You know, I was
planning on doing another post on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate since Hero
from Dragon Quest dropped not too long ago. What I wasn’t planning on? The fact that the guy’s still relevant days
and weeks after his release -- for
all the
wrong reasons.
Is Hero
overpowered? Does Hero need to be
banned? The answers are…not going to be
on this blog, because it’s a coin flip on whether I’ll either have a 7-match win
streak, or lose 2 million GSP in a single day.
But I’ve been grinding it out in Ultimate, so I might as well gab
a bit. Come along for the ride.
--I’ve been playing
a lot of Hero recently, and I have thoughts.
Take everything I’m about to say in this post with a grain…okay, a truckload
of salt. But I’ve been at this franchise
for a good while, so that helps balance out the scales. By extension, a huge percentage of my recent
time has gone toward playing as Hero.
How strong of a character is he?
Too strong? Not strong
enough? I can see why he’s so
controversial, and not just because of “smelly”
Smash players raising hell over Mr. RNG.
--Here’s everything
you need to know in one sentence: I think that Hero is, simultaneously, amazing
and terrible. Because of those
extremes, he ultimately evens out.
--I’m pretty sure I
said as much last
time, but for posterity’s sake? Even
if Hero has a sword, he’s not the sword character of the game. Roy, Lucina, and Chrom can blow him up with ease,
in terms of the nitty-gritty details.
The Fire Emblem boys have more range and speed with their
attacks, so that even if they don’t have projectiles, they’re able to cover huge
amounts of the battlefield with smothering offensive pressure.
--Hero can contend
in the same space, but he won’t excel.
His sword attacks aren’t unforgivably poor, but there are others that do
what he does better by way of some particularly slow moves. Meanwhile? Even if Hero has some tricks with his
long-range magic spells, there are characters that can blow him up from a
distance, too. The Links (Young Link
especially) might as well be handling machine guns, what with how fast and
effectively they can flood the screen with projectiles. Then you’ve got guys with reflectors, so even
if you can find the time to squeeze in a powerful projectile, Fox can pretty much
say “Nah” and bounce it right back at you.
--I guess what I’m
getting at here is that it’s hard to be consistent with Hero. There’s no denying that the guy has some
ridiculously powerful tools. The
problem, and thus the balancing act, is twofold: even if you ignore the
complications of his Command Selection, it’s still a matter of having the right
tool on hand, and the opportunity to use those tools. Sure, he can kill at insanely low percentages
with his F-Smash, but so what? If it
gets blocked, your goose is cooked. His Bair has good range and KO power? Nice.
Hope you hit it early enough to compensate for its dismal startup. Basically, Hero can do many things
competently, and do some things well intermittently. But why would you play as someone who’s either
a jack-of-all-trades or has gaping holes in his kit when you could just go ham
with someone who has those tools on tap at all times?
--I mean, the
obvious answer is “because character loyalty”, but given how many players
picked up Pichu and then dropped him like a brick once the S.S. Nerf docked, I’d
say loyalty is in short supply for lots of Smash players. Their loss.
--It’s rarely, if
ever guaranteed that Hero’s kit will give him an easy win. That’s how it should be. With that in mind, I’m not going to act like
Hero’s a helpless damsel facing overwhelming odds. The dude can hit HARD if you give him the
chance, so much so that Command Selection at times feels less like a crutch and
more like a complement to his kit.
--He’s
not going to win any fireball wars, but tossing out a little kindle instead of
a fully-charged blast is enough to space out opponents and start mounting your
offense. Same for his lightning strikes, with the charged version being an
insanely good tool for punishing rolls or countering off-the-stage attacks.
--Is there a luck-based
element to Hero play? Yes. But name me a fighting game that doesn’t rely
on luck at all. I don’t just mean that
on a mechanical level; while there’s plenty of thought and skill that goes into
those top-level fights, I’d still say that luck is involved in the sense that, if
and when you win, it’s because an opponent pushed the odds in your favor by
moving to the exact spot you want them to be, or botching their offense with a
trick you’re ready to counter. Or if you
need to check your phone for a text from your godmother because you wanted to
wish her a happy birthday, and you’re right in the middle of an online
match. I may have lost the plot there
with that last one.
--The point is that,
whether it’s with Hero or anyone else, you have to use your tools and wits to
put opponents in the exact position you want them to be in. Conditioning.
Space control. Reaction. Prediction.
Hero may not have the chance or access to all of the tools needed, but
he has enough of them. You have
to fill in the gaps with your ability as a Smasher. If you do, you win. And because you’re doing it with someone as
volatile as hero, you’re bound to feel extra-good about your hard-fought battle
when you carve out a win.
--That all said, I’m
kind of over my Hero fever. So I’m going
back to my real main, Rosalina.
--I played as much
Hero as I did because -- thanks to the quirks of the GSP system -- his addition
to the roster plus my earlier Smash endeavors (Smashdeavors?) meant that
two wins put me within spitting distance of Elite Smash. I didn’t get there with him, but it’s because
of him that I got closer than ever without just relying on the matchup
unfamiliarity with a new character. He’s
still my number two for the time being, but I’ve strayed from my number one for
far too long.
--You know, I
remember my brother once saying/implying that he can only get interested in a
character if he or she has a gimmick that strikes his fancy. I guess he’s rubbed off on me, because the
two members of my Smash vanguard are both pretty gimmicky -- Hero with
his, well, everything, and Rosalina with her Luma shenanigans. The core goal I have in any match is to try
and replicate what once let Marvel vs. Capcom 3 phenom ChrisG trounce
plenty of foes: reduce the amount of randomness from match to match so that I
can proceed without any complications.
Since Hero is basically a slot machine, I’d hope I have a better shot
with Miss Anarchy in the Galaxy.
--As long as Luma’s
around, Rosalina can do an opponent dirty. Her tilts can bat foes away, and if
they happen to linger for a second too long on the ground, Luma can hit them
with a haymaker to blast them off. Position Luma in the perfect spot, and you
can cover multiple stage recovery options at once. Blown back by an enemy attack? Luma can hit them while you’re flying to try
and dampen their momentum. And of
course, her neutral B Luma Shot has a shocking amount of KO power…though even
just a light tap can help you in close-range shuffles and scrambles.
--I’ve always been
a closet fan of Rosalina (and Peach, maybe even more so), so it’s nice to be
able to represent the character I actually care about instead of the flavor of
the month. I probably would have shown
my appreciation sooner if not for the stigma (read: my brother griping about
how broken she is) of her being top-tier in the last game. But nowadays, I don’t care where she is on
the tier list. She and I are a team, and
aiming to break into Elite Smash.
--Well, let me
rephrase that. I don’t usually care
where she is on the tier list. But damned
if the struggle’s not as real as it gets.
--Let’s set aside
the fact that Rosalina’s in a tight spot if she’s without Luma. There’s always going to be the question of
how she’s supposed to deal with speed demons like the Fire Emblem crew,
considering how lackadaisical some of her normals can be. (And bereft of KO power, barring a Luma-assisted
Smash or an off-the-stage daredevil aerial.) Rosalina can create strong setups,
but when it comes to basic contests at long range? You need to be on point with your range and
your approach; she can negate projectiles with her Down-B, but it’s a
stopgap solution when you’ve got every bullet under the sun streaking your way.
--The two biggest
problems I have with her are the ones that consistently make me lose matches
with her. I legitimately hate her Up-Tilt;
it might be good for combos, but as an anti-air it’s way too situational for
consistent use. It’ll cover the space
above her head, and a little more if Luma’s on tap, but the problem is that I
need a stronger anti-air due to the way Smash players tend to play --
that is, coming in with an aerial to start up their offense or otherwise put me
on the fringes of the blast zone.
--And I know it’s
possible to have a good anti-air normal, because Hero’s tilt covers a huge
space around and above him. It’s utterly
infuriating to know how to stop an incoming attacker, but end up getting forced
to throw up my hands in defeat because I don’t have a proper answer. The best I’ve got is a short hop Nair, but
that’s another stopgap solution.
--Also, I’m seriously
fed up with her Up-B. It’s a very strong
recovery option, sure, but the problem is controlling it. Instead of just hitting the input and letting
it rock, you have to input, then aim -- which ends up getting more complicated
when you’re tumbling through the air and don’t know your orientation, meaning
that you could blast straight up on accident, or not blast straight
up when you need to. (Thanks to her
bell-shaped silhouette, Rosalina’s nondescript shape doesn’t help matters on
the fly.) Also, I feel like her Up-B
just flat-out doesn’t work at certain positions on a stage; try to recover low
and grab a ledge, and she’ll just treat the stage’s edge like a ramp and glide
right off for a one-way trip to oblivion.
Fun.
--I’ve played enough
Smash, and fighting games in general, to know that I’m not just losing
because of my characters’ weaknesses. I’m
having the same issues across every game I play, meaning that it’s my fault. A quick rundown: I give opponents too much
respect and let them run a train on me as a result. I’m slow to adapt and even slower to react,
mostly because I tend to rely on my gameplan instead of changing it to fit the
situation.
--I get tilted
easily (I ended up losing an easy match just because somebody teabagged after
getting one stock off me). But my
biggest weakness? My damage output is
low. I’m the type that wears foes down
to a fine powder with a salvo of stray hits and glancing blows. Unless I’m playing the heaviest of heavy
characters, I don’t have much in the way of explosive damage or jaw-dropping
combos. Basically, if I’m going to start
racking up more wins? I need to turn one
hit into the road to a mortal blow -- because every time I give someone a
chance to fight back, I give them a chance to win.
--And now I have to
be that guy. You know. That guy. Far be it from me to blame my problems and
failings on the game, but having put so much time into it, I’m seriously
starting to develop a love-hate relationship with this game. Last I checked, you need 5.03 million GSP to
make it into Elite Smash with a character.
The highest I’ve ever gotten is with my Rosalina and about 4.93
million. Whenever I’m on the cusp of
breaking in -- and trust me, this isn’t the first time -- I end up going up
against “gatekeepers” who knock me right back down with loss after loss after
loss. So there’s some frustration right
off the bat.
--Certainly, there
are aces and killers in the online space.
When I’m rocked by someone who actually knows what they’re doing and
have a perceptibly-higher level of skill than me, I have to respect it. I’m still sad and mad that I lost, but I’ll
deal with it when I’m losing to my better.
The problem is that in a number of cases, it feels less like I’m
fighting against an opponent in an exciting, worthwhile match, and more like I’m
fighting against the character. And/or
the game. Especially the game when the
connection strength is…dismal, to put it mildly.
--Sometimes it
feels more like I’m playing Marvel instead of Smash. And I don’t mean that in a good way. If I’m up against a Mario player, for
example, I know that one of the key things he wants to do is run up and Down-Throw
me so he can start up a big combo.
Fine. I know to avoid it, because
if he gets that with me once, I’ll be eating 30-60% damage in a matter of
seconds.
But that’s not
Mario’s only tool. If he gets in -- when
he gets in -- he can rack up the damage with one Up-Tilt after another, then
chain into one Up-Air after another, then go into his Up-B. Or, God forbid, snatch a stock with his
Fair. He’s got combos, so it’s not like you
should be able to go NOPE.avi and blow him away with a Guilty Gear-style
burst. I just wish it didn’t always feel
like I’m destined to get combed into submission because of the sheer deluge of
attacks. To use my recurring analogy, it’s
as if he -- and characters like him -- get eight moves in chess every time you
get one.
--Mario’s not the
only guilty party here. Luigi, Wario,
Kirby, Pikachu, Jigglypuff, Squirtle, the Fire Emblem boys (except Robin,
and maybe Ike and Corrin), and more; they can effectively get in for
free, stay in, and then knock you aside whenever you try to mount your
offense. And sure, I acknowledge that
the hands behind those players are the ones doing the work -- that a truly-skilled
player can reach a point where they can seemingly move faster than what you’d
think the game can even allow.
--At the same
time? There are members of the cast that
feel positively blessed. A stark
divide between the haves and have-nots.
Who cares if Hero can get a critical hit when Roy can beat it clean with
a much faster F-Smash? Why bother with
Rosalina’s tactics and setups when you can just do it with
Lucina and basically become untouchable?
--Playing this game
lately reminds me of why I stuck with Palutena for as long as I did: because
she has a counter. Assuming I can properly
read an attack, I can get these guys to calm down and stop swinging for one
damn second -- and force them to play the game my way instead of the
opposite. Then again, maybe the correct
answer is to just pick up Samus and stop everybody cold. I’m tired of losing whole stocks because I’m
not allowed to play the game.
--Also, minor
tangent: what the hell is with everybody able to spot-dodge and seemingly
negating their recovery frames? More
research is needed -- because every time I see someone spot dodge their way out
of what SHOULD be my punish, I feel like I just punched myself in the jaw.
--Also, even more
minor tangent: I hope something gets done about the netcode at some point. If the connection is poor, Lucina’s Shield
Breaker becomes impossible to escape, and thus unblockable, and thus able to
instantly steal a stock. I’m…not
entirely sure why she’s able to break shields with what comes off as a half-second
charge of the attack, but hey, what the hell do I know? Not like I’m an Elite Smasher.
--Can you tell I’m
bitter about the FE Boys? If not,
remember the title of this post.
--This would be the
part where I say “I’m taking a break from Smash for a while,” but I know
that’s a damn lie. Even though the last
session I had with it ended with one of the worst losing streaks I’ve ever had,
I’m fighting the urge to go back in and fight to reclaim what I’ve lost. Call it pride, call it honor, call it a lust
for revenge. Or just call it a quirk of
mine; when I lose, it makes me that much hungrier for the win. Like I can’t stop, or do anything else, until
I find that sense of selfish self-satisfaction that I crave.
--Smash is
still a fun game, despite the frustrations I have with it. I don’t know how you’d go about fixing the
problems with it -- if there even are problems, and it’s not just me needing to
“git gud” -- but I’ll manage regardless.
I’ve stolen more than my fair share of wins with my characters of
choice, and that’s not going to stop anytime soon. (I used to struggle against Ness and Lucas,
but now it’s an even match -- and maybe even in my favor.) As long as I keep at it, I’m going to reach
the plateau I’ve been climbing toward for all these months.
--There’s only one
thing that can stop me: the nonstop infinite waifus and husbandos of Fire
Emblem: Three Houses.
See you next time.
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