Originally posted by Leona:
trust me i've played against everything you can imagine i've been playing this game since it came out and i still play it every single day against people that really know what they do
The same can be said for me. I bought a copy of KOF '98 on the day of release in Japan for the home cart, and have played it faithfully ever since. I own all of the KOFs on home cart (from 94-2000) and this is the one I play the most with my friends, or in arcades like the Chinatown Fair when I make my occasiona trips.
now i never said any character is bad, any character can be really good if you know how to use it and take advantages of their movements
Exactly my point... people who use these obviously popular, "overpowered" characters are forgetting the one biggest strike against them in ANY match... familiarality. People can see your gameplan a MILE AWAY when you select characters like Orochi Yashiro, Goro, Iori, etc... If you know what to expect from your opponent, you can avoid it.
now i have played against people that do insane combos with chris , king etc. and they just get throwed like the rest of the characters now the characters you like athena, kensou, chin are nice characters but frankly i've seen many people do good things with them but in a serious match like a tournament of when there are bets involved i hardly seen use them they're good characters yes but if you analyze for a moment most of their movements can be cancelled with a throw even in mid animation
Tournament play is just that... people are going to use characters that are easier to play, that can help them conjure up quicker wins. Why would they be in the finals and use someone like Yuri if they can use someone like Iori that has easier combos that actually take off more damage? Tournament play is such a small representation of actual gameplay around the world... sure, these are supposidly the best players, but even these players are going to do the most familiar things to ensure their victory. That's why characters with obvious strengths are usually used more than others. Since neither of us are actually flying over to Japan, Asia or Korea to participate in these tourneys, i don't let these results rule my judgements in the game. I don't have any world champions to play against, so even if I do see some heavy duty video of some gameplay it doesn't necessarily change my immediate outlook on the game itself.
As for combos being interrupted by grabs? Let me go into one of Athena's "Phoenix Combos" and show me how you can interrupt them. The only way this can happen is if the user actually slips up and doesn't complete the combo. One slight hesitation, and the character can block (or grab if they are a grappler). However, if you do have the precision, you can do your Athena in-corner Jumping D, Standing A, Standing B (2-hit), SDM Phoenix Arrow Super and there's NOTHING he can do but take all the hits. Then again, that's common with just about any fighting game (minus the combo example I demonstrated, of course).
there ARE overpowered characters even if you refuse to accept it Goro is one of them and you can ask any serious K.O.F. player and he/she will tell you is hell to fight against him more than to fight with athena,kensou,chin,leona,terry,ryo etc.
Yes, Goro is strong. I never said that he wasn't overpowered, but a good Goro can give you headaches. HOWEVER, he can be beaten, and I usually place Chin against Goro everytime and get relatively good results. Not everyone plays Goro the same, and at the same time I'm not going to let some supposed "champion" think that Chin cannot stand up against Goro in a KOF 98 matchup, simply because I have never played against him (or her). Maybe you might think this is a bit premature in thinking, however, I already stated that I mainly go by my own experiences when I try to rate and judge games... other experiences are not irrelevant, however I won't agree 100% that "Goro owns Chin" because a "champion" says so... I'm still managing to win these matchups using Chin, and until my winning goes down to zero it will remain that way.
in the end if you have been into a tournament either just watching or playing you probably have seen how things are and what characaters truly own <IMG SRC="smilies/smirk.gif" border="0">
I've seen videos, and they are basically all the same... people using "obvious" characters and not showing anything that is truly gamebreaking. The action itself may be fast and furious, but at the same time no person isn't trying to bring any new tactics or strats to the table. Maybe it's because they don't want to risk the loss, or maybe they are comfortable knowing the "few effective skills" that they do know in order to get victories. All I know is that I barely see anyone or hear stories of people bringing something new to the table at tourneys, so even I take these results with a grain of salt.
I won't doubt their skills... but if they're THAT GOOD, they can win tournament matches with other characters. And very few people actually do that these days... So forgive me if I don't seem so impressed when someone talks about their unbeatable O. Yashiro/Goro/Iori team for I've "seen it all before".
[ November 10, 2001: Message edited by: VinylBoy ]
