Catalyst has a tonne of fresh insight into how the fights, feel, and flow in Street Fighter 6 after spending an entire session playing with rivals like PG|Punk and Justin Wong.
We sat together as two experienced players to simply discuss some of the specifics in greater detail. I’d want to ask a few questions about the Drive System in Street Fighter 6 during this section of our discussion because I have some concerns about it. When I mentioned that I was a little apprehensive about Drive Impact, Catalyst’s response was: You should be.
One of the five components of the Drive System, Drive Impact ticks so many obvious boxes that players will probably prefer using it over the other components. at least initially.
How simple is it to counter this move? Is it something you’ll need to wait and watch for, or is it moving slowly enough that you can always respond to it even while the combat is in full swing? This prompts us to consider the Drive System’s overall balance, which brings us to a more general question.
It’s intriguing that Capcom coupled so many diverse skills to a single metre since it forces players to balance the strengths of their offence and defence. This seems appealing at first because, if balanced properly, it requires an intriguing balancing act, but what if it doesn’t?
What if the Drive Impact stated above (or any one of the System’s five features) were to become more user-friendly than the others? It’s easy to see how quickly a system imbalance this severe might have a negative impact on other aspects of gaming as players concentrated excessively on a single one.
In response to some of my inquiries, Catalyst was able to discuss how potent various tactics, approaches, and manoeuvres felt in SF6. Of course, perfection is not what we’re after, but we do want this complex mechanic to have just the right amount of balance so that it doesn’t get unduly monotonous.
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