Long time player short time poster.
Anyway, I downloaded the beta today, and I have to say it feels profoundly different from RC1. The individual changes to ALR create some strange changes to play style. For example, in RC1 I used to do this ALR fair to utilt to fair sort of z shaped juggle thing but the new ALR on the f-air makes it harder to do and it makes marth's f-air feel way more linear and way less flexible than it once was. This may be a placebo effect, though... but it still feels that way.
Overall I have to say that this new nightly build makes the game feel even faster than it was before, and with the adjusted hitstun, this makes games tend to turn into a volley of dodges and dances which I like. It shows a lot of finesse and lends itself to big upsets. However, I also have to admit that the game feels a bit more unweildy now than it did in RC1. Before, when we had a universal change to ALR, it felt as if you could mix and match your moves to find a utility that fit your own playing style. Now, with the very specific changes to ALR, it feels as if moves have been tooled to work specifically how "most people" use them, and while this is a good thing, as it makes the game reinforce high level tournament play, I think it also discourages using moves in new, unforseen ways, which leads to further innovation and new strategies.
In short, I like the idea behind the beta. The teching and rolling stuff is good and a lot of characters feel as if they are pulled closer together in terms of balance. However, when i changed from Brawl to Brawl+ I felt like the "fun turned back on" with how smoothly the game flowed and how quickly the game played. Now, I feel the game still plays quickly, however it is no longer as smooth as it once was and this is a little discouraging. I would really like to have that flow back that RC1 had.
That was my mature portion of this post. My immature portion is OMG NERF TO GANNONDORFS FOWARD B WTF!
In all seriousness though, he probably needed that nerf. His forward B was supremely spammable in RC1 and it made him a monserous character.
Overall I liked RC1 a lot better but I will continue to play with this beta becuase I want to give feedback.
Oh, also, Jungle is awesome, but replacing temple? Temple is big and by far not netural, but at least it has no distractions or hazards and is liked by many. I think the juingle should be in, but I'd rather have it replace Bridge of Eldin, or Flat Zone, or New Pork City, I don't think any of us were dying to see Temple leave the stage select screen.
