GetTheTables

Lemme take a different track. I'm a programmer and the project I'm on right now sort of has that nice "video game development death march" feel so I'm very sympathetic to how easy something looks to be to change vs. how much of a goddamn nightmare it may be to change something because of the way a system was designed/there is no time/there are no resources/whatever reason. I totally agree that neither of those changes should be especially difficult. However without knowing what their code looks like, how their dev pipeline is set up, what their developer timelines look like, what their staff schedule is, what their future workload looks like, etc., I usually take the stance of "well that shouldn't be too hard but I dunno the reality of the situation." 🙂 It may also be bias but videogames in general seem to have really clusterfuck-y dev schedules so going back to update anything is always a bigger ask than you'd think (since most games now are based around a tail of updates keeping players engaged). And yeah I'm totally with Tubb that the rankings should be character specific. Its not like you don't fly up the towers if you're bopping people so you don't really need to worry about some multiple VIP duder terrorizing floor 5 or whatever because they switched to Axl for the day.

You actually have to cut out two layers: you have to kill the monitor and you need to cut out the pre-match screen where you confirm. Otherwise people are either going to dodge based on monitor character or dodge based on the wanted poster. I agree that neither of those changes are huge but I'd bet that updating their architecture to do that will take them some time. And its not like they still don't need to be working on stability first, or that they're going to pump the brakes on their post-launch content. Also ideally you can curb the issue with a character balance patch at some point. You'll always have duckers but given the state of things its not surprising to see people scrambling away from Sol/May/Ram/Chipp when they can.

🤭 I think that is a rad idea. I know some other groups commandeer various parks for meet ups so no reason MS can't stake a claim.

Yeah you're way more likely to get long sets in the park. Between floor hops and people not wanting to lose sets getting rematches in the ranked towers seems to be more rare. The match up dodging definitely sucks. Unfortunately I don't see that going anywhere, with what they'd have to change to resolve that. But I do think it would be good for the devs to consider it. The biggest issue I've run into in the parks is that it feels like the pairs never rotate. I don't know if that is because people are doing what the MS crew does and they are using the parks as a meet up location in lieu of player lobbies, or if its just the nature of infinite rematches. I had more luck just putting myself into training mode to find a random opponent, though of course that has the issue where if it finds a match but then the match fails to connect it boots me all the way back to the lobby. Thankfully the servers so rarely have issues connecting matches. 😑

If its anything like Injustice the "banner" characters will be some level of gross - Batman and Superman were always good and Supes was real dumb out of the gate. Some dude with guns will show up and be busted AF for about 2 weeks before NRS nerfs them into obscurity. Get your troll zoning in while you can! Considering it is NRS and they love The Edge someone like Punisher might actually fill that role. I'd almost be tempted to pick the game up in that case just to enjoy that while it lasts. Someone will be that game's Aquaman. I.e. "why is this jobber so good?" Its a little weird to pick because Marvel's 2nd tier bench is pretty wide. Wonder Man maybe? I think part of it is that when you're fighting randoms you are getting that unknown factor, which is valuable, but you also don't know what kind of opponent you are going to get. Its not even about skill though that is part of it. Especially in the shorter sets you don't always get people who adapt or really change up what they are doing which can lead to situations where you kind of have them figured out and they just keep on doing the same stuff over and over. Just harder. While you can definitely still use those as opportunities to practice it doesn't push you as much as when you have an opponent who is shifting their game up.

It seems like you just legit found something that clicks with you. When that happens follow your gut. Fire up some 3S when you can! I'm trying to keep Striving (I need to get back into those towers) but I do have 3S via FC thanks to Dayaan so I can fire that up sometime if the timelines work out.

Miria hit on it but I'll add in what else I know. Also this may get ish, I just sat down with afternoon coffee. The short answer is: no. I think on CH f.S you can sometimes staple H Sword Toss onto the gatling but that is the main way I've seen it combo, and it isn't a good idea unless it will corner pin/bounce anyways. You can extend as Miria said with some forward drift RC stuff which I honestly should probably lab more to get late game conversions. Right now I just use f.S, HS to pester and build RISC. Your actual routes into combos with Ram are 5K, 2D xx Dauro -> juggle stuff, c.S, 2H xx Dauro -> juggle stuff, and 2K, 2D xx (ender) +/- RC. 5K, 2D xx Dauro allows for a 5K juggle after which can segue into: - 6H xx H Sword Toss to put them in the corner from far out (you can take somebody to the wall from roughly round start with this sequence though of course you aren't connecting 5K, 2D at that range, but just to give you an idea of the corner carry) - Full or partial Rekka. Full rekka to take the damage and safejump, partial to do single hit xx Dash for pressure c.S, 2H xx Dauro is pretty much the same as above but the additional height lets you get a c.S juggle instead of the 5K which is a bit more damage (similar routes) or double 5K with a cancel on the 2nd 5K into H Sword Toss for corner carry (I think you either can or have to follow that up with S Sword Toss to juggle in time due to low height but I haven't labbed it extensively). Honestly getting c.S as a starter is really rare and if you're near the corner you mightas well just c.S, f.S, H xx H Sword Toss and go from there. Right now this is my "big punish" starter midscreen. 2K, 2D xx ender (Dauro or Rekka) is honestly what I use the most when trying to pressure. Reason being is that it starts from a low so it has a slightly higher chance of catching the opponent wiggling than 5K or c.S. This starter leads to the least overall damage but you can do 2K, 2D xx Rekka and dash cancel the first hit into pretty easy meaty pressure. Which from there you can try stuff like 5K or c.S and route those into staggered Rekkas. Hopefully that helps. In my experience Ram is mostly pestering the shit out of the opponent and taking the accumulated damage/RISC, then when you get the hit you can probably take them to the corner and explode them. I've had the most success catching people low and with staggered Rekkas as part of actual pressure.

Yeah May can Whale it on reaction and Ram loses that interaction hard. 🐋 I've definitely seen some punishes online. What made me really think about it is Nagos blood rage OD. That is one where you can run all the way across town and clock him after and that is -66. Most people end up FD'ing Calvados but I've also done that against the blood rage OD and still made it back in to punish. I'm not sure if there is a runspeed difference or whatever that would prevent more people from punishing. Next time I get on I'll actually lab it. I need to know for the mirror. 😉

Also back to Nago for a second: I definitely get what you mean Vhozite. I've watched a lot of his game play and I always want to try him out but I know I'd bounce off of him. I think he can be a little misleading. He's so much about his meter management that you really need to be on board with that. If you are you get a character which super solid rushdown and damage who still has great buttons provided you can ride the gauge. Just has a lot of tradeoffs. Ram is of course more straight forward which helps (especially during times like these where work is really busy so when I get to play my brain is already partially mush). And she's more balanced without the high highs but low lows (so long as you don't pitch your Swords away like right away, then shit sucks). My bold experiment is to try to play I-No on the side. She is weird. Cool but weird.

Fair warning about Calvados: I think it's actually a lot more punishable than it looks. It's -70 on block so even outside of some more straightforward punishes I think I've been getting away with murder with it. I haven't had anyone other than Tubb actually make me pay for it though. It can be a fun way to dump 100% meter if you RC it and dash in to fuck with them.

I'm sure you've figured it out or will really quickly but the cliffs notes: Poke the shit outta people. F.s and j.s can build a wall. 5H works too in longer range fights just don't over use it. Her rekka is really good. You can stagger it to catch pokes and if you stagger it enough it becomes safe on block. You can also dash cancel the first hit which can be used for unreal dash pressure on block or very real oki in Combos. Also if you land the full rekka you get a safejump. She can both put someone in the corner well and then convert almost any hit into a full wall break. Plus if you like to style she has some less practical but cool looking shit to land. Since you already played Nago you'll probably be familiar with her buttons. They're surprisingly similar but Ram is basically always full blooded. Just remember she is kind of a "limbs" character and never throw H Sword midscreen unless it will kill or juggle to the corner and you'll do great. ⚔️ 👍

Like Taokaka and Vega had a baby and raised it on Naruto.

They didn't call it "Team Good Secret Agent". 🙃

Gio is a lot of fun right out of the gate. Of any of the characters I've tried she is the one that just naturally worked the way I kinda thought she would. I think they really nailed her overall design. I-No has also been fun but she is like the polar opposite. She's all about knowing her fiddly bits (giggity) and working with them as opposed to against them. When she starts grooving she definitely feels like an asshole. Always a positive sign with a char.

I can't stop staring at the thumbnail.

I'm with you on having an external reference. If I have a quick question I want to be able to get a quick answer and nothing will ever replace the convenience of an app/wiki/whatever for that. However I do think that the worm needs to turn on having that data surfaced to the player. Its not like it is some arbitrary thing that players came up with: its in the game! Aside: I think that is probably why Japanese devs are weird about surfacing that data. They tend to be very conservative about what information they want customers to be able to access, while also having weird assumptions about what information they want or are willing to dig for (see: "hacking" out DLC characters by....reading directory names). FGs are already complicated and difficult enough to learn without having to go to a 3rd party resource to get that information. Likewise with a frame indicator for situations; the game knows if you're -/+ and by how much. If I'm trying to understand a situation it would be nice for the game to just cut out the middleman and show me. SFV does this - which is good - but it does it in a really cheap, janky way - which is bad. Though I respect they probably had very little time or resources to implement it so they probably did their best. The really shitty analogy I came up with is if I had a ruler with no markings on it. I can still measure stuff since I know the length of the ruler and I can guestimate anything smaller than it, but why settle for less precision when more is available? The biggest impediment is probably a combination of architecture and mindset. It's not a *big* issue for me. I'm way more interested in crossplay implementation. But it is something they should probably address over the course of the game's life.

Season 4 Spoilers

Frame data is one of those weird Japanese things. I don't know if they think its more "fun" that it is hidden, or that they shouldn't have to tell players about it, or whatever. Western devs always seem happy to provide detailed frame data day 1 whereas in Japanese games we often get somewhat janky frame data (the SFV implementation), none at all, or it as paid DLC. I'm with you though of course. Especially for this game as it feels like not knowing when someone is + is just asking to be murdered super hard.

You jest but from what I remember this was Xrd Johnny. EOL for that game and he is still a god-beast. But ASW balance is always relative anyways. TBH I'm actually surprised Strive is feeling as relatively balanced as it is at launch. As for Strive's longevity I think the netcode is going to help a lot with sustainability. Both in terms of players staying with the game - much easier to stick with a game you can actually play online - and in terms of competition fueling interest. Strive can run online tournaments that other games would buckle trying to manage, which is of course great right now but honestly will still be pretty cool when in-person events become a thing. You can do all kinds of shit. Weekly EC vs. WC rivalry competitions. "Best in NA" monthlies. Cross Atlantic Battle Circuits. Whatever. In addition to the normal excitement and interest that come out of the big events (something that carried SFV for a long time, and rightly so as the players really elevated that game) it is way more possible to have a lot more kinds of events that would not have been logistically reasonable. More competition = more engagement = more excitement = more competition = .... Maybe that isn't something people lean into, but its a really exciting possibility. And honestly not unique to Strive so theoretically any of the games coming out in the near future with rollback can have that kind of flexibility.

No word on that and for as robust as Arc has been making their training modes I don't know that they are super big on frame data accessibility. Hopefully with enough clamoring they'll get on board. Solidarity brother. We're all out there figuring this shit out. My road to 9 was paved with 4 sets against the same I-No, which was actually pretty fun and educational. Painful in places but educational. Haven't had the chance to hit up ranked since then but I'm sure I'll get bashed around next time I do.

I tried. I really did. Well as much as anyone can by creating a random thread on the internet. But the power of SFV Lounge is too strong. I was a fool to challenge it. I could not defeat Shen Long. I did not stand a chance.

You've gotten a lot more variety in than I have, though now that I'm at 9 I think things will slow down a lot for me and I should get more variety in. Give 'em hell! For Nago, if you want to turbo-charge your match up knowledge look up Shahenzan on the SFV Lounge Megashock discord (I think he has a profile on here but he's more active on there). Playing long sets against his Nago has been extremely educational especially since he plays the character to a degree that I haven't run into among the randoms yet. Plus he's a really solid player in general so he forces you to tighten up some things that you can get away with in this game for a long time without realizing it (fake jump ins, fake pressure, unsafe situations, predicable blockstrings).

This was my same issue as well. Akhos and I played a bunch and it was a coin flip as to if the matches would be solid or not. Not a distance issue really either, I'm in MD and so far as I ever figured he was in NY. Matt and I used to play a bunch and the connections actually steadily just got worse over the games lifespan. It was weird to see. The last couple of times we played it was a teleport festival. Looked like Sagat borrowed Soul Illusion. My sincere hope is that they get it right with SF6. For all of its woes SFV's online isn't so far off the mark that they need to start from scratch or anything. I think it was just never in the cards for them to really refine it post-launch (for as long as this game has been supported I feel like it's budget consists of whatever money the Monster Hunter team drops in the office lobby) so they had basically one chance to get it right.

That is sort of my experience with GG story as well. Though I will say what I've seen so far from Strive has been way better presented. It feels like an actual story mode whereas the Xrd story mode more felt like someone explaining an anime to me in long form, if that makes sense. Sol, Gio, Axl, and weirdly high %s of Nago and Millia. I've expected more May's but I'm assuming they've just dolphined up higher than I've played in the towers so far.

Shahenzan was able to connect to the player lobby I made and we played a little over 20 matches without any issues. Granted we may have just gotten lucky. But if we can do player lobbies we can lock things to sets which will help keep me from falling into the rematch hole.