Let's Talk About Hit Sparks

SF6 also has this.

SF6 has character guides that explain the function of the moves given, and a universal tutorial that teaches you the core mechanics of the game.

SF6 has this too.

SF6 has recordable actions for the CPU and reversals for when the dummy takes damage, successfully blocks, or during wakeup (it doesn't give you all the options though, but it gives you most).

A standard for meter-based fighting game training modes, so SF6 has this.

SF6 has this, but mainly in other areas of the game like the character guides and the tutorials.

SF6 doesn't have all this library content, making SC6 based.

It has a similar amount. When it falls short, it comes back with an option that SC6 doesn't have.

 

So when it comes down to it, Virtua Fighter is the only fighting game that gets it wrong

 

Sadly, that is true. Additionally, just a small little complaint, you are unable to choose custom costumes for the dummy in training mode. You can only choose costumes A & B.

 

Yea, I'm one of Virtua Fighter's biggest fans but in some ways I do feel betrayed by Sega The Training mode for VF4 had a fully trainable and adaptable AI partner and amazing training statistics and analysis. VF4 EVO had an incredible Tutorial and Dojo with suggestions, recommendations advice, demo command lists etc. And then it seems like starting with Virtua Fighter 5 Sega/AM2 starting removing features from the game. Each version after VF4 Final Tuned had fewer and fewer features and the Training Mode just seemed to loose steam

If Sega had just took a fraction of the budget they spent on all of those Yakuza games , Yakuza spin-offs , the Judgment games and the Like a Dragon Isshin game they could have added some respectable features to Virtua Fighter, and at the very least kept up with the Training Mode advancements that are in all of the other fighting games

And to top it all off with VF5US they removed the majority of the single player content, took out about 2/3 of the customizations, and then gave us Tekken graphics, Tekken skins and watered down Tekken-Wannabe-Hit-Sparks

Fortunately I have VF4, VF4 EVO and a couple of PS2's that I keep in mint condition

 

From a gameplay standpoint, VF5FS and VF5US are seemingly the best games in the series. Every single option you have has strong risk to relying on it too much. From an aesthetic standpoint or a content perspective, they are quite lacking compared to the VF4 games.

 

From what gameplay standpoint VF5FS & VF5US are the worst games if you care about single player content

If all you care about is online play then you can bring up VF5US. VF5US only has a watered down Arcade mode for single player. And since online is essentially dead right now, you have no game to even play if all you have is VF5US.

There is a reason why many people are still playing VF3.

Some argue that Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution is the best game in the series from a gameplay standpoint

The training modes in Virtua Fighter 4 and Virtua Fighter 4 EVO are superior to VF5FS and VF5US.

And for VF4 and VF4EVO Player 1 and Player 2 could bring their own player profiles and customizations to tournaments in OFFLINE VS. So if you care about OFFLINE VS VF4 and VF4EVO are also better than VF5FS and VF5US


So from what gameplay standpoint are you referring to?

@Solomon Rayland the fact of the matter is as Sega/AM2 added online play to the Virtua Fighter Series they continuously removed OFFLINE features with every new release. With this last release(VF5US) there are practically no OFFLINE features left to remove

And for those of us who don't give a fuck about online play that sucks. The size of the active player base for the Virtua Fighter series is proportional to the amount of OFFLINE and single player content. The more OFFLINE features and single player content that was removed from Virtua Fighter, the smaller the community got. While the e-sports hopefuls are happy with VF5US they are in the minority. Out of the major 3D arcade fighting games VF5FS and VF5US have the least amount of single player and OFFLINE content and consequently they also have the smallest and least active player base

For some reason Sega, Seiji Aoki and RGG can't seem to figure out the relationship between Single Player content and a thriving and growing player base

@Solomon Rayland VF5FS and VF5US are not the best from a gameplay point of view because there is barely any game content to play

 

I might have been vague in my statement. VF5FS and VF5US do indeed have a lack of content compared to their predecessors, no denying that. What I meant was that the actual fighting is seemingly the most refined out of all the VF games. Their is so much depth to explore in every round you play in the game (assuming you are fighting against strong opponents).

 

I dunno many players feel that starting with VF5 the throw escape, sabaki, and inashi mechanisms were watered down especially the YOMI with multi directional throw escapes

 

Multi-directional throw escapes are technically still in there with Goh, but it has been mostly left, right, and neutral in VF5FS and VF5US. The sabaki and the inashi both seem similar to how they used to be. The dash cancelling system in VF5FS and VF5US add a layer of strategy to the game and allows you to turn the tides of battle in ways you would not be able to without it.

 

Look at it this way. I play Virtua Fighter only on the Playstation. And from my perspective,

Every Virtua Fighter up to and including Virtua Fighter 5 has been an offline game

I've participated (and still do) in many many offline tournaments in my home town or at locations that are short driving distances away. IDGAF about Online Virtua Fighter.

The fact that local player profiles in VS mode were removed starting with Virtua Fighter 5 means that the fun of our local tournaments was diminished. For the players that I hang out with, those local player profiles are part of the game play and part of the 'fighting' experience. Ring Names, Customizations, Win/Loss ratios in offline VS mode is important to our group of players If its not for you that ok

Multidirectional Throw escapes are important to some of the players that I play with. We continue to play VF4 and VF4EVO to this day. So for those players VF5 and beyone was a step down in game play

VF5US really only supports online play. There is no practical way to access Tournament Modes in offline. There is no practical way to access Player 2 ring names, win loss ratios, customizations etc offline. So Versus mode in VF5US offers a lessor 'fighting' experience for Offline competitive or even Offline fun play.


If you are only referencing the movement of the characters in the game then you can praise VF5FS and VF5US But if you are referring to the Versus Mode then Seiji Aoki , RGG and Sega only care about Online features and I know more than a few
Virtua Fighter players who DGAF about Online features. So from that perspective VF4 and VF4EVO are better games and have a better 'fighting' or competitive, or casual Virtua Fighter experience.


@Solomon Rayland For some players who have no one to play with locally, or who have no brothers, sisters, family or friends that are local and who like to play the game. Then Online play is a big deal. I have a about 2 dozen people in my life that all play VF and none of us do so using Online features. So for us, Offline Versus of VF5, VF5FS, VF5US is extraordinarily mediocre. VF5US offline versus is not as good as Soul Calibur's Offline Versus Features, The Offline Versus features of VF5, VF5FS, VF5US are not as good as Tekken's Offline Versus (which BTW has Replay and Titles) They are also not as good as VF4 and VF4EVO.

Or put another way, you can have the best fighting game engine in the world, and the most refined movement and balance to go with it and good roster to boot, but without a good Offline Versus mode, and without significant Single Player content all you will have is a role model of a fighting game with an extremely small player base. A legend of a game, that everyone acknowledges as great but only a few people play


If Sega, Seiji Aoki and RGG had simply remastered VF4EVO for current gen(With No ONLINE). It would have and active player base 5 times the active player base that VF5US has Its the Offline and Single Player content that gives fighting games any validity at all. That has always been the case. Offline only fighting games like
SIFU that have 5 million or more active players prove that every day

 

That is a good point. Virtua Fighter 5 FS and US both lack much of the single player content that the old games do. The actual gameplay matches are probably some of the deepest and most refined of all the VF games, but there is little single player content to reflect that, and the netcode is awful since it lacks rollback.

 

Its not just single player content. If I remember correctly I don't think you've ever had the opportunity to play offline versus mode in VF4 or VF4 EVO. However if you did, you would remember that players could show up to a location with their memory cards and every body could have their customizations ring names , button setups etc, already on their PS2 memory cards. And we didn't care about rollback, because there is no lag offline versus. Offline versus is the best version of the Virtua Fighter game play. And with VF4 you could bring your trained AI to fight your opponent's trained AI, and any mixture of you versus your opponent either them or their AI. No Lag! and nice features.
So its not just single player content. Its all offline content both single player and versus mode that has been watered down and removed since Virtua Fighter 5


Yea, that's the secret the best version of competitive Virtua Fighter is Offline and that's not VF5US

 

While I like playing VF5US, I never stay with it for that long because there isn't much to do there.

 

Exactly

 

I absolutely wish for more to do in VF5US. I still visit it from time to time and have fun in it, but I never play massive amounts of it straight.