Injustice 2

[DisturbedSwan]

Watched the story mode from the first Injustice the other day to prepare myself for this, couldn't believe how good the story mode was in that game, honestly better than some DC movies in fact (the whole premise would've made a far better Batman v Superman movie than the one we got).

Started this today and right from the off it puts you into a very comprehensive tutorial that goes through all the controls in detail. Blocks, Clashes, environmental attacks, combo's, special moves, meter moves and all sorts. It was actually kind of overwhelming really and a bit too much to take in, I prefer SFV's approach of just teaching you the basics and getting you fully versed in that before learning combo's as if you're always trying to remember which combos to do you'll get your ass whipped in that game. But yeah, some of it must of gone in because I seemed to be able to do a lot of combos and a lot of damage.

Dived straight into the story mode after this and it didn't disappoint, I think the facial animations are the best I've ever seen in a game, the story mode is just ridiculously good for a fighting game. Still essentially a series of fights bookended by cut scenes but they're so well done and so well connected that you'll feel like you're playing/watching a Justice League movie than a fighting video game, it really is that good.

I'm only playing on Medium but it was surprisingly difficult at times when I had to play as characters I couldn't get to grips with (Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Black Canary etc.) But very easy when I got a character I liked (The Flash, Catwoman and Arrow were my favourites so far).

I find the combat far more button-mashy and less precise than SFV's, which I guess is good in a way as it looks amazing to watch it all unfold and its very easy to pick up and play but I didn't really like that I never felt fully in control compared to SFV, and it didn't feel anywhere near as satisfying, I guess they're completely different philosophies in fighting game design to be fair, I've not played online yet in this either yet.

The loot and loot boxes are a bit of an odd addition on the face of it, but it does just kind of work and its got that Overwatch-style addictiveness to it of getting new skins, upgrades, suit shaders etc. for the characters, they go a bit further than purely cosmetic but every character is set to a certain Level when playing online I believe so there's no pay to win elements that come into play.

So yeah, I'm very impressed by it, if you're into Comics especially the DC side of the Comic world then I think you'll get a lot out of this whether you're particularly into fighting games or not.

[DisturbedSwan]

 

 

 

Also finished the story mode today. It is honestly crazy how good it is and how high the productions values are, like watching a CGI Justice League movie at times it's just that good.

Its also hilarious how NetherRealm managed to do a better Batman v Superman storyline than the movie too 

Played some online matches after this, still trying to find my favourite character, I did think it was the Flash but I got annihilated in my first game as him online so was just trying different characters out to see how I got on.

Really liked Atrocitus, Poison Ivy, Green Arrow, Catwoman, Brainiac and Bane but I need to somehow decide out of all of them which one to stick with, I like zoning so maybe Poison Ivy or Arrow would be best but I loved playing as Atrocitus, who knows, decisions decisions.

[DisturbedSwan]

I'm finding it kind of difficult now juggling SFV and IJ2.

 

It seems with the service model that most fighting games seem to have adopted nowadays (which I really like) it's difficult to split your time between two, I went into IJ2 after finishing the character stories in SFV last night and struggled to get into it, at the back of my mind I was always thinking about SFV as well, saw a friend online and almost joined him instead of carrying on with IJ2, but managed to resist the urge for today at least.

 

I played with a controller today in IJ2 as well which probably didn't help, I'd been playing with my fight stick on it up until now but all the Pro's use a controller and it does seem like it's made for it (stuff like being able to go full screen in kill of the hill by only pressing the touch pad for example) and holding L2+R2 to execute your special + meter burn feels much more natural on a controller, but I didn't really do as well.

 

I'm so confused with characters still too really don't know who to main, I tried Batman online today and got on well likewise with Catwomen but got owned with Atrocitus, Brainiac & co. I need to try the zoner's out properly, I really like Arrow but want to try out every character on the roster before I write any off really.

 

Multiverse is a really cool idea, just did the tutorials for that, pretty basic arcade-mode clone facing x number of enemies but the loot rewards at the end of it, coupled with the different difficulty levels etc. all make it much more enticing.

[DisturbedSwan]

Damn this game is amazing.

It just has SO much depth to it. I'd done the tutorials for the multiverse, but today I got properly stuck into it and it really is fantastic.

You have all these different 'earths' with varying difficulties to them, on these earths you have arcade-style ladders but there can be modifiers on each one so for example you can have Robin help you by pressed >L2 during matches, others will have floating energy orbs or earthquakes which will eke away at you and your opponents health. There's also overarching objectives for each world like 'complete x ladder with Batman' along with match-specific objectives like 'do not jump' which grant you loot boxes and gear.

I'd never usually be bothered with the arcade ladders in fighting games, I may of gone threw them a few times but I wouldn't of dedicated much time to them, with this though, it's just fantastic how the carrot on the stick in the form of credits, loot boxes and gear can get you going back time after time, the modifiers help make each new ladder in a world feel fresh too and there's certain ones like 'survival' where your health doesn't get replenished between matches and you have to last as long as possible to get more and more loot along the way, there's an endless one too which you can just play for as long as you like.

You can even set up characters as AI opponents, take them into the multiverse and watch them fight, cheering them on Football Manager style. There's Destiny style daily challenges too that reward you with a loot box upon completion, which compels you to pop back in every day.

Was opening my loot boxes just before I headed off for the day when I saw an option to create a whole team of AI characters and send them off to fight other teams of AI characters on the net, like how cool is that?! You've got the Guilds too which give you certain Guild challenges and rewards every day, so you can log on, click on the Guild icon in the menu and be showered with about 4/5 loot boxes that other folks have accumulated overnight whilst you've been away from the game.

I don't know how NetherRealm has done it but they've someone managed to bottle the feeling of opening a loot box from Overwatch along with the feeling of collecting Epic/Legendary Gear from Destiny and put it into a fighting game, it shouldn't work, but it does, and it works so incredibly well.

[DisturbedSwan]

Went back to this on Wednesday.

 

After struggling so much with SFV and feeling really frustrating and disheartened with that it was nice to jump into this and almost immediately feel at home.

 

The combat is just much easier to get to grips with and pick up and play, I spent a while messing around with Catwomen, Blue Beetle and Arrow in training mode, getting all their combo's down and it took me no time at all, actually really enjoyed getting used to the characters more and learning them, it's just a joy to play and watch all the chaos unfold.

 

Went into the multiverse after this and did a few ladders, some of them were rather tough, the modifiers they put on gave the enemy an advantage on 2 out of 3 of the ones I played so I was really up against it and couldn't make too many mistakes, made my way through eventually but goddamn the final fights again Black Adam in one and Supergirl in the other were so bloody hard! Especially as the difficulty was only rated at 3 bars! 

 

But yeah, damn satisfying to get through and get that loot in the end. Set up my AI defence team after this and had a brief go on it. It plays out exactly as I imagined, you set up 3 defending characters and then search for other AI teams online, sit back and watch the battle play out (fast-forwarded if you wish) and see who wins, rather cool, although a bit more basic than I was expecting but it's nice to have it in there.

 

Went online after this and just chilled out in some lounges trying out a few neglected characters, chose Scarecrow in one of the fights and was surprised how well I did, I absolutely slaughtered this other rookie and had barely played Scarecrow before so I may try learning him a bit more tomorrow.

 

I gave Atrocitus another go in the Multiverse and I'm very close to calling him my main now, I just absolutely love playing as him, his attacks just feel badass, there's one where he does a long running punch combo which you can meter burn into another move which feels so damn satisfying to pull of, going to learn a few more of his moves tomorrow as well.

[DisturbedSwan]

Played 4 hours of this earlier, mostly as Atrocitus and got him up to Level 10, he's definitely my main

 

I just fucking love the guy, his meter burn specials are just so easy to combo together and so incredibly satisfying. I managed to do a full Blood-nado meter burn into bounce into charging punch attack meter burn into stage transition in one of the matches and I jumped up off my seat it was that damn cool.

 

Did some training first, getting acquainted with some of Atrocitus' moves I didn't know about, the Dex-Starr moves in particular I had no clue how to pull off, I still fell back on the combo's/moves I already knew though. Did some training with Scarecrow too and really like the way he plays too, the teleport, Schizophrenia and chain swing are really great weapons. So yeah, I think Catwomen, Arrow, Blue Beetle, Atrocitus and Scarecrow are all in my 'main' group, although Atrocitus is the best boy right now.

 

Spent the majority of my time today in the Multiverse, did TONS of events, lots of really cool ones where Deadshot and/or Constantine assisted you mid-match with a press of >L2 or the right stick, played another where Joker was wheeling bombs around in a shopping trolly throughout the match and another where the entire match took place upside-down (so both fighters were fighting on the health bars basically ) was great.

 

As touched upon previously, I learnt Atrocitus even more by playing this, battered almost every enemy with ease, a few of the quicker enemies gave me some mild problems but I managed to defeat them on the next try after being defeated so it was no big deal. 

 

I'm strangely worried about trying my main's online, as if I get battered with my best/favourite characters I'll be a bit annoyed so I've tended to reserve my casual/king of the hill matches for trying out new characters, really liked Scarecrow in my previous session but today's challenge was Cheetah. I didn't put in hardly any effort as I fucking hate Cheetah, but yeah, got battered everytime, worth it for that sweet sweet loot though.

 

The huge downside of today was fucking my left thumb over though. It was absolutely crazy burning about an hour into my session and even as I'm typing this it's still painful, really don't know how the Pro's keep going! With the stick it's better but on the controller for this it seems to put more strain on my left thumb with the D-Pad.

 

I did record a clip of me battering a random in a casual match yesterday with me as Scarecrow but I forgot to upload it before I turned off my PS4, so I'll upload it tomorrow.

[DisturbedSwan]

After letting my thumb heal over the weekend I went back to this today.

 

I'm in a reasonably decent Guild now and need to get 500 Guild Points a day or I get kicked out so I found the Guild Multiverse for the first time, I thought it would be lumped in with the rest of the Multiverse section but it was in its own place on the main menu which explains why I'd never encountered it before.

 

Same kind of thing as the single player multiverse detailed in previous posts but the unique twist here is that all your fellow Guild-mates contribute to completing certain ladders, tasks within a planet and everything on the planet itself, you get rewards for doing so and can call for assistance from your Guild-mates if you get stuck on a boss. It really is an absolutely ingenious idea, this game just keeps surprising me more and more, when you think you've seen everything you find another innovative mode tucked away that adds yet another layer to the game. Of course this unlocks tons of cool Guild loot on top of the regular loot too so its got that extra incentive too.

 

Once I'd done everything I could do here (some events out have to be a minimum character level of 20 or fit certain criteria to be able to do them) and moved onto the SP multiverse, did quite a few events here then messed around on some King of the Hill/casual matches online and had a lot of fun.

 

I'm strangely worried about being my main online as I'll be disheartened if I got my arse handed to me, I think I'm pretty good with Atrocitus now, got all his combos down and know all his moves, but yeah its fun to keep experimenting with the other characters I like. The 'brain trust' is Catwomen, Blue Beetle, Atrocitus, Black Adam, Green Arrow and Scarecrow, I want to learn Red Hood & Sub Zero more too though as they're both a complete mystery to me still.

 

It seems people don't know how to deal with zoning in this either, one time as Blue Beetle I stood to one side of the stage, shot his projectile across to the enemy player pressing R2 to make it stronger occasionally and he couldn't come close, did the same thing with Arrow in the next game, people don't have a clue how to handle it it seems so that could be an advantage for me going forward.

 

Just going through and equipping all the new Rare/Epic loot I've got from loot boxes on all the characters in the menu is so satisfying, very close to getting all Epic gear on Catwomen and Batman but got a fair way to go for everyone else.

 

A couple of my casual matches, me as Scarecrow and me as Green Arrow:

 

 

 

[DisturbedSwan]

Did some more Guild Multiverse on this today, manage to complete all the events apart from one Level 20+ required one, all pretty smooth sailing really, wanted to get Arrow to Level 10 so I mainly played with him switching to Atrocitus or Blue Beetle when I got into any problems with a particular opponent.

 

After this was done I went into training with Atrocitus, saw this video the other day about a Bounce > Fire Breath > Dex-Starr Shield > Bound > Fire Breath > Dex-Starr Shield move that I've seen some of the Pro's do at tournaments that means you can juggle someone a hell of a long time, taking away the opponents health with the fire breath chip damage at the same time. It's a bit more advanced than some of the other combo's, as a whole I haven't got used to Dex-Starr yet really, I don't tend to even summon him in fights unless I get a clear opportunity to do so because the frames taken to summon him means you'll almost certainly get attacked. I just don't think its worth it most of the time but I'll definitely have to get used to it if I want to take my Atrocitus abilities up a level because him and his combo's are key in advanced-high level play.

 

So yeah, I managed to do it all, repeating 10 times on the left of the screen, 10 times on the right to make sure it had gone in the old noggin and muscle memory, but I still couldn't juggle as much as the guy in the video I watched so I guess I need to practice more to get it perfect, will be a great combo to know if I can get it down.

 

Wanted to train with Arrow and extend one of his combo's I know into a longer one that can cause more damage, but I ran out of time today.

 

Winning 5 player matches was one of the daily challenges so I decided to try my hand at that instead, I used all the characters from the 'brain trust', surprisingly winning all my matches and losing one through disconnection (I think) admittedly I was only accepting requests from folks who looked winnable, but still, I'm pretty happy with that, people definitely cannot handle the zone in this game. After beating one guy I actually tried Gorilla Grodd in the rematch, he's somewhat of a joke character in IJ2 but I thought it'd be funny so I gave him a go, surprisingly won that match too! Seems Grodd can be quite decent, being super unpopular he's got that surprise factor too as no one knows how to fight him.

 

Also, this is an INSANE comeback I just saw from a guy/girl on Reddit:

 

 

[DisturbedSwan]

More of this today, spent most of my time in the Multiverse.

 

Did one event in the Guild Multiverse then moved onto the SP Multiverse and did a couple more. After this I saw another event rated at 5 star difficulty, couldn't be arsed with this as I knew it'd be a bit of a slog so I thought I'd try my AI loadout out.

 

Kinda surreal sitting back, looking at my phone and watching Atrocitus pummel on 15 fools whilst pressing X occasionally, really good way to level up without much effort too. The AI couldn't beat the final character (Scarecrow) though so I had to step in and try to beat him, moves so unnaturally and you know the CPU is reading your inputs and reacting accordingly so I had a lot of trouble, almost defeated him a few times with Atrocitus but didn't succeed so switched back to the AI with Bats and eventually managed it.

 

One of the dailies today was competing in a Ranked Match, I was really apprehensive about this as I still don't feel like I'm ready for ranked yet but went ahead with it. First fight I was fighting the Joker, was doing really well, pummelling him all over the shop, I backed off a bit too much, got a bit cocky and didn't realise Joker's gas causes chip damage so I got defeated, was really pissed off as I was very good and did most things right, just didn't see his gas was chipping away at my health and I got defeated really cheaply.

 

Couldn't end the session on a loss so carried on in Ranked, fought Bane the next time, didn't do very well and got defeated. My third game I faced a Scarecrow, absolutely pummelled him to end the session on a high

 

So yeah, another great day on this, really is such a fantastic game, using the AI in the Multiverse means I should be able to get every character up to at least Level 5 sometime as well, want to get every Character to Level 20 but know that'll be a hell of a grind. Kept replaying that first ranked game in my head after though, still annoyed I got beat in such a cheap manner.

[DisturbedSwan]

Got Atrocitus to Level 20 earlier

 

 

3/5 Epic's too which isn't bad, Catwomen is at Level 15 too which is cool.

[DisturbedSwan]

Been watching Viennality 2017 most of today and yesterday, there were other games there but it was primarily for the Injustice Pro Series.

 

Tons of great games, but I thought I'd share this one. EVO 2017 Champ 'Dragon' vs another top player 'Theo' in the Losers Semi-Finals:

 

 

Bloody fantastic match!

 

Also, the guy that won the Tournament (Sonic Fox) used fucking Captain Cold to get there, Cap Cold! Pretty damn impressive.

[DisturbedSwan]

Played some more today, was planning on learning a bit of Captain Cold (inspired by SonicFox) and Deadshot but got sucked in by the Multiverse.

 

Managed to complete a couple today surprisingly, I usually make it a few events in before bailing, but I guess having a Level 20 character now means I can do more. Used my AI to defeat a 1-event Supergirl boss world, surprised how easily the AI beat her! Then paid 200,000 credits to unlock another event in another multiverse world and completed all the events here for a shit-ton of Diamond/Platinum loot boxes

 

Went to the Guild tab next and we levelled up the guild multiverse to Level 2 (and got into the top 100 Guilds in the world, which is cool, no idea how I'm still in it), as I hadn't played it all weekend I got an absolute shit-ton of loot boxes, must've been at least 20 of them including a lot of Platinum's and Gold's.

 

After this I decided to go online, started off in Casual Versus. Managed to do really well, almost won every game, mostly as Blue Beetle (zoning the fuck out of everybody) but a few games with Catwomen too, a KOTH followed and I actually beat the 'King' and got on a 3-game win streak before being defeated, utilising Catwomen, Blue Beetle and Atrocitus. 

More Versus next and I once again did really well with Blue Beetle, actually got my first salty message today after a match with him 'Y u Spam?' at which I replied 'It's called zoning, Google it'   

 

One of the dailies today was to win one ranked game, get nervous about doing these as I get so into it and my heart goes bananas, but I thought I'd give it a go. Got SO close to winning the first two games but lost them by being stupid tried to clash with two little health, they just poked me from crouch and died, you'd of thought I'd learn from that but I did the exact same in the next game, managed to win my last game though to end on a high so wasn't all bad. Switched between Catwomen, Atrocitus and Blue Beetle, really beat myself up at losing those games stupidly, got a 2W 5L record when I should be 5W/2L overall, but that's the way the cookie crumbles, need to learn to be more patient and try to subdue the adrenaline when it gets down to next to 0 health on both fighters, more aware of when to and when not to clash and make sure you've got no poison gas etc. ticking down at your health bar.

 

Also, Starfire is out, and she looks AWESOME:

 

 

 

[DisturbedSwan]

Been making some decent character progress the last couple of days, but haven't really got round to training as much as I should of. Did about 15 minutes with Cap Cold learning his basic combo's but that's about it, haven't got round to Starfire at all yet.

I keep getting sidetracked by the damn Multiverse. It's just ridiculously addictive and now I've got most of my AI characters setup to a T I can just go on my phone and watch one of my characters beat the CPU's ass out of the corner of my eye. It's still fun to do a few ladders myself though, in the Guild multiverse you need to do this (can't use your AI characters) but some of the objectives in each multiverse are 'get a silver score in x event' or 'Use a super-move 5 times in x event' which you can't really program the AI to do, I mean there's a chance they'll get a Silver score or do a Super-move 5 times during that event but it's unlikely, so I still do that kind of stuff myself.

I've also done a few Guild raid battles with folks too. Didn't know what to expect before I did it, but the way it works is you can select to invite Guild-mates to help you with a boss, they'll then join you (3 players max) and you'll take turns taking on the boss, whilst one of you is fighting the boss the other two can send a variety of assists like health, instant meter/super, making the ground shake and damage the boss or firing missiles at the boss etc. You only seem to have the one health bar though, so once one of you loses the first round (grey health bar) the next will come in. I thought it would be difficult to defeat some bosses but whilst I wasn't much use the two people I was with for a couple of the bosses absolutely kicked its arse so we got them done in no time, incredibly compelling. I really do think it's one of the best things in the game, and such a simple but great idea, unfortunately I haven't been too lucky inviting folks in since, everytime I've either got just one person in the lobby then had to quit out (need 3 players to initialise the fight) or they just ignore my invites which is incredibly frustrating, but that's the way it goes I guess.

So yeah, got a ridiculous amount of loot boxes, levelled up all 3 of my mains (Blue Beetle, Catwomen & Atrocitus) to level 20, Catwomen and Atrocitus have all Level 20 Epic Gear too which is great 

I've played some more KOTH/Player matches too but steered clear of Ranked again for now, gets me too stressed, had quite a lot of lag at times which is annoying, not sure if it's on my end (have a WiFi connection) or just the ping from playing US folks etc. Still damn frustrating at times. Having A LOT of success with Blue Beetle using zoning, people don't have a clue what to do for the most part and I can easily take them down.

So yeah, I'm still absolutely loving it, it's such a fantastic game, I'm even tempted to go for the Platinum, if I can get all characters to Level 20 (the hardest most grindy trophy in the game) then I'll probably go for it, but if I can't I probably won't bother.

My Atrocitus and Catwomen:

[DisturbedSwan]

I'm kind of at a crossroads with this now.

 

I'm still primarily grinding characters in the Multiverse, getting Guild Points for my Guild but I think I've overdone the AI stuff, I just let the AI play for me hour after hour whilst I mess about on my phone or tablet, occasionally pressing X to advance to the next fight or something.

 

How long it takes to get each level up to Level 20 is getting seriously draining now too, I mean I've put a ridiculous amount of hours into this over the last month I've had it and I've only got 5 characters up to Level 20 with another 3 relatively close (Level 15+) so I'm kind of burnt out with the whole levelling up stuff, I think it definitely encourages you to dip into the micro transactions to Level every character up to 20 as well which is a bit naughty.

 

I still get a kick out of the loot though and I love helping out the Guild with all the GP I'm getting through the Multiverse but I can't but feel a little tired. 

 

I want to step into the competitive scene online more but I've three issues here as well: 

 

1. I've only got a Wi-Fi connection, (I attempted to hook my PS4 Pro up with an Ethernet cable the other day and it didn't recognise it at all so I gave up in the end) so I tend to get quite a bit of lag online if playing with folks a long way away which makes me think 'why bother?' sometimes when I lose a fight because timings are completely off.

 

2. I only have the 5 Max Level characters available, which means if I want to practice any characters I'm still getting used to against real people I can't really know how good I am unless I go fight in ranked matches.

 

In casual matches If they're using a max level character with most/all epic loot then they could be doing a hell of a lot of damage on my level 10ish character (with 1 epic and a few rares) as attributes for that gear carry over and can only be disabled by clicking Square on the stage select menu, both players have to agree to turn on 'competition mode' so obviously not many people agree to it.

 

So it ends up very difficult to discern how well you did, what you did wrong etc. in a particular fight. I had a fight against a Robin in a KOTH a few days ago where I didn't do very well but executed most of my moves effectively with a few combo's I knew, was quite pleased with my performance but got absolutely smashed because his Robin was Level 20 and my Deadshot was Level 5, so he was doing a ridiculous amount of damage and I was doing hardly anything to him.

 

3. I get ridiculously zoned-in and stressed out playing Ranked matches (part of the reason why I stopped playing PES/FIFA online much years back) I just get too into games and when I lose instead of thinking 'I did well there, just need to do x or y better next time and execute x or y combo more effectively when in a certain position' I beat myself up about it afterwards and dwell on it for hours especially when I lose cheaply. So this tends to make me avoid Ranked matches, but I feel ranked matches would let me have that even playing field I crave, but then I could never use any characters I don't know so well and would only be able to use my main's?

 

So yeah, I've no idea how to proceed really. I love trying out new characters, I love learning all their combo's and what they're capable of in training mode (recently tried out Swamp Thing and surprisingly he was a blast) but without being able to know how well you're doing in Casual matches with those characters and how well you're executing their moves and combo's then it's kind of a pointless task. 

 

I'm starting to think getting all characters up to Level 20 is an almost impossible task without micro transactions too which sucks, so all I've got left is loot, playing for fun in Casuals/KOTH or stepping up and doing Ranked matches with my mains. 

 

Kind of thinking of going back and putting some more time into SFV purely because of this, at least I can practice characters knowing exactly what I'm doing well and not doing well in casual matches on that. I really fucking love Abigail in that game too.

[DisturbedSwan]

 

HELLBOY REVEALS HIMSELF (Raiden and Black Manta too).

 

Hellboy is incredibly exciting, cannot wait to play as him! 

But yeah, Black Manta and Raiden were expected from the silhouettes on the character select screen so no great surprises there.

I know next to nothing about Manta but he looks interesting, Raiden I've obviously heard of (and played as numerous times in previous MK games) but yeah not too exciting and a little odd they've now got 2 MK characters in the game when they've got the entire DCU/WB film library to play with.