SRB2Kart 1.6

[Ace Dragon]

Yeah, that's my thought as well. The "for seasoned veterans" should be Hard or even Master difficulty, not Normal.

I have played a couple of cups now on normal difficulty, and while it is not impossible to beat the rival and get first place (I got gold in both), I can see why it would be frustrating for those who are not already familiar with the tracks.

I already played those tracks on Gear 1, so I know which ones are safe to really perform drifting on and which ones require you to slow down a little to avoid falling off or going too far off the road (not to mention I now know how to break through the shortcut barriers). The first two cups also did not have tracks with a lot going on at once visually or with a lot of branching, so I have yet to see how Gear 2 pans out for those.

I at least got addons unlocked, so there will be nice user content to play with over time if I do not make a lot more progress on normal with the bundled tracks.

Regarding the tumbling, I do agree that it can either be toned down a little or the AI gets tweaked to make it less likely for many of the racers to be in close proximity to each other. On normal, I had to retry multiple times because of the difficulty in passing a cluster of racers without the right powerups (especially if you combine that with an accidental fault at the start).

 

[DocThok]

2.1 as a patch is enough. There's still a lot of problems with the game and the devs can just say "lol git gud" to all the criticism.

The biggest problems right now are the CPU AI (looking at you RIVALS), slope physics being a pain in the butt and tumble being extremely punishing in it's current state.

 

[Red2010]

I will give my opinion on DRRR Here, I will try not to address so much in terms of spoilers (if they have not already been spoiled)

Ring Racers at first seemed like a good reimagining of the up to that point obsolete Srb2 kart.

But as soon as I started to get into its world (after spending about 2 hours in a tutorial), I can say that I was faced with something that I was not very prepared for.

The first tracks were quite easy since they had enough space and you could outwit the AI a little if you were quick (this before 2.1), but it was from approximately the unlockable grand prixes after finishing the first batch of grand prixes that they give you that the game sharply increases its difficulty on tracks

I would talk more but I haven't unlocked everything yet at the time of writing this.

Complaints:

I was one of those who had the bad luck to start in the first version of Ring Racers (2.0), and the tutorial lasts too long for half of the mechanics they teach to be useful in races.

I felt that several parts were there to further explain a mechanic that you will use at most a few times in grand prixes, and that is where the duration is unnecessarily extended.

With patch 2.1 they added the ability to skip it (or at least signal it) and even after spending my first 2 hours learning mechanics that I won't use, they finally give me the option to go for serious grand prixes

In the end, so much racing left me wanting to do other things and UPS!

I don't know who thought of blocking addons, time attacks (at least in 2.0) and other things behind an unnecessary progression barrier.

I understand it's to make the player experience a little bit of what it's like to play with nothing, but this betrays one thing about standard Srb2. And it is its modding, since Srb2 (and Kart) let you add addons from the beginning, since you will not always play with the same characters in the same scenarios.

Sometimes I just want to add Addons to my newly installed Srb2 and I can do it without problems

Here they simply blocked that behind a progression barrier which takes time to do, which is one thing I didn't fully understand.

And here is my biggest complaint I have about Ring Racers...

The AI is unbalanced, I felt on several occasions that they reached me no matter what (especially the rival). and after seeing that if they cheat it makes me think that whoever did this only wanted to artificially lengthen the duration of the game (so that the player doesn't complain that it is short), and it doesn't help at all that the sudden jump in difficulty in the Last clues of the second batch of unlockable clues without emeralds are torture

oh and the ones I can say like "Special Stages?". Well, I'll be honest, its difficulty is very average (at least for me), what if it's not forgiven is that you have to get almost perfect in an entire grand prix to have a chance to at least see the emerald.

I like the concept of "Hey, destroy the capsule, grab the emerald and get out of there alive as best you can" but some tracks I've played with that mode are quite challenging and several times use mechanics that I'm not entirely familiar with. In general they are good if you know how to play

End:

Although I don't argue well in my eyes, this is my opinion... My intention was not to insult but to emphasize a little what I see wrong in Ring Racers...

 

[CrayFray]

I felt like giving my 2 cents to a place where it is not immediately buried. Warning, lots of spoilers in this.

Spoiler: I am spoiling most unlocks here.

I now have roughly close to 30 hours in Ring Racers, most of it in single player. I have unlocked all Grand Pix cups (also recycle cups), 100% of tracks, gotten all 14 emeralds on Normal and a few characters/colours with spraycans. I have tried to unlock most things as the game intended, and my aim was to first get at least all tracks before giving my opinion of Ring Racers.

Let me start of by stating that Ring Racers is absolutely fantastic. Kart Krew has done an absolutely phenomenal job establishing a tight core gameplay loop. It is seriously very fun to engage with, especially with friends via netgames. All of the changes introduced compared to Kart are such a step up that you guys weren't lying - This truly is racing at the next level, and you can feel it with every race. I would like to give attention to at least a couple mechanics:

- Item Roulette kicks major ass. Over the course of the game, I realized the Item roulette stays consistent under certain conditions under the engine hood. That is so cool because I exactly know what items I can expect at certain positions/distances from other drivers. The game gives you the tools for just the right situation, and adds a flavour of skill by timing the roulettes to - and here is the kicker - to your preferred choice. Want invincibility because you can best peform at a consistent speed? Sure, if you can hit it! Speed Sneaker more your style? Have at it! This is so cool.

- Catchup Mechanics. Top notch. I love that item boxes get replaced with roulette spins at rings. Hitting jackpots or close to is so damn satisfying, and effective on top. The tethering keeps the pressure up. No longer can 1st place rest easily, as the next grow/invincibility will quickly turn the tides either in your favour or against. I love knowing that even if I eat major butt, I still have a stake in the race, because I can rely on the game to give me the tools and knowledge of the tracks to gain the edge over other racers.

- Grand Pix and Track variety are off the charts. There is lots of pretty eye candy to awe over, and I feel even the "bad" maps have some staying power. I don't really think any map is truly "atrocious," maybe just too tough for my taste or just not fit for my playstyle. I almost never see a map and go "Oh no." Maybe if I really see a tough or annoying map online, that's a different story. I am playing online to laugh and have fun, not to win. If I barely tumble into 11st, so be it. I am having a good time eitherway.

- Chaos/Super Emerald special stages were tough, but fair and also fun after conuqering them. I very much welcome being able to practice these stages before attempting the Super Emerald ones. However, I am of the opinion the "Special" option should have been made available right away when you get to the first special stage, not after only getting the first 7 emeralds (basically how it works with the Super Emeralds). I didn't have an issue with this, the first 7 weren't tough, but I still think you should be able to practice them before attempting a real run eitherway.

The package overall is fantastic, and it's the reason why I couldn't stop playing anything other than Ring Racers for this week. There are a couple things I didn't like, and it's sadly as such that I will be sticking to Normal on Grand Prix for now. It will otherwise burn me out.

- Rubberbanding AI/Rivals are sadly still extreme at times even after the v2.1 patch. I don't have a problem with Rivals as a concept, they're a fun way to do some small worldbuilding but the way they're executed is borderline cheating. Rivals frequently zip past me at absolute insane speeds, to such an extend that I can count how many times they're unable to control this speed at all, causing a fall out or getting stuck on map geometry. This should not happen and Rivals should play by the same rules as me - do skillful driving, and use items (according to the roulette, no special ones or cheated ones, nada) in order to snipe me and gain the advantage. I have to do the same, so why don't rivals do the same? The playfield is just unfair.

- Unlocks are just too much, I am sorry. I am fully admitting for punching in the characters and colour password codes, because the grand prix unlocks (getting all tracks) alone took me over 28 hours. This includes getting all emeralds for Recycle Cup A, and also a 2nd clear of the hardest special stage in this game for Recycle Cup B. That is insane and it shouldn't even have taken half of that time to get all of them.

The reason I did this is as so many unlocks are tied to the tracks thanks to the individual spray cans/mystic shrines that it didn't really make any sense to go for anything but those at first. I am fine with characters/colours being a bit extra, but a spray can for each track? A character behind mystic shrines, or sometimes really time consuming unlocks?

It didn't help that these unlocks were so far removed from what I enjoyed most about Ring Racers, that being the actual racing! Chao Keys sadly cannot rectify this problem entirely, as you are likely to spend another 2-3 hours for 10 Chao Keys if it is a big space, which is so time consuming that, for me, it isn't fun to go for them. The unlocks also tend to be on harder diffculties, with rubberbanding AI where at times, you're playing a numbers game if the past 15-20 minutes of a Grand Prix run were for naught.

With how many unlock spaces there are as well, at times when I went to the Challenges tab, I saw nothing but a grocery store item checklist. It became that monotonus to stare at unlock conditions where I know I will be spending an hour attempting this. If I do well.

I will still be racing at the next level, as the package is too fun to pass up on. I just hope these 2 will get addressed, as if they don't, the singleplayer will become more and more unappealing for me.

TLDR; RR is fantastic, gameplay loop is fantastic. Rubberbanding AI feels still like cheating at v2.1, Unlocks are way too much and exhausting to go through that at times I thought of dropping the game if it weren't for the passwords.

 

[Candescence]

So while the latest patch does absolutely improve some things in terms of difficulty, the fact that the difficulty levels of the Grand Prix goes from Relaxed to Intense without anything in-between is kinda telling. It genuinely feels like Kart Krew has a "git good scrub" mentality at times, and this does not help whatsoever. The renaming of the difficulty levels kinda side-steps the issue and also doesn't give players an option for a moderate level of difficulty between Relaxed and Intense that still lets you access the emerald stages.

As well, rivals have only been indirectly touched in terms of difficulty reduction. I get the purpose of them being more challenging and not allowing players to get comfortable in first place, but they're still very much cheating to an unnecessary degree.

Also, the use of continues should not factor into your final score at the end of the Grand Prix, especially if you're going for Emeralds - using them is already penalty enough since you have less of them to use for the Emeralds as it is. Especially in a kart racer, where your fortunes can get smashed to pieces at the last minute for reasons completely outside your control. Maybe they should factor into getting an S-rank, but aside from that...

 

[mayihaveaword]

I agree @Candescence!

I really want to enjoy this game more. With all its beautiful levels, graphics, and music, it's a huge labor of love and I'm thankful to everyone involved for releasing it--especially for free(!!)

I think the #1 issue holding the game back from greatness is its subtle "git gud scrub" mentality that comes through in the game design.

It's been improved a lot in updates, but my issues are as follows...

Summary:

Enemies and bumpers are too powerful.
In local multiplayer grand prix, please let "dead" players participate instead of locking them out. (explained below)
Rival cheats too much.
Special stage time limits are weird.
Trick system is awkward to use.
Blowing up the last place player is just triflin'!

Full thoughts

Spoiler: Click to read...

I'm thankful you can unlock stuff in local multiplayer grand prix. It's so much fun progressing through the game together. However, making players who lose all their lives sit idle feels like an unpleasant buzzkill.
○ It's not good for a group setting where you're likely introducing friends to the game. Please change this; I suggest letting "dead" players race as normal, but remove them from the points ranking (i.e. even if they place first, they don't earn points; the next player gets that bonus instead).
○ Or have them participate as a "ghost"! Ooooo...
○ (Local multiplayer grand prix) When even one player completes a special stage, I think that ALL players should get a 1up and dead players should be revived! Keep the fun going!

Enemies have unrealistic reflexes when using melee attacks on you -- even when you're BEHIND them. This feels unfair, as if the enemy itself IS a bumper item!

Melee attacks, bumper items, etc. hit you too far. I don't think they should reverse your velocity, sending you flying in the wrong direction. It feels overly punishing, especially since these hazards can be hard to see.

Like others have said, the Rivals is a good idea but they cheat and rubberband too much.

The trick system:
○ Let us use the right analog stick to do tricks instead of A + direction, which feels clunky to execute. It's overly difficult to time the two inputs correctly.
○ The trick system should not punish you for failing to do a trick. That takes the fun out -- it feels like a stressful obstacle, not a fun opportunity to get ahead. Take just one page from Mario Kart; failing to do a trick is a missed opportunity, not a total setback.
○ (Minor) Consider a more clear animation that doesn't impact visibility as much. This game has a bit of a visual overwhelm issue, though the accessibility features help.

The special stage
○ Deadlines in Intense difficulty are so short that players often lose for what feel like cheap reasons: I couldn't survey the land, I didn't have an item to pop the prison right in front of me, and the item box was far away, etc.
○ In Relaxed mode, the time limits are very long (probably far too long to challenge me, but I haven't played much of this mode). Plus, you are barred from some unlocks in this mode. Either softening Intense mode, or adding a middle ground where you can still unlock stuff would be nice.
○ To make the bonus stage still feel good and worthwhile even when you don't win, please allow players to earn some Grand Prix coins based on how many Egg Prisons they bust.

Handling has been improved but still isn't great, even for "light" characters like Amy or Tails. I would like to see drifting be more effective so you don't have to start drifting quite so early. Also, turning the analog stick essentially just turns the camera. I think steering should tuned to make dodging oncoming obstacles easier.
○ I think slowing down on the ignition or changing direction should affect your arc in the air. When your kart is airborne, it feels frustratingly prone to fall off cliffs or careen wildly out of control.

Fix Balloon Park. I don't ~hate~ it, personally, but it seems everyone else does! It needs work -- the elephants are too finicky to get through, for example.

Azure Lake - the bridge gap is too long to get through under normal circumstances, and the sea makes you sink too quickly. Really, the issue is that the karts can barely maneuver nimbly enough to hit the mountain peaks.

I don't like that the game blows up the last-place player when the player in front finishes. From their perspective, they were given a timer to finish, then blown up BEFORE the timer ran out without explanation. It's not clear to the user why this happens and causes unnecessary rage. Just shorten the time limit if you are concerned about trollish online players intentionally wasting time.

Not sure if this has been fixed already, but sometimes when using auto-roulette, it takes forever to decide on an item, cutting off your ability to use coins or items! If this is a way of nudging players away from auto-roulette, it's just not a good idea. It's unfair and frustrating.

Across the board, the game punishes you harshly and seems to subtly look down at you for not being an expert. Friends agreed when I introduced the game to them. This game certainly aims to be fun, but sometimes it loses sight of that and takes the difficulty too far.

Anyway, I feel bad critiquing the game so harshly because it is a free-of-charge, open-source labor of love. Please don't interpret this post as ungratefulness or toxicity. Hopefully this feedback helps make Dr. Robotnik's Ring Racers the best it can be.

 

[Augus]

Having accidentally done a cup on Relaxing difficulty, I'm not convinced Gear 1 is doing its intended job as being a more accessible way to play the game. Relaxing is certainly easy because of the weak AI drivers, but the reduction of speed doesn't contribute anything to the lower difficulty and actually adds frustration in a lot of ways. The tracks were clearly not designed with such low speeds in mind and it makes a lot of sections actually more difficult than at Gear 2 or barely even functional. The cup I did was the SPB Cup and here are the most problematic aspects I ran into:

Azure Lake Zone
-The mid-lap jump is very hard to make at Gear 1, requiring you to take a pretty specific line to charge a drift boost high enough to carry you over. There's the lower path sure but you're very unlikely to have enough speed to make it to land before sinking into the water, especially if you were trying to make the jump.
-The water section at the end, similarly, requires you to follow a very specific line to make it through without sinking. It's unreasonable to ask for this level of execution from people playing on easy mode simply to get through a course without falling out of bounds.

Balloon Park Zone
-This isn't so much an issue specific to Gear 1 but it's very telling that even at the glacial speed of Gear 1 the elephant gate was still an incredible pain to try and get through.
-The slopes on the back end of the lap absolutely murder your speed even with rings

Chrome Gadget
-Playing this stage normally, the crush trap is a non-issue since you can just speed under it. On Relaxing, it is very easy to get killed by the crush trap since you have to pass under it so slowly.

Desert Palace
-The sloped U-bends murder your speed even with rings and make it very easy to fall off the track.

IMO, either the gap between Gear 1 and Gear 2 needs to be shrunk or Relaxing should just be done at Gear 2. Unlike Mario Kart courses, Ring Racers courses have much heavier obstacle course elements with traps and tricky terrain that become much harder to navigate around at low speeds. As-is, people who gravitate toward Relaxing for the lower AI aggression will be stuck playing the game at incredibly low speeds that the game wasn't designed around and will have a worse experience because of it.