Shadow Lords Impressions Thread

Shadow Lords
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Well, I have no desire to play this any further. Rather disappointed that this was the “big deal” for Season 3.

It’s player vs AI, with all the problems that entails, but with the added wrinkle of ridiculous and obtuse modifiers to make it more frustrating. The only way around those modifiers is to add some to yourself, conveniently available in our store for $4.99 US dollars and a healthy helping of RNG.

The pop-up text choices are ambiguous at best and frequently repeat. They reference crafting materials I don’t recognize and offer rewards I don’t understand. And the missions are dull and sometimes confusing. Why do I have to fight a mimic and THEN a Tusk? Wouldn’t he, as a non-mimic, assist in fighting Gargos’ reign? If he had killed me, could he have lived with the knowledge that he had murdered 1/3rd of the only force capable of repelling the universe’s ultimate evil? If Kan-Ra isn’t a mimic, and I choose not to fight him, why does corruption increase in Africa? Was Kan-Ra just spreading corruption in hopes of grabbing my attention? How can he be in the Sahara and also running the Emporium? Why are so many characters so eager to prove they’re not a mimic (through fighting) when it’s abundantly clear that they are normal, since their skin isn’t a gross green and they aren’t emitting clouds of noxious smoke? And why do the mimics only seem interested in copying 10 of the 30 possible cast members?

Only a few of the mimic skins actually look anywhere close to decent, and the emission points for the smoke effect look weird. Two individual puffs on the legs, it looks like.

The amount of waiting is awful. Wait for the globe to spin, wait while the game brings up your selected mission (fight 3 identical Hisako mimics), wait while it populates a text choice, wait while it populates the result, wait for the vs screen, he says, she says, wait for the fight to load, wait for the chest to appear, wait for the items to be picked up, victory animation. post-fight info, post-fight shadow lords info, loading Shadow Lords, vs screen, wait for new Hisako to appear, load the exact same fight…
Why does it require us to leave the game and return to a menu between fights? I would have accepted a longer initial load if it meant when one character was dead the next could simply jump in, especially since the game mode seems to think I should be doing this 3v3 instead of 1v3.

Why do items disappear if you bring them to a fight, but don’t use them? Why does equipping a Guardian but not using any of it’s power (eg Psychic Breakers during a Perfect) still drain energy? Why does the Ram count down it’s allotment of Psychic Breakers even if I performed a correct manual breaker? Why are Card Packs so expensive? Why is the dialogue so bad? How can Hisako speak English, or Aganos speak at all? It’s like they wanted the pre-fight interactions from MKX but didn’t want to alter their game engine at all, and it just comes across poorly.

This mode isn’t for me. That’s fine. There are plenty of people who will enjoy this mode, and that’s awesome. More power to you. Even so, these are problems and they should be addressed, if only to make the mode more enjoyable to those inclined to partake.

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Hey, thanks for the taking time to write up your detailed feedback.

One of the downsides of letting players into a preview is that they experience a lot of stuff in-flight, warts and all. A lot of the points you mention have been improved, along with A LOT more stuff. There’s even some pretty big features not accessible in the preview as well.

Anyhow, you’ve been heard and I hope you come back to try SL mode when it launches on 9/20!

Best

Kraig

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As always, I really appreciate how open and receptive the KI team is to feedback and critiques. You guys really are best-in-class when it comes to that aspect of interacting with your community, and I don’t think you all get enough credit for it.

So from one guy on the forums - thanks to you and the rest of the KI team for interacting with us so openly. :thumbsup:

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I’d be highly surprised if anyone gets the reference.

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My impressions thus far…

Overall, I have to say that I was not excited in the least about this mode. I play VS fighting games and that’s pretty much all. I don’t care for story, I don’t care for arcade modes, or anything else. Give me good netcode and a person to fight against and I am happy.

I have enjoyed this mode more that I thought I would. Thanks for adding this and thanks for making an overall great game to play.

I’ve run through the mode 2x and both were on normal.

First play through: Yeah, seemed overwhelming at first, lots of new stuff, names I didn’t recognize, more things to keep track of than a life meter and some bars at the bottom of the screen. I took my first play through to familiarize myself with the game, various items and their management, how to stop and increase corruption in each area, how and when Omen and Gargos come out, etc. The game is easy on Normal and I think that’s a great thing. Don’t change it! This mode reminds me alot of Heroes and Heralds mode from UMVC3. It’s clear that the KI team loves them some MVC3 and that’s probably what I like most about this game in general :wink:

Second play through: By this time I was more acquainted with what does what and who is who. I made it my goal to totally debuff Gargos and have my whole team survive (for the achievements of course). I found it far more fun the second time through. Used items and guardians in a more intelligent way and had a better understanding of how to influence corruption. Great mode overall.

Feedback:

  1. Yeah, if there is a way to speed up the match to match process that would be great.
  2. A mark all seen on the files and such would be great.
  3. Make the tough chest able to open without using Shadow Meter. Not sure if that’s possible. Not even sure how to get the full bonus off of these guys.

At any rate, keep it coming and thanks!

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Yep. That’s what is in there right at this particular moment, this particular snapshot of Shadow Lords…

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Well, so far I’ve been through SL 3 times (first 2 times were via the unintentional access, I have to say, and the first run I skipped a lot to fight full-powered Gargos), and for the most part, I like it. It gives me a really strong Soul Calibur 2 Weapon Master vibe, & I played the crap out of that. A couple of things that have kinda been gnawing at me though:

  • The daily corruption seems to happen so randomly it’s hard to tell if you’re successfully containing it or if you’re even supposed to. I mean I understand the idea it has to get to a point where the Omens can be unleashed, and Gargos has to have the world corrupted to appear, but it just feels like as a resistance effort you’re just throwing mud against the wall in a failing effort to hold off the inevitable. It almost feels like one of those tests where you’re hooked up to some electrodes and asked some questions, and they tell if you get one wrong you get shocked, but in reality they’re going to shock you every time to see how long you will hold out before giving up. Ok, maybe not to that extreme, but still.
  • I know this is true of most games so this is more me than SL itself, but a full run-through from day 1 to whenever Gargos arrives, especially if you’re working towards delaying it, is somewhat exhausting and a bit time demanding, which I know is supposed to be the draw of the mode. But that was just my first impression of marathoning the mode twice.

The only other thing I could probably add is just asking if all the characters are going to get a “movie reel” or only select ones will?

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All characters have at least one. Kim Wu has a couple of them though, and maybe some of the other S3 characters as well?

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Well, judging from the collectibles section so far I’m only seeing

Jago, Kan-Ra, Hisako, Kim Wu(4), Mira(3), Saberwulf, Fulgore, Tusk (4), and Gargos.

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Never mind then :joy: I recall seeing one for all the character I looked for, but I was definitely doing a more “at a glance” run through all the collectibles.

I do wish there were more though - they’re pretty well done! :slight_smile:

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@STORM179 DID YOU NOT SEE MY CUTSCENES THREAD?

You monster.

jk

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So I just got a second email with a different code to download shadow lords. Anyone know what thats about?

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What I noticed in SL when fighting all over the world…how important it is to have so many diverse stages (like SF2 world warriors, where every stop was in another part of the world), and it would be a shame if we didnt get more.

This is not a complaint about this season, although I would love to have had more, especially one for Mira. But if we get a season 4 or other (perhaps SL) DLC, it would be nice to at least get ‘some’ other stages. In other words, if we get more content, I hope we dont get to hear, “but we already have enough stages…”

Also, the character specific missions, I hope we can get some more added regularly, especially for the season 1 and 2 cast, dont have to be with cinematics (although would be nice, the ones present look fine), but just to show more character interaction. Loved the one where Hisako went to get Spinal to throw him to the astral plane/afterlife. But I feel there are more of these for the season 3 cast.

Cant wait to see Eyedoll added to SL.

Also, please pretty please, can we get shadow lab AI fueling SL?

Question to the @developers I finished SL with Jago as my captain, but the ending didnt give me anything Jago specific. Is the captain just the main story anchor in the text interactions during the game then, or did I miss something? Or will that be the character to get a new skin or other reward?
Because as far as story missions go, all three members of your team get interactions.
I did notice that Kim-Wu, Mira and Tusk had extra cutscenes, could it be you can only unlock them when they are your captain?
In short, what does the captain do?

Anyways, things that popped into my head after playing…had more, but saw them already adressed, mostly by @xSkeletalx and @Sheptastic0312 I believe…

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Just finished my first play through. I’ll admit I’m notoriously impatient and got a bit lost, mainly because I wasn’t reading what all the buff ect do fully. I love the presentation though and it’s cool to have this new mode. I’m sure I’ll enjoy the second time more as kim and jago are two of my least favourite characters to use.

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I’m completely in love with it, I understand what needs to be done, I love the strategic aspect of the buffs, managing the guardians, Kan-Ra is a great host, and the side mission and decisions are very intruiging, especially for the fact that they can greatly boost or further negate your chances of success in the upcoming turn. While I had access, I played through until day 8 while keeping all corruption below half of Omen’s mark, now I had Kim-Wu & Fulgure on the brink a few times but through item management It all worked out, I saved my main Jago for the hardest challenges, and made sure he was always available for them by managing how and when I used the other characters… I signed up for official access and really hope I get in to continue my path but 09/20 will definitely be the best day in gaming history for me…

and to think this isn’t even the final iteration of SL

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I noticed this as well. I was playing with Saberwulf as captain and when I got to Gargos Saberwulf lost but Gargos was in my party & I beat Gargos with himself, and then I got Gargos’ ending.

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I beat it during the ‘glitch’, but what I got felt like a general ending.

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For the daily reward, put the name and qualities of the item you get, right now I’m getting things I dont know of, they disappear in my inventory.

Also for the tank chest, make the countdown start from the first hit given instead of the moment it falls, sometimes we are positioned badly…

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I’m glad to hear it. I’ve not managed to play through much due to a lack of sighted help but what I managed to play through I liked. New sounds, new custom scores in places, and that astral plane ambience is a very appreciated touch too.