Is the player allowed to ever do anything?

[Sudo_Nym]

I've been trying the demo, and I have yet to actually complete an offensive maneuver. Every match either: a) The computer starts on offense, and never misses a move, even though I always select whichever defensive maneuver has the greatest chance of success, and then eventually pins me without me ever getting a move; or b) I start on offense, have my first attack countered, and then the computer never misses a move in route to beating me.

 

Is there some code that ensures people with the demo can't ever succeed at anything, or some method of clicking on buttons that ensures failure? Because I'm having trouble justifying the purchase of a game that seems to be "The player is never allowed to ever do anything."

[Adam Ryland]

No, there is nothing like that - if there was, you'd be seeing a lot of posts on it. Either you're being quite staggeringly unlucky, or more likely, it's that you haven't quite understood some of the concepts and are struggling as a result.

 

Case in point, from the way you wrote it, it sounds like you're countering with actual moves rather than using the available counters - this would be extremely poor strategy at the start of a match and would likely see you get badly beat up, as moves do not reduce your opponent's Chance Of Hit, meaning they're going to be having a 85%+ chance of successfully completing every move they try. You should be using the Standard Counters, thereby limiting the opponent's CoH and making it more likely that you will be able to go on the attack.

 

I would strongly recommend you read the "?" at the top of the match screen so that you understand the concepts involved, make heavy use of the Calculation button so that you can see exactly what is happening, and perhaps start by using one of the powerhouse characters like Kikkawa or Skull DeBones in exhibition mode and fighting lower-level opponents until you are more comfortable with the game mechanics.

[Sudo_Nym]

I don't doubt that I'm misunderstanding something, because I doubt highly that you would intentionally screw over the players, but I know that I'm not trying to counter with actual moves- I am selecting from Avoid/Block/Slip Out and so forth.

 

My best guess would be that the RtL characters are deliberately terrible, and that's causing issues?

[Blake Trask]

RTL characters by design have low-to-below-average stats, which can make certain opponents at the start very challenging because they start with higher stats. Those advantages can sometimes turn into a stomping at low levels due to the low base health at Unknown popularity.

 

If you're just getting to grips with it Sudo, maybe try playing as someone from your favourite promotion? It's basically a trade off because people tend to be harder to beat and have access to more damaging moves, but you yourself have more health and ability to resist attacks. I lost a lot when playing as an unknown but didn't drop a single match when I tried out playing as Wolf Hawkins.

[Adam Ryland]

My best guess would be that the RtL characters are deliberately terrible, and that's causing issues?

 

Yes. By nature, they're unproven rookies with extremely low skills. I'd recommend that you don't use RtL mode until you're comfortable with the game engine, as that is the hardest of the game modes. You're far better off picking a major character and using one of the other modes to begin with.