Monday, June 2, 2014

Very early MK8 impressions

I finally got my copy after days of fruitless waiting, and the very first thing I did was test the changes to inward drifting. I don't really know what I expected, but at least I expected more changes than what I got. I'd heard a lot about how the delay before the actual turn inwards was this huge game changer, as well as it being harder to direct your bike while drifting, but I really didn't feel all that much difference. Of course it's not the same either, but I can reasonably chalk it up to the fact that while MKW featured vehicles with tremendous speed and handling at the same time, there's no such thing here. A super heavyweight on one of these, with Roller tires, reaches 3.25, which, in layman's terms, means "average". You can almost max it out with a featherweight to try and recreate the old handling magic of the Flame Runner or Mach Bike, but the end result is speed that is an insult to their legacy - and your opponents. I'll stay with the super heavyweights, thanks. I WILL say, however, that outward drifting isn't as terrible as it was in MKW, but I'm so much more comfortable with inward drifting at this point, I can't really go back. Especially not while I can reach 4 acceleration while still maintaining 4.25 land speed.

After these tests I did some cups in 50cc to get myself acquainted with the tracks, old and new, and despite how little experience I had with the game I three-starred all three I did with no problem. But that's 50cc for you. Current unlocked charaters are, in that order, Roy, Baby Rosalina and Morton. Not complaining that I unlocked Morton this quickly, I was planning on maining him. Not that it would've been a problem if I didn't, Wario would've been fine for a while too.

11 comments:

  1. Wait until you reach 150cc, it's just as frustrating as ever. I had to walk away from the game last night because I was getting too angry. In all of 50cc and 100cc, I got 2nd place exactly once out of all 64 tracks (the rest being 1st). I still get 1st on most of the 150cc cups, but I haven't managed a single 3-star ranking yet.

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  2. I never would have expected a game like MK to have such a serious comptetitive aspect. Seems even stranger than Smash bros, which atleast doesn't have too much luck involved. Its interesting to hear about all this stuff as someone who just casually plays these games with friends.

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  3. I've been doing pretty well with Bowser on the Jet Bike with the purple slick tires. Figured I'd embrace the heavyweight master-race before everyone picks it up.

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    1. If you're using a light glider with that (and why not?), that'd put you at 2.75 accel, which is functionally identical to 2. Getting up to 3 would give you a significant acceleration boost, so with the setup you're using, switching to a regular heavyweight (and by that I mean Waluigi, DK, Roy or Rosalina) might be beneficial. You'd get added handling and traction too, which could be useful. Of course, you'd lose some speed in the process, but the significant acceleration boost alone could make up for it.

      At least I've heard people who were in the same situation as you claim they've tried it, and got positive results.

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    2. I'll experiment with that, thanks! Honestly relieved that Bowser/Morton aren't the unassailable best characters in the game.

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    3. To be fair, the game's not even a week old. I'm sure some "best" set will emerge after a while, but I agree that it's a good thing that it involving super heavyweights isn't guaranteed.

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  4. I'm maining Bowser. 150cc is a thing...especially since I want to get at least one star on every cup, meaning I can only get third once, second twice, or first everywhere. Any suggestions? Ditching the Monster Wheels would be beneficial, I know...And it seems that bikes probably will not get me far with Bowser either...

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    1. Well what I tend to use are the fastest karts in the game (Mach 8, Sports Coupe and Circuit Special) along with wheels that increase my speed the most (for lightweight) or decrease it the most (heavyweight) and a glider that decrease weight, this combo gives me a fairly fast speed but also a fair bit of control I tried other combinations and this one I like the most

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  5. People talkin' about usin' Morton, Bowser, or Wario.
    Meanwhile I'm over here...waiting to main Lemmy.
    I did very well not even using bikes in Mario Kart Wii, and when I did use bikes I would never use Funky or (Baby) Daisy and still did very well. I did fine not using Metal Mario in MK7, and I'm sure I'll manage with this iteration as well. And I don't just mean offline, online as well.
    Actually, with offline, it doesn't matter what you use since the CPUs are rubberbanded like hell. I always just go for high acceleration for CPU races so that item hits aren't as big a threat.
    I'm cocky now, strictly from personally experience. Hopefully my words don't come back to bite me in the ass when I finally start playing in two weeks.

    Out of curiosity Slow, including both old and new, what are your favorite tracks so far?

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    1. Tough one. There are just so many good ones, it's hard to pick.

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  6. I feel like I'm the only one to use a lightweight character, Toadette, though I do use her along side Roy...

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