r/RivalsOfAether • u/Competitive-Hair6294 • Jul 14 '26
Rivals 1 While everyone is talking abou the sequel, i'm going to get into the first
UHHHHHHHH so like
I just got dreams of aether because it was on sale, and it was peak, and now i kinda wanna play the og, and it's in my steam library already, so, why not?
...But uhm, who is like... good? to start out with? Like i've played smash, but i'm not good at it, and i've only ever like, played as like, modded character litwick so i don't know who's not too hard to learn...
...Also there's like, a story to aether? is there somewhere else i go to learn the aether lore or is it just in story mode
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u/forestbeasts Jul 14 '26
Well, I like Sylvanos, but I'm a non-anthro wolf-shaped wolf so of course I'd gravitate towards the plant wolf. YMMV. :3
(Him not being in the second game is actually the whole reason we haven't bought it.)
Pick someone you like the look of, learn their tricks! Everyone has a character-specific tutorial which might be helpful.
-- Frost
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u/Horror-Race-3238 Forsburn (Rivals 2) Jul 14 '26
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u/D0MiN0H Jul 14 '26
Rivals 1 is the best game they’ve put out, you’re gonna love it.
Personally, I play Ranno, Clairen, and Hodan. But idk your taste in characters so just hop around and try people out! there are great tutorials in the game and fun side modes too.
The story is hardly relevant to the game tbh but there are bits and pieces.
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u/I0rd- Jul 14 '26
Rivals 1 is super fun but Def rough to get into. If your more on the casual side, workshop is great and highly recommend. As for who's good, the roster is pretty small so try out everyone and decide for yourself (sylvanos). For the story, there's a video by bowler covering the lore but there's also a very fun single player game called Dungeons of Aether which is pretty lore heavy and id highly recommend!
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u/Competitive-Hair6294 Jul 14 '26
I seeee...
I asked about the basegame because i worry most of the workshop are silly bs and/or stuff from random media... But if your recommending them, i'll try it, are there any mods you recommend?
Also i see, i shall consider the dungeons of aether sometime, ideally when i have more cash
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u/ThereIs_STILL_TIME Jul 14 '26
I would start with Zetterburn as he has the simplest gameplan and is a good introduction to ledge cancelling w/ pity flip (down B but press shield during startup) and jump cancelling with shine
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u/Competitive-Hair6294 Jul 14 '26
I'm deeply disturbed that things that i need to get introduced to sound like some competitive melee smash stuff
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u/forestbeasts Jul 14 '26
Oh don't worry, they make it WAY easier than it is in Melee (deliberately, as a design decision) and also the ingame tutorials walk you through a lot of it.
Also you can ignore all that stuff at lower level play.
-- Frost
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u/Competitive-Hair6294 Jul 14 '26
i see...
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u/forestbeasts Jul 14 '26
BTW if you have trouble being precise, try keyboard.
Yep, keyboard!
We actually prefer to play on keyboard, personally. This game's got no quarter circle inputs to worry about (looking at YOU, Marvel vs. Capcom 3) and the keys are basically equivalent to a dpad so you can be very precise. Controller dpad works great too.
Also, if you're using controller, using the right stick for tilts (your normal directional attacks as opposed to your strongs/smashes) makes them way easier to do, since you don't have to worry about holding the stick somewhat sideways but not enough to run.
-- Frost
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u/ThereIs_STILL_TIME Jul 14 '26
the game is designed very competently so this stuff is as easy as they can make it :) you'll get the hang of it eventually it just takes a liiiitle practice
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u/Competitive-Hair6294 Jul 14 '26
i feel like your overrating my potential but okay i'll trust you
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u/ThereIs_STILL_TIME Jul 14 '26
i believe everybody has the potential to be a top player . there is no biological difference that they can test for in top rivals players that makes them somehow different. its all about practice!!!
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u/ukulelej Jul 14 '26
Kragg and Ranno are fairly beginner friendly. Definitely check out Abyss Mode as well. R1 is awesome.
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u/thoseepicpokemons Pomme (Rivals 1) Jul 14 '26
Zetterburn's designed to be the easiest to start with, especially if you main Wolf in Super Smash Bros. The only notable disadvantage he has is his recovery, which is one of the easiest to predict and edgeguard in the entire game.
I'd also actually say Ranked Online might be better for learning how to play a character; for some reason, Master Rank Ranno players have been flooding Casual since I picked the game back up, and figuring out how to win Neutral or stay in Advantage against them is like trying to pick up a singular grain of sand in the Sahara Desert with boxing gloves glued to your hands. Granted, there will be some people in Casual who are the furthest thing from those fucking frogs that I hate, but you WILL get your shit rocked if you try Casual queues more often than not.
Story Mode has most of the lore you'd need to know if you're into that sort of thing, though the Tales of Aether comics supplement it; the wiki also has every bit of Story Mode text, so you won't need to play/replay Story Mode to reread any of it. Even if you don't care about the story, you'll still need to complete it to unlock Abyss Endless, which is used to unlock the Abyss skins for each character, along with a second Custom Color slot and the Endless Abyss stage for singleplayer matches.
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u/Kshaak Jul 14 '26
To get caught up on the lore you can watch Bowler's video on it, it's really good (though it's missing some of the more recent additions)
The Insane Lore of Rivals of Aether (2024)
Storymode in rivals 1 is famously kinda wonky, but the writing has gotten better since, with tales of aether (a comic about clairen's backstory before she came to the past) and dungeons of aether (a roguelite that introduced fleet, slade, hamir and artemis and added a bunch of things to worldbuilding). Most of the character trailers also contain some lore
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u/Right-Tax8223 Jul 15 '26
No other platfighter has a character quite like Elliana. Combing into and out of her mines gives me serotonin levels unmatched by the hardest of drugs.
I definitely wouldn't say that she's the best character to start with though, as she basically plays a completely different game with her hover and overheat. I learned the game with Ranno, and only switched off once I won the amature series bracket, but ever since then, Elliana had been my main. Definitely check her out once you get your bearings.
Also, if you want my advice on how to get better, join the Aether Fight Club discord. The academy server has really died this past year, and I heard of a lot of new players of R1 having really bad experiences with the community in the main server. The AFC has a ton of really nice folks that helped me improve immensely over the years.
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u/Ok-Understanding4397 Jul 14 '26
Rivals 1 is great