KOF XIII General Discussion/Rant Thread

[SonicTempest]

The sense I got from the Japan team ending was more along the lines of

Kyo suddenly drawing a blank as to why he was there in the first place, which would make sense given the fact that Ash erased his own existence from the timeline.

Yagami team ending translation is about right as well.

So let's look at some of the others!

Ikari Team ending
(The setting is a medical ward. The ending takes place from Leona's point of view. She opens her eyes and looks around her)
Leona: Lieutenant...
Clark: Don't strain yourself...get some rest. No-one was really too worried...heck, maybe a little rest would do you-
(voices from the corridor speak up)
???: When the hell is she going to wake up? Is that scrub of a doctor going to take responsibility if something happens to her or what?
???: P-please be patient...
???: Colonel, please calm down!
???: Shut up and get lost! I'm here escorting her as her instructor!
???: This is a hospital, so-
???: So what if it's a hospital or the bleeding White House, eh?!
???: Put a sock in it! It's not just you who's worried, alright?
???: If you're going to blow up at people randomly you'd better be prepared to deal with the consequences!
???: ...the hell did you say? Don't get cheeky with me, whip girl!
???: It's not whip girl! Keep calling me that and I'll get mad, even with you, Colonel!
Clark: *cough*
???: (silence)
Ralf: Yo, looks like you finally woke up, Sleeping Beauty.
Whip: Good to see you're back with us.
Leona: I'm...sorry.
Ralf: What's with the gloom and doom? It's an opportunity to relax! You don't get those very often. Take it easy.
Clark: I already told her that. Colonel, please sit over there and don't go anywhere.
Whip: Yes, it's just like the lieutenant said.
Ralf: Don't you people treat me as some sort of pest!
Clark: We didn't say tha-
Whip: But aren't you a pest after all?
Ralf: Oi, how about you start treating me like your commanding officer?
Whip: I can't treat a commanding officer who doesn't behave like one any other way.
Ralf: ...man, you're not cute at all.
Clark: Whip, stop it, won't you? Colonel, you're behaving rather childishly as well.
Ralf: What, you trying to act all cool by yourself again?
Clark: I can't get involved in your childish squabbles.
Whip: That's cruel, lieutenant! To call this a childish squabble...
Clark: And stop getting involved yourself! I have to clean up after you time after time...
Leona: *laughs to herself*

[Max]

http://vgmdb.net/album/19571" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


I can't really find anything on another site to confirm these names; can this site be trusted?

[Koun]

From professer
Psycho Solider Ending.
Athena, Kensou, Chin, Bao and Momoko are being interviewed.

Interviewer: Congratulations on your victory!
Athena: Thank you so much! It was all due to the support of our fans!
Interviewer: You guys are on everyone's minds right now! There's even talks about a TV show and movie based on all of you!
Kensou: Whoa, for real...?

-Suddenly the lights go out-

The other Reporters: Whoa, what? Did the lights go out!?
???: HaHaHa!
???: I am Sigma! The true ruler of this world!

Kensou: Wait! We won't let you get away!
Sigma: What!? Who is that!?
Kensou: I'm PSYCHO-RED!
Athena: I'm PSYCHO-BLUE!
Momoko: I'm PSYCHO-PIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINK!
Bao: I'm PSYCHO-ORANGE!
Everyone: And together, We are the PSYCHO RANGERS!!
Sigma: Damn you, PSYCHO RANGERS! I summon you, come out, MODDED HIZOKU RON!
Ron: Leave it to me, master Sigma... Fight me, PSYCHO RANGERS!
Kensou: It's you, MODDED HIZOKU! Everyone, let's go!
PSYCHO RANGERS: Roger!
Kaori: Be careful, PSYCHO RANGERS!
Commander Chin: Use the PSYCHO BOMBER!


Kensou: Like, that would be so cool!
All the others: Dream on!

[Yuki Yagami]

Someone winning against Dark Ash in 73 Hits By K'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=As-gUhv-i4c" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Influx of Info from MMCafe (Not posted yet here)

hidden colors:
http://www.mmcafe.com/cgi-bin/imageboard/file/tiger.jpg (joe)
http://www.mmcafe.com/cgi-bin/imageboard/file/camo.jpg (ralf)
http://www.mmcafe.com/cgi-bin/imageboard/file/bsod.jpg (k')

some other pics:
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Shoto characters seem to be dominating the game right now. Kyo, K', Kula. Also Ash, Elisabeth and Duolong --though I haven't faced Liz and Duolong yet.

-In XIII, It's easy to smack someone jumping because the jumps aren't as fast. Only problem is, you'd need a good anti-air. For many of the characters, their normal attacks don't seem to have too much range (at least in terms of anti-air); characters with an uppercut move are more reliable and seems more often preferred by players.

-Some characters can do combos from a special without using a drive meter. For Instance, Yuri's feirce Saifa comes out slow but has a quick enough recovery that she can even smack her opponent with a feirce punch before they land. K's is quite awful since his uppercut can hit after his Iron Trigger afterattack.

-Projectiles in general are fast and useful, but not almighty. They're a good novice killer, but advanced players won't have much trouble. Don't quote me on this, but it seems like characters with good projectiles like King and Takuma don't have reliable anti-airs without using their supers. Note that the power meter doesn't fill up if it doesn't even get guarded by the opponent.

It's really rare to find a Hwa Jai. I'm trying to figure out how to use him myself. Recovery from his weak aerial dragon tail is awfully good, but otherwise his special attacks seem to be punishable. I think his super drink may be the key to fighting with him. Note that you can get hit while drinking, but you'll still turn color. People aren't used to fighting him so they end up trying to guard his dragon back breaker, thinking that it's a ranbu.

-Raiden is fun to use.. does his poison mist come out faster than in XII? Weak poison connects from his fierce attack and seems to be a good source of chip damage. Holding on the kick button (for a dropkick) while doing his shoulder tackle doesn't cancel the tackle like it did during the beta.

-Mai might be a good projectile character killer since her jumps are fast and far. But it's hard to tell since she's rarely used. Seems to have problems when cornered.

-Yuri has lots of options for attacking and can be quite fun to use. Not as often used like the way everyone did in the Hong Kong beta tests. She's good at offence, but might have issues in defence.

-King can have problems when she's cornered without a meter, but otherwise seems to be a fairly good character. Venom strike has relatively good recovery, aerial venom strike is good for zoning when done with weak. Not a nice character to use when going against beginners that don't know how to fight projectile characters. As always, tornado kick is a recipe for death when guarded deep. Surprise rose seems like a good anti-air even at single stock.

-Takuma's EX Koouken catches everyone by surprise and seems like a good finisher when the opponent has no life remaining. It just appears whereever the opponent is, very scary.

-Haven't met a good Maxima player just yet. I'm not sure how to use him, he's as slow as Molasses and his guard point is a mystery to me; I'm assuming that they're very timing-specific. Then again, a good guard point like Zeus' punch from WHP would be....

System
Drive Cancels are very timing specific. Check SNKP's videos if you can't get them to work.

The missions in 1P mode loops. There's only like 8-10 of them and they keep shuffle-looping forever throughout the round.

Taunts
K': Fixes the position of his shades
Chin: Continuously Chugs up his drink--- it keeps raising his booze meter until it's stopped!
Terry: Fixes the position of his cap
Joe: Cracks his knuckles

2.Dialogues
The dialogues in KOFXIII are done by novelist Akihiko Ureshino, so they're pretty good and funny. These are straight out of my bad memory so there's tons of lines missing, but for example--

Raiden vs King:
King: Man, huge guys like you remind me of some bad memories.
Raiden: Huh what? What do you mean?
King: I used to know of someone that was just fat, smelly, and obnoxious.
Raiden: Grr! I've never been so mad about someone else getting badmouthed!

Raiden Vs. Saiki:
Saiki: Hey how about that! Pigs have evolved during the years that they can now speak!
Raiden: What the hell are you talking about?
Saiki: Oh wait, looks like I was wrong. It's not a pig. It's just a big, huge fatso!!
Raiden: Why you---!!
Note: Saiki and Dark Ash actually have pre-fight dialogues.

Vice vs King
Vice: Hey, you look... Good, heh heh.
King: What? What are you talking about?
Vice: Oh sugar, you know what exactly I'm talking about.
King: Er, I'd rather not talk about things like that..

Victory quotes are good as well. In Joe vs Joe, he says something to the extent of "I'll beat you next time with a law suit, you pirated copy!"

Old Vice Glitch still in the game...
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm11403336" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (Latest victim is Saiki)

[PenPen]

Wooo I got to play the game today! Feels great. Accidental drive cancels aren't as easy to come out now (just center the stick after the move so you won't do overlapping motions). At the start, it needs some getting used to, since: 1. It's a slightly slower game compared to 2k2UM, and 2. The timings are different. I still do have the problem of not being able to do the correct motions at times, but it's pretty much simple stuff like running, blocking low, hopping back, that kind of stuff.

The arcade I'm in isn't so big on KOF - the 2k2UM machine is left alone, and for XIII we just have 3 guys (including me) rotating over and over. I am pretty sure that we did play most of the characters though (yes, even Hwa Jai). It is quite expensive, at $5 HKD per game, so I guess that's part of not being able to gather many people. But I dunno - I guess it's just this arcade. I haven't done any hyper mode combos though, even though I did a few drive cancel moves. Going to explore more on drive cancels.

[DarkDreamT2]

Question about the whole Ash/Saiki thing. Throughout the Saga, was Ash always possessed by Saiki or was it just during a certain point in this particular game. Also, does Ash reset the memory of himself, or does he just take himself out of the time stream while everyone else can still remember he existed?

[SonicTempest]

Full story summary, apparently from MMCafe, but I scanned the whole KOF XIII thread and I couldn't find where this was posted. Oh well - take it with a grain of salt I guess?

Apparently, Those From the Past (TFTP) are a clan of powerful people originated from Western Europe led by a being named Saiki. In fact, they can be considered the Western counterpart of the Orochi clan, as both Orochi and Saiki are divine beings known as Gaia's Will. Unlike Orochi who has the power to distort space, Saiki has the power to distort time.

TFTP wanted Orochi's power to open the Time Gate (the gate we saw in the Boss Stage), which requires a lot of energy to do so. The reason they wanted to open the Time Gate is so that Saiki can travel back to the past to rewrite history, as many members of TFTP were wiped out in a war by humans (speculated to be Elizabeth's ancestors). However, when the door of the Time Gate closes before Saiki can even reach the past, it would create a time paradox, thus it would cause Saiki's existence to cease. So in order to ensure that the gate stays open when Saiki is time travelling, the power of the Three Sacred Treasure is needed.

Saiki ordered Ash, who would later be revealed to be his direct descendant, to steal the Three Sacred Treasures from Kyo, Iori and Chizuru. Ash succeeds in stealing the latter two's treasures, but it was revealed that he never really intend to help his ancestor in his plan to change history. One of the reasons is probably because he fears that if history is changed, then Elizabeth, whom he viewed as a sister figure, would ceased to exist. The reason for him to steal the treasures is to gain Saiki's trust so that he can get near him.

When Rose congratulates the winner of the tournament, Saiki and his remaining followers set their plan into motion. Saiki uses his power to freeze time, causing the surrounding environment and people (with the exception of the KOF participants) to stop moving. Because only two of the Three Sacred Treasures were collected, Saiki orders his followers to go to the Time Gate and use their powers instead along with the other two treasures to ensure the the Time Gate is open. However, Mukai wishes to stay behind so that he can deal with the KOF participants in his master's place. Despite Mukai's display of loyalty, Saiki is annoyed by Mukai for disobeying his order and proceeds to kill him, reducing him into a pile of bones. Saiki then transforms into a red demonic looking creature and decides to use the KOF participants as a sacrifice to Orochi in order to increase its power to open the Time Gate.

After a massive battle, the KOF participants managed to overcome Saiki. Despite this, Saiki taunts them that the more they struggle against him, the more power they would provide to open the Time Gate. However, things does not go as planned for Saiki when he was informed by Botan that the door of the Time Gate is closing. Shocked by this turn of event, Saiki deduces that more sacrifice is needed. Before he could even proceed further, Saiki is blindsided and has what appears to be his soul absorbed by Ash, whom noticed that his guard is down during the distraction.

Shocked by Ash's betrayal, Botan demands an explanation from him, to which he nonchalantly replies that TFTP should have perished a long time ago just as stated by history. Before he could say more however, Ash suddenly went into a trance as his entire body is enveloped with dark aura, revealing that Saiki's soul has managed to overcome Ash's willpower and possessed his body. The resulting possession causes a powerful energy explosion, which blows away Botan. Refusing to let his plan fail, Saiki plans to use Ash's body (seems like his original body is destroyed) to travel through the Time Gate to complete his plans. The KOF participants follow Saiki and engages him in one final showdown, which ended with Saiki defeated again. With the last ounce of his strength, Saiki attempts to cross the Time Gate when its door is closing again. When he almost succeed in reaching the door, Ash uses his remaining willpower to stop the body from moving further. Realizing what's happening, Saiki warns Ash that if they don't cross the Time Gate now, their existence would eventually perish due to the time paradox. Unfazed by the warning, Ash nonchalantly tells his ancestor that this suits him just fine.

After Saiki perished while screaming for his life, Ash was approached by Elizabeth. He tells Elizabeth that things didn't go as well as he planned as the results could have been better. Puzzled by what Ash says, she asked for the meaning behind his words. Ash then explains that since Saiki no longer exists due to the time paradox, it wouldn't be long before he himself would perish. Realizing the truth, Elizabeth couldn't accept what would eventually happen and told Ash that she is here because she wanted to bring him back and live like how they used to during their younger days. Realizing his time is short, Ash apologizes to Elizabeth as he fades away from existance.

Shortly after Ash perished, everything returns to normal as Rose continues her speech to congratulate the winners of the tournament. Meanwhile, in an unknown location, a soldier reports to Heidern there was a time rift spreading at the location of the KOF Tournament. Heidern comments that Ash's actions have saved the present world. He then deduces that Ash didn't do it for the world's sake, but for the sake of protecting his own pride. Heidern then laments that since Ash had ceased to exist, no one would know the truth behind his actions as their memories of him would eventually perish as well.

[fiol]

Wooo I got to play the game today! Feels great. Accidental drive cancels aren't as easy to come out now (just center the stick after the move so you won't do overlapping motions). At the start, it needs some getting used to, since: 1. It's a slightly slower game compared to 2k2UM, and 2. The timings are different. I still do have the problem of not being able to do the correct motions at times, but it's pretty much simple stuff like running, blocking low, hopping back, that kind of stuff.

The arcade I'm in isn't so big on KOF - the 2k2UM machine is left alone, and for XIII we just have 3 guys (including me) rotating over and over. I am pretty sure that we did play most of the characters though (yes, even Hwa Jai). It is quite expensive, at $5 HKD per game, so I guess that's part of not being able to gather many people. But I dunno - I guess it's just this arcade. I haven't done any hyper mode combos though, even though I did a few drive cancel moves. Going to explore more on drive cancels.

5 HKD?at the time kof12 came out, i asked to a friend of mine who was in HK : how is kof12 doing in HK? , he said: well not too many ppl is playing this game cause is too expensive .. and guess how much was it? 5HKD
anyway i hope this matter won't turn out to be the same for 13! as far as i'm concerned, i really don't understand this way of thinking, i mean..when i was in HK and SF4 came out in the arcades, i went to an arcade where it was 5HKD and there was a really huge queue line, no one seemed to care about that anyway i hope is just the arcade u went to
by the way thx for the infos!

may i ask which arcade u went to?

[Glimmerous.Fop]

That synopsis makes sense. I remember watching someone at the arcade beating Dark Ash, and in the cutscene Saiki kept screaming "GET INTO THE DOOOOOOOOORRR!". I was wondering why that was the case.

Best line from Ash ever, his dying words to Elisabeth: "Sorry Betty, I screwed up."

[Yuki Yagami]

Video of the Psycho Soldier Team Ending

http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/HMmYT09QRMA/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[PenPen]

may i ask which arcade u went to?

Called VZ located in Kowloon Bay.

Newer games are always charged more expensive at first anyway.

[DarkDreamT2]

Thanks for the summary homie. That really helped clarify Ash as a whole.
So, any word at all on a console version or even western localization?

[Kane317]

may i ask which arcade u went to?

Called VZ located in Kowloon Bay.

Newer games are always charged more expensive at first anyway.

I think one year Causeway Bay had arcades at $6HKD, I remember it being real expensive, but year it's always like that in HK.

Back overseas in California...
---
So I spent a couple of hours playing at Arcade Infinity yesterday (yet due to the line being over 9+ppl long, we get to play only every 30-35mins). Most of my impressions are congruent with what have been echoed before world wide--Let's start with the unpleasant:

The game is going to take time getting used to, moreso than before, and IMO, even more if you didn't play XII.
Canceling frames for drive cancel are somewhat demanding but nothing remotely close to XII Shen's infamous 1-frame-follow-ups.

The graphics/animations are even more amazing in person, gotta watch it in HD. It even impressed me more than XII did, and even though it's really the same thing, I think it has something to do with the game being more zoomed out (I'm indifferent about pixel art) so it looks more clean. Yes, the elephants do look as real as previously reported.

For the first time ever, I really like the alternate colors being offered. Many, aren't just simple palette swaps but I would peg them between a palette swap and full costume change:
-Seems like everyone has a color that is a reference to someone else (even outside the KOF realm)
-Kula has an OG Iori color, she even has the moon on her back (real cool SNK)
-K' has a Kula color as usual, has colors where only one leg is a different color
-Beni has what I call bionic Beni, where he's topless but his arms are metallic silver in color, but other colors he's wearing a top.
-The Robert-Terry Terry-Robert deal is confusing

Individual character reports will take awhile to compile over time, but since our local champ (Mr. Kof) keeps winning (albeit not like last year, I think he only had a 30+ win streak last night vs 100), it's very hard to try and experiment (with at the same time it's evident that he's getting more adapted to the game making us harder to beat him--catch 22).

Note, none of us has really utilized the XIII system really effectively yet (first day), so go easy on any of our vids that have and will be posted, here's Giby's vids: http://www.youtube.com/user/Giby#g/u" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Compiling reports from friends and random people, this is how I would liken XIII to previous kofs (even though it's really different):
-The light hit chains are strigent like '98, precise tapping unlike XII
-The strong hits cancels speeds are actually like XII (I kept missing fundamentals combos like Yuri's s.C into Saifa (qcb+P) coz I was doing it too fast)
-The ground movement speed is faster than XII but slower than 2k2
-The jump arcs are back to normal from what I can tell
-Jump attacks are giving most ppl trouble to adapt to
-Meter build up is reasonable and generous as long as you're not turtling all day

The key is though, is getting used to. Fear not, as it's easily foreseeable that we'll adapt quickly enough and this will (I said it) be the most favorite KOFs easily IMHO.

NeoMaxes never get old. AFAICR, nobody pulled off any MaxCancels yet. The balance is pretty good so far throughout the 31 character roster.

Random character notes:
-All the EX anti-airs are real good at the same time making their normal counterpart look weak.
-Takuma is strong, end of story
-Robert is very much like his XII incarnation, very solid and has tons of options and user-friendly
-His jumping off the wall deal is sick (air.B+D near wall)
-Characters like Iori and Joe who were strong in XII, don't have the same edge as their specials need to be EX version to be like how they were in XII (think Joe's Tiger Kick)
-AFAICT, all the BC quick activation shortcuts do exist a la 2k2 (eg. d.B, d.BC etc...
-Robert can do +C SC into Rush DM as an anti-air. Beast
-Robert's f+A has two hits now, I'm not sure if the second hit is cancelable
-Duo Lon appears to have returned to his 2k3 goodness, doesn't have the low damage output problem from XII
-Shen feels more like his 2k3 self minus the headbutting DM, he's also very solid
-Shen's qcfx2+P DM has counter wire properties
-Shen's +B slides his slightly forward unlike in XII where he stands there.
-I got some Maxima time in and his Guard Points (auto guard) are disgusting, he really feels like a tank that can bully you into submission.
-Beni's EX +P is fun and overall an upgrade from XII IMO.

I'll write up more throughout the weekend and post vids soon.

[fiol]

may i ask which arcade u went to?

Called VZ located in Kowloon Bay.

Newer games are always charged more expensive at first anyway.

oh never been there ..when i was in HK i used to play @ an arcade (forgot the name) in Yau Ma Tei where u could find many 2k2cabinets (1credit=1hkd).. xP
thx to kane for other infos!

[DarkDreamT2]

Sorry to muck this place up with questions that may well be noobish, but are there any arcades in the states with XIII?