AEW: Fight Forever

[K]

I didn't really like how in the gameplay video I watched the weapons were intangible unless they were being picked up, unless I misunderstood what was happening. I guess I don't know what the ideal solution is because you want to be able to, say, whip to the ropes, but also you want the weapons in the ring to feel extant, you know? I dunno how other wrestle games handle it because I haven't played one since No Mercy.

[apsham]

There’s multiple times at least in the ladder match where they would land moves on top of the ladder and it would make a noise, move and the camera would zoom in.

The problem with some modern games is that you try to throw someone in a corner and something larger blocks them, or they just get pushed around like they were greased with butter. I think in those terms - it's funner for a more arcadey game to let the weapons remain in the ring, let you try what you want to do without something getting in the way.

[The Buscher]

Yeah once I saw Jon Moxley throwing a bomb at someone I just sorta accepted that they can go full arcade with this and nothing like that would really bother me, even if there were definitely some glitches with the weapons beyond the purposeful design choice of having the weapons turn transparent at times and letting you run through them.

Once more reviews/feedback start to trick in I believe it'll eventually just simply boil down to - if you want a more realistic wrestling simulation game it's 2k23, if you want a bombastic arcade experience it's this.  Entirely down to personal preference and each being fun in their own ways.

[VerbalPuke]

The mini games did look kind of fun, not gonna lie. 

Curious though, wasn't No Mercy more of a down to Earth simulation as opposed to arcadey? I mean I've played them and that was the vibe I got, so is this going to be a No Mercy reinvented for 2023 but also with an arcadey vibe? Down to earth but swarming with magic robots if you will. 

[apsham]

I wouldn't have classified No Mercy as a down to earth simulation - but I guess that is more down to me knowing about/messing around with other games like King of the Coliseum and Fire Pro at the time. It was fairly simple controls, one button for a counter on each side and a focus on fast matches without any real kind of stamina system and nothing all that much blocking you from doing big moves right off the bat.

Compared to the Smackdown! series I'd say it was less arcadey but still in the same vein.

[VerbalPuke]

54 minutes ago, apsham said:

I wouldn't have classified No Mercy as a down to earth simulation - but I guess that is more down to me knowing about/messing around with other games like King of the Coliseum and Fire Pro at the time. It was fairly simple controls, one button for a counter on each side and a focus on fast matches without any real kind of stamina system and nothing all that much blocking you from doing big moves right off the bat.

Compared to the Smackdown! series I'd say it was less arcadey but still in the same vein.

I guess at the time I was only exposed to Smackdown and No Mercy type games. Smackdown felt fast and wild to me where No Mercy felt more deliberate and more like a simulation to me. 

[KJE]

I'll still get the game but watching the videos makes me less excited. It's probably trivial, but watching Paul Wight run up a ladder ruins it for me, especially when I read reviews beforehand that it wouldn't be the case on things like climbing the turnbuckles.

[Colly]

1 hour ago, apsham said:

I wouldn't have classified No Mercy as a down to earth simulation - but I guess that is more down to me knowing about/messing around with other games like King of the Coliseum and Fire Pro at the time. It was fairly simple controls, one button for a counter on each side and a focus on fast matches without any real kind of stamina system and nothing all that much blocking you from doing big moves right off the bat.

Compared to the Smackdown! series I'd say it was less arcadey but still in the same vein.

That's not really true, strong grapples were easily blockable until you got momentum going, particularly against the CPU, and while there wasn't a stamina system in the sense of "run around a bit and you'll get tired" (which I've always found a bit daft, wrestlers never do that) there was a good damage system in place.

[apsham]

22 minutes ago, Colly said:

That's not really true, strong grapples were easily blockable until you got momentum going, particularly against the CPU, and while there wasn't a stamina system in the sense of "run around a bit and you'll get tired" (which I've always found a bit daft, wrestlers never do that) there was a good damage system in place.

There was, but it was kind of dumbed down from the VPW stuff. It was always good to see the 'I've damaged that part of the body' and the wrestler was limping or something along those lines - but it had next to no effect on their ability to run or do anything. KOTC and Fire Pro were much more stringent when it came to trying to pull off moves that weren't 'earned' through damage on your opponent yet as well - so on a comparison level, I wasn't considering it close to the same thing.

Momentum was a good system, but it's also a good arcadey, gamefied.

[The Buscher]

A real "grain of salt" deal but there's a guy on Reddit claiming to have the game early doing an AMA and the mods haven't banned him or shut it down because he's provided what they felt was sufficient proof that he actually has the game.  People have asked him to provide images of certain characters and he's been doing it, etc.

No sense into going in depth since it could all be bullshit.  But the basic gist in the AMA that he has been mostly positive about the actual gameplay but kinda negative on most everything else.  Right now he's kinda settled into "Fun game but I could see where it might get old fast unless you play on spending most of your time playing online or with friends".

If what the AMA says about RTE and/or CAW mode is true then I have a feeling this game might be dead on arrival for some folks.  

But who knows.  My gaming time will be somewhat limited with everything I've got going on in the next couple of months, so that's plenty enough time to get plenty of feedback before I actually have time to go out and possibly get this thing.

[K]

Does it have cross-platform play?

[Ruki]

If the RTE mode is bunk, then I'm gonna hold off on this until it's like $20 or on Gamepass.

[The Buscher]

49 minutes ago, K said:

Does it have cross-platform play?

Kenny's said cross-play is in but not sure it's been confirmed to what extent.

37 minutes ago, Ruki said:

If the RTE mode is bunk, then I'm gonna hold off on this until it's like $20 or on Gamepass.

The AMA poster alleged that it's just super repetitive.  Mode supposedly lasts a year but he said he was finding it a bit boring within two months.  He said winning titles doesn't appear to change anything about the stories you receive, and in one instance he was made to choose whether or not to join a stable and despite saying no, the story continued the next week as if he'd said yes.  Hasn't started a second playthrough though so he's not sure on what, if any, branching changes might exist if you win or lose in certain spots.

The CAW stuff is possibly more damning.  100 CAW slots but the options in creation suite are so limited that he doesn't see how anyone can realistically create any real-world wrestlers.  You're basically returning to the days where you had to accept that your CAWs would bear only a passing resemblance to the people you were trying to make.  Maybe this also explains why there supposedly isn't going to be a Community Creations feature.

Again, here's hoping the AMA is just a line of shit.  But I wouldn't begrudge anyone for having pause on getting this until more folks have actually gotten their hands on it.

[apsham]

I'm honestly super fine with returning to that era if that's the case. Most of the time the 2K edits can get relatively close but between not having proper announce names, not getting the faces quite right, etc - it's close enough but just never all the way there for me and I usually end up deleting most edits in the end.

I'm still on board. I'm buying this to support something a bit more fresh, something that I can easily pick up and play with my fiancee and friends and to mess around with.

[Gabriel]

I imagine that the create-a-wrestler feature is something that will get some additions as time goes on. Kenny knows we want to be able to create our favorites, and it's likely that they just didn't focus on the CAW aspect in the pre-release development, and will add to it in future updates.

A lot of the doom-sayers are forgetting that this game is entirely planned to be given consistent content updates, and that the release version + DLC isn't all that they have planned for us.

[The Buscher]

1 hour ago, Gabriel said:

A lot of the doom-sayers are forgetting that this game is entirely planned to be given consistent content updates, and that the release version + DLC isn't all that they have planned for us.

I don't think you're a doom-sayer for saying you don't want to drop $60+ for a game if it feels incomplete.  Plenty of studios have claimed they would consistently updating their game and then either don't follow through, or they make only marginal changes.  Many gamers have been burned several times over for this so I don't begrudge those who are more cautious.

I've no idea if anything that's come out this week is true.  But I wouldn't blame anyone for either waiting for more reviews or for taking a "prove it" approach to see how often they update before taking the plunge.

[Colly]

I honestly don't care about the CAW system, at this point wrestling games have enough guys in to not get bored, but they've been selling this on a solid engine from the start and that's all I'm after. Sadly I'm not sure I'm seeing it. Doesn't make a difference to me as I never buy new games these days, but I'd have been tempted on the cheap in a few months if it's any good.

[The Buscher]

 

[BuddyAwesome]

I really did want to get this right away to support and also really to try a new wrestling game out, but the more I see and read, I'm holding off. I like the graphics, but while it looks more like No Mercy it appears to play more like SmackDown at that time. It just, doesn't look good to me. That clip of Wight/Silver looked incredibly awkward the entire match. They joked about Wight crouching every move, but it really looked bad and distracting. Who knows, maybe reviews will come in glowing and I'll give it a shot and love it but for now I'll just wait for WrestleQuest.

[FLiam]

Most of the character models look great but let’s talk about Andrade.