I know nothing of Mortal Kombat but...

[icyneesan]

Fighting games are as okay as any other genre. They're only really satisfying if you win. I enjoy them with friends and if I win a lot. The Soulcalibur series, and The Super Smash Bros series. If you enjoy the competitive nature of FPS/TPS then you will most likely find some enjoyment in a fighting game.

My recommendations for fighting games to play are Soulcaibur, Super Smash Bros, Blazblue, Guilty Gear, and Mortal Kombat. It's best to have a friend to play them with though.

 

[SageRuffin]

I don't like fighting games. The ones I've played were nearly always about exploiting the cheapest tactics in the game, and take control away from you too much when you're getting hit.

Oh man... there are so many things wrong with this assertion I dunno where to begin...

But, I won't trip. You don't like them and you probably couldn't care less about what I have to say, so I'll leave it at that.

Fixed my post. But to be honest, I haven't played that many, for that reason. A little SSBM and Brawl, Soul Calibur, some of the older MK and Street Fighter.

Ah, now I get it. Yeah, fighting games take a certain dedication in order to become "good" at them, but you can say that about anything. Long story short, prepare to lose, A LOT.

Are we talking about fighting games in general or just MK?

Talking about all Fighters. I'd like to hear any experience from across the genre.

Well, for myself in particular, I've been "competitively" playing fighting games for almost 10 years (I actually try to get better and stuff, although I'm barely what you would call "decent" in any one game. I just know what I'm talking about). I'm one of those guys who'll look up guides, compete in tournaments at the local anime convention (and lose, ha ha), drop a few pointless combo videos (here, watch one [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47DPlyFbENA]), etc etc.

If you're familiar with the term "tier-whore", know that I'm not one of them. I play who I like - if he/she happens to be one of the better in the game (and fuck what you heard, there are such things as good and bad characters), great. Otherwise, I'm not sweating that at times I'll be at a severe disadvantage.

Uh... I guess that's it so far. In recent times, a really bad session in MvC3 resulting in me giving up the game (long story short, it was one of the few games where I never truly felt like I was progressing), but I'm loving MK 2011 and am actually looking forward to the inevitable sequel. I play some of everything though, so if you or anyone else is trying to throw down, hit me up (360, tag is in profile). A warning: I play to win, so I can be pretty merciless sometimes.

 

[SageRuffin]

I don't like Fighting games because they are just a more complicated version to beat-um ups and take away the RPG elements.

I recommend Castle Crashers

Uh... what?

That statement makes absolutely no sense. Fighters, beat-em-ups, and RPGs are all completely different cans of worms.

 

[Psycho Cat Industries]

I was watching the latest episode of Penny Arcade: The Series http://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/pa-the-series/224/
and they were playing Mortal Kombat. They didn't especially seem like they knew what they were doing some of the times and that culminated in the creation of this strip: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2011/4/20/

Now I realise that episode wasn't the best advertisement of the game but I think it looks kind of cool. I've thought for a while that fighting games look kind of cool and I think me and my friends could possibly get into it.

So what do you make of fighting games, Escapist community? Are they satisfying? Do you enjoy them? If so, which are your favourites? I mostly play shooters, RPGs, platformers, that sort of thing. Do you think that kind of taste in Games could accomodate a Fighter?

They're good but you're either good at them or not.More often then not,there is a broken final boss and hard competitors to begin with.I am not so good but I still manage to unlock all characters normally.Soul Calibur is good though the game is coming to age and the online is dead.

 

[Zeekar]

Hate to be a sheep, but I side with Yahtzee on this -- that is to say that I see "fighting" as being more a part of a game than an entire game. Why should I pay full price for half a game at best? It's not to say that I wouldn't play a fighting game, but no, I don't consider fighting a satisfying genre.

I'm certainly not interested in becoming "That guy" and I don't particularly enjoy having the snot beaten out of me. That doesn't really leave me with much motivation to play. That and I have no friends to play with...

Great, now you made me depressed. Thanks a lot.

 

[Serving UpSmiles]

I don't like Fighting games because they are just a more complicated version to beat-um ups and take away the RPG elements.

I recommend Castle Crashers

Uh... what?

That statement makes absolutely no sense. Fighters, beat-em-ups, and RPGs are all completely different cans of worms.

I'm devasted by that. If you have played Castle Crashers, it was a beat-em up sidescroller, with a very basic leveling up system of magic and damage, which are RPG elements.

Button Mashing is the context here, i can't believe i had to tell you that.

 

[Arqus_Zed]

I enjoy a fighting game every once in a while, though I never go 'extreme' into it - you know, learning entire combo lists and such. It's fun to play with friends and if there's a good solo mode in it (like Soul Calibur II's Weapon Master mode), it can also be worth something even if you're alone.

I have most of the Tekken games (mainly because I loved the CG-movies you get to see at the end of each character).

I also have Soul Calibur II, III and IV - and I probably won't be buying part V, because the series has gone down a notch with each installment.

And I've recently taken an interest in the BlazBlue series. They have a good storyline, have a great sense of humor as well as a very decent soundtrack. And it's beautiful, seriously, rich colors, original art direction and incredibly fluid animations.

Also, I bought Street Fighter EX 3 (because it's a fighting game in which you can play with 3 or 4 people simultaneously), Mortal Kombat: Armageddon (because it has almost every MK-character in it) and Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (because any game that has Amaterasu, Dante AND Deadpool in it, is a good game in my book).

 

[StriderShinryu]

Fighters are, in my opinion, the purest form of videogame that there is. Not to say they are the best, of course, but they are the purest translation of that one on one head to head challenge experience that has defined gaming in the tradition of things like chess. They take a combination of manual skill and mental strength where, once you get experienced with the game, the mental aspect is vastly more important while the manual is almost irrelevant due to muscle memory.

Fighters are immensely enjoyable but are punishing and require perhaps more time and effort than any other genre. The good thing is that the punishment in fighting games is limited to short bursts. If you're going to lose, it's generally not going to take long unlike in other genres where a near certain loss may still take an hour to play through.

So yeah.. I love the genre but will readily admit it's not for everyone.

While I've never been a fan of the MK series, the best way to get into a fighter is really what the OP is experiencing. Don't go into a fighter looking to be the best or because everyone's playing it, go into a fighter because you think it looks cool and you want to learn how to play it. It's that basic like of a game that will help pull you through the tough moments and, even if you never learn how to play well, at least you'll still like the game for what it is to you.

 

[Sharkeyboi]

I don't like fighting games. The ones I've played were nearly always about exploiting the cheapest tactics in the game, and take control away from you too much when you're getting hit.

Oh man... there are so many things wrong with this assertion I dunno where to begin...

But, I won't trip. You don't like them and you probably couldn't care less about what I have to say, so I'll leave it at that.

Fixed my post. But to be honest, I haven't played that many, for that reason. A little SSBM and Brawl, Soul Calibur, some of the older MK and Street Fighter.

Ah, now I get it. Yeah, fighting games take a certain dedication in order to become "good" at them, but you can say that about anything. Long story short, prepare to lose, A LOT.

Are we talking about fighting games in general or just MK?

Talking about all Fighters. I'd like to hear any experience from across the genre.

Well, for myself in particular, I've been "competitively" playing fighting games for almost 10 years (I actually try to get better and stuff, although I'm barely what you would call "decent" in any one game. I just know what I'm talking about). I'm one of those guys who'll look up guides, compete in tournaments at the local anime convention (and lose, ha ha), drop a few pointless combo videos (here, watch one [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47DPlyFbENA]), etc etc.

If you're familiar with the term "tier-whore", know that I'm not one of them. I play who I like - if he/she happens to be one of the better in the game (and fuck what you heard, there are such things as good and bad characters), great. Otherwise, I'm not sweating that at times I'll be at a severe disadvantage.

Uh... I guess that's it so far. In recent times, a really bad session in MvC3 resulting in me giving up the game (long story short, it was one of the few games where I never truly felt like I was progressing), but I'm loving MK 2011 and am actually looking forward to the inevitable sequel. I play some of everything though, so if you or anyone else is trying to throw down, hit me up (360, tag is in profile). A warning: I play to win, so I can be pretty merciless sometimes.

I can see what you mean about good characters and bad characters. If I like a character's style I'll play that character even if s/he is not the best. I like to imagine all characters can be the best, it comes down to whose playing them. Am I viewing things through rose coloured glasses? In any event I'll be sure to double back on the reviews of recent fighters. Also, like the video!

 

[SageRuffin]

I don't like Fighting games because they are just a more complicated version to beat-um ups and take away the RPG elements.

I recommend Castle Crashers

Uh... what?

That statement makes absolutely no sense. Fighters, beat-em-ups, and RPGs are all completely different cans of worms.

I'm devasted by that. If you have played Castle Crashers, it was a beat-em up sidescroller, with a very basic leveling up system of magic and damage, which are RPG elements.

Button Mashing is the context here, i can't believe i had to tell you that.

I have and have played Castle Crashers, thank you. Good job making a baseless assumption - and blatantly insulting my intelligence - when that wasn't even what I was talking about.

Castle Crashers is not a fighting game, and the fact that you brought up button-mashing shows that you have no idea how fighting games work. I'm devastated at the fact that I had to you that.

 

[Sharkeyboi]

Fighters are, in my opinion, the purest form of videogame that there is. Not to say they are the best, of course, but they are the purest translation of that one on one head to head challenge experience that has defined gaming in the tradition of things like chess. They take a combination of manual skill and mental strength where, once you get experienced with the game, the mental aspect is vastly more important while the manual is almost irrelevant due to muscle memory.

Fighters are immensely enjoyable but are punishing and require perhaps more time and effort than any other genre. The good thing is that the punishment in fighting games is limited to short bursts. If you're going to lose, it's generally not going to take long unlike in other genres where a near certain loss may still take an hour to play through.

So yeah.. I love the genre but will readily admit it's not for everyone.

While I've never been a fan of the MK series, the best way to get into a fighter is really what the OP is experiencing. Don't go into a fighter looking to be the best or because everyone's playing it, go into a fighter because you think it looks cool and you want to learn how to play it. It's that basic like of a game that will help pull you through the tough moments and, even if you never learn how to play well, at least you'll still like the game for what it is to you.

Very interesting. I'll take your words on board. Thanks for Posting.

 

[-Seraph-]

I enjoy fighters for a lot of the same reasons Shinryu mentioned. They are just the purest form of competition when it comes to video games, and the strive to become a better player is always there. You will never be perfect as total mastery will always be just out of reach, but it can be a hell of a driving force.

They require some effort and patience to play, and I enjoy sitting down and practicing and LEARNING the game. It really feels like these days no one wants to sit the fuck down and take some time to learn the game, they just want instant gratification and wanna be the best. And that short sightedness is what turns a lot of people off from fighters.

I enjoy a veriety of fighters, although there are some I need to get back into.

My main series being Guilty Gear, Blazblue in a close second.

I also enjoy Street Fighter from time to time even if it feels rather archaic these days. Darkstalkers is a lost gem of a game and if you liked street fighter, this is just as fun.

I haven't played Tekken in a long time, but I plan on picking that up some day. Also need to try out MvC3 as well.

Dissidia is still one of my top 3 favorite fighters of all time and breaths a lot of new life into a genre that can look rather stale to the outside observer.

I enjoy and play other fighters as well, but I haven't picked em up in so long. Only real popular fighter I don't like are Smash Bros and Mortal Kombat; they are utter shit to me. Although I have not played the new MK so i reserve my judgement of that game till I play it.

 

[SageRuffin]

I can see what you mean about good characters and bad characters. If I like a character's style I'll play that character even if s/he is not the best. I like to imagine all characters can be the best, it comes down to whose playing them. Am I viewing things through rose coloured glasses? In any event I'll be sure to double back on the reviews of recent fighters. Also, like the video!

The concept of tiers is a touchy subject, more so in fighting games than others. On paper while a character should or should not be able to trounce another for various reasons, it all comes down to who's using the character in question.


Take the video above (Street Fighter 3: Third Strike, arguably the best Street Fighter ever made). Q (the tall one in the trench-coat) is one of the worst characters in the game, Makoto (the boyish-looking karate girl) is one of the best characters in the game. Makoto has far more offensive tools than Q does, but you'll notice that the player using Q seems to know exactly what to do and where (it also helps that the player using Q [Kuroda] is quite possible the best SF3 player in the world). According to the match-up, Q shouldn't have won that match.

So in the end, you're not wrong. Tiers are more like guidelines than anything else. You're gonna have to work a little harder for that victory depending on who you are versus who you're fighting, but player skill ultimately dictates all.

And glad you like the video. Too bad I could never play like that in an actual match.

 

[theultimateend]

I was watching the latest episode of Penny Arcade: The Series http://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/pa-the-series/224/
and they were playing Mortal Kombat. They didn't especially seem like they knew what they were doing some of the times and that culminated in the creation of this strip: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2011/4/20/

Now I realise that episode wasn't the best advertisement of the game but I think it looks kind of cool. I've thought for a while that fighting games look kind of cool and I think me and my friends could possibly get into it.

So what do you make of fighting games, Escapist community? Are they satisfying? Do you enjoy them? If so, which are your favourites? I mostly play shooters, RPGs, platformers, that sort of thing. Do you think that kind of taste in Games could accomodate a Fighter?

I'm not normally a fan but the latest Mortal Kombat is one of the largest games I've played in a while just content wise.

I'm (for once) excited to see what they do with the DLC. Because they shoved more shit into one fighting game than I think anyone really has done before (maybe MvC2? But these characters seem a little more rounded).

Also the story mode is pretty much a movie attached to the game which is fun.

 

[Dr. wonderful]

I don't like Fighting games because they are just a more complicated version to beat-um ups and take away the RPG elements.

I recommend Castle Crashers

Uh... what?

That statement makes absolutely no sense. Fighters, beat-em-ups, and RPGs are all completely different cans of worms.

I'm devasted by that. If you have played Castle Crashers, it was a beat-em up sidescroller, with a very basic leveling up system of magic and damage, which are RPG elements.

Button Mashing is the context here, i can't believe i had to tell you that.

I have and have played Castle Crashers, thank you. Good job making a baseless assumption - and blatantly insulting my intelligence - when that wasn't even what I was talking about.

Castle Crashers is not a fighting game, and the fact that you brought up button-mashing shows that you have no idea how fighting games work. I'm devastated at the fact that I had to you that.

*Knocks on table*

Best. Take that. EVER.

 

[TheDarkestDerp]

For me, fighting games have become far too technical for the most part. 2 big reasons-

In the heyday of SFII when the craze exploded, you and some random strangers could all get a great deal of fun out of battling for hours on end without any of you having the twitch reflexes of a meth-addicted 12-year-old. Any fighting game character had just as much strategy as they do today, but you didn't need 8 or 10 pages of a strategy guide to explain how to perform their hyper-counter-12-hit-cross-over-reversal-happy-smackers combo and chain that into a poop-shoot-double-scoop-blah-blah-whatever.

And with the proliferation of internet gaming and the poisoning of the gaming community by the same "mine's bigger-than-yours-is" jock competitive mentality it was originally being bullied by, there's little to no concept of a 'story mode' or single player mode any longer, far too much time and care spent on building online ladders and medals and rankings, basically one big net-wide pissing contest...

They're just not as fun as they used to be.

 

[Furbyz]

I personally can't recommend fighting games in general enough. I've been a fan since I first started playing the original MK with my dad when I was 4. Hell, I still remember the blood code(ABACABB) and probably will on my death bed.

I actually just recently picked up the old MK Trilogy for the PS because I'm old school and 15 year old games for a defunct system are how I roll. I could rage for a good while about the broken AI on that thing, but beyond characterizing it as fighting a psychic brick wall, I shall refrain.

 

[Archetypal_Maniac]

I was watching the latest episode of Penny Arcade: The Series http://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/pa-the-series/224/
and they were playing Mortal Kombat. They didn't especially seem like they knew what they were doing some of the times and that culminated in the creation of this strip: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2011/4/20/

Now I realise that episode wasn't the best advertisement of the game but I think it looks kind of cool. I've thought for a while that fighting games look kind of cool and I think me and my friends could possibly get into it.

So what do you make of fighting games, Escapist community? Are they satisfying? Do you enjoy them? If so, which are your favourites? I mostly play shooters, RPGs, platformers, that sort of thing. Do you think that kind of taste in Games could accomodate a Fighter?

MK is probably my favourite fighting game out of them all, MK relies on unique special abilities that all have different timings, animations and positioning requirements. The effects of the abilities work as openings, heavy damange nukes or juggle initations.

Unlike other fighters, you will not get away with button mashing against anyone with any experience, your moves are slower and more deliberate and you rely on quick countering and well timed combo strikes. The OTT style of violence and combos are a lot of fun to, it is easily a more superior looking game than any other fighter in the market too. If you're gunna give fighting games a go, MK is the one, but don't panic when people mop you up you should start with a new buddy or against the computer, pick a character you like and work on getting him down then consider moving into others.

 

[-Seraph-]

MK is probably my favourite fighting game out of them all, MK relies on unique special abilities that all have different timings, animations and positioning requirements. The effects of the abilities work as openings, heavy damange nukes or juggle initations.

Like any fighting game worth their salt.

Unlike other fighters, you will not get away with button mashing against anyone with any experience, your moves are slower and more deliberate and you rely on quick countering and well timed combo strikes.

If you can win by button mashing, you're playing a bad fighting game. This stupid shit about button mashing being able to beat players who have even the basics down on the games mechanics is a stupid misconception that needs to die. And again, any decent fighting game will not let you win by button mashing.

The OTT style of violence and combos are a lot of fun to, it is easily a more superior looking game than any other fighter in the market too.

It's got pretty good visuals, but the best? I can tell you now that unlike some other fighters this gen, it's not going to age well in terms of visuals.

 

[SageRuffin]

Unlike other fighters, you will not get away with button mashing against anyone with any experience, your moves are slower and more deliberate and you rely on quick countering and well timed combo strikes.

If you can win by button mashing, you're playing a bad fighting game. This stupid shit about button mashing being able to beat players who have even the basics down on the games mechanics is a stupid misconception that needs to die. And again, any decent fighting game will not let you win by button mashing.

There's a phrase amongst pro players that says: "to beat a scrub, you have to play like one". In other words, someone's doing random shit? Do random shit to them and let them see how much fun they have.

You can still use strategy to beat a button-masher rather easily, but it may take a few tries to figure out what punishes what.

I played a button-mashing kid in MvC3 once. Little did he know Hulk has armor on his standing M and H. That kid got smacked around oh so many times...