VF news Yu Suzuki and Harada and Mori

@Myke
Myke or anyone else, more VF news, put this up on front page of the site.

http://segabits.com/blog/2021/03/17...-dreamcast-title-and-tekken-x-virtua-fighter/

 

Yu Suzuki is a legend and I won't argue debate that. In fact, he made VF up to the 4th which is basically the best one for many people.

I don't agree with his approach necessarily of simplifying the series especially with the lack of any other tactics options. DoA tried that with a very easy reversal input and the result is a floaty 3D fighter that is just boring.

I have a lot of trust in AM2 and how they have made VF5 without Yu Suzuki. I hope this approach is not what they are thinking. I believe the leads in AM2 understand that VF has to retain some of its input complexity. But really outside a few high end input commands, VF gas always had room for button mashers and just random controller inputs to great array if animations on screen.

 

VF actually was always striving for simplicity, but not in mechanics, but in, like, making sure what you're trying to do works and makes sense. This, imo, made VF a game that is very easy to approach systematically. Think about tekken, how the 3D system works there, it's almost impossible to make sense of what tracks where, when, and why. People compensate for it by analyzing the most useable moves, the usual situations, trying to simplify it with stuff like "SS this character to the right bc of this and this move", and by defensive OSes and movement variations. Actually making sense of it, documenting it fully, is a pain. I tried to do it myself with tekken 7 and it barely got me anywhere. More than that it was only with one character against the others, and if i change my character, i can throw it all out the window and start from scratch. Then, in vf, a move either tracks to one side or the other, or both, or none. If you evade to where it doesn't track, you win. If it's slow enough, you can cancel a failed evade and still block in time. That's... it. The tracking data of all the moves in the game is in the command list over here, and the game shows that in the training mode. It's completely character and situation independent, if you can evade (as in, you're in the neutral stance) and the move is evadable, that's it, press the direction. Even the walls don't affect this. The failed evade has a set duration, and a set cancel window, so you can just do the math for which moves you can still guard and when. And the system isn't less deep with all of that. And it's all very simple to wrap your head around and use in a match even if you're a beginner. That's the kind of simplicity i think VF is always going for, and if that's the case, there's no need to worry about the next games, unless they change their ways for some reason.

 

I think the latest version of the game made some of the arguments presented in the last post invalid since the Evade crouch dash cancel (ECDC) defensive technique allows sidestep to beat high full circulars.

Apart from that .... there is an image of Tekken's Jin holding VF's Sarah at the bottom of the article! The inevitable misunderstanding leading to a fight with Jacky has really made me rethink about the desirability of a crossover.

 

I'd trust Harada in handling a cross over. I like Harada as a person a lot, but I don't like his games much yet I think he will do it right if he needs to.

 

It doesn't need to maintain high input complexity though, that's a relic of a bygone era - a lot of adults with real jobs don't have time to invest into learning a game.

What's the point of an artificial barrier to the heart of fighting games - tactics and mindgames. I understand the nostalgia associated with learning the moves in the dojo though.

If they were to simplify the game outright then it's a problem

 

I see your point, VF does have a lot of strings but you can learn a lot of them easily with a few matches with the more complex ones reserved for the high end players.

You can do mind games with minimal knowledge too.

Again, many in the VF community would rather have the series maintain it's mechanics rather than water it down and make it more accessible while having things like a story mode.

I think Tekken 7 is a solid proof that your game doesn't need watering down to be successful.

In fact, watering down your game might just kill it for good.