Hit Sparks In VF5US A Step Backward???

These two additions would make a difference whether:

1. You keep playing your own little game in your own little corner without anyone watching (like what happened in the last decade or so with VF5 Final Showdown, sadly)

OR

2. Many more gamers and newcomers start playing the game because of solid gameplay, great netcode (rollback), and the game being enjoyable and a spectacle to watch.

I personally think that in huge tournament settings with a lot of viewers, like "EVO" for example, the "Hit Sparks" should be turned ON since this is now more about "entertainment" and "viewership" than anything else.

 

Of course many players agree with you. Think about all the players that love Tekken's Hit Sparks, Fireballs, Projectiles, Explosions, Teleporting, X-rays, etc. The fans love this stuff. Many gamers enjoy watching this stuff unfold on screen I play Tekken also. I also play Soul Calibur there are lots of fireworks in that game as well. They are gorgeous. Very entertaining. But they don't belong in Virtua Fighter. The development team should have came up with a new visual technique to create excitement and give the sense of visceral combat. Rather than trot out the Hit Spark technique that dates back to the early 80's in 2D games and the mid 90's for 3D fighting games. Its a tired approach, and its beneath the innovator of 3D fighting games to tack it on to VF graphics TBH if VF was going to copy a 90's crowd pleaser , I would rather
they added fatalities Now fatalities in VF that would've been a crowd pleaser

The Hit Sparks don't really add any entertainment value to VF at all. The Tekken, SF, DOA, and SC players won't fall for VF's limp rendition of Hit Sparks.

But tisk tisk, they're in the game now, all those of us who don't like them can do is ask for an option to turn them off Hopefully are laments will be heard and we'll get relief in the form of a patch


@SSShinji you devil you how did you know I like playing my own little game in a little corner without anyone watching

 

Any ideas, suggestions?? It's easy for you to say but it's a headache for the developers to have to invent something new while chasing a tight "deadline" in the middle of a "pandemic". Your best bet that something like that might happen is when the success of VF5US leads to VF6.

Well, it depends on how you look at it. The fact that "Hit Sparks" have survived that long in nearly all genres of games over the past decades and people still love them is a testament to its "effectiveness" in gaming to stimulate "excitement" for the players.

Once "Rollback" kicks in, you don't have to be in that little corner with your little game anymore. I really hope SEGA would follow through on this netcode issue. VF with "Rollback" is the DREAM. I hope the numbers would justify implementing it on VF5US. Otherwise, in VF6 is a must!

 

I like hit sparks, they add a sense of impact and flourish. I especially like the one's you get with some JF's in Tekken like electricity and blue sparks. VF5FS already did things to make the combat more dramatic with the camera angles on some big counter hits and sweat flying off.

Really though I'm not that bothered about this either way and even if they were to add outlandish characters that's not going to ruin the game for me. It's the striping down of gameplay mechanics I'm concerned about. They've been gradually trying to simplify the game to make it more accessible but the majority of observers don't even notice. They still go on like this game is too hard and complex ignoring the fact that Tekken 7 the most successful fighter now is even more complicated. The other big complaint is the way the game looks. Improving that is something anyone looking at the game will notice and won't compromise the gameplay.

 

We just want an option that allows us to turn Hit Sparks off. DOA5LR has an option like that.

@Shoju Tekken is successful, but the the most successful fighting game in 2021 and also has no Hit Sparks and has a true sense of impact and visceral combat and comes through in the final knock out are the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) games. The battle is hardcore in these games and they are ,much deeper than Tekken or Virtua Fighter

 

LMAO exactly

 

It's easier to confirm counterhits no matter your skill level. Why am I reading you repeat the same argument in this thread? Man you're annoying....

The obvious should be obvious. Its not rocket science.

You're like one of those fake martial artists form the 70's who doesn't have knowledge but mouths off like they do. Just apply it to vf

@SDS_Overfiend1 why is this guy being ignorant? Please tell me lol

 

IDK if this is the correct thread to mention this but I find the choice of colors for the sparks problematic - for more than a decade, I had to cultivate my hand-eye coordination in order to be able to react to the yellow flash of a counterhit in order to do the correct combo. But in VF5US yellow coloured spark means normal hit!

So now, when I am watching a match, I constantly go "OOOH counterhit! wait, that didn't launch? oh right, yellow means normal hit now... OOOH counterhit! wait, that didn't crumple? oh right, yellow means normal hit now... OOOH counterhit! wait, that didn't float? oh right, yellow means normal hit now... OOOH counterhit!" over and over and over again.

But, if VF veterans with more than two decades of trained reflexes are not complaining, it might just be a problem with my nervous system not adapting quickly enough

EDIT: also, colourblind players might not be able to differentiate between the two spark colours (whereas the previous version did not have this problem)

 

You shouldn't compare UCF with Tekken or VF. UCF is more a sport simulation rather than a fighting game like Virtua fighter. It's like comparing Mario kart and F1 2021, they are both driving game, aren't they?

 

That's not quite the analogy. If we are going for driving games, its more like

Need For Speed compared to Gran Turismo

Need for Speed has a lot of realism in it, but a lot that's not realistic. Gran Turismo is a straight out driving simulation.

But UFC is a 3D fighting Game. It has Octagon Fights, but it also has Back Yard Fights, Urban City Environment Fights, Underground Tournament Fights, so its a bit more than a sport simulation has some arcade modes. Which definitely intersect with the world of Virtua Fighter.

So yeah, I can compare Virtua Figher to UFC And not only am I comparing them, I'm suggesting that a more viable future for the Virtua Fighter series is to go more in the direction the UFC simluation games and less in the direction of the 2D, 3D arcade fighters. Virtua Fighter has always been a simulation at heart. From the very beginning. It is a marketing mistake to try put it in the same category as Street Fighter , or Tekken. What made Virtua Fighter so different was precisely it focus on realism.

If Virtua Fighter is to truly grow (not just survive) its future lies in innovation of realism of combat simulation. VF should be marketing its World Fighting Tournament and the first true e-sports martial arts.

 

Wow... if this were the case, then I might not touch this game at all. I have no interest whatsoever in playing the UFC games. Generally, I love arcade games way more than simulations. They are just that much more fun to play to me. I'd take Outrun/NFS/Mario Kart gameplay over GT racing all day, any day of the week.

The reasons the UFC games are so popular is because of the well-known characters and legends from the real world (past and present) and of course the UFC brand itself. Without these factors, I highly doubt that these games would even sell at all if the characters are just "fictional". That is also the case with GT racing simulation. The cars are real cars from the real world with well-known brands, exotic cars, racing, and sports cars that only a few lucky people could actually own and drive. Simulation games were developed to mimic the real-world feeling of driving those cars.

VF is such a fun and unique 3D Fighting Game with core gameplay mechanics that are different from Tekken, DOA, or Soul Calibur. It can truly stand on its own. I'm enjoying VF5US more than any current 3D fgs at the moment!

 

I am pretty confused with this topic. Hit sparks in VF has been a thing since VF4 Evolution. Whenever someone gets hit, a yellow light flashes around their body. This is the same for Final Showdown and it doesn't seem that anyone had an issue with them.

 

I got your point, but honestly don't see all this simulation in VF. For sure there are not bears or any laser or fireballs, but this doesn't make it a simulator. Yes, it has a realistic mocap (and very depth gameplay) but also tekken has in most of the cases, espcially for old characters. If you want make it a real "simulator" an Eileen won't fight against a Taka or an Akira. If you mix in the same game totally different martial arts or fighting styles, no matter how realistic they may look, they won't make the game a simulator.

Sticking on driving game example, it's like mixing GT cars with F1 cars in the same race and pretending to have a realistic driving simulator.

 

Everybody should just agree we need an ON/OFF option.

WHY would anybody argue with this!?

 

@Zaibatsu you have a legitimate question in your post. Simulation happens on a continuum. Tekken and SC, and MK are simulations too. Microsoft Flight Simulator is a simulation. Simulation is all about modelling one or more aspects of reality. Some games provide more simulation than others. Some games simulate one or two aspects of reality. Some games simulate three or four aspects. Some games simulate/model dozens of aspects of reality. The more aspects of reality that are modeled the more realistic the simulation.

As more realistic features are added the more accurate a simulation becomes. Vice versa the more unrealistic features that are added the less accurate a simulate becomes.

At their core Tekken, Soul Calibur and Virtua Fighter are damn good simulators of many aspects of human movement in the context of martial arts. But as the games add flying, tele-porting, ray-beams, fire projectiles that materialize from bare hands, etc they detract from the simulation aspect. Because Tekken and Soul Calibur have more unrealistic features they cause Virtua Fighter to be more realistic by comparison.

You could remove a couple of the unrealistic features of Tekken and Soul Calibur and they would then be seen just as realistic as Virtua Fighter.

So simulation/modeling is a matter of degree. Virtua Fighter's simulation has to do with

• Human Movement
• Movement of Fabric and Materials
• Time of day lighting
• Weather
• Stage Design
• Authenticity of Fighting Styles
• And some moves that are actually performed in the martial arts that are represented

Tekken and Soul Calibur also have these same things more or less. But they add many unrealistic features too e.g.

• Fighting Bears with unnatural Bear Movement
• Fighting Kangaroos with unnatural Kangaroo Movement
• Tele-porting
• Disappearing and suddenly Re-appearing
• Transforming into Devils
• Floating Character from one end of the arena completely to the other
• Combat attacks that resort in explosions though no explosives are present
• Characters that are perpetually on fire without being burned
• Fighting Lizards, & Fighting Skeletons
• Vampires
• Sparks, Whirlwinds, Atmospheric Disturbances caused by only kicks and punches
• Metahuman transformations
• Robots that use their heads as bombs and arms as saws in a martial arts fight
• Humans able to juggle Panda Bears over great distances,etc

So while Virtua Fighter and Tekken, and Soul Calibur have many simulation aspects in common, Tekken and Soul Calibur have added so many things that are beyond reality that in contrast they make Virtua Fighter seem like more of a simulator than it is.

But millions of people enjoy playing fantasy based fighting games, this is why Tekken and Soul Calibur, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat are more successful than Virtua Fighter among 2D/3D arcade fighting game enthusiasts. They simply contain more unrealistic (fun) elements.

On the other hand millions of people also enjoy fighting games that are more grounded in reality that's one of the reasons most Virtua Fighter fans prefer it over the other 3D fighting games. UFC Fighting games are popular because they tie into real martial arts, the movement, the combat, the arenas are all taken from reality. Many players find simulated reality extremely fun. The more realistic the better. Of course there are people who are in the middle and enjoy both. I'm one of those people.

Now do you see the problem some of us have with Hit Sparks that were added or exaggerated in VF5US They detract from the immersion of the simulation
They make Virtua Fighter less of a simulator because they add another unrealistic element on top of the floating.

A option to turn the Hit Sparks off, would bring balance back to the force

VF5US is a phenomenal 3D Arcade Fighter. In my opinion its a masterpiece and is better than all of the other 3D Arcade Fighting games. IMO the Hit Sparks detract from its perfection, and an option to turn them HIt Sparks off will restore my faith in VF's future

 

On this I think that no one with a thinking brain can disagree.

I'm happy to have a VF game to play finally, and I hope people will stay on this game for a long time. If adding some sparks it will make the game more attractive for players whom didn't have a chance to try it it's fine for me.
I'm used to see sparks because of Tekken and reading phrases like "Hit sparks a step back" sounds a little too dramatic to me: they haven't introduced a devil-Akira yet

 

TBH Mate , VF5FS never went away. VF5FS on PSN has always had players(It still does). Sure its been a small number. But if you knew which days and times you could always find people in player match, room match or rank. The offline gatherings for VF5FS although dwindled, never stopped, and players never stopped playing the single player modes. I hear Xbox also had a small but continuous community of VF5FS

I bought 3 PS3's to make sure that I would always have a platform to play VF5FS and VF5 on. I still play VF4 and VF4EVO regularly(on PS2). So some of us never stopped playing the game.

But it is good to see VF being introduced to current consoles. PS5 is backward compatible with PS4 so that gives VF5US some new life. And it is good to see players exposed to VF5 who didn't have access to older consoles. But the real question is
what happens when:

• Tekken 8 Drops
• DOA 7 Drops
• Mortal Kombat XII Drops
• Street Fighter 6 Drops
• Soul Calibur 7 Drops

What happens to VF5US or VF6 at that point That's why VF has to follow its own path. That's why VF has to innovate totally new directions(not copy old special effects). Because it will never be the 3D Arcade Fantasy Fighter that these other games are. It never has, and it never will. VF will never be able to compete with the pyrotechnics in those games. So VF needs to go a totally different route,otherwise it will always be in the shadow of those games with a smaller left over community. Unless it plots its own path it will always be a 'piece on the side' a diversion when players want to take a break from their main fighting games.

VF needs to launch the World Fighting Tournament as a new virtual martial art e-sport based on realistic depictions of the full martial arts on realistic exotic stages from around the world featuring every authentic martial art out there. It needs to embrace and double down on its realism and forever leave the old 2D/3D arcade scene to their devices. That's the best card VF has to play if it wants to grow and thrive It needs to become the next true virtual martial art e-sport based on quasi-hyper-realistic simulations of all of the hand to hand combat martial arts. That's what VF started out as, and that's what its meant to be

 

There are a lot of ways to show what happens on the screens.
There are other solutions than cartoonish puffballs

How ugly puffballs would make the game more enjoyable and more popular at Evo ?


First make the game more appealing with more charismatic Characters. Like VF5 CGI models.
It would have been easy to bring VF5 CGI faces (in VF5 character selct screen ) on modern hardware. That would be a nice move.
Because characters like Akira Sarah Jacky etc.. look Less charismatic and sometimes very ugly now.
And those hit sparks look outdated.

Is it the price we have to pay for people to understand what's happening on the screen ?
Ape other games and betray VF's identity ?
I understand Aoki's will to add more informations for the E sport scene.
But they are so many other solutions..!

If you think cartoonish hit sparks are the only way to give people informations about what's happening during fights, you just lack imagination..

 

Yellow flash wash the sign of counter hits. Brain reacts now every time because everything is FLASHING ALL THE TIME Even on normal hit!
I shouldn't see a yellow spark in NORMAL HIT..!

Sometimes I'm in training mode and I still react to a norma hit (and not a counter ) because of this stupid cartoonish yellow hit sparks

The statement that this effect is to make the make more clear what's happening on the screen is WRONG cause we already have "classic flashes" during counters.
And they last EVEN LONGER! it's IMPOSSIBLE to miss them.Thy are ridiculously long.

The hit sparks are there to give more impact
They followed Street Fighter and Tekken old fashion way to reproduce impacts and it's not perfect
In my opinion, the dust effect during impact would have been enough.
Because it would have looked like a classic kung fu movie and give enough impact.

Subtle final showdown flashes + Final Showdown Sweat effect + Saliva drops effects on counter hits woud have been enough in my opinion
If they wanted more, then keep the longer VFes flash (way too long in my opinion) and add icons signs.
Like VF5 score or "first attack" icon sign.

Keep VF ahead of its time.
Clean beautiful and elegant.
No bullshit not fire balls , no aura,heat moves, etheric moves hit sparks or other nonsense

They are so many other solutions than this HUGE step backward when VF used to be the Avant-garde..

 

My feelings are, flashing should be optional, because it can hurts health of some people (rly, epilepsy, or whatever it's called).

I noticed that i can play longer in vf5fs (no flashing) than i can play vf5us.