What's The Right Philosophy For Balancing A Fighting Game?

WHAT'S THE PROPER WAY TO BALANCE A FIGHTING GAME?
When people want a balance patch, oftentimes their intentions aren't good. James discusses a key balance philosophy, making sure if something is too strong to not just simply remove the ability for players to do it. Listen to his philosophy here!
Find the KZbin version of this episode here:
• What's The Right Philo...
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[@GenderNeutch]

that music at the end of James's VODs, what is it? I love the melody so much, it's kind of sad, melancholy but also soothing? Is it a custom tune or taken from an existing song?

[@UltraChenTV]

It’s all the same song. Haha. It’s also the same song used in the intro section. Which is why I liked it, it covered a lot of areas I needed. Haha. It’s a cover of Third Strike Makoto’s theme from OC Remix by an artist named MKVaff. You can find it here on KZbin as well. But it’s free to download off OCRemix. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jaGTgnSDhp2mgaMsi=UqgZZCFnd-JzPjuW

[@GenderNeutch]

@@UltraChenTV aaaah, I see - it's an amazing track, thanks for providing the link, James 🙏🏻 much appreciated

[@BknMoonStudios]

I think the approach to balance should be a case-by-case basis: • When designing characters, always start with FUN over BALANCE. You can rebalance stuff later, but start by giving everyone sauce that makes them very unique and enjoyable to play. • Your goal when balancing should NOT be to put everyone in the same tier, but to ensure that weakest character can realistically beat the strongest character in a tournament setting, even if it takes better execution, more knowledge, better reflexes and good reads to do so. • Nerfs should only be done in one of two scenarios: 1) When the option has no reliable counterplay. 2) When this particular option renders other options from the character irrelevant/redundant. • Buffs should only be done in one of two scenarios: 1) When the option makes previous near-unwinnable matchups much more viable. 2) When this particular option opens up a new way to play the character, without rendering other options useless. And that's it. One should not strive for "perfect balance". Because "perfect balance" is boring and you will sacrifice more than what you'll gain by pursuing it.

[@tuhalu4123]

I mean, thank you Sir, please come again.

[@jamesw5713]

James proceeds to talk to Chun and Yun mains about changes in 3rd Strike 😂

[@614showtime]

James, would you ever consider co-streaming to youtube? Would love to catch live but I’ve been falling out of love with twitch

[@gracia_borealis]

The correct philosophy is the character I play should be top tier and everyone else should be bottom tier

[@poblanopupp9966]

No one ever talks about increasing the startup of geneijin. I’d just remove super priority and increase the startup to where its unsafe in neutral and only combos from mk and shoulder launcher.

[@Chaoskae]

They can also make the super bar longer

[@ImarBenIsrael]

Great question and topic . Te perfect case study for it should be manon cuz idk what the hell capcom thinks of her . She is just there ot seems . Love the character ot of all the new characters but man its mid being a manon player .

[@Sergio-wc1wn]

Yeah it’s very annoying, they created her to have medal levels as a mechanic but they are too afraid of medal levels to properly buff her and make her an actual good character

[@NoName-lk8ij]

The one thing I (and probably all Manon mains) wanted was for spin grab/kick to be actually useful in bypassing fireballs. That's it. That's all I ask, Geif and Lily have an answer for fireballs but Manon has to do it the old fashion way.

[@Aggrofool]

Ask Bafael for 3rd Strike stuff

[@lsthree6996]

*Marvel vs Capcom 2 enters chat*

[@Frontera117]

Mmm.... GAROU MOTW is One of The Most Balanced Games. SF3 Third Strike is surprising because is the Third SF3 version, however The game is so unbalanced

[@AlexanderMartinez-kd7cz]

4:19 Imma stop you right there. no, people don't like grimy broken stuff. what they like is the open ended systems that often lead to said grimy broken stuff when they don't get polished any further. same for balance. people don't like old games like 3rd strike because they're unbalanced. they like them because the systems are characters are more experimental, which in the old days without patches lead to unbalanced games. those games are liked despite the unbalance, not because of it.

[@Chaoskae]

People do like the broken grimy stuff bro. Hence why marvel 2 and 3 is loved. Cable breaking your guard on a switch in after a character dies in MVC2….. Unblockables, knockdown into vortex unblockables in sf4. Both can be true no need to sugar coat and down play. People love the bulshit and the systems that make games experimental. Its been about 30 years it’s ok to say that 3rd is bulshit now 😂😂

[@Tremuoso]

trying to make all the characters close enough together in power level while at the same time trying to prevent it from all becoming boring and uniform and every character playing the same has become a balancing act unto itself