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burninmylight on 23 September 2014
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Mr_No said:
burninmylight said:

I've grown stale on fighting games over the last few years. You know why? Because they are feeling more and more like "The Varsity Club," where either you know how to play and get good or you don't. If you're in the latter category, then it feels like they're pretty much saying, "Fuck you then."

This, pretty much sums up my experience and what I feel about fighing games nowadays. Not even a close friend, who was far superior than me on these kind of games, could help me overcome the steep learning curve of SSFIV. He just told me to practice and practice, but he couldn't fully understand which were my weaknesses were so he kinda gave up on me. Those kind of people who only say "practice, practice and practice" only worry on how good they can do and nothing else. They use a lot of fancy moves and combos while playing, but they can only say "practice". Sure, whatever. SSFIV feels barebones in the practicing aspect.

burninmylight said:

[...]Practice is nice and all, they even tell you how to do moves by pausing the game and showing you your inputs. But they don't actually teach you how to play the game the right way. They don't teach you how to pull off more advanced combos and techniques, either unique to specific characters or important gameplay mechanics.[...]

Getting back to SC2, I love the game because of Weapon Master Mode. It takes the time to teach you everything you need to know beyond knowing, "A button does this, B button does that." It teaches you how, when and why to guard impact, it makes sure you understand the concept of juggling, it even breaches on the idea of frame canceling (lightly). It helped turn me from a button-mashing noob into a serious, competent player who was ready to utilize more techniques than just hoping to get lucky for a throw.

I wish more fighting games would do this. I think it would help expand the fighting game community instead of scaring people away. At the very least, it would give more of us who want to do more than play the same, tired old 20-minute story and time attack modes over and over again, or getting our asses kicked online.

Also, I agree with you on the first paragraph. Some of the games just won't teach one how to perform the moves. The Trials from SSFIV felt more like a chore rather than a learning experience. And it's true what you've said about Soul Calibur 2. Tutorials like those (or like the ones at DOA5) actually helped me much more on learning the ropes. On the last paragraph, you are totally right about making a game more open and frendlier to beginners. But remember there's the hardcore community which will tirelessly complain on how easy the game is compared to the other ones, or how many beginners are flooding the online lobbies. 

That's why any developer that takes their game seriously has rankings that move you up and down based on your performance. You won't be seeing too many beginners if you're good enough.

I'm not asking for fighting games to be made easier. I'm saying the games themselves should have competent tutorials or modes that teach you everything you need to know to get better, instead of just throwing you into the fray. Going back to my TvC example, it's a great game. I think it's the SSB Melee to MvC3 being SSB Brawl. But unless you go online and read guides or watch vids on how to use advance techniques, you will never learn them in game. That is an absolute failure on the part of Eighting, the dev who made it.