The Weapon System Needs an Overhaul

I should preface this with saying that I do think the core gameplay is very strong and actually better than I expected. There are, however, weird design choices and limitations all around.

For a game that has AKI aspirations a ton of weapons. It strikes me as odd that it's so underwhelming in this area. Obviously this a first time outing, but since this is not an annualised game, it would be a shame to have it stay this way "forever".

Some points which I think make FF's weapons underwhelming:

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  • Only 2 hits before a weapon "breaks" is really unsatisfying. Remember when you could bludgeon someone forever in No Mercy? Even the standard 4 hits would be better. As long as they don't disappear... Title belts, ladders and tables don't do that, and they're more fun to use as a result.
  • Having your momentum determine what weapons you pull is kind of annoying. I can understand the design decision, but I think it should be at least fully random. No Mercy did it that way just fine. But I do wish we could change what appears in the settings.
  • Basic and common weapons like chairs, tables, trashcans etc. Are exceedingly rare, unless you find the very few randomly placed in lights out matches. Or have them set as your CAW's favourite, but that only works once and they should appear more often.
  • There's virtually no visual weapon damage either, so that sucks. If they're gonna have to break, they may as well get all dinged up.
  • Weapon ghosting is mostly unnecessary. Since Yuke's took the time to add impact animations when a move lands on an object, it kinda makes it redundant when the object is nearly invisible when you do it. I don't mind some clipping. (There's quite a bit of that already)
  • There are no weapon specific impact sounds when you land a move on them either. A bit of an oversight.
  • No running weapon strikes, those were a ton of fun in the AKI games. (Yuke's old games too)
  • Tables aren't handled particularly well, but they're just okay for now...
  • Some weapons rest vertically oriented which is a strange choice, but a minor thing. These objects ghosting makes sense but it could easily have been avoided.

I must say though, I do like how thumbtacks were implemented, they did a good job with that. And so does the community because those clips are everywhere.

When No Mercy is the closest inspiration, I do think it should be a lot more like that game, because it did it perfectly. Does anyone else agree? Or do you think this is fine for the arcade style they're going for?