I listened to it, and been watching this thing go. It all sounds more like observations to me. Well OK, so it can degenerate into poke fest at times. but is that violating some FG standard? If, so where is it? I've heard lots of "things are this way and leads to this stuff we don't like" talk over the years, but rarely is there some, concrete example of what should have been done (dictating a solution in a bottle doesn't count). I suspect because one doesn't exist, even though people almost talk like it does.
The only thing I'm really vibing with is how it sure would be nice if normals were buffered during block stun so you punish stuff without the attack equivalent of hitting a flawless block. If you only have 2 frames or so to hit a punish or enforce advantage, then you better know when that 2 frame window starts. There are so many times where the first button gets swallowed and second is a death sentence. Raiden is a good example where one of his best punishes is b12, but it's so easy to end up with b2 which is slow, easily punished, and stubby. You don't want to ever just do it, and it's the worst case fail over possible for a being a frame too early while also being the most likely way to fail. It's not just that you miss your punish, it's that you execute yourself trying to punish. That doesn't feel great, and it rewards aggression by making defense difficult.
That said, it rewards aggression by making defense difficult, and that's not totally a wrong way for a game to operate. Lots of little things let people mash right through what should make mashing a stupid idea. It lets the game still have some weight rewarding aggression in low through mid or mid-high levels where people are going to be most tempted and feel most rewarded playing that way. At high levels the idea being pro's have the timing down well enough to do what needs doing to overcome that strategy. Does that mean everyone wants that strictness and consequence in the game? No. Does that mean it's objectively wrong for it to function that way? I kind of doubt it. What if it slows the game down more in a game that some people already feel is slow and kind of boring? Is that something NRS is going to want for the entire playerbase, not just for say a few players in podcast?
When you get down to it, lots of games have aspects that are difficult. Hitting cancellation windows and dial a strings aren't that stiff in this game. It's just the after block stuff that feels ridged. A baby may be able to punish things in Tekken, but it takes a grown ass adult just to move in it. Then there is the massive knowledge burden to drops on you. Under Night feels pretty good in Neutral in the sense that the controls do what you want, but doing combos you better be ready to do stuff that is even stricter in timings than any MK11 punish; like wiffing moves at precise times and micro hesitations. Some of those suckers are super rough. A game having a difficult element isn't unheard of. Tekken isn't for babies just because they can do punishes in Tekken. I still think I'd personally dig a buffer window of some kind.
I'm definitely not a super beefy FG monster. I lose to all the dumb stuff and don't really clue in to obvious things sometimes. Yet if there is one fighting game ever that I don't feel like I lose to dumb, random stuff it's this one. When I lose I get I'm just not paying attention enough to how they are waking up. I'm losing because in my head I'm hearing "OMG they are jumping. I suck at AA's. Should I AA? I shouldn't, but what else do I do? Oh, god I just d2'ed. Oh, god I was too late to d2, Why didn't I d3? Next time I should d3. Wait, did they jump again? What do I do now? I should d2. (¬_¬)" That's why I lose in this game. Other games it's more like "WTF was all of that? 300 hours in and I didn't even know that was a thing. I don't even understand what is happening RN." One game makes defense hard by strict execution, the other is hard by filling the game with so much BS you have to get a PHD in it to know what to do. Both suck and mean you get hit a lot.
I get steam rolled all the time, so that's probably way more opinion than I have business having, but I don't do short type.
