While I now fundamentally disagree with the idea of a re-balance (owing to reasons such as trying to create cohesion between older and newer players, and also trying to keep the absurdly intricate 3S experience consistent between console and arcade [what few remain anyway]), some of those tweaks suggested by Arlieth are interesting, though I do not agree with them all. Iāll comment on the tweaks suggested for the characters I understand best (Hugo, Q and Twelve).
Hugo
- Meat Squasher: Faster speed on MK/HK versions.
^^ This would actually be one of the few reasonable tweaks it is possible to give to Hugo. Hugo is a character with some of the most well-rounded design in 3S, and any buffs for him can have MASSIVE implications. It is important that Hugo remains very difficult to use properly, and this tweak to his Meatsquasher would not really have a dramatic effect on that, so it is acceptable.
- Megaton Press (SA2): More invincibility frames.
^^ Baaaaaaaaaaad idea. A considerable lack of invincibility frames is all that keeps this SA from being the super of choice for most Hugo players, and to add ANY more invincibility frames dramatically increases the usefulness of this (it is already decent, it is only held back by Hugo as a character and how much better SA1 and SA3 are). As it is, Hugo has 3 superb supers, they just happen to all be difficult to use well. Megaton is a great super with everything going for it, itās just that by design Gigas and Hammer are better/more scary. This super would need to have severely reduced damage output if it had more invincibility frames, but that would take away from the initial fear-factor of it in the first place: it is simply not worth tinkering with.
- Monster Lariat: Should have a cancel option similar to his Hammer Frenzy if Kick is held down. Still has a āskiddingā animation.
^^ Iām not really sure about this. In my mind, LK Lariat is already too fast to have this kind of property, and if it did have a skid option then what use would it serve with LK Lariat that a regular dash does not? Just meter building and inching forward? MK and FK versions would obviously be the most useful, but good players can already react to whiffed LK Meatsquashers and Hammer Frenzies (when cancelled) so this might not be too useful. Either that, or this would be too powerful: even with a skidding animation, Hugo could too easily usurp charge charactersā set-ups from afar with too little work.
- Lariat does not hit crouching opponents, period.
^^ This is an overall harmless idea. It would be visually a bit weird if Hugoās Lariat whiffs vs Hugo, but I feel as a ānerfā (or even buff? hehe) it would not be very impactful, so I can live with this.
Q
- Dashing Head Attack: Hits all crouching characters.
^^ Jāagree.
- Dashing Leg Attack/Overhead Attack: Reduce startup frames.
^^ Yep.
- c.HP: Should be cancelable.
^^ This is an interesting one, I like it.
- Total Destruction (SA3): Faster startup on his QCF+P/K attacks.
^^ The thing that really lets down those attacks isnāt the start-up, itās the recovery. Sure Dageki (QCF+P) is slow to begin, but it is also possible to cancel in to. Danger! (QCF+K) has decent start-up as it is. Better recovery would instantly make those attacks more threatening, and in a totally non-character-breaking way
Twelve
- Air-Dash: Tap down to cancel.
^^ Then what? Twelve returns to a normal falling state? Can he begin another Air Dash? Presumably this is only to allow him to parry after activating an AD so that he doesnāt get caught by crap like Urienās Spheres and so on. Interesting idea, and it certainly wouldnāt be drastically game-changing for him.
- b+MK: Make into a jump-cancelable launch.
^^ This renders Twelveās normal MK redundant doesnāt it? The only significant difference between MK and B.MK would be Twelveās get-hit box which is more favourable on B.MK. Add to that that B.MK already has special and super-cancelable properties, and MK just looks pointless.
- A.X.E.: EX version should vacuum and be cancelable on each hit.
^^ Argh, EX A.X.E. is already -4 on block, if it has a vacuum effect then it would make getting command-grabbed inevitable. Agree about the cancel properties though.
- N.D.L.: Increase damage by 25%.
^^ Nice, makes his ranged and anti-air game SLIGHTLY more ādangerousā, lol.
- D.R.A.: Knockdown on hit.
^^ A blocked D.R.A. would still mean death though. I think far more useful (though by no means too empowering) would be higher/further bounce-back PLUS the ability to link in to an AD, aerial A.X.E, etc.
- X.C.O.P.Y.: Allow EX moves during morph state (costs 15% Timer)
^^ Nice, this would be a subtle but useful ability that would give people that arenāt Kuroda an incentive to use it more.
- X.F.L.A.T.: Should hit identically on both grounded and aerial opponents.
^^ Totally agree.
