And I think The King of Fighters XV is one of them.
I mean, yeah KOFXV is a good game, for sure, and I’m glad it’s got continual support and an active player base. But lately, I’ve been getting somewhat disenchanted with the game, mostly because of the effect that its resource options have on how it’s played.
There’s kind of two distinct phases to a KOFXV match depending on how much meter is on the table. Phase 1 (the one without abundant meter) is “normal KOF with slightly weaker offense and the occasional EX move”; phase 2 (the one where tons of meter is on the table) is “KOF but if you make a single mistake your character gets turned into glue”.
For me, phase 1 mostly highlights what EX special moves do to KOF, drawing focus away from the unique utility of supers in exchange for super-powered special moves that occasionally end neutral or turn standard confirms into extended combos.
Phase 2, on top of even more abundant EX moves keeping their stranglehold over neutral, also highlights how MAX Mode continues to be haunted by the ghost of Hyperdrive in KOFXIII, where punishes are frequently round-ending and your pokes are only as valuable as they are because of the damage they can lead to. Anchor vs anchor in KOFXV is genuinely miserable, because you are now playing a weird Twilight Zone version of KOF where actually trying to force engagements is fucking terrifying due to the fact that if you make one miscalculation on your cross-up or throw attempt, your opponent is going to do their full Quick MAX punish into Climax and send your character into orbit.
KOFXV isn’t content to let buttons just be buttons any more -- they gave to be universal death combo machines if you have meter to dump. That’s why I’m too old for this shit
