Bad design is bad design

Images from outpost thorazan, the village is indicated by the map to have 4 quest givers. 3 is locked-_-



I am getting so tired of this triangles, in Swtor, they are to indicate a quest. Just as the marker npc have over them in wow to etc. But in Swtor, each npc have triangle before they actually give out the quest. Sometimes long before, it creates a lot of wasted time traveling to them, then travel there again as the game don't indicate when it will be enabled, so one can only guess after finishing a quest in the same city/village will unlock it. But many times its more then 1 quext that has to be finished, so another wasted trip, this becomes more and more frustrating each time of course, especially as its an mmorggp, a lot of hours are spent per character. And then this wasted time will be repeted, on the next character.
At least after doing the game 3-4 times I assume, I will remember how the quest order is.

Explosive

-Akira, is a very good example of a explosive character. He moves around very slowly, but have several different attack dashes. That makes him suddenly be close to the opponent very quickly. And almost every attack Akira has directly knocks the opponent down(take down). He do have some counters, but except those, hes 100% straight forward.


Ryu, Sagat, Cody : Street fighter
: Soul Calibur
Akira, Vanessa: Virtua fighter
Aba,Slayer, Order Sol: Guilty Gear
Ragna: Blazblue
Ein(Hayate),:Dead Or Alive
Hayate, Captain America, Venom,:Marvel Vs Capcom
Heikachi,Bryan:Tekken

Explosive characters, features characters which as with strong/slow cant really do any long combos. They will have very limited hit per combo, but do high damage per attack. A reason why explosive characters have short combos is almost always because of they have take down, on almost every attack. This means the opponent character is instantly knocked of the ground, which will create a combo. But a very short combo. While it sounds like take down is a bad thing to have then, in many cases its actually very good because the user can because of this always do reasonable high damage from almost any situations
The most classic difference is Ryu vs Ken, if Ken hits the opponent with for example tatsumaki senpu(attack dash), he will do more damage then Ryu (Ken is short combo speed). But if Ken hits them in bad position, for example in the air, and only get 1 hit, the damage will be very low. If Ryu hits a standing opponent he only get 1 hit, it deals medium damage, if he hits an air born opponent he gets 1 hit, still dealing medium damage. In the same manner Ryu’s Shoryuken(anti air attack), per hit deals more damage making it a better anti air attack, as using either Ryu or Kens Shoryuken against an air born opponent results in 1 hit. But using it in close combat as the end of a combo, Ken can get in 4 hits dealing much more damage then Ryu.

These character type, is usually the easiest character for the user to learn the basic. The have a very high damage output per attack compared to every other character(expect strong/slow) but are much easier to get in close with. Resulting in that a new user can steadily deal at least medium damage constantly against another beginner user.

Noteworthy.
A good character type to have for new users and note! That this character type is almost always male, are either hot headed, battle seekers or calm collected warrior personality. And most importantly several story main characters are Explosive. Ryu (street fighter),Akira(virtua fighter) Kazama family (Tekken), Ragna(Blazblue). Hayate is arguably the main character of Dead or Alive, and Captain America is the leader(of the other characters) and often the front figure(commercials etc) of Marvel vs Capcom.
They are also very straight, to the case. Attacks goes in one direction, no tricks. No strange set ups, just pure damage from strong fast attacks.
They often have a relation to short combo speed characters and are almost always good persons. But are instead chaotic good while a few is lawful good.
Point is, the main character in fighting games are very often this arch type and its often the easiest character to learn for a beginner player.

common mechanics:
Simply said these characters are short combo speed with take down.
Take down, with many explosive dash attacks, or other type of movement attacks, such as invisible frame attack,
High priority attack, to overpower other characters in close combat.
Projectile, similar to short combo speed, explosive characters can have projectiles which also then are bad projectiles, but nonetheless range attacks. But compared to short combo speed, they do more damage, so relatively good projectile(Ryu vs Ken case)
3d explosive characters often have knock back.

Mechanic Not to have:
This characters don't have any thing that aren't straight forward while having projectile, Back traveling projectile is a no, no.
And they have attack dash, but often not dash.
Teleport.
Traps etc, any kind of game resource.
Noting that complicate the gameplay

Game statistic:
High Health, High attack damage, Very high/extremely high Recovery time, Low/Extremely low movement speed. Varied attack speed often special attacks are high speed while normal are low.

All round

-Taskmaster basically got everything. Which is reasonable comic wise(his power is that he copies other people), game wise, hes fun to play as he got no weakness.


Gouken, (Most characters in Street fighter is “kinda” all round): Street fighter
Necrid, Yoshimutsu,: Soul Calibur
Sarah,Lei-Fei: Virtua fighter
Anji Mito, Faust,Johnny,: Guilty Gear
Tsubaki, Noel,: Blazblue
Helena, Dead Or Alive
Taskmaster, :Marvel Vs Capcom



These characters are easy to compare to completely arbitrary other genres, for example all round character in Mario Kart, where for example Mario is a all round type(type name given by the game itself), and he got average speed, average acceleration, average weight etc. All around in fighting games should be the same. And they should have a varied mix of mechanics. What this means is that they often can get in close pretty easy, can escape pretty easy, have some projectiles etc. The result is that they cant do any real long combos or do any real complicated control play. Which makes them the ideal starter character for beginners.
They have a very easy learning curve at start, usually as they lack depth.This is something that is hard to fix because if they have to much depth they become too good(read Taskmaster below).

- I think any fighting game a most is to have at least 2 all round characters as they are by far the easiest character for an intermediate player, While explosive is the easiest for beginners(straight forward play), all round don't have the same problems against for example strong/slow, as they usually have some type of projectile. Making all round really good for the player that have learned the basic and wants to improve against all other characters.
- And I will state its OK, to leave them not be the very best character, aka, have no depth. Because give them to much complex high level play and they will be to strong. Instead they should be a good part of the game for non expert players. And if they have enough variety, they will work on expert level because they user can then win by changing gameplay tactic constantly. Which other arch type cant.

Common Mechanic:
The important here is to give the character little of everything. Simple said they should have some mechanics from fast/weak + control + strong/slow. For example Taskmaster have:
Projectile(angled), air projectile (angled), counter = control
2 Different Attack dash, Air Attack Dash, target combo throw(headbutt which only can be used after sword attacks, combo opener) = fast/weak
Then he has the statistic of a strong slow(or arguably a explosive), high attack damage, high recovery , high health etc. He also haves ultra counter(which counters basically anything, which is strong control mechanic primarily), simply said he got mechanics from every other arch type.

Mechanic Not to have:
Taskmaster is a prime example, of how not do a all round characters, he would be a great design if some part where removed. He have to much of everything, for example while he should have projectile he have 3 different angled projectile both ground in air, and 3 different ultra beam projectile. Hes projectile is also charge able creating a special beam projectile, if the user charges. And he have reflect, and counter high and low. This means hes really, really good control, But he got none of the statistic of a control, so he still have a high health game resource etc. One the same time, he got several different ways to start of combos or get in fast, like a fast/weak character. While hes good at everything, like all round should be, hes relatively compared to other characters really good at everything.
Hes consensually agreed to be one of the better characters by every user(writing about the game, and from the field/lab studie to).

Game statistic:
Medium on everything, kinda the thing. Most characters do have 1-2 values that are either a little lower or higher.

Short combo speed

-Sol-badguy, is very much the short speed character. In many ways hes similar to fast/weak, he have 2 different increased movement speed maneuvers and a dash attack. All to get in and start of combos. But he cant do very long combos(in comparison to for example Chip, Sol-badguy’s combos is around 10-15). Instead he is closer to all round, and then features generally better statistic, higher health, more damage per attack. But also then other mechanics such as projectile and better anti air mechanics. The most important difference is really that he cant do as much damage, as the combos aren't as long but he can much easier start combos.

Ken, Yuri, : Street fighter
Mitsurugi, Setsuka, Cassandra, Yoda, : Soul Calibur
Lau, Brad: Virtua fighter
May,Sol Badguy, Ky Kiske: Guilty Gear
Jin: Blazblue
Strider,Captain Commando, Spider-man, Jin, :Marvel Vs Capcom

The key difference from fast/weak is 2 things, and usually its 1 of them not both,.
Either short combo speed character is better getting in close then the fast/weak, or they have projectiles making them not having to get in close. This makes them a lot better against strong/slow, which is the fast/weak hardest match up.
They also have better statistic, having more health and higher damage per attack, making them be a good starter character. With higher health they can do more mistakes, and can go in close with stronger characters without losing so much relatively health points. And with higher damage per attack they don’t have to perform the best combos to deal high damage. From this a important balance is that short combo speed, cant do any super long combos. While they often have the second longest combos, they can still have a huge gap from fast/weak in max hits, and there for deal a significant lower damage when comparing best possibles combos.

Characters, are almost exclusively humans.These humans are almost always, lawful good alignment, and a few are chaotic good. They often have a relation to the main character,(Ken,Jin,Ky Kiske etc)

Common mechanics:
Short range attacks, but can have projectiles.(Difference from fast/weak) These projectiles are weak in damage and the possibilities of using them is often limited(difference from speed control).
Mobility mechanic: Have some extra mobility Dash, Dash Attack, should not have any “great mobility mechanic(triple dash etc)
Can have wall bounce or ground bounce, but more limited then fast/weak.

Mechanic Not to have:
Take down.
Command throw, rarely have any improve throws.

Game statistic:
Low/medium Health, Medium attack damage, Medium Recovery time, Medium/High movement speed. Medium attack speed,

Fast/weak

-Chip is really good case of fast/weak, a good user can do up to over 50+ hits.(real hits no ultra attack to add 20+), hes incredible fast, have a lot of extra mobility. Ridiculously
weak, but still does the highest damage in the game. Meaning, each attack is extremely low damage, but because the user can set so many attacks together that becomes very high damage.




Cammy,Chun-Li, Yang,Yun,Fie Long, Guy : Street fighter
Raphael,Maxi, Yun sun, Xiancha,: Soul Calibur
Lion, Pai, Jacky, : Virtua fighter
Chip, Millia Rage,: Guilty Gear
Taokaka,Bang(in the middle between fast/weak and speed control) : Blazblue
Zack,:Dead Or Alive
Zero,X-23, Wolverine,Wesker,:Marvel Vs Capcom
Eddie,Hwarang:Tekken

Fast/weak(and often referred to speed character for short), characters are fast and cheap against stronger characters. They are pretty straight forward. The user has to get in, but in a good position, as they often don’t have good priority or any health. They should do the highest amount of damage, if a user can perform their long combos. These characters i reasonable a good character to start with, and is one of the most common character type. Its easy to do some damage constantly making them fun for the beginner user, and as they can deal the highest damage when the user have trained a lot, they usually have a lot of depth. The combos are often created from using game mechanics like wall bounce or continues air combos.
This results in that fast/weak is a most for any fighting game. Easy to start with hard to master. And a very good intermediate level of characters. At intermediate the user can do most of the better combos, and get in close. While another user at intermediate often can’t do the right counter measurement not to caught in combos.

-I believe the biggest reason everyone hates Yun/Yang and Fei long now at Street fighter, because the very easy to be come intermediate with. And they to easily get in and do to high damage.

Avoid to make fast/weak characters do to high damage at intermediate level. They should do the highest damage from perfect combos.


Very commonly fast/weak is represented as fast flexible females. Or small sized males. As with Strong control, the users affordance is that the weak looking characters, are weak, but very fast.
-From all my experience playing with new users, its very good to have that most females are this arch type. Many, many times people who are beginner user and don't know the characters abilities. Will have the prejudgement that the female character is fast/weak resulting in that they pick them or don't pick if they don’t what that arch type. So a user with former game experience will often then pick a female because they like this kind of character, as its a good character to start up and learn the game with.



Common mechanics:
Short range attack.
Mobility mechanics: Is very important for fast/weak, they should have a variation of these mechanics, Dash(Double,Triple,Side, Air, Attack), Wall jump,
Different angled attacks(to break opponents block), or mix up game,For example Guy(SF) can add in a special throw in a target combo. Means they should be able to create varied attacks in close combat, from the same situations.
Recovery mechanic(as noted below), needs to be very low, so the user can perform very long combos.
Wall bounce,Ground Bounce(to make combos longer)

Mechanic not to have:
Take Down,
Limited priority, a fast/weak character cant have to many high priority attacks, then they can simply beat anyone to easy when they are in close combat, But they need at least 1 high priority to have a special attack for strong/slow, and other characters.
Teleport, or other mechanics of similar effect, Teleport Dash etc. Its important that a fast/weak character move towards the opponent is a “sense able” way, and not suddenly appear behind them.



Game statistic:
Very low Health, Very low attack damage, Extremely Low Recovery time, Very High movement speed. Very High attack speed,