delete_me

I blame SFV for it but my brain still does some fart noises when I see an EX move combo into a Super.

That's so weird. Wouldn't it be easier to consider their default output 100% and increase it from there, mathematically speaking? I've also wondered why they're using these inflated health and damage numbers compared to previous games, but maybe that's all related to these systems.

Yeah, that's a good change of direction. I was never one to blame Ono for everything (or anything really, he resurrected the IP after all) but the overall goofiness that's prevalent in SF4 and SF5 seems to, thankfully, be limited to areas where it makes sense this time. Like Blanka being Blanka and throwing toys around. That's absolutely fine if it's an exception for one character and isn't forced upon more serious archetypes like Ryu, Guile, or JP (who's such a far cry from FANG it's hard to believe they're part of the same universe).

I don't think the cover issue is one of passion. The higher-ups and marketing people actually do have quite a lot of control over the cover of a game (obviously in addition to a lot of other things about the game). But it's not like the artists deliberately rendered ugly Luke as the only option, but it was the one PR people chose, for whatever reason. I remember something similar happening with BioShock Infinite, where Levine wanted to emphasize Columbia and Elisabeth but the marketing guys wanted Brooker on the cover to reach the shoot-shoot-bang-bang audience. And then Brooker it was. It's funny though, because I do some local PR on my job as well and we always present three designs: two we personally like and one we absolutely hate to make the other two look better. That gives us some control over the process while also giving our bosses the illusion of choice. But if one day they go with our "Luke option" instead, oh boy...

The only good thing coming from that god-awful cover is fans and people from the community coming up with better ones:

Is there a replay of that showcase somewhere or was it some kind of Twitch-only thing?

Looking at these videos and realising that some people will have a 8 month experience advantage with the game by the time it comes out due to cracked PC versions... Yes, I'm gong to turn off cross-play ASAP when this comes out for the first two weeks or so.

I still think it's because informed people have an easier time going to settings and switching it up than complete newbies would. There's no bigger, dystopian interpretation for this IMO. It should obviously not be on a per-character basis though, that's a tad nonsensical.

#remindme: never compliment the monkey again. 🙊 I think it's important to get the names right though. Every time I hear a commentator say "Raioo" for Ryu it sends shivers down my spine. I do have absolutely no clue how to pronounce Marisa though, but I doubt the strong "s" most people go with (MariSSa) is correct.

Just watched some Max video about the latest trailer. All you American dudes, please don't massacre Manon's name the way he does. Resident monkey man @EvilCanadianhas it almost nailed, take him as an example instead.

I'm probably the only person left on this planet who applied for an Xbox code and didn't get one.

If Rufus was the price we had to pay to get here, I'd like to retroactively call him the best newcomer from SFIV.

I mean we're all buying the game when it comes out but I still would never pre-order a non-limited version of a game that far in advance. We don't even know the business model they're adopting for their seasons yet. Or how the new in-game money will work. Or if Cammy's abs are visible enough to warrant full price. Gotta say, I like these alternate covers from Japan though. Unfortunately I kind of doubt they'll release a physical Xbox version over there and I'm definitely not going to buy a PS5 in the next 6 months.

I didn't get the impression that Marisa is a grappler. Her "gimmick" are armored moves and counters. That'd also be in a line with the overall character choices from the trailer in which every character was different from the next.

So her normals are like EX Medium Heart Raid. Yeah, better not get hit by that too often. That Level 1 or 2 (?) Super looks superb by the way.

Oh yeah, unrelated, but the trailer for Armored Core 6 is one of the best I've seen in quite some time. Not the usual pseudo-philosophical exposition voice over with punctual bass drops mimicking Hollywood's generic approach to marketing, but a strong sense of atmosphere and excellent art direction with a slightly mysterious and otherworldly vibe to it that immediately pulls you in. I was never interested in the older AC games and might not even play this one but kudos to whoever or whatever studio made that trailer.

I think the only one true consistent negative thing about SF6 is that they keep sticking to their guns about pushing Luke as the new face for the series, or at least this instalment. The overwhelming lukewarm (pun very much intended) or even negative response towards that character ever since they prematurely introduced him in SF5 should have been a clear indication that he's not doing for the fans what they want him to do. It's obviously too late to change anything about the world tour mode and how he's the tutorial guy for the player – and that's absolutely fine either way – but they should backtrack in terms of promotion and either go with the generational thing (by placing him alongside a well-known fan favourite like Ryu or Chun) or have Kimberley, who's gotten a much more positive response, be the +1 on the cover. It's obviously nitpicking and by the time Super SF6 rolls around the whole marketing will focus on the bigger roster anyway and the days of solo Luke are over, but right now it's that one weird mishap that detracts from a project that otherwise seems to be getting everything right.

Monster Hunter is 30fps because they wanted to target a certain visual fidelity and because 60fps wasn't strictly necessary. At the end of the day you can get basically everything running at 60fps if you reduce the workload in other areas significantly. At least of go into development with that outset in mind, contrary to most belated Switch ports that happened after the fact. For better or worse Capcom was always planning to put SF6 on PS4 so in that regard they went into it making sure they could get it to work on the old machine.

RE Engine is very scalable (look at Monster Hunter on Switch), so there should be no issue visually downgrading the game for PS4. But: I fear this whole thing is going to bite them in the ass in Year 4 or 5 of supporting the game. They'll have to make sure every new character coming out in 2027 for example doesn't break the framerate on a console from 2013. I hope in turn this doesn't turn into a bottleneck when designing characters.

Gotta say, that slow-motion feature on youtube is great. This realisation is completely unrelated to Manon's clips in the trailer btw.

Now that I had some time to process I'll have to admit I'm surprised we got to see JP earlier than some "basic" returning fighters like Cammy. Maybe he's not the boss and Aki is? Or maybe there's no real logic behind those reveals and they just go with the flow? Edit: I also saw that Tekken 8 trailer just now. Looks a bit underwhelming, doesn't it? I mean it doesn't look bad or anything, but the jump from 7 seems pretty insignificant at first glance.

Time Zones screwed me over again but damn, Manon looks even better than I hoped. I really, really hope she also clicks with me on a gameplay level because from the looks that's the character I feel drawn towards the most. And not just because she's hot, she also some really beautiful animations. Barely paid attention to the other three while watching the trailer. It's definitely cool Marisa is really huge instead of just very muscular. JP looks immensely complex from that little clip. As for DeeJay, I don't give a rat's ass about that guy. But yeah, will have to watch that trailer a few times again. Shame the leaked date was correct, part of me was hoping they messed up and it would be European format (for a release in February). Oh well, at least we won't have an unfinished mess at release this time.

One train of thought you have to let go of immediately is thinking that you were in a position that could have saved him. Grief is demoralizing and disheartening, but also a natural process people go through in situations like these. Combining it with blame, however, is self-destructive, particularly when said blame is unfounded and targeted towards oneself. From how you describe the situation, there's unfortunately nothing you could have done, or anyone else. I know that's extremely easy to say and as someone who puts a lot of pressure on themselves for things of significantly less importance, I can understand how surpassing that will take a lot of effort. But it's the one major thing that will change your situation from feeling hopeless into the mental healing process you can go through together with your family and close friends. In time you'll also find that those little things that remind you of him are a gift, but you have to find your personal balance first. Until then it's maybe best to keep them in a mental drawer you can reopen whenever you are ready for it. My condolences though – I hope someone else here or in your life can find the right words to help you through it.

Project L looks really polished now, character models and animations are way beyond the build we've seen the last time. Illaio in particular looks really cool, getting those tentacles just right couldn't have been easy without any Japanese animators on the team. I'm still weary about the game's f2p nature but I really like what I'm seeing of that project so far. Also reminds that I haven't beaten Ruined King yet, I wonder if I even remember the story at this point.

I suppose the visual design is at the top spot for most people because it's the first and most basic way to be drawn to a character. After that it's gameplay for me, of course. For example, I really like SFV Seth visually but the gameplay never clicked with me so I dropped him after a short while. My third criteria is popularity. So if there are two characters fulfilling the first two criteria, I'm going to play the less popular one. Because a) I hate mirror matches and b) I love getting away with stuff due to matchup inexperience from my opponent. I got to the highest rank in SCV with Hilde because nobody on this planet knew what she could do. Had some very fluke-ish victories with Hakan in SFIV for that reason as well. I think that's my FG guilty pleasure.