Cool article but I feel this and people's thoughts about VF are still where I was several years ago. Balance is still brought up at the forefront, the simplicity of P->Throw and P->Elbow flowcharts are overlooked. P+G, P/P,K and Elbow being the 3 main punishers are overlooked with statements like " This is not a game that’s easy to enjoy. To begin with, it’s not a game that’s easy to play ". I can't get down with that. Stuff like Fuzzy Guard and Throw Escape Guard should be talked about earlier, because mechanically these are what make VF shine even during the beginning.

Instead of pressing G or even holding back (like most other fighters) you are still allowed to play on defense and even encouraged. , down + P and Fuzzy Guard are simple enough commands to be brought up, seeing as how something like Soul Calibur's and are brought up in articles about it. The hardest part about VF's command defensive commands in the beginning are reactionary, not dexterity.

/rant

VF5(ver.B) was the first time I had offline comp, as well as moving to a new state. I met Chanchai, Yosuke and AJS through this game. Despite the glorious VF4/Evo tutorials and the amount of time spent with those games, I was still lost on this version of the game, thinking it was a HUGE departure, and not seeing the basic fundamentals still applied to the game. I remember thinking it was soooo slow and preferring the 4 series over it, even after the beatdowns by Yosuke and Chanchai which made playing the CPU in 4 a breeze
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In fact still didn't understand the basics, and I think a lot of that was attributed to playing the game like other fighters and not understanding the simple flow charts and how stuff like TEG->ETEG was applied (blocked move and Failed Evade respectively), despite that aspect not changing. This still happened, when I was given a 360 and purchased VF5 ver.C. I was hoping for a Single Player mode and tutorial on par with the 4 series but came away HUGELY disappointing hoping the game would explain Side Crumple and Bouce(Bound) system.

After all is said and done, VF5 is up there aesthetically with VF2 despite the need for flashy indicators and in the end the 5 series is my favorite, despite some missteps in the beginning (Throw Clash) to lure beginners which were later corrected with the arrival of Yutori.

i like "jazz gaming"

I'm so sick of the popular opinion that VF is such a difficult game and not casual friendly. PPPK combos with much of the cast say otherwise.

Like MadeMan said, it's a joke to hear people talk about Akira's knee, which isn't even used much in FS, when the most popular fighter of the generation is filled with bread and butter combos that utilize frame perfect button presses. VF doesn't require the rigid right handed timing of SF, nor does it demand the precise left handed dexterity of a game like KoFXIII.

I feel VF is the simplest modern fighter to pick up, and it easily has the simplest execution requirements if you can get past all the people shouting about how difficult it is.

Just putting it out here, but I think maybe one reason VF seems difficult is because it has no special mechanics or gimmicks. Even if a new player isn't great, most fighters have a super meter or some kind of combo breaker to fall back on. VF is more or less just raw fighting, and so players have to rely more on themselves than connecting a random super or a lucky combo breaker/counter hold. I guess you could say that the throw escaping and the staggers are a bit like that, but they're not really selling points and are relatively mundane concepts. Maybe the simplicity of VF makes it hard for players because they don't know how to approach it, making them feel a bit lost.

VF is literally as easy as it can get imo. The mental aspect Marly mentioned is present in other games too; that doesn't really separate it from the crowd. Id like to distinguish 2D from 3D, but SF4 is probably the easiest current 2D fighter and I'd say it's harder. Marvel is probably even easier.

VF is possibly TOO simple. Where's meter?

I really only posted in this thread to say Smash is sooo hard. holy teet. I thought Guilty Gear was the hardest. NOPE.

EDIT: Smash wins on overall skill-spectrum crowd appeal too. Marvel does the same. Big names sell seats.

"This is not a casual or friendly game."

*Sigh*

Not only may this cause people to avoid VF, it's not true. The difficulty is relative to who you're playing.

I remember explaining KOF XIII to a friend when it came out. I was in love with it, but I noticed when I explained it to him, I was thinking "damn that's a lot of meter to keep track of...", haha. Same reason I can't get into ArcSys games, despit Xrd looking awesome.

I can tolerate 3 meters in Alpha and the IV series, but anymore than that and it's like "lolno".

Shun has meter! That's why he's cool.

How many Shun's manage meter appropriately though lol

I feel Shun is "the super meter character done right". You have to build the meter up every time and opponent has a plethora of ways to stop it or make it go down. Deciding when enough 'meter' is enough is an important piece of gameplan too.

haha no

shun gets to keep the resources he gained from match to match. the longer the set, the more the match is tipped in his favor. not to mention the swing from being the "worst" character to being the "best" character once he hits a certain number of drinks. it sounds a little like super turbo balrog, but at least boxer's meter is reset from round to round

Am I the only one who finds it ironic that this article talks about balance, but the Arcadia List that is literally 5 items below this article on the front page of VFDC clearly shows that popular opinion believes there is a "large gap" in the balance of the characters?!

As imbalanced as everyone likes to say this game is, it's still ridiculously balanced compared to every other game out there. The balance and "difficulty" of this game comes from its lack of extra garbage that other games throw at the player.

You're about to lose the match? Nope, use your super meter comeback mechanic!!!
You're stuck in a corner vs a rush-down character? Nope, use this weird guarding mechanic that pushes the guy to the other side of the screen!!!

In VF, if you win, its because you won. Period. That's the difficulty that many newcomers have with the game. How the hell do you comeback when you have a sliver of life left? This game is easy mechanically, but very difficult mentally. It requires thought without memorization. Many gamers that grew up with other fighting games aren't used to that. So in that regard....yes, this game is very user unfriendly...

@ToyDingo, I was merely pointing out the irony, now everyone is all upset...

Overall, I think the game is more "balanced" than many other games but still, I just find it kind of funny more than anything

No worries, my response wasn't towards anyone in particular. I was just ranting for a bit...