PS4 SFV Offline Single-Player Options?

Street Fighter V
1

Hi guys,

I’m a casual player, and I really want to get a SF game for my PS4. Unfortunately, my internet connection isn’t great, especially to my PS4, so I’ll only play offline single-player fights (my PS4 will be connected to WiFi, but I’m not going to play online matches, and will not get a PS Plus account).

I realize that USFIV has more options for offline play (Arcade Mode, etc), but everything I’ve read and seen, makes me feel that SFV has better gameplay/mechanics (at least for me).

As far as I know, the only offline options for SFV are the Story Mode and the Survival Mode, but I’ve read pretty unfavourable things about these two modes. Are they really that bad? Also, I read something about earning Fight Money, but you have to be online to receive it or something. Is this true? What does the Fight Money get you?

I realize there’s no Arcade Mode, but can at least do a single match against the AI?

Also, there’s an offline, single player Training Mode, right? I’ve read some things about it being an online training mode, but I have a feeling I misunderstood these posts, because I wouldn’t see why Training would have to be performed online.

Thanks in advance.

2

Welcome @KingCrimson

Now I’m speaking all for myself, and my opinions may or may not reflect on the belief of the general public, but here is what I think of for “single player” content in SFV

Story Mode

You get two kinds of story modes: The Character Story and General Story. Character stories, you get 2-4 rounds of different fighters while watching a characters story leading up to the general story. It got a bad rep for it’s gameplay being too easy, and the artwork looking rushed and underwhelming. There is one good thing I can say about the character stories, and it is that they do a pretty good job of covering many of the plot points leading up to the “A Shadow Falls” story mode, giving us character development, plot presentation and information. So that you get a general understanding of the story mode before you play it. If you’re one of the very few people who play Street Fighter for art, story, and character development, you’ll find a little satisfactory in this with capcom hitting 2 out of the 3 points I mentioned. But there isn’t much replay-ability with character story, even with the increased difficulty because the fights are so short and art looks so poor that you’ll hardly find worth in playing it again.

The General Story however is much more enjoyable. It is Capcom’s first attempt at a genuine story mode for the Street Fighter series. The gameplay starts as easy but naturally progresses the further you get into the game. (It isn’t too challenging at the end, but you’ll definitely notice that spamming a single move doesn’t become viable in the later rounds. If you like story, and character development, you’ll find moments in here that you’ll enjoy. Even the plot sounds intriguing: M. Bison’s black moons cause fear and terror all over the world and it’s up to the heroes of Street Fighter to foil his plot once and for all. It’s like watching a movie with some fights interspersed every now and then.
That said, the only thing I can criticize Capcom with this mode is it’s execution. you do get a chance to play as every character on the roster (season one only), but while some you use up to 4 times in the entire game (Karin, Rashid), others, you only get to use once (Chun-Li, Alex). Speakin of characters, Capcom dropped the ball when it came to character usage in terms of the story. The story is titled “A Shadow Falls”, and yet, the 3 main characters who’ve had genuine hatred for Shadaloo since the begining has had their roles reduced. Chun-Li never gets the revenge on Bison she’s always desired for killling her father and Nash and Guile reunite with little interaction or mention to wach other, leaving us with little intrigue. Not to mention that Neither of the three end up defeating Bison in the end, it was Ryu. Also, Chun-Li, who was credited in ending the Shadaloo organization (as confirmed in SFIII), had that potlight taken away from her by another character. Finally, some of the more secondary character moments end up being secondary and therefore, useless: Necalli and his soul devouring, Laura Matsuda, Even Balrog’s partner (i forgot his name) was awesome yet forgetable.
Overall, it’s enjoyable to play, and the added “Extra” level increases difficulty and rewards you with fight money for completeing it a second time. If you like stories, you’ll enjoy it. If you can look past the poor execution and disregard of the main lead characters that carried them throughout the years. But I said it before, it’s like watchigng a movie: There are very funny bits, some emotional bits, some exciting bits, but its a fun ride.

Survival Mode

The reason why this mode gets a bad rep is due to it’s difficulty and repition. Easy mode is fine, and medium mode is okay once you get used to it. But Hard mode and Hell mode are the real culprits to why people have hated survival mode. The AI just seems to get better at reading your moves to the point where it feels like cheating. You play the same characters in the same line up each time you restart the level, which can get predictable and stale. And the reward for completing the harder modes in survival mode is fight money and costume colors. Now it’s fine if you enjoy a single character and love to play them over and over again. Or, if you are into unllocking unlockables, then it’s a decent challenge to play it multiple times. But to many others, a few color costumes is not worth pulling your hair out every time you lose. That’s why I’ve only completed survival on Hard and Hell level multiple times using only Chun-Li. (I just really want to unlock every color and costume she’s got). But other than that, survival is not as great as previous survival mode games.

1 v. cpu

They finally added this so you can play versus mode against a computer player on any difficulty. It’s great, but it doesnt beat arcade mode, which you mentioned is something that they lack.

Training

possibly the only single play mode in SFV that’s worth coming back to time and time again to practice your combos, situations, executions, and stuff.

3

Thanks @Chun-Li_Forever for the very detailed response!

I have a couple of follow-up questions if you don’t mind:

  • Regarding the character-specific stories, does every character have their own character-specific stories (including DLC characters) or is it limited to only some of the characters?

  • Regarding survival mode, is this available with every character (including DLC characters)? Also, you mentioned earning Fight Money and unlocking new costume colours. Just to clarify, do you directly get costumes from beating Survival Mode with a certain character, or do you buy them with Fight Money? If the former, what is Fight Money used for?

  • When playing the Versus CPU mode, is it a fairly easy/quick process to play against one character, and then going to the character select screen and choosing another? I’ve read some complaints that the UI is fairly cumbersome.

I’ve also read that there a long loading times. For an offline, Player 1 VS Computer fight, how long would it take to load one match? 5-10 seconds, 10-20 seconds, more than 20 seconds?

Also, I’m a bit confused with all of the patches, seasons passes, DLC characters, and such… If I bought this game today, would I get the character-balancing patches, or patches that update gameplay and such for free? Would I only have to pay for extra characters and costumes? If I got a season 2 pass, would I get all of the patches/characters that came out in seasons 1, or is that extra? Also, do I need a season pass, or can I just purchase the characters/costumes individually?

Thanks!

4

Just skip this game. There is ZERO single-player content that you would want to play more than once.

5

I’ll answer for Michael:

-Every character has their own specific story. The amount of battles, however, varies. It’s definitely different from a standard Arcade Mode.

-Survival Mode is available for every character. Beating it with a character rewards you with Fight Money. You have the option of completing Easy, Normal, Hard, and Extreme Survival for every character at least once. If you were to complete Normal Survival with Ryu twice, you wouldn’t get the reward on the 2nd try. You don’t get costumes from beating Survival Mode, either. You can purchase “Story” costumes with Fight Money, but the others are only purchasable with real money. Stages are purchasable with Fight Money or real.

-Yes, there should be no issues with this. Just choose to return to character select screen when the fight is finished. You’re given an option to choose the amount of rounds and difficulty of the CPU before you’re taken to the stage select/character select screen. The only thing that might be annoying is toggling with the difficulty level.

-Loading is definitely annoying. About 10 secs or more.

-If you got the season 2 pass, you’d only have Akuma, Kolin, and all of the future characters that are released. It wouldn’t give you the S1 characters. You’d have to get them with the season 1 pass, or unlock them with Fight Money. You’d get all the gameplay updates for free without any season pass. Yes, you can buy all characters, stages, and costumes individually if you choose.

6

Thanks @“Doctrine Dark”!

So, if I understand this right, I can choose the number of rounds and AI difficulty, before reaching the character select screen. Right after the match ends, I can chose to return to the character select screen and it will bypass the number of rounds and AI difficulty select screen?

You mention toggling the difficult level may be a PITA, I guess that’s only if I want to change the difficulty as well?

Also, when I return to the character select screen, are the characters from the last fight still highlighted, or does it always start in the same default location?.. Minor, possibly insignificant question, but it would definitely be a plus if it stayed on the previously used characters, for my purpose anyway.

So, you can get all of the DLC characters with Fight Money?

Is the only thing you need to spend real money on additional non-story costumes?

After you complete all of the stories and survivals for every character, is there a way to earn more Fight Money?.. I guess my real question is if the potential to earn Fight Money with offline, single player modes unlimited, or does it cap at some point?

7

You’re quite welcome.

-Yeah, basically. When the match ends, you can return to the character select screen without having to do the difficulty selection.

-Right. If the difficulty is something you’d want to change, you’d have to go back to the main menu and select VS Mode again.

-I believe it returns to the same default location. I’m honestly not 100% sure about this one. I know for a fact that you’re returned to stage select before you’re taken to the character select part. That leads me to believe it resets the position of the cursor.

-Yeah, you have the opportunity of getting every DLC character with Fight Money.

-Right. Non-story costumes is all.

-There’s combo trials for each character that’ll net you a nice amount of Fight Money. Capcom gives daily challenges every week which awards Fight Money as well. Outside of that, winning matches online is the only other way to generate Fight Money. Not that it’s particularly rewarding (50 Fight Money a victory) rewarding, anyway.

-In a sense, there is a cap when it comes to Fight Money grinding offline. Having said that, you’d have more than enough Fight Money to purchase **everything **available if you ever finished all of those modes.

You’ll definitely have your hands full with Survival Mode, though. Trust me on that.

8

Thanks again @“Doctrine Dark” and @Chun-Li_Forever!

I’m going to get this game (I actually just went to Walmart on a last minute grocery shopping trip, but they didn’t have it). I definitely still hope they get around to doing a true Arcade Mode, but in the meantime, I’m planning on just fighting everyone via Verses CPU matches and ending on Bison.

I know it’s not the same, but it may actually be a bit more fulfilling since I can fight everyone… Of course, the fighters won’t necessarily get harder as I go on without raising the difficulty, which I may do.

Anyways, I appreciate all of the help. Thanks again.

9

You’ll need an internet connection to log in and earn Fight Money, if you complete any stories, trials or survival offline you won’t get credit if you log online afterwards.

You have to be logged in during completion.

10

Thanks @brainfraud!

I will have an active WiFi connection, it just isn’t strong enough to play matches online, and I don’t have a PS Plus account.

11

SFV arrived today, just thought I’d give an update/mini-review incase there’s anyone else on the fence like I was…

I think I’m going to have a lot of fun with this game for the next little while. The fighting mechanics are great, though there’s still a lot I need to familiarize myself with. I did change the default controls a bit (I put light attacks on the DS4 triggers/shoulders, instead of the heavies), and it feels much more comfortable for me.

I do agree that the art in the character stories leaves a lot to be desired (it really looks like some quick sketches that they coloured in through photoshop), but to me, it’s not a reason to dislike the game. I’m more concerned that the gameplay graphics are good, and I’ll save space on my 500GB hard drive where I can.

Learning characters through various Demonstrations, Combo Trials, Character Stories, and Survival will keep me busy for a while… The key for me is that I’m planning on not buying any of the season’s passes (at least not season 1 or 2). This will keep me focused on grinding away to earn as much Fight Money as I can to unlock all of the 8 DLC characters available now, and I’ll replay the Survival Modes to unlock the additional colours for the different costumes… I did spend 30 minutes of the normal difficulty survival mode and faced 29 pretty easy characters, and then Bison, who suddenly decided to kick some ass. Seeing that I had to start from the beginning was a downer, and I could see where the frustration comes from, but again, all of the stuff to unlock will keep me motivated.

I did 2 of the 4 available weekly challenge missions (both could be done offline), and I got 5,500 FM from them.

I do hope they eventually add some more single player modes, especially an Arcade Mode, but I’ve read some patch notes in previous patches and it seems like Capcom has committed to doing some sort of an extra battle mode. It seems like it’s taking a while, but I think I understand their strategy here, slowly release stuff to keep you busy for the next couple of months, even years, instead of just giving you everything feasible from the get-go.

You also gain experience to level up your character, which you gives some FM when you do… I was hoping playing the Versus Computer mode would help build your experience, but unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to do this.

At this point, I’m not sure if I will do the Versus Computer mode to simulate an Arcade Mode by fighting every character (as I mentioned in an earlier post)… I’ll probably focus on all of the Survivor Modes first, which do keep track of your time and points, so at least it has some replay value. If they could do an Arcade Mode with continues and saving your score and times, that would be ideal. The Versus Computer is still fun though, after my defeat to Bison at the end of the Survivor Mode, I fought him on Level 6 for eight matches, which really helped me learn how to beat him.

The loading times aren’t really that bad. They’re noticeable, and maybe only 5 seconds before it seems like it’s too long, especially for offline, but not enough to really disrupt your momentum, for me anyway.

I only played the game for 4 hours so far, but this game is really a lot of fun, and I am looking forward to playing it a lot… Keep in mind, this is from a guy who spent a few years playing Arcade Mode in SF2 by myself and had a blast doing it the whole time.

After I better my game, I may try a trial PS Plus account to see how my internet connection holds up, and if it’s decent, I may get a PS Plus account. I know that wasn’t my intention initially, but I know I’ll have fun with it, if my connection can hold its own.

12

Hope you have fun with it dude.

If you got the game for 20 to 30$ then what is there is worth it IMO. I don’t think any fighting game ever had 60$ worth of single player content though, except MK9 ( Injustice’s star labs sucks and MK10 living tower is bad).

I hope they add the arcade mode eventually, they really should add it.

13

Yes, I did buy it for around $30, which may have impacted my positive review, though I would have bought it if it was double the price.

I agree about MK9, though one thing that drove me crazy about the game, was every fight/challenge got easier every time you retried it… If I played Arcade on Hard, Shao Kahn would be impossible the first time through, but the 5th time, he’d taunt so much that he’d only attack you like four times in a round. The same occurs with the Chaalenge Tower, though it takes more retries to become easy, but once I realized this, it severely demotivated me. To be honest, I don’t think this occurred in the Story Mode though, as I fought the final Shao Kahn like 30 times, and I was only able to after leaRning what worked and what didn’t, and even then, I just squeaked by.

I hope Capcom adds an Arcade Mode (and a well thought out one with character endings, saving your times and points, but preferably only saving points for matches you won, adding a new Arcade-specific costume as a reward, and different colours for the different difficulty levels, etc). For me, that’s all this game needs, and anything else would be an added benefit.