So the purpose of this thread is to take another look at some common myths about fighting game patching. For the purposes of 'modern' game comparison, we'll be taking a look at the newest iteration of the community's currently most popular fighting game: Ultra Street Fighter 4.
Note: I'm not going to make this comparison to SF4's original version, as it's now numerous years later and patching philosophy/community interest are a bit different. So I'm taking the most current version, in Ultra.
For anyone who isn't already familiar, Street Fighter 4 was originally released in 2008 in arcades, and 2009 on console. SF4 Ultra is the 4th major update to the game, following Super Street Fighter IV, Super Street Fighter IV Arcade edition, and Super Street Fighter Arcade Edition: 2012.
So to put this in perspective, that means these pacthes we're talking about are being made to a roughly 6-7 year-old core game with incremental system and character updates.
The story of Ultra so far:
-April 2014: Arcade release in Japan - initial version
-June 2014 (Two months later): Patch coinciding with the release of the console 'Ultra' upgrade, featuring an additional list of changes to a large portion of the cast
So just to pause here -- remember that this version of the game (Ultra) was released in Arcade, was extensively tested in arcades before coming to home systems, and then was further rebalanced across the cast two months later to coincide with the next release.
-August 2014: Bug-fix release. According to Capcom, this release was mainly to fix things that were not working as intended in the game system. This did not just mean 'infinites and game-breaking bugs'; it also meant many minor changes to a big group of characters, some with differences as small as a frame. Basically, everything that wasn't working as the developers had wanted it to work. In addition, there were some unlisted 'stealth changes' to members of the cast, like the charge time on Decapre's Ultra 2, changes to Rolento, etc.
Characters affected included: Blanka, Vega, M. Bison, El Fuerte, Seth, Fei Long, Hakan, Juri, Yang, E. Ryu, Poison, Rolento, Hugo, Decapre
-October 2014: Ultra Patch 1.03. Balance changes and fixes across another chunk of the cast.
Characters affected: Decapre, Rolento, Abel, Chun-Li, Cody, Dhalism, Dudley, E. Honda, Fei Long, Rose, Sagat, Seth, Vega, Yun
-December 2014: Ultra Patch 1.04. Sweeping balances changes across much of the cast.
Characters affected: Pretty much the entire cast of SF4.
Points to take away:
Not to mention there are different strategies that are valid: you can patch some characters at one time, then more characters at another time, giving people a chance to adjust to the changes (like League of Legends) -- or you can save all the changes and change much of the cast all at once, leading to bigger ripple effects. You can use both strategies, at different times. There are multiple ways to do it, and no one way is 'the right way'.
As we move forward into MKX, hopefully people will consider all the factors and just keep their minds open. It'd be great to accept the fact that patches will happen, and just roll with them and adjust as need be, rather than vilifying and flaming the game dev for making changes to their game as they see fit.
In any case, I'm posting this to open some more realistic discussion about the matter -- feel free to post and let everyone know what you think!
Note: I'm not going to make this comparison to SF4's original version, as it's now numerous years later and patching philosophy/community interest are a bit different. So I'm taking the most current version, in Ultra.
For anyone who isn't already familiar, Street Fighter 4 was originally released in 2008 in arcades, and 2009 on console. SF4 Ultra is the 4th major update to the game, following Super Street Fighter IV, Super Street Fighter IV Arcade edition, and Super Street Fighter Arcade Edition: 2012.
So to put this in perspective, that means these pacthes we're talking about are being made to a roughly 6-7 year-old core game with incremental system and character updates.
The story of Ultra so far:
-April 2014: Arcade release in Japan - initial version
-June 2014 (Two months later): Patch coinciding with the release of the console 'Ultra' upgrade, featuring an additional list of changes to a large portion of the cast
So just to pause here -- remember that this version of the game (Ultra) was released in Arcade, was extensively tested in arcades before coming to home systems, and then was further rebalanced across the cast two months later to coincide with the next release.
-August 2014: Bug-fix release. According to Capcom, this release was mainly to fix things that were not working as intended in the game system. This did not just mean 'infinites and game-breaking bugs'; it also meant many minor changes to a big group of characters, some with differences as small as a frame. Basically, everything that wasn't working as the developers had wanted it to work. In addition, there were some unlisted 'stealth changes' to members of the cast, like the charge time on Decapre's Ultra 2, changes to Rolento, etc.
Characters affected included: Blanka, Vega, M. Bison, El Fuerte, Seth, Fei Long, Hakan, Juri, Yang, E. Ryu, Poison, Rolento, Hugo, Decapre
-October 2014: Ultra Patch 1.03. Balance changes and fixes across another chunk of the cast.
Characters affected: Decapre, Rolento, Abel, Chun-Li, Cody, Dhalism, Dudley, E. Honda, Fei Long, Rose, Sagat, Seth, Vega, Yun
-December 2014: Ultra Patch 1.04. Sweeping balances changes across much of the cast.
Characters affected: Pretty much the entire cast of SF4.
Points to take away:
- The original move to the Ultra version from SF4:AE 2012 was released in Arcade -- which allowed them to test it extensively for a couple of months prior to releasing on console
- By the time the game came to console two months later, they had already accumulated a significant list of new balance changes and fixes, which they made in June, and people were able to start adjusting to before EVO
- When added together, during 2014 Capcom made 4-5 updates to SF IV within a year's time (Ultra, Ultra 1.01, Bugfix patch, 1.03 and 1.04)
- They made these updates to a game that, at the core, is 6-7 years old
- They did not just patch infinites and game-destroying bugs; they also fixed tons of minor things that weren't working as they had intended them to work, and made various balance adjustments
- They fixed many things because they *needed to be fixed* given that things weren't perfect at release. Which is why it's impossible to pre-determine when a patch needs to be made.
- This goes to show that, even with a game engine that at the core is several years old, introducing some new mechanics and characters is still hard to perfect on the first shot.
- Also, Capcom is willing to take back some changes they've made in previous patches and correct some of their own mistakes
- A brand new game, with mostly new movesets, movement and fighting mechanics
- Has no prior arcade release and no extensive open testing
- Has a cast with a huge chunk of brand new franchise characters
- Has a relatively new engine, with different gameplay mechanics than the previous iterations, and is jumping to a new console generation
- Has multiple variations of each character with different moves, and in some cases, strings and frame data
Not to mention there are different strategies that are valid: you can patch some characters at one time, then more characters at another time, giving people a chance to adjust to the changes (like League of Legends) -- or you can save all the changes and change much of the cast all at once, leading to bigger ripple effects. You can use both strategies, at different times. There are multiple ways to do it, and no one way is 'the right way'.
As we move forward into MKX, hopefully people will consider all the factors and just keep their minds open. It'd be great to accept the fact that patches will happen, and just roll with them and adjust as need be, rather than vilifying and flaming the game dev for making changes to their game as they see fit.
In any case, I'm posting this to open some more realistic discussion about the matter -- feel free to post and let everyone know what you think!
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