lot of promise and, to my mind, worth picking, but, of course, it can end up like the said Vagante - far better than on EA, but yet so far from it's full potential. It all depends on streamers, rather than user reviews, to be honest -_-

Worth alone to get because of wolfie boss (and all deja vu memes he brought)

Welp, they've tried.

The game had little, but devoted playerbase for almost an year, but as of now, it's gone.

Yet another proof that RTS is dead. Not because of devs, but because of general public preferences. At least, SaS didn't share the fate of Etherium and DoW3.

Devs did everything they could, starting with the active queing and keeping the support to the very end (it's a 6th season now with 2 people ranked at it).

Rest In Peace.

Let me begin with the simpliest fact that they'd at least tripled the content available for the base game since the release. Anvil update, Fountain update, the whole new act.. you can see the whole story in the "News" section.

Now, in regard to the top-most negative reviews. I personally find it amusing how people could write 2000+ words after developer changed just the skill-sets in response to some players' feedback and bearing a good will to make the game better. Let's do a time leap now https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1686067421&searchtext=classes
That's the old classes. Available with all the newest content of your choice. In multiplayer, too.

It's because the game got advanced mod support allowing stuff like that. These folks just needed to wait for 3 more months to witness it.

And that is really depressing, because in reality Crackshell is one of a few developers that can look back onto mistakes of the past and make a complete rewind over them. You can very well see in the same "News" that they were patching Arena mode of their first DLC with fervor, because it was.. to say the least, unpopular. Yes, it took them months, but it got a major improvement, far past the point when I was bother to complain.

They are in a constant cross-fire between the casuals and the more challenging folks, in a constant need to balance between those two, but how did they deserve it? Did they try to harm anyone with new skill-sets? Did they sway banhammer like Rockstar when the stream of mods became uncontrollable? Did they lie about their newer renderer having issues (which ultimately got patched)?

No. They were fixing the issues and improving the game to the best of their capabilities. Someone may not like the time it took, but, alas, they weren't banning people doubting them, didn't call anyone experiencing issues "minority", like some other devs. And they didn't ask too much for their game, to begin with.

---

Ok, that was my 3000+ in response those 2k's. Now, about the game itself, hoo-ho.

One of the best ARPG's avaialble on Steam. Imagine Diablo 2 with proper WSAD controls with generic puzzles and bullet-hell pinches. Or imagine Risk of Rain 2 turned top-down and with Titan Quest-like progression options. Better than Victor Vran, better than Grim Dawn and, sadly, better than Inquisitor:Martyr in my list.

And it only gets better and better with time. At a slow pace, but still.

They keep introducing new bugs to the core gameplay with the new DLC's they are adding.

For once, they've introduced this with Supremacy https://www.games2gether.com/amplitude-studios/endless-space-2/forums/114-bug-reports/threads/35295-some-techs-doesnt-show-their-effect?page=1
This one, with the latest expansion, Awakening https://www.games2gether.com/amplitude-studios/endless-space-2/forums/114-bug-reports/threads/35216-riftborn-unable-to-boost-outpost-with-hyperium?page=1

You can very well see their attitude in sticky threads - they are only fixing issues with the newer content itself. They aren't bothered a slight that their new content is breaking the old one.

I can see the root of this attitude: they have a strong and supportive community, their newer game Humanity was already been funded. Their future seems bright, but...

They don't really need to squeeze all the money possible from ES2 like that.

This was supposed to be in Post Scriptum, but it won't be: VVTZ is one of the best "yuri" games you can get on Steam. Imagine some KyoAni's later feats in yuribaiting, now substract the "-baiting" part completely, add the meaningful plot to the background and switch places between the main pairing and that "side" one. You got it right: no fanservice, no forced concepts, no social\political agenda and no perpetual stress on the thing that shouldn't be stressed. The golden yuri formula played in reverse - a sight that every righteous hobbist and a true gentleman should observe.

Other than that, this game could have been a masterpiece. Not some gimmick for the yuri-kin (but you did play those Bandai games, didn't you, scrub?), but complete and unqestionable masterpiece. Could have been.

But it fell into the same pit as many other JRPG's prior it. FFVIII, BoF4, Grandia 2 - all those games feel astonishing when you embark onto the plot, .. but come short when you are finishing them. VVTZ is not an exception. Later chapters are filled with forced out developments, doubtable plot-twists and are omitting too much details. They just don't live up to the expectations you are getting from the first chapters. Completely. Pretty much like this review, because I'm starting to repeat myself. The game loses all the surrealistic vibes it achieved by it's end, turning into a sort of a comedy. Pretty much like this review, because I'd just repeated on the same joke again.

If only the devloper didn't get this AMBITIOUS with filling the first chapters, If only the developer didn't get this FIXED on the number of endings they wanted to present us.. then we didn't get that very ending that is so much close to the unqestionable masterpiece.

Two words on the battle system: it's smooth, they put a lot of effort into it (just look how well animated those sequences are), but it can be "figured out". Inevitably. The system is pretty easy by itself, but when you learn it's gimmicks, no difficulty level can turn it back. If you are aiming for the completionist's run, then don't grind when the game would allow you to. Trust me, it's for the better.

PS: English is the original language for the game and Japanese is the translation. No, Mr. Weeb, it doesn't mean the game turns bad somehow.
PPS: You've made me post my Post Scriptum instead of a proper introduction, sempai. I will never forget you for that. A lot of ippanjins are praising the game in complete ignorance of the true gift it bears. And you never stepped up to clarify that fact, but rather went to your cozy discord to brag to your imaginary friends on how much elite you are. You had hurt my feelings, sempai, and so I'm gonna hurt your body for that. Kyaaaa~~
PPPS: If you didn't get a word out of the written above, it's a nice indie JRPG made by a single person mostly. Try it.

gabe said i need to review it.
yes, my lord.