Evolution West This Weekend
We're only a few days away from Evolution West (www.evo2k.com). I'll be helping run it and also competing in it. I'll enter SF2 AE, GGXX Slash (team tournament), and DOA4.
This is the first year that any of these 3 games have been featured at Evolution, so it should be interesting to see if the well-known players from previous versions make it to the top or not. It will also be interesting to see if the supposedly overpowered characters from each game actually show up at the top.
I'll withhold my list of top AE characters until after the event, but the list is definitely different than what other players seem to think. In GGXX Slash, from what I can gather the top tier still contains Eddie and Slayer, and now Aba. I think around 0% of players agree with that, but when you really nerf the best character in the game (Eddie), it's entierly possible that he's still top tier, and that's still how it looks to me. It's probably only a matter of time until Eddie is proven again in this version. Slayer lost a few things, but *gained* good things too. He's a beast. I bet a good Aba player could beat anyone in the USA, even with the disadvantage of possibly being instant killed.
Anyway, no one agrees with that GGXX Slahs stuff, but wait a couple years and we'll see. We can save the SF2 AE arguements for after I get back.
Good luck to all and I'll see you there.
--Sirlin
June 30th, 2006 at 2:18 am
I guess you don’t feel like indulging us with your list of Tier 1 characters for DOA4. Maybe after you get back?
Second question: Are there any tournaments of this kind in the Boston area? I’ve been looking for a local tournament that has either DOA4 or Soul Caliber 2, but so far my searches have been fruitless.
June 30th, 2006 at 2:59 am
Maybe my information is dated, but I’ve heard the Ky is in the top tier by himself in Slash.
June 30th, 2006 at 11:11 pm
I would love to hear your DOA4 thoughts after the tourney, as this is the only worthwhile fighting game on the 360 presently.
July 1st, 2006 at 1:35 am
I don’t know enough about DOA4 to have any kind of authority about a tier list. It seems to me that Ein and Hayate are top tier, and that Jan Lee is up there too. Gen Fu seems a solid 2nd tier. Hyabusa is probably also a solid 2nd tier.
Ultimately, the best characters are probably the ones that can avoid the stun game entirely. What I mean is that certain hits called “critical stuns” allow the victim to reversal out of. Some characters (like Gen Fu) build their game around baiting these reversals to keep the enemy stunned over and over. But some characters start with a single hit that doens’t cause critical stun, then launch, then do a damaging juggle combo, and they never had to enter into the tricky guessing games where they might lose. (Yeah, I know there was a guessing game on the very first hit, but I mean they didn’t have to enter into repeated guessing games throughout the combo). If you have a really damaging combo that can’t be reversed, you are probably a pretty good character in DOA4.
Again, don’t listen to me on this. I’m not an expert at the game.
–Sirlin
July 1st, 2006 at 2:05 pm
I’m a Slayer user, but not a great one. What makes him so great?
July 1st, 2006 at 4:54 pm
Insane priority, rediculous damage, the ability to pass through moves(Lowered in Slash) along with a good High/Low/Throw mixup game. He’s solid.
He is insane in XX (Bite Loop can almost kill instantly) and still a great source of tension and damage in #R. It’s out in Slash, but the bite can still serve as a combo starter.
So great damage, great prioity, greate okizeme, great abare/random damage off hits…. And in Slash, tons of mind games. He’s pretty much good for the most straight forward reasons.
July 3rd, 2006 at 9:14 am
ALSO. EVO WEST 3RD PLACE:
Ruin/Xenotiger/Sirlin
Way to go, boss.
July 4th, 2006 at 3:28 am
For whatever it’s worth, here’s the tier list from the June issue of Arcadia:
Rank A = Sol & Ky
Rank B = Jam, Faust, Potemkin, Baiken, Testament, Chipp
Rank C = Almost everyone else
Rank D = Robo-Ky & Order Sol
Of course, since the game’s still relatively new, any number of things could be different already. I, too, would not be surprised if Eddie and Slayer were to come back to upper-mid at least, but if recent vids are any indication I doubt ABA’s going any higher.
July 4th, 2006 at 3:30 am
And congratulations on 3rd! IMO the top 3 teams should’ve gotten seeded, considering that 9 is closer to 8 than 6 is, but whatever, good stuff nonetheless!