Thanks so much for putting us on your site!

really really enjoyed this podcast. Well done guys

Thanks for having me on the podcast @MrAnnual and to @Myke for putting it on the site! Glad so many folks liked the discussion too.

The sideturn addition to OM only came into play in the FS version though. In vanilla it really didn't feel all that great outside of OMP during tech rolls. In FS with the sideturn property, it came into some real usefulness but it doesn't feel complete imo. It feels more like they shoehorned it into usefulness with sideturn rather than it being made for sideturn itself (i.e. it exited before sideturn was a thing). I hope they figure out a more interesting use for it in another game if they even keep it. I suspect it will disappear.

The idea of sideturned in Martial Arts comes from gaining the blind spot or shikaku. It usually is gained after a sabaki or deflection to a deep irimi/dash. I see where they were going with this idea and what could be added to it for more layers.

I wish they had kept the converting the DM into an OM in FS. I don't know why they got rid of that.

I think it's missing functionality outside of gaining sideturn or getting reposition during oki when in point blank distance. There's this critical range you need to be close enough for the side turn to even take effect and if you're outside of that you get literally nothing and it looks weird. It doesn't really fit into the RPS in a clear way either. If it gave sideturn and evaded attacks from positive frames then it'd feel better to me, but there's almost no reason to use it outside of some very character-specific esoteric situations. I don't think a system mechanic should be working that way. I got other examples but that's like the starting point to why I don't feel like OM was a finished mechanic, almost like how the dodge button in VF3 was unfinished compared to what evade became in VF4. Perhaps a more apt word is inconsistent, or even more harshly, buggy. It feels buggy to interact with and not in a fun way.