Tekken 7 hype was so high and growing when SC6 came out. While trying to ride the 3D momentum, they may have actually sabotaged themselves with their own competition.
Man if you really hate invincible dodge rolls in 3D action games consider checking out Sekiro. It’s mixup based and no single defensive option beats everything, you have to learn to deal with strikes, unblockable thrusts, low sweeps and throws all differently sort of like in a fighting game. You and your enemies even have a guard meter and can be guard crushed which leads to a huge damage punish so maintaining pressure is a huge deal too. Really neat game.
I mean, I was WRITING the data down in my notebook when I should have been taking notes from the class. LOL! I wasn't very good at paying attention to lectures. Hahaha.
By the time sc6 got good the game had lost most of it player base reversal edge was such a stupid mechanic in the beginning one of the worse game designs ever in fighting game history
Yeah. It was so much better after the RE nerf. And honestly, my hatred of Drive Impacts is really similar in SF6. Both of them have that same kind of punishment for Blocking that is really irritating.
@UltraChenTV I love your hair style James. You are everyones homie da type of introvert sigma male I could have a varied topic of discussions with. I naturally like homies like you. I don't care about loud type types, I find alot of introverts have more deepness and very introspective and pretty much more wholesome overall than most extraverts.
I still play SoulCalibur 6 to this day, because it's an incredibly solid game. I hate that it just couldn't keep up with the spotlight appeal that Tekken got, but Namco should know that it was a very well made product and it still has a decent following. Plus I also gotta add, I love eight way run far more than Korean Back dash because it's less murder on your hands.
I mean, it wasn't an Asian accent. It was just a voice. LOL! But mainly, like I said, I do it so the people who listen via podcast could more easily tell when I was reading the Tweet and when I was talking myself.
I totally understand wanting to use SC2 as a framework for the next SC, considering it's the best game in the franchise. SC6 is cool, but felt like it's getting further and further away from how the series played (does anyone really like reversal edge???). I've bought every game in the Soul Edge/SoulCalibur series, and will definitely get the next one, if they ever do another (hopefully they will).
Basically, I do it so that it's more obvious to those listening to this via podcast when I'm reading his Tweet and when I'm talking myself. Because I knew I would forget to transition properly for the audio listeners.
I have a controversial thought about the subjects discussed at around 30:45. Just let franchises die. I know this is a sad outcome, but I like to think about Castlevania for instance. I love Castlevania to death, and I am also very glad it is over. The series is done. I have seen everything the series has to offer. I can die now and I will be happy that I had the chance to experience Castlevania in its entirety. This is a very freeing feeling for me. I feel dread (pun intended) when I think there will someday be a Metroid or Zelda game I will never play. But for Castlevania, I can be at peace that the story is over and the series is done.
I feel it's better to pace a franchise to top it from getting stale and/or painting into a corner. That way you can extend it's life many times more, companies just want to extract money while it's hot - look how quick music games died off.
Also her 3MK is minus on hit unless at certain ranges, and spawns a big hurtbox above her leg while she's sliding. her j.2MP spawns a big hurtbox making it really easy to anti-air, and its minus on block, and has 8 frames of landing recovery.
YUP. And there's even MORE on top of all that, like her counter hit 5LP is almost useless compared to every other character. It's +7 so NOTHING REACHES that can extend the combo. It's so dumb! Man, I didn't even remotely get as far as I needed to in this talk. Hahaha. I swear I need a part 2. LOL!
49:52 As much as I like sidestepping, 8 Way Run is easily one of the best mechanics to any fighting game. It just feels so damn nice. Probably the main reason why I love Soul Calibur so much more than Tekken.
On your most recent Tuesday show btw I don't know what I was huffing when I jokingly chatted "Kano is the good guy [of mortal kombat]," I know the good guys of MK are Liu Kang Johnny Cage Jax and Sonya. I probably just shouldn't comment when MK is the subject 😆
There are definitely a lot of cool combos in SCVI. They just require a LOT of specific situations, like the Lethal Hits or Counter Hits. But there are definitely some really cool combos in SCVI. I can't say for the other SCs.
The only bad things were the delay based netcode and the reversal edge mechanic. I don't wanna play Tekken if I have to learn to kbd. Basic movement is so fast and easy in SC.
When I was a kid I spent probably hundreds of hours in soul caliber 4’s character creation. When I got to college my friends and I all played against each other in that game a ton. I know it’s not the most loved game in the series broadly, but at least among my friend group of non FGC players, it was a hit.
@@UltraChenTV lol both. Darkstalkers characters look cool but they're all evil as hell lmao. Along with being used to getting chopped up in prior games. In a way DS kinda had their own fatalities depending on finisher lol.
@@UltraChenTV Yeah. I was playing emulated SF2 with my son the other day, and even HE insisted Blanka was green! It annoyed me so much I resorted to google, and that's how I found your video! 😁 Maybe we've got some rare form of colour blindness?
SC6 was a net increase from SC5. The problem was that it simply wasn't enough in the eyes of Bamco. They wanted T7 level returns, which didn't happen. But T7 was receiving constant attention and updates which helped its momentum. Who's to say SC6 couldn't have gotten that if they invested at least to the same degree? We'll never know, but being Tekken's less loved little sibling was what always held SC back. It was the game they sort of hung out to dry, usually where they would experiment with new ideas they would have been too scared to put in Tekken, not put as much money into the game, and if they did it was to invest in publicity stunts like Guest fighters which were diminishing returns.
updates don't matter when the netcode and matchmaking is trash. Namco doesn't want to admit they fucked up releasing a game with delay-based just 2 years before rollback became a necessity.
@Inojin67 A lot of games that were big back then had crappy netcode. Yet they still enjoyed healthy lifespans and record breaking numbers. Including Tekken which wasn’t using real rollback and even needed a patch to fix it. These were the pre-pandemic days, pal. People had different standards back then.
Did T7 do well because of the constant updates or it got the attention and updates because it was doing well. Harada said they only planned for 2 seasons and that the game's success was a surprise to them. Bet SC would have got the same treatment if it did well.
@@azuresaiyan9005 Yeah, sometimes people forget, at least for an instant, that the normalization of good netcode situation is a very recent phenomenon. Like, the two biggest fgs, SF and TK, only got a good netcode literally in 2023-2024. Things must be happening so fast lately in the fg scene, and even in general gaming scene, that the guy already forgot how the collective mentality worked inside the fgc regarding netcodes. It wasnt even a long time ago. Besides some very low quality netcode levels, nobody would cancel a game that just has an "average bad" netcode like SC6. Only in the 2020s that the community became very demanding and picky.
Another great example of letting creativity flourish, to me, is the Van Damme Street Fighter movie! I for one love it and own it on both blu ray and DVD! One of my favorite parts of the movie is the end when Zangief is realizing that he was on the evil side, and he does the thumbs to the side Shadow Law salute, which is actually M Bison's win pose in Street Fighter 2, and Guile takes his hand and makes the sideways thumbs up M Bison win pose Shadow Law salute into a thumbs up! 👍 Kind of a forgettable moment, but to me, it was Tuesday.
Soul Cal was a little too anime looking for the west and Tekken was anime-ish of course, but had a cooler/realistic vibe to it. Also, Voldo looked like he should be arrested.
Considering how mainstream anime is comparatively, hell GG is now #3 in the FGC, and Tekken has gotten more and more anime with each game and it's only made it more popular in recent times, so that's definitely not the reason why SC fell off.
That original tweet was so confused. SC6 already probably tried to hew too close to SC2 as it was (with some new mechanics stapled on.. just like the poster wanted). If SC does come back they actually do need to do something legit different with it. And I say that as someone who adored SC2.
Its really sad that soul calibur 6 died the way it did. It feels so buttery smooth and is gorgeous, the only thing is you can tell it was a low budget game compared to Tekken. I Want a re release of soup calibur 2 and maybe 3, why not do a collection?
Yeah, it's kind f funny because while I'm sure there were (as James says) a lot of newcomers just confused by how IMvC3 thing was even popular there were also a lot of people who were just going "Oh yeah, that's UMvC3 again..." For me I was expecting a lot more out of The Return of UMvC3!!!!!!" after everyone was talking about how much it had changed and evolved over the years where it wasn't in the spotlight.. only to see the exact same mind numbing gameplay that dominated in the original days (except with maybe 1 character you didn't see often back then)
In Street Fighter 4 the focus attack is like an ink stroke on a classic Japanese scroll. The message I get is : "if you get good at the game maybe, on some level, you could be as good as stereo-typically Japanese fighting game players are. Even if you don't get good the promise is there."
Honestly, now that you mentioned it, I do remember that he had a different one, but at the time I made this video I completely forgot! LOL! There's just SO MUCH to know about DarkStalkers! Haha!
Nice logical points you have there. To be fair, though, I have always said Kimberly is mid tier. Just that the worst character in this game IS mid tier (basically Manon and Kim). No one is actually bad in this game. But she’s still missing a lot of things that would make her properly competitive.
I don’t agree with that. Having played enough fighting games, there are literally characters who just can’t win at all. Kim can clearly win, but most of the other characters can win better. I am actually not a person who prescribes to the “it’s all relative” tier listings. I even did a whole video on this once. Kim is a B-Tier character. B-Tier can win and requires character specialists. But no one in SF6 is worse than that. To me, low tier means you struggle to win just about every match up. And as a person who was a low tier hero before, using Cammy in ST and Chun in SFA1 etc., I know was low tier feels like. Kim is nowhere near low tier. But it’s actually VERY logically possible that no one feels low tier, which is the case for SF6. So it is very possible to be mid-tier and still be the “worst” character in the game. In this case, it might even be better stated as the “least-best” character in the game. Haha. Again, I just don’t believe in the idea of “relative” tier lists. To me, across all games, S, A, B, C, and D tiers have the same meaning. And I put them in the tiers accordingly. I don’t think D-Tier means “worst in this game”. D-Tier means “You can barely win any matchups and your character is missing too many crucial tools”. No one in SF6 is like that.
@@UltraChenTV So in an even more balanced game could it be possible for the whole cast to be high tier? How about top tier across the board? Your position demands this to be true irrespective of the winning MU spread and all because “muh cammy felt worse”. Truly an idiot take. Don’t let my condescending tone keep you from addressing this either. As stupid as I find your argument, I would like you to explain this as thoroughly as you can.
Yeah. Absolutely there could be a game where everyone is high tier. If a game was perfectly balanced (which admittedly will probably never happen but let’s just say IF), how could you rate anyone low tier? What if every match is GENUINELY 5-5 and no matter who you picked it was an equal fight, how do you separate any character into a low tier? The obvious example is a game that only has one character like a Karate Champ but there’s no tier lists, obviously. But if it were to ever happen, how would you make the tier list if everyone can win? Would you create a “low tier” just to have one? That makes no sense. So there is the argument that that will never happen, no game will ever be truly balanced, so it’s a moot point. If the assumption is that no matter what there will ALWAYS be some characters better than others (because, honestly, that’s actually gonna be true for 99% of Fighting Games), then it’s just a philosophy argument at this point. Some people do like making relative tier lists, but you can see even in Japan and such many tier lists don’t even go below A-Tier for SF6. I’m clearly not the only one that does this. Again, my philosophy is that the letter’s implication should be the same across the board between all games. So when you hear someone is A in one game and someone is B in another game, you know where they stand in terms of their ability to win. If we list, say, Jamie as D-Tier because he’s relatively one of the worst characters, and we see Servbot is D-Tier in MvC2, that might make someone think Jamie is unplayable like Servbot is. But they are night an day compared to each other. So I think it sends a wrong message to say Jamie or Kim or Manon are D-Tier because they are clearly strong enough to make Top 8s and such whereas Servbot is not. So if every character in the game has an equal chance of winning, I wouldn’t say anyone is stop tier but I’d put them all in High Tier. They can all win, they don’t have an advantage over everyone else, but none of them suck at all. You can be condescending all you want, I’ll respond to you like a normal human ‘cause that’s how I roll. If you u want to continue to try and “win the internet” by trolling and thinking you’re somehow gaining anything by insulting me, feel free to keep it up. But if you actually find this conversation kinda cool and would like to continue to debate it and present your reasons and we can have a nice discussion about it, I’m also game for that! Take care.
I still get blown up by her mixups, and sometimes it seems like she can combo off just about anything, maybe im wrong. But to give her more dmg or better normals would just make her too op or unfair imo because im already guessing for my life. Maybe i just need to understand her better and Chen has taught me a lot about her here so maybe i just need to practise more. But yea she can be annoying as hell at times at least for me.
You just have to understand her mixups. Like her Teleports can only go to two spots (regular vs. OD) and the same timing of a button press blows up both. Non of her block strings into Teleport are safe: they are 100% counterable if you’re ready. And all her Spray Can mixups are still just Strike/Throw/Shimmy mixes, the same thing most characters can do and for a lot more damage than Kim. Etc. etc. But she FOR SURE destroys people who don’t understand her mixups. That’s the dangerous thing about her. If you haven’t studied her mixups, she is super scary and can just delete you so fast. But most of her mixups are fake and huge risks. She literally is just hoping you aren’t prepared for everything she can do so you won’t blow her up because you’re caught off guard.
Just wanted to share a year old rant of mine that is still relivant ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-KOKe4OcBcos.htmlsi=ZP7NEefMif2pCm5R
You have no idea HOW HARD I've tried to make that move work. I've labbed like 543625789 scenarios with it, creating theories of how to use it, ways to make it stronger, etc. And it still just gets me killed a lot. LOL!
It's so relatable hearing you talk about that, James - thanks for being an ambassador for the introverted side of the spectrum. And also showing that introversion doesn't necessarily mean shy or being socially anxious. It can be a part of it, for some or in some situations, but mostly it's about which kind of interactions drain or recharge your social batteries. Last year I started a group called "slow friending for introverts" in my city, where introverted people could join via an app, we'd meet in a park and split up into smaller (introvert friendly) groups and just talk or simply sit and be there together. Never before have I seen so many people in one place, perfectly comfortable not talking for a couple of minutes straight. In a lot of group settings you have people who either enjoy talking non-stop or who are so uncomfortable with silence that they have to speak eventually to deal with their awkwardness. Having those group meetings was a true blessing, and they didn't feel draining at all, because the conversations we did have were so inspiring and deep.
That’s actually really cool! Honestly, sounds like a great place to meet partners as well because actual dating is terrifying for introverts. Hahaha. Someone else commented that introverts crave *meaningful* interactions, thus the ability to want to get the hell away from social interaction and yet still feeling lonely. After he said that, it made so much more sense for me personally. I finally understood that contradiction. But I digress. I think it’s super cool what you’re doing for your city. And now I feel like I need to do something similar for the FGC, although being a gaming hobby, that might encompass like 80% of the entire scene. Hahaha.
those are really interesting numbers. As far as I could tell from a quick search, Strive might not have sold as many copies as MK1 did (and it did so in a much shorter period of time), but one could argue, that maybe Mortal Kombat, in a way, isn't one of the big 3 anymore? It's certainly a popular franchise, but comparing its active players (on Steam, to be clear) to Strive, which has been around much longer, and also seeing these entrance numbers, it seems MK isn't doing so well - neither in a casual nor in a competitive setting. As far as I'm aware MK has always had this cycle of being really popular in the first year or so and then rapidly dropping numbers, I'd argue though, that longevity and consistency are more important to qualify for a spot in the "top" fighting games. No doubt, though, that popularity and flashiness sells copies and MK for sure does a hell of a job promoting the genre.
Yeah, in terms of sales, MK will ALWAYS be in the big 3. I guess I meant more in terms of FGC popularity. Although… Igbo meant it that way, MK would NEVER have been in the big 3. 🤔🤔 So honestly, if the Big 3 is referring mostly to sales, MK is still there probably.
@@UltraChenTV mhm, yeah, that makes sense, looking at the numbers for calling a game "big". And not only is MK doing a good job of spreading love for fighting games in general, it's also fair that there are titles out there which cater to audiences who want more of a cinematic and flashy narrative experience in their fighting games, and which don't care too much about the pro scene and the competitive side of things.
He's so good! He's my current inspiration. But like in the example I showed, I just hate that Kim does all this work for so little damage! Even with her damage back up to 100%, it's not a SIGNIFICANT like "omg she's bison now!" level of damage. But every little bit helps and there's NO reason to do so little damage, especially when you want to power up but the enemy doesn't have enough life to justify spending the Level 3 in Round 1 or Round 2.
