Street Fighter IV is too hard …
Sunday 7 February 2010 - Filed under Video Games
I am almost shocked at the popularity that SFIV achieved over the past year or so. Fighting games have never really been mainstream, and I think that if people actually knew how to play SF2 then it would never have been mainstream either. With the new influx of players, I read tons of posts complaining about how SFIV is too hard. They want sweeping changes to the game … some which fundamentally change how the game works. I’m all for making the game better, because SFIV is nowhere near perfect … but the solution isn’t to simply make the game easier.
Moves are too hard to do
The shoryuken is too hard to do. The SPD is too hard to do and so on. If anything moves for newcomers have been made easier to do with the lax input timings and large number of shortcuts. If anything it has been made more difficult for people that are more precise with their motions, as shortcuts sometimes lead to unwanted conclusions. Moves require execution for a reason. Execution is a part of Street Fighter. Moves that have invincibility or deal a lot of damage should require some execution to do. The time it takes to do a motion to do a move is also important. I am pretty sure no one wants to see a one button SRK that is completely guaranteed and instantaneous. It would be like playing basketball where shooting was guaranteed. You’d never miss and the game was just based on trying to get shots off.
Combos are too hard to do
Building on moves being too hard to do is the concept that combos are too hard to do. I think a lot of this is swayed by the Trials mode where a bevy of unusable combos are there for your disposal. The main bread and butter combos are pretty easy to do, and the more difficult ones that deal more damage should have some risk and reward tied to it. If I am going to deal 40-45% damage, there better be some risk involved for me to try. Even if I could bait an opening, it shouldn’t be guaranteed that I could take a huge chunk of damage off. The game should still make you work for it. Without having some execution barrier, the game would just boil down to both players just trying to bait waiting for instant guaranteed massive damage.
SFIV relies too heavily on combos
Combos have always been a part of SF … and in every game has never been the most important aspect. Spacing/footsies/mindgames/mixups etc are much more important. Combos are just something you do to punish mistakes that you bait. Scaling prevents you from losing all of your life on one mistake. I’m not sure what the issue is.
At the end of the day, like any other multiplayer game, practice is required to be good at it. I’m not sure what people are looking for in a game where everybody is instantly good at it. Without a ramp up … it would be difficult for anybody to be actually better at the game than anyone else. FPS games require you to aim quickly. RTS games require you to be quick with your micromanagement. Fighting games require you to practice your execution. They all have some execution barrier and it is a layer of the game that I feel is beneficial to its longevity.
Maybe it’s this new generations’ mindset of having save points and having the computer half play the game for you. Maybe they weren’t privy to the old school … where if you get hit once you get sent to the beginning of the level. Regenerating health FTL.
2010-02-07 » bobble