Ever played a fighting game with someone and you start beating them with crazy moves or a single, repeated attack and get accused of foul play? Fighting games occasionally have their problems when creating a balanced match between all the characters. We'll discuss a bit of these "problems" for today's GameOn topic on Videogame Common Complaints (VGCC) for Fighting Games.
Source: Youtube Channel biffotasty
Imbalanced Characters
Usually when someone says that the character you're using is overpowered (OP) or that the character they're using is way to weak, it sounds like they're whining or being a sore loser. A lot of times, that might be the case (no offense to anyone); however, there are time in occasion where some of the characters really do have advantage in every way over all the other characters. Marvel vs. Capcom 2 had tons of characters, but it some of them were pretty useless (I love using servbot to screw around, but I've never seen a pro use him before). In all honesty, it's very difficult for a developer to balance the characters in a game (not just fighting, but all multiplayer games) especially when there are a lot of characters to choose from and so many different play styles out there that players utilize. The last game I bought that had imbalanced characters was probably Castlevania Judgment. The game was alright as a single player game (to a certain extent), but trying to play a fair game with a friend or against others online (which I never tried) can prove to be difficult. Carmilla is the fastest and strongest character in the game and can constantly chain her attacks to prevent any counter or attacks against other characters in the game. Another imbalance the game suffered was the specials that can finish off an opponent if they're less than 50% health if landed. Unfortunately for Konami, Nintendo's Wii doesn't take DLCs and patches and so the game stayed in its broken state. One of the fighting games that took a developer many late nights finishing the project was Super Smash Bros. Melee. Though not a traditional fighter, it was still a competitive game and demanded balance (back when games couldn't be patched). A player's cry of foul play due to imbalanced character could be a legitimate one (and we can sympathize with them), but it seems much easier to say that they need more practice. If a fighting game is done well, it will be balanced.
Button Mashing
If you're wondering "hey, didn't you mention this on Monday for Hack 'n Slash games?" it's a different situation. For Action Hack n' Slash and Beat 'em Up games, players complain that there's nothing more to do than press the same buttons which makes it a Button Masher game. The term Button Mashing is used in fighting games when players complain that the game requires no real skill to play and that anyone can play well by randomly pressing a combination of buttons. Games that fall victim to this complaint are the Tekken, Virtua Fighter, and Soul Calibur series (any of the 3D multi-plane fighters). Any professional fighting game tournament player will tell you that button mashing will not work if they're up against someone who knows what moves they're executing because they've already found ways around stopping button mashing players. The reason why button mashing seems to work is that the moves are executed without intention and so the opponent doesn't know what to expect. A lot of the 3D multi-plane fighting games have intricate and in-depth move systems that can execute a numerous amount of different combination attacks. So when the player isn't worrying too much about what does what and just press what feels right, magic seems to start happening and they'll do ridiculous 14-hit combos. For me, I can't button mash. I've tried it many times before, and the magic doesn't seem to happen. A game can be still considered a button mashing game to many gamers, despite knowing that it really does require a lot of skill. (Besides 3D fighters, the versus games from Capcom seem to have that aspect in which magical things happen when the player button mashes).
Spammers / Cheap Moves
This one's an old one, and people don't complain about it as much anymore. When a player "spams" or uses a "cheap move", they're using a repeated skill or attack that other players would fall into. Players that have a bit of experience against spammers will know what to do against them, which is why not many people complain about it as much anymore (at least I don't think so). When I go against someone that's experienced or someone I haven't gone against before, I'll avoid using spams and cheap moves. Other times, I'll use it when I know it will help me. I remember back in the Super Nintendo days on Street Fighter 2, spamming and cheap moves was all I did. Doing constant Hadouken attacks while following up with a shouryuken if they get too close was the best I could do with Ryu or Ken. For characters like Vega, M.Bison, or Dhalsim, I'd use the slide kick over and over. I'd try doing that today and I wouldn't get a win at all. Spamming does work in some cases because it attacks the mental stability against the other player (considering that the opponent is a human player and not a computer) if they can't get past your onslaught of fireballs or they keep falling into your leg sweeps or grabs. Just make sure you don't do it against Daigo Umehara, it...won't...work!
Any Fighting game player will tell you that playing against other players is more fun than playing against the computers since everyone has a different play style and the challenge is exciting. Pros fight hard against such slander of their favorite fighters being considered broken, a button masher, or for spammers and continue to show that fighting games really do require time, patience and skill gained from practice. It's almost like an art form the way fighting game players talk about strategies, timing, and techniques. So the next time someone calls you a button masher, spammer, or cries foul play for using an OP character.....Button mash, spam and dominate the heck outta them! Or you can beat them legitimately and see if they're satisfied with that.
No comments:
Post a Comment