Street Fighter 5 Season 2 Launch: 7 Ups & 3 Downs
4. Downs: Some Characters Didn't Get Anything Special
Now that we've covered all the good stuff... Akuma, rage quitting, stages, music selection, DirectInput... Let's go back to the character rebalancing issue.
Maybe I'm a bit biased, but when I picked up F.A.N.G, I fell in love with his strange kung-fu monk style and unique poison gimmicks. To my utmost disappointment, he was overall one of the weakest characters in the game. Nothing about his poison damage feels worth all of his trade offs, like floaty jumps, weak normal attacks, and his V-Trigger being the worst in the game.
So what did F.A.N.G get in Season 2? A new V-Trigger and... that's it.
The idea seems to be that the overall system changes, making a slower game with less health recovery, will offset his other flaws. He's not the only one who's been balanced in this way either: Birdie has been overall slightly declawed, despite not really being tough in the first place.
This doesn't mean that they're bad now, though. Far from it, really.
F.A.N.G is finally feeling like a threat online, and Birdie is still just as much of a defensive wall. But when you look at these minor changes, and compare them to others getting massive combo starters, it can feel like your favourite has just been somewhat left out in the cold.