Was getting down some thoughts on storymode, and it’s a bit too much word vomit for Discord so I’m putting it here.
TFH is the first time in a long time I have played a fighting game (more of a platformer/shooter gal). Still not brave enough to fight real people, but I’ve been plugging away in the arcade, saltmines, and the tutorials (which are an absolute godsend! And also funny. Oleander is best ungulate). I’ve gotten to the stage with Oleander where she’ll do something and around 70 percent of the time that was on purpose, with Velvet around 50 percent, but the other characters have taken a backseat.
Arizona, well, she’s no Pom (Pom-mains=witchcraft!), but she’s never been one I’ve spent a lot of time on. It’s the lasso. You can only take so many lasso whiffs. So getting forced to play as Arizona for storymode, my initial thoughts were I’m going to have a bad time.
I was feeling brave so hit intermediate difficulty, fully prepared to drop down if button mashing proved to be a failure. But this was just right, with the boss fights providing a challenge but not an insurmountable one. It felt similar to Ori and the Will of the Wisps: OMG how the f**k am I going to beat THAT! But after a bit of flailing around and, admittedly, a few failures, you can work out their patterns and what you need to do.
By the end of Arizona’s chapter, I had gone from stumbling about and taking constant hits to the face to blocking and pulling off actual lasso grabs pretty reliably.
Wolf/snek/panther/bear are familiar from arcade and saltmines, so I knew their ways and what fighting types they are teaching you to counter. The new thing here was learning to react as Arizona. But storymode brings a new challenger: bird. This guy is a jerk! Flapping around, thinking he’s so big, pecking you in the face! But I was so ridiculously proud of myself for figuring out this guy’s deal and anti-airing him in the beak!
Outside of the fighting, the overworld is a lot of fun to wander around, speak to NPCs, and find secrets (What is the deal with mystery cave cow? Why does Arizona hate bananas? Will Velvet and Vixen just kiss already?). Only disappointment was all those pots in the Alpake Highlands which just refused to be smashed.
The main cast interactions are super super charming. The combo of those expressive portraits, the adorable little sprite actions, the beeps that actually sound like the characters(!) and sharp dialogue is something really special (PUMPKIN SPICE!?!). Of course the big star here is Arizona as it’s her chapter. I’ll admit she was never my favourite, losing out to Oleander (and Fred) and Velvet in sheer audacity, though next to Pom was always most sympathetic. But she shines in the spotlight here. I can tell Mane6 had a lot of fun with her dialogue. That Fight Club moment facing off against a sudden crowd of demonic predators was where I decided ‘yep. I like her.’
Only slight frustration is with those long jump platform sections. Those jumps are really difficult to pull off on a keyboard. I have to use both hands to hit the arrow keys and pray. Long jump platforms + birds that knock you back to the start = you guys are mean!
But I’ve loaded it up again, this time on Experienced to keep me busy until Velvet’s storymode drops. And maybe I’ll figure out how to land air lassos.
(Also special shoutout to the godly art, animation and music! It’s just all so…pretty, and makes it a joy to play. Even when Velvet’s tornado of doom has iced me in the face yet again)
TLDR: Storymode fun, jumping hard, looking forward to part 2! Excellent job guys!
TFH is the first time in a long time I have played a fighting game (more of a platformer/shooter gal). Still not brave enough to fight real people, but I’ve been plugging away in the arcade, saltmines, and the tutorials (which are an absolute godsend! And also funny. Oleander is best ungulate). I’ve gotten to the stage with Oleander where she’ll do something and around 70 percent of the time that was on purpose, with Velvet around 50 percent, but the other characters have taken a backseat.
Arizona, well, she’s no Pom (Pom-mains=witchcraft!), but she’s never been one I’ve spent a lot of time on. It’s the lasso. You can only take so many lasso whiffs. So getting forced to play as Arizona for storymode, my initial thoughts were I’m going to have a bad time.
I was feeling brave so hit intermediate difficulty, fully prepared to drop down if button mashing proved to be a failure. But this was just right, with the boss fights providing a challenge but not an insurmountable one. It felt similar to Ori and the Will of the Wisps: OMG how the f**k am I going to beat THAT! But after a bit of flailing around and, admittedly, a few failures, you can work out their patterns and what you need to do.
By the end of Arizona’s chapter, I had gone from stumbling about and taking constant hits to the face to blocking and pulling off actual lasso grabs pretty reliably.
Wolf/snek/panther/bear are familiar from arcade and saltmines, so I knew their ways and what fighting types they are teaching you to counter. The new thing here was learning to react as Arizona. But storymode brings a new challenger: bird. This guy is a jerk! Flapping around, thinking he’s so big, pecking you in the face! But I was so ridiculously proud of myself for figuring out this guy’s deal and anti-airing him in the beak!
Outside of the fighting, the overworld is a lot of fun to wander around, speak to NPCs, and find secrets (What is the deal with mystery cave cow? Why does Arizona hate bananas? Will Velvet and Vixen just kiss already?). Only disappointment was all those pots in the Alpake Highlands which just refused to be smashed.
The main cast interactions are super super charming. The combo of those expressive portraits, the adorable little sprite actions, the beeps that actually sound like the characters(!) and sharp dialogue is something really special (PUMPKIN SPICE!?!). Of course the big star here is Arizona as it’s her chapter. I’ll admit she was never my favourite, losing out to Oleander (and Fred) and Velvet in sheer audacity, though next to Pom was always most sympathetic. But she shines in the spotlight here. I can tell Mane6 had a lot of fun with her dialogue. That Fight Club moment facing off against a sudden crowd of demonic predators was where I decided ‘yep. I like her.’
Only slight frustration is with those long jump platform sections. Those jumps are really difficult to pull off on a keyboard. I have to use both hands to hit the arrow keys and pray. Long jump platforms + birds that knock you back to the start = you guys are mean!
But I’ve loaded it up again, this time on Experienced to keep me busy until Velvet’s storymode drops. And maybe I’ll figure out how to land air lassos.
(Also special shoutout to the godly art, animation and music! It’s just all so…pretty, and makes it a joy to play. Even when Velvet’s tornado of doom has iced me in the face yet again)
TLDR: Storymode fun, jumping hard, looking forward to part 2! Excellent job guys!