OneWingSephiroth
Smash Journeyman
Loose game engine doesn't always = harder, in fact it usually goes in making it easier, the exceptions are games like MvC2 where at the deep end, it is insanely ridiculous on what you have to learn.
However what real "technical" stuff are you guys talking about before learning how to play Melee? Short Hopping, wavedashing? All of these are advance tactics, and are not the basics, because the real basics of Melee are easy to grasp and learn, which in comparison to SFIV, the basics in there are much harder. I don't understand where you guys are pulling all of the technical aspects from, however the basics of Melee is ridiculously easy to pick up and learn (I'm talking about moving, jumping, attacking, specials, grabbing items <--- for Melee's case etc).
SHing, WDing, Edge hogging, shuffling, universal basics etc, etc are all advance tactics in Melee's, and let's compare those to what you have to do in SF:IV, High/Low mixups, cross ups, FADcing, FA baits, tick throws, chip damage, spacing, positioning, footsies, etc, etc...the line up is much more broad and bigger in SFIV.
This is why general people can pick up Melee, that's why little kids can get into it quickly. SFIV, the understanding of a six button layout, the fact that moves requires execution and precision by the player (given there is more leniency now a days) means that basic's...non experience fighting gamers will pick up SFIV slower. Sure it's not as difficult as it once was in SFII, however the demands are still there.
You guys are also forgetting one huge gigantic difference from SFIV to Melee. That is that in Melee, everyone has the same button attack setups for ALL of their moves, yes, different properties, however the button commands are the same. While in SFIV there is a larger gap of mastering multiple execution points, which makes things more difficult. If you play Ryu and start to figure his stuff out, then you go to play Zangief...your basically starting all over, because his executions are different in that his revolves around 360's etc, etc, while Ryu's did not.
That's why although Marth may play differently from Shiek, since everyone has the same string of attacks, one can easily get access to other characters due to this, however the same cannot be said for SFIV, unless your switching from Ryu to Ken. I believe you guys are really exaggerating Melee's basics in comparison to SF's to try and make it look as "technical" however it's not even close seriously.
Spacing in SF, I repeat...Spacing in SF is/was never easy to master, ask any good SF player who difficult spacing really is in that game. I've played SF for over 15+ years, and my spacing is not even near perfect yet.
You ever noticed guys like Tomo...they could stuff on Guile's c.mk with sweep on reaction...on reaction! Now if you can do this...Guile gets absolutely destroyed, however only like two shoto players in history that I know of have done this nearly 99% consistency...Tomo, and Wats. This is why during the height of Hyper Fighting, although Ryu was #1 in that game, only TWO players in the entire US could play Ryu to that potential...simply because learning how to space correctly which was Ryu's strongest point in SFII was absolutely ridiculously difficult to get really, really good at.
You will see solid players who space well, however you will very, very rarely see players with a monster spacing game. To be serious, top SF players like today don't even have spacing down as well as the OLD SF cats of old. In fact, the best spacers in SF are usually the best players.
This is not "easy" in anyway, because I tell you this, if you mastered spacing in SFIV near flawless, Sagat would be S++++++++++++ Tier, while Ryu and Dhalsim would be far and away 2nd placers due to all three of them having very powerful spacing and footsie games.
However, let's take this into consideration, in Melee, you are absolutely correct in not having to worry as much against the opponent. However in SF, try controlling not just your character, but all the while trying to limit and control what your opponent can and cannot do, your doing this all the while your spacing, trying to dominate for a position. There's just simply way more to deal with in just a single match up in SF:IV in comparison to Melee, due to the fact that there is so many things that you have to do/worry about within that round.
Yes, this really is my absolute last time talking about this, I've grown tired of it, if you "seriously" believe Melee is more demanding, w/e, however the points are spoken here already.
To be real, I like playing in the moment, and when I lose, I want the lost to be because I made a mistake myself, and the opponent capitalized on it. There was times I was playing my out of town cousin online in SF:IV, and had in the corner, he throw out a low poke and I punished with EX-Tatsu...however I couldn't pull off my Ultra because of the annoying spike that occurred from when my Ex-Tatsu was like mid-way through finish, which completely threw me off of my execution.
Yes, indeed it is better then most other online games, which I can assuredly attest to that (3S online for the XBox was absolutely atrocious), however overall it's just not my taste. Now don't get me wrong, there's been some beastly players who've come out of Online FG's, guys like Magnetomaniac I believe that's his name was an absolute monster in MvC2 (fear his Duo War's), and I believe Afrolegends came from this frey as well...and he's super beast in ST.
Anyhow, I started to mess around with C.Viper and now I can really start to see why she's very beastly, those BK shenanegans are absolutely off the wall, you get the opponents guessing whether to block forward or back, lol. My goodness, she's got some huge **** potential in this game, mad serious, and I'm starting to become a believer that she is a contender for Top...however we'll see if these tricks can stand the test of time.
If you guys don't believe me, check out some matches of Kindevu's C.Viper...it's absolutely insane!
