Game Fan League Discussion Thread

[Hardy]

Holy crap that's a complex character, but I do like it -and I really like that you relate this speed player to wind! although it seems to fit Hermes more than Kaji lol. His feat makes him auto use one of his formations in doubles if the requirements are met? Would the player decide ¨just in case¨ before the match or is it random?

I like Aero Vortex's gimmick, as it makes the character lose its 0.5 stamina usage advantage, so the player can judge if the risk is good enough for its reward.

I don't really know how the characters do 1 on 1, but I kind of think that Kaji shouldn't beat Ohmagari, Kimijima, Tohno and Ochi anymore -as they all kept improving somehow whereas Kaji is on a wheelchair or something like that nowadays. Futhermore, maybe it's just me but extremely complex characters like this one kind of turn me off -he just has so many things that I'll prolly end up using the same special over and over again. Maybe you could use some of the ideas you had for him in other characters?

Edit: Friendly Fire sounds like an awesome way to bring what we saw at the start of the last match btw, although I have no idea in how useful it can be besides pairing him with Kirihara or if it would make sense ¨roleplay¨-wise if used on other characters.

 

[Kaoz]

Holy crap that's a complex character, but I do like it -and I really like that you relate this speed player to wind! although it seems to fit Hermes more than Kaji lol. His feat makes him auto use one of his formations in doubles if the requirements are met? Would the player decide ¨just in case¨ before the match or is it random?

Well, Kaji literally has wind in his name (Kazena).

But yes, his Feat forces one of the Formations to activate - both in singles and doubles (unless he has a partner that negates it) - but you can choose which one you want to use. The reason why I decided to do it this way is that in the Book of Five Rings (the one I linked a few days ago in the Hangout) Musashi basically says that a true strategist shouldn't use the same strategy over and over, but the cruncher is that Kaji is not a true strategist, so I wanted him to have to commit to either a super offensive or a super defensive style throughout the match.

I don't really know how the characters do 1 on 1, but I kind of think that Kaji shouldn't beat Ohmagari, Kimijima, Tohno and Ochi anymore -as they all kept improving somehow whereas Kaji is on a wheelchair or something like that nowadays.

See, I'm split about this because I'm not sure if the HSers got real power-ups during the training camp since so far we haven't seen any. If they end up getting an extra point in stats I wouldn't give that to Kaji for the reason you mentioned, but right now I'm not sure what Konomi has in mind there.

Futhermore, maybe it's just me but extremely complex characters like this one kind of turn me off -he just has so many things that I'll prolly end up using the same special over and over again. Maybe you could use some of the ideas you had for him in other characters?

Honestly, he's less complex that it seems at first. You essentially have to make two decisions when using him:

1. Which Formation do you use? Either you can't use any Specials since everything is negated or you're forced to use Specials all the time which removes a normally pretty complex part of line-up creation.
2. Among the Specials, Anabatic Blow boosts stats that are frequently checked for the ACE effects of other Specials, so it's the most defensive one of the three, but in return it's more difficult to score an ACE yourself. The other two are the more offensive skills and either you have a more difficult to achieve ACE effect (Crosswind's) that grants you a safe 1 Mental per hit or you have Air Bullet which gives you ACEs more frequently, but you need to get multiple in a row to get the secondary effect.

It becomes complex when you start negating the Feat with his partner, but you're not forced to use him that way.

Edit: Friendly Fire sounds like an awesome way to bring what we saw at the start of the last match btw, although I have no idea in how useful it can be besides pairing him with Kirihara or if it would make sense ¨roleplay¨-wise if used on other characters.

I think there's some use with other characters too, e.g. Akutsu's Monster Feat would trigger and give him an extra point of Power right off the bat etc., but on the other hand I reckon it won't make much sense for roleplaying most of the time. I think it's a really interesting skill though.

 

[Hardy]

I dunno man my Japanese knowledge is as good as Kirihara's English lol. Awesome then, it fits even more.

The way you showed Kaji now simplifies him a lot, yes, but I still think he might have 1 special too many. It's a matter of opinion though.

How about turning Friendly Fire into something like ¨Provocation¨, and using Friendly Fire as a new feat to avoid your partner from being KO'ed like he did to Kirihara in the last match? -it would make you auto lose the game, but that's better than losing the entire match. Also, I just noticed Friendly Fire only applies after losing a point -not x-, which makes it impossible for Niou to trigger Tohno's pride at the start of the match

 

[Kaoz]

How about turning Friendly Fire into something like ¨Provocation¨, and using Friendly Fire as a new feat to avoid your partner from being KO'ed like he did to Kirihara in the last match? -it would make you auto lose the game, but that's better than losing the entire match.

I get what you mean, but I'm not sure how to implement it. All (or at least the vast majority of) damage reductions are applied after the point is already over, so I guess you'd have to lose the next point as well or play 1v2 there which effectively means the same thing? Would that be worth it?

 

[Hardy]

I get what you mean, but I'm not sure how to implement it. All (or at least the vast majority of) damage reductions are applied after the point is already over, so I guess you'd have to lose the next point as well or play 1v2 there which effectively means the same thing? Would that be worth it?

Uhm well, it could be something like, if a special move that were to harm the partner is about to be used during the point, then Tohno would Friendly Fire his partner and play alone for the rest of said point. I don't think losing 2 points would be worth it at all, no.

From the RPG point of view it would be something like this:

-Tohno sees the opponent preparing himself to do his shot -usually strong shots have huge wind ups in this series so it would make sense, you can see a Hadou a minute before it hits lol. His analysis is that his partner stands no chance to return it.

-He punches his partner ('-') and sends it flying out off the court.

-Opponent hits his special shot and scores easily, but without touching anyone / only hurting Tohno.

 

[Kaoz]

Uhm well, it could be something like, if a special move that were to harm the partner is about to be used during the point, then Tohno would Friendly Fire his partner and play alone for the rest of said point. I don't think losing 2 points would be worth it at all, no.

Well, my point is that a situation like you're describing basically can't occur at all I think. Whenever there's an HP reducing effect, it always goes like this: "ACE if ... If ACE, opponent's HP decreases by X." So basically at the timing the partner were to be harmed, the opponent has already won the point and awarding them the point then doesn't give the opponent any benefit they didn't already have.

The only other way I can think of would be to check if the opponent's move has the potential to do HP damage and then activate Friendly Fire based on that, regardless of whether the damage would actually occur in reality or not then. That would be a double-edged sword though because then you could potentially trigger Friendly Fire and lose a point even though the partner would've been perfectly fine.

 

[Hardy]

Uhm, ok, I see what you are saying. But I didn't really mean that the ability would have a negative side that would benefit the opponent-although maybe it should have one.

Can't it be something simple like:

-Ace.
-HP decrease in *Partner* was reduced to 1 due to Friendly Fire.

The only other way I can think of would be to check if the opponent's move has the potential to do HP damage and then activate Friendly Fire based on that, regardless of whether the damage would actually occur in reality or not then. That would be a double-edged sword though because then you could potentially trigger Friendly Fire and lose a point even though the partner would've been perfectly fine.

Please no, this would make some really weird results lol.

Dw if there is no real way to implement it, there is no need to force it anyway.

 

[Kaoz]

Can't it be something simple like:

-Ace.
-HP decrease in *Partner* was reduced to 1 due to Friendly Fire.

It could be I suppose, the way I understood your initial post I assumed there should be a downside to it. I'll think about it some more.

--- Double Post Merged, Sep 8, 2016, Original Post Date: Aug 19, 2016 ---

Anyone want Orion and Apollon as characters? If not, I'm not making them.

 

[Hardy]

Unless you can come up with some sort of execution synchro or some gimmick like that -like, if any of them is paired with another character that has damaging moves and said moves are being used, the formation activates or something like that, idk- then yeah I'd omit them too, they were quite forgettable.

 

[Kaoz]

Unless you can come up with some sort of execution synchro or some gimmick like that -like, if any of them is paired with another character that has damaging moves and said moves are being used, the formation activates or something like that, idk- then yeah I'd omit them too, they were quite forgettable.

Well, I could most likely come up with something, it would just go beyond what was shown in the manga. Which is fine by me, but again, I don't know how everyone else feels about it. Also, updates:

Spoiler: Heracles

Taratta Heracles (25, SB: 3, HP: 14, AB, R)
[SPE: 4, POW: 7, STA: 7, MEN: 4, TEC: 3]

-Kindness [Counter]:
Triggers after opponent's HP decreases for the first time. Mental permanently decreases by 3, Serves/Specials are negated and opponent's HP cannot decrease for the rest of the match.

-Pending [Serve - Lv 3]:
Data: Power increases by 1, Technique increases by 3.
Extra: ACE if any opponent's combined Speed and Mental is less than 7.

-Pending [Special - Lv 3]:
Activation: Only activates if Support Lv is 2 or higher.
Data: Partner's Power increases by 1. Every opponent's Speed decreases by 2.
Extra: ACE if any opponent's combined Speed and Mental is 7 or less.

-Silver Light of Mount Olympus [Special - Lv 6]:
Activation: After activation, Stamina decreases by 2 instead of 1. Cannot be negated by opponent's abilities.
Data: Speed increases by 3, Power increases by 1, Mental increases by 3.
Extra: ACE if every opponent's Mental is less than 6. If ACE and any opponent's Speed is less than 4, that opponent's HP decreases by 8.

Spoiler: Zeus

Zeus Iriopourosu (26, SB: 2, HP: 10, AR, R)
[SPE: 4, POW: 5, STA: 5, MEN: 7, TEC: 5]

-Divine Aura [Counter]:
Triggers before the 1st point. If any opponent's Mental is less than 5, their Mental permanently decreases to 0.

-God's Domain [Auto]:
If any opponent's Mental is 7 or less, their Special's Extra is negated. ACE if every opponent's Mental is 7 or less.

Spoiler: Tanegashima

Shuuji Tanegashima [28, SB: 2, HP: 10, AR, R]
(SPE: 5, POW: 5, STA: 5, MEN: 7, TEC: 6)

-Star Performer [Auto]:
Mental cannot decrease. After winning a point, if an opponent's Mental is 5 or less, that opponent's Mental permanently decreases by 2.

-Vision Transmission [Auto]:
Cannot be copied. When checked, Speed returns at +7.

-Acumen [Counter]:
Triggers after losing consecutive points. Mental permanently increases by 1. Specials cannot be negated for the rest of the match.

-Void Destruction [Special - Lv 6]:
Activation: Cannot be copied. Extra of opponent's Serves/Specials with Lv <= 6 is negated. After activation, Stamina decreases by 0.5 instead of 1.
Data: Opponent's Power and Technique do not increase through Serves/Specials with Lv <= 6. At the end of the Data step, if Mental exceeds an opponent's Mental, that opponent's Speed decreases by the difference.
Extra: ACE if every opponent's combined Speed and Mental is less than 12.

Stat adjustments:
Oishi: 2/2/4/4/4 (Mental +1)
Kirihara: 4/3.5/3/3/3.5 (Power +0.5, Mental +1, Speed +0.5)
Devil Akaya: 5/5/3/5/2 (s.a., Stamina +1, activation time -1)
Shiraishi: 4.5/4.5/4.5/4.5/4.5 (all +0.5)

--- Double Post Merged, Oct 8, 2016, Original Post Date: Sep 8, 2016 ---

So, how should I implement Noah? As an Auto for Dorgias or as a stand-alone character pretending he didn't become blind?

 

[Anera]

So, how should I implement Noah? As an Auto for Dorgias or as a stand-alone character pretending he didn't become blind?

The former, because we know nothing about this guy as for now and I don't think we'll know more later either. If you feel the courage to try something though, go ahead.

 

[Hardy]

Yeah, I would keep him as an Auto, him being his own character might be too much.

What could be cool, though, is that said Auto could affect Dorgias' teammates as well -but maybe only Australians, idk, dude is blind he can't know it all.

 

[Kaoz]

Yeah, I'm not sure how to implement the Auto yet to be honest. One idea I had was to copy the Battle Factory of the gen 4 Pokemon games where they give you hints about the upcoming opponent, first by specifically saying which Pokemon you're going to face and then becoming more vague as you progress. So what we could do here is that I give Dorgias' player a roster with hints that would describe either the most outstanding traits of the opposing players or if they're using Specials early on etc. For example:

Noah's Prediction:
S3: They'll come at us with everything they have right off the bat. Prepare for early Specials.
D2: This pair relies on their strong bond.
S2: He will try to reserve his strength.
D1: One of the opponents specializes in Speed, the other in Power.
S1: This guy is one of the top 3 players on the other team.

We could create a list of these kinds of hints as well as conditions required for them to be applicable and then I'd just pick one of them. The big problem with this is that the players involved would need to be quick with their line-ups, otherwise it would result in unwanted delays.

 

[Hardy]

That could be a bit too strong though? Like, the hardest part of the fan league is actually logically predicting the opponent, and such an ability would make said thing way easier. Maybe it could only be used for one of the 5 matches -player's choice.

The big problem with this is that the players involved would need to be quick with their line-ups, otherwise it would result in unwanted delays.

Best way to counter Noah -> don't send a line-up and force Kaoz to PM you, so you send it in the last second

Spoiler

Well, I'm actually good at that.

Spoiler

Sorry Kaoz

 

[Kaoz]

That could be a bit too strong though?

It could be, really depends on how specific the hints are. Saying that the player specializes in X stat wouldn't be that big of a deal for instance I think since you'll usually have multiple characters that applies to on the team and it doesn't tell you anything about how they use their Specials yet.

 

[Hardy]

It could be, really depends on how specific the hints are. Saying that the player specializes in X stat wouldn't be that big of a deal for instance I think since you'll usually have multiple characters that applies to on the team and it doesn't tell you anything about how they use their Specials yet.

But that way you'll be able to discard X, Y and Z player from that match, and as such you'll guess they will play somewhere else. And that's just with 1 clue, imagine how it could be with 5.

 

[Kaoz]

Yeah, that's true. Maybe it'd be worth testing how much of an advantage it actually is with last season's player pool. Also, what if it was one of those Autos that only activate when the player is in reserve? That way you'd have to choose between Dorgias playing and Noah predicting. That would probably still lead to Dorgias getting picked early on, but it means you'll lose out on a second round pick (I'd guess) like Duke or QP.

 

[Hardy]

Yeah, that's true. Maybe it'd be worth testing how much of an advantage it actually is with last season's player pool. Also, what if it was one of those Autos that only activate when the player is in reserve? That way you'd have to choose between Dorgias playing and Noah predicting. That would probably still lead to Dorgias getting picked early on, but it means you'll lose out on a second round pick (I'd guess) like Duke or QP.

I really like that idea, it could actually be quite cool. Just don't make Dorgias a very strong 3rd pick character by himself and it should be fine

 

[Kaoz]

I'm thinking of having his stats in the 22-24 range for now, but I'd like him to get a boost against the pros (because of the real Kyrgios). So he'd do well against weaker players and very strong ones, but struggle with those in between. Either way though, the logistics are still an issue, so ultimately solving that is what it comes down to.

--- Double Post Merged, Oct 13, 2016, Original Post Date: Oct 10, 2016 ---

How about this:

Spoiler: Dorgias

Jay Jay Dorgias [23, SB: 3, HP: 11, AB, R]
(Speed: 5, Power: 7, Stamina: 4, Mental: 3, Technique: 4)

-Hidden Tactician [Reserve]:
Receive hints regarding the opponent's line-up.

-Boxing Tennis [Auto]:
Only activates from 4th point onward or if any opponent's base total is 30 or higher. Opponent's Speed decreases by 1 and their Power increases at -1.

-Underdog [Counter]:
Triggers if any opponent's base total is 30 or higher. Mental permanently increases by 3 and opponent's HP decreases at 200%.

-Mad Dog [Counter]:
Triggers whenever HP decreases. Power permanently increases by 1.

-Dragon Punch [Special - Lv 4]:
Data: Speed increases by 2, Power increases by 3.
Extra: ACE if opponent successfully activates a FORCED LOB effect. Opponent's (Doubles: opponent's partner's) HP decreases by 6.

-Dragon Kick [Special - Lv 5]:
Activation: Cannot be negated if every opponent's Mental is 5 or less.
Data: Speed increases by 4, Technique increases by 3.
Extra: ACE if any opponent's combined Speed and Mental is less than 8. If ACE, that opponent's HP decreases by 4.

Spoiler: Prediction Table

There are three categories: stat related predictions, playstyle related predictions and move related predictions. For each position one category is chosen at random and the corresponding prediction will be sent to the player.

Stat related predictions
1. The opponent seems to rely on their Speed. [If opponent's highest stat is Speed.]
2. The opponent seems to rely on their Power. [If opponent's highest stat is Power. Doubles: Average of both characters.]
3. The opponent seems to rely on their Stamina. [If opponent's highest stat is Stamina. Doubles: Average of both characters.]
4. The opponent seems to rely on their Mental. [If opponent's highest stat is Mental. Doubles: Average of both characters.]
5. The opponent seems to rely on their Technique. [If opponent's highest stat is Technique. Doubles: Average of both characters.]
6. The opponents seem to rely on their combination. [Doubles only. If Support Lv. x2 is higher than any individual stat.]
7. The opponent has more than one specialty. [If multiple stats, including Support, are tied for highest.]
8. The opponent is among their team's elite players. [If at least one opponent's base total is among the top 3 highest on the team. Priority over other stat related predictions.]

Playstyle related predictions
Singles
1. The opponent likes attacking. [If opponent's playstyle is either AB or SV.]
2. The opponent prefers to defend. [If opponent's playstyle is CP.]
3. The opponent is a balanced player. [If opponent's playstyle is AR.]
Doubles
1. Same as Singles. [If both opponent's fulfill the requirement.]
2. The opposing pair is balanced. [Otherwise.]

Move related predictions
1. The opponent will go all-out from the start. [If opponent uses a Serve/Special on the 1st Point.]
2. The opponent will keep some of their strength in reserve. [If opponent uses a Serve/Special on the 7th Point.]
3. The opponent will keep attacking non-stop. [If opponent uses a Serve/Special on at least four points.]
4. The opponent will stick to the basics. [If opponent uses no Serves/Specials throughout the match.]

 

[Philia]

When will we be having the next season, Koaz?