Fighting Games General EX Plus α

So is the implication with Pokken Tournament being a main stage game that it's actually competitively viable? Because nothing would make me happier than listening to commentators talk excitedly about high level Luchador Pikachu play. Weird that both Smash games are still on there, but I guess the communities for both are still strong enough to warrant a spot.

@jesna: Well the point is whoever wins Marvel is probably going to be someone totally random and that's really only a good thing in the first few years of a game's life, need a contender/champ story; not a this tournaments too big and only a few dozen people play this game seriously now; none of them being the best and so one of them will win it. The only thing that would help Marvel's story other than Chris G winning is like a Japanese player winning. KBR doesn't count, he's just another Flocker with a more interesting team.

Almost everyone is going to go hard on SFV, Marvel being there isn't going to change that at all.

Can we all just celebrate that Rising Thunder isn't being shoved down our throats?

@viciousbearmauling: I see where you're coming from but I honestly never expected that to be a thing. The game still only has 6 characters and even the most die hard people I know of are souring on it. That game just went to the public too early.

@viciousbearmauling: Game's still in alpha man, it's way too early for that

At least three characters I played in KOFXIII are in XIV. Hopefully K' doesn't feel too weird. Also oh shit it's Robert from King of Fighters.

Benimaru's hair almost looks like something that could actually exist in the real world. 0/10

All I have to say about the EVO Line up... "Follow the money."

@thephantomnaut: Hasn't K' played almost the same forever?

The more I think about it the more Pokken's inclusion is a bummer. The game cannot and will not have a scene. The WiiU is on it's last legs and you need two WiiU's to play the game competitively. Then you have online play, but what confidence do we have that the netcode will be any good whatsoever?

Follow the money, right?

@viciousbearmauling: The Pokémon Company just announced the Pokkén Tournament Championship Series so they're basically doing their own Capcup that culminates with their World Championship tournament in San Francisco in August. Sounds like there will probably be a scene.

http://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-news/pokken-tournament-comes-to-evo/

@starvinggamer: So they're forcing a scene with money, and that's isn't much better. The logistics of running the game still suck.

Who knows. I'm not convinced, but if the money is good enough then I guess people will have no choice but to play.

@viciousbearmauling: I dunno, it's not much different than what all the other games are doing. Namco did their tournament series for Tekken 7 and that's not even out yet. NRS did their whole deal with ESL. If you ask me I'd much rather these companies dedicate a portion of their marketing budget to building a scene rather than just buying more ads on Twitch and Hulu or whatever.

Also if tournaments can manage to lug around a billion CRTs for Melee, they certainly can figure out how to handle an extra WiiU per setup.

They pretty much admitted that adding Pokken was a gamble on the announcement stream. It could be big because of Pokemon, or it could be dead before Evo even starts. I think it's probably worth the gamble.

Anyway, I don't agree with the notion that you can force a scene with money. You can try and jump start a scene, but if no one wants to play it competitively it'll be dead within a month regardless of how much money and PR the company throws at it. See Evolve.

2 Smash games, a Pokemon game, yet no USF4? I get people wanting to move on to SFV, but this is still crazy to me.

@hippie_genocide: Just logistically it sounds like a nightmare. Asking Evo to try and run not one but two likely 2k+ entrant tournaments on Saturday? Just so you can double down on your SF players rather than try and incorporate another scene?

@hippie_genocide: from the sounds of it there is basically no overlap in players between the 2 Smash games

NESTS and Ash eras had some different moves and variations in confirming. I didn't like how he felt in those games. XIII K' is very streamlined mostly due to the drive system influencing combos more or less.

The viewership numbers are very high and if Genesis 3 was any indication (it was on the same weekend as KIT and it had around 30,000 viewers plus it was featured on the Twitch front page) that's probably going to be the case this year with 100,000+ viewers.

Pokken will get its time at EVO and the Pokemon World Championships then RIP.

@thephantomnaut: so like most tekken games then

I really want to like KI, it's just really hard for me to look at that game.

Any chance for fighting games to stretch out and bring in a new audience is something I find worth shooting for. The genre is more reliant on iteration than most, a new audience with different expectations sounds healthy.

...even if it is Pokemon (I kid!)

Real talk, the new KOF14 graphics are looking a lot better.

still weird to see a 3D KOF though.

@corvak said:

Huh? Tekken has been supported for years at EVO, Tougeki and other individual tournaments. The only EVO entries hat didn't have a Tekken game were 2002 and 2012. I think Pokken can be a one year game at EVO and having one appearance in the Pokemon World Championships since it seems like a logistic complication to set up and might not have a staying power following concerns from the Japanese arcade release. Maybe when it reaches everywhere else, reaction will be the opposite but so far, it's not being received well.

@l1ghtn1n: Exactly. I didn't vomit this time.

Announcing a pro tour (are there even Pokken pros?) does not make a scene. People interested enough in your game to dive into the minutiae of the mechanics, learn the matchups, honing their skills and testing themselves in competetive play makes a scene. A game should have to prove itself before it goes to EVO, not lets put this game at EVO and hope it proves itself.

@hippie_genocide: But the Pokemon dollars though...

I agree. A game that is a Naruto/Tekken-lite seems like a non-starter.

@hippie_genocide: SFV hasn't proven itself. It could come out and be total garbage. MKX hadn't proven itself and had even less public access when it was announced as an Evo game.

Follow the money... *goes back into the shadows.

The footage I saw of Pokken months ago and nothing about it looked appalling. And since its Pokemon, I think its almost guaranteed to have at least some legs. I do wonder if they'll do patches and such.

Also I'm glad KOF is looking slowly better. Kinda weird that there still changing how it looks ,especially when its supposed to come out this year.

Huh, all the Kombat Pack 2 characters are available on March 1

@starvinggamer: Makes sense with the XL model.

Damnit the Chun TE2+ stick is down to 200 bucks on amazon... SOMEONE TELL ME NO... anyone????

@hmoney001: Buy a Hitbox instead :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

Someone told me SFV Ryu plays like 3S Ryu (only one I've really played much), and lo and behold while not quite as similar as Chun is to 3S Chun, he's still quite similar. Considering how much more in your face Ken is, Ryu is pretty much the only traditional shoto in the game laying down the fireball traps and DP'ing fools (well you can play Nash kinda like that too I think but still).

Also Denjin is super fun to use here, if they don't quick rise you can land a very meaty one if you get the ridiculously close timing, and you can suddenly turn the game into ST with dangerous fast fullscreen fireballs backed up by a decent AA DP.

Ehhhhh, the Street Fighter and MK franchises have proven themselves, warranting at least one Evo spot. Not a good comparison. Pokken is a whole new monster.

@belegorm said:

I feel the same with Ryu. He doesn't feel as flexible as that of SFIV Ryu that's for sure. You have to play along with his constraints which does remind of 3S. He does remind me of his CVS2 rendition in terms of trying to get in and confirming.

KI World Cup is live in chat

EDIT: But chat is bust it seems

Watching people lose their minds over balance changes is like, the coolest.

KI Season 3 rebalance patch notes are out.

The changes are pretty huge news, ranging from combo breakers no longer causing knockdown at all (originally they caused hard knockdown, reduced to soft knockdown in season 2), to pretty radical-looking shakeups to most of the cast. It's probably going to be a while into season 3 before people really figure most of this stuff out.

A few things I think are clear now, though, include that even with some damage nerfs sprinkled in among the cast, expected combo damage goes up due to a combination of the less severe consequences for getting broken and the expanded juggle opportunities; and whilst KI is already a game where neither player can go 4 seconds without making a relevant decision, the combo breaker change is going make the game faster and even more demanding of your attention throughout a match.

Awww I can't do Maya's air dive from back jumps now? That move needed a nerf but still, that exact method won me a lot of matches. The main game changes sound nice too, never played a ton of KI but this should keep it interesting for me.

Playing SFV beta, messing with Birdie. I'm willing to bet that he's our next Vanilla Sagat if he goes unchanged.

Not the best in the game, but a bruiser with tools, lots of health, and lots of damage. The kind of character that dominates the early goings of a game.