Fresh off of her top 64 performance at Final Round 20–not to mention second place at Capcom Cup 2016 late last year–Evil Geniuses’ Ricki Ortiz is poised to make more noise for the rest of 2017, competing in Street Fighter V during another year of the Capcom Pro Tour.
Before and during Final Round 20, the UK’s public service broadcaster BBC conducted an interview/mini-documentary with Ortiz; in the video, Ricki discusses her challenges of being transgender and how being a part of the fighting game community helped her figure out who she was. BBC also follows her and NorCal local tournament organizer, Joe Flores, inside of Milpitas Golfland, as both of them talk about their humble beginnings in the arcade fighting game scene.
If you can spare nine and a half minutes, it’s definitely worth watching for a side of Ricki Ortiz the fighting game general public rarely gets a glimpse of. You can see the full video on the BBC website.
With the recent announcement of Red Bull Proving Grounds 2017, Street Fighter V competitors in select cities across the United States and Canada are gearing up to make a name for themselves for the next few months. The reward for the end of this grueling journey is a trip to Evolution 2017 for the entire top eight of that region’s local qualifier. In addition to returning cities such as Los Angeles, CA, Philadelphia, PA, and others from last year, new regions have been added to the circuit which will undoubtedly make the competition more intense than ever.
One of the regions added to the Proving Grounds circuit is the city of Milpitas in northern California (the banner image on the Proving Grounds website says it’s in San Francisco, but Milpitas is actually closer to the San Jose area). This Proving Grounds Qualifying Stop will mark the beginning of new monthly tournament series titled “NorCal Rivals” which will showcase the regions’ local SFV talent as they compete against each other for the top three spots to advance as a team to the Proving Grounds finals.
Northern California has always been considered a strong region in the FGC, especially when it comes to Capcom fighting games. Expect to see a lot of NorCal’s established SFV players such as FOX|Julio, CircalLPN, BJ Unchained, Splyce|FChamp, ROM, ROG|Kelvin Jeon, Pavocado as well as up-and-coming talent like Robert “Ghodere” Covington, Eric “Brass” Beck, Isaiah Raider, David Higashi, and many more.
Just like the other regions, NorCal Rivals will take place on the first Saturday of April, May, and June. For more information on NorCal Rivals and Red Bull Proving Grounds, click on the source links below.
So, let me start off by saying that even though For Honor was announced by Ubisoft at E3 2015 for PlaySation 4, Xbox One and PC, I didn’t know anything about the game until E3 2016, when they showed the second cinematic trailer for their new title. I’ll admit, just the premise of For Honor had me hooked me from the start: an ongoing war between knights, vikings and samurai in an alternate world, with online cross-platform play. Sign me up, please!
As the year in development of For Honor went on, news and word-of-mouth on social media was buzzing that this title would play more like a modern 3D fighter, which is a first for Ubisoft; known more for its flagship franchises such as Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, Rayman and Just Dance. I was intrigued to hear from fellow fighting game players–who played the alpha and beta versions–that it was borrowing aspects from fighters such as Soul Calibur, Street Fighter,and even the Bushido Blade series.
With all this amazing potential in mind, I went ahead and picked up the PlayStation 4 version of For Honor the day after its release. As of this review, I’ve sunk in roughly 20 hours into the game through the story mode, and the 1v1 Duel and 4v4 Dominion online modes. I have yet to try out the 4v4 Elimination and 2v2 Brawl modes, since smaller team-based modes in fighters don’t really hook me in at first. I might discuss these modes–once I’ve experienced them firsthand–in a future post.
Story Mode
Let’s get one thing out of the way first, before jumping into this review: an online connection is required for every mode in For Honor on all platforms, and yes that includes the story mode. Originally it was reported by various gaming news sources that Ubisoft’s retail ads stated the single-player campaign mode would be playable offline. However, in December 2016, Ubisoft clarified that every mode, including the single player campaign, would have to be played with an online connection.
Prior to finding out about this, I was taken aback when I booted up For Honor to see a screen pop-up telling me that an Ubisoft account was required to connect to the server and actually play the game. It’s nothing new in the gaming industry for certain games to require an online connection to play the “full” game, but it was kind of annoying to find out that everyone needed to do this just to get to the title screen. Hopefully, Ubisoft will be better at communicating about these situations in the future.
The story mode–which you can either play solo, or with a friend online in co-op mode–has three chapters divided up into six levels each where you play as the Knight, Viking, and Samurai factions respectively, in that order. Every level you complete will reward you with custom gear, “Steel” (the in-game currency) and experience points, which go towards leveling up and earning “Feats” which are special enhancements for your characters such as regenerative health, damage, defensive boosts when you perform certain actions, and more.
In terms of actual story and character-development, you won’t find anything deep or meaningful throughout this 8-10 hour journey. The plot is very thin and vague in its details and character motivations, when it comes to addressing its themes about war. It’s also hard to get attached to the characters you’re playing, since most of them are nameless and faceless. Story mode serves more as a tutorial that shows you the fundamentals of the game, to prepare you for the online experience that awaits you once you’re done with the regular campaign. There are a few moments in this mode that break up the usual combat, such as a decent chase segment on horseback in one of the Viking levels as a Raider, and fending off Knights on horseback as a Samurai, but those are few and far between.
The objectives for each level also don’t change up that much other than “free the prisoner,” “kill this many targets,” or “open the gate.” More variety in level objectives, non-combat segments, and a more extensive and entertaining plot would have put it on-par with story mode content from fighters such as Injustice and Mortal Kombat X. Lets be honest, though. The real draw of For Honor isn’t really the characters or its plot.
Art of Battle, Controls and 1v1 Duels
Finally, lets get to the meat and potatoes of For Honor, which is combat and online play. As I stated earlier, the three factions of Knights, Vikings, and Samurai have four character classes each which comprise of a Vanguard (all-around fighter), a Heavy (a slow “tank” with high damage), an Assassin (a fast attacker with low stamina and weak defense) and a hybrid class that combines aspects of both a Heavy and Assassin type, for total of 12 warriors to choose from and master. Even though each faction has the same four classes, each combatant type–whether it be the Knights’ Lawbringer, the Samurai’s Orochi, or the Vikings’ Berserker–is unique, and will require some time investment and thoughtful strategies when you play as or against them online, across 12 different maps. Each encounter with them–combined with the human element–will bring an intense and clearly different dynamic to each new fight.
Controls are easy enough to grasp at first: R1 is for light attacks, and R2 is for heavy attacks and parrying. Pressing both at the same time will initiate a “Zone Attack” which is a wide-range attack to knock back/down multiple enemies. The left analog stick is for movement, and the right analog stick is used for blocking left, right, and overhead attacks. L2 is used for locking onto and engaging an opponent, while switching to a different opponent is performed by letting go of L2 and quickly tapping it again. Square is your guard break/throw button, circle is for cancelling certain attacks for feints (with certain characters), X is for rolling and dodging, and the triangle button is for activating your “Revenge Mode,” which grants your fighter a slight attack and speed boost–and attacks become uninterruptible–after you fill up the Revenge meter by blocking/parrying attacks. Think of it as a mini-comeback mechanic, which thankfully doesn’t seem to be overpowered; it lasts only for a short period of time and can only be used in the 2v2 and 4v4 online modes. Lastly, when you take off the last bit of your opponent’s health, you can perform your characters “execution” animation by pressing the square or circle button. Each hero has two default ones, with two more that you unlock by spending a specific amount of Steel.
While controls are basic enough to understand at a basic level, mastering them–along with your warrior of choice–is another matter entirely. Let me be clear: For Honor is not a button mash-fest. Mindlessly flailing at your opponent will get you killed in a matter of seconds, especially if you’re playing a low-life character such as the Knights’ Peacekeeper or the Samurai’s Nobushi class.
Thankfully, the Ubisoft team has included tutorial videos on how to play not only the various online modes, but also basic and advanced videos for each hero in the game. The regular Practice and Custom Match modes teach you the basic controls, and also let you go up against an AI bot on a difficulty setting of your choosing, to train your hero.
This brings us to the 1v1 Duels, which I spent most of my time playing rather than the campaign and 4v4 Dominion modes. This was the mode that was going to make or break the game for me, in terms of sheer fun and competitive play in the long run. I’m happy to report that 1v1 Duels are not only a joy to play, but also much deeper and more complex than I originally expected it to be.
For Honor‘s fighting system, which is dubbed by Ubisoft as the “Art of Battle,” borrows many mechanics and aspects from other fighters to form a cohesive battle experience, and keeps it fresh and engaging. There are counters, unblockable attacks and parries like in Soul Calibur, spacing and whiff punishing from the Street Fighter series, and the slow-but-methodical pace and precision strikes reminiscent of the Bushido Blade series.
In addition to the familiar trappings from well-known fighters, For Honor ratchets up the intensity and awareness with its own mechanic: the stamina meter. Your light, heavy, zone, and unblockable attacks (whiffing them drains more of it), as well as dodging, feinting attacks, rolling, guard breaking, and having your attacks parried drains stamina every time you use these actions. Completely emptying it makes your character’s attacks slower, and prone to falling down easily. As important as it is to have a good offense and defense, careful management of your stamina meter is paramount.
Speaking of strategies: just like in every good fighter, defense in For Honor is an absolute necessity to practice hard, from which your offense can grow from. Practicing and mastering the right analog stick to block left, right and overhead attacks should be the foundation from where you can then add parrying, countering, and evading to your defensive options.
For example, if you’re playing as some of the slower, less mobile fighters such as the Warlord or Valkyrie from the Viking faction, and you go up against the faster, hit-and-run types with “bleed” effects like the Peacekeeper from the Knight faction, and the Nobushi or Orochi from the Samurai faction, practicing their special defensive stances where they can block attacks from every direction–without having to use the right analog stick to change direction at the cost of some more stamina–is important. A successful defense against these types can then be followed up with a counterattack to deal huge damage, or a guard break into a throw to knock them and mix them up with heavy offense–since both the Peacekeeper, Nobushi, and Orochi have low life and they have to time their blocks quickly. If you have the life lead with the Valkyrie or Warlord, now they have to take more risks to whittle down your life bit by bit–which will be a problem, since these Viking heroes can take more hits and have good defensive options.
This isn’t even taking the 12 different maps that are available to play into account–since on a few of them you can be easily knocked off a narrow bridge or ledge, if your positioning is poor. I haven’t played the game enough to know if certain characters have an advantage or disadvantage on certain stages, which could strongly affect how matchups are played. It’s only been nearly two weeks since For Honor was released, so we’ll see what the future holds when it comes to that aspect of the game.
This is what I love about For Honor‘s combat: When I lose online, I already know it’s nobody’s fault but my own. Right now I’m very green in this game, of course, and I’m not quite used to the controls yet–but after I lose a match online, the game shows me clearly why that was the result. I then go back to the drawing board to figure out a new strategy–in case I run into a certain type of player that I keep losing to–implement that strategy, and for the most part, I have success. Right now I only have a 25% win ratio in 1v1 Duels, since I’ve been trying out the different heroes to see which ones best fit my style of play. So far my favorites are the Peacekeeper, Valkyrie, Kensei, and Nobushi. Once I have more experience, further develop my strategies and execute them better, I’m sure I can get my win ratio up more.
Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that you can customize your heroes with gear for arms, legs, chest, head, and weapons which will boost one stat, but will decrease another–like the figurative double-edged sword. These will greatly benefit you in online battles, depending on the balancing act you can achieve with the gear that you equip. You can unlock more gear in every mode–and through premium boxes you randomly earn, which contain an assortment of gear that’s character-specific.
As far as how the connection quality goes for playing online: I have yet to encounter any P2P networking problems, and it has been a smooth experience playing both 1v1 Duels and 4v4 Dominion, with no lag or disconnection errors so far. For Honor doesn’t have dedicated servers and according to some reports, players have been experiencing random disconnects and match-quitting problems. Hopefully Ubisoft will address these connectivity issues as needed.
Cons, and Verdict
For a new action-adventure/fighting game that gets a lot of things right from when you first start it, For Honor does have some glaring issues. Story mode, like I mentioned earlier, has a vague plot, thin characters and a lack of variety in mission objectives. It has four difficulty settings, which can net you more loot, XP and Steel the higher you set it, but other than that I wouldn’t want to go back to it, once beaten on the normal setting.
The online interface can be tricky to navigate at first. There are sections where you’re in one menu option, and you want to go back to another, but the options to do so are grayed-out and you can’t click on them, for some weird reason. Also, when it comes to the in-game currency, Steel is rewarded in rather small amounts in almost every mode I’ve played so far. If you want to unlock more custom gear and Feats for your characters, you’ll have to be dedicated and put in the grind to earn a lot of Steel the hard way–or you can pay real money if you are the impatient type, even though I think the prices for it are a little bit questionable.
As easy it is to pick up at and enjoy the combat at a basic level for casual players, if someone is trying to play For Honor seriously–whether it be 1v1, 2v2 or 4v4–the game has a steep learning curve which will require some thoughtful analysis, time investment in practice mode, and patience if you want to be a decent competitor online. Mastering the many nuances of the control scheme, learning how to play as–and against–all the unique heroes across the different maps, and developing careful strategies will be key if you want to be victorious consistently–which might not be everyone’s cup of tea.
Before I state my final verdict, I would like to point one more minor (or major) flaw with For Honor, when viewed through the lens of the fighting game community: For Honor has no offline multiplayer in any way, shape, or form, on both PS4 and Xbox One. Yes, I know most fighting games these days have a lot of players who play online, since arcades have been on life support for a long time now. However, when it comes to local or major tournaments, competitive fighters usually live or die through the attendance and commitment of their communities offline–in small, or huge numbers. This could potentially hurt For Honor‘s chances at longevity in the offline world of the fighting game community, since a lot of us here like to play people in-person to enjoy a particular game together–making connections and long-lasting friendships along the way, while growing our scenes to be on a grander stage.
So–as a new fighting game (arguably) out in the wild, that has a high learning curve and no offline multiplayer–is For Honor going to be just another flavor of the month, and suffer the same lack of dedication, like so many other fighters have in the past? In this writer’s humble opinion, the answer is no.
You see, as much as For Honor seems to have a high barrier of entry for the competitive level (possibly turning off casual players when they run into someone online who actually knows what they’re doing), for those who are determined and motivated to get better, For Honor rewards you in a satisfying manner for the time and thought you put into your actions, to score that hard-earned victory–and I’m not just talking about loot and Steel. You feel a sense of accomplishment unlike any other fighter out there at the moment. The way the characters move, attack, and defend almost feels like an actual struggle, because of the armor and weapons they are carrying–the way Ubisoft has designed each of these heroes feels convincingly, physically real.
While I did say For Honor‘s lack of offline multiplayer might hurt its growth in the FGC, feedback expressed from people out in the community has been mostly positive. And now with the recent announcement of For Honor being on the official lineup at Final Round 20, the game seems to already have made an impact in the FGC. Ubisoft is also in for the long run, with post launch content expected every three months when a new Faction War season starts, offering a combo of paid and free DLC: including new heroes, new maps, customization, loot, and–most importantly for the future of this game–tournament and ranked modes, which will be added for free. For Honor seems to have bright a future ahead, and I am on board to see how this game grows and leaves its mark on the FGC.
This past Wednesday at the Folsom Street Foundry in San Francisco, CA, Capcom and well-known hip-hop artist Lupe Fiasco teamed up for some festivities to celebrate Fiasco’s new album–DROGAS Light–and to kick off the next Capcom Pro Tour season of Street Fighter V by letting attendants try out the newest DLC character, Kolin (who will be officially released on February 28). There was also an eight-person single-elimination tournament, and exhibition matches with top SFV players which included Echo Fox|Justin Wong vs. RB|Snake Eyez, EG|Ricki Ortiz vs. Liquid|NuckleDu, and PG|Filipino Champ vs. HyperX|Daigo Umehara.
In case you missed all the SFV action, you can catch up on the whole event at Capcom Fighters if you have a subscription. Commentary was provided by Stephen “Sajam” Lyon, Steve “Tasty Steve” Scott, EG|K-Brad, and Lupe Fiasco himself at times.
SFV Exhibition Results
Echo Fox|Justin Wong (Karin) defeated RB|Snake Eyez (Akuma, Zangief) 3-0
There was also a free-to-enter single elimination tournament with the prize being a Razer Panthera Arcade Stick for PlayStation 4. Unfortunately it wasn’t streamed.
SFV Open Tournament Results (76 entrants)
1st: Ultima (Rashid)
2nd: FS|Pavocado (R. Mika)
3rd: Brass (Guile)
3rd: Spoons (Laura)
5th: No Respect (Urien)
5th: DM|John B. (Ibuki)
5th: DM|Casual Phil (Rashid)
5th: DM|Burn Notice (Laura)
The event which was emceed by fighting game players/personalities Ryan “Gootecks” Gutierrez and Mike Ross, and was lively and entertaining for casual spectators and competitors throughout the night. There was even a mini-cosplay contest towards the end of the night, with prizes that were given out. The spectators ate it up as the cosplayers strutted their character outfits on the main stage.
Last but not least, the newest DLC character Kolin, was available to play and test out on multiple setups in the venue. I got to try her out a bit, figuring out what her normals and specials were as well test out some things that were safe and unsafe on block. I didn’t get to try out her V-Skill and V-Trigger all that much, but from what I observed from people playing, the latter seems strong so far. From my time with her, Kolin has excellent mobility both on the ground and in the air with lots of combo and mixup potential. Kolin’s main weaknesses so far seems to be on defense, since it seems like she doesn’t have anything to get the opponent off of her and her normals, while having decent range, are somewhat slow on startup. I’ll have more impressions on Kolin once she is released later this month.
I managed to record footage of Anthony “Crackfiend” Nguyen and Eliver “Killer Kai” Ling playing a Kolin mirror match and testing what she is capable. Check it out below, and sorry for the shaky camerawork.
With his recent sponsorship switch to Immortals, DaJuan “Shroomed” McDaniel, one of the top 10 ranked Super Smash Bros. Melee players in the world, seems poised to do some damage competing at Genesis 4 this weekend in San Jose, California. The former Dr. Mario specialist–now Sheik main–will be playing Melee in both singles and doubles tournaments, as well as participating in the Draft Crew Battle.
Marcos “El Cubano Loco” Blanco: Congratulations on your recent sponsorship with Team Immortals. What made you switch from Winter Fox to your current sponsor?
DaJuan “Shroomed” McDaniel: Thanks! The main reason I switched from Winterfox was I felt like I wanted to be part of an organization with a stronger support system and a bit more resources. I’m very excited for my 2017 season with the Immortals. I’ll be making some waves this year!
Marcos: You, SFAT and PewPewU have been doing well for yourselves these past few years, with consistent performances at almost every major you have competed in–especially in 2016. What changed for all three of you to start performing more consistently?
DaJuan: We just started training a little harder and thinking about the game more in-depth. I feel like analysis is becoming a bigger and bigger part of the game. Studying the people you’re likely to play and things like that. Being prepared for a certain high-level opponent makes a huge difference.
Marcos: Last year at Genesis 3, all three of you got placed 5th, 9th and 17th respectively. How do you each feel about your G3 performance, what did you learn from it and how did the G3 experience affect your performances at other big tournaments in 2016 overall?
DaJuan: I can’t speak for SFAT or PewPewu, but I feel pretty awful about my performance. I didn’t feel very focused last year for a variety of reasons. I’m a lot better about blocking out other factors now.
Marcos: Who or what inspired you to play competitive Melee? Any players or people in the community you look to for support and inspiration?
DaJuan: I’m a competitive guy in general, so when I found out a game I love had such depth and an amazing community behind it, I was hooked. I used to really look up to Armada until I realized that would stop me from surpassing him. Nowadays I look to myself for inspiration.
Marcos: I’ve seen you play Marth at the Folsom Street Foundry Melee weeklies in San Francisco and at majors from time to time, but I believe in a recent tweet you said you might be playing even more Marth in the future. Is it for specific character matchups, players, or both? Will you ever go back to Dr. Mario?
DaJuan: I’ve always loved playing Marth in friendlies. I think he’s the character with the most diverse combo game and I always have a good time playing him. I started playing him in tournament for the Ice Climbers matchup, because it’s so stressful with Sheik and I began playing him versus Fox since that matchup is tough as well. Not sure if I’ll play him in other matchups yet. I have no plans to play Dr. Mario in tournament again, but will still have fun with him on net play.
Marcos: All three of you seem so close to transitioning from your “demi-god” status to “god” status. What do you think is holding you all back and what do you need to do overcome that tremendous hurdle?
DaJuan: For me, I’d say I need to work on my execution. I miss too many conversions due to input errors. My strength right now is neutral game. If I can bring my combo game up to par, I have no doubt I will start climbing the ranks. SFAT seems to be doing a good job of steadily improving with his routine, now so I don’t think he should change anything. Not sure what PewPewU is lacking. I’d say consistency if anything.
Marcos: What have been your biggest accomplishments personally as of late, as well your future goals to strive towards, in the world of competitive Melee in 2017 and beyond? How much longer do you all think you can keep competing for, and why?
DaJuan: I didn’t have any notable accomplishments in 2016. It’s the first year I didn’t beat a single god in a tournament set. My immediate future goal is to bring my execution up to at least 85-90 percent. It’s impossible to execute perfectly in Melee 100 percent of the time, but I feel my execution is much lower than it should be. I plan to compete until there is no tournament scene or my hands fall off. I love this game too much to quit.
Marcos: Who do you consider your biggest rivals in Melee and why?
DaJuan: SFAT has always been my biggest rival. We started off as enemies, and now we’re friends but still rivals. If I had to guess why we’re rivals, I’d say it’s due to our egos. We battled for NorCal for quite some time, and both felt like we were superior to the other. Outside of SFAT I’d say Leffen. He’s a homie, but I just want to wipe that smug look off his face.
Marcos: What does the Genesis series mean for you both a professional and personal level? How do you feel you will do this weekend in both singles and doubles?
DaJuan: Genesis is probably my favorite tournament series. I’m probably biased as a NorCal native though. Personally, I feel a little more pressure than normal to perform since it’s our home turf. I’m feeling confident this year, so I think I will do well.
Sure, we’ve seen tons of impressive-looking combos from some of Super Smash Bros. Melee’s most notable players such as C9|Mango, Alliance|Armada, Tempo|Axe, G2|Westballz, MVG.FOX|Mew2King and EMG|nOne–just to name a few. These players are some of the best in the business when it comes to executing combos with their characters–and at the highest level of play, in various stacked Melee majors, under extreme pressure. When these top players show off the latest combo they’ve discovered and learned to execute in tournament, you can be sure it’ll send live spectators and stream monsters into a ravenous state of excitement and joy.
The players mentioned above aren’t the only ones who pull off these amazing feats of execution. That’s where YouTube user GRsmash comes in, and compiles 100 of the most hype combos and moments from 100 of the highest-ranked Melee players in the world. A lot of the material in this video I haven’t seen before, or didn’t think was possible; especially from the rare Luigi and Samus specialists such as Abate, Duck, PG|Esam and Eddie Mexico. The video lasts a little over 15 minutes, but it’s well worth a watch for any Melee fan looking for some inspiration and entertainment.
With all the hype building up to Genesis 4 this coming weekend, it’s hard to not get excited with the recent string of trailers showcasing two of the most prominent Melee “gods” C9|Mango and Alliance|Armada. After all, they have met each other in every Melee Grand Finals since the tournament’s inception, with Mango winning the first one and Armada winning the last two–including last year’s Genesis in an exhilarating set in San Jose, CA. It’s almost a Genesis tradition at this point.
Traditions don’t last forever though. With Liquid|Juan “Hungrybox” Debiedma competing at Genesis 4 with an injured finger and with EG|Jason “PPMD” Nanney’s attendance still in question due to health issues, the “script” might be flipped for another Melee god to claim the coveted Genesis title: FOX.MVG|Jason “Mew2King” Zimmerman.
The stage seems set for Mew2King to win his first big major in quite some time. The trailer hits hard, showing off some of the most toughest Melee losses he has had the last few years, including the heart-wrenching loss to SPY|Nintendude at last year’s Genesis 3.
However, when a longtime top Smash player like FOX.MVG|Mew2King falls, he surely rises again as shown in this trailer. When his character repertoire of Sheik, Marth and Fox are on point on a good day, Mew2King can slay his fellow gods, as well as up-and coming top players who threaten his status. With Celldweller’s emotional “Just Like You” playing in the background, alongside footage of Mew2King’s recent victories (with crowds of his supportive fans going nuts for him) one can’t help but get excited and hopeful that this “under-god” will make the impossible possible again and break the sacred Genesis tradition of an Armada vs. Mango Grand Finals.
Texas’ own Anas “Vagabond” Khan, now sponsored by Noble Gaming, had a breakout year in 2016 with his aggressive Necalli play in Street Fighter V–with high placings in several stacked tournaments, including Texas Showdown (4th place) and the Red Bull Battlegrounds Last Chance Qualifier (5th place). So in a move that perhaps goes back to his SFIV roots when he used to play Evil Ryu, Vagabond has started playing Akuma, and from the looks of this Ranked Match highlight video by YouTube user Vice, he seems to have picked things up quickly with the Master of the Fist.
Vagabond tests his new character against several highly-ranked opponents such as PIE|Smug and Alex “Calipower” Valle among others. With already a basic, but good understanding of the neutral game with Akuma, Vagabond shows off what he has learned so far with simple but highly optimal combos in both V-Trigger and non-V-Trigger mode, with post-combo setups to continue the offense. This video is a highly entertaining and informative watch of the high damage potential and pressure Akuma is capable of. There is a great Raging Demon punish at the end as well!
Whether they are considered weak, low tier, poorly designed or are just plain unlikable personality-wise, there are certain characters in every fighting game that leave a sour taste in your mouth and makes you wonder why they are on the character select screen to begin with. With so many fighting games out in the wild these days, there’s bound to be a bad apple or two could that potentially be a waste of a character slot.
WatchMojo.com has compiled a top 10 list of who they consider the worst fighting game characters; characters from popular series such as Street Fighter, Soul Calibur, Mortal Kombat as well ones from more obscure fighters such as Sonic the Fighters, Shaq-Fu and Rise of the Robots are represented in this video. Their number-one pick for worst character is actually quite surprising and amusing.
What are your picks for worst characters in fighting games? Post and share your thoughts in the comments below.
Well-known for being a notable Super Street Fighter II Turbo competitor, former Capcom developer and author of the book “Playing To Win,” David Sirlin has been an integral part of the FGC for more than a decade. He is also the designer of a multidude of card and puzzle games, such as Yomi and Puzzle Strike, that borrow concepts and ideas from fighting games and you find at his website, Sirlin Games.
During PlayStation Experience 2016 earlier this month, I stopped by Sirlin’s booth to play and talked about his latest creation-in-progress, Fantasy Strike (based off of the characters and world of Yomi), a new fighting game with the goal of attracting both new and experienced players with easy-to-pick-up controls and a low execution barrier, while still having the depth and strategy of classic–and modern–fighters. You can read my first impressions of the alpha build in an earlier post.
Marcos Blanco: When and how did the concept for Fantasy Strike first pop up?
David Sirlin: I’ve wanted to make a fighting game for many, many years. I think Divekick was a big influence. The reason I say that is because when you hear how Divekick works, it sounds like it’s going to be a garbage game, like there’s nothing to it. But when you actually play it, it really exceeded my expectations. There was a lot more to it than I thought, and I was really impressed by that. It really opened my eyes and made me think of designing a fighting game in a different way. Instead of thinking about “Lets take Street Fighter or Guilty Gear and try to make it more accessible by making those games easier,” I started thinking from the other end of the spectrum. We started with Divekick, like what if you added the ability to move left and right? That would change it. What if you added one attack button? That would change it. And piece by piece, I added things in my mind until I felt like it was capturing what’s fun about more complicated fighting games like Street Fighter.
Fantasy Strike actually started as an experiment. We didn’t know if it would be a good idea. Would it be compelling? Would it be fun? I did a prototype of it with a programmer. After only one month, it was playable and we started showing it to close friends and other people. They liked it and they encouraged us to keep going. It just kind of built up from there, and as we got a little farther and farther, people were more encouraging. Somewhere in the first few months we realized–okay, this is not an experiment anymore. Everyone we showed this to seems to like it.
Marcos Blanco: Do you think the simplistic nature of Fantasy Strike might turn off the the hardcore crowd of gamers that like heavy execution in their fighting games? How are you going to market this game towards both the casual and hardcore groups of fighting game players, after the game is finished, to get it into as many hands as possible?
David Sirlin: What’s fun about fighting games? Execution can be one thing that’s fun about fighting games. The reason that tournaments are so hype is strategy, the decisions, great zoning, great reads, frame traps and all the techniques that aren’t about hard combos. Everyone understands that. The question is what percentage of all of that should execution really be? If you ask different players, you’ll get wildly different answers. Some are going to say the more execution, the better. I come on the other end of the spectrum, where I know it’s there and I respect it, but I actually want it to be as little as possible, because I find the other parts to be more compelling. I think the strategy and decisions are the most exciting parts of fighting games to me, and difficult execution gets in the way of that. If someone wants their fighting games to have as much execution as possible, they have lots of games to choose from.
We can still get them to be interested in Fantasy Strike, but we wouldn’t appeal to them because of execution. So the casual, and hardcore market that wants the game to be more about strategy, would be an appeal. Players from almost any fighting game can come to Fantasy Strike and very quickly–in a few minutes–be ramped up to playing the real game. So that’s one way you can appeal to even the execution-based player, because they’re getting an experience with their friends from other fighting games that’s hard to have in another way.
Marcos Blanco: There are some characters in Fantasy Strike such as Setsuki, Geiger and Rook who share striking similarities with certain characters from the Street Fighter series, when it comes to character types and move sets. Was this intentionally done to pay homage to that series, that seems to have influenced this game?
David Sirlin: Some of it is and some of it isn’t. I guess Geiger being somewhat similar to Guile and Rook being somewhat similar to Zangief are on purpose. If we want to have an iconic grappler and a charge character archetype, we’re trying to signal to you “Hey. It’s that.” It just helps you know what the point of the character is, when there’s some kind of reference to something you’re familiar with. A good example is Rook’s jumping spin attack. It reminds you of a lariat. Everybody knows lariats go through fireballs because we’ve been trained in that forever; it’s kind of like the universal language so we don’t to explain to people “Hey. That move goes through fireballs.” That’s the reason it’s in the game.
Marcos Blanco: When the game is finished and released, do you have any future plans for DLC content afterwards such as additional mechanics, modes or characters?
David Sirlin: We have several game builds planned for release, not even after. I’d like to hold back on talking about that until they’re a little more solid. If you go to fantasystrike.com, we have shown one of the new modes called Arena Mode. This idea fits especially well in a simple fighting game, as opposed to a complex one like Guilty Gear. Before you play, you pick one of three power-ups that alter your moves in some way and then you pick one of three again and again until you have a total of five power-ups. Then you do a run where you play as this character you built with the five power-ups, against other people who do the same, until you win like 10 times or something and get as far as you can; similar to Hearthstone. For release, we are going to have 10 characters. It’s the same 10 that you were in the Yomi card game, but Yomi has 20 characters now, which are the same characters that are in all of my card games. So I think everyone just understands and expects that those same 10 expansion characters will find their way into this game, too.
Marcos Blanco: When people play Fantasy Strike on both a casual as well as a competitive level, what do you want them to feel about this game as they’re playing against each other?
David Sirlin: That’s a tricky question [laughs]. The first emotion that comes to mind is surprise, like I had with Divekick; like there was more to this than I thought. I don’t know the name of it, but there’s a feeling I’ve experienced in competitive games. I think I’m just trying to communicate that feeling over and over to people. I made Yomi, a card game about fighting games, because I’m trying to capture what’s fun and to pass it onto everyone else in a way that doesn’t use dexterity. I wrote “Playing To Win” which was about looking at the inner circle of competitive people, and passing on their secrets to everyone else. Again, I don’t the know the name of the emotion, but it’s just the thrill of competition, that’s what I hope a wider audience would take away with it.
