PieM4ster
Smash Rookie
I've seen this discussed randomly in other threads, but I couldn't find a thread for this so I made one.
Please Make note, I am putting on my flame shield, flame armor, banhammer helmet, and possibly my lucky underwear.
Now everyone seems to see that Brawl has been rebalanced from Melee, as some characters have been nerfed, and some have been buffed. I have been playing this game 6+ hours a day since last Friday (won't be able to play again for another 3 months, so I'd like to get my fill) and the reasons for balance changes seem to be going with a lot of the other things in the game, the Casual Audience.
TO PREFACE
When I say the casual player, I am not referring to anyone on this board. A Casual player is someone who only plays for fun, that does not play that much.
I played Melee for about seven years off and on, and was never very good until about four years ago, when I started beating all the people in my play group. This was because I could pick the best characters because I knew they were good, but I never new why. I have been everywhere including a Marth main, a Captain Falcon main, a Sheik main, and a Fox main. Peach happened to be my first main. So even though i didn't get the game that well, I still was able to recognize the high tier and up characters, even though I didn't know anything about Tiers until two years ago. Since I pretty much played casually (items and any stage), I was able to win in my playgroup by just using better characters (My usual competition was Roy, Pikachu, and Ness) because I was better able to take advantage of luck.
Now that was not a pointless paragraph, because I can't pull the crap I used to anymore. My character doesn't seem to matter, even though I prefer certain characters, they don't often help me win that much. I still usually play casual games even though I prefer tournament style, but the games won are usually even for each of us. So how does this relate to rebalancing you ask? Well, playing the game casually is much more even because the characters have the illusion of being more balanced. No one is as good at using items (main things that help items? Run speed and Jump Height) and people are harder to kill(Notice the Improved recovery in Brawl?), because many people find dieing unfun. So to keep the fun universal for everyone, casual games are evened out with balance changes such as Floatyness, improved recovery, and an all around slower Game, with less characters that are excellent at killing people when they have no chance (Also known as using combos, which casual players often find unfun.
Let me Give some Examples.
Run speed universally downgraded, Recovery universally buffed. Oh wait, I mean character specific ones. Fox has trouble comboing now, Marth's Range is shortened, Captain Falcons Knee is harder to kill with, and grabs are mostly worse. But those are just tournament worthy characters that have been nerfed. GENERALLY Casual characters in melee such as Samus seem nerfed. Why? Because Samus seemed too good in casual play even though she wasn't. The Ice Climbers, another example of a GENERALLY casual character, also feel nerfed in knockback, and damage done. In casual play, an Ice Climber player could do things that felt cheap (Grabbing and Smash Attacking at the same time, etc.) to casual players. Ganondorf feels nerfed too(I used to use him as my fun character). Once again, he could do things that felt cheap to Casual Players. His attacks could KO easily if they landed (even if they are slower than ***)
As for tripping, casual players are to blame. Tripping makes it possible for bad players to feel like they are good because of a lucky trip. "You fell and I smashed you OMG!" Also, casual players are usually unaware that tripping is their fault because they don't play enough. Most casual players play Smash as a party game and nothing more. Because Tripping doesn't happen too much(Yes, I know any tripping is too much), Casual Players think it is something they did wrong, and continue to have fun.
Items probably are something most of you don't care about, but they have been changed to reflect a more casual audience. More items backfire, or hurt/help everyone equally, which helps even the game. Lightning can help everyone else, just hurt you, or kill everyone but you. The clock can slow you, everyone, or everyone but you. Hammers can become useless. All these things make the matches more even when played casually. Home-Run Bats have been nerfed so that they are almost useless for 1 hit killing. And the icing on the casual cake is Smash Balls. They do something flashy, and can turn the match around. Both of these things are home-runs with the casual audience.
And Lastly, the levels are now more suited for casual players. Many levels have a bunch of crazy things going on, such as the Mario Kart level, (Mario Circuit) and Spear Pillar. Cars come kill you, a giant laser shoots you in the head, hey what the hell. These things give casual players a much easier time winning.
So this game is moving toward casualness. Although that sucks, people who play competitively still can have skill based competitions if the game is closely regulated.
The casual market of the Wii translates to a more casual Smash Brothers.
Please Make note, I am putting on my flame shield, flame armor, banhammer helmet, and possibly my lucky underwear.
Now everyone seems to see that Brawl has been rebalanced from Melee, as some characters have been nerfed, and some have been buffed. I have been playing this game 6+ hours a day since last Friday (won't be able to play again for another 3 months, so I'd like to get my fill) and the reasons for balance changes seem to be going with a lot of the other things in the game, the Casual Audience.
TO PREFACE
When I say the casual player, I am not referring to anyone on this board. A Casual player is someone who only plays for fun, that does not play that much.
I played Melee for about seven years off and on, and was never very good until about four years ago, when I started beating all the people in my play group. This was because I could pick the best characters because I knew they were good, but I never new why. I have been everywhere including a Marth main, a Captain Falcon main, a Sheik main, and a Fox main. Peach happened to be my first main. So even though i didn't get the game that well, I still was able to recognize the high tier and up characters, even though I didn't know anything about Tiers until two years ago. Since I pretty much played casually (items and any stage), I was able to win in my playgroup by just using better characters (My usual competition was Roy, Pikachu, and Ness) because I was better able to take advantage of luck.
Now that was not a pointless paragraph, because I can't pull the crap I used to anymore. My character doesn't seem to matter, even though I prefer certain characters, they don't often help me win that much. I still usually play casual games even though I prefer tournament style, but the games won are usually even for each of us. So how does this relate to rebalancing you ask? Well, playing the game casually is much more even because the characters have the illusion of being more balanced. No one is as good at using items (main things that help items? Run speed and Jump Height) and people are harder to kill(Notice the Improved recovery in Brawl?), because many people find dieing unfun. So to keep the fun universal for everyone, casual games are evened out with balance changes such as Floatyness, improved recovery, and an all around slower Game, with less characters that are excellent at killing people when they have no chance (Also known as using combos, which casual players often find unfun.
Let me Give some Examples.
Run speed universally downgraded, Recovery universally buffed. Oh wait, I mean character specific ones. Fox has trouble comboing now, Marth's Range is shortened, Captain Falcons Knee is harder to kill with, and grabs are mostly worse. But those are just tournament worthy characters that have been nerfed. GENERALLY Casual characters in melee such as Samus seem nerfed. Why? Because Samus seemed too good in casual play even though she wasn't. The Ice Climbers, another example of a GENERALLY casual character, also feel nerfed in knockback, and damage done. In casual play, an Ice Climber player could do things that felt cheap (Grabbing and Smash Attacking at the same time, etc.) to casual players. Ganondorf feels nerfed too(I used to use him as my fun character). Once again, he could do things that felt cheap to Casual Players. His attacks could KO easily if they landed (even if they are slower than ***)
As for tripping, casual players are to blame. Tripping makes it possible for bad players to feel like they are good because of a lucky trip. "You fell and I smashed you OMG!" Also, casual players are usually unaware that tripping is their fault because they don't play enough. Most casual players play Smash as a party game and nothing more. Because Tripping doesn't happen too much(Yes, I know any tripping is too much), Casual Players think it is something they did wrong, and continue to have fun.
Items probably are something most of you don't care about, but they have been changed to reflect a more casual audience. More items backfire, or hurt/help everyone equally, which helps even the game. Lightning can help everyone else, just hurt you, or kill everyone but you. The clock can slow you, everyone, or everyone but you. Hammers can become useless. All these things make the matches more even when played casually. Home-Run Bats have been nerfed so that they are almost useless for 1 hit killing. And the icing on the casual cake is Smash Balls. They do something flashy, and can turn the match around. Both of these things are home-runs with the casual audience.
And Lastly, the levels are now more suited for casual players. Many levels have a bunch of crazy things going on, such as the Mario Kart level, (Mario Circuit) and Spear Pillar. Cars come kill you, a giant laser shoots you in the head, hey what the hell. These things give casual players a much easier time winning.
So this game is moving toward casualness. Although that sucks, people who play competitively still can have skill based competitions if the game is closely regulated.
The casual market of the Wii translates to a more casual Smash Brothers.