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I played a bit more rivals 2 to try to figure out what exactly I don’t like about its design, and came to a conclusion. It is absolutely still a “press buttons faster than your opponent and you’ll probably win” game which I already dislike, but what I’ve figured out with some more experience is that it’s designed like melee without commitment to most options.
For a couple of examples
>Shield dropping is on frame 1 and shield drop animations are pretty quick to interrupt. That means that shielding is overall low commitment. It never really is high commitment in platfighters, but most require you to hold it for at least a few frames provided you don’t jump cancel it
>Most ledge options provide long intangibility and low end lag, giving you time to avoid any trapping move that isn’t already being charged. Combined with the threat of ledgedash jab/grab and some of the more egregious ledge specials, it’s very hard to pin someone down once they’ve reached ledge
>Many attacks are almost completely safe on shield (eg Ranno dair, most of Zetter’s aerials) because of the way the characters are designed. Coupled with buffer clearing unless you perfect shield, you’re going to have a hard time doing much of anything on what seem like bad options
>Characters are very fast compared to the size of stages, allowing them to clear “big” distances in a short time. This means you have a lot less time to plan no matter how far you are away
>Somewhat related, characters can get in and out of your face extremely fast with very powerful movement (much more than melee), forcing and ending engagement in a way that characters in other similar games just can’t do
I personally don’t like this design. I’d rather have options require more commitment to place more emphasis on mind games, slowing the overall game down while also allowing for quick bursts of high intensity action.
When talking with a friend we compared it to the difference between basketball (rivals) and baseball (melee/smash). One is focused on constant speed and pressure, prioritizing quick execution of options all the time, and the other is overall more cerebral and slower while having moments of intensity. I don’t know which one is necessarily better, but I do know which one I prefer and which one is more approachable.
