I admittedly don’t play a lot of RPGs. Mostly fighters and action games, which might be partly why I didn’t catch that. Which again, might be useful feedback depending on player background.
I agree with this…its a lot to take in at first. Not that its impossible…but for a fighting game its unexpected. You ■■■■ near need a strategy guide to list everything lol. Like study guide would be helpful.
Just a little note for the @developers : Mira’s “Thicker than Water” cutscene should really happen before the fight. It doesn’t make much sense when it’s played after you already beat it. Plus playing it before the fight would give it much more context.
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You do keep the item? I was watching the “molded fingernail”, and it was subtracting either way. I would lose the item if I used it or not. Maybe it is just a bug then.
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What do you mean by Omen trick?
Check here:
I havent been able to do it and you need to get a bit lucky, but so far one of the best ways to beat him. Not sure if 1 guy having such an advantage is fair…might lead to everyone using Omen, which should not be the goal of the mode…unless its secretly an Omen promotion mode 
Thank for the help with the invincibility /shadow move tip. I was trying for the 4 buff achievement. With your tip I got that one and the one for no one dying. I just read it, and I don’t think I could even get to him on Godlike mode. I have beat it, but I am one of the people that thinks all the levels of play need to be toned down a little bit. Now am not saying a lot, but I should not have to be good enough to place in a tournament to be able to beat godlike.
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I like the pre and post fight banter but it does seem to be getting a bit repetitive. Hopefully more can be added over time.
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Well, I finally managed to sit down and resume my first playthrough, and made it to Gargos and took him out. Started finally crafting items and consumables and using them, and I have to say I think the modifier dynamic is pretty cool. Astral plane is also really sweet, even if I did have to play like 8 matches in Ranked before I wound up 1P and able to select it. On the plus side, I got to snipe one of my favorite streamers @INDIxion while doing so, so that was fun 
Ironically though, I guess I just found myself really stressed out playing the mode. I really didn’t want to lose to Gargos, because I just really didn’t feel like dealing with all the AI’s and Omen’s and loading screens again (definitely will play this mode, and this mode only, on PC, just to try to minimize all the loading times). It’s an awesome idea and the concept is really sound, but it all goes back to my personal issues with fighting the AI. It’s supremely frustrating fighting the AI with a character like Hisako, because there’s nothing to read or condition. Either they throw out something reactable enough to counter, or the option never gets used because I can’t really predict or preempt it. The issue exists with other characters too, but it’s just really magnified with her because of the type of character she is.
Some of that I’m sure is just me being super sensitive to the idea of fighting the AI (I generally avoided the single player modes in both S1 and S2), but some of it is legit I think. I know the team is working on Shadow Lord/shadow AI integration so I won’t harp on it, but for myself that really is the lynchpin between whether I play this mode once to unlock the Astal Plane, and whether or not I come back to visit and grind it. If the Shadow AI doesn’t seem like it can be added in a timely fashion, then I’d ask the team to make sure that we’re able to use KI gold to purchase whatever costumes or other unlocks that may be hiding within the mode. I’ll pay for an extra Hisako color or accessory set if I like it - I probably won’t be willing to grind SL for it though.
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The generic dialogue gets really repetative. I would like some more unique dialogue for the minics. I had multiple mimics say they are the fist of Gargos.
3 Likes
I haven’t read through all the responses here but this looks like a good place to post my feedback after playing the mode for awhile:
Let me preface my feedback by stating I am absolutely thrilled with this new game mode. I’m having fun and wish it was here sooner. Thanks for the invite! My feedback:
The feature that bothers me the most is feeding guardians when they are out of charges. After setting up my team and consumables, I’d like to not have to back all the way out/be send all the way out to charge up my guardian. This would be less annoying if menu navigation wasn’t so slow (but would bug me no matter what).
I don’t think it’s necessary to have a popup every time I launch a mission that a fighter doesn’t have consumables or a guardian on them. I don’t think I have the resources to use items every round. This would bother me less if other menus that would be more useful to confirm the action had the same feature. For example, ending a turn early could use a confirmation menu. I’ve tried to look at daily rewards before and ended my turn on accident.
Daily rewards: Can we have a popup to show we gathered the items? Right now I see a checked box but wouldn’t mind a menu piece here. Not a big deal change.
More explanation on the crafting section would be nice. I think I played through 9-10 times before I realized the crafting section changes as you go. That being said I mentioned I use limited items. For what it’s worth as a side note, I mostly use healing items.
I found some of the menus initially confusing to navigate. It took me some time to realize I could use LB/RB to cycle through different rarities on consumables. I also was annoyed I couldn’t cycle through the guardians I own until I realized I needed to use up/down on the guardian menu.
Just some other general thoughts: When I first heard about shadow lords, I assumed it would feel a lot like towers with modifiers in Mortal Kombat. I think this is much more fun than that mode. I love playing through missions and having different popups depending on the mission and my party. I think more modifiers could be fun (thinking MKX style), but I know it would be tough to balance and not necessarily conducive to longer-term story vs. single fight mechanics.
Hopefully my feedback doesn’t sound too critical – just trying to note what I feel could be improved. I’m having a great time and looking forward to playing EYEDOL soon…
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I’m definitely with you on this.
Imho there is already enough grind in KI, this time I think I would prefer to spend real money instead of play hundreds hours for that single object I like unlocked at level 1500 …even more with all the loading times.
Fair prices, please.
Is this confirmed?
Edit: Also…something I just thought of, would shadows be able to be integrated in the first place…having their pre-saved fight-style clash with added buffs seems like a real posibility…
General Summary:
After a few days with Shadow Lords mode (SLM), my initial impression is mixed. I see where it’s going and appreciate it, but maybe for me personally, I find it long and repetitive for little payoff (so far, as this is a beta period).
I think SLM throws too much at you in an eager fashion: crafting, buying packs, equipping artifacts, using consumables, running missions, etc. It was overwhelming and confusing at first since there’s little direction, but once I poked around and understood what everything was, it made sense.
Things that I like:
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SLM’s overall UI is clean and appealing.
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The character art shown before battles are slick. All the characters look incredible with the detail and polish put on them. Might wanna think of using this format and character art for the main game.
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Mimic Hisako makes her look even more creepy and unnerving.
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The man who voices Kan-Ra is amazing! Going into the Emporium is my favorite thing just so I can hear all the things Kan-Ra says (“Need that wrapped up?!” The low, dark laugh at the end of some of his quips are perfect. Reminescient of the late Vincent Price at the end of Thriller).
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The little gambles that pop up after a mission. Those are fun even if I get damage, more mimics to fight, etc.
Suggestions:
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The menus for Guardians, Barracks, War Room, Emporium, Archives should be available no matter what area you are in. That is for example, if I am in the Archives, I should be able to go to the War Room without having to back out to the Hub and then to the War Room.
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“Select Loadout” screen should have the team portraits right there without having to press A to switch to a new screen, choose, then go back to the first screen.
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On the “Select Loadout” screen, if I am equipping a Guardian and they need Astral Energy, you can be brought to the “Guardians” page which is great to do what you need to do, but when you exit, you are brought back to the Hub. It should send you back to the “Select Loadout” screen you were on so you don’t have to maneuver back War Room, wait for it to load, go back to the mission you wanted, equip.
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Daily Rewards should have a popup when you complete the requirement confirming completion and reward(s) issued. Right now you have to actually access it then the Hub module updates. If implemented, have a toggle to keep it silent if players prefer.
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War Room should have a visual indicator at the bottom indicating use the D pad or left analog stick to bounce around the globe to check missions. Yeah, it “should” be naturally intuitive as it is but…
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For those who may not like SLM or just don’t wanna grind to get any locked content, offer an unlock all option for real money. MK X’s Krypt was unlockable for $20 which was fantastic.
Possible bugs:
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Sometimes SLM just freezes up for no reason, but does not crash unless you force quit.
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Latency/sluggishness is seen randomly switching into different menus or before a match.
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Random hard crashes that seemingly wipe out the current SLM session and forces you to start over.
Conclusion:
While I’m not overly wild about SLM, like I said, I see the intent of it and the potential. I’ll of course check it out once it launches as I need to remind myself this is beta and not the GA release. If I have anymore feedback, I’ll post it.
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Every MS/IG person I talked to at EVO about it said that shadows AI integration into Shadow Lords was their intention. They just needed to try and get it to work right.
Intentions don’t always equal finished results, obviously, but I came away with a very distinct impression that they really wanted to use shadows AI’s for SL at some hopefully-not-too-far point in the future.
3 Likes
Good to hear, lets hope they work it out, and not just for SL mode, but also Survival etc…
Why are you guys asking for Shadows in Survival when Shadow Survival already exists?
What if I don’t want to fight Shadows AI for whatever reason?
I know this is going to sound harsh, but I’m almost sure that even the devs realize that Killer Instinct’s AI tends to suck a lot.
But that’s genuinely not their fault; fighting game AI is hard to do, because it either reads your every move or just sits there and lets you pummel it. Boss!Gargos understands the advantages he has, like parrying and being able to summon two minions at once and is scary good at breaking and not falling for counterbreaks, but doesn’t realize he can use the explosion in instinct to stop getting sweeped. AI is by no means an exact science.
Compare this to Shadows AI, which, while sometimes flawed, does a pretty damn good job of giving you the experience of fighting that player, down to what they break, how they use their meter, whether or not they teabag, taunt, and/or double ultra you, etc.
If you like the AI more than Shadows, that’s cool, but I think Shadow Lords as a whole would become both a little easier as well as a little more difficult, since your opponents can actually make mistakes but also know how to stop someone who’s spamming the same move over and over.
3 Likes
Just picture how cool it would be. To be playing shadow lords missions and surprise your shadow is my opponent. Or if my opponent was maximillian food. Although I can foresee one problem. How would the game determine where to put your shadows as far as difficulty setting. I can beat SL on normal but don’t want to try the higher settings bc I’m fairly certain ill just be obliterated. So where would max show up? In normal, challenging, or godlike?
My Glacius Shadow with LVL 5 buffs would basically be unbeatable. I don’t want to put that curse on ANYONE.