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**Disturbed316** · 07-04-2005, 06:04 PM

IGN: Will the Super Dirty moves be the same as they were before? It was kind of limited last year. Are they character-specific for instance? And how about the Super Clean moves... what can we expect there?

Cory Ledesma: Super Dirty moves will be general, and not character specific. They will be the cheapest moves in the game, though, and they'll cause a lot more damage. The Super Clean moves, on the other hand, are where you steal your opponent's finisher. In other words, the dirty/clean dynamic should be a lot more balanced this time.

Oh and before I forget, you can also steal your opponent's taunt. It's a very valuable strategic move that'll allow you to steal all of his momentum away. We put that in there as a "risk/reward" counter to someone storing a finisher instead of using it. So if they've stored their finisher and are about to double it up or get high momentum again, you can take the power of that move away and pretty much make it useless. That works on the flipside too. So if you have a stored finisher but start getting your butt kicked which lowers your own momentum (therefore making your stored finisher weaker), you can steal your opponent's raising momentum and quickly do a powerful finisher to regain the upper hand.

Regardless of the circumstances, though, just remember that if you're attacked when stealing a taunt you not only lose the possible momentum that you were gaining, but also whatever finisher you had stored. It's another strategic decision to get you thinking.

IGN: I suppose this a bit of a fanboy question, but let's suppose that the finisher of your opponent is a dirty move itself and you do a super clean steal. Does that mean that the Super Clean steal would do more damage than if that same move was used for Super Dirty? Would it be the same?

Cory Ledesma: [Laughs] Well hopefully neither. This year we're making strides to limit what moves you can assign as finishers. That means that dirty moves won't be allowed for your finisher.

IGN: Is there an onscreen indicator that lets the user know when the best time to use their special moves is? That is, beyond the usual blinking icon.

Devin Knudsen: Yeah that window of opportunity is shown onscreen through the HUD and the saved finisher slot works in the same way it has in previous years -- so it should be familiar and won't be like WrestleMania 21 was, for instance.

If Benoit had a better hardcore rating, he could chair Taker's ass.

Cory Ledesma: Yeah, the HUD is what we decided to go with because it has worked in the past and there's really no way for players to miss it. But to your point, it will be obvious to the user that they're doing damage with a finisher at the right time as opposed to not, because we'll give perfectly timed finishers a special camera treatment. It'll also be reflected in the returning limb damage display that we've brought back from last year.

IGN: There are two new attributes added to the character ratings this year, Stamina and Hardcore. But the one I'm really curious about is Hardcore. Why the need for that stat and what are some examples of the differences between guys with high hardcore ratings and low ones?

Cory Ledesma: Well last year we noticed quite a big flaw in the system where all superstars could inflict the same amount of damage using weapons... including the divas. This meant that Stacy Keibler could do the same amount of damage as RVD with the chair. That didn't make a lot of sense to us, so we wanted to reward the superstars with the ability and experience to use weapons effectively. It pretty much stems from the big ECW fan following out there, who know that ECW wrestlers know how to inflict a lot of damage with foreign objects as opposed to your usual WWE superstar.

Anyhow, this rating will affect the amount of damage that a weapon causes as well as your ability to reverse weapon attacks. So even though this is known as a rating officially, it really breaks down to an experience with being hardcore as opposed to not.

IGN: Will a higher rating also mean a change of animation for wrestlers using weapons, or could it change the move altogether?

Cory Ledesma: We've discussed doing something like that and having special animations for guys that are proficient like that, but to be honest with you it hasn't been finalized among our team yet as to whether or not we'll be able to do it. But yeah, it's something we're looking into and we think it would be a cool idea.

IGN: How about the stamina? How does this system work and can you regenerate lost health because of it?

Cory Ledesma: The way this system works is that most of your core actions take away from your stamina meter, so the harder and more strenuous the actions you perform, the more energy is ultimately removed from your bar. Essentially this makes you exhausted similar to what you suggested with your article on improvements you'd like to see from a couple months ago. During your most tired moments, you'll pretty much be incapacitated -- giving your opponent time to gain an upper hand and beat on you a little bit. The damage done by you won't be as effective either.

IGN: Will that tie into the weight system? So if Rey Mysterio tried to pick up Big Show and couldn't, would it drain his stamina rating a bit?

Cory Ledesma: It won't necessarily affect them in that way, or should I say, as much in that scenario. But stamina ratings will be more prolific for smaller more action-packed guys like Rey as opposed to Show. Big Show will get tired a lot faster and he won't be able to do anything while he's like that.

IGN: How do you recover from being completely exhausted? If you're incapacitated how can you even hope to?

Cory Ledesma: Your stamina can be regenerated anytime you want during the match. That's part of the strategy. So in the past, once you knocked your opponent down you probably beat on him some more or taunted. Now you may want to use that time conserve your stamina and hold it for when it's time to pull of your finisher.

Devin Knudsen: There's an actual button press that manually regenerates your stamina. But even if you don't use it, you'll slowly gain it back depending on your stamina attribute. But trust me, it's better to use the manual stamina regenerator -- it's a lot more useful.

Cory Ledesma: Yeah, that manual button is almost like you're selling your injury or how much your guy is breathing in anger. And that rewards you with a quicker stamina boost than just allowing it to come back normally.

Here we see Triple H ruining Angle's stamina... and teeth.

Devin Knudsen: And that's what gives the user choices. This means that I can taunt and build up my momentum or just rebuild some stamina to look further into the match than the immediate actions. You really have to look at where you're at in the bout and make good decisions based on what's going on.

Cory Ledesma: Another great benefit of the stamina system is that we're really balancing the differences between an experienced user and a new user. Veteran guys are no longer going to be able to be completely offensive and beat the newbie down as he could before. Now they're going to get exhausted and will have to plan out their attacks and pace themselves. It'll give new users or smaller superstars a chance to recover and get back into the match,

IGN: Will the stats work with the same visual cues as before (A 10-point system with half points in-between)?

Cory Ledesma: Yep, that cue will be identical to last year's -- the interface for most everything will be very similar.

IGN: One thing I'm really curious about is how long a match is going to play now. With the momentum meter, the additional stats, and the exhaustion, it sounds like they'll last a lot longer than before.

Cory Ledesma: It all depends on the player's strategy, it really does. We want the matches to be a little longer and more dramatic. I wouldn't say they're slower, though, because the speed of the game is pretty much the same -- it's just the strategies you employ during a match that alter things. Also, if you pick Rey Mysterio or some of our other fast guys, then you can still expect it to be a fast match and you stamina won't be as much of a factor. If two experienced players are going at it at the same time, however, you can expect a lot of strategy and back and forth. Expect a lot of drama at the end of those match-ups.

The good news is that just like any sports game, you'll be able to turn off a lot of the features. So you can switch the stamina meter on and off as you please. We understand that some users like the arcade feel and they don't want to deal with Stamina, so that option will be in there for them. But we're also making sure that we're tuning it to be a lot of fun no matter which way they play, though I think that most fans will like the dramatic strategy of the stamina meter.

07-04-2005, 06:04 PM	#78
Disturbed316 Posts: 22,695	IGN: Will the Super Dirty moves be the same as they were before? It was kind of limited last year. Are they character-specific for instance? And how about the Super Clean moves... what can we expect there? Cory Ledesma: Super Dirty moves will be general, and not character specific. They will be the cheapest moves in the game, though, and they'll cause a lot more damage. The Super Clean moves, on the other hand, are where you steal your opponent's finisher. In other words, the dirty/clean dynamic should be a lot more balanced this time. Oh and before I forget, you can also steal your opponent's taunt. It's a very valuable strategic move that'll allow you to steal all of his momentum away. We put that in there as a "risk/reward" counter to someone storing a finisher instead of using it. So if they've stored their finisher and are about to double it up or get high momentum again, you can take the power of that move away and pretty much make it useless. That works on the flipside too. So if you have a stored finisher but start getting your butt kicked which lowers your own momentum (therefore making your stored finisher weaker), you can steal your opponent's raising momentum and quickly do a powerful finisher to regain the upper hand. Regardless of the circumstances, though, just remember that if you're attacked when stealing a taunt you not only lose the possible momentum that you were gaining, but also whatever finisher you had stored. It's another strategic decision to get you thinking. IGN: I suppose this a bit of a fanboy question, but let's suppose that the finisher of your opponent is a dirty move itself and you do a super clean steal. Does that mean that the Super Clean steal would do more damage than if that same move was used for Super Dirty? Would it be the same? Cory Ledesma: [Laughs] Well hopefully neither. This year we're making strides to limit what moves you can assign as finishers. That means that dirty moves won't be allowed for your finisher. IGN: Is there an onscreen indicator that lets the user know when the best time to use their special moves is? That is, beyond the usual blinking icon. Devin Knudsen: Yeah that window of opportunity is shown onscreen through the HUD and the saved finisher slot works in the same way it has in previous years -- so it should be familiar and won't be like WrestleMania 21 was, for instance. If Benoit had a better hardcore rating, he could chair Taker's ass. Cory Ledesma: Yeah, the HUD is what we decided to go with because it has worked in the past and there's really no way for players to miss it. But to your point, it will be obvious to the user that they're doing damage with a finisher at the right time as opposed to not, because we'll give perfectly timed finishers a special camera treatment. It'll also be reflected in the returning limb damage display that we've brought back from last year. IGN: There are two new attributes added to the character ratings this year, Stamina and Hardcore. But the one I'm really curious about is Hardcore. Why the need for that stat and what are some examples of the differences between guys with high hardcore ratings and low ones? Cory Ledesma: Well last year we noticed quite a big flaw in the system where all superstars could inflict the same amount of damage using weapons... including the divas. This meant that Stacy Keibler could do the same amount of damage as RVD with the chair. That didn't make a lot of sense to us, so we wanted to reward the superstars with the ability and experience to use weapons effectively. It pretty much stems from the big ECW fan following out there, who know that ECW wrestlers know how to inflict a lot of damage with foreign objects as opposed to your usual WWE superstar. Anyhow, this rating will affect the amount of damage that a weapon causes as well as your ability to reverse weapon attacks. So even though this is known as a rating officially, it really breaks down to an experience with being hardcore as opposed to not. IGN: Will a higher rating also mean a change of animation for wrestlers using weapons, or could it change the move altogether? Cory Ledesma: We've discussed doing something like that and having special animations for guys that are proficient like that, but to be honest with you it hasn't been finalized among our team yet as to whether or not we'll be able to do it. But yeah, it's something we're looking into and we think it would be a cool idea. IGN: How about the stamina? How does this system work and can you regenerate lost health because of it? Cory Ledesma: The way this system works is that most of your core actions take away from your stamina meter, so the harder and more strenuous the actions you perform, the more energy is ultimately removed from your bar. Essentially this makes you exhausted similar to what you suggested with your article on improvements you'd like to see from a couple months ago. During your most tired moments, you'll pretty much be incapacitated -- giving your opponent time to gain an upper hand and beat on you a little bit. The damage done by you won't be as effective either. IGN: Will that tie into the weight system? So if Rey Mysterio tried to pick up Big Show and couldn't, would it drain his stamina rating a bit? Cory Ledesma: It won't necessarily affect them in that way, or should I say, as much in that scenario. But stamina ratings will be more prolific for smaller more action-packed guys like Rey as opposed to Show. Big Show will get tired a lot faster and he won't be able to do anything while he's like that. IGN: How do you recover from being completely exhausted? If you're incapacitated how can you even hope to? Cory Ledesma: Your stamina can be regenerated anytime you want during the match. That's part of the strategy. So in the past, once you knocked your opponent down you probably beat on him some more or taunted. Now you may want to use that time conserve your stamina and hold it for when it's time to pull of your finisher. Devin Knudsen: There's an actual button press that manually regenerates your stamina. But even if you don't use it, you'll slowly gain it back depending on your stamina attribute. But trust me, it's better to use the manual stamina regenerator -- it's a lot more useful. Cory Ledesma: Yeah, that manual button is almost like you're selling your injury or how much your guy is breathing in anger. And that rewards you with a quicker stamina boost than just allowing it to come back normally. Here we see Triple H ruining Angle's stamina... and teeth. Devin Knudsen: And that's what gives the user choices. This means that I can taunt and build up my momentum or just rebuild some stamina to look further into the match than the immediate actions. You really have to look at where you're at in the bout and make good decisions based on what's going on. Cory Ledesma: Another great benefit of the stamina system is that we're really balancing the differences between an experienced user and a new user. Veteran guys are no longer going to be able to be completely offensive and beat the newbie down as he could before. Now they're going to get exhausted and will have to plan out their attacks and pace themselves. It'll give new users or smaller superstars a chance to recover and get back into the match, IGN: Will the stats work with the same visual cues as before (A 10-point system with half points in-between)? Cory Ledesma: Yep, that cue will be identical to last year's -- the interface for most everything will be very similar. IGN: One thing I'm really curious about is how long a match is going to play now. With the momentum meter, the additional stats, and the exhaustion, it sounds like they'll last a lot longer than before. Cory Ledesma: It all depends on the player's strategy, it really does. We want the matches to be a little longer and more dramatic. I wouldn't say they're slower, though, because the speed of the game is pretty much the same -- it's just the strategies you employ during a match that alter things. Also, if you pick Rey Mysterio or some of our other fast guys, then you can still expect it to be a fast match and you stamina won't be as much of a factor. If two experienced players are going at it at the same time, however, you can expect a lot of strategy and back and forth. Expect a lot of drama at the end of those match-ups. The good news is that just like any sports game, you'll be able to turn off a lot of the features. So you can switch the stamina meter on and off as you please. We understand that some users like the arcade feel and they don't want to deal with Stamina, so that option will be in there for them. But we're also making sure that we're tuning it to be a lot of fun no matter which way they play, though I think that most fans will like the dramatic strategy of the stamina meter.