How's Robotnik Ring Racers going for everyone so far ? (NO SPOILERS PLEASE)

[Rolly Polly Pal]

It's atrocious and I'm not sure what people are seeing in it beyond the graphics.

I don't necessarily disagree with most of your points in your second reply but surely you realize that taste is subjective? I know that's a cop out answer but one thing you might absolutely detest may end up really clicking with other people. The game was fun enough that the devs enjoyed it and clearly fun enough that others have been enjoying it too. That doesn't even mean you have to enjoy every aspect of the game without hang-ups. We don't exist in this world of black and white absolutes, I don't even like Ring Racers much myself but I can recognize that there was a lot of time, care, and effort put into several areas of the game. I'm aware much of your online persona is built around critiquing facets of the SRB2 community and it's by no means my intention to make this post a personal attack, but I must admit I'm having a hard time rationalizing the absolute hostility you've presented towards the game with your recent posts. Like, maybe it's not good, but it's nowhere near as bad as you've been implying. I don't even think most reasonable people who could be considered detractors of RR would even go as far as to call it "atrocious"

 

[Jammin']

I don't necessarily disagree with most of your points in your second reply but surely you realize that taste is subjective? I know that's a cop out answer but one thing you might absolutely detest may end up really clicking with other people. The game was fun enough that the devs enjoyed it and clearly fun enough that others have been enjoying it too. That doesn't even mean you have to enjoy every aspect of the game without hang-ups. We don't exist in this world of black and white absolutes, I don't even like Ring Racers much myself but I can recognize that there was a lot of time, care, and effort put into several areas of the game. I'm aware much of your online persona is built around critiquing facets of the SRB2 community and it's by no means my intention to make this post a personal attack, but I must admit I'm having a hard time rationalizing the absolute hostility you've presented towards the game with your recent posts. Like, maybe it's not good, but it's nowhere near as bad as you've been implying. I don't even think most reasonable people who could be considered detractors of RR would even go as far as to call it "atrocious"

Even as someone who loves the game, I do find that he does bring up true issues with the game. Though, those issues don't make the game "atrocious" by any means. Those aspects might not make the game that pleasurable to certain types of people, but again, not so unpleasant that the game as a whole can be considered "atrocious".

I'll just give my input on some of the things he's brought up.

I went to play a quick game of Kart to compare the differences between a track that returned in Ring Racers, only to be completely baffled at how much tighter and overall better the driving was in Kart. I do find that Ring Racers tracks are massive compared to Kart tracks, which I assume is to compensate for the slippery controls, but that can only help so much. Ring Racers still ends up feeling slippery regardless of if you stay on the road or not.

Position is a great idea on paper, but it's just not fun if you're playing with asshole heavyweights as a lightweight. I don't have anything else to say. I feel like it'd be better without player collision.

I do actually like tripwires as a concept as they act as a safety net if somebody without any helpful items gets, for example, thrown into an off-road field that's meant to be a shortcut. In Kart, it's slowww going or an immediate loss if it's the last lap. But in Ring Racers... Tripwires pretty pointless. If someone in Ring Racers is in the previously mentioned scenario, they can just use the respawn feature or just spindash. Tripwires are likely relics from before respawning and spindashing were a thing if I had to make an uneducated guess.

The Insta-Whip can help with defending yourself without any rings. It acts as a parry. It's just a bitch to time.

 

[Rolly Polly Pal]

Even as someone who loves the game, I do find that he does bring up true issues with the game. Though, those issues don't make the game "atrocious" by any means. Those aspects might not make the game that pleasurable to certain types of people, but again, not so unpleasant that the game as a whole can be considered "atrocious".

I am aware of this and this is why I acknowledged in the first sentence that I somewhat agreed on his points, I just think he went about conveying them in an unconstructive way.

I went to play a quick game of Kart to compare the differences between a track that returned in Ring Racers, only to be completely baffled at how much tighter and overall better the driving was in Kart. I do find that Ring Racers tracks are massive compared to Kart tracks, which I assume is to compensate for the slippery controls, but that can only help so much. Ring Racers still ends up feeling slippery regardless of if you stay on the road or not.

This I concur with wholesale, playing the two back to back Kart feels a lot tighter than Ring Racers and is probably one of my biggest issues with the game right now.

Position is a great idea on paper, but it's just not fun if you're playing with asshole heavyweights as a lightweight. I don't have anything else to say. I feel like it'd be better without player collision.

Position was actually something I was sure I'd dislike at first when it was first previewed but actually messing with it, I've come to enjoy it. It's fun trying to bump people into the gate or, if you're on the receiving end, reading your opponents' moves to deny their chance at doing so and having them drive right into the gate instead. To be fair I almost exclusively play heavier characters so perhaps it's a lot more punishing in the lighter weight classes, but I think that's an issue that extends to weight as a whole rather than specifically to position. I feel it also sort of serves the inherent issue you might sometimes face with the traditional stationary placement in Kart V1/Mario Kart of "No fair, that guy gets to start the race way further ahead than me!" Even though it's partially dependent on placement in the previous race I think giving the player autonomy in the pre-race is a pretty good change.

I do actually like tripwires as a concept as they act as a safety net if somebody without any helpful items gets, for example, thrown into an off-road field that's meant to be a shortcut. In Kart, it's slowww going or an immediate loss if it's the last lap. But in Ring Racers... Tripwires pretty pointless. If someone in Ring Racers is in the previously mentioned scenario, they can just use the respawn feature or just spindash. Tripwires are likely relics from before respawning and spindashing were a thing if I had to make an uneducated guess.

This is exactly how I feel about it as well, it feels kind of redundant since usually shortcuts are placed on offroad which itself is meant to act as the deterrent from taking them without a speed boost. Sure I suppose you could speed dash but at that point the amount of time you'd waste stopping the kart to rev that up isn't worth it. Doesn't really feel like they're ever used as a safety net either, you only ever really seem to lose time when you bonk into them.

 

[Aegix]

It's a very interesting game. Overall, my feelings are positive.

The courses are great, and a lot of the core gameplay is really well done. I love the whole gimmick of spending rings to accelerate. I also love the many many surprises and nostalgia points that it scores. Also, the way you vote online to pick the next courses is an excellent choice.

That said, there's a few things that bug me. When I'm pulling off a rainbow drift, and spending all my rings, and one of those shortcut barriers appears in front of me (for not even a really big shortcut)...I kinda expect to be able to pass through. XD That and I have no idea what makes each character different (I assume top row is light, bottom is heavy, left is accerlate, right is top speed?)

I find myself thinking a lot about "I'd rather play a flawed game that does something interesting over a game that's so polished that it does nothing interesting".

I think I'm going to keep playing it for a while!

Besides the commonly mentioned issue of rings being binded to the same button as using an item, hills being egregious, and the rubberbanding of AI, what else has you calling the game atrocious?

While I hear you about the Rubberbanding being a little overtuned (not by much, but just enough to be irritating), and the hills being kind of a pain...

I actually love that items are bound to the same input as spending rings. It puts you into a dilemma where you wonder "Do I spend my items now so I can get back to spending rings? Or do I hold onto the item in hopes that it'll let me take a shortcut later?"

While the rubberbanding is annoying it at least feels semi-fair to me, post patch. I always feel like the AI is inches away on the final lap (so I rarely have a lead), but almost never too fast to catch.

I have real sour memories of Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity. I was on the fastest high speed board, max level, on a pure staightaway to the finish line. The perfect conditions for that board. I'm in first place, doing like 300 Sonics-Per-Hour, faster than I had ever gone. And then Knuckles just slooowly passes me on his bike to take the win. That was one of the first times I really, truly noticed "rubber banding" in a racing game and it really felt bad.

 

[Jammin']

Position was actually something I was sure I'd dislike at first when it was first previewed but actually messing with it, I've come to enjoy it. It's fun trying to bump people into the gate or, if you're on the receiving end, reading your opponents' moves to deny their chance at doing so and having them drive right into the gate instead. To be fair I almost exclusively play heavier characters so perhaps it's a lot more punishing in the lighter weight classes, but I think that's an issue that extends to weight as a whole rather than specifically to position. I feel it also sort of serves the inherent issue you might sometimes face with the traditional stationary placement in Kart V1/Mario Kart of "No fair, that guy gets to start the race way further ahead than me!" Even though it's partially dependent on placement in the previous race I think giving the player autonomy in the pre-race is a pretty good change.

One thing I like about it, is that the closer to the starting line you are, the more you're at risk for being bumped into it and being faulted.
The only thing I don't like about Position, is that the fault is far too punishing.

 

[FishandChips]

Ring Racers is good. Just the karts feel light to a stupid extent which causes wonky interactions with level terrain, the instawhip is useless if you are trying to use the ring mechanics, speed gates are too difficult to consistently use, and getting out of last place can be brutal sometimes.

 

[realmoc1105]

It's decent. I still need to try the V2.1 update and see how modding will shake out.

 

[Pyrodiac]

It's flawed and takes some getting used to, but I've enjoyed what little I have played of it. I definitely wouldn't call it atrocious.

 

[Elyos03]

I still wonder what this could mean to this day.

(fyi, this pic shouldn't be that massive of a spoiler. i used passwords and stuff)

 

[SilverVortex]

for me ring racers is a very "this game makes me fucking miserable. i have twenty hours on my save file" type of game that very few games can claim (the only other game fitting that bill for me being kingdom hearts re:chain of memories. that game is BAD). the AI is intentionally programmed to be overkill, the new items are far too strong and the balancing makes me weep, some of the tracks are uniquely terrible (one cup in particular my behated) and it's the only game that's ever made me swear out loud on multiple occasions. on my own. i don't do that usually

but i'd be kidding myself if i said it wasn't fun as hell. something about the progression is just so satisfying to go through, knocking out challenges after just about every cup and going back into stages to look for collectibles. a lot of the tracks are delicately crafted to have multiple explorable areas with secrets. secrets, plural. not to mention i think the ring mechanic is pretty fun to keep going in long stretches. getting a jackpot in the ring boxes or just holding the button along a stretch of rings to go insanely fast just feels great.

the game is fundamentally flawed and i don't think any amount of patches within the next while will come close to solving those flaws (i don't think the devs really want to either) but my delusional ass loves it.

 

[Guymcguy087]

I prefer Kart over ring racers

 

[Lixpull]

with the new stuff if people make mods we have more possibilities

 

[tha men with gun]

(have in mind that i dint played more than 5 hours of srb2 kart) some parts of the game are actually good! i like very much the idea of unlocking colors and unlocking things in general. Some of them are a bit strange like... addons... yeah thats strange. Now getting out of that, the only bad things that i see is the drifting cause its so like. You have to drift so early and the drift overwhall just goes so hard to the direction you are going (this drifting issue i have is prob due to its so different from the smooth drifting of normal racers you see in consoles). ok i maked this whole shit in day 27th of april or close to that and today i have to say im addicted the game has errors but the good parts make it up to the bad parts (and yeah im not gonna talk about the 2nd bad part. That is the exessive mechanics cause its late on my country so yeah just to resume there are too many for a game that is supposed to be simple. the first step to fix these would be to remove the melee attack. at least i think that its super useless. and now im gonna go turn of the pc.)

 

[Whoexer9]

IT. IS. EXTREMLY FUN. The CPUs is good. The Rings are also good. There's a hardy amount of tracks to play and they look great. The characters looks clean (and funny for its Death Sprites). What else to say? Overall, It's a game we've waited for like five years and defines chaotic racing at it's core.

 

[Aegix]

Well, as much as I genuinely enjoy the game and I'm having fun Solo AND online, I've finally hit one point I really don't like.

It's about certain Unlocks...

So, it turns out that I'm only about halfway through all the courses... But apparently to unlock the rest I have to either win races on Hard, or put on a Virtuoso-Level performance on Normal.

I'm a decent player, able to get at least bronze in most Normal GPs but I'm not that good. Hard mode is just way too fast and brutal. Come on, guys, don't lock half the damn content behind turbo-pro level play! Some of us play this game to relax! XD One or two GPs behind that challenge wall, sure, but not half of them!

I'm looking forward to a code that unlocks JUST the courses.

EDIT: Oh goody, there WAS a code for that! Back to having fun. :D

Aside from that, I'm still having a good enough time to reccomend this to pals.

 

[ReddySoop_]

I'm fine, don't worry.

SRB2Kart

I've since grabbed V2.1 and played a few cups, and looked through the tutorial changes. This version fixes most of the issues laid out in my previous post. Given most of my problems with Ring Racers were front-loaded into the new player experience and the opening moments of the game, giving the...

mb.srb2.org

 

[Sleepytart]

Im not gonna lie im loving the game but holy goddamnn is this game insanely hard and insanely unfair in some of the grand prix especially when going for the chaos emeralds. you could play perfectly but the ai WILL rubberband and slingshot after you to catch up and there will be moments where you're suddenly going to get shat on as you'll bounce into a bumper 5 racers smack into you so now you have zero rings (which on areas with an incline is a death sentence) and then next thing you know you're in 8th place and theres nothing you can do. i love this game but man are there so many moments that make me exclaim "Thats not fair!" which i wouldnt be as pissed about but given this game has unlockables and progression it feels wrong to have a lot of whether you'll progress be left up to a coin flip

 

[Fighter_Builder]

It's not perfect, but I've been having an absolute blast with it in spite of its flaws. This is absolutely scratching that Riders technical-racing itch for me.

 

[time gear]

The way I see it the game has two primary flaws that if addressed would probably cause people to complain a lot less:
1. The abundance of mechanics is not explained much. You get a basic rundown of everything in the tutorial, and then you are let loose to figure out how to make the most of it on your own. Ordinarily I would praise this, but in this case instead of people naturally figuring it out overtime and refining their playstyle, it seems like most players are struggling with even making the most of certain individual mechanics let alone all of them together. It feels to me like the bigger issue isn't one of balance, but of players figuring out how to actually play the game to the fullest. A tips and tricks manual of sorts to give players who need it a bit more advice in figuring out what certain mechanics are useful for would probably go a long way. That's not to say that the game balance is perfect and every mechanic has perfect synergy with every other mechanic, just that before we start getting too hasty with rolling out balance patches it might be worth addressing the issue of the mechanics being relatively poorly explained beyond the bare minimum.

2. Myself and a few friends noticed that an input delay is enabled by default, set to 2. It appears that the purpose of this feature is to help players practice under net lag type conditions so they're prepared for online play, however it's very easy to miss this and not realize that your inputs are being delayed by default during offline play. Once we turned this off by setting it to 0 everything felt much better, especially the drifting. It might be a decent idea in future updates to have this setting set to 0 by default, but have the fact it exists pointed out to the player at some point for those it might be useful for.

 

[Aegix]

there will be moments where you're suddenly going to get shat on as you'll bounce into a bumper 5 racers smack into you so now you have zero rings (which on areas with an incline is a death sentence)

If you're not already using it, use the Respawn button if you get slammed into an unworkable situation (like a slope or offroad with no rings, or facing the wrong way)

It's shocking how far ahead that thing lands you, and how quick it gets you back in the game. It doesn't undo the damage done to you (you still start off with basically zero acceleration), but it at least gets you back on the course, with some of your progress back.