Before we go any further, I would like to make it abundantly clear that this is NOT a hitpiece towards Kamone or any other members of the French Bread team. They are wonderful people in spite of any frustrations or disagreements I may have with them.
The Under Night In-Birth series comprise of the only fighting games that I have put any sort of emotional investment in since my tastes within the genre crystallized that I have felt like a rube for putting in that investment. I felt this a little bit during the UNIST days by nature of it being a game stuck in delay hell despite the GGPO software development kit having existed for 11 years before the game's console release. With the onset of the pandemic shortly after the release of UNICLR, I decided to take a firm "No GGPO, GTFO stance". I felt existentially bad about how it took the (percieved) death of offline fighting games for the community as a collective (though especially me in particular) to fight for a solution that has existed and been successfully implemented by others this whole time to become a basic necessity.
The announcement of Under Night In-Birth II [Sys:Celes], a true sequel that would finally mark the franchise's escape from delay hell, felt like an answered prayer. Not only that, but French Bread vowed to improve on every single quality of life feature that they had attempted in Melty Blood Type Lumina, supplanting that endeavor with a public beta.
Surely, I would finally have a 2020s fighting game release I could enjoy playing without caveats; that I would be proud of the state of the genre instead of existential.
The PC Port Launch
UNI2's PC port launching in a non-functional state immediately put a damper on things. The community's trademark smile and optimism both did a full 180. For those among us that wainted to point figures, it was easy to do so. ArcSys was accused of sending the Under Night franchise to die by virtue of subcontracting the PC port out to Cyclone Zero, a team known only for churning out awful ports of ArcSys-published, indie-developed fighting games. French Bread themselves weren't considered to be without sin either, attributing the lack of a PC beta to a nebulous anti-modding stance.
This was the hardest I had kicked myself for being excited for something in a long time. Why did I trust the developers/publishers enough to preorder the game (and enter it at a major) when there is a huge pile of objective evidence that the vast majority of fighting games that have functional online play reached that state solely through community effort? Instead of simply dooming, I used this whole ordeal as an opportunity to assess my relationship with the fighting game genre and its major releases. The decision I made was that I was content with what I was currently playing (all games with the aforementioned community-developed netplay), and asked for a refund.
While I was coming up with a solution to my own personal dilemma, the UNI community at large was banding together to demand that Cyclone Zero be deposed and that more competent programmers take over to make the PC port functional. Miraculously, they succeeded on both counts. Not only was there a laminar stream of patches fixing network issues over the first two weeks since the game launched, a look at the credits roll after all of these were done saw Cyclone Zero nowhere to be found.
Sometime after this, I realized that I did have a UNI itch to scratch after all. I purchased the game again just in time to both secure the early purchase bonus and have enough time to grind the game ahead of Combo Breaker.
The Izumi Patch
From a gameplay perspective, the main goal of UNI2 is to be more volatile than its predecessors. From a system mechanics standpoint, this is accomplished by things such as adding Celestial, removing 1AD, and making the timer tick down slower so timeouts are less frequent. This vision has been supplemented by continuous buffing of characters in post-launch balance patches.
While the Uzuki and Ogre patches both had their fair share of headscratchers in which characters got more overtuned, the Izumi patch would take things to another level. Not only were characters already deemed problematic continuing to evade the nerf bat, everyone (said problematic characters included) got something that directly made them more explosive on offense. The community was outraged as it became quite possible that the pursuit of infinite buffs would compromise the things people like about UNI akin to what is going on with Tekken. The outcry got bad enough that Kamone and the French Bread team put out statements explaining the rationale behind the slow power creep and a promise that, yes, nerfs would be coming in the future.
My response to the Izumi patch was much like it was to the PC port launch: I would once again be faced with tough questions regarding my relationship with fighting games. Why did I put my trust in someone who is on record saying that they want to "make Rainbow Edition" and loves reading everyone's balance complaints to balance a game? What is the point of playing actively patched games knowing that what you like about the game could be radically altered or removed at a moments notice without you having any say in it? When playing games that are no longer recieving updates, there is a comfort that comes with knowing that they will always be that way as well as a level of satisfaction that comes with any metagame changes being the result of things discovered by players. These safeguards go away when it comes to playing modern/live-service games. Any amount of time away from the game is disincentivized as harshly as possible.
Once again, it was time for me to choose which path I wanted to take. While I certainly don't blame anyone for sitting this patch out, I ultimately decided to keep my current level of involvement with UNI2. The main motivator behind this decision was that I still found the gameplay fun at its core. Additionally, only in part because I play Waldstein, I did not have to fundamentally change how I approached the game.
Put Something In
Ultimately, the fact that a fighting game can elicit this strong of an emotional response from me is testament to the dedication of everyone who has gotten involved with UNI over the years. The scene got to where it is today by virtue of UNI players doing all we could to show others that they should take a chance on the game, an initiative accomplished by simply showing genuine enthusiasm for playing the game and enjoyment of the company of others.
This post up to this point has been about thoughts I've had regarding the UNI series. UNI's gameplay is deep enough that there have been situations that the only response I can muster is laughter. Finally, being engorged in the genuine love we have for our game and for eachother, I have been brought to tears. If you can't get these three basic emotional responses out of your current pastimes, ask yourself why that is the case and adjust accordingly. By simply doing these three things day in and day out, we can build something special.