vf5:R Console (the Journalists chime in)

I'm a HUGE Virtua Fighter fan. I just can't understand how rabid fanatics here won't admit that the VF series has been ruined outside of Japan.

Sega said when VF4 was being developed that the game would NEVER WORK online. This came at a time when consoles were really starting to get popular online, and also at a time when online multi-player for PC/MAC games (Starcraft, Diablo, Unreal Tournament, Counter Strike, etc.) were the highest selling games for the computer platform.

So Virtua Fighter 4 was released outside of Japan with no online. But, the game was a perfect port (aside from graphics) and Sega released a great arcade stick (through Hori I believe) for the game.

Soon VF4:Evo hit arcades and Sega outdid themselves on consoles. They released VF4:Evo immediately as a greatest hits game ($20!) and some regions got the VF10th Anniversary game bundled directly into the main disc. Also, two different joysticks were released for Evo, a dark blue one, and a light red one (thought the vanilla VF4 one seemed sturdier). Even though EVO is not online, the AI is quite good to play against, meaning lacking online isn't a total bust.

But....Final Tuned would show where Sega's true focus for VF would be in the future. As when FT came to Japanese arcades there was never even a hint that it would come to consoles. And it didn't...

So finally VF5 is announced for arcades and announced as a launch title for the PS3. The first thing Sega says about the game......it won't be online. Eventually after delays the game comes out, and gets slammed for having no online and terrible AI. This is the first major step back for Sega. Also the VSHG's first couple models from the factory were duds.

Well, VF5 gets announced for the 360, with online, making Sega sound like complete lying idiots for the past couple years. The release was even based on the latest arcade patch!

But once VF5R came out, everyone else outside of Japan was stuck playing an older inferior version of Virtua Fighter, AGAIN.

First off all the difference between the versions of Street Fighter 2 are not small at all. From World Warrior to Championship Edition the boss characters became playable, then to Turbo where game speeds were changed, to new challengers where four more characters were added, to Super Turbo, to Anniversary Edition, to finally ST:HD Remix. And in every version there have been balance changes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_fighter_2

Street Fighter 2 is the most legendary fighting game in history. Superb balance, deep game play, unique characters, it's basically the 2D counterpart to VF's 3D depth and ingenuity. How you can possibly slam Capcom for releasing MAJOR updates to SF2 and calling them 'same versions' is unbelievable. The difference between World Warrior and Super Turbo (and now HD Remix) is far greater than VF4 to VF4FT...

Capcom has Street Fighter 2, Third Strike, and soon Street Fighter 4. While the VF series is obviously the best 3D fighting game series in existence (I consider VF4 and Evo to be the best fighting games of all time) you can't possibly say that ST and Third Strike aren't on par with VF5.

Namco, I don't play Tekken or Soul Calibur or whatever. I'm strictly VF and Super Turbo now.

How is it a preconception about Sega having a terrible track record........when it's a reality than Sega actually has a terrible track record with the VF series outside of Japan that last couple of years.

How am I making a mistake? While I consider myself a hardcore VF fan (I went to Evo2k4) I don't need to be completely ignored by the company I support. Does anyone on this board actually like Sega? I own every data book on VF since VF4 version A arcade, all the console joysticks, the Tougeki (SBO) DVDs, but I still HATE Sega. I watched tons of Kakutou Shinseki II(sic) matches from 4Evo the other day and I always love when Ogi uploads old Beat Tribe or whatever VF4/EVO/FT videos. I don't think I'll ever not enjoy watching old VF matches for fun but I can't invest time playing VF5 when it's an old version that Sega doesn't care about.

Sega told me that VF5 would be PS3 exclusive and not online. A year later I find myself buying a 360 to play VF5 online. Yeah I trust Sega alright.

A high level SF2 tournament player told Capcom to make an HD version of SF2....so they hired him to do it. That's the difference between Sega and Capcom. Sega cares about Japan. Capcom hired a hardcore player to develop a game for the hardcore fans.

 

If Capcom truly cared they would've made HD remix inhouse and not let Sirlin ruin it.

 

SF4 wasn't developed inhouse either, lol.

 

Word, was it DiMPS(Rumble Fish developers)?
-Google is my friend, NM.

 

God you don't make any sense to me at all.
Great differences? Capcom was making SF2 like EA is making FIFA. Why did Capcom stop making them? Cause they flooded the market with near identical games year after year. They lost consumer interest. If not, why then SF2HD and SF4 have been outsourced to third parties?

You recommended me to play SF2, a 15 years old game and SF3, a 10 years old game, yet you are also telling me not to play VF5 cause it's outdated? Fair enough, I will buy and play SF4, because I am a big fan of DIMPS and I loved Rumble fish, but it's not quite out yet right?

Why are you talking of VF4E sticks, that are on the EX2 level, and not of the VSHG or the HRAP EX?
Ask anybody here, the VFHG is one of the best sticks ever made, even if it had its share of problems, of course.

Your post is long winded and does not get to the point. You select facts and leave others out to paint a false picture.

Please try to be concise, I understand you gave up on VF5 cause you dislike Sega. GOOD. I am a new comer, I love the game, please don't keep on with you rubbish, thanks.

 

VF5 is outdated. VF5R is current. How difficult is this to understand? We aren't playing the latest version. This happened for VF4:FT and is happening now for VF5R.

The equivalent of this for the Street Fighter series would be if in Japan they got Super Turbo and Third Strike, while outside of Japan everyone was stuck with Championship Edition and 2nd Impact. Instead, the latest Street Fighter releases have all made it console. SF4 is getting console exclusive content. ST:HDR is console exclusive.

And this is why I never registered on VFDC.

Please be concise? Sorry I have college degrees journalism and English, and when I post on forums I'm usually trying to invoke discussion, not dumb my posts down. Aren't you playing VF because it's the most complex fighting game? But you can't handle complex sentences?

I've been playing the VF series for years, been to EVO2004, watched VHS tapes of Bun Bun Maru and Kyasao ages ago...but I get flamed and trolled by someone who just started off playing VF recently. Wonderful. I'm sorry but most people who were around for VF4:FT will tell you that it left a pretty nasty taste in our mouths regarding Sega, and already VF5R is giving everyone the same feeling.

You may blindly support Sega for withholding the latest version of Virtua Fighter from you, but take a look at the posts before ours, they all consist of people sending complaints to Sega requesting if Sega will ever port VF5R. Including posts from people who have been around the VF community for a LONG TIME.

I love how it's "rubbish" to pester Sega to get the latest game in the VF series.

Would you rather play VF5 or VF5R? I'm still pissed that I've never played Final Tuned.

 

Dude, I am not trolling and flaming you. And I am not blindly supporting Sega either. I just recently ranted on about Sega disastrous management of their properties, especially of the DC.

But you cannot expect me to take you seriously when you suggest to play SF2 instead of VF5online cause that's not what they are playing in Japanese arcades. I could understand this logic if you were living in Japan, and then all of a sudden you had to move away.

FT had not enough differences, not in graphics nor in gameplay, to warrant a console release. Sega has a Japanese based arcade business of limited resources, and they cannot afford to release a game that they know will not sell anyway.

Why do I need to tell you this? I think you are educated enough to understand this by yourself.

As I said, VF5 is the best fighter available right now, it's online, and it's cheap!

You are going to have to make a better post to discuss this with me. Please convince me with your logic, I need to rationally understand why people should stop playing VF5 now. I don't want to hear ramblings that I will have to correct you on, nor speculations on how good other games that are not available until next year are going to be.

I also emailed Sega BTW, but there is a difference between complaining and showing your support for them to finally announce something.

Looking forward to your reply,

Matt

 

I actually have enjoyed reading you two going back and forth with each other and I'm not really taking sides BUT a couple of points of confusion I noticed between you both are.

1. SF2's versions were very different from each other to the hardcore guys. i.e. go on srk and tell them all the SF2 versions are the same and you will be flamed to high heaven, and for good reason. So I don't really see a need to debate that point.

2. Playing SF3:3rd strike for as long as people did isn't the same as playing VF5 ver.B when VF5:R is out. As in we are playing an outdated version of the game ,which I'm kinda pissed about but I'm still going to play, while SF3:3rd strike was just never updated hence it was the most up to date version of the game. I think that's the point he was trying to get across anyway.

But yeah don't let me stop your little going back and forth, it's fun to read if anything haha

 

Don't most people play VF because they have fun playing it, and not because it's complex?

 

Tricky, the common gamer is not going to pay full price for an updated SF2 every year, that's for sure. They milked it up to the point that nobody takes care anymore. (I understand SRK guys will buy any and every SF, maybe they also bought CFJ for all I know).

They better not try the same shit with SF4, because I will not buy the game more than once, no matter what, and I LOVE FIGHTING GAMES.

And as I said, I am 100% positive R will come out on xbox.

 

I personally only got SSF2 and didn't even know there were other version until way after the fact. Again in those days you didn't buy console versions of games you just went to the arcade so it really wasn't that big a problem for us consumers.

Console's are arcade perfect capable now so it's a much bigger deal when there are updates. I'm all for downloadable updates, even if they charge us something like 10 bucks. It does cost them money to actually program that stuff so I'm alright with that.

 

You make it sound like every version of SF is the same. There is a difference ya know.

 

I know, but I rather wait 3 years and have a definitive version of a game rather that buy a slightly modified version every year.
Capcom and SNK idea of selling a yearly update of they games is a rip off.That's why I have no interest for FT.

R on the other hand, I cannot wait to play.

 

i bought CFJ /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/frown.gif

 

most gamers probably didn't buy all the SF2 versions anyway. It was just so popular the hardcore gamers were cool with buying the rebalanced version. Which honestly if SEGA did that how many of us wouldn't buy the new rebalanced version. Cuz each iteration of SF2 was much better than the last. (bison infinate combo comes to mind, or people complaining about guile's overpoweredness)

 

Will we see VF5 R at TGS2008? No!!!
Why, Sega is broke. They need to make money off their workhorse, ie whore, Sonic the hedgehog first. And This fall they are going to get ready to lose millions of Dollars on Goldex Axe Beast rider(When they could've spent development dollars on Shenmue 3 instead.). Look how long it took them to bring Yakuza 2 to the USA, a brave move considering the first sold like shit.

The point is, SEGA keeps losing money making Shit games like that IRONMAN and HULK fiasco last summer, and those losses and the inevitable losses on Golden Axe (expect 5.5s in all reveiws, SECRET LEVEL SUCKS ASS) and Yakuza 2 will only delay the release of Virtua Fighter 5 R further.

My call is they will try to coincide the release of Virtua Fighter 5 R with the release of TEKKEN 6. Or more likely they will release it a little after, to kind of have the last word with NAMCO .

Be patient, do what I did, dusted off my copy of Vf3 TB, to refamilarize myself with TAKA. By the way, his first hit throw is 3P, 66P+G. It's listed WRONG on his movelist, "3P, 6P+G" doesnt work at ALL, I tried it a thousand times that way.

 

I guess that's a college I wouldn't prefer to attend, if you see nothing wrong with the aforementioned sentence. Preposition, anyone?

I love it when things get heated here /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/laugh.gif It just goes to show how passionate people are about this game & gaming in general /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif

 

I love the myth that's persisted since 2000 that Sega has no money.

Also, sad to say, but both Hulk and Iron Man outsold VF5 by HUGE amounts. Iron Man sold 1.75 million across all platforms, and Hulk sold 660,000. Hell, Hulk on PS2 sold more than VF5 on 360. What do you think that says to Sega about where they should prioritize their development? Secret Level might make shitty games, but they're cheap to develop and they bring in money. Golden Axe: Beast Rider is a safer bet than Virtua Fighter 5 R right now.

Yakuza's 2 delay is also the fault of SCEA - they have a retarded policy that all voice acting in games released in the US has to have an English track. Sega spent months trying to convince them otherwise because dubbing the game would cost way too much. They finally gave in.

But hey, if you want Sega to go broke, they can dump another 70 million into Shenmue 3's development and watch it lose as much money as the first and second game :v

 

It's not just sales volume that determine whether a game is profitable.

The cost of making VF5R would be very low in comparison to movie franchises.

They have the engine and netcode done, all that would be needed is the new characters and moves, new items, and any improvements they wanted to make. I don't know the exact economics, but that's a lot cheaper then making say, Iron Man.