Fantasy Strike ("like if Apple designed Street Fighter II")

[DoctorFedora]

So I figure a bunch of people here are probably into good design stuff, because it's an Apple board. You might like this game, because it is, in my opinion, basically like if Apple made a Street Fighter-style fighting game — all of the needlessly complicated stuff is gone, leaving only the stuff you need, making things accessible for people who would otherwise be unable to handle it in the first place while simultaneously making it easier for experts. If you've ever gotten annoyed at people complaining that Macs are "dumbed down," well. ; )

Basic gist: if you've ever wanted to play fighting games like Street Fighter but have found the frankly incredibly difficult control conventions to be a real nuisance, this game is for you. If you're a big fan of fighting games, this game is also for you. It's designed to minimize the amount of time you need to spend learning it, so you can go straight to actually playing it.

There's a free demo with online play for Windows and macOS coming this weekend (though the macOS build isn't available for download just quite yet), and I definitely encourage folks to try it out! I've been playing older builds via Patreon for a while, and boy it's just a really fun game. When I play it with friends who have also been playing Street Fighter since SF2, after about ten minutes of acclimation there's plenty of excitement, and when I show it to friends who don't play fighting games at all, they usually fully grasp the controls after about 10–15 minutes, because they're a lot more like, say, Devil May Cry or something like that.

In any case, check out fantasystrike.com for the demo and maybe check out some of the videos, like the guide to how to play Grave. I really enjoy playing this game, and I want to share it with other people (and, selfishly, I want to have more people play it so there's more competition ; )
[doublepost=1501123409][/doublepost]I'm trying my best to not just go on and on about how much I like this game, because if granted the opportunity oh I will just talk your ear off

 

[Flint Ironstag]

Free demo? I'm in - thanks for sharing.

 

[DoctorFedora]

Apparently they’re still having bugs with getting netplay working on the Mac version, but they say they hope to have it working soonish?

 

[DoctorFedora]

Mac version is up! Go Go Go Go goooo

 

[DoctorFedora]

Though the Fig campaign was ultimately unsuccessful, the game is now on Steam. (http://store.steampowered.com/app/390560)

Basically, if you have any fond memories of Street Fighter II, this game plays like a modern version of that, except even more straightforward because it doesn't have the video game equivalent of DOS commands to do things like throw fireballs.

Also, the netcode is pretty amazing overall, even across long distances.

 

[JayBayAye8]

So what's the deal with the loot boxes? Is it just skins and awards for your "meta character" or does it go into making your fighters more effective?

 

[0098386]

These kind of games live or die based on character designs, and from the trailers I’m not impressed. And they’re promoting it based on simple controls as if no other games has them? They should look at Smash Bros- just press a direction and a button.

So what's the deal with the loot boxes? Is it just skins and awards for your "meta character" or does it go into making your fighters more effective?

Oh god what? Loot boxes infecting games like this too? Disgusting.

 

[DoctorFedora]

The devs mentioned originally planning loot boxes only for cosmetic stuff (the guy in charge of the series has a huge hard-on for fair and balanced asymmetrical gameplay and I guess avoids playing games with unfair pay-or-grind-for-an-advantage stuff on principle?) but they’re kind of hurting for money right now to the point where even cosmetic loot boxes may not happen, since finishing the other two characters* is a much higher priority.

Smash Bros. isn’t a great comparison for simple gameplay, given that Smash actually has some of the steepest execution requirements of any multiplayer video game once you get to even an intermediate level of play. It’s not “press a direction and a button,” it’s “press an analog stick just the right amount in the opposite direction from a moment before, and a button.” This game actually has meaningfully simplified and streamlined controls that genuinely do work.

The cool thing about the way it’s simplified is that you’re playing the “real game” after like half an hour of getting used to it, so even if you get thrashed online by a really good player, you at least know why you lost and what you can try to do better in the future.

Anyway, I really like it, and I’ve been playing fighting games since the nineties. The fact that it’s currently my favorite to play overall AND the fact that I can even sort of meaningfully play it with friends who HAVEN'T played fighters for two decades is a huge deal, in my opinion.

*the next of whom is a PANDA that is also a GAMBLER, which means that if you are not excited for this notion you are probably dead inside???

 

[DoctorFedora]

So uh, the game is still coming along extremely well! In the nearly a year since the last post, it has another character, a bunch more stages, way better performance (highly playable on my 2013 MacBook Pro!), tutorial videos for each character, multiple play modes, survival mode…

Anyway, check it out! It's extremely good and fun, and available for macOS!

 

[DoctorFedora]

Bumping because this game still rules and it’s almost out of Early Access : 0

It’s looking really well polished and it’s still fun as heck, and it’s still great for beginners or for people who already know fighting games!

Anyway yeah uh go play this very fun game !