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What current fighting game is best to get into after playing Fantasy Strike?

General Discussion
#1

It’s no secret that Fantasy Strike is designed to be accessible to people who are new to fighting games, removing barriers such as complicated input motions to let less experience players develop fundamental skills more easily. My question is which game (out of those which currently boast a dedicated competitive scene) do these skills best transition to? To me the obvious answer seems to eb Street Fighter, since many of the moves in Fantasy Strike act as direct parallels to the ones in that series, but I don’t follow the competitive scene outside of Smash that much to be able to say that with any sort of certainty.

What do you guys think players new to fighting games should pick up after learning Fantasy Strike?

#2

Besides Divekick, Mortal Kombat is a little easier than most other fighting games.

Injustice also is similar to MK, even though it is a little less fun (for most at least), it has back to block just like Fantasy Strike.

Besides them, Fantasy Strike took a lot of inspiration from Street Fighter 2, so the Street Fighter franchise is also a good pick.

Rising Thunder would have almost certantly be the best pick though, but RIP.

#3

Pocket Rumble also has an extremely simplified control scheme, but it’s so damn fast (to me, who has almost never played fighting games) that I quickly lost enthusiasm for it.

3 Likes
#4

Hmm, I see your points, though Im not super happy about them since I’ve heard loads of disappointment from people who play the games you mentioned. I really wanna join the fgc, but my timing seems to be very unfortunate, because I’ve heard loads of complaints from series fans who play those games.

Street Fighter V is wildly unbalanced and has only barebone features; Injustice controls stiffly and has a way too big buffer window; Mortal Kombat… Yeah okay, I’ll admit that my issues with MK are mostly me disliking the idda of having to press a button to block, but nonetheless, I don’t think I’m imagining things when I say that a lot of the big fighting game series’ are at some fairly low points right now.

It’s not just the ones you discussed either, I’ve heard all about how Pokken requires you to buy a seperate controller that is always low in stock, expensive and only works on that one game or how awful KoF XIV looks etc. Etc. Even Marvel vs. Capcom, one of the most hyped fighting game series’ of our time just had a new installment released yesterday and its already received a widely “meh” response, sitting at an unimpressive 6/10 average score on steam. I don’t know if I’m just hearing the wrong things, but it seems like most of the current fighting games are not all that favored with players and that makes them a lot less appealing to me.

Of course, it’s not like there aren’t any bright spots. Probably the best example is Arc System Works, who seem to be on fire right now with their smart handling of Guilty Gear Xrd Revelator and its expansion, the great reception from beta testers of their new Dragonball game and the incredible hype being generated over their upcoming crossover game. These guys seem to be putting lots of smiles on the fgc’s collective faces and they deserve recognition for that, but their games are very daunting for a noob like me. All their franchises have a reputation for being highly complex and after watching a little gameplay it isnt hard to see why. According to Core-A-Gaming, Guilty Gear takes MONTHS of training to play with intentionality. That’s a little scary for someone’s first attempt at going competitive with a fighting game (outside of smash, in my case) but with the much less positive buzz so many of the other fighters of today seem to be getting, I kind of end up being turned off by then too so idk where to go from here.

Sorry for all the rambling.

#5

To be honest I completely agree with you, besides the block button I mean.

I’m a NRS player, but I dislike Injustice 2 myself (which is why I’m so happy FS came around).

SFV toned down his slow footsies based game and defensive options in favor of a more NRS-style aggressive fighting game; probably because MKX sold very nicely.

Talking games with positive reviews though, Killer Instinct is a game I’ve heard very good things about, and it should be easier than SF. I’ve also heard it’s dead though, but they are trying to revive it as a free to play on Steam. It should be out shorty, and I’ll personally try it then.

Finally there’s Tekken 7, which from what I’ve heard is the best NEW fighting game at the moment. But it’s 3D, so it’s very different from FS.

#6

ot sure if you mean the Hori pad, but I’ve bought one just fine a few months ago, and it works fine as a USB controller and can be used for Switch games that don’t require an analog stick.
As it happens, I’m using mine for Fantasy Strike. :smiley:

2 Likes
#7

I would suggest not listening to the complaints of people who are already invested.
The spoilt brats of a rich man’s household will complain about the temperature of the bathwater.
As tokido said at evo (pro SF player at the biggest open tournament in the world) "fighting games are great"
Ignore the salt and moaning and open yourself to the pure unbridled joy that is playing some of the best games ever made.
Whatever else SFV may be, it is still, undeniably, street fighter, and Street fighter is great. It will take a while before you actually get to the anti-fun part, so enjoy the journey.
This is true for other fighting games by the way, but I would strongly urge you to go with Street fighter first. As a game series, it is not just a national treasure…but a wonder of the world.

3 Likes
#8

Really? I clearly remember seeing a statememnt from Nintendo saying the Pokken controller was going to work only with Pokken. I guess that’s just what I get for trusting Nintendo though

#9

Maybe it was the only game it worked with on the WiiU? I think the console didn’t support “generic USB controller” for use in all games.
I can definitly confirm it works with Fantasy Strike. I haven’t tried it on the Switch yet (despite buying it for that purpse^^), but reddit clearly says it works (only in docked mode, naturally).

Just to be clear, I am talking about this thing:

1 Like
#10

I can’t agree more with Ergoproxy.

Fact is, you’re going to hear a ton of complaining about every single fighting game, because that’s what fighting game players, and competitive players in general, do. We complain. It’s part of the culture. We complain about the things we don’t like, and we complain even louder about the things we do like.

No one complains more about Street Fighter than the guy who plays 20+ hours a week more. No one complains more about Magic the Gathering than the guy who spends thousands a year on the cards. No one complains more about Yomi than the players who started playing in V1 and just can’t stay away. We’re all wired to be like this, somehow.

4 Likes
#11

You guys are probably right, I mean it’s not like there will ever be a perfect fighting game. I guess I may as well try Street Fighter V, since despite how much of a stepdown people say it is from Street Fighter IV it is still the biggest scene in the fgc, besides it is the series I have the most personal history with. SaSSolino’s claim that Mortal Kombat XL has the best ease of access is indeed tempting and I do have a bit of a history with that as well, but I’m not sure I can really see myself using those mechanics in a competitive environment, plus I believe it lacks the cross platform play of SFV, which is also a big plus for that game so I’ll prpbly just get that.

Or I could just go straight into Guilty Gear and just spend months getting bodied until I learn the game properly…

Decisions, decisions.

2 Likes
#12

What you are saying it’s true, hell the game I complained the most in my gaming career is probably TF2, the one that I’ve played (and enjoyed) the most.

Still, let’s make a distinction between saying that a game is not that good and complaints of a good game.

For example, I personally really dislike how fast throws are in FS, but I still really enjoy the game. On the other hand, Injustice 2 is a game I just simply dislike. This is my personal opinion of course, but when most of a community goes on and says “SFV is not as good as SF4 was because they tuned down reactions and ruined defensive options in season 2”, I start to belive them.

That said, I don’t play the game, so I can’t express myself too much.

1 Like
#13

Just to clarify, the Hori Pad is treated as and can be used for any game on the Switch or Wii U that can use the Wii U Classic Pro controller. The problem is it has no analog control, so it won’t work for almost every Wii U and Switch game made nowadays.

This does make it useful as a SNES controller for Virtual Console and should work perfectly for Pocket Rumble, whenever that comes out (I actually use a Switch Pro controller for PR on Steam, so it will be funny to use the Hori Pad for the Switch version)

1 Like
#14

We’re starting to go a little off-topic but the pad’s value definitely goes up with the flood of indie titles on the Switch. It’s great for Shovel Knight for example! I personally bought it for Puyo Puyo Tetris. :slight_smile:

#15

I guess I should have specified that it isn’t good for more mainstream AAA games. With the right program it is even good for PC games, so you could use it for Fantasy Strike, potentially.

1 Like
#16

Like I said, I’m using it for Fantasy Strike, and didn’t even need any third-party software. :slight_smile:

1 Like
#17

I didn’t think it would be this soon, but I think I’ve found the perfect current competitive fighting game to transition into after Fantasy Strike. I give you: Samurai Showdown V special.

https://youtu.be/kvRhuSkQAkY

I actually remember hearing about this series quite a bit, but it’s only now with its new modern re-release that I’ve looked into it properly. From what I can gather, it’s a 4 button fighting game that puts more emphasis on footsies, well timed strikes and tight defense than flashy and complex combo systems. Much like Fantasy Strike, rounds are given a quick 60 second timer and the health is very limited, so you have to make sure not to let your opponent get in or else you can quickly lose a huge part of your healthbar. It’s also from SNK who are widely considered to be the biggest rivals to Capcom in the fighting game genre so I have little concern for the quality of controls and such. I think I’ve finally found what I’m looking for!

1 Like
#18

That looks pretty rad! Wish it came out on Steam… :frowning:

#19

Yeah… I just now noticed that it’s not on a platform I own…

Riperoni

#20

The thing is, when SFIV was mainstream, all you would ever hear from the community was how garbage SF4 was due to focus attacks and vortexes.
If you pause just because you see a storm of downvotes and hear a cacophony of whining, you are unfortunately being misled…
Lots of Boxer players out there…not making a lot of noise right about now, except maybe to boast about their rankings!!!
In the end- when SF players say ‘SFV lacks defense’ they dont mean ‘as a fighting game, SFV sucks because it has poor defense’.
Rather it means, ‘SFV is SF and is therefore better than any other game out there. But I’m pissed because defense here is crap compared to how it was on the other SF where I had more fun’