Items level the playing field. Not a handicap, but an addition to the gameplay that enables lesser players to bridge the skill gap, IF AND ONLY IF, the other opponent allows them. Specifically, it`s no different than everyone having a samus half shot, when holding items. Makes all chars stronger, makes the gameplay more balanced, and increases skill requirements on all levels.
This is a problem, a big problem.
Firstly, claiming it levels the playing field is questionable mostly because if the better player gets everything then the game is going to be more lopsided. If the worse player gets them all then the game is going to be close. That clearly proves that items are winning the game, not the players. Two equal players play with items, the winner is the one with more items, items shouldn't be winning, players should be winning.
Secondly, the game is about competition, not mindless free for alls with no significance. Therefore, a level playing field is a bad thing. That is communism, this is capitalism. It was made in Japan, not China. It allows a lesser player to bridge the "skill" gap, without having anymore skill, just getting lucky. The better player doesn't get to let the person get the items or determine how they can use them so claiming its if and only if the better player allows is wrong. Item acquisition is luck, it is not skill, it is about proximity to the item at the time it falls and the current state of the player. To say "I knew an item was going to fall here so I positioned myself for it" is bull****, you're just getting lucky. Its like going to a roulette table, and saying you knew for a 100% fact it was going to be black so you bet black and won. You didn't know ****, it was chance and it happened to be in your favor. The fallacy of blind confident hope being fact and not luck is a dangerous one.
Thirdly, if it makes everyone equally stronger then it doesn't make the gameplay more balanced, it makes the gameplay the same. If it is constant throughout then it is meaningless to have because it doesn't make a difference. Think of it as saying "if I was a foot taller I'd be better at sports", well that isn't fair because only you are getting taller and no one else, so you would have to make everyone a foot taller and then you would say "if everyone was a foot taller we would all be better at sports", well no because now the foot doesn't matter because everyone is a foot taller and you are just as short as you were before.
Fourthly, there is no proof that it increases skill requirements on all levels. That is a claim you are making, not a fact, and provide no sound evidence for.
Fifthly, everyone having a samus half shot is not better. As I said before, giving characters like DK or jiggly a half shot will help them more than giving samus a half shot, she doesn't need another half shot. Pika with a half shot breaks him. He can already edge guard incredibly well and now he can edgeguard even better. Kirby doesn't have a projectile, now Kirby half shots you off stage forcing you to either jump or fast fall. Fast fall and you're too low, kirby dair and you're dead. Jump and you're recovery is too predictable since you're left upbing too high and getting stuck in fall special to be punished or right at the stage which is asking to die. You have ruined characters that are limited in recovery by giving characters with good recovery, super overpowered projectiles. There is a reason certain characters don't have projectiles, or have weak projectiles, or have projectiles with certain physics, because it gives them advantages that allow them to be balanced in the game the way they are, you add items, and projectile deficient characters are now benefited when projectile equipped characters aren't as much. What does samus get? Nothing that new. What does kirby get? A crutch for his only weakness. DK has his version of a homerun bat, same with falcon, and jiggly. They did this on purpose to balance the characters. Pika was never given any moves with crazy knockback because pika had everything else. Well with items you now gave pika a homerun bat, making up for his only weakness, while DK doesn't get **** and his DK punch is useless. Items take away from character diversity because it takes the characters that are already slightly more advantageous than others and corrects whatever weaknesses they have. But a character like link who doesn't need projectiles but needs recovery doesn't have an item to help him with that, but good old ness can now throw swords all over the place.
Sixthly, I've made the point several times. Items are not constant. The item drop is random, it is not guaranteed, and therefore items more favorable to one character could drop than another, and in a bo3 where there isn't time for statistics to play out and all items to come into play, on person is going to win when they may not of had a different item set appeared. In this same respect, the position of item drops are random, and therefore items could fall closer to one person over another for a set of 3 and give a lesser player the win when they wouldn't normally win had item disbursement been even. If you play 100 item matches between two people, and 100 non item matches between two people, the better player is going to have a similar win % regardless. So therefore, items on the whole do not change who is the better player. But items are volatile, and sets are not best of 100 they are best of 3 and so the better player could lose a game because of being unlucky from items. This is terrible. The better player should always win. If you don't agree with that then you don't believe in competition, and your presence is welcome in the community, but your opinions involving the rulesets cannot be taken seriously because the rulesets here are designed to be conducive to the competitive environment. You want to play online or in friendlies then you can convince people to play for fun with items. But if you don't believe in objective competition and determining truth of skill, talent, and who is better, then you can't create discussions on changing the way competition is played.
