A new build of Fantasy Strike is available to our patrons on Patreon.
v9321.
This month there are several gameplay changes: Valerie buffs, Setsuki and Rook nerfs, and a change to DeGrey. We also fixed a lot of problems with the frame data display in training mode, and we added the ability for you to step frame-by-frame in training mode when using a controller. We also have a lot of new sounds this month: for characters, for environments, and better handling of sound when you pause gameplay.
Characters
GRAVE
--Air super now causes Grave to glow green, to signify it’s a parry move.
ROOK
--Rook’s C throw now has only 1 hit of super armor, rather than infinite hits.
--Rook’s ground super is no longer totally invulnerable during the active frames, and instead has infinite hits of super armor.
--Fixed a bug that made Rook’s blob shadow (in low graphics settings) use default values rather than the correct size for Rook.
Developer’s note: The change to Rook’s C throw is a targeted change. In the vast majority of cases, it doesn’t matter if he has one hit or infinite hits of super armor. Where it matters the most is against Valerie. This change allows her C attack (rainbow stroke) and back+A (double kick) to actually beat Rook’s special throw. She struggles in this match, so these are important boosts her in that particular matchup.
VALERIE
--Jump A can cancel to another jump A.
--Jump A now causes airborne opponents to be knocked down. This means hitting with jump A gives time for Valerie to put her air super disc over them as they get up. Also note that Jump A, A, land, standing A is now a 3-damage combo. The standing A can cancel to f+B for a crossup attempt too. And in the corner, jump A, A, land, ground super, standing A is a 4 damage combo (that you can also end with f+B for a crossup attempt afterwards).
--Air super’s behavior has changed because of her new ability to get two damage from jump A,A. When the super hits air-to-air, it now gets one hit and then the victim flips out. The air super starts falling downward more quickly, too. If you know what you’re doing, after an air-to-air hit you can still force an additional damage from block damage afterwards. Also, if the air super hits a grounded opponent, they no longer get knocked down. This slightly changes how combos work against grounded victims, but it’s overall a similar level of deadly against grounded opponents.
--Air super now activates its hitboxes 5 frames after the super’s cinematic ends, rather than instantly after.
--Valerie’s forward throw now causes the victim to stay down just as long as the back throw. This was an oversight before, and now either throw (not just the back throw) gives you enough time to jump and put the air super disc over them.
--The third hit of Valerie’s B,B,B sequence (the yellow hit) has been adjusted so that if you hold back during it, it’s now a retreat that cannot hit. This leaves Valerie safe from any throw attept against Rook, for example. This retreat is also available in the A -> B sequence. Now, holding NEUTRAL rather than back during the last B is the “non-crossup” version of the move. Holding forward during this hit gives the same crossup version as before, and has not been changed.
--On the character select screen, her brush has even more visual effects.
--New hitsparks that look like paint effects for her various paint-based attacks.
--Throws now have new visual effects.
--The cyan trail on her B attack doesn’t appear quite as far forward now so it better matches the hitbox.
--Air super and ground super now a white highlight on Valerie during the frames she’s invulnerable at the beginning of these moves. The highlight was missing before.
Developer’s note: The change to allow Valerie’s air A to knock down (which then gives her time to place her air super disc over them as they get up) and the change that allows her to do air A twice are both to increase her general power level. It’s now possible for her to do 4 damage jump in combos, which is probably appropriate given that she’s a rushdown character with only 5 hit points of her own. The change to her air super is just to make it not broken given the new jump A, A sequence.
The change to her B,B,back+B sequence that gives her a new retreat move is mostly to fix the broken guessing game against Rook, where he can always beat every possible action of hers after B,B (including B,B, nothing!). The addition of the retreat restores real mixup status to this situation. That said, it’s also a general pressure tool she can use in any matchup: B,B, retreat, B,B, retreat etc.
SETSUKI
--Improved visuals for her cape during air C.
--Kunai (air B) has shorter hitstun and blockstun. 20f / 18f -> 12f / 10f.
--Kunai has longer startup 18f -> 22f
--Kunai done after air C causes Setsuki to bounce back slightly instead of forward.
--Air B has landing recovery. 0f -> 5f.
--Divekick has more landing recovery. 3f -> 5f.
----Air super now causes Setsuki to glow green, to signify it’s a parry move.
Developer’s note: special thanks to patron Lofobal, who provided us with specific data about Setsuki’s air B kunai in various situations. Much to our surprise, its power level was objectively broken and allowed actually inescapable lockdowns. We somehow overlooked this for months, as we had mostly explored other aspects of her rushdown. The fix involves slowing the startup slightly, adding slight landing recovery, and greatly reducing the hitstun and blockstun of the move. When you do the move immediately after a blocked air C, it now pushes Setsuki back and it also gives the opponent time to jump out before the kunai reaches them. If they block it, setsuki can still continue pressure with f+A when she lands, but overall her pressure sequence now has some gaps and is more fair.
DEGREY
--New sounds for several moves such as ghost, pilebunker, and air super.
--When DeGrey wins a match, he now plays a special win animation.
--Air B hardly ever crosses up now. Also has different movement, and is slower.
--Air B can be cancelled into itself for a 2nd hit. The 2nd hit knocks down and floats slightly upward.
--Ghost now does block damage.
--Air super has less ability to cross up because the feet can no longer hit. Also the front of it (around the fist) has a bigger hitbox now.
Developer’s note: For a long time, DeGrey’s air B kick has been key to his gameplay. Too key. It was great air-to-air, great air to ground, a crossup, great mobility, and an opener that leads to a 3 damage combo. It’s not really a signature move of his, but so much of his gameplay revolved around it. Most importantly, DeGrey had the worst ability to deal block damage in the game, so his B kick’s ability to open up a blocking opponent was necessary for him, whether we liked the dynamics or not.
DeGrey’s new air B actually offers even more mobility. It also can combo to a second hit for 2 damage now, but that’s often (intentionally) worse than the old version that could hit a grounded opponent for 3, because of following up with A,A. It also no longer crosses up. This allows us to put some power in other areas. His ghost now does block damage. This significantly improves his overall ability to pressure with block damage, especially when blocked ghost plus blocked air B,B now does a total of 3 “flashing blocks”, which result in one full real point of damage. We’ll keep an eye on if he needs even more power or not.
MIDORI
--New sounds for many of his human form moves and dragon form moves.
--Ground C now causes Midori to glow green, to signify it’s a parry move.
STAGES
--Snowy mountains, dojo, and clocktower all have environmental sounds now.
--The dojo stage now has several (animated!) animals in the background.
FRAME DATA
--The frame data display in training mode has many various bugs fixed. For example, Grave and Jaina’s projectiles, Setsuki’s telepork kick, and many other moves that showed wrong data have been fixed.
--Super moves now show startup in the very helpful format of X+Y frames, where X is the number of frames before the super’s startup cinematic and Y is the number of frames afterward. The length of the cinematic is not important because it doesn’t affect gameplay, but we previously showed the totally useless stat of “entire number of frames of startup before, after, and DURING the cinematic, all as a single number.” Now, if a super says something like 0+2 startup then you know it’s guaranteed if you have at least 3 frames of advantage time. Before, it would have said something like 97 startup, which told you basically nothing.
--Parry moves now display their parry window as the active frames (the middle of the three stats) and the number is now green if the active frames are for a parry move.
MENUS
--Training mode’s options menu now shows all non-default settings in green so you can easily tell default from non-default at a glance.
--Training mode's options menu has a new layout. This is to accomodate future bits of UI that will be there once the game has online play (not quite yet).
--The background of wooden doors and curtains on the character select screen in local versus and training is now a 3D version rather than a 2D image. When you lock in your characters, the gates open.
--The help text is now all mouse clickable in cases where it makes sense to click it.
--The audio options screen now has the ability to turn music/sfx/environmental on/off in addition to volume sliders.
--The game now detects if you’re using a controller or not in the menus. If you are not, then the menus show the mouse/keyboard help-text and layouts. If you are, then they use the helptext and layout designed for a controller.
--Fixed a bug that caused the music to play louder when you paused the game.
--Implemented a new feature that causes the music to play much quieter when pausing the game, as well as transition sound effects to and from the quieter state.
--Implemented a new frame step feature on gamepads. Pause the game, choose “hide pause menu” and then press R1. This advances the game by 1 frame.
Enjoy!