I'm Good at Soul Calibur

Before I get to the post, I spent most of this past weekend at the Maryland Film Festival, and am obligated to recommend 'Make-Out with Violence'. It's a terrific movie, and it would be a tragedy if it doesn't get a widespread release. Check out the synopsis, trailer (the trailer is MUCH more reliant on the zombie element than the movie is, it's not really a zombie movie at all) and a couple free tracks from the killer soundtrack at makeoutwithviolence.com.




"I'm Good at Soul Calibur"

a.k.a.

"I'm Good at Smash Bros."

a.k.a.

"I'm Good at Halo"

If you are a casual gamer in your late teens / early 20's, chances are you've said at least one of these phrases at some point in your illustrious gaming career. And chances are, you're wrong.

Hell, I know I was.

Soul Calibur 2 was released in 2002, and it quickly gained massive popularity due to its weapon based combat, its strong visual style, and guest characters, not the least of which was Link from the Zelda series. My circle of gaming friends played the game frequently, and at that point I was arguably the best player in my circle. Obviously, I was 'pretty good' at Soul Calibur 2.

In the early to mid 2000's, I often spent my weekends, especially in the Summer, at my local arcade. (Arcade? What's that?) I'd step into that gaming paradise, chew some gum, smirk, and saunter my 'I'm Good at Soul Calibur' self over to the Calibur 2 machine.



And whenever I dropped my two quarters against the arcade vets like Steve Harrison, I got smashed. Embarrassed, even.



What separates the casual gamer from the hardcore gamer? The bad player from the good? The first two steps a casual must take to walk the path of a champion are those of knowledge and experience.

My knowledge of the game came from playing against people who had no idea what 'frame data' is or was, and neither did I. The piddly combos and setups my Talim could muster paled in comparison to the ones I'd see in the arcade on a Saturday night.

But even then, if I knew all of Talim's frame data and had wild combos and setups, I'd still be in bad shape without matchup experience. My character experience at home was effectively useless against players who were discussing the game in depth on Calibur Forums, or who already had a richer fighting game background. That's only something gained from playing the game against players equal to and better than you.

Suffice it to say, I didn't think I was good at Soul Calibur anymore. In fact, I had a light realization of this blog scrap. There was a time period between my arcade closing in mid 2000 and the first fighting game tournament (No longer Calibur 2, but 3) I attended where I wondered if I actually could compete with the best of Soul Calibur, or any game; if I could actually be - *gasp* - "good". The answer is yes, not just for me, but for anyone. It all starts with gaining the right knowledge and the right experience. At that first tournament, I was greeted by my old arcade terror, Steve Harrison. He was thrilled to see me and gave a big greeting, and once I saw him dispose of the Calibur 3 competition there, there was no leaving this hobby. Steve was, in fact, good at Soul Calibur; it was about time I was, too.

Note: Steve Harrison will be traveling to Japan this year, as he earned a berth in the illustrious Super Battle Opera tournament. Congrats to him.

Steve Harrison after qualifying for Evolution's Guilty Gear 3v3 Team Tournament all by himself

Hilarious example of Steve Harrison playing Soul Calibur

RNG

The final hand played between T.J. Cloutier and Chris Ferguson in the 2000 World Series of Poker, was a monumental and shocking television hand. Watch and see what I mean. (Feel free to laugh at the 'bad guy' music at 0:53)

WSOP 2000

As a huge believer in the chuch of Jesus (not that Jesus) this river card goes to show the might of his divine hand. T.J. Cloutier, aka "Second Place", (He also happens to be a poker great, but not remotely as visually iconic) made the right call. Going into heads up play, he was down a lot of chips, but had bled Jesus to the point where they were basically even. He had Jesus right where he wanted him; all he needed was NOT a 9 on the last card.* And yea, the deck parted, and the Lord brought forth the Nine of Hearts, and there was much rejoicing.



When a beat that bad hits you in Poker, can you complain? Not really. All you can really do is shake your head and get the strongest of drinks at the casino Bar, bitching at the Bartender how you made all the right plays, second place prize money in tow. Sure, you were supposed to win the hand, but you didn't. Why? It's simple; RNG.

What is RNG? It's short for Random Number Generator. Slung around the World of Warcraft competitive circuit mercilessly, it's when a player happens to roll a 100 sided die three times, and gets a 100 each and every time. What it means to you is, you just got fucked. In the WoW Arena, It means a Hunter traps you, pins you in place, and stuns you three times in a row, all the while drilling you up the ass with explosive shots (which, of course, are all critical hits). When that happens, can you complain? And would T.J. Cloutier would have something to say if you do?

Probably not. But it's important to who you direct your complaints. When you play Poker, Blackjack, or even Monopoly, you go in aware of the dangers, of the hopes and dreams RNG carries to the party. So when you pick up both Park Place and Boardwalk, or when you have to pay up on Marvin fucking Gardens for the fourth straight time around the fucking board, you find yourself in the same situation Cloutier and Jesus did in 2000. Your skill can take you so far before you drop your fate in the hands of the dice gods.

So sure, card games and board games have that accepted RNG element. But when RNG encroaches into games with a supposed higher skill than luck factor, bad things happen. In NFL Blitz, when you've got the lead in the 4th Quarter, your chance to fumble skyrockets and your friend gets the comeback of the century, not to mention major bragging rights. In a tight Mario Kart race, when the person barely in last place gets the lightning bolt and monster trucks his way to a first place finish. In WoW, the times a team plays a match perfectly against a Warrior team, only for their healer to get Mace Stunned (RNG element) by the Warrior three times in a row, sprinkled with a dash of criticals and an execute on top. Can you imagine if Street Fighter's Zangief had 20% chance on I caught you in a throw, I didn't? (If you're not a Zangief player that sounds great, but hear me out on this one)



When this happens, your players get mad. And I don't mean "Aw shucks" mad. I mean grasping the cord of your controller with both hands, maddeningly swinging it above one's head like ye olde ball and chain, and converting your television screen into a Jackson Pollack mad. That may be an exaggeration, but Cloutier certainly handled himself with more composure than the average frustrated gamer- and he lost a lot of money on that nine of hearts. Pro tip to the game designer; (Hey Sakurai, we need to lunch over tripping in Smash Bros. Brawl. Tripping? How does that even remotely get past the drawing board?) if you're making a game to appeal to gamers wanting a high degree of skill, don't give your hand grenades a 20% chance to erupt into balloons and pink confetti on toss. Make T.J. Cloutier proud, and do the right thing.

*Jesus could've split the pot with a 4 or 2, but that waters the thrill down, and who wants that?

Toasty

I was having a good conversation the other day with my Father on competitive gaming. At age 60, he isn't one to sit down and play a round of Instagib CTF. He enjoyed his foray into less strenuous video games such as Wii Bowling, which he soundly thrashed me at, being an ex-bowler himself. (He made me look terrible.) My Dad is an actuary, spending lots of time with numbers all week long, and is a fan of math / odds based games like Blackjack and (especially) Backgammon.

During our talk, he looks at me and says, "I just don't get it, what's the point of Fighting Games?" It hit me like a sack of bricks. To me, a solid Fighting Game is the blending of chess and action movie. To my Dad watching some guys play a fighter, they mash a bunch of buttons, they beat the shit out of each other on the screen, and someone goes home happy. The whole underlying ruleset is unknown to the outsider - not just my Dad, but to the bulk of fighting game consumers. Spacing, mixups, footsies, oki; an entire language goes unknown to most people that actually buy the fighter. (Except 'wakeup'. Believe me, SF4 XBOX Live Ken knows ALL about wakeups.)

But, is 'Eye Candy Button Masher X' really what sells? It used to. Mortal Kombat II was wildly popular in arcades, and while I have fond memories of the game and it has achieved a cult fanbase, it is by no means a structurally sound game. Mortal Kombat vs. DC is similar; Superman really IS the Superman of that game. His ground pound combos into itself, and if he wins one round, he can bug it so the match doesn't go on to another round; he just wins. MKvDC is sluggish, broken, and created not for a community to delve into, learn, and compete with, but rather made to earn a quick buck off of gamers who want to answer that "timeless" question, who would win between Batman and Sub-Zero? Find out in: Mortal Kombat vs. DC! You know what? Go buy a Wrestling Game, create Batman and Sub-Zero or whoever else you want, and stop funding Midway's awful product. Companies like Midway can get the fuck out of the Fighting Game market. (And they will, too! )

With Street Fighter, Tekken, Guilty Gear, and so on, the designers understand that visuals are important in drawing in the casual fan to the purchase, but they also set out to craft a system that is fun, intriguing, and balanced. These games are sent in early beta phases to arcades for testing amongst the best fighting gamers. You originally had to block C. Viper's Flame Kick while standing; with how good she's proven to be now, imagine how godly Viper would be if that change never happened.

Similarly it's important to note that if you make a game with too many complex inputs, or inaccessible characters / fighting styles, you won't gain the rich fanbase you need to sell copies, much less play your game. But the fact stands; gamers are getting smarter. Competitive games are growing in market and in number. There are game leagues with logos ripped straight from professional sports, prize pools are growing in digits, and there are Starcraft players you might confuse for NASCAR racers with all the logos on their uniforms.



The competitive gaming community is on the rise, and as it spreads, so does its language. While I can't be sure that Fighting Games can ever overcome the burden of the 'Button Masher' branding in the public eye, a man can dream.

Street Fighter 4: State of the Game

This upcoming weekend is going to be interesting for SF4, as the National Tournament Finals are being held in San Fran. Top 16 Gamestop winners are going to duke it out, and MD/VA is being represented by Eric Kim. Eric's been a solid SF3 player for a long time, and his Sagat is no joke. More offense heavy than I think he should be, but extremely solid. Daigo of all people will also be there, collecting a free trip to California and a big paycheck, and hopefully Eric will smoke him too. :)

Take a look at the most popular arcade games in Japan right now;

Video Games
1. Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion - 365.4 (-)
2. Blazblue - 274.2 (-)
3. Mobile Suit Gundam: Gundam vs Gundam - 260.3 (-)
4. Sugoi! Arcana Heart 2: Tenkousei Akane to Nazuna - 217.2 (UP)
5. Melty Blood: Actress Again - 184.7 (DOWN)
6. Virtua Fighter 5R - 115.6 (-)
7. Guilty Gear XX Accent Core - 111.5 (UP)
8. Street Fighter IV - 83.4 (DOWN)
9. Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike - 76.1 (UP)
10. Death Smiles Mega Black Label - 52.4 (-)

(Courtesy Arcadia Magazine, May 2009)

Blazblue at #2? Guilty Gear moving UP? Street Fighter 4 at 8th? What's going on? Granted, this is the first installment of the SF4 franchise. Seems like it's possible, though, that Zangief / Sagat / Boxer is too much for the Japanese scene to handle. Zangief is an especially big problem. Matt Frank "The Tank", a common face in the fighting game scene from North Carolina, has this to say about SF4 Gief;

"He still loses hard to most of the top characters, but the characters he does beat stand little to no chance against him; he's kinda like ST Honda (who I also hate) in that respect. I don't like him cuz he's braindead stupid easy, and he's absolutely no fun to fight as or to fight against. I mean, you can't fucking sweep lariat most of the goddamned time. What the hell?

He's like AC Pot, but without all of the system options that GG has that let you get away from Pot. There are far too many characters that have zero options to escape once they're cornered by Gief. He's one of the things that make me question whether or not I actually think this game is long term good, and according to Arcadia, Japan agrees with me."

When you have a character in a game that does extremely well against most of the low to mid tiers but poor against some higher tiers, it becomes a headache for the community. It's even more problematic in some ways; since he's got his issues with some characters, and thus avoids the ban hammer. So either you're picking a character that gets smashed to bits by that problem character, or you pick that problem character and get scraped badly in an unfavorable matchup. This issue applies not just to SF4 Gief, but also ST Honda (Has problems vs projectile characters) and I believe Algol in Soul Calibur 4. Characters like these can discourage picking those low-mid tier characters in the first place, for fear of ever running into that guy in tournament.

That being said, SF4 is still alive and well, both in Japan and (especially) in America. It's certainly better than SF3, and it doesn't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon.

Rock Paper Scissors: Game Patriarch

Competitive games all boil down to decisions. In essence, Rock Paper Scissors is the Kevin Bacon of competitive games; every game and its decisions can be traced back to good ol' RPS. Take a look at these examples.

First Person Shooter: There is a heavy degree of aim and mobility for success in FPS, but RPS certainly exists. In Unreal Tournament, if I have just a Flak Cannon, you have just a Lightning Gun, and we're looking at each other on opposite sides of the map, guess what, you're rock and I'm scissors. On the other hand, if we're face to face, you're going to be riddled from head to toe with flak. So there is a weapon hierarchy that exists, but it's all based positionally. You don't want to be using the Shock Rifle at close range, but at long and especially mid range, it is one of THE guns to have. Granted, if all I've got is the close range Flak Cannon and you're packing a long ranger at long range, I'm getting the hell out of your line of sight and play that RPS game when it's more convenient for me.

Real Time Strategy: In RTS, you have access to all kinds of units with their own strengths and weaknesses, and it's up to the player to figure out what kind of units he'll need to win the match. For instance, you are playing Terran in Starcraft. If you discover your opponent building lots of air units, you could get to work building Goliaths, which are fantastic ground to air. However, they're pretty terribad ground to ground, and thus your opponent can respond appropriately.

Fighting: As a fighter evolves, a matchup list eventually emerges. A matchup list is a chart which shows you how many wins a character should get against another out of ten. Nowadays, it's rare that the cream of the competitive fighting game crop has 8-2 or worse matchups in their systems, but certainly 6-4s and 7-3s exist. SF4 is a great example of this. Zangief has a lot of 6-4s, but a few characters like Sagat and Blanka are extremely problematic for him (7-3). This is a much softer version of RPS, and in Japan especially players are encouraged to stick with their character from start to finish of a tournament. It's awesome watching a skilled player beat scissors with his paper.

The RPS will always rear itself in any competitive game, one way or another. In sports games; do you know what play I will run? What pitch I will throw? In tactics games; where will I move my characters? What kind of abilities I will use? In the end, it all boils down to determining what your opponents options are, determining what he will do, and countering it appropriately. But more importantly, it's what separates competitive games from one another and makes them more intriguing; the choices you both have access to, the ways you can gather information, and the sick mind games you can pull on your opponents.

Tournament Play

I Got Next is going to be some good.

This past weekend, I was in Ashburn, Virginia for a tournament, C3 Revivial Night. The main event of the day was the Street Fighter 4 3v3 Team Tournament, which had some of the East Coast's top players. Our team finished 7th out of about 28 teams, largely thanks to some crazy good teammates. SF4 3v3 is a very interesting format; each team sends out one of their players to fight (at point), and the winner stays on the machine. The losing player's team gets to choose who to send out next; for instance, if our M. Bison just lost to their Balrog, we send in our Zangief, since Zangief has a favorable matchup against Balrog. Sending in Zangief, however, means that if we win, they're likely to bring in their Sagat, who's a bad match for Gief. Making teams that are able to handle a wide variety of the entire roster and figuring out team order is part of the fun, on top of cheering for your teammates. It's an absolute blast, and goes to show that 1v1 isn't the only way to make a competitive fighting game entertaining.

Games can really shine when the game extends past the ruleset and actually fuels player interaction / emotion; when something happens in the game that lives on far after the game has ended. In Fighting Games, the most infamous moment is likely the Evolution Daigo / Justin Wong Street Fighter 3 video. Street Fighter 4 just got its first. If you haven't seen this video, it's about time you have.

Kensou (C. Viper) vs. Liston (Sagat), Final Round Top 32

Pros and Cons

As I flesh out the meat and bones of this card game, I want to make sure it's a blast to play. What are the pros and cons from a 'fun' gameplay standpoint of a card game and a fighting game relevant to my idea, and what can be taken from them? Long post incoming.

Magic: The Gathering Pros and Cons;

+ Collecting. The cards all have value, different rarities / availability, and some slick artwork. 

+ Deck Variety. Tons of cards, tons of options. There are competitive decks, casual decks, crappy decks and janky decks. The amount of cards also means there's generally some card(s) that counter the "best" deck in the format. 

+ Wide gameplay options. There are generally lots of decisions to be made in the game, especially in draft and Type 2, and it's a far cry from the rudimentary rock-paper-scissors base. There are also many ways to trick your opponent or earn victory, some of which being hilarious and/or embarassing, which make for great storytelling even after the game has ended.

- "Mana Screwed". To play cards, you need to use mana, the resource of the game. You will inevitably play some games against people who could have little idea of the deeper gameplay going on, but if your hand is devoid of mana, you either risk playing that hand or you go one card down. The VS and WoW card systems have anti-mana screwed mechanics; you can play any card as a resource, though "plot twists" / "locations" (VS) and "quests" (WoW) were much preferred to be played in your resource row.

- Too much variety? The wide variety of cards leads to a select few cards being top dollar, and 80% of the cards players own stuffed in closets wasting space. Some cards have similar effects, but one is just "better" than the other for obvious reasons. 

Capcom vs. SNK 2 Pros and Cons

+ Options! An extremely wide cast of characters to select from for a fighter; many familiar faces across the board. You get to pick up to three of them for your team. You also select one of six different "grooves", which applies basic rules from six past fighters (3 Capcom, 3 SNK) that your team plays under. For example, some let you roll, air block, and so on. Finally, you have four points of 'ratio' to spend on your team of 1-3 characters, with ratio 1 characters being weakest and ratio 4 being a fucking house. (One ratio 4, however, means you only get one character.)

+ 1v1 "Teamwork". My A-Groove Iori might have a tough time against your C-Groove Blanka, but I have Cammy coming up next if Iori goes down, and she does fine against him. (That might be complete bullshit but you get the idea.)

+- - Tiers. The higher tiers in this game, while certainly nothing as excusive and godlike as in Marvel, are still very dominant. You'll never see a Kyosuke in an American tournament past round 1, and you'll see plenty of Sagats and Blankas. That being said, the mid tiers can still be relatively competitive, and it's always refreshing and exciting to watch skilled mid tier players like Combofiend (Rock/Rolento/Eagle) and Buktooth (Iori/Morrigan/Hibiki) run their game.

- No real team synergy. There's no tagging, no combined attacks, nothing outside of some special win quotes. From a gameplay standpoint this is more of a preference thing, but it's worth noting for the purposes of my game.

- Custom combos. The dreaded A-Groove. Its main draw is getting a full super bar, and then activating your Custom combo mode, where upon first activating you get some invincibility, and any hit landed while in the mode is turned into a fucking painful (and ridiculous looking) combo that ends in a super. It can be a very all or nothing mode (sometimes the worst thing that'll happen is you'll break their guard gauge and take off 15% anyway), and while it does get the crowd talking, I find it stretches the risk / reward balance too wide. To see some examples with Bison, check out the link below. The action begins at 1:03.

M. Bison makes babies cry

What have we learned? Card collecting and dispariging card rarities piques interest, finding the right variety amount is crucial, developing multiple decision options past rock paper scissors makes for more fun and interesting gameplay, keep the power of your cards and mechanics in check, and whatever do you, don't get mana screwed.