Street Fighter X Tekken and the FGC
Up front I just want to say that sfxt is in no way a perfect game. The game is riddled with problems that could certainly irk players, which is fine. I won’t argue that, and I’ll point out the biggest flaws in a bit. This post is to help set some things straight that have really been bothering me from the fgc’s perception of the game, and why you should not give up hope for this game because honestly there is a ton of potential in it.
**Current Perception of SFXT: **
Bad. This is the most frustrating part of the entire situation because of the hive-mind mentality behind the movement. If you take an objective look on the how things unfolded you can see what caused everything to go wrong. Going into the game people were very excited about the game. Talking to players like Mike Ross and FLashmetroid before the game came out, I was convinced sfxt was going to be amazing and everyone would play it.
The game came out and people started the training room grind. Everyone was enjoying the shit out of the game week 1. By the time the first tournaments of the game finished up things really changed. People got bodied and suddenly decided the game was garbage.
Maybe people didn’t want to lose, or didn’t want to learn all the mechanics and systems of a new game because of what had already been invested in other fighting games. But the demographic I feel would be at the biggest risk to this is also the strongest force in the fgc. Stream monsters.
Once stream monsters decide on something its set in stone for months. When 8.95 is a concept engraved in stream culture for something so arbitrary such as that, then its easy to see why this can be dangerous. Seeing an entire stream talk shit on something during a game is sure to cause a reaction through the entire whole. Sure enough, the following weeks I was witnessing people who had yet to even buy or play the game acting like sfxt killed their family. The mentality spreads and is bad for any who do care about the progression of the game and its acceptance in the fgc.
TLDR: basically the situation that sfxt is in now.
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**What does the game do right?: **
A lot.
The most important thing to understand going into sfxt is that it is not sf and it is not marvel. It’s a new game that people have to take time to learn and master.
I feel sfxt rewards skill in a very consistent manner. A person who is better than another person will win more consistently due to lack of a true random factor. No X-factor wesker comebacks that leave you feeling like a scumbag! Because of high damage output there is definitely ability to comeback, but its more rewarding and rare enough to be a true hype moment. You have two characters so getting randomed out by a lucky dp will probably not mean game over, and also two characters means you can cover your bad matchups within your team.
Footsies are very rewarding in this game because of the ability to convert so well off of them. The game is slower so the footsies are different than street fighter 4, it is easier to whiff punish more things and good pokes that are hit confirmed will get you far.
I would be lying if I said I didn’t miss vortex characters. Yes Ryu and Raven are too good but I’d rather take that any day over a Seth with lucky dice or a Cammy with unblockables. The ability to roll on wakeup changes the overall goal and focus of the game so there is more of a focus on pressure and footsies.
I think the person who has the best grip on the game and playstyle right now is Chris G. His team is not generic, does great damage, has cheap mixups, and is entertaining to watch. If you haven’t already, check out some of his gameplay to get an idea of where the game could go.
**Flaws: **
Oh are there flaws.
I feel like the biggest flaw right now (and Im not sure if its on capcoms part or our part) is the lack of ANY character variety whatsoever. There is only so much entertainment value you can get when 50% of teams are featuring the shoto bros. There are other characters out there with technology that hasn’t been discovered yet. Get out there and find it! At the end of the day, it was dumb on Capcoms fault to make characters like Ryu, Ken, Kazuya, Raven, and Jin so strong, but this has been a problem before. Hell, look at 3s.
-assist gems should not exist
-stages are too long
-timeouts- this one I don’t necessarily agree with. Timeouts aren’t the most hype thing all the time but at the time I feel a lot of players (and even top players) are playing the game incorrectly. This game rewards momentum soooo much and I think people will start to play more this style as the game progresses.
-jabs : Beating a dead horse. Jabs are not a problem in this game. Some characters have jabs that might need to be changed slightly (im looking at you raven) but overall there are ways around this. Backdashing, reversals, alpha counters, blocking, tons of tech and ways to deal with it. But again, momentum in this game is much more rewarding than it is in AE. So if you hate being jabbed, try to avoid situations in which you get stuck in jab pressure.
-DLC fiasco: Capcom fucked up. Honestly if they want to kindle the relationship with the fgc and this game they will have all the dlc at an incredibly honest price so that it is very affordable. But then again, my parents always told me… “Son, you will never love a women more than Capcom hates their fans.”
**TLDR: **
Give this game a chance. If you don’t have it, go play it with other people or buy it used if you don’t feel like supporting Capcom. Look past the political issues with DLC and enjoy the game for what it is. Don’t listen to what people say about the game because chances are a lot of people talking shit on the game just don’t want to put in the time to learn it, or don’t want the games they’ve put so much work into to become obsolete (they wont). For all the problems of the game, it does more things right. Infinites will be patched out shortly and gems won’t be being used in upcoming tournaments. The game allows for a lot of creativity between team members that has gone very untapped. The metagame will improve and people will hopefully branch out to the very diverse roster of the game. Once we see more people interested in it, and a change in attitude in the community, this game could become very hype.
EDIT:
Okay, to clear some things up:
While my original post was done pretty quickly, I thought i got the general idea across. Some things might have sounded a little more offensive than they were meant to, my bad.
Im not saying people quit because they were bad, but more the over-saturation of fighting games has made it where if this game isnt fun instantly or doesnt click with you, then its easy to just go back to the game where you are more comfortable. Basically, I feel like a lot of the hate comes from conformity and cognitive dissonance.
For example: People I see who didnt buy the game do not give it a chance because they have to justify their reasoning for not buying it. Or someone is having a hard time doing well in the game when they already have an established career in mvc3 or ae, different games, so its easier to say fuck this game im gonna stick with what I know.Clearly im not saying “YO THIS IS WHY EVERYONE HATES ON THIS SHIT”. Just saying that all these ways add up.
I am not saying “hey you, like this game because I like this game.” Im saying those of you that didnt really give it a chance should reconsider, because I feel the game is fun and there is a lot of undiscovered potential going to waste. In order for it to progress the game needs more support.
Obviously the game isnt for everyone. Im not demanding everyone in the world to go buy it now. I just dont want this bad reputation from the /b/ of the fgc to ruin people’s chances to enjoy a game that has gotten way too much hate.
Hell, I personally do not enjoy marvel 3 one bit. I think that game has way too much silly shit to be considered a competitive game, but I still give it a shot and play it every now and then, and I damn well will never talk shit on it because I clearly dont have the insight a top player does in the game. Im just trying to say a large portion of the people talking shit arent really qualified to do so.
Just go into the game without any biases. I guarantee its better than the reputation its had of lately.