So, to begin, the neutral attack, this time, only the last attack can eject, it is a good thing because the combo is forced to work this way. I mean, if you do the two first hits, as they can't really eject, the third will work. You have to be really close to your opponent for the three hits to work completely, because at great damages, the first hits can push the ennemy away a little, but this not a problem because it works like this originally. And you added a fire effect to all attacks, a must for Flamberge.
Agreed. Flamberge fire effects are good, 3 consecutive hits are good.
Shining Bind. There is still the same problem, you can hit opponents who are not inside the circle.
This needs more explanation. If you are saying it shouldn't kill players outside of the first circle casting animation, I agree with you. BUT. You may have noticed that the final smash pushes people AWAY from where the circle is! If you can't kill anyone outside the circle, it should not have any pushing effects until the final push which ends the final smash. (Otherwise players will just run away from you.)
A simple solution would be to either:
1. Increase the size of the circle and set it to stay visible during the entire FS animation. PLAYERS SHOULD BE LOCKED INSIDE OF IT AT THIS TIME. At the end, only players who are in the circle will be killed.
2. Make proper graphics that show the reach and extent of his FS so that players aren't saying, WHAT WAS THAT?? when they are killed.
Up special: You didn't removed in air the ability to make a slash like Aether, while falling, you should remove this when you can.
I believe this also needs a bit of expansion.
From all I have played with the Kratos PSA so far, I found that this ariel down-slash after his up-special is the best launching attack in his moveset. Without the down ariel attack, Kratos's special jump is rendered useless in combat. The small spinning damage on it's upward slash is worthless with little very launching power by itself. (Ask yourself when the last time you even hit someone with his upward spinning slash was.)
So, without the downward slash, kratos's launching abilities in his b-up jump are weakened significantly.
I believe we will only be making a mistake to remove the down ariel attack after his jump.
Up smash: Light spear cannon is still very difficult to use... Remember that the turning ascending hit should send the ennemy in air so that he falls just next to Kratos and is forced to be slashed by the last slash Kratos makes. Besides, this attack should send the ennemy in the direction of the last slash, which seems not to be the case.
I agree with Philia here. 9 times out of 10, Lightspear pushes the opponent way out before the last slash's hit.
Up tilt: Hell pyre. This time, it's good. You modified the flame, which is better according to me, and when you're in contact of your opponent, even at great damages he's almost forced to be hit by the flame, if you're in contact with him when you begin this attack, so it's good.
Agreed. Graphics are pretty good, and usability is good.
Side smash: Fierce demon fang: This time it's good, the last hit is much much easier to do to the opponent. It isn't always here, but I suppose it depends of where you are when you begin it.
Hmm. Well being what it is, it's a great move with great damage giving capabilities. However, like I said earlier, the main launching move a brawl character should be his Side A Smash.. When it comes to launching power, fierce demon fang is lacking because it doesn't work every time.
Maybe the move itself should be registered to another button combo, or get some increased launching chances, or be balanced by giving other moves greater launching power.....
I don't know, so I'll let someone else debate this topic. (Don't flame me for these suggestions please, I am speaking hypothetically here.)
Down smash: Forcefield. An attack that I love, really love, the graphics are cool, it reminds of Shining Bind, but the problem with this attack is that there are a lot of pillars which are completely useless. It seems these pillars in the end can hit the opponent, I verified, but it is really really hard to hit with them because the first or the second pillar sends the ennemy immediately in the air. Try making the last pillar only being able to eject, and modify the damages made by one pillar. Because of course, if all pillars do the damage of the first or the second as it is now, this move would be too powerful in term of damages. And an other thing I noticed, is that the above part of the pillars doesn't inflict damages, it's strange.
If this is a forcefield like guardian, shouldn't it have more of a circular graphic? And why does it do damage? In the game, guardian could block almost any attack, not just ranged ones. I am having some trouble using this effectively in combat because people can just bump me out of it with a simple A tilt move. (Maybe I'm just using it wrong.)
I understand that giving this move full shielding capabilities would be pretty cheap for spamming over and over, so what if it can only be used every 5 seconds or so?
That's almost properly representative of the game because you can't spam guardian or else it will QUICKLY exhaust your TP.
Remember guys, just ideas.
The aerials, I prefer much better the neutral aerial that is here now, the other neutral aerial that was like Ike's was absolutely not good for a Kratos who is close from Tos, and besides a movement that can hit in several directions like this but fastly, it is a little strange according to me... But I would have a critic, you chose to make basic attacks as aerials, it is a way to do of course, but the logic wants them to be less strong than artes as I said a lot. If they are at the same point as neutral A attack, they would be very useless. SO, it would be better to make them slower, besides it would fit better the Kratos of Tos. I don't mean ending lag like Ike, but make them slower to come for example.
Mostly agreed. And yes, slower to come, NOT lag afterwards. That always annoyed me so much with Ike.. haha
The walking speed and running speed doesn't match at all, I have the impression to travel distance faster than when running. And besides, the running animation is good, but can really be improved, the hand which doesn't hold the sword moves a lot when you run, it is as Kratos had his arm broken and move alone. It's really strange to see his hand move like this while running.
Alright. This seems to be massing into a big issue with the thread. Should Kratos be slow with good launch? Or should he be fast with weaker attacks, and damage giving?
My vote is in somewhere in between, but closer to fast and damage giving. Which would mean I also think that his running speed should be increased to where it was originally, or at least very close to it. I also noticed that his jump startup time is slower than in the last PSA.. Is this my imagination? I'd like it to be a teeny bit faster if possible.
Animation problems with his movement are not a big issue with me, I like it good enough as it is.
You didn't removed this attack when he makes a lot of slashes after the neutral attack, which is a terribly bad thing, for the reasons I already said.
I think I have found another area where we disagree.
My vote of having kratos as a faster and less damage giving character would provide that he is able to make these neutral slashes. I really enjoy them..
Thunder blade spell, is really too powerful. Normally, as I said, it creates a circle charged with electricity on the ground. And when it falls, it should hit someone. And in the game Tos, the sword normally is a little taller than Kratos if I recall correctly, here it is really too big, and besides, we see too much that the sword is a giant Flamberge. According to me, you didn't put enough glow to this sword. And an other thing about it, normally, when you use this spell, if you wait, or if you move, there are the same number of hits, which is not the case for what you've done.
I admit, Thunder Blade is a bit too powerful. However, it's going to be extremely hard to make a circle on the ground that satisfyingly hits opponents, only because you won't be able to see the animation. All of the TOS games have a tilted camera view that show a large portion of the ground the characters stand on. Brawl is not like this, the camera is straight on towards the stage.
So. Very hard to do. Not impossible, but very hard.
I think the sword is too big as well, but it shouldn't be decreased too much or else it will lose it's awe.
The reason that the sword looks like a Flamberge is because it IS a Flamberge. Whatever kratos's sword is for the current texture becomes the sword in thunder blade. Personally, I think this is amazingly innovative and don't have any objections to it being left as it is; especially since creating a new one would be difficult, time consuming, and add an unnecessary increase to the file size of the .pac.
I'm guessing what you are trying to say by the, "number of hits", comment is that the spell should continue casting even if you walk away while casting it or are hit. I agree with you on this and think that once ANY spell is cast, it should be unstoppable.
*Have you also noticed that when a projectile hits any of the spells, the spell is stopped?? This is frustrating after spending so much time charging the spell. :p
Grave spell if possible should have a better graphic effect, a pillar of stone like he does, only the first. And besides, why this spell invokes a flower on the head of the opponent?
SUPER AGREE.
Thank you for mentioning this.
I didn't even know that this move was supposed to be grave until a few days ago after reading some further moveset details haha! I was always like.. "cool an agricultural attack. Till the earth and grow flowers on your enemies heads."
A few simple pillars of stone would make a world of difference to this spell.
Could you by any chance "lock" the opponents to the ground until the spell is finished grinding them up? That's why it's called grave btw; to bury them in the earth.
Explosion has the same problem, normally explosion is a spell that does only one hit, but takes a little time to hit, because the ball needs time to appear. But this hit normally should be able to eject, which seems not to be the case here. I don't say that this should eject a lot, but still.... Anyway, it would be better to put eruption, but it seems you have difficults for this...
I believe that the current third level fire cast is actually closer to Eruption and thus incorrectly labeled as Explosion. This is wrong to me. NO Eruption please... Seeing as this is a third level fire cast, it needs to be made into Explosion. Eruption is focused on giving damage over repeated hits, which is supposed to be Thunder Blade's purpose. What kratos needs is a solid knockback spell.
So here is where that extra launching power could be given to Kratos which I keep referring to. Watch some youtube videos of this spell and you'll see that it should be ONE hit with extreme launch power, damage, and range; falling down from the sky and exploding only when making contact with the ground.
Is it possible to put Air Thrust in the place of Cyclone? Cyclone is a high spell normally, it shouldn't be less powerful than thunder blade, a medium spell.
I agree with Philia here again.
You didn't replaced yet Dark Serpent, I will wait for this.
**IMPORTANT**
If you only come away from my post with one thing, let it be this; Please strongly consider getting rid of Dark Serpent and moving Demon Fang here! it just makes sense this way. Link, Zelda, Zero Suit Samus, Samus, Toon Link, and many more have their ranged attacks set for Side Special. Of course, that leaves Side A Tilt open for a normal attack. Take it slowly because I know this will be a shock to what you have already established as a good moveset for Kratos, but could the new side tilt be Fierce Demon Fang? This would make room for an actual launching move in Side Smash. I have considered this carefully or else I wouldn't have asked in the first place, and believe it to be the closest suggestion to making Kratos's moveset consistent with that of other characters in brawl.
And the last thing, the neutral B move. You're able to eject with it, which is good, but it makes the chain most of the time nearly impossible to hit the opponent. It should be the second hit, the extension that should be able to eject, not the first hit. And it seems you still can interrupt the extension while you do it by shielding, it should be removed too.
I disagree again here. :0
I don't think that Super Lightning Blade should be linked twice and uncancellable, because it's not meant to be a chained attack. It needs to be one single attack which is weak enough, but fast enough to chain over and over if the conditions are right. This is my own opinion though, so I'm interested to see how this turns out in the long run.
Oh! I almost forgot, the overlimit, if you can change the animation to make the animation of Tales of Vesperia, it would be good, but it is a detail. The most important thing about the overlimit is to decrease something about it. Decrease the time it is available, or decrease the transformation itself, because I know an overlimit should make him stronger, but the damages he makes while in overlmit seem really really high...
If Kratos's Overlimit were made to be as close to the game as possible, his attacks would be increased from their normal position only slightly. The main thing about overdrive is that you have Heavy Armor! (Like the 15% he takes while spell casting.)
So then, maybe overlimit could have infinitely high Heavy Armor until it's over?
