A Scrub
BonghornLeghorn
Hi all,
I was watching some videos of ZeRo, M2K, Dabuz, etc. during the early 2015 season of tournaments. It's amazing to see how far the meta has evolved. A couple things I noticed, and would like to point out for discussion. Keep in mind I only got into competitive Smash around May 2016. So the final patch had dropped, DLC was all out, and the meta had some time to stabilize after 1.1.5. And all this early stuff was brand new to me.
Disclaimer: Please keep in mind I'm am merely a mid-level Smasher, and these opinions likely reflect the views of someone of my caliber.
Gameplay speed is the first thing that stuck out. With the changes in the way shielding works, it encouraged more aggression. The matches were quite a bit slower, closer to the pace of Brawl. The tech skill of the players has also gotten better, making the matches more interesting.
We've also seen a huge increase if variety of characters performing well at tournaments. This is both due to the nerfs Diddy, Shiek, ZSS, and other top tiers have received, in addition to the buffs that characters like Marth, Ike, Samus, and others over time. We've seen the meta's for many characters evolve into the most efficient combos that they can pull off, and counter strategies to high-tier tactics. The nerfs, buffs, and meta development has allowed much more of the cast to be seen in high level play than we've seen in prior games Melee and Brawl.
Finally we come down to combos. This is one thing that sets Smash 4 apart from Brawl or Melee in my opinion. While a large portion of the cast has combos that are guaranteed at low to mid percents, as you start getting up in percent it becomes a game of reads and tech chasing. Some characters have either kill confirms or throws, and most have a 50/50 that works at certain percents. What this shows in the intellectual skill of the player, rather than the executional skill. This isn't to downplay the executional part of the game either, it's very important. But there is such a depth, complexity, of getting your KO's, rather than a demonstration of the the execution, which to me is more of what Melee is about.
In summary, what we have seen is a game that has gotten faster in pace, and takes a different sort of mental and technical skill than what was was required in Melee, and made it fun to watch. Brawl was their first attempt at this, and it failed, but Smash 4 was able to take the positives and cut most of the negatives, giving us a very different, but competitively viable, platform fighting game. I can't wait to see what happens in 2017 and beyond.
I was watching some videos of ZeRo, M2K, Dabuz, etc. during the early 2015 season of tournaments. It's amazing to see how far the meta has evolved. A couple things I noticed, and would like to point out for discussion. Keep in mind I only got into competitive Smash around May 2016. So the final patch had dropped, DLC was all out, and the meta had some time to stabilize after 1.1.5. And all this early stuff was brand new to me.
Disclaimer: Please keep in mind I'm am merely a mid-level Smasher, and these opinions likely reflect the views of someone of my caliber.
Gameplay speed is the first thing that stuck out. With the changes in the way shielding works, it encouraged more aggression. The matches were quite a bit slower, closer to the pace of Brawl. The tech skill of the players has also gotten better, making the matches more interesting.
We've also seen a huge increase if variety of characters performing well at tournaments. This is both due to the nerfs Diddy, Shiek, ZSS, and other top tiers have received, in addition to the buffs that characters like Marth, Ike, Samus, and others over time. We've seen the meta's for many characters evolve into the most efficient combos that they can pull off, and counter strategies to high-tier tactics. The nerfs, buffs, and meta development has allowed much more of the cast to be seen in high level play than we've seen in prior games Melee and Brawl.
Finally we come down to combos. This is one thing that sets Smash 4 apart from Brawl or Melee in my opinion. While a large portion of the cast has combos that are guaranteed at low to mid percents, as you start getting up in percent it becomes a game of reads and tech chasing. Some characters have either kill confirms or throws, and most have a 50/50 that works at certain percents. What this shows in the intellectual skill of the player, rather than the executional skill. This isn't to downplay the executional part of the game either, it's very important. But there is such a depth, complexity, of getting your KO's, rather than a demonstration of the the execution, which to me is more of what Melee is about.
In summary, what we have seen is a game that has gotten faster in pace, and takes a different sort of mental and technical skill than what was was required in Melee, and made it fun to watch. Brawl was their first attempt at this, and it failed, but Smash 4 was able to take the positives and cut most of the negatives, giving us a very different, but competitively viable, platform fighting game. I can't wait to see what happens in 2017 and beyond.
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