That because besides the graphical aspect, 2002um feels more polished than XIII
I had played XIII, 2002um, and 98um, and honestly if I had to pick one, will be between 98um and 2002um, XIII is a very good game, but honestly, I don't feel like something that I really want to play seriously, more one you see how cheap could XIII be, 2002um is cheap too, but is nowhere as the level of XIII
I don't know, I think that you can't blame SNKP for that, because they can't decide for the gamers and for the critic situation that they are living, but at the same time, you can blame them for creating something that didn't appealed to all the arcade gamers
But you can't blame the arcade players for the ''failure'' of XIII, in the end, they had the right to play whatever they want, I don't blame SF IV, Blazblue, 2002um, 98um, or World Heroes for being games that some players found more interesting than KOF XIII, in the end, they had the choice to decide which game play, and that's is something that you can't blame.
At least I still will support SNKP with XIII if they decide some day to release it, but I can't decide for the rest of the players, is their decision
Interesting perspective but I'll respectfully disagree though. I'm fully aware that XIII definitely have some *cringing* characters that just kinda puts most ppl off (mainly Raiden, K', Kula) but overall I feel that XIII is a more polished engine and fleshed out game (Hence the majority of us do NOT use these characters, at least not on a regular basis).
I've brought this point up several times now but the combination of Ex moves and a better HD (autodash) activation system levels the playing field a lot more than 2k2(UM) where the system really favored a handful of characters. Yes 2k2UM has a larger and diverse character roster but that's about it. XIII builds on 2k2UM's engine and then some, took whatever worked and kept it, and refined the rest.
Our local veteran, John (aka Mr Kof), is pretty much awesome in all things kof--and he too dropped everything but XIII. That might not be the best argument but all of us who play XIII don't play 2k2UM or '98UM anymore and they're not bad games at all of course.
Yep, one thing that I love about XIII is that like you said, almost everyone could made full use of all the features that the engine presents, unlike 2002um, where really, there are not that much characters which could really use the max mode, in a way where could be useful and not risky (everybody can use the max mode, but lots of them require so much trickery to do same damage than just doing a normal combo, but just spending more meter) but at the same time, there are tons of characters who really don't need the max mode to win, while in XIII I think that there is a bigger dependence on the HD mode for more characters to overcome some odds or matchups that are way more unfair
At least for comparing something, K' is tier in both games, his principal key I feel is trapping you in the corner, in XIII, he could be trapped in the corner, and in just 2 seconds, screw you and putting you in the other side, while in 2002um, is way more hard to do that in the same situation. At least there my main grip is how the hd bar works, how easy this bar is filled and how this let you to do 2 free cancels into anything without activating any mode. So the problem here is that with the system more characters are more depending to it, and at the same time, this engine fuels up the potential of the tier characters that already had a considerable advantage without it, while in 2002um, I feel that could be used more as a an ace under your sleeve. At least the ratio in XIII of matches where HD mode is invocated is bigger than 2002um with max mode, and lots of times I don't even need it
Now, at the same time, I consider that the opinion of the crew in the states had a really valid point too, I'm sure and convinced that everybody there knew way more about the mechanics of XIII, or 2002um than me, my point of view is nearly more of a casual point of view in comparission, at the same time, is a valid argument like that mr kof decided to drop everything to push XIII, because he felts than the game has a solid mechanic, and I had the same belief, you guys that play with everybody will had a bigger experience to counter the odds that at the moment the game presents, and maybe in the future present new odds that are not discovered (if there's something that I had learned, is that metagame could change a lot with time)
There is also that we are in an era where lots of scrubs scream BROKEN!11111111111 THE GAME IS DONE, BURIED, IS FUCKED UP, at the first silly video that appears on youtube showing a glitch or something like that, even though they will never pull or see that situation on their lifes. This let to lots of times to bury the games without giving them a chance, and go back to the more familiar games (98 and 2002 in KOF case) In this situation there is a 50/50 situation, some guys really know why they are not playing, and some others do. They kill the game without playing it, learn the mechanics, match ups and all that shit
At least I enjoy XIII, is a very good game, but for the reasons exposed amongst other, I prefer to stick to 98 and 2002, since I enjoy more the way in how the games had been presented
Now also, is incredible unfair to say that 2002um and 98um are more polished than XIII considering that this game had 10 and 7-8 years of developing versus a game with only one (yeah, I know that OG =/= UM, but on all these years, they learned from the errors and balanced and tweaked the mechanics, with more positive than negative results. I still believe that if we ever had a KOF XIV, could reach ''dreamatch status'' we had to think than 98 was the fruit of the trial and error from 95/96 to 97, while 2002 was slightly the same, XIV just need more time to develop, I still hope that SNKP gaves us just one more game, maybe there is their game changer, one can only dream and hope
