Trials are a nice, fun and challenging way for people to practice combos. Granted most aren’t exactly practical but they’re still a good feature to have in the game nonetheless. Though they could use some extra improvements (demo’s or some explanation for spacing specific combo’s for starters)
Effort/Quality doesn’t correlate with money. Metro: Last Light is a really good game and graphics wise the game really top notch, yet the developers were working in terrible conditions and certainly didn’t have the same budget as most triple A titles.
Source: Jason Rubin: Metro: Last Light is the “triumph of an underdog”
I don’t fault Capcom for putting SFxT content into Ultra but I have my doubts on if this is a cop out for putting fresh new content in or not. It wouldn’t be the first time Capcom has made compromises.
This isn’t worth $15. They’re just copy and pasting so they can justify the cost. And don’t compare this to a CoD map pack, real developers like Epic and iD used to release maps for their games for free, it’s trivial to make a map. Balancing four SFxT character is trivial if you already budgeted and alloted manpower to a balance patch for a 39 character game. The only hard part would be the fifth character, which they have to design every aspect of from scratch. The balance patch and the fifth character are worth something, but Capcom and you guys are being dishonest by claiming the rest of this stuff makes the DLC worth $15.
The system changes might also be worth something, they haven’t announced them yet.
Yeah, that’s called a lie. It doesn’t cost even a few thousands of dollars to reskin a character unless you need to make engine adjustments for some effect you want on the model, and even saying that costs a significant portion of any game’s budget is not believable.
Then don’t buy it, the rest of us will be having a perfectly good time playing the update without you.
Sure, Capcom took character models from SFxT to make things easier, but you have to realize if they chose to pick characters from an older game, they’d have to completely re-model them from scratch and the update would come out 6+ months later than it is now.
We’re getting 4 remade characters and 1 brand new one, 6 re-drawn stages, new game modes, new menu designs (I know that isn’t really important but personally i like aesthetics) balancing and possibly a better netcode.
If you’re seriously saying that isn’t worth not even 1 full point card, then you’re really just not a fan of Street Fighter.
I know Capcom has made some pretty shitty marketing decisions but c’mon, give em a break! They did something right this time!
Yeah we totally shouldn’t believe Mike Z, an almost universally liked and respected man in this community. Fuck that lying asshole.
It’s not the act of skinning the character that costs the money. It’s the salaries involved of all the people who touch the model. Anything you do takes time, and if it’s a job that takes more than one person those costs multiply quickly.
Is it easier to add SFxT characters in? Most definitely. And if the balance changes + chars aren’t worth it…well, no one is forcing you to buy it.
On the flip side, how many people here have re-rigged a model, or gone through a bug-testing/balancing process? Not many, I’m sure. It’s harder than some people are making it out to be. Once again, it’s TIME that’s the real cost. And time = money.
I still have nightmares about rigging. =(
A small team busting their ass can do things for cheap, because it’s a small team, they’re willing to make sacrifices, or sometimes have a lower salary. The minute you have a big company with a large team with a decent salary, it becomes a costly process. Modelling, texturing, and rigging models isn’t expensive. It’s paying the staff members who do it that costs the money. Whether Capcom is efficient or not or has too large a team is one thing, but the costs of paying their people isn’t imaginary.
Yup. Real devs. Obscure people I’ve never heard of giving away free things or a game that is somewhat relevant due to infamy, controversy, general public disdain and horrible marketing schemes. Which do you think makes a more sensible comparison?
Cmon dude. This is EXACTLY how AE was and people bought it for 15 dollars. You got 4 characters and a rebalance/ rebreaking (Yun). What makes this worth less than AE? The fact that the “new” characters are in xT? That is insanity. Considering how much they are doing right I’d gladly buy the 40 dollar disc version just for support.
-Finally adding requested characters
-Finally using community feedback and pro player feedback for rebalances
-Finally using loketest to give players insight on the changes thus far and also feedback on some changes
- Adding all the DLC on the disc (finally no more opponent costume unavailable message if I’m gonna lose to vortex Akuma I might as well see a sweet outfit).
You’re doing it backwards. Capcom decided to charge $15 and then tried to figure out a way to justify the cost. They didn’t decide to copy and paste four characters, six stages and then honestly thought that added to the value of the product. They’re trying to not do any work while presenting a product as though they did some work, and then charge accordingly.
You get a guy to make a few pages of concept art. Assuming this takes four or five takes, you’re going to use up a week of his time. Then you get an artist to make the model. You’re using an old model to form the skeleton and everything so no programmer is involved. One guy can do this in a couple of days no problem. It doesn’t cost very much money for a couple of people to fill a game with models unless you’re talking about an MMO or something where the models are procedurally generated.
This probably costs a few thousand dollars. I don’t know what Mike Z’s story is, but “it costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to reskin a character” isn’t some industry standard, and presenting it as an excuse for the game’s cost is just that: an excuse.
And guys, stop saying “don’t buy it”. Whether I buy it or not has nothing to do with whether it’s actually worth $15.
Edit:
Neither iD nor Epic are obscure, and it’s really your fault you’ve never heard of the company that made the genre CoD is a part of.
AE wasn’t worth $15 either, really, I got it when it was on sale for $10 for PC. Until then I just played it for free with friends.
AE also did the first three parts of your bulleted list. All of them. Just as much as Ultra is going to do.
Let’s look at it from this point of view…
-The pro players would like the game to be as balanced as possible, or not changed much. Because of EVO’n’stuff.
-The casual players like change, fresh wind, so they have a reason to keep following and stream-monstering it.
-Capcom needs to make a profit out of this. Since, you know, they’re a company, not charity.
3 parties that invested their time/money into this game. How do you keep ALL of them happy?
This was the best course of action Capcom could have taken. They essentially saved what was good and loved in SFxT and put it in their flagship SF title (at least what could be taken - paying Namco for the rights would cost too much). They provided rebalance to keep to old vets from raging about retarded matchups. They prolonged the lifespan of SF4. Saved themselves a bunch of money in the process. Since they also provide all the costumes on the standalone version, it’s safe to say this is also the last version of the game.
So, to some of you nagging over the price or whatever…what’s to hate? We’re all winners here.
…I with Larthy and wanted another game to play Poison so…fuck all the haters…I got my trap…
Except the SFxT -> SF4 characters aren’t reskinned ? What are you even talking about? The characters that got ported from SF4 to SFxT weren’t reskinned either.
Bringing up mike z’s rant about fighting game dev costs is pretty funny thou, considering the fairly undetailed 3d models SF4 uses should only cost a fraction of what it takes to make high quality 2d sprites like those featured in skullgirls, and that game in it’s entirety cost $15. Where as this ‘ultra’ SF4 update costs $15 for 4 ported characters, 6 ported stages, balance adjustments, and 1 possibly new mystery character.
I guess what really bugs me is that it’s time for SF4 to enter its legacy years. The game is said and done, they aren’t going to figure out a way to improve upon it, and they aren’t willing to do what it takes to REALLY improve the game (which is understandable), therefor, let sleeping dogs lie. They should just be entirely focused on SF5 or whatever other fighting game they’re working on. To top it off, people saying that this is actually worth any money (some of it is, some of it is not) is just opening wide and taking whatever you’re given.
It’s worth 15 because the disc version is 40. AE was 15 and it’s disc counterpart was 40. One of my professors used work at Blizzard on average he maked 1,000 per picture and now he free lances and he makes 2,000 a drawing ( even the rejected ones).
Time spent is money earned. And procedural generation doesn’t up development time by any discernible amount…
And FFS look at error1’s port of Rolento it was so odd looking and he’s a competent modder. What do you mean one guy can do this a couple of days no problem…? In fact try it yourself it’s not easy cleaning up weird rigging even if all the assets and IK handles are there.
I am hoping the 5th character is someone from rival schools. i am hoping for Shoma or Kyosuke
Kyosuke disappeared at the end of project justice. showing up in street fighter would be an interesting way of revealing what he has been through since disappearing and a good way to gauge interest in a rival schools sequel.
So in other words, the entire industry is lying about the cost of making games and the companies getting shuttered are all lies and the folks from them are actually living the high life in Caribbean islands. I’m sorry, but fuck you. You represent the worse of the overentitled gamers that we have these days.
For the record, Mike (and Lab Zero) has been one of the most transparent people in the industry for the longest time now. If there’s anyone in the FGC that you should listen to on these things, it’s him. That, and other industry guys like Seth and Dave Lang have fully backed him up on his statements.
The fact is, content for games costs money to make. Any time spent working on something has an associated cost. Adding in existing assets from another game is more than just copy and paste. Testing and Q&A also costs money and isn’t as simple as you think it is. You don’t just stick a character in, play a few games and say “hey, nothing crashed” and call it a day.
It’s easier to clean up weird rigging if you have the tools Capcom already undoubtedly made to solve that problem. They had to have already solved this problem while making the game in the first place. The game has a bunch of rejected moves, all of them at varying degrees of polish, such as several different version of Abel’s U1. While working on the game and figuring out a proper moveset, they had to fix animation where they could and they did a better job than error1. Not saying porting a character is free, but it can’t be expensive.
lol Mike Z isn’t the entire industry, and Capcom demanding money for little work is nothing new.
“I’m sorry, but fuck you. You represent the worse of the overentitled gamers that we have these days.” So far, that’s mostly just you.
Rejected moves have what importance? T-T
Let me elaborate if it were such a copy paste job then error1’s Rolento mod would look immaculate, but it does not. And I’m not trying to belittle error1 I’m just saying it’s certainly not copy and paste.
…It’s not the porting that is expensive. It’s the people’s salary! Omg… Why won’t you read damn it?! :’(
This is the first time I’ve ever seen someone so adamant about 15 dollars… If you save 10 cents everyday from now until early january 2014 you will have 15 dollars. How is this game, 4 characters+ balance patches, and support that I’ve never seen Capcom offer (loketests and pro+ western fan feedback) not worth that?
How am I overentitled when I fully understand that these things cost money to make?
How is he overentitled when he isn’t complaining about 15 dollars…
That’s 10 cents a day from now until January. 5 Pounds of apples, or 1 bag of rice, or 1 pizza, or 3 burger meals from most fast food places, or 1 pack of micron pens, or 4 copic pens, or 7 notebooks black and white wide rule notebooks, or 1 sheet of 30x22 paper, or a cheap calculator, or 15 novelty iPhone apps…
Damn in my home country minimum wage is 2.50 and I’m not even that miserly.