Would skullgirls do better (sales wise) if it was in 3d,had musclebound men,muscular women,environments with lots of brown or gray,gore and explosions? That is what the mainstream likes after all.
Well then it wouldn’t be Skullgirls.
Firstly, what examples of muscular women are there in “mainstream” games? Secondly, even if that was a mainstay of the mainstream, what about Cerebella isn’t muscular? Third, Skullgirls is chock full of gore and explosions. Of the qualifiers you listed I’m pretty sure Skullgirls hits at least as much as something like sf4, or mk, and outside the genre cod and halo have even less correlation what with the 0 women throughout. Maybe the real reason Skullgirls isn’t selling that well (not sure if that’s even true) is because the barrier of entry, or the saturation of the market, or the other unappealing things to people not familiar with fighting games, 8 characters comes to mind…
mainstream likes games like Rumble Roses or Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball
Still there would be complaints about breast physics.
Yes, I think the game would have reached a larger audience if the art direction was catered towards the main stream audience. While I think it’s really shallow that people would avoid the game because of aesthetic design, it’s still a valid point to address if one of your concerns is reaching as large of an audience as possible. I applaud the development team for sticking to their guns, as it shows the integrity they have for their work; however, at the same time I can’t help but think that the audience may have been narrowed down as a result of this.
Same thing happened with FF9, which was arguably one of the best RPGs in the PS1 era (definitely in the top 10). Also, Wind Waker – often cited as the best Zelda (after Link to the Past) by folks who didn’t let the graphics ruin it for them.
Putting FF9 in top 10 of PS1 RPG’s is a pretty bold statement. lol
I actually don’t recall people bitching about FF9’s artistic direction. I think it was getting more praise because of the nostalgia feel of older FF’s.
I don’t think it’s shallow at all. Aesthetics is an important element in video games. I know I definitely prefer KOF aesthetics to SFIV. I actually think SFIV is almost unplayably ugly. But I really love ST/Alpha/3s/KOF/etc. aesthetics. I don’t think most would call me shallow for those opinions, but if I complain that Skullgirls is too anime fan service, I’m superficial. I think it’s a double standard because some people want to pretend there’s not actually a neckbeard creepy hentai stigma attached to this kind of art.
I distinctly remember even reviews chastising it for its look. Legend of Mana got grief too, though it had others problems compared to Seiken Densetsu 3 as well.
I’ve got to say, FF9’s in the top 10 for me. 7’s in there too, for different reasons, and Vagrant Story’s on top of it. It’s a bold statement, but considering one of the most praised characters (in terms of development) comes from it (Vivi), I don’t think its a shot in the dark.
Too true.
It’s hard to connect to a game if it doesn’t have something that aesthetically appeals to you – that’s something some people just can’t grasp.
It’s like dating – it’s not shallow if you’re just not attracted to someone, or if you like someone but want them to improve their health/activity level (you like someone obese and want them to be more active, for example). its shallow if you love everything about someone but decide not to be with them purely because they are out of shape, despite whether or not they’ll work on it.
If someone plays SG and absolutely loves it, but can’t get past the look – that’s kind of bad, but it’s also just something that relates to them. I typically only play characters I find cool or relateable – so I have to say getting into SG was a jump for me.
I think it’d be easier to introduce it to people if the game wasn’t full of panty shots and titties. Less to do with women more to do with the overall topic of sex that most of the United States can’t handle with an ounce of maturity.
Maybe some sort of volleyball/modelling mode. Skullgirls is good but there is no reason to choose it over KOF, Marvel, SF, BB, MK, unless you are done playing those games because you won’t get as much mileage out of SG.
People who (don’t) buy games (because of) based on art-style alone without knowing/caring about the mechanics are idiots. That goes for every genre.
My personal reasons to choose it over the games you named
KOF- online is bad and there is no scene where I live.
Marvel3- just bad
SF- latest iterations are boring and have too much BS
BB- good but not a team game, no players online or off
MK- yeah, no.
So, personally, I don’t think blanket statements like that work.
If Skullgirls was a marvel game (and had 50 balanced characters) there would be no need for other fighters to exist.
Sorry, but FF9 was not only visually unappealing, but also had a dull, watered down story and wasn’t particularly fun to play.
It’s a shame too, because this game design sounds like a dream for me. I really do want a new game that is focused on footsies and solid fundamentals moreso than mechanics and mixups, a place where jumpins aren’t free. The animation quality and style aside from the ass and panties is just amazing too. I really want to play this game, but man, I have a wife and a 5-year-old kid. I couldn’t help but feel embarassed or uncomfortable if I get this game and played it around them. I’m not super uptight about shit either, I’ll play Vampire Savior or whatever with my kid. But VS has a lot more variety and just happens to have some titties. This, though, it looks undeniably niche with the anime ass and even though I would probably enjoy the game itself I’m just not the target audience.
i don’t know where you heard that the game is doing poorly because from what i am hearing the game is selling incredibly well
My girlfriend works at a middle school and I interact her students on a pretty frequent basis. I cannot really tell them about the game because of a lot the art style decisions that were made because it would be threading unknown territory and neither her nor I want to flirt with getting fired over a video game. I know there are students who would like the game very much but Valentine’s character design by itself makes it so that I don’t talk to kids about the game. This is a honest to god fucking shame because the gameplay is fantastic.
Don’t get me wrong I am happy that Mike Z and Alex Ahad got to do what they wanted. But by the same token those stylistic choices have a lot of secondary detrimental effects towards the overall product. Its whatever though; people who don’t think that even top players enjoy the character design at some emotional level are working really hard at lying to themselves.
There definitely is no disputing that the artstyle is inappropriate for more than one occasion.
However, I was talking more along the lines of some people I know who went “This looks like shit, not buying”. They are idiots.
While I agree for the most part, this community has never functioned on: 1) logic or 2) the competitive viability of a game. This is the SRK forum so whenever a capcom game is out the questions are: 1) Does it have Ryu, 2) is it fun?
Nothing to get butthurt about just the way the place works.
ITT: People with shitty taste for RPG games.
Sup guys? Is this the place were I cast my vote for Xenogears being awesome and imply that skullgirls should be an RPG?
Too bad
Spoiler
Xenogears was ass, too