What puts people off from playing vf?

Well hardly anyone in my area plays this game. At first I thought it was the diffivulty of the game but thats not it this game is actually simple, you just have to know advantage and disadvantage. My area is an hardcore fighting scene we have some pretty famous players. But tbey play smashbrothers, tekken, and 3s...

So what exactly is it that keeps people from playing this game.


IT is the most balanced fighting game. imo.


We could easily blame sega/am2/soa...but thats not it.


Is this game hard to get in becuse of the community? Thats the only answer I can come up with.

 

I agree with you with on that. VF is the most balanced fighting game i ever played (I'm also a SC and Tekken player)

Well here is an example why people are more into other fighting games:

http://nvgaonline.com/Forums/index.php?automodule=blog&blogid=1&showentry=48

Most of the fighting players i know in other forums always complain about the visual design and cast of characters (they don't find it flashy), fighting styles and storyline. Somehow in games like Tekken they feel identified with some of the characters. They also state that storyline is an important thing in fighting games nowadays. Things that VF lacks.

 

When I played VF5 in-store, I drew in quite a big crowd for someone just playing the Arcade mode (they only had one controller available), however, once I beat the game (losing to Dural), the crowd dispersed once I asked anyone else if they would like a go...

Based on that (not much), it might have seemed too difficult to pick up and play for the casual player with all the moves I was pulling with Goh - I dunno.

Also, my heart kinda sank a little when a school kid walked by and exclaimed "WOW! IT'S THE NEW TEKKEN!" just as I was about to leave the store with a friend.

 

VF lacks name recognition...

Who didn't play Tekken 2?! I mean, the series did start on the most popular console ever (okay, with CD).
-----

When they first saw it, my roommates thought I was playing Tekken (first name that came to mind), but it was Evo. I had nerd rage.

 

Reasons:

- It doesn't have a critical mass of players yet on a national level...only pockets of communities.

- VF veterans are getting older and thus don't come out to play as much, teach newbies as much, or write strategies/techniques/tactics as much. I think we need young blood who are determined to be the best, out to topple the vets (like Ladon and Denkai), and who will then in turn recruit and teach other young people to play.

- VF doesn't quite have that instant appeal factor that other fighting games may have, though personally I think VF5 comes close.

 

It must be tekkens visual design, I cant think of anything else. Which I personally find extremely ugly btw. On the other hand, you could say that 'hardly anyone plays fighting games at all'..

That said, I think vf scene here in Helsinki area is showing good activity considering the past. Last weekend I had a gathering of about 8 ppl at my house playing just vf for about 12 hours, thursday I played with two others and tomorrow kneeninja is coming to practise VF5 too.. On finnish fighting game site VF threads are getting most attention atm. Even if its mainly me posting any kind of tech stuff.

 

Its a shame really the Virtua Fighter series never gets the respect it deserves (except among some professional reviewers). Most people say the game is boring cause it lacks a in game story.

You've also got to remember that the fighting game community has declined since the death of the Dreamcast (IMHO), so the few who do play fighters prefer the much more flashy DOA, SC and Tekken.

 

This game may not be hard, but it takes time until you know what is going on.


VF feels very unresponsive until you know what you are doing. Most people don't evade, and without it, the game feels really slow and strange.

 

I've read a review in a big games magazine the other day and what the guy who wrote the article complained about was:

-unappealing character design
-"crappy music and voices"
-"characters look plastic"
-no online /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smirk.gif
-no real "revolution" game-wise since vf4
-not sufficient number of bonuses (fmv's, other modes like BOWLING... yes he really mentioned he'd like something like bowling. Said he doesn't care for costumes and items so...)

The game got an 8, by the way. I believe that's just the way it is - some people just like zingy flashiness of "other leading fighting game brands" with their robots, flashes and laser eyes, and don't care much for in-depth system and game balance. Pop games rule the world for the same reason pop music does.

 

While I agree to some of this I think the people who write reviews mainly go 'with the flow' of majority player's views since they cant think with their own brains and certainly don't want to look stupid by disagreeing with other reviewers.. They have decided that VF is inferior and that is that.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
-no real "revolution" game-wise since vf4
</div></div>
Write him and ask which fighting game has had one in past few years..

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
Pop games rule the world for the same reason pop music does. </div></div>

Unfortunately so. I wonder if VF fares well in Japan and tekken doesnt for same reason tekken fares well here and vf doesnt.. The games have been made to appeal to different sort of people. I wouldnt mind having more rock in soundtrack instead of the jap-pop though.

 

I seriously think its got nothing to do with gameplay, unfortunate cold frozen fact is that majority of population judges things by their appearance.

 

Couple things IMHO really. Firstly the game is a kind of catch 22, where because you're unlikely to enjoy it to any great degree until you have a hell of a lot of hours on the clock you need to get the motivation of wanting to be good from somewhere other than the game. This could be seeing videos of great players etc..

Secondly I think that open ended skillset based games got a major kick in the arse from online multiplayer games. Even though FPS games are much more shallow as far as being a technical skill, they definitely provide easy access to the sort of competition that in fighting games you have to really dedicate yourself to the culture to get.

 

Right now, its just priorities. Between my career, martial arts, and other responsibilities, playing video games in general just has to take 2nd seat. That, and with the high cost of just owning VF now (ps3, vf, at least 1 controller), its just prohibitively expensive.

 

I do not understand this. For a fan of martial arts, Virtua Fighter gets as close as possible to true Martial Arts while still keeping the game playable.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">"crappy music and voices"</div></div>

With the exception of the T5/T5DR and the GG music, the VF music is much better than music in other games. The problem with most fighting game reviewers is a sense of nostalgia they have for older fighters, and their famous tunes. The SF series is a good example of this, as the same themes can be heard throughout it's various versions. When we first heard the tunes, they were awesome. Now, we associate them with past games. Reviewers let nostalgic bias to get in the way.

Voices. Well. I do have to admit that the voices are a bit cheesy, but AM2 certainly made improvements over previous games. "I've done handcuff lightning" anyone? (Which is funny, as that is an incomplete quote from Cassius Clay).

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">"characters look plastic"</div></div>

I have said that while the female characters look soft, the male characters look like they took a bath in crisco.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">no online /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smirk.gif</div></div>

Beating a dead horse.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">no real "revolution" game-wise since vf4</div></div>

What fighting game has had real "revolutions" in game play. SF and it's clones such as the Vampire series, the VS series, and lately the CvS series all play the same. The KoF series and it's past games ALL play the same. SC has not changed much. Tekken tried to change in T4, but the community threw a fit... and in T5 they went back to the tried and true formula. Expanding on the Tekken series; Tekken has always followed in VFs shadow, yet been more vocal about what they are trying to do. Both VF and T started on a 2D plane. VF was the first to go to evades and then ARM. T soon followed. VF was the first to introduce items. T soon followed, and not to be outdone you can now use your items for attacks. VF has always been out front of trying to improve it's game play, while keeping the game that people have learned. Every fighter has this "bolt on" addition attitude.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">not sufficient number of bonuses (fmv's, other modes like BOWLING... yes he really mentioned he'd like something like bowling. Said he doesn't care for costumes and items so...)</div></div>

Do bonuses make a fighting game? Or does the fighting engine and game play make the fighting game? Extras like Bowling, Tekken Force, and the like take the player away from the reason that he purchased the game in the first place. To get good enough to kick the crap out of your friends who are also playing the game. To be honest, the greatest addition or bonus to any fighting game ever was VF4Evo's tutorial mode.[/quote]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">The game got an 8, by the way. I believe that's just the way it is - some people just like zingy flashiness of "other leading fighting game brands" with their robots, flashes and laser eyes, and don't care much for in-depth system and game balance. Pop games rule the world for the same reason pop music does. </div></div>

Yes. Quick gratification will win out every time. In our new society of ATMs, Cell Phones, Drive Thru's (for coffee no less), and Instant Access Media, if people are not satisfied in 10 to 15 seconds they move on to the next outlet.

 

Social commentary /forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/shocked.gif

 

You know, it's entirely possible that some (or even most) people who play fighting games prefer twitch based games to rock / paper / scissors games; and prefer finding who the top-tier characters are to choosing among relatively balanced yet undifferentiated characters. There's not necessarily anything wrong with those preferences . . .

Notice which direction AM2 moved for this release of VF?

 

Only had the game a week. You think it's dumbed down?

 

People in the fighting game community are stubborn and will stick to what they originally played way back in the day. I personally changed when tekken 3 looked like crap and Virtua Fighter 3 looked incredible.
I also think that alot of the fighting game community is from the nineties, and that alot of the youth only care about FPS style games. If we could introduce the game to the youth it would be a valuable asset to the VF community.

 

Personally, I think it's in the mechanics, which we love and for good reason.

I would pin it down to:
-VF forces you to play move by move (you might not have to think move by move, but you'll have to play move by move).
-Lack of strings cuts down some appeal (sounds stupid, but I'll explain why I think this is a factor)
-Having to relearn "blocking" within the context of the above two factors.

I'll start off with strings, since it goes into playing move by move. In VF, you do have strings, but they're generally simple 2 or 3 hit strings and often times they require specific inputs that aren't so mashable (though VF4 did make some strings more accessible). The only string a masher and a beginner seem to remember though (and are comfortable using) is PPPx variations. It's all they remember and all they see in VF.

That and maybe elbows with followups like Lion and Aoi, since they came across the move by accident and it worked.

In Soul Calibur and Tekken, you can mash out some strings on accident and somehow feel you can still do them. In VF, you might get those two or three hit strings, but have no idea how you did them if you mashed them.

But why are strings even a deal to begin with to the beginner appeal? I would put that down to the other factor:

VF forces you to play the game move by move. If you mash, your gonna get PPP and you're gonna feel stilted that you're just doing an elbow, or just a knee, or just a sidekick, or just a low kick, etc... You're not getting a string. If a beginner picks up Eddy Gordo in Tekken or Maxi in Soul Calibur, he'll feel accomplishment getting out a string.

But beyong the fact that strings are not just "move-by-move," they put pressure on the opponent that's getting hit or blocking in ways that we are happy VF forsakes. Many beginners like the feeling that they are in control simply by pushing their opponent down with a string. Sure, we know that in other fighting games those players are still screwed against a good player when the string is over, but that's what we're thinking with what we know--the beginner doesn't see that.

So what's a beginner's common favorite tactic? PPPK and PPPd+K and PPPb+K. If they even know that much. Why? Because the other guy is being pushed by a string and for a slightly longer moment than move-by-move, the beginner feels like they have control of the match. They like pressure, they're not yet ready for move-by-move mindgames.

On top of that, Tekken and Soul Calibur have a lot of strings and moves that, if blocked, push the opponent back a decent amount. Creating space that seems neutral or advantageous (though in reality, it's often at disadvantage, but beginner doesn't see that and feels comfortable--in VF, you don't feel comfortable when almost no space is created with mashable attacks). This pushing back is reminiscent of Street Fighter and it works to make people feel comfortable attacking, attacking, and attacking. Even though we all know that in all the above mentioned games, they really aren't that safe doing it, but they certainly are against other beginners who think the attacker was safe after pressuring.

And then there's the last aspect... Defense. When you have to think move by move, and there aren't too many crazy strings... well you have a game built around "pokes." Obviously it's pokes, throws, and setups (and spacing). Beginners worry about attack and block before worrying about throws, setups, and spacing. That's natural.

But in VF, the game flows on defending and attacking directly with the initiative--IMMEDIATELY. And this is something that has to be relearned for a lot of people playing VF.

First of all, the block button has seperated two defensive actions. You no longer have walking away and blocking being the same command. What about Soul Calibur? Well, when beginners play beginners in soul calibur, there's lots of variety in the all mid/high strings they do to one another while the other can hold block the whole time and feel they accomplished defense. Furthermore, the attacks create lots of spacing so sometimes they feel safe (against other beginners) restringing over and over.

In VF, you're never safe. If you block, you should attack right away. If you attack, you should block when you are blocked right away. But the flow is not "hold defense until I'm comfy" or "keep attacking until I'm comfy."

Anyways, what all this leads up to is... You really have to learn a decent amount of the movelist when you learn VF. And even that won't really help you understand the immediate flow of VF, and you'll have to learn that. And you can't brute-force pressure your opponent, even if they are a beginner (well, you sort of can, I've seen so many PPP strings go back and forth at the arcade, but then the players end up thinking PPP is the only attack they have).

Not being able to brute force even a beginner and not knowing the movelist = VERY LOST.

There are other factors... but I mainly think of these factors as being the things I have to teach people first about VF so they can play. Movelist, initiative (which in VF is move to move, not string to string and trap to trap), how to defend (because good defense is your main guaranteed source of damage in VF).

It's what I see people struggle with all the time, except for the very few who get it the first time around.

-Chanchai

 

Ok this is a good topic but in my opinion there is no clear better fighter between Vf and Tekken. Im a huge fan of both games and they play very differently. Vf is more of a close up game with more complicated manoeuvers and a lot of emphasis on evading while Tekken is a combo happy game based on range.
But games have the common point of according a lot of importance to frame data . now i know that a lot of people say that vf is more into frame data but being a hwoarang player beleive me Tekken is too.

In fact the bigger difference between the two games is the way you acheve movement. in Tekken you move mostly by using moves while in vf youll move a lot using simple movement like dashing and crouch dashing.

Personnaly im a big guilty gear player so im obviously a combo whore which makes me prefer a bit tekken because of the creativity it gives you in generating kick ass combos and tech traps. Or said in a simpler way its more of an artistic creative game where you can do flashy stuff and go wow. VF involves more mathematics and a bit deeper thinking it plays faster and looks less appealing because of that. Still both games are good. It just depends on your personnality.