Virtua Fighter 6

I thought PO was trolling with the realism schtick, but he is serious. Now we have peeps wanting this game to look like DOA.

Man, I hope Im in Asia by the time VF6 comes out.

 

Actually Genzens idea sounds pretty good. I still heart the juggles as they slow the game a tad but down.

 

It just wouldn't look right looking like DOA that'd be a fail. The graphics of doa are tailored to the movement & momentum of that game. The way VF "moves" is completely different engineering from doa. Vf seems a little more "snappy" (if u will) while Doa is kinda water-like?

 

Sifu Akai,

Remember in VF4 EVO there was a Hyper Combo mode (or something like that) and I believe there was one other underground tournament where Sega played with the gravity physics in the game. (I'm thinking about something along those lines that can let us tone down the Launchers and floating if we like) without it radically changing the fighting engine or game balance.

but even beyond that.

not all "dramatic change" is bad, sometimes the "dramatic change" is a jump towards a positive evolution. Kind of like how transposons might cause a significant mutation in the DNA for the better I personally would make a distinction between "dramatic change" and radical changle in this context with the later being undesirable..

Its just in my sometimes not so HO that Virtua Fighter is about due for a small evolutionary step.

I'm certain you are aware that several seasoned (some even well known) VF players feel that the change from VF5 to VF5FS was "dramatic", some even feel that the changes were "negative" or that Sega "watered down the game etc" so I guess to some degree the perceived amplitude of the change and its effects are relative.


Sifu Akai, with all respect, just because we can imagine or even suggest improvements in Virtua Fighter doesn't mean that we want to play or that we should be left to 'hope' for some new or other game. Its okay for VF to evolve. In fact, if VF is to survive for the next generation of fight game enthusiasts it must evolve. That is unless going forward we only want to look at virtua fighter through the glasses of nostalgia and the days when 2 tokens and a winning streak was all you needed.

It is my not so HO that this community is mature enough, and sophisticated enough, and informed enough to have a honest discussion about a potential evolution of the Virtua Fighter series, without the suggestion or need to bring up some totally new game.

I see no disadvantage in discussing the prospects of small steps forward for Virtua Fighter 6. I'm almost certain that gravity in the game, and some of the animations in Virtua Fighter can be changed without forcing the metamorphosis of the game into
something that is not VF or not recognizable(or acceptable) to VF fans.

At this point it should be obvious that I'm a true fan of the game, and I would not want it to undergo changes that would destroy why I love the game so much. As you well know Virtua Fighter pioneered a lot of concepts for all fighting games when it was first released.
(at least that what the Smithsonian Institute believes). I think its high time for the series to do a little more pioneering. Virtua Fighter 6 would be a good place to start, especially since Yu Suzuki more or less said that Virtua Fighter 5 would be the end of the line for the series.

A fast action,balanced arcade martial arts combat simulator with redefined concepts of launching, floating and juggling based on realistic physics might be just what the doctor ordered

 

Or you know.... Hitstun can decay, and these "launchers" can have more startup frames then the recovery frames.

Also this is kinda funny because all of these arguments apply to juggling too.

 

The profanity thing was mentioned specifically somewhere by Sega near launch- I forget if it was at the launch party or on their forums.

Personally, on the realism issue- I want it to be more realistic, but it doesn't have to be real. Pro-wrestling levels of reality are fine.

I just don't want bears farting while wearing football helmets and clown shoes like in Tekken.

 

Exactly! LOL

A couple of the state of the art fighting combat simulators allow you to select whether you want to play in an arcade mode, or a simulation mode. I think UFC undisputed 3 has three modes. Even the new DOA gives you the option to turn off some of the arcade special hit effects. Tekken 5 allowed you to turn off/on motion blur, so its not like its never been done in a arcade fighting game before. Virtua Fighter 6 would still be VF even if we could turn up the gravity a little, making the characters a little less prone to float.

But alas, I rly do understand the resistance to change. Alot of ppl have put a awful lot of hours, practice, research, and dedication into the mechanics and methods of the Virtua Fighter enterprise, all that effort and energy has resulted in self satisfaction for some, self esteem for others and even prestige for some, its no wonder ppl don't want the rug pulled out from under them by changing to much of VF. Also there is just the romantic notion of the 'Arcades and I remember the days' that also add to the reluctancy to even entertain any evolutions in Virtua Fighter, I admit I feel most of the same resistance too. But the sad reality is the arcade fighters are no longer the cutting edge or state of the art for fighting games (like they once were). Once upon a time VF, Tekken, SF, MK represented the absolute state of the art in video fighting games and were featured in the arcades. That's no longer true. Games like UFC/FNC do represent the state of the art, and Virtua Fighter needs to reclaim its leader status back from those class of games. Maybe Sega just doesn't have the budget, or the talent, or the passion anymore to do it, but it still needs to be done. VF5FS is feature poor when compared to the state of the art fighting games. And if for no other reason but to survive Virtua Fighter 6 will have to bring something new to the table, and will have to address its deficiencies.

 

hey tricky where you get this info from? i wanna know.

 

Sega made a job annoucement that eluded to the fact that vf6 is in production. Not an official annoucement, but might as well be. The writing are on the wall.

 

but sega says fs is even better looking than the arcade version so 5 does look better just look at shuns stage the water looks like oil in 5 it looks real

 

i agree fs is perfect just add new mechanics to vf6 don't change anything the only bad thing is the graphics vanillas were amazing.....so what happened just compare the water in shuns stage

 

Been a looong time but basically I thought I'd share my feelings on what 'Virtua Fighter 6' needs to be successful. I think the Core game play element is something the masses will pick up on but as always branding is an issue. Really the general populations has never got the chance to get their hands on Virtua Fighter save for Virtua Fighter 4 which was critically acclaimed and saw decent sales but was never a pop culture breakthrough like Halo, God of War, or the Kingdom Hearts of that generation. Which was really its big chance.

I mean Dreamcast didn't have that big of a user base and honestly if I remember correctly VF3's american release was after the console was pretty much dead. Saturn was a legendary flop so even though the game was a pack in it never really got into peoples hands. Arcades are a forgone thought and most people that might have casually played Virtua Fighter in arcades don't even remember what the game was called cause yeah people are adhd like that. So first and foremost IMO I think a re branding is in order if Sega wants to establish this franchise in the states. Maybe change the name or do like Mortal Kombat did and completely eliminate the subtitles and numbers and just call the game Virtua Fighter. And while things like story aren't important to me. Sega needs to step up in that department, if they want to get a bigger user base. I couldn't count the amount of times I've tried to explain to people that the enjoyment they get out of games comes from the game play, no matter how much preaching I do, all i ever hear is story story story.

Gameplay wise I think you'd need to implement a more Tekken-ish throw system where throws are react-able have a respectable tech window and you can visually see which break your supposed to do. Even though the throw system has already been dumbed down Its hard to explain to people how to "guess correctly" Like the concepts of match ups (which in the end the match up is what determines character throw type) are really high level and is pretty dependent on the meta which is something you are never going to control and that's outside of that fact I personally think its dumb.

My suggestion is to animate every throw so that the character either has their left or right leg forward. Tap left and throw to break left leg forward, right to break right, if both legs are planted even tap down, and if they have throws where feet are off the ground tap up. Another great thing I think is to have persistent stats like COD. Tekken started to implement something like that with WTF but really I think it could go deeper.

After each match you see a stat sheet it counts the amounts of hits landed, amount of damage done, hits evaded, throws escaped, highest combo counter, hits blocked, counter-hits landed, block punishes and whiff punishes, it gives you the breakdown in each round, + you get bonus for every round won and it gives you +xp to a certain amount calculated to work within the purchasing economy. Xp is persistent and gives you a higher player rank, but is also can be spendable or is tied to another spendable resource say leveling up grants you X amount of dollars, You use this xp/money to buy online specific items that may or may not be limited release, titles, online portraits/ emblems maybe you can borrow that from COD as well (customizable emblems that is). Those persistent online nuances the ability to reward the player just for playing the game is what makes a great online experience with a large player base. No one has any excuse at all to not be happy. The stats also can be used by more serious players to analyze their performance outside of just replays . If everyone is getting rewarded regardless of how or what they do they are gonna keep coming back.

I think this fits with VF's easy to learn tough to master approach. More than anything though I see Virtua Fighter as more of a social game like literally anyone can have fun playing it its just some people need to be given that added incentive because of the nature of the fmarket now and how there are other games out there that offer that feeling of accomplishment regardless of winning or losing. Why would someone new who has no reason to be cocky at all come to this game is the question? I did because I'm a fan of the fighting genre and am already semi developed as a fighting game player, I was one of the few who had a Saturn back in the day and was introduced to the series. I'm am also the 1% though.

 

Do you seriously think anybody is going to read that wall of text?

 

I took the time to write it if no one wants to take the time to read it then thats on them. I've contributed. I have edited for readability though I didnt think once it got posted ti would turn out that bad.

 

I think you should have taken the time to learn what a paragraph is.

 

Your a prick now go learn what that is.

 

FT10?

 

Edited the formatting a bit to make it easier to read, and fixed some of the more egregious grammatical and spelling errors.


I don't mind the idea you proposed about having a displayed breakdown of various game-play elements after the match - it'd be nice to see how many throw-escape attempts I made vs how many were successful vs how many total throws etc (so I can see if there are times when I'm not putting in any throw escapes, for example), but turning it into a currency-driven system would turn it into a grindfest, where you'd just want to get through as many games as possible to rack-up points and buy stuff. It'd only appeal to the MMO genre, who like to grind and collect, and I think the essence of the game, the 'lets have fun by fighting each other' would be lost, and people would be less interested in improving their game and learning the mechanics than they would be in finding newbies and bad players to mash-up, and using crappy exploits and lag-friendly approaches (Jacky's crappy sidekick combo, for example).

I like the new throw-escape system so far as it makes the mechanic more about making the right choice than about how many throw-escapes you can spam in a 10-frame window (I don't like input-skill being a major factor), but I don't like the ability to do guard-throw-escape, 'cos it makes standing guard too strong, which in turn makes guard-breaks and low-sweeps too strong. I'd like to maintain the 'three directions to choose from, and only one can be input' throw-escape system, but I'd like it not to work whilst guarding, such that 'evading throw-escape guard' can make a return, but not the extent that people need to be doing 'evading triple-throw-escape guard' in order to protect themselves from the guys with uber throws. This would, hopefully, bring about the desire to move around a bit more, use evade-throw-escape to defend against mid/throw guessing-games instead of just standing there, and it'd give circular attacks more value, as well as making crouching-guard a more attractive defense (beat all throws and cover lows and highs). I think it'd bring more variety to the mix-ups, instead of guarding-throw-escape giving you as much chance to break throws as is possible, as well as defending from all non-low attacks that aren't guard-breaks.

 

I dont think reward based incentive can be harmful. Because if the game has more built in incentive to play then the average low level player is at a higher level because they've spent more time in game. Grinding in general is something you need to do in fighting games to get good rewarding you for doing that means more people will reach that threshhold of competent play. Obviously by pushing that low level skill pool up in experience the regular competition gets better for the veterans and in turn they get better. as for online trolls, boosters, and lag tactics? I mean people are always gonna be people you cant really control that either way. Ranking abuse is going to happen. Worst comes to worse your more cautious in looking for serious people to play against if your a higher level player. In which case it will be easier to find since there would be a playerbase increase.

As for throws I swear by reactable throws or one throw break like 2d games I personally dont like anything thats built to be a complete gamble. Basically its like dragon rush mode in budokai 3, a "did we press the same button or not" game as it is now.

 

If VF put reactable throws in, I might as well just play DOA.

Terrible stupid idea.

I do think the FS throw break system needs to be tweaked slightly, but it's a good system. My idea is to make the directional breaks count the diagonals so a fwd break is 369, neutral is 258, back is 147.

Side throws need to be unbreakable as well.