Okay, I've played through the first couple of levels.
The framerate is horrible. Unacceptably bad at times. It drops in just about every battle.
The gameplay is very much improved. Counters, Cicada counter thingy, leveling up weapons. They've made battles more comparable to previous NGs. It's no longer just wave after wave of enemies. More groups of battles.
I still feel the controls aren't as responsive. This might be because the framerate is so bad, but another part of it is that some of Ryu's animations are so long. There's a really disconnect between what I'm pressing and what I'm doing on the screen. Part of it is the really long recovery Ryu seems to have on just about anything. Part of it is that, just like with the vanilla version, I can't be sure exactly what is going to come out when I press a button. That last complaint is not really a complaint anymore with the change in the way the SOB mechanic works. I definitely feel like I want to continue playing where, at this point in NG3, I just wanted to quit.
The game is difficult, especially without health potions. I haven't felt that it was unfair at any point, though.
The decap and de-limbing people doesn't really factor in much to the game. Targeting is much better since everybody on the screen remains a threat until they're dead. I hated targeting soldiers that were crawling away in the vanilla version.
I don't feel this will be as good as NG2, but it's a definite improvement so far.
This framerate is really bad though. :/
Oh, and I fucking love off-screen play on the wii-u pad. Me and the family watching Netflix and I'm still able to play my new console.
Wii U pad is a bit unwieldy at times when doing things that require multiple buttons (like aiming the arrow), but I'm not having any troubles overall.
I do wonder why there is even a block button. Been doing a LOT of dodging. Unless you can block and as long as no one is behind you, you can block every attack? There is a counter ability but it looks like there are to many enemies for either to be worthwhile unless it's good for one on one encounters that might appear in the game?
Counters are very effective, but he has an animation and recovery to it. You have to time it, but when you do land a counter you teleport and can hit multiple opponents. This game is a lot like NG2. You don't want to be stand still for very long. Choose your moments. Enemies have strings they use. Like the soldiers with the red glowy knives. They have a 3-hit string that will end in something that guard crushes you. Counter the last hit instead (or dash out of the way and hit them during recovery).
