Index ⇒ Site Suggestions ⇒ Explanation: Presence of select 2D fighter games on AL

[Delacroix]

I am yet to see any question concerning this topic but nonetheless I think that as the person primarily responsible for the situation, I should explain the reasons behind it.

The situation is that some fighting games have recently been added to AdventureLegends or will be added on the next update. As this may come off as puzzling - and confusing up to the point that you'd be tempted to upload the latest Mortal Kombat for the site (don't!) - I'll offer a few words of explanation in that regard.

This concerns the following titles:

- BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger
- BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend
- Melty Blood
- Melty Blood: ReACT
- Melty Blood: Act Cadenza
- Melty Blood: Actress Again
- The King of Fighters XIII

The reason of their presence on AdventureLegends is simple: because they fit there due to them being actually hybrids of the fighting game and visual novel genres. This is particularly well seen in both BlazBlue titles, the first two Melty Blood titles (albeit the other two have traces of that too) and King of Fighters XIII. Visual novel genre fits the AdventureLegends guidelines and thus these games belong there. This is by no means a mandate for all Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat games - as well as other titles that are purely fighting games. Only titles having a well-developed adventure layer (for example, in the form of a visual novel story mode) belong in the AdventureLegends catalogue. As I am slowly coming back to the fighting game genre after YEARS of absence, I am slowly exploring the vast amount of games available, therefore suggestions from other regulars are most welcome.

Thank you for your understanding.

[hfric]

wait what ? so by your definition everything that has a adventure mode should be here ...

I am against it ... next thing we know and 2D beat them ups will be here for having adventure mode
even Mortal Kombat that from part 5 HAD a adventure mode or Battle Arena Toshinden
or
Tekken 6 that also has a visual novel adventure mode
etc...

and we had this discussion way way way way back when this site only had shooters and ... there was a thing about games having GUNS ... and then Harvester came out ... if games like this can be on this FPS shooter site ... and then cars with guns came ... and vehicles ... and TPS ... and then we had a sister site ... and then every thing that had a adventure was added from platformers to RPGS .. even those crap HOGS that think they are adventures... and we are still in the process of Strategy legends ... and filtering console games ...

If you want to add, them make a new tab not add them to years ... as of now this site from year to year is more confusing what is it, for me... a virtual museum of a genre or... a warez keep sake archive site ... want a obscure game WE HAVE IT ... thing

take no offence , only speaking out loud my fast thinking mind

[Delacroix]

No, not everything that has an "adventure mode" but if a game contains an entire fully-fledged visual novel so ergo IS a visual novel adventure, belongs here despite also having another genre included. Take a look at BlazBlue's story mode and see for yourself. The original Melty Blood takes this even further, with no actual "versus" or "arcade" modes until the expansion arrived - just a visual novel interrupted by a couple fights inbetween.

Not taking offence, grateful for your opinion even if I'm opposed to it.

Also, for the time being we stick only to PC titles and from what I know most of the 2D fighters you listed aren't on PC. I'll check'em out and see which are and whether or not they actually have a VN story mode or not.

[hfric]

This reminds me a conversation I had about a game from Bungee called ONI , about what type of game is IT or genre ??? or Fighting Force 1 and 2 ???

because Tekken 5 and 6 are now like those https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59hiGV4C4Xw in those its called SCENARIO MODE with a story line that is so well developed they could cut it and ship it as a stand alone game... and Mortal Kombat from part 5 was turned into a adventure game that later in the newest versions became interactive CGI movies with QTE ...

you show BlazBlue https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xgcVrrt2uc as a example ... Battle Arena Toshinden [all 4 parts of it ] also on PC is the same like Blaze https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJnQJnRRkNc

and i know a shit ton of other examples like this ...

[InsaneFury]

And THAT's why the commonly known 'genres' fail in today's world. It makes much more sense to dive deeper into the game mechanics, and describe them with tags. With the sheer number of games out there, it'll be easier to find ones matching your exact taste too that way.

[Meddle]

Or if we're going to keep travelling in these directions we should drop just "Adventure" & "3D Shooter" as distinct sites and go with LegendsWorld. The potential downside of this would be losing focus on the two primary genres. Another way would be to give honorable mentions or article(s) to these games that are incorporating visual novel/adventure aspects, but stop short of offering the games.

[InsaneFury]

Yeah, losing focus is a big concern. I think the best course for now would be to try and define the genres and stick to them. And the "honorable mentions" could be used to cover the gray area surrounding the genre.

What's the definition of an adventure game anyway? According to Wikipedia:

An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film, encompassing a wide variety of literary genres. Nearly all adventure games (text and graphic) are designed for a single player, since this emphasis on story and character makes multi-player design difficult.

So, in an adventure game:
-you play as a protagonist(s)
-in a controllable story
-with 'puzzle solving' and 'exploration' driving the gameplay.
Yet, it's not 'other narrative-based media', which I assume is due to the control/gameplay element.

Classifying some example games as adventure games:
-Interactive DVDs: Games like trivia-gameshows (The Weakest Link) lack a focus on story and exploration?
-Action Max games: focus on story, yet non-controllable ones. The only control one has is over the final score (number of points) at the end.
-Mad Dog McCree: focus on story, random baddie placement, choosable order of paths followed, rail shooter from 1st person. It's an Adventure and Shooter crossover?
-Oni (assuming it's like Urban Chaos): focus on story, free-roaming ('exploration') button pushing (weak 'puzzle'?) with objectives over voiceover+cutscenes. I wouldn't have classified this as an adventure game (to me, action-based games usually go in a different genre than Adventure games, i.e. this would be a 3D third persion Beat'em up, just to keep the line between adventure games in place, i.e. Oni and The Dig having the same genre? ugh.)