Those Curves Though!!!



Click Bait (Ignore or Enjoy... It's up to you)

I walk into the arcade, greet the regulars, acknowledge the newbies, take my perfunctory scan of the room and then, I spot her. She's in the corner, just about arms-reach from my favourite spot. (Coincidence... I think not!!!) I try my best to listen to whatever it is this dude is saying to me (making sure to nod in all the right places) but she's my focus right now. I amble over to where she is, making sure no to get too close (don't want to seem too enamoured). As I make my way over I notice another guy next to her. Trying his best at something he, obviously, has no clue about. His efforts fall short of captivating her interests. I know this from his, not-so-subtle, declarations. They display his ignorance, his inexperience and, more so, his annoyance. As things are not going the way he expected.

I insert myself into their interactions and assert my dominance.

"De man a struggle jack?" (Local dialect for "You're struggling aren't you?")

"You tink dem curves yah easy?" ("You think these curves are easy?")

*dude looks at me like I'm crazy*

"Lemme show you wha gwarn boss. De man cyar handle dem curves yah, ya check!" ("This is how its done. You can't handle these curves, obviously!"

I move to stand between both of them, extend my hand and motion for him to hand me the controller. He does so, hesitantly, but does so nonetheless. I re-acquaint myself with the button mapping (which button does what), adjust the distance between the on-screen characters, follow the sequence of prompts and then bask in awe (the dude was awe-struck) as the announcer proclaimed "COMPLETE" (in a high pitched, overly excited, announcer style voice)! I handed him back the controller then strode off. Leaving him with this tidbit of knowledge.

"It's ALL about the curves... the learning curves!"

Now, I'm hoping that most people have gotten this far into the post without calling my wife and making a most grievous mistake. The "she/her" I refer to above is BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma, an anime-style fighting game that doesn't get much play in my local arcade or even in my country for that matter. It is very different from the "regular" fighting games (Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat) in more ways than I care to mention but I'll list some anyway. They (anime-fighters) tend to involve a lot more inputs (pressing 4 buttons at the same time, for example) and horrifically lengthy (not to mention damaging) combos. They also have very strict limitations on execution, precision and timing. They don't leave much room for error as the timeframes for inputs, latency and buffering are in the 1/60ths of a second. (You can probably understand why no one at SSG really plays them...)

Some other differences include, but are not limited to:

Air dashing - dashing backward or forward while in the air

Aerial Combos - landing numerous hits on the opponent while in the air

Astral Heat - an "Ultimate attack" that defeats the opponent in one hit, even from full health  
Barrier Bursts - a counter attack that cancels any attack received or breaks the guard of a blocking opponent
Instant Blocking - blocking an attack in such a way that reduces block stun
Push Blocking - blocking an attack and pushing the opponent away from you 
Rapid Cancels -  any attack to instantly cancel the character  animation frames and resets to the resting position

(Please note, NONE of these things are found in the "regular" fighters)

Below, is some High-Level gameplay, taken from IGN's Youtube, that showcases ALL of the things I mentioned above and more.

 

 To sum it all up, they (anime-fighters) deviate greatly from the way a fighting game "normally" works and they have excessively long learning curves. (Especially when transitioning from a regular fighter to an anime-fighter. You, basically, have to re-learn everything and the new information, more often than not, doesn't mesh well with your habits)

 

Yes! You're correct! You did just read "long learning curve".

No! I don't mean "steep learning curve".

*a wild edification opportunity appears* (that's a Pokémon reference by the way...)

The term "Steep learning curve" actually doesn't denote something being difficult to learn. In fact, it is quiet the opposite. A steep learning curve implies that a lot of infomation/technique/experience is accrued in a very short period of time. This infers that you learn the majority of whatever you're learning very quickly and even after spending more time on it there isn't much to learn afterwards. Simply put, a steep learning curve means something is EASY to learn. (Think about it like this. When playing Super Mario Bros, you learn most of what you need to know in the first few minutes of the game, right? Super Mario Bros is easy, right? You get my point, right?) I can postulate that the acceptance of  the term "steep learning curve" being interpreted as "difficult" comes from the fact that people relate the incline of the curve to a "hill to be climbed" and as such they run with the notion of the learning process being a hard task.

However, a long learning curves denotes the learning process is slow, tedious and requires many hours of effort in order to fully grasp the information/technique/experience required. These aspects lend themselves to the learning, in this case, being difficult because as time progresses you will still be learning new things. Everything isn't laid out for you and new information isn't as forthcoming as you expect. This means learning is more laborious i.e. difficult. (Think about it like this. When playing Bloodborne you die numerous times in the first few hours, right? Bloodborne is hard, right? You get my point, right?)

 [#shamelessplug --> Check out my Review of Bloodborne]  

 

 Of course, things like execution, pattern recognition, problem solving, spatial awareness, correlation and memory should be taken into consideration when describing something (videogames) as being easy or hard (what's easy for me may not be for you and vice versa) but as soon as we mention learning curves, all of that gets encompassed into the discussion because... Science! *big goofy smile*



Visual Aid Showing Differences Between Steep and Long Learning Curves  



I have, for some time now, thought of anime-fighters as one of the Great Dividers that exists. You know, those special instances that separate the masses into 2 distinct and opposing groups? (The Fors [people who stand with and by their beloved thing, that can do no wrong, till death do them part aka fanboys/loyalists] and The Againsts [people who swear the thing is far worse than death, avoid it like the plague and abhor it to no end aka haters/ingrates]). Anime-fighters are one of those. It's either you like them or you don't, they're great or they're awful, you play them until the disc doesn't work any more or you stick the disc in the incorrect case and hope no one ever finds it. I, being the open-minded, accepting and all around nice guy that I am (*cough* fence-sitter *cough*) don't fall into either of those groups. I am of the opinion that anime-fighters have their place. They inhabit a niche (that has its following) and provides a nice get away from the Shoryukens and Get Over Heres that I'm accustomed to but at the same time they take so much out of me that I only want to visit their wondrous, whimsical world for a time (i.e. until I start to lose too often or until not even my deftly nimble fingers can pull off the button presses needed.)

 

All games come with a learning curve, some steeper than others (remember, steep = easy *suggestive wink*) and I'm sure you readers have some idea of where you would fall on said curve, were it presented to you. In light of this, let me present T.A.G's depiction of The Gamer's Learning Curve! (Don't tell me you didn't see this coming...) Let me know what you think. Do you agree with my depiction or not? What would you change about it, if anything? And, most importantly, where would you fall on the curve?