game is kinda dull

[ToyJesus]

anyone else completely disappointed after playing it?

[Mikedot]

Originally posted by Dr. Atrocious:

It is clumsy in the sense that it over complicates simple moves. Take combo boosting for example. Rather than comboing an instant boost, it could just boost the entirety of the drift until the gas is released. And, while swift cut isn't as difficult to master, designing tracks around this move deletes any potential for casual participation.

Casuals won't care about using any techniques to begin with, regardless if they're simplified. I have played a ton of matches where even on some 3 or 4 star tracks, some players wouldn't perform any drifts unless it was absolutely necessary, and they would end up retiring.

Combo boosting isn't overly complicated. None of the advanced techniques are difficult to perform. Are they difficult to execute consistently on the more complex tracks? Absolutely. But if you're playing against people who are of the same beginner or casual skill level as you, none of these techniques are required to complete a race.

Originally posted by Dr. Atrocious:

The controls are simply not intuitive and require many hours of focused practice. These unnecessary trick maneuvers are what ultimately increases the skill gap between new and old players. It's also unsurprising that part of the reason the original KartRider was shut down was due to this exact issue. They can't find a way to narrow the gap between new and old players so it's much harder to introduce new players into the KartRider series and maintain their interest.

This is the biggest myth that so many competitive games have bought into during the past few years. The whole "make the the core gameplay easier so that everyone can have a chance to compete" meme. This mindset only ever works out in the short term, and never does the casual players any favors.

For example: DNF Duel, a game which is ironically also published by Nexon, is a fighting game designed to accessible by having very simple command inputs. Instead of having to input a sequence like "Down + Down-Forward + Forward + Punch" to perform moves, all players have to do is press a single direction and a button to perform moves. While this made the game very simple for people who are new to fighting games, did this also make the game easier for casual to compete against those who are already skilled at fighting games?

Of course not. Those who were already skilled at fighting games shot up to the top of the rankings and pub-stomped in lobbies, while those who are still learning how to string a proper BnB combo together were taking L after L while stuck in bronze to gold rank to the point where they either buckled down and learned how to get better, or they gave up and quit.

My point here is that making the core gameplay easier or more accessible for any competitive game doesn't make it easier for casual players to compete. All it does is make it easier for people who are already skilled at the game's genre to be able to destroy casual players even more. So yeah, you are right that KartRider has an issue with skill differences. They can't find a way to narrow the gap between new and old players in KartRider because KartRider's gameplay design has been completely developed around its driving mechanics, and one small change to the driving mechanics could end up turning skilled players into unbeatable gods.

Still, KartRider Drift does what it can to try and separate players by skill with an internal MMR system, and players can choose to play on the less complex 1 and 2-star tracks if they so choose, or play the game on Item Mode instead of Speed Mode. Also: The KartRider series has a lot of 2-star tracks in its back catalog that will eventually be added to the game, along with casual modes like battle mode and even soccer kart, so it's not like KartRider is only going to cater to the best of the best,

Also: While the skill gap difference was a part of the reason why some people were turned off from the original North American release back in 2007, it was not the sole reason why the game failed for North America. I know this well, because I actually played the NA release back in 2007-2008, along with the god awful Facebook version (KartRider Dash). There was several other reasons why the game failed for NA back then, such as the game being PC only and centered around digital input, whereas most kart racing games are played on consoles with analog input, as well as F2P/Live service games were still in their infancy back then. Many people also had the mindset of "Free game = Cheap and poorly made game", so many people completely disregarded F2P games, and Nexon NA had a poor reputation of maintaining a quality service. The skill gap difference between players was the least of the game's issues.

Originally posted by Dr. Atrocious:

Many of the techniques in KartRider can be performed in Mario Kart. The only difference is that Mario Kart is much faster and they've struck a balance in track design that is accessible for new players while also allowing high level play for pros. This eliminates the problem of having to forcibly separate players due to differences in overall skill level as well as ability to handle track difficulty.

You wouldn't want to throw 3+ tracks from KartRider in Mario Kart because it wouldn't be fun for the majority of players. Simple as that.

Mario Kart is absolutely not a faster game than KartRider. If anything, KartRider Drift will be way faster than Mario Kart once the kart upgrade system is in place. Even more so, Mario Kart was never known for its fast gameplay until 200cc was introduced, which was back during the 2015 free update for Mario Kart 8. Long before then, Mario Kart has always been a moderately paced game. I wanted to post some gameplay footage from KartRider Rush+ to give you an idea of how much faster the game is going to get when the upgrade system comes, but I feel like I've already put too much time and effort into this response already.

The only technique that's even comparable to KartRider's drift techniques was snake drifting, and that was exclusive to Mario Kart DS. Ever since then, the drift and boost mechanics have been changed in all other Mario Kart games, so much that snake drifting is completely obsolete, which very much upset the people who enjoyed the challenge that Mario Kart DS brought to the table.

I get it that you or others don't seem for find KartRider's gameplay to be fun, but fun is subjective. Some people find challenging gameplay to be fun, or mastering techniques to be fun. If enough people didn't find KartRider's gameplay to be enjoyable because of the gameplay or controls, then the series wouldn't have been service long enough for Nexon to even consider bringing this game to the west for a 5th time.

If it's not to your liking, then that's fine. If it's not to other people's liking, that's also fine, but at the end of the day, KartRider has its own identity to maintain, and a part of its identity is from its gameplay and controls, and I don't think it should be changed just because "the majority" can't be bothered to adapt and learn.
---

tl;dr: KartRider's may have issues keeping western players interested, but suggesting that making the core mechanics simpler to appease casuals, who are just looking for another Mario Kart clone is going to do more harm than good, given the game's history steeped in competitive play.

I spent waaaaaay too much time on this post. I usually don't type out this much just to respond to a Steam forum post, but I'm passionate about KartRider. I've played every KartRider game since 2007 and I like the gameplay just the way it is, so of course I am going to have strong feelings towards those that feel differently about a game that I like, so no hard feelings.

[Sauvagess]

Originally posted by Mikedot:

For example: DNF Duel, a game which is ironically also published by Nexon, is a 2.5D fighting game designed to accessible by having very simple command inputs.

DNF Duel is not 2.5D. Klonoa is a 2.5D game.

I could have commented on the part about fighting game accessibility, as I'm a competitive tournament player myself, but this isn't really the topic for it.