Possible VF6 Pioneering Break Throughs

Each new major release of Virtua Fighter has always brought some innovation to the fighting game genre. Something new, no other arcade fighting game has. From ring-outs, to character customization, to ring announcers, to trainable AI, to the quest mode concept, Virtua Fighter has always been a pioneer in 3D arcade fighting games.

So what kind of innovations could VF6 bring to 3D arcade fighting games? What kind of features that has never been done before in a 3D arcade fighter?

Adaptable, Scaleable AI. AI partner that grows as you grow, and can adapt to different styles, where the difficulty can be selected by the player. And the player can save multiple versions of an AI partner.

User definable Arcade Routes. Where the player can select how many fighters to face (e.g from 1 to 10), what order to face the fighters, which stages to face the fighters on, which fighters to face, and the fighter difficulty level. VF5US only has 3 routes: A Brad Route, A Lion Route, and A Goh route. These 3 routes are always on the same stages, always with the same difficulty, and the fighters are always in the same order.

Dojo Coaching: This coaching mode would analyze your last 20 matches (online or offline) and then automatically setup the training dummy to exploit your weaknesses, and automatically present you with the tutorials that relate to what you need to learn to improve. This dojo coaching mode with give you a summary of both your strengths and weaknesses of your last 20 matches as regards to positioning, evades, throws, combos, distancing,offensive strategies, defensive strategies and character usage.

Fighting Realism: While keeping combo possibilities the same, keeping frame data the same, keeping fighting mechanics the same and keeping speed of the game the same, change the floating animations to stagger, or stumble or crumple or fall, animations. i.e. Remove Floating Animations from the game entirely.

Offline Player Profiles: Ring Names, Player Customization, Win/Loss Ratios, Offline Ranks that can be loaded and saved in any offline situation by scanning a player's QR Code, using any mobile device. The player's profile should be able to be updated or downloaded using a player's QR Code or some similar technology .

Online Dojo Partner with lobby: The ability to have another human player from online to be your training partner in the the Dojo within a 3 person dojo lobby. This would let any one of the 3 people in the dojo lobby to act as the training partner with live chat built into the dojo lobby. So that all players can comment and contribute to the training session.

Online AI-bots: Bots that fight at the rank and skill of human player. Based on the player's last 20 fight analysis, player's rank, and player's win/loss ratio. If or when online traffic is very low, or online is a ghost town, or there are not enough human players for a team or tournament. Fill the empty slots with Adaptable, scaleable AI that can fight and compete against the best players, or be adaptable to noobs. This way there is always something to do online. Even if there are no human players available.

Persistent Tournament Damage: Damage accumulates during tournaments. And certain amount of the life bar cannot be recovered until after the fighter has left the tournament.

Character Integration between Judgement/Yakuza and Virtua fighter. Give one of the corporations of the J6 ties with Kamurocho. This would Tie VF to Judgement/Yakuza. Allow the Judgment series to access VF player profiles on a local game if VF is present. Thus allowing VF characters to appear during the Judgment game, and add Yagami and Kiryu as new fighters to VF, and allow character profiles between both games to be shared if both games are present locally.


Some things I didn't put in this list, because although they would be an improvement to VF they would not be considered a 3D arcade fighting game innovation. E.g male/female versions of each character, adding guest characters, or rollback netcode.

 

Good Rollback netcode.

 

Rollback netcode would be an improvement over what VF5US has now. But rollback netcode is not a break through. There are other arcade style fighting games that already have rollback net code. So VF would just be copying off those games I'm trying to see what truly new break through VF6 could bring this time.

Ooh Day
Ooh Yay
owe Nay
N-E Aye
OLL Trays?

 

dont wanna see a female goh...yuck..

 

Lol!

@masterpo
I'm not a fan of the guest character thing though. If sega can spend/waste money putting in guest characters, they could instead, use all of that good money, to make more legit VF characters and fill up the roster. After over a decade, VF should have had about 40 characters by now.

 

@beanboy The problem with 40 characters is that you would need to have 40 legitimate martial arts styles to go along with the 40 characters. And VF already has most of the legitimate styles covered. VF is only missing a couple of styles that the average person could recognize. For example Wing Chun, Capoeira

Adding Wing Chun and Capoeira to VF would pretty much complete its martial arts roster. And those two styles could legitimately be assigned to Kiryu and Yagami from Yakuza andJudgement . They would be permanent new characters (not guest characters)

VF needs to really up their backstory game and give VF a complete context , story and lore. Sega already owns a some good story IP. The world of Yakuza, Judgement and Shenmue. It would be relatively easy to connect one or more of the J6 Corporations from Virtua fighter with the underworld of Yakuza, Judgement or Shenmue. (Very easy)

This way, various members of VF can appear in future versions of Judgment and Sega can fill out the back story of VF, and add more legitimate fighting styles to Judgement all at the same time. Both franchises improve, both franchises sales increase, and that would make VF huge

RGG and Sega need to get up on this. Sifu is currently stealing the show. If Sloclap keeps adding content..... VF will start to look like a dinosaur

 

Yeah, but that is no excuse. Sega is from Japan, and Japan has lots of styles, like Jiu Jitsu, Shorenji Kenpo etc. So it shouldn't be that hard, to incorporate them into VF. Also, a Korean Taekwondo fighter is long overdue. Give Hwoarang and Rig a run for their money, and show them how it's supposed to be done.

What the heck is Pai doing in Sifu? Lol!

 

agreed

agreed

She is taking revenge on J6 for poisoning Lau

Sifu has it right. Building a story around martial arts, and martial arts value of Wude
is a very successful strategy. VF has the chance to do that by returning the focus of VF back on the martial arts and skill, and explaining how each of the characters came to use the fighting styles they have, and why those styles will help them achieve their goals. Players world wide love that kungfu movie martial arts , history, and lore. If any of the 3D fighters could pull it off it would be VF. But at the moment VF's focus on e-sports and hit sparks is obviously the wrong direction. Sifu and its martial arts / skill based focus and simple revenge story line is making fighting games popular again with players that don't typically play fighting games. Many many streamers are showcasing Sifu every day. And Sifu doesn't run from its difficulty. RGG/Sega should take note of this.

Virtua Fighter is the only 3D arcade fighting game in the position to take advantage of the Sifu craze. Because Virtua Fighter is the only 3D arcade fighting game where the fighting styles and the attitude of the game has an authentic martial arts feel(given that we can turn off hit sparks). The problem is , it looks like VF is de-emphasizing the story and the martial arts styles in favor of e-sports and hit sparks. When the dust has settled Sifu is going to sell a few million copies and will go down in history as one of the epic kungfu fighting games ever made

 

@masterpo: Wow. Some ideas I liked that you mentioned: QR code data profile, male/female character versions, online AI bots.

RE: QR codes: great outside-the-box idea. Going to a friend's place, or a local matchup, and being able to load your own data by just zapping a code is very cool.

RE: male/female character choice: like, why not? If there's any concern regarding VF storyline/ history then VF can make this option available only for PvP matches.

RE: AI Bots- sounds lame as in "Well if no one is playing then the game is dead." Well... yeah. But, VF could integrate the bots as a way to allow players a new way to await their next human opponent (note: VF5US does this w/ CPU options in Ranked mode).

 

@CoffeeCrusher believe or not, some of us prefer solid AI over human fighters.

The AI in VF4 EVO, VF5, and VF5FS is better at VF than 2/3 of the people that play VF online. NO the AI is not better than the top players, but it does offer a far more diverse , challenging and rewarding match than the majority of casual and intermediate players. So yes, if there was nothing but high quality AI Bots to play online, and those bots weren't available offline, yes I would play against bots online even if there were no human players to be found.

• The AI does not rage quit
• The AI is available to play any time of day, any day of week
• The AI is available to play as long as you want as often as you want
• The AI does not use lag switches
• The AI is capable of using a character's entire move list, The AI will try moves, strings, and combos against you, that a human player might never use.
• You can spam against the AI, and the AI doesn't care
• You can play poorly, or lame against the AI, and the AI doesn't care
• Even if you are a scrub the AI will play you as long as you want to play the AI
• Against the AI you'll always be able to face the entire VF roster
• Against the AI you don't have to deal with nasty PM's, trash talk, and other types of h8 speech after you win
• The AI could care ;less whether you're on Xbox or Playstation
• The AI has better frame knowledge and matchup knowledge than most players

The AI in Deep Blue gave Chess champ Kasparov the most challenging Chess game of his life. The AI in AlphaGo gave GO champ Lee Sedol the most challenging GO game of his life I'd take a world class AI Virtuafighter bot over a human player any day of the week..

From my POV RGG/AM2 could have delivered a solid Single Player experience with advanced , adaptable AI, and dispatched with the online modes altogether.

At the moment I'm totally immersed in Sifu and it has no VS mode, and no Online mode And being outnumbered by AI 5 to 1 is giving me some of the most enjoyable and challenging virtual martial arts matches I have in a long time

 

Wow!

 

You must be new to rule 63 bruh; to each their own, but I'd like rule 63 designs of the entire cast and age-ups and age-downs. Along with skin colour customization, especially none human colours.

 

I love your thinking masterpo but my hopes are rock bottom knowing VF5US

 

I see your point @beanboy but once I understood that Virtua Fighter DOESN'T HAVE CHARACTERS, rather Virtua Fighter has "FIGHTERS". It makes a huge difference how you see the game.

The "FIGHTERS" aren't even restricted to martial arts - it extends to mechanics, the mindset and strategies differ. For example:

Akira - crumple (no strings)
Jean - charges
Eileen - cancels
Wolf - throws
Lei Fei - Stances
Shun - meter
Vanessa - two in one character

etc.

I can see you want to turn VF into a "character/personality" driven game. However you might not want what that entails.

 

I've mentioned some of the following in past posts in what I would like to see in VF6.
-vertical Ukemis where the character rolls along the wall to dodge.
-I noticed in Tekken 7, sometimes when being knocked onto the characters backs, they can flip backwards onto their feet. I would like to see that added
-Also if I remember correctly, Tekken allows to block an attack as a fighter gets up. I can't say how many times it happens to me when I get knocked down and a UP+Punch move is used on me and I can't roll out of the way in time which leads to the following.
-Being able to roll/ukemi out of the way more correctly after being knocked down flat on the ground.
-Bring back Team Mode from VF3TB on Dreamcase
-Introduce Tag Mode. I can see Sarah and Jacky teaming up and saying, "I can take you both on myself"-Jacky, "Just don't go crying to your own little sister"-Sarah

 

A tag mode definitely.

 

@GustavoHeisenberg Virtua fighter has always been about the unique fighting styles. Actually its the players that only approach the game from the "Meta" that have the bizarre interpretation. At this moment I'm looking at the back of the package for Virtua Fighter 5 is Text taken verbatim off the back of the package:

"TAKE ON THE WORLD'S MOST ELITE FIGHTING CHAMPIONS

RISE THROUGH THE RANKS IN THE FIFTH WORLD TOURNAMENT WITH LIGHTING QUICK COMBOS AND COMPLEX MARTIAL ARTS MOVES. FIGHT AS ONE OF 17 CHARACTERS AND MASTER THEIR SPECIALIZED FIGHTING STYLE IN THE MOST REALISTIC VIRTUA FIGHTER EVER".

Each of the unique fighters have a genuine martial arts style. Judo, Kickboxing, Jeet Kundo, Wrestling, Kung Fu, Vale Tudo, Karate, JuJitsu Sumo Wrestling, etc. Sega/AM2 spent a great deal of money on the motion capture process and the animations in order to pull off this "realistic" (as the back of the box specifies) presentation. Virtua Figthter 5 was heralded as the most realistic Virtua Fighter ever (at least according to Sega/AM2)

Now the competitive types come along, and want to classify all fighting games by a fighting game 'Meta' this allows them to talk about and make sense of all fighting games as a whole. This allows them to talk about KOF, SF, MK, Tekken, Blaze Blue, Guilty Gear, etc all in terms of a single set of Fighting Game Metas

The competitive types and e-sports hopefuls want to group all fighting games together and simply reduce all fighting game characters based on these most important fighting game mechanics:

• charges,
• cancels
• throws
• stances
• punish
• throw breaks
• wake-ups
• spacing
• whiff punish
• meter
• fuzzy guards
• mids
• lows,
• highs
• distancing
• frame advantage
• footsies
• frame disadvantage
• orbitals
• crushes, etc

By reducing all fighting games into these essential fighting game mechanics/metas, the competitive players and e-sports hopefuls can jump from one fighting game to the next without having to get into or worry about story modes, character back stories, martial arts fighting styles or any of that other useless nonsense. And they are only loyal to those games where they personally excel at the the fighting game "Meta" By focusing solely on these basic mechanics the competitive players and e-sports hopefuls can cut to the chase and dominate all challengers and any fighting game 2D or 3D.

The 'Meta thing" is real and players can certainly approach all fighting games only from the point of view of mastering the fighting game "meta". And from that point of view who cares about Unique Martial Arts Styles, Beautiful and Realistic stages, Awesome , and detailed Motion Capture. The "Meta" of Fighting game mechanics doesn't concern itself with how realistic Goh's Judo is, or whether Jean's Karate moves are legitimate or not. The Meta mechanics are not concerned with Lei Fei's Shaolin Kung Fu, or whether Brad is doing Muay Thai, or Kickboxing. The fighting game Meta concerns itself with things like @def posts:

There is nothing wrong with this. Looking at Virtua Fighter and any other fighting games through the lense of the "Meta" will allow you to win and dominate competitive matches. And if that's your goal , then you typically don't care about the realism of the martial arts motion captures, or the beauty of the stages, or the legitimacy of the martial arts animation.

On the other hand some players get into Sega/AM2's and Yu Suzuki's original vision for the game as a beautiful realistic martial arts simulation. Where players can according to Yu Suzuki fight on "stunningly realistic stages from around the world" Some players get into Eileen's Monkey Kungfu simulation, Jean's bonafide Karate animations.

Some players look at the whole game through the perspective of immersion and fantasy of 'What-If' scenarios e.g. what happens when Baji quan meets Shaolin Kungfu, or Judo faces off against Aiki Jujutsu. How will Pai's Mizongquan stand up against Shun Di's Drunken Kungfu. This class of player typically is not concerned with the 'Meta Fighting Mechanics" They just play the game for immersion of the martial arts fantasy. i.e. the fantasy that's mentioned on the back of the Virtua Fighter packages. The martial arts fantasy that's mentioned in the beginning of every Virtua Fighter manual. The martial arts fantasy where Dural was created by J6, and Lei Fei is trying to learn Lau's Tiger Swallow Fist before dispatching him as the emperor has ordered The fantasy where Goh and Jean are assassins who use Judo and Karate as their weapons.


The point is there are different types of players of the Virtua Fighter franchise. Sometimes each group wants something different from the next release of Virtua Fighter.

I would like to see VF6 add new and more realistic

• defensive motion captures
• offensive motion captures

e.g some of Lau's offensive motion captures can be updated to be more modern
some of Kage's offensive motion captures can be updated to be more modern, Lei Fei has a few
suspect animations that need to be updated etc.

All characters would benefit from updated more modern defensive motion captures that are more reflective of martial art's blocks, dodges, evades, deflections, and ducks.

 

I agree @masterpo, although I'll add most people wouldn't care about meta had fighting games not being a salt factory

 

@po Gameplay first but it's true it's definitly better when good animations serves well the gameplay.

Vf5 and Vf5Fs did a huuuuuge step forward in that regard. But it was 10 years ago and the game feels a bit outdated now.

For VF6, animation should be PRIORITIZED over graphics cause it holds the time better, and you don't need the best engine or plateforme (even though art style makes a huge part) to make your game impressive visually. Excellent mocaps are always a good investment !

So i wish they would redo ALL or MOST of mocap animations for Vf6 or at least just keep the best assets from Vf5fs if there is some limitation budget.
Also, i wish most of the moves could be slightly more impactfull while keeping them easy to read (a good balance is very tigh to choose for developpers).

For the ground breaking aspects, i find there a lot of progress to do on facial emotions. Fighters on any 3d fighting games looks like robots with dull expressions and it's even more obvious to notice with 4k screen now.
So facial expressions is definitly something to work for the next VF to make the game stellar and superior to the concurrents.

Of course make stages with the same amount of works as the characters and make them feel unique, living with a lot of natural and environnemental conditions interactivies.

 

have absolutely no expectations bro, vf5us should have been a warning. Ask yourself, how low effort and microtransaction enabling, is this feature I'm hoping for?

If it's very so, expect it to be included, else best to pipe dream