See, I thought a lot of that too, but most of the positive comments I see are coming from F-Champ and JWong and one or two other EXTREME Marvel heads. Which is great, but I wonder about the sincerity there in all honesty. ChrisG for instance dislikes the game intensely. Like, borderline hates it. He thinks its super unbalanced and fairly trash tier. I dont go that far, but he has some very good points - a lot of other pros are on his side of the matter as well. The game seems very divisive. I'm not personally on either side, but more willing to look and listen to both arguments, while sitting back and letting it play out to see what actually comes of things.
I know the game is supposed to be fun, but I guess I don't entirely see it yet. At the higher levels of play, yeah.. I guess, but down in the dregs and in the middle, its a HUGE mashfest with reality stone being said so much, I hear it echoing in my brain whenever its quiet. I mean, the games I played were FUN, but the first game was essentially identical to the 30th and the 50th. Again, that's a symptom of the lower ranks, but watching Chris and other good players play, outside of the ABSOLUTE top top players, the game doesn't look much different.. More real combos and fewer auto combo mashing, but its the same teams, the same strategy (just executed better and for more damage when it works), stones and everything else. I know, I know, we should ONLY LOOK AT TOP PLAY.. but.. no. We shouldnt. 99.9% of us will never be there - ever - so to me, a game needs to hold together well in the middle and upper ranks, not just the absolute top, because I have a chance to perform in the middle and upper ranks.
I wonder about the game's lifespan, I guess it depends on what you mean by that.. Its public lifespan is close to over already - honestly. Im not saying that out of hate, it really is. You cant get a game on PC at all hardly, and given the terrible sales Ive already seen complaints cropping up about getting games on PS4 outside of peak hours, playing the same guy over and over because almost no one is in matchmaking. Now, its private lifespan - maybe. By private I mean the small core of dedicated guys who obsess and carry the game along... Like UMvC3, for all the mouth running people most people never played the thing, or barely played it, but it survived due to an ultra hardcore knot of players who just KEPT playing. It also had/has unlimited depth and batshittery of course. Now, Capcom can force the game to 'live' through large pot bonuses and tournaments with large audiences, because that will attract sponsors, and that will attract a few players, but even then there is a kind of minimum level of solvency required.. If tournament numbers disappear outside of people just goofing off (hur dur Im heer so ill playe this gayme!) or this small group of the same handful of players.. it will become a problem. Capcom has given SFV life support because of all it had committed to SFV, but I dont think they see MvCI in the same way, so if they cant shill for costume sales, I dont see it lasting outside the ultra hardcore, which is nice and all, but you get a Skullgirls scenario where anyone interested in learning the game has to search like hell for someone to play with and then everyone you play isnt just good, they are top 32 good, making the learning process obnoxious.,
Obviously I'm jumping to a lot of conclusions and making assumptions, and all Im really meaning to do is talk out loud through possibilities.
I WANT the game to do well. I WANT it to be awesome and I WANT the meta to develop, cause right now, its already completely stagnant. That may come in the form of new tech or the entire world playing and building to counter whats out there so it forcibly changes, or it may be that Capcom needs to make changes - and Im not even talking about balance in the strictest sense here - but changes, to move things along.
