Talking to Gamasutra in a rare Western interview, Guilty Gear creators Arc System Works have criticized Street Fighter IV for its lack of accessibility, while apparently revealing that Sega now essentially owns the Guilty Gear franchise.
The Yokohama, Japan-based developer Arc System Works, which has been in existence for more than ten years, was formed by SNK veterans such as chief Guilty Gear designer Daisuke Ishiwatari.
The company's designer for its new hi-res 2D fighting title BlazBlue, Toshimichi Mori, intriguingly discusses his views of Capcom's Street Fighter IV and its accessibility in the interview:
"I'm not trying to pick a fight with Capcom or anything, but with Street Fighter IV, they made a big deal about how the game was designed to be accessible to people new to the genre.
I remember when I first read that in an interview, I was like, "What? How can they say that?!" I thought maybe I was seeing things. I think they need to take a second look at the list of moves for that game before they make a claim like that.
Sure, people like us who work with games, or fans of fighting games can do a hadouken or a shoryuken without thinking much about it, but for somebody just getting started? Those moves are pretty tough! You can't expect new players to just whip those moves out every time.
To fill your game with moves like that and then emphasize how simple it was for beginners to pick up seemed irresponsible to me. Street Fighter IV is not a game geared toward people who've never played fighters before. If they were really interested in making a beginner-friendly game, they should've made included a few impressive moves a player could do with the press of a button."
The company's Ishiwatari also confirmed Internet reports that, although Arc System Works created the Guilty Gear franchise, publisher Sega officially owns it -- and in fact, Arc is no longer working directly on updates for the fighting game series. Ishiwatari notes in passing that "...we were involved directly with the series up through Guilty Gear XX #Reload".
However, the company is not completely divorced from the franchise it created. A recent Arc System Works-developed title, the Dynasty Warriors-style Guilty Gear 2: Overture, was set within the franchise -- but didn't feature many of the series' famous characters.
Indeed, Ishiwatari told Gamasutra about rumors that Sega now owned the franchise's IP: "I can't really talk about it much... except to say that they're basically true."
Thus, Arc System Works has now moved on to create new fighting game franchises such as Battle Fantasia and BlazBlue, and the full Gamasutra interview with the developer includes lots more detail on those and design challenges for today's fighting game.
It's funny; I thought Guilty Gear: Overture was a little unapproachable. At this point, I can't tell if SFIV is unapproachable or not because I'm so used to play SFII. It's like saying a game requiring walking is unapproachable; since I've been walking for damn near 25 years now, I don't think much about it, but I suppose for those who can't walk, that's quite a barrier.
I liked the idea behind Overture, but I didn't like the Dynasty Warriors-style execution. I thought it played kind of... funny. Boring might be a word for it. And the blocks of text describing how to play were somewhat impenetrable.
But, I guess they're comparing their fighting games to SFIV, not whatever Overture was. I still really like the company, and I'd love to see them stab at RPGs some. Overture really had some moments.
With all due respect, Mori-san is a lunatic if he thinks any Guilty Gear game is more accessible than Street Fighter IV. I've played SF IV for months here in Austin and can say the entire system is maybe 5% more difficult to "grasp" than Street Fighter II, a game that millions picked up with ease in the 1990s.
Street Fighter IV replaced the intricate parry system of SFIII with a simple press of two buttons, made the few tricky special moves easier to perform, and gave players a Revenge super to turn the tides if they're getting hammered. It's VERY casual compared to any title in the Guilty Gear series.
IMO all of Arc System Works' games are far more hardcore-oriented. I know he isn't directly comparing the two, but to slam SF IV on its accessibility is a groundless claim.
Um, he didnt say that Guilty Gear was approachable, he just said that Street Fighter isn't. He's right. Especially compared to something like Super Smash Bros (which does have a single button special move like he mentioned) the whole input system for specials in SF2 is pretty esoteric. We're all just used to it since we've been playing games like this for 15+ years.
I liked the idea behind Overture, but I didn't like the Dynasty Warriors-style execution. I thought it played kind of... funny. Boring might be a word for it. And the blocks of text describing how to play were somewhat impenetrable.
But, I guess they're comparing their fighting games to SFIV, not whatever Overture was. I still really like the company, and I'd love to see them stab at RPGs some. Overture really had some moments.
Street Fighter IV replaced the intricate parry system of SFIII with a simple press of two buttons, made the few tricky special moves easier to perform, and gave players a Revenge super to turn the tides if they're getting hammered. It's VERY casual compared to any title in the Guilty Gear series.
IMO all of Arc System Works' games are far more hardcore-oriented. I know he isn't directly comparing the two, but to slam SF IV on its accessibility is a groundless claim.