I can recall the first time I made a real conscious effort to win at a video game..and funny enough it had nothing to do with a fighting game. To add insult to injury, it was the CPU I was losing to! None the less, I was determined and it just happened to go a long way when I started playing against human opponents. Losing is not an easy pill to swallow especially when you lose by such a large margin. It's during these times that define your attitude the most because you can either quit, take a break and try again, or just shake it off and keep playing.
The latter two options, are in my opinion, the best options because if you take the first you just never know what you will miss out on. I'm beginning to understand the need to lose...I know that sounds quite crazy but I promise I'm not headed to the half way house after this post..promise. "I want to get better" can often times take on a double meaning especially when you talk about fighting games.
"I want to stop losing." Sounds simple enough, right? I can say without a doubt that I do not enjoy losing. I would be lying if I said that my sodium levels have never reached a critical mass of pure unadulterated frustration especially when you just can't seem to land a hit on your opponent that does anything remotely damaging. It can be just as depressing especially after having spent time trying to improve but why would I get depressed on something that I enjoy. Well, there are just some moments when you forget what you love about the game and I've come to realize that I don't like staying away from something I enjoy to long.
If you've taken your bruises and dusted yourself off enough, you may one day have the fortune of coming across an opponent who hasn't quite gone through the gauntlet so to speak. It's from this experience you can see how you've improved. As you play you'll notice a few things.Their execution isn't quite up to snuff, they make a great deal of mistakes, and their movement in general is slow compared to those who have put you through the ringer.
Depending on how bad you pummel them, you may come to realize that despite the feeling of victory there is something missing, something that until this moment hadn't really been apparent to you because you've agonized over so many of your losses, that is right, you are no longer feeling challenged!! Winning doesn't hold the same value because when you were losing you had to fight for every win and understanding that has definitely changed my perspective quite a bit.
It now gives me a great deal to look forward to when I face a stronger opponent because winning is that much sweeter when I can earn a victory I had to struggle for. In the past, it would blow my mind when certain players would get angry for winning or would just leave after beating you convincingly!
I still don't quite agree with the attitude but it does make some kind of sense. A win isn't as satisfying if there isn't a bit of difficulty in between but I feel we need to allow people the right of progressing at their own pace. The game is about having fun if you're not having fun because you're not being challenged enough by those around you, maybe it's time to look for a new challenge.
I can find excitement now in facing a stronger opponent knowing that I've improved and can improve more if I continue to learn from losing to my opponent. The need to lose isn't as crazy as I once thought it to be because in a lot of ways it still encompasses the want to win..if that makes any sense. Just don't give up and you will hopefully come to this understanding.
Monday, May 4, 2015
Friday, April 3, 2015
Killng Combos
Oh combos, how I love thee...so, I enjoy combos. After I saw Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, I wondered why the game did not have combos that looked as amazing as I saw in the film. Not to long after, Street Fighter Alpha was released and you immediately saw the influence from the movie. From the way the characters were drawn to...the combos, that is all. Unfortunately Street Fighter fanatics didn't quite see the joy of chain combos and so developers opted out on it during the next offering in the series.
I don't know what it is about combos that have me so caught up in doing them. I guess I just enjoy the fluid nature of them. Take a look at any combo vid, like this one, and you just can't deny that there is something awesome about them..that is until you get hit with one during a match then it becomes something that you might just deplore.("you filthy combo!") The big thing about combos is that they take good execution. The better your execution the more combos, the more combos, the more stylish it looks, and in some cases, the more stylish it looks, the bigger the damage.
Unfortunately, not all of us are incredibly dexterous. While I can admit I haven't consistently kept my muscle memory combos on point, I have been working on them on a regular basis. I haven't lost hope completely but I definitely wonder if I'm just not physically/mentally equipped to belt out the combos that I really want to execute...I mean gawd they can be so beautiful but damn it if they aren't hard to pull off sometimes. It can also be heart breaking when you've made some great decisions, and you have the life lead only to have it taken from one mistake. To sit in disgust while your opponent combos your life bar away mercilessly can be painful to watch, especially when the combos are extra long.
I often find the longer a combo is the more it can take you out of the game mentally but given the difficulty of certain combos, it's hard not to advocate on the side of reward for those who can do them. Now, I'm not saying that combos should be done away with but I can agree that maybe it would be a more engaging experience for everyone if they were shorter. I can understand that part of the love for fighting games are their execution difficulty but we all know that there is so much more to a fighting game then just execution.
There are mixups, there is spacing, mind games all sorts of things that I believe if focused upon will bring a lot more people into fighting games and I for one am all for it even if that means that combos have to take a hit. Recently, the combo system for the new Tekken 7 was explored noting that shorter combos could effectively create more damage. Some aren't to elated about this idea but others seem to be enthusiastic about this direction.
Make no mistake, I don't EVER want to see an end to combos. I believe they have their place in fighting games more then anything else but I can honestly say that getting hit by touch of death scenarios can be quite bothersome sometimes. I want a happy in-between and if that means killing combos is the solution, then I say it's worth at least trying this time around.You can always bring them back the next time around but if you don't try to bring more people in we may never see fighting games gain a bigger audience.
I don't know what it is about combos that have me so caught up in doing them. I guess I just enjoy the fluid nature of them. Take a look at any combo vid, like this one, and you just can't deny that there is something awesome about them..that is until you get hit with one during a match then it becomes something that you might just deplore.("you filthy combo!") The big thing about combos is that they take good execution. The better your execution the more combos, the more combos, the more stylish it looks, and in some cases, the more stylish it looks, the bigger the damage.
Unfortunately, not all of us are incredibly dexterous. While I can admit I haven't consistently kept my muscle memory combos on point, I have been working on them on a regular basis. I haven't lost hope completely but I definitely wonder if I'm just not physically/mentally equipped to belt out the combos that I really want to execute...I mean gawd they can be so beautiful but damn it if they aren't hard to pull off sometimes. It can also be heart breaking when you've made some great decisions, and you have the life lead only to have it taken from one mistake. To sit in disgust while your opponent combos your life bar away mercilessly can be painful to watch, especially when the combos are extra long.
I often find the longer a combo is the more it can take you out of the game mentally but given the difficulty of certain combos, it's hard not to advocate on the side of reward for those who can do them. Now, I'm not saying that combos should be done away with but I can agree that maybe it would be a more engaging experience for everyone if they were shorter. I can understand that part of the love for fighting games are their execution difficulty but we all know that there is so much more to a fighting game then just execution.
There are mixups, there is spacing, mind games all sorts of things that I believe if focused upon will bring a lot more people into fighting games and I for one am all for it even if that means that combos have to take a hit. Recently, the combo system for the new Tekken 7 was explored noting that shorter combos could effectively create more damage. Some aren't to elated about this idea but others seem to be enthusiastic about this direction.
Make no mistake, I don't EVER want to see an end to combos. I believe they have their place in fighting games more then anything else but I can honestly say that getting hit by touch of death scenarios can be quite bothersome sometimes. I want a happy in-between and if that means killing combos is the solution, then I say it's worth at least trying this time around.You can always bring them back the next time around but if you don't try to bring more people in we may never see fighting games gain a bigger audience.
Monday, March 2, 2015
Character Crisis
Often times choosing the right character in fighting games is a hard decision. The reality is your character, the one you thought looked the coolest, could ultimately let you down. After all, balance is one of the biggest challenges when it comes to fighting games and some characters unfortunately end up receiving the short end of the stick. Despite what seems to be a harsh reality, some individuals choose to stay loyal to their character making a commitment to use the characters strengths to beat their opponents. It is a valiant effort to say the least but what happens when that character you loved so much, the one you stuck with through thick and thin doesn't make it to the next generation? Will you stay, will you go?!
Recently, Charlie Nash, a returning character from the classic Street Fighter Alpha series was shown in action. You could almost hear the melody "reunited" starting to go off in the heads of those who greatly missed his absence in the latest reboot. It's funny to think that it all started with just 8 playable characters. Ultra Street Fighter IV, ended the series with 44 playable characters to date! Out of these 44 characters only 6(7 if you want to include Cammy clone Decapre) original characters were introduced to the series. It goes without saying that the character accumulation within the street fighter universe has grown quite large and with V coming just around the corner the fear is starting to creep slowly into players wondering if their cherished character is going to make the cut.
It's a development dilemma, at least one would think, to have to decide who stays and who goes. You risk alienating players, angering fans, and the possibility of losing a next gen convert. After all, it is not unusual for a player to stick with the previous game in the series. Even today, players are still enjoying Super Street Fighter II Turbo which was the last version of its' series. It would seem that character crisis is a two way street for both gamer and developer in a lot of ways.
The hope, for me at least, is that the new Street Fighter promises the same increase of characters that the next Mortal Kombat is promising to provide its' fans. Even with some of the old guard returning, the latest trailer shows that a new generation of champions is upon us. The ideas in the latest version of MK are grandiose to say the least and I genuinely hope that it can please both the casual and competitive end of the spectrum adequately.
It may be to early to start talking of disappointments though I was honestly disheartened when I saw a very young looking Ryu and Chung-Li in the first reveal. I would have hoped that Capcom would have made changes to these characters but I can't be to quick to judge until I've seen more.We all want to see old characters return. We also want to see something fresh as well. Where is the happy medium?!
Recently, Charlie Nash, a returning character from the classic Street Fighter Alpha series was shown in action. You could almost hear the melody "reunited" starting to go off in the heads of those who greatly missed his absence in the latest reboot. It's funny to think that it all started with just 8 playable characters. Ultra Street Fighter IV, ended the series with 44 playable characters to date! Out of these 44 characters only 6(7 if you want to include Cammy clone Decapre) original characters were introduced to the series. It goes without saying that the character accumulation within the street fighter universe has grown quite large and with V coming just around the corner the fear is starting to creep slowly into players wondering if their cherished character is going to make the cut.
It's a development dilemma, at least one would think, to have to decide who stays and who goes. You risk alienating players, angering fans, and the possibility of losing a next gen convert. After all, it is not unusual for a player to stick with the previous game in the series. Even today, players are still enjoying Super Street Fighter II Turbo which was the last version of its' series. It would seem that character crisis is a two way street for both gamer and developer in a lot of ways.
The hope, for me at least, is that the new Street Fighter promises the same increase of characters that the next Mortal Kombat is promising to provide its' fans. Even with some of the old guard returning, the latest trailer shows that a new generation of champions is upon us. The ideas in the latest version of MK are grandiose to say the least and I genuinely hope that it can please both the casual and competitive end of the spectrum adequately.
It may be to early to start talking of disappointments though I was honestly disheartened when I saw a very young looking Ryu and Chung-Li in the first reveal. I would have hoped that Capcom would have made changes to these characters but I can't be to quick to judge until I've seen more.We all want to see old characters return. We also want to see something fresh as well. Where is the happy medium?!
Monday, February 16, 2015
The Difficulty With Standing Still
It has never been a question that fighting game communities are some of the most dedicated players around. Constant arguments about the more superior fighting games get debated to a debilitating degree especially when the new kids come to town threatening to chase the old guard away.
I've never quite gotten into the "one competitive fighting game to rule them all" predicament that has seemed to make some of those who carry this mindset alienated when there aren't enough players to carry the banner for their game.
I tend to disagree with this mindset but have come to understand it even more so after last week. Running a website that dedicates its' self to the many fighting games that can now be played online, I often get very engaged in the communities who are committed to running weekly tournaments for their favorite games of choice.
One game in particular, Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax, has a few players still giving it their support. I personally only delved into this game primarily to review it for the website but it was never my intention to let go of it completely as it was a great experience for the time I played it.
With a tournament coming up that week, I decided to sign up and dedicate a few days of training to the game. Despite the effort I made it was,to a greater extent, useless. I was completely and utterly decimated during casual play and met the same fate during the tournament itself.
After feeling the crushing defeat, it made me reevaluate my decision to sign up in the first place. It wasn't necessarily the fact that I lost it was more so the fact I haven't taken the time to play the game and I knew I wasn't going to after the tournament was over.
I got caught up in the camaraderie of those within the community which often happens with every community I cover. Wanting to be apart of it is natural especially when you're seeing the enjoyment their having but I have to be realistic, I wasn't really ready to be fully apart of it.
In a week or so I will be starting my descent into a game that just so happens to be made by the same company. That game is Under Night In-Birth:EXE Late. My anticipation for this game has been a long one and I'm excited to see what it has to offer. I unfortunately can't say that I will dedicate more than a month to it because ultimately there are more games to cover.
I love fighting games as a whole I have my favorite which is The King Of Fighters franchise but that doesn't mean I'm not excited about the other fighting games that are available either. The biggest difficulty I've been faced with is simply just standing still.
From now on, I need to pick two fighting games that I enjoy and stick with them even if that means missing out on others I would love to enjoy competing with the various communities out there but giving that my skills are not quite where I'd like them to be, jumping in and out of different games when the urge hits just isn't wise. I'm still trying to figure out when is the right time to move on but for now, I've learned that despite the feeling of excitement and involvement that I see with each community, it is best as my mom puts it to "keep my body quiet" until I feel I'm ready to really commit time to playing the game.
I've never quite gotten into the "one competitive fighting game to rule them all" predicament that has seemed to make some of those who carry this mindset alienated when there aren't enough players to carry the banner for their game.
I tend to disagree with this mindset but have come to understand it even more so after last week. Running a website that dedicates its' self to the many fighting games that can now be played online, I often get very engaged in the communities who are committed to running weekly tournaments for their favorite games of choice.
One game in particular, Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax, has a few players still giving it their support. I personally only delved into this game primarily to review it for the website but it was never my intention to let go of it completely as it was a great experience for the time I played it.
With a tournament coming up that week, I decided to sign up and dedicate a few days of training to the game. Despite the effort I made it was,to a greater extent, useless. I was completely and utterly decimated during casual play and met the same fate during the tournament itself.
After feeling the crushing defeat, it made me reevaluate my decision to sign up in the first place. It wasn't necessarily the fact that I lost it was more so the fact I haven't taken the time to play the game and I knew I wasn't going to after the tournament was over.
I got caught up in the camaraderie of those within the community which often happens with every community I cover. Wanting to be apart of it is natural especially when you're seeing the enjoyment their having but I have to be realistic, I wasn't really ready to be fully apart of it.
In a week or so I will be starting my descent into a game that just so happens to be made by the same company. That game is Under Night In-Birth:EXE Late. My anticipation for this game has been a long one and I'm excited to see what it has to offer. I unfortunately can't say that I will dedicate more than a month to it because ultimately there are more games to cover.
I love fighting games as a whole I have my favorite which is The King Of Fighters franchise but that doesn't mean I'm not excited about the other fighting games that are available either. The biggest difficulty I've been faced with is simply just standing still.
From now on, I need to pick two fighting games that I enjoy and stick with them even if that means missing out on others I would love to enjoy competing with the various communities out there but giving that my skills are not quite where I'd like them to be, jumping in and out of different games when the urge hits just isn't wise. I'm still trying to figure out when is the right time to move on but for now, I've learned that despite the feeling of excitement and involvement that I see with each community, it is best as my mom puts it to "keep my body quiet" until I feel I'm ready to really commit time to playing the game.
Sunday, January 4, 2015
Competition On The Cloud: Fighitng Games In The Online Competitive Space
The announcement could not have been more jaw-dropping. After 4 years of providing some of the most competitive weekly fighting game tournaments the world has ever seen, Alex Valle revealed the earth-shattering news leaving his guest Mike Ross at a loss for words.
One of the biggest weekly competitions hosted in the Southern California region or what fighting games aficionados know as SoCal was seeing the end of an era one that would now be coming directly to your door step...online. To further understand why this move is both a scary and exciting endeavor one only has to look to Level|Up Series president Alex Valle.
For years, Alex Valle and other members of the SoCal fighting games community lead the charge in cultivating the region of fighting game players making them formidable amongst the rest of the country. Alex, who is a legend in his own right, has continued to show that age is not a factor as he has consistently made top 8 at many of the major tournaments throughout the state.
It can easily be said that no one understands this community better then Valle, so when he announced that his staple fighting game offline competition was going online it came with a lot questions...questions that I felt compelled to ask and Valle most graciously answered.
Often times online competition is met with a great deal of disdain and not very respected amongst the community. This is partly due to the fact that offline play is greatly superior to online due to its' 0ms ping connection amongst other things. When one input can mean the difference between victory or defeat or a tactic that would never work in an offline setting gets used to pull out a win, it's not really a wonder why online gaming is just not the first choice when it comes to leveling up your skills.
Though many online warriors have competed offline and become successful in tournaments, in the end they too realize that in order to get to the next level, they to need to come offline. Despite this being the case, it goes without saying that online has, in fact, increased the offline scene greatly. After the release of Street Fighter IV, major tournaments started to see a huge increase in attendance.
This can no doubt be attributed to the fact that more people were playing online and with that seeking more information about not only how to improve their skills but test their skills against other players in a tournament setting as well. As we come into the next generation of Gigabit connections and improved netcode, it is not to far fetched to believe that we will, in fact, see more online competitions in the future no longer being able to distinguish the difference between online or offline.
Alex Valle and the Level|Up Series crew are placing their bets on the future and there is no telling how well this change is going to be received. Despite the Level|Up series crews latest venture, they are not the new kids on the block. Panda X Gaming has been running online tournaments and exhibitions as earlier as 2012 and plans to ramp up their productions for the new year.
Change is often times scary. For some it's the possibility of losing something that is near and dear to them, for others, it is the excitement and potential of the unknown. I tend to lead on the latter side as the future can lead to the possibility of even more people getting involved in fighting games. Increasing the competitive scene online may just lead to fighting games finally getting to a level that games like Leagues Of Legends and DOTA 2 have already managed to obtain.
It has greatly been a hope of mine that more people feel encouraged to play fighting games hopefully in the year 2015 fighting games will finally be at the fore front of competitive gaming.
One of the biggest weekly competitions hosted in the Southern California region or what fighting games aficionados know as SoCal was seeing the end of an era one that would now be coming directly to your door step...online. To further understand why this move is both a scary and exciting endeavor one only has to look to Level|Up Series president Alex Valle.
For years, Alex Valle and other members of the SoCal fighting games community lead the charge in cultivating the region of fighting game players making them formidable amongst the rest of the country. Alex, who is a legend in his own right, has continued to show that age is not a factor as he has consistently made top 8 at many of the major tournaments throughout the state.
It can easily be said that no one understands this community better then Valle, so when he announced that his staple fighting game offline competition was going online it came with a lot questions...questions that I felt compelled to ask and Valle most graciously answered.
Often times online competition is met with a great deal of disdain and not very respected amongst the community. This is partly due to the fact that offline play is greatly superior to online due to its' 0ms ping connection amongst other things. When one input can mean the difference between victory or defeat or a tactic that would never work in an offline setting gets used to pull out a win, it's not really a wonder why online gaming is just not the first choice when it comes to leveling up your skills.
Though many online warriors have competed offline and become successful in tournaments, in the end they too realize that in order to get to the next level, they to need to come offline. Despite this being the case, it goes without saying that online has, in fact, increased the offline scene greatly. After the release of Street Fighter IV, major tournaments started to see a huge increase in attendance.
This can no doubt be attributed to the fact that more people were playing online and with that seeking more information about not only how to improve their skills but test their skills against other players in a tournament setting as well. As we come into the next generation of Gigabit connections and improved netcode, it is not to far fetched to believe that we will, in fact, see more online competitions in the future no longer being able to distinguish the difference between online or offline.
Alex Valle and the Level|Up Series crew are placing their bets on the future and there is no telling how well this change is going to be received. Despite the Level|Up series crews latest venture, they are not the new kids on the block. Panda X Gaming has been running online tournaments and exhibitions as earlier as 2012 and plans to ramp up their productions for the new year.
Change is often times scary. For some it's the possibility of losing something that is near and dear to them, for others, it is the excitement and potential of the unknown. I tend to lead on the latter side as the future can lead to the possibility of even more people getting involved in fighting games. Increasing the competitive scene online may just lead to fighting games finally getting to a level that games like Leagues Of Legends and DOTA 2 have already managed to obtain.
It has greatly been a hope of mine that more people feel encouraged to play fighting games hopefully in the year 2015 fighting games will finally be at the fore front of competitive gaming.
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Losing The Narrative
In the past, fighting games haven't exactly been known for their great story telling. With fighting games having a great deal of characters, you can't expect many of your favorites endings to be canon. After all, everyone can't win the tournament.
With gaming reaching a standard of movie production level, it is not far fetched that the need for an enveloping story in fighting games has become something that fans of their favorite franchises honestly want to see improve.
There have been plenty of fighting games this generation that have successfully managed to engage their fans. Genre crossing titles like Persona 4 Arena have proven that it's not always about the multi-player and that there is fun to be had in the single player experience.
For a great deal of time, the single player experience was all there was for someone like me. I can remember those days suffering from boss rage just to see the 1 minute(if that) ending that might reveal some sort of clue about the mysterious background story of your character.
Even though great strides have been made in story telling when it comes to fighting games, I'm honestly not that interested anymore. I didn't honestly expect that it would get this far and with my attention span level at an all time low, it is hard to rekindle those joys of the past.
I hear a great deal of positive feedback about the stories and the worlds created and I'm to busy wanting to learn everything else about the game to care. I guess when you've been lacking the ability to play people on a regular basis for so long it kind of takes precedence over everything and anything extra that these developers are working so hard to create.
On the first announcement of Blazblue: Continuum Shit Extend for Steam, I felt a little annoyed. The final game in the Blazblue series has long since been released and for us to just be receiving the games second part of the series, it felt very shady.
It took another individual to point out the fact of a continuing story line in the game and that maybe, just maybe people would appreciate playing the game for its' story to knock me out of my saltiness. When you've been so wrapped up playing against human opponents and trying to improve your skills in training mode, it is very easy to forget about the narrative of the character you're spending so much time with.
The strides that companies, like Arc with its upcoming release of Guilty Gear Xrd -Sign- and Netherealms Studio, are taking to give us a complete narrative for our beloved characters has been forgotten in my eyes.
For the first time in the history of fighting games the narrative is becoming just as important as the gameplay itself. Maybe it is time I took notice..maybe.
With gaming reaching a standard of movie production level, it is not far fetched that the need for an enveloping story in fighting games has become something that fans of their favorite franchises honestly want to see improve.
There have been plenty of fighting games this generation that have successfully managed to engage their fans. Genre crossing titles like Persona 4 Arena have proven that it's not always about the multi-player and that there is fun to be had in the single player experience.
For a great deal of time, the single player experience was all there was for someone like me. I can remember those days suffering from boss rage just to see the 1 minute(if that) ending that might reveal some sort of clue about the mysterious background story of your character.
Even though great strides have been made in story telling when it comes to fighting games, I'm honestly not that interested anymore. I didn't honestly expect that it would get this far and with my attention span level at an all time low, it is hard to rekindle those joys of the past.
I hear a great deal of positive feedback about the stories and the worlds created and I'm to busy wanting to learn everything else about the game to care. I guess when you've been lacking the ability to play people on a regular basis for so long it kind of takes precedence over everything and anything extra that these developers are working so hard to create.
On the first announcement of Blazblue: Continuum Shit Extend for Steam, I felt a little annoyed. The final game in the Blazblue series has long since been released and for us to just be receiving the games second part of the series, it felt very shady.
It took another individual to point out the fact of a continuing story line in the game and that maybe, just maybe people would appreciate playing the game for its' story to knock me out of my saltiness. When you've been so wrapped up playing against human opponents and trying to improve your skills in training mode, it is very easy to forget about the narrative of the character you're spending so much time with.
The strides that companies, like Arc with its upcoming release of Guilty Gear Xrd -Sign- and Netherealms Studio, are taking to give us a complete narrative for our beloved characters has been forgotten in my eyes.
For the first time in the history of fighting games the narrative is becoming just as important as the gameplay itself. Maybe it is time I took notice..maybe.
Monday, December 1, 2014
Input delay vs Rollback: The Fight For Good Netcode
"Input delay". Two words was all it took to send fans excited about a fighting game coming out in the next few days reeling in disappointment. Having been in direct contact with the company in charge , a question about "roll back" was given and with that an answer that implied, no dice.
The developer in question had already been praised about a previous game they had worked on stating that it used the same netcode but that didn't seem to matter once the announcement of input delay was said to be the games final netcode.
Now, I'm on the fence about the purchasing of this game ; one that was full of promise and a great deal of excitement within its' community. It's Funny. In the past it never really made a difference to me. When many have stated that a games netcode hinges on its' success, I've found to many examples that state otherwise.
KOF XIII, a game that has long been plagued with its' inability to create a playable netcode on the console, surprisingly is built on the same input delay technology that is used in the most popular fighting game this generation, Street Fighter IV. Though many players still argue that Street Fighter IV's netcode is inferior to many of the newer games available, it stands unaffected and still enjoyed by a great deal of its' community even to the extent of constant streams and even an online competition every once in a while.
This in large part is most likely due to the individuals whose experience has solely been based online lacking a great deal of the offline camaraderie that people like myself have experienced long before netplay even became a thing.
Even with experiencing these offline accounts, my expertise on the subject is still that of a novice as I can't completely admit to reaching an advanced level in any of the fighting games I've played this cycle. While I can somewhat gauge my online experience, the brunt of my experience has been based generally on how smooth the game looks vs how smooth the games plays.
Now some may argue that how smooth the game looks goes hand in hand with how well it plays but when just one input can determine you being in heaven or hell, well, I would think that inputs would be just a bit more important.
Because my level of play doesn't exactly scream pro, determining whether the inputs for my combos or even my defense were in fact accurately being displayed on screen is not quite something I can pinpoint even when I tend to play at the best connections I most possibly can.
With me not having reached the levels of what many would call advanced, I would think it be imperative that those who are at a higher skill level be the more qualified individuals to discern whether the netcode is "playable" but then again if I feel like the experience is in fact a "playable" one does their opinion really matter?
Tony Canon, one of the founding members of the biggest fighting game competitions on earth, decided that his opinion did in fact matter and he did this by creating his own netcode. Using the technique coined as roll back, Tony created a code that essentially allows a player to input their move, predicts an opponents input awaiting to see if it matches, and then essentially rolls back to correct the input if incorrect.
Obviously the player nor the opponent never see these complex set of events happening giving off the illusion of a somewhat seamless online match that looks smooth and plays smooth. To the delight of many, GGPO was created and what happened in the next few years after its' inception is the on going battle that we now have when it comes to wanting good netcode today..Roll back vs Input delay.
Given that most companies are quite impartial to sharing the exact technology being used in the online games of today, some have come around and are a lot more open to not only the suggestion of the emerging technologies but are very communicative about why they think one vs the other will work better for their game.
With me being at such a low level when it comes to fighting games, I have never really been resistant about at least trying a fighting game online. I have found that some are just to input challenged to play and I've found others to be good enough to enjoy. I unfortunately cannot relate to a player who finds frustration in their inability to play at their maximum efficiency especially when they are still beating players with the handicap of input lag..smallest violins for their plight I'm afraid.
Ultimately, I want to have the best experience online that I can have and I want that experience to land as close to an offline experience as it can get because basically, I want to play the game the way it was intended to be played. If that is what rollback will offer me and many who've reached an advanced level in their skill can concur this a thousands times over, then conclusively rollback will work for me just fine but does it work for the developer..well that is the constant analysis we face and its' going to take some time before we reach a mutual agreement one that is based on player experience, player expertise, and game developer decisions.
The developer in question had already been praised about a previous game they had worked on stating that it used the same netcode but that didn't seem to matter once the announcement of input delay was said to be the games final netcode.
Now, I'm on the fence about the purchasing of this game ; one that was full of promise and a great deal of excitement within its' community. It's Funny. In the past it never really made a difference to me. When many have stated that a games netcode hinges on its' success, I've found to many examples that state otherwise.
KOF XIII, a game that has long been plagued with its' inability to create a playable netcode on the console, surprisingly is built on the same input delay technology that is used in the most popular fighting game this generation, Street Fighter IV. Though many players still argue that Street Fighter IV's netcode is inferior to many of the newer games available, it stands unaffected and still enjoyed by a great deal of its' community even to the extent of constant streams and even an online competition every once in a while.
This in large part is most likely due to the individuals whose experience has solely been based online lacking a great deal of the offline camaraderie that people like myself have experienced long before netplay even became a thing.
Even with experiencing these offline accounts, my expertise on the subject is still that of a novice as I can't completely admit to reaching an advanced level in any of the fighting games I've played this cycle. While I can somewhat gauge my online experience, the brunt of my experience has been based generally on how smooth the game looks vs how smooth the games plays.
Now some may argue that how smooth the game looks goes hand in hand with how well it plays but when just one input can determine you being in heaven or hell, well, I would think that inputs would be just a bit more important.
Because my level of play doesn't exactly scream pro, determining whether the inputs for my combos or even my defense were in fact accurately being displayed on screen is not quite something I can pinpoint even when I tend to play at the best connections I most possibly can.
With me not having reached the levels of what many would call advanced, I would think it be imperative that those who are at a higher skill level be the more qualified individuals to discern whether the netcode is "playable" but then again if I feel like the experience is in fact a "playable" one does their opinion really matter?
Tony Canon, one of the founding members of the biggest fighting game competitions on earth, decided that his opinion did in fact matter and he did this by creating his own netcode. Using the technique coined as roll back, Tony created a code that essentially allows a player to input their move, predicts an opponents input awaiting to see if it matches, and then essentially rolls back to correct the input if incorrect.
Obviously the player nor the opponent never see these complex set of events happening giving off the illusion of a somewhat seamless online match that looks smooth and plays smooth. To the delight of many, GGPO was created and what happened in the next few years after its' inception is the on going battle that we now have when it comes to wanting good netcode today..Roll back vs Input delay.
Given that most companies are quite impartial to sharing the exact technology being used in the online games of today, some have come around and are a lot more open to not only the suggestion of the emerging technologies but are very communicative about why they think one vs the other will work better for their game.
With me being at such a low level when it comes to fighting games, I have never really been resistant about at least trying a fighting game online. I have found that some are just to input challenged to play and I've found others to be good enough to enjoy. I unfortunately cannot relate to a player who finds frustration in their inability to play at their maximum efficiency especially when they are still beating players with the handicap of input lag..smallest violins for their plight I'm afraid.
Ultimately, I want to have the best experience online that I can have and I want that experience to land as close to an offline experience as it can get because basically, I want to play the game the way it was intended to be played. If that is what rollback will offer me and many who've reached an advanced level in their skill can concur this a thousands times over, then conclusively rollback will work for me just fine but does it work for the developer..well that is the constant analysis we face and its' going to take some time before we reach a mutual agreement one that is based on player experience, player expertise, and game developer decisions.
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