Street Fighter X Tekken

[Callisto]

This may have gotten missed yesterday, a decent post from Seth re: gem system:

Thanks for the thoughtful and in-depth questions.
I’ll let Sven speak to DRM issues as PC gaming is his forte, but as to gems, I have to ask for a little patience. I understand every aspect of your concerns. I should also say we probably should have said less about them until we were in a position to show more with a publically playable build. Letting people go hands-on so they can answer gameplay questions for themselves alongside our answers has been a constant pillar of our strategy with the fighters. While we’ve had SFxT out for people to play many times, we weren’t able to do that yet for a build with gems, and that’s caused lots of trouble.

We plan to fix that by getting builds out there to play after the holidays, alongside new info about the games, but overall it should be said that this game has a bunch of new ideas, both for Capcom and for the fighting genre. We may not get every one of them perfect the first time out, but that’s why we’re talking to our players so much–to figure out what works and how to make the most of it. I definitely understand the concerns and how some things take a different path from what people generally expect from a fighter, but this is a new thing exploring ways that DLC can keep a fighting game interesting and fresh over a long period of time without necessarily having to sell you a new disc, by mixing both free and paid content. Apart from thinking about a game as a platform rather than a more traditional stand-alone product, I should also say that the gems themselves are actually really interesting.

They are different varieties of powerups, sure, but because of the activation conditions (you don’t just get the powerup, you have to activate it first even after you pick a gem) they go right to the heart of what’s best in fighters–the mindgames. Just as a very basic example, my opponent’s Abel may have a gem that activates when he lands two special throws. He marseilles rolls in for a mixup–do I think he’s going to go for a regular throw? Tornado throw? A second roll? It’s a standard Rock/Paper/Scissors kind of guessing game that make up the backbone of fighters, but now he has an added incentive (activating the gem) to go for that Tornado Throw, but I know that he has that extra incentive, and he knows that I know, and we’re off to the races. When you think about multiple gems and different activation conditions, it makes for a lot of really interesting mindgames, and that’s only even in actual gameplay. There’s also the metagame of actually choosing gems that work well for you and your playstyle, gems that may work better for particular characters, and gems that have sychronicity together. Because all the gems are strong in different ways, there’s a lot of different ways you can create your own approach. Of course even the best gem setups won’t win you a match–that still comes down to the traditional elements of zoning, footsies (LOTS of footsies), matchup knowledge, etc., but it’s a pretty rich new element to add to the existing traditions.

Anyway, hopefully you’ll be able to see for yourself before too long, and I hope the fighting game community at large can try to come along with us on this ride–it may have some bumps but I think it has a lot of possibilities to expand the genre in different directions. We will still have our core, more traditional titles (of course SFIV is getting the free AE 2012 update in a few days), but rather than simply release SF to infinity and beyond, we can also explore some new directions.

[Xno Kappa]

Meh. He still doesn't explain the biggest issue which is where, what, and how some gems will be obtained. There's already retailer specific preorder gems being setup.

[jinkazama]

I wanted Doctrine Dark and/or Garuda from EX3 to come back

[Insanecyclone]

A speed comparison.
1) No gem active
2) Divine Speed Gem active

[Nitsuki]

game seems to be sucking more and more as the days to release draw closer.

[Blackice]

List of a lot of the gems and their effects, also it lists the different pre-order packs.

http://www.capcom-unity.com/brelston...ted,_explained

[Thulius]

Looking for a reason not to have auto throw tech on every single team, not finding it. The other "assist" gems are pretty clearly catered to new players but for only half a bar, that one looks way too good.

Aside from that, doesn't really look like there's anything to worry about (yet). Xfactor gems are hilarious but probably still won't make pandora any more than a desperation move. None of the other stuff seems problematic at all. EX gems are pretty much the only standard ones that look significant but even then they take up 2 slots.

[Blackice]

Considering what they've stated before and the general impression so far has been that throwing will be a very very underused mechanic because of how small they've made the throw windows and ranges. Time will tell though.

[Weltall]

Play without selecting gems; its as simple as that. I'll just play with people who play without them from BG/real life. I don't even know what the hell "performing special moves becomes easier / even easier" even means. If you have to play with this kind of shit, I have no business playing with you.

[The Blackrose]

Play without selecting gems; its as simple as that. I'll just play with people who play without them from BG/real life. I don't even know what the hell "performing special moves becomes easier / even easier" even means. If you have to play with this kind of shit, I have no business playing with you.

Simple Mode bullshit from MVC3.

[Xno Kappa]

Love the BG community but not gonna bother with the game if there isn't an option to setup no gem lobbies for online play since I have no local scene whatsoever. Auto-tech and auto-block alone are stupid as fuck.

[Callisto]

Eh so it's not going to be a tournament game, I don't think it's necessarily right to shit on them for trying to add something new to a formula that has been practically unchanged for 15 years. Will probably be a fun casual game, still fully intending to get it.

also, did anyone else notice that the 'divine' in 'Divine Speed' is spelled wrong on the list pdf lol?

[Elcura]

Didn't Seth say that gems were mandatory? I hope this isn't the case, since it would be a shame to see a game as potentially awesome as this go ignored because of some bullshit mechanics.

[Weltall]

Honestly, the auto tech throw is insanely good....then you can go for counter hits or combos the entire time up close...lol what are they thinking...?

[Weltall]

Didn't Seth say that gems were mandatory? I hope this isn't the case, since it would be a shame to see a game as potentially awesome as this go ignored because of some bullshit mechanics.

He has stated and restated several times that they are a requirement to be turned ON, but you do not have to select any. ie - you cannot force anyone NOT to select them.

I'll probably be able to beat most people without them anyway, but I will be jealous of Ibuki players with super speed .-.;

[Callisto]

That Iron Wall level 3 that activates when the person you're fighting uses Pandora is actually kinda awesome lol

[Damane]

While I am not against the gem system (if you want to use it for fun) haveing no option to turn of gems online/offline is a big failure on capcoms side... Seriously ask people in the lobby to not use gems?! Is it so hard to add some options that disable gems online?

[Viq]

Maximillian did a little break down of his thoughts about the gem system info + his experience with previous builds of the game. He came to the conclusion that all the assist gems, even auto tech, are worthless for people that actually know how to play a video game.



Also, they released a new episode of Cross the Line, Capcom's shitty infomercial for the game. The guy they had talking about the gem system mentioned that for offline play you can simply turn the gem system off, but not for online play. I have a feeling if the game is reasonably playable then tournaments will just adopt a no-gem policy. Seeing as to how I don't give a fuck about playing online with random hobos, this doesn't seem like a bad compromise to me.

[Insanecyclone]

[Scunsion]

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