UFGT9 - A Go!

Tomorrow I will start my travels to Chicago for Ultimate Fighting Game Tournament 9 run by Keits. This year's event will be the biggest yet and a lot of players will be going from our community-- too many to name. Special Shoutout to Jamarr "Jamarrvelous" Lewis and his company for accompanying me this time as my usual travel mates Blank and Joker were not able to make it this year. Wish me luck and I'll try to get a lot of footage of the tournament!

Video: KOFXIII Casual Matches - BlankM vs NGamer3k

These are some matches we recorded of some non tournament KOF action between myself and my good friend/roommate/training partner Blank. Enjoy.

Edit: Apparently blogger isn't letting me embed stuff right now. A simple link will have to do for now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b86AJlkk-CU

Full Results - Joker's Monthly "Why so Serious?" Fighting Edition - Des Moines, IA - 3/30/13

I know this is super late reporting, but better late than... you know. The tourney was streamed by our own Kevin "kdotlo" but unfortunately the archives were not preserved. I'll be better about reporting and letting you know when and where we are streaming- I promise.

UMvC3

1: Joker (Taskmaster/Vergil & Trish/Wesker)
2: Ngamer3k (Wesker/Storm/Chun-li)
3: Figgy (Skrull/Frank/Sentinel & Wesker/Hawkeye)
4: Kevin
5: Dr. Razo
5: Greg Dang
7: Blank
7: CBK
9: Supa

SSF4 AE

1: Ngamer3k (Sakura)
2: Figgy (E.Honda)
3: Jon J. (Abel)
4: Top Hat
5: SBT ShankyJ

KOF and SFxT were on the docket but were not played due to lack of entrants. Sadface.

The Skullgirls Kickstarter

This is something I threw together in collaboration with fellow Iowa FGC member and Jurassic Park fan, Curtis "Top Hat". It basically sums up my feelings for Skullgirls and the activities of the developers.

Reaction to Capcom's Announcement of New Version of SSF4 AE

Last week, Capcom announced at Pax that a new version of SSF4 AE will be released. Additionally, they will be taking suggestions from the players as to what balance changes they would like to see. And just when we thought we were safe, Capcom pulls a fast one on us and we will have to readjust yet again. In a year where EVO will have had the same version of Marvel 3 and SF4 for two consecutive years for the first time since their respective releases, Capcom will be not stand by to see a third year.

I think this is a very bad idea for a number of reasons. First, I think this version of SSF4 is very good, especially when it comes to character balance. We have seen plenty of character variety and amazing gameplay that comes from a game where there was actual time to develop things. Some of those things, like unblockables have become the be all end all of the metagame for some and this is simply an overblown facet of the game. Are unblockables a problem and should they be addressed? Yes. They are not unlike the Ultra unblockables that were discovered in earlier versions but were later patched out. But much like those setups, do we hardly see unblockables come into play? No. Plain and simple. The fact is, unblockable setups take precise timing, many are character specific (with their own special timings), and we hardly ever see them. Even players who are known for developing them like Flash Metroid can hardly pull them off consistently. While it would be nice if they were somehow removed, it wouldn't be devastating if they weren't.

Second, this version of the game is the most balanced the game has been. Why risk messing that up? It seems like Capcom wants to create a new version because of the perceived staleness of the gameplay after many months and they want to artificially breathe life back into the game. Besides, we have already seen Capcom's balance philosophy at work over the constant revisions of the SF4 series. They undeniably pander to XBox Live crybabies regarding "cheap" moves and characters. This is was wildly apparent from SSF4 > AE > 2012. During that time, characters like Honda and Ryu were nerfed only to return more or less how they were. So this idea of user feedback is extremely flawed and anyone who says otherwise doesn't have much perspective.

I know what you're thinking. "Well, you're no different now because Sakura is going to be nerfed." No. I'm not upset that she will be nerfed (even though I feel she is fine), I'm upset in the manner she will be nerfed. We have all seen Capcom's knee jerk nerfs to Sagat, Cammy, and Rose just because of people are butt-hurt over a few specials.

I have even gone on record as saying, I was fine with AE with the top tier twins. I just wanted Capcom to be happy with their product and be done trolling all the players with false hope and the facade of any sort of plan. If they didn't want the twins to be broken and for everyone to pick them up, why did they make them that way in the first place? "Oh, just kidding! Here's ver. 2012." Give me a break.

Regardless of my feelings, this patch is happening. I hope that only small changes are made across the board so players like myself will not have to relearn everything again for the millionth time. Honestly, 2012 was much like that. I thought this version of the game was excellent but Capcom thinks it can do better. Let's just hope I'm wrong and the game turns out to be the perfect gem we all want it to be.

Thoughts on SFxT ver 2013

This game is good-- really good and really fun.

Take note fighting game makers. This is how you update a game. There isn't a single system wide change that is not beneficial to the gameplay. Where the original version was a broken monstrosity, 2013 is like a finely tuned classic instrument. This combined with the DLC characters (that were already available) and the balance changes across the entire cast make for a extremely satisfying fighter to play.

We all know how bad the original was. Broken jab pressure, free tech rolls, stupidly safe gimmicks, and absurd jump ins. Now all these things have been either fixed or reworked as to actually having thought put into them. Frame advantage has generally been toned down across the board, tech rolls are now punishable by throws and it is impossible to reversal after them. Tactics like tag cancel DP are now more unsafe and jump tatsu is no longer flowchart brain dead. Along with these, there are even more system changes that equally benefit the game that I haven't even mentioned.

All this culminates into a fighter with a vast amount of depth. The game focuses more on what it should have in the first place, a solid ground game, hit confirming, and execution. You must be good at hit confirming and you must make your hits count by hitting your combos. Sure, you could make this argument in any fighter, but it especially important in this game. As one hit can potentially lead into so much damage-- you do not want to leave that damage on the floor by dropping your combo.

The team aspect of controlling two characters and all that goes into that of course still holds true here and was a main reason I liked the original as much as I did. What combos and juggles are possible? How can I configure my team to maximize damage? How can I tweak combos to ensure the proper character stays in? The layers of team composition go on and on.

I'm having a lot of fun with this game and right now I'm maining a completely different team from my Vanilla team of Ryu/Juri. It is all about Sakura/Nina now. I can hit confirm Sakura's st. RH into launch for big damage and I have solid anti airs and footsies. In the first tournament in the new version I entered, Maxout in KC last month, I took 1st with Sakura/Ryu (I didn't know Nina at the time) over Omaha's Jamarrvelous and his Heihachi/Hugo team. I'll have thoughts on different aspects of game (particularly Sakura) coming up soon and hopefully have some videos too.

Full Results From Joker's Monthly Tournaments: Fighting Game Edition, 2/23/13, Des Moines, IA

UMvC3

1. Joker490Frozen (Taskmaster/Vergil/Wesker)
2. kdotlo (Zero/Morrigan/Doom)
3. Blank (Spencer/Doom/Wesker)
4. CQDang
5. NGamer3K
5. CBK
7. D-Raw

SSF4: AE

1. NGamer3K (Sakura/Ryu)
2. Excalibur (Ken)
3. Top Hat (Random/Gen)
4. Abysmal
5. Blank
5. Pedro
7. Skizm

SFxT

1. BlankM(Hwoarang/Asuka)
2. NGamer3K(Sakura/Ryu)
3. Excalibur(Ken/Poison)
4. MagicTopHat(Alisa/Lili)
5. Pedro(Cammy/Julia)

PlayStation All Star Battle Royal:

Joker/Abysmal (Drake/Fat Princess)
Pcity/GQDang (Sly/Fat Princess)
NGamer3K/Blank (Drake/Raiden)
Pedro/Sylex (Kratos/Raiden)

3S ($1 entry Winner take all)

1. NGamer3K (Ken)
2. Grog (Ken)
3. Top Hat (Makoto)
4. Blank
5. kdotlo
5. Excalibur
7. Pedro
7. GQDang
9. Skizm
9. Abysmal
13. D-Raw

KOF - Canceled :(