Together Retro: WeaponLord

[isiolia]

Yeah, the slight amounts of success I saw with it were literally from things like ducking and spamming one attack or something. There have been fighters where baiting the AI was how I wound up able to win...though usually that was with buffed up end bosses (I think one of the Guilty Gears and Arcana Heart), with challenge ramping up a bit better.
Your observations on the feel of it are spot-on I think. I was partly wondering if it was my setup introducing lag, making things harder, but other SNES games seemed fine.

I do think it was possibly ambitious with story mode, and interesting that the base cast was 50/50 for male and female characters (actual designs aside). I would have expected a token woman, and that's it, especially given the size of the cast.

[Sarge]

It's a game that seems really good on paper, and who knows? It could still be. I just know that I don't understand what I need to do to succeed. I feel like I need a really good tutorial to work through.

[Ack]

Have you guys read through the TR post about the game? There are some additional links at the bottom with information, including a history and a video of James Goddard revisiting it 20 years later and playing it while explaining various moves and such. I think it would be a huge boon to watch that.

Here's the URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sq7hnTnpLjI&t=778s

[racketboy]

So I finally booted it up. I got my cart in the mail the other day and then I ended up needing to clean the cart to get it to work.

Anyway, I won the first round, but then have subsequently lost every round I've played since then.

Granted, I haven't read the manual or got a feel for the control scheme, but year, it's not exactly newbie-friendly -- even if you're a fighting game fan
I tried to get block-heavy in anticipation of the game's reputation. Perhaps I let up on that later on which could have been some of my problem.
I also initially got thrown off my the different layers (?) of the energy gauge...

I used to kinda hate this game because it's sooo... sllllooowwww... but it's unwise to compare it to stuff like KI, SF2 or even the MK games, it's its own thing entirely -- it'd be like complaining that you can't fly through Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts like you can a Mario or Sonic game. Weaponlord is kinda tough to get into (see also the other games that have cult followings here like 7th Saga) but once you do it's pretty damn cool. The character art in this game is unlike any other.

I kinda get that, but it seems reminiscent of something like Samurai Showdown or The Last Blade. Of course, those are weapons-based as well, but also seemed to have a slower pace (especially The Last Blade, IIRC).

[BogusMeatFactory]

Slower paced 2D fighting game? Must.... play... now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Sarge]

Yeah, see, I found out that there are also moves that serve as guard-crushes, so turtling against the AI doesn't even work beyond a certain point. The learning curve on this bad boy is steep.

[Exhuminator]

The learning curve on this bad boy is steep.

The AI is simply OP, overly aggressive, and can pull off complex moves with speeds a human player cannot. As I said in my review, the AI always seems to have precedence over your own attacks. I have mimicked moves against the AI that it broke my guard with, but the AI's guard didn't break.

I think part of making the game so crazy hard, was to artificially extend the time it takes to beat it. There's only six fighters in the initial roster, and WL even makes you fight your own clone.

[Sarge]

Yeah, it could well be that. Or that the designers were such hardcore fighting fans that they didn't balance it for us "normies". Either way, that AI is nutso, and it also wouldn't be the first time iffy AI was compensated for through unfair means. Tecmo Super Bowl, I'm looking at you!

[Ack]

GENTLEMEN!

Only one of you has climbed a mountain of skulls to conquer WeaponLord. Only a handful of you have died trying, and though they die, they die the deaths of warriors! The names of Sarge, isiolia, and racketboy are writ in blood and honored with glory.

Are the rest of you cowards? Does WeaponLord make you quiver with fear? Answer the challenge! We have just over 3 weeks left in the month. Take up your arms and fight!

[racketboy]