"The first reason is that the act of figuring out frame data and sharing it within the community is fun and part of the game experience. If we released the data officially we would be undermining this experience many enjoy. The second reason is that officially releasing the data would put off new comers to the series by giving the vibe that the frame data must be studied closely for the game to be enjoyable which is not what we are aiming for."
I think Namco should not be in the business of deciding what's considered fun, and let players decide that. If you want to use frame data, fine, and if you don't want to use it, that's fine, too. But it should still be available.
I think they must, must, must be aware that this reasoning is complete and utter, plain and obnoxious, high-grade, rarefied, are-you-kidding-me bullshit. In well over two decades of playing these games, I have never heard someone say:
"I can't wait until the game drops so I can spend un-ending hours tediously setting up and repeating moves over and over again in training mode and calculating the difference between various established figures, with the few other players I know that are that dedicated to helping out their fellow player, just to measure and compare frame data so we can have a quasi-reliable understanding of how a portion of the moves of a handful of characters work. And then spending the next several years filling in the holes and aggregating the data with other players and formatting them into spreadsheets and webpages that we design ourselves in our free time. All to, at the end of the day, arrive at an imperfect understanding of something that should have been handed to us day one. I am so, so much more interested in forfeiting hours of my life to do that rather than actually playing and enjoying the game!!"
And the last bit about
"If we were to provide the data, it should be done properly with all the necessary information and explanation." is the real slap in the face. Yeah, it f---ing should, which is exactly why you are the ones best positioned to provide accurate and full representation of the relevant information, sitting as you are on the mountain of raw data for moves you designed yourself (and are ideally positioned to organize) and in possession of a game developer's/massive corporation's resources. I mean, if your consumers are capable of doing it, you are capable of doing in in a tiny fraction of the time and with a more reliable and polished product. You know, like your major competitors do today? And I promise you, not a one of us will complain about you taking away the "privilege/fun" of creating those data sheets ourselves...
And as to the casuals who you think might feel like they have to use the data? (which btw, yay--more "the game can't be too complex or intimidating" arguments; we can't get enough of those right now!!) Well that's also nonsense: few players will even know that such data exists until they've hit a level of engagement/development of their skills where they are looking to study and exploit it... And anyway, you just got done saying we all enjoy creating this content anyway...so it's going to be out there (supposedly) cowering new players anyway?
Seriously, I'm not in a habit of being this hostile to the people who make the media that I enjoy, but Namco needs to stop it with trying to forward this obviously dumb, disingenuous, horseshit explanation for why they won't provide the frame data. If they aren't willing to take the time because they don't think it's a worthwhile use of their resources they should just say that. It wouldn't get them much cred with the competitive scene, but at least it would be a more honest and reasonable explanation than them trying to insist they don't need to supply it because we, the consumers, want to do their work (indeed, very technical, complex, and time-consuming work) for them.
Don’t forget Azwel’s study. Perhaps the best stage. Also Dumas Mansion seems more likely than Ivy’s this time if we get one.
I feel fairly confident at this stage in saying that we'll get one mansion/library stage at most--and even that is looking like a long shot at this point.
