Thanks very much my man! I’m glad someone appreciates it. I do sometimes get rather ranty, but I try to take a broader perspective on things, especially when I write for my site and I’m not forum trolling
I can even see reasons why many people would LOVE SF4, even though I don’t. And Coth_X is right, it’s not that bad. I did write a whole series of articles about why it’s not for me though. (And SSF4 does improve some of those aspects, but not enough). If there was nothing better to play, I’d play it. But thankfully there is. Oh and the netcode STILL sucks ass. I had noticeable input lag with in an all-UK room last night. Hopeless!
As for FF Tactics, I have very specific reason why I hate it. I loved many things in the game apart from the save system, which was so badly designed it destroyed the game for a friend of mine, and very nearly did the same to me. I’m afraid that IMO save systems are such an important part of a game that the whole thing can be taken down by them (it’s the same main reason I don’t like Half Life too).
If the story is really paramount to you though, which RPGs do you consider have really great storylines? I could only really say the dream sequences from LO (and they aren’t really fully fleshed out stories at all, more like poems mostly), and the general story in Panzer Dragoon Saga were actually decent. Almost no games actually have a narrative story on par with even an average book. (and I’m not much of a reader, or even movie-goer I guess I’ve always preferred to experience my own story than observe others!). Where games do score is getting you to invest in the characters emotionally far more… but if you took that story out and wrote it as pure narrative, would it actually be that good? One I’ve heard that might be good is Mass Effect - but I’ve never had time to play it.
At the end of the day “videogames” is such an enormous medium, and much of what people enjoy them for isn’t the ‘game’ at all. In fact many videogames are far more like video-toys or video-playareas these days (and I don’t mean that with any degree of criticism). But for me, I generally play games for the game, and so in my mind they are being compared to chess, participation sports, or card games (or maybe a rubix cube in the case of a puzzler); I’m not comparing them to books or movies or toys, since those bits don’t interest me THAT much (but some of them do a little).
In the context of fighting games, ‘buffering’ usually means inputting something that will come out later. In HDR, AFAIK the only real example is that you can cancel normal->special anytime during the hit freeze, and the special move will come out immediately after the hit freeze ends no matter what time during the hit freeze you enter the command.
SSF4 doesn’t interest me but I will probably get it sometime when the price goes down even further. I have a slight interest in checking out Guile because he has a true SF gameplan.
Want to know what’s wrong with SFIV? Check my blog entry (click that number under my name). There’s probably more I could have added, but I ran out of space.
Oh and by the way, I played it for 2-4 weeks, and I’ve been playing it recently. I thought I’d go and play SFIV while HDR was dead hoping to find some new competition, but this game is just filled with lame players. Thankfully with HDR being less forgiving, it acts as a scrub filter.
My brain cannot compute the fact that as I am rushing someone down, I am actually disadvantaging myself by giving them a free 50% free combo meter. Call me old fashioned, but I thought the idea of beating someone up was to gain an advantage, but it’s almost like the person getting beat up gets an advantage.
If Ken had a decent ultra, I think I might have just used that as a tactic. Beat them down to 50%, sandbag so for free meter, then hit them with the ultra.
:qcf::d::mk::df::r::p:
You might need to get a feel for the timing. If you complete it too fast you will hear the :mk: but it won’t come out or do anything (basically you will cancel it in the startup stages).
You can do the same thing with Ken. Maybe it works with Cammy too? Have to try that.
SSF4 is an OK FG (much better than SF4, so far), it’s just not as fast and as “tight” as a good 2D game is. As a few people already mentioned it’s very floaty, and the game engine is very loose. I put a little bit of time into 4 and I played a little of SSF4 so far, I usually played it at tournies, just because it is what everyone else was playing, but didn’t really feel to bad if I don’t do great, LOL.
That said, it is fun in small doses, I just can’t take it too seriously. You can play a poking, zoning game and do fine in it, I play a lot of Blanka and that’s all I do is play a very basic, SF2 like, poking game with him. The only thing I really don’t like about it (besides Ultras, for all the reasons already mentioned) is I hate the wake-up game.
I use Honda a lot as well, kinda co-main him and Blanka (using T.Hawk in SSF4 as well, he’s really fun). It’s sometimes hard to use Honda because he’s so different from his SF2 version. I do things like try to reversal Ochio a tick throw attempt which loses 100% of the time in SF4, LOL. In 4 Honda’s more about big combos and a lot more aggressive than in ST/HDR. Headbutts and Sumo Splashes not being safe on block was hard to get used to as well (though the same is true for Blanka’s h.ball attack, it’s not even safe on hit against a lot of characters).
I guess my perspective is that I haven’t played SFII for 15 years and become martyr for its cause.
I’ve put 2 years into ST/HDR and I feel its got plenty of its own flaws, and SSFIV has its own flaws too. Maybe you guys are trying to apply far too much SFII thinking to IV and that’s why its such a big turnoff. Most of your stated reasons for not liking IV have to do with well you can’t do this in IV like in ST.
As much as I want to play SCIV and Tekken, the wakeup game in those games is far too complicated, because there are traps for teching off the ground or not teching, and getting knocked down means you might lose another 25% just getting back to your feet.
It is hard to go against 15 years of conditioning, LOL. But as long as you look at it as a completely different game it’s not bad.
If I know they will pick a Shoto I “counter-pick” with Honda, I actually really like the match-up for him in 4. Guile sucks just as bad, if not worse, though, LOL.
That’s what I’m trying to get at, there are ways to play this game like SFII and succeed, but that’s mostly from mindgames and pattern traps.
Trying to play it like a knockdown is the same, or footsies is the same and failure will happen.
There isn’t throw immunity after knockdown in IV, so with the proper bait and punish, you can get someone to sit there while you throw them right as they recover.
That’s why I’m trying to give it a chance.
Unless you guys think there will be some kind of resurgence of interest in SFII, which is about as possible as a HDR patch for PS3.
My real issue with SF4 (and a bunch of new games, really) is the hit-confirm BS. I just can’t stand it anymore. “plec, plec, plec.” “Did it hit?” Hurray, super!" “Yeah, I won: ultra!” I understand Marvel has always had hit-confirming, it is just inherent to combo-based games, but a supposedly SF-series game, I just can’t help but frown upon. You watch a 3rd strike tournament and some Chun lands a cr.forward, or a Yun lands a target combo, and people go crazy, just like in a SF4 tournament some Sagat lands a knee or a Ryu lands a SRK. And the announcer screams ULTRA COMBO FINISH!!! I just shrug and shake my head.
SF2 has always had hit-confirming. And I will not fool myself: confirming with CPS-1 chains were very strong. But you didn’t need it to play with every character: in a number of situations you would simply not get the chance to do a crossup and shit. SF4 is like every character has cr.short x2 xx shoryureppa, but easier and more damaging. It’s a matter of opinion, I just don’t like it, but I know hit-confirming is only getting more common.
Well, the general trend in all fighting games today is to be geared towards combo-based gameplay. It’s what attracts the common folk, apparently. Yes, zoning and spacing can still be important, but it’s the combo system that gets the most attention these days. SF2 has plenty of combos, sure, but it was much more about zoning and spacing. In high level matches in SF2 you actually don’t see many combos, or even Supers that land, for that matter.
I could say ST/HDR is not bad. That statement means one thing, its not bad. For me, 3S is bad, I tried but its just not possible for me to get into that game.
I can play ST or IV because I can get past the parts of them I don’t like and still play them.
Well I’ve been playing Super for 6 hours. I can say that it does somehow feel tighter. I think comparing it with IV, IV feels like it has input lag, or some kind of delay. Unfortunately though there are still problems like the bullshit turtling that goes on (chasing people round the fucking stage), and the combo system allows you to hit confirm everything or retarded juggles into ultra.
Is it safe to say that watching/playing an (S)SFIV match is like watching Transformers 2 and watching/playing an HDR match is like watching The Dark Knight? They’re both in the same genre of movie/game, both are entertaining in their unique ways, but one is SO much more fulfilling.
“Here’s a simpler idea: throw all this garbage [system gimmicks] out. Ask yourself a simple question: What existing problem in previous SFs were these “innovations” designed to solve? The answer: None. They were just thrown in to the engine willy-nilly to attract new players, in the hopes that we’d find them “real cool”. In large part, this has worked. It has attracted new players, although it has done so at the clear expense of gameplay. If anything was wrong with ST, it was precisely throw-softening (not a huge deal), and supers.” - 1998 (http://groups.google.com/group/alt.g...b699158b22ed3f)
“The problem as I see it is that the SF2 engine does not (gameplay-wise) demand any of the new SFA additions. They are put in to attract new players as newfangled “features”. In theory, I have no problem with that. In practice, it happens to suck.” - 1996 (http://groups.google.com/group/alt.g...dc75c5c1136c30)
What do you guys think about 3S? I personally love the game but people find some of the same problems in that game too… but then again there is actually a wake up game in 3S lol…
Jump ins are quite ineffective as far as my experience with the game though… most of the match takes place on the ground in 3S, or at least it should…
The fighting engine in 3S is amazing, one of the best there is! I find that 3S fights are the best to watch when played by the pros, the constant parry’s and back-and-forth spacing mechanics are great.
I’m glad someone appreciates it. I do sometimes get rather ranty, but I try to take a broader perspective on things, especially when I write for my site and I’m not forum trolling 
(And SSF4 does improve some of those aspects, but not enough). If there was nothing better to play, I’d play it. But thankfully there is. Oh and the netcode STILL sucks ass. I had noticeable input lag with in an all-UK room last night. Hopeless!