I have issues with Bounty Battle
I had so much hype for this game that's been building for over three years, ever since I've first heard of it on Tumblr. I even bought it Day 1, something I have never done for any other video game I have owned. I even wrote a Multiversal Axioms chapter based on Trace's role in the fighting game that I will post on the last Sunday of this month. I've streamed it on Friday and briefly on Sunday and even played a little bit on my own time in an attempt to get farther in it. And I have a few things to say about it.
First off. The controls on the Switch. The left shoulder button and trigger aren't used at all. Dodge is B. Special attack is the right trigger. Ultimate attack is both Y and X simultaneously. Summoning minions is minus. And none of these are changeable in the options menu.
Second, I'm not the only one experiencing weird framerate issues. I thought it was my capture device, but it may be making that issue seem worse. And even playing in Handheld and Tabletop Mode I have been experiencing this issue. It makes it hard to react to the opponent and get my inputs right. This is causing an insurmountable difficulty spike in both Tournament Mode and Challenge Mode. If I can't tell what's going on due to wonky framerates, nor if I can adjust or get adjusted to the controls, I can't be expected to play this game competently.
The premise for this game is the best part. That is not a good thing. Taken from the Bounty Battle page on Darkscreen Games' website, the premise is that vortexes are appearing in multiple worlds that let people travel to and communicate with each other in these alternate worlds, thanks to a mysterious material called Etherial Mana, which also grants fighters magical powers. Each of these worlds then appoints a representing "champion." A bounty is placed on the champion's head, and whoever collects the biggest bounty will be crowned "Master of the Universe." This cool-sounding premise is completely trashed, all because the game itself has no story mode. Not even the Tournament Mode nor Challenge Mode have anything that will do anything with the premise of the story! What is Etherial Mana? Where exactly does it come from? What kind of powers does it grant fighters alongside their canon abilities? Why are fighters from different worlds chosen as champions and get bounties put on their heads? How did these bounty battles even start in the first place? Were they started as soon as Etherial Mana was discovered or did the battle system come about from constant war or fighting over the material? And what about the vortexes? If one shows up on your world, do the people automatically have to choose a champion? Does choosing a champion to represent your world involve bounty battles or do they have to find the one person affected by Etherial Mana?
Now let's talk about Trace. The guy from Axiom Verge I just can't seem to shut up about, and the Bounty Battle main I have chosen. On the surface, his portrayal in this game is a fitting representation of his character in the one from which he originates. But I want to break it all down in more detail, starting from his moveset. His simple attack is his default Axiom Disruptor, his strong attack is Nova, and his Anti-Air attack is Kilver. His Special is Laser Drill, his Ultimate is the first Address Disruptor, the blue one, and the minion he can summon in exchange for Bounty Points is the Remote Drone. His Charged Strong attack is just a bigger Axiom Disruptor. He's also got a dinky little mid-air kick, a dashing charge attack, and a launcher that has him swinging his AD upwards to uppercut the opponent. He's wearing the Modified Lab Coat, also.
Taking all of this into account, I can pinpoint to a precise point in Axiom Verge Trace was taken from. The Axiom Disruptor and Nova are the first two weapons he finds in Eribu. Laser Drill is found after defeating Xedur, the first boss, also in Eribu. Kilver is found when he first meets Elsenova face-to-face in Absu. The first Address Disruptor is found after beating Telal, the second boss, also in Absu. It is assumed that the Field Disruptor has been found in Kur, because he needs it to reach Uruku in Zi, the third boss, and get the Modified Lab Coat after defeating him and turning on the Power Filter. Then he returned to Kur and found the Remote Drone. So, logically, Trace is taken from the point before he finds the second Address Disruptor, the red one, and fights Gir-tab, the fourth boss, ignoring the optional items he could have skipped over to potentially get later. An interesting point to take a character...? But I understand: you probably shouldn't show equipment Trace gets later in Axiom Verge in order to avoid spoilers.
But here's where things get weird. Trace's stage in Bounty Battle is at least based on Eribu. At this point, there is no way Trace could be back in Eribu. Barring save-warps, as soon as he reaches a certain point in Zi, he cannot backtrack to before that point without the Grapple, and he can only get the Grapple after beating Gir-tab. And in order to reach Gir-tab from here, he needs to get the second Address Disruptor, which Trace in Bounty Battle does not have. Furthermore, I've seen an image of where he is seen facing Ophelia, who is found in Ukkin-Na, an area that can't be reached without the second Address Disruptor, even with save-warps. Further still, Ophelia is in the background of Trace's stage, which is impossible for her to move there from Ukkin-Na until the Repair Drones and Power Filter are fixed. The Repair Drones cannot be accessed, with or without save-warping, without the second Address Disruptor. And with save-warping, the Repair Drones can be potentially fixed after you get Trench Coat, which is needed to leave Ukkin-Na, or Red Coat, which is found much later in the game than the point Trace is pulled from for Bounty Battle!
All of this is not to say that this game is unsalvagable. Just changing the Address Disruptor from blue to red and giving Trace Grapple will instantly solve the contradiction with Axiom Verge's story. Or come up with Bounty Battle-specific ways and reasons to handwave it. For an example of the latter, usually, when the Remote Drone is deployed, an impenetrable force field is supposed to surround Trace, but since the drone is a purchasable minion and making Trace invincible for as long as the drone is active would break the game, I consider that an acceptable Bounty Battle-specific handwave. Field Disruptor is a passive ability that is granted as soon as Trace gets the item, and there isn't much you can do with the Modified Lab Coat in a fighting game. The moves that aren't based on his canon abilities are decent enough. Even the mid-air kick, which I can't help but poke fun at a little bit, and I, too, can envision Trace swinging around the AD like some kind of blunt weapon. As long as these aren't the specific powers Etherial Mana supposedly gives, otherwise, that is exceedingly lame. It is confirmed that there will be future patches that will hopefully fix these problems, and if I get better at the game, I'll have more fun with it. But for now, this game is kind of a big letdown.
First off. The controls on the Switch. The left shoulder button and trigger aren't used at all. Dodge is B. Special attack is the right trigger. Ultimate attack is both Y and X simultaneously. Summoning minions is minus. And none of these are changeable in the options menu.
Second, I'm not the only one experiencing weird framerate issues. I thought it was my capture device, but it may be making that issue seem worse. And even playing in Handheld and Tabletop Mode I have been experiencing this issue. It makes it hard to react to the opponent and get my inputs right. This is causing an insurmountable difficulty spike in both Tournament Mode and Challenge Mode. If I can't tell what's going on due to wonky framerates, nor if I can adjust or get adjusted to the controls, I can't be expected to play this game competently.
The premise for this game is the best part. That is not a good thing. Taken from the Bounty Battle page on Darkscreen Games' website, the premise is that vortexes are appearing in multiple worlds that let people travel to and communicate with each other in these alternate worlds, thanks to a mysterious material called Etherial Mana, which also grants fighters magical powers. Each of these worlds then appoints a representing "champion." A bounty is placed on the champion's head, and whoever collects the biggest bounty will be crowned "Master of the Universe." This cool-sounding premise is completely trashed, all because the game itself has no story mode. Not even the Tournament Mode nor Challenge Mode have anything that will do anything with the premise of the story! What is Etherial Mana? Where exactly does it come from? What kind of powers does it grant fighters alongside their canon abilities? Why are fighters from different worlds chosen as champions and get bounties put on their heads? How did these bounty battles even start in the first place? Were they started as soon as Etherial Mana was discovered or did the battle system come about from constant war or fighting over the material? And what about the vortexes? If one shows up on your world, do the people automatically have to choose a champion? Does choosing a champion to represent your world involve bounty battles or do they have to find the one person affected by Etherial Mana?
Now let's talk about Trace. The guy from Axiom Verge I just can't seem to shut up about, and the Bounty Battle main I have chosen. On the surface, his portrayal in this game is a fitting representation of his character in the one from which he originates. But I want to break it all down in more detail, starting from his moveset. His simple attack is his default Axiom Disruptor, his strong attack is Nova, and his Anti-Air attack is Kilver. His Special is Laser Drill, his Ultimate is the first Address Disruptor, the blue one, and the minion he can summon in exchange for Bounty Points is the Remote Drone. His Charged Strong attack is just a bigger Axiom Disruptor. He's also got a dinky little mid-air kick, a dashing charge attack, and a launcher that has him swinging his AD upwards to uppercut the opponent. He's wearing the Modified Lab Coat, also.
Taking all of this into account, I can pinpoint to a precise point in Axiom Verge Trace was taken from. The Axiom Disruptor and Nova are the first two weapons he finds in Eribu. Laser Drill is found after defeating Xedur, the first boss, also in Eribu. Kilver is found when he first meets Elsenova face-to-face in Absu. The first Address Disruptor is found after beating Telal, the second boss, also in Absu. It is assumed that the Field Disruptor has been found in Kur, because he needs it to reach Uruku in Zi, the third boss, and get the Modified Lab Coat after defeating him and turning on the Power Filter. Then he returned to Kur and found the Remote Drone. So, logically, Trace is taken from the point before he finds the second Address Disruptor, the red one, and fights Gir-tab, the fourth boss, ignoring the optional items he could have skipped over to potentially get later. An interesting point to take a character...? But I understand: you probably shouldn't show equipment Trace gets later in Axiom Verge in order to avoid spoilers.
But here's where things get weird. Trace's stage in Bounty Battle is at least based on Eribu. At this point, there is no way Trace could be back in Eribu. Barring save-warps, as soon as he reaches a certain point in Zi, he cannot backtrack to before that point without the Grapple, and he can only get the Grapple after beating Gir-tab. And in order to reach Gir-tab from here, he needs to get the second Address Disruptor, which Trace in Bounty Battle does not have. Furthermore, I've seen an image of where he is seen facing Ophelia, who is found in Ukkin-Na, an area that can't be reached without the second Address Disruptor, even with save-warps. Further still, Ophelia is in the background of Trace's stage, which is impossible for her to move there from Ukkin-Na until the Repair Drones and Power Filter are fixed. The Repair Drones cannot be accessed, with or without save-warping, without the second Address Disruptor. And with save-warping, the Repair Drones can be potentially fixed after you get Trench Coat, which is needed to leave Ukkin-Na, or Red Coat, which is found much later in the game than the point Trace is pulled from for Bounty Battle!
All of this is not to say that this game is unsalvagable. Just changing the Address Disruptor from blue to red and giving Trace Grapple will instantly solve the contradiction with Axiom Verge's story. Or come up with Bounty Battle-specific ways and reasons to handwave it. For an example of the latter, usually, when the Remote Drone is deployed, an impenetrable force field is supposed to surround Trace, but since the drone is a purchasable minion and making Trace invincible for as long as the drone is active would break the game, I consider that an acceptable Bounty Battle-specific handwave. Field Disruptor is a passive ability that is granted as soon as Trace gets the item, and there isn't much you can do with the Modified Lab Coat in a fighting game. The moves that aren't based on his canon abilities are decent enough. Even the mid-air kick, which I can't help but poke fun at a little bit, and I, too, can envision Trace swinging around the AD like some kind of blunt weapon. As long as these aren't the specific powers Etherial Mana supposedly gives, otherwise, that is exceedingly lame. It is confirmed that there will be future patches that will hopefully fix these problems, and if I get better at the game, I'll have more fun with it. But for now, this game is kind of a big letdown.