A developer can be very aware of how much depth they’ve put into the game on intention; when players discover new things, they are obviously realising the hidden depth within the game, and devs ofetn use that to their advantage. For example, fuzzy guarding; accidentally discovered, but they then purposely kept it in the game because it was added depth and they liked the idea.
So basically there are two parts of depth. That which was intentionally put in, and that which is later on discovered. I never said the developers would know how their game would fare at a high level, but to they will have an idea. With BlazBlue you can very clearly see their influence and how they’ve purposely added bits of depth with each character in the game. They also leave it open fopr the players; GG was a very open system and as such became a very enjoyable, deep and rewarding game.
And it’s quite simple to appeal to both audiences. BB has done it, 3S has done it, TvC is a very good example and there are still more. You have a painting, you could simply enjoy yourself admiring the aesthetics of the picture; or you could delve into the technique, symbolism, ideaology etc etc of the painting.
And you are missing the point of FRC’s, and yes, they should be seen again. Just because you lack the skill or patience for something that does actually come naturally; doesn’t mean you take your frustration out on it and condemn it.
An FRC is simply an opportunity to utilize your meter in yet another way. It’s an opportunity to cancel the recovery of your move for whatever reason you wish; be it gimmicks, to keep safe, for combos, burst bait, zoning/spacing…whatever. Again, it triggered open gameplay and added depth and innovation in the way you used your meter.
Coming from the DOA community, I can tell you exactly why DOA4 is a sellout. I managed to play the X05 build, the build before the final version…and it was much better than the product we had today. Move properties were different, counters were alot stricter etc etc. But when the game released, they made things alot simpler and easier, and went back to making counters less strict.
Then, after every patch, the game removed depth. The game removed certain move properties; it removed 2’in’1’s, 3’in’1’s etc and just dumbed everything down. Patch after patch the game became worse. And it was clear Itagaki was catering towards the casual online players who were whining about this stuff; because alot of the stuff being whined about by the scrubs, he actually fixed on their behalf.
