Me too! I loved it, it was simple, clean and effective. I agree it needed interactivity, but I liked the Captain leading the charge, commanding and rousing the troops with his speedup.
Now, I understand wanting 'the Dread Pirate,' but you know what? I think that was, and what GP is now, a whole different character that Gangplank never was. He was never seriously dreadful; his fucking name is Gangplank, he's literally named after a thing. At least Miss Fortune is sort of a name. But she's not really taken seriously either (and doesn't ask to be).
New Gangplank is like some sort of weak impression of Barbossa from Pirates, and his voice lines are all botched up now that he's been re-re-imagined with the hand and stuff. He says 'Hate is a child's word,' which his Captain Gangplank material, but now with the hand he also says, 'I found my hate in the flames.' So now not only is the character kind of a cop out, it's a cop out on a cop out and the whole thing feels shallow. Compared to Captain fucking Morgan the pirate pirate, with pirate lines like 'A bottle of rum' and things about yardarms and masts. I just want that to be expressly clear that for me, at least, that's how it feels. I realize some people really like him and his voice actor does a fantastic job of delivering, it's just the character that suffers from hasty, rushed-out designs.
No, this new Gangplank was Gangplank's rival, and should have been named Dread-something or something equally tacky. At least then he's got a villainous thing for a name. Old Gangplank probably should have instead been written away from the identity 'Dread Pirate' and more into some loose cannon, freewheeling fighter of the high seas who was just a force to be reckoned with and could not be reasoned with. No rhyme or reason to his actions; a true pirate, calling the seas home and kingdom. Update him visually, give him some snarky lines and update them.
Then you give him this dread pirate and MF's all like, "I'ma get Gangplank," but it turns out Dread-whatever should have been her target because he snafus them both and doing that is what earns him the name Dread Pirate-- because he's the one who toppled the two Greats of the piracy of Bilgewater. And he could be all about that god damn barrel minigame, and the fucking placement, and praying to god your opponent isn't one who outranges them and just kills them anyway for all your goddam effort and timing. Holy Christ is that annoying. Or God forbid the have mobility and just zip out as soon as you detonate a chain.
I still try to love him and I've given the minigame a few whacks but I just can't like it. It's so much extra play just to keep relevant, because he's just not without it. Old Gangplank had one whole different skill, and for me it was all the world in difference. His personality did not attempt nor try to portray depth, and that was perfectly fine with me. He kind of made a smooth weave between range and melee and it was fun, because with a few tweaks (like his new passive) he would have been great fun. But they chose the minigame.
Not even cool powder kegs, like rolling ones. The play around them is super telling and easy to monitor and as long as you're not a moron around bushes, Gangplank is largely beholden to you engaging on him near them or else being able to snap up your escape before you accidentally push the barrel. And unless he detonates the barrel, I don't think it charges his passive, so that's a point at which he runs a risk of losing to melee superiority.
I'm probably just salty. But you know, just this once, maybe that's the way to be.
Don't even get me started on Galio.
