Do people still play this game?

[Benersan the Bread]

I'm mainly asking if buying the core pack is worth it. The numbers I saw on steam charts weren't promising and that includes people exclusively doing com matches like me.

[tserleg1471]

It depends about if you talk about Casual or Ranked games:
- Casual. There is always people to play. Sometimes there are more, so it's easy to find similar rivals, sometimes there are less, so matches are often unfair.
- Ranked. It depends of the period of the season, day of the week, and hour.

For example, if I want Casual I just play it. If I want Ranked, I select Only Ranked if it's week end, and Casual+Ranked in week days.

P.D: I am European, so perhaps if I played at night I could find more rivals from America and Japan, but not sure. At least when I play Blade Strangers the only moment where I have a small chance to find rivals is at night to play against Americans.

[Remy77077(Agoners)]

There's also a pretty active discord community if you want to fight specific opponents... (which is easier with the Core pack because you can then challenge anyone you like)

[Benersan the Bread]

Originally posted by Remy77077(Agoners):

There's also a pretty active discord community if you want to fight specific opponents... (which is easier with the Core pack because you can then challenge anyone you like)

I have a strong feeling I'd get annihilated if I did that. There's a reason I'm playing this game and not the other fighting games I bought and barely played.

[tserleg1471]

"I have a strong feeling I'd get annihilated if I did that."
Probably yes, but you could get profit from it. In my first season playing ranked I reached Silver 5. Thanks to add stronger people than me to play Casual, I am now a Diamond 5 (my record is Diamond 4). I'd say that 80% in Discord are stronger than me, but they are useful to improve.

"There's a reason I'm playing this game and not the other fighting games I bought and barely played."
My second best fighting game is Strive, where I am just a mediocre players (floors 6-7, where the top is 11th). The reason is because I am too lazy to practice hard inputs, and even lazier to practice complicated combos. Meanwhile, if you want to improve in Fantasy Strike the boring part about training is almost zero.

About your matchmakings:
- Casual/Peak population moment. You'll find always opponents with a similar level to you.
- Casual/Low population moment. You'll find often similar opponents, but sometimes much stronger/weaker ones.
- Ranked. Always similar opponents (if you find them). They can be slightly stornger/weakear, but not by a big difference so the match will be enjoyable. :)

[Sir Seal The Slippery]

I considered playing again too,but the low playercount on steamcharts doesnt really make me want to,for the same reason as the OP.
The game was supposed to get fighting game noobs like me in,casuals.
But because of the low playercount,you will end up fighting the same few veteran players over and over again,which pretty much defeats the purpose of making the game attractive for casuals.

The only way i see this game going anywhere,would be a really huge marketing campaign,so that the playercount gets to at least 50 constant players(bare minimum).
But thats most likely not going to happen because it will be too costly...the playercount is pretty much the same like when i last played long ago.

[Benersan the Bread]

Originally posted by Sir Seal The Slippery:

I considered playing again too,but the low playercount on steamcharts doesnt really make me want to,for the same reason as the OP.
The game was supposed to get fighting game noobs like me in,casuals.
But because of the low playercount,you will end up fighting the same few veteran players over and over again,which pretty much defeats the purpose of making the game attractive for casuals.

The only way i see this game going anywhere,would be a really huge marketing campaign,so that the playercount gets to at least 50 constant players(bare minimum).
But thats most likely not going to happen because it will be too costly...the playercount is pretty much the same like when i last played long ago.

Since making this post I actually played multiplayer (I didn't realise you didn't need the Core pack to play online) and then even bought it. I'll give you the same advice I got on discord: play Ranked. You actually get opponents around your level in that.
Though I have dropped the game for the foreseeable future because I was getting genuinely angry in some of these games because I'm just like that.

[Sir Seal The Slippery]

Originally posted by Benersan the Bread:

Originally posted by Sir Seal The Slippery:

I considered playing again too,but the low playercount on steamcharts doesnt really make me want to,for the same reason as the OP.
The game was supposed to get fighting game noobs like me in,casuals.
But because of the low playercount,you will end up fighting the same few veteran players over and over again,which pretty much defeats the purpose of making the game attractive for casuals.

The only way i see this game going anywhere,would be a really huge marketing campaign,so that the playercount gets to at least 50 constant players(bare minimum).
But thats most likely not going to happen because it will be too costly...the playercount is pretty much the same like when i last played long ago.

Since making this post I actually played multiplayer (I didn't realise you didn't need the Core pack to play online) and then even bought it. I'll give you the same advice I got on discord: play Ranked. You actually get opponents around your level in that.
Though I have dropped the game for the foreseeable future because I was getting genuinely angry in some of these games because I'm just like that.

Around bronze,you only get to fight bots in ranked.
At least it was like this when i last played.

That aside,i dont like ranked in general because i have to play with characters i dont want to use.
I generally just pick 1 char and stick with it,thats why casual is more my thing.

[tserleg1471]

@Sir Seal The Slippery

Originally posted by Sir Seal The Slippery:

That aside,i dont like ranked in general because i have to play with characters i dont want to use.
I generally just pick 1 char and stick with it,thats why casual is more my thing.

If you mean that you are a fan of a single character it's a different thing. But if it's to avoid the effort to learn a couple of characters, keep in mind that it's super fast in this game. For example, until a year ago I used to change two of my characters every season (I love Jaina too much).

In any case, at weekends there are more available players, so I supose that unfair matches will be less often (although I recognize that I've had a couple this morning).

P.D: If you join Discord, you will find that some of your hard core rivals are there. You could use it to your advantage to ask them advice after your matches. I've learnt a lot from them; in fact I sometimes challenge top players to Friend Matches just to improve from the game and the posterior conversation.

[Sir Seal The Slippery]

Originally posted by tserleg1471:

@Sir Seal The Slippery

Originally posted by Sir Seal The Slippery:

That aside,i dont like ranked in general because i have to play with characters i dont want to use.
I generally just pick 1 char and stick with it,thats why casual is more my thing.

If you mean that you are a fan of a single character it's a different thing. But if it's to avoid the effort to learn a couple of characters, keep in mind that it's super fast in this game. For example, until a year ago I used to change two of my characters every season (I love Jaina too much).

In any case, at weekends there are more available players, so I supose that unfair matches will be less often (although I recognize that I've had a couple this morning).

P.D: If you join Discord, you will find that some of your hard core rivals are there. You could use it to your advantage to ask them advice after your matches. I've learnt a lot from them; in fact I sometimes challenge top players to Friend Matches just to improve from the game and the posterior conversation.

I already was on the server for a while.
Though,im spending most of my time on mmorpg,s so i dont want to get too invested in fighting games(which is pretty much why i started playing fantasy strike).

I did try the game out again yesterday to check if anything changed.
Gotta say there really are more players around thanks to crossplay,which you cant see on steamcharts.
And ranked was also pretty balanced till now.
Unranked though,was as unfair as it could get.
I was at lvl 1,fighting only people with lvl30+.
Like i already wrote before,i mainly play mmo,s so im used to picking 1 character to,,represent''you and stick with it,thats why i dont like ranked.

Should also point out that even though i managed to get the second place in my last ranked,,tournament'',i was very dissapointed because you dont get any reward,since the only ingame currency is the one you buy with real money.
Doesnt feel like im making any progress inside the game.
Not speaking of skill,just,you know...points,items,titles,things like that.
Would be cool if we could unlock something new over time.

[zero254]

I still play but the store always makes me angry. You can't even buy what you want if you wanted to support sirlin's meme game.

[MetalOnion]

I just found some people at 4AM, that's wild.

[Gavin Moore]

game is good

[76561199059521087]

Yes, it's a good game.
The number of players is declining despite the fact that it is a free game that anyone can play, but it is a good game nonetheless.
The graphics of the paid costumes are changed and not refunded, but it's a good game nonetheless.
Casual matching focuses on player skill (undisclosed) and disregards communication quality, but it's a good game nonetheless.
Oh, and there are countless other reasons why it is a good game.

[EonTheAlien]

Originally posted by trbm520:

Yes, it's a good game.
The number of players is declining despite the fact that it is a free game that anyone can play, but it is a good game nonetheless.
The graphics of the paid costumes are changed and not refunded, but it's a good game nonetheless.
Casual matching focuses on player skill (undisclosed) and disregards communication quality, but it's a good game nonetheless.
Oh, and there are countless other reasons why it is a good game.

About that last part specifically, isn't sbmm in a fighting game made specifically to get people into fighting games a good thing?

I'm somewhat aware of how controversial sbmm is to many casual players, but since many newbies to fgs are going to gravitate towards this game because of it's ftp nature + how simple it is, that also means less of the playerbase is willing to get their butt completely wiped by veteran players who've played the game for 900+ hours.

And while, yes, both modes of casual do prioritize player skill, it's made extremely clear right under both icons of the modes, right under them that they do so, so I don't get that (undisclosed) part.

Anyways, sorry if this reply felt out-of-nowhere or if this starts a fight. The last thing I wanna do is start a fight in my first contribution to a Steam discussion. I like this game, too, and I agree that there are some problems outside of the gameplay that they'll absolutely need to address. All I want for Christmas is less toxic discussion communities, anyways.

[EonTheAlien]

*and by "fgs", I meant fighting games lmao. I don't know if that abbreviation ended up looking weird or not.