Story Mode Side Topic from VF5FS Console Features

Stop making excuses for Sega.You're being an enabler.You think you're helping but you're not. There's 12steps,the first step is admitting there's a problem. Case in Point, Ps3 version VF 5 sold a pitiful 80,000 units in Japan,and 360 version sold about 50,000 units in Japan. WHy? Neither of them offered anything that players could'nt get in the arcades. I don't get the culture of failure some people are promoting. VF5 was an abysmal failure on console financially, and yet some people are saying Sega should stay the course and keep doing things exactly the way they were. They shouldn't even try to improve the presentation, right? Hmmm. Story mode might not be the silver bullet to fix things, but they should at least make an effort. They couldn't possible sell any worse than they have, or is 80,000 units sold a decent sales goal for you?



Story mode might help it sell in Japan merely for fans to get a novelty item . From a marketing standpoint, a story mode might hook in more younger players,that's where the real money is, the kids.Players want a payoff for their efforts. A little kid might suck at VF5, but be willing to button mash his way through story mode in order to see the cut scenes. VF has historically been lacking in sales to the younger demographic. At the end of the day, Fighting games are meant to be entertainment,not endurance trials ,and cut scenes are more multimedia induced entertainment for your money.
Your average layman might be completely ignorant of the difference between Hakkyoken and Jeet Kune Do. What reason can you give him to fight though the arcdae mode with 17 different characters when all you get at the end are credits rolling? There needs to be more incentive.

 

I never said Sega should stay the course and do nothing. I never said the game should be the same. I did say that the game was lacking and I did state my honest opinion to someone's statement. Adding a story mode won't make it an instant success and it's not a reason for it's failure. There's no enabling about it, I'm just stating fact.

 

Actually, bro, your stating a fact based on outlandish exaggerations. nobody here said a story mode would equate "instant success" but you, and if you think the lack of storymode is not a reason for the console versions abysmal, miserable commericial failure, your living in a fantasy land. the is no one key reason for the failure, and nobody here would be foolish enough to say there is. theres a plethora of reasons. a lack of presentation and industry standard story mode is one of them. It still sounds like you're just making excuses. Saying story mode wont make it an "instant success" is just an exaggeration from the captain obvious school of debating, and most of all it's a co-out. You sound like that neighbor who refuses to mow his lawn or upkeep his yard because "it's not going to increase the neighborhood's property value 200% so why bother".

 

That's basically it right there. It's like saying "ok, if they DO add a story mode than it will see success outside of Japan. It doesn't seem like your understanding what I'm saying. Adding a story mode wouldn't be bad, they should add one just like they should add a lot of other things. All I'm saying is that it won't succeed just because there is one. Stop trying to see beneath a line that isn't even there and try to read what I say directly instead of implying outrageous other things. Making excuses? for having an opinion? living in a fantasy land because I think having a story mode would be the end all be all? Clam down kid

 

There already is a story in VF, they dont' have to make a new IP. The limited story that is there now just needs to get fleshed out is all.

 

In VF, the true story is the tale of the player, struggling to become a better fighter.

 

I don't want a new IP. I like the characters they already have. From a business standpoint starting new IPs is very risky. The personality and story that is currently in place is fine as a base. Because of the lack of clarity for the current story writers have freedom in what they want to do. Shit just look at how capcom brought back to life Bison and Gouken when Akuma was supposed to have killed them both already.

 

An in game storyline with cutscenes wouldn't save VF but it definitely wouldn't hurt either.

This discussion crops up here every few months. I'm surprised folk aren't tired of it by now

I don't want to sound pessimistic but FS is going to be a downloadable title. Sega are trying to make money on a title that they honestly don't believe in over here anymore. By cutting as many costs as possible (save a lot by making it downloadable as opposed to a hard copy) they hope that enough people will buy into it.

I don't think FS will have all the bells and whistles. It's not going to be of EVO quality. It will likely be totally barebones. I doubt it will even be as expansive as Ver C. I hope to god I'm wrong of course.

In an ideal world they would include an in-game storyline. There really is no reason not to. It's easy enough to incorporate. But they really don't give a fuck, do they?

 

That should actually be on the front of the box or something.

 

If SEGA can enforce the story mode, that will be great. But how much influence will it bring to make more people involve with this game hardcore? I doubt it. When someone loves its story more than its mechanism, he must be a fan of comics, animation, or movies, not a gamer. Who cares Akira is SS now because he used to date with Pai, or Shun is supposed to be drunkard but also the best Bboy is this game?

 

The story will help bring in players who at the very least might not be as hardcore, but they still love to play to find more about what J6 is and what they're really about.

I don't understand why people can't fathom the possibility of someone who's a gamer that likes a story. Loving the story more than the mechanics of a game doesn't mean that one is less of a gamer. Some gamers just aren't that into the ins and outs like others are. Some gamers like the atmosphere of a specific game, and that's why they play it. Others like the music or whatever. Then there's some that want a good plot to follow.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure it will make a difference. Look at KOF. Other than Dream Matches, the story is one of the big selling points aside from the gameplay. KOFXII didn't have any real story, and it was bare bones all around... Well, it just didn't sell well... XIII on the other hand is doing great, not to mention there's a story behind it. Lots of people are digging the story mode, even if it involves characters that can't be played as in the game (one can hope for DLC).

I also think about DOA, and their lackluster storyline. It took them a bunch of times to add some solid story plot that people could follow instead of showing random cgi cutscenes for an ending, although it was on a subpar 3DS (but that's another story). Despite it being on a handheld, to my knowledge the game sold ok, probably alot more than the other DOA games-- ok maybe not DOA2U.

All I'm saying is the story got more people's attention because no one knows what the hell went on in DOA other than top tier ninjas blowing buildings up and chicks having wet dreams and making breakfast in 0.2 seconds...

VF needs some fleshing out. If Sega laid out the ground work and explained what the hell went down, and what's going on with the characters in the VF universe, people might be motivated to learn different characters because their bio is "interesting", or even play the game for longer than a few months. Maybe people might start wondering how many more goons does J6 have other than Goh and Jean. Speaking of Jean, he and Lion were friends at some point-- WTH happened with that??? There's all kinds of questions that Sega can answer.

At the very least, game reviewers might eat that story mode up and say nothing but even more great things about it. It's already on of the "Top 10 Fighting Games" (of all time?), give it more of a reason to keep it on that list.

 

I don't have anything against a more explained story mode from cutscenes, but I never felt that any from this genre stands out in comparison to the comics I've read and the anime that was based off of them. It would be a first for Sega, if the reason to have the release date deep into the summer, to have such content turning out as valuable.

 

They can google all you mention above in less than 10 sec to get anything they want. To expect people play more VF?

Absolutely right, but we are talking about fighting game. The atmosphere is not that much as RPG, or even ACT game play. All I heard about the reason people dislike VF is the game is too hard, boring, or bad animation whatever make them feel suck. I never heard someone around me doesn't like VF is because of the story mode behind. Although I don't care about story mode that much, it's still great SEGA can do some ending animation for each character.

 

here's the thing about story mode. the issue isn't people needing a backstory to get really into the game. the issue is getting them to care at all.

VF just doesn't seem to do it for the bulk of fighting game players.

I get the feeling that some people think that by slapping a sticker on the front of the game that says "NOW WITH 100% MORE STORY MODE" that sales will just automatically pick up. I can't see it.

I'm not saying don't do it. do it. they've already taken great strides to capture the "I like to masturbate in a corner while I dress my loli-fighter" crowd so why not the "I need to know what motivates my digital character" crowd? I'm just saying that VF appears to be spectacularly unappealing to the bulk of casual and hardcore gamers alike.

The games domestic sales don't even seem to indicate that tons of people jumped on board only to say, "oh there's no story mode? I'll return it so it doesn't show up in the unit sales report". They don't even get past the title.

in terms of expanding awareness and appeal VF vs Tekken is worth far more than a story mode (imo).

 

I'm not necessarily saying that adding a story mode will instantly make the game successful. I'm just saying it will merely become another hook attached to the "bait" in hopes of attracting more consumers.

Sure, people can hit up wikipedia, fighters generation, or some other site, but reading about it isn't actually the same as experiencing a story. Even reading a comic book vs reading the bio on wikipedia are vastly different. There's the experience factor that can make things more engaging for the viewer/gamer/reader/whoever...

Lacking a story might not be the first thing that comes to people's mind, but I'm sure it's there somewhere. I mean how many people truly know who Kage's mom is other than people on this site??? Ask those 800+ people who liked this site, and I'm sure a good portion doesn't know. Not that this sort of thing matters per sé, but it can still be a good thing to help the player get drawn to the character they're playing.

Simply put, Sega needs to draw in as many customers as possible. This is one way they can do that. Will it work? Maybe, maybe not. All I know is that every other company is doing something with their story to attract people. Of course there are other factors to think about when trying to sell a game, but this does help if to a minor degree.

As far as atmospheres go, in fighting games, this can very well repel some potential players if they're "too bland" or "boring", so this is just as important as say an environment in an rpg, or even a fps.

VF's endings are about as empty as KOFXII's... No real sense of achievement. Sega needs to step this up somehow, and add as many "guns" as they can to this "tank" of a VF game if it's to do well imo...

 

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I'm on this site since a year back and I have no clue about who Kage's fucking mother is, and I couldn't care less about it. I'm not arguing with you though, I simply don't get this story mode thing about fighting games I guess. When I started playing VF I found the lack of a stupid story (at least in game) to be pretty refreshing compared to other fighting games. It seems most fighting games insist on having these lame story lines and I can't see any person over 12 years of age enjoying it. Maybe I'm different from the average fighting gamer, I don't know.