Suggested by Tatsky!
I've tried to get into this game four times. Over the span of umm,, 3-4 years? Honestly maybe even since release I don't fully remember anymore. I keep putting in about two to three hours on a whim, finding quick fun and satisfaction, plateauing quickly, then putting it away, never to return. I don't think I can still tangibly explain 'why' that is, Rivals of Aether doesn't really have anything particularly wrong with it.
In some ways the problem is me. The hyperaggressive no-rest-only-rushdown is already largely how I played Melee and smashlikes for the longest time. I grew up on Smash, found a huge group of friends in college playing Smash, only stopping by the time of graduation. I never really unlearned my tactics, I didn't understand dashdancing or neutral game until the very end of my time in university. So this ends up with many many years of a rushdown idea, hit first don't space ask questions later. Bad habits I've since unlearned in fighters through the years. Well maybe unlearned isn't exactly the proper term, as much as I understood my errors and learned to play differently. Execute different gameplans. This puts Rivals of Aether at a major disadvantage to me, I've already found many many different ways of playing, I've found things that now make rushdown feel not interesting on its own. But aggressive playstyle IS Rivals of Aether, for good or bad, and that makes the act of playing it largely rote to me.
To make matters worse, Rivals of Aether is extremely accessible. I don't mean to sound like this is a bad thing for the game as again, it's a bad thing for me. Everything is so fluid and seamless to pull off that the general majority of actions are a complete non-challenge for me. The tech, the staples, they're all stuff I'm hard-wired for. Melee's bullshit is basically metaphorical weights I'm throwing off and playing at full speed, and in that surge of power I feel,,, bored lol.
There's still a lot of elements to love. The character diversity is really strong, there's nothing really fundamentally off with its mechanics, everyone has a good proper toolset and even under the guise of "everyone can rushdown" there's still unique styles of play. I do have a bit of mixed feelings on its aesthetic. The pseudo-16-bit style is really not to my taste, and it gives it too soft and frictionless a texture to something that's already extraordinarily comfortable. Honestly not enough sauce under the surface for me. The singleplayer being really a dead end and incomplete in its current form years and years later (I know it's not 'technically' incomplete, but it fucking feels incomplete) hurts too.
This isn't the end of Rivals of Aether's story here, there's another side of the mirror here, blissfully.
It's the fucking STEAM WORKSHOP MOTEHRFUCKERSSSSS.
It's Mugen with a lot of the internet-sectional rust removed but even with that loss it doesn't matter, just absolutely hilariously insane shenanigans you can get up to here. While RoA may not be a vehicle for greatness I personally enjoy, its excess comfort lends itself perfectly to mod infusion in spades. I honestly do not know which workshop character i had the most fun with, it's so ridiculous. I played a multi-set chess piece in the background of lsd dream simulator while fighting someone's furry OC. And I also slam dunked skullgirls Annie of the Stars at the top of the No More Heroes Motel while playing Vergil-sitting-in-a-chair, sounds and all.
So like yeah, Rivals of Aether can still slap. Mods of Aether really. It turns it straight into fast food but like fuck it it can be a really good time like that vs. what I feel is an uncomfortably narrow-for-me base game. Give it a shot!
I've tried to get into this game four times. Over the span of umm,, 3-4 years? Honestly maybe even since release I don't fully remember anymore. I keep putting in about two to three hours on a whim, finding quick fun and satisfaction, plateauing quickly, then putting it away, never to return. I don't think I can still tangibly explain 'why' that is, Rivals of Aether doesn't really have anything particularly wrong with it.
In some ways the problem is me. The hyperaggressive no-rest-only-rushdown is already largely how I played Melee and smashlikes for the longest time. I grew up on Smash, found a huge group of friends in college playing Smash, only stopping by the time of graduation. I never really unlearned my tactics, I didn't understand dashdancing or neutral game until the very end of my time in university. So this ends up with many many years of a rushdown idea, hit first don't space ask questions later. Bad habits I've since unlearned in fighters through the years. Well maybe unlearned isn't exactly the proper term, as much as I understood my errors and learned to play differently. Execute different gameplans. This puts Rivals of Aether at a major disadvantage to me, I've already found many many different ways of playing, I've found things that now make rushdown feel not interesting on its own. But aggressive playstyle IS Rivals of Aether, for good or bad, and that makes the act of playing it largely rote to me.
To make matters worse, Rivals of Aether is extremely accessible. I don't mean to sound like this is a bad thing for the game as again, it's a bad thing for me. Everything is so fluid and seamless to pull off that the general majority of actions are a complete non-challenge for me. The tech, the staples, they're all stuff I'm hard-wired for. Melee's bullshit is basically metaphorical weights I'm throwing off and playing at full speed, and in that surge of power I feel,,, bored lol.
There's still a lot of elements to love. The character diversity is really strong, there's nothing really fundamentally off with its mechanics, everyone has a good proper toolset and even under the guise of "everyone can rushdown" there's still unique styles of play. I do have a bit of mixed feelings on its aesthetic. The pseudo-16-bit style is really not to my taste, and it gives it too soft and frictionless a texture to something that's already extraordinarily comfortable. Honestly not enough sauce under the surface for me. The singleplayer being really a dead end and incomplete in its current form years and years later (I know it's not 'technically' incomplete, but it fucking feels incomplete) hurts too.
This isn't the end of Rivals of Aether's story here, there's another side of the mirror here, blissfully.
It's the fucking STEAM WORKSHOP MOTEHRFUCKERSSSSS.
It's Mugen with a lot of the internet-sectional rust removed but even with that loss it doesn't matter, just absolutely hilariously insane shenanigans you can get up to here. While RoA may not be a vehicle for greatness I personally enjoy, its excess comfort lends itself perfectly to mod infusion in spades. I honestly do not know which workshop character i had the most fun with, it's so ridiculous. I played a multi-set chess piece in the background of lsd dream simulator while fighting someone's furry OC. And I also slam dunked skullgirls Annie of the Stars at the top of the No More Heroes Motel while playing Vergil-sitting-in-a-chair, sounds and all.
So like yeah, Rivals of Aether can still slap. Mods of Aether really. It turns it straight into fast food but like fuck it it can be a really good time like that vs. what I feel is an uncomfortably narrow-for-me base game. Give it a shot!