Rivals of Aether -- #2. Intermediate Tutorials
1Ongoing rivalries always being created here:
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So here's where things start getting to the technical side of things. Well... "starting" and "technical" are pretty vague AND subjective, no matter what your individual stance on the elements covered herein...
I think it's beyond safe to say that, out of ALL the games in this particular vein I've played and featured on this channel, Rivals of Aether is quite comfortably positioned as the MOST inherently technical of the lot. It is so by design, and it is inherently designed in such a way as to consider, account for, and embrace its own technicality. It just is.
Whether or not any of this strikes you, the subjective consumer of such fare, impact upon your potential enjoyment of the content thereafter is a matter of taste and you'll have to make your own peace with that on more than just this specific case, I figure.
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Personally, I find this to be a fair consideration, since this game is definitely designed with a certain mindset at its forefront. I might not share it wholeheartedly, but I cannot in good conscience begrudge where the purity of expression comes from.
On the other hand, I CAN begrudge the obvious proliferation and endorsement of certain peculiar tendencies and nomenclature that have more or less emerged in the early vacuum of official alternatives. (Because, y'know, nothing actually turns your highly experimental party game into a slog for newcomers than impenetrable lingo and shorthand!)
Okay, fine, stuff like "bair" and "dair" and "nair"... not really HURTING anyone, per se, and at least it's reasonably uniquely descriptive, if a tad on the terse to the point of absurdity... but then what about "tech"? Sure, I get it. I know what they're referring to, but at a certain point, everything is a "tech" in everything, regardless of what you're "tech"-ing. "Tech" and "ground tech" and "wall tech" and "throw tech" and "tech tech" and "anti-tech" and "tech trap" and aaaaaghhh! It's not even "technical" or a "technique"... it's just a catch-all for "you pressed the right thing in this small window to negate an otherwise potentially devastating loss of control or spiral into further disadvantage"... which... is not easily said, but also isn't even remotely self-explanatory for what you actually DID. So I'd say we're even.
On the other hand, "ukemi" is a very real, very codified, very specific actual martial arts term for the "uke" or "receiver of an attack" performing a controlled fall so as to regain footing. Literal volumes can be written on the topic of how to safely NOT get hurt when you inevitably become the recipient of an attack. (Don't tell the fanfic and slash crowd!)
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But that's all beside the point, I suppose. Let's get back on the actual matter at hand and figure out what exactly we're looking at.
There's something of a slippery slope when it comes to the delineation of "beginner" to "intermediate" (and beyond!) instructional material for a game like this, but I for one must applaud the fact that it was given such an earnest try... even if I'm going to groan at some of the terminology. But I digress, as that's not what's important here, and I'm trying again to avoid getting sucked back into that sideline diatribe at the expense of the material and also my own.
Movement is pretty standard fare, although it might seem a bit strange that we're going to be giving a LOT of attention to something that might as well count as a glorified easter egg in more familiar contexts... the wall jump. Except it's actually quite crucial here, seeing as how there's no ledge mechanics... and every stage has a solid wall leading down into the abyss below. So you need to use your full range of recovery, THEN wall jump from what would otherwise be a helpless position, and then use your unique recovery special move AGAIN.
It's honestly less weird than it feels at first, and it's an unexpected way to approach the concept of ledges and their overcentralization of off-platform play, left to their own devices. I'm still downright baffled and borderline terrified of the implications of edgeguarding under this utterly alien interpretation of recovery that I'm surely going to mess up more than I actually get right.
This is actually an amazingly thoughtful and well-intended explanation of "directional influence" in both its most common meanings... but it's also well beyond what MOST players of that OTHER game are generally going to think of, much less in the heat of battle. Parts of it are intuitive... or at least become incidentally impressed upon launched bodies through painful experience.
Putting detailed combo theory analysis in a genre seemingly designed to be averse to combos is pretty neat, and I love the immediate disclaimer that very little of what's actually a "combo" is true per traditional fighting game standards, but rather an unusual interplay of recipient choices and aggressor action and prediction.