Playing as Favorites vs Playing as Good Characters. (A fighting game topic)

[clessaileron]

I was thinking about my performance at EVO and some discussions I had about Marvel during July. One I had with that competitor at EVO who was also attempting to use Phoenix Wright in his pool with Haggar and Zero plus the Phoenix Wright cosplayer at Comic Con who say that Marvel has always been about the top tier characters in high level play (can't fault him for being realistic, though).

 

What I'm thinking about is more about using favorite characters vs using characters you can lay plenty of butt kicking with.

 

Setting aside any debates over whenever or not you consider it a fighting game, you may know of that meme in regards to competitive Smash Bros. You know, "No items, Fox only, Final Destination." I'm wanting to focus more on the "Fox only" part of that. That part is about how he's the top tier in his game and that this is the character to flock to if you're in it to win. That's what I'm getting at with this topic.

 

In regards to Marvel, I certainly use more of the lower tier characters. So, if I'm having to sellout and use high tier character, I have, something I will admit, considered it. However, I have no interest in using Wesker or Vergil and only used them to see their endings in arcade mode. I think of those two being in a conspiracy to saturate the competitive Marvel scene because they're high on the tier list (though I know Wesker is not considered god tier despite that). In other words, you're going to see them a lot. Hence my lack of interest in using them. Also, after seeing Morrigan try to take over the EVO finals, that's another character I don't have interest in learning to play. That's what I'm thinking of in regards to, "in it to win." High tier but not them!

 

Of course, what about the idea about playing a team because you have more fun playing them? Isn't that why I stuck to playing the team of Ghost Rider/Phoenix Wright/Firebrand? True, that is certainly the case. However, I know there's a case of having a higher chance of winning. Maybe because I feel good trying a team that most people don't really think of and end up being decent with it. Not to mention, it shows that I don't play to tier whore. So, what about that feeling of knowing that I don't play with the intent of tier whoring?

 

One other thing about both category is how comfortable am I playing with a character? If there's one reason I don't play Amateratsu in Marvel, it isn't because I haven't even sat down and played through Okami. It's because of her play style that I don't play her. Her play style involves mode changes, like Mega Man Volnutt in Tatsunoko Vs Capcom (who I didn't use because of the same reason). Doing the Mission mode in Marvel made me see how hard it is for me to do these style changes in. With Phoenix Wright, I'm not needing to change so much (and besides, I'm aiming to get him into Turnabout mode).

 

I can think of one thing that fits this. To reference what I end up seeing as an underappreciated fighting game on the Super Nintendo...Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighter. If you know my thing for Ninja Turtles, you'll know my favorite Ninja Turtle is Michelangelo. The question is...did I end up using Mike when I replayed this fighting game? The answer is no. I don't exactly feel comfortable with his play style. When I used Raphael, I ended up handling him better when I played against the computer. He worked better for me probably because he's a charge character and playing as M. Bison/Dictator a lot in Super Street Fighter IV made me feel more at home playing as Raph. If anything, I actually felt more comfortable (and had more fun) playing as Raph rather than Mike (ironic, since Mike is supposed to be the fun turtle).

 

Of course, there's always the case to just suck it up, go into boot camp mode and make myself learn it and feel comfortable with the play style.

 

Overall, it seems more, on my case, I think I find myself trying to find a balance with playing as characters I enjoy playing and character that are high tier that can get me the wins I want. I will look into evaluating other teams and keep this stuff in mind.

 

(Now, if I really do end up trying out Persona 4: Arena to see about getting into it, I really am going into it with a clean slate since I haven't even played the RPG that game is based around to be biased for any particular character.)

Comments

[sirthosiris]

Cases in point. I like Hsien-Ko, but I'm not sure she ever 'felt right' to me. She's considered the weakest character unless using her as an assist.
I didn't play enough to really know who I'd like, though...

However, Gouken is considered a semi-weak character, but the first time I used him, he felt completely powerful in my hands (my random attempt at online last year says otherwise). Therefore, if I can actually get around to trying to get good at fighting games, I plan to main him.

Which would be sad if I ever played Persona 4 Arena. I love Yukiko as a character, but I don't know if she would be a character I could get good with.
But I think I might get Arena. A random comment on Shoryuken said it might be really easy to get into while still being complex to be interesting.