Sharing some thoughts...
As you all know, video games evolve and new versions are released every year (or two or more, it depends on the franchise...)
As you know, to be good at any complex game like soul calibur requires a combination of two trainings:
1/ general fighting game mechanics such as spacing and others
2/ game specific things: what are the frame traps, what is safe/unsafe/to punish, character combos, ...
I played SC4 competitively and did alright. I invested a lot of hours learning it, and while I didn't have very good reflexes or execution (got hit by lots of 'slow' lows for example), I was able to destroy absolutely anyone who hadn't trained in the game. I just knew all the tricks. And do OK to good against trained players who had trained but weren't the very top in my community (say, people just outside the top 10).
Then SC5 was released. All 90% of what I knew... Wasn't valid anymore. Different frames, new characters, old characters gone, different mechanics, etc. And I realized I had spent 2-3 years learning something that was just gonna totally vanish.
I thought about other games or activities that I had learned. I learned tennis, it will always be useless. Or math, chess, jiu jitsu, etc. If I pick up a tennis racket today, it will still be the same game I learned, and within a couple weeks of getting used to it, I'll do good again...
But a video game disappears in just a couple years, and while some things are transferrable, a lot are totally lost.
What are your thoughts on the ephemeral nature of playing any video game competitively? Were you frustrated if you trained in a previous game and then had most of your knowledge become useless?
As you all know, video games evolve and new versions are released every year (or two or more, it depends on the franchise...)
As you know, to be good at any complex game like soul calibur requires a combination of two trainings:
1/ general fighting game mechanics such as spacing and others
2/ game specific things: what are the frame traps, what is safe/unsafe/to punish, character combos, ...
I played SC4 competitively and did alright. I invested a lot of hours learning it, and while I didn't have very good reflexes or execution (got hit by lots of 'slow' lows for example), I was able to destroy absolutely anyone who hadn't trained in the game. I just knew all the tricks. And do OK to good against trained players who had trained but weren't the very top in my community (say, people just outside the top 10).
Then SC5 was released. All 90% of what I knew... Wasn't valid anymore. Different frames, new characters, old characters gone, different mechanics, etc. And I realized I had spent 2-3 years learning something that was just gonna totally vanish.
I thought about other games or activities that I had learned. I learned tennis, it will always be useless. Or math, chess, jiu jitsu, etc. If I pick up a tennis racket today, it will still be the same game I learned, and within a couple weeks of getting used to it, I'll do good again...
But a video game disappears in just a couple years, and while some things are transferrable, a lot are totally lost.
What are your thoughts on the ephemeral nature of playing any video game competitively? Were you frustrated if you trained in a previous game and then had most of your knowledge become useless?