I've been watching a lot of videos on youtube and hearing about the buffs and nerfs in the new Arcade Edition, and after playing a considerable amount of time of the release, I can confirm some of my worst fears. For some unknown reason, my main character Balrog has been nerfed so badly, that any player from mediocre to expert, can easily frame trap and toy with him at will.
I've included a video of a runthrough in Survival mode. I am far better as a player, than I was when I set my current record in Survival with Balrog, which is 39 wins. I now find that in the mid 30's of that mode, the frame traps become exploited. In online matches, if the player is aware of these traps, they can literally interrupt my every attack and rush me down in the corner.
What I don't understand at all, is the celebration that is going on, in light of these nerfs. Online, I keep hearing frame data about Balrog from players and foes alike, that swear that his damage output makes up for his shortcomings. Balrog's damage is all tied to his V-Trigger combos, and Ex Combos off of counters or risky jump-ins. Every character in the game besides Balrog, has several quick or target combos that the can modify into Ex for big damage, confirming them off of a high or low jab. Balrog has not a single one. And I don't want to hear the crap about his one target combo, which does no damage at all, because the range and startup on it eliminates any use as a damaging tool. I often confirm into it by using his Rekka to overhead as a meaty, and even that is not guaranteed.
And these are all issues that existed with Balrog before Arcade Edition. Now, with the buffs on characters like Nash and Bison, his problems have been exasperated. I am beginning to despise the game. I'm being bullied off of my character. Everyone cries about how unfair and overpowered Balrog is, with all of these freaking disadvantages, and it looks like trolling. What I don't get, is who the heck are you all trying to stick it to. I've played only 3 Balrogs in 1000 online matches. 3 Freaking Balrogs!!! Smug and PR Balrog are the only well known Pro-Players who use him. Check the leaderboards! Count how many Balrogs you see in the top 100. And I'm also a better Balrog than every Balrog I've faced, so high level users of him are few and far inbetween. And the reason you see so few Balrogs, is specifically due to the disadvantages I've listed. He has horrible range and startup with his jab and almost all of his normals besides his crouching medium. When getting rushed down, his only option is to try to insert a crouching jab to light dash straight. His block stun is nonexistent on offense, so you can't pressure someone unless they freaking let you. I don't get any of these advantages that people see. I've used him for a while, and the reason I like him is the fluidity of his mixup game. But none of that is enough to be comfortable with, dealing with his frame issues.
Balrog has a new V Trigger as his only addition. It's called B3, and it's range is horrible. The only redemption is that it is cheap and only has 2 bars of V meter. And this brings me to another issue that I've had all along. When they make balance changes to a game, you are prisoner to them. If they break a game, you have no choice but to have the update installed. In fact, most of them install automatically when loading the software. When will this become an issue for the average consumer? Just imagine if you bought a game for its story mode, and the company decided to get rid of it in an update. You just lost the value of your purchase, and there is nothing you can do, because you either accept the changes, or forfeit the use of the software. That issue has to be petitioned.
If I meet someone in person who talks that Balrog crap, I will probably uppercut them from this point on. I feel like people just wanted to troll and screw Balrog players, just from watching the 1 or 2 pros who use them do well in tournaments. Here's the video. Notice 2 things. If you have a pixel of health, you can withstand 2 or more combos from Balrog, and have opportunities for a comeback. And also, he builds up stun meter at a ridiculously slow rate. He can wail into a fool for a long time before they get stunned.
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