Doesn't the randomness seem hypocritical?

[Technomage]

Don't get me wrong; I don't hate the Dragon Quester's random spells and criticals. However, since Sakurai went to great lengths to remove almost all randomness from fighter movesets back in the Smash 4 days, doesn't it seem hypocritical for him to add the larger amount of randomness to the Heero?

 

[t!MmY]

I didn't really care about the prospect of RNG with Hero when I was watching the video presentation, though I'm sort of against the idea of RNG in a Fighter. In regards to Hero, I feel like his RNG makes him weaker overall: he has to rely on all-or-nothing situations where if he does not get that Critial or the right Command Selection menu then it feels like he gets nothing. For instance, if his RNG Critical Hit smash attacks were removed completely and his Smash Attacks were compensated by an extra 1 or 2% damage buff, then he'd have Smash Attacks that he could rely on to get early KOs (such as Up Air -> Up Smash) as well as Shield Break with Psych Up.

I wouldn't really call it hypocritical for Sakurai to make Hero an RNG heavy character (after changing a lot of the RNG from other Fighters). It just shows that he recognizes that other Fighters play better without their RNG, and with Hero being the exception it shows that he wanted to focus on how the Dragon Quest series has these kinds of elements, makign his interpretation of the character a more unique experience. The DLC Fighters in Ultimate seems to be highlighting something unique or fun and going with it, and in that regard Hero is not hypocritical in the least.

 

[Technomage]

I didn't really care about the prospect of RNG with Hero when I was watching the video presentation, though I'm sort of against the idea of RNG in a Fighter. In regards to Hero, I feel like his RNG makes him weaker overall: he has to rely on all-or-nothing situations where if he does not get that Critial or the right Command Selection menu then it feels like he gets nothing. For instance, if his RNG Critical Hit smash attacks were removed completely and his Smash Attacks were compensated by an extra 1 or 2% damage buff, then he'd have Smash Attacks that he could rely on to get early KOs (such as Up Air -> Up Smash) as well as Shield Break with Psych Up.

I wouldn't really call it hypocritical for Sakurai to make Hero an RNG heavy character (after changing a lot of the RNG from other Fighters). It just shows that he recognizes that other Fighters play better without their RNG, and with Hero being the exception it shows that he wanted to focus on how the Dragon Quest series has these kinds of elements, makign his interpretation of the character a more unique experience. The DLC Fighters in Ultimate seems to be highlighting something unique or fun and going with it, and in that regard Hero is not hypocritical in the least.

Intersting point in your top paragraph; first time I ever heard someone claim that RNG makes the Dragon Quester underpowered, heh.

As for your point in your bottom paragraph, I'll trust your judgement.

 

[t!MmY]

I would agree that Hero's critical hit Smash Attacks can KO at ridiculously low percents, but the situations in which this comes up is about as ridiculous (broken shields, or low-level play of "Throw It Out There & Watch 'em Roll Into It"). Any heavy-hitter will be able to do that ... and they do it consistently without having to gamble the KO away.

Take a heavy-hitter like Bowser or DK, reduce their massive KO power with their strongest attacks, but then give them a 1-in-9 chance to hit with x2 Damage and see if people who main those guys like it. No, they wouldn't, you know why? Because heavy-hitters already KO just fine -- dealing ~100% damage with a massive hit might be fun for giggles at first, but you quickly realize that it's unnecesary, and it's waaaay better to have a fast-hitting attack that KO's with 16% damage 9-out-of-9-times, instead.

Sakurai (and/or his dev team) made Hero a "heavy hitter" that falls short of actually being a heavy hitter 8-out-of-9 times, then they "balanced" him with an overkill attack 1 out of 9 times.

The same thing can be applied to things like Hatchet Man (which is always ridiculously powerful, but is laughably unlikely to hit raw in competitive play) and Wack/Thwack. You have to get the opponent to about 100% just to have a 50/50 chance of a KO. A competent heavy-hitter will be going for guarenteed KO's at those damage percents, and will often enjoy KO's below 100% when fighting anyone who isn't a heavyweight themselves.

The only reason why Hero works as well as he does is because his full kit, when worked together in an intelligent manner, can often set up situations where his strengths can come into play and because Hero also has access to Specials that are not RNG (Frizz/Zap/Woosh): Shield Breaks and Snooze can set up for Critical Hits, Acceleratle opens up mobility/combo game, and Psyche Up allows him to become a true Heavy Hitter without needing RNG (for a single hit).

Would Hero be OP or at least Top Tier had he not become memed with RNG (and given top tier FE frame data)? Quite probable. Would he be as fun -- or would he cause as much saltiness? Not nearly.

In the end, I am perhaps more satisfied with our "RNG Hero" that we have than had we been given yet another generic swordsman whom had nothing to let him stand out from the rest aside from his historic game series.