Is it worth buying?

[Milatus]

Same as in the title.

[Fish]

Depends on what you're hoping to get out of the game or how much you like fighting games.
For me it's an easy recommendation if you're here for the fighting experience, but if you only want to play single player, the original GBVS might be a better choice.

[Milatus]

Then UNI2 is better choice for me. What worries me is the number of players. 24 hour peak just 199. How is it on other platforms?

[Fish]

I don't play UNI2 so I can't speak to that. Again it depends on how much you wanna play online. If you primarily play for single player for example, then player count wouldn't really make a difference.
Judging by just the Steam player count, Rising seems to have a bigger player base plus it has cross play, but the gameplay between the two titles are quite different so that's something you'll have to decide for yourself.

The other thing is, since fighting game is a niche genre (unless if you're the big names like tekken or SF), a player base of around 200 is considered active because you only need 2 ppl to get a match going, so even if UNI only has 199 24hour peak, that's not such a bad number by fighting game standards

[Milatus]

I see. I've only played Tekken 8, so I don't know what a singleplayer fighting game is like. Can you explain a little?

[Fish]

Well fighting games typically aren't designed to be solely single player, but certain fighting games offer a competent single player experience enough to justify getting a game solely for that.
The original GBVS for example, turns into a side scrolling beat them up JRPG experience complete with character level ups, gearing, and even 2 player local coop (and online coop for boss fights).
Whereas in Rising the RPG elements and coop were removed hence why I say the original GBVS was better for single player content.

SF6 also offers a world tour mode which is quite an interesting single player experience.

Outside of that, there's usually an arcade mode where you fight through a series of CPU battles but these aren't any different from online matches at a fight mechanism perspective.

Tekken 8 also has a story mode for single player offering and I believe you do fight certain unique fights in that mode as well.

If you don't typically play fighting game for single player content and just want the online versus experience though, then Rising is not a bad choice. The best way I can describe it is, it feels like Street Fighter mixed in with some anime fighter mechanisms. Rising also has crossplay with playstation which does help with its longevity.

Ultimately, it'll be up to your taste. Rising is a 2D fighter and fewer moves per character to remember, which you may or may not prefer. It's still hard to master though, just like any other fighting game out there with a lot of nuance to be aware of.

[Milatus]

Sorry for asking so many questions and thank you for keeping me informed!

[Fish]

Hope it helped

[Thalq]

Originally posted by Milatus:

Then UNI2 is better choice for me. What worries me is the number of players. 24 hour peak just 199. How is it on other platforms?

You can count roughly the same amount on PS4, but do keep in mind this game has crossplay, and that the playerbase's size isn't as important as in other genres.
That being said, player count is this low due to 4 factors:

• It's been out for 6 months and only had one balance patch so far
  
• Terribly balanced: Top5 hasn't changed and plays a completely different game compared to everyone else, Nier was completely game-breaking until her nerf, which was basically a slap on the wrist as she and Seox are still, by far, the strongest in the game
  
• Enormous flaws in its system mechanics that make the gameplay very stale
  
• Completely lost the fundamentals-heavy soul GBVS had while failing at every single thing it aimed to do in comparison to its predecessor

If the latter two points are making you raise an eyebrow:

• Almost universal unreactable neutral skips that convert to extremely high damage
  
• Half of the roster kills you in two hitconfirms and a throw
  
• Brave Counter is the most powerful guard cancel I've ever seen, which is also plus on block and safe on spotdodge (read), it's to the point where you will regularly see high level players beat a BC with a bait jab that allows them to block it and answer with their own BC, yes BC is one of the only good options against itself, no I'm not joking the game is this stupid
  
• Mixup options that are even more limited than in GBVS, which means that the game essentially boils down to playing scuffed footsies until someone reaches 50% meter and then it becomes a resource tug o' war between one player turtling, the other popping a neutral skip, being answered to with a brave counter (guard cancel) and then the roles are reversed until someone is out of meter and BP and has to turtle for the rest of the round and then get vaporized because they are taking 50% increased damage
  
• Streamlined complexity at the expense of depth for the sake of being newcomer friendly, except a very short and inconsistent input buffer and giving almost everyone string link windows under 3f has the exact opposite effect. Oh and they still haven't learned that verbose text boxes in a vacuum make for terrible tutorials; this lead to the lower skill players quitting very fast
  
• Long combos but nothing to do for the defender (no burst, no DI, almost no resets to watch out for); speaking of newcomers this is the best way to make them swooce right the f out
  
• Kit architecture, input buffer and frame data are designed to push you into as many tight scrambles and precise 50/50 mash situations as possible

Now here's the silver lining in all of this:
The game still has a lot of potential, has a free version, and they just announced that the start of season 2 with patch 1.5 will be due this summer, along with major (and knowing arcsys they don't use this word lightly, for better or worse) balance changes that will affect the whole game. Despite GBVSR's terrible current state, there is hope. Oh and they still haven't released their "break glass in case of dead game" character, Sandalphon (basically #2 in popularity right behind Narmaya from what I remember from their gbf streams), whom you can expect in S2.

TL;DR: Game is horribly flawed and got stale real fast so most players left, but big changes are expected this summer so there's hope, there's a free version so you can make your own opinion anyway, and the first hours are pretty fun despite all of its issues.

[Milatus]

Originally posted by Thalq:

Originally posted by Milatus:

Then UNI2 is better choice for me. What worries me is the number of players. 24 hour peak just 199. How is it on other platforms?

You can count roughly the same amount on PS4, but do keep in mind this game has crossplay, and that the playerbase's size isn't as important as in other genres.
That being said, player count is this low due to 4 factors:

• It's been out for 6 months and only had one balance patch so far
  
• Terribly balanced: Top5 hasn't changed and plays a completely different game compared to everyone else, Nier was completely game-breaking until her nerf, which was basically a slap on the wrist as she and Seox are still, by far, the strongest in the game
  
• Enormous flaws in its system mechanics that make the gameplay very stale
  
• Completely lost the fundamentals-heavy soul GBVS had while failing at every single thing it aimed to do in comparison to its predecessor

If the latter two points are making you raise an eyebrow:

• Almost universal unreactable neutral skips that convert to extremely high damage
  
• Half of the roster kills you in two hitconfirms and a throw
  
• Brave Counter is the most powerful guard cancel I've ever seen, which is also plus on block and safe on spotdodge (read), it's to the point where you will regularly see high level players beat a BC with a bait jab that allows them to block it and answer with their own BC, yes BC is one of the only good options against itself, no I'm not joking the game is this stupid
  
• Mixup options that are even more limited than in GBVS, which means that the game essentially boils down to playing scuffed footsies until someone reaches 50% meter and then it becomes a resource tug o' war between one player turtling, the other popping a neutral skip, being answered to with a brave counter (guard cancel) and then the roles are reversed until someone is out of meter and BP and has to turtle for the rest of the round and then get vaporized because they are taking 50% increased damage
  
• Streamlined complexity at the expense of depth for the sake of being newcomer friendly, except a very short and inconsistent input buffer and giving almost everyone string link windows under 3f has the exact opposite effect. Oh and they still haven't learned that verbose text boxes in a vacuum make for terrible tutorials; this lead to the lower skill players quitting very fast
  
• Long combos but nothing to do for the defender (no burst, no DI, almost no resets to watch out for); speaking of newcomers this is the best way to make them swooce right the f out
  
• Kit architecture, input buffer and frame data are designed to push you into as many tight scrambles and precise 50/50 mash situations as possible

Now here's the silver lining in all of this:
The game still has a lot of potential, has a free version, and they just announced that the start of season 2 with patch 1.5 will be due this summer, along with major (and knowing arcsys they don't use this word lightly, for better or worse) balance changes that will affect the whole game. Despite GBVSR's terrible current state, there is hope. Oh and they still haven't released their "break glass in case of dead game" character, Sandalphon (basically #2 in popularity right behind Narmaya from what I remember from their gbf streams), whom you can expect in S2.

TL;DR: Game is horribly flawed and got stale real fast so most players left, but big changes are expected this summer so there's hope, there's a free version so you can make your own opinion anyway, and the first hours are pretty fun despite all of its issues.

I'm torn between GBVR and UNI2. GBVR still has a good player count despite the bad start. UNI2 feels like it could be abandoned at any moment.

[Legensy]

If you are not from Asia, or have ping to Japan > 100 DO NOT BUY this product.Only japanese servers super alive and got a healthy population.
If you want to try it for offline experience - this game have no drm, you know what i mean.

[Milatus]

Originally posted by Legensy:

If you are not from Asia, or have ping to Japan > 100 DO NOT BUY this product.Only japanese servers super alive and got a healthy population.
If you want to try it for offline experience - this game have no drm, you know what i mean.

Yep thank you

[Fish]

Originally posted by Legensy:

If you are not from Asia, or have ping to Japan > 100 DO NOT BUY this product.Only japanese servers super alive and got a healthy population.
If you want to try it for offline experience - this game have no drm, you know what i mean.

The NA scene is also very active. More players than Japan actually depending on time of day. Any other region outside of Japan, Asia or North America region though would have to rely on global connection which could get spotty depending on the quality of internet.

[Thalq]

Originally posted by Milatus:

Originally posted by Legensy:

If you are not from Asia, or have ping to Japan > 100 DO NOT BUY this product.Only japanese servers super alive and got a healthy population.
If you want to try it for offline experience - this game have no drm, you know what i mean.

Yep thank you

This is actually not true, the current playerbase is around roughly 1k which is more than enough to reliably find a match in EU/US without having to wait for an eternity, and lobbies are alive everyday.

However, whether this stays, gets better or doesn't last long, all depends on what season 2 brings. If they fail this, their only other chance is basically an eventual season 3, which would incur a financial risk. They've shown with re:link that they aren't averse to that, but it's still not very likely to happen if s2 does not save the game.

[VayneCalibur]

I find people in ranked match like every 10 seconds (EU, Spain)

[Fistarz]

Originally posted by VayneCalibur:

I find people in ranked match like every 10 seconds (EU, Spain)

maybe in A or S rank, in lower ranks, takes ages to find a match at evening.