Fighting is Magic - Faustality!

[fensterawethome~!]

I really can't wait for when/if they put more details in the background for the game. The characters so far animate very well, and if Rarity is anything to go by so far they will probably get the Special effects down too. But the bare backgrounds seem so lifeless comparatively; some really simple things like moving animals or a couple background characters and whatever stuff they normally do in fighting game backgrounds will really add to the look of everything to make it sleeker. It'll look just like the show!

[BobinatorGreedin' ain't easy.]

So, I've got a theory about how Luna/Nightmare Moon would probably work. Of course, I could always be wrong, but here's what I think.

I'd basically imagine it'd be an Akuma/Shin Akuma thing.

For those of you who don't play Street Fighter, Akuma is a character who is very, very powerful, and is probably one of the most offensive fighters in the game. To balance him out, however, he has very low health compared to the rest of the cast. Shin Akuma, however, is when Akuma basically stops holding himself back, becoming even MORE powerful and losing his health handicap. They could basically do with Luna, making her Luna form playable, and keeping Nightmare Moon as some sort of final/secret boss with insane stats and more moves.

Also, am I the only one gutted that they're not using anything from Season 2? Imagine Flim and Flam in some kind of steampunk Tron Bonne-esque mech.

[republic]

So, I've got a theory about how Luna/Nightmare Moon would probably work. Of course, I could always be wrong, but here's what I think.

I'd basically imagine it'd be an Akuma/Shin Akuma thing.

For those of you who don't play Street Fighter, Akuma is a character who is very, very powerful, and is probably one of the most offensive fighters in the game. To balance him out, however, he has very low health compared to the rest of the cast. Shin Akuma, however, is when Akuma basically stops holding himself back, becoming even MORE powerful and losing his health handicap. They could basically do with Luna, making her Luna form playable, and keeping Nightmare Moon as some sort of final/secret boss with insane stats and more moves.

Also, am I the only one gutted that they're not using anything from Season 2? Imagine Flim and Flam in some kind of steampunk Tron Bonne-esque mech.

It sounds kind of like 'Unlimited' characters you fight in the story mode of the BlazBlue games. 'Unlimited' characters are visually slight palette swaps of the original character with darker tones and shadowing, but in practice it's similar to what you described with Shin Akuma above. It's been a while since I played Blazblue, but I seem to recall they featured expanded health and more damaging combos. I want to say that some of them had gimmicks too - I seem to recall Hazama's Unlimited version having some kind of health-draining aura. (Someone that actually plays BB more than once every 4-5 months will probably need to correct me on this).

The season 2 thing is a bit of a bummer, I agree. That said though, I'd rather lament over the character selection while playing the game, and adding more S2 stuff would only serve to prolong development.

[DavyinatogaEw, will you please just stop posting already so I can stop having to look at it?]

We'll be watching the Season 4 premiere by the time Mane 6 is able to release Season 2 characters, I'd wager.

I'm hoping that the synopsis for Story Mode is something along the lines of the main 6 sparring to help train each other for some fight with a baddie boss fight, who will only fight one of them. That would be enough motivation without any of the characters having to have real motivation directed against one another, and would reinforce the theme of friendship.

Actually, that would work really well if NMM is used as a transformation super for Luna. Then, for the final boss fight, instead of fighting a weak Luna, it starts up with her already transformed into the powerful NMM that never transforms back.

Oh! And once more characters are added (particularly bad guys), then they can be scripted to appear on certain stages! For example, Stages 1 and 2 would be two random BG ponies, stage 3 would be against a random baddie (Trixie, Gilda, Diamond Dog, etc), stages 4 and 5 would be against two random Main 6 ponies, and stage 6 would be the final boss fight. BG/Main characters wouldn't even have to be segregated, it could go goodie-goodie-baddie-goodie-goodie-baddie-goodie-boss or something similar. Just enough to hint at a deeper story without having to shoehorn :effort: in some hueg fanfic.

[Lazy]

It sounds kind of like 'Unlimited' characters you fight in the story mode of the BlazBlue games. 'Unlimited' characters are visually slight palette swaps of the original character with darker tones and shadowing, but in practice it's similar to what you described with Shin Akuma above. It's been a while since I played Blazblue, but I seem to recall they featured expanded health and more damaging combos. I want to say that some of them had gimmicks too - I seem to recall Hazama's Unlimited version having some kind of health-draining aura. (Someone that actually plays BB more than once every 4-5 months will probably need to correct me on this).

DID I HEAR SOMEONE SAY BLAZBLUE
Unlimited characters in that game are pretty much my favorite way to solve the problem with boss characters. You can actually play with them once you beat arcade mode on the highest difficulty, but not in ranked matches-only in player made rooms that allow them and on your own machine.
Each character has fairly major changes, not just stat boosts-some even have completely new moves.

For example, unlimited Litchi has buffed versions of her kicking specials, but she needs to get these little tokens to use them, which she gets by hitting the opponent with a move she doesn't normally have. Hazama's health-draining field is another example, as is how all of Jin's ice projectiles get freezing properties, and how Tager(who can't normally dash forward) gets a forward dash that renders him temporarily invincible. Besides being a hell of a lot stronger, unlimited characters play a whole lot differently, and people who just wanna have ridiculous, silly matches with friends can use them.
I'm not sure how necessary something like that will be for fighting is magic, but I guess we'll see.

[Mechanical ApeSerious times demand serious hats.]

The fact that Rarity gets KO'd in a dramatic swoon pose just made my day.

[kefkafloyd]

Oh dear! I have been defeated! I have ceased to be! I am an ex-pony!

[CorpusCavernosum]

Double posting like a boss.

If you missed the stream, click here to see Fluttershy being not OP

Oh god, if only I was tech-savvy enough to make a GIF of the Fluttershy vs. Fluttershy stare-off...

[Poor Yorick]

Oh god, if only I was tech-savvy enough to make a GIF of the Fluttershy vs. Fluttershy stare-off...

I guess people just wait for a higher quality upload to make that gif. The stream quality isn't really something i'd consider a good gif material.

[MochaBean]

Pinkie still looks happy when she's getting hit.

I usually main the speed characters, which is what I imagine Dash will eventually be, but Pinkie's moveset makes a compelling case!

[Lazy]

Awwwwwwww yeeea
Youtube recording of the first of three parts is finally up.
Wonder how long the rest'll take to finish rendering.
Unfortunate that this is mostly the first 20 minutes with teh annoying lag, but I guess we'll just have to wait for the other parts.

edit: At 11:34 Rarity gameplay begins, and it looks pretty smooth so far.

[Grilox]

Pinkie still looks happy when she's getting hit.

When she gets hit from behind she just sorta looks behind her like "Oh ya got me!"

[Lazy]

Annnnnd the other two are already up!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmN5_BkI ... re=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyAY4zzy ... re=channel
Neato.
Better frame-rate than the first one, for sure.

[Willsun]

I usually main the speed characters, which is what I imagine Dash will eventually be, but Pinkie's moveset makes a compelling case!

I don't typically use speed characters that often but I am totally thinking what you're thinking about Rainbow Dash. It's a mixed case of me wanting to be good with the speed characters, my half-and-half views on speed characters being cheap and being top tier, and me wanting to be smug using Rainbow Dash so people would hate me and Rainbow at the same time.

Oh also someone blackmail Mane6 into putting MochaBean's princess rendition of my OC into the game please, thanks.


I'm like Fluttershy except I summon Helga Pataki to attack for me. I also have a projectile where I say "uguu" and the words shoot out as stone.

e: My super move is to ragequit so no one is the winner.

[Demon DonkeyThe MC Pony Commander]

Looks like they've done a good job capturing everypony's personality, I love Pinkie in particular.
Also, it will be interesting to see how they handle flight for the pegasus characters.

[Poor Yorick]

Well, all signs point to Rainbow Dash being a slow moving grappler like Potemkin or Zangief .

[PinkemonIts SO limited edition! :'D]

*blahblahblahOC*

You're doing it wrong, bro. Needs more recolor of one of the main 6.

[MetalSonicHello, IT. Have you tried turning it off and on again?]

Looks like they've done a good job capturing everypony's personality, I love Pinkie in particular.
Also, it will be interesting to see how they handle flight for the pegasus characters.

Yeah, Pinkie knows, she is in a fighting game and will respawn forever.
Careful, when you suck at the game, she will break the 4th wall and get YOU fighting against Rarity.

[MochaBean]

I don't typically use speed characters that often but I am totally thinking what you're thinking about Rainbow Dash. It's a mixed case of me wanting to be good with the speed characters, my half-and-half views on speed characters being cheap and being top tier, and me wanting to be smug using Rainbow Dash so people would hate me and Rainbow at the same time.

I just can't stand using characters that feel sluggish, myself. I like characters that sacrifice a bit of defense/stamina for the ability to get in, attack, and then get out as quickly as possible. Pinkie looks like she uses that strategy, and I'm betting Dash will as well. From the playtests we've seen though, none of the characters look particularly slow, so sluggishness may not even be an issue.

Dash's victory pose better be of her doing the arm wave, for maximum smugness.

Oh also someone blackmail Mane6 into putting MochaBean's princess rendition of my OC into the game please, thanks.

I'm like Fluttershy except I summon Helga Pataki to attack for me. I also have a projectile where I say "uguu" and the words shoot out as stone.

e: My super move is to ragequit so no one is the winner.

Ragequit causes both players' clients to close automatically, and deletes a random file off of your hard drive to simulate the destruction of an innocent inanimate object.

[Lazy]

Hey, does anyone actually know where I can get MSTP(what they're using for online play)?
Been searching, but having trouble finding it for some reason.

[Willsun]

Dash's victory pose better be of her doing the arm wave, for maximum smugness.

Man that's one thing I wish they had already completed and ready to show us, at least for the first characters like Twilight and Applejack. I'm tired of seeing Twilight just squat and read blankly after everything in their videos.

Ragequit causes both players' clients to close automatically, and deletes a random file off of your hard drive to simulate the destruction of an innocent inanimate object.

The code will be set to prioritize folders with "anime" or "Japan" in them.

Hey, does anyone actually know where I can get MSTP(what they're using for online play)?
Been searching, but having trouble finding it for some reason.

I'm guessing it's their own client and it's not out yet. They probably only gave it to a few testers.

[Lazy]

I'm guessing it's their own client and it's not out yet. They probably only gave it to a few testers.

Cue one of those "Lazy feels dumb for not thinking" moments.
I'm mostly happy that it has spectator and match recording capabilities, that'll make a Ponygoons tournament so much more convenient.

[Grilox]

Dash's victory pose better be of her doing the arm wave, for maximum smugness.

I would play Rainbow Dash more than Twilight if this was one of her win poses.

[WeeksI feel overcome with the need to get funky!]

Ponygoons tournament

YESSS

Speaking of release dates, I'm hoping they might release version 1.0 this year. Specifically, around Christmas. It would be the best gift ever!

E: so it doesn't look like I have insider info or something

[Willsun]

Where are you getting that information? Unless you have a source, all release dates are moot and pure speculation.

[WeeksI feel overcome with the need to get funky!]

It is moot and pure speculation. I'm just saying it would be nice!

[Willsun]

If I had to make a guess based on this last stream they put out (and being optimistic), I want to guess August. I'm assuming a lot of the ground work is completed, such as deciding on the magic system and probably getting a general feeling of what the balance will be like, so Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash shouldn't take as long as the other characters did. Saying this is probably going to get me a lot of disappointment though if I'm wrong.

Detractors for release may be what they plan on doing for a "story mode." It could very well mean they have to design and program a non-playable boss, and if they want story mode to be included in the first release, we'd have to wait longer. I really hope they just release the main 6 pack alone so we can...get to it. I mean, what's the point of a story mode if less than half of the planned characters are going to be released first anyway?

Also, having a story in mode in a fighter is pretty anyway. Nothing is canon and there's really no way to make it special unless you go through a lot of trouble programming in special events and objects that you can only see in story mode. I'm totally fine with a generic story mode where all you do is fight your "rival" at the very end and when you win, you get some consolation prize art + text ending and then you enter your name.

HIGH SCORE:
1. ASS - 602,300
2. TWI - 100,000
3. APL - 80,000
4. RBD - 60,000
5. RTY - 40,000
6. FLT - 20,000
7. PNK - 12,345

[WeeksI feel overcome with the need to get funky!]

Even after the pegasi are done they'll want to do balancing and testing, right?

I'm assuming they'll have a casting call in March. Let's say it's for Fluttershy. Then she'd be finished around mid-April. They would probably release another video by the end of April. Casting call in May, characters done in June.

Balancing and testing in June, animation, effects, and other fluff in July. Hmm, alright, that sounds rather reasonable.

It's just that last time I went reasonable I guessed March, and, well, you know...

[HollowThis place needs a miracle.]

You're doing it wrong, bro. Needs more recolor of one of the main 6.

Also don't forget a random color streak in the hair so it will be so-not Main 6! And change the eye color!

[HyliusWhat? Heroes are cool too.]

Even after the pegasi are done they'll want to do balancing and testing, right?

Depends how they do it. I admit I've been only semi-following this game (I'm looking forward to it and love what I see so far, but I don't keep tabs on it weekly or anything), but it should come with multiplayer right out of the box, right? I'd imagine once they get all the characters in and working, they'd do a final round of bugtests and internal balancing. Depending how they do multiplayer, should be able to record stats such as win/loss ratios and stuff to spot trends, especially in character vs. character settings. That plus manual feedback should work well for balancing, and depending how they plan to do patching and such, they can update and tweak easily enough. I don't know how big their internal team is and how it works, so there's no telling how long that final balancing round could take or how effective it will be.

Just my two cents. Granted, like I mentioned, I haven't followed closely so I may be overlooking things they've already announced.

[Opposing FarceDon't you smile at my faceSpit on my backDo you kiss your mother with a mouth like that?]

Depends how they do it. I admit I've been only semi-following this game (I'm looking forward to it and love what I see so far, but I don't keep tabs on it weekly or anything), but it should come with multiplayer right out of the box, right? I'd imagine once they get all the characters in and working, they'd do a final round of bugtests and internal balancing. Depending how they do multiplayer, should be able to record stats such as win/loss ratios and stuff to spot trends, especially in character vs. character settings. That plus manual feedback should work well for balancing, and depending how they plan to do patching and such, they can update and tweak easily enough. I don't know how big their internal team is and how it works, so there's no telling how long that final balancing round could take or how effective it will be.

Just my two cents. Granted, like I mentioned, I haven't followed closely so I may be overlooking things they've already announced.

I'd be surprised if they didn't make a point of fine-tuning the balance as much as possible before any public release of the game. They seem to be perfectionists, and besides, releasing a poorly-balanced game is a very good way to turn people off and shoot your chances of having a long-term playerbase in the foot, even if you fix the balance later on.

[HyliusWhat? Heroes are cool too.]

Eh, depends how you look at it and how fast they can patch (not to mention if it's an automatic updater or a manual download.) Probably just me though. Majority of the games I play on PC now days are either in a Alpha/Beta phase or were when I first started them, so I'm used to dealing with it and going through the balancing process. I guess if they plan for it to really be a PROPER release, they'll put more effort into it. I'm just used to seeing these indie/freeware games usually coming out officially as a public beta format first.

[Willsun]

Sorry to burst your bubble, but...

Q: Will there be an Open Beta release?
A: Plans are for the first open build to be the actual Live release.

I'm sure they'll still have patches in the future once imbalances are found and certain characters are found to be too "low-tier." Testers can only do so much before creative minds from the general public find what is most exploitable.

[HyliusWhat? Heroes are cool too.]

Hmm, if that's the case, there's honestly no telling how long or effective it'll be. I'd say August is a good guess, maybe shorter if they go to school and thus have summer break. Oh well, the more I see of this game, the more I anticipate playing it.

[MetalSonicHello, IT. Have you tried turning it off and on again?]

I hope there will be a ponygoons tournament once it comes out?

[inthestoMUNDO TOO FRIENDLY FOR YOU]

Developers are never good at the game they make and asking for a balanced game on release is like praying for rain in the desert.

I'm sure that the dev team will release balance patches during the game's lifetime, but I hope they don't go too overboard with it. Changing things in a fighting game too rapidly generally does more harm than good.

[Lazy]

Developers are never good at the game they make and asking for a balanced game on release is like praying for rain in the desert.

I'm sure that the dev team will release balance patches during the game's lifetime, but I hope they don't go too overboard with it. Changing things in a fighting game too rapidly generally does more harm than good.

Well, they DO have a team of playtesters separate from the rest of the team, so I'm gonna remain optimistic.
Not that it won't inevitably require some tweaking, though.

I hope there will be a ponygoons tournament once it comes out?

Wilsun said earlier this is already planned, so unless something goes horribly wrong there oughta be.

[AramekYour MRI results have shown total infection to now be approximately one fifth of the full mass of the tissue."So you're saying..."Your brain is about 20% tumor.]

I can't wait to participate and lose in round one!

[inthestoMUNDO TOO FRIENDLY FOR YOU]

Willsun's just gonna rig the bracket by putting all the fighting game players against each other in the first round and then sticking himself on the opposite end.

[DavyinatogaEw, will you please just stop posting already so I can stop having to look at it?]

Willsun's just gonna rig the bracket by putting all the fighting game players against each other in the first round and then sticking himself on the opposite end.

Nah, he'll do like Thornton High from Crash N The Boyz and place himself in the final round with everyone else competing for the other spot. At worst all he could say is that he still came in second.

I can't wait to participate and lose in round one!

It's ok Aramek, I'll keep you company in the loser's bracket.