The importance of Tech in DMC
If we define technique in DMC as non-obvious and useful application of the game's mechanics and the listed move-set, including non-official elements like glitches, we could say that, for example, simply launching with ecstasy in DMC4 in mid air and then executing air trick would be a natural connection. While jump cancelling ecstasy into air trick would be properly a technique.
Why is tech important.
Tech is practically a multiplier or booster of options. Some techs are more important than others, depending on how restricted and contextual their applications is. But all of them expand the immediate limits of the game beyond merely chaining different moves and skills of the move-list as they are supposed to be used.
One could say that everything is actually chaining moves and skills from the game itself; even enemy step is in the move-list.
It's technically correct. Tech is not based on any element outside the game. However, as I said, it's about a more subtle and less obvious use of the game's elements.
One could then say that terms like non-obvious and useful are hard to operationalize or perfectly define in a palpable way, which is why we could argue about certain things being tech or not.
It's a valid point too. But actually they could be defined in such a way and normalized; it's simply not crucial for the topic or in general.
The fact is still that, without tech, this wouldn't be possible:
It's equally important for freestyle, speedrunning, and S ranking, even if I personally don't have much interest in the last 2.
Merely guard cancelling trickster dash and million stabs is very useful to move around in freestyle/gameplay. A glitch like Distortion is key for speedrunning, and certain techs could be useful to optimize style points.
There aren't many advanced players who had planned to reach their current level at some DMC game. Usually players start flirting with the series and later decide to play more in-depth or not. There are some advanced players who started first playing casually, and even years later decided to play more seriously.
This actually applies to me. I played vanilla DMC4 many years ago. Just to beat the game once. It was another context and I couldn't dedicate much time to video games in general. Much later, in 2017, I came back for DMC4SE and started to play more deeply with Vergil, and not even one year ago with Dante.
My point is that you never know how much you will use tech in the future. And many times the assumptions come mainly from misconceptions about reflexes, talent, speed of hands and other words people throw without trying to properly understand why they fail even at relatively simple things.
Blaming imaginary rigid circumstances to avoid any pressure. Meanwhile there are advanced players who really feel pain in their hands and can still apply advanced tech.
2) The use of tech is not black or white:
There are techs that take like 5 minutes to understand and apply in most cases with the proper instructions and help, assuming it's a healthy person who already knows what's a controller and has played video games.
Obviously there are other techs that are very hard, but one can administrate his time and effort depending on his preferences.
3) You are not only a player, but probably also a viewer.
If you enjoy combo videos or freestyle videos of advanced players, which by the way have helped to attract many new players to the series (myself included), then you shouldn't forget how much they depend on tech.
4) This one is a bit more complex, so I will use examples:
If you aren't familiar with DMC4's tech, I used several techniques in this clip (understanding Jump Cancel as a more general tech that enables other derived techs).
The first one is a JCd ecstasy. While not necessary in this case to connect the rest, it makes the beginning smoother.
The second one is inertial rainstorm, and it's done jump cancelling Sky Star into rainstorm.
Next tech is flying guard and then air hike flying guard (irrelevant for this explanation).
And finally, reversed backslide from helmbreaker. Which is done buffering backslide with a certain timing after landing with helmbreaker, and then locking off while maintaining the left stick backwards regarding the enemy.
The visually similar DMC5 counterpart:
In this case one wouldn't even need to JC ecstasy for smoothness because it's a taunt that can be cancelled simply executing other moves.
Inertial rainstorm is not properly a tech in DMC4. Rainstorm is just a gunslinger aerial style move that this time can be steered with the left stick.
And reversed backslide is not a proper reversal. You don't even need to lock off. Dante simply executes it depending on his position prior to backslide.
We enjoy such much easier ways to execute inertial rainstorm, cancelled ecstasy and reversed backslide because of previous techs that clearly influenced the developers.
Tech is not only important for the current game, but also to give a wide perspective of its real potential beyond the immediate limits, which will affect, as shown, the next game and the future of the series.
Here is another example. The difficulty of shotgun JC in DMC4 and JC overall:
When the enemy is on the ground, the timing is different (more delay between the shot and the JC), but almost equally strict.
Meanwhile in DMC5 one can speed up the game to 2.0 and JCing shotgun (fireworks or normal shot) would still be very doable because of the big hitboxes, let alone at 1.2 like in this longer, yet much easier JC sequence:
Even if simpler, the DMC4 examples are harder.
JC Full House very early, and then with splash you will end up too high for Yamato rave to connect. JC too slow in general, and both you and the enemy will fall too much, so you may not even have height for flying guard and shotgun before the enemy reaches the ground. Let alone the already explained shotgun JC.
Hitboxes are clearly much bigger in DMC5. Such change is also probably done in favor to all players, and probably again from interpreting advanced tech from the previous game.
If I needed any additional attempt for the DMC5 example it was more because of memorization than actual execution (since I am not used to improvise quickly on the fly like freestylers).
In a Fighting Game reducing the necessary execution too much would have negative consequences because it would affect the nature of FGs themselves. They are related intrinsically to execution in a competitive way and strategy at the same time; not only strategy. Otherwise they would be too close to purely strategical games, like chess or go, which is not the point of FGs.
The necessary execution is part of what makes them fun to learn besides strategy, and specializing your execution in different ways to punish your opponent, for example, interacts with the strategical aspect in a beautiful way.
If everybody could easily execute anything, then it would be more likely to see players applying exactly the same and most efficient strategies.
DMC's core is however creativity, and mitigating the necessary execution is positive as long as it doesn't severely dumb down certain aspects or hurts the complexity overall. This is why I am fine with bigger hitboxes (only to a certain extent, because it does have some downsides), a simplified way to reverse backslide, rainstorm with intrinsic manageable momentum, etc. And not with such an exaggerated floatiness, slow recoveries in key moves, lack of momentum and proper reversals, invasive/paused JC (explained in the previous entry), etc.
Learning harder tech is obviously more rewarding, but in DMC5 the trade off is that you can do more complex connections or longer combos for the same investment of time and effort. You lose from a less interesting aspect, to win in a more interesting one.
To finish this point I will show 2 exclusive DMC5 techs:
The second one is a more recently found tech (by DK) that allows Dante to JC ground trick into some moves (without lock on), before Dante touches the ground.
In conclusion: saying I don't care about tech implies to not understand how tech influences or has influenced one of your favorite games. It's perfectly possible that you use tools based on previous advanced techs or enjoy adapted mechanics from them.
The more tech the current game has, the more positive changes you could hope for in the next one. It's (partly) how evolution is supposed to work in video games.
In all this DMC5 debate and controversy I have seen a lot of people with a total lack of empathy demanding empathy. And demanding it when actually nobody was hurting them with tech suggestions in any way, besides flooding their timeline a bit with certain hashtags or tech-talk.
Your hashtags and tech-blabla annoyed me tho is no good reason.
It's just video games, so get over it tho can easily be debunked and I have debunked this plenty of times. People can be hyped by video games, motivated to play them and dedicate time and effort into getting better at them. It's like any other valid activity or sport: a hobby where people are totally free to be passionate. And yes, removing tech is really disappointing for me and others.
What's more, unlike many DMC5 moves, this can be easily reversed in: why should some people go as far as saying that we have ruined their fun and be annoyed by us if it's just a video game?
Finally, you may try to debunk all this by saying something in the line but it's like not caring about story, which you have said many times. Not the same, sorry. Story or lore aren't even close to be as important as game mechanics and tech in an action game, which is what made the series so great, especially after 3. This is not Dark Souls, and it's not like I have tried to actively silence people who complained about story. If the game had a deeper and more complex story, even better. Like any other element: music, sound effects, more interesting maps and whatnot.
Yet tech and game mechanics are still by far the most relevant aspect.
In the first case I just connected listed moves as they are supposed to be used merely from common sense.
In the second case, without using any tech and being Dante airborne, one couldn't use air trick again. The technique breaks this rule.
In the second case, without using any tech and being Dante airborne, one couldn't use air trick again. The technique breaks this rule.
Why is tech important.
Tech is practically a multiplier or booster of options. Some techs are more important than others, depending on how restricted and contextual their applications is. But all of them expand the immediate limits of the game beyond merely chaining different moves and skills of the move-list as they are supposed to be used.
One could say that everything is actually chaining moves and skills from the game itself; even enemy step is in the move-list.
It's technically correct. Tech is not based on any element outside the game. However, as I said, it's about a more subtle and less obvious use of the game's elements.
One could then say that terms like non-obvious and useful are hard to operationalize or perfectly define in a palpable way, which is why we could argue about certain things being tech or not.
It's a valid point too. But actually they could be defined in such a way and normalized; it's simply not crucial for the topic or in general.
The fact is still that, without tech, this wouldn't be possible:
But tech is not only useful for combos.
It's equally important for freestyle, speedrunning, and S ranking, even if I personally don't have much interest in the last 2.
Merely guard cancelling trickster dash and million stabs is very useful to move around in freestyle/gameplay. A glitch like Distortion is key for speedrunning, and certain techs could be useful to optimize style points.
Why you should care about tech even if you don't use tech.
1) The first reason is very simple:
There aren't many advanced players who had planned to reach their current level at some DMC game. Usually players start flirting with the series and later decide to play more in-depth or not. There are some advanced players who started first playing casually, and even years later decided to play more seriously.
This actually applies to me. I played vanilla DMC4 many years ago. Just to beat the game once. It was another context and I couldn't dedicate much time to video games in general. Much later, in 2017, I came back for DMC4SE and started to play more deeply with Vergil, and not even one year ago with Dante.
My point is that you never know how much you will use tech in the future. And many times the assumptions come mainly from misconceptions about reflexes, talent, speed of hands and other words people throw without trying to properly understand why they fail even at relatively simple things.
Blaming imaginary rigid circumstances to avoid any pressure. Meanwhile there are advanced players who really feel pain in their hands and can still apply advanced tech.
2) The use of tech is not black or white:
There are techs that take like 5 minutes to understand and apply in most cases with the proper instructions and help, assuming it's a healthy person who already knows what's a controller and has played video games.
Obviously there are other techs that are very hard, but one can administrate his time and effort depending on his preferences.
3) You are not only a player, but probably also a viewer.
If you enjoy combo videos or freestyle videos of advanced players, which by the way have helped to attract many new players to the series (myself included), then you shouldn't forget how much they depend on tech.
4) This one is a bit more complex, so I will use examples:
If you aren't familiar with DMC4's tech, I used several techniques in this clip (understanding Jump Cancel as a more general tech that enables other derived techs).
The first one is a JCd ecstasy. While not necessary in this case to connect the rest, it makes the beginning smoother.
The second one is inertial rainstorm, and it's done jump cancelling Sky Star into rainstorm.
Next tech is flying guard and then air hike flying guard (irrelevant for this explanation).
And finally, reversed backslide from helmbreaker. Which is done buffering backslide with a certain timing after landing with helmbreaker, and then locking off while maintaining the left stick backwards regarding the enemy.
The visually similar DMC5 counterpart:
Inertial rainstorm is not properly a tech in DMC4. Rainstorm is just a gunslinger aerial style move that this time can be steered with the left stick.
And reversed backslide is not a proper reversal. You don't even need to lock off. Dante simply executes it depending on his position prior to backslide.
We enjoy such much easier ways to execute inertial rainstorm, cancelled ecstasy and reversed backslide because of previous techs that clearly influenced the developers.
Tech is not only important for the current game, but also to give a wide perspective of its real potential beyond the immediate limits, which will affect, as shown, the next game and the future of the series.
Here is another example. The difficulty of shotgun JC in DMC4 and JC overall:
In 4 one should use set-ups that imply inertia towards the enemy to make shotgun JC easier. And the timing is still very strict. It's not about being merely faster. The slow-motion shows a fail from JCing too early.
When the enemy is on the ground, the timing is different (more delay between the shot and the JC), but almost equally strict.
Meanwhile in DMC5 one can speed up the game to 2.0 and JCing shotgun (fireworks or normal shot) would still be very doable because of the big hitboxes, let alone at 1.2 like in this longer, yet much easier JC sequence:
JC Full House very early, and then with splash you will end up too high for Yamato rave to connect. JC too slow in general, and both you and the enemy will fall too much, so you may not even have height for flying guard and shotgun before the enemy reaches the ground. Let alone the already explained shotgun JC.
Hitboxes are clearly much bigger in DMC5. Such change is also probably done in favor to all players, and probably again from interpreting advanced tech from the previous game.
If I needed any additional attempt for the DMC5 example it was more because of memorization than actual execution (since I am not used to improvise quickly on the fly like freestylers).
In a Fighting Game reducing the necessary execution too much would have negative consequences because it would affect the nature of FGs themselves. They are related intrinsically to execution in a competitive way and strategy at the same time; not only strategy. Otherwise they would be too close to purely strategical games, like chess or go, which is not the point of FGs.
The necessary execution is part of what makes them fun to learn besides strategy, and specializing your execution in different ways to punish your opponent, for example, interacts with the strategical aspect in a beautiful way.
If everybody could easily execute anything, then it would be more likely to see players applying exactly the same and most efficient strategies.
DMC's core is however creativity, and mitigating the necessary execution is positive as long as it doesn't severely dumb down certain aspects or hurts the complexity overall. This is why I am fine with bigger hitboxes (only to a certain extent, because it does have some downsides), a simplified way to reverse backslide, rainstorm with intrinsic manageable momentum, etc. And not with such an exaggerated floatiness, slow recoveries in key moves, lack of momentum and proper reversals, invasive/paused JC (explained in the previous entry), etc.
Learning harder tech is obviously more rewarding, but in DMC5 the trade off is that you can do more complex connections or longer combos for the same investment of time and effort. You lose from a less interesting aspect, to win in a more interesting one.
To finish this point I will show 2 exclusive DMC5 techs:
The first one allows Dante to perform a shotgun shot and throw at the same time the rose launcher, previously known as ecstasy.
It's not only useful when Dante is not close enough to JC. It's also faster than a regular shotgun JC into aerial taunt, enabling some connections that otherwise would be impossible.
It's not only useful when Dante is not close enough to JC. It's also faster than a regular shotgun JC into aerial taunt, enabling some connections that otherwise would be impossible.
The second one is a more recently found tech (by DK) that allows Dante to JC ground trick into some moves (without lock on), before Dante touches the ground.
If people integrates such techs in their gameplay and combos, and developers notice it, who knows if one day we could enjoy such mechanics in a more consistent way in DMC6 or another action game. Designing official mechanics to shoot and do other actions at the same time with a lenient timing, or replicating Dante's hitbox in certain situations to JC moves from distance.
In conclusion: saying I don't care about tech implies to not understand how tech influences or has influenced one of your favorite games. It's perfectly possible that you use tools based on previous advanced techs or enjoy adapted mechanics from them.
The more tech the current game has, the more positive changes you could hope for in the next one. It's (partly) how evolution is supposed to work in video games.
Obviously some changes can be negative and not all the tech can be carried over, but this is not justified in DMC5, which is why the controversy even exists.
Despite some of the explained positive changes, there are some very negative ones, like the removal of reversals, despite not coming into conflict with other mechanics. And every time you say that you don't care about tech, you don't realize you are or will be affected by tech.
If nobody complains, not having reversals in 5 makes less likely to get them in an hypothetical DMC6, or potential new mechanics related to them.
If nobody complains, not having reversals in 5 makes less likely to get them in an hypothetical DMC6, or potential new mechanics related to them.
5) The last and also the most ignored reason is empathy.
In all this DMC5 debate and controversy I have seen a lot of people with a total lack of empathy demanding empathy. And demanding it when actually nobody was hurting them with tech suggestions in any way, besides flooding their timeline a bit with certain hashtags or tech-talk.
Your hashtags and tech-blabla annoyed me tho is no good reason.
It's just video games, so get over it tho can easily be debunked and I have debunked this plenty of times. People can be hyped by video games, motivated to play them and dedicate time and effort into getting better at them. It's like any other valid activity or sport: a hobby where people are totally free to be passionate. And yes, removing tech is really disappointing for me and others.
What's more, unlike many DMC5 moves, this can be easily reversed in: why should some people go as far as saying that we have ruined their fun and be annoyed by us if it's just a video game?
Finally, you may try to debunk all this by saying something in the line but it's like not caring about story, which you have said many times. Not the same, sorry. Story or lore aren't even close to be as important as game mechanics and tech in an action game, which is what made the series so great, especially after 3. This is not Dark Souls, and it's not like I have tried to actively silence people who complained about story. If the game had a deeper and more complex story, even better. Like any other element: music, sound effects, more interesting maps and whatnot.
Yet tech and game mechanics are still by far the most relevant aspect.
Comentarios
Publicar un comentario