So watching Evo I kept seeing an ad for this robot game rising thunder. Doing some research today it is a free to play PC only fighter designed by Seth Killian. The most interesting thing about it is that they have simplified the inputs for commands. This is really intriguing for me because I love fighting games but I SUCK at them. Anyways there is some good articles out there about the game and signups for the alpha are underway.

PC Gamer Article

This looks like interesting game at least.

@memonk: Moved to the Rising Thunder forum. Please try to keep all topics in their relevant forums. Thanks.

I'm not initially sold on the idea of cool down timers for special moves, but I want to give it a shot. I do really like that they're going with the dota 2 free-to-play model. That is all gameplay related things like characters are free and you only play for cosmetic goods like costumes.

Also, smart of them to not start their alpha until right after the SFV beta ends. It would have gotten buried in the fighting game community otherwise.

I signed up for the alpha as soon as I found out Seth and the Cannons were working on it. Reading Seth's interview, now I'm really excited to try it out. Reminds me of how Divekick stripped everything away to make a refined fighting experience.

I think the premise is great and something I've thought for years (fighters should be willing to ditch their complex inputs to get the depth out to every player). However, the style of this game is really boring to me.

I like the idea behind this game. Lowering the execution barrier in an effort to get to the strategy of fighting games. I'm just afraid it may be too simplified.

I'm hyped for not having to see that trailer again.

EVO trailer didn't do anything for me and I'm still not a fan of the name, but after actually reading about it, it sounds extremely interesting.

im in the alpha, holy shit it's really pretty fun.

It's a boiled down sf4 but im ok with that

I did register for the alpha, and I'm excited to try it out if I happen to get into it.

There's only room for one game featuring giant fighting robots in my heart.

Hype! I'm curious about how well the competitive scene is going to receive it. It would be great if the low barrier to entry helps it hit big outside of the FGC but if it doesn't, I'm worried it's just going to get snubbed.

Yoooooooooooo!

This game looks extremely neat! The intentionally very low barrier to entry is nothing short of amazing for what fighting games usually are. I hope it will garner enough of a community to stay afloat. I can see this dying out economically pretty fast with it's consumerfriendly model and niche market. :(

I do think there is value to the execution parts of these games, but we already have so many games that lets you get that out of them. Having a game like this finally show up with some pedigree behind it will be very interesting. YOMI is cool and all, but I'm not much for looking at cards when it could be cool characters instead.

For me personally we'll see how this'll hold. I don't like the artstyle, and I already invested myself in getting better execution so lowering the barrier doesn't hold much value to me other than academically. But I definitely want to give it a shot. And who knows? If enough friends get into it, I'll spend time for sure.

Maybe this is finally the fighting game for me? I absolutely abhor technical inputs, it's why in SF4 I chose T-Hawk and spammed Condor Dive online. This could be fun, I like 1v1 mindgames like StarCraft, and the strategical aspect has always been more interesting to me.

I'm curious to know how many people are actually in the alpha right now. From what I can tell on Twitter, it seems like they're rolling invites reeeally slowly.

Those animations look so weird, especially on robots. Feels like there's too few frames of animation (which might be gameplay thing for all I know) and it causes it too look choppy.

It probably is a slow ramp up, but they've said everyone will eventually get in. A far superior rollout plan in comparison to other recent fighting game test phases.

@enigma777: Yeah I can see that. At the same time, the aerial combo animations is reminiscent of ArkSys fighting games.

Apparently they're mechs, not robots.

EDIT: And the Russian one is piloted by a dog?

@starvinggamer: I like Mechs much more then I like Robots. Also I am still waiting for my keys

I appreciate the execution barrier in fighting games and would never want that to go away, but I can still get down with this as a different type of game where it's all just spacing and mind games. Interested to see where this goes.

I'm very interested but not 100% percent sold. Street Fighter with easy inputs doesn't really do it for me. I'm also not completely sure that easy inputs is what "solves" the genre for mass appeal. But I've only seen a hand full of matches so who knows.

Also I think it looks like a fake video game. The combination of bland presentation and the not-all-there robot designs, reminds me of a video game in the background a Disney movie.

@l1ghtn1n: 3 attacks? I thought this was a 6 button game?

@tobbrobb: It's essentially a three button game. The other three buttons are your specials - stuff that typically wouldn't have a dedicated button in other fighting games.

@chaser324: Ah fair enough. When I heard 6 button game, my old connotations kicked in. Didn't put 2 and 2 together when they mentioned how special were performed. Thanks!

I got an invite today, but man.. I'm guessing there's not a whole lot of people in Europe playing. I've had 1000+ ping every single game, making it completely unplayable.

Game seems fun though.

I just got in the alpha and this game is very fun. The simplified controls does not mean this game has no skill. I am playing Dauntless who is a Balrog Boxer type character and she is super fun. It is really polished for an alpha but I have had a few crashes. I can not wait to see this game develop! Also this game works great on a keyboard, I remaped the attack buttons to 456789 so my hands would be a little more spaced out and it is working out good.

Just got in today too and I had so much fun until my wife needed the PC. I was using the Mexican Shoto and she seems really good. I forgot that you can modify projectile speeds with directional inputs so I need to get back in the lab and figure out the ranges I can crMxxFireball FADC damage from. Her solar plexus strike chains into her hop-kick into DP into sweep so she puts out a ton of damage if you can get a hit in. Obviously time will tell but she's my favorite character by far right now.

I played a whole mess of matches and only lost in the mirror to someone who clearly knows a lot more than I do. You can FADC grabs apparently? Also she can cancel sweep into fireball muhaha. I still need to get used to the controls, spent like 30 minutes in training mode with one setting then switched to a different one when I entered ranked which was real dumb. I keep forgetting which button does what in the heat of the moment and keep trying to throw with jab+short. I think I'll stick with pad for this game.

Wish I wasn't going to NY for the weekend so I could just play lol. One-button DP feels sorta busted though. Oh yeah, netcode felt alright for most matches despite my shitty Internet. Very little lag and I only noticed maybe two rollbacks.

I got my invite like five seconds ago. Any europeans or otherwise available duders who want to play in here?

@tobbrobb: This alpha build doesn't have private matches.

@chaser324: Oh. Damn. Lonely road it is then.

Registered yesterday in the evening. Got my invite early this morning :P
Fun so far, especially considering my long abstinence from fighting games.

I've been having some fun with this, honestly. So far I've had the most luck with Vlad and he's pretty rad, I guess? I'm having a lot of trouble getting people to stay in matches any time I win a round, which is either the fault of it being an alpha, or people are already so obsessed with their rankings they're rage quitting (God, I hope it's the former and not the latter).

It feels a little sluggish compared to the other fighters I've been spending time with recently, but I don't know if that's necessarily a bad thing.

Considering how often I have matches drop as they're initially starting (load in, 15 second countdown, booted back to menu), I'm assuming it's a network issue and not users quitting.

Yeah that's kind of what I figured. Sure is a bummer when you win a round and then lose the connection, though.

It's interesting but some things about the presentation don't work for me, the part of the stage where the fighting happens seems to be under a magnifying glass it's a weird effect, the music is bland, the announcer is annoying and shares the cartoony voice acting the characters have, i like the character designs for the most part but Dauntless and Talos look and fight in really annoying ways.
The most exciting thing about the game to me is the netcode, GGPO is incredible, this seems to continue that work and it takes no time at all for a match to connect and start, very impressive.

Early days obviously, i'll keep an eye on its development but i really hope they take another look at certain things, mostly the audio.

Oh my good god Crow's mixups should be thrown in jail for indecent exposure because they're FILTHY.

Crow is absolutely broken. He does way too much damage for a mixup character.

I'm liking this game a lot, but I think I'm going to have to put it down until they fix the bug where matches disconnect after the first game. Winning the first game, having it disconnect and then doing the exact same thing for the next two people I fought pushed me over the edge. It feels like I'm getting more disconnects than completed matches at this point.

I spent $200 on a fightstick to play this game....

HAHAHA!!!! Flux just rage quit on me! I guess my Crow is better than his.

#FluxSux <3

@viciousbearmauling: Flux does that he ragequit with Millia on me in Xrd. Cut him some slack though he is a Marvel 3 player. Best part was when I called him out on it in Biscuits chat his reply was: "Oh we played? GGs I guess."

As far as RT goes it's alright, great for new players to the genre. I'm not new to fighting games though so there is no way I'm devoting any significant amount of time to this over GG or SF.