Fighter uniqueness and simulation "paradox"?
I really want to understand the idea behind this whole “fighter uniqueness/simulation” thing. I get it, it makes perfect sense to make fighters feel authentic and have them fight the way they do in real life. It’s also cool to see that level of detail in the game, and it clearly takes more effort to pull off, which EA did with UFC 6.
But I’m also curious about what the actual expectation is from a gameplay perspective.
For single-player or Career Mode, it makes total sense. Maybe I want to recreate Poatan’s career, or maybe I want my created fighter to beat Poatan. That’s fun.
But I think we can agree that the majority of the player base mainly plays online ranked multiplayer. So let’s say there are two Division 20 (EQUAL SKILL) players who both mastered their favorite fighter. One mains Poatan, and the other is a psycho who mains Jamahal Hill. And let’s say EA perfectly translated their real-life stats into the game.
We already know Hill had basically no chance against Poatan in real life. So if these two players pick their favorite fighters in ranked and face each other, what exactly is the expectation for that matchup?
And remember, Hill is not some random bum either. He was literally a top 10 fighter and a former champion. If even someone at that level feels non-competitive against Alex in ranked, then what about all the non-ranked fighters in the division? I can ask this exact same question for almost half the roster.
Because I see a lot of people complaining that everyone in ranked always picks the top-tier fighters. But honestly, can you give me a single reason why someone would pick Hill as their favorite fighter when Alex, especially now with his Flow State mechanic, can drop him at any moment?
How is someone supposed to grind ranked while maining Hill?
P.S: And this is where I compare it to other fighting games. In games like Tekken, characters are also unique as hell. Nobody throws the same strikes, everyone has different movement, combos, timing, reach, gimmicks, everything. But despite all that uniqueness, the game is still balanced most of the time. If two players master their characters, both usually have a real chance to win regardless of who they picked.