Hello all! I recently got the new build and have been playing a lot of games trying to figure things out. Then just last night I invited over one of my scene's better FGC players and played 80 matches in one session. Here's what we thought of the game:
General
Rivals of Aether is an amazingly fun, fast-paced fighter. Getting that first hit is such a big deal, because it's relatively easy to string together hits if your opponent doesn't manage to land on the ground. The parry system is beautiful. The lack of shields means it is a lot easier to go on the offensive than to try and defend yourself which helps the game stay away from stalling or passive play.
But at the same time parrying can be really strong. If you read your opponent's next move and time correctly then you can completely switch the momentum back in your favor. The threat of parrying causes attempted parry reads and occasional safe pressure that is reminiscent of baiting out rolls in Smash or tapping a shield with a jab to bait out a response. Though these moments in RoA are much faster and generally lead into something bigger.
All of the characters feel very well balanced and all unique in play style. I really enjoy both the look and feel of the game. The music sounds more like a modern game, but reminds me of many SNES titles. The art is very bright and inviting, but with very strong indicators for powerful attacks.
Zetterburn
I can describe almost every character starting with the phrase "They're good but.." except for Zetterburn. He's just good all around. He moves really fast, attacks quickly, combos easily, and finishes stocks early. His greatest weakness I feel is his recovery which is really easily punished, but at the same time Zetterburn punishes recoveries harder than any other character by placing down fire where his opponent will land and clearing their stock with a side smash at 50%.
I don't think Zetterburn is overpowered in the slightest, I just feel he has no real weaknesses and can gets a much higher reward off of a hard punish than any other character.
Orcane
Orcane does't have speed on all of his attacks, but he does have great range and strength. Orcane felt very easy to stay on top of when you get in. His aerials didn't seem to be fast enough or have generous enough hit boxes to prevent my juggling most of the time. But getting in on this guy is such an ordeal. The neutral special itself is pretty decent at stopping dash ins or short hop approaches. Hitting with the neutral special means you get a free combo into down special followed by forward air leading do a decent 36% and leaving your opponent in a poor position.
This character benefits so strongly from key positioning of his attacks and the mind games from a puddle being placed between Orcane and his opponent. Orcane felt to have really strong control on the air thanks to his down special and forward air, which made me feel like his opponent has to approach from the ground most of the time. But Orcane can do so much. He can hydroplane off his puddle for a sliding forward side smash, he can teleport forward with his side special, he can try to catch hesitation with a simple dash attack, or Orcane can just re-position his puddle with neutral special.
Orcane also has one of the weakest and strongest recoveries in the game. On one hand his options are extremely limited without a puddle on the stage, but on the other hand he can possibly recover on the opposite side of the stage thanks to a puddle. Having the option between teleporting on stage or using side special can make it difficult or impossible to punish Orcane as he recovers in some situations. I have to say this is my second favorite character design wise.
Wrastor
Wrastor is one of the characters me and my sparring partner played the least. Neither of us were really a fan of his floaty nature and aerial smash attacks. None the less he felt very strong. Quick attacks and easy combos. He felt like he had to commit harder than anyone else to finish a stock, but that also felt fair due to how good his damage build up is.
Kragg
This guy definitely fit the strong, but slow character archetype. While his movement speed is slow, his attacks seemed to be decently quick. His side tilt and dash attack seems to flow together really well due to their range and knock back. Side smash fits in well with those other attacks as the delay before it finishes makes for great parry punishing.
Kragg surprisingly juggles really well and can finish people off of the top of the screen pretty easily with the use of plat forms or his own up special. His neutral special allows him to space pretty decently and again it feels like you always need to respect his range. But playing too defensively lets him come in and well his attacks hurt.
Forsburn
This guy is my most played character and the one I enjoy the most. I found Forsburn to be the easiest to combo, but the hardest to KO with. The unique nature of his side smash and up smash made it impossible to get KOs in the same small punish windows I found success in with other characters. But Forsburn's strong combo and juggle game felt to alleviate the problem some.
Forsburn was the first character I was able to use to carry my opponent from one side of the screen to the other. His neutral aerial is such a good move thanks to its amazing speed and range. Neutral air is a great get-in tool and also the foundation of most of my combos. I find it really easy to combo into additional neutral airs, forward airs, or up airs. Forward air usually set up for down air, while up air juggles into itself really welly.
Down tilt and up tilt are both such strong combo openers, while down tilt is also rather decent for spacing. Forsburn side and up smashes are not my favorite, but I really do enjoy them when I utilize them properly. Well actually I never used up smash. The angle felt really weird so I tended to stay away from the move, but after looking at the move's actual hit boxes I see some potential and will probably try to make use of it when I get the chance. Side smash, on the other hand, was useful in that it provides me with more range than down tilt, but it's not a true combo starter. My opponent can parry before I can swing my sword and thus punish me for landing the move. So mind games come into play. I can use the side smash and punish a parry with a delayed down tilt.
I very, very rarely ever found myself in a situation where I could charge side smash to get the true combo. When I wanted a KO I found it a lot easier to combo into back air or combust. Though the majority of my KOs are all down smash which can come out fast enough for those small punish windows. And occasionally when I would land a semi-charged side smash I would follow up with side tilt, jab, or nothing instead of the 2nd hit of the side smash. I'm just not not exactly sure where the timing is for the 2nd hit and I tend to fail it the most at the critical moment.
Forsburn's smoke. I found it only rarely useful for concealing myself. My opponent would usually chase after me as I put down smoke and clear it out as he swung attacks in my direction, not waiting for the smoke to form. And if there was distance between us my opponent would just use an attack with good range or a projectile to clear out most the smoke.
The only times I felt I could 'set up' with smoke was when my opponent was off stage or if I felt like dropping a combo to go into smoke. Both of which are odd decisions as I could possibly take my opponent's stock rather than just set up smoke.
Out of the 80 games we played there was only one where I actually felt smart about my smoke use. We were playing on Merchant Port and I had knocked Orcane off the stage. I ran to the left side of the stage and covered it, the center of the stage, and a bit above with smoke. Orcane recovered, he wasn't in a bad spot, and cleared the middle layer of smoker with his neutral special. He saw me jump into the smoke above. I used my double jump and teleported back up into the smoke as I fell so I could stay there for awhile. My opponent was then confused why I hadn't fallen back down and hesitated for a moment. I then fell down from the smoke and landing into Orcane with a down air and combo'd into a back air for the kill. That was really, really fun. But after that my opponent never hesitated. If he was unsure which smoke stack I was in he would just attack the nearest one.
I think I might be able to use Forsburn's smoke better if I try parrying inside the smoke when my opponent attempts to clear it more often. Currently I mainly use side tilt and down special to goad my opponent into approaching. If they don't approach I get a free Combust which is a very useful tool in many situations.
As for Fosburn's side special clone I feel it rests in the same ball park as Orcane's recovery, being either super useful or useless. Most of the time I use the move my opponent will come in swinging or try to use a projectile to clear out my clone. The clone itself will sometimes run right into these attacks and vanish instantly. Other times I'll manage to land a hit on my opponent anddo my best to keep my opponent in hit stun, but my clone will just stand around or jump in place. It's completely up to my clone if he wants to help or not. Sometimes though, my clone will decide not to be stupid and will land a hit after each of my own. In two of my matches (out of 80) I've taken my opponent from 0% to death thanks to my clone helping me keep my opponent in hit stun the entire time. Though this is really down to luck as I really don't know what attack my clone is going to use and what trajectory it'll send my opponent in. Thankfully most of Forsburn's attacks all combo really well together.
Stages
I enjoy all of the stages in both their Aether and Basic modes. My favorite stage is without a doubt the Merchant Port. It's very unique thanks to the four spinning platforms and allows for very creative combos you won't find on other stages. I would not want to see this feature taken away from the Basic Form of the stage as I feel it would really suck the life out of the stage.
Conclusion
Thank you so much for giving me the chance to playtest this game! I've already poured some good hours into it and am enjoying it very much. This Friday I'll be taking it to my weekly tournament scene and seeing what other members of my community think about the game.
