Princess Rescuer
Smash Apprentice
- Joined
- Nov 3, 2018
- Messages
- 119
The final pre-release Direct has left me thoroughly unexcited for SSBU. First off, the game seems to have changed from a unique fighting game to a combination of a gacha game and JRPG where victory revolves around luck, timesinking, and generally being addicted more than pure fighting skill.
But that's a topic for another time. The main thing that bothers me in modern Smash games? The characters- or rather, the over-abundance of unpopular characters from niche franchises at the expense of balance and even appeal. The game is less exciting and less well made for their inclusion. And this problem began with Melee- the "best" one. And it's only gotten worse since then. The Honest Trailer wasn't kidding when it said Smash started out as an all-star fighting game and scraped the bottom of the barrel later on.
Something I have been noticing lately is a lot of fans deflect criticisms of Ultimate by saying that detractors should be thankful. After all, look at how much work went into the game! Look at how much content there is! That doesn't entice me if most of the content is bad though.
What were the points of contention in the previous installment on the Wii U? A small handful of overpowered, high tier characters that made most of the other characters useless. Not just in tournaments, but in the For Glory mode as well. I can't tell you how much percentage of For Glory matches had me facing Bayonettas or Cloud players with "Kirito" in their usernames. Two characters not originally from Nintendo consoles, yet dominating the Nintendo fighting game. See where the problem lies with including everyone instead of just the good characters? Not to mention the fact that stages were so filled to the brim with gimmicks and constantly moving/changing, the game became more about keeping up with the stage rather than fighting. I suspect that this was such an issue, that this is why the "omega stage" feature had to be included. That feature existed to patch up a problem, and was presented as a fun addition. Not to mention that the Omega variations of each and every stage added to the development time and playtesting budget significantly.
And to make matters worse, the roster is full of similar looking swordsmen, not to mention Pokemon most people won't be able to name upon looking at them or which game they're from. Without looking it up, I don't know which installments Lucario, Greninja, or Incineroar are from. Yet I know exactly where Pikachu, Jigglypuff, Mewtwo, and Charizard are from.
Here is what I would have liked: A game with about as much characters and stages as Melee (or even Smash 64!) had. This would be cheaper and faster to develop and easier to balance, not to mention it would probably look better. A small game with 100% content that I like and never get tired of is better than a big game where I'm ignoring most of the content.
Bring this up to Smash fans, and they'll tell you to be grateful. Grateful? for a game that costs over $100 for the full experience and will probably have most of the game marred by the gacha nonsense? Ultimate seems like it's been bloated and overbudget already. I'll be grateful when there's LESS content and it's better balanced.
But that's a topic for another time. The main thing that bothers me in modern Smash games? The characters- or rather, the over-abundance of unpopular characters from niche franchises at the expense of balance and even appeal. The game is less exciting and less well made for their inclusion. And this problem began with Melee- the "best" one. And it's only gotten worse since then. The Honest Trailer wasn't kidding when it said Smash started out as an all-star fighting game and scraped the bottom of the barrel later on.
Something I have been noticing lately is a lot of fans deflect criticisms of Ultimate by saying that detractors should be thankful. After all, look at how much work went into the game! Look at how much content there is! That doesn't entice me if most of the content is bad though.
What were the points of contention in the previous installment on the Wii U? A small handful of overpowered, high tier characters that made most of the other characters useless. Not just in tournaments, but in the For Glory mode as well. I can't tell you how much percentage of For Glory matches had me facing Bayonettas or Cloud players with "Kirito" in their usernames. Two characters not originally from Nintendo consoles, yet dominating the Nintendo fighting game. See where the problem lies with including everyone instead of just the good characters? Not to mention the fact that stages were so filled to the brim with gimmicks and constantly moving/changing, the game became more about keeping up with the stage rather than fighting. I suspect that this was such an issue, that this is why the "omega stage" feature had to be included. That feature existed to patch up a problem, and was presented as a fun addition. Not to mention that the Omega variations of each and every stage added to the development time and playtesting budget significantly.
And to make matters worse, the roster is full of similar looking swordsmen, not to mention Pokemon most people won't be able to name upon looking at them or which game they're from. Without looking it up, I don't know which installments Lucario, Greninja, or Incineroar are from. Yet I know exactly where Pikachu, Jigglypuff, Mewtwo, and Charizard are from.
Here is what I would have liked: A game with about as much characters and stages as Melee (or even Smash 64!) had. This would be cheaper and faster to develop and easier to balance, not to mention it would probably look better. A small game with 100% content that I like and never get tired of is better than a big game where I'm ignoring most of the content.
Bring this up to Smash fans, and they'll tell you to be grateful. Grateful? for a game that costs over $100 for the full experience and will probably have most of the game marred by the gacha nonsense? Ultimate seems like it's been bloated and overbudget already. I'll be grateful when there's LESS content and it's better balanced.