True Street Fighters

[Wandering-Warrior]

Hi everyone i decided that there arent enought topics for people who are true enthusasts of all things street fighter (not your button mashing fiends) to discuss the little discrepancies within the series so one that i would like to mention to get the ball rolling is according to the Official street fighter 4 guide why is it that Ryu is more powerful than both Gouki and Gouken when they are both his seniors and why is ken so much weaker than Ryu, the balance between ryu and ken has always been that ryu is stronger while ken remains faster but now ryu is both stronger and faster then ken so this begs the question of why? Also Sakura is a relativly new chaacter by comparison to ken who has been there since day one when he was just a clone, so why is sakura almost as strong as him overall in sf4? just some of the things that i would like to bring up so please feel free to comment

[KenMasters]

Yes! I am in complete agreement here. Just like to point out that these assumptions about Kens weakness compared to others has been made based on the OFFICIAL guide book released, for example overall, it states that Ken is 7 and Sakura is 6, and yet when comparing the stats, Ken only beats Sakura in Power and Ultra combo, the rest of the stats are either better or equal...how is this logically possible? I dont think Sakuras stats are incorrect, but i do feel that Ken should be considerably better than the stats that are listed in the Guide Book, maybe there is a misprint in the book, i dont know.

[Wandering-Warrior]

Exaclty I mean surely if its official they should know how things should be, especially considering ken is the other main character next to Ryu so what makes them put sakura in the same class as ken (Dont get me wrong i like sakura but she has only been learning littl bits from ryu where as ken was taught right along side Ryu by Gouken)

[KenMasters]

and also in regards to Gouki and Goukens stats...surely those two characters should be God-like, true it would make them difficult to beat and unlock but still, that is the nature of their character...and as youve said before, judging on the current trends of making the students more powerful than their masters...the next game will include Goutetsu as a playable character and hell be weaker than Dan!! haha

[Jarlino]

Its been mentioned several times before, but SFIV was made mostly for the competitive audience, to give everyone a chance to be able to win with their characters.

I dont play Ryu or Ken nearly enough to get a statement about their speed and power, however, I do have my things to say about Sakura.

In all honestly, Sakura doesnt use Shotokan, so shes not taking Ryu/Kens fighting style any further and better.
She uses Saikyo, which despite Dans inability, is actually a pretty decent fighting technique, if you think about how its a combination of Shotokan and Kyokugenryu (From SNKs, Art of Fighting/King of Fighters series).

In one of the UDON comics of SVC Chaos, (though, like Kenmasters stated in another thread, are those actually Cannon?) Ryo, the current master of Kyokugenryu, remarks on how Dans form and excecution are well done, but they lack power behind them.
Power that Sakura has. :devil:


Thats all I really have to say. ^_^

[Wandering-Warrior]

That eplained something but neither ken nor ryu actually study shotokan they study Ansatsuken which is a combination of karate, judo and taekwondo and neither one of us sed she wasnt good we just wondered why is she rated almost as highly as ken is in the official strategy guide

[The Possessed]

Plots, age, characters and all that are great. But they have little impact on the actual game. You can have a story about someone being 100 years old and a great master, but they can still end up being an easy character to beat.

Seperate the plot, gender and age of a character from how they play in a game.

[Ryu Kazama]

Do you want a fairly balanced game where everyone can be used competatively or one where everything is fixed to follow a story, therefore broken as heck, ie Gouken and Akuma being super duper hard and overpowered while Sakura does pixel worth of damage? Doesnt make for a really fun game. Story wise yeah, they will be very different, actual gameplay wise, it keeps it a bit more level.

[Wandering-Warrior]

i dont mean that akuma n gouken should be really powerful but they should be at least as strong as ryu is if not a little bit more so in terms of all round stats and as for ken i think he should b slightly stronger if you think about it ken is supposed to be the number one in the US yeah, so y according to the guide is rufus stronger ? thats all im saying

[KenMasters]

Do you want a fairly balanced game where everyone can be used competatively or one where everything is fixed to follow a story, therefore broken as heck, ie Gouken and Akuma being super duper hard and overpowered while Sakura does pixel worth of damage? Doesnt make for a really fun game. Story wise yeah, they will be very different, actual gameplay wise, it keeps it a bit more level.

With respect, thats the point that is trying to be made, we dont feel that the gameplay is as balanced as it should be compard to the previous releases in the series. Some of the characters seem to be weaker in the areas where they were once one of the strongest. Ken and Ryu grew apart as the series progressed from identical clones to individuals yet they always remaind proportionate, i.e. Ryu was stronger but Ken was faster. Now in Street Fighter IV, for some reason Ryu has become all powerful and is not only stronger than Ken but also faster. I also feel that Akuma should be slightly better than he is, i remember playing Capcom vs SNK 2 and the earlier Street Fighter 2 games in which Akuma appeared, and having an absolute nightmare trying to beat him, yet in SFIV, i seemed to beat him fairly easily and was quite surprised at just how low his stats are in the Guide. The roster for this game is fairly balanced, however there are 2 exceptions, Ryu and Sagat, they are by far the best characters in the game and in my opinion, they are too good and i find it more difficult to beat them than the two main secret characters of Akuma and Gouken.

[SunAndSteel]

Oooh! Balance complaints, I like. :D
I can blame my shoddy performaces on the game!

Nah, it's not as bad as some games, hell, Dan's actually usable now. But there are some characters I'd say are a bit overpowered or could be tweaked in sequels or patches:

- Sagat and Ryu I'll give you. In a game with no air guard and the absorb function of the focus attack not being quite as useful as parrying it can be hellish to close down space, jump in and you will eat a Tiger Uppercut/Shoryuken. Heck, try and sweep them and you'll be caught by them on priority. Perhaps if there was a neautral cancel for the FA? Simply tapping down or such so you're not forced into advancing or attacking ( backdashing has you lose ground so I'm not thinking of this too much ). As for Ryu being faster than Ken; I don't know if it's speed so much as priorities which has seen Ryu jump to the top of the pack. I've lost count of some of the stuff I've been hit out of by his jumping kicks ( seems to be mK as well ).

- Zangief. I'm a 'Gief player but I hope Capcom change the clothesline, it's rediculous the amount of moves that over-rides, Ultras included.

- Blanka. Ugh, what can be done? 15 years on and he's still one of the most annoying things on the face of the planet, I'm resigned to the fact I am to be eternally tortured by him.

- I'd say Akuma is fine. He at least has variety, something which the other shoto's don't necessarily have.

Characters who need beefed up? Vega ( either some of his old speed back or at least some priority on the claw which he seems to lose faster than in any other game ), maybe Fuerte ( take his infinite out if possible though ), C. Viper ( she seems sound in theory but something is missing, perhaps making the Flame Kick on overhead attack would help her out ). There's a couple more who could maybe do with tweaks but I'm pretty happy with most of the cast, it's just less than a handful at either end of the scale who've left me disappointed.