What is it good for?

[Ogre_Deity_Link]

(Answer this question with "Absolutely Nothing" and I'll...Um....Be really annoyed at your cheesy corny answer. Oh yeah, you're REAL scared now aren't ya?)

Lag.

I'd like to know if there's a purpose for this. I'm not degrading anyone, I'm not calling names, I'm simply wondering what the purpose of lag is.

I mean, with all these lag decreasing/erasing techniques out there, Lag must be a trival matter, confined only to those players who haven't taken time out of their lives to master the techniques. For instance, the L-Cancel. Now I know they've changed it so it only HALVES the lag, but still, aren't you basically half-ignoring a concept that was placed in the game, obviously for a purpose?

What about WDing? I mean, who needs that laggy roll when you can just WD out of the way? Maybe I'm not getting the full meaning of these techs, but the more I think about it, the more I get this mentality that Lag is simply a "casual-only" part of the programming (for lack of a better term) and simply an obsticle for advance players to get around.

So it leads me full circle to my main question:

Lag. What is it good for?

 

[TheBuzzSaw]

Absolutely nothing. No pun intended.

Honestly... when does lag help you except to serve as a rare accidental mind game? It is just as you described: lag is a casual obstacle that serious players work to avoid.

 

[Ban Heim]

Lag is thrown in to make overpowered moves less overpowered and to prevent 0 to death combos from being a common occurance. It's basically something that's meant to balance the game.

 

[Ogre_Deity_Link]

Absolutely nothing. No pun intended.

Honestly... when does lag help you except to serve as a rare accidental mind game? It is just as you described: lag is a casual obstacle that serious players work to avoid.

That kind of seems...well, B.S. I mean, Lag is programmed into the game for a purpose by the designers, right? Otherwise, Bowser wouldnt' be a walking target...so it just seems both broken and cheap that players are simply ignoring it because they don't like it...

Ugh...my head hurts now.

 

[TheBuzzSaw]

Oh, you are asking why designers put in lag? Well, mix my answer with Ban Heim's. Lag was put into the game to balance out the variety of characters and to prevent certain moves from having no consequences. On the other hand, they put in methods to reduce lag in order to add depth to the game and give serious players something to shoot for.

 

[Ogre_Deity_Link]

Oh, you are asking why designers put in lag? Well, mix my answer with Ban Heim's. Lag was put into the game to balance out the variety of characters and to prevent certain moves from having no consequences. On the other hand, they put in methods to reduce lag in order to add depth to the game and give serious players something to shoot for.

But if it were put in there to prevent certain moves from having no consequences, and for balance, doesn't it also mean that the reduction of lag would throw off that balance and get rid of the punishment for certain moves? It still seems...er...well...bullspit-ish.

 

[Ban Heim]

But if it were put in there to prevent certain moves from having no consequences, and for balance, doesn't it also mean that the reduction of lag would throw off that balance and get rid of the punishment for certain moves? It still seems...er...well...bullspit-ish.

Meh, not really. Slower characters with more lag but stronger attacks (Bowser, Ganondorf) get a much bigger advantage with lag reducing techniques like L-cancelling than do faster characters with weaker attacks(Sheik for example). So if anything, lag reducing techniques help to balance out the game more by helping out the slower characters. Where would Luigi and Ice Climbers be without WDing? How much slower Ganondorf would be without l-cancelling?

Besides, as long as every character can do the technique, it doesn't throw everything out of balance (since, you know, they can all do it). What you're really talking about here is players who use advanced techs compared to those who don't. Then there is a slight balance issue, but even that isn't a big change as long as the non-WDing/l-cancelling player is actually decent.

 

[Ogre_Deity_Link]

Meh, not really. Slower characters with more lag but stronger attacks (Bowser, Ganondorf) get a much bigger advantage with lag reducing techniques like L-cancelling than do faster characters with weaker attacks(Sheik for example). So if anything, lag reducing techniques help to balance out the game more by helping out the slower characters. Where would Luigi and Ice Climbers be without WDing? How much slower Ganondorf would be without l-cancelling?

Besides, as long as every character can do the technique, it doesn't throw everything out of balance (since, you know, they can all do it). What you're really talking about here is players who use advanced techs compared to those who don't. Then there is a slight balance issue, but even that isn't a big change as long as the non-WDing/l-cancelling player is actually decent.

Well if the characters have to rely on things such as WDing and L-cancelling to be any good, that just means that the balance is completely and utterly off skew, does it not?

I REALLY hope Sakurai decides to put mucho emphasis on balance in Brawl....

 

[NES n00b]

Lag is suppose to make the a balance in the game by making moves that are powerful slow and fast moves weak. Same with characters blah blah blah you know that old slow = powerful junk. Anyways, people try to get around lag so they will have less chances to get punished and more chances to get hits in. You don't just double jump dair approach with Link do you? Why would you? Your opponent will just dodge it and you will get hit. No one wants to be slower in a game for no reason.

I REALLY hope Sakurai decides to put mucho emphasis on balance in Brawl....

Probably not. He will probably nerf some characters that were obviously broken and make some buffs for characters that were horrible, but he will not have great play testing on one and ones. The game will still be pretty imbalanced probably.

LOL lots of probablies there.

 

[Mic_128]

The characters who get the most out of L-canceling are generally the more weaker characters.

 

[Adi]

The characters who get the most out of L-canceling are generally the more weaker characters.

You, my friend, fail.

 

[Ogre_Deity_Link]

Well I understand that lag is an unpleasant thing, but it's a concept that's been placed into the game for a reason right? Wouldn't it then be considered broken/cheap/not the way to play if you are simply ignoring it?

 

[Ban Heim]

Well I understand that lag is an unpleasant thing, but it's a concept that's been placed into the game for a reason right? Wouldn't it then be considered broken/cheap/not the way to play if you are simply ignoring it?

Not if everyone has the same opportunity and every character can do it. Besides, l-cancelling was intentional and its primary purpose is to reduce lag.

 

[NES n00b]

Well I understand that lag is an unpleasant thing, but it's a concept that's been placed into the game for a reason right? Wouldn't it then be considered broken/cheap/not the way to play if you are simply ignoring it?

Yes, it was put there for a reason, but you want to go as fast as you can. There is no reason to go slower than you are able to. That would just be stupid if you want to compete in tournies.

It is not broken or cheap since everyone can reduce lag with the standard stuff and character specific stuff. What is "the way to play?" How do you know what that is? L canceling was intended so did Sakurai expect everyone to use L canceling? Who knows and why does it matter? If you want to win, play your best. It is the developers job to make the game as balanced as possible with lag and all that stuff while being fun. If players find new ways to be faster (intended or unintended), then it is the developer's fault in some way that they can do it.

You seem to not be asking why the developers made lag, but more like why do players use techs or tatics that make their character faster.

 

[SSJ4Kazuki]

Well I understand that lag is an unpleasant thing, but it's a concept that's been placed into the game for a reason right? Wouldn't it then be considered broken/cheap/not the way to play if you are simply ignoring it?

OK, you seem to not understand the concept of lag.

I'll explain it to you in terms you can understand.

ONE FALCON PUNCH 60 TIMES A SECOND = BAD.
If there was no lag, the hitbox would be out, then retract in an instant.
Falcon would be the most broken character ever.

Imagine bowser's hammer head with no lag. Instant 28% without you even having to time it.

Now do you understand the concept of lag?