I, being a person who doesn’t especially like GG (It’s not like I’m “DOWN WITH GG BLARG” or anything, I’m just not a fan), have to agree with the whole “too execution heavy” argument. I know that, yes, once you learn the system and all, it’s an incredibly balanced game, and yes, I’m aware that there are hundreds of people with the thousands of hours of free time required to learn the tricks of the trade. But, let’s take… King of Fighters XI. There are some powerful characters in that, and there are some LOL BAD characters in that, but on the whole, it’s a very balanced game.
In the space of a few hours at an arcade playing KOF XI, I can learn quickshifting, saving shifts, supercancels, dreamcancels, E counters, AB counters, and the like. Now that I’ve learned the system, I can develop my character strategies, and once I’m comfortable with a team or two, I can start learning matchup strategies. This is the basic process of learning how to play a fighting game. System–>using your characters–>matchups.
With GG, however, I need to learn Roman Cancels, False Roman Cancels, Faultless Defense, gatling chains, Instant Blocking, Dead Angle Attacks, and the myriad basic options (double jump, air dash, etc.). Of any of these, learning the knowledge and application of them is as difficult as learning the entire system of KOF XI. Then we move on to learning your character: frame data, b’n’b’s (which usually take hours of practice, depending on your character), using FRC’s, etc. Then matchups: …need I say anything?
So the way I see it, I could spend many, many hours to learn GG, and the reward would be being able to play a very balanced fighter. On the flip side, I could spend a few hours learning to play KOF XI, and while the game might not be as balanced as GG, it is certainly a very good game.
).