Rynhardt
Smash Cadet
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2014
- Messages
- 46
- NNID
- Rynhardt
- 3DS FC
- 3437-3326-8257
While working night shift, I do a lot of tweeting on my thoughts about recent smash events but really limit myself when dealing with 140 characters. So I decided to go back and read over my tweets and really flesh out those thoughts. I would have organized them in to a more formal format and even covered more points (such as about the entry gate that customs-on builds) but I'm running low on time, dead tired from work, and know I won't pick this back up after putting it down. I hope I can give people a new perspective on a lot of things going down now.
Customs and the Smash Scene
-The smash cast is designed and balanced around a 4 player environment. Characters that dominate 1v1s aren't as relatively as good in 4 player and characters not as good in 1v1s are relatively better in 4 player. The developers are completely in the right to do this as this is the way their game is designed to be played.
-If we based tournament structure on complimenting the design of the game, tournaments would mainly be 2v2 events. Four players, but you have a 50% chance of winning on even ground as opposed to 25%
-Why do we prioritize 1v1 instead? It's abnormal to the design of the game.
-A lot of people don't want to rely on a partner. They can seem chaotic and are difficult to watch, so they don't seem as interesting to play. Perhaps there are more/better reasons but in the end, it's just preference, and the format is still popular, though not as widely popular as 1v1.
-Tier lists for doubles are mostly theory or based on extremely limited data. If we had a 100% accurate tier list of how valuable individual characters are in doubles, the range from top to bottom would be much smaller than it is in a singles tier list. This is because every character can provide a unique strength and have their weakness covered.
-With customs, characters are able to swap out moves that are 4 player designed with something that can cover those weaknesses that they'd need another character to do for them.
-If we are to continue focusing on a 1v1 scene, customs are necessary to allow players to move the game from being 4 player balanced to 2 player balanced. Though this does not affect the competitive viability of the game, it opens options, which increases the lifespan of a game.
-Narrowing down a character list to 10 viable characters, or a stage list to 9 competitive stages allow pros more time to focus on playing versus his opponent as opposed to reading up on game knowledge, how to play on every stage and every possible matchup. This is how Melee works and there are definitely fans of this kind of game.
-"No items, Fox only, Final Destination" might just be a joke phrase now but in actual practice it is the absolute best way to determine who the better player is. No outside game choices to blame, no johns, just a pure display of skill.
-We don't apply this to every smash game simply because we love Smash. We love having 50 characters to choose from. We love having tons of stages to play on. We love the chaos of items. This has been the case since we were young smashers. So why do some of us hate customs? I mostly fear this is because this is first new massive change to the game we've had since 64.
-We could easily play the same ditto matchup every tournament match on FD to determine who the best Smash player is, but that's not why smash scenes were formed at the very beginning. They were formed because we love the game and love playing it, not because we wanted to prove who was the absolute best player. That desire is there but it's not the primary.
-We need to look at Smash 4 as its own game. This is not 64, this is not Melee, this is not Brawl, this is not PM. We need to look at Smash 4 as a whole and whittle it down, not build up from assumptions based on previous installments. Ideas that carry over from the previous games are a great starting point, such as playing with stock, how many stocks, etc. but should never be so forcefully inherited.
Why customs are on
-Why turn customs on then? They don't make the game any more competitive. But neither does allowing the other 47 characters, or allowing any stage other than FD. The answer is simply, "because they're there". This should always be the answer to "why have something on?"
-But in the end, that question is worthless, if it always has the same answer. The question that should instead be asked, "Why turn something off?" If this cannot be answered, then it should remain on. It's the idea of "innocent until proven guilty" that we have always followed in every smash.
-Even items were innocent until proven guilty. Items should be turned on "because they're there", they're part of the game, and at one point they were. In fact, some tournaments still run limited items. However, the answer to "why turn items off?" is apparent and reasonable. For how uncontrollable their randomness factor is by both TO and player, they are much too influential over the outcome of the game on their own.
-If we could control items and reduce their influence, for instance, always having them spawn in the center of the stage and based on a set timer, and possibly have different limited item rotations on different stages, it would add a unique layer of depth to the stage control game and some matchups (Imagine if the planking Extreme Balloon Trip Villager lost out on valuable items for relinquishing stage control), would increase the skill ceiling and make matches more interesting to watch as players incorporate items in to their neutral game and combos.
-If we could control equipment in a similar fashion, allowing everyone to play with all equipment and effects, we could even have equipment on. Of course, as they are, we cannot because of the randomness of obtaining them and how overbearing they can be on a match.
-At one point, a good reason to turn customs off was very similar in that they were hard to obtain and just as hard to put in to practice at tournaments. Again, because we love smash, we examined every possible logistic and managed to develop an efficient way to incorporate them in to tournaments, and even discovered ways to farm them automatically. This invalidated the only logical reason to turn them off.
-Many people simply fear what the custom meta could end up doing to the Smash 4 scene, because nobody really knows. It's okay to be scared, everyone kind of is. It's the same kind of fear we had for the game before it was released (remember how worried we got over simply the mention of "new ledge mechanics"?), but we didn't "turn off Smash 4 and go back to Melee/PM" without at least trying to get competitive with it. We experimented with it knowing that if it wasn't a good competitive smash, we could always go back. And that's where we are now. If customs only hurt the competitive scene, we can go back.
Customs and EVO
-A gimmick is a tactic that would not work when spammed if the opponent knew how to answer it. Being a Ness main, easy examples to list are PK Fire spam and fair walling spam. While both moves involved are very powerful and integral to Ness's kit, spamming them makes me readable, less likely to hit them, and more likely to get punished. As with the rest of my kit, the best way to employ these moves are to include them in a mixup that makes me hard to read.
-Losing to a gimmick is merely the inability to adapt to a situation, which in the end is the loser's fault and was the smartest decision from the winner to make. So far, no gimmick with or without customs has proven to be unbeatable with smart play, ratifying this statement.
-Finally, calling EVO a "gimmick fest" is only half true. It is possible that players who have not practiced versus common sets will get knocked out early, even if they are good, but in the end it is their own fault. Players threatening to not attend EVO in sincerity should have their choice respected because it is entirely possible they spend a thousand to come out here and lose to a gimmick they have not, will not, or can not practice against.
-Especially when we still don't know exactly everything that needs to be practiced against because the meta is so young, you cannot expect international travel to participate in experiments, but a major tournament offering prizes still needs to be an incentive to force out the best and worst of customs.
-Keep in mind it will take more than one tournament, even one as big as EVO's, to even somewhat stabilize the customs meta. Some players will win on gimmicks, some will win on lack of matchup knowledge, and that's going to happen for a while but even mid-tournament, the best players are going to adapt and take Pikachu versus Extreme Villager.
-When the game first came out, people considered Little Mac to be overpowered but really, Little Mac players were just abusing a gimmick and the lack of matchup knowledge. They aren't terrible people for doing it because we needed this, we needed to fight this force head-on and figure out how to beat it, and in the end we did. We need Extreme Villagers to show up because we need to learn and show everyone how to beat them.
-Gimmicks will never dominate a tournament. Playing Extreme Villager or not, the top 20 or so (possibly even more) at EVO give or take a few players will have been the same top 20 if customs were off. The only thing customs will affect are what matchups we see, not what players will advance as the tournament draws near the end.
Customs and the Smash Scene
-The smash cast is designed and balanced around a 4 player environment. Characters that dominate 1v1s aren't as relatively as good in 4 player and characters not as good in 1v1s are relatively better in 4 player. The developers are completely in the right to do this as this is the way their game is designed to be played.
-If we based tournament structure on complimenting the design of the game, tournaments would mainly be 2v2 events. Four players, but you have a 50% chance of winning on even ground as opposed to 25%
-Why do we prioritize 1v1 instead? It's abnormal to the design of the game.
-A lot of people don't want to rely on a partner. They can seem chaotic and are difficult to watch, so they don't seem as interesting to play. Perhaps there are more/better reasons but in the end, it's just preference, and the format is still popular, though not as widely popular as 1v1.
-Tier lists for doubles are mostly theory or based on extremely limited data. If we had a 100% accurate tier list of how valuable individual characters are in doubles, the range from top to bottom would be much smaller than it is in a singles tier list. This is because every character can provide a unique strength and have their weakness covered.
-With customs, characters are able to swap out moves that are 4 player designed with something that can cover those weaknesses that they'd need another character to do for them.
-If we are to continue focusing on a 1v1 scene, customs are necessary to allow players to move the game from being 4 player balanced to 2 player balanced. Though this does not affect the competitive viability of the game, it opens options, which increases the lifespan of a game.
-Narrowing down a character list to 10 viable characters, or a stage list to 9 competitive stages allow pros more time to focus on playing versus his opponent as opposed to reading up on game knowledge, how to play on every stage and every possible matchup. This is how Melee works and there are definitely fans of this kind of game.
-"No items, Fox only, Final Destination" might just be a joke phrase now but in actual practice it is the absolute best way to determine who the better player is. No outside game choices to blame, no johns, just a pure display of skill.
-We don't apply this to every smash game simply because we love Smash. We love having 50 characters to choose from. We love having tons of stages to play on. We love the chaos of items. This has been the case since we were young smashers. So why do some of us hate customs? I mostly fear this is because this is first new massive change to the game we've had since 64.
-We could easily play the same ditto matchup every tournament match on FD to determine who the best Smash player is, but that's not why smash scenes were formed at the very beginning. They were formed because we love the game and love playing it, not because we wanted to prove who was the absolute best player. That desire is there but it's not the primary.
-We need to look at Smash 4 as its own game. This is not 64, this is not Melee, this is not Brawl, this is not PM. We need to look at Smash 4 as a whole and whittle it down, not build up from assumptions based on previous installments. Ideas that carry over from the previous games are a great starting point, such as playing with stock, how many stocks, etc. but should never be so forcefully inherited.
Why customs are on
-Why turn customs on then? They don't make the game any more competitive. But neither does allowing the other 47 characters, or allowing any stage other than FD. The answer is simply, "because they're there". This should always be the answer to "why have something on?"
-But in the end, that question is worthless, if it always has the same answer. The question that should instead be asked, "Why turn something off?" If this cannot be answered, then it should remain on. It's the idea of "innocent until proven guilty" that we have always followed in every smash.
-Even items were innocent until proven guilty. Items should be turned on "because they're there", they're part of the game, and at one point they were. In fact, some tournaments still run limited items. However, the answer to "why turn items off?" is apparent and reasonable. For how uncontrollable their randomness factor is by both TO and player, they are much too influential over the outcome of the game on their own.
-If we could control items and reduce their influence, for instance, always having them spawn in the center of the stage and based on a set timer, and possibly have different limited item rotations on different stages, it would add a unique layer of depth to the stage control game and some matchups (Imagine if the planking Extreme Balloon Trip Villager lost out on valuable items for relinquishing stage control), would increase the skill ceiling and make matches more interesting to watch as players incorporate items in to their neutral game and combos.
-If we could control equipment in a similar fashion, allowing everyone to play with all equipment and effects, we could even have equipment on. Of course, as they are, we cannot because of the randomness of obtaining them and how overbearing they can be on a match.
-At one point, a good reason to turn customs off was very similar in that they were hard to obtain and just as hard to put in to practice at tournaments. Again, because we love smash, we examined every possible logistic and managed to develop an efficient way to incorporate them in to tournaments, and even discovered ways to farm them automatically. This invalidated the only logical reason to turn them off.
-Many people simply fear what the custom meta could end up doing to the Smash 4 scene, because nobody really knows. It's okay to be scared, everyone kind of is. It's the same kind of fear we had for the game before it was released (remember how worried we got over simply the mention of "new ledge mechanics"?), but we didn't "turn off Smash 4 and go back to Melee/PM" without at least trying to get competitive with it. We experimented with it knowing that if it wasn't a good competitive smash, we could always go back. And that's where we are now. If customs only hurt the competitive scene, we can go back.
Customs and EVO
-A gimmick is a tactic that would not work when spammed if the opponent knew how to answer it. Being a Ness main, easy examples to list are PK Fire spam and fair walling spam. While both moves involved are very powerful and integral to Ness's kit, spamming them makes me readable, less likely to hit them, and more likely to get punished. As with the rest of my kit, the best way to employ these moves are to include them in a mixup that makes me hard to read.
-Losing to a gimmick is merely the inability to adapt to a situation, which in the end is the loser's fault and was the smartest decision from the winner to make. So far, no gimmick with or without customs has proven to be unbeatable with smart play, ratifying this statement.
-Finally, calling EVO a "gimmick fest" is only half true. It is possible that players who have not practiced versus common sets will get knocked out early, even if they are good, but in the end it is their own fault. Players threatening to not attend EVO in sincerity should have their choice respected because it is entirely possible they spend a thousand to come out here and lose to a gimmick they have not, will not, or can not practice against.
-Especially when we still don't know exactly everything that needs to be practiced against because the meta is so young, you cannot expect international travel to participate in experiments, but a major tournament offering prizes still needs to be an incentive to force out the best and worst of customs.
-Keep in mind it will take more than one tournament, even one as big as EVO's, to even somewhat stabilize the customs meta. Some players will win on gimmicks, some will win on lack of matchup knowledge, and that's going to happen for a while but even mid-tournament, the best players are going to adapt and take Pikachu versus Extreme Villager.
-When the game first came out, people considered Little Mac to be overpowered but really, Little Mac players were just abusing a gimmick and the lack of matchup knowledge. They aren't terrible people for doing it because we needed this, we needed to fight this force head-on and figure out how to beat it, and in the end we did. We need Extreme Villagers to show up because we need to learn and show everyone how to beat them.
-Gimmicks will never dominate a tournament. Playing Extreme Villager or not, the top 20 or so (possibly even more) at EVO give or take a few players will have been the same top 20 if customs were off. The only thing customs will affect are what matchups we see, not what players will advance as the tournament draws near the end.
