Awkward Zombie

I don't think there's anything wrong with asymmetric gameplay. I mean, that's kind of the standard for 95% of a single player games, really. People only complain when it's pretending to be symmetric. I mean, does anyone playing an RPG care that most monsters never try to revive their party members?

As noted, it's only a problem when it's pretending to be symmetric. More precisely, it's a problem when the game's been designed around a level playing field.

I have this issue with something I've seen called Super Armor in fighting games. In essence, it's a special bonus that some AI characters can be given that causes them to No-Sell attacks. They take damage but they don't recoil or get stunned by them. You might try to punch a guy and he'll punch at the same time, your blow will hit first but because of his Super Armor, he steamrolls through it and continues into a combo For Massive Damage.

It's a concept that can be done well (Shao Kahn from Mortal Kombat 2011 had Super Armor during his attacks but would react normally to hits landed while he's neutral or in his cooldown frames, forcing the player to intelligently fight around his powerful hits) but more often than not, it's just frustrating and cheap.

My Tumblr. Currently liveblogging Haruhi Suzumiya and revisiting Danganronpa V3.

Super Armor is often given the player too, depending on the game. Certain attacks might have "player cannot flinch" as a property, which is obviously a perk to that attack. As long as it's reasonable, it can be pretty balanced.

Immune to Flinching

edited 3rd Feb '16 7:29:39 AM by Clarste

On an only mildly related note, this reminds me of a fighting game that used a "weather" system and periodically gave both players full Super Armor for about 15 seconds or so. This was perfectly fair and naturally everyone hated it.

Tempest: Battles become wild

I have a message from another time...

It wasn't about being easy, it was that the number of possible moves in Go are mind bogglingly large. Humans simplify it because we're really good at reducing patterns. If you look at something like chess which isn't pattern based and more about optimization, computers have been able to beat masters for a while.

"Never let the truth get in the way of a good story." Twitter

Yeah, super armor has been a thing for a while. Though, was it only applied to a computer-controlled character? Because that would be bullshit.

Dopants: He meant what he said and he said what he meant, a Ninety is faithful 100%.

The main distinction between Super Armor and attacks having invincibility frames is that Super Armor isn't an attack. It's just there. Shao Kahn, as I mentioned, was a good use of the concept as he applied it to all of his moves - every frame of every attack is an invincibility frame - but was otherwise undefended. He even flashes white if you strike him while the Super Armor's up to let the player know what happened.

Other games such as Dragon Ball Xenoverse grants it as a temporary boost to its AI characters. Boss characters are often signified by the fact that, up to a certain damage threshold, they never react to being hit by any attack regardless of whether they're launching a move or just standing there.

My Tumblr. Currently liveblogging Haruhi Suzumiya and revisiting Danganronpa V3.

I know what super armor is, I'm just asking if Shao Kahn was available to the player as well, and if he did whether he kept it.

Dopants: He meant what he said and he said what he meant, a Ninety is faithful 100%.

Ah. No, the character was AI-exclusive. He's the final boss of the game and has a few other cheap effects too like taking half damage from attacks or dealing 2-3x damage with his own.

edited 3rd Feb '16 8:42:30 AM by TobiasDrake

My Tumblr. Currently liveblogging Haruhi Suzumiya and revisiting Danganronpa V3.

Ah, okay. Well, if it's a final boss, it's excusable. It'd be bad if, say, random opponents got it in arcade mode.

Dopants: He meant what he said and he said what he meant, a Ninety is faithful 100%.

Yeah. And it's not always on, either, making the fight more of an action puzzle than an annoying slog against an invincible foe.

Like I said, Shao Kahn was an example of Super Armor done well. Challenging, but still just manageable enough to avoid being a Luck-Based Mission.

edited 3rd Feb '16 9:12:37 AM by TobiasDrake

My Tumblr. Currently liveblogging Haruhi Suzumiya and revisiting Danganronpa V3.

So the fighting arena briefly changed to Atari arcade classic Tempest?

Moon◊

It's actually Typhoon.

Hourly comic time!

Hey, that's what I do! And I didn't have to go through four years of college for it. <.< Or finish high school....

Katie probably gets paid a ton more than me, though.

My Tumblr. Currently liveblogging Haruhi Suzumiya and revisiting Danganronpa V3.

I mean, she's high enough to actually have classified infp she can't talk about.

And hey, I recognize the Inventor interface. It's pretty fun once you get the hang of it.

edited 8th Feb '16 12:26:21 PM by Ninety

Dopants: He meant what he said and he said what he meant, a Ninety is faithful 100%.

This is the best webcomic about video games I read that's made by a rocket scientist.

The fact that it's a webcomic about video games made by a rocket scientist is quite enough to make it amazing

Say to the others who did not follow through You're still our brothers, and we will fight for you

The fact that it's a webcomic about video games made by a rocket scientist is quite enough to make it amazing

Say to the others who did not follow through You're still our brothers, and we will fight for you

Damnit, I knew I should've chosen material sciences or something as my major. "Webcomic about video games made by a programmer" just doesn't sound as impressive.

I suck at math so I doubt I could be a rocket scientist or an engineer XD

That is the face of a man who just ate a kitten. Raw.

You know, when Katie said we'd get six months of Metal Gear Solid comics I thought she was joking. But we're coming up on the four month mark and she hasn't even started making comics about that new one what came out and started this thing!

It still amuses me to no end that there are canonically MSF brand sodas, chips, body spray, instant meals, magazines, and tea.

Oh really when?

And an attempt at an ethnic-liberator burger!

Moon◊