Before Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown was announced and in an effort to keep the community alive, Rodnutz took an initiative by starting up a newsletter. This later became known as One More Round (OMR). Unfortunately, due to the amount of time and effort needed to make these issues, the OMR project has ended. Several articles written by members of the VFDC community never got released. To rectify this, these articles are being posted here. Before Final Showdown was released, Chief Flash and Chefboy wrote their first impressions of the game at Final Round. Now that many months have passed, what are people's opinion of the game now?

VF5FS - First Impressions @ Final Round
By Chief_Flash on 15 March 2012

Graphics
The first thing you'll notice immediately is how good the graphics look. VF already looked great to begin with, but the addition of new animations really tops the cake. Sega has also made the colors brighter and more vibrant. The character models and stages look sharp and clean. Also, it's easier to see attack confirmations such as counter hit and normal hit. Right after you stare in awe of the graphics, you'll also immediately notice a difference in how characters move in the game. FS makes vanilla look stiff with its smooth and realistic animations. The character idle animations alone are awesome to look at and each character has more than one!

Sound
VF's sound has always been above average to me. I don't really mind VF's token sounds, but they are a bit outdated. Rest assured that FS sound effects have improved. You can really feel the impact of various hits now which compliments the animations very well. Getting hit on Major Counter (MC) sounds and looks painful!

Gameplay
As I stated earlier, character movement is probably the biggest difference in FS. The overall speed of the game feels faster in terms of dashing, crouch dashing, fuzzy guarding, and attacking. My biggest concern initially was the new throw system. As a Wolf player, I felt that the new throw system did not favor me. With throws having different execution speeds and the omission of zero frame throws really affects Wolf's throw game. For example, the game's average throw speed is 10 frames, and Wolf's best throw, Burning Hammer, executes in 16 frames. Opponents can react to the throw instantly by either attacking or escaping. Yes, you can escape Burning Hammer on reaction due to its unique start-up animation. However, after playing the game more and getting used to the new system, it didn't feel so bad in the end. In fact, I felt the complete opposite from my initial thoughts which leads to my next observation that FS caters to those with the strong ability to read opponents (yomi) more so than vanilla. No longer can a player input multiple throw escapes, but only one out of three directions ( ,, and neutral)! The combo system in FS has also changed to favor players with strong offenses. Every character now can perform combos that net heavy damage against any character. And because of this, defense is even MORE valuable. The throw game has changed in the sense that players will now have to work harder in setting up throws. For Wolf's Burning Hammer, specifically, you really have to freeze the opponent to successfully connect it. The satisfaction of shedding 100 pts of your opponent’s life bar instantly has never felt greater. Furthermore, because the game caters toward the offensive, you'll find it extra satisfying as you strategically condition your opponent. SPAMMERS BEWARE! HAHA you cannot spam in FS. If you do, you pay the price! Overall, despite the numerous changes, I believe FS is the quintessential version of VF.


VF5FS - First Impressions @ Final Round XV
by Chefboy_OB on 15 March 2012

System Wide Changes in VF5FS
As most readers of this publication will already know, the changes implemented to movement, damage output, and throw system in Final Showdown have turned the slower-paced, safe-move encouraging tactics of vanilla on its head. Every action now has a significant amount of risk attached to its use corresponding with a substantial growth in the potential reward for its successful application. I will begin this analysis with the most fundamental aspect of any fighting game: movement.

Upon my own personal judgment, I would say the game moves slower, but the increase in damage across the board has resulted in faster-paced matches. Though after some time in reflection I do not believe this is wholly correct. It would be better to say that the game is much stricter than vanilla was in regard to the types of movement available. Back dashes go farther and thus seem to be slower; however, they can still be cancelled. It seemed to me that cancels were only practical if they were between standard movements like dash, sidestep, and crouch dashes. For many this may not require much of an adjustment at all. The unlucky few that play the game by oscillating between dashes and sidesteps will need to adjust. Furthermore, movement needs to be done carefully at close range, as it is now very easy to eat repeated counter-hits for being too nimble.
My final conclusion leaving the event was that any movement decided upon had to be a conscious decision weighed against the habits of one’s opponent. I say this not because back dashes are weak to middle kicks and the like, or because sidesteps open one up to being counter-hit by half-circulars. I say this because the buffer window between dashes and attacks seems to be tighter...or looser—I can't quite figure it out. If one were to decide to dash up to their opponent and jab with , they would need to make sure they clear the buffer window or delay that ever so slightly to ensure that did not in fact come out. It took a great deal of time to undue the muscle memory developed from maneuvering through vanilla-space. It is a really a rather small adjustment physically, but the overall danger associated with movement in general may lead to many more players opting to hold their ground directly in the opponents’ face. Those who witnessed the stream will see that I rarely, if ever, tried to simply sidestep or back dash away from Dango's Sarah and her Flamingo dance of death. All the changes to the movement system led me to infer that movement was no longer something to be taken lightly. It is no longer a 'free pass' to dance around an opponent and avoid their attacks, but it is something to be used deliberately to open up opportunities to snatch victory!

Design Philosophy behind VF5FS
Overall the gameplay in Final Showdown stinks of a new design philosophy from its very essence. It's easy to see why AM2 is so highly regarded. Anyone who has eyes to see will say that this game is different! People who had not touched VF since 2006 were able to see us play knew instantly, despite our low-level experimentation, the game itself was much fiercer and unforgiving. Whereas VF always seemed to me a close-range fighting game as opposed to Tekken or Soul Calibur, this game moves like a violent white-water rapid that inevitably forces both players down tight channels that seem to put them in range for a heavy make-out session with the light petting. Put together as a whole, the changes encourage many tactics that were formerly only reserved for the best players: whiff punishing, standing throw-escapes, and reverse-nitaku, abare-styled launchers.
Taken at three different distance levels, the game tends to play out in such a fashion. At far range the match is more so about controlling the direction the fight is moving. If the fight is at long-range then one of the fighters is most certainly closer to the wall than the other, and I can tell you that wall is a very scary thing to be near! Mid-range is when the fancy movement we've all come to know, love, and perform becomes most useful. At mid-range one is generally out of range to be victim to a butt stumble from a well-timed mid-kick, but attacks at this range (even long-ranged attacks) become very dangerous given how easy it is to confirm the opponents whiffed attack and respond with a launcher of his or her own. At close-range the battle becomes a lighting fast test of wills where each option offers either death or delight. I feel that from here on, it will be necessary for each player to understand the unique strengths of their character and formulate their offense in order to best direct the opponent into their traps, webs, and set-ups. Everyone needs a frame trap, something with evasive properties, and something to encourage sidesteps. Anyone with a string naturally has a tool to force the opponent to stand still, but the rewards for predicting a side-step far outweigh the meager psychological benefits of a decent string (imho).

The game was made to be exciting. If your blood is not pumping by the end of a match you're doing it wrong! The rectangular stages, though not nearly as fear-inducing as I once assumed, are still very tense stages to fight in. The tide of battle can do an about face in an instant though, so everyone should fight hard always and never be discouraged!

Character Impressions for Vanessa
I'd like to preface this section on my character, Vanessa Lewis, by briefly detailing what I thought made her special in Vanilla in order to make my impression clearer. If every character had a word or phrase to boil down their design philosophy to, I would characterize Vanessa as being an unmoral—or immoral if that suits you—character (Credit goes to Cozby for inspiring the term 'Unmoral' for my Vanessa play =P). Vanessa could be called a jack-of-all-trades in Vanilla, but I don't think that wholly describes her. Sure she has many tools that other characters would call their own, but they are generally weaker versions, and one must not forget that at all times she only had access to half of her move list at a time!

What made Vanessa special was her precise combination of moves, and the fact that most of her best pokes, strings, and combos required her to switch stances. This ensures that an opponent could never adapt to fighting one of her stances as his/her mindset would immediately need to recalibrate to fight her other stance. Thus, I played Vanessa as though I never needed to stop attacking. If I was fully comfortable in my offense and defense then my tactics were based precisely on that phrase. If you were to see me employing movement or other defensive techniques it was really all a ploy to lure you into a false sense of security, only to use that to open you up or to better figure you out.

Her sabakis did not give her damage, her damage required a counter-hit or for me to take a substantial risk, and her strings all suffered to low-punch. If you thought at any one time that you could not fight against her relentless assault then my job as a Vanessa player was done. Look now! Oh my, how things have changed...

Vanessa's Design Philosophy in Final Showdown
Attempting to play Vanessa even remotely like she played in Vanilla is a one-way ticket to Beatdown Town. She was assaulted on all ends from specific changes they made to her, and system-wide changes that are simply unfavorable to a stream of weak offensive attacks made in an attempt to confuse, frighten, or confound the opponent. I'm sure most Vanessa players have already poured over the differences on paper, but the method of play will need to start anew in your minds when this game hits.

She doesn't switch stances nearly as much anymore. That is because there are really only two ways I could find to do so. Her shoulder slam moves using , or simply . This means that the constant switching from one stance to another using frame traps from her spinning elbow to keep the offensive flow are completely gone and you'd best forget them here. Now it will only hurt you to keep them in your mind. That is a rather large part of what made her good before, but all is not without hope as they left many things intact in both stances; however, Vanessa players will have to find different ways to set up her remaining tools.

The system-wide adjustment to the risk/reward ratio for sidesteps really works in Vanessa's favor now more than ever. In offensive stance, arguably her best single move was , or the “Deathscythe.” Using frame-traps to set it up, this was one of her most dangerous moves that was completely safe, special-high, half-circular, and lead to 70-point combos on the full cast in any stance with amazing options for oki. It still retains all those spectacular properties, but the fact that it is half-circular makes it truly deadly, befitting its title. Any opponent must now be wary of stepping to Vanessa's back when she is in offensive stance, or they risk eating the move because counter-hits are automatic for half-circular moves. This means you don't really have to set-up the move at all anymore—though it would be wise!

Intruder stance(offensive) has been given a boost be adding to the number of times one can enter into it, but the options from it have been shortened to a mid-punch that crumples, the rolling kick that staggers, and her takedown catch-throw. For example she can now choose to enter intruder stance from by pressing forward. This is actually used in some of her combos because from intruder stance bounds now. What is significant about that specific string is that it now replaces her old () or () string. Like her old version it begins with a half-circular and given the changes to movement that means that a correct guess guarantees the entire string! The multiple ending choices make this a particularly dangerous built-in mix-up game.

I would say that she is overall a much more dangerous opponent because the philosophy behind her is no longer to use all her moves to mentally frustrate an opponent, but to surgically apply her multitude of attacks for their diverse and dangerous properties in the appropriate situation. She doesn't need to work hard for counter-hits anymore. They're giving them away with bean pies and brochures on the street corner now!

I'll wrap this up here because I've probably written too much anyway, but I'd be more than happy to discuss further where I feel the direction of Vanessa play and VF in general is headed with the next iteration. I can't express just how excited I am for this game. It's going to be a blast and you're all going to see, very soon, why when we all left Atlanta we left hungry for more!