Accursed Experiments

[Bell]

Now I enjoy a good challenge as much as the rest of you but this game mode isn’t challenging, it’s just annoying. I really enjoy the game and I feel like It had promise but I always thought Skullgirls would get more difficult through advancements in the A.I logic. Where I’d actually need some tactics to defeat my opponents.

AE is the same game, block and combo but this time your opponent isn’t the other characters it’s just the buffs they put on them and the debuffs placed on you. When I read that this new game mode was going to be more challenging I guess I expected something different. Accursed Experiments is the same as getting into a fist fight with your hands handcuffed and your opponent being twice as tall with 4 arms and 3 legs all for the sake of “difficulty”. Spending all that time to level your characters just to have them crippled.

Hopefully in the future the devs can really add some depth into this game without these weird tactics. I’m probably asking too much of a F2P mobile title.

 

[Fel]

Now I enjoy a good challenge as much as the rest of you but this game mode isn’t challenging, it’s just annoying. I really enjoy the game and I feel like It had promise but I always thought Skullgirls would get more difficult through advancements in the A.I logic. Where I’d actually need some tactics to defeat my opponents.

AE is the same game, block and combo but this time your opponent isn’t the other characters it’s just the buffs they put on them and the debuffs placed on you. When I read that this new game mode was going to be more challenging I guess I expected something different. Accursed Experiments is the same as getting into a fist fight with your hands handcuffed and your opponent being twice as tall with 4 arms and 3 legs all for the sake of “difficulty”. Spending all that time to level your characters just to have them crippled.

Hopefully in the future the devs can really add some depth into this game without these weird tactics. I’m probably asking too much of a F2P mobile title.

I mean, most games will have you be defeated if you go into fights while under levelled. Upgrading the AI would make for similar frustrations considering they can just code them to be frame perfect on everything. You can employ specific tactics to counter the modifiers too, so its not like theres no thought involved either.

This event was meant for mid-end game players, if the enemies didnt have those base stat boosts, it would be way too easy. Even if they just blocked, a well upgraded MGR on a harlequin could one shot them.

 

[Psyche]

AI logics are an ongoing project for the devs, I believe, though it's something they have had to put on the backburner for the sake of emergency maintenance & data recovery, balancing player-side game aspects and pushing more 'visible' content so that they have something they can easily show for themselves. It's a marathon, not a sprint. And if you did manage to clear the entirety of AE using one team, I commend you. That's an achievement. Be proud.

Also, while the feedback you've already given is perfectly fair, I earnestly now ask you: what would you have done? What did you expect to see? Sharing genuine ideas for improving the game bit by bit is never a bad thing. The devs might have a path already laid out, but you could help to steer them in an even better direction. Please don't reply with anything as unengaging as "improve AI". Now that I think about it...

I always thought Skullgirls would get more difficult through advancements in the A.I logic. Where I’d actually need some tactics to defeat my opponents.

As the rest of the game stands right now, an improvement to AI only would make very little difference. As @Fel already mentioned, it would only make things more frustrating but no more enjoyable. About the 'smartest' the AI can get without being pixel-perfect in my opinion is if it became aggressive but avoided using punishable attacks, and always used command grabs whenever the human starts blocking. This wouldn't be a positive change at all and would do little to stir the "block and combo" playstyle in common use now.

 

[Shawesome]

As of now, I have yet to finish AE myself. I can however say, I’ve died to some stupid stuff. Example: Wulfsbane or Xenomorph hitting me despite being in a punishable state and me punishing, and yet I get combined to death as I’m using Diva, and two bronzes. This could be attributable to me being dumb expecting it to be free exp. However, when I bring three natural golds to a fight, two of which are level 50, and die because I deal too much damage and am inflicted with stun? Yeah no, that’s dumb.

 

[Luke]

I'm still holding out on the possibility this event will have advanced and expert in the future because I can see some of the modifiers have great potential on increasing difficulty of the fight. but to be honest at the moment the event can be completed with 1 maxed gold (with the exception of the treasure node fight). man the treasure node fight is my fav, I had to think on that one to beat it. and there's also a few that needed some planning too. and that's what I like about this. we get to face cruel and unusual modifiers. its too bad I'm cant come up with any cool modifiers on my own. still I find it to be better than AI improvement, that might become a overhaul.

 

[moisterrific]

got it done in like 15 minutes

this was easier than I expected

now to farm it for hopefully some gold moves with good stats

 

[Fel]

As of now, I have yet to finish AE myself. I can however say, I’ve died to some stupid stuff. Example: Wulfsbane or Xenomorph hitting me despite being in a punishable state and me punishing, and yet I get combined to death as I’m using Diva, and two bronzes. This could be attributable to me being dumb expecting it to be free exp. However, when I bring three natural golds to a fight, two of which are level 50, and die because I deal too much damage and am inflicted with stun? Yeah no, that’s dumb.

Its not dumb, you just gotta use some strategy. I used my weave who does less than 7 percent damage with her jabs. Or i couldve used any other fighter to kill them with jabs, or even focused on bleed inflicting moves or other debuffs to whittle them down.

"Being in a punishable state" is vague, you probably werent as safe as you assumed.

 

[Zuzuska]

This event wasn't as tough as I expected it to be, completed it way too quickly and I'm definitely expecting an Advanced and Expert version to come out sometime. I did like the thought put into the new modifiers, but this event could really be completed with 1 strong gold fighter. I was expecting needing 3 maxed gold characters to succeed for huge rewards.

 

[Renan Flippy]

As of now, I have yet to finish AE myself. I can however say, I’ve died to some stupid stuff. Example: Wulfsbane or Xenomorph hitting me despite being in a punishable state and me punishing, and yet I get combined to death as I’m using Diva, and two bronzes. This could be attributable to me being dumb expecting it to be free exp. However, when I bring three natural golds to a fight, two of which are level 50, and die because I deal too much damage and am inflicted with stun? Yeah no, that’s dumb.

got it done in like 15 minutes

this was easier than I expected

now to farm it for hopefully some gold moves with good stats

As They said, it is difficult, but not impossible, especially in the fight against the 3 Big Bands with Doom.

 

[Shawesome]

Ok, I guess I should’ve worded it better (also, I managed to finish it a while ago). The “punishable state” was directly after I had blocked the full ground combo of a Wulfsbane (and Xenomorph), then when I went to punish immediately after, I got comboed instead. I’ll just shut my mouth on this, as I’ve realized I was dumb with the first post.

 

[Smok3dToast]

Its not dumb, you just gotta use some strategy. I used my weave who does less than 7 percent damage with her jabs. Or i couldve used any other fighter to kill them with jabs, or even focused on bleed inflicting moves or other debuffs to whittle them down.

"Being in a punishable state" is vague, you probably werent as safe as you assumed.

The problem though is several fights 'use some strategy' is a very very vague term. There are things you can do to mitigate problems, but as they are, the RNG breaks the concept of 'puzzle fights' as the original description mentioned. Especially when the AI has 6-7 modifiers on their side only.
The one match that felt closest to a puzzle fight is the node right before the boss node. it's a matter of bleeding out and vampire with one enemy double vampire, you have to make decisions fast and hard. Do you knock the double vampire out of the ring as much as possible or do you focus on taking them down first? You can't whittle and stay on defense as it just bolsters the enemy and whittles you down.
The boss node itself is second closest but the fact a blockbuster can kill your character on one of your usages moves it from a puzzle to annoying. It's not even the damage, if the lose 25% worked like bleed where you have a small chance of switching out at the end of that combo as it bottoms out at 1 hp... that would be a strategy laden fight.
It kind of says something that when I change my character's loadout to be more effective in Accursed Experiments, they become easily less effective in Prize Fights. I used to be able to go on murder machine sprees with Raw Nerv, now I'm lucky in prize fights to finish the first opponent when starting a combo of fights.
Fel, even in your particular example, there's only two characters with the one feature Weave has you're not taking into account:Vampire. For all your jabs, you'd also be taking in health... which is a very hard strategy to implement without that SA.

 

[Fel]

Ok, I guess I should’ve worded it better (also, I managed to finish it a while ago). The “punishable state” was directly after I had blocked the full ground combo of a Wulfsbane (and Xenomorph), then when I went to punish immediately after, I got comboed instead. I’ll just shut my mouth on this, as I’ve realized I was dumb with the first post.

Hmm, that sounds pretty safe to me, if they went for a launcher instead of the last hit of their ground its a lot tighter to punish though.

The problem though is several fights 'use some strategy' is a very very vague term. There are things you can do to mitigate problems, but as they are, the RNG breaks the concept of 'puzzle fights' as the original description mentioned. Especially when the AI has 6-7 modifiers on their side only.
The one match that felt closest to a puzzle fight is the node right before the boss node. it's a matter of bleeding out and vampire with one enemy double vampire, you have to make decisions fast and hard. Do you knock the double vampire out of the ring as much as possible or do you focus on taking them down first? You can't whittle and stay on defense as it just bolsters the enemy and whittles you down.
The boss node itself is second closest but the fact a blockbuster can kill your character on one of your usages moves it from a puzzle to annoying. It's not even the damage, if the lose 25% worked like bleed where you have a small chance of switching out at the end of that combo as it bottoms out at 1 hp... that would be a strategy laden fight.
It kind of says something that when I change my character's loadout to be more effective in Accursed Experiments, they become easily less effective in Prize Fights. I used to be able to go on murder machine sprees with Raw Nerv, now I'm lucky in prize fights to finish the first opponent when starting a combo of fights.
Fel, even in your particular example, there's only two characters with the one feature Weave has you're not taking into account:Vampire. For all your jabs, you'd also be taking in health... which is a very hard strategy to implement without that SA.

I don't get what you mean by changing loadouts. You're supposed to experiment and change moves on your characters to help finish the fight. You can't compare PFs and this event, they're very different. Its not like you're stuck with that loadout too, just switch it back once you're done with the event.
You can still switch out and regain the hp you lost in the boss fight, having it not leave you at 1 hp means you actually have to be careful and determine how long of a combo you want to do. It needs much more thought than having it leave you at 1 hp, leading to more strategy.
I have no idea what you mean by Parasite Weave having vampire. She doesn't regain health when you hit them. That's not her SA. Yes, her stun helps her finish them off more safely, but I could have used my Rainbow blight for a similar bleed effect, or used a Parasoul/Peacock equipped with taunt. These fights forces you to think about how to counter these modifiers if you're not strong enough to just faceroll the enemy. Just dismissing it as "its RNG so its not strategy" or "its too hard so strategy doesn't matter" means you're not trying hard enough, or the event wasn't meant for players at that level.

 

[Seriphian]

Can somebody help? I’m trying to do accursed experiments and this is my strongest team and I can’t beat them. Any tips or strategies?

 

[Smok3dToast]

Hmm, that sounds pretty safe to me, if they went for a launcher instead of the last hit of their ground its a lot tighter to punish though.


I don't get what you mean by changing loadouts. You're supposed to experiment and change moves on your characters to help finish the fight. You can't compare PFs and this event, they're very different. Its not like you're stuck with that loadout too, just switch it back once you're done with the event.

I switched to moves buffering health and defense due to the fact my level 50 raw nerv with all trees lit except for extra move points was getting one shotted or losing half health several times(doing so didnt help too much). And they werent even lvl 3 blockbusters.

You can still switch out and regain the hp you lost in the boss fight, having it not leave you at 1 hp means you actually have to be careful and determine how long of a combo you want to do. It needs much more thought than having it leave you at 1 hp, leading to more strategy.

Except for when you lose all health on your use of -one blockbuster-. Which has happened to me several times.

I have no idea what you mean by Parasite Weave having vampire. She doesn't regain health when you hit them. That's not her SA. Yes, her stun helps her finish them off more safely, but I could have used my Rainbow blight for a similar bleed effect, or used a Parasoul/Peacock equipped with taunt.

My apologies, I confused parasite weave with the other one that isnt diva intervention.

These fights forces you to think about how to counter these modifiers if you're not strong enough to just faceroll the enemy. Just dismissing it as "its RNG so its not strategy" or "its too hard so strategy doesn't matter" means you're not trying hard enough, or the event wasn't meant for players at that level.

At no point did I just dismiss it as just those things. I am pointing out that the rng combined with the randomness of some of the modifiers results in strategy being less then useful.
If the modifiers destroy your use of blockbusters and heal them, and the rng gives them 3... that breaks the strategy. Especially since you dont see their loadout before hand.
Dismissing that criticism as "not trying hard enough" in a disccusion thread is counter productive to the nature of the thread.

 

[Shawesome]

Hmm, that sounds pretty safe to me, if they went for a launcher instead of the last hit of their ground its a lot tighter to punish though.


I don't get what you mean by changing loadouts. You're supposed to experiment and change moves on your characters to help finish the fight. You can't compare PFs and this event, they're very different. Its not like you're stuck with that loadout too, just switch it back once you're done with the event.
You can still switch out and regain the hp you lost in the boss fight, having it not leave you at 1 hp means you actually have to be careful and determine how long of a combo you want to do. It needs much more thought than having it leave you at 1 hp, leading to more strategy.
I have no idea what you mean by Parasite Weave having vampire. She doesn't regain health when you hit them. That's not her SA. Yes, her stun helps her finish them off more safely, but I could have used my Rainbow blight for a similar bleed effect, or used a Parasoul/Peacock equipped with taunt. These fights forces you to think about how to counter these modifiers if you're not strong enough to just faceroll the enemy. Just dismissing it as "its RNG so its not strategy" or "its too hard so strategy doesn't matter" means you're not trying hard enough, or the event wasn't meant for players at that level.

There was no launcher. It was simply the ground combo that comes from tapping the screen several times.

 

[Smok3dToast]

There was no launcher. It was simply the ground combo that comes from tapping the screen several times.

I've noticed this as well a few times playing the event.