thatdemoguy

This may come off as partial but can I say that....

 

STREET FIGHTER V IS A GOOD FIGHTING GAME!!!!

The gameplay is rock solid, with core mechanics that reward the player who truly understands the character matchups and can play not only against their opponent, but understands exactly what that opponent is capable of in relation to them at any given time. Yes, this is a basic tenet of all fighting games, but with this installment Capcom has taken the tried and true formula of "Street Fighter" and refined it. It's only been out for a little over a week, so the overall meta has yet to open up, but at this time I can say with confidence that Street Fighter V is an absolutely phenomenal fighting game.  

But you wouldn't know that if you based your purchase on or put a lot of stock into all the product reviews or what the reviewers/critics have to say. The game currently has a two star rating on Amazon and it seems as if every critic from Angry Joe to Jim Sterling has taken it to task to lambast the game. It doesn’t help that there are hundreds to thousands of viewers or followers who won’t actually try the product on their own to form their own opinion; they instead parrot the things that others have to say. This creates an almost hive mind mentality that is quite frustrating.

While I do have very stern stance on this whole matter, I will say that I am no Street Fighter or Capcom apologist or fanboy; I can tell you very OBJECTIVELY that they did release the game very "awkwardly" to say the least, with what appears to be a very minimalist package that has many of its options initially unavailable. This has created a very divisive situation between the competitive and causal audience. With all of the advertising and the way the game was presented, plus with all the PR stunts (like the Lupe vs Daigo match), the game was clearly being pushed to a more casual audience. But the actual retail product in its current form is very obviously for the competitive audience. I did speak on how I feel that the way this game was being pushed was a risky gamble that could backfire in a previous article, which you can read HERE . And it does appear to have backfired, seeing as how the audience they marketed the game towards has turned against them. But on the opposite end I can also say that I understand that personal purchase value is SUBJECTIVE. This varies from person to person. People derive their enjoyment from different parts of the whole. The issue is when there is a very vocal group who seems to only want to assassinate the game without even trying it. So let’s address some the most heard complaints.

There are those whose whole argument is that the game is "INCOMPLETE".  Let me ask you a very simple question. In today's gaming economy, what retail game is complete? Think about that before you answer it. Long gone are the days where you walk into the store and the game you took out of there was ALL the game you get. It’s just a fact that nowadays the retail package that you take out of the store is more of a starter pack than anything else. Every single AAA title is built upon this model across all genres. You pay for the base game, and then your experience and the product's overall lifespan are elongated with periodically added content in the form of paid or free DLC. The naysayers are citing that the problem is the exclusion of the sotry and arcade modes. While not exactly the same, the game does have survival mode (NOTE: it is tied to being connected to the server) which follows a somewhat similar structure to the old school arcade mode. And the cinematic story mode is being added for FREE in the coming months. While I can agree that not having a traditional arcade mode seems strange, I can say that not having these two modes alone don't detract from the base package of a FIGHTING GAME.

But since we were talking specifically about story mode....

Why EXACTLY does this hold so much weight? I’m not saying that this isn’t an important piece of the puzzle and a very integral selling point to the casual audience, but all those people who are saying that the exclusion of this mode makes this game "bad" or "not worth $60" are way off base. I say that because if they feel that a 2-4hr story mode that doesn’t teach anything about how to actually play the game is more important than the HUNDREDS of gameplay hours available in the training or various VS modes, then I have to be very frank and say that they are buying a FIGHTING game for all the wrong reasons. More so, even in other fighting games that have had an expanded story mode, like Mortal Kombat; how often do players actually go back and REPLAY the story? I can almost safely bet that this doesn’t happen. It’s a one shot mode that can just as easily be watched on a twitch stream as it is played.

Another complaint I continuously come across is that the roster feels light, with lots of critics saying that "in the year 2016 a fighting game needs a large roster". I think this is an absolutely ludicrous claim. Right out of the box, this game launched with 16 UNIQUE characters. With a very good mixture of returning favorites and new challengers. This roster is going to increase by 6 in the next couple months, and those extra characters can be purchased with the in-game currency that you earn by simply playing the game. What’s awesome about the available roster is that no two characters play the same or are even derivatives of each other, with the obvious exception of Ryu and Ken that is. But even with those two iconic characters, they have been redesigned to the point where though their styles seem similar, they accomplish their goals very differently. Every character is then further fleshed out by how they use the new mechanic, the V-gauge. It doesn’t make sense to think that for a game to be worth buying that it requires a roster of 40+ characters. The adage of quality over quantity comes to mind. I would rather have a smaller roster of diverse and fairly balanced characters, than a screen full of characters that are nothing more than slots on the character select screen. Furthermore a good number of those complaining about the size of the roster never take the time to learn how to properly play the matchups of what's available, thus their argument really holds no water because if they can’t learn to properly play/fight 16 characters, having more available doesn’t make the game any better or worse.

The counter argument that is generally made is that "I’m an X year old man, with Y many responsibilities, I don’t have Z time to put into becoming a pro at a game". Then I ask....why are you playing the fighting game to begin with? I’m not saying that the end goal should be to become an EVO champion, but if you spend $60 on a product, in this case a game, why wouldn’t you want to get the most out of it? Trying to add arbitrary value to bonus content and then crying foul when said bonus content isn’t automatically available, while totally ignoring the brilliance of the CORE game is totally unacceptable.

Long story short, I can look at the game that I bought and say that I am satisfied with what I have. Yes I can see the holes that are there, but I also am informed enough to know that those holes are going to be sufficiently filled in the future. The online functionality has steadily improved since launch, characters challenges are coming soon, along with the new characters and the story mode. But until those are given to me, I have more than enough there to satisfy my need for a new fighting game. This may not be the same for a number of people; I can accept and respect that. If it’s not for you, then it’s not for you. If you feel it best to wait to purchase, you’re more than welcome to do that. Why can’t this same respect be reciprocated by the opposite side? Why must there be rampant spread of misinformation and unjustified hatred towards a product and community they don’t care to understand or be a part of?

How do you feel about this? Do you think Capcom really dropped the ball on this launch? Do you really think Street Fighter V is a "bad" game? If so, have you even really played it? Feel free to sound off in the comments here, or hit me with a tweet at thatdemoguy.