I’ve been a Street Fighter since the early '90s. Loved Ken in Street Fighter 2, and adored Cammy when she first made her appearance in SSF2T. I’ve mained Cammy ever since.
Yet, with 25 years of Street Fighter experience under my belt, I’ve never once been able to get any good at combos, techs, plinking, or the like. SFIV drove me crazy with trying to learn how to use Cammy effectively, and the whole FADC crap just infuriated me. No matter how much I played and practiced, the super deep technical aspects always eluded me, and it’s not getting any easier approaching 40 years old.
With SFV, it seems Capcom has worked to simplify things quite a bit while still retaining a certain depth for skilled players to aspire to. But here I am, only with the game for about 2 days and I’ve already discovered some effective combos all on my own, and can pull them off fairly reliably. Inputs seem to take much better than they ever did in SFIV, where I was constantly aggravated at how what I was inputting regularly seemed to not show up on-screen, often resulting in defeat. Not so with SFV. Every defeat I’ve suffered genuinely felt like it was simply because I was honestly beaten by the other player, and that’s really all I’ve ever desired out of Street Fighter–for it to feel fair.
Now, I realize there are likely a certain segment of players that bemoan the simplification that I am lauding, but I find that rather selfish and elitist. Capcom has made SF more accessible without dumbing everything down (in my opinion), removing many of the unnecessarily technical barriers to entry. It now feels much more tactical and strategic rather than how well a player can FADC for a juggle or whatnot. Simplification does not equate to dumbing down!
I, for one, am extremely grateful for these changes. Sure, it doesn’t mean I’m gonna rise through the ranks and dominate, but like I said…at least now it feels fair.
I play on Steam. My CFN ID is the same as my screen name here–Gauntylgrym–should anyone like to add me. Enjoy the fight!