Long time lurker, first-time poster; please forgive any novice forum gaffs.
Eyedol’s been on everyone’s mind lately due to the launch of Season 3 and the 2 unidentified characters that are coming our way. I, personally, do not have strong feelings on whether Eyedol makes a return or not, but there is a sizable portion of the fan base who most certainly would like him to appear.
If he does, what will he play like? KI currently has, arguably, one of the most unique rosters of fighters the genre has ever seen, each character having intensely different features and mechanics. Eyedol, if he arrives, will be one of the last ones added, meaning IG will have to think way outside the box to come up with something eye catching (pun very much intended). I’ve seen some players speculate on how he might play, a common theme being his having two heads and, therefore, also having two fighting styles. A stance change is the method a majority of people seem to think would be utilized to achieve that.
It’s a cool idea, but tons of fighting game characters have stance changes (although Riptor is the only KI character with one, to be fair) and, compared with the wild variation we’ve seen in with the rest of the cast since IG took over, simply giving one character two sets of moves that can be switched between at will is nothing new. So, what would be new?
What about a directional stance change? What if Eyedol had one set of moves while facing to the right, and another set while facing the left? What if Ryedol was a zoning monster, hurling fireballs and hammer/club induced ground quakes at range in attempt to keep out his opposition, who will have an advantage if they get inside his zoning because Ryedol has terribly weak close range tools? Lyedol, on the other hand, would have fast close range normals and a command grab, making him scary up close and a character that no one wants to be close to. Both versions would share a position switching more a al Tusk’s f+MP and a side-switching ender to allow the player to attempt to control his positioning.
That’s the catch, he only has access to each of his move-sets if facing the required direction, meaning he has to fight to optimally position himself while attempting to do the same with his opponent. Eyedol always wants to face to the left when facing someone like Kan-ra or Glacius, while facing to the right when fighting Wulf or Tusk. Both he and his opponents will be aware of his proclivities, so the match will be a constant positioning battle to see who can keep the optimal matchup the longest. I am not aware of another fighting game character that plays like this (although my experience is mainly in the major western releases (SF, MK, MvC, Injustice)) and it would be a cool nod to Eyedol’s dual nature.
So, has this been done before? Is it not nearly as novel as I think it is? Is it even something that anyone would want to play as?
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