Mortal Kombat

[Angrist]

Your football example is beside the point here. We're talking about game mechanics, not player skills. In football the rules are the same, while the team skills vary. The only thing that might be unbalanced is weather conditions (1 team having to look into the sun), but that's why they switch sides (at least I assume they do).

Gamewise, every character needs to have a fair chance against any other character. Starcraft 2 for example is 99% balanced. And they constantly fix the 1%.

[TheSlyMoogle]

In pretty much every fighting game there is a certain amount of unbalance sure, and there's pretty much some reason for that, be it like Street fighter where certain character does a lot of damage an is easy mode.

However generally in a fighting game even the worst characters have a fighting chance assuming you A) know the matchups, and B) Understand your character.

I'm not complaining about unbalance in fighting games in general, I actually appreciate it. In guilty gear I play pretty much the worst character in the game very well and I get a lot of respect for it.

However, MK9 is officially Mortal KungLaobat the game.

The only characters who have a chance against him is Cyrax, and that's because of glitches in the game itself that allow him to give guaranteed unblockables from his command throw and net. Also Reptile, Ermac and Sub-Zero do decently, and I've heard rumors that smoke is decent. However when tournaments are majorly made up of Kung Lao because he's so good... Well yeah.

2 major mortal kombat tournaments have now passed as of yesterday and they're already planning on pulling it from line ups of any of the majors because it's so unbalanced.

[TheSlyMoogle]

In the meantime it will stay pretty popular in the casual scene, it's new and flashy, pretty easy to play, and eventually A group of friends will play it a lot, and one will stumble onto some combo video with some character and rape all his friends and that's how MK goes.

[Typhoid]

Originally Posted by TheSlyMoogle

In the meantime it will stay pretty popular in the casual scene, it's new and flashy, pretty easy to play.

It's not like it's the only unbalanced fighting game.
Like I said before, having around 30 characters that are all 100% equal (or close to) seems 100% retarded to me. If you're going to make a fighting game where everyone is equal, why not just make a game - have only 2 characters, and give them each 50 skins so they all look different. That way it comes down to button-mashing skill, and not character choice.

and eventually A group of friends will play it a lot, and one will stumble onto some combo video with some character and rape all his friends and that's how MK goes

Not unsimilar to Marvel Vs. Capcom 3, where Dormammu or Sentinel completely decimates everyone they fight. Don't even get me started on how cheap Wesker is in that game.

In every fighting game (or practically any competition-based game that isn't Pong) things will not be even. This is where the challenge lies. Video games now are so far from challenging that at any hint of unfairness one way or the other gets peoples panties knotted up.

"Wah wah, I can't beat my friend in MK/McC/SSF when he plays as ______, this game is so dumb!"

Remember what you would have done as a kid when your friend kicked your ass as a certain character? You'd practice as your favourite character until you could kick his ass at his own game. Maybe people don't like challenges in video games anymore.

I don't mind the unbalancing in MK, or even in MvC3 (since I brought that up), variety is good. Especially if you play with your friends, and pick random, where luck may give you a shitty character against a good one, or what-have-you. Then again, I suppose most people that play games now have no idea what losing is like, since most games now are basically idiot and fail-proof.

And thus ends my pot-induced video game rant.
I was just going off of your quotes by the way, nothing I said was aimed at you.

[TheSlyMoogle]

Originally Posted by Typhoid

It's not like it's the only unbalanced fighting game.
Like I said before, having around 30 characters that are all 100% equal (or close to) seems 100% retarded to me. If you're going to make a fighting game where everyone is equal, why not just make a game - have only 2 characters, and give them each 50 skins so they all look different. That way it comes down to button-mashing skill, and not character choice.

Guilty Gear, Blazblue: Continuum Shift, Street Fighter 3rd strike, Melty Blood: Actress Again, Super Street Fighter 4: Arcade Edition

All of these are considered fairly balanced, each character is close enough to the others to give everyone a fair chance. They're all good games. You should try them. Hell even Tekken 6: BR is extremely balanced.

Originally Posted by Typhoid

Not unsimilar to Marvel Vs. Capcom 3, where Dormammu or Sentinel completely decimates everyone they fight. Don't even get me started on how cheap Wesker is in that game.

Actually Dormammu is pretty useless except for his assist. Wesker is one of the lower tiered characters, and the general consensus in the community is that every character is extremely playable. Which is fine compared to marvel 2. Well except Viewtiful Joe, he's the worst character in the game, and pretty much unplayable. MvC3 is pretty much balanced right now. It's actually pretty decent if you learn how to play the game.

Magneto, Tron, Amaterasu, Zero, Wolverine... Those are your top 5 characters. Storm is considered pretty beast mode too.

Originally Posted by Typhoid

In every fighting game (or practically any competition-based game that isn't Pong) things will not be even. This is where the challenge lies. Video games now are so far from challenging that at any hint of unfairness one way or the other gets peoples panties knotted up.

That's true, no competitive game will ever be balanced, just close to it, like the majority of fighters released these days.

Originally Posted by Typhoid

"Wah wah, I can't beat my friend in MK/McC/SSF when he plays as ______, this game is so dumb!"

That actually has nothing to do with this conversation.

Originally Posted by Typhoid

Remember what you would have done as a kid when your friend kicked your ass as a certain character? You'd practice as your favourite character until you could kick his ass at his own game. Maybe people don't like challenges in video games anymore.

Actually I've generally never had that problem, as I didn't play competitive fighters until college, and at that point I actually learned what the fuck I was doing. Enough to know that mortal kunglaobat is garbage in terms of being competitive.

Originally Posted by Typhoid

I don't mind the unbalancing in MK, or even in MvC3 (since I brought that up), variety is good. Especially if you play with your friends, and pick random, where luck may give you a shitty character against a good one, or what-have-you. Then again, I suppose most people that play games now have no idea what losing is like, since most games now are basically idiot and fail-proof.

The words of a casual. If one of your friends, or even you, decided to actually learn how to play any of the mentioned games, you would realize that it's not quite the case in fighters.

Originally Posted by Typhoid

And thus ends my pot-induced video game rant.
I was just going off of your quotes by the way, nothing I said was aimed at you.

Didn't take it as so. I'm heavily involved in the competitive fighting game scene and actually understand it. I assume you play with a group of friends that haven't even bothered to understand the mechanics behind a 30-80% combo in MK, or how to effectively DHC with your team in MvC3.

[Vampyr]

Balanced != every character being the same

Just as a case in point, some characters might be large, powerful, and slow, others will be small, weak, and fast. Totally different play styles, but can still be balanced.