Virtua Fighter 6: Hopes and Dreams Edition

[crackdude]

Basically this. But even sexier.

[MadeManG74]

I want:

*Two new characters - As per VF tradition. Not fussed on their styles/personality, but Siba returning would be nice.

*Full return of the current cast - As per VF tradition. The characters they have now are all great additions, I don't think there's any need to drop any of them

*Continued/Improved customisation system - It's so much better than DLC costumes, and it's just a fantastic way of personalising the game. You can recognise players by their outfits and it adds some personal touches to the game.

*Shorter Combos - VF has the easiest execution of pretty much any fighter I can think of, but I wouldn't mind seeing the combos be a bit shorter. They are already shorter than most games (look at the juggle fest that is Tekken, or the tediously long HD combos in KoF), but I feel like it couldn't hurt much to go back to the VF3/VF4 shorter juggles. Damage is fine, and I love the weight class system.

*Remove the Taco Stages - I don't think anyone really likes these (Lion & Lei Fei stage in VF5:FS). Too cramped, too many wall combos. They aren't 'bad' but I think people like these the least of all.

*PC Port - Self Explanatory

*More music options - The selectable soundtracks was GOD LIKE. I would love to see them do even more, and let us assign different songs to each stage (EG Akira VF2 theme, but Sarah gets her VF5R theme), more songs (VF4Evo etc) and even a random play option.

*Keep 'lazy throw escape' - This is controversial, but I think it's better than 'multiple throw escape', and fits the creed of VF as being 'low execution barrier with a high skill ceiling'.

[Sharky]

On top of what Mademan said, even better character animations. VF5 is a pleasure to watch in motion because of the great animations but I think it could go further.

[George]

Everything that Mademan said plus:

* A huge improvement on its online system, when Virtua Fighter 5 came out they put a lot of effort to its online system due to SEGA Link or whatever the arcade online network they had was called. Issue is online competitive gaming has improved and doing more is now possible due to framework already built. Ill get more into some things it should do online at least.
* VF.NET should be a player service where you can go to login your VF account (Arcade/Consoles/PC) uniting players of all 'platforms'. Here you can check player's score cards, their mains, see replays of their last 10 matches, see his 'saved replays matches' that he is showcasing, detailed reports on his fighting style (percentages of high attacks, low etc) basically giving you the ability to study your opponent, like a MMA fighter would study for a fight. Also have a app for mobile viewing and usage.
* Virtua Fighter 6 should have a paid copy that comes with everything and a free-to-play version that only has online, no unlockables, no customizing, no arcade mode, no practice, and your VF.NET account doesn't have functions like the paid version. Also you can only pick 5 characters that rotate weekly (5 different characters each week). This would allow new players to try and get addicted, then buy the game and paid players have more online opponents.
* Every gameplay improvement is free for all users. This way everyone can play online and the community isn't fragmented. Doing a box re-release with a different subtittle is fine, but the update's gameplay changes should be free to all. Of course SEGA can do item packs and charge for new characters at a decent price for the rest of us first buyers, I think it would work out best for everyone.
* More character intros, make everyone talk in their native language and have small character alternative intros (like have a Pai and Lau have interaction revolving their character's stories). I think its about time this happened, should have been in 5 really.
* Highly competitive ranked game system where you have to pass a internet test (to get the best possible connection these games) where you will have the ability to go up the world's rank. VF.NET will let ranked players play console vs PC vs arcade matches and rank one person #1. I think that would be an amazing feat in fighting game history honestly. I can see it getting really competitive and be great marketing for the game.
*Loads more unlockables including all the ones they had in 5 (if their easy enough to port the models over) and customization items.
* VF profile transferable to any version (arcade to console, etc).

Basically VF6 should be united and focus on being a online competitive fighter with as big of a online userbase as possible.

[Pao]

* Virtua Fighter 6 should have a paid copy that comes with everything and a free-to-play version that only has online, no unlockables, no customizing, no arcade mode, no practice, and your VF.NET account doesn't have functions like the paid version. Also you can only pick 5 characters that rotate weekly (5 different characters each week). This would allow new players to try and get addicted, then buy the game and paid players have more online opponents. 

I think this might devalue the game in many people's eyes.  Best course of action would be for the game to come out first as a full-priced game... Then Two/Three years down the road, a F2P version is released.

[George]

I think one of the issues with Virtua Fighter online has always been the lack of diversity in players, also the fact that the audience keeps shrinking. I don't think it will devalue anything, look at the highest grossing competitive games: Dota2, League of Legends and Counter-Strike: Source. Most are free and/or very cheap.

Sorry but the sales of Virtua Fighter 5 already showed how bad a the game will do by thinking about 'how to make every penny possible', look at how badly the audience shrunk from 4. Its a new market and you can't continue doing the same old things and expect your audience to grow.

[Pao]

Pretty sure DotA and LoL only have free versions, so I'm not sure how it relates here. If both a full-priced release and a F2P version are released at the same time, the F2P version will cannibalize the priced full-game's sales. As people who are on the fence would likely just play free, casual matches online rather than fork up $60 for the full game.

Like I said, the best approach would be to delay the release of a F2P version until a year or two have passed. This way, you will ensure that the online player base doesn't die down after years have passed, and you don't cannibalize the sales if the main-game.

[George]

They do only have free versions, but how does free devalue a game? League of Legend makes more money than Virtua Fighter ever did and its only been around since 2008. It made almost a billion in 2014. How will a free version devalue the game?

[Pao]

They do only have free versions, but how does free devalue a game? League of Legend makes more money than Virtua Fighter ever did and its only been around since 2008. It made almost a billion in 2014. How will a free version devalue the game?

It devalues it's full-priced counterpart.  And I explained why above.

[George]

But the full game gives you all the modes, all the customizable content, and lets you fight against more opponents. I think this is more of you thinking like the corporations again. It doesn't devalue the game because if you want all the characters you where going to pay for the full package with all the customization and stuff...

I would say the F2P version is like a online portion only of the game.

[Pao]

Well, I don't want to derail this thread any further. But I will say that there are a lot of people who are just interested in casual matches, simple pick up 'n play gaming. If they are given the choice between a free, fully functional version with less characters and one mode VS a $60 game with full content, I believe they would go with the former.  However, if there was only a full-priced version, there will be a bigger incentive to buy the game.

I can put myself in the shoes of such person... Because I had an interest in Driveclub and I thought about buying it, but after trying the PS+ ver. (Which is free, with a lot less content).  I decided against that purchase, not because the game is bad, but because the PS+ version fulfills my needs of casual online racing. I don't really care THAT much about the rest of the tracks or the vehicles, so the free version will do just fine.  I believe had the PS+ version launched alongside the full-game, it would have definitely hurt the sales.

[George]

So you mean people that like free stuff will get free stuff? You know why people don't invest time into VF? Because they think there isn't a community around it world wide and its partly true. This is literally the stereotype of VF:

I think its a issue that SEGA has to remedy or we can continue to be stubborn and scared of new ideas that will make the game more popular... which seems that fanbase doesn't want. Hey, if you think going down the same path as VF5 will make VF6 more popular, than go for it, but the decline of players, sales and income is plain as day.

[Team Andromeda]

VF 6 has to be like VF 3 and mark a big change for the series. VF 5 was lovely and all that, but in many ways it was a step backwards from VF 4 Evo if if Eillen is the most perfectly modeled character ever 


I like to see multi layared and interactive environments brought in and where the weather cond always affect the aera if they are wet or snowing and more than that I like to see VF 6 running new powerful board even if just using a PS4


For the home version I liked to see a On-Line leader board players being able to uplaod and save replays and the tranning mode of VF 4 Evo brought back in and explanded on .

[crackdude]

You know why VF2 was bomb? Because it is the perfect chill game. VF6 needs some sort of online lounge mode with fast matchmaking and variant gameplay styles, with a separate ranking system, all focused on fun, chilling, and having a good time.

[MadeManG74]

George and I have talked about the F2P method for a while now, I think we both agree it could work if done right.
I would love to see it free with a rotating cast of characters, and you can grind away or use micro transactions to buy costume parts and can purchase individual characters. It NEEDS to have an option to pay $39.99 or something to unlock EVERYTHING though, so the hardcore players can do that and Sega can try to net micro transactions from newbies who want to dip their toes.

On top of what Mademan said, even better character animations. VF5 is a pleasure to watch in motion because of the great animations but I think it could go further.

They already re-animated a LOT of moves for Final Showdown. I imagine they would have a lot of new animations for the next game too, which would be lovely.

Fun Fact: Jeffry and Wolf both have the exact same animation for their 3+K+G move.

* Every gameplay improvement is free for all users. This way everyone can play online and the community isn't fragmented. Doing a box re-release with a different subtittle is fine, but the update's gameplay changes should be free to all. Of course SEGA can do item packs and charge for new characters at a decent price for the rest of us first buyers, I think it would work out best for everyone.

I would like to point out that Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown has had less patches in it's entire lifetime than Mortal Kombat X has had since launch. And the only patch FS had was to allow players to skip the timer in the lobby matches. And it's still far, far more balanced than MKX will ever be.

I also like what George said about the online system being enhanced with VF.Net. I think it already can be linked to a twitter account, it would be amazing to have it like 3rd Strike OE where you can upload replays directly to youtube etc.

VF 6 has to be like VF 3 and mark a big change for the series. VF 5 was lovely and all that, but in many ways it was a step backwards from VF 4 Evo if if Eillen is the most perfectly modeled character ever 

I like to see multi layared and interactive environments brought in and where the weather cond always affect the aera if they are wet or snowing and more than that I like to see VF 6 running new powerful board even if just using a PS4

For the home version I liked to see a On-Line leader board players being able to uplaod and save replays and the tranning mode of VF 4 Evo brought back in and explanded on .

I have to disagree with you on a few points. I think that the multi-layered arenas were interesting, but they were removed for a reason. It made the game awfully hard to balance, if you watch tournament matches of VF3, towards the end of the game's life most people only played on select stages since many were unbalanced to 1p or 2p side thanks to the elevation.

I think it doesn't add anything meaningful enough to the game to try again.

Interactive stages I'm not a fan of either. Again it is kind of asymmetrical and can benefit one side of the screen, which I really don't like. Walls/Low Walls/Ring Out is interactive already, with different combos/damage and ring-out opportunities available for all of them. What did you have in mind?

Weather effects are kinda in VF5 already. Water splashing on Lau's stage, snow and sand being displaced on the ground and if you end up in the water for a ring out, the next stage the players are actually wet. Nice little touches. I would like to see more stage variations like we saw in VF3 (EG, Day and Night version, sunny and rainy version etc).

I agree 100% on the training mode revamp. The VF4 training mode is still one of the most talked about features of that game.

You know why VF2 was bomb? Because it is the perfect chill game. VF6 needs some sort of online lounge mode with fast matchmaking and variant gameplay styles, with a separate ranking system, all focused on fun, chilling, and having a good time.

I feel like it was more the fact that it was a technical marvel and supremely playable and competitive than chill, but I think the casual aspect is a big part of it too. Would be great for them to reintroduce some crazy modes and have a silly casual online hub for Hyper Mode and Sumo Wrestling Mode etc.

Finally,they should put Season 1 of Virtua Fighter Anime onto the disc and call that the 'Story Mode'.