stylized benches begin their crusade into quivering flans of eternity
(i read your entire post)
You know, after reading your post, I've come to understand on a deeper level what is really is that people like you are afraid of.
You, unlike the kids around this site, actually drew out your ideas and spread them out so that the rest of us can understand what it is you're trying to say when you say, "this game probably won't have depth/this game is too noob friendly/etc."
It's not that you're afraid of noobs being able to reach "a level of play" as the "pros" that bothers you (like so many kids lead us to believe when they complain), it's the idea that the game will be too easy, and therefore, kind of boring, to play.
When you compared it to SuperMarioGalaxy (i haven't played it...but i really want to), and mentioned how much easier the game is, you allowed me to see what exactly you meant by "too easy." It's easy to mistake that phrase ("too easy") for many different things. I have Mario 64 and remember how challenging the game was, and if Mario Galaxy is easier and not as challenging as you say, then I'm gonna be one disappointed little boy...
Yeah, I was at first afraid that the game will be too bland and too simple to play, especially when Sakurai said that he wanted to "stress the overall easiness" of the game. Actually, I probably felt just like you do now. I thought to myself, "oh no...it's gonna be too simple, there isn't going to be all these layers of "gameplay" that goes into a match, there won't be as many variables as there are in Melee, it's just going to be a clean-cut 'paper-rock-scissor' kind of game where there's not much else but 'shield-A-grab-B-and-smash-attacks', this is scary."
But then, I kind of looked at it in a positive way. And I didn't mean that "change should be happily welcomed." I meant that we shouldn't be pessimistic about it. Sakurai is making the game, not "Nintendo." Sakurai should know what he's doing, especially after witnessing the massive success of Melee.
I know he wants to allow the beginners to be more comfortable with the skills that were apparently present in Melee by making some/most of those skills (if not ALL those skills) easily executable by beginners (i.e. sweetspot, l-cancel, air-dodge no longer being your last command in the air, etc). But at the same time, I'm being optimistic about it.
From this new system of mechanics, a new set of unknown skills could arise from it and I'm sure we'll get some form of "melee-like techniques" where we don't discover until months or even a year or years from now.
Like you, I don't have much time to play videogames, only late at night. I've just graduated from my university and have 2 jobs (substitute teacher and afterschool tutor) so I work from 7am-9pm monday-friday. On top of that, I have a few friends I like to hang out with (a lot), and as much as I want a girlfriend again, I don't have time for one like I did (and had) before I graduated. And likewise, I want something solid, fun, deep, challenging, and LONG to play on my free days, or on those days I don't have to substitute or tutor. So I sympathize with you.
Referring to what's on topic, the freeze-frame issue is very negligible. My videos you saw from my visit to E4A proved that we really have nothing to worry about when it comes to "freeze-frames".
But I feel you (now) on the fear of simplicity to the point where you go, "what ever happened to challenging, delicious games?!?!!" But I really hope you become a little more optimistic, if not from my videos, at least from my own personal experience with the game, however short my experiences were.
This fear you have is something I've felt with many games in the past (Megaman X games stand out most in my memory) and the ones coming out (Resident Evil, Super Mario Galaxy [which is now confirmed by you], Zelda, etc). You know, a smash buddy and I were playing Super Mario Bros 3 on the virtual console the other day and we talked about how it's so sad that the games out today are sooooo noob friendly that it has sucked out all the fun and challenge from them, unlike the ones we grew up with like those old Mario games. We joked saying that if games ever came out with the kind of difficulty and challenge that the games were made with back then, it would get bad ratings for its difficulty and people would complain about it.
But...somehow I don't feel this way about Brawl...maybe I'm being naive...but I just don't have a feeling that Brawl will disappoint us. Given that there's no wave-dashing and it seems a lot simpler, I don't have a fear that the game will be shallow and lack any depth. I don't have a fear that the engine will make me bored of playing it wishing it was Melee part 2. I have faith, and even more after playing it at E-4-All.
I hope you and other people feel this way after the game is out, that's all.
