A Sincere and Well-Intended Open Letter to AEW

[NikoBaltimore]

In their announcement on Discord they said there's a holdup on Xbox but it shouldn't be more than 24 hours.

[Octopus]

And the story mode is dumb

[Shartnado]

On 11/24/2023 at 10:57 PM, Octopus said:

And the story mode is dumb

 

On 12/1/2023 at 4:22 AM, Octopus said:

And the story mode is dumb

 

1 hour ago, Octopus said:

And the story mode is dumb

But what I really wanna know is, how's the story mode? I hope it's not too, for a lack of a better word, dumb?

[twiztor]

On 11/24/2023 at 8:08 AM, twiztor said:

i looked into buying this the other day. still no Samoa Joe?

when your World Champion isn't in your game, that's an issue.

[Gordi the recovering AEW f]

8 hours ago, twiztor said:

when your World Champion isn't in your game, that's an issue.

So true! And I have some time to kill right now (my family is busy flying kites at grandma's house in Wakayama, where they didn't even feel the earthquake. Meanwhile, I was in the gym here when it hit. Thankfully myself and the only other guy there were both between sets when it hit. Whole building was SHAKING. Could have been seriously injured if either of us was under a heavy load. By coincidence, his family lives in Niigata, near the epicentre. He called them and they were all OK in the immediate aftermath. I am afraid to look online and read about tsunami damage). 

 

Let's talk about the game! That'll be a fine distraction.

I am going to go through the whole roster, looking at their status w/r/t Fight Forever. Also commenting on how fun it is to play with their character in game. Which will totally reveal my biases, none of which should be surprising.

As massively, wholeheartedly disappointed I am in how AEW/Yukes/Whomever is handling adding new content to Pay Forever I still enjoy the game a lot in terms of just playing matches to kill time on the train or whatever. 

MJF: NOT on the roster page! In the game. VERY fun to play with due to unique beg-off and ring-punch animations.

Samoa Joe: World Champion. NOT in the game. BUT they did add two-colour shorts to the game! So it may be possible to make a Joe CAW that slightly resembles him if you squint, now. Sadly, I suspect the reason that the CAW suite is completely ass is that they want to force people to buy their downloadable characters. Which is too "Late Stage Capitalism" for this particular grandpa, and a big part of why I changed my user name here.

 Toni Storm: Woman's World Champion. Looks like you'll be able to pay extra to download her soon. Also looks a LOT like the paid downloadable Toni Storm will NOT be Timeless Toni Storm but will be at least a year out of date.

Julia Hart: TBS champion. NOT in the game.

Big Bill: Tag Champ. NOT in the game.

Ricky Starks: Tag Champ. Actually in the game! Social media in-game is @starkmanjones, which tickles me.

Orange Cassidy: International Champ. One of the best things about the game due to unique "sloth style" animations which you can also use for CAWs by earning points in Story Mode. Which is fun, to have, say, Misawa do hands in pockets stuff.

Christian: TNT Champ. Actually in the game. No turtleneck, though

The Acclaimed: Trios Champs. You have to pay extra to download them. Also, if you pay for them you get a (pretty bad) version of the new Dynamite arena. If you only paid full price for Fight Forever, you don't get the new arena. Count me among the people who like AEW way less because of that bullshit move. 

Daddy Ass: Trios Champ. NOT in the game.

Eddie Kingston: Triple Crown Champion. My favourite guy to play as. Second wrestler and first guy I completed the "defeat 50 COM opponents" challenge with. You get 10,000 "AEW cash" for beating that challenge! I now have, quite literally, over 7,000,000 AEW cash in the game with literally NOTHING left to spend it on. That's not a joke. Which is, figuratively, a fucking joke. Also none of his three belts are available in the game. Backfist is his only finisher in the game, sadly. He also only gets one special move. Kind of underpowered.

Hook: FTW Champ. You have to pay extra to download him. I imagine he'd be really fun to play as. Word is, you don't get his actual theme. I might be tempted to buy the Hookhausen pack if you did. 

Aaron Solo, Action Andretti: Not in the game.

Adam Cole: In the game. Has a unique entrance. Fun to play against.

Edge: Not in the game. Fine by me.

Adam Page: In the game. It's fun to try and hit the Buckshot.

Alex Reynolds: Not in the game. (Henceforth: NITG or nitg)

Andrade: In the game! Not even the most ironic one, by far.

Angelico, Cool Hand, Ogogo, AR Fox, Ari, Austin Gunn, Bandido, Kaun, Cutler: NITG

Brian Cage: Fun to play as. Fun to play against. 

Brody King is NOT in the game. Dammit. Neither is Buddy Matthews.

Bryan Danielson: EXTREMELY fun to play as. Also one of the best things about the game. There's a secret challenge where if you wen the men's world title 20 times with a wrestler you unlock nifty gold attire. So I did 40 title matches alternating Bryan/Kingston wins and unlocked it for both of them. Then Dustin/Sting Orange/Darby Archer/Hobbs... Then I did it with Shida/Stat and the woman's title but that didn't unlock anything. So I did another series with them alternating men's title wins. Then Yukes or someone screwed up the implementation of that secret challenge so they just unlocked gold attires for everyone. Which maybe should have been frustrating but it was a fun way to kill time on the train so no big deal.

FTR: Have to pay extra.

Jericho: Fun to play as. Got some new attires for free! It's pretty obviously pre-strict-diet Jericho, which is kind of amusing.

Fallen Angel, Colt, Colten, Claudio: NITG. I made a half-decent Claudio CAW. He's fun to play as.

Best Friends: Fun to play as, though the tag AI is total ass. Trent got a free haircut update! He's, I think, the ONLY character with more than one haircut option. More of that, please! Abadon could really use a hairdo update, for example.

Danhausen: See: Hook.

Daniel Garcia is NOT in the game. Dammit.

Top Flight: NITG

Darby: In the game. Great fun to play as. Skateboard stuff is really amusing. Also one of the true highlights of playing this game.

Dralistico: NITG

Dustin: Tremendously fun to play as Dustin.

Righteous, All Ego, Griff, Private Party: NITG

EVIL UNO IS NOT IN THE GAME EVEN THOUGH HE HELPED CREATE AND PROMOTE IT

Jack Perry: Jungle Boy is in the game. Out of date, but fun to play as. JE have a great tag team entrance animation.

Hager, Lethal, Switchblade Jarrett, Johnny TV: NITG

Hardyz: Jeff is free, you have to pay extra for Matt. And the game CONSTANTLY gives you challenges where you have to play as Matt. I

John Silver: VERY fun to play as. You can unlock Brodie Lee. I made a DO team and gave them the JE entrance with Silver riding in on Brodie's shoulders. It makes me smile every time, which is not often because the tag AI is, sadly, total ass.

Oh yeah: JADE CARGILL IS IN THE GAME She is fun to play as, AWESOME to play against. Still not the most ironic one. 

CODY AND PUNK ARE BOTH IN THE GAME!! Those are the most ironic ones. Both of them get special entrance animations. I used Cody's for my Rey Rey CAW. Who's that slowly rising from the stage? It's likely I am a shitty person, because I LOVE playing against Punk in Lights Out and Exploding Barbed Wire matches and making him bleed buckets. Possibly that's the very best thing about the game, in my book. 

And, yes, the game still challenges you to win matches as Punk or Jade. Regularly.

If I remember correctly, you also have to unlock Cody. Which was one of the first things I did after getting the game. You can also unlock Owen, which is pretty great. His character is a BLAST to play as. Violent Dustin vs Cody blood matches are also as fun as you'd expect (if you expect they'd be very fun).

Mox: Cool special entrance, which my Claudio CAW also uses. Fun to play as or against.

Jose, Woods, Juice, Shibata: NITG

Kenny: AWESOME to play as. Has a ton of finishers and special moves. Spamming Snap Dragons is an easy way to rack up high scores. Big contrast between overpowered Kenny and underpowered Kingston, but both are great to play as.

You have to pay extra for Limitless, dammit. I made a decent CAW for him. SUCK IT, PAY FOREVER! For WHATEVER reason he is bundled in a download with The Bunny.

Killswitch: Luchasaurus is in the game. And we got a FREE black outfit for him.

Kip, Komander, Konosuke, Kota, KO'R, Aussie Open: NITG. I made an EXCELLENT Ibushi CAW. There are a handful of guys where obviously they don't mind if you want to make a CAW of them. Ibushi is one of those guys. You can even put kinesio tape on his shoulder! Incredibly fun to play as Ibushi. Made a Golden Lovers team. Too bad about the AI.

Archer: Great fun to play as. 

Big Shotty, Tiga Style, Luther: NITG. It might tempt me if we got Luther in the Toni Storm pack, but as I said it does not look like we are getting Timeless Toni.

Malakai: In the game. Fun to beat up on. His theme music rules!

Mark Briscoe is NITG, dammit!

Neither is Mark Sterling.

Young Bucks: Very Fun. I think I have already covered the tag AI issues. Their double team moves look amazing when you manage to hit one.

Daddy Magic, Kingdom, Sydal, Nakazawa, Santana,Ortiz: NITG

Miro: Fun to play as or against. Seems shorter, in the game. Looks great in the gold gear.

Brodie Lee: Unlockable. Makes me happy and sad at the same time, to play as him.

Negative One and Nicky Boy are NITG, dammit!

PAC is fun to play as or against.

Parker Boudreaux is NITG. HUGE dealbreaker for a lot of people, obviously.

The Big Paul is unlockable and it's hard to unlock him and satisfying when you do. Too much fun to play as him in Casino Battle Royale mode.

Lucha Bros: See: Young Bucks. Fenix in ladder matches is too much fun. Unfortunately, tag ladder matches aren't possible

PRETTY PETER IS NITG! WTF, AEW & YUKES! DO YOU HATE MONEY?!?!

Hobbs is underpowered but awesome to play as, like Kingston. Looks amazing in the gold gear. Still has the Team Tazz look in the game.

I made a good Preston Vance CAW. You can find CAW formulae online. Most of them are at least OK.

Neither Swerve nor Nana are in the game.

QT, Roddy: NITG. QT is still on the roster page.

Roosh: NITG. Dammit.

Sammy is in the game but he has a RIDICULOUS haircut. It's bad enough that I almost never use him.

Satnam, Serp, Sonjay, The Captain, Stoke, Stu, Butcher, Blade, Toa, Nese: NITG

Scorp is fun. I got my first seven-star match in a Lights Out match with him.

Sting is awesome!

Wardlow has lots of singlet options. Not sure why, but he isn't that fun to play as. He's challenging to play against, as are many big meaty men because of the Unyielding Poise skill which makes them impervious to strikes until you wear them down. It's one of the best skills to give your CAWs! Wardy still has the man-bun in-game

Yuta and Ospreay are NITG. Yet.

 

Abadon is one of my favourite wrestlers to play as. They could use an image update, in the game. Still have red hair here.

ANNA! is in the game. Dark Order colours.

You can unlock Aubrey as a wrestler and she's also a ref. I think you can make her ref her own match, but I don't want to check now. Rick Knox is the other ref.

Athena and Emi are NITG, dammit!

Britt has some of the best attires in the game. Winning with the lockjaw is satisfying.

Diamante, Harley: NITG

Shida is the first wrestler I beat the 50-win challenge with. Unfortunately, her Katana finisher is hopelessly glitched. They said they patched it, but it still doesn't land on Switch. Still has her FAR superior old entrance theme here.

HAYTER IS NITG, DAMMIT! Neither is Kierra.

Stat is GREAT to play as. Still an alien, too! And she does the nose boop!

Neither Leyla nor Leila is in the game. Hirsch's excellent theme music is, though.

Madison, Maria, Mercedes, Marina: NITG

Nyla is really fun to play as. Hitting the draping diving knee drop is satisfying.

PVZ: NITG

Penelope, Rebel, Velvet: NITG

Riho and Ruby are both fun enough to play as or against.

Saraya, Serena, Skye: NITG

Tay is VERY fun to play against.

Taya & Saraya: NITG. Fine by me.

Rosa is fun to play as or against. Violent blood matches between her and Britt are fun.

WILLOW IS NOT IN THE GAME!!! DAMMIT!!!

Magical Girl is BY FAR the most fun wrestler to play as! THE best thing about the game. 

 

The other at-least OK CAWS I have been able to make: Eddie Guerrero, Naito, Shinsuke, Okada, Jeff Cobb, WALTER, Sheamus, Abdullah, Hansen, Brody, MVC, Bulldogs, Harts, ZSJ, Ospreay, and Morishima. 

I also made deliberately weak CAWS of Hogan, HHH, HBK, and Orton to beat up on when there's a hard difficulty challenge, or just for shadenfreude and giggles.

 

 

Lights Out matches are the easiest way to crank out high scores. Particularly if you use the thumbtacks.

 

Edited January 2 by Gordi the former AEW fan

[The Natural]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eekWpDlEd70&t=6s

Thought this was relevant to the thread about AEW Fight Forever. Game modes and CAW lacking big time.

Edited July 2 by The Natural

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

But does the story mode still suck?

[Octopus]

20 minutes ago, Stefanie Sparkleface said:

But does the story mode still suck?

Imagine dropping a popsicle under the couch and putting it back in your mouth

[NikoBaltimore]

1 hour ago, Stefanie Sparkleface said:

But does the story mode still suck?

Unfortunately yeah.  It's mainly an excuse to make somebody and level up their stats.  It was fine the first couple time going through but that was enough for me.  I haven't even unlocked Paul Wright which is done in one of the chapters.  But with how random it feels it's just not worth it to me.

I like the game and if season 4 is the last one then yeah that's a dead game alright.  Charging about $20 each season knowing full well people would hate it drove the nail in the coffin.  I know on AEW Games's Discord there's a mod community that when not fighting amongst each other puts out some quality stuff for PC.  I've used a good amount of the stuff and it's incredible but can only go so far beyond the initial "Hey, somebody made Wembley!  Neat!" response.  I hope this doesn't ruin chances for another console game but there's got to be tons more content in the game before they even think of announcing it.

[Technico Support]

1 hour ago, NikoBaltimore said:

Unfortunately yeah.  It's mainly an excuse to make somebody and level up their stats.  It was fine the first couple time going through but that was enough for me.  I haven't even unlocked Paul Wright which is done in one of the chapters.  But with how random it feels it's just not worth it to me.

 

Yeah, when you have to go on the game's subreddit and find a link to a spreadsheet that lays out all the possible plotlines, which you have to follow to a tee to even have a chance to get all the unlockables, that just sucks.  Nothing was more disappointing than finishing one storyline and then seeing the next one is one you've already beaten for its unlockable so you're just wasting your time.

I reach a point with a lot of games where I'm just like, "am I enjoying this game or am I just grinding to be a completionist?"

Don't even get me started on how horrible tag matches are.  I thought I hated tag matches where AI controls your partner; then I got a PS5, played Fire Pro, a game where your partner acts like he's actually trying to win a wrestling match and tags you back in when it makes sense, and realized I just hate terrible AI.

Edited July 2 by Technico Support

[Ramo2653]

I checked my own stats and I have 54 hours into Fight Forever and I haven't touched it in a long time, I think I pretty much checked out after getting Owen. I tried to see if I could get all of the story mode scenarios but it didn't make sense to me to keep trying. Never touch Stadium Stampede and didn't bother with any of the DLCs post the stuff from the Elite version. I don't remember the tag AI being that awful but I didn't do a lot of them anyways. WWE2K has their own tag AI issues and 2k24's method of only allowing one run in before tagging out is interesting but not sure if it's actually good for tag drama.

Also wanted to check my 2k stats over the years and I'm at 64 hours for 2k19, 154 for 2k23 and a whopping 238 for 2k24 which I want to believe is due to some time where the console was on but I wasn't playing? I couldn't have played that much more time in MyFaction. 

[hobo joe]

Finally bought this a few months ago when the price reached a level I deemed acceptable (27.99, if I remember correctly) and overall I like it. The actual core gameplay, having matches, is a lot of fun. It’s a great base to build a way better sequel on, like Wrestlemania 2000 leading to No Mercy. Will that happen? Who knows.

Obviously what happened here is scope creep. They tried to do way too much, it took way too long and they needed to recoup cost, so they put out an unfinished game that does a lot of things poorly.

The CAW is the most disappointing. Clearly an afterthought, it has less options than No Mercy, and leveling up through the story mode is a cool idea in theory, but in practice…

the story mode is dumb. I don’t know if anyone has mentioned that. Just let me get points by having matches, I don’t give a fuck about the local cuisine. It turns CAW into a real grind of skipping cutscenes and having the same matches over and over.

I mostly just have random 1 on 1 matches with the CPU. That’s fun. I’d play online but every time I’ve tried it can’t connect me with anyone, so I assume there aren’t too many people out there playing at any given time. Ditto for Stadium Stampede.

I haven’t bought any DLC. I’d like the expanded roster but I’m not spending whatever to buy 2-3 at a time. If they do a mass release for a reasonable price at some point, maybe.

Overall, I knew what to expect and waited til the price went down, so I’m glad I picked it up. I imagine if I’d payed 60 bucks and expected a good game I’d be pissed.

[The Natural]

Haven't played the game but lack of game modes and shit CAW appear to be the game's biggest issues then lacking/expensive post release content.

[The Natural]

Can't see there been a sequel to AEW Fight Forever with how long this took but particularly you have to win the fans you alienated back.

[COLETTI]

AEW is supposed to be for the sickos, right? Go all in (heh) and just release a huge DLC for Fire Pro World. Christ, put the entire roster on there with a shit ton of new moves and parts and for that I will pay 70 damn dollars. 

Edited July 10 by Coletti

[The Natural]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3eL1X_BDb8k

Jay White DLC.

[Technico Support]

2 hours ago, Coletti said:

AEW it's supposed to be for the sickos, right? Go all in (heh) and just release a huge DLC for Fire Pro World. Christ, put the entire roster on there with a shit ton of new moves and parts that I will pay 70 damn dollars. 

I was just about to post, "just pay Spike Chunsoft to update and reskin Fire Pro World."  But yeah, just do it with a DLC and that'd be good enough for me.

[COLETTI]

53 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

I was just about to post, "just pay Spike Chunsoft to update and reskin Fire Pro World."  But yeah, just do it with a DLC and that'd be good enough for me.

Shit, several AEW folks are already in the NJPW roster DLCs - Omega, Okada, Ibushi, Juice, Ospreay, Switchblade, and Trent (although all would need updating).

Edited July 10 by Coletti

[Ramo2653]

They just announced an all DLC pack for $40 which makes me think they're done with this game for now. I'd have to assume I'm locked out since I technically bought the first season DLC as part of the Elite Edition when I first got the game. Meh.

[The Green Meanie]

For a while, they advertised Fight Forever as being "available for your favorite system" and I'd usually reply with "they came out with one for the SNES?". I finally decided to give it a try, and pretty much echo what everyone else has said. It's fine, but lacking a lot of things. I tried playing the Stadium Stampede mode, and it tried to connect with other players for several minutes until finally starting. I highly suspect all of my opponents were bots as I won the match my first three times playing without really knowing what's going on.

I'm debating purchasing that DLC bundle as there's a lof of folks in there that I'm interested as playing as, and it's a big of a large discount.

[Zakk_Sabbath]

On 7/12/2024 at 6:17 AM, The Green Meanie said:

tried playing the Stadium Stampede mode, and it tried to connect with other players for several minutes until finally starting. I highly suspect all of my opponents were bots as I won the match my first three times playing without really knowing what's going on.

I only played SS once or twice since it went live, but IIRC running a full match requires I think 25-50 online players for each game, and there are only 11 active users left on Steam. Pretty much anyone left playing has confirmed they've been doing the COD thing and rounding the lobbies out with bots otherwise it just won't ever load. The whole life cycle of this game start to finish was a bummer - particularly for those of us who have been dying for an alternative to WWE2K and Firepro.

[SirSmUgly]

I saw Gordi authored this thread on the front page and had to know what it was about.

I think the writing was on the wall re: player count when FF got added to PS+.

I'm disappointed that the game plays more like Smackdown 2 than any of the AKI games. I mean, it makes sense considering who developed it, but all the talk about how the AKI games inspired this game really had me expecting something different. 

I did buy a copy for thirty bucks and then trade it in to GameStop for fifteen, though, so that's good. 

I hope this means that Yuke's gets dumped and AEW takes a two-pronged approach by finding a new developer for their stateside game and striking a licensing deal with Spike Chunsoft for the next FirePro. I want more wrestling games in the market, preferably good ones.

Man, the whole time I played FF, I wished that they'd gone all the way with the gameplay. I wonder if any of the THQ San Diego devs who made WWE All-Stars a) joined up to make a new indy studio after THQ was liquidated, and b) are interested in making an AEW wrestling game that goes all the way with its arcade-y nature. I would love another one of those games. 

Edited July 15 by SirSmUgly

[AxB]

Back in the day (right after it launched) Stadium Stampede mode felt like a true 30 player battle royal. But by a month after it launched, it was generally you and one other human being, and 28 bots. I once won a match by killing the other human early, then waiting on the field as all of the bots ran into the storm to fight each other, and died to the storm. If nowadays it's one human vs 29 bots, that's certainly an easy way to farm wins (although why you would want to farm wins I don't know).

[Zakk_Sabbath]

The SD2 comparison is a pretty good one @SirSmUgly- based on the early art and hype videos and the idea of it being a modernized THQ/AKI game, I was expecting a more Def Jam-meets-No Mercy-like experience, myself - traditional wrestling gameplay, but with that heightened, more arcadey pacing and visual. The visuals almost got there, but the gameplay was just... stilted (which is exactly how I'd describe the first two SD games, as well).

Idk it's weird, like they made such a big deal about the animation going back to the old methods, but it's got that same janky mo-cap feeling you get from WWE2K sometimes where it'll be (for example) some endless armdrag or hammerlock reversal animation that takes for-f'n-ever to get through, and then a millisecond after it finally ends, the AI decides '2ND ROPE ASAI MOONSAULT, BITCH' before you're even fully on your feet.

I posted this some pages back (or maybe in the ratings and finance thread, I honestly can't remember) but AEW reportedly does own that engine, so no matter who does a potential sequel, they at least have something to build off of, which in turn should hopefully cut out a lot of dev time - not that I want them to rush anything, naturally. But I'm really hoping whoever it is reads the room, and gets it right. Wrestling gaming right now feels like watching a Vince-rebooked-at-7-PM-RAW at its nadir - there was a ripe opportunity for AEW/Yukes to grab a ton of people with this (I guess not so disimilarly to AEW TV early on) and they whiffed hard. Whether it's Yukes or not, if AEW makes another game, theyre gonna need a real banger with all the bells and whistles - deep create a wrestler/arena suites, a booking mode, a story mode or season mode that isn't dumb, tons of different match types.

AEW and whichever company does it has gotta do four jobs on the next one, and do them well: rebuild goodwill with FF players, steal jaded 2K players, make entirely new players/fans, and most importantly: I already have Warzone, Mario Party, and Cook, Serve, Delicious - just be an f'n wrestling game

Edited July 15 by Zakk_Sabbath

[AxB]

The best way to rebuild goodwill with Wrestling Game players is really simple: FREE UPDATES. And that means NO SEASON PASSES... and considering that the Wrasslin Video Games thread has a guy who is constantly giving us updates on his Battle Pass progress and card collections, please don't include any of that bullshit either. The FIFA-isation of sports games is bad and should be stopped.