[Mod] Love of Elements

[STM1993]

Alright, here's my final review.

Characters/Other (General, too lazy to be specific):
* Movement feels unncessarily restrictive; many characters are very slow and have weak jumping ability, and furthermore can't dash or roll after jumping. Even rolling is faster than running!
* Characters cannot turn when defending.
* Can be attacked when lying down. (more elaborated in stage mode)
* Some characters have bad arest/vrest values, causing attacks to be unable to hit properly
* Some characters have bad fall values, causing attacks to just keep attacking without causing dizzy
* Almost every character is projectile-based, and a lot of them are Jans. So many characters, but so few of them actually feel different.
* Every single weapon is a tiny stone with effectively no difference between them, save for the potions which are red and blue stones. They are only good for throwing, and even then the control for throwing isn't necessarily >A.

Stage Mode & AI:
* Stage mode is really dull. There is only 1 type of enemy to fight in every stage, followed by a boss. Only the end of stage 5 is slightly different. Doesn't help that because running is slow, it takes very long to get to the next stage.
* Because of the way lying is coded, the AI will continue to attack you even when you're down instead of scatter for 30+15 TU. Not all characters have the ability to escape from lying, which also means just simply being knocked downs could mean you are as good as dead.
* All enemies have temporary invincibility when getting up instead of only bosses, which is very awkward and the AI can abuse it to attack you when you're trying to hit them while they're down, ESPECIALLY when combined with being able to take damage from lying.
* Because of all these, the safest way to play range. Use Bluna, DJA+A, and then spam shurikens at long range at no mana cost and D>J if necesary. Alternatively, use Judge & abuse his J+J invincibility to scatter the AI, and then use DvA to attack groups and D^A to heal/push. Melee is too risky and the damage isn't worth it(even with that Cyber Mark).
* When stage gives you potions, they will spawn infinitely and these potions can heal much more than usual. The AI loves to steal potions, so if the boss is able to drink potions like stage 3-5 or stage 5-5... good luck trying to win.
* Stage 3 boss is unbeatable. She keeps spamming this uppercut attack and she is invincible while doing it, so there is no chance for you to attack her.
* Can't get past stage 4-3 because the dark priest boss's attack(chasing projectile which shoots fireballs) can chain you to death from 500 to 0.
* Bonus stage only lasts 10 phases and only fight dead bandits.

Graphics:
* For the cosmic-creature-like characters' sprites, it looks like its been simply opened up with Photoshop and painted over with an effects brush, or pasting some kind of aura over the normal sprite.
* I will admit that the graphics appear great initially, its a breath of fresh air. However, after a while, it begins to feel over-done and excessive, and it doesn't help that those touched up with effects look the same. Its too flashy.
* The auras are part of the character sprites rather than an actual opointed ball sticking to the character, so it looks awkward outside of standing/walking/running.
* The music is nice, but it doesn't seem to fit stage mode. I don't know why.


Overall:
This mod is compilation with the creator's own tweaks. The actual DCing doesn't appear to be genuinely skillful, rather copy pasting without thorough understanding, judging based on the amount of projectile reliance with bad hitbox/itr values, the poor stage mode and inconsistent data quality. The graphics are admittedly beautiful at first sight, but feel excessive beyond that. Yes, the ideas may be creative, but the gameplay is still bad because the player feels like he doesn't have control over his character and there is no depth to using his character. The stage mode is difficult, but for the wrong reasons - ie: unfair ganging & restricted controls. Also, I don't see why you need to hide the characters' data files in c and give them numbers instead of their name.


My advice:
I would suggest you focus on a single character you like in the mod and work with it rather than compile a mod of bad characters. DC skills can be brushed up eventually, but designing a character is a different level. A player should feel like he is the character by giving him fluid controls. A character should have depth, meaning potential combos and tricks to using him.

For example, normal LF2 Dennis. His depth lies in pressuring with D^A chase balls - the enemy is distracted. With good timing and positioning, the enemy will also be forced into taking a guaranteed hit; he can't block back because he'll get kicked in the front, he can't block front because he'll get hit by the chase ball in the back. If he blocks the chase ball, he will enter broken_defend and Dennis can use this opportunity to kick, potentially leading to a combo. That, is depth.

LF2 isn't about simply fighters with special moves, its about how to use those special moves together with your normal attacks. Try not to focus too much on making the character good at killing groups of enemies.