Recent reviews by giangole

Last Edit (11th February 2018)

I updated the review to the last version of the game: 3.03
I havent deleted yet the older reviews, are a good point to compare the development of the game.
the reviews are from newer to older.

(February 2018)
So Arcade edition released a month ago, what can i say, it's good.
What changed from the previous version:
- as today there are 29 characters 5 more are going to be released during 2018
- new UI, a bit flashy and not always in the good way, but still it looks at least polished compared to the initial one.
- gameplay update, they added a second V-trigger which is the comeback factor and you can choose which to use it before going into a match, is good that you can choose it in ranked before the match when you know what character is your opponent is using so you can adapt, some of the new ones are quite useless but some are good especially the ones for the lower tier characters. The balance update removed some cheap stuff and reduced the feeling of getting robbed, the gameplay is overall balanced however some characters are quite strong in this iteraration (guile and abigail for example) and some are slightly weaker but I still think that there are isn't anything outrageous.
- new modes: extra battle, arcade mode, gallery and new challenges:
arcade mode is nice but is not anything particular good, just a series of matches with an ending image at the end.
extra battle: every week you can fight some modified version of characters to obtain stuff it costs fight money, which is silly, but you can gain some from beating them.
- other stuff: training mode displays frame advantage and stun so it helps learning combos and setups easier, nice touch. loading times are slightly better, there are some little tweaks here and there that are of debetable utility.
-stages and costumes like no tomorrow:

PROS:
+ Gameplay: as I said before is the more accessible SF ever, new triggers guarantee more freedom and depths, the gameplay is still a bit overly aggressive but with the recent changes seems it's going to be more balanced than previous seasons
+ Content. well after 2 years we can say that SFV has a decent amount of stuff to do even if you only play single player, I think online is still the main focus though
+ Future support: new stuff is released monthly: characters stages costumes etc.
+ If you are into esports, SF is still the main game for the fgc
+ In game currency is usable to unlock ALL the characters and most of the stages (except 2 )

CONS:
- Real money content: most of the costumes are obtainable only with real money and they are not cheap 3.99 each.
- In game currency: after the last update they lowered considerably the money you get by playing offline modes, by about a 40%, also if you buy the AE edition of the game you get characters and costume but you DON'T get the stages released previously except the first 2, and Capcom released A LOT of those, stages are still buyable with Fight Money (name of the in game curency) but you won't be able to buy all the stages and characters with just the FM alone.
- Servers are definitely more stable but since it is a P2P game you still need a good connection to play it, sometimes you also need to do some tweaks like Port forwarding etc.. luckily the community created a shared file on steam to help you through the process (still a pain though).

CONCLUSION:
They fixed some of the issues (content and presentation) but the usual money grabbing policy of Capcom is still there, personally I got almost all the content without spending much money but not everyone is able to complete everything easily.
MY SUGGESTION IS:
If you want to buy the game get the DELUXE edition or Arcade edition, getting the S3 dlc might be a good idea if you want to unlock the stages, you can buy it on cdkey websites for 20$.
I wont lie the gameplay is good, especially if you like the SF-esque feeling. But if you want everything you are probably going to spend some money. Also if your connection has problems with P2P games, you certainlly going to have issues here.



(January 2017)
What changed froom S1 to S2:
+ Balance Patch (overall it's fine some characters got really strong such as Urien, Balrog, Laura and Guile), I still think the game is decently balanced, Only Fang is rather difficult to see win something competitevely.
+ Akuma, well he is strong, but personally think not overpower (definitely top 5 or top 10)
+ Direct input, all the gamepad will automaticalyl be read by the game (you need to remap everything though).
+ costumes, stages and other stuff
+ Ragequit system finally working (now whoever disconnects get the points taken)

CONCLUSION
I Enjoy the game and if you are new to fighting games this one is probably the best since they made combos and tech way easier to learn.
Also if you enjoy watching competitive play, is the only fighting game relevant on Twitch, and it's worth it to learn it just to follow the competitive scene since fighting games usually are very intense and hype to watch!

I know, a lot of people quickly stopped playing because they were disappointed at first, but I hope you can give it a second chance, since is slowly getting bettter and better.
I also think that we are just getting started and if capcom keeps updating it, in the next years from now is going to be really good!
I actually like S2 SFV because will guarantee more character diversity overall, Juri (my main) got some good stuff which made her even more enjoyable to play if you want to see some good level SFV or just ask me anything follow me on twitch


(November 2016)
PROS+++

+ Gameplay
+ Overall balance (doesn't mean is perfectly balanced, but it's ok for a start, compare it to Vanilla SF4 ).
+ Monthly updates, previous we had to wait a year for something new, which was annoying
+ cross platform
+ you can buy most of the stuff free. (with ingame currency), now that they added weekly challenges you can gain on average ~35/40k a month just by doing those. (which is half of a stage and almost half of character).

Cons ---
+ Technical problems: inconsistency in PS4/PC versions, crashes and poor input support
+ Server unstability and GGPO/rollback system a bit rough if you don't have a perfect connection, matchmaking a bit slow, lobby region still not working perfectly
+ you CAN'T but everything with fight money, and the prices are often unreasonably high. ( said by me, who unlocked all the characters with FM.)

(September 2016)
The gameplay is overall good, I loved SF4 but it was too technical to have a chance unless you played A LOT, especially offline. SF5 is a good compromise between technical play and accessibility for new players (compared to SF4)
After 6 months, the game is finally taking a more polished shape, the content at release was really limited, however they have been updating the game "monthly" with new stuff, here's the list of new content so far
- 6 characters
- Cinematic story mode ( don't expect anything fancy, but is a good way to spend 4-5 hours and make in game currency Fight Money FM)
- Challenges and demonstrations to learn combos and mechanics (you gain FM by completing them)
- new Costumes and stages which are MOSTLY obtainable through the currency you earn by playing (some needs to be boought with real monmey, sadly)
- Daily/Weekly "Missions" , an easy way to gain about 10K FM a week
- CPU Versus matches
- Reduced input lag from 8 to 6.5

BUY the game if you want:
- A balanced and competitive gameplay, easy to learn difficult to master.
- to spend Time to learn the game and enjoy it as intended
- You mainly play online

DON'T BUY it if you:
- play only by yourself (single player), since fighting games are made to be played against other people and it loses a lot of enjoyment if you can only play against cpu.
- if you have a bad connection, you wont be able to have a decent match.Last Edit (11th February 2018)