Topic: Garou: Mark of the Wolves coming to XBLA Wednesday, 6/24/09

I find The Last Blade much easier to pick up and master than Garou: Mark of the Wolves. The defending in Garou took me some time to get down. I'm used to being so offensive in playing style, but that will get you tore apart in Garou.

They took away Terry's Burn Knuckle in this one, and replaced it with a 3 part combo move that can be equally cheap, if used effectively.

Wow, I completely forgot how much of a b****** Kain can be, in the right hands.

That I found out the hard way.

Funny, I just found Last Blade harder to get into. I couldn't learn anyone's moves without consulting a guide(and even then, I still had trouble), I found the parries more difficult to learn than the Just Defends(well, actually, I just ignored the Just Defends for the most part - they reminded me), but most importantly: the AI in MotW didn't slaughter me like in Last Blade.

I guess I just find Swordfighting games harder to play than hand-to-hand combat...or more likely, I just find defensive games easier to play than offensive games.

Kain can be quite cheap in the right hands. I can beat just about anyone I know using him. But for sheer challenge, I usually use Freeman. He's quick and has some great combos if you can learn to be patient.

In The Last Blade, I always use Zantetsu and I can pretty much beat the game on most difficulty levels with him. But to me, I can afford to be much more offensive in The Last Blade than Garou.

Never played this but always wanted to. Will download as soon as I see it available.

Aye, gotta love Freeman. He and Terry were the only ones whose movesets I was able to get down early on, since Freeman's move were mostly taken from KOF's Mature's moveset - she was one of the few KOF characters I was really ggod with. Granted, I tended to be a bit too mashy with him, but I could a long way with him, on a good day.

Ugh, I hate Zantetsu. I always have the most trouble against that guy.
I usually just use Setsuna, Moriya, Yuki, or Kaede. I can't even get past the first guy with anyone else.

Man, you got me excited for this game by saying it had easy moves. This definitely looks easier than Street Fighter games, but it's still a mighty long list.

That's what I hate about most versus fighters. Unless you have friends who also play the game obsessively, no one else will have the moves memorized, and you'll always have the upper-hand simply because you own the game.

I like this style of fighting game, but I wish versus fighters would just take one small cue from Smash Brothers: The special move button. It's so pointless to reward memorization when there are much simpler alternatives that still require strategic thinking. Not to mention it's a huge barrier of entry.

It looks like a fantastic game otherwise, though. I'm jealous that you guys know people who play this kind of game, or are at least satisfied with playing single-player (not a fan of playing the computer for a versus fighter, myself). I'll probably stick to Samurai Shodown II and SFII.

@Adam

...there's an online mode - plenty of good matches there. If you need to, you could just befriend anyone who's good, and then party chat to simulate the rest of the goodness that comes with having someone right next to you(like hearing his reaction when you kick his A!).

Heh, I tried playing SFII HD Remix online on PS3, and I just got my butt kicked over and over again. I think I'll spare myself the pain.

I actually win pretty often on Mortal Kombat II online (PS3), which I credit to the much easier special moves.

Heh, good point. Of course, since MotW is new, you'd actually have a chance, since everyone is more or less a n00b, but whatever.

Anywho, I got to try the demo today(still waiting for my mum to come home so I can add the necessary funds), and so far it's been pretty good. The controls feel pretty smooth, even with the Xbox 360 controller(although back-stepping and running are pretty tricky to do with the analogue stick). The demo had my most-used character(Rock) and my least-used(Hotaru), so I got a chance to remember some old moves and learn some new. I still find that the moves in MotW are relatively easy to remember and pull off, it's just learning how and when to use them that the challenge really sets in.

I still need to unlock the full game in order to get a feel on the extra modes and characters, but so far, I'm pretty impressed with this port, and I'm glad we finally get to play this little gem, especially online.

Edit: Weirdadam? I thought his name was just Adam. Weird.

And now I officially got it. Not a lot of people online yet, but I guess that's understandable. If I don't go on vacation tomorrow(It's either tomorrow or Friday), I'll try holding a Custom Match for a while.