You cannot take online play seriously or judge someones skill with it unless it plays exactly like offline.

Truth

garbage

I still believe you can tell who understands the core mechanics of the game regardless of lag or no lag. Lag has nothing to do with how someone utilizes stuff like parry, wake-ups, low pokes and all those stuff. So I would say, a great online player (not a one character trick but an all rounder) is still most likely going to remain great even offline. Therefore, I don't think you can fully discount online gameplay.

Saying online gameplay never counts is pretty much like cupping out!

So my vote is, somewhat legit!
Trax

I guess you could get a basic idea, depending on their lag that is.

garbage

offline awesome

Online = Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaammmmmmmeeeeeee!!!

Lag just gets in the way of someone playing at their highest level possible. Even just a pinch of it.

Yes, it does, because all the recoveries are so much different off-line.

Dave, I think I know why my opinion differs. I have never played anyone at MK:A offline. Online is alI know. But something tells me that the guys I find it hard against online are probably going to be same offline. I'm not talking those utilizing glitches i.e. free throw and stuff. I'll try and find someone offline to play to see how that matches.

Trax

i dont care if online is legit or not.... i dont play this game offline so online is it for me. Yes its bullshit... but if you and your opponent could somehow agree not to use 3,3 A/c and deep kicks then its ok by me

Lag=happens in most games online

The real question is this, if online isn't legit or fun on some level then why play it in the first place to begin with then bitch about it later?

Also, online is the future and KEY reason why the arcade scene is DEAD.

Who the hell is going to travel to another country or another state just to play someone else in a fighting game just to be "legit" Arcade scene is dead and buried, online=the future of gaming.



If someone can answer that, the floor is yours I'm all ears because I know most on here despite who says online is legit or not legit WON'T waste their time traveling long distances just to play someone else in a video game much less fighting game.

That's exactly how I feel and the fact that I've never played MK:A competitively offline backs that up.

So fricken what online play is not perfect? Most of us here spend too much time over analyzing the impact instead of just getting on with the damn thing.

Lag or no lag, some online folks are more skilled than others and I'd rather have people come out and say that than use lag as an excuse.

Trax

lets use bobbys as an example ( no offense blaze)

he wins 90% of his games with sareena online?

how many would he win offline with his same tatics??


take the game how it was suppose to work, where they actually show ur characters recovery frames, and how would half these people compete. how many people attack and jump away safely??? how many people get away with the most unsafe moves and parry after them???non of that would exist offline. u attack, u guess right and block, and u can actually punish the person.

the people who dont play offline at all, and think what is connection is allowing them to do, is legit play is the ones im talking about.

another example would be dnc, take away him magic jumping ability and he would get his ass handed to him over and over, but when he lags like a bitch, he can be super safe.

this is why the game is not legit online, this is the future, but until the lag issue gets fixed then the game isnt legit. the only issues u ever had to deal with in the arcades were a sticky button, a worn out joystick, and a fat guys body keeping you from getting your proper stance on ur side cause hes to big. o and the asshole who would lose and kick the machine or turn it off after he lost.

when over 50% of the comminity quits a game cause the lag makes the game unplayable at a competitive high standard , dont that say something about how legit the game is. its not a one play issue, its not a system issue, it a overall community issue and mk lost way to many players off it, and the reason why mkd was played till mka came out, and mka was dead 18 months before the next installment.

ok Red, a lot of your points are valid. But I still think there are enough legitimate players online to differentiate between truly skilled players and lag enhanced players. So you can't just dismiss all the games you play online as nothing.

Draw up a tier list with only players capable of playing a series to 10 without using any character twice and you'll find that list would probably retain itself even offline and reflect skilled players from tricksters.

Trax

Arcade gaming was a great way to play competitively, i agree, but it had its limitations due to the fact players were restricted to only playing the best in that particular area. Online gaming brings together a wider scope of talented gamers, which in turn creates a more competitive atmosphere.

I feel the success of a video game woud be determined not only on the fun factor (or H3 marketing), but its competitive component. Its been that way since Pac Man. I would think developers would leap at the opportunity to create a game soley for competitive online play.

The problem is the most deveoplers of games, like those of MKA, missed the "competitive" part ,and once again, designed a FIGHTER of all games to be fun.


I would think developers would leap at the opportunity to create a game soley for competitive online play. I know I would. Screw offline campaign mode.

Focus on creating a game that lag would have little effect on outcome and gamers would be rewarded for praticing techniques.



Anyway - MKA online is a joke. Offline is a bigger joke because there isnt the "lag" excuse as to why you still whiff moves.

GTrax - Look hard into a parry. How much time to you have to actually counter one offline. Try it vs. the CPU. Then go online and look how many times people whiff a parry and can still block before you can react. Or even recover before you can attack.

MKA : Its silly.......but fun. Unless you give a shit about the outcome.

Red is right on this one. Online is not legit in the sense of being able who the better player is (whether it's all-time, or during one particular series).

I've been using the following rationale forever...

With MK online, you can distinguish players to a point. You can see the difference between an elite player and a mediocre player. You can tell the difference between a high-level player and a poor player.

BUT, you can't tell an elite from an elite. I don't even think you can tell an elite from a high-level player. Especially if there are common "characteristics" that many people notice about a player that MAY be the reason they separate themselves from some players.

So if two players are identical in playing ability, the worst connection will win. It's simply because if you can't punish many of your opponents mistakes, you're chances of losing increase. If your opponent CAN punish all of your mistakes, you're chances of losing increase. I could go on for a while with Aerial Kombat, 50/50 abilities, Free-Throws, and a lot more.

Again: If two players are completely equal, the worst connection wins. That's why it's not legit. But it's all there is. That's why tournaments and other fun competitiveness can't be attained.

After seeing checks and red's videos and then reading what happened to pig: Online = Garbage

Exactly...^^

If people really felt that way in "online play sucks royally" they wouldn't play online at all. Period, if you play online obviously you're enjoying it for some reason if not how to the game plays online, then for more comp which is obviously the reason people play online, that and to make new friends.

MKA playing poorly online is not new news to everyone here who hates it, notice when MKD was online you rarely if ever heard of people complaining about "lag" or online play because it played smoother online.

FTR, people shouldn't judge all Midway games or games in general off of MKA fighting game, MKD played well online and UMK3 plays near to perfect online.

As for the arcade scene, as I said earlier it's completely and utterly dead now so whether you like online play or not, you really have no choice when it's all said and done. Ironically Red's point on the arcade scene is true because I've seen people go "psycho" on the arcade machines by kicking them or punching it...thus breaking the machine.



I actually saw this dude once when I was playing MK3, there was a SF 3 machine moved next to it by the arcade near me(at the time 7 years ago) this dude got beat and kicked it while cursing at it lol

MKF, people play online because it's boring to play the computer. Fighters NEED human competition to be fun. That doesn't make it a LEGIT representation of who is on what skill-level aside from the broad ranges that I already mentioned.

That's all anybody is saying.

Well, no matter if you like it or not, you cannot give an exact skill based on how they play online, but you get some kind of idea about their skill.

That's the bottom-line. 90% of the time you get a measure of how good a player is lag or no lag. I always lose to folks G_Roy, Eazy and Pig and I'll be damned to say they are not better players and to go further to say online gameplay is not legit would be totally disrespectful.

So y'all can cry all you want, lag or no lag you can still get a measure of how good a player is.

Trax

Hmm, I will agree with that, but not entirely. Online is only as legit as the game developers made it. If a game's online mode is well-done it will be legit to a high degree, say for example if the moves miss/wiff/whatever 10% of the time that means the online mode is 90% legit and so on. And if the moves miss 50% of the time that means the game is only 50% legit online. So it all comes down to an acceptable level of lag. One day, with better technology they might develop a game that's 100% lag free.

As far as players' skill is concerned, I believe that if someone is clearly better skilled than you then they will win regardless of the level of lag. However if someone is just little better than you in perfect conditions, i.e. no lag, then a little lag in your favor could help you beat him in a series.

I like your analytical perspective, Raiden. Your definition of legitimacy of online play is more accurate than just 'yes' or 'no' to the question originally asked by Red.

The variables are always changing so you have to factor that in when trying to form an argument about the legitimacy of online gameplay.

Trax

online play is legit to a small point. That point is:

who can make the least amount of mistakes!

Now take Easy, because he is the MK God of xbox at MKA, for example. HE makes very few mistakes because he knows the limitations of his connection and most of the time the limitations of everyone else's connection. The person that will win is the one that can effectively choose the right move at the right time to punish the opponents mistake.

Now take Groy and Easy. They have an almost unpunishable defense...both of them! But who will win. Someone has to attack. When that happens either it will land or miss. Now online the room to punish mistakes is limited but that makes the demand for skill increased.

Now at times it is unplayable so don't play that person...but if DNC keeps jump kicking then beat him to the air and do an air dial...

Every technique is counterable. I like using characters like dai and jarek because i can keep pressure on someone from a distance so they cannot turtle effectively. So they jump kick and i catch them in the air with a dial.

Online is competitive because it forces you to be creative in how you counter a person's style or their safeness...EVERYTHING can be countered...some how.

Onlne is legit cause it is all we have. All that said i would still rather play offline.