Recently I keep seeing the topic of accessibility come up within the fighting game community. Players who are hardcore invested in the scene being turned off by the idea of simple mode control schemes, short cut input controls such as Street Fighter 4's, and lowering the threshold for things like teching throws.
Personally it seems like both a step in the right and the wrong direction. Yes fighting game developers definitely want to find ways to make their games which require a real degree of execution skill to be approachable and fun to newer and more casual players, but perhaps they are going at it the wrong way. I feel strongly that developers should always try to succeed in the best of both worlds. Marvel vs Capcom 3 includes a simple control scheme, but at the expense of being able to do everything someone using standard controls will have access to. I would have taken it a step further to just include an online mode specifically for simple control only match making and normal mode only.
A lot of us gamers do not want to see our games dumbed down to appeal for a new generation who just wants automatic rewards. The best example I could give is what if a game so skill, thought, and execution based as Starcraft 2 all of the sudden did build orders for you and all you had to worry about was moving units around. This would not only make the game a shell of its former self, but it would drastically cut into what makes the game so fun in the first place at a competitive level. To know you out played, out thought, and out executed your opponent is such a rewarding feeling and is the equal to winning say a Super Bowl in the NFL or a fighting heavy weight title in boxing.
Would boxing really be boxing anymore if one guy had simple mode "padded" armor on, or was allowed 5 free hits at the start of each round? When you think of it this way you see why this is such a no-no in the eyes of gamers who stick with fighting games throughout years. At the same time though we know we can't get fighting games if the developers can't make money from making them to merit sequels. It's a fine line they have to tread.
I'd also like to add there's more way to appeal to a casual gamer than simply letting them do easy mode combos or special moves. A lot of players now love seeing rewards in some form for their time spent with a game. Things like emblems, avatar pictures, titles, etc. Casual players are also more likely to trade a game in or stop playing it if the online component has issues, where the hardcore will complain but will ride it out. If more fighters could really fine tune net codes while making that carrot at the end of the stick really far out of reach with shiny unlocks then that'd help boost the games appeal in their minds. Couple that together with the idea of the simple mode controls having their own match making and we could maybe see a harmony of both hardcore and casual fighters really enjoying the same game with just a slight tweak in skill.
At the end of the day a game has to be fun to be enjoyed by gamers and hopefully developers won't sacrifice the hardcore gamers fun from skill for a few more sales from guys who won't stick with the game for even one-fifth of what the hardcore guy will.
Sound off on what you think in the comments below. Is there a way to come to a good co-existence? What is it and why ?
The friendly folks over at Razer recently sent us their full size Kishi Ultra mobile gaming controller, and this thing didn't disappoint.
VGChartz's Mark Nielsen: "Upon finally finishing Devil May Cry 5 recently - after it spent several years on my “I’ll play that soon” list - I considered giving it a fittingly-named Late Look article. However, considering that this was indeed the final piece I was missing in the DMC puzzle, I decided to instead take this opportunity to take a look back at the entirety of this genre-defining series and rank the entries. What also made this a particularly tempting notion was that while most high-profile series have developed fairly evenly over time, with a few bumps on the road, the history of Devil May Cry has, at least in my eyes, been an absolute roller coaster, with everything from total disasters to action game gold."
Me leaving it out should be telling of my thoughts on it. Better than 2 as a DMC game.
Still a good game though.
3,1,4,5 to me, never played 2. 5 gameplay is amazing but level design was really disappointing to me, just a bunch of plain arenas, the story felt like a worse written rehash of the 3rd and the charater models looked weird ( specially the ladies ). Another problem with 5 was that there was not enough content for 3 charaters so I could never really familiarize with any of them
2.
Dmc.
4.
5.
1.
3.
God DMC2 was an awful game.
And in case this isn't obvious it goes worst to best
TSA go hands on with the beta for Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road, but how is the game transitioning to the post-stylus era?
I agree with your suggestions. I always thought I was pretty good at Street Fighter games, but with the new connectivity in the world I have been humbled countless times by players all over the world. If there were lobbies exclusively for different skill levels it would make online play much more enjoyable and allow for the player to have matches with people who are more of a match for them. It could be a progression, with players gaining access to the higher tiers as they win more while losing access to the lower tiers to prevent lopsided matches.
You discussed both issues that are causing me to rethink my purchase of MvC3. I have not played a fighter in a very long time, so I would very much appreciate it if the multiplayer community was divided based on skill. But I don't want the simple mode, either. I avoid using assists in games because they keep me from being as good as I could be. I do this in Gran Turismo 5; I turn off ALL assists and drive in manual.
You also talked about networking. Latency is the biggest reason I sometimes rage quit out of matches. It's not any fun to lose for reasons beyond my control. It just means repeated, pointless failures. I might get MvC3 when the price drops, but for now, I'm going to be cautious. I don't want to get raped due to bad connections or because I was matched up with a pro and his fight stick.
just pwn the easy mode opponents. theyre obviously using easy mode becuz they themselves dont kno how to play.