Big-Cat
Challenge accepted.
Link to original post: [drupal=3909]Ranting on Smash[/drupal]
This post has nothing to do with character choices, stages, music, etc. I’m talking solely about the gameplay design of Smash here. However, what I am to discuss affects all the above except music for reasons I shouldn’t have to delve into.
Back when Brawl came out in 2008, I loved the game. I loved the many characters, stages, music, etc., and I even wanted to compete in tournaments. I loved the game enough to make two AMVs with it and had ideas for fanfiction that never came to fruition (probably a good thing). However, over time, I got bored with the game. I could hardly play any of the veteran characters because they felt like awkward versions of themselves like with Fox’s abnormal drop speed, Peach’s horrid second jump, Ness being real floaty, and Samus in general. I only enjoyed the game playing the newcomers. By September or October of 2008, I stopped playing. It was a chore to just turn on the Wii to play it.
It was at this time that my “enlightenment” was being prepared. Sometime after I stopped playing Brawl, I was on a forum that had a link to a trailer for the upcoming Street Fighter IV that featured all the characters, and when I watched the trailer, I was sold on buying this game.
This was when my “enlightenment” began. Like anyone else, I was a scrub at the game, but I finally found my character and favorite playstyle (annoying, aggressive, and fast), something I didn’t really get to realize with my time in Smash.
Enough of “What’s past is prologue.” Once I joined SRK and tried out different fighting games like BlazBlue, King of Fighters, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, and Guilty Gear (Marvel’s sprites are just too jarring for me to play), I got to play Brawl again at a small tournament at my college. I had seen people say they hated Brawl, and after trying other fighters, I could see why. Now, the point of this post finally begins.
Unstable Design
Again, after trying out these different fighters (to various levels) and also reading up some stuff from Sirlin, I realized that Smash has absolutely no preemptive balance fixes. I understand that the point of the design was to be simple, but it might be too simple for its own good.
One of the first things I noticed in these fighters that was not present in Smash was tech grabs. For those of you that don’t know, a tech grab is when two people try to grab at the same time. This can also be used defensively like when you think your opponent is going to grab you. Had this been in Super Smash Bros., chain grabs would have NEVER been an issue.
Another thing I noticed was there was an effort to handle infinites in these games (can’t say for sure on KOF, though 2k2 is supposed to be pretty balanced). Again, these are nonexistent in Smash. Street Fighter and BlazBlue both feature a mechanic known as damage scaling (I think Marvel 3 has this as well). What this does is the sequential attacks are scaled based on their position in the combo stack and what you’re comboing from, and this lets loops exist as well (ie. El Fuerte’s RSF loop is an infinite, but it becomes impractical after a certain point). Personally, I prefer this over stale moves , but I do understand the purpose behind stale moves, I just don’t think it works in the long run. Also, damage scaling in Brawl probably wouldn’t have mattered anyway.
I don’t remember if Guilty Gear has damage scaling, but it does have something similar called gravity scaling. Basically, this mechanic prevented infinite juggles by setting a scalar on the combo’d character. Eventually, the scaling would become so great that repeating a loop after a certain point becomes impossible. And finally, Marvel 3 will have a hitstun scalar as well. This and damage scaling are probably the only ones that could apply to Smash without breaking it (as aerial loops might be broken in Smash).
While, I’d like to see some changes in the Smash combat system (supers and revolver actions come to mind), damage and hitstun scaling and tech grabs would likely allow for a more solid game. The next thing I want to go into is learning curves.
Guide Dang It
For a series designed as a fighter with a lower entry barrier, it does a good job of keeping some things unknown or pointlessly difficult.
For example, Melee had two jump buttons. Instead of asking us to time how long we held the jump button down, why not make the two buttons Short Jump and High Jump (though FG terminologies would likely conflict)? To me, this is a pointless technical barrier. Then there’s the landing lag from aerials. In my opinion, the landing lag should be the same no matter what. Three frames is probably a good choice. The point of L-Canceling, if I recall correctly, was to allow you to pull your shield up quicker. Just remove the lag and balance accordingly and problem solved. Aside from these two issues, I’m okay with the mechanics in Smash.
In my time looking at other fighters, I was happy to see that Street Fighter IV (and Super), BlazBlue Continuum Shift, and Marvel vs. Capcom 3 all feature something along the lines of tutorial modes. BlazBlue is the only one that has a true tutorial though. Anyway, what these three feature is a challenge mode. For SFIV and BBCS, these have you trying out the specials and doing combos with any character. While not perfect (such as giving you some awesome but impractical combos), it gives you an idea as to how the character is played. I bet everyone would have loved if you had an idea how the characters played before settling on a main, but the closest you have in Smash is messing around in training mode.
It would also be nice to know the properties of different attacks. For the longest time, I never knew that Marth’s Sword Dance was basically a Rekka, or that you could aim Link’s Boomerang in different directions. And finally, I still don’t quite understand DI aside from that it’s basically air oki mixups for the attacker.
I had nothing else to do so I decided to write this rant up on the fly. And just to make clear, I want Smash to retain its identity as an unorthodox fighter, but taking things from other places wouldn’t be a bad idea.
Tell me what you think.
This post has nothing to do with character choices, stages, music, etc. I’m talking solely about the gameplay design of Smash here. However, what I am to discuss affects all the above except music for reasons I shouldn’t have to delve into.
Back when Brawl came out in 2008, I loved the game. I loved the many characters, stages, music, etc., and I even wanted to compete in tournaments. I loved the game enough to make two AMVs with it and had ideas for fanfiction that never came to fruition (probably a good thing). However, over time, I got bored with the game. I could hardly play any of the veteran characters because they felt like awkward versions of themselves like with Fox’s abnormal drop speed, Peach’s horrid second jump, Ness being real floaty, and Samus in general. I only enjoyed the game playing the newcomers. By September or October of 2008, I stopped playing. It was a chore to just turn on the Wii to play it.
It was at this time that my “enlightenment” was being prepared. Sometime after I stopped playing Brawl, I was on a forum that had a link to a trailer for the upcoming Street Fighter IV that featured all the characters, and when I watched the trailer, I was sold on buying this game.
This was when my “enlightenment” began. Like anyone else, I was a scrub at the game, but I finally found my character and favorite playstyle (annoying, aggressive, and fast), something I didn’t really get to realize with my time in Smash.
Enough of “What’s past is prologue.” Once I joined SRK and tried out different fighting games like BlazBlue, King of Fighters, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, and Guilty Gear (Marvel’s sprites are just too jarring for me to play), I got to play Brawl again at a small tournament at my college. I had seen people say they hated Brawl, and after trying other fighters, I could see why. Now, the point of this post finally begins.
Unstable Design
Again, after trying out these different fighters (to various levels) and also reading up some stuff from Sirlin, I realized that Smash has absolutely no preemptive balance fixes. I understand that the point of the design was to be simple, but it might be too simple for its own good.
One of the first things I noticed in these fighters that was not present in Smash was tech grabs. For those of you that don’t know, a tech grab is when two people try to grab at the same time. This can also be used defensively like when you think your opponent is going to grab you. Had this been in Super Smash Bros., chain grabs would have NEVER been an issue.
Another thing I noticed was there was an effort to handle infinites in these games (can’t say for sure on KOF, though 2k2 is supposed to be pretty balanced). Again, these are nonexistent in Smash. Street Fighter and BlazBlue both feature a mechanic known as damage scaling (I think Marvel 3 has this as well). What this does is the sequential attacks are scaled based on their position in the combo stack and what you’re comboing from, and this lets loops exist as well (ie. El Fuerte’s RSF loop is an infinite, but it becomes impractical after a certain point). Personally, I prefer this over stale moves , but I do understand the purpose behind stale moves, I just don’t think it works in the long run. Also, damage scaling in Brawl probably wouldn’t have mattered anyway.
I don’t remember if Guilty Gear has damage scaling, but it does have something similar called gravity scaling. Basically, this mechanic prevented infinite juggles by setting a scalar on the combo’d character. Eventually, the scaling would become so great that repeating a loop after a certain point becomes impossible. And finally, Marvel 3 will have a hitstun scalar as well. This and damage scaling are probably the only ones that could apply to Smash without breaking it (as aerial loops might be broken in Smash).
While, I’d like to see some changes in the Smash combat system (supers and revolver actions come to mind), damage and hitstun scaling and tech grabs would likely allow for a more solid game. The next thing I want to go into is learning curves.
Guide Dang It
For a series designed as a fighter with a lower entry barrier, it does a good job of keeping some things unknown or pointlessly difficult.
For example, Melee had two jump buttons. Instead of asking us to time how long we held the jump button down, why not make the two buttons Short Jump and High Jump (though FG terminologies would likely conflict)? To me, this is a pointless technical barrier. Then there’s the landing lag from aerials. In my opinion, the landing lag should be the same no matter what. Three frames is probably a good choice. The point of L-Canceling, if I recall correctly, was to allow you to pull your shield up quicker. Just remove the lag and balance accordingly and problem solved. Aside from these two issues, I’m okay with the mechanics in Smash.
In my time looking at other fighters, I was happy to see that Street Fighter IV (and Super), BlazBlue Continuum Shift, and Marvel vs. Capcom 3 all feature something along the lines of tutorial modes. BlazBlue is the only one that has a true tutorial though. Anyway, what these three feature is a challenge mode. For SFIV and BBCS, these have you trying out the specials and doing combos with any character. While not perfect (such as giving you some awesome but impractical combos), it gives you an idea as to how the character is played. I bet everyone would have loved if you had an idea how the characters played before settling on a main, but the closest you have in Smash is messing around in training mode.
It would also be nice to know the properties of different attacks. For the longest time, I never knew that Marth’s Sword Dance was basically a Rekka, or that you could aim Link’s Boomerang in different directions. And finally, I still don’t quite understand DI aside from that it’s basically air oki mixups for the attacker.
I had nothing else to do so I decided to write this rant up on the fly. And just to make clear, I want Smash to retain its identity as an unorthodox fighter, but taking things from other places wouldn’t be a bad idea.
Tell me what you think.
