Hey what do you all think of a rating system for fighting games based on difficulty to learn and or master that is determined by the community? Instead of just a overall review of the game, it would be a specialized review that examines aspects of the game play and mechanics todetermine weather this fighter is user friendly, for the hardcore or somewhere in between. And the games will be listed in those categories.
The criteria I came up with is.
learning curve. How difficult is the game to pick up and learn overall.
Difficulty of mastery. How much effort and time is required to “git gud” and to be able to compete
Execution. How difficult it is to execute techniques. (Links for example are more difficult to execute than just a simple chain combo)
If ya can think of anymore for the criteria feel free to share ideas.
I have a friend who decided to give fighting games a go. He bought USFIV but quickly got frustrated with it and quit. he called me up asking for help and I decided to introduce him to games I thought were easier to pick up like UMVC3 and Smash bros. So far he’s having fun with those games and is now giving USFIV a chance again now that he knows a lil something about fighters. I think if we had such a system it’d make it easier for those who are curious about the genre to want to get into it since they’ll know ahead of time how difficult the fighter they’re interested in is, or maybe look for a easier one.
This just an example. Maybe these could be more detailed and show more examples.
Beginner: Super Smash Bros WiiU. Only two buttons for offense. One for normals and one for specials. Simply direct your character up, down, left or right and press the attack button to perform the corresponding move. Defensive options such as evading only require a press of the shield button while in the air or direct your character left, right or down while on the ground. While you can’t block in the air you can evade in the air making it pretty safe to move through the air. This makes the game very easy to pick up and learn and execute the basics and a few advanced techniques. Item usage gives even new players a fighting chance. Game’s pace isn’t to fast so new players wont get overwhelmed. Recommended for players of any skill level.
Intermediate: Vampire Savior/Darkstalkers 3. 6 buttons for offense. 3 for punches and 3 for kicks. Each special move require specific inputs which vary amongst the characters. Normals can be linked or canceled making basic offense relatively easy to learn and execute while more advanced offense utilizing links requires a lil practice for most characters. Defensive options such a push blocking have a bit of a learning curve. You can block in the air making it easy to jump around and move through the stage in the air. Game is pretty fast paced which forces you to act quickly and play fast. Recommended for players with a lil experience with fighters but new players might not have such a hard time with it either.
Advanced: Street Fighter Third Strike. 6 buttons for offense. 3 for punches and 3 for kicks. Each special move require specific inputs which vary amongst the cast. Except for a few auto (target) combos normals have to be linked, making basic offense require a lil practice. The game requires precise timing for links into special moves making more advanced offense require a good amount of practice for some characters. Defensive options such as the parry system require you to press forward at the same time an attack is about to connect. Doing so allows you to block without taking damage and immediately counter attack. However should you miss time it you will be punished. There is no air guarding so once you are air born you are vulnerable. Pick your jumps. Games has a balanced pace. Not slow but not to fast either so new players wont get overwhelmed. Recommended for veteran players or hardcore gamers who don’t mind putting in a hour or two of practice to learn.
What about some sort of 1 to 10 scale? I love me some outta’ ten action.
I personally rate games that require immense amounts of very considered mobility to be incredibly difficult, so I suck at games like Marvel. I’m just not used to moving around at ridiculous speeds. Too much Street Fighter 4.
Wouldn’t the rating of how difficult a fighting game is differ among people? You can’t really categorise them, a KOF player might suck at Street Fighter or Guilty Gear, yet be amazing at Marvel. It’s all about what they feel comfortable with, for instance I heavily dislike Tekken and hate the way it plays, therefore I am really bad at it and honestly; maybe I hate it because I suck so much at it.
I dunno, I guess you could say some fighters are harder than others, but I really don’t think Smash is for beginners unless you’re playing it as a party game with friends on a couch. Playing that game at high level or trying to be competitive? It’s hard, or at least in my eyes. Especially so with Melee because of the advanced mechanics that game offers, I REALLY suck at playing Smash properly, I just treat it like a party game and have fun with it.
Now I think about it a little more, I don’t there is a single fighting game that can be classed as “Beginner” unless you don’t want to play it competitively and just button mash. Learning fighters is hard and requires training, plain and simple.
Every fighting game is “easy” if you like it enough to keep playing it. No fighting game that I can think of offers instant gratification or else people would be dropping it within days.
Also “less buttons=easier game” is a marketing trap. The opposite is true.
Well you’re right. Everyone’s opinion of what fighter is difficult or easy varies. That’s where this system comes in. We get everyone’s opinion and come to a group decision on the criteria that will determine the difficulty of fighters. And so far from you, I see that the game’s speed is a factor in difficulty, which is understandable. Also this rating system I’m thinking of will be more targeted to new comers of the genre or those not sure about picking up fighting games.
People tend to be on the fence about the fighting game genre because they don’t want to risk spending 40-60 bucks, get frustrated with the game and quit and feel like they wasted money. You’re right about any fighter being difficult at high level play. But I’m just talking about the average person who wants to get into one. This rating system will give them a good idea of what game to start off with. I.E both Smash and Third Strike are difficult at high level play. But I think we can all agree that Smash is much easier to pick up and learn than Third strike where even basic shit requires practice to execute consistently. But how would the average consumer know this? Most fighting game reviews I see don’t get into such specifics.
Well maybe easy was the wrong word. Because no fighting game is truly easy. However some are easier to learn than others. I.E Vampire Savior vs 3rd strike. I really like both games and play them often. However I found Vampire Savior easier to learn and play decently at than 3rd strike in which I still get my ass handed to me often. For me I think it’s because Vampire Savior has chain combos which allows basic offense to be much easier to execute, where as in third strike you mainly have links which require practice to perform. Also attacks are much safer in Savior from what I can tell, where as in third strike if you throw out one to many random moves or start button mashing ( I don’t mash lol ) you will get wrecked.
Hardest fighting game that got competitive play was Fate Unlimited Codes. Fuck that game, BnB’s are like 50 hits and require dozens of TK’s a combo. Literally the hardest execution game I’ve ever played and I’ve played HnK and MvC2.
F/UC’s executional difficulty was not on purpose, mind you. But then again, executional difficulty rarely (if ever) is. Also I agree with F/UC being probably the hardest competitive fighter. Don’t think I’ve ever seen so many dropped BnBs at a high level before.
3s has a couple links which see commonplace competitive use - Urien’s tackle loop, cr. MK > SA2 with Chun, shoulder > SA3 > combo with Yun, and Hayate > SA1 with Makoto come to mind - but the vast majority of the game revolves around 2-in-1s and target combos.
Only Hayate-> SA1 is a link there. Cr.mk is a late cancel with Chun, Urien’s “tackle loop” (midscreen unblockable?) is charge partitioning and shoulder xx Genei-jin is a cancel.
Popular links are things like Dudley’s f+hk overhead -> SA1/3 or Ken’s cr.mp -> SA3.