I'm really trying to get into this game... It certainly doesn't feel bad... It definitely plays a lot better than it looks. However, I can't think of a single aspect that is done better than XIII.
I loved Drive Canceling in XIII. I think EX "Chains" are better, since they're easier to explain, and make more sense as a feature. As is to say, drive cancels were done well, but trying to tell people when to cancel what and where was like speaking another language at times; it has nothing relatable to other games to make people get it.
Here, with an EX move, you can say "Do the move that causes wall bounce, then the ground bounce special, and then use your super". It's relatable from other 2D and 3D fighters, while still having a KoF feel to it.
Playing Terry feels a lot less dynamic without ready access to his EX moves (which in general feel more limited in XIV).
Not really? You can MAX cancel from block strings, or empty MAX to get much more access to the EX moves, than you'd ever have in a set in XIII. The lack of such easy access to EX moves makes the neutral game much more meaningful, since people can't just EX Special out of stuff at the drop of a hat.
Alongside that, the adjusted invulnerability on moves makes approaching and fishing for meaties and safe jumps much more meaningful. There ARE some very strong, invulnerable, damaging reversals, but they're not nearly as prevalent, and are generally given to character that lack something else (Such as Tung having good reversals, but lacking long limbs for footsies.)
Moreover, there are some great fighting games on the market right now (especially SFV and Revelator)...
I am going to keep playing and see if I can get more behind it... It certainly isn't awful.
Of course, the inclusion of Vanessa as DLC would be a great way to pull me.
Definitely depends on taste. I didn't really enjoy XRD as much as I'd have liked to (I only really got fun out of playing Ramlethal), and still don't have Revelator. The game felt like my Brother and I had went through all the fun gameplay content in the first few hours of play, and with only really liking to play 1 or 2 characters in the cast each, it got to be the same matchup over and over much too often. I feel like ASW makes characters that only really feel truly fun after a certain level of play and dedication. Their beginner and intermediate stuff isn't often that satisfying to me anymore, which I really dislike overall.
SFV has a cast that was frontloaded for me, and for the Brother, he got barely any old mainstays he liked. The first YEAR of DLC didn't add too much personal excitement at all, either, even though some previously disliked charas are turning out much better than expectations.
I probably enjoyed KI more over the past few years than either of them, honestly. Which is something I never thought I'd say, lol. It's character have been so lively, and mechanically-unique, that SF felt a lot more overly-grounded and non-exciting as a full product, in comparison. I find KI characters satisfying at any level of play, and even characters I hate by design and origin (I care nothing for General RAAM, his boss fight was possibly the worse I ever played, lol), are actually really fun to play around with in the game.
I feel the same about KoF here. I couldn't have fully predicted basically any new characters method-of-play from their trailers, and I can already see how they'll change as time goes on. Deciding where in the order to put the same character basically makes them something almost totally different. Been playing since Release, with weeks in the demo before that, and there's still characters I haven't played, or gotten fully comfortable with yet. And I... actually wanna try out everyone.
Things feel frickin satisfying even at a "Footsie->Fireball->DM->SDM" or "B&B->Special-> CDM" Level for a new character one is just feeling out. As you start to learn them, you can shift them between anchor, mid, or point. A Leona that uses meter only for MAX cancels is a different one that saves it all for DMs, which is different than one that plays only with B&Bs, saving the meter to make one's pocket Chin into an insta-cross-up monster. Yet meter gains so nicely in this game, that I don't have to feel that the only person I'll get to go all-out with is my Anchor, as I did in some other KoF's; feels more like Red-Health Desperation mode in older KoF's where Flashing life meant YOU GET A POWER GEYSER, AND YOU!, lol.
