Modern Day Fighting Games, A Beginner’s Nightmare

When the first Street Fighter IV was released, I remember inviting a bunch of my friends to come and play. Most of us were familiar with traditional fighting game inputs of quarter circles to pull off specials like hadoken’s but one of my friends never played fighting games at a younger age. So he was at a disadvantage since he didn’t know how to properly input the moves. It’s obviously no fun when you can’t pull off moves and end up losing most of your matches. However after everyone had left, he stayed a bit to try to learn some moves for the next time. I started off showing him how to do simple hadokens and the super hadoken. After awhile he was able to pull it off in the practice mode and decided it was a good time to leave since it was getting late. I knew however pulling off a move in practice is much different then actually being able to pull it off in a live match let alone knowing when to properly utilize the move to your advantage. There is also the fact that he doesn’t know how to properly link the move into a combo which would be whole another lesson. That’s when I realized that current fighting games are something that needs to be simplified.

Let me first start off by saying that I know all the hardcore fighting gamers are probably going to be screaming out the idea that fighting games don’t need to be dumbed down for casuals. Simplicity in a game does not necessarily mean a lack of depth. Simplicity just means reducing the barriers of entry for newer player who may not have a background in the genre. As it stands current fighting games are geared towards veteran players who are already familiar with the basics. Thus newer generation of players are less likely to stick with the series.

The first thing I see as problem is the complex inputs needed to pull off a simple move. A simple hadoken motion requires the following inputs: down, down-forward, forward and a punch button. By it self it doesn’t seem too complex to pull off and in reality it’s very simple. However if you want to incorporate it into a combo you need to start adding in some punches before which increases the required number of inputs by two, not counting if you want to start off in a crouching stance. The combo is starting to get more complex but it is still manageable. If you start looking are more complex combos in the latest Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition (I’m wondering what else Capcom can add to make this title longer, maybe throw in a 2.0 after edition), a 5 hit combo can require 7 different moves which is a lot more than 7 inputs plus precise timing required to execute successfully.

Another problem with the fighting genre is the need for pure memorization of full move sets. With enough practice someone would be able to memorize move sets and would be able to input them with ease when they need to. However the amount of time needed to get to this point just doesn’t seem worth it to me. I’m all for the idea of the more time you spend the better you should get at a game but for me it seems like fighting games require the most amount of time to get very little gains. Again this problem stems from the complexity of the actual gameplay which requires large amount of time commitments.

As a fighting game series matures, the gameplay becomes fine tuned with balancing characters, increasing movesets and creating a fluid experience. However the tutorial or practice modes rarely ever receive any new options or significant upgrades. Developers have added in some missions where the player must perform specific combos that vary in difficulty but this is pretty much where innovation ends. I would love to see a training mode that allows you to have specific moves on the HUD and indicate if the move was preformed correctly. I know Tekken (one of my favorites series) has a training mode where you can pull up moves but it would be great if there could be an option to show you what you did wrong or let you know that you hit the move with some sort of confirmation sound. Surprisingly the best practice mode I have ever seen was found in Tekken Dark Ressurection for the PSP. It allowed you to select any of the fighter’s ability and then every time you execute the move it would give you a confirmation. Unfortunately Namco didn’t bring this feature into the new releases of the Tekken franchise.

So far I’ve laid out problems with the way fighting games are evolving. I’ve stated earlier that simplicity does not translate into a lack of depth. An example of this is the Super Smash Brothers series which simplifies the gameplay mechanics to a few buttons. Super Smash only features two attack buttons, a jump button, grab button and a shield button. The directional inputs are basically the 8 direction plus an attack button. There is no need for doing quarter circle motions since everything is just a direction plus attack button. There are still combos to perform and they still require skill and coordination to execute perfectly. So we can see that even a simplified fighting mechanic still requires some depth and knowledge to perform well but doesn’t rely solely on memorization for combos. Also since every character has pretty much the same input commands it is much easier to learn new characters after getting used to the speed and power of each. I don’t expect developers to out right copy everything from Super Smash but using some ideas would help improve the fighting genre.

One thing I would love to see in new fighting game is a stronger online community that would be promoted by the developer. The developer should create an online environment that is friendly towards new players in order to retain an active online community. One way to do this is to set up a mentorship program where a veteran player who knows the mechanics can play with a novice and teach them on a one on one basis. This would help new players learn some of the hidden mechanics which only veterans would know and help on a more personal level such as specific areas that the new player needs to work on. They can even integrate this mentorship program into the online menu as a possible option instead of just the generic ranked and player matches that is usually available. Creating an active online community that generally wants to help new player is crucial to the longevity of a game and should be a priority for most online games.

I know most of my ideas towards a simpler fighting game seem to go against all the competitiveness of the fighting genre but I feel like it would create a better experience for more people. Obviously series like Street Fighter and Tekken won’t abandon their tried and true formula but new intellectual properties should experiment with a simpler fighting mechanics. If I were to develop a fighting game I would try to keep it as simple in order to make it easier to pick up and just to have fun even if the person is new to the series.

Live In Your World, Play in Ours

Sony unveiled their latest console, the Playstation 4 a week ago at a New York City event. So far the competitors for this console generation are the Wii U, Ouya, Gamestick and Steambox and Microsoft’s next Xbox console. The Sony event released some information on the technical specifications of the Playstation 4 along with some ways that Sony will innovate the home consoles market.

Playstation 4’s technical specifications are what I would expect of a new Sony console. It has eight CPU cores, a much stronger GPU and has 8GB of RAM. The Playstation 4 has 16 times more RAM than an Xbox 360 (512MB) and 4 times as much as the Wii U (2 GB). Obviously the Xbox 360 is going to be outdated since the console has been out for about 6 years but its shows you how behind the Wii U will be when Playstation 4 is released. Sony is gearing their Playstation 4 towards the traditional gamers and I believe that is the right step for them to stay viable in this industry.

Playstation 4 is much more developer friendly then its predecessor. The unique Cell processor that Sony boasted about at the release of Playstation 3 was harder to program for and thus made it some what more difficult for developers. However Sony has learned from the past and decided to work with developers in creating a new console that would be easier to create games. A great third party support will help Sony capture a larger market share of traditional gamers (very reminiscent of Playstation 2 era). Bungie’s Destiny was announced to appear on the Playstation 4 which is not too surprising since they have been recruiting Playstation experienced programmers. A new Final Fantasy made by Square Enix is also not very surprising since it is generally expected to have a new numbered Final Fantasy game. However these two announcements indicate that two top developers are already working towards creating games that could be released early on in the Playstation 4’s life helping Sony capture the interest of more gamers.

Sony recently acquired the cloud gaming service Gaikai and is planning on using the knowledge from Gaikai to incorporate streaming into the Playstation 4. Media streaming from your favorite provider such as Netflix and Hulu will still be a part of the Playstation 4 experience however the Gaikai merger allows for games to become integrated into this streaming framework. Playstation 1, 2 and 3 games will work on a cloud service to allow for maximum compatibility but will not be available at the launch of Playstation 4. Gamers will also be able to download and instantly play the game while it continues to download because of a specific processor working in the background. Sony has even stated that they are working on a way to identify which games you would be most likely to purchase next and then have it automatically download before you even purchase it so you have immediate access.

Sony stated early on that they wanted the Playstation 4 to become a much more social console. I was mistaken in believing that they wanted to become similar to the Wii U’s socially driven hardware choices. However Sony’s view of a more social console is one that I especially looking forward to. The Playstation 4 controller has a “share” button that allows users to stream their current gameplay on to the internet. Other gamers will be able to watch this stream and partake in helping the person out by giving items, helpful hints on where to go and even joining the session. This is actually a feature I’ve been hoping for since a lot of my friends enjoy taking turns at a playing a single player game or like to back seat play while one person is playing. The Playstation 4 will also connect to various social media networks and allow your friends to come join your game sessions. Sony has also stated that players will be able to turn off the social features and play offline. The live video game streams will also be available on other devices through a Playstation App so that friends who don’t own a Playstation 4 can still watch you play on their Apple or Android devices.

So far the Playstation 4 announcement seems to have no flaws but under close inspection there seems to be a few minor details. Obviously the Playstation 3 Dual Shock 3 will not be supported since the new controller utilizes a touch pad and a Playstation Move light sensor. It would have been nice to be allowed the use of the Dual Shock 3 for older games on the cloud service but the Playstation 4 controller does not deviate to far from the original design. It is a bit more rounded then the Dual Shock 3 so I would need to actually hold the controller to see if that ends up becoming a problem. We also did not see any pictures of a prototype or final image of the physical console. While this is not really crucial at the moment, it would have been nice to see maybe a design or concept of the Playstation 4. Something that I noticed looking back at the list of games becoming available on Sony’s latest console was the lack of first party games. I’m sure Sony is working on those games as I write this but it would have been great to see some of those games in action since Sony should be furthest along in developing games compared to third party developers.

The major flaw that I see so far is the lack of any physical backwards compatibility. While you will be able to stream all the original games, any physical copy that you own will be useless on the Playstation 4. This also means that any digital purchases of Playstation 1, 2 and 3 games will not work natively. Hopefully Sony will be able to transfer your purchases from the Playstation Network into the streaming service so you won’t have to buy these games again but only time will tell. However this streaming service is a long term solution for Sony. If Sony tried to create emulators for all the Playstation 1, 2 and 3 games, it would raises costs for every system after the Playstation 4 since they would need to adapt those emulators for each of the new structures. However adapting a cloud based streaming service is much easier and will reduce costs that hopefully will be transferred over to the customers.

Playstation 4 seems to be an incredible system aimed towards the traditional gaming audience. Their utilization of the cloud gaming service Gaikai and creating a much more sociable console will certainly help them create a great gaming experience. I believe that Sony’s Playstation 4 is moving the video game industry in the right direction towards a brighter future. I’m looking forward to seeing what Microsoft and Valve will have to offer for this generation.

Gotta Snap 'em All

Pokemon Snap is one of my favorite games on the N64. Pokemon Snap was a great game that had a colorful world to transverse through, a variety of Pokemon and a lot of replayability. Nintendo even incorporated the ability to print out your pictures by taking your Pokemon Snap cartridge to a local Blockbuster. Pokemon Snap was a unique perspective of an on the rails shooter. The goal for each level was to take as many photographs of the various Pokemon that would net you the highest score. You then get to choose one photograph to represent that Pokemon which Professor Oak grades based on if the Pokemon is in a special pose, center of the image and if there are multiple of the same Pokemon. You were also given apples to feed Pokemon, pester balls to knock them unconscience and a poke-flute to either wake them up or to cause the Pokemon to dance. HAL Laboratory also included an infinite boost to use if you were replaying a level to only photograph a specific Pokemon. There were even some puzzle elements included through each level such as finding a way to hatch the Legendary Birds, or finding a ways to getting better pictures of a Pokemon that were originally obscured by objects. I’m surprised that over 13 years have passed since Pokemon Snap was released in North America and no sequel has ever been announced.

Pokemon Snap deserves a sequel and I believe will work well with Nintendo’s latest home console, Wii U. The Wii U GamePad is the perfect controller for a Pokemon Snap type of a game. The controller could be held up like a camera to the  television screen and capturing a photo would be as simple as pressing one of the shoulder buttons. The player would be able to control the in game character using either the analog stick or the gyroscope ability of the controller. The Wii U controller would create an interactive experience that would be a prime example of how Wii U can create unique gaming experiences.

A feature that Nintendo could bring back would be the ability to print out pictures. Since the Wii U has a slot for SD cards, users would be able to transfer over pictures and then print them out at a local photo store. Nintendo could also add in connectivity with the new Pokemon RPG games X and Y. Players would be able to use augmented reality to take pictures with their hand trained Pokemon team through Pokemon Snap 2. The player could also use the controller’s screen to edit pictures and add in effects to personalize the photographs.

Pokemon X and Y will have over 700 Pokemon available to capture and train. Pokemon Snap 2 would probably not utilize all 700 Pokemon throughout the game since it would be tough to place all the different Pokemon in the levels without it overcrowding. However I would like the game to still contain all the models for the Pokemon so that players will still be able to take pictures through the augmented reality when connecting the 3DS games to the Wii U. I’m sure that the 25 gigs available on the Wii U optical discs is more than enough space for 700 Pokemon models. If the 25 gigs is still not enough they could do a two disc special where the second disc is installed on to the hard drive for users who want to have the extra Pokemon models.

A criticism of the original Pokemon Snap was the length. There were about six full levels which the player had to repeat to photograph all available Pokemon and solve the puzzles to unlock the final area, Rainbow Cloud. Each level was themed differently such as a cave or volcano which would then have the appropriate Pokemon types. Pokemon Snap 2 should use a similar style for level design but instead should be based on the different regions. Nintendo could start off with the latest region that would be featured in Pokemon X & Y which would exclusively have Pokemon found in that region. Nintendo can then utilize their online marketplace to release downloadable content of the other regions such as Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh with their own levels and respective Pokemon. The levels could reference certain areas such as Mount Moon or Ceruelean cave to further reinforce the diverse regions found in the Pokemon world.This way the game would be able to incorporate a much larger number of Pokemon that would appeal to both old and new fans of the series.

I would love to see some online interactions such as using leaderboards and tournament ladder systems. The leaderboards would work for each Pokemon available throughout the game and then also a separate leaderboard for each overall level. The tournament feature would be a more direct competition between players. Players would create a tournament and invite other players to enter. After all the entrants are available to play, the game would choose a random Pokemon to photograph from the game and the players would be allotted a certain amount of time which they can go find the pokemon and photograph it the best way possible. At the end of the time, the player with the lowest score will be eliminated. Each round will eliminate the lowest player until there is only one player left who is then crowned the top photographer. Nintendo could even try to create like a monthly or weekly contest where places try competing for the best photograph of a specific Pokemon for that time period.

Pokemon Snap 2 is definitely a game I’m waiting to be announced. I wouldn’t be surprised if Nintendo decides to test the markets with a remake of the N64 version on the 3DS which would show how much interest there is in a sequel. Pokemon Snap 2 would make me consider purchasing a Wii U which I currently have no interest in since I haven’t found any of the games appealing. Hopefully there will be some news in regards to a sequel at the next E3 or Tokyo Game show.

The Walking Dead - Review

WARNING: I will try not to spoil any of the plot but this review will effect how you play the game if you already haven’t. 

Telltale’s take on the successful zombie comic book series has received exceptional reviews from critics. I just finished a play through of The Walking Dead on my Xbox 360 (on a physical disc). I was a little disappointed to find out that you can’t install the game to your hard drive because I own the original Xbox 360 model. These models had louder disc drives which can really take away from the experience especially in story-heavy games. There are also numerous complaints about the physical disc having game breaking problems on the Xbox 360 but I was fortunate enough to not suffer any major problems, only a few stutters that would be fixed by reloading my last save point. These are bugs that Telltale is currently trying to address and will hopefully be fixed soon. My review of The Walking Dead game will not take these bugs into account since they will eventually be fixed.

The greatest part of the Walking Dead is the amazing story that Telltale unfolds. You play as Lee Everett, a man on his way to prison when he lucks out and gains a second chance at freedom in a zombie apocalypse world. You eventually meet a little girl named Clementine who you decide to take under your wing and try to protect throughout the story. While you try to survive in this post-apocalyptic world, you encounter other survivors. Telltale does a great job in creating characters that I either loved and wanted to help out whenever I could or utterly despised and couldn’t wait till I could smash their skull in. Telltale also included some twist and turns throughout the story to keep the player interested. I also liked that some of the decisions that are presented in the game have an emotional impact on the player. You start seeing more of these kinds of decisions starting in Episode 2.  Telltale does an impressive job with recreating the feeling of living in a post apocalyptic world where nothing ever feels safe.

The unique art style of The Walking Dead helps flesh out the rest of the world. The best way I can describe the graphics is cell shading meets the ink style introduced in Street Fighter IV.  The art style fits well with the original source material since it was based on The Walking Dead comic book. The soundtrack created for the game is excellent and fits perfectly within the atmosphere that the game creates. The melodies from the songs generate a variety of moods that range from somber tones to eerie feelings. This is one of my favorite soundtracks in a video game and it is unfortunate that Telltale hasn’t released it officially. I've included one of my favorite songs so that you can have a sample of what the soundtrack is like.

I did enjoy the fact that some dialogue decisions had a limited time in which you could respond. This time constraint prevents the player from just sitting around trying to figure out what the best possible response will be. It also helps keeps the player grounded into the world by not having them taken out to a separate dialogue interface that would impede their connection to the game. Another feature that I loved was the Decision Stat page at the end of each episode. I’m not sure if this was available with the original digital download of the game but it is also available on Telltale's website . The Stat page shows each decision made in that chapter and the percentage of players that choose the different choices. While it has no affect on the game play or how you made decisions, it is nice to see what other people did on their playthroughs. It would be great if this stat page also showed you what your friends did in their copy of the game so you can compare their play style to your own.

The Walking Dead is not without flaw. The major problem I had with The Walking Dead is that your decisions don’t make a difference. The events of the story will happen no matter what you do. This is disappointing especially considering that at the start of each chapter there is some white text that states “This game series adapts to the choices you make. The story is tailored by how you play.” This is far from the truth because nothing really changes when you make a decision. You will always end up going through the same places, and probably with the same bunch of people. This also affects how some characters can die. Many deaths are not preventable and scripted in a cutscene which means your decision to save them was pointless. Other times when you fail to save a character the game gives you a game over screen and forces you to repeat that section until you can save them. After playing a game like Heavy Rain where any of the four characters can die and will affect what happens in the story, I was expecting something very similar to that. Even a visual novel like 999 makes your decision matter by giving you a completely new part of the story. There is very little reason to play this game more than once since nothing major really changes.

Another flaw with The Walking Dead is that the quick time events did nothing out of the usual. Everything is basically pressing a button very fast or moving the cursor to aim and then pressing a button. Even with the aiming you just needed to go in the general direction and it would usually be executed perfectly. However this is just a minor flaw since the main selling point of the game is to experience being a part of a surviving group within The Walking Dead universe.

I believe that if you look at any game there will always be flaws. What matters is if those flaws have a substantial effect on the experience to that point where it is no longer an enjoyable one. So would I recommend this game to others? It really depends on what the person expects from the game. If the person is looking for a game that really takes into account the decisions you make and affects the story then I would not recommend The Walking Dead. However if the person is looking for a great story, with an amazing atmosphere and exquisite soundtrack then The Walking Dead would be perfect for them. Overall I did enjoy the game for what it was and I am looking forward to the next season.

Pokemon: Gotta Improve 'em All

There have been five generations of Pokemon games since the original release of Red and Blue (or Red and Green in Japan). Each new release has brought minor changes or new features that have generally pushed the series a little closer to perfection. The original games captured the minds of many children because of clever game design and a great understanding of what children would find fun. Players could embark on a journey that lets them travel to different towns, explore caves and dungeons with mysterious Pokemon and even become the world’s best Pokemon trainer. Even after defeating the eight gym leaders and plowing your way through the elite four and the Champion, there is still more to do. You can try to finish your Pokedex which means collecting all the Pokemon available (originally 151 but the latest generation has 649 to collect), enter in Pokemon contests or even build a team to compete against other real life players.

Pokemon took full advantage of the hardware available on the Nintendo DS. Players are now able to use their internet connection for battling and trading with others. This made the number of trainers you could battle or trade grow from being only a few friends around your block to anyone in the world who had a wireless internet connection. Game Freak also included a new feature called the Global Trading Center. This allowed for trainers to put up a Pokemon and request any other Pokemon with the ability to specify gender and level. It allowed players to trade efficiently even if they lived in different time zones. The latest Black and White 2 games added the ability download the Champions’ teams of the real life Pokemon tournament winners and see how your own team does against them. This helped introduce competitive battling to a larger audience and showed them how the battle system can actually require skill and strategy instead of just power leveling through like in the regular story mode. Before the DS games had arrived, the only way to get some Pokemon officially (such as Mew in the original Red and Blue) was to attend Nintendo events. However since the release of Diamond and Pearl, users are able to connect to the internet and download the event Pokemon through the Mysterious Gift option making these Pokemon much more accessible to everyone.

I believe the Pokemon games are great but like all great games it has flaws. The first thing that I have noticed in all the Pokemon games I played was the constant random battle. Almost every step I take triggers a random battle, and usually is the same Pokemon over and over again. The battles end up becoming a chore and something that prevents me from enjoying the franchise. You can just buy some Pokemon repel but then you might be under leveled for the next Gym battle. I would love to see the next Pokemon game have a lot less random battles and increase the general experience awarded so the player doesn’t have to grind  to stay at the proper level. It would be great if there was a feature that allowed you to increase or decrease the likelihood of a random encounter. That way if you just want to get to the next area without having to fight too many Pokemon you could do so but if you were in the mood to level up then you could increase the chances.

Another problem with the battle system is that it takes forever to finish a battle or even farm a Pokemon to level 100. Pokemon Stadium and its successor had a feature which allowed players to connect their Pokemon game and play them on their TV. It also allowed for players to speed up the game to almost three times the normal speed which made grinding to level 100 feel like less of a chore. I would love for Game Freak to somehow include this in later generations through an attachment to the Wii or Wii U which they could sell at a reasonable price.

I’m surprised that a New Game + feature has still not been added to the Pokemon series. I would love to play through the story of a Pokemon game again (especially since the Black and White story is much more involved) but the fact that I will lose all my data has prevented me from replaying the story line. The New Game + would allow the player to retain all the items (other than key items) and all Pokemon in their PC and team. This way the player can choose to start fresh and just place their team in a PC box or just plow through the story line with their leveled up team. The argument that many people will state is that people will be able to get duplicates of legendary Pokemon. However simple scripts can prevent those events from triggering again on a second play through so that people cannot abuse the system to get more legendary Pokemon.

The last thing I would love to be added to the Pokemon RPG series is a cloud saving service. After collecting all 493 Pokemon in the Diamond and Pearl generation, I never want to try collecting that many all over again. It would be nice to have my entire Pokemon collection transfer over to the next generation so I wouldn’t have to sit there and manually trade over all Pokemon that I managed to keep on that game. I would then be able to just focus on collecting the new set instead of trying to recapture what I had already did in past games. The cloud saving service would also help reduce the losses whenever someone receives a corrupt save file message and had no other way of backing up their data.

Pokemon has been around for about 14 years starting with the original games on the Gameboy. It is one of the few franchises that has gotten better with every installment and will only continue to grow closer towards perfection as the years go by.  I hope some of the features I have listed here will become available in future generations but only time will tell. I decided to end this post with one of my favorite Pokemon songs from the original Red version:

Diablo 3's Post Launch Problems

Happy Halloween!

Diablo 3 has been a game fans have wanted for over a decade. The final product was far from perfect and received harsh criticisms from fans. I've played over 350 hours of Diablo 3 since the launch of the game exclusively on my Barbarian. The game has gone through a few patches with each patch creating a significantly better game. I want to focus this post on how Blizzard can help improve the game even further through some minor changes.

Random Number Generation (RNG) is a player’s worst nightmare. The obvious reason why people despise RNG is that they have no control over it. My marketing professor once told my class that negative word of mouth is about 7 times more powerful then positive word of mouth based on human behavior. This means that players notice the negative aspects of RNG much more than a good RNG effect unless that good RNG is on the extreme of good. So how does RNG work its way into Diablo 3? Well first, rare quality items that drop can have anywhere between four to six magical properties (stats). There are hundreds of different properties that can be chosen from but only a handful is useful to a player. After these magic properties are chosen, they can roll a range of numbers depending on the item level or monster level. The last patch allows for more items to drop with the highest possible range of stats but I believe Blizzard can do more.

The last patch updated one of the magical properties to actually provide some benefit to the player. Bonus to Health globes would originally increase the amount of health orbs that drop from monsters by a small amount. While on paper this sound nice, in actual gameplay it was useless. In order to see a benefit the player would need to stack the stat or rely on healing through health globes which only dropped at set intervals based on champion monster’s health. This type of healing is something that players can’t really control and thus found other ways to recover health such as finding items with life on hit which returns health based on how often the player hits an enemy. The last patch made the Bonus to Health globe property include an increase to health potions. Blizzard was able to kill two birds with one stone because players were complaining about potion’s not healing enough and health globe bonus was a useless property. While the health globe property is not a stat players will automatically look for when searching for upgrades, it now provides a nice bonus.

Thorns Damage is a magical property that deals damage to the enemy whenever the player is struck. However the amount of damage is minimal compared to the amount of damage a player can dish out even if that player had stacked the thorns damage property on all their gear. Blizzard can easily buff this property by having it scale to a degree from the player’s primary stat. I do not expect it to be the main damage source but it should deal enough damage that it is viable for a tank build to try to stack it on their equipment.

Increase Pickup Yards affects how far you can be away from gold and health globes to pick them up. With 0 increase pickup yards, the player has to manually walk over every gold stack and health globe which becomes a pain (this is something I learned very recently when I upgraded my boots which was my only source of this property). My solution to this is to increase the base pickup radius to about 6 or 7 yards and change the property to Pickup Tiers. There would be 3 tiers and each property would add a plus one pickup tier. Having no pickup tiers will only pickup gold and health globes within 6 or 7 yards.  A plus one Tier would allow for auto pick of up health potions, gems, and tomes of secrets. Another plus one tier (Tier 2) would allow pickup all magic quality (blue) items within the base radius. The final Tier will allow for auto pickup all rare items. Now the problem with this approach is that some people do not pickup magic items or do not pickup potions. Any easy way to rectify this is to have an option on the character sheet which allows the player to check off the items they wish to auto pickup such as only gold or item level 63 rare quality items, potions and gold. It would take some work to program this into the game but I believe it would be a feature appreciated by the fans.

After playing World of Warcraft (Blizzard’s cash cow) for many years, I expected Diablo 3 to contain some of the same interface options. There should have been an interface option that allows the player to select builds from a list that players has assigned so switching specs would become a much more fluid experience. I can see this becoming a requested feature when PVP becomes available because the builds will change so much since PVP will be a whole different game. An equipment manager would also be necessary with PVP since I am expecting Blizzard to have a new set of gear that is specific to PVP. Also having another set of gear means we will need more stash space. I’m surprised Blizzard hasn’t already implemented a feature where we can pay real life money for more tabs in our stash. I’m sure many people would be outraged at the idea of having to pay for more space but realistically creating more space means more data for the servers to maintain which does cost Blizzard money.

There are few other minor changes that Blizzard should make towards Diablo 3. The first is releasing more transparent information in game with regards to life on hit and life steal. From what I’ve noticed there doesn’t seem to be anywhere in game to let the user know that life steal has a penalty on it while playing the higher difficulties. It would be nice to show the actual life steal amount on the character sheet and an explanation when hovering over the stat. Also proc coefficients should be explained somewhere so that the user can begin to understand how various abilities and life on hit actually work. The argument Blizzard would make is that, many users would become confused by the technical math behind the game but realistically I believe having some of that information readily available could help users make better decisions. Another stat that needs to have light shed on it is average damage. It makes a huge increase in your damage when compared to other stats such as your primary stat or even critical hit chance yet there is no explanation to as how average damage helps to increase your damage.

The final few minor changes I would like to see are in regards to the leveling system. I think followers should be shared across all characters on an account. Players should be awarded for leveling another character after maxing out their first character and using a high level follower could provide some incentive. The Paragon leveling system could also use a few tweaks to make it worthwhile. I honestly do not think that gaining 3% magic find and gold find makes hitting Paragon level 100 worth it. Instead it should be something unique such as allowing the user to have an extra passive ability or maybe even allowing an ability to use two runes. Paragon leveling system is counter intuitive for anyone who wants to have multiple characters since the Paragon level is specific to each character. Blizzard could alter the system so that your magic find and gold find carries over to other characters but not your primary stat or any other bonuses such as the extra passive so you can still farm efficiently for items on any character.

Diablo 3 had a rocky start but Blizzard has shown the fans that they are willing to put in more effort through patches to make the game that fans have been waiting for since Diablo 2. Every game has its flaws and Diablo 3 is no different but thanks to Blizzard’s dedication post launch they will be able to minimize those flaws. My goal was to address some minor issues that are overshadowed by the major issues of PVP combat and lack of end game content and hopefully will be addressed in a future patch.

Unique Modes

My last article discussed the details about Mortal Kombat 2011 and how it had many unique modes. This is probably a good time to discuss some of the other fighting games and how they have contributed to creating unique experiences.

Super Smash Bro’s for the Nintendo 64 was a new approach to fighting games. Outside of just brawling with other Nintendo characters, the developers introduced two mini games based on the game engine. Board the Platform had character specific stages where the player must maneuver through traps to land on the ten platforms. The other mini game was an obstacle course specific to each character where the player had to break ten targets placed strategically to utilize specific character abilities. The level designers had to figure out ways to make each character’s level unique to their abilities so that the player can learn to use the entire arsenal of moves to beat the mini games. It was an excellent way to show players what the characters could do without having them train in practice mode or fight through the arcade mode. I remember a time when I was having trouble with Jigglypuff’s board the platform stage. There was one platform at the very bottom of the stage which seemed almost impossible to reach. After many attempts and repeatedly hearing “Failure” from the announcer’s voice, I smashed a random button out of frustration. That’s when I noticed Jigglypuff’s neutral smash attack allowed her to move forward while still floating in the air. It was a great feeling to finally be able to complete the stage but I also learned more about character.

The Tekken series has introduced quite a few mini games over the years. Tekken Ball was featured in Tekken 3. It is a variation on volleyball where the players have to juggle a ball back and forth. Every time the ball takes a hit, a meter at the bottom of the screen fills up for that character. When the ball either hits a player or falls to the ground, the meter resets and inflicts damage based on how full the meter was.  It was a nice change of pace from just playing the normal arcade or versus mode. I would have loved to see the mode fleshed out in later installments but unfortunately it has never reappeared in the series.

Tekken Force Mode was also introduced in Tekken 3. The best way to describe this mode is a traditional beat-em up game like Streets of Rage. It even had a roasted chicken that recovered a player’s health just as it did in Streets of Rage. You were able to choose any of the characters from the roster and retained their move set. The game featured four stages set on a 2-D prerendered background. Tekken Force reappeared in Tekken 4 with full 3-D stages and a longer campaign. Tekken 5 changed the formula by forcing the player to use Jin Kazama who can transform into a much more powerful character, Devil Jin through a special bar. This was the first time Tekken Force mode had an actual storyline.  Tekken 6 continues the Tekken Force mode with its Scenario Campaign. At first only two characters are unlocked but as you progress through the story, more character become available to select. Scenario Campaign also introduces the ability to use weapons and features a co-op mode for some of the stages. It also features an arena mode where character endings are unlocked.

My favorite mini game from all of the Tekken series has been Tekken Bowling. It was first introduced in Tekken Tag Tournament and then reappeared in Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection for the PSP. It is a traditional bowling simulator that allows you to use the Tekken cast. Each character has a unique set of stats that determines how fast the ball will travel and the type of spin. The robot characters feature a different heads up display and have targeting assistance. While it has nothing to do at all with the fighting game, it’s a great way to end off a long Tekken session.

I’m sure there are many more examples of fighting games with unique mini games but unfortunately these are the only one’s that I have played and had an enjoyable experience. While some modes are more related to the basics of a fighting game, I believe all the mini games listed here introduce some creative gameplay mechanics.