A new build of Fantasy Strike is available to our patrons on Patreon.
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Also, we have updated the Game Guide, which is linked at the top of this site.
There's a lot different since the last free weekend demo event. Faster walkspeeds and knockdowns create faster pacing, the throw system has changed, several improvements to online play will make that a smoother experience, all characters now have fun animations before the fight starts, plus numerous graphical improvements and balance changes.
Here are the changes:
GAME SPEED
--Increased walk speeds for all characters except Midori.
--Reduced time spent knocked down by 33%.
Some animations were changed to preserve the same gameplay as before the knockdown timing change:
- Rook normal throw, C throw, and air C knockdown
- Valerie normal throw and yomi counter
- DeGrey normal throw
- Setsuki normal throw
THROW BUTTON
--We are trying a change to the throw system that replaces the old throw command with a dedicated throw button. (The old command is not available.)
--The default button for throw is the i key on keyboard and the R1 button on PlayStation 4. You can remap it to whatever button you like.
--All throws have frame stats (startup / active / recovery) of 3 / 4 / 18.
--If a throw using forward+T or back+T clashes on the same frame as a throw using neutral+T, the f/b+T throw will win. This is a slight incentive to leave neutral (and thus be more vulnerable to yomi counters).
Developer’s note: We feel that in the end, we should not offer an option for players to use SF2-style throws or a throw button. Instead, it should be standard as one way or the other. Because this particular option has gameplay advantages in some situations with a throw button and in other situations with SF2-style throws, if we offered what appears to be an ergonomic option, it will actually force players to set it one way or the other to be competitive. It can even lead to a case where almost everyone prefers the ergonomics of one way and almost everyone is sad they are “forced” to set it the other way. It can even vary by character which option would be advantageous, which would be very fiddly to deal with. So, tell us if you prefer the throw button method used in this build, or not.
ONLINE PLAY
--Added a connection quality display (1 - 5 bars) in the upper right corner during online matches.
--Fixed game crashing when either the online opponent disconnects before the start of the match, or an online opponent pulls you out of the start of an arcade mode match.
--Fixed game getting visibly frozen when the online opponent disconnects before the start of the match.
--Fixed a “GGPO assertion” crash that sometimes happened during online play.
--Fixed a problem where sometimes the first frame of an online game had the camera way off to the side.
--Fixed a problem where sometimes the first frame of an online game showed very dark, wrong shading on the characters.
--Fixed a bug that caused particles on a stage (such as snow) to be frozen after rematching.
--Fixed a rare crash that could happen when checking the opponent's ping.
INTROS
--All characters now play intro animations before the fight starts (before round 1). Hype!
CHARACTERS
GRAVE
--Grave no longer changes eye colors in each costume color version.
--Shading on his front hand improved on the character select screen.
JAINA
--Now updated to our latest system for handling costume colors. This slightly improves her shading overall. It also reduces her file size for her drastically and makes load times faster when cycling between color choices.
--Costume color 8 is a new dark red outfit.
SETSUKI
--Revised animation for neutral A. Also, can now press A twice for a two hit sequence. The hits do not combo, but the sequence is faster than pressing A,A would be in the previous build. It looks and feels better than before, and is also a buff.
--New animation for her normal throw.
--Ground super has slightly taller hitbox so that it more easily combos after hitting with B teleport kick. This became harder in the previous build because the increased speed her super travels caused the juggle to fail too often, so this corrects that.
--Improved shading on Setsuki’s hair for all costume colors.
--Speed lines added to her win animation.
--Speed trails added to her practice animation on the score screen after online games.
ROOK
--Super cooldown time 16s -> 18s
--Ground super active frames reduced by 30%, but still very long.
--Neutral jump A hitbox better matches where his hand is (was much larger than his hand before).
--The C throw done after back+A thunderclap has a new animation now.
VALERIE
--Greatly sped up the timing between the two hits of neutral A,A. Still cannot combo though.
--The last 6f of active frames of each hit of A,A have been turned into recovery frames. This better matches the animations.
--Paint trails added to her practice animation on the score screen after online games.
GEIGER
--Super recharge time 16s -> 18s.
--Time stop super has more recovery afterwards 2f -> 8f.
--Air C now requires gear meter, just like ground B and ground C. This means you can still jump back C or jump neutral C, but jump forward C won’t work. You can still jump forward air B (which holds you in the air long enough to charge your gear meter) then air C. This change means there is more reason to use back+A, air A, and the aforementioned jump forward air B -> air C trick. It also causes you to care about spacing on the ground more so you can look for opportunities to jump straight up C.
--Ground C’s hitbox changed very slightly behind Geiger’s head. It was accidentally slightly too good at hitting characters that already got to the other side of him and crossed him up. There’s no change to the rest of it (in front and above him), so in normal situations it’s still amazing.
--Revised animation for back+A kick to look better.
--Costume colors 2 and 3 changed to lighter blue suit and brown suit. Also, his pinstripes adjusted on all costume colors.
DEGREY
--Fixed a bug that caused DeGrey’s yomi counter to reset the opponent’s block damage to state to no longer be flashing after the yomi counter. It now keeps the flashing block damage state, like all other yomi counters.
--New visual effects for jump straight up A punch.
--Adjusted visual effects for back+A ground punch. The effects are now a better indication of the range of the move.
--New animation for A,A punches. First hit reaches farther now and it also looks better.
--Very slight increase to throw range, to better match other characters’ ranges.
MIDORI
--Normal throw now leaves opponents too far away to threaten a throw loop, unless the opponent is cornered.
--Fixed an issue that made some characters end up much closer than others after getting hit by Midori’s normal throw.
--Normal throw has slightly shorter range (but still enormous range).
--”Stored” throw (when he glows purple) has shorter range (but still enormous range) to better match the range of his normal throw.
--Dragon’s B torpedo no longer knocks down, meaning he can no longer repeatedly threaten to cross you up with it as you get up -> knockdown -> repeat.
--Super recharge time 18s -> 20s.
--While in dragon form, getting thrown no longer pauses dragon form’s timer. Also, while in dragon form, throwing the opponent now does pause dragon form’s timer. These rules were always reversed, so this is now the first time it’s working correctly.
--Dragon’s yomi counter has new graphics for hitsparks.
--Dragon’s f+A,A breath weapon has slightly improved visual effects.
--Improved shading on Midori Dragon wings so they don’t have large regions of black shadows.
--New visual effects for A,A flurry punches.
--Fixed technical issues with the graphics for Midori’s clothes that made some parts have jagged edges that looked low res when seen up close. This was especially visible on his sleeves on the character select screen. This was a lot harder to fix than you would ever imagine.
--Revamped Midori’s costume color choices.
--Fixed a bug that made the shading on Midori’s pants appear to suddenly change at the end of his normal throw.
MISC
--Further developed cel-shading. Outlines on characters are slightly thinner and no longer pure black. Also, character specific work was done to clean up lines, such as on Grave’s hair, Grave’s clothes near his chest, Jaina’s hair tie, and Midori’s sleeve.
--Improved shadows on the edges of all objects in the backgrounds of the dojo stage and clock tower stage. For now, this change is only there for the “graphics quality: high” setting.
--Fixed a bug (that has been happening for 7 months) where red life drained way too quickly after you got hit. The red now correctly shows long enough for you to see how much damage you just took.
--Fixed a bug that showed the FPS display two times on top of itself.
--Reduced CPU usage by 3-8% for characters that use “dynamic bones”, which includes Grave, Jaina, Midori, Setsuki, and Valerie.
--Fixed a problem on the main menu where pressing two buttons to setup a controller could conflict with the shortcut to launch the Fig crowdfunding page. It now works as intended such that you must press and RELEASE the PlayStation square button in a short amount of time to launch the Fig link. Holding it down will not launch it so that it does not conflict with controller setup or with holding square to leave the queue in quick match.
--After a draw game in a local versus match, it now correctly says “Draw” over each player’s rematch menu.
--New sound effect at the start of all supers.
--Fixed an error in the practice mode frame data display that showed an accidental +1f (actually, +landing recovery) on most grounded moves' displayed recovery and frame advantage.
--Fixed an error in the practice mode frame data display that showed an accidental +1f on projectiles' displayed recovery (didn't take into account 1f of "active frames")