Michiel K wrote: ↑June 7th, 2023, 12:57 am
Rhaegyr wrote: ↑June 6th, 2023, 2:26 pm
Sod it, I'm buying it - played a bit more of the demo last night and it's just too much fun.
Anyone else bar Michiel playing this? Be nice to set up a Cane and Rinse group if there's a few of us.
I made a Club thingie. If you share your Fighter ID, I'd be happy to add you!
@raisinbman that goes for you as well, though I have the suspicion you're probably a bit too serious for a club called CrustyFighting!
Lol, trust me, my enthusiasm doesn't match my skill. Then again, even my friends in college avoided me in fighting games, maybe you're onto something. I'll join - unfortunately about to start working much more to make up for a dip in income, so I'm not going to be on stage at EVO anytime soon!
Alright, early SF6 impressions in longform:
Street Fighter 6
Worth Another Quarter
SF6 fufills a promise SFV failed to, and that makes all the difference. If you remember, one of the dev goals for SFV was to make the returning characters 'different', Nash being the prime example. But then...they just didn't for some characters like Cammy. I didn't play much after Alex released, but there were further changes such as Seth getting a female body, Cody going from Prisoner to (mayor?). Even in hearing about the updates for SFV, the one thing I felt was really missing, besides content, was a defensive mechanic. But when they announced Championship edition, and really not much else, I kind of knew that was a closed chapter. I don't bring up SFV just to dunk on it(though I take great pleasure in doing so!), but also because it factors into how I approach SF6: They've taken this goal that was....deferred and expanded to basically the entire game.
With SFV, they EVENTUALLY got brave enough to advertise "Hot" Ryu and Chunners, which they should have from the beginning. Even the Box Art features NOT Ryu, Not Chun, Not Ken...who basically are givens and instead you find Luke. While Luke's introduction to SFV made my spider sense tingle, and them hinging that the 'future of street fighter lies with him', others memed and bristled as well. But just like in a heated match where you're on your last magic pixel, sometimes, going for a Hail Mary in fighting games works.
Those steeped in Street Fighter lore know this burned them once in the past. So it is interesting to see them back at it again, only this time with inarguable success.
Ryu is hot, Chun is...actually ethnically Chinese, and many of the newcomers don't stick out like a sore thumb like a certain acronym-named lackey. It's been said time and again, but the RE engine REALLY seems to be doing great for them, whether in the pre-battle 'reaction' faces of the characters, or the huge suite of character creation tools. I think it also bodes well that when I go online, I don't see all shotos, or even veteran characters. Muscles bulge, thighs jiggle, and faces get smashed in with aplomb. The art style, while not immaculate 2d sprites of 3, the painterly quality of 4, ultimately improves on V's bland art style with more realistic(gasp!) characters, and reaching back into the well of "Street". Not to the extent of say, a Breath of the Wild, but they definitely thought long and hard about what makes street fighter street fighter - fighters repping their flag, globetrotting, and 'street' in the form of grafitti, music, and drive splash effects.
Online seems fine, I've kept my matchmaking as wide as possible, and rollback doesn't disappoint as usual(though I heard certain other devs are having trouble with rollback, so I can't claim rollback will instantly solve problems for everyone, or perhaps it's how the chef cooks it, so to speak). I've had a literal 0 bad matches with 100+ matches played, though I have seen others deal with lag. This is especially astounding to me, as although I'm wired, I went down a tier of internet for my job, so I'm not exactly on google fiber.
Gameplay seems good so far. Initially, people were worried about the drive rush mechanic(focus attack on steroids), but as usual, more skilled players will be using drive gauge for the game's combo breaker, or a VERY scary dash cancel(which can be done multiple times!). The game actually has defensive mechanics and characters, which was my main complaint of SFV. Combos aren't insanely long(depending on the character), and damage is high. So like Guilty Gear Strive before it, matches are breezy enough that going for one more round isn't a huge deal. MOdern controls are for people who either want to dip in or just can't be bothered to learn classic, but has implications outside of that, even. Classic is what players expect it will be, and there's even a dynamic option if you need to try to rope someone in wii sports style.
Music is the one area I've heard complaints about, but here's the thing - this is clearly going back to the hip hop roots, the street. And with that, comes instrumentals. But on top of that, there's ALOT of audio going on: commentary if you have it turned on, the character quips(there seem to be quite a few of these), the foley. It's a bit more subtle, but considering we've gotten yoko shimomura's music from II, and the great stuff from 3, would it really be worth reinventing the wheel again? Didn't work out for the rereleased SFIII music a la Simon Viklund. Also, we've had 3 entries in a row with butt rock, and as much as "my path is clearer" from that, going back to hiphop is going to be different, and not everyone's cup of tea. I don't doubt we'll see a jukebox if capcom follows through with supporting this(sales numbers mean this is an inevitability) if it's really that big of an issue for people. The music is a bit more background, and as far as I've listened to it, kind of a vibe(I sometimes even see my GF bouncing along to the beat).
Also, on the short list of complaints, you may not find your exact character until later releases(Akuma and Rashid are 2 popular characters from previous entries that are being added as paid DLC), and it doesn't seem like the game supports multiple 'avatars': I created my basic avatar just to play, and later let my girlfriend do World Tour. I also personally think some of the OG world warriors can retire(many such as Dhalsim and Ken have kids anyway, have them carry on). After world tour, my username was changed, and her avatar overrode mine. This isn't the same caliber of sin as Animal Crossing, but was a minor annoyance in a game that seems to have been carefully cultivated and has PLENTY of menus and tip screens as is. Also - fully admitting my computer is 10+ years old, the game seemed to have some serious slowdown(not in matches), and the .exe can sometimes stick around even after closing it(am I missing the 'proper way' to shut down this game Capcom?!?).
There's a huge story mode that's basically Yakuza, an arcade mode, and lots of other goodies whether you're casual or professional. Capcom really benefited from adding a new lead(who if i remember correctly is the son of the current president making his words come a bit heavier) possibly slapping capcom back to their senses after 5. Capcom is killing it in so many genres, and can finally say the same for fighting games.