Rasslin' Video Games

[Ace]

3 hours ago, Technico Support said:

 Lots of team names as well, including The Unbreakable Machines. 

Weirdly, not the Hardys, even though they're both in the game.

 

[Zakk_Sabbath]

14 hours ago, For Great Justice said:

it’s disappointing that you can’t visually see where you stand on damage”? GTF out of here.

That to me definitely reads as someone who's expecting their character to move around very dazed/fatigued, crawl to make the cover, hit 'tired finishers,' see the beads of sweat like @Sparkleface said - basically, more the simulation style of the 2K games, which I agree was a completely unrealistic expectation from the start.

I pre-ordered the Elite edition, and while I've had a great time with doing couch 1v1s so far, even I, as an AEW diehard have to admit: this was in no way worth the $71.99 price point. The groundwork is there for a good game, but it's extremely bare bones as things stand currently. 

Candidly, I don't think the No Mercy comparisons were good ones; I think that's a bit of wishful thinking folks had based on the art style. No Mercy had more depth and match variety. Hoping that stuff comes later via DLC - but it kinda sucks there's no cage match, no backstage area to brawl through, that sort of thing. And the CAW and CAA suites are BARE. If you're into that kind of thing like I am, prepare to be disappointed.

IMO this is closer to to the WCW vs. The World/World Tour/Revenge trilogy where they're still sort of laying the framework for what came after with WM2K and No Mercy - whether that's through DLC or a sequel, who knows, but I'm finding it lacking so far. There's just... Not a lot to do. Idk how else to say it. So far we've been picking it up for an hour here or there, but there's just kinda not a lot to actually sink time into so far other than the story mode and the various challenges - but the XP you gain from them goes toward the shop, which doesn't quite have a lot yet. It just needed a little more time to bake - would have been a great $40 demo to spread the word about the snow and full release

 

Edit: since I can't navigate pages I completely missed page 58 where everyone said the same thing I said - anyway, I agree...

Edited June 30, 2023 by Zakk_Sabbath

[Technico Support]

Loooool there’s a rhythm mini game where you spam taunts with Penta

[username]

I also watched the NewLegacyInc boys play some of the game last night and... online looks to be in very rough shape. It may just be that the game ain't built for multiman matches (they were running a bunch of tag ones) but I swear there were more matches where something inexplicable happened than there were ones that went well, and given the average match seems to last three or so minutes that's kinda worrisome. I saw a match continue after a 3 count and several reversals dropped (i.e. you got the visual flash of it being successful yet the move still hit), lag seems to just cause havoc with it.

Between that and the poor state of the CAWs (again, the sequel needs a way to share them assuming they get a halfway decent set-up when they have more time to dedicate to it) I'm gonna pass on it for now, at $60 it's way too much for a game that I'll probably play for a week looking at all the new stuff before getting bored of it. Those things are what could extend my interest beyond the fairly short career mode, if I was still in college like I was in the AKI days where we could crowd around a tv with four controllers it'd be a different story but I ain't so... hopefully next time.

[Casey]

Say what you will about the CAW mode, but I’ve seen good (for this game) creations of Ibushi, Shibata and Triple H.

And I made a Big Van Vader (NJPW version) tonight that I’m pretty happy with. Moveset and entrance and everything.

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

9 hours ago, Zakk_Sabbath said:

That to me definitely reads as someone who's expecting their character to move around very dazed/fatigued, crawl to make the cover, hit 'tired finishers,' see the beads of sweat like @Sparkleface said - basically, more the simulation style of the 2K games, which I agree was a completely unrealistic expectation from the start.

I pre-ordered the Elite edition, and while I've had a great time with doing couch 1v1s so far, even I, as an AEW diehard have to admit: this was in no way worth the $71.99 price point. The groundwork is there for a good game, but it's extremely bare bones as things stand currently. 

Candidly, I don't think the No Mercy comparisons were good ones; I think that's a bit of wishful thinking folks had based on the art style. No Mercy had more depth and match variety. Hoping that stuff comes later via DLC - but it kinda sucks there's no cage match, no backstage area to brawl through, that sort of thing. And the CAW and CAA suites are BARE. If you're into that kind of thing like I am, prepare to be disappointed.

IMO this is closer to to the WCW vs. The World/World Tour/Revenge trilogy where they're still sort of laying the framework for what came after with WM2K and No Mercy - whether that's through DLC or a sequel, who knows, but I'm finding it lacking so far. There's just... Not a lot to do. Idk how else to say it. So far we've been picking it up for an hour here or there, but there's just kinda not a lot to actually sink time into so far other than the story mode and the various challenges - but the XP you gain from them goes toward the shop, which doesn't quite have a lot yet. It just needed a little more time to bake - would have been a great $40 demo to spread the word about the snow and full release

 

Edit: since I can't navigate pages I completely missed page 58 where everyone said the same thing I said - anyway, I agree...

I think it's a game that would be great to play in local co-op (while I admit I haven't done so yet), and I imagine when they were invoking the N64 games, that may have been what they meant. Unfortunately, the market for wrestling games in the last 25 years has transitioned to needing more than a fun local co-op experience. There needs to be more meat on the bone in terms of the creation aspect and game modes. 12-15 hairstyles and a handful of attire options may have cut it when we had never seen create-a-wrestler in the United States before, but it's not 1998 anymore and what they have available is disappointing if you're someone that wants to go wild making a bunch of wrestlers to match up against the AEW roster.

That said, a lot of this can be fixed via patch if they decide to do so. The question is whether or not they'll decide to do so. The other question is, if they do, are they going to microtransaction the living heck out of the game as a result.

[NikoBaltimore]

I played it for a bit while still currently in Greece on the Switch. So far it's pretty fun though am not gonna do RTE until I get home and do it on Xbox. But even if it's relatively bare bones fun is had and I'm looking forward to doing matches and mini games with my wife. Might be better to save that for Xbox though.

[Technico Support]

I don't really mind the more limited CAW.  To me, it's like the uncanney valley.  If the CAW system is so deep and nuanced that I can make a CAW look EXACTLY like the real person, then CAWs that aren't 100% perfect really stand out as "bad."  Like once you can make a CAW perfect, then "good enough" is no good at all.  Unless you have community creations, where guys with too much time on their hands and way too much OCD, god bless 'em, are making perfect CAWs and I can just download them, then I'll take a more limited system because I just don't have the time or inclination to work on a CAW for hours.  Of course I'm from a time where I remember playing Toukon Retsuden 3 25 years ago and my Steve Austin and Perry Saturn CAWs had the same head because options were limited.  Am I saying limitations make good art?  I have no idea.  All I've done with the CAW suite so far is make a meme creepypasta character my daughter wanted me to make.

Edited June 30, 2023 by Technico Support

[RIPPA]

In what I am surely is a coincidence and not intentional - WWE 2K23 is being show off today

[The Natural]

11 hours ago, Technico Support said:

Loooool there’s a rhythm mini game where you spam taunts with Penta

My rage meter.

[The Natural]

Snapshot selfies of Sting make me laugh.

[Craig H]

23 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

I don't really mind the more limited CAW.  To me, it's like the uncanney valley.  If the CAW system is so deep and nuanced that I can make a CAW look EXACTLY like the real person, then CAWs that aren't 100% perfect really stand out as "bad."  Like once you can make a CAW perfect, then "good enough" is no good at all.  Unless you have community creations, where guys with too much time on their hands and way too much OCD, god bless 'em, are making perfect CAWs and I can just download them, then I'll take a more limited system because I just don't have the time or inclination to work on a CAW for hours.  Of course I'm from a time where I remember playing Toukon Retsuden 3 25 years ago and my Steve Austin and Perry Saturn CAWs had the same head because options were limited.  Am I saying limitations make good art?  I have no idea.  All I've done with the CAW suite so far is make a meme creepypasta character my daughter wanted me to make.

I would prefer a limited CAW, but maybe not this limited. I don't want to have to fuck around with any sliders for faces or bodies or any of that bullshit. Just give me a wide variety of faces, body types and enough outfit designs. I don't have the time to create the most perfect fucking guy from 1996 New Japan. Just let me make some shit kinda fast and have it look good enough.

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

9 minutes ago, Craig H said:

I would prefer a limited CAW, but maybe not this limited. I don't want to have to fuck around with any sliders for faces or bodies or any of that bullshit. Just give me a wide variety of faces, body types and enough outfit designs. I don't have the time to create the most perfect fucking guy from 1996 New Japan. Just let me make some shit kinda fast and have it look good enough.

I wouldn't have minded a search option for the moves. There's so many of them that finding the one I want shouldn't have to take me looking through pages and pages to find the one I'm looking for.

[Craig H]

8 minutes ago, Sparkleface said:

I wouldn't have minded a search option for the moves. There's so many of them that finding the one I want shouldn't have to take me looking through pages and pages to find the one I'm looking for.

That would be a good quality of life improvement.

[Casey]

15 minutes ago, Sparkleface said:

I wouldn't have minded a search option for the moves. There's so many of them that finding the one I want shouldn't have to take me looking through pages and pages to find the one I'm looking for.

I don’t know if you know this, but if you flick the thumb stick to the right it scrolls an entire page at a time instead of move by move. Maybe that’ll help your search go by faster?

[Zimbra]

1 minute ago, Casey said:

I don’t know if you know this, but if you flick the thumb stick to the right it scrolls an entire page at a time instead of move by move. Maybe that’ll help your search go by faster?

I spent a very unpleasant hour or so in custom mode before I figured this out by accident.

[Stefanie Sparkleface]

18 minutes ago, Casey said:

I don’t know if you know this, but if you flick the thumb stick to the right it scrolls an entire page at a time instead of move by move. Maybe that’ll help your search go by faster?

...

Son of a bitch.

[The Natural]

2 hours ago, NikoBaltimore said:

I played it for a bit while still currently in Greece on the Switch. So far it's pretty fun though am not gonna do RTE until I get home and do it on Xbox. But even if it's relatively bare bones fun is had and I'm looking forward to doing matches and mini games with my wife. Might be better to save that for Xbox though.

Hope you're having a great holiday, mate. Meant to say that sooner.

[Octopus]

Very fun. I’m happy to say as Eddie Kingston I won the Casino Battle Royal, only to lose to Jericho in true Kingston heartbreak fashion. Playing on normal still, so not a good brag. @Craig H is accurate in how weird RTE is. Inserting Kingston into these scenarios is funny. It is probably more fitting for a CAW. Lol Avocado toast. Lol planes. Good fun so far. Hopefully future patches provide exciting new scenarios. Debating on having Kingston join the Dark Order or not.

The CAW options are currently bad. But “The Octopus” is a usable ring name. So A+. 

Not having tornado tags is silly. But I’m playing by myself and I’ll likely do 1v1 or wild 4ways. 

I’ve played as Penta, Dax, Danielson, Mox, and Kingston so far. I have a lot more to discover. The Deathmatch was a lot of fun. 

I like the punch and kick being separated. It gives more strike options. I often forget to kick though. But a chop combo ending in a kick is pretty sweet. I love the signature and finisher being different. Once you get good with characters it’ll be fun to use your signature to set up your finisher. So far the buttons haven’t been difficult. I love to taunt.

I feel the arcade feel gives it enough of a Street Fighter or atelier vibe in that intergender matches are not weird. 

I’m excited to try online modes. I don’t do the mini games but maybe in the future.

Overall, I’d say the game isn’t worth its price point, but sadly everything I consider overpriced. This will replace nightly scrolling of TikTok. So for me, it’s worth it as a fan of this genre. I’m hoping for big future updates that we don’t have to pay for. 

[Log]

Little man played all day yesterday and is talking a lot of shit to his old man.

Realized we'd need another controller for the Switch since you can't use the two little ones for the game.

It'll be here Sunday, and he's about to get his little ass whooped!

[The Natural]

3 minutes ago, Log said:

Little man played all day yesterday and is talking a lot of shit to his old man.

Realized we'd need another controller for the Switch since you can't use the two little ones for the game.

It'll be here Sunday, and he's about to get his little ass whooped!

You and your Son will be like The Simpsons episode when Homer and Bart Simpson play that fighting game .

[Craig H]

23 hours ago, Casey said:

It is. I like it a lot, honestly.

I’m on mobile so I’m not gonna go through the effort of quoting all of that and snipping out the part I’m addressing, but @Craig H you can just skip the workouts and stuff if you’re playing as a non-CAW. Maybe still do dining to get the energy back up, and the sight seeing for motivation, but there are power-ups to buy for both of those things. The workout thing is for CAWs so you can boost up their stats. All it does here for someone like you or me using Punk or Eddie is convert to in-game money once the mode is over (the little dumbbell icon on the UI).

Also you had the exact same storyline as I did. Except replace Anna Jay and Sting with Thunder Rosa and Danielson.

Oh yeah, I wanted to get back to this. @Octopus just reminded me about it. I'm not saying to skip any of the RTE stuff. Despite how annoying and time consuming it can be, I'm saying for anyone here to experience all of those weekly activities for themselves. At least for a little bit. And yeah, as someone playing Eddie in RTE mode, it's pretty hilarious seeing the shit scripted for him. I love that every city has the same looking restaurant. Again, that fucking MIDI smooth jazz early 90s billiard game music in every weekly event or scene. Eddie looking like a fucking bum in a gym. It is something to experience.

Also, I don't think you can skip the workouts and dining and all of that stuff, even with a non-CAW. You get injured way too easily and then you're all sluggish and slow and get mauled.

Fuck, I forgot to comment on the completely arbitrary star rating system. There's no rhyme or reason to it. Again, I like and appreciate it because it's fucking hilarious for how weird the star ratings are. WWE 2K has done star ratings pretty well for awhile now so Yukes should have an idea for how that stuff would work, but in this it's just a bizarre mess. I had a tag match go over 10 minutes with a ton of reversals, including Punk reversing my finisher and then hitting me with the GTS only for Sting to break up the pin. It was probably the most exciting match I've had. 2 stars. Next match lasted 3 minutes with me just spamming strikes and hitting a few moves to get up to a special. 3 1/2 stars. Ok then, lol.

Again, there is such a weird ass charm to this game for how not really busted it is, but for how bizarre it is. And it plays well. I don't know why anyone would have expected this to basically be on the same level as No Mercy or even Def Jam or hell, the MUSCLE games right out the gate. It's going to take some time to get there and the first thing they had to do was get the engine right. They largely did that. Now they just need to build a body for the next game and make some improvements to that engine. I'm not even sure what kind of score to give this, but I think it's at least worth your time especially if you're going to play couch co-op. Is it worth all of your time? No. But Fight Forever does...a thing...and it does it kind of just well enough. 

I would love for there to be any kind of post mortem interview with Kenny for this game to ask him who the fuck came up with the storylines for RTE mode or who thought minigames were a good idea. I remember when minigames were first announced and my brain kind of broke at that announcement. Minigames? In a wrestling game? Why? It's like the worst version of Tekken having bowling or volleyball, but I'll say this...Tekken never made me or my friends laugh nearly as much as these weird ass mini games.

[Casey]

Unrestricted did an episode about the game this week. Nik Sobic claims that, as well as himself pushing for it, the devs wanted minigames as well. Sobic himself pushed for the Shida one. And it’s been long rumored it was an Omega idea, too.

[Craig H]

Maybe Kenny was thinking more along the lines of Fuzion Frenzy or Kung Fu Chaos?

[Zakk_Sabbath]

I played again for a bit, and I'm just so bummed out right now, man. I wanted to like this so much, but even for the throwback experience they were going for, there's just way, way too much missing. I hope this Stadium Stampede BR thing is cool at least, whenever that comes. But God damn, I cannot overstate it, what a swing and a miss (for me personally - if you're digging it, no offense intended at all). And again I stress: gameplay is pretty good, local 1v1s are super fun... but that's literally all this game has going for it as of today. I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed (and bored. Really, really bored. Wayne-Campbell-I-once-thought-I-had-mono-for-a-year bored).