CvS2: The First Impressions

[VinylBoy]

OK... I've just given this game my first dedicated 4 hours of gameplay, and I've already noticed a few differences with the characters I like to use most.

Athena:
I'm not sure if she's actually good or REALLY good as of yet. She has been given some nice tweaks to some of her moves, yet some of her patented combos are not in the game.

1. Her "Butt Blitz" (in air, FD+K) move was slightly altered. She now has the nice ability to do another move after she bounces back. However, unlike in KOF you can't do this move if you just jump straight up. Very awkward.
2. Her teleport (although a little slow) even goes through fireballs. That's a NICE addition. <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">
3. All the patented Athena Phoenix Combos are gone since you cannot seem to buffer in a move after her in-close standing MK which does her 2-hit hop kick. Maybe I'm just not in sync with the game as of yet, but I've tried everything from regular uppercuts to Shining Crystal bits, and nothing seems to connect after this move.
4. No bufferable moves off her crouching HP, which takes away some more of her combos. This really puts some of her potential down since all of her footsweeps have little to no range.
5. Actual nice combo abilities in A-Groove... in corner, LP, LK, LP, LK, MP, Psycho Swordx2, Shining Crystal Bit.
6. Psycho Reflector remains it's traditional strength. Had no problems reflecting a Kaiser Wave back at Rugal. <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

Terry Bogard:
1. Rising Tackle has been slowed down and limited on range, preventing some of the drastic "Roll/Rising Tackle" tactics from CvS1. It still works well on the ground, but if your opponent jumps, it doesn't do as well.
2. Power Wave travels better and faster.
3. Crack Shot NOW goes over fireballs... certain ones, of course... including aerial ones like it's supposed to. <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">
4. R4 Terry combo - Instant Death to R2 Characters, (S or N Groove) LP Power Wave, Run, In-Close HP (2-hit), Buster Wolf, Power Geyser. <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

Blanka:
He's still the beast from the east.
1. He seems to bounce back a littlle further to help him avoid counter attacks after blocked balling attacks.
2. Still no return of MK Roundhouse from original Street Fighter II... <IMG SRC="smilies/frown.gif" border="0">
3. Standing MP has GREAT range... Squatting MP stopped Terry's Crack Shot WHILE HE WAS IN MOTION.
4. Slide has better recovery time.

And is anyone else having problems doing regular combos with Eagle? He seems to have the moves, but why are they so difficult to connect with?

Anyhoo... I'm due for another 4 hours or so. Let's see what else I can find. <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

 

[FeelGood]

I cannot get off Rock's 360 degree toss into a raging storm. I actually think think Rocks RS has crappy range. However, I like his deadly rave more than geeses.

Also, I feel that the music is not as good in this version. I really dug Nakoruru's stage and Sagat's, but now I feel that the only good fighting music is that on the rooftop against Gouki/rugal/e.ryu/o.iori

I really hate the remix of Gouki's theme for Rugal. The way they mixed in the gay house just destroyed it for me.

I really like Geese having all his moves in one version (jineiken and air reppuken). The fan disk has a demo of his infinite, which was really interesting, as it didn't look like a combo, but I guess anything goes when Capcom is behind the wheel.

The person that I really rock with his Haohmaru, who is completely fjcked up. First of all, he's holding his sword like he's Genjuro, and then his sword is curved like Genjuro's. Haohmaru's sword is straight. Those silly capcom designers... However, here's what makes Haohmaru great: make a groove that has chain combos and cancel any move and Haohmaru becomes a beast. That heavy meat cutting fierce slash suddenly gets worked in through the normal cheap LP,MP,HP chain, and then you can tag on a kogetsuzan or shimpuretsuzan, but of course you're going to do the kogetsuzan because you're Ch33z0r.

Anyhow, I got almost all the way through survival but lost against Gouki, who beatme with a couple of teleport->toss sequences. nut sexor.

 

[Devil_Gans]

to connect the 360 degree throw into a raging storm,u should do it at the corner.be sure to break the throw by pressing PPP and do that super.

if u don't want to do that in the corner connecting the lv 3 shining knuckle from the 360 degree throw is another option. <IMG SRC="smilies/wink.gif" border="0">

 

[thundr51]

So far I have to say that this game is turning out to be pretty great. I can combo things fairly nicely and i'm simply CRAZY <IMG SRC="smilies/loco.gif" border="0"> about the music!

I've never been very good with athena. I feel that she doesn't really have any power moves really, she has to overwhelm her opponents with speed via her teleport and keep the opponent guessing. I don't think it's possible to combo anything from her f+mk. I've tried everything and can't do anything afterwards and I KNOW i've down it plenty of times on KOF.

Personally, I've been using Kyo,Rock,Hibiki(FINALLY people can see her REAL strength) and Yun mostly, with a little Guile, Vice, Athena,King and Nakoruru thrown in for good measure. I've been a little biased only using N-groove although I've heard that some of the others are just as good.
I think it's interesting that only one LB character made the cut while other games have at least 2 or more. Would have been nice to have a team with Hibiki and some other last blader. But for now i'll have to keep her with her other sword wielding comrades Nak and Haoh.

All in all, head and shoulders over CvS1. <IMG SRC="smilies/smirk.gif" border="0">

 

[VinylBoy]

I continued doing a lot more actual playing of the game in Training Mode, by setting my favorite characters at their intended ratio that I would be playing, and my opponent at max damage and difficulty... some more findings and more things that I have to get used to.

Athena:
Again, the minor tweaks are starting to show... some of which are actually quite irritating.

1. WHY IN THE HELL CAN'T ATHENA REFLECT RYU'S SUPER FIREBALL??? <IMG SRC="smilies/veryangry.gif" border="0">

This move has reflected just about every projectile from the Kaiser Wave to the Haoh-Sho-Koh-Ken, and both of these fireballs (in theory) are STRONGER than Ryu's Shinkuu-Hadoken. So, why can't it be reflected???

On a better note, however, at least it does come out pretty quickly and the LK version is great up close. But it STILL should reflect Ryu's Super Fireball!!

2. There is a slight delay after doing a teleport. I can see why they gave it the ability to go through fireballs AND super fireballs, but this small delay makes it a little tougher to connect with certain moves right after teleporting. The short teleport (up close) is VERY deadly since you'll be able to go through fireballs, stun your opponent and hit them with a Shining Crystal Bit or other move.

3. Why can't the Lvl 1 & 2 Shining Crystal Bit be cancelled by pressing all three punches?? And what is the short range for all of these moves? Even her crouching HP hhas more range than this!! <IMG SRC="smilies/confused.gif" border="0">

4. Her standing HK has just as much range as her squatting HK... which basically makes this button for Athena users quite USELESS.

And despite the other limitations with some of her bufferable and non-bufferable moves, I can see that they mildly did a number on Athena's true abilities. But, she still has potential and I'm certain that I will be able to get the hang of it soon.

Terry:
What can I say... even with the delayed Rising Tackle, he is STILL the man. <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

Still trying to do some good Eagle combos... there has to be more players that use him here...

OK... back for another 4 hours... <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

 

[RiotoftheBlood]

Originally posted by VinylBoy:
<STRONG>
1. WHY IN THE HELL CAN'T ATHENA REFLECT RYU'S SUPER FIREBALL??? <IMG SRC="smilies/veryangry.gif" border="0">

</STRONG>

Because it's a super.

 

[VinylBoy]

Originally posted by RiotoftheBlood:
<STRONG>Because it's a super.</STRONG>

And so isn't a Haoh-Sho-Koh-Ken...
It just doesn't make any sense. I mean, if maybe they wanted to give some sort of leeway towards it, make Ryu's Lv3 firebal unreflectable. However, if the reflector can send back Kaiser Waves and Hao-Sho-Koh-Kens, there's no excuse that they wouldn't be able to reflect Ryu's Shinkuu-Hadoken.

It's no matter, as Athena can actually TELEPORT through it... but it's still an oddity.

 

[Devil_Gans]

Originally posted by RiotoftheBlood:
<STRONG>Because it's a super.</STRONG>

in kof 98 and 99,athena and bao could reflect fireball supers even a SDM fireball super as well.i was shocked when i first saw it! But here unfortunately she can't.your right.

 

[RiotoftheBlood]

Originally posted by VinylBoy:
<STRONG>And so isn't a Haoh-Sho-Koh-Ken...
It just doesn't make any sense. I mean, if maybe they wanted to give some sort of leeway towards it, make Ryu's Lv3 firebal unreflectable. However, if the reflector can send back Kaiser Waves and Hao-Sho-Koh-Kens, there's no excuse that they wouldn't be able to reflect Ryu's Shinkuu-Hadoken.

It's no matter, as Athena can actually TELEPORT through it... but it's still an oddity.</STRONG>

Does the move reflect super fireballs other than the two you have mentioned? I haven't played as Athena yet. If not, maybe the oddity is being able to reflect Ryo's.

 

[Shin Sentinel]

WHY IN THE HELL CAN'T ATHENA REFLECT RYU'S SUPER FIREBALL???

Look at who made the game <IMG SRC="smilies/wink.gif" border="0">

 

[Hinge]

Originally posted by VinylBoy:
<STRONG>1. He seems to bounce back a littlle further to help him avoid counter attacks after blocked balling attacks.</STRONG>

Not far enough to avoid Hibiki's QCF HP <IMG SRC="smilies/wink.gif" border="0">

 

[VinylBoy]

Originally posted by RiotoftheBlood:
<STRONG>Does the move reflect super fireballs other than the two you have mentioned? I haven't played as Athena yet. If not, maybe the oddity is being able to reflect Ryo's.</STRONG>

I already know that Athena's Reflector is sending back Rugal's Kaiser Wave as I have done that extensively in CvS2. Then again, CvS2 doesn't treat the Kaiser Wave as a super. I haven't been able to try it against the Haoh-Sho-Koh-Ken since I'm only playing against the computer, and I haven't been in a setup where I could test it. What I'll have to do is put it on trianing Mode with the two characters and see if it works.