I Suck At Fighting Games: 2014 Recap
By PerfidiousSinn 6 Comments
Since 2012, I've played a ridiculous amount of fighting games. I've tried to commit enough time to each of them to gain a basic understanding and maybe win some matches.
Turns out, that takes a long time. So long that I didn't even finish enough games to put together a proper Game of the Year list for 2014. Instead of doing that, I'll go over all of the fighting games I put time into in 2014 to determine if I am any good at them (probably not) or if I'll stick with them in the future.
Injustice: Gods Among Us
After being pretty cold on Mortal Kombat 9, I'm surprised at how much I continue to enjoy Injustice. I spent a huge amount of time messing with the S.T.A.R. Labs and other single player content. When I finally got online, I was winning matches within a few days.
I like how easy this game is to control. Unlike MK9, everything in this game just clicked with me. The combo strings aren't overly harsh on their timing or requirements, and allowed me to quickly start innovating my own offense instead of just copying what I saw online. I also like how important meter management is in this game. It's important to get the first hit because it awards you with bonus meter. And there's so many ways to use it that all feel equally important. Except for Super attacks though, nobody uses those.
I stuck with Raven and Hawkgirl through my entire time playing it, two different but equally enjoyable characters. Raven's long-range projectile tactics were great fun, and got me a fair amount of hate mail from people on Xbox Live.
My biggest complaints with Injustice were the somewhat spotty netcode and a few of the top tier characters. Every character has reliable, damaging combos which make comebacks very possible, but some matchups just feel crazy difficult. Batgirl is definitely the strongest character I've faced in ANY fighting game I've played, and I struggled against Batgirl players greatly. Even bad Batgirl players can ruin my day with her high damage and lightning-fast mixups.
I will keep playing this game because I like it so much, but to be honest I'll probably switch to Mortal Kombat X when that comes out. Online numbers for Injustice seem to be pretty small and the community will probably switch over to MKX for good, so I'll follow. I have high hopes for that game after Injustice.
Divekick
Long combos are lame. The least interesting part of fighting games is dialing in a 156-hit combo from muscle memory, or getting hit by said combo and just watching it for a bit. I'm all for short, flashy corner loops, but long combos put me to sleep.
No, the good parts of fighting games are tricking your opponent. Making them think you're going to do one thing, but doing something else that catches them off-guard. Hitting your opponent out of the sky so many times that they're afraid to jump. Punishing a whiffed attack so hard that they never use it again. The mind games are the interesting part.
With that said, I love how Divekick takes away the execution barrier and lets people of any skill level immediately experience the good parts of fighting games. This was one of the few games I entered a major tournament for, and shared with people who don't play fighting games at all.
There is still a skill gap involved between new players and dedicated fighting game players. I got a few victories at UFGTX in Divekick but ultimately lost to a better player. The game lacks a training mode or character tutorials. I feel these should be included because special moves are so important and some of the characters have strange specials that are hard to describe.
However, Divekick succeeds because the skill gap isn't enormous. I won't ever be good enough at Street Fighter to beat a veteran, but didn't go 0-2 in a tournament for Divekick. I had a lot of fun playing this game in casual and competitive settings, and I feel like I'll be busting it out to play with friends for years to come.
Ultra Street Fighter IV
Out of all the games on the list, this is the one I am the worst at. Makes sense, too. It has been out since 2009 and people have been practicing for years. As a '14er, what chance did I have against them?
Still, this game did make me realize what I appreciate and don't appreciate in fighting games. My main characters were Rose & Poison, which made me realize how much I rely on fireballs. I picked up Elena because she had no projectiles, forcing me to learn how to play without that resource. The one thing that draws me back to Street Fighter IV is the characters. They have tons of personality, lots of cool alternate costumes, and ridiculous win quotes.
What kept me away from Street Fighter IV was...everything else. I played the game for months with outdated, unusable Trials so I couldn't even get an idea of how to play my characters of choice. The netcode is inexcusably poor for a modern fighting game. And the biggest issue for me was controlling the game.
I don't like 1 frame links at all. It took too much practice time for me to complete many Trials. And the netcode online made 1 frame links even more difficult. I couldn't consistently do Hooligan Throw-style inputs or 720 inputs consistently, and input shortcuts made me accidentally do moves I didn't want to.
I don't think Ultra Street Fighter IV is a good game for new players, but some parts of it kept me coming back. Poison is one of my favorite characters to play in any fighting game and Omega Mode is fun in a “crazily unbalanced” kinda way. I can play the game a few times a month but it gets frustrating quickly, so I don't touch it often. And yet, I'm still excited for Street Fighter V. Maybe Q will be in it.
Persona 4 Arena: Ultimax
This year, I learned that a lot of fighting game players import their games. Persona 4 Arena Ultimax was out for months in Japan before America, so lots of players downloaded a Japanese copy. They got a head start, and I definitely felt it. If there are “newbies” in Persona 4 Arena Ultimax online, I haven't seen them yet and most of my matches have been a challenge.
I also learned that PS3 became the place to play fighting games. The PS3 version of Ultimax has more features than the 360 version and a much larger playerbase.
As for the game itself, it's nuts. Some Shadow characters have consistent touch-of-death combos, or at least ones that can take 70% of your health. Everyone was buffed, which makes things both more fair and more unbalanced as the weak got average and the top tier got even stronger.
And I keep playing it. I curse the screen when I keep getting reset over and over by Minazuki, but cackle like a madman when I hit him with a command grab that does 70% damage. I groan when getting hit by Shadow Chie's death combo but smile when winning with Kanji's “1.5 million frames of invincibility” DP. It's not the most balanced game in the world, but it's so much fun that I don't care. In the end, I appreciate having fun more than having a game that's “100% fair” (I put that in quotes because none of them are)!
I'll definitely keep playing it until I can get a PS3 and access to the larger world of anime fighting games.
Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate
I played about 100 matches of Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate and pretty much stopped. I like the game, I love that it has one of the best tutorials in any fighting game, and it has plenty of stuff to do single player. It's one of the few games where I stuck to one character and didn't pick up any substitutes. Rachel's combination between grappling and slow, heavy strikes ended up fitting my playstyle very well. It's one of the few times where a fighting game character perfectly fit how I wanted to play, and playing as Rachel is so fun that I still load up the game from time to time to do so.
The only reason I quit is because the online netcode is bad. The online menus are clunky and load slowly. Sometimes matches that started off good would have huge lag spikes in the middle. It's ideal to play fighting games locally, but since I don't get many opportunities to do so, I rely on multiplayer. If the online is bad, I stop playing.
Still, I enjoy playing the game enough that I'm about to buy it a third time. Dead or Alive 5: Last Round is coming out next year and I'm looking forward to it. Just hoping that the netcode is better this time.
Nidhogg
This is not a fighting game, but it's worth bringing up. It's 1v1, competitive, two dimensional...close enough, right?
Nidhogg has online gameplay but I have only ever played it locally. It's more complex than Divekick but still accessible for new players, and there is a surprising amount of nuance. Holding your sword high counters divekicks. If you want to face off on the ground, your sword stances actually allow a fun fencing game. And there's also the tried-and-true tactic of sweeping the legs and ripping your opponent's heart out.
Just like any good fighting game, Nidhogg relies on your analyzing your opponent's strategy and countering. I've fought people who love divekicking, so I adapt by holding my sword high whenever they take to the air. I tend to stay on the ground a lot, so I'm extremely vulnerable to the sweep & heart rip combo.
This is another game that has the soul of a fighting game but simple rules that allow anyone to play. It's another game that I'll break out in gatherings with friends for a long time.
Playing Offline
This year I made it to Ultimate Fighting Game Tournament X, a major tournament in Chicago. I used the time to play a lot of casual matches and ask questions while playing. It was an invaluable experience, as I learned nuances of the game systems and matchups that I can't really get online. Turns out, people are pretty nice and willing to help out when playing fighting games offline!
I entered Divekick and Street Fighter X Tekken tournaments, but ended up spending a lot of time with Injustice. When I think about it, I enjoy that game so much that I wish I entered the tournament for it.
I also realized how bad my tournament nerves are at UFGTX. My days of practice were shot as I forgot my combos, fumbled around in button checks, and had to calm my shaky hands before playing. I suck at tournaments, which is why I need to play locally more.
To do so, I found a local scene to play fighting games on Tuesday nights. I also found a game club at college, and we play fighting games together occasionally. Just by going to these meetups, I've been able to calm my awful “tourney nerves” and play more consistently at a local setting. Hopefully this will translate to better results in the future if I go to more tournaments.
2015's Fighting Games
There's a lot of fighting games to look forward to next year. Mortal Kombat X is looking great, and I'm even more excited for it after loving Injustice. Dead or Alive 5: Last Round might be more of the same, but I enjoy DOA5 and the same game with better netcode will be good for me. Tekken 7 might come out next year, and I will definitely check that out. I liked Tekken Tag Tournament 2 for everything except the “tag” part, so Tekken 7 looks like it's for me.
If I can get my hands on a new console, I'd love to play Guilty Gear XRD, Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late, and Super Smash Bros. For Wii U.
Will I ever get good at any of these games, or place high in a tournament in 2015? The answer lies...in the heart of battle.
And the title of this blog.
