Street Fighter V's Extra Battles - a cautionary tale

[White Glint]

Respected, large, and beloved NYC FGC and Era member El Sloth, after hearing my dramatic tale of losing 15000 Fight Money in the respected, large and rarely beloved fighting game Street Fighter V, urged me to create this thread in order to hopefully warn other poor sods like me who still hold hope in their hearts that video games are a simple affair.

You see, after watching some very good SFV tournaments on Saturday I decided to hop back into the game and experience the changes Season 3 brought and maybe somehow even scrounge up enough Fight Money to buy Urien or Menat. Those familiar with the game should know that after having earned and spent ~350000FM the little fake currency becomes a bit more valuable and harder to obtain. So it was truly unfortunate that upon finally getting my game fully patched and up to date I'm greeted with pictures of the costumes one can get through playing the current Extra Battles, a new feature introduced in SFV Season 3.

Of course I ran face first to the Extra Battle menu and straight into the fight with Ibuki, which I figured would get me her costume. That, of course, was not the case. After clearing the fight after 3 tries and 7500FM hey i was rusty I got a 'fire gem'. Alright, I must have been doing something right, now I'll actually read the details for this thing and see what I actually have to do. Getting a whole costume just for clearing this would have been too easy anyway.

Aah, so it's like that, huh. I understand everything now.

There are four of these [Quick & Immovable] Extra Battles available right now. Each of them drops a different elemental gem. Also it says something about different battles being available of different dates but everything's looking to be here today. Fine then, I'll just clear the other three, get my costume and be on my merry way to actually playing Street Fighter V again.

Okie dokie, all clear. My Ibuki Kirin costume has to be unlocked now, right?

Nah. I had to find info about this whole ordeal on shoryuken.com where it's actually explained that the event works on a schedule wherein you have to clear the Extra Battle corresponding to the costume you want once in each set timeframe.



So if you weren't playing Street Fighter V on March 8th you get to waste fight money on these Extra Battles with nothing to gain thanks to absolutely lackluster explanations for this ingame. There's no reason why you should be able to spend Fight Money on this once you've missed out on the first round of the event. Don't be as dumb as me and presume things to be simple.

 

[31GhostsIV]

I thought this would be about the real issue here - Capcom adding more extra battles weekly. For example, this week's round cost 10,000FM to enter the four on offer (and assuming you win first time), yet completing weekly challenges net you a fraction of that cost.

All four of the extra battles this week are for costume gems, with no opportunities for fight money with shadaloo soldiers or similar.

 

[Deleted member 17627]

Yeeeeeah Extra Battle had a good run for like, the whole two weeks in January that Street Fighter V was relevant again before Dragon Ball Fighterz came out.

Then as it progressed, the schedule became more erratic, less Shadaloo soldier battles have occurred (i.e, the only big way to make FM now), and the fights have gotten even cheaper, which isn't a delight given you have to pay 2500 FM to even try one of these fights.

I've been a supporter of SFV since launch, but, idk, it seems lately Capcom just releases stuff for the game, doesn't do anything with it, only brings it out of the shadows twice a year for big tournaments, and then just leaves it as is :/

 

[Deleted member 17627]

I thought this would be about the real issue here - Capcom adding more extra battles weekly- this week's round cost 10,000FM to enter the four on offer (and assuming you win first time), yet completely weekly challenges net you a fraction of that cost.

Click to shrink...

Pretty much this as well, removing all methods to get FM outside of online activities (and the occasional 1000 FM you get when leveling up a character, which after a certain point doesn't really happen anyways) has essentially made doing anything requiring it a huge hassle.

 

[Velikost]

Yeah, you usually get hosed if you don't do your research. Live and learn

 

[Sabot]

I come in and check every tuesday. It is actually doing its job of reminding me to play the game, I wouldn't have even touched SFV since DBFZ came out if it wasn't for Extra Battles. Extra Battles got me to boot it up, I end up playing it, end up realizing I enjoy the game more than DBFZ, and I don't play DBFZ anymore. They got me.

It's free costumes, with free currency you get from playing the game at a decent pace.

HERE'S THE REAL ISSUE: The last piece they make the extra battle WAY HARDER, like "even a guy who's played the game for 500+ hours has to do it twice to beat it" hard.

 

[RecRoulette]

Really pissed that I burnt my fight money stock on stages. For some reason I thought the soldier battles would be consistent enough along with the challenges. Nope.

I still think they're going to sell fight money eventually, especially with things like the Capcom Pro Tour challenges giving you significantly less money this year.

 

[HomerSimpson-Man]

They gimped the hell out of fight money with AE, and trying to get extra characters with FM is pretty much near impossible, the gimped FM already makes it pretty bad, if you do the extra battles for the costumes.

 

[Deleted member 401]

I expected this thread to be about the lop-sided implementation of fight money in Arcade Edition. At least I got most of the stages before everything went downhill.

 

[HardRojo]

This isn't the issue with Extra battle, the issue is people not reading and assuming something works a certain way.
Now, FM is the actual issue with SFV these past 2 weeks, as there hasn't been a single Shadaloo soldier to get extra FM from and they halved the total weekly rewards. They need to offer weekly Shadaloo soldiers, whether it be for EXP or FM rewards doesn't matter. Double FM weekends would be welcome too.

 

[just_one]

Thats why i dont waste fm on extra battles...gotta save them for characters.

 

[Kapryov]

Wait, so if I picked up this game now I would not be able to earn this costume anymore, due to missing the first window?
But the first challenge is still present?

I'm confused

 

[Seijuro]

I thought this would be about the real issue here - Capcom adding more extra battles weekly. For example, this week's round cost 10,000FM to enter the four on offer (and assuming you win first time), yet completing weekly challenges net you a fraction of that cost.

All four of the extra battles this week are for costume gems, with no opportunities for fight money with shadaloo soldiers or similar.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, that are my thoughts as well. Come next week I will be broke with my fight money.

 

[TheGhost]

Could you buy these costumes for real money instead of going through all that? (I got confused half way through the explanation)

 

[DR2K]

Honestly it's not fun. The AI going crazy in the 4th battle sucks too. I'd rather just buy the costumes I want than "earning" them. Extra battle is so horrible and unfun that it makes survival almost less shit.

 

[HomerSimpson-Man]

Wait, so if I picked up this game now I would not be able to earn this costume anymore, due to missing the first window?
But the first challenge is still present?

I'm confused

Click to shrink...

Yep, you have to keep up every week. I learned the hard way myself. Missed a week, don't bother, you are just throwing FM away, and with the way Extra Battle is set up, with the different multiple costumes, it's Capcom just using extra battle to eat away at all your fight money. If you get to the 4th week/battle, the AI starts to go ham, so you losing the fight losses you fight money too.

 

[Strangelove_77]

Wait, so if I picked up this game now I would not be able to earn this costume anymore, due to missing the first window?
But the first challenge is still present?

I'm confused

Click to shrink...

Every week you get a new part. It would eventually pop up again...whenever.

 

[Strangelove_77]

Extra battle is fucking awful. Both to play and in how it's obviously set up to take more fight money than you can earn.
The first two weeks or so were just them pretending that their new system was going to be more generous and fun than it actually was. But it was nothing but a facade.

So many people were so sure that good guy Capcom was doing us favors with the changes they made and that'd we would make the same or even more fight money every week. Nooooope.

 

[TheIdiot]

The way Capcom is handling the online/multiplayer for this game is laughably bad, considering it's a GaaS at this point. Like, the new attempts at "earning FM" is clearly a ploy to actually get you to fluctuate between having no FM and having 30k tops, which isn't even enough to buy a stage. I mean they even took away ways of getting FM in single player, and halved the weekly FM mission earnings.

Furthermore wins online even in high Ranked matches only gets you 50 FM. And 0 if you lose. Not even bonuses for getting win streaks. Meanwhile you fight in the Russia stage and get the bear to dance and you earn 2500 FM, somehow that has the same worth as winning 50 ranked matches.

On top of that they charge ridiculous prices for a single costume and friggin' level. They don't even give away colors for free (Well except for that atrocious Surival mode they've yet to work on).

Oh and how kind of Capcom to give us 5,000 "free" fight money for buying the new Capcom Pro Tour pass.

 

[chairhome]

I can understand how it could be confusing and semi difficult for newcomers. I haven't had much of a problem with the fights, only losing maybe one or two, but after you understand how to get them, just go for the ones you want. Owners of the original have an unfair advantage as we've been able to accumulate a lot of fight money before they changed it, so I'm going for all the costumes (although I'm a bit salty i forgot to do the last gem for Rashid, who I main. Damn you DBFZ).

 

[demondance]

FM is a good idea in theory, and certainly it's nice to buy characters for free with the early chunk of it you get when you start out.

Everything they've built around it is nonsensical. How do these extra battles encourage people to stick with the game? Or even encourage spending money? Why are the weekly missions universally pointless and silly things?

I stopped doing all this stuff and just focus on fights 100%. I don't even do the easiest weekly missions anymore. It made launching the game feel like a chore.

If you wanted to encourage players to play your game less, and spend less money, SFV is a case study in how to properly half-ass the psychological hooks that support a game as a service.

Chun Li's thighs are subsidizing this incompetent design, imo.

 

[Brazil]

I spent a lot of FM during the Viewtiful Joe promo, not understanding that I needed to play four weeks in a row to actually unlock the costume. There was no clear explanation of it inside the game.

I may have been an idiot, but... never again.

 

[Salty Rice]

And thats why i only use FM for FM only stuff like colors back then since the game came out.

But i guess not everyone is so resourceful like me. Still sitting on 300k FM.

 

[Arkeband]

Is it happening?

Is SFV-Era finally coming around on how shitty FM is?

I also love how I was told I was wrong that the 4th fight has way higher AI, seems people came around on that too.

 

[Kapryov]

Yep, you have to keep up every week. I learned the hard way myself. Missed a week, don't bother, you are just throwing FM away, and with the way Extra Battle is set up, with the different multiple costumes, it's Capcom just using extra battle to eat away at all your fight money. If you get to the 4th week/battle, the AI starts to go ham, so you losing the fight losses you fight money too.

Click to shrink...

Every week you get a new part. It would eventually pop up again...whenever.

Click to shrink...

Thanks.
This is going to sound petty, but you guys just unsold me on the game.

 

[Salty Rice]

Its literally Extra Battle for EXTRA costumes. Dont know how you can be turned off the game for getting optional extra stuff.

Is it happening?

Is SFV-Era finally coming around on how shitty FM is?

I also love how I was told I was wrong that the 4th fight has way higher AI, seems people came around on that too.

Click to shrink...

Nah people not doing their research doesnt make FM bad.

Also you can easy peasy cheese the AI with Rashid or other characters for example.

 

[Inuhanyou]

lol yeah, i wasted a few fights not knowing how to unlock the costumes...i think it would be better if they gave you more soliders to fight to gain more of that FM. to be fair though, if you play survival, you'll have plenty of FM to survive extra battle for a long time, especially if you grind survival out for each character.

the problem is you wont have much money for anything else in the game outside of winning fights in extra battle

I don't have a problem with extra battle as a concept in of itself though.

 

[Deleted member 21709]

SFV just has the worst UI.

 

[rsfour]

It's shitty.

As for the actual difficulty, the costume fights are very very easy. The golden soldiers were YMMV depending on your personal skill. Not gonna comment on the bison and akuma one which were a total waste and you had to gimmick it.

 

[Deleted member 5148]

I spent a lot of FM during the Viewtiful Joe promo, not understanding that I needed to play four weeks in a row to actually unlock the costume. There was no clear explanation of it inside the game.

I may have been an idiot, but... never again.

Click to shrink...

.

 

[Arkeband]

Its literally Extra Battle for EXTRA costumes. Dont know how you can be turned off the game for getting optional extra stuff.


Nah people not doing their research doesnt make FM bad.

Also you can easy peasy cheese the AI with Rashid or other characters for example.

Click to shrink...

The game should not allow you to waste money on subsequent fights, and it should clearly explain if you're ineligible for the costume.

 

[ThatMeanScene]

This isn't the issue with Extra battle, the issue is people not reading and assuming something works a certain way.
Now, FM is the actual issue with SFV these past 2 weeks, as there hasn't been a single Shadaloo soldier to get extra FM from and they halved the total weekly rewards. They need to offer weekly Shadaloo soldiers, whether it be for EXP or FM rewards doesn't matter. Double FM weekends would be welcome too.

Click to shrink...

*Both the unclear Extra Battle explanations and mechanics and the lack of ways to earn Fight Money - Shadaloo Solider or otherwise - are both very real problems* with the game right now.

As the OP said it really makes no sense to repeat cleared Extra Battle fights; especially when most EB fights are costume fights that only award a paltry 2000 EXP after the initial successful clear. Both og these issues really deserve more attention because the Fight Money grind is so much worse in AE. If I was a new player it would probably make me bounce off the game (but I have 400K piled up from the earnings in Vanilla).

Edit:
Capcom knows there's a issue because they resorted to making a Japanese blog post to instruct new players how to earn more Fight Money. Their advice boils down to [1] completing Targets/Missions (no duh, Capcom), [2] playing Survival mode with low level characters (a better tip for newbies but Survival is an awful mode and no one should play it), and [3] fight Shadaloo Soliders (which have been MIA for 3 weeks now).

Really awful way of handling this situation, honestly.

Japanese Blog Post:
https://game.capcom.com/cfn/sfv/column/132299

 

[Omar310]

Is it happening?

Is SFV-Era finally coming around on how shitty FM is?

I also love how I was told I was wrong that the 4th fight has way higher AI, seems people came around on that too.

Click to shrink...

I've earned enough FM for 11 characters. Sure they've changed that system now, but that level of value has to be worth something. I'll be able to get DLC characters at no additional cost to the £25 I bought it for. Can't say the same for Tekken, DBFZ, etc (even though I still really like those games)

 

[NotLiquid]

Wait they already did Ibuki's Kirin armor? what the fuck

now I'm upset

 

[The007JiM]

I asked this today in the Street fighter OT. Bought the game last week and read carefully before doing anything.
There's no info anywhere. I thank the guy in the OT thread for the advice for no wating my time and FM.

The only way this could work if they repeat these battles in a certain amount of time.

 

[Augemitbutter]

i wish they just fixed their online match quality. AE feels even more inconsistent than before. i get shaky cam matches all the time now and i doubt capcom will ever put resources into their main mode of play ever again.

the fm issue could be somewhat alleviated by adding fm soldiers weekly.

maybe communicate this gem system better or give 2 weeks to earn gems before you pull it. another option would be to make all gems acquirable as long as the challenge is up.

Is it happening?

Is SFV-Era finally coming around on how shitty FM is?

I also love how I was told I was wrong that the 4th fight has way higher AI, seems people came around on that too.

Click to shrink...

i think fm was totally fine past seasons. there were many opportunities to earn fm.

 

[Kapryov]

Its literally Extra Battle for EXTRA costumes. Dont know how you can be turned off the game for getting optional extra stuff.

Click to shrink...

SFV Arcade is basically all extra stuff, isn't it?
I don't play online and love alternate costumes, what's considered "extra" would be a selling point to me :)

 

[WrenchNinja]

Some of these costume extra battles are way too hard after the second match on. Lost 5000 FM on Friday.

 

[HomerSimpson-Man]

Some of these costume extra battles are way too hard after the second match on. Lost 5000 FM on Friday.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, I have been practicing learning how to play as Rashid, just so I can easier cheese the goddamn AI in the game. It being a 1 round match is tough as if the momentum goes against you in the match you are screwed unlike regular 2 out of 3 matches. Losing 5000 FM myself was painful.

 

[HardRojo]

Is it happening?

Is SFV-Era finally coming around on how shitty FM is?

I also love how I was told I was wrong that the 4th fight has way higher AI, seems people came around on that too.

Click to shrink...

No, you were wrong about past seasons with FM as it was great, but the way they've been handing it this season leaves a lot to be desired considering they added other ways to spend FM. FM system is fine when well implementated, again, like past seasons.

 

[KillstealWolf]

My biggest issue is the paid entry for each time. I feel like it should be one time payment and then try until you win (Espicially for the ultra bosses like Shin Akuma and Phantom Bison).

My advice, don't be afraid to cheese against the AI, they aren't going to play fair so neither should you. They aren't good with Rashid's Eagle Dive, and I believe some have also said Blanka's Rolling Thunder is pretty good to. Save your actual skill for the online matches where it matters.

Still though, at least there is something here. A lot of games give no other option but to pay money for them (Although I will concur others are a bit cheaper in this regard, it varies from company to company, some are more generous than others).

 

[Footos22]

I just do all the extra battles with Ken, Piece of piss. Think the only one I had to do more then once was the last chun li one the other week and im not very good at the game at all. Gingerly touching ultra bronze.

 

[jett]

Should've informed yourself.

But in all fairness this game shouldn't allow you replay this shit after you've beaten them. I think there are in fact a few issues with FM this season. Mainly not giving us shadaloo soldiers to beat despite cutting weekly FM earnings in half.

The AI for the costume parts is brainless though. The difficulty might be set to random I guess, but I personally found the fourth Rashido battle to be the same as all the others.

 

[ThatMeanScene]

I disagree when it comes to the final Chun-Li EB fight. She was aggressive as hell. The only reason I was able to beat her is because I've finally learned to block and be patient (lol yes finally after all this time) *AND I was careful with my HK Eagle Spikes. :-P

I doubt newbies fared as well as I did.

 

[Absoludacrous]

It's all complete bullshit. I was on vacation for a week and because I didn't plan my life around Street Fighter I'm missing like three costumes now because of how they're overlapping them. It's basically killed my interest in their entire system, and I'll just go back to booting it up once every few months to scrub it up with Ryu.

 

[galvatron]

The game should make what's going on a lot clearer so that everyone knows what they're getting into with extra battles. You shouldn't have to go online and read an external blog or article to find out how something works in the game.

 

[SRTtoZ]

Yep I recently ran into this issue too. Why the fuck isn't it explained? I assumed I had to keep fighting until I got good RNG and got the gem drops, nope, I had no chance in getting the costume as I was already in the last week of the extra battle. I had to google and find this info on reddit by the way because they didn't explain it in game. Stupid as fuck.

 

[2shd]

The whole extra battle system is very unfriendly to casual/new players, especially the "gambling-like" aspect and the reliance on the sunk-cost factor.
For many regular players here, the battles may be a cake-walk, but I really doubt that holds for most of the user base.
I only know how all this stuff works because of how closely I follow the news.

 

[Shpeshal Nick]

Yeah it's not explained well at all and the UI is still kinda shitty

 

[Mechanized]

SFV is a whole bunch of bullshit. What's worse than the shitty FM is the defenders of such a terrible system. Yes regale us on how you got all your characters with FM again, I get it, you are able to suffer through straight trash to get things for "free". The rest of us have better things to do.