King of Fighters XIII

[Chainsaw Guitar]

Am I the only one hyped for this game? everyone else on SRK is just all "lol, SNK". TBH, I haven't played any KoF games before (closest experience being Garou, hell yes) and was hoping to make KoFXII my gateway into the series, but that bombed way too hard.

[FinnKaenbyou]

King is in this game, which by default makes it at least 5 times better than XII.

Seriously, though, it looks like XIII is going to be what XII should have been - a real KoF game without that crappy critical counter gimmick and huge pixellated sprites. The loketests look a little slow compared to older games, but that's just about my only complaint so far.

[Sana]

I'm so hyped, I went through the entire SRK thread looking for loketest videos. :S

Also, Garou is great.

[shadowbringer]

imho the best KoFs to play competitively would be.. 98 (the favorite for the Chinese players), 2002 UM (arcade version, which has some differences compared to the PS2 version) and XI (there are some good match vids for 95, and some say that 99 is well-balanced)

so far I'm worried about the actual movelists (the hypothetical moves that weren't published in that movelist sheet), and that normal moves (standing strong punch, for example) would still be the same no matter if you were close to your opponent or not. Also, I don't like one super per character (with few known exceptions being Ryo and Robert)..
I'm hoping that Ryo, Clark and Ralf are good enough in this version (I like Ryo's forward+light kick move, the hqf+kick and his 2x(hqf)+punch moves, Clark's command throw wasn't much useful in XII besides being part of combos and Ralf's lost his down, up+punch, his weak Ralf Kick and Ralf Tackle)

It seems that both dodge types are present (the Extra's A+B, and Advanced's forward/backwards A+B), there are "break shots" (C+D during blockstun) and rolling guard cancels (A+B during blockstun) like the previous games, a guard gauge (like 2002 UM), no clash system (it was nice in Treasure's Yuu Yuu Hakusho fighting game for the Mega Drive, however, being able to stop a super with a normal move that way, more like by accident, sounds silly imho), no [strike]SFA2 Custom Combos[/strike] [strike]silly waiting game[/strike] Critical Counter, and no "focus system" (while the idea was interesting, I didn't like how KoF XII tried to feel like SFIV, it was weird to feel the gameplay, unlike when you play Garou and then 3s). Also, no zoom (which I think worked well in a slower paced game like AoF, or was better implemented in the Samurai Shodown series, but not in XII).
What I would like to see, too, is rolling cancels after attacks (first implemented in 2002), and HSDMs (supers to use when you're low on life). Also, more characters (meaning, more playstyles) and alternative character versions (the same here, though this can be compensated by merging movelists from the affected characters) would enrich the gameplay, but these two would be a bit unrealistic for me to ask..

[Chainsaw Guitar]

Whew, just the 4 of us. Alright, that's good enough I suppose!
I heard team K' was accidentally leaked on the official site. Did anyone get to see that?

[shadowbringer]

it seems that Vice might be in too, some of the character data from XII would say so..

however, I'm still hoping for Kasumi, Shingo, Jhun, Heidern, Krauser, Geese, Eiji, the New Faces team and others :p (would be nice, however the storyline might get in the way..)

[Chainsaw Guitar]

Oh lawd, Jhun. He just won't be the same to me without that glitch from '03.

[shadowbringer]

for me, the most glaring ( and thank you for reminding me about that glitch :p ) bug was Jhun's almost-infinite juggle combo in the corner (12 hits would stun in '99; players can't be stunned in 2002/2002 UM, unless when they're hit by Ryo's HSDM/SDM). It would be interesting to see him use the Drive Cancel thing to land a super from one of his special moves, like in '99.

Now that I think about it, perhaps the theme of "return to the origins", in the characters' new/redesigned gameplay, is the reason why I shouldn't hope for most of the newer characters, as most of them represent the series' evolution.. so, if they do get in, their gameplay would probably be changed.
(I still wish that Ryo, Ralf and Clark -- my main characters -- are good enough.. the way I use them in 2002 apparently didn't work in XII, and probably won't work in XIII, that's why I'm saying this.)

[Chainsaw Guitar]

Holy. Shit.



This certainly isn't the biggest surprise addition, but it is the most welcomed!

[Stuffman]

Fuck yeah, K`! Now it's just a question of whether Kula or Whip is the third member.

Also what the FUCK is up with Takuma's sprite.

[Chainsaw Guitar]

Most awkward fighting stance ever. Also, I really hate Kula. :<