Fighting games online

i just wanted to know everyones opinion when it comes to fighting games being online. do you think all fighting games will eventually be online? since games like tekken will now be online. which fighting games do you think will now be online? maybe soulcalibur? also how much gameplay and graphics do you think will be compromised with fighters now going online?

lastly do you prefer a better overall game (meaning graphics and gameplay) over online play? would you rather have a fighting game the best it can be or would you rather have online play? just wanted to get some opinions from people who love fighting games as much as i do.

 

The idea of fighting games running perfectly online is great. Eventually, fighting games will have to go online at some point, but it's difficult to recreate the same experience online.

I don't think graphics gets affected much. Gameplay gets affected by the limitations of current technology.

Some games are designed to be played online, and around the lag issue. I think Mortal Kombat 5 and above were designed with online in mind because they put a ridiculous amount of hit/block/whiff stun on everything--which would give room for a "consistent experience" on and offline, at least in general.

There are also various approaches to how to make a fighting game play online. One way is to try to recreate normal speed of play and maybe have a slight bit of prediction. Fighting games do not lend themselves to prediction engines the way first person shooters do. Most fighting games have way too fast call-and-response immediate action.

Another approach, the approach I prefer, is to scale the gameplay speed with the online connection. Bleach DS does this and a few other fighters do this. You sacrifice arcade/console gameplay speed, but you get the full gameplay experience (though you'll have to act more visually than muscle memory--just frames would be a perfect example). Best example of scaling gameplay speed to the online connection, "heavy 2d space shooters." Those games don't even go online, but because of how many sprites they process on screen, they usually have slowdown. The slowdown becomes a factor that most serious players don't whine about, if anything, it makes it easier for them to control the game through insane bullet patterns.

As for fighting games with lots of slowdown if it went online--technically, some people would play better this way. If the input was opened up to accept inputs beyond the timeframe of the game's speed, then you could probably plug in a crazy number of throw escapes while dodging or whiffing, etc... You'd probably play better theory fighter anyways. The downside is that in offline play, you probably won't carry the precision and speed of control over.

My biggest concern about online play for a fighting game is... I selfishly love the travel and gathering aspect of the North American VF scene. That would still happen, but online play would really help discourage big gathering events imo. But the big tournaments would still be happening. And online play would promote the game. But I don't think the game would be the same after online play--at least on current technology.

-Chanchai

 

i appreciate your feedback Chanchai thanks. its nice to get feedback from people who love gaming and i can tell by your post youve actually thought about fighters being online. for me i want whats best for the game even if it means no online play. i will admit though, i would love online play as long as the graphics and gameplay werent compromised. that goes for any game.

i was playing SF2 when it was first released in arcades and i dont remember thinking at all about online play. the reason i love online play is because there arent anymore arcades. its alot harder to find people to play fighters offline. im lucky to have friends who have been playing VF as long as i have.

i will admit though i would be pissed off if i lost a match because of lag. i like to know when i lose a match on VF its because i didnt play well enough to beat my opponent. VF is the only 3D fighter where if i lose i know i didnt lose because the gameplay is broken. you cant just pick a chessy character who dominates the rest and you dont have to press buttons really fast to performs moves. aka tekken.

i love VF because its all about skill. the better player always wins for the most part. its great being able to pick a character and not have to wonder if hes going to suck compared to the other characters. to me VF has always had next gen gameplay compared to all the other fighters now with VF5 it has the graphics to match. VF is mainly known for its great gameplay and balance. i hope it stays that way.

so what do the rest of you think about fighters going online. thanks for the feedback.

 

Check this....

http://virtuafighter.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/161898/page/3#Post161898

 

i hope the game has great gameplay. more than anything i love me a balanced fighter with deep gameplay. cool i wouldnt have known about this game if it wasnt for you INCIDENT. right on thanks.