Like many of my KI friends on this message board, I purchased an Xbox One over a PS4 solely due to Killer Instinct. I remember watching E3 2013 and Max’s reactions when KI was announced. It was the first game I purchased for the X1 and it didn’t disappoint. To be honest, KI has become my favorite fighting game, edging out Soul Calibur. We are now moving into KI’s sixth year and I’m still running into people excited to get into this game and that is a testament to MS, IG, and DH’s work.
For the last few days I’ve been thinking critically about why I actually like this game, as well as things I haven’t liked and thus created this list.
What works…
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Accessibility – I love the fact that ANYBODY can get into KI. The combo system (even without Combo Assist) is fairly easy to get into. I remember playing against a friend who purchased KI just for Riptor, and he loved the fact that he could mash buttons and make cool things happen. KI is like that. It’s also deep enough to take months, years, to master everything. There isn’t a lot of fighters that are easy to get into and can be very deep at the same time.
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Cast of Characters – KI doesn’t have one single clone character in its roster. Every single character plays differently. While some characters do borrow traits of others, they themselves are fully fleshed out fighters with their own attitudes and styles. Whether you’re playing a werewolf, a skeleton, an assassin, or a robot, there is something for everyone. I love the fact that KI, despite having a HUGE roster, has made sure every character is unique.
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Music – KI rocks. The music is amazing. It built on the foundation of what made the original great and blew it out of the water.
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Visuals – for the most part KI is still a very pretty game.
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The NETCODE – KI’s netcode is the netcode that all other fighting games should be compared to. I rarely can say I lost a fight because the match was too laggy. While there are bouts of lag, for the most part, playing somebody 1000 miles away, feels like they are right next to you on an arcade cabinet.
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The Community – Yes yes, there are always some detractors, but I can honestly say most of the people I know in this community have been amazing. There is always going to be toxic behavior, but at least in my experience, everyone has been friendly.
Now…
What didn’t work for me…
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Shadow Lords – Shadow Lords is cool and it is very well made, but honestly it’s a bit grindy and for me, its not something I generally will invest my time into. As KI was made on a limited budget, I strongly feel that a standard story mode would be just fine, with the extra time and money spent on giving all characters a stage as well as everybody else getting an ultimate. I’ve never been big on story stuff in fighting games, as my main draw is well… you know… fighting.
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New mechanics every season – There is nothing wrong with giving characters a new move or two every few years (like SF) to shake the meta up, but with each season introducing things like Stagger, Flipout, Recapture into the mix, it always felt like I would have to relearn match ups or even my own character.
Then you have complete overhauls such as Fulgore and Spinal, both of which have been hard to balance due to those changes. To be honest, I REALLY liked S1 Fulgore as well as Spinal. They both are still amazing now, but I still wonder why those changes happened in the first place.
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Rash – Yes folks, I’ve devoted an entire section just for this character. Firstly, as a creative, the photo-realistic amphibian skin juxtaposed against a rather cartoony figure is just off-putting. If they had toned down just a wee bit of his wacky exterior, he’d feel more at home with the cast… but ugh. I’ll talk about his balance in a different section, but that is also a problem. C’mon IG… you could have used Joanna Dark… WHY!
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Balance – Balance isn’t easy and a fighting game that is truly balanced balanced would be boring. Over all, I think KI has done a good job, but there are things that make you wonder. I was never a fan of IG introducing a character as overpowered as can be and then toning them down. In fact I rather they use Aganos’ intro where he was slightly nerfed, but then later adjusted him accordingly. There are still characters that I think need to be toned down a bit (nothing huge)… Rash, Eyedol’s instinct, Rash, Kan Ra’s infinite Scorpion sheild, Rash, a slightly longer cooldown for Eagle’s bird, Rash… I think you get the point…
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No more support – Yes MS is still fixing bugs as they come, but it is sad that a game that is still evolving and is still being heavily played at home and at tourneys is no longer being balanced and or tweaked. It would be nice to see some of the bottom feeders get a few buffs and Kim Wu’s face fixed (she still looks like she just had a stroke) or having some slightly over powered tech toned down. Even with Rash, the only thing I really cringe about is some of his wacky hitboxes. (Nothing like being juggled by S. Big Boot and I’m standing BEHIND him).
My gripes are just minor and the positives vastly out way my complaints…
But there you go… my opinions.