'Story Mode' For VF5?

That's an awesome twist, they should literally make this part of the story.

 

Well, I'm not gonna go into all of it, but TL;DR is that Udon took some of the basis of the SF canon and warped it the way they wanted. Personally, I'm not pleased with many of the results but that's just me.

About VF, its story is linear and perhaps dry to some but its good enough. No convulted and silly nonsense like Tekken (sorry but that shit is whack now). There is plenty of story in VF. But like, I said we don't need that and anyone who really would like the game doesn't need it either.

What VF needs is a company backing it that actually knows advertising and is willing to cater to customers outside of Japan.

No, the cartoon isn't canon. Pai liking Akira? Yuck.

There is story for VF, you just have to look around for it and its kept upon fairly well. They don't make a big deal about it because VF is about the gameplay. And I agree with them.

I mean, its a fighting game. Why are you guys expecting some deep storyline from a fighting game? Genre's always been this way, always will be.

 

Well sometimes less is more. I dunno, I'd rather the story stay the way it is than go the ridiculous path of Tekken and now Street Fighter (which can't even respect its own canon).

I suppose adding scenes and stuff like that couldn't hurt.

 

If I'm a casual player I'm more likely to buy Battlefield 1943. A game that has no story, unless you count WWII (*spoiler* America wins), and is all online gameplay.

Do gamers like stories? Yes they do. But gameplay is still the biggest selling point for most, if not all, games. Mario Kart Wii and Battlefield 1943 have no story but continue to sell like crazy. I have over 150 hours of BF1943 because I can pick up the controller, after a long day at work, and get right into the action. Even story oriented games like Heavy Rain, Valkyria Chronicles, Dragon Age, or Final Fantasy, tend to have the focal points in reviews be the actual gameplay. What is the level and character system like? How do I control my squad? How do the motion controls work? Do I need a mouse and keyboard to properly experience this game?

I'd rather have AM2 and Sega reach deep down inside like they did for VF4:EVO and really pull it together for the hardcore fans. Hands-on tutorials, thorough training modes, robust Quest Mode, top player replays, and so on. And then expand the newer features found in subsequent iterations and other FGs, frame data on replays, a PSN/XBL version of VF.Net, online multi-player, easy button config, and replay sharing and other online modes. And then take things a step further and implement things to make the game good for the community in the long term, GGPO, event mode and locked arcade mode for consoles, aftermarket support like updates and patches, new items, and other features.

The most that Sega should ever do is have some intern write the storylines, have a quick animated comic style ending movie, and then a have a graphic flash saying "you've beaten the game". Anything more than that is a total waste of time in my opinion.

 

Empnova you make alot of good points. AM2 should improve the game for Hardcore players. I would love for them to bring back alot of Evo stuff.

However, the market for Hardcore fighting game fans is in the dumps. Street Fighter and Tekken have always been popular series. All Namco Bandai honestly has to do is throw in a few new characters, improve their graphics and people will buy it. Why? It's because Tekken was the first Mainstream 3D Fighting game. Street fighter has tons of pull from the old school gamers. Both series have interesting characters with long back stories.

VF in general needs a reboot, not gameplay wise, but marketing and showing its face. A deep story is a good way to do that. Tekken mainly got me to play for a while, simply because each of the characters had a story. I beat SF4 with everyone just because I wanted to learn more about the story (That and to figure out what every character had in their arsenal).

VF just doesnt give me any incentive. I enjoy a good story as well as great game mechanics. VF has great gameplay, but it's public face is sorely lacking. Honestly, very few of the characters are appealing visually. The character customization helps but a majority of the characters just come off as bad clones (except for Goh). Oh, and the voice acting is terrible for the people that speak english.

 

^ (facepalms)

The stories for the characters in Tekken are some of the most senseless, irrelevant stuff I've ever heard. SFIV is the same.

I honestly think we're getting a lot of rose-tinted glasses opinions here, if one really sat down and read the character bios for SF, VF, and Tekken they're all roughly the same in content. Only difference is that the other two have cut scenes and such. Also the Tekken/SF characters are a bit more "out there" in terms of design but chalk that up to personal pref.

I agree with Emp, fuck the fluff and give us even moar gameplay additions. Those that really want to play VF will play VF regardless of whether Jeffry decides to fight to buy a spaceship or whatever the fuck crazy stories they drag it out with. Also lol @ saying VF's people coming off as clones. The rooster is probably the most varied gameplay-wise on the FG market.

 

Hey, you know if his goal were to buy a spaceship I would be playing more quest mode or something until he pays it off, story does matter. Especially with Jeffry involved, story can spark emotions which sparks interest; sparks people's $60 for a copy.

 

I disagree strongly.

If you look at the stories from a "how plausable is this" then yeah, they seem out of landish and soley embedded in fantasy...but that's the entire point of a video game. A vast majority of the characters are different from one another.

You're also talking about games where they project their chi in fireballs or a devil juggling an angel 50 feet in the air with a 10 hit combo.

VF could have a serious story, not the "hey I got a company, you got a company, lets throw our personal defense forces at each other. When we get tired of that, I'll throw a tournament so that we could have our personal squabble on the world's stage....and possibly get my face kicked in by anyone other than you." (See Tekken 6)

Just the inclusion of a story increases the immersion of a game, and make players feel closer to their characters. Quest mode is nice, but a story mode would be awesome to have as well.

VF is a great game with great gameplay mechanics and character customization, but that's all it has. Hardcore players love this, but to the average player, VF doesn't have anything special.

Street Fighter has over the top specials, characters and great game play.

Tekken has loads of fighters with Character Customization, a decent gameplay system.

Soul Calibur has weapons and great gameplay. Not too mention deep character customization, and a very very good story. (EVIL SOUL SUCKING SWORD?! Frostmourne? Pshhhh.)

 

Sega should start kidnapping story writers from BioWare and marketing reps from Capcom... I mean Namco gave everybody a wrap up from the very first Tekken and helped the fans make sense of the storyline. Capcom just straight up redefined what a fighting game should be, including throwing a bunch of new/returning characters in SSF4, and giving them intro stories and end videos...

I don't mind them being secretive with development to a degree, but when the fans know nothing other than whats in the promo video and can't make anything connect, its time to hit the F5 button and refresh. VF has a great fighting system, great graphics, good stages, etc. But just as people want a great system and all the other stuff I mentioned earlier, we want a good story that ties everything together.

 

VF DOES have a story. Whether or not you choose to look it up is up to you. Whether you choose to acknowledge it or not is up to you.

Lol @ saying Soul Calibur gameplay has been good since SC1 back in 2000 (the only good SC game). The customization is also irrelevant in that game since it all falls off during battle anyway.

I dunno, I personally don't care if VF doesn't appeal to the casual gamer; that's kinda part of what I like about it. Not every fighter has to appeal to Johnny Doughboy.

And Tekken's storyline is still beyond stupid. I love its gameplay but the story is negligible; and the cut scenes, while at the top of their game technical wise, have become more and more stupid over the years. I actually follow Tekken's story and is not even so much a story or plot as it is an excuse to say "I'm here". Its even more lackluster than VF's. I'm sorry but if you really think the reason casuals buy Tekken is because of its crappy story you have lost a lot of credibility.

Really the only thing they have presentation wise is the fact they include the movies and clips; Sega doesn't advertise VF's storyline. I don't mind because, you know there's a thing called an internet but I guess I can understand those that want to know outright. Its still a non-issue imo though.

 

To quote The Wire, "you are thinking short, when you should be thinking long, that's some shameful shit".

Things like story mode, ending CG sequences, and other overly casual features do nothing for VF at all. Ten years down the road no one is going to care that Jeffry finally caught the Demon Fish in VF5FS or if Kage frees his mother from J6. Just like no one cares about T6BR's Scenario Campaign anymore and that's not even a year old. And almost no one who will be playing SFIV in ten years is going to care about SSFIV's story that many years down the road.

You know what really matters ten years down the road? Netcode (GGPO!), Quest Mode (update the A.I. please), Training Mode (hand on tutorials), an arcade perfect port (this killed ST outside of Japan), ease of use for tournaments such as quick button configuration, and other features that will keep the game alive amongst the hardcore for many years.

Who cares about casual fans picking up VF for a few weeks and then selling the game back to Gamestop? I honestly don't. I don't want some crap features like Scenario Campaign that come at the cost of good online netcode or better offline features. I want VF to be made for EVO/WCG/SBO level play in mind. Features that ultimately steer people toward competitive play.

And don't throw out the "but Sega can put story mode in without sacrificing other modes". Sega couldn't even put in tutorials in VF5 for the PS3 and 360. All efforts should be focused on meaningful features for the long term.

 

Funny you say that, considering it's the lack of "fluff" (coupled with Sega shitty marketing) that prevents this series from being more popular than it should be.

 

I don't think the "fluff" or lack of it matters as much as people think, the popularity level for each fighting game series was pretty much set back when they debuted and nothing has changed and very little will change it. Also, console sales =/= strong fighting game scene. SF3:3S had laughable sales figures while also having a western community that was the envy of every fg community outside of major arcade scenes. Mortal Kombat has sales figures that rapes 3S figures, but where's the community? Tournaments?

That said, I wouldn't mind if they just went to toilet and farted together a few storylines and cutscenes, it definitely doesn't hurt anyone. It's not like guys doing cutscenes were taken away from the team doing practice mode options.

 

I hate to burst bubbles but Virtua Fighter is not Tekken and it is successful without a storyline. If Sega wants to make a story make an Anime separated form the game. However, keep the game the way it is. The game should only focus on fighting that is all. This franchise should not turn into another Tekken. That is why I left Tekken because it became stupid. The story videos are 10-30 seconds long in Tekken witch is stupid. I play to customize my characters not for stupid story mode. Players who love story mode go play Tekken and Street Fighter and you will see how meaningless it truly is. Personally the future of Virtua Fighter should focus on allowing players being themselves or bring back Virtua Quest. I miss that game.

 

Stories are very enticing for new-comers and casuals.

It wouldn't be too hard to implement. Just make an Arcade mode but put some CGI scenes inbetween IMO.

 

That's what I'm saying, the story will bring some casuals in and the kick ass fighting will keep them playing. We don't need anything ridiculous like Tekken's story but something as simple as character rivalries would make the characters a bit more memorable to those that are starting off.

 

Okay as long it is not stupid like Tekken's storyline that is all that matters. I want the Virtua Fighter franchise to out run the Tekken franchise.