Guilty Gear's avatar-based lobby system is a bit like being at the arcade!

Crayon · Aug 19, 2018

The latest version of Guilty Gear is "Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2". It has an "player match" online mode where you use an adorable little avatar and and hang out in a little lounge with little gg machines like this:

Now it may seem like a waste of time and resource to have this kind of graphical interface for finding you matches. But after using it I think it's worthwhile. Here's things I noticed while using it this weekend:

-There are not a ton of gg players out there. So over three days of playing, I'm starting to recognize players. Which is helpful for getting into things. You feel like you get a little rapport with other players just by bumping into them across different rooms.

-I was able to dip my toes into online by standing next to games in progress to spectate. And just like back in the day, if you see a crowd around a certain cabinet, there may be some interesting play going on there!

-The avatars allow for a little more indirect communication between players and more sense of their personality. They can park in the corner when afk. They can do little emotes to show respect after a game. Or they can com run circles around you if they want to play or otherwise get your attention.

The experience has been immersive and relaxing and I think it brings something to the table by replicating a bit of the feeling of togetherness I miss about arcades. I understand they started doing this with Blaz Blue like ten years ago but I've never tried it till now. I'd like to play like this in Tekken and Street Fighter.

What do you think? Like the idea or not?

Deleted member 249 · Aug 19, 2018

The stupid lobby system ASW uses in their games single handedly has dissuaded me from buying Dragon Ball Fighter Z and now BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle. I hate it. It's finnicky and fiddly, and wastes my time, when all I want to do is jump into a game and move on. At least the option to do that should be available.

Paz · Aug 19, 2018

I love these kinds of lobbies in fighting games, doa4 was the first one I played that did it and I was forever sad that bigger games like street fighter never tried something similar.

JoDa · Aug 19, 2018

They've been doing this pretty much for all their games, as long as there's a designated space for matches and not that ring match BS from dbfz it's fine

Crayon · Aug 19, 2018

Phantom Thief said:
The stupid lobby system ASW uses in their games single handedly has dissuaded me from buying Dragon Ball Fighter Z and now BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle. I hate it. It's finnicky and fiddly, and wastes my time, when all I want to do is jump into a game and move on. At least the option to do that should be available.

Deleted member 249 · Aug 19, 2018

Crayon said:

I still love you, though

The Pet of the Month · Aug 19, 2018

Crayon said:
-There are not a ton of gg players out there. So over three days of playing, I'm starting to recognize players. Which is helpful for getting into things. You feel like you get a little rapport with other players just by bumping into them across different rooms.

This is something I like about interactive lobbies. It's one thing to get players into a lobby and into the game only to never see each other after all has been said and done, but being able more easily foster a relationship between players that isn't just a emblem and a name tag goes a long way in keeping a playerbase IMO.

Kapryov · Aug 19, 2018

I think it's really nice, not that I messed with it much.
Both visually appealing and interactive, makes the whole experience much more unique compared to other online fighters.

JoDa · Aug 19, 2018

Phantom Thief said:
The stupid lobby system ASW uses in their games single handedly has dissuaded me from buying Dragon Ball Fighter Z and now BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle. I hate it. It's finnicky and fiddly, and wastes my time, when all I want to do is jump into a game and move on. At least the option to do that should be available.

You don't waste too much time on bbtag you grab a match station and wait for someone to come in, dbfz on the other hand its terrible, setting up a ring match or whatever is confusing and takes too long, and the arena thing in the middle of the lobby is not much better either

Fancolours · Aug 19, 2018

I like it, the more interaction the better. I'm specially fond of how Them's Fightin' Herds did theirs, the mic chat can be useful to get pointers on how to improve.

Phantom Thief said:
The stupid lobby system ASW uses in their games single handedly has dissuaded me from buying Dragon Ball Fighter Z and now BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle. I hate it. It's finnicky and fiddly, and wastes my time, when all I want to do is jump into a game and move on. At least the option to do that should be available.

You can just join rooms the old way or enter the ranked queue in TAG if you hate the lobby so much. There's pretty much always someone with a room open and it doesn't take very long for some random join yours too.

Nimby · Aug 19, 2018

It's great for GG. I just suck too hard to want to git gud and play more.

It doesn't work for DBFZ IMO.

Crayon · Aug 19, 2018

I feel like I get alot of play with little waiting because the players are all consolidated into just a few rooms.

Plus its nice how when I play find someone down at my beginner level, we can walk over to our own machine and play several in a row.

mnemonicj · Aug 19, 2018

The lobby is nice to look at, but the system sucks and makes me stop playing the game.
SFV handles matchmaking incredibly well, for both casual and ranked.

KRaZyAmmo · Aug 19, 2018

Crayon said:
I feel like I get alot of play with little waiting because the players are all consolidated into just a few rooms.

Plus its nice how when I play find someone down at my beginner level, we can walk over to our own machine and play several in a row.

Like how we did those matches of Ramlethal vs Ky on Friday last week (I think)

Crayon · Aug 19, 2018

KRaZyAmmo said:
Like how we did those matches of Ramlethal vs Ky on Friday last week (I think)

Yeah that was so fun. Kickin it in our own little room. It would be really fun with five or six of us.

Hobbesian Thudercat · Aug 19, 2018

I just like kicking the ball around. And spazzing out on the joystick when people emote towards me.

Phantom Thief said:
The stupid lobby system ASW uses in their games single handedly has dissuaded me from buying Dragon Ball Fighter Z and now BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle. I hate it. It's finnicky and fiddly, and wastes my time, when all I want to do is jump into a game and move on. At least the option to do that should be available.

This such a dramatic overreaction. There's nothing "finicky or fiddly" about Player Match or Ranked options. Ranked puts you straight into a match and player match requires you to literally just walk up to an occupied cabinet and press a button.

HOW FINICKY

MUCH FIDDLES

Lunir · Aug 19, 2018

Guilty Gear has the best lobby. Fighterz... tries ti be good but something happened. Tag Battle it's just lame, so empty (I still play it tho)

Rickenslacker · Aug 20, 2018

Hobbesian Thudercat said:
This such a dramatic overreaction. There's nothing "finicky or fiddly" about Player Match or Ranked options. Ranked puts you straight into a match and player match requires you to literally just walk up to an occupied cabinet and press a button.

HOW FINICKY

MUCH FIDDLES

Having a list of avatar lobbies to select and occupy is a bit weird, and was pretty clumsy in the case of the absolutely packed FighterZ launch. It's nothing egregious and offers ASW games their own flavour, but it is more steps in the way of getting to your match.

VAPORxDYNE · Aug 20, 2018

personally, I'd rather just see a list of players with their connection rating next to their names. The in-game arcade lobby is quirky and cool, but it loses it's appeal really quick. I just want to go in and connect to someone with a good connection asap.

KRaZyAmmo · Aug 20, 2018

Crayon said:
Yeah that was so fun. Kickin it in our own little room. It would be really fun with five or six of us.

We really need more people to join in. It'd help with not only feedback, but adds more into the fun factor of that feel of being in arcade more.

Sera · Aug 20, 2018

Doesn't DBFZ have a similar system?

Crayon · Aug 20, 2018

Sera said:
Doesn't DBFZ have a similar system?

Yeah I tried it during the switch beta. I met you with someone from here for some games.

It seemed similar to me. But we have a few posts in here saying it doesn't work as well for dbzf as it does for gg.

FSLink · Aug 20, 2018

Crayon said:
Yeah I tried it during the switch beta. I met you with someone from here for some games.

It seemed similar to me. But we have a few posts in here saying it doesn't work as well for dbzf as it does for gg.

Yeah I think a huge issue is that it's not as intuitive as the arcade machines and DBFZ's arena and ring matches had loads of issues connection wise. And now I think the bad reputation led to less players using that option. I actually played tons of ranked near launch only because I couldn't easily connect to friends. BBTAG and GG's are fine though.

Korigama · Aug 20, 2018

Crayon said:
The experience has been immersive and relaxing and I think it brings something to the table by replicating a bit of the feeling of togetherness I miss about arcades. I understand they started doing this with Blaz Blue like ten years ago but I've never tried it till now. I'd like to play like this in Tekken and Street Fighter.

Actually, BlazBlue didn't have lobby systems like this ten years ago (it was still menu-based and impersonal for most of the series).

Phantom Thief said:
The stupid lobby system ASW uses in their games single handedly has dissuaded me from buying Dragon Ball Fighter Z and now BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle. I hate it. It's finnicky and fiddly, and wastes my time, when all I want to do is jump into a game and move on. At least the option to do that should be available.

It's irrelevant in DBFZ unless looking for ring or arena matches (queuing up for casual and ranked matches doesn't account for who's in the lobby with you). It doesn't take long at all for someone to stop by the same kiosk in BBTAG casual lobbies, or otherwise find someone to go to yourself.

Fancolours said:
You can just join rooms the old way or enter the ranked queue in TAG if you hate the lobby so much. There's pretty much always someone with a room open and it doesn't take very long for some random join yours too.

Rooms are okay in BBTAG, usually having a more leisurely atmosphere about them since they involve spectating battles while waiting your turn as only two players fight at a time. Ranked is garbage though, takes too long and is full of rage quitters.

Pyro · Aug 20, 2018

This is perfect for fighting games though there should be an option for quick matches too.

Deleted member 11093 · Aug 20, 2018

It's pretty archaic and super pointless imo, hopefully the next GG gets rid of it

tokubek · Aug 20, 2018

I would love it to be in more fighting games - tho not like dbfz where it's pretty pointless imo. Ofc there should be options for quick play, etc. I agree with you op, made a lot of online friends in GG.

Crayon · Aug 20, 2018

KRaZyAmmo said:
We really need more people to join in. It'd help with not only feedback, but adds more into the fun factor of that feel of being in arcade more.

We can find more. I bet there's enough people here who have the game or are curious about it but think everyone who plays is already a killer or something.

I'm going to keep asking around on the community threads and discord to look for learning players.

mugwhump · Aug 20, 2018

It's very charming and surprisingly convenient. Which makes it all the more disappointing how they fucked up dbfz.

My only complaint is that there's no rotation system that lets 3 players just take turns, they're all variations of winner stays on or loser stays.

Uraizen · Aug 20, 2018

Phantom Thief said:
The stupid lobby system ASW uses in their games single handedly has dissuaded me from buying Dragon Ball Fighter Z and now BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle. I hate it. It's finnicky and fiddly, and wastes my time, when all I want to do is jump into a game and move on. At least the option to do that should be available.

But Guilty Gear's has invites and the game gives you the option to create the lobby via a menu. Guilty Gear instantly wins for those reasons alone. I think BlazBlue (not CTB) did it best, though.

Crayon · Aug 20, 2018

FSLink said:
Yeah I think a huge issue is that it's not as intuitive as the arcade machines and DBFZ's arena and ring matches had loads of issues connection wise. And now I think the bad reputation led to less players using that option. I actually played tons of ranked near launch only because I couldn't easily connect to friends. BBTAG and GG's are fine though.

That's right! I only used the dbz one for a few minutes and you're right they didn't have little arcade machines. They sort of formed circles that where themselves lobbies. That is probably not as effective

So maybe that's why this topic isore divisive than I thought it would be. Maybe their most popular game has the poorest version of this system.

Hobbesian Thudercat · Aug 20, 2018

Rickenslacker said:
Having a list of avatar lobbies to select and occupy is a bit weird, and was pretty clumsy in the case of the absolutely packed FighterZ launch. It's nothing egregious and offers ASW games their own flavour, but it is more steps in the way of getting to your match.

If you're referring to Guilty Gear here, I just don't see how.

NotLiquid · Aug 20, 2018

Guilty Gear Lobbies > BlazBlue Tag Lobbies > Dragon Ball FighterZ Lobbies

They basically perfected it the first time around which was why I was so excited about their subsequent games adopting the formula, even if I still don't think DBFZ is as terrible as everyone insists it is.

Ravelle · Aug 20, 2018

Crayon said:
Yeah I tried it during the switch beta. I met you with someone from here for some games.

It seemed similar to me. But we have a few posts in here saying it doesn't work as well for dbzf as it does for gg.

When I tried to match up with a friend in a lobby we had to stare at a screen for 45 minutes in hope for people to join our arena circle, a bunch of people came and left shortly after because it took to long getting it filled, me and my friend didn't see each other at first, and when we finally did we kept getting error messages and it didn't allow us to join eachother.

passing breeze · Aug 20, 2018

Phantom Thief said:
The stupid lobby system ASW uses in their games single handedly has dissuaded me from buying Dragon Ball Fighter Z and now BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle. I hate it. It's finnicky and fiddly, and wastes my time, when all I want to do is jump into a game and move on. At least the option to do that should be available.

I dunno about the other games but I'm pretty sure BBtag has a button that pulls up a list version of the lobby so you can join games without walking your avatar around.

Waffle · Aug 20, 2018

I think GG does the 3d lobby system the best out of all the other ASW games in my opinion. It does a good job of replicating a feeling of being at the arcade especially how easy it is to spectate. You just walk up to a machine people are playing at (you can see the player's names and the character they are using) and you just press a button to spectate or get in line at the machine to play. Also unlike DBFZ and BBxTag, this one is just used for online lobbies.

Ehoavash · Aug 20, 2018

The lobby system in DBFZ was a confusing mess. I hate this style of 3d chibi avatar menu in their games.

Streusel · Aug 20, 2018

I'm a total fighting game scrub, but i wish this kind of system was implemented in more games, it worked really well in GG and really makes you feel like you're part of a gaming community.

Crayon · Aug 20, 2018

Streusel said:
I'm a total fighting game scrub, but i wish this kind of system was implemented in more games, it worked really well in GG and really makes you feel like you're part of a gaming community.

That's what I like about it. It's just a nice cozy feeling. And I don't feel so much like I'm in, then out, then back in to games as I use to menus to search. I feel like I stay "in" the room with a few people playing gg for as long as I like. It's weirdly immersive.

Guilty Gear's avatar-based lobby system is a bit like being at the arcade!

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