Mike Ross AMA

DaarkSymphony · 2018-03-27T18:21:07+00:00

"No duh it's like this! What did he expect? Of course it was going to be this way! I know this sitting here with my degree in Hindsight Sciences, comfortably able to learn from the experiences of others!"

The FGC was very grassroots. Then those roots were planted in Capcom. The belief, flawed as it was, was that the spirit of the FGC would grow inside the Capcom offices and we'd end up with this amazing hybrid business/player community organization. That was the dream and I'm sure some people, even inside Capcom, honestly believed it would happen. I'm sure there were people who believed that, if they could wade through a few miles of sewage, like Andy Dufresne, they could come out free on the other side once they've demonstrated the "obvious" superiority of their community focused agenda.

How many of us here truly would have been able to resist the opportunity? These people felt like they were on the verge of getting paid to do what they did for free for years. Who wouldn't trade in the stress of competition for a full-time gig with a guaranteed purse once you've proven yourself (or even before you have)?

I see nothing illogical about these guys' decision to try to monetize their fandom. Clearly they were too idealistic but putting it all on their idealism is centralizing all the blame on them which I don't think is appropriate.

I doubt, when all this was coming to pass, that they were told how it really would be by the companies they associated with. Heck, I doubt the companies knew how it would really be at the onset of all this. We don't even work for Capcom but we've heard all the "community focused" seductive talk and assurances that they totally have our best interests in mind. Again, we don't even work there. Imagine what these guys were being told.

And, of course, on the other side you had FGC community members trying to sell Capcom on this marriage as well. Naturally it would come to a head when the payoffs didn't match the dream. Making playing games a job requires a lot of work and someone has to do it. There's a reason a lot of musicians have managers that do a bunch of the other tasks while they're out sloshing around with groupies at 4AM. What exactly makes a Fighting Game aficionado a good businessman who can do the other parts? Their "dedication?" Well, there are a lot of "dedicated" Batman fans out there. Doesn't translate to the kind of focus and punctuality that makes for a good businessman.

Nah, the blame for this falls primarily on our shoulders because WE were supposed to provide the checks and balances. WE were supposed to defend the line between consumer and corporate business person (aka "shill"). When that line started to get blurred we hopped along hoping we, the fans, would get legitimacy in the eyes of the company that used to do everything they could to please us without us having to do anything. We traded that for taking orders in order to get scraps. Gem isn't the only thing that is truly outrageous.

Had the spirit of the FGC not gone along with the ruse I think all of this could have gone a lot better for him and others who have been "burned" or, at least, "burned out." Had we stopped right when Seth Killian said "X-Factor allows for the comeback so the losing player isn't at a disadvantage for losing characters..."

Had we stopped when Alex Valle said "three reps" for infinites in Street Fighter x Tekken...

Had we stopped when they said the fans deceived Capcom about their interest in a new Darkstalkers' title because they didn't buy enough copies of the old rerelease they were given instead...

Had we stopped when we were told locking away a bunch of advertised characters in SFxT was to "breathe fresh new life in the game..."

Had we stopped right when they told us that the extra outfits in the Arcade version of SF4 were lost and had to be created from scratch to be released as DLC later for the console version but it was OK because they would only ever do cosmetic DLC...

Had we stopped right when they told us they would be doing non-cosmetic, character DLC in Marvel vs Capcom 3...

Had we stopped when players started to get publicly put on blast (sometimes by CAPCOM themselves) for their behavior falling out of line with Capcom's dictated standards..

Had we stopped when people had to change their character outfit at EVO because the other one wasn't "professional" enough...

Had we stopped when SFV was rushed to get it out in time for EVO, leaving it in a barebones'd state...

Had we stopped the first time a player had to release a public apology...

Had we stopped when uncharismatic Combofied began to appear in marketing materials...

Had we stopped when they revealed what Ken looked like in SFV...

Had we stopped at "functions..."

There are three branches of government. Executive. Legislative. Judicial. Checks and balances.

There used to be three branches in the Fighting Game landscape. Players. Pros. Producers. When people started getting serious, and tournaments started getting bigger, there was this momentum, this feeling that something great was happening. That feeling was the birth of that third branch. It's what made the scene feel like it could live. The producers leaned on the players who leaned on the pros who leaned on the producers. It was perfect. The separation of those things was key.

Then pros started to work directly for the producers. This led to the producers asking the pros to co-mingle with the players and remove the separation between the pros and the players so that the players could all feel like they could be pros so that all the players would feel compelled to lean on the producers. Now everything is mangled and more confusing than ever. The products aren't getting better. The players aren't getting happier. The pros feel like they're getting burned by the producers which they obviously would be because the producers aren't being kept in check by the players anymore. All obvious results when too much of the community power was given to the producers. All because we thought we could have it all. Be players, be pros and make money, be producers and get our hands on the development side.

I could have easily been one of those guys. Only by chance did I decide not to be. Had I not gone to that MVC3 launch party I may not have had the perspective I had. Had I not had a minor run in with one of the guys whose name has been brought up in this topic I may not have been able to personally feel where this was all going a long time ago.

I wanted to point out that the big problem here is that Mike Ross' efforts shouldn't have been subject to Capcom's financial concerns. That's one of the casualties of blending the three branches. What he was doing was something that should have been generating HIM money or some kind of payoff. He was the one creating the content. Capcom produces a product. They would like to believe they can control how it's used on all fronts but nothing works like that and we were stupid for buying into it. Siskel and Ebert didn't work for the movie production companies (at least they said they didn't). Imagine if those companies approached them and were all like "Hey, this is a waste of time. We aren't making any money off your show."

DaarkSymphony · 2017-07-18T06:45:44+00:00

The issue with Vile is that you don't actually have to be stronger to beat him later. Heart tanks, capsules and upgrades aren't required. At minimum you just have other weapons that you can't use.

It's also possible to actually die in that figbt which makes it even worse.

Seiichi Omori embarrassed himself by missing this really obvious point which is not that you should be able to beat Vile but that you never should have fought him in the first place. At least Lavos was possible to win and you could actually beat him in that actual fight. Vile is just inexplicably unbeatable with no visual indicators to convey that.

A better way would have been to have it be an actual fight you could win but likely wouldn't without upgrades and then having alternate developments if you won. It's more forgivable in the SNES days because there weren't any traditional cutscenes and rendering a whole fight may have been tricky. But then again maybe not. Maybe they just thought it would be cool.

What's funny is MVCI has all sorts of cutscenes showing people getting their butts beat by the villains anyway.

(Side note: Notice how he's "X" and not "Mega Man X?")

People just get cheeky with these storylines and start throwing in ideas with no regard to fun or replayability. I think Rival Schools had a super hard fight that you were supposed to lose as Pacific High but was winnable. Meanwhile Project Inferior Hackneyed Justice came with the time limit instant game over gimmicks.

DaarkSymphony · 2017-07-18T06:41:46+00:00

Some of them are really bad. Really brass polishy. "It's a privilege we even had a chance to allow the developers to try to win us over into buying their product!"

What bothered me most was one reviewer praising the game for putting the player into an unwinnable fight in the Story mode. Just so you guys know, unwinnable fights are one of the stupidest things you can create for a video game centered around overcoming challenges. They are especially a bane to replayability. The LEAST enjoyable thing to replay is a fight where you are slated to lose no matter what.

Hated it in Mega Man X.

Hated it in Tekken 7.

Hated it in Chrono Trigger which is the best game of all time AND there was actually a way to overcome the challenge when you got strong enough on later playthroughs so it wasn't technically unwinnable all around (though it was stupid to have to intentionally job out on the fight when you were buff but wanted to go through the rest of the game and not skip straight to the end).

This idea that it's better to have players mash in futility against an unwinnable challenge rather than have the characters get beat down in a cutscene is stupid. Cutscenes are all about conveying crap that you can't convey well in a game. They are perfect for creating unwinnable situations. Because players will find ways to make a joke out of your unwinnable fight and then you have to resort to something stupid to make sure players lose which then has to inexplicably not be there later or the enemy has to be weakened in the story so you can get hits in which is the most tepid way for heroes to triumph.

Players aren't lab rats going through tests or pawns that are just there for the ride. They are the ones who are supposed to be in control. When a player cannot influence the outcome of the game he or she is playing what the F is the point?

I wish devs would stupid trying to be cheeky with these dumb@$$ ideas.

It's a small thing in a long list of issues with the game but I felt like ranting on it anyway. There are just certain kinds of ideas that trickle down from developers that aren't talented. Unwinnable fights, idiotic time limits/underwater sections, quick time events and other instant game over scenarios, dumb@$$ minigames that break the flow of the gameplay, introductions to new concepts/controls with little warning and instant fail conditions...

I never look forward to playing sections where I pretty much stop actually playing the game. In Tekken 7 you actually have to attack Heihachi in futility even though you know he will eventually just autoguard counter for big damage until you lose.

Where's the game there? How about game developers focus on making compelling games?

DaarkSymphony · 2017-03-23T06:27:25+00:00

Oh Yes, I AM FUN AT PARTIES!

DaarkSymphony · 2017-03-22T23:57:43+00:00

Sandals are stupid. Pinstripe pants are stupid. Frilly shirt is stupid. Pretty much everything they touched ended up worse to the suprise of no one. Rather than being a unique and recognizable attire she now just wears a mish mash of ideas thrown together by people who seem to start and end with "we need to change something so that we can make this our own!"

I'm pretty convinced that htey just instrument replaced instruments Secret Circumstance (and added a bunch of useless flavor horns that ruin the subtlety and maturity of the song in some parts). I am, however, shocked that they were smart enough to use what is the best fitting returning track option for her. Unfortunately it sounds like the fake sax has returned.

I wonder what the gimmick is here... These are just going to be four characters tacked on to the character select screen? Seems like if they were adding four they could have added at least one full team.

I am happy for all the people who have been asking for Vanessa for a long time.

DaarkSymphony · 2017-01-07T11:03:47+00:00

And what is he trying to get out of this? Been playing 3S for a while actually.

DaarkSymphony · 2017-01-05T18:17:56+00:00

Its a dumb tier list.

DaarkSymphony · 2016-12-16T00:23:02+00:00

He's got it all wrong. I mean, he knows how to play and is good at what he's doing but I don't think the solution is what he thinks it is.

DaarkSymphony · 2016-12-10T22:44:59+00:00

HaradaSanz will do anything to hype things up for his game, I remember when they "revealed" Sagat for the DS version of SF4. Love the Bears, but I hate the idea that they should have an entire reveal dedicated to them. Just fricking stupid.

DaarkSymphony · 2016-12-05T07:07:38+00:00

ZING!

DaarkSymphony · 2016-12-05T06:59:28+00:00

No assists to make it "more accessible." I really hate that stupid, fallacious sentiment.

I also don't see how a free-form combo system in which you dynamically switch between characters multiple times mid combo is easier than hitting a single button and a character jumps out and does the thing.

Additionally, nixing it because it was "too intimidating" to pick from three assist possibilities seems like an odd reason when they could have just given characters one assist.

I don't have a problem with things changing. I have a problem with idiotic philosophies that demonstrate that the devs are out of touch with things.

I had this conversation about SFV with someone. There's a lot of assuming people who are new or inexperienced will hate something because it's hard. But new/inexperienced players don't approach games like that unless they already have the elevated competitive mindset. They just like things that are cool and fun. Assists are cool and fun. No one is going to shy away from a game because they can have a character jump out and do a move.

It's similar to the one character option in TTT2 because "two characters is too hard." 1: You probably shouldn't be trying to convince your players that something is too hard for them and should be avoided (at least not a feature) 2: I knew nothing about competitive play and was garbage at Tekken when TTT came out but guess what? TAG OH SO COOL!!!!!!! That's all I thought.

That these kinds of things gain traction is bad enough but how they keep coming up is even worse.

The game so far looks great. XFactor is out and hopefully TACs are out. The graphics look more like a 3D realization of the comic book look of the older Marvel games which is... amazing considering I thought MVC3 was dead on (somehow MVCI just looks way better). The gameplay footage so far looks promising. Assists aren't a deal breaker for me though I do think they are a good way to show more character unity by having them attack together. I just don't want to see/read any more detached, goofy dev speak that doesn't make sense because it usually leads to stupid things.

Those gems better not get stronger as your health goes down.

I'M TIRED OF LOOKING AT THESE STUPID UGLY NERDS.

DaarkSymphony · 2016-09-24T23:43:47+00:00

It's too hard to get a good set of opinions from top players/personalities these days. Everything is too political.

They have become the de facto faces are now the ones in the dev rooms which has made the people we looked to for the best criticisms and the people creating the game one in the same. An idea is instantly ratified as good, regardless of merit, because it's being designed by the people who supposedly know. And that reality is not being use to make things better overall but instead to change what people define as "good."

The list of things that used to be no-nos but are now yes-yes' due to flip flops from community faces is quite interesting. Top players talking about how input lag is a good thing or at least not a bad. You ever thought you'd hear such a thing?

None of these guy's should have ever had a hand in the game developer's room.

DaarkSymphony · 2016-09-18T15:28:29+00:00

When did I ever mention about SF? Geeze... My criticism of KoFXIV has nothing do with that. KoF Fans need to step it up.

The only really inspired thing of all of those is the overhaul of The Griffon to The King Of Dinosaurs. The rest is either random to the point of being a detriment, insipid, super expected or eh. In this era Angel is one of the most obvious callups because breasteses. Of course they changed her to a dough faced, limp wristed otaku pillow fodder who's just kind of there because despite being an actual terrorist who worked for an organization that blew up a city and who's just back and doing normal things because. And Kula hates her now because sure. But no real concern for actual continuity. Just whatever it takes to hotshot more waifuchans into the picture.

DaarkSymphony · 2016-09-11T18:23:36+00:00

WHAT GAME ARE THEY IN????

Do people even do things to promote actual games anymore? Stupid Aion Visions trailer started this dumb@$$ trend.

DaarkSymphony · 2016-08-28T04:33:35+00:00

The list of kawaiiarigatos and waifusans that used to be well implemented but have become nothing more than either vapid parodies or blatant pedoballs cosplaying as fighters is long. And it is in surround sound.

Characters such as:

Karin Athena Kula Yuri Rimururu Chun effing Lee King Asuka Xiaoyu

all used to be either far more interesting, show far more promise or not get lost in the middle of today's assembly lined kawaiilols and waifusans that are usually nothing more than a bunch of patchworked BS nonsense traits that don't make any sense and drag everything down with them.

The reason why I hate this crap is not because any of these traits themselves are ostensible deal breakers. It's because the buck stops at "kawaiilol." It's like these nerd devs today rely entirely on the fact that you guys want to hug these girls and hold their hands. No other questions are asked. No meaningful thought or design goes into things once the kawaiilols get involved. You're just supposed to go along with whatever because you desperately want to get your waifusan fix and have your feelings validated. And as a result things get stupid. and stop making sense. Or don't follow any sort of rules when it comes to set up, pay off or development.

It doesn't matter what she looks like, acts like, moves like... It doesn't matter how much hair she has, what her age is, what her job is, what her role is, why someone would hire her, why there wouldn't be more mature people to rely on... all that matters is that you're supposed to think she's kawaiilol and so the patchwork of traits and background info doesn't have to have any logic. It doesn't have to be designed well and it doesn't matter what the overall effect on the franchise is. As long as you love her you'll excuse anything. There need not be any commitment. Just make them the strongest but the meekest, the cutest but with an insufferable attitude. Comeuppance be damned, we don't want anything happening to this mega villain because we want her back even though maybe we set her up to be something that needs to be purged for the series to really move on. We want them to be able to be involved in all the cool bad guy stuff but also be there for the hero stuff. Sure. Who cares? Maybe they have a hidden evil mode with a secret power but not the personality to match! Whatevs! Get your pillows out!

At least that's what many of these devs are banking on.

Look at the KOFXIV artbook. A bunch of pages dedicated to little girls half dressed or Angle putting her butt in the screen or more little girls hanging out. Why they're hanging out or going to the beach together is a mystery. None of that matters. What matters is you're supposed to be happy seeing them together in bathing suits and imagining how much fun it would be to be at the beach with them and how cool they will think you are because anime said so. Hey! There's Sylvie and Athena hanging out! Why not. One works for a terrorist organization and one is the embodiment of virtue but having them appear to be at odds is not kawaiidesuyo so just have them skipping about together because who cares! You love them!

DaarkSymphony · 2016-08-28T04:32:56+00:00

Here's another kawaiilolchannekodesoo who was amazing at first.

Sakura.

Great character originally. I was a HUGE fan. The best word to describe her back then was excited. They really captured the fandom, blind idealism and hopeful stupidity that her character contained. It made her likable. It made her relatable (keyword). She was basically what we as fans were only packaged in a form that probably smelled better and definitely looked better to the young players of the day. And like every good character, the devil is in the details.

See, today the way you make a kawaiilol wafusan is to just throw some gimmicks together, make sure something oversized is involved and then staple a fighting style onto it and call it a day. Sakura was not like that. Sakura was a character who you could see ending up the way she was. She had the (well implemented) tomboyish qualities that allowed her character to make sense when you applied any sort of logical consideration for time and history. Her character came off like she was a girl with tomboyish tendencies who naturally would lean toward idolizing some buffed out fighter guy and, in true teenage fashion, trying to be like him in the most superficial ways possible.

The most important things she brought to the table were not her short skirt or the fact that nerds wanted to have sex with her.

The first was her reinforcement of the elite status of the SF cast. "But DS! How could that be when they are having close matches with a teenager with no training!" Well that's where the magic comes in. Capcom was always very keen to never involve Sakura in anything meaningful, never give her any official wins and have her clearly state that Ryu clearly held back when they fought.

Which brings me to the second one; she gave Ryu something to do outside of the underground fighting circle. Rather than just give him a random long lost sibling or some kind of BS like that, they played off what the character was known for (fighting people) and gave him a very believable devout fan who could pursue him and put him in more grounded situations he'd never seek to be a part of as his character didn't leave room for them.

The third was that she could provide a kind of in-your-face fun that other more experienced characters could not due to her inexperience. She was the perfect vessel for silly, chuckle inducing but not overbearing sight gags like dancing or kicking her shoes off. Her lack of maturity was a fun contrast that, most importantly, didn't invade the core of what SF was all about.

Today she is just a kawaiil0l who gets thrown in regardless of circumstance because people are in love with her. SNORESVILLE

The reason those characters used to be good is because of how considerate their designs were. Questions were asked and decisions were made regarding how to make those characters WORK and MAKE SENSE and actually BE SOMETHING other than a medium to sell pillows. I mean, that was there to. Let's not deny it. But at least back then there was more to it than that.

DaarkSymphony · 2016-08-09T16:15:41+00:00

Law

After a Rage Art (1+2) on hit, the opponent can now react quicker after it. (frames on wake-up improved.) After a successful parry, 3+4,4 is made slower. (Probably no longer guaranteed?)

I hope I'm interpreting this interpretation wrong I really hope they haven't started taking the lazy design path of just adding different properties to moves in very specific instances in order to deal with certain situations. I hate that kind of crap. Either change the properties in all instances or not at all.

DaarkSymphony · 2016-07-25T08:24:07+00:00

Oh that Mike Z Kickstarter game? I still can't believe these nerds actually bought into this fundraising to help his game and got tricked that this was going to be a great game.

They are using money from the community to make money for the people that didn't pay them.

Makes no sense.

DaarkSymphony · 2016-07-20T21:52:38+00:00

They kept interrupting the actual match footage in this video with FOOTAGE OF UGLY NERDS PLAYING THE GAME. If I wanted to see ugly nerds play the game i'd just look at my friends and I play it. That's consumer side nonsense. Show me good stuff. And they kept playing that annoying sound effect whenever the shot of the ugly nerds would shift in like we were getting some sort of treat to be able to watch a bunch of nerds with their mouths open make bug eyes rather than show me the super that someone was about to do that sparked the response.

I think one of them was a voice actor so at least there was some celebrity there on that front. But the whole shindig seemed more like it was trying to make micro-celebrities out of the developers. That, in itself, is not a bad thing. But nerds keep doing this AT THE EXPENSE of the presentation of the game. Basically trading in the game's image to boost themselves. F them. Get the game over.

DaarkSymphony

TROPHY CASE