@Peanutbutterz said:
SFV is the most overrated fighting game of this gen. The balance is bad, and there is no uniqueness to the characters really. It's pretty bad when you compare it to other fighters especially in terms of content. When you play SFV you feel like you are fighting against the game systems and your character's design to make things work. Gameplay feels restricted. SF also has a cult following that are loyal to that franchise for no reason at this point besides it being SF. I'd say GGxrd rev 2 is probably the best fighter of this gen.
I wouldn't say overrated man, people still shit all over the game, even though it's largely un-deserved at this point. People are still treating it like it's day-1 SFV, and even back then the shit was overblown. I don't know how you could look at the general reception, be it critic scores, sales, or forum gamers bitching and somehow think it's overrated. It's getting the shaft by every metric there is outside of the competitive scene.
The balance certainly isn't perfect, but it's not bad, every character is viable at lower level play, and most characters can still put in work at higher levels. The only odd man out at the moment is Balrog, he can make a come back off of one mistake and burst damage your ass with full corner carry leaving you on the edge of stun. One good mixup and you're done. But still, he's not broken, and people have already figured him out. Otherwise the balance is pretty good, and they even brought Fang back from the dead lol. But it's like any other FG man, you have your high, mid, and low tiers. As a Dhalsim player sitting at exactly mid tier I can safely say I have no complaints. I can still wreck a Balrog player even though he's my worst matchup and I can still get wrecked by a Gief player even though he's my best matchup.
I'd love to hear your gripes about character uniqueness though as this probably the single aspect of SFV that excels over many fighting games. No two characters feel even remotely similar. Even the 3 shotos are as unique as shotos have ever been, their similarities are strictly superficial at this point, their gameplans are worlds apart. If you want to argue that the game itself is geared towards a much more aggressive play style, then sure, fair enough. I would definitely agree that SFV could benefit from more viable defensive options. But still, here I am, a Sim player surviving off of zoning and mixups, so how bad can it really be? Most fighting games lean one way or another as far as aggression vs defense. Like Guilty Gear, that game is all about being a constant aggressor, you're even punished for not being aggressive, though you don't hear people complain about that lol. (and why should they, it's amazing fun.)
Content though sure, if you're looking to be an offline warrior, SFV is much like Tekken 7 in that respect, a whole lot of nothing. No disagreement there.
And yes, the gameplay is more restrictive than something like SF4, where there was more room for player expression and styling on people in general. You can still clearly see difference between NuckleDu and Daigos Guiles, Punk and Wong's Karins, Snake eyes and Itazan's Giefs, etc., though not quite as distinct as the player expression in USF4. At the moment, Akuma is the only character with the tools to straight up express and style on people.
And yeah, no shit SF automatically gets a following due to being SF, no denying that. And even as a long time SF fan, I really don't like how that works. It boggles my mind to see SFV packed with players while great games like GGXRD, Skullgirls, and KoF14 are ghost towns in comparison and only get their due among the core FGC. It sucks. I really wish there was a more even distribution of popularity with these games, but it is what it is man.
Just about every genre is like that. Like last year, I picked up an arena shooter called Toxxic (stupid name I know). It was only 10 bucks, but holy shit that game plays like a dream, has sweet ass level design and is just a blast to play all around. So much better than many of these million+ selling shooters, but nobody plays it. That's just how it goes, big names and marketing rule the gaming landscape.
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Anyways man, sorry for the novel-post here. While I can agree with some of what you're saying, I also believe your perspective is a bit skewed and you're blowing some of these aspects out of proportion. SFV is far from perfect, but it's not what you're making it out to be. And to call it overrated at this point would be akin to calling Mass Effect Andromeda overrated lol.
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