SF6 beta final impressions (before newsletter)

My hands say that is all I'm gonna play of the Street Fighter 6 beta. I will surely write a piece on the newsletter, but key points:

Even as not a big fan of the new aesthetic, excellent art and animation. Visibility is murky, though. Some of the stages are too busy, foreground isn't distinct enough from background, the characters/attacks don't have strongly defined edges so it can be hard to eyeball the range of your moves. Had a much more difficult time lining up pokes here than in other games including SFV.

Drive/Super meter systems are very good. Drive is so complex and so well-done; it gives players strong tools but forces them to constantly think about how they're going to use them. It also links resources to how you're doing in the fight, a bit like Under-Night's GRD. If you're getting beat up you'll have less to work with; the system is anti-comeback.

When you land the first hit of a combo in SF6 you look at the meters and ask yourself "how much damage do I need to do right now?" Damage distribution is a skill in this game.

Player freedom is pretty wide; you see different players using the same characters aggro or defensive and it doesn't feel like there's a single "best" way that you're "supposed" to use them like, again, in SFV. Characters are allowed to have more than one or two poke moves with good range, a big issue in V.

The frame data is still important-- you need to understand frame data for all your moves in four different situations-- but it's not SFV where you have frame-perfect unbeatable offense. There will be a very high knowledge wall to being a pro player in this game.

Players loving this game who said "SFV had all this frame data, screw that!" are in for a rude awakening.

The social Hub area is nice but it does suck that they're leaning into fomo design for clothing items to keep people playing. I know it's cosmetic, but it's still irritating and I'm sure there will be real-money avatar fashion in the finished game.

Hub badly needs a button to move the camera for arcade stick users, like "hold R2 to spin" in Arc games. It's quite annoying to have to switch my arcade stick to "right analog stick" mode every single time I want to move the camera.

Love the rotating arcade games. Did Capcom Stadium beget this or did SF6 beget Capcom Stadium? Someone in Brazil had the high score for Magic Sword by an order of magnitude.

All told, it's great, they've got me, I look forward to putting in way too many hours on it.

Dave

@sasuraiger

going your days grow up

SF6 beta final impressions (before newsletter)

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