Random Razor's Edge thread

> health upgrades
Best to save these, they're your only resource for a free heal at any time. Most players save them for difficult boss fights that give them grief or specific test-of-valor. That first fight is pretty brutal, but it eases up afterwards.

shit, my issue was skill issue? i'll restart then. which boss would you recommend popping the first health upgrade on?

Totally depends on the player. Some save them for the final boss since she's so insane on higher settings. I personally save one for the dinosaur boss since he's so fucking annoying and usually save one or two for the later Tests of Valor.

I play around with the scoring and it's the best one out all NGs'. I like how it encourages efficiency, but also forces player to delay UTs. It not only solves the problem of UTs spam, but it also forces the player to choose if to prioritize survivability or score - do I use UT charge now to help myself in hard encounter or do I go for max multiplier? It creates risk and tension in place where previous karma system encouraged safe strats.

SoB plays to it nicely as well. It creates risk and reward aspect. I've found myself leaving wounded enemies and waiting to do Sob on them knowing that it can bite me in the ass.

it has degree of flexibility too. I remember being low on health in one fight, so I bought health upgrade towards the very end and got S rank health bonus hah.

> UT system
Yeah the deeper you go into it the SoB and UT system, the more it shows how well they work together. Getting Bloody Rage and keeping the chain going as long as possible for maximum score (which, in turn, gives more upgrade opportunities) is a great mechanic. It does at times feel like it still promotes baiting SoB a bit too much especially when you realize you can bait it easily with either meditation or heavy-attacks (or hold moves, but that's not an option with Rage).

The controls are an issue though, the hold-combos are fantastic and keep the combat going beyond the speed of NGII, and completely removing them from your arsenal the second you enter Rage feels like an oversight.

>SoB
Baiting it doesn't bother me all that much, even when doing it, you're still engaging with the enemies - it's not that different from punishing normal attacks. However, it can be inconsistent at time with game giving you OT sometimes. It happens to me most often when fighting gorrila guys, dunno if there is pattern here.

Kasumi has similar problem. They balanced her grab the same they did with Rachel's in Σ1, which means it becomes inconsistent against stronger enemies, they can just dodge her grab.

>hold-combos
Perhaps they wanted to make keeping the multiplier chain harder by removing that ability, but it especially annoys me in the case of Kasumi. Often I would do windmill at the end of combo to finish weakened enemies, but using it in bloody rage is a waste.

I honestly think it's just a part of the game being rushed out the door. They could've easily have the rage-unleash be tied to any other button combination. In some way, it showed a remarkable form of restraint though that they didn't put it on L3+R3 hahaha