I find 3D fighters diffult because they're so slow. It feels like I'm trodding through molasses even when tapping 88 or 66 or 44 or whatever. All the positioning comes from just having to remember how every single move moves you since they're what will be doing most of the movement for you. SC2 seemed to have a better pace for a 3d fighter but it's still sluggish. If they feel like **** to play I'd probably like them more.
Sorry gotta pick on you again. The movement in the prominent 3D fighters SC, Tekken, and VF feel sluggish to less skilled players, but as you master the movement systems, they all start to feel extremely fluid. It's like Melee, the movement has an execution barrier, even in SC. The whole "using moves to move you" is a rookie mistake and means you never move before attacking, making you really easy to out-space and predict.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-To7sAEIvSo (I'm in this one :D)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAJsU8stx9w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmwTz9FOwxQ
(This is the part that's on topic)
Actually, there isn't really an execution barrier in those games, it's just a complex movement system. The reason it's difficult is because fluid movement means moving a lot, which means a lot of movement commands. In each of those games, the commands couldn't be more simple - they're all double taps or single taps of the stick/d-pad, and maybe another tap to cancel the movement. Also, there's a variety of movement speeds so you can easily make fine adjustments with safe movement when you want to go slow, and you can make fast, less safe dodges when you need to.
This is something I'd like to see Namco implement in the Smash4. In each game it's really difficult to keep precise spacing (like landing near someone, adjusting, and f-tilting outside the range of their OoS options), and that's in part because of how hard it is to walk, do tilt attacks precisely (**** tilting, honestly), input overlap with movement and attacks, shield release time, and difficulty stopping dashes (pivot upward angled f-tilt is hard). It's really ****ing hard to stop exactly where you want to or make small adjustments without incurring the lag of shielding or wavedashing in place.
traditional fighters' (dragon punches and tiger knees are ********, and make no sense; they don't map well to natural movement)
I'd take those over tilting. People praise Smash's supposed input simplicity but its at the cost of precision. Don't even get me started with the input overlap of up-attacks and jumping...
There are plenty of solutions to these problems that doesn't involve cutting out moves. The input system of smash could be entirely overhauled and I'd be ok with it.
http://www.1up.com/news/masahiro-sakurai-reflects-super-smash
in Sakurai's own words: "There are three Smash Bros. games out now, but even if I ever had a chance at another one, I doubt we'll ever see one that's as geared toward hardcore gamers as Melee was. Melee fans who played deep into the game without any problems might have trouble understanding this, but Melee was just too difficult."
"
You might have trouble understanding this, but Sakurai was wrong. No casual found it difficult, and those who seeked mastery were happy to rise to the challenge.
They don't want to sit down and get the muscle memory down for short hop-air dodge-short hop-air dodge-short hop-air dodge-short hop-air dodge-short hop-air dodge-short hop-air dodge. They want to play and enjoy the game. They want to hop right in and have a good time and they don't want to waste their time getting to that point. This is why games that are geared towards hardcore players do not do as well. People do not want a game geared towards competitive play.
They didn't have to. Players enjoyed the game without needed to learn advanced techniques. They don't care about competing, so why would they care that there are people out there doing difficult things in the game and having an advantage?