How concerned are we with realism?

UNCBLOCKS

Just some quick questions for the community:
Do you consider the combat in this game realistic?
Do the supernatural elements or unrealistic moves bother you?
Would the game be more or less fun if it were more realistic?

Just curious, I'm asking because I'm conflicted.

System_Error

Realism isn't something I honestly look for in a game, I just want a game that's fun and entertaining. Honestly I just love the game

Galoyal

No fighting game in history are realistic. Even sports game like EA UFC or fight night series were not "realistic". And to answer the question, I do not mind fantasy at all, as long as it remains logical and consistent. For instance, I do not mind magic, or special powers, but I get annoyed with things physically impossible, like double jump

UNCBLOCKS

My conflict comes to deck building. Many stagger moves are great statistically but I can't bring myself to use them; they're just too ridiculously unbelievable. What's worse, I hate fighting people that use them (almost everybody); my love of real combat sports has poisoned my mind against nonsense attacks; I just can't imagine a person getting rocked by a Donkey Slap, lol... it just...no. But yes, it's just a game and I shouldn't be so close minded. I'll just have to accept that booze in Adal makes you strong AF

SHOKK

Realism brings clunky controls.
Realism brings restrictions.

AngelNoire

If you want to know what realism will do to a game, look at the-medevial-fighter-which-shall-not-be-named. The things that killed it were realism in graphics and realism in physics. (and developer incompetence)

The reason why TMFWSNBN was so crappy and inconsistent was because they created it with graphics in mind instead of content, and ran the game in a physics simulation. That means weird hitboxes, inconsistent timing, and tech moves out the ass. The game is basically unplayable at this point. (somehow it managed to make backwards progress).

It also makes it much harder for developers to make a solid game. A realistic mixed martial arts game would be HELL to create and DEATH to maintain, and as a game developer who has mostly worked in fighting games, I say that with no small certainty.

Realism is in general a limiting factor and really only has a place in games based on... Well... Reality. Sports games and the like. Video games are an art, and an experience, and in general, we look at art to experience new things, not more of the same old same old.

Perhaps in media's case this engenders misconceptions and ignorance, but as long as people know what they are seeing isn't real, it's their responsibility to recognize the difference between fact and fiction.

Personally I don't think realism has a place in gaming outside of where it's mandated, but everyone's different.

Galoyal

UNCBLOCKS said:

My conflict comes to deck building. Many stagger moves are great statistically but I can't bring myself to use them; they're just too ridiculously unbelievable. What's worse, I hate fighting people that use them (almost everybody); my love of real combat sports has poisoned my mind against nonsense attacks; I just can't imagine a person getting rocked by a Donkey Slap, lol... it just...no. But yes, it's just a game and I shouldn't be so close minded. I'll just have to accept that booze in Adal makes you strong AF

I do not use any stagger move for the very same reason as you. But I have nothing against peoples using them. In fact, that is the reason why I am still playing Absolver, even if there is arguably better fighting game out there. Each fighter is unique, with his unique set of move. The trade off is that with such variety, game balance suffer compared to more classical fighter game.

insight

Same here -- I don't use any stagger moves because they are physically impossible, and I'd rather feel more in tune with my character. I've gotten used to defending stagger moves, and now that I see them in every fight, I'm beginning to learn how to counter each and every one of them. Maybe their overuse will destroy them as being meta-moves? I hope so!

JGreenbeastofOh

I'm more at odds with the fact that some of the most simple moves do not behave as they should, a straight punch doesn't have a draw back it's thrown from the hip straight out, because if this you can't throw a simple two piece combo, also the side kick shouldn't have a set up before its thrown, there are others but that was just a couple examples. Stagger isn't so bad once you start to learn the direction the moves are coming from, it becomes a lot easier once you use stagger yourself, but yeah it's definetly ridiculous. Personally I think it's going to be nerfed, not that it really needs it in my opinion, but because of the way people have been exploiting some of the moves.

insight

I don't think nerfing is needed, but move balancing so that there are alternative moves from different styles that can counter stagger. I keep retooling my deck, looking for a fast low initiate, and the only one that's faster than stagger is the tripped back kick, which I also won't use anymore, because it's an unrealistic move that I found myself using too often to counter whirlwind double punch, low kick strings.

The only other thing I can do, and I find myself doing, is waiting for the opponent to use all of these moves while blocking them, so that I can find some way to interrupt their attack chain. This isn't the most fun way to handle a fight. The other problem with these moves becoming "meta" is that I know that 85% of my opponents will have:

Whirlwind double punch
Grab and punch
Handrunken
Drunken paw
Tripped back kick
Light jump kick

Which is fine, except that it gets boring to fight the same mix-ups over and over. Having more balanced alternatives to these moves would make the game a lot more interesting -- and have a broader audience -- IMO.

insight

Okay, I'm backpedaling on this one. Every fight I've had recently has been great -- lots of variety in fighting styles. Ranked matches might cut down on this, but I'm looking forward to them! The fighting mechanics in this game are pretty awesome, and I'm glad I'm seeing the full potential.