Maple
Member
fightymod seven
Overall I would say I am pleased with the new direction you have taken with Battlemod since the last few major content versions prior. My past experiences with it dealt with the reliance on rings for interactions and the momentum of thrusting characters taking too much of a presence on the battlefield. The parry addition changes up the way you defend against someone approaching and makes the hit & run actions of players feel less impactful which is GREAT, though I will get to an exception to this later.
First up on the plate is the addition of 2D arena stages. The layout of the provided 2D stage holds itself pretty well but the push-able ball definitely lends itself more use to characters with a thrust or spin attack. The ball more or less feels like it is in the way if you are using a non-spin character, since there is not much room for them to get to speed, as in to impact it hard enough to catch someone off guard. The 2D arenas that I have tried community-wise are much too simple, but lets player interactions shine and gives me a good idea in how the rebalancing of characters has shaped up to be. This follows further into:
The introduction of new stock arena stages for battlemod. Most of these I find are absolutely a good change of pace and better than trying to use ringslinger match stages for duking it out. No more chasing someone through half the map, now you are chasing them in an arena with very little escape. This kind of forced enclosed space is exactly what was needed to pair with a deathmatch style of play. Shield item quantity and frequency may have to be tweaked in some stages but what is already provided is much better to me than the monitors. The clocktower themed stage however felt a tad too small, perhaps it could do with a little bit more girth.
Speaking of shields, the attraction shield is absolutely bonkers. I don't quite know if its homing attraction attack even has a limit, for it to 180 and go after someone running all across the map feels a bit excessive. If there is a way to put decay on the amount of time the attraction shield can home onto someone it would be welcome. The armageddon shield also has quite a bit of range on it for small stages. It may be rare, but it could still stand to not interrupt nearly the entire map in some situations. With those out of the way, the focus on themed shields is a nice touch for the snow map and the water map, so I hope Lighting can find a continuation of this probably in the form of shock hazards.
Moving on to characters:
I would love to go back and dive into the modes that were previously the focus of battlemod like control point and eggrobo tag but cannot stomach the frames that result in being a client opposed to the host in battlemod 7.0 and later. (A problem you are likely already aware of) Most of my time was spent looking at the new arena and survival mode so in the future I hope I can revisit this with some further sessions and analysis. Battlemod is the most fun I have ever had with srb2 player vs player without a doubt.
Overall I would say I am pleased with the new direction you have taken with Battlemod since the last few major content versions prior. My past experiences with it dealt with the reliance on rings for interactions and the momentum of thrusting characters taking too much of a presence on the battlefield. The parry addition changes up the way you defend against someone approaching and makes the hit & run actions of players feel less impactful which is GREAT, though I will get to an exception to this later.
First up on the plate is the addition of 2D arena stages. The layout of the provided 2D stage holds itself pretty well but the push-able ball definitely lends itself more use to characters with a thrust or spin attack. The ball more or less feels like it is in the way if you are using a non-spin character, since there is not much room for them to get to speed, as in to impact it hard enough to catch someone off guard. The 2D arenas that I have tried community-wise are much too simple, but lets player interactions shine and gives me a good idea in how the rebalancing of characters has shaped up to be. This follows further into:
The introduction of new stock arena stages for battlemod. Most of these I find are absolutely a good change of pace and better than trying to use ringslinger match stages for duking it out. No more chasing someone through half the map, now you are chasing them in an arena with very little escape. This kind of forced enclosed space is exactly what was needed to pair with a deathmatch style of play. Shield item quantity and frequency may have to be tweaked in some stages but what is already provided is much better to me than the monitors. The clocktower themed stage however felt a tad too small, perhaps it could do with a little bit more girth.
Speaking of shields, the attraction shield is absolutely bonkers. I don't quite know if its homing attraction attack even has a limit, for it to 180 and go after someone running all across the map feels a bit excessive. If there is a way to put decay on the amount of time the attraction shield can home onto someone it would be welcome. The armageddon shield also has quite a bit of range on it for small stages. It may be rare, but it could still stand to not interrupt nearly the entire map in some situations. With those out of the way, the focus on themed shields is a nice touch for the snow map and the water map, so I hope Lighting can find a continuation of this probably in the form of shock hazards.
Moving on to characters:
- I feel like with the addition of parry, Sonic went from having outrageous presence to now having to be a bit more methodical, sometimes! You still very much can turn the brain off to go for a ground-pound against someone busy and that's perfectly fine, though I am not sure how I feel about them being able to do it multiple times before landing. That never quite sat well with me.
- Tails feels like they actually have a fighting chance against the crazy abilities of other fighters with their new RC bots in... 2D mode. In 3D stages you will feel rather passive and weak, so Tails unfortunately hasn't risen in ranks. They are more useful in not engaging the enemy at all, which does not promote player interaction.
- Knuckles having the frontal defense removed is overwhelmingly welcome, but they aren't off scott-free just yet. For how determined a knuckles player can be in glide chasing, they can also decide to stall at any point they desire. The amount of time you can stay in the ground is quite lengthy, and I find sometimes that both knuckles players are underground while another player simply can't.. approach that situation. They have to wait for it to play out. I think it would do him good to receive a harsher scaling for amount of time spent underground.
- Amy received a welcome vertical tool to their arsenal in exchange for removing the charm beam of every sonic player's nightmares. I feel like with their tornado tweaked after its inception, Amy is in a rather balanced spot 3D-wise. Ultimately my favorite one to use of the bunch. 2D-wise they might slightly step over that balance with what they clash against but I have not felt it to be overpowered in the least compared to the mobility of other characters.
- Fang is... the issue I needed to get back to from the beginning involving parry since they are the only character that makes me dissatisfied with the change. Their consequence for missing a shot has mostly vanished since they can parry at any moment of popgun downtime. Fang is free to fire away and react to any incoming offenders without having to move their position at all, this usually entices the entire room to go after you and for good reason. Fang can also gently place a bomb at their position to trap any incoming offenders so that is adding to their use in staying as still as they feel like to rack up popgun hits. Fang has no need to fear being hit. Fang is a sentry tower, and everyone wants a piece of him. Unless you are underwater in which case.. absolutely no one wants to be close to Fang. The range of attack nerf on their popgun is an appreciated decision for 2D mode. Perhaps slapping Fang with a bit of a longer lag period than other characters after a parry attempt would open up the opportunity for a counterattack, since Fang is likely to reach back for their popgun with you making a beeline right for Fang. They are rather hard to think about compared to other characters but I hope it is not impossible to give them a closer examination.
- Metal is a rather curious character to think about for battlemod now. Having the auto-aim removed from the quick use of the beam charge attack is welcome, and I often find myself like a deer in headlights looking at their full grid blast. The character is definitely still ring thirsty, but I find myself mostly just running around in a circle on the oasis and hoping I just dash mode right into someone. Rather fun for something so ineffectual. Metal is a threat to behold in 2D stages so a careful finger on parry is needed around them.
I would love to go back and dive into the modes that were previously the focus of battlemod like control point and eggrobo tag but cannot stomach the frames that result in being a client opposed to the host in battlemod 7.0 and later. (A problem you are likely already aware of) Most of my time was spent looking at the new arena and survival mode so in the future I hope I can revisit this with some further sessions and analysis. Battlemod is the most fun I have ever had with srb2 player vs player without a doubt.