PSASBR – My Complete Wishlist (Updated for 26/05/2013)

Im going to take a short break from my regular posting to write about a game I spend a large amount of my time playing now.

If you haven’t heard of it Playstation All Stars Battle Royale is a 4 Player fighting game similar to Smash Bros (google it). This is less of an article and more of a straightforward wishlist regarding all the changes I want to the game. Im going to try and keep this realistic, a lot of people ask the impossible of game developers or sometimes things best placed in a sequel. Anyway Enjoy my wishlist and comment if you get the chance..

Characters:

A lot of people are pushing for unrealistic character DLC, obscure Japanese games and non-gaming characters. Ill try and keep this realistic..

Here are in my opinion the characters I believe would make good additions.

1. Ethan Mars – The most depressing character in videogame history

Although he isn’t much of a fighter in heavy rain there is plenty of things he does which can easily be adapted to form his moveset. Remember that part where you can play basketball for no apparent reason?, seems like a pretty viable projectile move to me.There is really 3 ways to make this character work:

• One is to make him along the premise that he has not yet lost Jason and is interacting with his children and house.
• The second would be to make him along the premise that he has already lost Jason and is interacting with his distant son Shaun
• The last would be making him along the premise that he has lost Shaun to the origami killer and is attempting to find him.

To get that heavy rain feel the third would be the most appropriate in my opinion.

For more information on Ethan check out my moveset.

2. Aveline de Grandpré – Assassins creed revelations

She is the only viable option for the game because she is the only Playstation exclusive character, we all know an AC rep belongs in this game and here is the only option.  It isnt particularly hard to think up a viable moveset for an AC rep, considering the wide arsenal of weaponry we have to work with. For all of you who haven’t played AC:Liberation its worth noting that Aveline has 3 major costumes or ‘forms’ in the game (slave, lady and assassin), although we could derive a Toro-like moveset from this I personally think the best way to make this character would be just as if she was any other AC protagonist. Her arsenal already includes such weapons as hidden blades, a blowpipe, a whip, firearms, swords, machetes etc. Personally I think the majority of her arsenal should be reserved for supers, her hidden blades for example could potentially be the coolest in the game. Give her a counter like sly’s and make her level 1 super a hidden blade assassination, epic animation time after time. The guns at the time were slow but used in close range to devastating effect, pretty good idea for a level 2 super if you ask me.

For more information on Aveline check out my moveset.

3. Wander – Shadow of the Colossus

The game being recently revamped for PS3 is fresh in everyone’s minds. He has a large variety of beasts to call upon for his supers and his sword means a moveset is easy to create. I honestly never played shadow of the colossus until this generation, but I was impressed how much I liked the character despite no dialogue and very little story. Then of course there’s the horse which I feel a character wouldnt be complete without, although properly making a horse-back character would be very hard. His moveset would be pretty basic, all he really uses is a sword and a bow so we cant expect any fancy moves or wide arsenals. Despite this I still feel he deserves a spot in this game. It should be mentioned however that he ‘needs’ a level if he is put in the game, not making a level would be madness. There is so much to work with, Im amazed there wasn’t one at launch. His supers would have to be horse orientated with a level 1 charge and a level 2 similar to Raiden, for good measure allow him to use his sword to find where sly is hiding :P.

4. James Grayson – Resistance: Retribution

I know this is a very obscure choice but hear me out. I believe the reason that we dont have a resistance representative is because there isnt any suitable choices. The player never connects with Nathan Hale and the chimera dont make use of the wide arsenal the game is known for, enter James Grayson the most relate-able character in the series. He’s got everything; a cool British ascent, an admirable hatred for the French and the weapons to back it up. I guess the fireman from burning skies might be appropriate but ive heard nothing but bad things so I will steer clear. All I can really comment on about a possible moveset is that his level 2 should be in my opinion his chain-gun with the shield up, purely because that would look awesome.

For more information on James Grayson check out my moveset

5. Lu Bu – Dynasty Warriors

 

Another somewhat obscure choice but he does make sense. Dynasty warriors although multi-platform originated on Playstation 1, the games despite falling out of popularity still has a strong following and new games are always being created ( I think they are on DW: 9 now. Lu Bu himself is without doubt the most iconic character in the series, he also has no alignment to the main factions so picking him wouldn’t be playing favorites. The dynasty warriors moveset pretty much copy-pastes perfectly on top of the all-stars one so this would be an easy character to design.

For more information on Lu Bu check out my moveset.

6. Honorable Mentions

• Lightning – Lightning Returns (2013)
• Spyro – Spyro the Dragon Series
• Crash Bandicoot – Crash Bandicoot Series
• Old Snake – Metal Gear Solid Series
• Abe – Abe’s Odyssey
• Bomberman – Bomberman Series
• Lara Croft – Tomb Raider (2013)

Modes:

• Question-master – Originally I thought King of the Hill would be a good addition to this game but then I realized that it is already in the game. It exists in the form of Buzz on Dreamscape. So Imagine this game mode as that same experience on different maps, the only way to gain AP would be standing on the correct answer. Unfortunately the mechanics of this game don’t really allow for a player to safely stand in one spot that long so instead the correct answer will continuously spout AP as long as a player is on it.

Stages:

1. Town Square (Gravity Rush vs Dead Space) Work In Progress

Currently a lot of the cast still do not have their own stages, kat is of course one of them. After a bit of consideration I concluded that we could mash-up gravity rush with some of the other stages but dead space definitely presents the most realistic opportunity. Ill try and keep this short,The starting point for this stage is of course Heckville square as shown above. At some point I will re-download the game for a more accurate view on where I want the stage to start but for nowhere are the main points of this area.

• The green kiosk in the above image is on the far left of the stage giving players and elevated platform to stand on (this is similar to the building on the side of Paris)
• Players can walk into the kiosk the storefront obscures the character visibility (by which I mean a tall player will only have his top half visible, shorter characters can obscure themselves completely by crouching.)
• A fence showing the marvel of the city beyond it go along the back of the stage.
• There is a few steps in the middle separating out a higher and lower area (lower on the left), this serves a similar purpose to the steps on Columbia.
• People are walking around in the background seemly oblivious to the fighting.
• The board and lamppost next to the kiosk are present on the higher right part of the stage.
• On the far right of the stage is the building visible on the far right of the above image. An elevated roof area can be stood on, this stands at a similar height to the roof of the kiosk.

Thats the basic map layout for the first part of this stage. Lets assume about 20 seconds have passed. At this point the Jellyfish Battleship slowly enters from the left, at about 40 seconds it begins to sound and alarm and people run away. During this the stage slowly gets darker, at 1 minute we get night-time. Shortly after manholes begin bursting open and necromorphs enter via the sewers, fences and windows. These are in the background and will not go after players, for short while the Jellyfish attempts to fight them. During this period it will fire rockets that may impact on the stage and cause damage similar to the rockets on Dojo. 1 minute 40 seconds has passed now and we transition to the second area. The ground shakes a bit and there is a local gravity shift, the necromorphs at this point will all fall upwards but the players will float and be moved to the second part of this stage. During this shift smart players will notice the Heksville town square status is actually a marker.

The second part of this stage is essentially the side of a building, one of the ones close to the square.  We don’t want this to be a boring flat part so here are the main parts.

• On the side of the building are visible a few windows.
• To the side of the building (above the players) is a air-ship of some kind, this is a platform, but may be quite long rather than wide due it being sidewards.
• Beside this building is another building from which one set of windows is visible, above this is open space.
• All players with long hair or free flowing clothing will have it hanging sidewards during this part.

At this point we cant see the Jellyfish anymore, at approximately 2 minutes 10 seconds a light from the behind building will turn on and the shadow of a Necromorph will be visible. There may also be screaming to accompany this, lights from the windows below the players will also randomly turn on. Necromorphs will once again be seen scaling the building , some may fall off or enter windows but this all happens behind the player. At around 2 minutes 45 the Ishimura will fly past in the background. Thats the full 3 minute stage although I may tweak the second stage and add hazards involving necromorphs. There are a few things I should address before anyone brings them up.

1. I am aware of the inconsistency between Kats inability to shift in all stars but making a GR stage without shifting seemed a bit stupid.
2. The inclusion of necromorphs may incur a higher rating, SSM would have to cartoonize them to the point where it is alright while keeping their basic forms so they can be recognised.

Items:

• Motorstorm Dirt-bike [EPIC] – This item allows a player to ride around briefly and run others over. Running over a player whites them out and causes them to drop AP. 
• R&C Groovitron Mine [EPIC] – This item can be places as a trap and when activated causes a player to dance for a short amount of time.
• R&C Dopplebanger – This item after being placed will stand around and shoot nearby players continuously. This effect has small stopping power and 1 AP gain per shot, over its entire duration a player can expect to gain about 20 AP.
• Infamous Blast Core – This item when picked up will cause the player to shoot sparks every so often. This will increase AP gain of each attack by a small amount and have a random chance to stun the player being hit.
• Bioshock 2 Security Command [EPIC] – This player is given a blue ball which they can throw, any players close enough to the throw spot will be painted blue and attacked by security drones for a short time. A countdown clock is visible on screen.
• Bioshock 2 Auto-turret – When thrown this turret will attack players every so often much like Emmett’s turret.
• Playstation Move Remote’s Sports set – The player picks up 2 move controllers, these much like in sports champions will take the form of different weapons. (Triangle Bow, Circle 2 Axes, Square Sword and Shield) They do not drain AP, they do however gain very good AP and are unblockable. (Think of this item being similar to the spinning axe but not as powerful).
• Playstation Move Remote’s FPS set – When picked up the remote’s will become either a rifle or pistol.
• Dynasty Warriors Mosou Armour – For a short time you are unaffected by projectiles (although they still gain AP from hitting you).
• Dynasty Warriors Wind Scroll – For a short time your attack range is increased, projectiles come out faster and move further. Melee attacks hit further than they should.
• Resistance Chimeran Beacon [EPIC] – A random Chimeran unit is called down to support you on the battlefield. This unit can be hit which causes it to stagger briefly, this one hit will allow a player to escape but will cause an unavoidable attack. Attacking this unit does not gain the player AP, it can only be killed with supers (but will dissapear after a few seconds). Attacks from this unit will drop AP out of players.
• DMC Revenant – This is the shotgun from the new DMC game unlocked later into the game. Square fires a moderately weak shot for moderate AP. Holding this will charge it for more power. Triangle will produce the fireworks move.
• Killzone Tactician Drone Flare – This when thrown will summon a Helghan drone to the field which will attack random players. 
• PSN Trophy – As you might guess this is basically a rip-off of the assist item from Smash brothers, similarly it will summon Playstation characters from both included games and unrepresented ones. This item comes in 4 varietys (Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum) scaling logically in rarity and reward. Bronze assists will last a moderate length and produce only small help, Silver assists will last longer and produce a relatively useful assist, Gold will kill 1 player (more if you are really lucky) and Platinum may kill multiple.

1. Lucy Kuo from Infamous 2 (Silver) – Appears briefly and freezes multiple opponents.
2. Nix from Infamous 2 (Silver) – Traps a nearby opponent, can be detonated  by a player for a free kill.
3. Whiptail from Heavenly Sword (Bronze) – Shows up and fires several tidal waves outward, knocks players away.
4. Roach from Heavenly Sword (Bronze) – Rolls around on the ground for a while, knocks players away.
5. Flying Fox from Heavenly Sword (Silver) – Jumps around striking random players into crumple position.
6. Mr Grimm from Twisted Metal (Silver) – Drives across screen and shotguns nearby opponents, enemy’s that make contact will die.
7. Dollface from Twisted Metal (Gold) – Drives across screen killing anyone the truck makes contact with.
8. Big Sister from Bioshock 2 (Platinum) – Before it arrives the scream is heard. She then will come on screen and attack each player with lethal results.
9. More coming soon..

Balance Changes & Mechanics:

Before I go into character specific fixes and start ranting about who’s OP here are some more general things I believe the game needs.

• A Block timer. I.e. if you block(or cloak) for 2 long you will incur a short stun that has a similar effect to staying in water.
• 1 vs 1 mode online.
• The ability to block players and not encounter them online.
• Stale Move Negotiation

And here are the balance changes by character:

Drake:

The frequency at which he can use his barrel skill needs to be reduced. Not only is this move incredibly fast but because of the hectic nature of FFA it is hard to avoid and often destroys the flow of combat. The last point I will make is that drakes knockback pistol shot is to fast, its hard to dodge in time and gives him a lot of ground on enemies who need to be close.

Here is my Recommendation:

• His barrels need to be less explosive, and more easily breakable. His barrel was fixed in the last Patch.
• His barrels need to be easier to roll though, attempting to roll through them usually results in hitting them. His barrel was fixed in the last Patch.
• His AK-47 move needs less stopping power and less AP gain.
• His Forward Triangle needs a longer delay when used in the air. This was fixed in the last Patch.
• Increased Delay on his Down Square sliding move, make it punishable on counter.

Edit: The last patch got drake almost level but the barrel spamming problem was really only when playing mediocre drakes. Good drakes still make use of Down square because of its incredibly un-punishable nature.

Kratos:

Kratos players love to spam Square forward and who can blame them, its auto-aim with huge distance and gives a lot of AP. The move really needs to be given reduced range and less knockback, apart from that all I would say is he needs to have his AP gain reduced. Anyone can pick up a controller and get to his level 3 in no time at all, good players do it in less than no time.

Here is my recommendation:

• His Grapple needs less knockback and range
• All of his square attacks including air moves need their range shortened.
• His ability to turn around mid combo needs to be removed.
• He needs to be a bit slower or his AP gain needs to be less

Edit: The last patch left Kratos basically the same, shame on SSM for playing favourites.

Raiden:

Raiden is overplayed online because of the ease of use in his moveset and supers. Not only is his level 1 super the best in the game, it can be combo’d into several different ways. Raidens level 1 has more viable kill confirms than any other character. The ease of use of his dash confirm means that many players now spam this in an attempt to eventually catch someone off-guard, dash spamming is a very annoying thing for many characters to deal with.

Here is my recommendation:

• Forward Square into level 1 needs to be delayed for long enough to allow a roll.
• His Level 1 super needs its range and lag fixed (sometimes I get killed because it lags out and activates after I hit the Raiden)
• His down throw should not allow for a kill confirm or long combos.
• His forward dash needs its range shortened.
• His forward dash should not be a kill confirm unless followed up by forward square.

Edit: Raiden was actually buffed in the last patch 0_0… although some of his moves are a bit more punishable he can now super from throw….

Radec:

Radec is an interesting character because of his untapped potential in online play. In a game of low skill level a Radec can easily dominate but his basic style falls to pieces in a 1v1. He has trouble pulling off effective combos and his level 1 is not only easy to dodge but almost impossible to set up. I feel that in his current state he fits well into the game but the skill to power ratio is way off in serious play, a good Radec player does not stand a chance against any other character of similar skill.

Here is my recommendation:

• His Flame-thrower needs to be cancel-able
• His grenades needs more explosive power and possibly explode on contact. At the moment this move has few practical uses beyond lackluster zoning.
• His stun grenade needs to be faster. This move was made faster in the last patch.
• His Bolt gun should act like a bolt gun does in Killzone 2, firing people backwards and sticking them to walls briefly before exploding. This would not only make it a much better move but also give Radec a reasonable kill confirm. (The sound should also be fixed to sound correct).
• His M327 grenade launcher should act like the grenade launcher in Killzone 2, firing it on the ground should result in a forward shot, it should also explode on contact and its fuse needs to be much shorter. Once again the sound used in all stars is way off.
• Surprise grenade should detonate slightly faster and to more effect on opponents hit.
• With the above in place increase the cost of his level 3 for balance sake.

Note: Grenades in Killzone don’t have an overly explosive effect because when you die from one you don’t get thrown very far. That doesn’t mean they should be portrayed as being weak.

Dante:

Dante for the most part has been one of the weakest characters in all stars, despite having insane combo potential. Pre-buff players eventually discovered a way to glitch move-reset using the infamous “empty cancel”, since the buff players still choose to use this to take him from being a balanced character to a broken one. Whilst some defend the empty cancel claiming a prerequisite of skill to use most players understand that Muscle Memory =! Skill and the advance this move gives Dante over other characters is unfair. The empty cancel for example allows him to confirm his level 1 out of his basic combo starter, many characters do not have non-situational level 1 confirms to balance another aspect of their character, for Dante this aspect is his insane combo potential.

Here is my recommendation:

• Increase in dash frames before a cancel can be performed. (this removes cancels if done properly)

Note: If you honestly think Dante needs to empty cancel to be played well you are not a good player.

Isaac:

Isaac rose straight to the top of most tier lists upon release, with some easy to pull of lag confirms coupled with an amazing level 2 and 3 he is one of the most deadly characters to face online. By far however his most powerful move is his mine which for some strange reason wasn’t subject to the treatment of similar objects which were nerfed upon its release (Barrel). The mine damaged players attempting to destroy it and has a fairly large/long hurtbox, not only this but it has enough health to survive many of the casts attacks useful for destroying it. Making new characters powerful is important to ensure people want to buy them, the time has come to hit Isaac with the nerf bat.

Here is my recommendation:

• His mine now causes 10AP of damage upon explosion.
• His mines explosion radius needs to be decreased when destroyed by a player. (Rather than activated when stepped on)
• His square plasma cutter loop needs to be removed.
• There needs to be a delay in the activation of his level 2 allowing players who are just within its reach to escape.

Note: A lot of the players who play Isaac believe that he requires skill to play and hence gloat/teabag when they get kills or a level 3. Isaac is a character that appears difficult to play while in reality his skill in to power out ratio is pretty low.

Zeus:

Zeus as new character was given similar treatment to Isaac, however his slow moveset means he is slightly more counter-able. This isn’t to say he is balanced as in a FFA match a decent Zeus will take advantage of chaos to gain level 2s and 3s in no time whatsoever. This means that Ranked FFA has been completely broken by Zeus players (among other characters). Although since release people are becoming use to dodging him over other characters a good Zeus will always get his level 3 as long as 1 player is giving him hits.

Here is my recommendation:

• His level 1 should not hit behind him.
• His level 2 needs to be improved to prevent players air-dodging out of it.
• His level 3 needs more delay between hits.
• His down square from the air requires a shorter lingering hitbox so players can easily dodge it. This move is abused a lot.
• Reduce his AP gain by around 25%.

Note: Zeus will always be a noob destroyer because of how fast he gains AP compared with other characters.

Sly Cooper:

Sly got nerfed last patch which brought him down to a fairly reasonable level in high level play, despite this Sly remains one of the more unbalanced characters in All stars mainly due to the unique nature of his character. He has one of the shortest delays when landing and electro-roll remains incredibly hard to punish.

Here is my recommendation:

• The retract distance of electro-roll is adjusted such that players can punish it after blocking.
• Small changed to the way sly reacts after landing.
• Delay between activations of his explosives barrel.

Note: The last patch brought up the level of play required to play well with sly, except for those electro roll spammers. If you are curious as to how sly is meant to be played fight a level 5 CPU.

Jak & Daxter:

Last patch Jak got some much needed nerfs which helped prevent players Air-camping forcing a more grounded game. The only problem with this was that the buffs he was given didn’t quite justify the changes made. At current Jak sits just below the line of balance mainly because he is just a little bit to slow.

Here is my recommendation:

• His Forward circle could use a faster activation time.
• His Up triangle could use a faster activation time.
• His Up Circle could use a faster activation time or the grounded version should lead into level 1.

Note: I have played a lot more of this characters since the last patch and despite what some people say his slow AP gain is definitely just when you consider his mobility.

Kat:

Kat was downsized last patch slightly but she is still very much out of balanced in 1v1, compared with other combo-centric characters she can enter combos far to easily if an opponent misses an attack. Her stasis object confirm also makes any successful combo a potential touch of death when dealing with good players.

Here is my recommendation:

• Her down circle needs its range reduced.
• Allow players to tech out of a throw -> Down circle

Note: One might consider 1v1 of little importance because there is no actual 1v1 game mode, however most matches generally manifest into 1v1’s between players at one time or another. Good players will take advantage of this by attempting to separate out players.

Sir Daniel:

Sir Daniel has been at the bottom of tier lists since the game was released, he is slightly too slow and awkward to use. With relatively mediocre supers he just doesn’t perform as well as other characters. Sir Daniel masters are few and far between.

Here is my recommendation:

• A very slight speed increase all around
• A stronger speed increase to his up triangle.
• Increased AP gain from fire.
• Range increase to drumstick toss.
• Spread increase to level 2 upward blast.
• Intercept angle increase to level 2 souls.
• Change shield to not crumble after 5 projectiles but gain less per absorption. Maybe increase changes to his evasion further to justify this.

Note: In his current state he is one of the most fun characters to play, I would hate to see him become one of those lame top tier powerhouses.

Heihachi:

This is another character that has stayed low on tier lists since day one. His slow speed is meant to be justified by his AP gain but there are other characters who are better than him in this respect. On top of this he has a lot of hidden tech that most players don’t pick up on unless they have gone to the site or had it used on them. Some of his better moves require you to hold the controller in an awkward way because of the timing involved, this makes him interesting but less accessible.

Here is my recommendation:

• Fix this glitch! – Heihachi gains more AP than he looses when standing in the pits on Dreamscape or the rain on Sandover.
• Dragons breath out of counter needs to be easier to perform.
• Electric wind god fist should be slightly easier to perform
• His forward square needs to allow the other player to tech roll out faster (Current this lag confirm can be escaped  unreliably)
• Increase the AP output on some of his basic combos. E.g. forward dash into spinning kicks.

Note: Despite what a lot of players think Heihachi is pretty close to being balanced, he is just a little bit to hard to play.

Good Cole:

Last patch they took a good character and broke him, currently Good Cole is once mastered incredibly powerful. Changed to his level 3 meant that getting 6 kills in an FFA match became much easier. The majority of his kill confirms remained untouched.

Here is my recommendation:

• Reduce the length of his tether.
• Down square from the air shouldn’t so easily confirm his freeze rocket.
• Reduce the duration or speed of his level 3.
• Allow him to be hit out of his level 1 more easily, similarly to how sly was changed.
• Reduce speed of redirected rocket. (It is incredibly hard to counter)

Note: Cole may have the best set of supers for any character, all can be confirms and its impossible to fail with his level 3. Compare this to characters like Nariko who have no decent confirms and even have avoidable level 3s.

Evil Cole:

Similarly with Good Cole he was buffed last patch when he really should have been either left alone (besides Giga-punch) or nerfed. Changed to giga-punch made him a bit easier to fight but despite this his level 1 remains easy to confirm whilst his level 2 is arguably the best in the game next to Isaac’s. He is also still a very spammy character with a super accessible moveset.

Here is my recommendation:

• Giga-punch charge time increase (slight)
• Delay in start up for his level 2 so that players near its edges can escape it.
• Increased delay between forward triangle spam.
• Increased delay in down triangle start up when grounded.

Note: For me Evil Cole is as high up the tier list as Im willing to go in ranked, purely because I feel that I can play him both seriously in some situations or cheaply when confronted with spammers and lammers.

The following characters are perfectly balanced:

• Nariko – Since the nerf players are forced to deal with the fact that she is by nature a punishable character. (Plus she cant loop anymore)
• Parappa – Excellent AP gain with very good supers. Balanced by his predictability and last-luster utility.
• Sweet Tooth – Some dispute that he was nerfed last patch, I beg to differ as his chainsaw was useless pre patch.
• Emmett – Whilst somewhat difficult to play he can be used to great effect, although he is naturally weak in FFA as he requires set up that players wont give you.
• Ratchet – Balanced supers and a few good moves.
• Toro – Although his playstyle encourages spamming he is still balanced.
• Fat Princess – The last patch nerfed her just the right amount.
• Sackboy – Although he is naturally a spamming character he is still balanced.
• Spike – Although somewhat hard to play he has good AP gain and decent Supers.
• Big Daddy – Originally I thought that he was still Low tier but with adjustments to my playstyle I have found he can perform well once you master avoiding supers or KCs.

Belt system:

The belt system doesn’t work for one reason, its almost entirely based on luck. Who’s to say a really good player doesn’t enter a season a bit late? Is it fair that players online will lose 5 belt each time they are forced to play a far superior player? Is it fair that high level players are forced into the so called ‘worst case scenario’ game where all players are 50 bp below 70% of the time?. The system is broken, getting above red without becoming incredibly cheap/lame is close to impossible without compulsive leaving. So with that in mind here are some ideas.

• Static BP loss and gain in every match regardless of rank (preferably in the mid range).
• 10 belt loss for leavers, assuming the above is implemented.

Ill leave this here for now, although I plan to update this regularly. If you enjoyed reading leave a comment and read some of my other articles.