Heh, I'm glad I'm not the only who has it's doubts about the current melee system.
I already said some stuff in another thread but anyway.
Someone said this before, DBZ is about speed, that speed was partially in esf 1.1 but I can't really find it in 1.2. Well I do find it, but when I finally do it was gone again.
Let me explain that, in 1.1 you could go on forever, your movement never was restriced, only when you got hit by another player or when you were dead, even then it did not take long. The swooping and awesome delayless tele's were all in the players hands.
Now in 1.2 you can swoop, do tele's (even though they're delayed) but as soon as you hit someone.. bye bye speed. From that moment, you have to press arrows. Personally I don't see the skill in that, but ok, until another suggestion comes along it will do for the moment. THIS IS THE PART WHERE THE GAME SLOWS DOWN. You can't do anything. It's called freedom, the player choses his own speed. In 1.2 you can only do this until advanced melee starts. Then the player is stuck, unable to escape, to teleport away to plan a devistating attack. To teleport the other right in the face or to make another awesome combo chain.
Then we have the simple melee from the previous versions. This is were it goes wrong, it doesn't have the power, the potential it used to have.
In 1.1 you could pull off awesome combos, the only restriction was skill and Ki. But now, it's restricted cos n00bs thought it was overpowered. Now you can only pull of 2 or maybe 3 combos if someone hits a wall or a ceiling. This thread shows that there are definatly other people who want the old system back. I might even create a poll for it, I don't know yet but I'm positively sure that there are enough people who loved it and would like to see it back in future releases.
As for the tele delay, it seemed like a good idea, but it does more harm than it does good. Again, it's no longer up to the player to determine speed, it's the game that stops him. Without the delay, you can press it as fast as your fingers would let you, wich takes energy, and the more you do it, the more exciting it gets. Think about it, you're fighting the world's greatest ESF player, you don't wanna get killed and you try to do anything to attack or even avoid his attacks. Your opponent is so incredibly fast it's almost unnatural. You're pressing and pressing that teleport button over and over just to get out of the way. The longer the battle takes, the more you start to sweat. YOU are dodging, it's YOU that is not getting pwned by him, hell you actually hit him and you feel great when he finally dies (even though you died 5x already). At that moment you realise you were working your butt off and you're happy. Adrenaline is rushing through your blood and you're ready for round two.
That is how I experienced beta 1.1. But it's something I will never see in 1.2. Now, you're just focussing on arrows and you get mad cos that random killed you again. For some it is fun, but for me it's not. Why should I spend so much time if even ESFn00b can get half of my HP of me because I got unlucky with the randoms. It's just not right.
Ok ok, another example. I haven't played ESF 1.2 for a month or 2 because I didn't like it, I tried the patch but I'm still not satisfied, anyway, it wasn't just the patch that made me look for ESF again. I was browsing these forums until I saw a thread wich let me download an incredible Music Video. So I did and I watched it, I saw the speed, the cool punches, the adrenaline, the urge to survive. I remembered the days when that was possible, good 'ol 1.1
But since 1.1 is pretty much dead, I tried 1.2 against some bots again just see what the patch really changed. Of course I was slow, playing other mods made me dumb, and I basically sucked. But I tried every day, and I noticed my speed and aim were comming back to me. It went fast and faster.. but then it stopped.. In ESF 1.1 I stopped too once in a while. But when I came back I was pleased I did. I was fast again, the fights got better, the only limit was me.
But the new melee system won't let me get the way I used to be, I feel like I'm inside a cage, a barrier. Now, the most exciting part about ESF 1.2 is wether or not I will dodge that beam or if I'll get those arrows right. Others might enjoy not getting smacked all over the map, but I miss it, I don't really care if it's me or another player that's getting to see all the corners of the map.
Ok, why would I be complaining in the first place? If I like 1.1 that much, I can probably find others who also will right? Ehh, not really
1. Playing the same people get's boring over time
2. It's always nice to meet new people with different abilities and skills
3. Lack of servers, if they ain't online, the best I can do is play with bots.
As you probably noticed, I loved 1.1 even though it had it's flaws. But I simply cannot enjoy 1.2 the way I did with 1.1