OK so I've had a chance to try her out. I've finished a run with her and had a few short/mid-way runs that ended in a frustration-quit ^_^".
I enjoy some aspects of her but she does feel a bit weak. I don't mean the amount of damage she deals so much as just how easy (or not) it is to be effective with her, chain moves together, etc. though I can't put my finger on why exactly. She's just kind of... difficult to work with? I actually play way better with Axel 1, which is hilarious because I am universally terrible with Axel in every SoR game to the point that my friend (who's an Axel main) always gives me shit about it xD. So for an SoR 1 Blaze main and Axel hater to PREFER SoR 1 Axel is very worrying for me xD.
I really don't like giving negative feedback and I hope you understand this comes from a place of love and respect, but here are some things I felt underwhelmed by:
- Her Offense Special. I understand it's a reference to her Back Attack in SoR 2, but it not only is visually very underwhelming (it doesn't FEEL like a Special move at all), but it also isn't very useful (except MAYBE to hit enemies coming up behind you) and I kind of just forgot/pretended it didn't exist.
- Her Star Move/Blitz: Again, I can sort of see the reference, the spinning fist being a nod to her SoR 2/3 combo, but like the Offense Special, it doesn't FEEL special and isn't very useful either. Another forgettable move for me, sadly. Perhaps if she slid further with it and her fist was engulfed in her blue energy, it would feel a bit flashier?
- Her Rage Attack is pretty much the same exact thing as her Run Attack, just stronger, and was easily the most disappointing part of her moveset. From another developer, I would've gone as far as to call it 'lazy', but I imagine there's probably a reasonable reason for it being this way.
I'm assuming most of these things are due to lack of sprites, which of course I don't blame you for if that's the case. It's just a shame she couldn't have felt a little more flashy and unique in those areas.
I was kind of feeling the same thing.
Positive things I noted - I don't know if the actual numbers changed, but in general it feels like bosses and enemies aren't as ridiculously spongy as before. It still bugs me that player damage is lower overall than the OG games (Ex. Blaze doing 24 instead of 32 on backdrop, Max outputting a pitiful 40 points on the back-breaker instead of 70, etc.) but I still feel things are better balanced overall than older versions where your best shot barely took a pixel from Barbon.
I like that you can turn on the orginal tracks. No offense to Master Draven, but sometimes he deviates a little bit too much - and you just want the old school.
Nitpicks:
- Blind alt path transitions are back. Why the downgrade? I noticed an option that looked like it could fix them, but it's kind of hidden and should be on by default. I get you might want to keep things kind of a surprise and that make sense, but we should at least get a tiny peek - if nothing else show us what the character could see (their POV of a hall, window, etc.).
- Selective transparency is gone from places like the pillars in SOR2 Stage 1 bar. Again, why the downgrade? It doesn't make the game feel more retro, just more primitive and limited - especially when you've got transparency all over the place for lighting. It's also a practical annoyance to have your view blocked.
- Blaze1 way over uses the flip kick animation. It sucked all the way back in SOR1 when her grab flurry was identical to attack flurry. Now it's her power attack (stationary grab) too. For that matter, she's reusing a lot of things:
- Vertical jumpkick = forward jump kick.
- Blitz = Rage
- All heavy weapons swings are the same and all reuse SOR2 animations (no home run swing like in OG SOR1).
- Energy attack with a knife is just - her normal knife stab with some afterimages.
- As @Psykai noted, her forward special is boring and useless. If you want to reference SOR2 - then why not make it the Hishousouzan with an invincibility window?
- It's WAY too difficult to throw enemies off SOR1 Stage 7 elevator. That's pretty much the entire point and fun factor of that area - the risk of getting knocked off to toss people over. Unless you are in a near pixel perfect perfect sweet spot, they are blocked by the rail or bounce right off it. But of course Singals have no trouble throwing YOU over from anywhere near the rail. I absolutely LOTHE the idea of referencing SORR, but this is one area I think they got absolutely right. Thrown enemies were scripted to hit their heads on the rail and bounce over the edge during a thrown fall from most reasonable distances. Something like this is sorely needed IMO, or just a boost to the vertical velcoity on player throws.
DC