Rivals Of Aether 2 Review - The Next Project M

[@Slater3333]

Great review, I love just listening to somebody talk about something that they are passionate about. I can feel the passion in this review I hope you talk about it more.

[@Karter_Blackpaw]

I used to think Ultimate was pretty good, but after a friend got me to join him in Project M, I couldn't go back to Ultimate. I'm not a competitive player in the slightest, but Ultimate felt like such an inferior game at that point and I struggle to even touch it nowadays. So many quality of life changes and extra features is exactly what I was looking for.

[@mentlegen3887]

Ugh smash makes me sad cause i used to consider it the best fighting game ever. i will not weep for long though cause rivals 2 is exactly the kind of combo of conscientious devs experienced with the genre and fun game play mechanics! Below is the salty ramblings of a dusty smash player proceed with caution. i recently gave ultimate try again a after while of not paying for the stupid nintendo online subscription (ultimate was the only game i was using it for) , and my my the expierience of loading into online ranked, getting kicked out because the other individual disconnected and being sent back to the MAIN menu to wait for a moderate duration, getting into game, winning easily because the game matched me against someone with 4 million gsp less than me, ending up in the stupid training room that spawns items that get in the way of me practicing my character and no settings to mess with whilst im there,waiting round for AGES and being forced to leave the match search and match make again - a bug that's been there for ages - and then when i do get into a match IM LUCKY IF I GET TO PLAY IT WITHOUT LAGGIN BECAUSE THERES NO ROLLBACK IN THIS MODERN FIGHTING GAME. The cherry on top? being given a warning from the system for leaving a game that was caused by other players leaving ;-;

[@Megabaron]

@@mentlegen3887 The newer games I agree but I will 100 percent say melee is one of the best fighting games ever.

[@mentlegen3887]

@@Megabaron haven't played melee before, only watched it. But it still clears smash ultimate, especially considering how the community has optimised it so cleanly for multiplayer and tournaments! It has soul! Even if you consider the fact that most of the people playing should clear me any day, I'd take it over the smash ultimate online experience

[@minty6623]

​@@mentlegen3887 what makes the recent Smash game, Smash ultimate, frustrating to come back too are the features and quality behind the overall online experience and the gameplay just only having the slightest or bare potential it has for that much experimentation, to have that feeling of evolution and such don't get me wrong, I still enjoy ultimate casually, but competitively it'll never reach the heights of Melee, PM, or Rivals 2 for me and I've given up on the idea of any upcoming smash game to be on par with those 3 I mentioned because that's just not the type of gameplay Nintendo or Sakurai would like to make

[@mentlegen3887]

@@minty6623 Ultimate is weird, a lot of the ways I feel about it are kinda vague as seen below This game is irritating because some of the fighters do show promise In terms of pushing the boundaries with gameplay mechanics that you can sink time into. Stuff like Steve, hero and inkling are genuinely creative kit designs that have a lot of faithful renditions of their origins (albeit with the first two mentioned here being dog water in balance design) Also something I didn't realise is that a lot of the cast in ultimate, despite how wonderful the size and variety of it is, has really boring, uninspired or poorly aged kits. You're telling ME that GANONDORF doesn't get a bunch of cool new attacks or mechanics to suit history as a dark wizard swordmaster, has no improvements to his weakness in getting back to stage and still shares so much with captain falcon? Lucina and chrome deserves to either be skins or have entirely separate characters considering their popularity (chrome is fun at least!). Rivals characters actually each have multiple dimensional mechanics that can interact with your moveset or the opponent or EVEN the stage in many ways! Even something as simple as forsburn being able to conceal himself and use his smoke in multiple ways. Sonic has had many cool mechanics and moves from his newer games that would be awesome callbacks AND make for interesting additions to his kit but nahhhh give the rodent 2 spin dash specials and make every 5th move a spin that does damage. Most of this is because of time constraints but I wish that the game actually felt more "ultimate" than it feels. Toon link and young link having the same tools pisses me off even if the difference between them is interesting (no mask swapping for young link?) I really wish they'd commit to one side of the party game competitive balance so I can enjoy it more, as it has features that are diluted on both sides (the spirit stuff is kinda fun but way too easy and deserves even more depth!)

[@ChozoFS]

Aside from some strange, minor choices regarding mechanics that really only matter at the high level, I'm loving the hell out of Rivals 2 as a Rivals 1 and Smash Ultimate player. I really hope this game takes off and does well for years to come

[@curse5697]

CC is fine if that's what you're talking about, floorhugging might be a problem but I have yet to see someone use it, not even in pro level.

[@ChozoFS]

@@curse5697 I've played 40+ hours since I made that comment and have gotten more used to floorhugging. It's not a mechanic I love and would like to see refined but I acknowledge its purpose of curbing certain exploitable, spammable moves on some characters

[@sarabihyena]

I'm so glad they've put an input buffer in, trying to pull off combos that need timing down to 1-3 60ths of a second has only ever been frustrating.

[@keithsimpson2150]

3 frames is a p big buffer tbh for individual actions

[@mentlegen3887]

this is what stopped me from getting into titles like tekken and street fighter :( even though i absolutely love these sorts of games! Those street fighter 4 gen combos HAUNT me

[@Mr.Starlight_gaming]

One thing i want back is making your own colours pallets for characters. Its very fun to do and gives you a feeling that this is YOUR character.

[@toolazytobeoriginal4587]

Wait you can make custom palettes? I had no idea

[@gengur9836]

Made it in a Jarek video its too lit

[@Jarekthegamingdragon]

Right as I'm talking about how bad we're gonna look in a few years LOL

[@Kass686]

I wanna play Rivals 2 so bad, but my graphics card is absolute garbage and can't run the game 😭 For now I'll just watch tournaments and learn the vocab lol

[@praetorian9823]

I liked, and still enjoy Ultimate, but it's nice having an option on PC that isn't Project M. Not because I don't *want* to try Project M, but because I'm terrible at modding and emulation, so this is a nice alternative. A lot less frustrating then trying to figure out how to get that software running, that said, I am curious to see who the rushdown hyper aggressive character is, or who has that capability.

[@Jarekthegamingdragon]

Maypul is your character

[@JetSreym]

Great Vidya, I can't wait to see all the DLC characters

[@ToffeeBun]

Really hope this game does well! Seems like all the right puzzle pieces are in place for it to succeed, so we'll see how it goes :3

[@DragonSoulMusic]

The Doom/Halo shirt goes hard 🔥 Great vid man. Always love seeing rivals content from you. Rivals 2 is an amazing sequel, I've been loving it and wish nothing but success for the game and the devs going forward. Also kinda random, but thanks for making those Halo weapon showcase videos. The Spartan Laser one was really helpful for me for a Halo 2 mod I was working on. 😁💜

[@LunalynDragon]

Speaking as someone who Rivals 1 didn't click for-- I've been playing Smash since Melee-- I wasn't expecting Rivals 2 to win me over. I tried the demo on a whim last week though, and ooooh MAN did it ever impress! I wanted to play Ultimate more during its lifespan since they added Ridley, but between him being kinda underwhelming competitively and the online experience being absolutely awful, I never ended up doing so. I'm gonna put a lot of time into Rivals 2 for a while, I think this could finally be *the one* to get me back into competitive. The online feels great, the added mechanics are awesome, and I have a character I actually really enjoy this time around!

[@CardboardBones]

Woah, i didnt know there was a good sized portland scene! Im so sad i missed the PRGE!! Im an ex-Ultimate player who stoped a few years back. Ive always liked the idea of Melee, but hated the thought of L-canceling, and disnt really know about PM. As soon as Rivals 2 was announced, i knew i wanted to get back into a plat fighter. Ill look yall up and see if i can join your meets! Ill be absolute garbage, but itd be fun to paricipate in the local community.

[@Jarekthegamingdragon]

Our twitter handle is PDXRivals. Our next event is actually next Saturday. There's a tweet up about it and a link to sign up with all the info.

[@Jollofmuncher2000]

unrelated to the gameplay, they've really outdone themselves with the ost. stuff like that really matters to me just makes the game more memorable down the line

[@VECT0R-tk4lt]

Rivals of Aether 2 is fun. Interesting additions to the mechanics to make it well verse for other platform fighter players. It's going to take some time getting used to since I've played Rivals 1, but it won't be a drag.

[@emilholst9789]

Kragg is such a cool character.

[@tubbyidk1474]

8:45 "staring at this" "this" went hard, bring back the REAL julesvale or at least full steam vengance

[@PurposeDriven7_]

It’s great to hear your positive perspective as a Rivals 1 player considering there’s quite a few who are dissatisfied with this sequel.

[@Jarekthegamingdragon]

The negative ones are annoyingly loud. Majority Rivals 1 players are loving the game.

[@PurposeDriven7_]

@@Jarekthegamingdragon awesome to hear, as an Ultimate player and and overall platform fighter enthusiast I’m loving this game. ROA2 might possibly be my favorite plat fighter of all time.

[@MrGameguyC]

@@Jarekthegamingdragon Very much so. The love for this game is deserved.

[@yawbyss981]

The greatest downstronger of all time speaking on Rivals 2? Now I’ve got to listen to

[@Cork_xx]

[@Jarekthegamingdragon]

[@Nick_Rabbit]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! JAREK YOUR SHIRT ANGERS ME .. but in a way that also has me rock hard, where can I get one this very second?!

[@Nick_Rabbit]

UGH SUCH A LONG REPLY TIME, second was over seconds ago!

[@JohnnyPsychotic]

id never heard of these games, now i want it, aaaaand its not out for another hour

[@BongGoDMelee]

Love to see more plat fighter content on the channel, dawg. You should come to Battle of BC in March :3

[@Jarekthegamingdragon]

Spring is a really busy time of the year for me so unfortunately that's unlikely.

[@BongGoDMelee]

@@Jarekthegamingdragon aw too bad. I’ll see you on ranked then 😉

[@EmraHemingway]

I serrrrrrriously can’t wait to play this game on PS5! I played this at my friend’s house recently and I got hooked by the waterboi. I am BUBBLING 🫧 with excitement for this game on console, so I am DRIPPING 💧 in sadness that console release seems so far away! PM Squirtle/Ivysaur again in Orcane is a WHALE of a blessing 🩵🐳🤍

[@IfYouInsist]

I didn’t know Jerrick was nice with it in platform fighters! Commentating at an event too?! Sick, man.

[@Jarekthegamingdragon]

I commentate top 8 at my events. I really enjoy it.

[@SergioHdez]

Hey Jarek! Love your videos. What do you think about a giant streamer like Ludwig being involved with the game?

[@Jarekthegamingdragon]

I love it

[@ChillyFrostyes]

FINALLY I MISSED THIS GAME SO MUCH

[@31emanual]

Wait you played zetter back in rivals1!? I need to learn your ways as I transition from r1 to r2

[@Jumperman12mac]

Love the first one, but i may grab this one

[@somethingunder]

30 dollars in brazilian bucks it's like 150 reais 😭

[@LINKedup101]

Damn they didn't do regional pricing? Lame as hell

[@HighLanderPonyYT]

It's 22.5 Euros here, 25 base price.

[@arth00r72]

Fortunately it's only 80 on steam, but yea it's still pretty expensive

[@qualityart4004]

Love the review, and as a furry your avatar is very handsome :3

[@skiethefolf8247]

I NEED that halo doom shirt

[@whitekj03]

Any great discord channels or pages for PNW Rivals? Took a 10 year break from entering smash events but this game has me hooked. Preferably Seattle stuff but I'd travel to Portland for a regional 💯

[@Jarekthegamingdragon]

We're actually closely connected to the Seattle scene. Most of them come down here for pdxrivals events. They also host their own events. Both seattle and portland have their own rivals discords. Here's the Seattle discord. discord.gg/c2jd9ydZHt

[@jotape15]

Could I use a GCC with a Wii U adapter out of the box? Couldn't get RoA1 to detect it but Dolphin emulator and NASB2 could without any tinkering

[@Jarekthegamingdragon]

Yes, rivals 1 also works with the wii u adapter. We use it in bracket all the time. You just need the program open.

[@dannyohare3645]

Can someone please do no commentary gameplays of the Arcade Mode?

[@HighLanderPonyYT]

It's similar to Smash Melees. You've 1v1s, 2v2, target break, multi-man melee, and a boss. 10 fights total, easy to hard difficulty.

[@showbizle]

no more room in hell 2 review when ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@Rulytasho]

You main Lox and dont like Hyperborean Harbor?! You're nuts!

[@Jarekthegamingdragon]

That stage is AWFUL for lox. No top lox player likes it, lol. It takes away his recovery.

[@Rulytasho]

@@Jarekthegamingdragon only at high percents but thats a given with all the characters. Even without charges you have options to mix up your recovery. The fact that you can return under the stage and can pick which side to up special, means that the parry on recovery is not guarranteed.

[@Jarekthegamingdragon]

You'll die even before you get to the wall so you'll need to burn your charge. That's not just a high percent thing. Any stage without a wall recovery is just a bad lox stage. Air armada and frozen are my bans instantly every time. Parry on recovery isn't guaranteed when you go to ledge any way. It's just a very bad stage pick for lox.

[@StrixTheGamingCat]

I mostly played Rivals for the mods, Im not really into the whole tournament scene. Im hoping they return with the workshop mods in 2. Love to see some of my favorite characters come back in 3d.

[@yawbyss981]

It’s planned for the future, but it’s probably gonna more of a down the road thing. The team’s already working on a lot of post launch content

[@Karter_Blackpaw]

We need to have Vergil return with his lawn chair!

[@IzzuThug]

Also missing is keyboard input. I was a keyboard player in RoA1. While controller is easier to use in this game I still would be more consistant with keyboard.

[@Jarekthegamingdragon]

Keyboard isn't missing. It still works.

[@clutchedbyanangel]

I'd be extremely surprised if keyboard didn't work, considering one of the best Rivals 1 players of all time plays keyboard.

[@CompleteAnimation]

I really hope the single-player story mode that they have planned is good. The single-player campaign of Smash: Ultimate just didn't do it for me.

[@wreckedsine7453]

Your wrong. I didn't come here to see a review. I came to see the dragon do a talk. Also, if you're a furry and a dragon...where's your fluff..?

[@Jarekthegamingdragon]

Scales>fluff

[@frigomaniac]

Down smash

[@ethanpritt542]

Uwu

[@-alexanderhosch-4828]

I know its heresy but I hope they add items like smash. (Disregard if it does have items, I have yet to play it cause I am waiting till I get paid.)

[@Jarekthegamingdragon]

That's not heresy at all. Items+Aether stages would be hilariously goofy fun

[@-alexanderhosch-4828]

@@Jarekthegamingdragon Hell YEAH! I used to play so much PM back in highschool with items CRANKED. I was notorious for scooping up the dragon parts.

[@jwithextrajj]

That and Tetherball. That was ridiculously fun.