View Full Version : For the Love of Streetfighter
Please Capcom, fix the difficulty in this game. Who on earth do you imagine makes up the majority of the people playing this game? Why was it designed solely for a tiny minority of hardcore players?
Nothing is properly explained in the awful, awful, trial mode (which utterly fails as a character tutorial), which means half the combos can't be done. The other half are locked under some stupid need to complete each in turn - why not just let players try any of the combos at any time? They still have to complete them!
The challenge mode, even on normal, is beyond absurd. I'm a reasonably competent average skilled player (like the vast majority of people playign this game I shoudl think) and i've been stuck on level 11 of time attack and survival normal (never mind the ridiculous hard level) for two weeks. Is this fun? It was at first, not any more!
Even the arcade mode suffers from a massively screwed up difficulty level. No matter what difficulty you pick, you will always face one or two battles that are of such an absurd difficulty you will wonder what settings you actually chose. The AI design is beyond stupid: how are people supposed to get to grips with an AI that reads your inputs and counters them as you do them, never mind that it perfectly tech recovers and counters and reverses all the time as wella s executing ultras flawlessly (moves which are nigh impossible on the default 360 controller).
The less said about how poorly designed Seth was, the better.
Why on earth was this game never tested on the console (ie 360) controller? Not everyone can afford the arcade sticks that are on sale and not everywhere has them for sale in the first place! At least make sure the game is playable if you intend to include ridiculousl difficult cancel inputs!
The offlien for this game is ruined by this level of difficulty and the sheer stupidity of the ai design. Why? IT's a game ffs! Not the Trials of Hercules! At least make the game playable.
I love streetfighter, i love fighting games, but I do not love fighting the game trying to play it. If the game at least met me half way it would be more enjoyable as it is it's so frustrating trying to make any kind of progress in these modes that it's just not at all fun anymore, and no game shoudl ever stop being fun if it wants to succeed.
And then there's online...the ranked system is a complete mess (no idea when this supposed championship mode is out, wasn't it due on the day the game was released?), and for both player and ranked the lobby system and matchmaking are in such a poor state that I have to wonder what on earth capcom's QA were doing that day? Fortunately the game plays well when you can find a match, even on apparently low ping ratings (it's very rarely even a 4; i've never seen a 5 so i don't know what's happening there). Unfopruntately the terrible infrastructure and lack of even the most rudimentary functionality (as seen in HDR) leaves me rather nonplussed as to how a game so long in development got allowed to release this way.
I want to like this game. I want to be able to play this game and do the things the game tells me I can do, but if it can't even explain how on earth you do something as seeminly simple as Gouken's Normal Trial 3.5 or go from courching kick into tiger knee then there isn't much hope. God help the new players to the game as they must have no idea what's going on!
Please fix this game. It deserves better than this.
I agree, this is way to hard for the casual gamer. some of us have jobs to go to, and cannot play this all day long!!!
the online is a joke, i have completed the game on Medium, and chose same skill online, and for 3 weeks or something silly i have yet to win even a round online!! i cannot be that bad surely?? i get put against these people who play ALL DAY LONG probably on arcade sticks. not the same level, methinks. sort it out.
Cancelling moves seems totally impossible on a standard Dualshock controller, and combos are almost as bad.
i appreciate that there are people who are genuinely awesome at this game, but the other 95% want a fair crack at pulling off the moves and winning - and how about allowing all us average players to actually get matched together online????
and champ ed.? i only just forked out £40 for this version, now i have to get another one if i want it to work??!!! crazy stuff, man.
So well written. /bow
I feel like i spend money on something i cant use at all. The difficult level set in this game is sick. Cant amagine how on earth you would be able to defeat Seth when he got all skills and mad AI. Even on the easiest ive get beaten up. Maybe i suck, but shoudnt i have a chance to win anyhow?
Capcom make a patch which will easen up the difficulty level in this game, or its just money wasted.:help:
mrfrisky330
31-03-09, 12:25
I agree! I mentioned in another thread that during my first game I was playing against Sagat. Got him down till there was no red left in his life bar, then did an 8 hit combo and he was still standing, then he hit me four times and knocked me out!!
I noticed on the PS3 a tendancy for the game to selectively ignore some moves, like Ken/Ryu's hurricane kick in 10 attempts per round at least 4 will fail to happen and mysteriously result in a low sweep (???)
I have been playing SF for over 10 years and am move than proficient, but even I really struggle when Rufus moves faster than your controller will react and Zangief can get you into a spinning pile driver when you standing behind him.
Plus because most of the classic characters basic moves have been altered quite a lot of the combos I have been doing for 6 years no longer work, and the you can't seem to 2 into 1 any more as the animation doesn't stop!!
There has always been one or two characters that only seem to have one more you can't counter or block (but the computer when controlling your character can) but you can usually struggle through but when the game obviously reacts to your input when it should be reacting to your animation as though "seeing" its opponent your truly stuffed.
And normal people with normal controllers have less than 10% chance of pulling off most super combos. Shame as I was really excited about this game ....
human_scum
01-04-09, 00:06
I'm afraid I'm gonna have to disagree with a lot that has been said here. I remember when getting SF2 for the first time around 15 years ago, it seemed incredibly difficult on medium (lvl3), even level 2, especially M. Bison. And just for a laugh I'd put it on lvl7 and get utterly creamed. But I learned my characters and their strengths, and I learned my opponents' tendencies, and I turned out a winner - couple of years later after playing SF2 Turbo I went back to SF2 on lvl7 and it was now embarrassingly easy! And I wasn't even a hardcore player back then, there weren't too many combos you could do or anything like more recent games (though I've seen a youtube video of this guy pulling off some sick Guile combos).
Beating the computer AI is all about adapting to what they do. Seth is no joke at all, he's some guy who surprises at first and I lost a load of 'credits' to him, but then I'd play the game through again with the same character after finally beating him, and this time I'd use that knowledge and beat him in 1-2 tries.
I agree that trial mode isn't perfect, some of the combos you do there are really only for hardcore 'frame-counters', but if you're confused about any of them there are comprehensive guides out there and you'll get it eventually (even if you won't be able to pull a lot of them off in a real fight). I think there's a good reward system going with this though with unlocking titles and character colours and that, so it'll take a long time to get everything but be very rewarding when (/if) you do.
As for online, I've found that certain times of days are better than others. Early evening is best for beginners, the later you get, the more you'll come up against the hardcore players. Skill matching I think is based around number of battle points, or perhaps recent bp form. I think a lot of people get good/very good in offline mode before going online - I've had some very tough matches against low bp players. But again, it's learning about tendencies. Lots of people play as Ken, which is good for me, a fan of Chun Li because if you're even half-decent with her then you'll likely be favourite simply because of what Ken players like to do with him (sometimes it's TOO easy to get him to do a Dragonpunch lol, and she's good at inducing this and capitalising when he does). And if you see the other guy reaching for Akuma, choosing Rose with even a basic knowledge of her moves will turn things massively in your favour (it's good partly because Akuma players just think he owns everyone and will be especially arrogant against Rose who is easy to play against in offline CPU matches).
rob1178:
"Cancelling moves seems totally impossible on a standard Dualshock controller, and combos are almost as bad.
...
and champ ed.? i only just forked out £40 for this version, now i have to get another one if i want it to work??!!! crazy stuff, man."
It's all about muscle memory. Again, tough at first, easy later, just don't think too much because thoughts can slow you down. And championship edition is a free download, so no worries there.
Ugh... way too long a reply, sorry :spy:. Anyone who's read all that deserves a whiskey.
- scum
I shouldn't have to scour the interweb to find out how to do these combos; capcom should be explaining them. Also the ai will cheat; it will do things that are not technically possible when it fights. It's not just difficult it's broken, and stupidly so. There is no need for the offline portion to be this harsh. It's just no fun. For example; i played as Dhalsim against ai Fei Long; i used the yoga catastrophe on wakeup while Fei is in the air. Before he can land, and while he is right above the fire, he manages to launch into his ultra hitting me and completely circumventing the fire while I am still in recovery. It's not the only example; i've seen cammy use her cannonball strike while on the ground (the one she does while jumping) and i've had Zangief grab me while hitting him with a psycho crusher.
human_scum
01-04-09, 11:51
Ok, I haven't played much at the higher levels on sf4 yet, I tested myself against chun li playing as chun li on hardest and won fairly easily, she didn't pull off anything impossible to a human player but what you say reminds me again of sf2 when the cpu would do that sometimes e.g. sonic boom drectly into flash kick from standing position, 2 sonic booms in a row, and my favourite, zangief doing a spinning pile driver while you were doing a flash kick/dragon punch/sumo headbutt/blanka roll attack. Yeah that sucks, you just gotta hope they don't do it too often i guess.
Re Fei Long vs. Dhalsim: It is possible for certain ultras to break through fireball attacks though (the 'immunity' duration depends on the ultra I guess), not sure is this is true of Fei Long but if it is then a human player could in theory start the ultra in mid air, finishing the manouvre the very instant they land. Ryu/Ken/Akuma players do this kind of thing a lot on landing or getting up from a knock-down.
Fei Long cannot possibly have landed his ultra without first hitting the Yoga Catastrophe which was already in play while he was in the air, inputting his own Ultra. I can understand it's possible to time the input so that the move launches as soon as the character lands, but the character cannot land without first hitting the Catastrophe. Consequently either the game is broken or the AI cheats.
ClearIce555
06-04-09, 07:50
Stop whining.
If you can't finish the game playing with Medium, it means that you are not good enough for medium. Try to put it on Easiest and on one round.
Stop whining.
If you can't finish the game playing with Medium, it means that you are not good enough for medium. Try to put it on Easiest and on one round.
you failed to understand the point. the chosen difficulty setting has nothing to do with the difficulty of the game you will then play. i have played on easy settings and fought opponents who were harder than higher difficulty settings and vice versa. The difficulty settings are completely screwed.
KK-SkinTicket
08-04-09, 22:30
I agree with most of the original post. I have fallen for SF IV big time but it does have a few glaring problems.
Difficulty
The arcade mode is bizarrely unbalanced at times, in many ways Hard is actually easier than Medium if you know how to dash cancel and make good use of focus attacks. There does though appear to be that age-old SF trait of been in a round where the CPU appears to 'have to win' and proceeds to counter every move before you have even finished inputting the button combination. Oh and Seth is just plain stupid, one round you can murder him the next he just moves from one crazy movement to another.
On-Line
The ranking system for this makes little sense, I have around 2000 BP and yet play someone with say 200, if I win I get 10 BP or something but if I lose I lose over 100 BP, which for me makes no sense, why favour the weaker player who probably just sat there spamming cheap attacks. Also the grading system for performance is not consistent, one round you will combo, focus and ultra your way to victory and get a C for technique, then you win using only normal moves and you get an A:confused: The lobby system is flawed but hopefully Capcom will sort that soon.
Cheap Characters
Seth for one, others who have moves that defy frame rates and all too often hit when they shouldn't i.e Zangief, Rose, Sagat, Bison and Balrog. Why anyone thinks Ryu, Ken, Akuma and Gouken are cheap is beyond me, fireballs and dragon punches are far easier to avoid than certain spam masters:fear:
Challenges
Now it may be because of the XBox pad but some of the hard trials are just crazy particularly those with cancels in them. Now I would buy a Hori or MadCatz but I can't because either they are pathetically hard to find or when you find one it is ridiculously priced (please Capcom address this if possible) The Time Attacks and Survival modes are not too bad, my tip is to use Zangief for any tricky ones as the lariat/piledriver/final atomic buster combinations will make mincemeat of most if you anticipate ultras well (watch out for Cammy and Seth though who appear to be Zangief's weakness)
Icon/Titles
I am a little puzzled as to why there are so many icons/titles but they are seemingly either very hard or sporadic to get. Or I did think this until I did the Survival and Time trials and then 2-3 pages of Icons were immediately unlocked :eek: Basically these would be better if they were more regularly and evenly distributed. Also he comic head/chrome icons are unlocked when all trials for a character are completed (4 all at once) surely it would be better to distribute these gradually throughout the trials??
So there are my grumbles, I love the game and could list tons of positives, however a few fixes and the championship update would be very welcome Capcom
Sagat, Zangief and Balrog all need fixing. A small child who had never seen a video game before could have told Capcom, who clearly have no idea what they are doing, Sagat is grossly overpowered. Zangief should never have lariat and banishing flat. Whoever thought of that really needs to learn how to balance game designs. Balrog has the most ridiculous normals in the game. This game was rushed and ported from the arcade with no thought as to how it would work on consoles at all. The decision to lock content already on the disc is cynical at best and insulting. The difficulty levels in the game dont work, and neither does the online. It's a real shame capcom decided not to take the time to properly balance and develop this game for the format it was released on, a bunch of extra characters is no compensation for a game as functionally unplayable online as this - and we are still waiting for the tournament stuff that absolutely should have been released with the game. A complete mess.
spaztkfantastik
05-05-09, 16:44
why is it such a problem that this game is designed for the motre hardcore of us.
nowadays games seem to be designed for easy play, it is refreshing to see a game that goes against this trend.
KK-SkinTicket
05-05-09, 18:54
Hmm not sure I agree there mate. SF4 is widely acknowledged as been the most accessible SF to date, pick up and play for all which conversely hardly makes it exclusive to the hardcore.
There are plenty of players with 5000+ GP who I would hardly call hardcore, watching some videos earlier today the mix of technical brilliance and spam-a-lot players seems pretty even.
The game is actually the most balanced to date. Tier-list change on a monthly basis and compared to SF3 or obviously SF2 were Ken (...and Akuma) were grossly overpowered, SF4`s tiers is the proof in the pudding.
If people have problems with lariats, ultras or whatever, they haven`t played the game enough. Did you know that you can throw Zangief when he starts he`s Lariat? Did you know that Blanka`s ultra can be stopped by a jab? Did you know that the only thing bigger than Sagat`s stamina is his hit-box?
I have a few minor niggles with SF4:
Let me play arcade and ONLY be challenged by people with three connection-bars or more. Don`t interupt my arcade-training so I have to kick out people with laggy connections!
Is it too much to ask to have a better tutorial? Some of those combos are sick and I STILL haven`t finished all the hard trials.
Where are the classic stages?
Pay for costumes??
Minor niggles all of them. Played for 220 hours now, I wont be surprised if I play this game next year as well.
spaztkfantastik
06-05-09, 09:10
Hmm not sure I agree there mate. SF4 is widely acknowledged as been the most accessible SF to date, pick up and play for all which conversely hardly makes it exclusive to the hardcore.
There are plenty of players with 5000+ GP who I would hardly call hardcore, watching some videos earlier today the mix of technical brilliance and spam-a-lot players seems pretty even.
i agree on an online basis, but there is no way you can say the same about single player.
crazy hard trails, the most frustrating boss ever and gameplay soooo deep that it takes real dedication to put it to proper use - thats hardcore baby!
peace:)