So since I have the game anyhow and nothing else better to do today I figured I'd at least try getting a good ranking in FFA mode. Just now got my purple rank and apparently that puts me into the top 100 overall. I'm sure that'll change by the time I wake up, but at least it shows me that its possible to do well in a chaotic and random FFA mode, at least while there are still 50% of people that are still learning the game that can assure very few 3rd or 4th place standings. Part of it is also time spent, because, with this system, a 60% win rate with a ton more time played is going to rank you higher than a 75% win rate player that plays less often, but it is what it is.
I wanted to be mohawk toro at first (side o using the tourist costume), because mohawk toro is about the best mixture of cute and awesome that I've ever seen, but sadly mohawk toro absolutely totally sucks. Like every single move of his gets absolutely no ap whatsoever. You could be hitting people with attacks from him all match long never being interupted and most other characters will outpace your ap gain. Maybe he's better in stock since i admit mohawk toro is the best at not getting hit, but this game isn't balanenced for stock mode considering that's stupidly not what they used for ranking mode.
So I just switch between justice and oni modes, which wasn't the worst because black afro/black suit toro is the next best thing. Justice for when things are nice and spread out, oni for when things are moshpiting. But even that topped me out at mid high green.
His average level 1 and poor range and priority (and thus poor ap building skills) just doesn't cut it. If you're going to have poor ap building you can't really rely on level 2s unless you are really really good at getting 3 every single time, and it seems a lot of green belts can time a roll to completely avoid it no matter how well placed your level 2 is, so I was only really getting 2 kills every time I used it.
So I moved to play as Kratos to see if he's as crazy as I thought and yes he certainly is. It almost feels like his delay after doing his nuetral square has decreased from the beta and he's actually better now than durring the beta, but its just a feeling. There were many times I blocked an enemy Kratos's neutral square and his delay was so non-existent that there wasn't any time to get a counter hit in with any of Toro's relatively slow moves.
Figuring that was too cheap for me after a few matches and the fact that I dislike Kratos as a character, I moved to Sly and used the same technique of always being invisible that I've talked about since the private beta, and that put me over the hump. Its nice not being afraid of Kratos after switching to him. Sly's air down square is one of his best moves, and Kratos's constantly moving chain blades never go above his head. Sly's super jump also keeps him out of the absolutely insane tracking ability of the Kratos side square, which you cannot say about most other characters.
And I do have to admit, every single time I met a red belt or higher, they won, so they are clearly better than me. Their methods of AP gain really aren't so different than mine, which is to basically find the 3-5 great moves the character has and only really use those moves, but they are better at getting that extra kill every time they use their super, and just a bit better at avoiding everyone else's.
I'd also note that explosions of ap from short combos are always better than flashy long ones, since it is a race to get ap the fastest for the most part, and to be honest that part of the game helps me out greatly, since I've always and will always suck at the parts of games that require complex input with your hands. I enjoy the aspect of making snap decisions about character placement and which move to use for the situation a lot more than the rock paper scissors and complex input of other fighting games. I guess that's why I stuck around here so long and bought the darn thing.
I'm still curious about 2v2 and 1v1 modes, but I was in no mood to arrange anything today, partly because I'm still annoyed that we have to do that. I'll maybe try later though. It maybe a totally different game that I straight up suck at for all I know.
, challenge accepted! By the end of the day I will have come up with a combo that nets more ap than 70 for dante!
