Hilde, Maxi, Tira and Voldo Confirmed for SC5!

[Heaton]

First, I think it would be impossible for the interviewers to grasp the meaning of wabi-sabi directly, even I have trouble with it. It is essentially a beauty that is found in chaos or disorder. This has nothing to do with tier gaps in SC and it typically present in all Japanese fighting games. (If you examine MK, you see very little entropy in the character designs.)

What I'm getting from this is that Namdai, and fighting game companies in general, don't make a concentrated attempt to have gigantic discrepancies in character effectiveness that we seen when we compare characters like Amy to characters like Rock. Is this correct?

I'm not sure I really understand, then. Is there any Western comparison one could make to understand the concept of wabi-sabi? Or is it something that's really ingrained in culture and things like that, something that transcends the language and cultural barrier?

 

[Crazyfirefly]

First, please don't write in black on a black BBS if you expect a reply. Holy eye strain (shitty laptop).

I'm assuming you pulled that from some of the interviews that were released recently? I was in those as well. First, I think it would be impossible for the interviewers to grasp the meaning of wabi-sabi directly, even I have trouble with it. It is essentially a beauty that is found in chaos or disorder. This has nothing to do with tier gaps in SC and it typically present in all Japanese fighting games. (If you examine MK, you see very little entropy in the character designs.)

However, if we find beauty in entropy (which is beautiful), then we understand that some tiering must be accepted to achieve it. Character uniqueness and character balance are almost polar opposites and you can see this in any FG that has diverse characters (example, Ryu, Dhalsim, Chun each play differently and are NOT effectively well balanced against each other). As you force balance you lose uniqueness... this is why the difficult term wabi-sabi was used. Effectively, controlled chaos can achieve uniqueness and balance, although never 100% perfect in either.

For clarity - I work in Tokyo at Namco Bandai and I am handling some of the research involved in SCV (product management); however, my main job is not fighting game related.

I couldn't have put this better myself. However lets hope that Hilde is not as shattered as she was in SCIV and I'm pretty sure they'll get rid of Mr. Bubbles. LOL as far as balance goes those are my only two real complaints.

 

[WCMaxi]

I appreciate your interpretation. However, I see the majority of posts typed in black font (even yours) so I was under the assumption that the majority of the users chose the light-skin in this forum.

Interesting... perhaps Jaxel should work on a fix to this then. On my side, my own posts look white. Now I know I have to go back and make them white... super pain in the ass...

 

[WCMaxi]

What I'm getting from this is that Namdai, and fighting game companies in general, don't make a concentrated attempt to have gigantic discrepancies in character effectiveness that we seen when we compare characters like Amy to characters like Rock. Is this correct?

I'm not sure I really understand, then. Is there any Western comparison one could make to understand the concept of wabi-sabi? Or is it something that's really ingrained in culture and things like that, something that transcends the language and cultural barrier?

That is clearly not the case. Of course balance is important and never just thrown under the bus to make something unique. All I can say this time is that mistakes of SC4 will not be repeated. Please pay careful attention to the interviews that come from Gamescom.

Americans tend to approach things by data and logic more than Europeans or Asians. I think this is largely why western FGs have not been very good and quickly died off (sans MK, which is just not that good).

 

[Crazyfirefly]

What I'm getting from this is that Namdai, and fighting game companies in general, don't make a concentrated attempt to have gigantic discrepancies in character effectiveness that we seen when we compare characters like Amy to characters like Rock. Is this correct?

I'm not sure I really understand, then. Is there any Western comparison one could make to understand the concept of wabi-sabi? Or is it something that's really ingrained in culture and things like that, something that transcends the language and cultural barrier?

Okay your forgetting a HUGE difference. Other games like Tekken and Street Fighter aren't WEAPONS based. That being said of course your going to have a wider variation in SC that is what makes it unique. Wabi-Sabi in western terms would be similar to the purpose and mission behind the Goddess Aris in Greek/Roman mythology. She found destruction, imbalance and discord attractive so she wrecked havoc where she could. However she orchestrated things in such a way to achieve the end resulting chaos she desired...I guess to break it down further. Chaos and imbalances on any scale aren't random occurrences but single events and variables that are carefully constructed to produce an end result. So the "lack of balence" of SC is by design and careful thought and planning went into each character. I hope this helps.