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Killer Instinct 10th Anniversary - Free to Play Version & Anniversry Edition Announced (Xbox/PC/Steam)

Ozriel

M$FT
IG does great when it comes to gameplay. Since S2, they've made mostly good decisions with the changes they've implemented and they seem to be fixing the worst gameplay offenders with this patch.
Although I think they overbuffed Jago's DP in this, for the most part, I think they've gotten it right.

They need help with the art and human character models as that seems to be their weakest point. I'm looking at Kim Wu, who is still among the fugliest fighting game character ever created. Tusk and Eagle aren't a gems either art wise. When it comes to lighting, I seem to remember that they are limited to what they can do due to the engine Double Helix chose back in the day which was modified from the Buffy game.

Yeah. The visuals are rather dated these days

Microsoft should just poach former Double Helix folks and build up a KI team in-house
 
I'm definitely going to give the new patch a playthrough even though I've never been a rank monster and just a filthy casual.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
I was never able to get into KI (even in arcades). Even doing the training modes on Xbox, I couldnt string together all those crazy 20 or 30 hit combos you see gamers doing. Compared to SF and Tekken I used to play in the 90s, KI is way harder to be good at.
 
Update is out now.
The new KI is so much easier to get longer combo strings than the previous editions for me.
And if are really feeling scrubby, they got combo assist that you can turn on to help you pull off some long strings.

The biggest thing to learn is when or even if to combo break and to recognize what strength you should combo break. The system is easy to learn, hard to master because you can definitely do some mind games with combo breaking, counter breaking, etc.

First thing I'd experiment with a new character is learning what the opener for that character is. Everything else will flow from that.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Update is out now.
The new KI is so much easier to get longer combo strings than the previous editions for me.
And if are really feeling scrubby, they got combo assist that you can turn on to help you pull off some long strings.

The biggest thing to learn is when or even if to combo break and to recognize what strength you should combo break. The system is easy to learn, hard to master because you can definitely do some mind games with combo breaking, counter breaking, etc.

First thing I'd experiment with a new character is learning what the opener for that character is. Everything else will flow from that.

Nice, adding to download queue.
 
I haven't played in a while, but I swear the game looks better. They must have done some shadow updates on effects and art.
Fulgore shadow downward air laser shoots out of both eyes now where I think it only shot out of 1. Hair and fur looks better, etc.

I've only been playing for 30 minutes or so trying out Omen, but it looks better to me. Hopefully not just a placebo when the devs come on and say they didn't update anything yet...lol
 

More details at this Xbox Wire article.

A change from DX11 to DX12, Series X up to 4K and Series S up to 1440p.
 
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drotahorror

Member
I was never able to get into KI (even in arcades). Even doing the training modes on Xbox, I couldnt string together all those crazy 20 or 30 hit combos you see gamers doing. Compared to SF and Tekken I used to play in the 90s, KI is way harder to be good at.

That's strange cuz it's probably the only modern fighter I feel sort of competent in. I'm garbage at nu-Street Fighter and MK.


Also, maybe I missed it but I thought this update was going to actually update some stuff? balance changes, bug fixes, etc?
*Nvm, I see they've made balance updates for 19/29 characters. Nice!
 
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Reave

Member
Does the Game Pass version contain all of the content for Anniversary Edition? Or is it just the freebie version?
 
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SkylineRKR

Member
KI def looks far better on XSS than it did before, load times are shorter too.

Skins look clearer, jaggies are gone. Its a huge resolution bump. You see it because the story cutscenes seem to be unaltered. Check those and then do a battle.

I am glad I bought the DE from the store about a year ago for 10 bucks. This game is worth it.
 
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Does the Game Pass version contain all of the content for Anniversary Edition? Or is it just the freebie version?
Most of the content except the exclusive colors from buying figurines/products

So all characters are unlocked and costumes/accessories are unlockable via playing like the Definitive edition
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?



KI def looks far better on XSS than it did before, load times are shorter too.

Skins look clearer, jaggies are gone. Its a huge resolution bump. You see it because the story cutscenes seem to be unaltered. Check those and then do a battle.

I am glad I bought the DE from the store about a year ago for 10 bucks. This game is worth it.


Yep, it was relegated to One S codebase before, it's probably native 1440p/60 FPS now.
 
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Anyone else find the colors muted and gamma washed out? It looked better before the update with auto hdr.
The background had an overly light look for me from default compared to pre-patch. Turned the brightness down to -2 from default and it looks much better for me. My monitor doesn't have HDR though

The details pop a lot more than before the update for me as I'm seeing things I hadn't noticed before to the point I was asking in streams if that was an added change.
 
The background had an overly light look for me from default compared to pre-patch. Turned the brightness down to -2 from default and it looks much better for me. My monitor doesn't have HDR though

The details pop a lot more than before the update for me as I'm seeing things I hadn't noticed before to the point I was asking in streams if that was an added change.
Are you playing on Series X?
 
Are you playing on Series X?
yes

edit: my monitor is only 1440p, but it looks waaay sharper than it did when I was playing on PC on my 4K monitor pre-patch. Even some players on PC during the streams I watched said it looked better to them as well even with the same PC/monitor set-up.
 
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I've only been doing survival mode because I'm rusty as hell and missing a lot of inputs and confirms. The farthest I've gotten is 8 wins on veteran difficulty, but it slowly starting to come back to me.
I've been mostly using Eagle and dabbling in a little Killgore. At some point, I want to learn Omen, but he seems hard to get even a little decent on.

I really wished they had added a Season 3 story mode while they were at it or even an arcade mode.
 

SkylineRKR

Member
I was never able to get into KI (even in arcades). Even doing the training modes on Xbox, I couldnt string together all those crazy 20 or 30 hit combos you see gamers doing. Compared to SF and Tekken I used to play in the 90s, KI is way harder to be good at.

KI is very easy. The dojo explains the combo system with Jago. You can basically string specials together and even do the same one repeatedly, and before the bar fills you can do an ender motion. At enemy danger health you can do an Ultra (with Jago is something like QCB or QCF? + LB during any combo.
The background had an overly light look for me from default compared to pre-patch. Turned the brightness down to -2 from default and it looks much better for me. My monitor doesn't have HDR though

The details pop a lot more than before the update for me as I'm seeing things I hadn't noticed before to the point I was asking in streams if that was an added change.

Yep I noticed it on XSS too. I did change the brightness as well.

Game looks better but indeed too bright.
 
KI is very easy. The dojo explains the combo system with Jago. You can basically string specials together and even do the same one repeatedly, and before the bar fills you can do an ender motion. At enemy danger health you can do an Ultra (with Jago is something like QCB or QCF? + LB during any combo.


Yep I noticed it on XSS too. I did change the brightness as well.

Game looks better but indeed too bright.
It's not just the gamma that is borked. The color saturation is poor as well. I don't know what they did to this game. It looks terrible now.
 
It's not just the gamma that is borked. The color saturation is poor as well. I don't know what they did to this game. It looks terrible now.
It looks much better to me. From the streams I've been watching, a lot of comments were about how it looked better to them as well.
Maybe uninstall/reinstall in case something on your game got borked? Or try it on a different monitor/TV. idk, I'm surprised it looks terrible to you now compared to pre-patch.

Hopefully someone will do a comparison vid/pic of the two versions.
 
It looks much better to me. From the streams I've been watching, a lot of comments were about how it looked better to them as well.
Maybe uninstall/reinstall in case something on your game got borked? Or try it on a different monitor/TV. idk, I'm surprised it looks terrible to you now compared to pre-patch.

Hopefully someone will do a comparison vid/pic of the two versions.
I've looked at Xbox feed captures as well. It just looks awful now.
 
Also I just saw that IG will be doing a surprise live stream today in about 45 mintues on Twitch.
I doubt it'll be anything new, but maybe a good place to ask questions.
 
Tempted to buy on Steam but someone said its not the best version, can someone explain?
Steam version cannot played ranked vs MS store/Xbox version. You can play crossplay in exhibition, lobbies, etc.
It's a limitation with Steam infrastructure when the game was developed from what the devs have said. I think it was James Goddard that mentioned it during the live patch notes stream.

Otherwise the same.
 

ChoosableOne

ChoosableAll
One character per week? Wow.

Hungry Cake GIF
 
James Goddard just said on steam that if you bought "anything" from KI prior to the update like skins, gold, a single character, etc; you got the Anniversary edition update. So that means you could've spent the minimum to get the update.

Also, if you got the physical edition of KI, you also get the update free once you place the disc in the tray. So maybe a good idea to hunt down a physical copy cheap at Gamestop and the like.
 

-Zelda-

Banned
Would love to play this, but I am not the right console owner, nor do I use PC or Steam for gaming. Didn't KI games used to be on Nintendo Systems also a long time ago? I can't remember if they were on Sony consoles or not.
 
Would love to play this, but I am not the right console owner, nor do I use PC or Steam for gaming. Didn't KI games used to be on Nintendo Systems also a long time ago? I can't remember if they were on Sony consoles or not.
N64

Edit: And I agree. I wish MS would open this up to all platforms. Maybe they will if they do a sequel
 
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Closest review I could find of the visuals looking updated although no comparison vid.


That guy previews every single game ever. Cool because I can see how a game actually looks without tricks devs use to make a game look better than it is. Dudes voice tho annoys me. He talks with a vocal fry and uses the phrase "sort of experience" in every other sentence. "Let's check out the Killer Instinct experience and what it has to offer". "You're getting a sort of 4k experience" I get triggered every time lol.
 
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