Which VF World Do you Live In?

There are at least two kinds of VF players, each with a different world view.

The first type of VF player sees Akira as a Kung Fu teach from Japan and fights with Bajiquan style, or sees Wolf Hawkfield a professional wrestler from Canada born February 8, 1966. This kind of player knows that Lei Fei's stage is deep mountain and Taka is a scorpio who has a Yoko Harite. This type of player either knows or is interested in facts like Kage-Maru winning the 3rd and 4th tournaments and was once voted as one of the top ten Ninjas. This type of player does ponder whether
Vanessa's Vale Tudo can beat Lei Fei's Shaolin Kungfu. This type of VF player gets into the immersion of the martial arts and martial arts fantasy of VF. This player type likes the martial animations, and sees VF as a fun get-away into a fantasy world of martial arts

The second type of VF player could care less about Koen Ken, Deep Mountain or the relationship between Kage's Hagakure-ryu Ju-jutsu Aoi's Aiki Ju-jutsu. This type of player is not concerned how authentic Lei-Fei's monk beads look, or whether Leon's Mantis stance has any bearing in reality at all. For this type of player VF is a competitive arcade fighting game with three button mechanics. Its balanced, perhaps the most balanced fighting game of all time. It has rich offensive options ad rich defensive options. It has online play. Its easy to play and difficult to master. The graphics are well done, and its fun. The frame information is for the most part well documented and the game engine is transparent. This type of player often doesn't bother with character customizations. The immersion for this type of VF player is not into the fantasy martial arts world of VF but into the very real joy stick mechanics, response time, balance, fairness, and game engine information of VF.

I'm not saying there aren't any players that fall somewhere in the middle, but I am saying these are two of the basic VF player types I've met over the years. The first type of VF player tends to place a higher value on single player features and story mode. The second type of player tends not to give a hoot about single player and story modes. The most important mode for this type of player tends to VS mode 1rst, online 2nd!

Each Type of VF player has a different wish list for future versions of VF (if there are any). Each type of player sees the world of VF through different glasses. Most of the advanced players happen to be the second type of VF player. Most of the noobs as casuals tend to fall into the first camp.

Do you fall into the 1rst or 2nd type of player? Or do you see yourself and mates totally differently? Is it possible to be the first type of player and an advanced VF player? Do most of the fan base of VF fit into Type1, Type2 or neither?

 

You obviously are the 2nd type, if you can write this

 

Uh... the real world

 

From your description I guess I'm the second type, since I have absolutely no interest in martial arts, martial art movies or VF mythology whatsoever. A more interesting question to me is what do the developers put most emphasis on though, since they obviously have to deal with both aspects to some extent. I wonder sometimes. As for your second question I'd say yes, and for the third probably type 2.

 

In the middle of the two, for me. I would say that style itself aren't really that interesting most of the time, but changing from various stances or styles would be a little more preferred from Vanessa and Lei fei. However, the two aren't really interesting enough to stay with from that aspect. I'm more of a casual rounder, because I feel that the only way I can stay with the game is to see some degree of value in all of the characters.

 

The Xbox one, off and on, since about 2008 Finally enabled me to say goodbye to Saturn, Dreamcast and PS2 CPU mode

Love the old Jacky Chan and Yuen Biao films as well of course!

 

OH no, I'm defintely in the first camp. I play VF strickly for the fantasy of it all The same reason why I like to watch Donnie Yen and Jet Li movies.

Although I've been forced to learn about frames, launchers, combo extenders, OM's, DM's Sabaki's etc, that spoils the fun for me. Playing the game from a Frame, advantage, dis-advantage, safe, unsafe move perspective, is like saying:

a purple dyed powdered drink mix consisting of calcium phosphate, salt, and maltodextrin, instead of just saying: "Grape Koolaid'' . Yes! maltodextrin, calcium phosphate powered drink is technically more accurate and gives the drinker more information, But, IMO Grape Koolaid sounds like it would taste better

Many type 2 VF players (in fact some of the best VF players) break the game down into its lowest level mechanics and then play competitvely from there. Not me. I picked Lei Fei as my main because he's a shaolin monk, and has some pretty immersive shaolin moves. My fighting style consists of Nehan Shiki, Dokuritsu Shiki, Bokutai , etc katas and sequences. If they happen to correspond to frame advantages or safe moves it was just luck on my part. I like a move sequence because of the fantasy of how it looks not the point damage it does

If a combo sequence looks good, I learn it, if I don't like how it looks, I don't care how much damage it does Of course I lose a lot of matches with this philosophy, but I've also won a lot of matches with this philosophy

 

except kage

 

Then you really SHOULD know kage didn't actually WIN VF4 tournament

 

66% type 1, 33% type 2, 1% somersault kick

 

I'm kind of a mix, I guess. I don't compete, but I do like VF for it's gameplay and I like learning to best way to use a character and get good with him/her. I play fighting games because I like one-on-one battles, and I think VF has the most solid gameplay. I wouldn't be a fan of this series if it wasn't great to play.

On the other hand, I am really into the story elements of the series. I think overall, even if it isn't shown outside of the manuals, the story elements that are there would make for a better story than all the weird, wacky BS that are in almost every other fighting game. I keep saying this, but all the plot surrounding J6 could actually make for a decent story to be told. Whether or not it's executed well is another story, but since it's only ever been told through exposition texts, I don't think you can really judge it as good or bad, it just is. The VF anime is one of the better fighting game adaptations there is. It didn't follow the games that closely, but it did use the plot elements from the games and made them work.

I know talking about plot in VF gets old, but I just want this game to attract more fans, and I feel like at least some attention to in game plot development would help that, a lot. Overall, I think the fanbases of most fighting games are made up of a majority of type 1 people, with a dedicated community of type 2 people. But with VF, it's really just the small group of type 2's because there's nothing that really attracts the type 1's. Tekken and SF and MK and DOA are as big as they are partly because of their characters and story elements. I don't think VF has to sellout it's gameplay to implement a good story in-game.

I'm also really into martial arts and have practiced a few different styles, so I also really appreciate the authenticity.

 

More of a first type. Always been interested in the story of VF, but I haven't followed it in a while. Wanted to see some endings in the games when I went through them in Story Mode to get some type of closure. Is Kage's mother still being used as Dural? Has she died, recovered, or been recaptured by J6? Did Shun Di ever find his missing student? Will Vanessa get some revenge on J6 for the death of her guardian?

Competition wise, I don't see much of it in my area, so I play online and go to events like Final Round where side tourneys are held. Most folks here are into Tekken & Ultra SF4 way more than VF (saying it's too hard, and they can't tell when they're getting hit. Ugh).

 

the world where the daytona car can backcheck people

 

There are few games that match the realism of martial arts styles that VF has. That's why I play the games. How each character is created shows how dedicated the team is to making realistic fighters, and showing how each style works. The evolution over the years is also very impressive. Adding things like Akira's Baji footwork, Lion's evasions and throws, Lau's stances, etc. I'm just more impressed with the series with each iteration.