So I decided to wait til everyone addressed their views before I
jumped in. Here goes..
Yohandy, while I feel the same frustration as you do though not quite
to that level, I do think that people will only be willing to go so
far. I do think, however, that most people here are a bit mistaken on
how long it takes to learn a mainstream game whether you're blind or
not. Sighted people take just as long as we do to familiarize
themselves with the game, it's just in different ways. As many people
know, I am a huge, huge fighting game enthusiast, with rock band as a
close second. The thing with fighting games, I find, is that there is
so much replay value that isn't appreciated, by blind or sighted
folks alike. Any fighting game fan knows that there are more than
just combos to a fighting game. There's mind games, spacing, bating,
mix ups... so much to deal with, yet noone thinks about it. All
people play fighters for is the graphics and audio, and strategy and
gameplay at a deeper level is almost completely overlooked. These are
the same people who list anime-based games as fighting games, and
those are more considered brawlers and yes, there is a difference.
Anime-based games, though they appear to be complicated, are actually
a lot more basic than most fighting games. As an example, at Evo
which is the biggest fighting game tournament and convention held in
the world, you will never see something like Dragon Ball Z: Budokai.
Why? Because the controls are simple, and strategy is only minimally found.
Pressing buttons, hoping for magic.
This is not as bad as most people might think. Sighted people take
just as much time to learn combos, button sequences, etc that we
take. There are many games that won't let you do well by button
mashing. Devil May cry, for example, has always had something called
the style meter. This depicts how much style you finish off your
opponent with, and you're rated accordingly. So you can't just button
mash your way through a crowd of enemies... what options do you have?
Are you going to use your Sword to knock an enemy into the air and
gun him down? Or are you going to pick up an enemy through him into a
crowd and blast away? Fighting games especially need timing and
precise reactions.
Getting on topic here though... Yohandy, I think Liam's right. We're
in a small minority, and that doesn't look like it's going to change.
Yet to the people defending the argument... I urge you all to
consider this. Takes a bit of time to learn menus, sure. But that's
what the rest of us are for, right? If there were more people who
played mainstream games, we could colaberate and write structures,
screens and the rest of it. And as for move lists and the like? The
internet is a big place... and there are many websites specifically
dedicated to fighting games. And again, just because we take long
time to learn the games, doesn't mean that it's a legit excuse not to
play. Neither Yohandy and Ihave infinite supplies of time, as someone
put it. You give the game what time you have, and gradually, step by
step, you get better.
Now, while I think Yohandy has a lot of good points I do think that
most VI gamers should give mainstream games another chance. Start
with a ps2 and move your way up. That's the most afordable way, and
the ps2 probably has the biggest collection of fighting games
including collections and anthologies. Memorizing menus seems
daunting at first, but you get used to it and soon you don't even
have to think about it anymore.
I think the thing that frustrates me is the fact that there's so
little interest in the first place. If people don't want to buy it,
fine, but I think discussions can still be had so people know what's
available should they choose to some time in the future. And it
surprises me every time I see someone other than Yohandy commenting
on my posts with more than a one-liner saying that's cool. Thomas,
for example, when I posted about MVC 3 and MK 9. Tom I hope you don't
mind me using you as an example... and hopefully I get a response
from this that isn't negative... but it surprised me to hear that you
were planing to get MVC 3. The XBOX360 didn't surprise me, I figured
you'd get it for more of them adventure games and the like... but
hearing that you were going to pick up MVC 3 was a pleasant surprise.
In conclusion, everyone is entitled to their own opinions. There are
games that I would love to try out, 2d platformers and rpgs to start
with. But fighting games do get a bit of an underrating where I'm
concerned... but I do think, overall, that it wouldn't hurt some more
of the VI community to at least show interest when I post samples.
And also, it isn't that much to buy consoles nowadays... you can get
a ps3 for 250 bucks easy, maybe less if you buy used. But let's try
and keep this discussion civil, and try not to respond too harshly.
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