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Wednesday
Jun292011

« iPlayWinner Exclusive: Seth Killian Interview at ECT3 - Part 1 »

iPlayWinner caught up with Capcom's Seth Killian at East Coast Throwdown 3 and got to talking about Street Fighter X Tekken, 3rd Strike: Online Edition, and the future of fighting games in general. Seth was so gracious with his time that we've broken the interview into two parts, the first of which is all about Street Fighter X Tekken. If you want some of the nitty-gritty details on gameplay systems and changes we can expect as the game's development continues, you've come to the right place!

iPlayWinner: Meter seems to play a big part in SFxT. Will we see uses of meter other than tagging? Will there be 3-bar team supers or some other uses?

Seth Killian: Yeah, we've seen some team super action before. It's not in this build, but it would be an interesting feature for the future. Let me just say – straight out – there's going to be lots of other stuff you can do with your meter, very interesting stuff. I think supers will be one of the less-interesting things you can do with your meter.

iPW: Any plans for a 4-player mode, like MK9's Tag Mode?

SK: We're not talking about anything like that, but that would be fun, wouldn't it? [That’s] very interesting. Sorry to give the stiff answers, but we're getting there. We'll have more news soon.

iPW: The combo system in the game is very free. It seems like there's a lot you can do with it. How are preventing infinites in the game?

SK
: There are actually a bunch of systems right now. Actually, in the build we have right now, it's sort of a hodgepodge of rules. You only get two of the command launches [chain to heavy, then heavy again] and you're dropped; you can't combo them after that. Also, there's a bunch of other rules. We're looking at things, maybe including increased gravity. Obviously, there's damage scaling already in there. We’re still exploring whether it will come down to some in-system rules based not on number of hits, but other factors like tag-cancels used. We want to keep that element of freedom, no matter what. That's not going to go away. It's not going to be about artificial restrictions that make you feel like your hands are tied. If there's an awesome combo, and you feel like "Oh! I really want to be able to do that!" the objective is to keep that in there. Maybe we'll just solve it with damage scaling and the fact that a lot of the good combos require tag cancels, which burn meter anyway. I'm hoping that those alone will solve the problem and just leave the players maximum flexibility.

iPW: A couple of Tekken characters have theses move that they can charge up, and they become unblockable. Street Fighter has the Level 3 Focus Attack. Are there going to be any things like that, wherein you spend a little time to charge something up, and then when you let it rip, it can't be blocked?

SK
: Maybe. All I can say is we're throwing the book at the game right now in terms of possible mechanics with crazy stuff from other games, to stuff that's never been in a Street Fighter before, to stuff that's brand-new to any fighting game. We're sort of taking the kitchen sink approach with possible mechanics and seeing how they work out. Then, we see whether it's fun and adds to it, or whether it makes it feel complicated. It's kind of a feel thing, where some of them feel hairy or forced, or they just don't feel right, and those won't stay. Right now, the sky is the limit in terms of different systems.

iPW: Speaking of systems, are there going to be any dash-cancels, jump-cancels, or normals that you can cancel out of in other ways than just the tag-cancel?

SK: Well, yeah. There's a lot of stuff like that already actually in the build. There’s stuff you can do out of the sort of wavedashes for the Tekken characters. You can cancel into a variety of moves from there. It's actually really strong right now. People haven't really been using it yet, because it takes a little while to get the hang of that. Sagat still has his kara-cancels on all of his stuff. It's on roundhouse now, rather than stand short. Those kinds of flexibilities are still a part of the game. I mean, those aren't things we really design for; they're just sort of emergent properties of the game. Yeah. [Hesitates.] Yeah. That's the right answer, "Yes."

iPW: What would you say the game's defining mechanic is? SF4 had the focus attack and FADC. What is the defining mechanic of SFxT?

SK: We're really trying to stick to the whole tag thing. Right now, it's definitely based around tag-cancels and other things you can do on tags. It's good. The tag is going to stay at the heart of the game. Tags and what you can do off of them, tag-cancels or other future mechanics, are the heart of it, bringing in the two teammates. It's interesting because you get all sorts of setups on block. Obviously, there are a lot of possibilities with combos. Also, bringing in both characters is really essential as far as the strategy goes. You can get blown-up pretty bad, and you've got to find a way to tag the other guy in.

The other thing is your white life, the recoverable life, heals up really fast. Think X-Factor life recovery when you tag out. It's about that speed. You really build a lot of life back if you can keep your teammates out for a while and let them build up. I don't have any numbers to share. I've been trying to run numbers for myself, thinking about how the balance is going to work in terms of how much total life you can get with good tag management. Your lifebar is a fixed amount, right? How much you can extend that amount by tag-canceling? You can basically get an additional 50% or more on top of your total starting lifebar if you're smart about getting your guys out when you need to get them out.

iPW
: Will we see any kind of comeback mechanic? Maybe Ultras? Netsu Power [from Tekken Tag Tournament]? Emotional Flow*?

SK: [Laughs.] Nothing like that. That's not in the plans. We've gone down that road, and it's not that we're against that kind of idea. It's just not really a part of the game. Again, the focus is on these tag-cancels and tagging in. The closest thing to a comeback mechanic is really what we were just talking about, getting your guy out of there and letting him heal up. That's not exactly a comeback mechanic, offensively. You're going to have to earn it in Street Fighter X Tekken.

iPW: I just wanted to say “Emotional Flow.”

SK: [Laughs.] Success! That should be Floe's alternate name. Instead of "Dark Floe," he could be "Emotional Floe." That guy's an emotional guy! He beats himself up a lot, so that's my new name for him. It's good. He's now "Emotional Floe."

*[From Street Fighter EX3, which had a tag system. Each teammate had a separate 3-bar super gauge. A surviving teammate inherits a KO'd teammate's meter, enabling him to hold 6 total bars of meter.]

Check out Part 2 of the interview, in which Seth discusses 3rd Strike: Online Edition, DLC, and his dream project!

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