MuraRengan
Banned via Warnings
The concept of "Brawl is easier than Melee" is a very flat statement that holds some truth and some falsity. However it holds more truth than falsity in that Melee required a person to work harder in order to win.
Melee was the basically the combination of 4 aspects: general game knowledge, tech skill, comboing, and mindgaming.
General game knowledge involves knowing every in-game aspect aspect. This includes the following: , attack effects (which are good to use, which arent, which should be avoided, which can be punished, etc)
Game Physics - knockback, hitstun, average movement speeds, etc.
Character Physics - character weight, falling speed, traction, hitboxes
Character Attacks
-----------------------Good Effects - priority, spike, high damage, combo potential, high knockback)
-----------------------Bad Effects - attacks with much lag, are very weak, don't provide anything helpful towards ko'ing and comboing
Stage knowledge - knowledge of every aspect of a stage including interactive stage properties (lava, arwings, transfomations, etc.
Tech skill is the ability to perform various maneuvers and button combinations that provide for better gameplay for the average player. Tech skill is largely composed of the ability to effectively, fluidly, and consistently perform advanced techs. Some of the most important advanced techs were l-cancel, wavedash, and teching. Those are the base techs that lead to the improvement of tech skill, and, eventually, better gameplay. A person that can incorperate good tech skill in battle is generally faster than those who don't. However tech skill alone doesn't win battles, it is more of a gateway to more possibilities, which takes me to the next two aspects.
Comboing is the result of a very long time with playing against various people against various characters. Comboing is one of the results of good tech skill; however, takes a long time to develop a naturally comboing gameplay. In order to combo you need to know about your character's "good" attacks. No character has the ability to combo with every attack they have, therefore, you need to now which ones can. The best way to learn which attacks should be used is to watch videos. After you've learned which attacks to use, all that's left is practice. You'll start off imitation combos, but in time you'll begin to develop your own combos, and even later, you'll be able to combo improptuously. Combos are a major part of Melee's metagame because they can range from getting lots of damage quickly, to taking off a whole stock, while not taking much damage yourself.
Mindgaming is the argueably the most important attribute. Mindgaming is the ability to adapt to your opponent while playing, to the point at which you are not predicting them, instead, manipulating them (somewhat g-reg quote). Mindgaming is another attribute that comes from battling various different people using various different characters over long periods of time. A person without mindgames will fall for the same traps and tactics over and over again. Mindgaming, in some cases, can sometimes overcome tech skill and comboing differences. Mindgaming is very important because it is infinitely potent and ever changing.
Now for the point of this thread.
Each of the components I just mentioned are VERY important to Melee's metagame. Playing Melee without any of them puts a player at a serious disadvantage. Also, developing each of these components for yourself takes a lot of time and training. The problem with Brawl is that it has removed and decreased the importance of some of these components.
Brawl has all but completely removed tech skill because of it's physics and it's lack of advanced techs. It's a scarcity to to see any maneuver or button combination that requires more than 2 mins of practice to perform. Tech skill was the physical aspect of difficulty that Melee presented. If you did not have good tech skill, you did not win against someone who did unless you hd the mindgames to compensate (which has only happened once). Therefore, tech skill was a necessity. With that component removed in Brawl, it takes less effort to perform maneuvers and more mindgames to get a ko.
As a direct consequence for the lack of tech skill, comboing is rare in Brawl. Brawl's physics makes gameplay slow. Attacks are slow and there is much lag in many, however, the hitstun from getting hit is almost none, meaning that once you hit someone, you have to wait for the lag from your move to end (this includes waiting for your character to hit the ground) while the opponent is free to move. The incredibly low hitstun also makes airdodging incredibly easy. So, even if you manage to escape attack lag in time to go for another attack, there's a 99.9% chance that it can be airdodged. There's no guarantee that any charcter will ever have more than 2 effective combos that can be done of more than 3 characters. With that statistic, there's a .028 chance of a random character selections with one character being able fo effectively combo. Comboing is dead.
Brawl inevitably forces players to focus much more on mindgames to compensate for the lack of tech skill and comboing. However, without tech skill, there are even less opportunities for effective mindgaming. I know that I stated that mindgaming has infinite potential; however, mindgaming and effective mindgaming are two different things. Melee's fast pace made there more openings for mindgaming; however, since Brawl is so much slower, both players have more time to focus on what the opponent is doing and devising counter plans, whereas, in Melee, there was always a way to trick even the hardest opponents because the game moved at a pace that didn't allow for overly decisive and adaptive thinking. Thus, Brawl, does require more mindgaming ability, but much less tech skill and comboing ability.
Without tech skill and comboing, Brawl 's gameplay is easier because it requires a large amount less practice than Melee. Mindgaming is more emphasized, however it is not something that one can simply "practice". Mindgaming is developed naturally and most people don't even notice when their mindgaming skills have increased. Keeping that in mind, the only thing people have to have to know in order to play above average is general game knowledge, which can be obtained in a month's time.
Summary: Melee required general game knowledge, high technical skill, high comboing skill, and high mindgaming skill
Brawl requires general game knowledge, very little technical skill, very very little comboing skill, and incredibly high mindgaming skill.
Brawl does not require anything that takes intentional physical training and practice, and relies mainly on components that come naturally as the person's experience with competitive play increases.
Melee, however, requires long intentional and physical training, and components that come naturally as the person's experience with competitive play increases
In that sense, Brawl is easier than Melee.
Melee was the basically the combination of 4 aspects: general game knowledge, tech skill, comboing, and mindgaming.
General game knowledge involves knowing every in-game aspect aspect. This includes the following: , attack effects (which are good to use, which arent, which should be avoided, which can be punished, etc)
Game Physics - knockback, hitstun, average movement speeds, etc.
Character Physics - character weight, falling speed, traction, hitboxes
Character Attacks
-----------------------Good Effects - priority, spike, high damage, combo potential, high knockback)
-----------------------Bad Effects - attacks with much lag, are very weak, don't provide anything helpful towards ko'ing and comboing
Stage knowledge - knowledge of every aspect of a stage including interactive stage properties (lava, arwings, transfomations, etc.
Tech skill is the ability to perform various maneuvers and button combinations that provide for better gameplay for the average player. Tech skill is largely composed of the ability to effectively, fluidly, and consistently perform advanced techs. Some of the most important advanced techs were l-cancel, wavedash, and teching. Those are the base techs that lead to the improvement of tech skill, and, eventually, better gameplay. A person that can incorperate good tech skill in battle is generally faster than those who don't. However tech skill alone doesn't win battles, it is more of a gateway to more possibilities, which takes me to the next two aspects.
Comboing is the result of a very long time with playing against various people against various characters. Comboing is one of the results of good tech skill; however, takes a long time to develop a naturally comboing gameplay. In order to combo you need to know about your character's "good" attacks. No character has the ability to combo with every attack they have, therefore, you need to now which ones can. The best way to learn which attacks should be used is to watch videos. After you've learned which attacks to use, all that's left is practice. You'll start off imitation combos, but in time you'll begin to develop your own combos, and even later, you'll be able to combo improptuously. Combos are a major part of Melee's metagame because they can range from getting lots of damage quickly, to taking off a whole stock, while not taking much damage yourself.
Mindgaming is the argueably the most important attribute. Mindgaming is the ability to adapt to your opponent while playing, to the point at which you are not predicting them, instead, manipulating them (somewhat g-reg quote). Mindgaming is another attribute that comes from battling various different people using various different characters over long periods of time. A person without mindgames will fall for the same traps and tactics over and over again. Mindgaming, in some cases, can sometimes overcome tech skill and comboing differences. Mindgaming is very important because it is infinitely potent and ever changing.
Now for the point of this thread.
Each of the components I just mentioned are VERY important to Melee's metagame. Playing Melee without any of them puts a player at a serious disadvantage. Also, developing each of these components for yourself takes a lot of time and training. The problem with Brawl is that it has removed and decreased the importance of some of these components.
Brawl has all but completely removed tech skill because of it's physics and it's lack of advanced techs. It's a scarcity to to see any maneuver or button combination that requires more than 2 mins of practice to perform. Tech skill was the physical aspect of difficulty that Melee presented. If you did not have good tech skill, you did not win against someone who did unless you hd the mindgames to compensate (which has only happened once). Therefore, tech skill was a necessity. With that component removed in Brawl, it takes less effort to perform maneuvers and more mindgames to get a ko.
As a direct consequence for the lack of tech skill, comboing is rare in Brawl. Brawl's physics makes gameplay slow. Attacks are slow and there is much lag in many, however, the hitstun from getting hit is almost none, meaning that once you hit someone, you have to wait for the lag from your move to end (this includes waiting for your character to hit the ground) while the opponent is free to move. The incredibly low hitstun also makes airdodging incredibly easy. So, even if you manage to escape attack lag in time to go for another attack, there's a 99.9% chance that it can be airdodged. There's no guarantee that any charcter will ever have more than 2 effective combos that can be done of more than 3 characters. With that statistic, there's a .028 chance of a random character selections with one character being able fo effectively combo. Comboing is dead.
Brawl inevitably forces players to focus much more on mindgames to compensate for the lack of tech skill and comboing. However, without tech skill, there are even less opportunities for effective mindgaming. I know that I stated that mindgaming has infinite potential; however, mindgaming and effective mindgaming are two different things. Melee's fast pace made there more openings for mindgaming; however, since Brawl is so much slower, both players have more time to focus on what the opponent is doing and devising counter plans, whereas, in Melee, there was always a way to trick even the hardest opponents because the game moved at a pace that didn't allow for overly decisive and adaptive thinking. Thus, Brawl, does require more mindgaming ability, but much less tech skill and comboing ability.
Without tech skill and comboing, Brawl 's gameplay is easier because it requires a large amount less practice than Melee. Mindgaming is more emphasized, however it is not something that one can simply "practice". Mindgaming is developed naturally and most people don't even notice when their mindgaming skills have increased. Keeping that in mind, the only thing people have to have to know in order to play above average is general game knowledge, which can be obtained in a month's time.
Summary: Melee required general game knowledge, high technical skill, high comboing skill, and high mindgaming skill
Brawl requires general game knowledge, very little technical skill, very very little comboing skill, and incredibly high mindgaming skill.
Brawl does not require anything that takes intentional physical training and practice, and relies mainly on components that come naturally as the person's experience with competitive play increases.
Melee, however, requires long intentional and physical training, and components that come naturally as the person's experience with competitive play increases
In that sense, Brawl is easier than Melee.
