The King of Fighters XIII General Discussion Thread

[Kane317]

I'm loving that there's been an increase in the variety of characters used at different arcades recently. There was even this guy beasting on people with King/Joe/Chin, it was awesome. Of course, top tiers still dominate but it's nice to see people changing things up. Characters that I still never see used are Maxima, Hwa Jai, Duo Lon and Vice (seen more people using her in training mode though).

Man that's the best news I've heard in awhile, really exciting to hear that.  Wish we could get some footage up eventually but one step at a time.  Keep up the reports Rakukojin =)

[Diavle]

I'm loving that there's been an increase in the variety of characters used at different arcades recently. There was even this guy beasting on people with King/Joe/Chin, it was awesome. Of course, top tiers still dominate but it's nice to see people changing things up. Characters that I still never see used are Maxima, Hwa Jai, Duo Lon and Vice (seen more people using her in training mode though).

In Japan right? That's great to hear. Any truth to people ditching it or is XIII still well played at arcades there?

[Rakukojin]

I'd say it's still going strong for the time being. KOF XIII does get played more than VF5 and SFIV, despite those games usually having more cabinets but nowhere near the amount players as T6BR or BBCS.

I'd love to record some footage, but cameras aren't allowed in arcades and the workers are constantly walking around to wipe the buttons, clean the ash tray, etc. so it's hard to record without getting noticed.

[Diavle]

Sweet, glad to hear its still holding on. Yeah didn't really expect it to be able to beat out BB and T6, T6 has been dominating that list for like forever now.

Thanks for looking out for us.

[THE ANSWER]

Good stuff Rakukojin!!! Keep us posted

[Chowdizzle]

Daigo wasn't in the best of shape at this event (he was constantly caught sleeping on the side lol) but the guy has still got it, look at his SB5 match with Arturo (that super finish was clearly the highlight of the tourney). Also look at the money matches that he had with Arturo and Philippino Champ later, really intense stuff.

Same in Japan, check out the recent God's Garden online SSF4 tourneys and you will see that he is still one of the best (if not the best) there as well. So yeah, don't get your Daigo fangirl panties in a knot, he hasn't lost his touch yet. Really looking forward to his participation in the upcoming Norcal Regionals and Canada Cup.

As for the counter pick bit, that seems to be more of a US mentallity than anything else. Watch the matches and you will see that players like Daigo, Gamerbee, Sako, YHC Mochi, Uryo etc. all stick to their guns no matter what but US players often tend to pick an alternate character when they can't break through. Like at SB5 Gamerbee went with Adon no matter what but Justin switched between Rufus, Makoto and Rog.

Okay maybe saying that he is going to retire is a bit of a stretch but he really seemed like he didn't care in tourney and when he lost to Andre's Bison he was salty about it saying he's annoyed by the crowd. I'm sure he'll be back.

As far as Daigo fangirl panties goes... I respect Daigo, but I generally root against him because it obviously takes a really good player to beat him and it pretty much means a good match if he lost. But the PR Rog match was ridiculous. If I wear fangirl panties, they definitely say Gamerbee across my ass.

I'm loving that there's been an increase in the variety of characters used at different arcades recently. There was even this guy beasting on people with King/Joe/Chin, it was awesome. Of course, top tiers still dominate but it's nice to see people changing things up. Characters that I still never see used are Maxima, Hwa Jai, Duo Lon and Vice (seen more people using her in training mode though).

That does sound awesome, King is one of my main interests in that game; I just love her move set. I'm surprised that you don't see Vice much though, she seemed from the tech refs to be pretty solid and I think she has a badass move set. My friend who I used to play casually with on GGPO (and neither of us had any idea what we were doing) would use her and even though he couldn't get anything with her he loved her. I'm expecting him to use her in XIII and I'm really excited for our matches.

Here's the questions though, does no one use her because she's actually bad in this game or do they just prefer other characters? and is she similar in XIII to her 2k2 UM rendition?

[TYRANNICAL]

1)"No one" uses her because she isn't high enough on the tier list aka doesn't dominate hard enough.  You see K' all over the place.  Look him up in XI.  He's B tier IIRC and he hardly shows up.  She's not weak.  Just not strong enough to be seen in popular numbers.

2)King is not like her 02UM self.  She would be high tier maybe top if she was. No unblockable, no double Venom Strike special, no overhead etc.  Less options, less effective character too.

[Violent Ryo]

Rakukojin, its always good to hear first hand impressions on the arcade scene in Japan, thanks. 

[Chowdizzle]

1)"No one" uses her because she isn't high enough on the tier list aka doesn't dominate hard enough.  You see K' all over the place.  Look him up in XI.  He's B tier IIRC and he hardly shows up.  She's not weak.  Just not strong enough to be seen in popular numbers.

2)King is not like her 02UM self.  She would be high tier maybe top if she was. No unblockable, no double Venom Strike special, no overhead etc.  Less options, less effective character too.

I was asking if Vice was like she is in 2k2 UM. If not is there any game that's close?

[krazykone123]

I was asking if Vice was like she is in 2k2 UM. If not is there any game that's close?

She's nothing like her 2k2UM version sadly save for a couple moves, she's quite gimped in comparison

[Rex Dart]

Today I went to Shinjuku Carnival, which the Professor at MMC mentioned as one of the main KOF XIII arcades in Japan. My local KOF XIII arcade isn't much to speak of. Just one machine, and it's usually unoccupied (but the arcade's pretty empty in general, so...). It's a nice place to go for practice, but the competition is lacking.

So Shinjuku Carnival kind of blew me away. Three machines lined up right by the entrance, posters outside advertising the game and character posters decorating the walls inside. The games were all running in beautiful Lindbergh cabinets, completely eclipsing the crappy monitor I'd been playing the game on. Not only that, but each game was only 50 yen, as opposed to the standard 100. I mean, damn. This place is KOF heaven.

First, a small change for those interested in the implementation of the ratio system. Above the machines was a note featuring this ratio list:

4- K', Raiden
3- Andy, Shen, Kyo, Iori, Kula, Elisabeth, Takuma
2- Leona, Ash, Benimaru, Yuri, Kim, Duolon, Chin
1- Goro, Terry, Kensou, Mature, Maxima, Joe, Robert, King, Hwa, Ralf
0- Mai, Athena, Clark, Ryo, Vice

The same list was posted by the Professor. However, where it had used to say "maximum 4 points," the 4 had been crossed out and replaced with a 6. So it's a bit less strict. Also, my main team of Terry, Andy and King now fit within the limit! Woo!

Tonight was a 2002UM tournament (which also used a ratio system, for those who care), so I think that distracted from XIII just a bit. Still, all three cabinets were in near-constant use. In casual play the ratio system is completely ignored, so I saw plenty of K' and a fair amount of Raiden. Also, a surprising amount of Clarks.

Out of the ten or twelve matches I played, I won only two or three. Time to go back to my crappy arcade and practice up...

[venusandeve]

actually, that 6 pt thing makes sense, since only the top 2 tiers are really game changing anyway.

[Chowdizzle]

The same list was posted by the Professor. However, where it had used to say "maximum 4 points," the 4 had been crossed out and replaced with a 6. So it's a bit less strict. Also, my main team of Terry, Andy and King now fit within the limit! Woo!

Woah! That's a badass way to regulate with rules! Were these the rules for a tourney or something?

[krazykone123]

Woah! That's a badass way to regulate with rules! Were these the rules for a tourney or something?

IIRC the Point/Ratio system is predominantly used for Ranbats, you wouldn't see it being used in tournaments and such unless the said tournaments were being run a specific way

[Kane317]

Woah! That's a badass way to regulate with rules! Were these the rules for a tourney or something?

IIRC the Point/Ratio system is predominantly used for Ranbats, you wouldn't see it being used in tournaments and such unless the said tournaments were being run a specific way

Hmm, I'm wondering now myself, what do they use the ratio for?  Ranbats or Tourneys?

---
In related news, our first ratio tourney was a great success and the feedback was very positive from the several people I asked.  15/16 players participated (16th player didn't know about it, in all fairness, she didn't even know she was participating in the tourney PERIOD) and a 15th player, happened to choose a team that adhered to the ratio system (he also didn't plan on participating--he was our HD Direct Feed boss man, and he was kind enough to complete the 16 player pool).  End result, 31 out of 31 characters were used for the tourney, mission accomplished. =)