1.00.61 tested on each mode. Another long list, sorry. Here is my take, starting with some generics, and then by stage and boss specifics.
First, I am enjoying replaying this. Improvements are great. Hadouken feels a little more consistent to pull off. Could still be a little better, but much improved than before. The requirement in Fortress 1 also seems a little more straightforward, after more trial and error. I think I figured it out now. No crashes or soft locks either for me.
Here are some suggestions/ideas or things to fix:
- Hunter mode ought to represent a normal base level difficulty that players are accustomed to from the original MMX games. It feels close, but not quite, particularly with Sigma phase 1 and 64 HP for bosses.
- Play X/Zero dialogue only on first entry of each stage instead of every time, even if you exited the stage early or died to the boss. Same goes with boss dialogue. The exception is if you retry the stage upon completing it. Otherwise, dialogue first time only.
- Music before and after boss fights is not timed logically. The music fades out in the room before the boss door instead of when you enter it. After defeating a boss, the victory music is delayed until about 4-5 seconds, where 2 seconds would be more reasonable for the sake of not waiting.
- Dash jumping results in a multiple image of X following his player character. This might be a graphical trend in later MMX titles, but I think it might be interfering with X's ability to properly grab ledges. It's most noticeable in Vulpine and Squirrel stages, but primarily happens when wall dashing from underneath. Hit box could be off as well so that X's hands don't register as making contact.
- I think 64 HP is excessive for Hunter mode, and Sigma Phase 2 in Rookie mode. The amount of buster damage dealt to bosses feels right, but some special weapons drain too early, such as wind. It also makes Sigma 1 fight atrociously difficult in Hunter compared to Phase 2. Keep health to 32 HP, but keep damage proportional, and then adjust weapon consumption.
- Weaknesses don't output a reasonable amount of damage in Veteran mode for a balanced fight. Buster does more damage on average. Weaknesses should always be more advantageous for attaining victory. Also, stun-lock animations from weaknesses would be a huge plus, as they would indicate they are the weakness for those bosses, and they could interrupt the fight pattern, giving X an advantage besides extra damage. This will take more creative thinking and drawing up new animations, but would go a long way in giving players in-game feedback from weapons. For example, what if you could hit Vulpine with Water while he's in his invincible pose? Or, knock Snapper upside down with Flare?
- Leave stage layouts unchanged from mode to mode. Adding or removing walls, floors, and platforms frustrates the experience, at least for me. Changing some things, like number of enemies, is okay.
Specifics:
- Vulpine Stage platforms in Rookie are too slow. Keep same speed as in Hunter or bump up closer to its speed.
- Raccoon fight in Rookie sometimes drops health and life containers. Seems unusual for a boss fight.
- In Axolotl Stage the breaking platforms break too slow for Rookie.
- Tundria Bear Stage
- Place some clue at the start that the wall leading to the Sub-Tank is breakable, or that it is different. Maybe make it the same wall you need the Comet to break through like in Scorpion stage. Either way, provide some indication that something is different about that location and is special or unusual.
- The fight with Tundria Bear feels overpowered in Veteran mode with the icicles, but dragged on with the sliding ice walls in Rookie. The speed in Hunter should be adequate for Rookie mode. The problem with the icicles is they show no visual cue or pattern of when or where they'll fall, making it mostly RNG. The rest of the fight is well manageable to predict, but the icicles in Veteran make it feel Sigma tier, even with the weakness.
- Stellar Primate Stage:
- I would love to see the armor have some kind of charged or secondary fire ability.
- The timed platforms are not the best in Rookie mode because of how slow they detonate, especially in the vertical drop following the ride armor section. More gaps in this section would be nice, or increase the detonation rate. They work in Fortress 1, but not so much in this part of this Stellar.
- Bog Snapper Stage
- Leave a clue similar to the one in Vulpine for the capsule, or leave the Heart unhidden, as you can see its location from the right hand side (before the moving platforms). This will entice players to search for the entrance instead of blindly stumbling upon it like I did the first time.
- Change the opening of the boss fight so Snapper appears immediately after X enters the room, instead of the long walk to middle of the arena. This would keep from dragging. There are only a few wide boss arenas in the series, examples being Flame Mammoth, Overdrive Ostrich, and Blizzard Buffalo. Each kicks off the fight immediately after X enters the room.
Besides those, my biggest requests to fix still are making full Sub-Tanks fill the entire health bar, to 100%, and improving the chest armor buffs, because it doesn't feel like it makes that much difference defensively, if any. Upon finding the capsule in Tundria Stage, Cain says, "this upgrade will enhance your chest. You will recover faster with no push back, and receive less damage." I have not understood the specs of this. Recover faster how? No push back from what? How much less damage? 50%? 25%? There is no noticeable advantage of getting this armor.
Best advice overall is to look at and replay the whole original MMX trilogy multiple times to see how it looks and functions, from boss fights, level design, enemy placement, and so on. I look forward to the next update!