So I want to practice my interviews! First things first I gotta get used to the type of questions I wanna ask, and in what order, so I’m going to practice on an acquaintance. Gotta be ready when I meet someone cool! Below is the full interview.
I’d also love to hear your answers to my questions, or any suggestions on how to up my interview game, mostly from those of you who are casual players, but if anyone else wants to join in, you can too!
Q1: Why do you play Alex?
A1: I love the idea of mixed martial arts and Alex’s style speaks to me. I love how he combines his height with his strength for powerful far reaching strikes, I love how he can parry multiple moves in succession and his specific grapples. He reminds me of what I enjoyed about USFIV Gouken and what felt natural about USFIV Abel.
Q2: Speaking of style, your character is definetly one of the rarer sights to see. Do you feel this is due to a lack of complexity in the character or ability to forge an Alex style?
A2: I’d more say that it’s somewhat difficult to forge an Alex style which is also successful at a professional level as a lot of his stronger moves carry high-risk and long startups. It causes many of us to use predictable options, in my opinion, which a solid player could work around. It forces Alex players to need to respect many things or rely a lot on V-Reversal in order to get out of trouble. I do believe that in another year or so players like Problem X, Donpachi, Gunfight, The_Cool_Kid93 and TakuyaSugi might make more appearances at pro events as their reactions and mix-ups improve.
Q2b: Do you feel those difficulties are an Alex exclusive problem? How do you feel about the ability to forge one’s own style and expression in this game generally. Do you think we saw that capacity during Capcom Pro Tour?
A2b: No. It do not believe that those difficulties are Alex-exclusive but I do feel like Alex suffers from being a hybrid-type fighter. He doesn’t a full arsenal of fighter tools or grappler tools and while he has been giving a parrying v-skill to cover that it requires a high level of focus and reads to employ effectively. In general I feel like SFV does provide a decent space to forge one’s own style and expression BUT successes while doing so are affected by the character’s strengths and weaknesses.
It means accepting that I will lose a lot as I unlock Alex’s secrets…lol and developing a thicker skin at times of saltiness. Yeah, I think that we did with the NuckleDu and Ricki Ortiz final, especially. Even with their adaptations there was still something unique about their way of fighting. With Problem X we saw the reverse in a way.
Q2c: We don’t have an official list yet and lots of experimental data but Season two is just around the corner. How do you think it will affect your character style?
A2c: Well I was actually waiting on the official list but from what I’ve seen, Lariat has gotten a bit of a buff which will allow for better follow ups and punishes. I’ve personally had to suppress instincts to use Lariat because of the current restriction. Unfortunately opportunities to use V-skill are not easy to come by ESPECIALLY against characters like Ibuki, Ken and Rashid.
Q2d: So you think it will give Alex a little more options. Does that mean you’re expecting more Alex styles to come to the forefront?
A2d: Yeah… If they’ve actually adjusted some of the frame data of his normals, we’re going to see more mix-ups
Q3: Alex is considered low-mid tier right now, where do you think he will end up on the tier list if the changes we saw at PSX were final or near-final?
A3: To be fair, this is why I have been waiting on the official list. I don’t know enough to say that he will move up higher on the tier list. What I can say is that I will have some more fun and feel less restricted playing him IF 2HP has faster startups and Lariat is 6f instead of 7f. We’ve also had a 6 months of anti-air jab as our go to response since everything else is slow so I’m not expecting much before the second half of 2017 if anything.
Q4: You seem to be pretty into frame data, what are your thoughts on needing to know more frame data to be succesful?
A4: I’m not actually that into frame data. It’s just that frame data is the only thing that I knew about Season 2 system changes. I believe that frame data can be useful in terms of figuring out how to plan out one’s combos or figure out safe vs unsafe moves. I do like to plan ahead. The current amount of frame data shown on sites like Shoryuken’s wiki are sufficient for me. That said, I don’t feel like frame data numbers needs to be focused on as required for success.
Q5: What about the rumor that came through Xian that the lag will be 4 frames now?
A5: My only thought that it will be something else for me to adapt to. Once it makes for a consistent experience for crossplay I will work to suit.
Q6: What do you feel like the online experience of the game has been like? Any S2 changes that you expect to see affect the online play?
A6: That one is a tough one for me to answer as a beginner level player. Well my online experience has been predominantly learning how to play Street Fighter from basically scratch. The first season system mechanics made it a bit easier for players like me to do more damage with slightly less skill e.g. Invincible DPs and Anti-Air Jab was a thing. Now we have reduced meter-gain and Invincible DPs ONLY via Meter so matches possibly will be driven towards more footsies and characters with fireballs may be used more often as a ‘safer’ way of gaining meter.
Q6b: As a beginner do you feel that the online play has succeeded in Capcom’s goal of being more accessible?
A6b: Honestly journeying into online play felt less frustrating in SFV than it did in USFIV so I would say yes.
Q6c: Are you afraid or excited about the S2 changes in regards to the online play?
A6c: I would say that I am slightly excited about adapting to the new world that the S2 changes will create. Not really afraid because meterless invincible wake-ups are the bane of my Power-Bombing existence…LOL
Q7: Do you have any other characters in Season 1 that you play seriously, or characters you intend to pick up based on potential buffs in S2?
A7: When I started Season 1 I focused heavily on Necalli but once Alex was released all serious focus went to maining him. There are no Season 2 characters that I have any intension of picking up. I’m a bit of a loyalist in that I want to unlock Alex’s secrets before moving on to someone else. Additional I just really feel like Alex suits me, if you know what I mean.
Q8: Speaking of the start of season 1, how do you feel about Capcom’s initial release of the game and do you think S2 can even count as a viable ‘do over’ given the number of copies already sold?
A8: I feel like Capcom released the game too early and as such lost a bunch of their casual SFV audience. I guess they were rushing to have their new game available for this year’s Capcom Pro Tour but that feels like it was a bad business move market-wise. I strongly believe that if they had waited until stage transitions, 8 person lobbies and the cinematic story mode was released, they would have sold more copies. Nah… I don’t think that it will count as a viable ‘do over’. Second chances are hard and they will need to vastly improve their marketing in order to attract new players. Probably will need to draw in celebrities like WoW did with their revival where they had Mr. T and William Shatner talking as their in-game characters as television ads.
Q9: And finally, what is your favorite dlc stage?
A9: Hmmmmm… I love Guile’s stage and I really, REALLY wish that it had a stage transition. Maybe Capcom will fulfil that wish in Season 2. That something else for me to get excited about.