I realize fighting games such as Street Fighter or Guilty Gear are pretty niche these days; they're notorious for being difficult and unforgiving. Some people with debate how much these games...
I realize fighting games such as Street Fighter or Guilty Gear are pretty niche these days; they're notorious for being difficult and unforgiving. Some people with debate how much these games deserve that reputation, especially now that the barrier to entry is a ton lower than it once was, with titles like Granblue Fantasy Versus having simplified mechanics/inputs, such as one-button special moves; or Fantasy Strike, being free to play and having inputs easier and more forgiving than the Smash Bros. series.
I particularly liked this video's way of (re-)introduction to the genre; it takes a few minutes to really get started (and it's thirty minutes long, lol), but it does such a great job of emphasizing their appeal, and addressing the most common pain points for people trying to get in.
Personally, after a lifetime of being straight up garbage at these games, a couple years ago I got to know someone who really taught me how to think about approaching and thinking about these games, and the situations they present. As a result, I've become one of those players who show up to tournaments and have fun getting destroyed in the bracket, haha.
So I ask: Are there any among you with a fighting spirit, or at least a passing interest? Anyone happened to try out Fantasy Strike now that it's free to play?
I’ve always really enjoyed fighting games but kind of fell off with this latest generation. On some level I’ve hit a point in my life where my patience level for bullshit is just gone so games...
I’ve always really enjoyed fighting games but kind of fell off with this latest generation. On some level I’ve hit a point in my life where my patience level for bullshit is just gone so games need to clear a lot of hurdles before I’m willing to deal with the inconvenience. My gripes with the genre are mostly like
1.) Default controllers aren’t great. The DS4 is especially bad with a bad D-Pad and way too loose analog sticks. But then a fight stick is another $100 and takes up a bunch of space. This alone makes it seem hard to be a casual gamer in this genre. They may try to get around it with simplified inputs, but that ends up dumbing down the games in other ways.
2.) Why does it seem like everyone online is playing with a potato for a router? Since latency is such a big deal, they ought to just give people pointers on improving network performance in the game itself instead of just whining that over 50% of people are on WiFi.
3.) The two I played most recently were MK11 and SFV and both rubbed me the wrong way. MK11 just seems like a spent force design wise. The gore just isn’t interesting or appealing. After the first once or twice I’m not even shocked by any of it, it’s just really long animations that not only break the tempo of the rounds, but also are just boring to have to watch over and over again.
SFV, meanwhile, has just a shockingly terrible interface from a UX perspective. And the game itself feels really nickel-and-dimey until you get the Championship edition, which took how many years after initial release to come out? The whole thing just felt disrespectful to the players. Also I really haven’t cared for the character designs this time around. Everyone is weirdly proportioned, with overly large hands and legs and textures that make them look like they couldn’t decide between cell shading, photo realism, or clay-mation as a style.
4.) I’d really like it if character designs grew up and matured a bit. Especially with female characters. I don’t actually mind overt sexiness or swimsuits and stuff, but some of the fanservice in SFV just makes me feel like a perv for playing. Way too many gratuitous panty shots, way too much attention drawn to jiggle physics, etc. It’s not even that it’s sexed up, it’s that it’s sexed up in such a juvenile way.
MK has similar problems, except add boring and uninspired gore to it. Injustice, at least, has more interesting effects since the design isn’t just GORE GORE GORE all the time. But even then a lot of it seems more meant for spectating or looking good in a demo than actually feeling good to play.
5.) Lastly, one of the things that I think messes with most competitive games now, versus back in the day is that back then we mostly played with people we knew. Even if it was online it was friend groups. Competitive/Ranked play was the exception. With online play now this relationship is flipped and everything seems to revolve around ranked or matchmaking and not much for just friends goofing around. This seriously limits the reach and fun factor of the games because not everyone wants to spend hours training links and memorizing combos just to not get clobbered. The lack of casual/social play unless you’re already deep enough into the genre to have made friends in it makes it hard to pick up new casual fans.
Yeah, these criticisms are mostly more than fair. People definitely don't do all they can to ensure good connections; which is awful, because most of these games have absolute garbage netcode. I...
Yeah, these criticisms are mostly more than fair. People definitely don't do all they can to ensure good connections; which is awful, because most of these games have absolute garbage netcode. I can't speak for MK11, but SFV totally nickle-and-dimed people throughout its life until Championship edition. In 2020, though, I think I can recommend it, if you can get over the grudge, heh. I think they said they made the hands/feet proportionally huge for gameplay reasons -- since they're particularly important to, well, see during a match. Definitely looks awful, though, I agree.
For the first and last points, though, I've got a couple things you could consider.
The DS4 isn't that bad; there are numerous professional players for pretty much every game that prefer a DS4 to an arcade stick. They make use of the d-pad, not the analog stick, though. I can't speak to this too much myself, though, because I do prefer an arcade stick, lol.
And as for playing with friends -- my favourite games have absolutely dead matchmaking queues, so I rely largely on Discord to find random people to play with. There's a great benefit, if you're willing to go out of your way like this; the "random person" can quickly and easily become a friend, and then a friend group!
Yeah. I got SFV for free on PS+ And seriously doubted whether I wanted to reward their behavior before buying the championship edition. The UX and interface is still pretty trash, which bugs me....
Yeah. I got SFV for free on PS+ And seriously doubted whether I wanted to reward their behavior before buying the championship edition. The UX and interface is still pretty trash, which bugs me. But I eventually did it anyway.
My only issue with having to do LFG groups is that most gaming groups just skew a little young for me. I’m in my mid-30s so I just feel like a bit of a creep hanging out in lobbies with tons of younger kids.
Ahh, yeah, that's an issue for me, too, as I'm reaching late 20's. I mostly play Guilty Gear, which (at least, locally, for me) seems to have a fanbase that skews a touch older, so it isn't as bad...
Ahh, yeah, that's an issue for me, too, as I'm reaching late 20's.
I mostly play Guilty Gear, which (at least, locally, for me) seems to have a fanbase that skews a touch older, so it isn't as bad for me. But -- if you'd like someone to play some games with, I play SFV as well. On the topic of SFV's UX and interface; yeah, it's really hard to defend. My eyes roll into the back of my head every time I boot that thing up; it takes literal minutes to get to the main menu every time. So frustrating. And then the main menu is just plain ugly, and sometimes you have to dismiss a ton of modal popups by scrolling down to the bottom, and...
I used to like mainstream fighting games when they were relatively simple. Games like the first Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter 2. At some point fighting games became increasingly complex and I...
I used to like mainstream fighting games when they were relatively simple. Games like the first Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter 2. At some point fighting games became increasingly complex and I lost interest. I have no interest in “becoming a PhD” just to play a fighting game. In the last few years I regained interest with indie games like Divekick, Lethal League, and Nidhog, that brought back the same simplicity and competitiveness from the older games.
I don’t care about esports, or even competitive online play in general (I do play Rocket League from time to time, but I’m at the lowest level and have no aspirations to get above that...).
I see. If that's the case, I think I could recommend Punch Planet or Fantasy Strike; I don't play much of either (but would be happy to play! They both have fantastic online play, which is rather...
I see. If that's the case, I think I could recommend Punch Planet or Fantasy Strike; I don't play much of either (but would be happy to play! They both have fantastic online play, which is rather uncommon in this genre), but they should be most similar to those games you were familiar with. And particularly for Fantasy Strike, you can reach a level where you're not fumbling with the controls, and go straight into the more strategic play after about five minutes. Every single character has a video embedded IN THE GAME that teaches you their gameplan, and the inputs are infinitely easier than the Street Fighter you grew up with!
Edit: Fantasy Strike is also free to play on every platform it's on (which, I believe, is every modern console + Steam); and there's cross-play between all of them.
Edit: Fantasy Strike is also free to play on every platform it's on (which, I believe, is every modern console + Steam); and there's cross-play between all of them.
Personally speaking, I love fighting games. However I find the fighting game community off-putting. Not because they are toxic per se, but simply because they make me feel like playing online is...
Personally speaking, I love fighting games. However I find the fighting game community off-putting. Not because they are toxic per se, but simply because they make me feel like playing online is pointless because there is an ocean of skilled players who have far more time to dedicate to them. I have an issue with the statement that fighting games are difficult. They aren't. They just have a high skill ceiling. That perception is largely because of the community. I don't really blame them for it, it's just a natural extension of what happens in this kind of gameplay.
I'm also kind of picky about the games I play. I really don't like the more modern big budget fighting games, but I do like the 2D ones. My favorite ones are the later SNK Neo Geo non-KOF titles and the Virtua Fighter series.
Lots of the people who talk loud about fighting games aren't particularly good at them to begin with. There's oceans of loud people who like to call professionals "washed up" for losing or...
Lots of the people who talk loud about fighting games aren't particularly good at them to begin with. There's oceans of loud people who like to call professionals "washed up" for losing or whatever, but guaranteed they probably haven't gotten anywhere themselves. In my experience, most people aren't particularly good; and even among the selection of people invested enough to actually go to in-person weeklies (before quarantine, of course), most people just show up to press buttons and have fun, not necessarily to prove their superiority. 25% of all entrants go 0-2, and all that.
Speaking of Virtua Fighter, are you excited for Virtua Fighter X Esports?
As a long time fan of Sega, I have long ago come to expect disappointment from them. 😸 Seriously though, the fact that it's not even entirely clear if they are making a new game or not is what I...
As a long time fan of Sega, I have long ago come to expect disappointment from them. 😸
Seriously though, the fact that it's not even entirely clear if they are making a new game or not is what I find most concerning.
I realize fighting games such as Street Fighter or Guilty Gear are pretty niche these days; they're notorious for being difficult and unforgiving. Some people with debate how much these games deserve that reputation, especially now that the barrier to entry is a ton lower than it once was, with titles like Granblue Fantasy Versus having simplified mechanics/inputs, such as one-button special moves; or Fantasy Strike, being free to play and having inputs easier and more forgiving than the Smash Bros. series.
I particularly liked this video's way of (re-)introduction to the genre; it takes a few minutes to really get started (and it's thirty minutes long, lol), but it does such a great job of emphasizing their appeal, and addressing the most common pain points for people trying to get in.
Personally, after a lifetime of being straight up garbage at these games, a couple years ago I got to know someone who really taught me how to think about approaching and thinking about these games, and the situations they present. As a result, I've become one of those players who show up to tournaments and have fun getting destroyed in the bracket, haha.
So I ask: Are there any among you with a fighting spirit, or at least a passing interest? Anyone happened to try out Fantasy Strike now that it's free to play?
I’ve always really enjoyed fighting games but kind of fell off with this latest generation. On some level I’ve hit a point in my life where my patience level for bullshit is just gone so games need to clear a lot of hurdles before I’m willing to deal with the inconvenience. My gripes with the genre are mostly like
1.) Default controllers aren’t great. The DS4 is especially bad with a bad D-Pad and way too loose analog sticks. But then a fight stick is another $100 and takes up a bunch of space. This alone makes it seem hard to be a casual gamer in this genre. They may try to get around it with simplified inputs, but that ends up dumbing down the games in other ways.
2.) Why does it seem like everyone online is playing with a potato for a router? Since latency is such a big deal, they ought to just give people pointers on improving network performance in the game itself instead of just whining that over 50% of people are on WiFi.
3.) The two I played most recently were MK11 and SFV and both rubbed me the wrong way. MK11 just seems like a spent force design wise. The gore just isn’t interesting or appealing. After the first once or twice I’m not even shocked by any of it, it’s just really long animations that not only break the tempo of the rounds, but also are just boring to have to watch over and over again.
SFV, meanwhile, has just a shockingly terrible interface from a UX perspective. And the game itself feels really nickel-and-dimey until you get the Championship edition, which took how many years after initial release to come out? The whole thing just felt disrespectful to the players. Also I really haven’t cared for the character designs this time around. Everyone is weirdly proportioned, with overly large hands and legs and textures that make them look like they couldn’t decide between cell shading, photo realism, or clay-mation as a style.
4.) I’d really like it if character designs grew up and matured a bit. Especially with female characters. I don’t actually mind overt sexiness or swimsuits and stuff, but some of the fanservice in SFV just makes me feel like a perv for playing. Way too many gratuitous panty shots, way too much attention drawn to jiggle physics, etc. It’s not even that it’s sexed up, it’s that it’s sexed up in such a juvenile way.
MK has similar problems, except add boring and uninspired gore to it. Injustice, at least, has more interesting effects since the design isn’t just GORE GORE GORE all the time. But even then a lot of it seems more meant for spectating or looking good in a demo than actually feeling good to play.
5.) Lastly, one of the things that I think messes with most competitive games now, versus back in the day is that back then we mostly played with people we knew. Even if it was online it was friend groups. Competitive/Ranked play was the exception. With online play now this relationship is flipped and everything seems to revolve around ranked or matchmaking and not much for just friends goofing around. This seriously limits the reach and fun factor of the games because not everyone wants to spend hours training links and memorizing combos just to not get clobbered. The lack of casual/social play unless you’re already deep enough into the genre to have made friends in it makes it hard to pick up new casual fans.
Yeah, these criticisms are mostly more than fair. People definitely don't do all they can to ensure good connections; which is awful, because most of these games have absolute garbage netcode. I can't speak for MK11, but SFV totally nickle-and-dimed people throughout its life until Championship edition. In 2020, though, I think I can recommend it, if you can get over the grudge, heh. I think they said they made the hands/feet proportionally huge for gameplay reasons -- since they're particularly important to, well, see during a match. Definitely looks awful, though, I agree.
For the first and last points, though, I've got a couple things you could consider.
The DS4 isn't that bad; there are numerous professional players for pretty much every game that prefer a DS4 to an arcade stick. They make use of the d-pad, not the analog stick, though. I can't speak to this too much myself, though, because I do prefer an arcade stick, lol.
And as for playing with friends -- my favourite games have absolutely dead matchmaking queues, so I rely largely on Discord to find random people to play with. There's a great benefit, if you're willing to go out of your way like this; the "random person" can quickly and easily become a friend, and then a friend group!
Yeah. I got SFV for free on PS+ And seriously doubted whether I wanted to reward their behavior before buying the championship edition. The UX and interface is still pretty trash, which bugs me. But I eventually did it anyway.
My only issue with having to do LFG groups is that most gaming groups just skew a little young for me. I’m in my mid-30s so I just feel like a bit of a creep hanging out in lobbies with tons of younger kids.
Ahh, yeah, that's an issue for me, too, as I'm reaching late 20's.
I mostly play Guilty Gear, which (at least, locally, for me) seems to have a fanbase that skews a touch older, so it isn't as bad for me. But -- if you'd like someone to play some games with, I play SFV as well. On the topic of SFV's UX and interface; yeah, it's really hard to defend. My eyes roll into the back of my head every time I boot that thing up; it takes literal minutes to get to the main menu every time. So frustrating. And then the main menu is just plain ugly, and sometimes you have to dismiss a ton of modal popups by scrolling down to the bottom, and...
WHO SAW THIS AND SAID “yeah, looks fine. Ship it.”
WHO!?
I wish I knew. I'd like to write a sternly worded letter, send it through Google Translate, then mail it off to them.
I used to like mainstream fighting games when they were relatively simple. Games like the first Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter 2. At some point fighting games became increasingly complex and I lost interest. I have no interest in “becoming a PhD” just to play a fighting game. In the last few years I regained interest with indie games like Divekick, Lethal League, and Nidhog, that brought back the same simplicity and competitiveness from the older games.
I don’t care about esports, or even competitive online play in general (I do play Rocket League from time to time, but I’m at the lowest level and have no aspirations to get above that...).
I’m not familiar with Fantasy Strike.
I see. If that's the case, I think I could recommend Punch Planet or Fantasy Strike; I don't play much of either (but would be happy to play! They both have fantastic online play, which is rather uncommon in this genre), but they should be most similar to those games you were familiar with. And particularly for Fantasy Strike, you can reach a level where you're not fumbling with the controls, and go straight into the more strategic play after about five minutes. Every single character has a video embedded IN THE GAME that teaches you their gameplan, and the inputs are infinitely easier than the Street Fighter you grew up with!
Edit: Fantasy Strike is also free to play on every platform it's on (which, I believe, is every modern console + Steam); and there's cross-play between all of them.
I do have a PS4. Worth a shot. Thanks.
Personally speaking, I love fighting games. However I find the fighting game community off-putting. Not because they are toxic per se, but simply because they make me feel like playing online is pointless because there is an ocean of skilled players who have far more time to dedicate to them. I have an issue with the statement that fighting games are difficult. They aren't. They just have a high skill ceiling. That perception is largely because of the community. I don't really blame them for it, it's just a natural extension of what happens in this kind of gameplay.
I'm also kind of picky about the games I play. I really don't like the more modern big budget fighting games, but I do like the 2D ones. My favorite ones are the later SNK Neo Geo non-KOF titles and the Virtua Fighter series.
Lots of the people who talk loud about fighting games aren't particularly good at them to begin with. There's oceans of loud people who like to call professionals "washed up" for losing or whatever, but guaranteed they probably haven't gotten anywhere themselves. In my experience, most people aren't particularly good; and even among the selection of people invested enough to actually go to in-person weeklies (before quarantine, of course), most people just show up to press buttons and have fun, not necessarily to prove their superiority. 25% of all entrants go 0-2, and all that.
Speaking of Virtua Fighter, are you excited for Virtua Fighter X Esports?
As a long time fan of Sega, I have long ago come to expect disappointment from them. 😸
Seriously though, the fact that it's not even entirely clear if they are making a new game or not is what I find most concerning.