Niji Superfan

Well, really, can you tell me I'm wrong? AC3's saving grace is that it has a combination of a decent number of missions (albeit tedious and boring ones) and a pretty solid arena. Other than that, you have a bunch of shit parts ripped straight from Another Age but nowhere near as cool or interesting. The only markedly new and interesting feature in AC3 was the inclusion of left-arm howitzers and the (completely pointless) left-arm flamethrower. Honestly, my biggest issue with is that everything looks really, really stupid and it does nothing to make up for this. You can call me vain if you like, but then, I said this of ACFA and I was still looking forward to it on the basis that it had promise. Granted, ACFA was a fucking farce and hopelessly squandered any potential it had over a period of five shitty regulations, but I digress. The big issue with AC3 is that the plot (and by extension, a lot of the missions) is shamelessly recycled from AC1, but nowhere near as cool. About the only standout quality in AC3 is the degree of interactivity, in that you have the option to kill somewhere from 15 to 20 ACs across all the missions, but that's really not enough to save it. The fact that the final boss fight is two generic ACs really doesn't help it to stand out either. AA really bitched out about this as well, but then, AA also had three bonus fights with superbosses from the PSX games, and still had more than its share of unique boss fights. AC3 had... Three, one of whom you can stand on top of and blade to death. Sweet man. Factor the comparatively shallow multiplayer experience into all this, and you're left with a game that feels pretty underwhelming even by the standards of AC2 or AA. I don't think AC3 is a bad game, but uh... It's not an especially good game, either. As far as I'm concerned, it's a warmup for Silent Line.

Personally, I'd love to see From make a concerted effort to push AC5 for longevity, if the game is any good (and I recognize what a big if this is). Continuous DLC and multiple expansions would be a great way to keep the game alive, and it'd give us a ridiculous degree of customization if they were smart about it.

...Are you fucking new here? AC1 came out before PS1 controllers even had dual sticks, and consequently, the game didn't support dual stick control schemes until it went to the PS2. ...Oh, wait, it still didn't get dual stick support until the fifth release on the PS2, which makes you all the more retarded for failing to take this into account. It was technically possible to rig up MoA to play with dual analog controls by some unconventional means that I really can't recall, but I digress. Above and beyond all this, three PS2-era AC games have been ported to the PSP already (one of which all but demands dual analog), which is a clear indicator that any of the PS1 games should play just fine on it. Bravo, Magnus. You'd think that someone who dedicates the majority of his time not-having-sex would at least be good at what he does as a corollary. inb4 umad, inb4 lame image macro. I'd inb4 unfunny comebacks and contrived attempts at wit, but at that point, I'm not even leaving you anything to work with.

In all honesty, I don't see how it sounds at all like a theme/themesong if you can put two and two together. They wouldn't be two separate terms with contrasting definitions if not.

AC3 has the ugliest part design, the weakest variety of parts and the absolute most boring single player of all the games in the franchise. But sure, it's a good representation of the series!

LAN Champ: Design #08 E-Z P-Z Joe: Design #08 MacGyverBot: Design #08 Fashion Model: Design #08 Miss AC4: Design #08 43138 4 lyfe. And now, to actually comment on the designs! #01: Decent bread and butter AC, but the 47AN arms would round out this frame better. I like the concept, but the MARVE is a poor choice for 1.4; it sprays like a fire hose even on a fully-tuned HILBERT, so that should be a pretty clear indicator that there's no saving it. The paintjob is kind of neat for the contrast, though I feel it could use a little more deviation from the black and white on the main body. PM missiles are pretty useless, a spread or broad scatter would be a boon for the OGOTO here. All in all, not a bad design, just not as good as it could be. I'll also say what I've been saying for four straight years: I will never understand this inane fascination with the SALAF head. Never. -- 6/10 #02: Holy shit, what an ugly paintjob. All told, this is a pretty good frame. I feel like the defense could've been pushed a little harder, it looks like whomever designed this was playing it a little too safe. Booster layout is solid as fuck, I must say; it's conservative enough to give you endurance but fast enough to pressure your opponent. I actually like the weapon combo quite a bit, it's essentially a simpler version of a textbook crosswield setup and the NIOBRARA was one of the most overlooked parts of AC4. I do feel like the weapon setup could've been a little... Fuller, though. All in all, decent design, but conservative to a fault. Whoever built this was playing it WAY the hell too safe. -- 8/10 #03: What the fuck, LS? Seriously? The premise here is pretty good, but the frame leaves much to be desired. The SALAF arms are never worthwhile under any circumstances, and yet again we have a case of "Just fucking use the 47AN what the hell man". The PM missile could be better, but other than that, it's a fairly decent crosswield setup. The colors are SURPRISINGLY cool in a very minimalistic sort of way, though it could use more red in places to give it some... Definition, so to speak. I think this AC would be better if the OSAGE was opposite the 100R and the PM was a MUSSELSHELL. Yet again, we have the SALAF, redefining perplexing design logic since 2007. Still, not a bad design. I applaud that it has the balls to use the AALIYAH mains like so many PS3ers are afraid to do. -- 7/10 #04: Wow. It's like, I COULD do acid, or I could just stare at this thing for awhile and likely achieve the same results. This frame is basically a better version of the one LS used, though it still has PS3 syndrome (that is, arbitrary fixation on the AALIYAH arms). Yet again, the 47AN arms would be a better fit here, with beefier defense and lower drain for a speed loss that's hardly noticeable. Truth be told, I have to wonder if the AALIYAH arms could even fire the EURYALE, given its flimsy recoil control. I may NEVER understand why the DEARBORN02 is in here over the DEARBORN03, and memory serving, VTFs didn't get a much needed-buff til 1.5. BELTCREEK relations would work better to compliment OSAGE here, where MUSSELSHELL is better for drop-and-go. The MARVE is a bad call here for all the same reasons it's a bad call on the first AC, though. Lastly, the VIRTUE could really stand to be the POLARIS here, and it's going to severely hinder this AC's pressuring ability. All in all, a decent premise that was messily executed. -- 4/10 #05: Owen made this design. -- Teabag/10 #06: Noob made this design. It has the best name of all the designs, though. -- Testicle/10 #07: I... Where to begin? Where do I even start? If the AALIYAH core is on here for anything other than aesthetic purposes, I give the fuck up. The HILBERT is a little clunky for what should be a ranged design; the TELLUS would be a much nicer fit here. Yet again, we're given a candid reminder that the SALAF head is to AC4 what skulls and pot leaves are to Call of Duty, but I've said enough about that. Yet again, the BELTCREEK would be much more beneficial here so as to make it through more OSAGE volleys, because the OSAGE alone isn't going to be enough to pressure someone for setups with the CANOPUS. All in all, this is a decent concept, but the AC is trying to do too many things at once and ultimately fails to do any of them well. The frame is probably what hurts this the most, but the weapon choice isn't doing much to save it. The booster choice is pretty well-rounded, though. -- 4/10 #08: You my boy, Scrotumus. -- 11/10 #09: I truthfully find it pretty hard to have any respect for this AC because it's exactly like my staple, but functionally worse. I don't know who made it (and it's one of the two ACs whose designer ISN'T public knowledge yet), but I do give them style points for actually using the ALICIA. That said, the SS-A is a poor fit here, where the SS-AL would round out the frame much better. If a 360 player didn't build this, I will be THOROUGHLY amazed, as it's definitely a farcry to the 360 metagame. Still, why is it using an ANNR with a 100R? Is there ANY point to this, beyond mixing it up for the sake of mixing it up? The single OSAGE seems kind of silly as well; it doesn't crosswield well with its opposite weapon, it doesn't have another back weapon to supplement it and it doesn't have relations on the shoulders. Hell, for that matter, why isn't there ANYTHING on the shoulders? Shouldn't you like, y'know, put flares on here if you don't have a more pressing option? It was more or less obligatory to put flares on every AC that didn't need something else on the shoulders. AALIYAH mains are absolutely useless here, considering this is in no way a rushdown AC and the JUDITH is enough to keep you afloat at a distance. All in all, it's better than most of the designs here, but uh... It's not because this is a good design. The TELLUS head is also a really dumbfuck choice, and for a moment, it makes me wonder if a PS3 player really did submit this. -- 7/10 #10: This may just be the worst submission here, though maybe I'm just saying that because it's the most arbitrary. From top to bottom, we have the TELLUS head, which is no less retarded here than it was on number nine. We have the SALAF core, which isn't an entirely flawed choice but could easily be something more durable. We have the AALIYAH arms, whose meager precision will barely support the two weapons it's using, and we have the JUDITH legs, for what I would ASSUME are the PA stats. Point-blank, the AALIYAH legs would be a better fit here, and using CANOPUS on anything other than HILBERT for rushdown seems kind of silly. I don't see why the VTF is ABOVE the CANOPUS when it would better supplement it than the 47AN does. Of course, I don't see the VTF is here at all in 1.4, but I digress. The 47AN is the most absolutely perplexing choice here: WHY is anyone using this? This is 1.4, boys and girls, it's not the flawless masterpiece it is in 1.6. All in all, we have a frail design with a drainy booster layout and a weapon setup that's altogether lacking solidarity. I want to say the premise here isn't all bad, but then, I can't even figure out what the hell the premise was supposed to be. On the upside, it has arguably the best paintjob here. -- 3/10 #11: Yet another AC that's 360 as fuck for obvious reasons, this one isn't bad. The weapon setup is presumably some kind of crosswield, though dual rifles and dual verts are both reliable combos as well. The HOGIRE core is a dumb choice no matter how you slice it, but it doesn't really hurt the design so much as it just holds it back from being as good as it can be. What I do NOT understand, for the life of me, is why the 47ANNR is on here. This rifle was absolutely worthless in 1.4, and while a combo like this would be sensible in 1.6 (albeit no less arbitrary than the mismatch used by #09), it just doesn't translate well to 1.4. For the second time in the entire goddamn tournament, we see an intelligent head choice in the form of the HILBERT and no, I'm not counting Chode putting the HOGIRE head on 43138. The booster setup is alright even if this isn't really a good frame for a proprietary VIRTUE popper, but all told, this is one of the only instances where the VIRTUE holds its ground. Overall, this is another AC that's just not as good as it could be, but ultimately consistent enough to be a decent design. -- 8/10 There. My feedback, since Niji encouraged it and whatnot!

...That's... Not what leitmotif is, at all. None of the examples you gave use leitmotif in any capacity. Nineball's theme seriously hasn't changed in any respect from AC1 right up to Nexus, not counting the obligatory remix it had on the Revolutions disk (which, by the way, is in no way associated with him). A leitmotif could not be any more different from a recurring themesong, even on premise. A themesong is used to represent a specific place, event or character. A leitmotif is a recurring melody across various musical pieces that is used to tie them all together in some way. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7RPY-oiDAQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7dk1qUeRn4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGMeiRCH_n8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKUOyqZX1QU This is leitmotif. The lead melody is the same, across each song linked. It's used to tie each song together in such a way that it reflects on a specific character, namely Terra (the de facto main character of the game). Here's another example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkSI0YzgSRc There. The first movement of Dancing Mad borrows heavily from the first song linked, even though it's not quite the same song. The point here is to link common themes together to group these songs together and better emphasize the characters they represent. In the same way that Terra's theme and the songs that borrow from it are used to emphasize her, Dancing Mad is used to emphasize Kefka (to that end, the last movement of Dancing Mad borrows from Kefka's theme as well). Leitmotif is used in this case to set these two characters apart (independently of one another) from the many core characters in the game, each of whom are heavily elaborated on throughout the course of the storyline. FF6 is notable for its meandering plot focus, with no distinct "main" character by the end of the game and a continual shift from one viewpoint to another. To that end, leitmotif is used to add a greater level of distinction to these two characters, so to as to highlight their significance. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgQ_63EDwH0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKb9q2_fPfg This is another example from a completely different game. It's less pronounced, but there is a recurring theme between both songs, at around 1:20 and 0:40, respectively. I could go on, really. QED, leitmotifs are completely different from themesongs, and you have no idea what you're talking about. The only examples of leitmotif in the entire series are in AC3 and SL, most obviously in the tracks labeled Artificial Sky I through IV and Silent Line I through IV.

Word of advice, since Cyber Subs will need this more than human Subs: The EX freeze (the beam) is a good way to link combos, since it's the only way to catch someone mid-air for more beatdown time. Human Subs has to freeze someone before he can launch in the first place (unless he catches them with an empty jump punch) and you can only freeze once per combo, but Cyber Subs has launchers in his strings. The ice beam is a great way to keep a chain going like that.

xfd at Cyrax being "solid mid". It's like you really don't know about the bomb trap. Realize that Cyrax has a command grab that's basically a free setup for a launcher so he can get in and do whatever he wants to you. <-1 2 1 2 + Mid bomb. On top of that, if you block a jump-in punch, he can get you with the command grab no matter what you do, and this will repeat. On top of having good strings, a well-balanced movelist and some of the beefiest anti-air in the game, he can repeatedly destroy you if he gets in close. Cyrax is like an African robot Zangief who can force you out of a corner, which might be the most horrifying concept in fighting game history. Sub Zero is the best character in the game, period. I won't even settle on that. He's more or less empirically proven to be in the top three, and at the absolute worst, he's top five. To start, Subs has some of the most practical high-damage combos in the game, and an Xray that is 1) extremely accessible and 2) largely unaffected by scaling. You can deal a solid 49% 4 1 2 X-ray, or even 30% with a 4 1 2 EX slide. Not only that, but Subs can build meter like nobody's business. He can very safely freeze and clone his way to a full bar, and pretty much all of his EX attacks (sans clone) are fucking awesome. If he freezes you even once, guess what, you're losing a minimum of 30% health. Considering how many ways he has to do this, on top of the fact that he has god-tier mixups and some of the best corner pressure in the game, I'd say "25th percentile" is really, really undercutting it. Sub Zero is bar-none one of the top three characters in the game, and I'd say he's the absolute best without hesitation. He's not broken by any means, but in the hands of a good player who can read well and take advantage of his pressure, he's a fucking monster. Clearly, you didn't see Tom Brady absolutely destroy everyone with him on the tournament stream over the weekend. Your tier list seems suspiciously unaware of Cage and how ridiculous he is, by the way. It also seems unaware of Cyber Sub's dive kick, Kitana's wake-up square wave and Nightwolf's, uh, everything. This is just to name a few obvious characters you missed. The top ten, as far as I'm concerned, is something like Subs > Raiden > Cage > Cyrax > Cyber Subs > Kung > Reptile > Kitana > Sindel. Ermac and Noob were skimming this list for me, even if Ermac is one of the hardest characters in the game to play extremely well. P.S. Sektor is fucking awesome, even if he is boring as shit. His teleport is an amazing punish, and wake-up Xray missile is pretty goddamn ridiculous. I wouldn't put him anywhere in the top tier, but I sure as SHIT wouldn't put him anywhere near the bottom tier. Cyber Sub Zero is godlike, period. I wouldn't really compare him to Akuma beyond the dive kick being comparable to his air fireball in vintage SSF2T, if only because it's quick, it's safe and the angles give it ridiculous coverage. Basically, if I had to summarize, Cyber Subs plays like the bastardization of Cyrax and human Subs. He has Cyrax's teleport and bombs that work in the exact same way (three different inputs for close, mid and far), though Sub's can freeze in addition to doing damage. The EX version is different, however, since Cyrax actually shoots a missile for his EX bomb where Subs just fires three bombs at once, covering all three ranges (this is such a good trap). His strings also feel somewhat like Cyrax's, much more so than they do human Sub's, though he still plays quite a bit differently from either. He does, however, have Sub's standard freeze and slide, albeit slightly different; the freeze has a little more startup time than Sub's, though the EX version is still just as fast. The slide is ostensibly identical, except he follows up with a kick instead of a palm strike at the end of the EX version; I'm pretty sure this is just for looks, though I haven't compared the damage yet. If I had to contrast the two Subs more directly, I'd say human Subs has the better mixups, better corner pressure, better traps and more accessible high damage combos overall. Cyber Subs has launchers in some of his strings while Subs doesn't have them in ANY of his, so he definitely has the more potent juggles and much better air game. The dive kick is such a good shutdown, and it's basically mid-air Johnny Cage. That was a tad lengthy, but hopefully I covered all my bases. All in all, I don't think you'll be disappointed with Cyber Subs, he's definitely one of the coolest characters in the game. I'm probably going to start learning him in greater depth once I feel I've mastered Subs and Ermac for the most part. His flip kick. It's not really gamebreaking, but it's one of the best specials in the game and the ONLY way to shut it down is with Raiden's torpedo (you know, the Superman) or a really fast uppercut. If there's another special in the game that can even shut it down, no one's found it yet. At any rate, some characters uppercut faster than others, and anyone on the slow end is going to get shut down. Ermac, for instance, has a slow uppercut, and gets absolutely demolished by this. If he can't keep Cage out, he's more or less 100% fucked. I'd say Cage has arguably the best pressure in the whole game. Even outside of this somewhat cheap attack, he's still a solid overall character and he has an Xray you can combo off of, which makes for some fucking ridiculous damage potential. When you get in all your big damage before scaling starts to take effect, you can build combos that'll really hurt. Well, 35% is probably the average damage for a single Xray, and their functionality varies. They all trigger in different ways (Sub Zero's is a dash that can be delayed, Sektor's is a missile, Kano's is a throw, etc.) and some are more useful than others. You can combo into some Xrays, but not others. Damage scaling also has a drastic effect on X-rays, so even if you do combo into one (which isn't even possible for some characters), the damage gets shut down pretty hard. I used it at the end of a 9-hit combo with Ermac, and it only added another 9%. They're really not as broken as you'd think. Ultimately, they're just MK9's equivalent of supers.

Yeah, I figured you knew that. Youtube some gameplay, it's all 2D now (not even the weird 2.5D shit that MK4 used). Like I said, it's basically SF4 on meth.

If you don't like 2D fighters, this probably isn't going to be a gamechanger for you. If you do like 2D fighters, I can't recommend it enough. It's deep, fast-paced, involving and - get this - ACTUALLY well balanced. Pretty much every character in the game has something going for them, and even the especially good characters aren't "cheap" (well, Raiden and Cage can be to an extent). Sub Zero and Cyrax are easily better than 90% of the roster, but they won't do shit for you if you don't know how to use them. All in all, this game is SF4 on meth. P.S. I should specify that when I say pretty much every character, I mean everyone but Baraka and Sheeva, so far.

I want to write a good review of Last Raven, but then, every review is a good review on Last Raven after the three horrible ones I just read. A review on Nintendogs is a good review of Last Raven next to this shit.

It's going to be even funnier when Kenshi gets added as DLC, he's fucking blind.

Not really, no. It's not worthwhile enough that I'd use it over the EX versions of his moves. About the only time you'd want to use his X-ray is to catch someone jumping in, or if you're under constant pressure. Any other time, you'll want to spam the guns and use BK -> EX Gun -> Roll for anti-air. All in all, his X-ray just isn't as useful as his EX moves or the breaker, something that is all the more important to a proprietary zoner. Sub Zero has this problem to an extent in that the EX versions of all his moves (with the very pronounced exception of the ice clone) are a godsend, and even though his X-ray is functionally useful, you'll usually get more use out enhancing his attacks. If you use the ice beam at a safe distance while someone's in the air, there's really nothing they can do to avoid getting frozen, save for a preemptive teleport. His EX ground freeze reaches from where he's standing across to the other end of the arena, and similarly, you can catch someone coming out of the air with this for a free setup. It's a great way to counter turtling as well, and the advantage to the ground freeze is that it immobilizes them without freezing them (via ice ball/beam). You can't freeze someone twice in one combo string for balance purposes, so while there are obvious benefits to catching someone with a freeze, it does limit what you can do in your ensuing punish. The ground freeze gives you the same setup (grounding them as well, which is just slightly more accommodating) while still giving you the opportunity to freeze them mid-combo, which is really useful. Lastly, the EX slide is just really good for ending combos, as pretty much all of his combos will end in a slide or an X-ray (yes, I realize this contradicts everything I said here). Oh, and for those not in the know: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZaTz7-nncQ Stryker's X-ray. Every time I do this to Jax or Nightwolf, I pretty much laugh til I cry, then feel really, really bad.

Nigga I was referencing his godly air fireball, which had ridiculous coverage just for its angles. Cyber Sub's dive kick works in the same way (as does his X-ray), and he can come in from two different angles at that. It's quick, it's safe and the EX version is pretty fucking beefy. When it comes down to the wire, you can kill someone with chip alone using a couple of those. Stryker CAN still zone, and as of yet, he's probably the best at it. Noob has more options and of the two, he's the only one who seems to have some decent strings (he has one fairly accessible string for 25%, which is decent for a proprietary zoner). Still, as I said, I see Stryker declining somewhat as the metagame fleshes out. Those moves are never NOT going to be good, but people will start formulating strategies to beat it and as your options for countering his attacks increase, Stryker's viability decreases. He really only has three moves, and while they're extremely sound, that severely limits his options. Still, if played right, he can zone like a motherfucker. How are you playing it, Viv? Didn't they ban this on pain of death? I heard there was a steep fine even for importing it.

Well, like, I will! Smoke I'm not too sure how to feel about. His parry is fucking awesome, considering it even works on projectiles, and he can build meter really easily with his shadow dash. This is handy when you consider that his EX tele punch is badass and his X-ray is as easy to use as Scorpion's is. The only issue is that he's extremely one-dimensional; his only real projectile is the smoke ball (which does no chip whatsoever), and outside of that, all he has for direct offense is his tele punch. None of his strings launch either, which really doesn't help. All in all, Smoke is more so a punisher than anything else, and in all fairness, he's extremely good at that.

Street Street is a thing of the past for me. I'm never going to want to touch it again at the rate MK9 is going. Even if I wasn't playing this, I'd just be playing MvC3 xfd Oh, wait. I forgot Cyrax and Sektor, what the fuck? Cyrax is easily in the top ten, if not top five. In fact, I'd say the top five is something like Subs > Raiden > Cage > Cyrax > Cyber Subs. He felt really awkward to me at first, but he's got a lot of great chains and the most beastly anti-air in the game. His command grab is fucking monstrous, at that. Overall, I'd say he's the most expansive character. Sektor disappoints the fuck out of me. He was my boy back in vanilla MK3, before UMK3 came out and Ermac was my thing. Now, he has boring projectiles, boring combos and no juggle potential whatsoever. His flamethrower is such a dull move, and if it weren't for his teleport punch, he'd probably be skimming the low-tier. And NOW I'm about wrapped up.

I skimmed that post because it was an unimaginable amount of stupid, but I'll comment on the few details that stood out. First off, Scorpion is a hell of a lot better than mediocre, especially considering his spear is the most potent combo linker in the game. He also has one of the easiest X-Rays in the game, considering you can punish anything longer than two or three frames without a second thought. The character balance is good enough that any character can hold their own competitively outside of Baraka and Sheeva, who are wholly unredeemable. Zoning can easily be countered via dash-block-dash-block to get in close, so unless you're fighting someone who can attack high and low easily (Noob Saibot, for instance), there's nothing stopping you from beating on them, and they still need to be damn good at that to slow you down. The fact that you didn't even think to mention Johnny Cage (who is all but unstoppable for some characters) and Sub Zero (who is arguably the best character in the entire game) in your big five only goes to show that you're just looking for any opportunity to sound knowledgeable. Just about every character "has options" in almost every matchup, so apparently, you just aren't good enough to take advantage of them. And now, for some actually sensible commentary on the game! Sub Zero is a monster, holy shit. He didn't really stand out to me at first, especially in the demo, but I was blown away when I saw his potential for mixups. He has easy access to a lot of 30, 40 and 50 percent combos (2 1 4 + EX Slide is a solid 30% with minimal effort required), and three different ways to immobilize your opponent. If any one of them hits, voila, you have an opening for one of these combos, and the other guy loses a third of his life in the blink of an eye. The only issue with Subs is that he has no standing launchers, limiting him to the basic launcher every character has (straight jump + 1 or 2). This launcher is completely useless without some kind of setup, but Subs has these in spades. Cyber Sub Zero is not far beyond classic Subs, and he still has most of what makes the other Subs dominant. His dive kick is SSF2T Akuma all over again, and is easily one of the best punishes/shutdowns in the game. On top of that, he has several standing launchers in his strings, which make juggles much more natural for him than classic Subs. The downside is that he'll wind up relying a lot more on the EX freeze to keep a chain going. Raiden. Torpedo. Man, fuck the torpedo. I don't need to say anything else. Ermac has some tough combos, but good lord does he ever rock the shit. He's been my favorite character since I was seven years old, so you can bet your ass I was relieved to find this out. He can build a lot of really impressive strings off of a single teleport punish (as long as it launches), and his force push is such a good keepaway. I don't think he's good enough to be in the top ten, but he has the benefit of both adequate zoning and solid combos. Stryker is still the king of zoning in MK, even if he's a little one-dimensional. He doesn't have a lot of great strings, so 99% of the time, it'll come down to gun/bomb/roll. I feel this is going to make him extremely predictable no matter how safe these moves are, and I think he'll start to decline as the tiers flesh themselves out with time. Noob Saibot is a good character, but he's about ten times as good against a bad player and this is going to give him a reputation for being god-tier. He's truthfully not as good at zoning as Stryker is, but he does have a lot more options and (arguably) better close-in potential. He also has a much, much better X-ray than Stryker does. Johnny Cage is a dick. His shadow kick and flip kick will absolutely rape anyone without a quick way of shutting this down, and having a counter X-ray makes him something to fear. I really wasn't expecting him to be THIS good. Nightwolf is also really good. I don't like Nightwolf. Fuck him. Kabal is still a good groundpounder and his dash can punish air so easily, but I feel he's going to wind up being extremely limited in the long run. He just isn't what he was in MK3. Kano and Reptile are two characters that are going to push their way into the top tier pretty quickly, I feel. Reptile is good for most of the reasons than Subs is, and while he doesn't have any of his traps or easy setups, he has much more expansive and accessible combos. Kano, well, he has a Blanka ball and a solid projectile, as well as a strong command throw; what more do I need to say? Kung Lao is overrated as fuck. He's a good character, but like, his spin is so ridiculously punishable and so his dive kick, which just doesn't stand up to Cyber Sub's. All in all, if he's not played very carefully, he creates so many openings that he'll be quickly dispatched. I'm getting really tired of hearing about how broken he is, especially since he doesn't have a whole lot of (accessible) combos that break 30%. There was a rumor that he has a 60%, but it's a corner combo that only works against Sheeva (lol who's really going to fucking use her), and is extremely impractical. When you consider that Subs can 4 1 2 Freeze 4 1 2 X-Ray to ANYONE in the corner for the easiest 52% combo in the game, welll, Kung Lao doesn't seem quite so impressive anymore. Annnnd that's all I've got for today. I'm sure I missed someone, but whatever. I want to say something about Smoke, but I'm just not feeling inspired enough.

This. I think Halo 1 was grossly overrated (more so for the multiplayer; the campaign was sort of cool just for the Flood aspect) while 2 and 3 were all kinds of broken, but Reach is fairly well balanced. Feature-wise it hasn't changed much from Halo 3, but it is a huge step up graphically and it plays much smoother. I don't think Reach is WTF OMG GOTY, but it's a well-made FPS for the most part. There are some minor issues that need patching, but other than that, it's fine. Also this, actually. I do recall seeing a really fucking awful AC (from AC4) in his ACO avatar, to be fair. Still, that was on old ACO, and I've seen nothing remotely productive from him since then. I'm pretty sure Pendragon just likes to dislike shit. What a sad outlook.

I'm not entirely sure what my character name or build will be, but I'll definitely run a Druid. I'm leaning towards a fire ele, though I haven't decided yet. Still, I'm definitely in. I'd much rather do US West, though. There are a lot more players on West, and while that has no bearing on our party, I'm sure some of us will want to take our characters elsewhere once we're done with D2 sundays.

... But it's so fucking ugly.

This design isn't half bad, so I'll make this short and sweet. Head-holofernes -- Why Core-ekhazar -- I don't see why you're using this on a build that's stacked so heavily for PA. Use the LANCEL or LAHIRE. WHITE GLINT also works if you're manly enough to forgo shoulders altogether. You could honestly use the 63AN at the cost of some speed, which is admittedly what I'd do if you don't just use the WG. arms-judith -- As light arms go they're great, but that's not saying much. I'd just go up to the 63AN. legs-lahire -- I'm not a fan, but they're alright. AALIYAH or JUDITH would make more sense to me, but this will work. fcs-lahire -- I don't even remember what the hell this is, but for what you're doing, JUDITH is probably best. Just tune to whatever is the bare-minimum missile lock speed for an instant lock. gen-lahire -- Just switch to the JUDITH. It's slightly better for a little less weight, so you'd might as well. mb-latona -- Fine. sb-latona -- Also fine. bb-latona -- Still fine. weapons-ra-omer shotgun -- I wouldn't use shotguns period, but if you must, this is a respectable choice. la-aspina MG -- I truthfully wouldn't use a machinegun that isn't the CANTUTA or MOTORCOBRA in FA. You really need the velocity while maintaining accuracy. Still, if you insist on it, I suppose this will work. lb-poplar01s -- POPLAR is bad, simple as that. Just drop it. Go with DEARBORNS, or be an unoriginal fag and use spread missiles. rb-flanking missiles -- Flanking missiles? Good job son, you just described half the missiles in the game. I'm going to need something a little more descriptive before I can tell you how well this will work. Still, it's not like missiles in FA don't ultimately come down to DEARBORN/WHEELING/MUSSELSHELL/SALINE/61AN if you're going balls-out. stabs +0-10 -- To be blunt, this really doesn't matter. almost forgot ob is kb judith and shoulders are musselshells -- OB is fine, shoulders should probably be BELTCREEKS or something. Right, so, this is surprisingly good for what I usually see around here. The premise is alright, you just need to streamline it a little. ACFA is all about synergy. You need to find a focal point amongst your frame stats, and stack it as high as you can with minimal compromise. If you have a lot of PA, you'd might as well build for PA, and I'd even recommend dropping 100 points into core and leg rectification (never tune the head or arm; the difference it makes is negligible). The weapons are fine on paper, and I'd probably support both if FA's metagame favored them a little more. Still, it's not bad in principle, and I suppose it's not like there are any exceptionally good players around anymore. For all intents and purposes, that weapon setup should last you, at least with the revisions I've made to it. Change that fucking head, though. HOLOFERNES is so bad. I've used it on one design, ever, and that was a design I made for someone else (only because anything else would've made it overweight, at that). 7/10. Nothing groundbreaking, but it's pretty decent all-around.

...Sigh. You really have no idea who you're talking to, do you? This is how Alan Holdsworth must feel about all the dumbassed guitarists that have no idea who he is. 1) Lack of part variety? In For Answer? Holy christ, WHO KNEW? 2) The WG drops my shoulder units, which wouldn't bother me normally but I want the relation missiles, the 063 core is far to heavy, I'm keeping the weight under 10k. Good job son, you missed the point entirely. I'm sure it won't come as a surprise to anyone by now, but it needed to be pointed out. First and foremost, I didn't SUGGEST the WG core, I used it to paraphrase. The point I was making is that your frame has no fucking synergy whatsoever. Nothing about it is complimentary in the least. Obviously, it makes more sense to just change the legs to suit the core you already have, but I proposed the WG or 63AN to suggest that it was one direction you could take it in. This ties into that whole, y'know, "this design is all over the place to the point and I really can't give you defined part suggestions as a result" affair I mentioned earlier. The idea is that it exemplifies synergetic frame design; It was an attempt to beat some semblance of design logic in your head, which is clearly an exercise in futility. Second, you... Mention your justification for using the AALIYAH legs over WG, when those are the ones I suggested. What the christ? I know why the AALIYAH works for this design, it's kind of why I proposed it in the first place. Dear god, I think I broke his head or something. 3) That was a terrible, terrible analogy, just FYI. I would know, I've something of a knack for them. I've already explained why this is stupid as fuck. I've already stated this, but if you're that weight conscious (which is laughable, given your weapon setup), go free up the space elsewhere. You will NEVER need the extra speed as much as you'll need the extra defense, and I can guarantee you the NSS-A will be of considerably more use to you than the SOBRERO ever will. You justify your weight concerns by saying the VIRTUE booster demands it, not realizing that you shouldn't be using the VIRTUE in the first place. Hell, there's rarely even a need to use the AALIYAH in FA, what with the respectable speed of the LATONA, so damned if you ever need the VIRTUE. Drop the SOBRERO arms, and drop the VIRTUE booster. If not, your design is going to be terrible, and it'll be your problem. 4) Success. One shitty part down, uh... I don't know many more I have to go. What's the total number of part categories again? 5) ...Annnnd lo and behold, you fail to understand that the suggestions I'm making are NOT all necessarily interconnected, and that I'm posing multiple design routes in a bid to help you better understand where the hell you're going with this. Just as with the core/leg combination, the idea is that you either need to drop the sniper cannon for a cannon better suited to your effective range or drop the missiles for missiles better suited to the cannon's effective range. tl;dr the sniper cannon is an awful choice for a "jouster". 6) Creative, yes. Practical, functional? Decidedly not. First off, let me make it expressly clear that FA's part balance leaves little room for creativity, and the metagame sure as shit doesn't help. Even in spite of this, creativity should be used as an alternative means of achieving functionality, not an excuse to slap some stupid shit on your design and prance around like a jackass in the hope that you'll actually be able to kill someone with it and summarily adorn yourself for your "creativity". Naivete will get you nowhere in this game. 7) Oh, my bad, I thought it was y--WHAT. WHAT. GET THE FUCK OUT. What the sweet fuck is it with you PS3 players and this misconception that the GA generators are anything short of exceptional? The GA generators are absolutely no worse in this game than they were in the AC4, period. The only difference between then and now is that they actually have competition in this game. For one, it goes without saying that you should throw the SS-GL (NSS-G is a fine substitute if you're pushing the weight limit) on ANY design with energy issues. Output is the lifeblood of your AC, much more so than AP ever is, but capacity is the bloodflow. It is a very necessary buffer that you new kids seem to forsake entirely in favor of KP (which is a joke fucking stat for all conventional purposes). No one worth a shit plays the game anymore, and so you tailor your designs and strategies for countering one another. Of course, since you're all awful, that isn't a very involved thought process. If any of you had to play a half-assed decent player who is actually capable of pressuring, you'd come to appreciate the GA generators. I'll leave it at that. 8) I love how the first argument any of you make when your design logic is contested is "YA WEL YOU DIDN'T PLAY FA FOR A LONG TIME". Son, if any amount of absence from this game could make me any less of an authority on building pretend giant robots, I wouldn't be as reputable as I am. Don't think for one minute that I don't still know this game like the back of my hand. For someone like you, to abandon the game for such a lengthy period would be to lose your touch. Truly solid design logic is something that's built on sound inferential ability, and is thereby universal. The ability to design is not unlike the ability to write: If you had it, you'll never lose it. To that end, there's a difference between remembering how to write well and remembering fancy words, which is no less relative here. Anyhow, high ground never stopped being supreme, easier to go down than up, so on and so forth. If you're hitting with it more reliably on the ground, you are doing something wrong, or you are doing so by your opponent's good graces. Of course, I believe I already elaborated on that a little less subtly. Now, with this finally out of the way, tell me this is done with. Tell me you miraculously get the point, and that beating a dead horse enough can somehow magically breathe life into it. It will make me feel all warm and tingly inside.

Wow, I never tried it there either. Who knew? ...I would miss my Ninja on that class, though. Maybe I'll just make an M16 class with it, even if the M16 is arguably gayer than the FAMAS.

...I can't even see FAMAS with Steady Aim not being terrible, what with how huge the reticule is for hipfire. Wouldn't the M16 be tighter anyway? I'll have to try it later. I'm a hell of a lot better than decent. I openly stated I'm not very good at MW2 long before ever playing any of you, FYI. Oh, and I have to say the UMP is better with Stopping Power/Rapid Fire from my experience. There's barely any more kick, and killing in two shots on an SMG is pretty agreeable to me. MP5k seems to roll better with LW for me, since it's definitely more of a hipfire weapon. Of course, UMP is gay as fuck no matter how you slice it, so you could probably throw Hardline on there with no killstreaks and it'd still be a good perk.