Tiers - Why they do and don't matter.

I always enjoy looking up tier lists made by high leveled players for the fighting games that I play. I love to see opinions that match my own and opinions that may or may not cause me to reconsider my initial thoughts. As it turns out, I find that most tier lists match very accurately with my own, with only a few deviations here and there.

My personal definition of what I think about tier lists is simple: They outline which individual character has the easiest time racking up wins utilizing a playstyle that meshes neatly with what's known as "the metagame". The term "metagame" is the description of the game being played in the communities head, where as the actual game itself acts as a sort of tool to help you play the metagame, not too different from the limbs of a fighter in a mixed martial arts match. Developers often have a metagame in mind, and in the games initial release the metagame slightly at the discovery of new techniques. It is for this reason that post release patches are often issued, so that the metagame could be further reinforced, as well as rebalance the strength and abilities of the roster.

But, I digress.

Tiers take on different meanings depending on the game that they originate from. Generally, a tier list in a two dimensional fighting game is a list that outlines which characters have the smallest amount of bad matchups, if any. Logically, having a discernible advantage over a large fraction of the entire roster would make a strong character. An advantage that tiers can provide would be to show players what to expect from each character in a roster.

Tiers aren't a good reason to choose a main, however. People often forget that choosing a character that holds their interest the longest means having more dedication to improving their skills with that character. I believe that people that truly love/enjoy the characters they use will reach heights in half the time it takes for a player that only uses high tier characters.

Tiers also don't necessarily mean they are the best. While a high tier character has more match ups in their favour, a player that has more experience with a low tier character against a high tier character is practically guaranteed a win over the player that uses the top tier but has next to no experience.

Lastly, tiers DO NOT justify the need for buffs and nerfs! As I said earlier, patches are only there to make steps towards realizing the metagame that the developers had in mind! Giving nerfs and buffs should only be implemented to define and develop characters further.

Tiers can be fun and interesting, but they are all just opinions at the end of the day.

Surely I'm not the only one?

The general opinion has been like this since day one, and no matter what the devs say in order to placate the fanbase, people keep finding more reasons to hate the upcoming reboot of Devil May Cry.

Devil May Cry holds a special place in my heart not for it's infamous difficulty but because of it's setting and the characters that inhabit it. When I heard that a new game was on the way, I was excited. And then when the Tokyo Game Show rolled around showcasing little reboot Dante's new design, I understood the changes made by Ninja Theory, the developers taking over the project.

What people don't seem to understand is that reboots are supposed to be different, not just more things that we expect and love. While the writing has taken a more vulgar direction, and that the unique weapons that will be employed in this game require a different mindset before taking them to battle, the over the top action of DMC is still going to be there. It just looks different, and the changed core gameplay promises to be a fresh new experience for veterans and newcomers alike. Surely that's reason enough to justify the black hair and cigarettes?

Perhaps the only gripes that I have about this reboot is that I find the writing to be extremely vulgar (f-bombs and s-bombs galore in E3 2012's gameplay trailer). Part of what I enjoyed so much in Devil May Cry was that the language Dante used was relatively clean, while his mannerism and tone still had enough bite to anger any demon he enountered. Unfortunately, that seems to be the direction that Ninja Theory is aiming for. Hopefully, it won't take away from my enjoyment.

When I saw the gameplay trailer, I was amazed by what I saw. The overtop combat that the series is known for is making a return, this time in true HD. Let's hope that it'll be polished enough so that I can dive into this game on launch!  

Ultimate Spiderman! My thoughts

It looks like the Ultimate good guy just got a little more Ultimate!
My friend introduced me to Disney XD's new cartoon series for everyone's favourite webhead, and it's now one of the most entertaining shows I've seen this summer. It's a fun, zany show, chock full of fan service for even some of the biggest followers of the Marvel universe. While at times the show's humour may seem over the top and incredibly cheesy at times, at it's core it's an enoyable romp with Spiderman and younger versions of  4 heroes that have become all but forgotten in the storm of Hulks, Wolverines, and Iron Men.

Perhaps the drawn out humour also works for the shows benefit, with Spiderman often breaking the fourth wall as the narrator each episode, and cutting to some strange fantasy that he cooks up on the spot. It may seem jarring and unnecessary at first, but each cut provides humour through it's varied nature as well as it's shock factor (Nick Fury on the Price is Right? Awesome!). Sometimes if you're going to have a sense of humour, you may as well go all out.

This is also a great way for me to pass the time in between seasons of other shows too!

Hear VILE say "like" and "um" 500 times!

Now that my next batch of Project Dark videos are ready for uploading tomorrow morning, I can't help but still be caught in the habit of saying "like" and "um" after nearly every other sentence. In my walkthrough, the commentary I make is actually recorded live as I watch the playback. I believe that the main reason I tend to stutter and drone on and on is because of flaws in my current system. That's why, starting in my next batch, I've decided to change my method of commentating.

When I first started doing recordings, my form of commentary was done live as I was playing the actual game. However, the process was a bit difficult, as I was (and evidently still am) terrible at multitasking. But since Project Dark takes more concentration than your average game, I've opted for "post recording" commentary. And yet my dialogue still comes out as forced and disorganized, and is therefore not an enhancement to my videos.

And so here I am, searching for a new solution. 9 parts into the walkthrough, I've decided to try writing out my commentary after recording, and then reading off of it during my post record commentating. It sounds a bit lame right now, but this can definitely help bypass my occasional disorganized wording and will also give my brain a little more room to help me enunciate my words so that the commentary will be more enthusiastic. I believe that this will be a strong stepping stone on my way to improving the quality of my projects, and becoming a much more genuine sounding speaker.

What am I REALLY looking forward to?

E3 was a couple of months ago, and I find myself speechless at my strange lack of feeling broke like as I usually feel after watching and reading about every press conference in previous years. Truth be told, I can't find anything to look forward to with only a few exceptions.
Why is that, then? Could it be that I'm content with everything that I have, or do I feel like gaming has become so stagnant that I feel that only a few titles are worth my attention? Or perhaps is it that I haven't heard enough info regarding any upcoming titles to get me stoked for the next big game? Maybe it's a bit of each reason, maybe it's something different entirely.

One game that I actually am looking forward to is Assassin's Creed 3. I've never been a huge fan of the franchise and it's gameplay, but the story has had me intrigued ever since I sat down to play AC2. And now that the upcoming title will take place in a completely new setting and that the story should (hopefully) be drawing to a close, I definitely will be putting some money aside for this.

The next games that I'm anticipating are constantly thrashed by their fanbases, with the sole reason being that they are "different". It's because young Dante's hair is black, and because Rising plays differently than Solid. In every scenario, change is just as likely to be detrimental as it is likely to be successful. With the Devil May Cry reboot and Metal Gear Rising in development, I'm looking forward to seeing some exciting action and bizarre atmosphere's for their games.

The next two titles represent the transformation of survival horror becoming perhaps a little too action oriented. Fans may cry that Dead Space 3 and Resident Evil 6 have completely abandoned their horror roots, but they do so at the risk of being unable to appreciate the excitement of encountering some awesome monster designs and a story grounded in a battle between rogue agents and corporations. And really, sometimes that's all I need to enjoy a game, and I know I'm gonna play the hell out of each of them because I loved the previous installments of their respective series.

And finally, the upcoming downloadable content for Dark Souls. Really, so long as I have more excuses to play 2011's rpg epic, I'm sold. With new areas, bosses, and equipment, I'm looking forward to dying over and over again in the face of the game's new challenges.

Update as of JULY 27 2012

Yesterday I've continued doing some recordings of Project Dark, although I've made several mistakes against one of the bosses and two of the mini bosses. It's not all bad news though, I've changed the brightness setting and hopefully that'll make things much clearer. I'm going to continue work on the project this weekend.

Been playing a lot of UMvC3 lately. Currently working on a character that is particularly execution heavy. My head and thumbs hurt just thinking about it...

Speaking of games that I've been playing a lot of, Mass Effect 3's multiplayer is back and more addictive than ever with the new Earth DLC. I've been going crazy trying to find one of the new N7 characters, but so far I've only found two characters from the Rebellion Update. Still, the new Operation will be starting in about 3 hours from the time of writing, and the allied reward includes at least one N7 character. I hope I get that sick looking N7 Slayer Vanguard...

I really wanted to go see The Dark Knight Rises today and visit the place where the FGC meets up in my town, but I was called to pick up an extra shift. It's a little sad, but on the bright side it'll give me money to do some fun stuff next week when summer school is over for everyone else.

Why I LOVE fighting games pt.1

I wasn't all that into fighting games until last year. Truth be told, the closest I've ever been to dedicating myself to a fighting game was back when I played a lot of Melee and Brawl. Of course, those games are more like intensified party games than actual fighting games in my opinion, but only now I realized that the reason I was hooked on those games was the prospect of improving my skills and beating whatever challengers came my way.

It was last year when a friend of mine got a copy of Mortal Kombat 9 for his 360. Of course, the MK series had been infamous for it's over the top violence for a long time now so of course I was already familiar with the series although I never really played the games myself. And so I played my friend and got my ass handed to me every single time. I didn't care though, I was fascinated by all of the characters and wanted to play as them all. Eventually I bought the game for my Ps3 and that was the only game I played for that entire summer. I learned a few combos, but my win rate for the online mode was dismal at best. I scoured Youtube for videos that would give me stronger combos that I couldn't have been able to think of myself and spent hours finding them and practicing them.

Yet no matter how strong my combos were, I was still routinely beaten after every few wins. Eventually I happened upon Test Your Might, and searched every thread for ways to improve my skills. And so new terms were added to my vocabulary: mind games, punishes, whiffs, unsafe on block, active frames, match ups etc. I learned ways to improve and what mistakes I should avoid. And after every loss, I'd always ask myself "what did I do wrong and what should I do to win next time?"

The feeling was, engrossing. I loved the sense of accomplishment that came with overcoming obstacles in terms of my defence and the thrill of taking down dreaded opponents. And whenever there was a new technique hitting the scene, I was always sure to learn about it and adding whatever knowledge I had to my arsenal.

To this day, Mortal Kombat 9 remains the most played game in my library.