Character Development System strong Balance?

[o Sinna o]

Yeah Guys, one of the most interesting Points.

Some Guys like Norberto H already said for example that Speed will play a more important Role than Power for Baseliners or that the Netplay is damn easy and that he expects alot of Serve and Volley Players in the Tops.

But what are your thoughts after playing the Demo and do you believe the Statement of Francois Giuntini that TS4 has a really strong Balance and that every creatable Character will be competitive if you use him the Way he was made for?

I am talking about this Statement after the Question from the ITST (Djarvik):


[ITST]: What do all these changes in the character creation translate to on the virtual courts? For example, will you notice a lot of difference if you are playing as a serve & volley player on a clay surface, as opposed to a defensive baseliner on the same court; or a serve & volley player on the grass courts? Also, in Top Spin 3 height and weight did not seem to make a huge impact on how a player behaved on the court. For example, a 6’9’ 340lbs player would not be much slower than a slim and small player. Will TS4 address this issue?


[François Giuntini]: One of the key goals of this new Character Development system in TS4 was to guarantee a strong balance of play styles once on the court. We did a lot of play tests to make sure that any player build you can create can be competitive when used in the proper way. There is NOT ONE player build/template that is better than the others. What makes a strong player of Top Spin is his/her ability to use the new gameplay in accordance with the play style developed for his/her player. The visual appearance of your player has minimal impact on his gameplay abilities. We want to let users free in the way their player look. However that’s true that in this version the range of modification is for believable pro tennis players.

[o Sinna o]

Personally I really believe him.

After playing the Demo I really think everything is possible in TS4 when it comes to Characters.

[NickZ3535]

Yeah I think it's going to be a lot more obvious when we have more access to players who high power ratings. In the demo, Fed can really punish his forehand when you hit a "perfect", so I'm eager to see guys that can hit the ball even harder!

It will be interesting to see what works better, high forehand/backhand ratings or high power. Prob the former, but we'll see.

[o Sinna o]

Hehe ofcourse we have to wait until we have the final Game but I really believe him what he said about testing the Game to guarantee that Balance.

I just thought this is a interesting Point to discuss for us.
I mean I don't want to open idiotic Threads, but I think I didn't anyway.
I am just interested to talk about the Game and keep things interesting until we can finally play it and the Characterbalance which is almost promised with this Statement is a really interesting Point.

After my Experiences with the Demo I really think there is a Way for every Style to compete. Rafa is the hardest Opponent on hard Difficulty in the Demo and even against him it's not to hard to bring him into some Trouble.

Ofcourse against humans it will be a different and smarter Mind-Game where you have to predict much more things. Ok not against all humans, but for sure against ITST Players for example. (haha)

[JJ_DUBZ_87]

I definitely see the balance. Net play is easy yes, but I've been passed a LOT when I played net. Especially if you don't put it away from the beginning, your opponent can hit a shot to get you out of position, and then hit a pass before your guy recovers.

[VillaJ100]

I definitely see the balance. Net play is easy yes, but I've been passed a LOT when I played net. Especially if you don't put it away from the beginning, your opponent can hit a shot to get you out of position, and then hit a pass before your guy recovers.

nadal is hitting some insanity passes today. like 3 feet from the net, on the left/right tramline cross court

Also, manyyy of my volleys are 'too soon' yet if i 'waited' any longer i would be passed,

[jayl0ve]

The groundstroke timing came completely naturally to me but I am actually having quite a bit of trouble with the volleying...can somebody please help me!?

Do you just tap the button? Tap and hold?

Pre-charge?? What, what do you do to hit a solid volley!? I get nothing but 'Good' and 'Perfect' on groundstrokes but volleys are always 'too soon' or 'too late'

[djarvik]

Hold. Tap no longer works if the shot is slow, like it used to. Same principle, hold and release when the ball is near. X for low volleys, A for safe volleys and B for putaways.

[VillaJ100]

I tap usually due to TS3 habit, and if you get a perfect on the timing its usually a winner. The timing is tough with the tap though, holding seems more the way to go. Bit net play is by its nature quick so I'm not sure if holding is a good thing or not.

[o Sinna o]

By the Way do you Guys thing the new Cahracter Development is exaclty predictable if you want exactly a 87 Forehand or a 91 Serve or a 77 Backhand or a 83 Volley for example. I mean if you want a exact Attributenumber on one of your Skillz and all the others until you reach the possible Maximum?

I am asking because you earn much over the Coaches and how predictable the new System is to create exact wanted Attributepoints at the different Skillz.

[djarvik]

total of 20 distributed 3 different ways. Anyone cares to try and tell us how many different variation possible to basic stats?

Once we know that - throw in 100 different coaches and you end up with so many different ways of setting your player up.

Of course there will probably end up being 10 or so coaches that are way better then others.

Anyone cares to put a number on this?

[djarvik]

I tap usually due to TS3 habit, and if you get a perfect on the timing its usually a winner. The timing is tough with the tap though, holding seems more the way to go. Bit net play is by its nature quick so I'm not sure if holding is a good thing or not.

Tap is essentially a fast hold-release. In TS3, you could tap on ALL shots, slow or fast, just tap with slice and your player will hit a volley. Not so in TS4. If you tap where you should've held longer - you screwed. You either hit the net, dont swing at all, or hit a sitter that will be put away.

I like TS4 volleys way better. And I dont think they are easier, I just think that for the most part AI is not really trying to pass you. I have no problem dismissing Fed when he comes to net with any player.

[o Sinna o]

By the Way I asked this before but Iam still not sure.

We know that we can get Extraskillz in TS4 like Shot counter, Passing shot sniper or Inside out master and so on.

Do these Extraskill really boost your Gameplay and have a Effect or are they just a cosmetic Evidence because of your full trained Attributeskillz?

[JJ_DUBZ_87]

In the Top Spin games of old, those extra skills or bonus characteristics would boost your innate skills. Take the "top spin" stat in TS2, your top spin shots would never go out. Perhaps it will have the same effect, by not so much adding skill points, but enhancing innate abilities in your player.

[VillaJ100]

I tap usually due to TS3 habit, and if you get a perfect on the timing its usually a winner. The timing is tough with the tap though, holding seems more the way to go. Bit net play is by its nature quick so I'm not sure if holding is a good thing or not.

Tap is essentially a fast hold-release. In TS3, you could tap on ALL shots, slow or fast, just tap with slice and your player will hit a volley. Not so in TS4. If you tap where you should've held longer - you screwed. You either hit the net, dont swing at all, or hit a sitter that will be put away.

I like TS4 volleys way better. And I dont think they are easier, I just think that for the most part AI is not really trying to pass you. I have no problem dismissing Fed when he comes to net with any player.

I find that too. i make his life hell by dropshotting and then lobbing. he's not hard to pass as well. But is that because the AI is not as authoritative at the net as a human