I don't wish to discuss the quality of the stories so far (wich is more than fine in my opinion), but to point out ways to make this mode in particular a better introduction to the game itself. Story mode, as we know it, exist as a way to present us most (or just half) of the characters of the game while having some nice cuty cutscenes for the trailers and some challenge in very hard difficulty. But it could be so much more than that.
I know that this is not the real focus of a fighting game and that solo mode, for a large part of the kommunity, is just a gimmick. But I'd like to talk for most of the casual players who wish to become better at theses games when I say that the story mode is the most important thing when we first boot these new games. And in a way, it should better present us with what we would be up against in multiplayer. Not by buffing the ennemy AI but by demanding more from the player, and in this way introducing us to all the concepts that even the game's toturial doesn't cover. I'm speaking of the combos and cancels mechanics, lows and overheads, blocks and punishs, safe strats, unsafe strats, zoning, counter-zoning etcetera...
It doesn't need to become a monstruous info dump at the start of the solo mode, just a plus. For exemple :
Chapter 2 Cassie Cage (why not) : The Cuty blonde as to fight an undead Kitana who will spam a lot of fans. It would be introduced by a cinematic QTE where the player should imput the correct special moves of Cassie which would stay visible on the screen for the first fight so the player doesn't have to always check the menu screen. And while the first round begins a special objective would be displayed as : Win the fight without being hit by Kitana's projectiles (use ducking or blocking (jumping is not recommended)). If the player wins without completing this objective, the story will go on its merry way to the next fight. If s/he however succeeds, a special (and super cool) cutscene will be played as a reward and be on his/her way to unlock a special ending where Dark Raiden gets emasculated and Jacqui takes a shower or whatever. Ending wich would be even more epic if it's accomplished on the highest difficulty, without dying and all the special objectives completed.
Special objectives who should all be things like :
- Win the fight while using all the characters basic special moves at least 1 time.
- Land a 15 hit combo on the ennemy (X-Ray move authorized)
- Land a 10 hit combo on the ennemy (X-Ray move unauthorized)
- Use the EX version of your special moves multiple times.
- Land 5 low hits and 6 overheads.
- Succesfully block 5 attacks.
- Win without jumping.
- Win without blocking.
- Win without spamming. Etcetera... It would all depend of the different matchups we would have to face.
This way, the story mode would get more variety and more replayability all the while making the player more familliar with the game mechanics by the end of it.
So ? What do you guys think ? It would be kinda nice no ? Does some of you have other/better ideas ? Or just... like... F**k story mode ?
I know that this is not the real focus of a fighting game and that solo mode, for a large part of the kommunity, is just a gimmick. But I'd like to talk for most of the casual players who wish to become better at theses games when I say that the story mode is the most important thing when we first boot these new games. And in a way, it should better present us with what we would be up against in multiplayer. Not by buffing the ennemy AI but by demanding more from the player, and in this way introducing us to all the concepts that even the game's toturial doesn't cover. I'm speaking of the combos and cancels mechanics, lows and overheads, blocks and punishs, safe strats, unsafe strats, zoning, counter-zoning etcetera...
It doesn't need to become a monstruous info dump at the start of the solo mode, just a plus. For exemple :
Chapter 2 Cassie Cage (why not) : The Cuty blonde as to fight an undead Kitana who will spam a lot of fans. It would be introduced by a cinematic QTE where the player should imput the correct special moves of Cassie which would stay visible on the screen for the first fight so the player doesn't have to always check the menu screen. And while the first round begins a special objective would be displayed as : Win the fight without being hit by Kitana's projectiles (use ducking or blocking (jumping is not recommended)). If the player wins without completing this objective, the story will go on its merry way to the next fight. If s/he however succeeds, a special (and super cool) cutscene will be played as a reward and be on his/her way to unlock a special ending where Dark Raiden gets emasculated and Jacqui takes a shower or whatever. Ending wich would be even more epic if it's accomplished on the highest difficulty, without dying and all the special objectives completed.
Special objectives who should all be things like :
- Win the fight while using all the characters basic special moves at least 1 time.
- Land a 15 hit combo on the ennemy (X-Ray move authorized)
- Land a 10 hit combo on the ennemy (X-Ray move unauthorized)
- Use the EX version of your special moves multiple times.
- Land 5 low hits and 6 overheads.
- Succesfully block 5 attacks.
- Win without jumping.
- Win without blocking.
- Win without spamming. Etcetera... It would all depend of the different matchups we would have to face.
This way, the story mode would get more variety and more replayability all the while making the player more familliar with the game mechanics by the end of it.
So ? What do you guys think ? It would be kinda nice no ? Does some of you have other/better ideas ? Or just... like... F**k story mode ?
