KOFXIV Announced for 2016

[videoman190]

Speaking of Bob I would like to see a Capoeira team with Bob Wilson, Ricard Myer, and Momoko

[The Fluke]

Speaking of Bob I would like to see a Capoeira team with Bob Wilson, Ricard Myer, and Momoko

Ugh, Momoko.. They should just give Ono a dollar and put Blanka in her spot instead.

[KLSADAKO]

Early days , but from wot Ive seen the game looks pretty limited in the combo front.. I saw a vid of someone with Kyo trying stand C, f+B, HCB+K, and even that didnt work, lol..

I know someone did a speed combo comparisson with the 3rd trailer and XIII, but watching XIV on its own, the game does appear to move a lot slower..

but its early days as i said so lets wait n see

[TrueOrochi]

https://youtu.be/JlAuSdXu5fQ

https://youtu.be/-tylL3Uq66Y

Looks like it uses advance system (run, roll, and multi-stock meter).

Not digging the redesigns, especially for Ralf... I did not even recognize him...

[ottomatic]

Things I noticed though various videos:

Super cancels are back in but I haven't seen if it costs (none of the playtest vids I saw had any super cancels just the trailer).

Max mode allows use of EX moves for some of it's meter like HD allowed for cancels, I haven't seen EX moves outside of maxmode nor have I seen special canceling in it.

One vid  saw had Kula do what I'm assuming is her Climax DM, They activated Max mode for 1 meter and used 2 more meter for the CDM. (Also a side note; it seems Kula no longer uses other characters in her supers, shes growing up)

On a number of occasions I saw a flash on block animation. I initially though they were just defenses but found that it didn't seem to have any obvious form of bonus or even a message. The flash seemed a bit random, but maybe it's a system not yet implemented.

Lastly, there are move lists for the currently available characters as well as universal moves. The description for Rush felt similar to the mechanic from Persona 4 arena.

There's more but I'm tired and this is what I could think of at the time of posting. Any particulars you guys want to point out?

[marchefelix]

Ground to ground blowback attacks seem to wall splat. You can hit them afterwards if you're close enough.

[shinefist]

Characters seem to now have close or far light attacks back, also kyo has a new close D.

After you enter Max mode the screen freezes to give you time to whif punish or to punish jumps.

Noticed that white flash also as ottomatic mentioned, but yeah it didn't appear to do anything as he said.

Really interested to see the new game mechanics/systems and would be cool if that character leak is the real deal.

[videoman190]

Some Technical stuff from Professor of MMCafe

KOF14, Retro now.

The trailer is an odd mix of fair and bad renderings!
So the PlayStation Experience event is happening in California right now, and a demo featuring all the characters up to trailer 3 + Kula are playable.

- KOF14 will have a mashable easy-combo system. Like Persona 4 or Undernight InBirth, the game lets you do a combo by just mashing one button (the weak punch button). Apparently there's some attacks that are exclusive to this system, and likewise to Persona and undernight, it'll even do a super at the end if you have enough meter.
- Jumps in general are slower, which is probably good for new players but will certainly get complaints from old schoolers.
- The combo-heavy HD system from KOF13 has been replaced with "Max Mode" from the past series.
- Basically when you have 1 bar of meter, you can go into Max mode with two button presses, and you can do infinite EX specials for a limited time. (EX specials are more powerful versions of special attacks, fireballs, uppercuts and whatnot)
- You can only do EX specials during Max mode, which is a pretty big difference from KOF13 or even SF4/5.
- There's the "Just defense" system from Garou:Mark of the Wolves where you get some advantage compared to blocking normally, which you can do by blocking at the same time when an attack is coming your way.
- There's guard cancel evasion/rolling but there may not be guard cancel CD/thrust. This could be the reason why Just defense is in the game. (Personally I'd much rather prefer the contemporary guard cancel thrust since it can be used for offense as well as defence.)

... The Neogeo versions of Last Blade 2 and KOF2000 are coming to PS4 as well, which is kind of an odd decision.

http://www.mmcafe.com/bbs.html
[/qoute]

Interview with famitsu
http://www.famitsu.com/news/201512/06094695.html

[solidshark]

Impression from a NeoGaf member:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=188112834&postcount=387

My observations about King of Fighters 14.

The characters are nowhere near as badly detailed in person. Though graphically they’re lacking, and the facial features are somewhat bland, I think the improvements that came out so quickly are a good sign. With some shaders and more work, they can be made acceptable or even good. One thing I noticed is that Chang is the most hated character, but his detail surpasses every other character. I don’t know why, but he seems like a gen and a half graphically? His clothing had more texture and detail. Also when you look at the game in person, the pants are more detailed, the clothing are more detailed than what was shown in those trailers. I’m actually somewhat positive about the details. They fit. Though Kyo’s hair looks somewhat off at the moment, and I’m sure that’s still a work in progress. The graphics are actually fairly colorful and animate fairly well. The movement is good, and has the typical KOF style movement that is fairly fluid. The game looks better in real life when you play it. Those early trailers didn’t do any favors.

The backgrounds themselves are actually very well animated. They have a nice feeling to them. Not too overly busy, but they are well done. There are nice touches on the levels too like moving trains, lights that move around, and other small details. They don’t feel desolate like several near doujin level games like Arcana Hearts or most other airdash fighters with technically colorful backgrounds, but completely dead animation wise. There’s only two stages so far, but I’m still looking forward to what SNK has planned since they make very good stages.

Gameplay wise this is traditional KOF. The feeling of it is actually very good. The running, the backdashes, the hops and hyper hops and other stuff is all in here and it moves at a very good clip. However, one thing I did notice is that the jumps feel slightly off? I don’t know if it’s because I’m not too intimate with the characters used today, but I played tons of Kyo and Ioris, and their jumps seem to be a little bit more floaty than usually. I wonder if this is intentional, or if it’s a new style to slow down the pace just a little bit to get rid of the insane pressure from 13. But even then, it didn’t exactly feel like 13 or 98 or 2k2. I told one of the programmers about this and they told me that it was still in development, but that they will tell them back in Japan. I know that every character has a different jump arc, but this one felt just a slight bit floaty, which is weird since the running and backdashes are still in place.

The running and backdashes feel good. The running feels good, and the backdashes are quick. The actual combos from previous games still work and feel incredibly faithful. Infact with bread and butters from Kyo or Iori such as rekkas, it almost feels exactly the same as 13 or previous ones. They’re fairly faithful and feel good. Like something that has always been. The move to 3d hasn’t changed the fundamental flow or how the fight feels. This is a very faithful representation gameplay wise for KOF moving onto the 3d space.

The actual fighting system is very good. The moves are essentially identical to their 2d counterparts. I feel like the frames are mostly KOF 13 with how they look, but I have slight feels of King of Fighters 98 with how the attacks are. Characters feel a bit more expanded in some ways. Iori personally has a mix of claw and flames style attacks which make him interesting. Though I wonder if this makes an EX version of him harder to do since different variants of him may be considered more limited than the hybrid version. But most of the standard attacks are the same as the 2d games and feel good. One thing that threw me off was Chang. His normal attacks have changed quite a bit and I’m unfamiliar with him now. His standing C is just really weird and pretty slow for a KOF move. Significantly more slow than I was expecting. I used this more than once by accident expecting a 98 style close range move. Another thing I noticed is that chain mashing move is lower towards the ground, but pushes forward a bit more. I feel this changes him significantly since he’s able to be jumped in with the change. Though with the pressure that’s aimed more forwards and lower, it can possibly be used at different times. The other move he has with the crouching c is weird. I’m used to him angling his ball in an upwards arc, but the change is him angling the ball upwards. I wonder if the utility on this is better, or making it more circumstantial. I’m divided on these changes to attacks. I haven’t seen enough of them in action, but I do think this can change the fundamental game of Chang and what options he has with the change in the swinging ball, the complete change in his standing C and the different crouching C. Chang has always been a slow character, but I wonder if these slower more deliberate attacks are going to be used as a whole to change his gameplay style, or make him more deliberate than he was in the past.

Another thing that I noticed that was off to me, was the recovery from a knockdown. When pressing A and B to roll after being knocked down, it didn’t feel quite as responsive or as conclusive as it did in the past. Like the audio cue isn’t as loud or as noticeable, or it may have been how load the convention was, not too sure, but it just felt slightly off. Like I missed a few roll recoveries when I thought I had them. It may have also been the playstation dual shock controller. Or perhaps the demo was stuttering a little bit? Who knows, but that’s something I have to keep an eye on. There is still plenty of time to fix this though if it’s just a glitch or work in progress.
With regards to the max mode, I wonder how this fits in. It isn’t like KOF 2k2 or 13. I haven’t seen any moves cancel into others at least not yet, perhaps a different timing? I do know that using Max modes gives you access to EX moves and EX DMs. The EX DM’s is somewhat similar to King of Fighters 98 where you could go into a mode to have your DM’s do more damage or alter properties, but having EX moves behind this mode can add an additional layer of strategy or opening up a true characters potential. They didn’t explain the system too much, but I feel like this needs to be worked on. It feels like a branching of KOF 98 which let you use more powerful DM’s, with KOF 13 and using EX moves, but the branching doesn’t feel as successful to me. Like it’s not quite sure of what it wants to go for. But again, impressions are early. But I honestly think a better use of this meter would be an alternate meter for Dream Cancels such as having 3-4 stocks to let you make a custom or extend a combo 3-4 times depending on meter, not having a full hyper drive bar which made combos incredibly long and near touch of death with comebacks from one fault. When I asked about this mode, they said it was still a work in progress I believe and that it’s still being tweaked. So who knows what the final iteration will be. They may remove or change it or even add something completely different?

I also noticed flashing when blocking at the right time. Is this a return of Just Defend? Does this mean that there may be some Garou mark of the wolves systems at play? I don’t recall life being gained from this, but just trying to grasp these new systems and playing it may have made me less observant to this. It was just a quick flash glow like Mark of the wolves. Or perhaps this is just SNKP paying homage to their older games such as the tearing of female clothes in KOF 13?

[The Good Loser]

here's a translation of the interview with Oda from SNK

Edit: Apparently it's been modified or taken down, here is the raw version tho http://www.famitsu.com/news/201512/06094695.html

[TrueOrochi]

I think the flash is just a visual cue for a well timed block which allows you to strike with a quick move while opponent recovers and removes knock back. I know for a fact that it was in XI, but do not remember it in the classic SNK games.

[Micky Kusanagi]

@GL: the interview translation link doesn't work Do you know other possible locations? Thank you anyway ^^

According to what I've read and seen till now, gameplay looks kinda like KOF98 with some XIII stuff and little additions/changes thrown into the mix. Now everyone got 2 supers and both of them are EXable -at least the demo chars. Kyo's rekka moves are about as many as in XI, and as a Kyo fan I'm so happy about it xD I like what I've seen so far.

Besides, the leak is at least partially true: 48+2 chars -those "windows" in previous teasers xD-, 16 teams + 2 solos, all the chars revealed so far are in the leaked list. I don't expect that leak to be completely true, but now I think a couple other details will be confirmed, alongside the most obvious ones -some teams are no brainers at this rate.

@shinefist: yay for close/far variations :D After reading SFV got rid of them, I had lost any hope to see them fully implemented back in KOF. Multiple normal throws are also back, at least for some chars.

Last but not least, I read somewhere a lot of boos came from the crowd...is it true?

[spoiler]Now, on to unleashing my inner fanboy xD I know graphics will always be PS2 tier for 99% people, but in all honesty I like them. No matter how much effort I put into seeing something horribly wrong with them, I just can't -I still play early 90s games without complaining and I know I'm not the only one, so playing a game from a non-doujin developer with subpar graphics isn't an issue at all to me-, except for King's unbearable Trap Shot pose and the almost lifeless aquarium stage, but I'm sure they're either from an earlier development stage (and already improved) or SNKP will tweak them. Angel is BEAUTIFUL!! *Sanji style heart shaped eyes* (I'm crazy for latinas) LMAO at SNKP maybe retconning Billy as Norwegian xDDDDD Ralf isn't skinny, so I hope a bit of fear about body build variety has worn off. Pre-fight intros are back, at long last. I don't like the life/power bars, but I think it's like KOFXII where they were simplistic in the first videos and were replaced with something richer.

I'm so happy to hear actual KOF music back in!! Is that piece of music right after the cutscene a new track? Or just part of the new Esaka? Either way, I love it. I also like the main song more and more, now that the clip used in the trailer is a bit longer. As much as I don't like "Linkin Park style" music, it surprisingly got stuck in my head. Kyo's voice still sounds not Nonaka to me...I'd be a bit sad if he had left this role, but I like Kyo's XIV voice. Yasui as Iori is fantastic like always :D[/spoiler]

[ottomatic]

I noticed quick max does not take two meters like in '02, but the max mode meter when quick maxing is lower (half, maybe less). That looks like it should be enough for 2 maybe 3 EX moves (based off of EX meter drain). Does anyone know if quick maxing is limited to ground normals? Has anyone experimented on if they can be done off of specials or air normals?

[The Good Loser]

I noticed quick max does not take two meters like in '02, but the max mode meter when quick maxing is lower (half, maybe less). That looks like it should be enough for 2 maybe 3 EX moves (based off of EX meter drain). Does anyone know if quick maxing is limited to ground normals? Has anyone experimented on if they can be done off of specials or air normals?

From statements of people who played it the only free thing after you paid the 1 bar to enter max mode are the normal cancels.

@Micky: I either beleive that is one of the unfinished things and will turn into the British flag, or it could be a flag similair to the "southern" flag, representing "south town" ?

[shinefist]

Maybe the ex moves have different properties to help extend for better combos during max mode. Besides, having infinite of them during the duration of max mode would really help.

Somehow building 1 or 2 stocks then landing a combo using infinite ex moves seems like it would require balancing out. Unless damage output is considerably lower.

The Good Loser, that's interesting info using just the one bar for normal cancels.