Everyone has a fighting chance
In the latest episode of FGC Philosophy, Tavian “The Philocypher” Napier chats with Chicago’s Red Bull Proving Grounds winner (and fan of Street Fighter V‘s recent addition, Abigail) The_Cool_Kid93. In the near-forty-minute interview, they discuss a range of topics — including what it feels like to win, The_Cool_Kid93’s relationship with his new wife, and love for Street Fighter X Tekken. Watch the full interview below.
Source: The Philocypher
It’s time to gear up for a special BlazBlue: Central Fiction community event. Exceed Assault continues with a new set of teams, and it’s the match-up a lot of us have been dreaming about: Team Jubei is going to take on Team Nine! The brand new character has a steep wall to climb, so we’ll have to see how much the competitors have already mastered.
This streamed exhibition features commentary. Following the team battles, there’s a unique exhibition with Betadood. The famous Ragna player, in story mode-style, will inaugurate CF2 by playing against every other character in the game!
Let’s hear from the players to see what they have to say about the exhibition and the match-ups.
UnsafeOnHit is representing Team Jubei in the responses below.
What kind of character is Jubei?
“Jubei is a very mobile character with a lot of decent pressure tools and mix-up options that are pretty safe. He’s pretty annoying to deal with once he gets a hit on you and his okizeme is very good. His normals aren’t exactly the best but they’re above average and get the job done. He’s a very solid character.”
How will you approach the match-up?
“In fighting Nine, there will be a lot of moving around the screen with his command dashes and short hop to get the Nine player to commit to something, so I can take advantage of her recently-nerfed recovery on her buttons to work my way in and gain the advantage. His fast run coupled with how low he goes to the ground during it will help dealing with her air buttons if she decides to take that approach.
MastaStef speaks for Team Nine below.
On the match-up: “I honestly haven’t played it yet. The Exceed Assault event will actually be my first time playing it. But I have watched some Jubei footage and messed around with him, so I can play theory fighter. This is just my opinion, but I want to say it’s in Nine’s favor. His high mobility and small stature can definitely make him slippery to catch and even more so when he’s popped his install. However, I still don’t think he can easily approach Nine, which is where most characters have issues in the match-up. Nine can also play elusively making it hard for him to catch her as well. I’d say Nine would only really have issues on defense or if Jubei has the life lead since it would be very difficult for her to chase him down. But once again, I don’t have any hands on experience in the MU yet, so this should be taken with a grain of salt.”
On the CF2 Nine changes: “Honestly, the 2.0 patch didn’t really change Nine too much. At most, it made it to where you have to play more creatively and less simplistic. You can’t auto pilot as hard, I guess you could say. Double dashing is more risky now, so you have to decide the correct time to use it. A lot of her lesser used spells have been changed to add a bit more room for creative setups and situations. She received a fair amount of nerfs, sure, but she received enough small changes to balance them out. You’re rewarded more for playing smarter and finding new ways to use her spells. If you want to just dash around, throw out buttons and mash on Kunzite, however, you probably won’t enjoy Nine as much. You can still do that, but it’s definitely less effective.”
On individual style: “I’ve always viewed myself as a more defensive player in fighting games, so I think I do play differently from most Nines in that regard. I tend to sit back, block and watch my opponent more often than haphazardly going in, unless I know my opponent just isn’t ready for it or the match-up calls for it. But I think a lot of Nines play differently. A few examples: NitroNoodles seems to be more setup heavy, where as Lueshi and Havoc_Noah are pretty aggressive, Genosade is reset/mix-up heavy, and I tend to be more defensive and patient. I know to most people it looks like Nines all do the same stuff, but it’s actually really cool to see the subtle differences in everyone’s play.”
To usher in the CF2.0 era, Betadood will face every other character in the game in a kumite after the team exhibition!
Woocash: You’re sort of the flagship Ragna player in the US right now. How do you feel about that?
Betadood: It’s only been a year since I started traveling out of state to compete, so I’m not really used to having this kind of recognition yet! BlazBlue is a game that means a lot to me, and I’m really happy that so many people have enjoyed watching my play so far. I hope it inspires you to try out the character, or even the game itself.
Woocash: You’re facing a lot of characters in a row, how are you preparing for this?
Betadood: Keeping my goals in mind for each match-up and adapting to player specific playstyles are my main priorities. There’s a lot to keep in mind against 36 different match-ups, and with the recent version 2.0 patch, there are new changes I’m not used to dealing with yet. The FT1 format won’t give a lot of chances to correct errors or capitalize on a potential weakness either. Keeping my focus up during the entire set will be a challenge for sure.
Woocash: Which match-ups do you fear the most and which are you most confident about?
Betadood: It’s cliché, but characters that can keep Ragna out of his optimal ranges during neutral are definitely the hardest for me. Against characters like this, it’s difficult to get a chance to run your offensive pressure. Luckily Ragna has some great tools for his neutral game. So even if it’s an uphill battle, it’s never hopeless. As for the match-ups that I do enjoy playing against… Characters that are also neutral based/balanced types are always fun. My favorite of all would be Jin though. Not only is the match-ups dynamic fun to play, the rivalry between the two is just so cool!
This special exhibition takes place later today, September 14th, at 7:00 PM ET / 6:00 PM CT / 4:00 PM PT over on Twitch.tv/logichole. Tune around then for the Team Jubei vs. Team Nine exhibition, followed by the Betadood kumite.
If you’d like to catch up on Exceed Assault, refer to the previous episode, which has Hazama fighting Susano’o and Naoto against Bullet.
Source: interviews
Rami “Potatobrain” Nuseir was, during the Tekken Tag Tournament 2 days, easily Canada’s best player. That’s why his appearance on Woolie’s (of Super Best Friends fame) talk show “Tale’s From The Loser’s Bracket” seems out of place: for a show billing itself as “A fighting game show for everyone stuck in the middle”, Rami certainly isn’t.
Not that his appearance isn’t welcome! This 30-minute+ podcast is dense with great information for new and experienced players alike. Rami talks about the surge of players in the Tekken community, parallels between 2D and 3D, and gives valuable advice to 2D heads on what adjustments they’ll need to make way in the 3D sub-genre.
Source: WoolieVersus
The next episode of Tension Pulse is nearly upon us, and with it, a fresh set of competing Daredevils willing to show off their best. In this next instalment of the streamed Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 exhibition series, you can expect to see some exciting first-to-seven sets from players ready to showcase characters of choice.
We have one player returning from past events, and that’s Mynus with his impressive I-no. He’ll face FNM|HarlockSwag’s Potemkin, so after the REV 2 changes, which have turned the matchup on its head, it will be interesting to see how it plays out! We’ll also see Omi’s Elphelt face off against MechaMacGyver’s Haehyun. Your guess is as good as mine!
On the match: “I think the exhibition will be a good opportunity to showcase what I can do as a Guilty Gear and Potemkin player. I hope that it will also bring some more light to the Toronto anime scene as a whole.”
On his opponent: “I think Mynus is a strong I-no player and probably one of the best in North America. Before REV 2, the matchup of I-no vs Potemkin was pretty bad I felt, due to “Chemical Love” hitting Potemkin even on crouching. However, with the recent changes, I feel he has as much of a chance as any other character. Looking forward to the match!”
On his own playstyle: “I feel that my playstyle is similar to that of any other grappler players in any fighting game. Due to limited mobility, being able to make the right reads as well as finding openings to the opposing players’ blockstrings and approaches in neutral can turn the game around in an instant. Instant Blocking is one of my favorite mechanics, and I do the most of it because it gives me a feel of how my opponent likes to pressure as well giving me Tension resources to work with throughout each round.”
On the match: “In REV 2, this matchup became a little bit more nuanced, and in turn harder for I-no due to functional changes that Potemkin received. His new crouching animation affects poking him from 3/4ths screen with HCL, and some crouching confirms from max range as well. His ability to hold Flick is also a huge boon when dealing with HCL; as a countermeasure you’ll see more approach from the neutral position from me, using I-no’s new vertical dash movement to attack Potemkin from angles I couldn’t do before in REV 1.
All in all, I believe this MU is almost even now, with I-no having a slight advantage because of movement and 663 VCL YRC. Something like 5.5 in I-no’s favor.”
On his opponent: “ I haven’t heard of, nor seen HarlockSwag play before the announcement of the exhibition, but according to our resident NYC Potemkin beast Shine (TSB Shine, not OG|Shine who likes to break stuff) he is incredibly skilled and strong. Of course, I will be training a bit with Shine, and going over some training regimens to deal with a long set in this MU. Not trying to lose fam, really not. If I can control his movements and score an early knockdown without using meter, that round can end real quick in my favor. Obviously though, if you play Potemkin, you’re either really dumb, or incredibly too smart for your own good. I hope HarlockSwag is the latter.”
On his growth since the last exhibition: “Since the last exhibition vs. my brother Doren2K in March, I’ve been training in Japan at Mikado arcade for a month and a half during April-May, playing all of the best Japan had to offer. During KSB in Osaka, I was really close to beating Omito in pools, which was a huge confidence boost, and later came back to Tokyo to one-character-victory some teams (including GF) at Mikado when I teamed up with one of my favorite I-no players and friend, Turio.
Coming back to the US, alongside the NY homies Sway, Makotofox, and Blaze, we have taken over the TSB tournament circuit. In addition to running TSB weekly now (three Fridays and one Saturday each month), we’ve brought the brand to multiple tournaments on the EC so far this summer. This new view as staff, a tournament organizer, and Japanese translator has given me a new focus in the FGC which has helped me become more disciplined as a player.
I hope this focus will translate to me putting on a good show for everyone!”
On the match: “As someone that doesn’t get a ton of chances to travel I’m excited to have the chance to show a style of Haehyun that’s a bit different from what’s en vogue :^).”
On his opponent: “I’ve watched footage of Omi play in Norcal and do well which speaks to his strength as a player given the killers that area has given us. My experience vs. Elphelt I would say is pretty fleshed out thanks to having NerdJosh as a training partner as well as regularly running sets vs. Vevion and Munsu. I don’t want to come off as overconfident since every Elphelt is dangerous in their own unique ways, and I’m well aware I could run into a wall of shotguns and rifles.”
On his own playstyle: “I think my own playstyle is very centered around reading my opponent and trying to overwhelm them before they can react. I believe Jam is a very linear character, so to make up for that, I like to incorporate hard reads and gimmicks into my gameplay to keep my opponents guessing.”
Catch the next episode of Tension Pulse live on Silva_hime’s Twitch channel. The first set, between Omi and MechaMacGyver, starts at 9:00 PM ET/8:00 PM CT/7:00 PM PT. Following that, Mynus will fight HarlockSwag. As for the commentator stations, nobodyexe and TheArm will grace the matches with their insight.
Looking to catch up on the last episode of Tension Pulse? The last episode included hectic matches between four players:
Source: interviews; Silva
Black Squad is a military first-person-shooter game using the Unreal Engine 3 to show realistic graphics and dynamic visuals. Absolutely no room for Pay-to-Win. Welcome to the best F2P shooter on the market.
Two big names were flying together to Japan. What to do on such a long flight? When traveling to Tokyo’s Tekken Masters event, rather than sleep through it, Alex Jebailey and Rick “thehadou” Thiher decided to get on Reddit and do an “Ask Me Anything” session.
Other than questions inquiring the true nature of hot dogs, there are several advice pieces regarding growing events and creating a scene. Check out some of the highlights here:
Q: Question for the both of you. What is the first step in taking your local community from the local stage to the national stage?
A: Honestly, the first step is not trying to go national. Running a local gathering, then a tourney large enough to attract your state, followed by your tri-state area, followed by your region, followed by the country is the way I’ve seen successful nationals appear. The nice part of that order, as with your initial question, is that what you should do is the same. Throw consistent tournaments.
The more regular your tourneys, the more promotable they are. The more promotable they are, the better chance of attracting players. The more players that attend, the larger your tournament will be. At some point more players means going to the next size up venue or production wise. After enough scale ups, you’ll have produced a nationally attractive, stable tournament. Plus side of slow scaling is your staff pool will also grow with you.
Fair warning, that usually takes years.
Q: Question for both: do you like how Capcom is handling Street Fighter V and Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite? Do you think everyone is being ‘too negative’ like what James Chen says? As TO’s, how do you feel about esports and is esports a part of the FGC?
A: Many aspects of SFV and MvCI have confused me from a marketing standpoint, but I recognize as a longterm FGC guy I’m likely not the target audience for marketing anymore either.
Most of SFV’s goals align with what I want to see from the game. It has had event support, consistent DLC plans including characters, stages, and costumes, tournament support bundles, and (as Season 2 has done well with) different play-styles available in the cast. How successful it has been on those fronts is debatable. Having seen the backend of game development and esports promotions I’m regularly happy just seeing something reach market though. Lots of roadblocks exist in the way of what looks like even simple things.
For MvCI I think we could’ve used more direct capture gameplay.
We’re hyper critical because we care. That negativity has a price when casual consumers read it, but whether we’re too 1 way or another isn’t for me to decide.
The arrival of the bright-lights version of Esports was inevitable as we’re a dope community. Nowadays it is also a part of the FGC from coast to coast. The part that matters more to me is how the culture continues to advance, mutate, and evolve now that we have so many different types of games, players, events, and content. That’s a pretty long conversation on its own though.
Q: What’s the most common mistake you see events making? What’s your favorite event that you aren’t part of the staff for, and why?
A: Understaffing and a lack of pre-planning are the most common mistakes. Both usually stem from a single person or a small team thinking they have all the bases covered. It always takes more people and more knowledge to run an event than you have when you decide to build one. So asking questions, keeping communication consistent, and building a large support network is super important.
Super Smash Con. The event is well on its way to combining all the different parts of conventions and tournaments that I find enjoyable into a single weekend. Best part is they are still improving and have a lot of room to grow.
Q: What’re your thoughts on the recent pressure to get all Majors as 24/7 venues? Do you feel this will be a “necessary evil” as the scope of events continues to grow?
A: I think the push for 24/7 venues is largely unrealistic. As one of the people responsible for their rise in popularity it is something I think about regularly. 24/7 venues are extremely expensive at most locations, and they are outright unavailable at the majority of venues big enough to host a convention size FGC event. To me the necessary evil becomes sacrificing things like 24/7 venues to book a venue large enough for everyone to have walking space.
Make sure to not miss a new episode of Tension Pulse later tonight! We have some big names this time around. The online Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2 exhibition is featuring a returning player, ElvenShadow, and his infamous Faust! His opponent is none other than pro player PG|MarlinPie. Those two fight each other with some frequency, so it will be thrilling to see who emerges on top.
That’s on deck tonight, but before them, we also have UltraToast’s Ramlethal against dejixal’s Jam. It’s not a match-up we see all that often. Let’s see what the combatants have to say about each other.
On the match: “I’ve fought MarlinPie numerous times in top 8s in the past. As always, this set is going to be one hell of a challenge. Sometimes I’ve won, sometimes he’s won, but the last couple of times we met he managed to get the win. It’s almost always pretty close. I believe the last time we fought in a tournament was top 8 of Frosty Faustings IX (about 7 months ago), where I managed to pull off a pretty impressive comeback 2nd to last round when the set was tied 1-1, and while the last round was pretty close, he outplayed me and took the set. It’s been a while since I’ve played a very long set against him, so I think there will be a good amount of adapting back and forth between us both. We both know each other’s playstyles well, so I think it will come down to who can make adjustments faster. I’m sure he has improved since we last played.”
On his opponent: “MarlinPie is one of the most veteran GG players who is still very active in the scene from way back in the XX series. In my opinion, he is still one of the strongest players in the US. He has both excellent execution and a sharp mind and is able to adapt very well. I’ve teamed up with him many times before, but today he will be my opponent and I welcome the challenge and look forward to a great set.”
On his growth since the last time: “The last exhibition I played for Super Steam/Tension Pulse was in March of this year vs. Zidane, so about five months ago. I lost, and was not happy with my play in that set. I’m not really sure if I’ve changed very much since then as I haven’t had much time to actively practice lately, aside from an hour or two of netplay every week if I’m lucky, and I still attend local tournaments a couple times a month. I can’t attend any more majors this year due to real life restrictions, so my drive to grind has not been as strong recently.
However, since being asked to do this exhibition, I have been making an effort to practice against other Zato players online and had about an hour of practice against a very strong Zato last night on Steam to (hopefully) help prepare myself. In all honesty, I feel like my growth as a player has become a bit stagnant, since recently I have been focusing more on being a tournament organizer and taking care of my family, but I still have the desire to improve and love playing.”
On the match: “Feels to me as if I’m just playing him in a casual setting on a casual day. Not much of an exhibition from my feeling.”
On his opponent: “My answer to [the prior question] is like that probably because we’re so familiar with each other. We first played at March Madness in 2003 or something.. an old, big event.”
On his own playstyle: “I’m working on altering my playstyle a little. I’ve been more focused on neutralizing the opponent by force, but I’ve been noticing I need to move accordingly to opponents’ decisions. It’s definitely more difficult to play ‘counter’ style, but to achieve more consistency in this game, I think it’s necessary.”
On the match: “I think the exhibition is great — it puts the spotlight on some of the upcoming players people wouldn’t normally hear about while also being able to provide hype matches. I’m pretty nervous about my match, but I’m excited to see how I do.”
On his opponent: “I don’t know much about UltraToast other than that he is a strong Ramlethal player that performs very well at WNF. Ramlethal has a very strong mix-up game, so my goal during the match will be to try to stop him before he gets started.”
On his own playstyle: “I think my own playstyle is very centered around reading my opponent and trying to overwhelm them before they can react. I believe Jam is a very linear character, so to make up for that, I like to incorporate hard reads and gimmicks into my gameplay to keep my opponents guessing.”
On the match: “I’m happy to be a part of Tension Pulse! I feel a little nervous about the exhibition because it’s my first time participating in something like this. I have played on other streams before though, so the nerves aren’t too bad. I just want to put on a good show and have some great matches that I can learn from!”
On his opponent: “Honestly I don’t know too much about dejixal. However, everyone that I’ve talked to that knows dejixal have told me that he’s a great player that I need to watch out for. I personally don’t like fighting Jam, but I’m still looking forward to playing dejixal.”
On his own playstyle: “I feel like with Ramlethal I play this weird mix of rushdown and active run away/active keepout. Like if I can smell the blood, I’ll just go in and play as aggressively as possible, maybe even a little too aggressive. But if I feel like I can’t do that against my opponent/opponent’s character, I’ll just run away all day and set swords until I get a clean hit. More often than not though I think I prefer to run away and wait for my turn.”
Catch the next episode of Tension Pulse live, tonight on Silva_hime’s Twitch channel. The first set, which is between dejixal and UltraToast, starts at 9:30 PM ET/8:30 PM CT/7:30 PM PT. RaphTx and James Chen will commentate their match as well as the ElvenShadow and MarlinPie set which follows the first one.
Looking to catch up on the last episode of Tension Pulse? The last episode included hectic matches between four players:
Source: interviews; Silva
Despite the hurricane in Texas — which has impacted many lives and prevented safe travels — members of the fighting game community took the opportunity to travel to Plano this past weekend. The eighth iteration of Absolute Battle, by no means a small tournament, invited competition across the wide spectrum of fighting game titles: from mainstays like Street Fighter V, Injustice 2, Tekken 7, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, to anime titles like BlazBlue: Central Fiction and Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2, as well as For Honor and some Mystery Games.
The event is no small fry for sure. Part of the Injustice 2 Pro Series, a Capcom Pro Tour Qualifier, and the Tekken World Tour: the stakes were fairly high, attracting 522 attendees, according to the smash.gg event page. The sponsorship support is there.
However — during and after, multiple sources started pouring out feedback regarding the event. To shorten the r/Kappa thread (some NSFW language, there), problems arose in a multitude of ways: story/DLC characters missing on setups (BlazBlue players had to rapidly slog through the enormous Story Mode to get Susano’o), pool “swicheroos” where your pool could be unexpectedly pushed ahead in schedule, missing cords to get consoles working, streams failing to work, and the stark difference between top 8 treatment for certain games.
Below is a comparison between the stages: on the left, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, and on the right, Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2, which reportedly didn’t have sound running, and also had to switch to a 2/3 format from a 3/5.
Same event, both are top 8.
Hmmmm pic.twitter.com/iEaq6wH99Q
— Pssych (@Pssychh) August 27, 2017
Kizzercrate, a top 8 Guilty Gear and BlazBlue player at the event, wrote a personal recount from Absolute Battle 8. It’s definitely a worthy read, as it tells about how the pools were shuffled around at the last minute, which led to disqualifying many participants. Furthermore, the brackets weren’t ready ahead of time, which prevented studying opponent match-ups.
“1:30 PM rolls around. No stream, no in-house projector working, no sound on the speakers, and there’s one tournament organizer running Gear top 8 and apparently [there’s a] huge Tekken snafu at the same time,” Kizzercrate writes. “We played the winners’ side of top 8 and I found out that they’re using my setup to run losers’ side.”
“Through a couple of shaky cams, peering over shoulders, and livetweeting updates, we got through top 8. And then another two full hours of pestering to get our payouts (‘they’re cutting the checks right now’ my butt) so I could actually catch my flight home. During this time, BB top 8 started and apparently the stream, finally “fixed” after four hours, had a ton of issues even then?”
This wasn’t just the case with anime titles, though. Rip, a caster for many high-level events, tweeted out his concerns during the event, which impacted his play in a negative way.
Events really gotta not shuffle pools around the day before. I thought I was pool 7 Injustice 2, but instead got dqed from pool 2. #meh
— Rip (@reepal) August 26, 2017
Oh man today is not my day. During my SFV match all the monitors went off.. not the consoles tho lol
— Rip (@reepal) August 26, 2017
My Tekken pool is officially 2 hours late now. My opponent is standing beside me but they said 'not yet' lol. Only 4 open setups now tho..
— Rip (@reepal) August 27, 2017
Echo Fox|Justin Wong further corroborated the sentiments.
Absolute Battle was overall horrible. Bracket switching, no pool times, not enough pool runners, side room was no order, and more. Welp
— Echo Fox Justin Wong (@JWonggg) August 28, 2017
Favorite moment this weekend was playing cvs2 with @NYChrisG with random chars but other than that I will never come back to Absolute Battle
— Echo Fox Justin Wong (@JWonggg) August 28, 2017
So what actually happened to cause so much disorganization? Versus Gameplay, the organization behind the event, provided statements to explain what went wrong.
“I will admit the tournament did not go as smoothly as we had planned,” said Reginal Jeffery from Versus Gameplay to SRK. “We had a lot of last minute changes and scheduling that clearly fall on my shoulder as the tournament organizer. We had problems with the large influx of numbers that we had. Our past tournaments ran much better. I regret not giving a better experience, and we really want to work hard to correct that for next year.”
When asked about the manner the pools were ran, Jeffery responded:
“We had a low outcome of crew that we expected to come in. Unfortunately, I put some guys in positions to run brackets they may not have been ready for. We were short on staff, and I asked some folks to step in and help, and that was my fault for doing that. As soon as I was able to get stronger bracket runners, we were able to get things going. But because we had staff that was kind of inexperienced, it was honestly on me putting them in the bad spots. They weren’t trying to rush things, I think they were still at expected numbers.”
Streamers suffered from issues, but Jeffery makes it clear it wasn’t their fault. Among them was Panda x Gaming, who had to clarify on multiple fronts that he tried to salvage as much of the event as possible and defend himself from community criticism.
Saw that I'm getting blasted on r/kappa for Absolute Battle 8 when I have nothing to do with the organization side of things. I just stream.
— Panda x Gaming (@PandaxGamingUS) August 28, 2017
watched a guy get DQ'd in Tekken by the TO when he was RIGHT there so I defended him & told the TO to let him play. There were 8 open setups
— Panda x Gaming (@PandaxGamingUS) August 28, 2017
And by that I was accused of holding the tekken tournament up apparently. I was only in the room to link stream communication with brackets.
— Panda x Gaming (@PandaxGamingUS) August 28, 2017
“My streamers had absolutely nothing to do with the issues at Absolute Battle,” Jeffery continued. “We had issues with our ISP (internet service provider). I dealt with them directly. I did my best to make sure they had the speed and everything. Unfortunately, we ran into some hiccups. I know a couple of games weren’t streamed, they weren’t streamed as often. That was no fault of streamers, that was miscommunication between me and my streamers and not being able to get them on the same page where they need to be.”
As we know, Hurricane Harvey impacted Texas this past weekend. SRK asked Jeffery what kind of effect it had on Absolute Battle.
“We saw some rain, but Dallas is a long ways away, so I don’t want to say that was the main reason. We did have some staff and some people who couldn’t come in because of the hurricane. We reacted accordingly. As for some pools, we had players who couldn’t come in, so we had to rearrange pools quickly. That made it seem like some pools were unfair to others and we made did our best to fix those at the last minute. But at the end of the day, I was not prepared for the influx and the changes and the lack of people showing up and the addition of people showing up from other states made, so I kind of put the team in a bad spot with that.”
When pressed on the contrasting quality of stages, Jeffery explained that while they had a goal of running all top 8s in one day, the last-minute adjustments they had to make prevented from making a better second stage. Due to limited venue space, they split up the other top 8s in another room to “reduce traffic” and crowding. SRK’s own writer Crow_Spaceboy attended the event, and said that this year only half the ballroom was used, while last year the entire ballroom was used for the event purposes.
The Absolute Battle organizers have already booked a much bigger venue in Dallas, TX, for next year. But it’s up to the community at large whether they will give Absolute Battle 9 a chance. To the anime community, Jeffery acknowledges that they may feel disrespected.
“I can tell you that’s the furthest thing from the truth. I respect all my players and the games the same. We want them all to have the same experience, no disrespect intended. It’s just that we ran into some hiccups last minute, and we weren’t able to flex in time to give everyone satisfaction in the event that they got in the past.”
Sources: interviews; Justin Wong; Pssych; Kizzercrate; Rip; Panda x Gaming
In Absolver, you are constantly presented with decisions. What fighting style do you want to adopt? What sort of moves do you want to use? Do you want to take on students, or do you want to be the best fighter of them all?
Pierre Tarno, creative director of Sloclap, took time out of his busy schedule at Gamescom for an international call, and answered some of those questions for us — and we at SRK had a fair few!
The goal with Absolver, according to Tarno, was to create a combat experience that was accessible but had “enough interesting mechanics to make it deep enough for competitive PVP.” Sloclap took inspiration from Tarno’s own fighting history rather than other fighting games, resulting in a unique take on combat.
With partner Jordan Layani, Tarno drew from his time as a Ninjitsu practitioner to build a combat system that is designed to feel natural — and thus make sense even to those new to the genre. The pair spent hours discussing “the importance of positioning and of orientation.” The most important take away from this, says Tarno, was their discussion of body dynamics, and how they changed depending on the position of your hips in relation to the opponent.
They settled into three design mantras, which they followed throughout development: combat is a dance, movement is your weapon, and make your move, which ended up becoming the official tagline of Absolver. Movement is the main focus of Absolver — a deliberate decision that coalesced as a system built around four stances, with moves that flow between. “The stances system is very body-centric. It’s about how you position yourself relative to your opponent, and what possibilities emerge from that. You can start a combo in one stance, and by picking your moves carefully, finish in another.”
In a bid to encourage creativity while keeping hold of that accessibility goal, each player will have a “combat deck” — a collection of moves that they have assigned to each stance. As they progress through the single player campaign, moves for the combat decks will become unlocked, allowing players to pick the moves that they like best. Tarno says that Sloclap wanted a system “where players could choose for themselves what attacks would be in which stances, and create their own unique playstyle based on that.”
“We wanted to make something that reflected both the depth and the beauty of martial arts.”
Just as Absolver is bringing a new perspective on the way it is approaching combat design, footsies in the world of Adal will be approached differently.
“It’s maybe a bit fuzzier than those pure fighting games, partially because of the [over the shoulder] perspective. At the beginning of development, we were slightly worried about the fact that in a traditional 2D fighting game you see the characters from side-on, and you can really gauge the distance very precisely. What we ended up realizing was that even if it is just playing on perspective, you can actually judge pretty accurately the distance that your opponent is at.”
Like traditional games, footsies will be vital in Absolver, despite the differences in the style of the combat. In the words of Tarno, “The distance to your opponent is super important to manage.” Because the combat is built around stances, there’s even more to keep in mind when playing neutral. “You end up learning that hey, this guy has just gone into his back left stance and I know, because I’ve seen it, that the moves in his deck for that stance are quite long range. Maybe it’s not worth me moving out, and I should be offensive at that point.” Like in some of the most famous examples of high-level footsies, the best practitioners will find exactly the right space to be in. Tarno suggests that “finding that sweet spot where the enemy will attack, but you’ll be out of reach without having actively dashed, that puts you in a very interesting place in terms of counterattacking right away.”
And it’s at the highest levels that this is expected to pan out, Tarno explains, as the end goal for Absolver is providing a strong player-against-player environment.
“The structure of the game is that you’re free-roaming in our open world, where you could meet someone and have no idea what is about to happen. Are you going to fight, or are you going to teach each other?
“But then you have altars in specific spaces in the world, and from there you can search for one-on-one duels. This is more traditional matchmaking, based on your skill level, your character rating, and your latency.” This is the sort of matchmaking that is eminently familiar to every fighting game player, many of whom have found that finding matches with an equally matched opponent can be a tough task. Tarno hopes this won’t be the case with Absolver.
“When you’re actively searching for PvP, you’re matched with somebody on your level and skill rating, and you’re then sent to a dedicated PvP where the fight will take place. It’s just the two of you there. When you’re into the competitive PvP, instead of the freeform PvP you encounter in the open world, it’s totally encapsulated and it’s just about the combat.”
Sloclap are actively considering the long term future of Absolver — a future that will hopefully include tournaments. But with so unique a style of character and combat, how will that translate into tournament play?
“The question is, whether we want players in tournaments to be playing their own combat decks, or to be playing preset combat decks. For the moment, we don’t know enough about how the game reacts. It’s one thing to run a beta test, it’s another to have thousands of players putting dozens of hours in. That’s the point at which new things emerge, that you can’t see before.”
Sloclap don’t plan to just see what happens. They plan to carefully keep track of what is happening during the first few months Absolver is out. “We’ve basically placed tracking tags everywhere in gameplay. So yeah, we’re storing loads and loads of data.” That’s how they plan to make sure that tournament play stays as balanced as possible — despite the appeal of showing off the total customization that their system allows. “I think at first we’ll try to keep things as open as possible, but if we realize that some elements are problematic and are creating lack of choice, or lack of viable strategies in competitive gameplay, then we’ll make decisions based on that, to have a level playing field that is interesting whatever your playstyle.”
They don’t want to lose some of the dynamic that Absolver brings to the table with its combat decks, however. “One of the challenges when you’re fighting someone is to understand as quickly as possible what his combat deck is, and how you can react to it efficiently. It’s not like working a matchup, where you know that Ryu against Chun-Li has this or that drawback. It’s about reacting to your opponent, each and every battle.”
“We wanted to make something that reflected both the depth and the beauty of martial arts.”
Those tracking tags that Sloclap have placed throughout Absolver are also how they plan to keep the combat balanced and interesting. With such a variety of styles and moves, there is the risk that some combination of stances and moves that they’ve not yet seen could be overwhelmingly strong. “At some point, if you want to balance properly, you really need hard data coming from a lot of matches. That’s why it was really important for us to place all these tracking tags everywhere, so almost everything in the game is noticed and stored.”
Tarno says: “At the meta level, if everyone is using the same combat style and the same combat deck, it’s not interesting anymore. If we do come to the realization that a certain fighting style is a bit overpowered relatively to the others, we’ve built in enough levers to make a few tweaks here and there to ensure that they’re as balanced as possible. We’re really going to focus on making sure that these choices are still as relevant and interesting as possible, even for high-level players.”
The problems with balancing extend to the online open-world environment that Sloclap have created. Tarno explains that the online aspect of Absolver actually influenced the design. “We wanted to make it fair and interesting, even in real network conditions. That influenced our designs in terms of timings for example. We don’t have build-ups that are faster than 0.35 seconds [around 35 frames], maybe 0.3 for the very fastest attacks.”
And that’s not all they have done to ensure that playing online doesn’t become a drag, having invested heavily in an online infrastructure so that, according to Tarno, they can “ensure that we synchronize the action as well as possible.”
“Even if you’ve got 150 ms of lag against an opponent, the game is still interesting and fair. Beyond that, there’s nothing we can do.”
And all that data that Sloclap have been collecting? They plan to be open and transparent about the changes that they are making from it. Tarno explains: “We plan to have very detailed patch notes saying ‘we’ve added three new attacks,’ or say the curled-up uppercut has been rebalanced so that, for example, it costs a little more stamina.”
They also plan to be open about things like frame data, or the amount of stamina a certain move might use. The move data itself? Tarno has yet to decide. “Even though it’s not there in the game, we’re going to release the frame data. If we don’t release it, some players will just analyze their gameplay and learn the frame data of the different attacks. But if enough players feel that they really need more detailed information to more finely tune their combat deck, then yes, we may consider releasing it.”
Throughout our conversation, there is a very clear sense that the plan for Absolver is that becomes a living, breathing experience. Tarno doesn’t seem the sort to sit on his heels if he sees a problem, and there are already plans in the works for the addition of three on three team battles and a spectator feature.
Certainly, they’re saying all the right things, and the unique outlook they’ve taken in creating the game is genuinely fascinating. Only time itself will tell whether Absolver delivers. There’s just one last question to ask. Who’s the best player in the office?
“That would be [gameplay designer] Jordan. He built the system from the ground up, and he’s also the one who is constantly tweaking and retweaking and polishing the parameters of every attack. He knows these attacks intimately, and he’s got hundreds of hours testing and trying these different attacks and knowing how they work and how they’ve evolved. He can read them just from the first three frames. It’s like boom, he knows what is coming up.”
Absolver is arriving on Steam and PlayStation 4 on August 29, 2017. Look out for SRK’s review later this week.
[All images courtesy of Devolver Digital.]
Leah “Gllty” Hayes’ personality and competitive drive has already made her well-known in the FGC; following her recent bout of CPT competition in Asia, GRAPHT announced that they were added Gllty to their team as their first international competitor. At GRAPHT, she joins many of the best-known and respected Japanese Street Fighter players in the game today, including Fuudo, Haitani, GO1, and MOV; now fighting under the same colors as these SF giants, how does it feel to have made it here, and what’s in store for future battles? Gllty took the time to share her thoughts with us.
Zavian “mushin_Z” Sildra: What — in your own experience — is different about competing in Japan, as compared to playing in the USA?
Leah “Gllty” Hayes: In Japan, well, Asia as a whole really, they still try to force a traditional SF ground game and mentality. Everyone learns to whiff punish, everyone knows little minute situations. The way they use training mode is a lot of repetition: figure out a punish, practice it until it’s golden, and so on and so forth. Americans like it a bit more wet and wild. I competed for over a month in Asia in 2016, did rather well over there but started adopting a more methodical/neutral style — and when I came back to the US I was a little taken aback, because I had forgotten exactly how aggressive people in the West are. I feel the East/West thing are just two pieces of the same puzzle, and you need both to become godlike.
mushin_Z: What does signing with GRAPHT mean for the future of your own training and competition?
Gllty: Location-wise — in SoCal — I’m in a prime position to get some of the best Marvel Infinite comp in the world, and now I can accentuate that through also having access to some of the best SFV minds in Japan. I don’t think any other American right now really has the same intimate access back and forth? Certain some like Justin Wong could if they chose to, but I also kind of feel like he and those in his “tier” have already been there and done that more than once. The time is just now for me. I want to grow with GRAPHT, and hope to absorb as much as possible by working with my new teammates.
mushin_Z: In your view, what do you personally bring to the table for GRAPHT as a competitor?
Gllty: As a competitor, I believe my true strengths will burn as bright as a roman candle through Marvel Infinite. Recently, I moved to California, and it took me a while but there’s been a slow and steady increase in my ability. Through GRAPHT, I’ll be able to maintain a steady presence in Asia, as I’m even getting my own apartment in Tokyo. Through the combined resources of Tokyo and LA, I expect exponential growth as a player — and honestly as a person. I feel the proper direction is going up, and I hope to join my teammates in high placements at Evo Japan.
mushin_Z: GRAPHT wasn’t the first team to make you an offer, were they? What is it about GRAPHT in particular that sealed the deal?
Gllty: No, I’ve had offers and deals as soon as my first tournament in 2010. However, my fans are so incredibly supportive that I became self-sustainable without the need for a sponsor, and as a result of my steady rise in exposure, I knew my asking price was only rising. GRAPHT was different, because a caveat of my brand is that it just works very well overseas. Post Evo, almost all major CPT events are in Asia. GRAPHT, being an Asian company, was a great fit for me to explore and compete overseas while also giving them a foothold in a western market.
mushin_Z: There was some social media backlash to your signing, questioning whether you had “earned” or deserved the sponsorship. Where do you think that stems from?
Gllty: People don’t really see the hustle I put in. OK, so I’m not the single best player in the universe. How do I secure the funds and resources to enable that to change? I have attended four Asian majors in the past year. Barring TGS, the only times I saw an American at any of these was Ricki [Ortiz] in Busan and Chris T during Japan Cup. If you can afford two domestic majors and ranking events, you can transmute that budget for an overseas one. It’s as simple as: I took the risk, and others did not.
The “fit” is also a big thing. I remember someone saying that the sponsorship should have gone to Wolfkrone instead. Wolfkrone is a great player! But why in the hell would a Japanese company sponsor him — or any other American, that operates primarily in America — over someone who actively tries to cultivate an overseas presence? The flip side is, people like Wolfkrone, I’m absolutely sure he has deal offers on the table, and those offers would be a better fit for him than — again — a Japanese company. The people who would complain I don’t contribute enough also probably just stay at home and sit on Twitch and reddit, so, I mean, who cares?
mushin_Z: At the same time, many prominent players came to your defense; what does that say to you about your relationship with the FGC as a whole?
Gllty: Game recognizes game. It’s that simple.
mushin_Z: You’ve got a reputation for trolling your opponents; what draws you towards that type of behavior? Natural tendency? Calculated mind-games? Are you deliberately cultivating a “heel” persona?
Gllty: I’m not one to complain about treatment, I let my actions speak so loud I don’t need to. The reality is I do deal with a certain amount of BS, but I’ve also dealt out my fair share of BS — so there’s almost an innate feeling that I’m paying penance on my life’s karmic check.
That said, I don’t really come into social settings — including the arena of the FGC — with the default expectation I’m going to be treated fairly or respected. Diffusing things through antics and humor was initially a means to stake some kind of control from a landscape that could often be hostile to me. You need to kind of go into the social game knowing it’s a little rigged against you, and play that game until it becomes your game. Also, I have a never-ending supply of nerds eager to step to me to “put me in my place” or whatever, which kind of gives me a license to roast pretty hard. I really don’t have many people directly stepping to me, and 7/10 times if you just address them as people, the troll behind the computer screen shuts down and they become people again. People just want validation and a sense of belonging, not being singled out either to be roasted or have their target turn the other cheek. Trolling is sort of a performance art, especially when people volunteer themselves to be taken to task.
mushin_Z: As your popularity has grown, you’ve become somewhat of a role model for younger female players. What’s that like? Do you feel a sense of responsibility for them?
Gllty: That is weird. I’m not a role model, I play video games. I’m also transgender, not born, which adds a complicated personal dilemma of authenticity to the mix. I’ve had a dad come up with three young girls who wanted a photo, and I honestly didn’t know how to respond. I went through the motions, said the correct things, and walked away from it with a reiteration that I have a responsibility with my actions not only to myself, but to others as well. For me to pop off and troll someone who ostensibly “asked for it” is one thing — but being reckless, ribald, and loud about it is sending a completely different message than “Hey, stand up for yourself.”
I think I have a lot of growing before I truly inhabit that role, but I am getting older, and my 20s are drawing very near to a close, so I suppose it makes a lot of sense to transition into a role that paves the way for others to do better and be better than me. I would say, I’ve never really had an output of “18+” content in terms of language or whatnot, but as fighting games grow, my PG-13 demeanor is going to have to refine even further to PG. It’s an inevitability, and I’ve accepted it.
mushin_Z: What player(s) do you look up to most right now? Any particular rival that you’re aiming to take down?
Gllty: NerdJosh and Tasty Steve are two of my favorite people in the FGC, hands down. I admire what my Sim brothers-in-arms bring: FChamp, Jesse, Dank, to name a few. I’ve always been a fan of Haitani — whom is now my teammate. I admire what Kayo has done with her direction outside of the FGC. As far as rivals, I’ve been getting gatekept a lot by the usual suspects at WNF, and right now those are the people most on my radar. BushinStyle has been bodying me since I came here, and I lost one with Ed but beat him twice in a row with Sim. I guess you could say he’s earned my respect enough to want to decode him.
Gllty vs. BushinStyle at WNF, courtesy of Body Count Fighting
mushin_Z: You’ve been using Ed more in Street Fighter V lately, in addition to your usual Dhalsim main. What caught your attention about Ed? What do you like/dislike about these two characters in SFV?
Gllty: Ed has Makoto dashes! I feel he does better vs. Rashid than Dhalsim also, but it’s still difficult. I feel Ed isn’t that popular with professional players, but connects really well in terms of popularity with fans and the community in general (Juri is also in this category). As for Dhalsim, really my only complaint is he’s missing like… one thing. I dunno if it’s that ground teleport needs a change, his V-Reversal should be faster, or **YOGA KNEE**. Thrust kick was a great tool and I love it, I just feel he needs an extra tool against a sizable portion of the cast.
mushin_Z: What are your long-term competitive goals?
Gllty: I want to win majors. I want everyone who’s ever looked up to me to see my success. I want to make my mum proud. I want everyone who’s ever looked down on me to be sitting at home writhing in helpless contempt. I wanna bring the danger.
mushin_Z: Anything else you’d like to say to your fans, your haters, or both?
Gllty: Love you guys / HOLD THAT L
Additional source: Body Count Fighting