Extra Punctuation: Action Is Not Finisher Porn

[TinmanX]

I feel something that should be mentioned here is how these over-the-top powerful moves/combos tie into the competitive fighting game scene, and how infrequently they are actually used. Besides MvC3, attempting to get off these sort of moves is incredibly risky and are not of great priority. Most of the time they are blocked or whiff (miss) as competitive players are so very used to avoiding them or anticipating them in the first place.

From a casual point of view (I am a casual myself), fighting games may seem like they are entirely about these super/hyper/ultra/X-ray moves. You see them in all the trailers and there is so much emphasis on them in the media. Really though, these moves form a very small part of a fighting game's actual mechanics and should be seen as merely a catchup option if someone is getting owned. A competitive player is more likely to burn their super/xray bar through enhanced attacks then leaving the whole thing for said move, mainly because it is more advantageous for them to do so. The sparring or 'footsies' of a fighting game is what a competitive player is focusing on 90% of the time. Should said 'footsies' allow them a small window of opportunity to properly place one of these special moves, then great! If you watch enough tournament videos you will know that it is THIS that entertains and awes the crowd, not the special move itself. This is because at the competitive level, successfully getting off one of these moves is not easy. It is incredibly hard.

I guess what I am trying to say is that people are probably looking at these moves the wrong way and thinking of them in the wrong light. Yes, for the casual beating up his friend who doesn't know how to block these moves can get boring and probably pull the action away for both of them. But for two people who are actually fighting competitively, getting these moves off are significant, difficult and highly entertaining.

Example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDnaTmGHb1g&t=10m10s

Also, fatalities are nothing more than glorified finishing moves. You don't have to do them. Anyone complaining about how they are forcing unnecessary gore porn down your throat is just silly.

 

[spaceman_jan]

i dont either
i think that games are amazing

 

[subfield]

I want to agree with you but this argument is kind of flimsy. A repeatable mechanic or animation is OK so long as it doesn't overshadow the gameplay, even if is very long. Example: Knights of the round in FFVII. You acquire it late in the game, it is used repeatably, but it doesn't take over the game, because it is isn't forced on the player.

If the game is varied enough, this issue is basically moot. For a fighter, or a platformer, where the gameplay is very one-dimensional, it becomes much more important.

 

[havass]

As with almost everyone here, I have to admit the Arkham Asylum fighting engine is the best I've seen. The things they let you do with a two button system really made you felt like Batman. In most games having more than 10 enemies should make you wary, but not in AA. The combat really flows.
In fact at the last bit where you walk through a corridor filled with goons who weren't gonna attack you, I punched one in the face just because there were like over 20 in the room and I wanted to rack up a combo. THIS is how a fighting engine should feel like, not breaking up the action with unskippable cutscenes. Assassin's Creed Brotherhood had a pretty good one down too. It had execution scenes which could be stopped if someone else was attacking.

 

[jakefongloo]

I'd say Ninja Gaiden II also has a very good fast paced combat, sure it's hard as hell but the system is very fast paced because the finishing moves happen in a flash, nice and quick, you know, like a ninja should be... I guess it gets its porn aspects in in other ways though

Damnit Ninja'd....oh i get it

But seriously, when you quickly look for the guy missing an arm and hit Y (or triangle i would assume). The animation is somewhere between 2-5 seconds long it gives a nice break considering your invulnerable while you do it and it out right kills the guy but the action never breaks because the exact second it is over all the guys waiting will jump your ass so you have to be ready to dodge, jump, slash, kick, and generally be a bamf until its over. Especially when on the harder difficulties you're begging for them because you need a breather.

 

[tzimize]

Or look at Batman: Arkham Asylum, it's got one of the best fighting engines I've ever seen in a game and it doesn't really do elaborate finishers at all, it just flows incredibly well. Punch flows to kick flows to counter flows back to punch.

Fuck..Yeah. That game truly had flow, and all it required was "Tilt analogue-stick in direction of asskickery, press X to kick ass, press Y to wtfpwn, then X to kick ass again".
Never seen a game that let you do so many different things with just two buttons, and never, ever broke flow. God how I loved to jump into a fight with ten different thugs and just see how long I could keep my combos up. You really felt like Batman when you managed to take them all down, no hits taken.

Agreed. And it never got old either, probably because large enemy groups were few and far between. I still remember the big grin crawling into my face whenever I spotted such a group

Ah man. I cant wait for Arkham City.

 

[zeldagirl]

I enjoyed the broth metaphor as much as Yahtzee. Nicely done. Hell, the whole thing was spot on and hilarious, with salient points, as well. Arkham Asylum had amazing flow. Never have been a huge fan of MK, for the gore reason, but this review has me even less inclined to even try it (as I have in the past).

 

[ChupathingyX]

But...they're optional.

You don't have to use x-ray attacks, you can still win without them. They also provide an opportunity to take a quick breather and think of your next attack.

Also fatalities are also optional finishers, if you don't want to use them then don't, just smack your opponent and you're done.

 

[Fullmetalfox]

Capcom got it right. Ultra moves in SSFIV are 3 or 4 seconds long. That's enough time to make a spectacle without breaking the action flow.

The X-ray last about 4 seconds. The longest 6. The second Ryu ultra take 6 seconds (I'm not a crazy guy with an chronometer, I see this things on the youtube, if you wanna know). In fact, the close up "fist met chin" in this ultra it's an obvious inspiration to the MK X-Ray moves. Borderline, X-Ray are ultra movies with dark humor.

WoW! you are right! I just checked youtube and Ryu's ultra is 6 seconds long! I've done it hundreds of times and it never felt that long. Anyway, I haven't played the new MK yet so I dunno how long most of them are but Yahtzee makes it sound like they take an eternity. The ones I saw on youtube where 3 to 5 secs long, that's not too bad. I think he just finds it annoying because he doesn't like fighting games.

VATS in Fallout 3 gets really old really fast tough.

 

[putowtin]

finishing movies via QTE that lead to annoying unskippable cut-scenes that are repeated 50+ times throughout the game make me angry!

And you wouldn't like me when I'm angry!

 

[Robyrt]

These little finishing moves provide a valuable break in the action. In God of War, they have tactical relevance too, as you gain a brief moment of invulnerability for pulling one off.

Granted, after the hundredth time, you are ready to stop jamming your blade down a minotaur's throat and just stab him somewhere else and be done with it - but this is simply an issue of having too few animations, not an indictment of the concept.

 

[DTWolfwood]

a point of note, the GOW finishers are a god send when doing them challenge levels or when you are low health. As doing them makes you invincible and grants a reprieve from certain death by mobbing. So call it what you will, i've always saw then as a good way to take a breather and nothing more.

MK9 is a pretty sad game in that i've watched a lot of competitive fighting games and this is the one new game that i'm still pretty damn bored watching. most of the pro players don't even bother with fatalities when they win. Sets can go on without ever seeing an X-ray move.

I'm still more willing to watch SSF4 than MK9

surprised Yahtzee didn't mention MVC3 as that whole game is finisher porn, every move is flashy and the supers are all flashy!

 

[YodaUnleashed]

Just finished re-playing Batman Arkham Asylum and I hadn't appreciated the first time I'd played the game how incredibly good and fun the hand-to-hand combat was; it just flows perfectly (if you're button pressing is perfect that is) and taking out a group of thugs in one swift and flowing combo with no misses is very satisfying.

 

[toto230]

In my opinion, Fable 2 and Fallout 3 are guilty of this, as well. The VATS kill-cam in FO3 is particularly annoying.

I was thinking that. At least in New Vegas you can turn the kill-cam off. And VATS is optional, I really only use it when I'm low on ammo or getting my ass handed to me(you take less damage while vats is playing out).

See I was the opposite. I always used VATS and would very rarely actually shoot.

 

[Drew Linsley]

Personally its just a catchy way to draw people in to a long drawn out series before they decide to bring in another franchise to beat eachother up etc. its an interesting mechanic but when you continually see it... isnt it a bit disturbing that you would get used to the fact that it be becomes boring, if not normal? becoming de-sensitized to it? just a thought.

 

[skyfire_freckles]

I wish I could remember which game this was; maybe I dreamed it? But in this game, as you advanced in level you would gain abilities, many of which would have a finishing move if you happened to kill an enemy with it. The higher level you were, the cooler these moves would be. The best thing was, though, the first time you did it, it slowed down and centered and focused on what you'd done, but every other time you did it, it was just part of the flow of the game.

 

[Mangue Surfer]

Personally its just a catchy way to draw people in to a long drawn out series before they decide to bring in another franchise to beat eachother up etc. its an interesting mechanic but when you continually see it... isnt it a bit disturbing that you would get used to the fact that it be becomes boring, if not normal? becoming de-sensitized to it? just a thought.

Dude, in my point of view, there's nothing to sensitize in the first place. The gore is so over the top is so impossible to take it seriously. It's Bugs Bunny level of violence. I grew watching the Woody Woodpecker show reruns and I thinking this is more disturbed than MK9. Maybe this is the real problem, Bugs Bunny, Tom and Jerry and Woody Woodpecker de-sensitized generations. But now this is about to end with Twilight and with its vampires that avoid drink blood philosophy.

 

[Drew Linsley]

Thats a very valid point im not proud of many things going on in todays media market. some days i wish i was born a bit earlier. and yeah i love all of the classic violence, but that wasnt gore in truth. I guess my view of the the "gore" in MK is that its un-necessary and its just another gimmick as my main point.