Before i critcize, i just hope all of you are fully aware that it continues to be a demo, theres still a long way to go before it's complete, it seems like a good amount of you guys are just putting the team on the spot for things that are yet to be done, instead of just waiting, they don't need to be reminded that PM still isn't as technical and smooth as Melee, i'm pretty sure they are fully aware of it. Now on too what i think (not like anybody cares, but w/e)
-Recoveries: I've been explaining this to my friend (he uses Ness) every time we play. The recoveries in this game are Way. Too. Good. Simple as that, one of the really fun and exciting aspects of Melee was the ledge-game in general. Losing stage control meant the possibility of being forced to the edge or simply getting kicked off the stage, which usually meant you were dead (this goes for all char. minus Peach, Puff, pika, samus, and mewtwo) this means that it was up to the player who was off the stage to make a decision and get back on the stage however possible, this either makes for some amazing decisions were they confuse the player guarding the edge (look at Hax with the way he controls Falcon's up-b), and the player that guarded the edge had to be quick to act and make sure he doesn't come back, this also means for some really tricky movements on the stage, confusing or misguiding the other player to go where he wants, or just flat out taking a stock (see M2k, mango, or Armada).
Lately i've been getting pissed off with Ness and my friend has been getting pissed off with the majority of the cast, usually if i fail an edge-guard, it was bc i didn't do it right or my friend was able to trick me, and i acknowledge it (this is in Melee) in PM, i'm marth, he's ness, he up-b's into my f-smash, guess who wins? I don't thats for sure. Not only that, he can come back a mile away and still hit me hard enough to kill me. This could seem like "i don't know how to handle him, so its the char. fault" but thats not true, i'm leagues better than my friend and yet there has been tons of instances where he says "thats ****ed up, if this were melee i would have been dead" too many times Ness has gone back onto the stage in a braindead way, with little to no effort put forth by the player using him to think of a smart way of getting back on-stage, while the other player runs circles around the stage trying to hit him, just to get hit and die. Now thats my rant for that char. that he uses, but i use the majority of the cast and i see the same thing if not worse, this is especially true for diddy, venasaur, squirtle, zero suit etc. I mean, i use them and i feel like i'm cheating or something, its way too easy to get back on stage, correction, it's to easy to get back on stage while harming your opponent in the process.
Edge-guarding in PM is simply tedious to perform and boring to watch, its one of the main reasons i rarely watch PM videos. Also, the buffed recoveries contribute significantly into the whole "Melee matches last 3-4 min. max, PM matches last 5-6 min." Apart from being boring, it seems like the one guarding the edge is actually the one in a disadvantage than the one off the stage, hell there's characters that can get back on without too much to worry while also being able to screw you up just as easy when you get off (ROB for example). It simply feels like you get a recovery that has too much priority, too much mobility, and little to no risk in doing it, i want chars that have the kind of recovery that fox has, he has a generous two recoveries, both of which have little to no priority (phantism is actually the move with less priority in melee, don't know about PM) while still being flexible in the sense that one lets you go any direction you like at any angle, and the other one can be shortened, this has always been to me the model of a balanced recovery, they give you breakable tools that can be used for just about any situation, but only if YOU, the player know how to utilize it.If you want a PM example, take T Link for instance, his recovery is potent against someone guarding but also very short, if you wanna come back from far away, you need to know how to bombjumb, technique that is dangerous and technical, but rewarding and intresting. I'm not saying that chars have to be that way, i think Peach has a really creative way of coming back on stage while still being reasonable in the eyes of the one who wants her dead.
Recoveries need to be nerfed all around, not big nerfes, just something that resembles 2.1 Icarus-> 2.5b Icarus, or make them more complex and not just *press button-> select angle-> get on stage/take free stock*
-Stages: Just like everyone else says, the majority of the stages are too big and seem to actually favor floaty chars over normal weight chars, oh and Bones is spot on with the stage control thing, another important and exciting aspect of melee was that, stage control, backing your opponent to the edge or you trying to regain ground through quick movement. I actually like lots of the stages bc of the design, it breathes fresh air into the same 6-stages used in melee. Hopefully they can make new smaller stages.
-Movesets: There are some moves that simply polarize a char, instead of adding on to the list of options and tools at your disposal. I think a good example of this would be ganon, his brawl front-b is a huge and well needed buff for him coming from melee, i love the move, but as i've seen with myself (and tons of other players) its too easy to use and is a guaranted hit on big fellas like bowser or DK, it feels like the move was made for a specific situation and not whenever you wanted it to be used. I get that smae feeling from lots of other chars, just can't remember. The other would be lucario, has this amazing combo mechanic yet it seems like the only way he can kill is using aerial side-b or throwing/hitting you into a spirit bomb, it's boring and it seems like it undermines the characters potental (although lucario is probably the most complex character in the game, so idk what other players could do given the time)
-Aesthetic: I personally believe that if you wanna have that certain "feel" of melee, or at least get close to it, you have to make smaller models for some characters. I'm sure theres some chars that feel bulky and slow bc of the mechanical side of things not being finished yet, but then theres fox and falco, i remember the first time i played 2.5 i tried out Fox and falco just to see how close the team had gotten with fixing that controll lag, it still felt horrible with these two. I saw that there was melee models for them, i put them on and holy **** that made a ****load of difference, i was amazed at how much more fluid it felt, still not on par with melee but getting there (with the melee model that is) i can only say that for those two, but still, chars seem too big. When i use melee marth in melee yoshi island and compare it to it's PM counterpart, PM marth seems like he grew or something, and the stage feels bigger.
That also goes with the camera, i compare PM FD camera with Melee FD camera and PM seems like its a little to away, same goes for BF, yoshi, etc. Then theres also the rumble effect. I never realized how important it was untill one day when i took off the rumble effect in melee and used falcon, it felt horrible, as if i wasn't playing or something, when that happened i compared Melee rumble with PM rumble, again, wasn't the same. I knee'd a fox with 70%, on FD with both games, same place too, i knee'd him first in PM, felt the rumble, did it in Melee and goddamn what a difference. This also goes with Marth and his tipper, in melee i feel like....well like i hit someone with the tip of the sword, in PM i hit someone with the tip yet it feels like i hit them with roys tip.
That's all I have for now
I play PM when i'm with my friends, but i don't play with it and much less practice with a new character. Even then, my friends get bored, i was suprised last time i played with them (it was thursday i think) every time we got togther to play, i always had a burning sensation to ask if they wanna play melee, but i hold on. This last time, after like an hour of PM i asked them and they said yeah sure, i told them "get's boring after a while huh?" and they agreed, one of them mostly said "marth feels wierd and foreign to me in PM, and also the effects in PM are bland when you compare them to melee, like the sound and the feeling when you hit someone with a strong attack, and the speed too"
I hope you guys are working more on the mechanical side than just bringing new characters, otherwise you'll never get a good amount of melee players to transition for good.
Either way, PM is a melee players wet dream waiting to become true, actually if the next demo has that 1-frame lag thing fixed, i could go ahead and say it's better than melee.
The "learn the matchup" argument goes both ways.
