Balanced characters: VF2 v.s Vf3 v.s (Vf4)

Well even if I always played VF, here in switzerland there isn't big competition(only a few korean and japanese tourists and some friends). So I'm not sure how the games differ, if every character is mastered on a very high level.
I wanted to know if some characters (Vf 1,2,3,4) are pretty weak when playing on a high level( v.s strong "characters").
Well i heared that Lion was pretty weak in VF2(but there were some updates, maybe that changed a little.......funny, stupid nascar played with Lion in the only swiss -german VF2 championship in zurich i maneged to be third ).

Which VF-Game has got the bigest gap between "strong "and "weak" characters?
As far as i heared in VF4 the diffrence between the fighters(damage,speed?) should be as obvious as in VF2 (One jeffrey powerbomb and you were quite in trouble ..hehehe)

cya

 

IMHO... in VF2, Lion and Shun were dead meat in high level play... everyone else was pretty much balanced, with Akira/Jacky/Lau a bit stronger than others. In VF3tb, everyone is more or less balanced, with Kage/Akira/Jacky/Wolf being top tier.

 

vf1 was the most unbalanced. vf3ob had some grossly overpowered abuse moves and characters, but not to the extent of vf1. vf3tb is extremely well balanced, almost to the point where it's too balanced and boring - imo. that's where vf2 is great - it's balanced (for the most part), but there are _very_ clear boundaries between the "easy and powerful" and the "use me for a challenge" characters.

 

vf1 was the most unbalanced.
but there are _very_ clear boundaries between the "easy and powerful" and the "use me for a challenge" characters.

Could you explain please? I'm not trying to be funny or anything. VF1 is pretty much undiscovered territory for me (don't know about others who post on this board), and though I'm familiar with VF2, I was intermediate level at best.
I'm not asking for a VF1 faq, I'm interested in who was the top tier and who was grossly underpowered.


<font color=white>Ghost</font color=white><font color=red>DOG</font color=red>

 

vf1 jacky was brutal. his EK and PPEK did horrendous damage and were _uncounterable_. his throw range was three times larger than most of the others. he had the best low attack in the game, the LBF - uncounterable, and could float. his punt kick could do horrific damage, and was uncounterable.

lau (arguably) was next. he could KO you in one UpKnP float, which he could easily rush you with repeatedly for RO..his b,f+P plus the unavoidable heavy pounce did ~100 points.

the rest are more or less equal in terms of balance; they each have a power move and/or throw. some less than others. pai can't float, but she does have the m-heelkick and her option-select P. kage is probably the worst character in vf1. for example his elbow and sidekick, even if they hit, are mC'able in a big way.

vf2...as glc said, shun and lion are really pretty difficult to win with against super heavy duty play to kill levels. playing with those two was a real challenge. akira/kage/lau were top tier characters, utter horrible beasts. vf2 jacky, imo, was probably the fairest incarnation of jacky. his P was slow and his big gun moves were extremely counterable (moreso than in vf3) - except for the low backfist, but even then there were ways around the LBF. in competent hands he could be a beast - but then so could most of the other characters, like wolf or jeff or sarah or pai.

--
<CreeD> BURGER KING COMBO #3!
<Creed> JACKY JUST HAD IT HIS WAY!!@!@!#!
<CreeD> YOU WANT FRIES WITH THAT, BITCH?!

 

Thanx. I never played with Lau in VF2, and I don't remember playing against anyone else's Lau either (I played with Akira/Sarah/Kage).
I thought Akira would have ranked higher in VF1, but that's based on what I saw in a GodEater clip of Akira. RBC-> knee-> dBC....Brutal.


-<font color=white>Ghost</font color=white><font color=red>DOG</font color=red>

 

VF1: some characters were a lot stronger than others, this probably had the biggest gap.
VF2: Good balance. There are only 3 characters who really lagged behind the rest imho, those being pai, lion, and shun. And all three of those can be played well and can win, it just takes a little more work. I think ANY VF2 character can do more than 100 points of damage in one combo.
VF3: After the TB revision, it's well balanced. In OB some characters have a pretty clear edge on the rest. Akira is a bastard.
VF4: Wish I could comment.

<font color=blue>CreeD</font color=blue>

 

vf2 lau...i'll quote mason wood here:

<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr>

Yeah, it's not a real VF'ing day if I don't play everyone. Except Lau,
of course. Playing Lau is the equivalent of working in a factory
screwing the same nut to the same bolt 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week.
Sure, you get paid for it, but it's mindless, boring, and repetitive.

<hr></blockquote>

just means that lau had to be played within a very narrow approach to win, which was mainly using his UpKnP rush over and over with a few elbows and f,d+K's tossed in here and there.

that approach may not sound like much but it was difficult to get down, and if you did use him this way (proficiently), he was extremely powerful and frustrating to deal with.

vf1 akira can be powerful, but the really only moves that separate him from being in the same tier with kage (or at least pai) is his bodycheck and SgPm. otherwise he's not that amazing...his throw range sucks and most of his basic moves are counterable.


--
<CreeD> BURGER KING COMBO #3!
<Creed> JACKY JUST HAD IT HIS WAY!!@!@!#!
<CreeD> YOU WANT FRIES WITH THAT, BITCH?!

 

In VF1, wasn't Jacky's large throw range a variable effect? As in, it had to be triggered somehow and thus in effect in certain situations? Or was it actually always a large throw range?

I used to think Lion was almost pointless to use in VF2 (aside from scrub killing and having some fun messing around), but that all changed after I saw the BigCat MoAT '95 clips (it's in the VFA for those who haven't received a copy yet). That really opened my eyes towards VF2 Lion (in many aspects).

-Chanchai

 

uh? say what? no, his front throw range was 2 meters.

--
<CreeD> BURGER KING COMBO #3!
<Creed> JACKY JUST HAD IT HIS WAY!!@!@!#!
<CreeD> YOU WANT FRIES WITH THAT, BITCH?!

 

Oh okay, cool.

I just got mixed up I guess, since I remembered reading this long ago from Chia Jin Ngee's VF1 throwing faq (did I read it wrong?):

Jacky and Sarah has a throw range of 2 meters. Under special conditions
namely missed attacks which causes the opponents to be vulnerable e.g.
crescents and timing ( as for the crescent, you have to press Def+Punch
when she is turning away from you and you will see Jacky or Sarah zoomin'
in to throw her). So Jacky and Sarah are a bit in the advantage here.

Naturally, this is an overwhelming advantage, period and I won't dispute that. But maybe I read too deeply into the "under special conditions."

-Chanchai

 

yes, you read it wrong - he's just saying you can see the effect of his throw range; he zooms in real quick.

--
<CreeD> BURGER KING COMBO #3!
<Creed> JACKY JUST HAD IT HIS WAY!!@!@!#!
<CreeD> YOU WANT FRIES WITH THAT, BITCH?!

 

Chia Jin Ngee... hehe that takes us back awhile. I knew this guy pretty well back in Singapore, we used to bump into each other all the time playing VF1 and VF2 at Marina Square, Funan Astropolis, Lido Wywy, etc. /versus/images/icons/smile.gif Chia, was, unfortunately, a better FAQ writer and documenter than a VF player... but hey, he did a nice job on the FAQ, so if you're reading this, Chia, thanks for your contributions to the English-speaking VF community!