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Sorry that these are a little out of order.
What a fitting start to my much delayed comment wall. Sloth is a genuine heavyweight male antagonist. It’s proud of that fact and unashamedly makes use of generic moves that have the character fall over backwards asleep and steal a forward aerial from the King of Evil, to list but two examples of many. It’s to the set’s great benefit to have these seemingly boring moves because the potential you squeeze out of them is anything but a letdown. They are all uniformly simple and effective, fantastically well implemented moves. That paves the way for the boulder mechanic to work seamlessly into the set without leaving moves useless or filler removing the rocks. There are plenty of awesome interactions using them all throughout the set that feel incredibly natural, versatile and have very strong flow.
The effort mechanic is again, simple and effective. It’s the best way to make this character have the traits of a boss and keep it strictly balanced. Ways that it changes other moves feel incredibly straightforward and logical, while allowing for the player to experiment. The only time I found this steam train of well considered moves was not derailing but slightly turbulent was during the grab and multiple pummels. It would actually be an improvement simply to combine the two first pummels and make something else of the chain pummel, maybe a throw. At its core the grab game is not ruined by that grievance, the slow, calculated positioning that leads to the up throw and likewise the down throw is just as smart as the forward or up smash.
This set is the sum of everything I love about heavyweight male antagonist movesets. It has no shame about what it is, it’s clever about what it can let fly and what it has to give extra depth to without letting it get remotely out-of-hand. It’s surprisingly level-headed, the boulder mechanic, the effort and chains as tethers or just an attack, all juggled around and given the appropriate focus.
Next is Reimu, a character centered on counter-type attacks and cancelling out the foe’s offenses but not completely rescinding into a shell of hyper-defence. This moveset is for the most part, good about its use of denying the foe’s moves and keeping them zoned from anywhere on the stage using barriers… but is not the most intuitive nor easy set to play. That mostly stems from the very short duration the barriers, ofudas and other elements stay on-stage. I realize the need for balance, but just one of these could’ve lingered for longer and given Reimu some breathing room. Setting up one barrier that only lasts a few seconds in conjunction with an ofuda on the foe sounds pretty frustrating and easily turtled by a foe.
The set does a decent job creating interesting mix-ups and to give some purpose to simplistic moves through the barriers, the smashes coming up with a few more interesting creative ways to negate the foe’s offence. Altogether, the set makes a good play on Reimu’s established style of whittling down a powerful foe by very simple means. It’s simply not all that interesting or well executed to get far beyond that. There are some weird albeit funny moves that don’t really play into the playstyle, but could be argued as important for the Touhou community to get their dues. The characterisation of the set makes up for many of its shortcomings, but is not engaging beyond the short-lived effects of the barriers and ofudas to make a lasting impact. As far as Reimu and Touhou is concerned though, a very strong start.
The follow up to Reimu is her rival Marisa, and this set is the exact opposite of Reimu in playstyle terms. Where Reimu is defensive with offensive touches, vice versa is true of Marisa and it’s definitely a very good bit of characterisation. The actual set comes down to spamming projectiles a lot, while using other set-up in the specials and smashes to reflect or rebound those projectiles back at the foe, or simply back into play. I felt where the set was at its weakest is in its attempt to try and all at once balance this spam playstyle by forcing in a mechanic here or there. I don’t like the fact she can be damaged by her own projectiles, going against the nature of Brawl projectiles and making the player too cautious about lingering projectiles to really utilize Marisa to her fullest. The whole broomstick aspect of the set is also not very interesting; it ends up just making the filler parts of the set less filler and gives some easy positioning or generic movement to the Marisa player. This one was weaker than Reimu, although still good enough to toss a vote.
The planets in Lucemon are fun, sure, but the flow that comes out of that move is generally not all that strong. The neutral special counter (oddly placed when it could easily be switched around to be down special) actually goes against it if the foe gets underneath a planet to rebound back to the stage and it’s unlikely they would stand on a high point of stage in general when near death. The other moves that flow off the planets use them as generic chunks of rock essentially and there is little point to the Sun where it pulls in planets, there’s nothing in the set to play off the planets as these hurtling objects coming towards or away from Lucemon or his opponent. For the most part everything to do with the orbs is mostly surface-level, considering it increases or decreases KO percentages and damage for both parties. Aside from that, the moveset isn’t all that impressive. When it takes advantage of the orb mechanic it gets fairly dull just further buffing the status effect or doing a generic effect that doesn’t result in any interesting change of the match’s dynamics. I don’t hate the set, it would’ve been bordering on good if it had better input placement; a hothead on down tilt and counter on neutral special is a strange choice. The planets as chunks of earth to batter the foe through or fight upon, just using what every character is given in movement, is fun enough anyway to save the set from total mediocrity.
Seeing those revisions of Thrall that I did, it can’t be understated the vast improvements the set went through to the point that, even with a fairly simplistic type of playstyle, individual moves are very balanced. That integral balance is what makes this set a pretty decent generic camper, as if it was anything less than impeccable, it’d quickly sink into being forgettable. Largely the set is full of effects that will temporarily change the paradigm of battle in a heartbeat; swamping the foe with status effects, minions, created walls and many projectiles, but if this was only lazily implemented it’d show. Not only is it a show of dedication to being in-smash, but doing so in spite of a character who loves to spam magic or summons. The actual effects in the set do get rather fun most of the time as well, the minions, the chain lightning, the lightning orbs and so on. This is complimented by the individual melee or barely disjointed hitboxes that give Thrall good coverage or simply allow for a better position in important situations. The third important part is the moves that tend to rip off Pikachu, giving Thrall a bevy of long-range attacks and magic to supplement his camping.
It is basic stuff, but done in a tremendously sleight-handed way. That’s my one overall criticism with the set, it doesn’t flow into itself that well, but more into the idea of being a camper. Thrall is helped out by the great boss mode which adds a whole lot to the character beyond his tutorial character status and truly showcases his leadership of the horde, adding tonnes of very fun interactions. The fact he is a starter character to introduce the player to Warcraft 3 is a good reason for him to employ a straightforward playstyle. It’s not one that is immediately fascinating or ends up getting as much work out of the material as, for example, Sloth, but it’s a legitimately original set that knows what it is, where it’s going and why it exists in a fundamental way that is usually brushed under the rug. People who want to make generic campers, projectile spammers or trap setters would benefit from reading this set to understand how to do that in an appropriate style.
A true Joe set, Zoroark is in-smash and innovative at the same time, being a perfect candidate set for Smash 4. The way the character is selected is one of those ideas in the back of all our minds probably for years, but you finally take it off the shelf and do a wonderful job. Zoroark feels truly mysterious without being awkward; it’s the kind of execution you can see Sakurai going for on a very creative day. The way that duplicates spawn, lead to the great illusionary moves that don’t seem like a shot in the dark for a searching foe, nor do they lead down one alleyway of 0-death move interactions as has been the pitfall of some duplicate sets in the past. It’s all straightforward but leaves room for a creative player to have fun. It’s not the most ambitious set, but nailed what it set out to do in typically able form for your sets.
Don Thousand is a set that goes into a new realm of boss set dynamics, where the boss plays puppeteer directly with his opponents. It’s not the greatest departure from resistances and likely could’ve remained a typical boss, but the mileage that is gotten out of the changes makes it a worthwhile change. The lack of resistances gives way to a great system of counters to make an effectively strong, but unique set that makes up for weakness by stealing away the foe’s own strength. Oh it is great nonetheless to see good melee attacks in this set, some of your best, but as always you excel when thinking up crazy interactions or status effects. That is the core of Don Thousand, but truthfully doesn’t scratch the surface. There is a heck of a lot of depth to this set if you just despoiler the neutral special and it doesn't end there.
Those summons are simply insanely detailed and a tonne of fun to add into the mix of a boss fight against three opponents, mostly for their sheer size, but eventually they’re given a thousand reason other than that. The crystals and counters and that entire intricate system is amazingly tightly wound. Interactions, soft or hard, in the aerials, standards and throws are all very elegantly linked to base of the set. Generally there are few weak moves, outside the obvious up aerial, back throw and dash attack. Almost every other move is fascinating or adds a layer of depth, the former best sighted in the fantastic Kyubey-like throw that transforms the foe into a Barian minion. I kind of wish the final smash was somehow in the main set as it is great too, but it wouldn’t quite as sensible of a set and maybe overbearing, but hey. I can hardly complain when the set is so densely packed. Don Thousand is a strong addition to the library of boss movesets.
I was very happy to see Zook back with Ghost Council, or Obzedat. It certainly has that distinctive Zook style – move-to-move flow, interesting effects on individual moves, without anything that would be out of place in Brawl. The Ghost Council largely foregoes any advanced group mechanics by simply using the applicable council member in an understandably simplistic fashion, as the different members aren’t what the card is about. Instead, it focuses on debts to be paid through damage and using elements of the undead befitting of this evil quasi cult. I only disliked the set when it got overly wacky in certain effects on moves that would probably be good just as a more standard type of attack, but these are outshined by the good interactions. The executioner’s axe down throw, the perfunctory way the aerials work, the traps here or there, it’s fun stuff. As is usual in your style, it doesn’t create the most compact, mind-boggling moveset, but it’s a really neat, artistic set that has a lot of creativity. It’s not a set I’ll soon forget, warts and all.
Great to see a Geto set, been a while since I last read one, although I wasn’t a fan of Doopliss. However, it’s nowhere as bad as the original and I liked a couple things about it. The set got the core idea of Doopliss correctly; it just pulls it off in an incredibly simplistic and maybe unintentional way. The set aside from the specials is mostly useless, full of random attacks that lack the basic consistency needed to replicate a space animal’s level of flow in Brawl. If the foe steals this set, Doopliss can’t be all that worse off. The downside to that is there are too many restrictions on how long he can keep the foe’s set that make it untenable. I also find it hard to compliment the set as wilfully stringent when the up special is fairly random, overpowered long-range stun that seems very annoying for the foe. The set ends up an improvement on the original by a wide margin, but still far too flawed and not flawed enough to achieve that hipster brilliance that could give it artsy credit. It’s a shame, as that could’ve lifted it into some vote lists.
I think FA and others gave feedback on other sets by newer users well enough I don’t think I can make anything but a rehash of his comments, but I felt compelled to comment Van. This set has some problems, but surprisingly not too many fundamental ones. You've got a great organizational style full of colour and images, and a writing style that encourages the reader to continue with a love for the character’s source material that is invaluable. Where the set fails is in simple places that can be easily improved. For one, the main mechanic is just too simplistic for what becomes small pay-off. It buffs two other moves, which are also two of only about four or five KO moves, which leads to the character feeling predictable in my opinion. The set also mirrors two aerials. While aerials aren’t considered the most important section of inputs, it again makes Van more predictable as he loses two significant options in the air.
The set also should’ve been more aware of where to put its creative ideas, as the standards, while they are perfectly valid to be long-range non-melee attacks, shouldn’t use silly props if it can be helped. This awareness would also help to highlight the character’s personality and everything else, which seemed like your focus in this moveset. I did get a sense of the character’s money hoarding, but it simply could’ve been done better, I actually recommend Profiteur as a read to see what I mean. All in all, just go read all the sets around the thread if you want to improve your style, which I think has a lot of potential.
A cool promotional set for Bravely Default, Profiteur is a good set for manipulating the money flow in a match. I don’t think it bears repeating the criticism about the set’s very strange ways of creating the coins, but I will hone in on the aspects of it I didn’t like just to get it out of the way. I didn’t think it was necessary to place so many rules on the creation or flow of coins. It’s an odd blend of zero-sum economics and wealth creation, where Profiteur has a limited sum of money, but not really, if you do these general actions but only if you do them in this way. I’d have preferred if the set dropped all of that for a streamlined version of the money system and I don’t believe it would detract from the playstyle’s focus on managing the money, if anything it may help to doubly focus on the aspects of it that isn't simple micro-management, and define the character of Profiteur.
That’s a large part of the set’s criticism out of the way. The ammo happily abused to create ridiculously strong attacks is the real fun of the set and is a triumph for the set’s characterization. The reward of building up a ‘pg’ stockpile to KO the foe at absurd percentages is given an awesome dichotomy when you weigh it against the constant threat of bankruptcy and the expense needed to auto-win the match. Nonetheless, winning the match purely on gathering together a gigantic swelling of money is possible, that possibility is where the set shines brightest. To wipe the floor with the opponent based on basic camping would be very satisfying. The set also comes up with a tonne of imaginative ways to interact using the pg, which are, for the most part, well done. Some interactions are borderline, such as obsessively sectioning off money into separate piles, or the variety of ways to push it around, although that arguably adds to the set’s charm. And it’s certainly not a set without its fair share of charm. This was a very fun moveset.
I had high hopes for Kaguya. Its main mechanic is fantastic, one of the best in the "bullet hell" genre of sets, possibly the very best. The natural way it works in weaving together both infinitely slowed down and sped up projectiles is awe-inspiring, when I read that during the initial preview my jaw dropped. The characterisation is meaty and palpable from the huge biography section down to the painstaking specials. At this point the set is basically impeccable. The multi-functional use of the time stop and ways to abuse the foe's percentage by keeping it from increasing, it's a brilliant combination that made the foundation for what could have been a great moveset.
The set for a while after the specials plays it relatively safe. The smashes are basic projectile moves to give her uses for her time stop mechanics. The standards were impressively pertinent to the whole combo-time stop dynamic. The depths you plunder with knockback, growth and combos in general is great. However, the set goes off-the-rails very hard in the grab game. The throws here are more manipulative moves instead of taking advantage of the mechanics, she doesn't need a teleporting throw, a healing throw, a damage manipulation throw. These throws are universally overwrought and poor.
The aerals may be worse. The neutral aeral has very questionable balance. Even if it is balanced, this move is very ant-fun; one of the most impressive features of the specials is how non-interfering they are, but here Kaguya freezes the foe in place for several seconds. This is no better than your hated pitfalls. Three of the aerials have mirrored effects; four of the aerials use the same prop. That doesn’t mean they’re inherently bad, but I don’t want to go on and on, needless to say I found them poorly-designed. This and the grab game come close to ruining the set all on their own.
In the end, what I actively dislike in the set is how it puts precedence on the combos over the bullet hell. There are no projectiles that aren’t simply heading in a generic direction, at best in a fan or circular pattern, which is very disappointing. I also wish you’d have gone back and edited the throws I picked apart with you in private, because as is they still have serious balance problems I don’t feel like repeating again in my comment. Nonetheless, I will certainly vote for it, but I was really banking on it being a super vote. I’d recommend you revisit the mechanic.
What a fitting start to my much delayed comment wall. Sloth is a genuine heavyweight male antagonist. It’s proud of that fact and unashamedly makes use of generic moves that have the character fall over backwards asleep and steal a forward aerial from the King of Evil, to list but two examples of many. It’s to the set’s great benefit to have these seemingly boring moves because the potential you squeeze out of them is anything but a letdown. They are all uniformly simple and effective, fantastically well implemented moves. That paves the way for the boulder mechanic to work seamlessly into the set without leaving moves useless or filler removing the rocks. There are plenty of awesome interactions using them all throughout the set that feel incredibly natural, versatile and have very strong flow.
The effort mechanic is again, simple and effective. It’s the best way to make this character have the traits of a boss and keep it strictly balanced. Ways that it changes other moves feel incredibly straightforward and logical, while allowing for the player to experiment. The only time I found this steam train of well considered moves was not derailing but slightly turbulent was during the grab and multiple pummels. It would actually be an improvement simply to combine the two first pummels and make something else of the chain pummel, maybe a throw. At its core the grab game is not ruined by that grievance, the slow, calculated positioning that leads to the up throw and likewise the down throw is just as smart as the forward or up smash.
This set is the sum of everything I love about heavyweight male antagonist movesets. It has no shame about what it is, it’s clever about what it can let fly and what it has to give extra depth to without letting it get remotely out-of-hand. It’s surprisingly level-headed, the boulder mechanic, the effort and chains as tethers or just an attack, all juggled around and given the appropriate focus.
Next is Reimu, a character centered on counter-type attacks and cancelling out the foe’s offenses but not completely rescinding into a shell of hyper-defence. This moveset is for the most part, good about its use of denying the foe’s moves and keeping them zoned from anywhere on the stage using barriers… but is not the most intuitive nor easy set to play. That mostly stems from the very short duration the barriers, ofudas and other elements stay on-stage. I realize the need for balance, but just one of these could’ve lingered for longer and given Reimu some breathing room. Setting up one barrier that only lasts a few seconds in conjunction with an ofuda on the foe sounds pretty frustrating and easily turtled by a foe.
The set does a decent job creating interesting mix-ups and to give some purpose to simplistic moves through the barriers, the smashes coming up with a few more interesting creative ways to negate the foe’s offence. Altogether, the set makes a good play on Reimu’s established style of whittling down a powerful foe by very simple means. It’s simply not all that interesting or well executed to get far beyond that. There are some weird albeit funny moves that don’t really play into the playstyle, but could be argued as important for the Touhou community to get their dues. The characterisation of the set makes up for many of its shortcomings, but is not engaging beyond the short-lived effects of the barriers and ofudas to make a lasting impact. As far as Reimu and Touhou is concerned though, a very strong start.
The follow up to Reimu is her rival Marisa, and this set is the exact opposite of Reimu in playstyle terms. Where Reimu is defensive with offensive touches, vice versa is true of Marisa and it’s definitely a very good bit of characterisation. The actual set comes down to spamming projectiles a lot, while using other set-up in the specials and smashes to reflect or rebound those projectiles back at the foe, or simply back into play. I felt where the set was at its weakest is in its attempt to try and all at once balance this spam playstyle by forcing in a mechanic here or there. I don’t like the fact she can be damaged by her own projectiles, going against the nature of Brawl projectiles and making the player too cautious about lingering projectiles to really utilize Marisa to her fullest. The whole broomstick aspect of the set is also not very interesting; it ends up just making the filler parts of the set less filler and gives some easy positioning or generic movement to the Marisa player. This one was weaker than Reimu, although still good enough to toss a vote.
The planets in Lucemon are fun, sure, but the flow that comes out of that move is generally not all that strong. The neutral special counter (oddly placed when it could easily be switched around to be down special) actually goes against it if the foe gets underneath a planet to rebound back to the stage and it’s unlikely they would stand on a high point of stage in general when near death. The other moves that flow off the planets use them as generic chunks of rock essentially and there is little point to the Sun where it pulls in planets, there’s nothing in the set to play off the planets as these hurtling objects coming towards or away from Lucemon or his opponent. For the most part everything to do with the orbs is mostly surface-level, considering it increases or decreases KO percentages and damage for both parties. Aside from that, the moveset isn’t all that impressive. When it takes advantage of the orb mechanic it gets fairly dull just further buffing the status effect or doing a generic effect that doesn’t result in any interesting change of the match’s dynamics. I don’t hate the set, it would’ve been bordering on good if it had better input placement; a hothead on down tilt and counter on neutral special is a strange choice. The planets as chunks of earth to batter the foe through or fight upon, just using what every character is given in movement, is fun enough anyway to save the set from total mediocrity.
Seeing those revisions of Thrall that I did, it can’t be understated the vast improvements the set went through to the point that, even with a fairly simplistic type of playstyle, individual moves are very balanced. That integral balance is what makes this set a pretty decent generic camper, as if it was anything less than impeccable, it’d quickly sink into being forgettable. Largely the set is full of effects that will temporarily change the paradigm of battle in a heartbeat; swamping the foe with status effects, minions, created walls and many projectiles, but if this was only lazily implemented it’d show. Not only is it a show of dedication to being in-smash, but doing so in spite of a character who loves to spam magic or summons. The actual effects in the set do get rather fun most of the time as well, the minions, the chain lightning, the lightning orbs and so on. This is complimented by the individual melee or barely disjointed hitboxes that give Thrall good coverage or simply allow for a better position in important situations. The third important part is the moves that tend to rip off Pikachu, giving Thrall a bevy of long-range attacks and magic to supplement his camping.
It is basic stuff, but done in a tremendously sleight-handed way. That’s my one overall criticism with the set, it doesn’t flow into itself that well, but more into the idea of being a camper. Thrall is helped out by the great boss mode which adds a whole lot to the character beyond his tutorial character status and truly showcases his leadership of the horde, adding tonnes of very fun interactions. The fact he is a starter character to introduce the player to Warcraft 3 is a good reason for him to employ a straightforward playstyle. It’s not one that is immediately fascinating or ends up getting as much work out of the material as, for example, Sloth, but it’s a legitimately original set that knows what it is, where it’s going and why it exists in a fundamental way that is usually brushed under the rug. People who want to make generic campers, projectile spammers or trap setters would benefit from reading this set to understand how to do that in an appropriate style.
A true Joe set, Zoroark is in-smash and innovative at the same time, being a perfect candidate set for Smash 4. The way the character is selected is one of those ideas in the back of all our minds probably for years, but you finally take it off the shelf and do a wonderful job. Zoroark feels truly mysterious without being awkward; it’s the kind of execution you can see Sakurai going for on a very creative day. The way that duplicates spawn, lead to the great illusionary moves that don’t seem like a shot in the dark for a searching foe, nor do they lead down one alleyway of 0-death move interactions as has been the pitfall of some duplicate sets in the past. It’s all straightforward but leaves room for a creative player to have fun. It’s not the most ambitious set, but nailed what it set out to do in typically able form for your sets.
Don Thousand is a set that goes into a new realm of boss set dynamics, where the boss plays puppeteer directly with his opponents. It’s not the greatest departure from resistances and likely could’ve remained a typical boss, but the mileage that is gotten out of the changes makes it a worthwhile change. The lack of resistances gives way to a great system of counters to make an effectively strong, but unique set that makes up for weakness by stealing away the foe’s own strength. Oh it is great nonetheless to see good melee attacks in this set, some of your best, but as always you excel when thinking up crazy interactions or status effects. That is the core of Don Thousand, but truthfully doesn’t scratch the surface. There is a heck of a lot of depth to this set if you just despoiler the neutral special and it doesn't end there.
Those summons are simply insanely detailed and a tonne of fun to add into the mix of a boss fight against three opponents, mostly for their sheer size, but eventually they’re given a thousand reason other than that. The crystals and counters and that entire intricate system is amazingly tightly wound. Interactions, soft or hard, in the aerials, standards and throws are all very elegantly linked to base of the set. Generally there are few weak moves, outside the obvious up aerial, back throw and dash attack. Almost every other move is fascinating or adds a layer of depth, the former best sighted in the fantastic Kyubey-like throw that transforms the foe into a Barian minion. I kind of wish the final smash was somehow in the main set as it is great too, but it wouldn’t quite as sensible of a set and maybe overbearing, but hey. I can hardly complain when the set is so densely packed. Don Thousand is a strong addition to the library of boss movesets.
I was very happy to see Zook back with Ghost Council, or Obzedat. It certainly has that distinctive Zook style – move-to-move flow, interesting effects on individual moves, without anything that would be out of place in Brawl. The Ghost Council largely foregoes any advanced group mechanics by simply using the applicable council member in an understandably simplistic fashion, as the different members aren’t what the card is about. Instead, it focuses on debts to be paid through damage and using elements of the undead befitting of this evil quasi cult. I only disliked the set when it got overly wacky in certain effects on moves that would probably be good just as a more standard type of attack, but these are outshined by the good interactions. The executioner’s axe down throw, the perfunctory way the aerials work, the traps here or there, it’s fun stuff. As is usual in your style, it doesn’t create the most compact, mind-boggling moveset, but it’s a really neat, artistic set that has a lot of creativity. It’s not a set I’ll soon forget, warts and all.
Great to see a Geto set, been a while since I last read one, although I wasn’t a fan of Doopliss. However, it’s nowhere as bad as the original and I liked a couple things about it. The set got the core idea of Doopliss correctly; it just pulls it off in an incredibly simplistic and maybe unintentional way. The set aside from the specials is mostly useless, full of random attacks that lack the basic consistency needed to replicate a space animal’s level of flow in Brawl. If the foe steals this set, Doopliss can’t be all that worse off. The downside to that is there are too many restrictions on how long he can keep the foe’s set that make it untenable. I also find it hard to compliment the set as wilfully stringent when the up special is fairly random, overpowered long-range stun that seems very annoying for the foe. The set ends up an improvement on the original by a wide margin, but still far too flawed and not flawed enough to achieve that hipster brilliance that could give it artsy credit. It’s a shame, as that could’ve lifted it into some vote lists.
I think FA and others gave feedback on other sets by newer users well enough I don’t think I can make anything but a rehash of his comments, but I felt compelled to comment Van. This set has some problems, but surprisingly not too many fundamental ones. You've got a great organizational style full of colour and images, and a writing style that encourages the reader to continue with a love for the character’s source material that is invaluable. Where the set fails is in simple places that can be easily improved. For one, the main mechanic is just too simplistic for what becomes small pay-off. It buffs two other moves, which are also two of only about four or five KO moves, which leads to the character feeling predictable in my opinion. The set also mirrors two aerials. While aerials aren’t considered the most important section of inputs, it again makes Van more predictable as he loses two significant options in the air.
The set also should’ve been more aware of where to put its creative ideas, as the standards, while they are perfectly valid to be long-range non-melee attacks, shouldn’t use silly props if it can be helped. This awareness would also help to highlight the character’s personality and everything else, which seemed like your focus in this moveset. I did get a sense of the character’s money hoarding, but it simply could’ve been done better, I actually recommend Profiteur as a read to see what I mean. All in all, just go read all the sets around the thread if you want to improve your style, which I think has a lot of potential.
A cool promotional set for Bravely Default, Profiteur is a good set for manipulating the money flow in a match. I don’t think it bears repeating the criticism about the set’s very strange ways of creating the coins, but I will hone in on the aspects of it I didn’t like just to get it out of the way. I didn’t think it was necessary to place so many rules on the creation or flow of coins. It’s an odd blend of zero-sum economics and wealth creation, where Profiteur has a limited sum of money, but not really, if you do these general actions but only if you do them in this way. I’d have preferred if the set dropped all of that for a streamlined version of the money system and I don’t believe it would detract from the playstyle’s focus on managing the money, if anything it may help to doubly focus on the aspects of it that isn't simple micro-management, and define the character of Profiteur.
That’s a large part of the set’s criticism out of the way. The ammo happily abused to create ridiculously strong attacks is the real fun of the set and is a triumph for the set’s characterization. The reward of building up a ‘pg’ stockpile to KO the foe at absurd percentages is given an awesome dichotomy when you weigh it against the constant threat of bankruptcy and the expense needed to auto-win the match. Nonetheless, winning the match purely on gathering together a gigantic swelling of money is possible, that possibility is where the set shines brightest. To wipe the floor with the opponent based on basic camping would be very satisfying. The set also comes up with a tonne of imaginative ways to interact using the pg, which are, for the most part, well done. Some interactions are borderline, such as obsessively sectioning off money into separate piles, or the variety of ways to push it around, although that arguably adds to the set’s charm. And it’s certainly not a set without its fair share of charm. This was a very fun moveset.
I had high hopes for Kaguya. Its main mechanic is fantastic, one of the best in the "bullet hell" genre of sets, possibly the very best. The natural way it works in weaving together both infinitely slowed down and sped up projectiles is awe-inspiring, when I read that during the initial preview my jaw dropped. The characterisation is meaty and palpable from the huge biography section down to the painstaking specials. At this point the set is basically impeccable. The multi-functional use of the time stop and ways to abuse the foe's percentage by keeping it from increasing, it's a brilliant combination that made the foundation for what could have been a great moveset.
The set for a while after the specials plays it relatively safe. The smashes are basic projectile moves to give her uses for her time stop mechanics. The standards were impressively pertinent to the whole combo-time stop dynamic. The depths you plunder with knockback, growth and combos in general is great. However, the set goes off-the-rails very hard in the grab game. The throws here are more manipulative moves instead of taking advantage of the mechanics, she doesn't need a teleporting throw, a healing throw, a damage manipulation throw. These throws are universally overwrought and poor.
The aerals may be worse. The neutral aeral has very questionable balance. Even if it is balanced, this move is very ant-fun; one of the most impressive features of the specials is how non-interfering they are, but here Kaguya freezes the foe in place for several seconds. This is no better than your hated pitfalls. Three of the aerials have mirrored effects; four of the aerials use the same prop. That doesn’t mean they’re inherently bad, but I don’t want to go on and on, needless to say I found them poorly-designed. This and the grab game come close to ruining the set all on their own.
In the end, what I actively dislike in the set is how it puts precedence on the combos over the bullet hell. There are no projectiles that aren’t simply heading in a generic direction, at best in a fan or circular pattern, which is very disappointing. I also wish you’d have gone back and edited the throws I picked apart with you in private, because as is they still have serious balance problems I don’t feel like repeating again in my comment. Nonetheless, I will certainly vote for it, but I was really banking on it being a super vote. I’d recommend you revisit the mechanic.
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announcements on me. But now I'm serious. Dead serious.
