Apologies for the double post, but entirely different content.
Came very close to getting a 1CC on Bare Knuckle III (with Blaze, of course), leaving the final boss with 1/4 of the last HP bar.
The run went quite well in some respects, but horrible in others. Also, done with the 3-button gamepad.
On the good side, I can nearly defeat every boss, except the last, on a single life. I lost 2 lives against bosses in this run, but on both times I won without losing any HP on the 2nd life (ie. one hit less and I would have won without losing them).
On the bad side, I lost some 2~3 lives on the 3rd stage alone, due to very poor play (fell on holes multiple times, etc), and nearly stopped playing there.
The good thing is that, I'm quite sure I'll get the 1CC very soon, so it's not entirely bad.
The game isn't as bad as I originally thought (noob mindset to blame
), and it does/has some things even better than SOR2, but it still doesn't feel as polished as the previous entry.
The bad part:
The redesigned standard combo lacks 'weight', and it makes it feel closer to other cheap FF knock-offs (eg. Rushing Beat 1, etc), where you are hitting an enemy, but it doesn't feel right. A step down, especially since they had a perfectly good system in SOR 2.
Being able to control your character while in mid-air is also weird, once again a step down from SOR2 (and in my opinion, even worse than SOR1, since you can't turn around while in mid-air in SOR3).
Your character also performs the entirety of the standard combo, even when you're punching at nothing. While it may be just a different take on the formula, I still prefer the standard of only performing it when you actually hit something. This has the more obvious effect of you being unable to mash the attack button close to a downed enemy, so as to hit them as they get up (though you can do so anyway, and risk hitting them with only a partial combo, or simply time your attack right, so that you hit them as they are vulnerable again).
You cannot grab an enemy that is blocking, which is plenty annoying. Against those kung-fu enemies, for example, if you try to grab them after poking (and they are defending), you won't be able to and will just walk over them, often taking a hit or two in the process. In my opinion, this is not cool, as you should be able to grab them anyway.
Inability to hit the Signal enemies from their slide, with a jump kick, something that it's possible in SOR2, and actually quite nice.
The good part:
Being able to dash, and especially roll vertically is very nice. This also extends to being able to perform wide reaching jump attacks and running specials.
The music isn't as bad as I first thought. More experimental yes, and nowhere near the previous games' soundtrack, but still pretty nice.
They re-introduced the knock down (and taking damage) when trying to throw one of the fat enemies. I always thought this was cool and I'm happy that it is back.
There's not much in the good side, but this is because the game already does many thing right, coming from SOR2, so it's still a very solid game.
Difficulty-wise, I think it is quite a bit easier than SOR2 (and SOR1 as well), though overall, I find the bosses better designed, and not as dependant on the special attacks (like the boxer in SOR2, for example). There are exceptions, like the factory crane one, where although it is a fresh concept, it eventually just becomes a boring fight, given how easy it is.
I found that pretty much every boss, bar the last, are most susceptible to standard combos rather than throws, since most of them will punish you hard by trying to actively throw them. Even Ash, the first midboss, will do massive damage against throws (by throwing you instead). Bosses in the previous game also do this, but I thought it was a bit more pronounced in SOR3.
The exception is the final boss, which is an absolute bastard, and it is hard to gauge his exact positioning, since he's always floating and rotating around.
I managed to put him in a throw loop for a bit, but he eventually broke free, and it felt like his attacks had much higher priority than mine almost all the time (and I'm not talking about trying to hit him after a knockdown).
Of course, this might just be the lack of familiarity speaking, but still the previous bosses all felt quite right.
Anyway, I'm actually looking forward to clearing this one, and also try some of the new characters. Blaze is still awesome in this game, and has a fantastic special attack (the running B+C), especially at 3 stars, which makes her do a long slide after the initial somersault. Her sprite animations look awesome as well, as do the others.
-----
Also played a run on Bare Knuckle 1 (with Blaze as always) on Hard, and got to the final boss, but got rekt.
I also played terribly on the initial portion of the game, losing some 4~5 lives against bosses alone (which I normally wouldn't lose), but still managed to make it to Mr. X with 3 lives in stock.
On the bright side, managed to beat the twins without taking a single hit, and without calling the cop. Not only that, but also didn't lose any lives on their stage as well, which I find to be one of the hardest.
Did almost equally as well on the boss rush against them, but took a hit and lost a life, though the strategy went pretty smoothly nonetheless.
Bosses do obscene amounts of damage in this game (on Hard), though it differs from boss to boss.
The Krueger will kill you in 2 hits, taking roughly half your HP with each strike, but Abadede will take out nearly your entire bar -- take a look at this:
I reached him with full health, too a single hit and ended up with only this HP.
On a good run, I can beat all the bosses on the boss rush without dying, but on their respective stages it's nowhere as good. The helper enemies will mess up my game big time, and I tend to lose lives even on mildly easy bosses (with their inflated damage ratios).
The Kruegers are dangerous all around, and perhaps the hardest enemies for me to beat without losing lives, short of Mr. X.
Mr. X himself is a bastard, which has a tonne of HP and also kills you in 2 hits.
I always have big trouble against him, even on Normal, so not too surprising.
I do hope to eventually 1CC this on Hard, along with Final Fight 2 on Expert, but it should take some time.
See the moderately updated 
even mean, though?!
had 11 full days to get there and was being shipped in the same damn city from a reputable seller - no idea what happened, there! plenty of other beat 'em up fun on the way, though, and i suspect to do a few co-op recordings while he's down here, and maybe even a couple after with my bff. she's not quite up to my level (relatively amateur beat 'em up player that i am), but is definitely competent enough to keep up without completely soaking the credit pool. 
