VF4 and Bubble Tea

you may be right. I searched thru several bubble tea sites and the largest however only lists 50 places in the us and canada? and like ten were the ten ren you mentioned. Dunno. I DO live in a backwater place but I suspect these are strictly a big city phenom, a la toronto and ny and la.


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Re: Random Thoughts

Just my thoughts....

<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr>

New Things For Veteran Players/Experts:

* VFNet can show bystanders who is the boss onscreen thanks to the 7th Dan (et al.) paraphernalia
* Some additional strategies resulting from Side- and Back-Throw escapes
* Flat arenas means buttonbashers won't be as likely to win by means of a lucky terrain combo
* Still lots to learn, which will benefit those willing to put the time in

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*As spread out as the US and European gaming population is amongst itself, I think rankings and what not are subject to being skewed. Who knows what the real results would be. But at least we could have regional ranked battles on occasion. However, if the VF4 population in the west is really small and VF.net existed, I would imagine the rankings to be pretty messed up.

*Side and back-throw escapes are nice, but I think it would narrow down some of the games that had existed with the heavies (Jeffry's SE for instance). Of course, positional advantage as a result would lead to some interesting post throw-escape games. I escaped so many side throws on the test version (seemed like I got side thrown a lot after quick roll).

*Concerning buttonbashers (As you put it), I find that terrain tends to work towards reducing their combos than giving them larger combos. Or at least that is the common case that I see with beginners, often messing up combos on terrain. Just my experience of course.

*Lots more to learn is good. I'm hoping there's a lot more to learn anyways. At this point, I'm not quite sure if there's that much more to learn in VF4, but at least it seems like there's a lot of fun/versus/images/icons/smile.gif

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New Stuff for Scrubs:

* 'Old' moves and combos have been severely toned down in terms of execution difficulty (e.g. Lau's d/f k, f p, b,f p is now much easier; DLC)
* Throws are now easier to connect (don't have to be as close)
* Throw escapes are now easier (e.g. Giant Swing)
* Lei Fei can apparently be used very easily (ala Hwoarang)
* Faster/de-emphasised recovery times means beginners won't be punished as much for missing big moves
* Auto shit, such as reversals
* Quick rolling (this was probably introduced as a direct copy from Tekken and the like [to entice the scrubs by making it quicker, with none of that dirty oki to deal with, God forbid])
* Gimmicks, such as shite-looking headguards and weird looking costume tidbits
* Pre-match shenanigans to entice the Tekken crowd (I'm not against this. Just saying)
* Say what you want but some details do remind me of Namco games (such as when I first saw stills of the European Castle style stage)
* A plethora of stances (every scrub I know thinks Lei Wulong is cool because of his stances)

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*Execution difficulty being toned down seems to benefit everyone. Nice addition for scrubs, but everyone as well of course. Despite whatever pride I have in accuracy from previous games, as long as it doesn't take away much, it's the way it should be imo/versus/images/icons/smile.gif

*I DON'T THINK THROWS ARE EASIER TO CONNECT in VF4. If anything, for the beginner they are harder to connect. Lack of guaranteed situations has made the situation far from being cut and dry. Special properties with some of the throws makes experience (or being informed) important in purposefully nailing throws. Accidental throws seem very unlikely in this new system, but they still happen of course. As far as VF4test went, everyone was whoring the low punches and beginners never even considered low throws.

*Throw Escapes easier.... Seems that way, but Giant Swing shouldn't be the general example. I think they stretched the timing, but I often saw people input a throw escape a bit late or early and not escape the great GS (ask Clopin). The special detail mentioned is not a throw escape as much as it is tech-rolling from landing (and you still sustain a lot of damage). Throw escaping in the test version felt very much (but slightly different) than VF3. A beginner is unlikely to escape throws unless they intended to throw at the same time. But intermediate and above players will be able to whore the VF4 Option Selects. I think this all makes throwing harder. BTW, it should be noted that as far as my experience is concerned, Giant Swing was the only throw I saw where you could tech-roll upon ground impact. ***Throw followed by okizeme or ura should be interesting.

*We'll see about Lei Fei, but he does sound like the Eddy Gordo of the game. You're gonna see a lot of mashers with him, but also a good amount of experts. Mashers will do well to an extent (against beginners and maybe intermediates), and experts might just kick ass with him.

*I know VF4test isn't the perfect measure for VF4 because it was a beta and much has changed. But I still think the recovery times in the VF4 test spoke for something. My experience was that recovery times were indeed there as well as block stun, but the game animates past them. They are de-emphasized in one sense, but I think in the longrun they will be very much focused to the more devout player. As Rich mentioned, in VF3, it was either throw counterable or unguaranteed-counterable (but at least range alters that enough). This makes it much simpler. For VF4, we're really going to want to know what counters what, and I think this was the case for VF2. Beginners won't be punished as much for missing attacks against beginners. But again, if the test was an indication, anyone is gonna get punished to hell for messing up an attack against just about anyone above a beginner.

*"Auto shit" doesn't seem so bad to me, but we'll see. I don't see it as a huge threat, but it will be an extra wall of defense that's in the game. And like just about any defense, there's a way around it. Against fellow scrubs, yeah it'll be seen quite a bit in scrub matches. Against decent players, well... VF isn't really a "one option only" game (at least as far as I know).

*Quick Rises and Quick Rolls was the thing that I saw KILLING SCRUBS! On test of course. But seriously, no matter how many times I told people that the feature existed, I felt I was the only person doing this at least 80% of the time, no wait, at least 50% of the time. And it helped! However, quick-rolling seems to lead into another on-the-spot okizeme game if your opponent anticipated it and as a result, some cute stuff can occur after it. By not using a Quick Rise option, you are subject to quite a few things including insane bounce combos. However, by using it, you sacrifice a nice high-priority rising attack or an amount of rising game. I'm sure most people will say Quick Rise is best, and I agree, but it is not everything. In fact, it's expanded the okizeme game as far as I can tell and this is a bit tough on the scrubs.

*Gimmicks... Yep! Definitely in there. Don't care much for them, but I don't hate them either. VF.Net is a gimmick as far as I'm concerned.

*The fighters' entrance, I like it, but yeah, it appeals more towards certain crowds. If you don't like it, press Start, right?

*Should we just say everything rips off of each other? I'm sure much of the look in Namco, Sega, Konami, Team Ninja, etc... games came from somewhere and were inspired by something or someone else. But of course, someone's always gonna complain about them (not saying you were complaining, didn't seem like you were).

*I like the stances. I've always felt that they did more to keep the scrub down by either:
a) being too much for a scrub to handle
b) preoccupying the scrub with always playing from one stupid stance and nothing else
c) keeping the scrub in his place because he thinks he's a bad ass that he can perform 2 or 3 or 10 move lists.
However, in support of what you said, stances do at least draw scrubs in to some extent.

Just my thoughts on what you said, but not meant to be against or for you. I think VF4 is easier to control. But I think it's still tough to flow for so many people as well as creating a good margin between seasoned players and beginners. It's definitely not a black and white matter (is it ever?). Guess only time will tell.

-Chanchai

 

Since nobody answered the "WTF is bubble tea" question...

Bubble tea is a drink that started about 15 years ago (or so the flyer in a local place sez) in Taiwan. Its tea+milk+fruit juice (watermelon, guava, passion fruit, etc) or some other blend of refreshment drinks, with little balls of tapioca starch added. The drink is sipped through a big fat straw so one can suck up balls of tapioca and chew on them as one is drinking

 

re: sucking up tapioca balls:

Gross. And it's popular eh?
I think I'd rather go to a flan and haggis bar.

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LOL, the first time I had bubble tea I was like, "WTF is this???" But it does grow on you...I absolutely must have one now every time I see a place that sells them. It's strangely addictive. =)

 

I remember lesters. ...


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bummer, none in this state. Someone described the bubbles as being like melted gummy bears, which sounds less gross. Maybe I'll make some of my own with lipton iced tea, oakhurst milk, and melted gummy worms.


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Most places around here call it Boba Tea.

But anyways, you can actually make it yourself, at least the regular tea kind. Head down to a Chinese supermarket and get a bag of the frozen tapioca balls, some sweetened condensed milk, and some tea leaves (a blander variety, or alternatively, Lipton Brisk works OK too). Boil the balls, and mix the tea, milk, and sugar to your liking, then add the balls in. I didn't particularly like it at first either, but it's grown on me.

OK I realize this isn't even about VF anymore.

 

Creed, trying to save yourself from embarrassment for having bashed Andy's "Bubble tea is popular comment?" Stop it, it makes you look silly.

Say it with me now: "I'll open my mind and try new things, I'll open my mind and try new things..."

 

No, I rarely try to spare myself embarrassment. I'm serious when I say that tapioca balls sound gross but gummi bear balls sound tolerable. That's just me.


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I fucking cannot believe this thread made it this far~~~

 

Well I'm gonna extend it just one post further to say that the day after I read through this thread I stumbled across a bubble tea place in Santa Monica (It's 4th and Santa Monica, if anyone's in the area).

MMmmmmm love those tapioca balls =]

grib.

 

Still catching up... ;>

There was, and probably still is, a bubble tea joint in Vancouver, across the road from Lester's arcade -- where the '97 tourney was held -- remember?

Was that the all you can eat sushi restaurant that we ate at or next door?

I couldn't help myself.... I haven't seen any Bubble Tea places either, and didn't know what Andy meant until I started reading this thread.