I’m of the mindset that a 10-20% boost in strenght or defense is no subsitute for playing smart and utilizing your characters fundamentals and maximizing on your opponents mistakes.
There is no gems for knowing the characters you play, match ups and reading your opponents.
So, are those gem presets going to become the tournament standard? Unless there’s a way to bring your Gem setup to the system via thumb drive, I can’t imagine players being able to use the same setups they have at home in the hurried pace of a tournament.
that’s my guess aswell. why didn’t capcom include an idea like this:
-pick characters
-gem screen comes up with all the gems [and presets]
-X for char 1, O for char 2. considering you mostly use one setup for both chars that’s rather quickly done.
but no, you need to leave vs screen, wait for the main menu and go into gem unit configuration to change it there… FOR EVERY PRESET.
I wonder if it’s possible to pick your Gems at the select screen rather than just go with the presets (like how you can preset your team in Mahvel 3). I guess we’ll know for sure once the game is out, but I wouldn’t mind having a “Power/Defense/Speed/Meter” preset being the standard like how Power and Speed are Last Blade grooves.
I think no one will even bother with anything but POWER then, making the gem idea kinda obsolete anyway.
I didn’t saw any ‘press X for gem menu’ or something after they picked their gems sets / characters. chances are slim imo.
Personally I’d go with Defense gems or even speed, but it would depend on my characters as well. If I pick heavy hitters who have good defense and attack but are slow ala Gief, Kuma, or Hugo I may go with Speed over anything else.
2 meter gems. Perferablly activate on launch and activate when you connect two special attacks and regan 80 vitality points
well some Gems in general seem better then others i can overview on a wide spread the effectiveness of these Gem types.
Power: the no brainier in why its good, but in small amounts…no one will see a big difference in damage.
+added damage is always a good right?
+easy activation requirements
-requires stacking to become effective.
Defense: in a fighting game Defense is everything right? well the boost in defense here is debatable as their are two types of Defense Gems…IronWall(% of damage is reduced by) and Fortitude(a set amount of damage that is absorbed).
+keeping a character alive is important as only one needs to be KO’ed to lose around.
+great for turtles(walls who stall for point character health regeneration)
-IronWall isn’t as effective as Fortitude in most situations.
-alot of activation conditions require you to take damage.
Speed: Mobility is important factor to certain characters, being able to exploit this will increase the effectiveness of Speed Gems. Speed Gems “Only” effect movement, some characters benefit from speed Gems differently then others/
+makes Rushown scary…
+potentially changes zoning game(opening and closing distance)
+characters like Ibuki benefit greatly as this enhances their general playstyle(vortex/mix-up/rushdown)
-doesn’t do much for grapplers/zoning characters
-doesn’t effect overall damage figures
C.Gauge: Meter management is important in most fighters these days, so having a edge in increasing(reducing cost) meter is a important thing indeed.
+More Meter means more Options.
+Building meter for reserve unit or for Combos are that of basics of strategies.
+Reduced meter cost = more potential meter usage.
-limited activation requirement conditions.
Vitality: Like with Defense, Vitality is what keeps your character in the game, so survival is a important tactic…
+heals damage over time(not just grey health), keeps your point character in longer
+Potentially extending the effectiveness of other Gems
-Instant healing effect isn’t worth wild.
-very limited activation conditions
-not many Gems in verity
Synergy: This depends on the player, whether is getting all 3 gems to activate at once or for them all to activate when needed to(triggered). Some players will opt out for a verity of different gems while others will use all Gems in one particular Category. I personally find Gems to be used as a particular Job or Role your character participates in battle…and these Gems just help you dictate that role.
Iron Wall vs Fortitude vs Vitallity:
-100 damage are -100 damage. period. now -10% damage (or+10% defense if that’s the same) means, that to actually reduce a total of 100 damage you’d need to take **1000 Damage overall **(read: your whole life for most characters) DURING its 15-20 seconds active time to get a similar effect of absorbing 100 damage. you’d recive 900 in the end. its effect get’s even worse in combos since you have damage reduction allready kicked in. (10% less of a move that does 80% damage allready is -8% not 10%, whereas the -100 dmg gem benefits from this, since it can absorb more hits/damage). considering that you tag out frequently for combos and safety aswell, its effect will NEVER reach up to the fortitude gem. even 20% defense gem are still ineffectively in comparision. with 30% it get’s a bit more realistic, but they have somewhat difficult conditions and in general not worth the hassle. Iron Wall gems are in fact the worst gems in the game. Vitallity does the same as Fortitude but in the opposite direction, which if Life-damage-scaling is in the game is worse per se then Fotitude gems. 80 life is still 20% less effective then -100 damage absorb. On the other side, their effect will be granted a 100% if it kicks in. You have a very slim chance that the ‘Get hit by a 5hit+ combo’ Fortitude gem has no efffect.
Speed:
10% faster walkspeed… honestly… meh. in particular if you consider that you drop another gem for it, it’s even less worthy to equip. speed only delivers a notable effect if stacked to high amounts, but it’s not worth dropping “sure” damage or survivability for it.
C.Gauge:
seeing there is at least one gem that has a great condition along with a notable effect of +40%, it might become the ‘stock gem packet’ standard instantly.
about team synergy… I’ve thought about that but unless you limit your general gameplan it can’t be done through activtion conditions alone. there is one exception, but it doesn’t look that well with the current combo system:
Characer 1:
Connect with a launcher: +20% damage. 10 seconds
Your partner connects with a launcher: +10% damage. 20 seconds
random gem.
Character 2:
Your partner connects with a launcher: +40% meter gain. 15 seconds.
random gem.
random gem.
characer 1 combos into a launcher, +20% damage activates. character 2 comes in with +40% meter gain, does his few hits into another launcher, building one bar in the process. character 1 comes back in and has now +30% damage active and comboes into his super.
you can improve that slightly if you change those gems with the preorder exclusive gems “connect with 2 launcher” and “your partner connect with 2 launchers” that have similar effecs. tho, 'connect with 1/2 launcher" gems only last for 5-10 seconds, making them rather inneffective, since your gems keep ticking even if you tag out. so you might want to consider that for those setups.
the best gem conditions is imo “if your partner connects with a launcher” anyway, since your active character then immediatly has the boost and is still comboing, meaning sure damage and/or meter generation. that said, the ex gem is superior in comparison. 20% damage + 10% meter / healing / 10 seconds longer is better then any combination you can make with your stock pack. (best I’ve found is this: 10% damage, 40% meter gaining). it requires to get launched once more then your normal gem, but yields a greater effect, and seeing the ABC chain system, any poke can lead to that. so 2 launchers are almost fulfilled every round. the 3rd slot could be 10 normals +20% damage -10% speed for your stock pack and the same without disadvantage with the preorder pack. like I said, if you can equip both that might be even better. 40% damage is some serious business. less reliable, tho.
I do like the +100 damage reduction gem with the 5hit+ condition. that’s basically +10% health, that is for your average character. it turns out to be even more for lower health characters.
I’m wondering one thing, tho. what’s the difference between ‘-10 % damage reduction’ and ‘+10% defense’ exactly?
first things first, there is a limit on generic launchers…you can only do one CrossRush Launcher per combo. Setting up Gem synergy isn’t limiting yourself, your just getting the boost for something you was already going to do, Gems just makes it the main focal point in your own general strategy.
what you said about defense gems is rather spot on as fortitude is better then any of IronWalls % however eating a 5hit+ combo isnt always the best activation condition…it just depends on the player.
the best activation conditions are going to be catered to how your using said characters then being put generally, sure the “when partner connects with launcher” gem gives you more control over its activation, there are few gems that are generally good with this condition. connecting with X amount of normals and specials would be better suited for Rushdown/Zoning characters respectfully.
making specialized gem sets like EX Onslaught(healing) lv.2 and another Onslaught lv.2 both activating when you connect with 4 special moves may work better for someone who wants to Zone/Stall for the point character to heal and effectively build meter in the mean time. Like Wise double upping on Immense Power lv.2 for 40% maybe better for a rushdown character…it just depends…
lastly i think thats a translation error…because both official sites have some buggy stuff when it comes to gems details.
Is it just me, or is the auto tech gem really, really good, maybe even viable? Since it only drains 1/2 bars.
its better then the auto block gem, thats for sure, plus you can make a scrub gem set with it too…as their a few gems that activate when you tech a throw.
I’m a bit concerned that it and autoblock might be not only viable but preferred in some matchups.
The Fortitude gem prevents the next 100 damage from any sources, but isn’t always on, and you still get knocked down and such.
If you go by SF4 numbers, the auto-tech gem prevents ~140 damage and knockdown for half a bar, and is always active.
The autoblock gem seems to become better against characters/players who do big combos. Suppose you were playing against SF4 Ibuki , and every time you blocked a kunai wrong, you lost a bar of meter instead of taking ~300 damage into knockdown. Similarly with blocking wrong against Dudley, or what have you.
Still, your meter will go down very quickly if you have to autoblock a few times in a row. When it comes to throws, it’s a different story. You rarely get trown, and when you are, you lose half a bar and you and your opponent goes back to neutral. So, instead of ending up in a difficult situation, you waste half a bar and get out of your opponents offensive for free. All you have to do is block and wait, unless they have a hard-to-react-to overhead or a command grab.
While this is true, the need to autoblock multiple times in a row should be limited at a higher level. They’re not going to be blocking high while their opponent chains low shorts like the demonstration video suggested, instead they’re going to be attempting to block the mixup and having a safety net when they fail. Not to mention that some characters might be difficult to get that opening against in the first place, and a full bar on their end would make them that much harder to crack.
Either way, you’re saving yourself 250+ damage and momentum every time autoblock triggers against those characters, more if the opponent has meter. Especially notable when losing one of your characters will lose the round.
The autotech gem is less costly, but also less versatile and impactful - you’re not going to get supered for 50% off a regular throw, and the opponent’s character might still have multiple mixup options even without the throw (left/right/up/down/command grab), while the autoblock gem reduces everyone’s mixup (in simplified terms) to just “attack or throw” while your meter lasts. But yes, against a character whose mixup already depends on tick throws, the autotech gem might be very worthwhile.
Also, there might be weird applications to autoblock like being the only way to block high/low unblockables, or allowing charge characters to keep charge while blocking high. Don’t know if either of those actually works.
the auto block gem has already been discussed to death already…instead of me ttying explain it over and over again i’d rather just do pros and cons as its easier to see it then a wall of text o_O
+blocks for you if your not guarding properly, stops alot of potential mixups/setups/resets.
+potentially stops damage(except for Chip)
-Can be baited(makes you play defensive)
-Does not stop throws(of any kind)
-forces you to turtle(knowing ranges do nothing because if your not holding downback, the gem may activate)
-you lose options(because meter consumption)
-you lose overall damage output(because of meter consumption)
there are more cons but those are the most common in running a gem like that one, with the auto throw tech gem, its only activating on one particular thing, where as auto blocks reacts to everything else, making nearly impossible to have meter(to do anything effectively). it would just be better to learn how to block instead of relying on such a gem in the first place.
I thought it was confirmed that autoblock only activates if your stick is at neutral, is taht not the case?
it will activate if you blocking but not correctly like if your standing and someone does an attack that hits low to break your guard, it will block if your holding the stick back to block. also check out the media i posted in the new info thread…first time i’ve ever found anything new…
Okay so if you block high and get hit by an empty jump low the gem will activate but if you’re blocking the wrong way (in an attempt to save meter so you can like win the fight) and guess wrong on the jump in you’re still going to get messed up. Still with back and forward tech rolls why are we just sitting in place taking a vortex attempt?
people think its SFIV, but yeah you can tech roll(from the TGS build is alot faster) and you do it by holding the stick in that direction. once more people see it, they’ll tech roll