Thomie: rambling about Video Games since yesterday

At this point, you've probably heard the news already. Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game has been delayed and is now releasing on July 23, with an additional closed beta for people who pre-ordered the game happening from July 2 to July 5. After a few days of processing, I have decided that this announcement is almost nothing to worry about; let me explain. First off, a delay this short and the wording of the announcement means the content promised is likely finished and the game is only being delayed to optimize performance. Additionally, this means more time for the team behind the game to reveal more content. Ozai and Zaheer have yet to be showcased, as well as the story mode. Much has been promised for the latter; a unique timeline-colliding narrative within the Avatar -franchise could make for one of the best stories a fighting game has ever told, but we have yet to see any of it. The game's marketing thus far has been focused on the competitive multiplayer aspect of the g...

I usually end up regretting my choice to stay up late to catch one of these live, but not this time. Yesterday's showcase was already primed to the deliver, as the announcement that gameplay for the upcoming Marvel's Wolverine  would been shown had already been made. In development by the studio behind the Marvel's Spider-Man games, this new action adventure sees Logan navigate a cruel, X-Men-less world in which he works together with other rogue mutants to save mutant children. Watching the trailer, I was particularly fascinated by the fine-tuned gore; Wolverine fights like a feral animal at times, but there is no showoff-esque gratuity to what he does, as he's neither Deadpool nor a Mortal Kombat character. Judging by what they've shown, the developers are nailing his gameplay and I can not wait to experience it for myself in September. It's not that the presentation peaked early, just that their first and their final announcements somewhat stole the show for ...

The idea of adding a joke-character to Avatar Legends is is rather obvious. The shows themselves already have several candidates who fulfill that function, and arguably so does the game. However, Sokka is a funny character, not a joke character. He's still presented and balanced as a competent fighter. So, for the real jokes, we have three options. The Cabbage merchant is definitely the most immediately apparent choice. Hilariously, he is one of the most requested characters I've seen online as well. Now, don't get me wrong, I am sold on the idea. I'm just not sure what a full moveset for this guy would look like at all, even a comically awful one. Like, what does he even do? Maybe he just gets his opponent caught in the crossfire when someone wrecks his cart again.  There's no better representation of a joke bender than Bumi from TLoK. Much like Zaheer in particular, he gained airbending later in his life. Unlike Zaheer, however, he struggles a lot with it. As the ...

Unlike the White Lotus, who are completely absent from the game's base roster, Zaheer made it in as the game's sole representation of both his order and a "pure" airbender. I discussed him before, though, so let's go over the other three goobers in order from least to most interesting. P'Li, the combustion woman and Zaheer's partner, is up first for two reasons. For one, we do not need more firebenders. The base roster already has three plus the avatars, and even then she's not first in line. For two, she's directly competing for a slot with Combustion Man. Between the two, she's the more interesting character, possessing things such as actual dialogue and connections to other characters. However, not having anything like that arguably makes Combustion Man a more effective side villain. The two are pretty even in my mind, but I think the developers would go with the character who came first and is from the higher-rated show, especially since th...

Ah yes, the White Lotus, or, as I like to call them, ATLA's premiere aurafarmers. Realistically, if you want them in the game, it's because of some insane bending feat they pulled off in the show, and who could blame you? I already went over Iroh and Bumi, so let's talk about the other three and why, weirdly enough, none of them may become playable. Pakku is not just my least favorite, he's also maybe the least likely candidate for a slot on the roster, since, in a masterstroke of feminist game design, he's been reduced to a support for Katara. 10/10, no notes. I've seen people ask for Jeong Jeong and have used his superior bending ability to justify blocking Zhao from being added, but I also stand by my assessment of the game not needing any more firebenders. To his credit, he would be a fairly different and very visually impressive firebender, but bending feats alone can only get you so far when you're trying to get into a game with 3 avatars (not that he ...

I am very happy to report that I have not run out of groups of three yet. Avatar Legends' roster could always use more villains, so let's talk about Korra's main antagonists and which of them would or wouldn't make good playable fighters Of the three, Amon is by far the most iconic villain of the series, as well as the most requested one. He's a master manipulator, successfully anticipating his opponents' moves and goading them into attacks he can exploit. Even when pretending to have no bending, he's a competent fighter and leader but, of course, the main attraction here is his more advanced bloodbending. Amon can straight up take away someone's bending ability and if Ty Lee's chi blocking would already be a lot to ask of this game, this may just break it outright. Blood bending in general seems like an inherently frustrating mechanic to put into a fighting game as well, so I have no idea how a faithful recreation of Amon would even work for this ga...