I’m more of an I-main-one-character player, but I found out that I enjoy Gargos really much, however I don’t feel I can manage to get far with him like my best character. I can struggle with many match ups and the simple things like AA properly.
I’m trying Fulgore as well, but it’s soooo different. Despite the bot’s potential , Fulgore is it’s not that fun for me (don’t get me wrong, I loved Fulgore as second main in the old KIs, specially in KI2).
But Gargos makes me play a total different game. And dealing with the pressure when I’m down…Ooh it hurts!Things I don’t even care when I have shadow eclipse become a nightmare using Gargos!.
But still I enjoy this character . Even with no big damage, with minions that look like qualifiers vs 12 stars players (wasted shadows) but still fun! XD
I still feel my main is better in more MUs than Gargos, but it’s nice to have this kind of fun with other characters, despite losing (it lets me enjoy the game without going to the lab that much, I should do that if I want him as a pocket)
What about you? apart from your main, which is the character you can really have a lot of fun despite losing?
Sadira. I am so bad at her, but she’s fun to play as. I guess Mira falls into the same category, as I have trouble balancing the whole bloodloss thing…
I’ve got every character to 50, so I’d like to think I’d spent enough time with everyone to enjoy almost all of them to an extent. So it shouldnt be a surprise that I have a lot to say about this.
I’ve went ahead and categorized all of the characters based on what I think about them.
Let’s get my favorites out of the way:
Top 5 Main(s) by Season: Wulf/Fulgore, Riptor, Tusk/Mira. These guys are my favorites from each Season. Each of these characters represents a trope I love and a gameplay style I adore. Wulf is my boy from Season 1 and the reason I play this game; Fulgore is a badass unstoppabke deathbot with plasma claws and nuclear laser power; Riptor is a god damn cyborg dinosaur and I’ve always loved dinosaurs since I was a baby; Tusk is a hulking barbarian with flowing locks and a big beard like me, who enjoys ale and big swords as much as I do; and Mira is a beautiful gothic countess with some of the coolest gameplay and insane damage that I just adore.
In second place, All of Season 1. I just love the way these characters play. Even if I’m not the biggest fan of their tropes like Jago or Orchid, they all have gameplay styles that really gel with me. Sadira and Spinal are favorites here for their style (sexy spider assassin of evil and a giggling skeletal pirate) and Glacius/Thunder are some of my favorites for gameplay. I’ll kinda include Shadow Jago here as well but he’s also coming later in my list. If I’m not playing my mains it’s usually one of these guys.
Hisako. Her gameplay may not be my favorite but god damn I love her design so much that she gets her own place. Plus she’s my girlfriend’s main (along with ShinSako, though she used to play Sadira) so I often get reminded of her when Hisako is on screen, which is pleasant.
Now for my middle tier, in no particular order.
TJ Combo/Maya/Omen. These guys all fall under the same category in S2: I’m not as fond of their concepts as characters but I like their core gameplay. TJ and Maya are kinda tricky but really solid, and Omen had some crazy fun stuff. I’m not spectacular with any of them, but I enjoy them enough to pick them up once in a while.
Cinder, Kan-Ra, and Aganos are characters that I call “lab fun”: it’s fun coming up with crazy stuff in practice, but I don’t have the skill, motivation, or love for the characters to try and get good enough to use it in anything but friendly matches. But they’re also characters I really enjoy watching, so I respect the people who get really good with them.
The Remix Characters (Shago, Kilgore, Shinsako). I’m feeling a little guilty saying this, since Remix Characters typically aren’t super up my alley, but all of these guys just turned out to be so fun in their own ways. They’re all simultaneously gimmicky and grounded, with really nutty twists around a solid fundamental core (with Shago’s bosslike shenanigans, Kilgore’s insane hot/cold zoning, or Shinsako’s bait retreat beat repeat stuff). Playing with or against them is just a treat and is really good for focusing on different facets of the game.
Oddly enough some of my favs are another inclusion I was very against, the guest characters (Rash, Arby, RAAM). Not only are they surprisingly at home in this game, but they’re just so genuine and faithful to the material they come from, and it’s reflected both in design and gameplay. Rash really does feel like a sassy beat 'em up hero. Arbiter does mirror the mix of tactical play and sheer force of a Halo protagonist. RAAM really does feel like a dominant, unstoppable threat that should be avoided at all cost. I still view guest characters like I do fan fiction, but these guys were so well done I can make an exception.
Now for the not so favorable list:
The Shadow Lords: Gargos and Eyedol. I really like their visuals, and conceptually I really like their gameplay designs. But they really don’t gel with me and I’m really bad at them. I should like them a lot more than I do, but their gameplay just doesn’t do it for me… to a degree where I just don’t play them all that often.
The only characters I really don’t like playing from both a design and gameplay standpoint are ARIA, Kim Wu, and Eagle. There’s not too much to say. I’m not super big fans of their designs even if they’re pretty interesting compared to a lot of other FGs. They follow tropes I’m not really into and have gameplay styles that I just really don’t like. These are the characters where after I got them to Lvl50, I said out loud “thank ■■■■ I don’t have to play this character anymore”.
Well there you have it. A comprehensive list from someone who’s played to much of all these characters not to have some sort of strong opinion one way or another. Fingers crossed that some of you ladies and gents find this worth reading. I’ll return to lurking
While I am a Sadira loyalist, I do enjoy playing a few other characters as well… I like to play as Spinal, Jago, Glacius, Wulf, and Hisako (starting to learn her).
Eagle and Kilgore are my main men but I also enjoy playing Raam, Arbiter, Omen, Jago, and I’m learning Thunder Gargos and Aganos rn.
It’s weird how I love Kilgores play style and flow yet I can’t seem to like Fulgore’s play style (even though he looks awesome) Hell I think I like Kilgore overall better, I find that weird.
Although Sadira’s my main, I really enjoy using Kan Ra even though I’m terrible with him. I used him a lot in season 2 and probably called him my main back then, but I was never really any good with him. I also tend to enjoy using Eyedol a lot, as I love stance switch characters, but for me, it’s kinda hard to switch between attacking, close up character and zoner at the drop of a hat. Still, he’s really fun to me. Mira’s another one that I really like using, but again, I wouldn’t say I’m any good with her.
There are a lot of characters I find fun to play. Kilgore, Kim, Tusk, Sadira, Eyedol, Arbiter, Wulf at times, both Hisakos, Eagle, TJ, RAAM, Shadow Jago, Riptor, Aganos, and probably someone else I’m forgetting off the top of my head.
Granted, I didn’t say I was necessarily good with all of them lol
I’m currently at a point where I’m an ok-ish Sadira, I like her game plan a lot and find her a fun character to use, it doesn’t mean I win often but I’m more likely to say “oh, so that’s how that works, then” and am at a point where I feel I understand her a heck of a lot better now.
I love the whole idea behind Mira, which is odd because I wasn’t very keen at first but I’m in love with some of her animations, the sound her heavy and medium auto doubles make, her aesthetic and extreme risk/extreme reward game play, winning with her however, is a whole different matter! Her whole concept and game plan is very satisfying when it works though, there’s nothing quite like the feeling of watching an entire health bar melt to nothing in one combo.
I want to learn Raam because he feels like he has so few tools, but utilises what he does have very well, stabbing and stomping the opposition into the ground, he strikes quite an imposing figure while he’s doing it, too.
Cinder is another character I have an interest in that I’m utter garbage with, I can’t deal with what feels like 12 separate control schemes that need utilising in quick succession and have mad respect for anyone that actually is good with him.
In season 1, Thunder was my number two character but I haven’t played him much since the start of Season 2. I tried Cinder and got him to level 50!but the playstyle never clicked with me. Lately I have been playing some Jago and Wulf when I see lower level players online and enjoying it. But I also really enjoyed Tusk, Kim Wu and Orchid.
I tried Cinder, but I didn’t really find him that much fun, and I straight up sucked at his juggles. I am quite possibly the most grounded Cinder ever.
I really like Thunder as well. I used to be able to manual with him for days, and I used to spar with RayRayMonkey, who doesn’t play KI anymore. He was an amazing Thunder.
I have fun with Eagle and Maya. I’m awful with them, even my main Omen, but they’re fun to play. I tried Cinder because I really like the way he fights, also he’s fun with his cocky behavior, but his juggles are so hard to perform that I think he’s a character for advanced players.
After all these FGs I’ve played recently, KI is the one where I’m finally at peace, finding the character I really like, which is Aganos.
So, what’s about others? I don’t play too often, so maybe that’s why I don’t feel like branching out yet. Of course, I was eyeing some other characters, but I’m not sure whether I will ever pick them up. For one, initially I thought that Hisako is something definitely for me, but her focus on aggressive setplay and resets isn’t something I enjoy hella lot.
But maybe I’ll try her more seriously one day. Or maybe Raam is something that would click with me.
I guess I can see a theme among characters that make me want to try them: long reach, extra defensive abilities, some funky mechanics (although KI is bold with the latter in general, so…).
Nothing weird about it. They are wildly different characters in practice.
You don’t actually have to play her that way if you don’t want to. She has very strong neutral in general, and does enough damage outright (and is hard enough to break) that you don’t really have to goose the combo game if you don’t want to. Just don’t do HKD enders and don’t worry about resets, and you can still likely do pretty well with her if you’re generally solid.
Fingers crossed that some of you ladies and gents find this worth reading. I’ll return to lurking
