Placebo Effect
Smash Apprentice
Link to original post: [drupal=5445]Why I quit Brawl[/drupal]
As some of you may know, a several months ago I quit Brawl.
It was in the middle of my last tourney that I got serious thoughts about thinking to be more precise, I was in the middle of a match against somebody and out of nowhere I got really depressed and bored with the game, especially 1v1s. I wasn't doing that bad that tourney either, so that wasn't the case. I was still having fun with doubles, but that was about it. And I'll still play the game, but only either derpy matches with my friends, or doubles.
This was a little after I was getting back into twitch shooters again. Games like Doom, Quake, Serious Sam, whatever. They're all pretty dead now but I still find them much more fun and interesting than Brawl.
Don't get me wrong, I've had a lot of fun times with the game, endless hours playing against people on wi-fi (mostly twinx but he's still cool), all the matches me and my cousin used to do, and all the dumb matches I used to play at my college when I was trying to get some of my friends there into the competitive scene.
I never went to tournaments often, or talked to people much when I went, I didn't leave because of the community though, I really like the Smash community here in Arizona. :D
I can be a bit of a stubborn person, I main Ness, and secondary R.O.B., Fox, and C. Falcon. And in a tournament what that can mean is I get grabbed once (as Ness of course) and I can lose a stock to certain characters if I don't get out in time. I have secondaried almost every character in the game though (even Ice Climbers), and if I ever do get back into playing Brawl I'm just gonna pick Meta-Knight.
I don't like that in a game, imbalance is one thing, fairness is another (I can pick MK just as well as you can), but the fact that a player can't pick his own main due to fear of being grab-released is ridiculous. I know the game is supposed to be more "matchup-based" or "knowledge-based" than other fighters but there should be a limit.
Also there is, of course, Ice Climbers. I know some people are gonna complain about this "LOL SCRUB" " THEY'RE PART OF THE GAME", keep thoughts like that to yourself and hear me out please. As some of you who have experienced either fighting or playing as Ice Climbers may know, they're another game entirely. It's like, you're playing Super Smash Bros. Don't Get Grabbed and they're playing Super Grab Fighter Tournament Edition Deluxe XV111 with Cheese. And as I've said before, I've secondaried them, and was able to do a pretty good deal of their stuff before dropping them, and although getting a grab can be hard, once you've gotten it the chaingrab itself is mostly just muscle memory.
I remember far too many matches where my cousin would be in the lead and I'd get a grab then off a stock, then another and off another stock, then another and it was gg. Or I've been in a couple matches where it was almost as bad. And really I just didn't feel good using the Icies, even after I won.
It felt too slow for me too, in a weird way. I think that was mostly the movement though.The lack of hitstun didn't bother me that much because it allowed for some interesting fights. Hell in twitch shooters players can still fight in the middle of being comboed, but then again that's from being popped in the air with a rocket launcher and it's a First Person Shooter, so hitstun wouldn't really work too well.
Pretty much every ridiculous thing from every character I guess (which I used myself if I happened to use said character) made me turn away from the game.
The fact that you HAD to do certain things to be able to win, or at least get a considerable advantage bothered me and reminded me of Call of Duty, which is another game I quit lately despite all the good times I used to have with it.
Got really boring seeing the same stuff all the time I guess, the mentality of "Oh I'm losing, better plank" or any of the other stuff just wasn't my thing.
I'm not saying all players or characters have to do it, and I do still like watching competitive Brawl from time to time, but players like that are rare and I usually skip any boring stuff.
And trust me, I know how this sounds, lately I've been pretty much the antithesis of a scrub so it sounds weird to me even. It's one of those things though, you know it's ok for it to be in the game but at the same time you're sick of it. Especially since I've been studying game design so heavily lately.
In twitch shooters you don't have to do things like that to be able to win, or at least it's nowhere near as apparent. Just get some armor/weapons and your major item, keep it's time, return to it when it's up, and go for a steal on your opponent's major items and keep time, then go for more frags since they won't have as much health/armor while continuing to defend and time your own. That's a very basic description of one variation of one playstyle, and the worst it ever gets is a player getting a frag and hiding/running away, but players like that are rare and aren't high ranking players (which are actually pretty diverse).
You don't risk it and attack a position and you don't get any reward. Instead of doing one small attack
, which might not even be a risk and getting a huge reward
.
Maybe the game has done all it's can for me in teaching me about competitivity, who knows. I do know however that I've been learning a lot more since I've made the switch, and feel like a better gamer in general too. Nothing against the game, it still has its moments, they're just a lot less rare for me.
I still play Brawl- from time to time, and if I ever get around to it I will play Project M.
I'm just hoping the next Smash is good competitively though, because I know I can be good at these games (except Melee and most likely Project M), I just don't want to be bored and depressed while playing them.
As some of you may know, a several months ago I quit Brawl.
It was in the middle of my last tourney that I got serious thoughts about thinking to be more precise, I was in the middle of a match against somebody and out of nowhere I got really depressed and bored with the game, especially 1v1s. I wasn't doing that bad that tourney either, so that wasn't the case. I was still having fun with doubles, but that was about it. And I'll still play the game, but only either derpy matches with my friends, or doubles.
This was a little after I was getting back into twitch shooters again. Games like Doom, Quake, Serious Sam, whatever. They're all pretty dead now but I still find them much more fun and interesting than Brawl.
Don't get me wrong, I've had a lot of fun times with the game, endless hours playing against people on wi-fi (mostly twinx but he's still cool), all the matches me and my cousin used to do, and all the dumb matches I used to play at my college when I was trying to get some of my friends there into the competitive scene.
I never went to tournaments often, or talked to people much when I went, I didn't leave because of the community though, I really like the Smash community here in Arizona. :D
I can be a bit of a stubborn person, I main Ness, and secondary R.O.B., Fox, and C. Falcon. And in a tournament what that can mean is I get grabbed once (as Ness of course) and I can lose a stock to certain characters if I don't get out in time. I have secondaried almost every character in the game though (even Ice Climbers), and if I ever do get back into playing Brawl I'm just gonna pick Meta-Knight.
I don't like that in a game, imbalance is one thing, fairness is another (I can pick MK just as well as you can), but the fact that a player can't pick his own main due to fear of being grab-released is ridiculous. I know the game is supposed to be more "matchup-based" or "knowledge-based" than other fighters but there should be a limit.
Also there is, of course, Ice Climbers. I know some people are gonna complain about this "LOL SCRUB" " THEY'RE PART OF THE GAME", keep thoughts like that to yourself and hear me out please. As some of you who have experienced either fighting or playing as Ice Climbers may know, they're another game entirely. It's like, you're playing Super Smash Bros. Don't Get Grabbed and they're playing Super Grab Fighter Tournament Edition Deluxe XV111 with Cheese. And as I've said before, I've secondaried them, and was able to do a pretty good deal of their stuff before dropping them, and although getting a grab can be hard, once you've gotten it the chaingrab itself is mostly just muscle memory.
I remember far too many matches where my cousin would be in the lead and I'd get a grab then off a stock, then another and off another stock, then another and it was gg. Or I've been in a couple matches where it was almost as bad. And really I just didn't feel good using the Icies, even after I won.
It felt too slow for me too, in a weird way. I think that was mostly the movement though.The lack of hitstun didn't bother me that much because it allowed for some interesting fights. Hell in twitch shooters players can still fight in the middle of being comboed, but then again that's from being popped in the air with a rocket launcher and it's a First Person Shooter, so hitstun wouldn't really work too well.
Pretty much every ridiculous thing from every character I guess (which I used myself if I happened to use said character) made me turn away from the game.
The fact that you HAD to do certain things to be able to win, or at least get a considerable advantage bothered me and reminded me of Call of Duty, which is another game I quit lately despite all the good times I used to have with it.
Got really boring seeing the same stuff all the time I guess, the mentality of "Oh I'm losing, better plank" or any of the other stuff just wasn't my thing.
I'm not saying all players or characters have to do it, and I do still like watching competitive Brawl from time to time, but players like that are rare and I usually skip any boring stuff.
And trust me, I know how this sounds, lately I've been pretty much the antithesis of a scrub so it sounds weird to me even. It's one of those things though, you know it's ok for it to be in the game but at the same time you're sick of it. Especially since I've been studying game design so heavily lately.
In twitch shooters you don't have to do things like that to be able to win, or at least it's nowhere near as apparent. Just get some armor/weapons and your major item, keep it's time, return to it when it's up, and go for a steal on your opponent's major items and keep time, then go for more frags since they won't have as much health/armor while continuing to defend and time your own. That's a very basic description of one variation of one playstyle, and the worst it ever gets is a player getting a frag and hiding/running away, but players like that are rare and aren't high ranking players (which are actually pretty diverse).
You don't risk it and attack a position and you don't get any reward. Instead of doing one small attack
grab
kill
Maybe the game has done all it's can for me in teaching me about competitivity, who knows. I do know however that I've been learning a lot more since I've made the switch, and feel like a better gamer in general too. Nothing against the game, it still has its moments, they're just a lot less rare for me.
I still play Brawl- from time to time, and if I ever get around to it I will play Project M.
I'm just hoping the next Smash is good competitively though, because I know I can be good at these games (except Melee and most likely Project M), I just don't want to be bored and depressed while playing them.
