It seemed too long for a title, but the question isn’t really “Are fighting games difficult?” but actually, “Are fighting games more difficult than other competitive videogame genres?” Some people in the fighting game community have kind of given up on the question at this point, but I can’t help but keep circling back to it.
1) As a new entrant/beginner in fighting games, my biggest gripe is the tutorials.
I decided to give KoFXIII Global Match a try, and its tutorial makes zero sense to me. I appreciate that the tutorial is there (I went through it based on your advice, which I think is correct), but it relies heavily on the player having past experience. The explanations are poor or nonexistent, especially for the inputs to perform a Drive Cancel. It tells you to input one move followed by a second one. In reality, all you have to do is input the first move but add just a single extra button press… What I’m trying to say is that I has to spend a couple of hours away from the game on YouTube and forums just to understand how to pull off this move. (Playing the game on Switch 1.)
Does it require too many resources from the devs to include a robust tutorial? Why do you think games omit them altogether?
Imagine a fighting game that has a tutorial explaining things on different levels (beginner, intermediate, advanced) and they explain the “why,” too. If someone wanted to join the community, there ought to be a game that everyone recommends for pure beginners. That game would be popular for a long time at tournaments, too.
2) Throwing this idea out there: RE: your point about the CPUs not mimicking human players. Could a dev make a CPU based on a pro player? I think this would be a cool difficulty if you’ve mastered Hard mode. This could give you a taste of what it’s like playing against a good human. Sure, most people would get pulverized, but depending on who’s playing, there could be a lot of valuable take-aways. It would be like training at 1.5x or 2.0x speed. (An NFL QB trains with a VR helmet at increased simulation speeds, and when he plays real games, everything feels “slow.”) I can attest to this approach with my personal experience playing squash. When playing against someone who’s slightly better than you, you almost have no time to think and no room for error. But after that game, playing against someone on your level feels slow (or at least you feel like you have more time for decision-making.) Do you think this would have a similar effect in fighting games? It’s interesting because the online match play sets you up with someone of a similar level.
Anyway, I’m done ranting! I really enjoyed this post.
1) As a new entrant/beginner in fighting games, my biggest gripe is the tutorials.
I decided to give KoFXIII Global Match a try, and its tutorial makes zero sense to me. I appreciate that the tutorial is there (I went through it based on your advice, which I think is correct), but it relies heavily on the player having past experience. The explanations are poor or nonexistent, especially for the inputs to perform a Drive Cancel. It tells you to input one move followed by a second one. In reality, all you have to do is input the first move but add just a single extra button press… What I’m trying to say is that I has to spend a couple of hours away from the game on YouTube and forums just to understand how to pull off this move. (Playing the game on Switch 1.)
Does it require too many resources from the devs to include a robust tutorial? Why do you think games omit them altogether?
Imagine a fighting game that has a tutorial explaining things on different levels (beginner, intermediate, advanced) and they explain the “why,” too. If someone wanted to join the community, there ought to be a game that everyone recommends for pure beginners. That game would be popular for a long time at tournaments, too.
2) Throwing this idea out there: RE: your point about the CPUs not mimicking human players. Could a dev make a CPU based on a pro player? I think this would be a cool difficulty if you’ve mastered Hard mode. This could give you a taste of what it’s like playing against a good human. Sure, most people would get pulverized, but depending on who’s playing, there could be a lot of valuable take-aways. It would be like training at 1.5x or 2.0x speed. (An NFL QB trains with a VR helmet at increased simulation speeds, and when he plays real games, everything feels “slow.”) I can attest to this approach with my personal experience playing squash. When playing against someone who’s slightly better than you, you almost have no time to think and no room for error. But after that game, playing against someone on your level feels slow (or at least you feel like you have more time for decision-making.) Do you think this would have a similar effect in fighting games? It’s interesting because the online match play sets you up with someone of a similar level.
Anyway, I’m done ranting! I really enjoyed this post.