“Street Fighter IV”: Seth Can Shove It

Last night, the wife and I spent over an hour (we didn’t keep track of when exactly we began, but I saw it pass the 70 minute mark) trying to beat Seth with Zangief… with it set to one-round fights on “Easiest”.

Andrew alerted me via Twitter that there may be some type of glitch with the difficulty setting. A little bit of Googling around confirms that there may indeed be some type of conflict with the PS3 version (which, by extension, may only happen if you do the optional partial-install). Of course, we didn’t know about this last night, though the thought did indeed cross my mind. I seem to remember a version of NBA Jam had an issue where the difficulties were swapped based on what you chose (for example, picking “Very Easy” gave you “Very Hard” while picking “Very Hard” gave you “Very Easy”, and so on and so forth), so I was indeed curious about what may have been happening.

I mean, let’s be honest… I’m not a terrible Street Fighter player. I’m by no means anything beyond whatever is above “scrub”, but I can hold my own. The lolz thrown back by the internet with suggestions to “just keep sweeping him” were not working; Seth was grabbing me out of ultras, throwing me out of throws, crossing-up into EX specials, and giving me flashbacks to Goenitz (do your homework on that, kids).

I had played through the game plenty of times with different characters, and this was just ridiculous.

It’s somewhat comforting to know that there may actually have been something happening behind the scenes to cause such a problem. It was also frustrating to be doing everything I thought I should be doing to “play well”, and it making so little of a difference. I have years upon years upon years of experience with this franchise and these characters, and I haven’t stopped since I began. For those returning to Street Fighter after missing the entire Alpha and III series, I can’t even begin to imagine the frustration with going through and just trying to unlock the hidden characters. It wasn’t fun for me anymore (especially after an hour), and I can’t see it being “fun” for anyone else. Between the horrible problems with difficulty scaling and the antiquated and senseless unlocking system for bonus characters, there is quite a lot to be discussed (and that’s totally tossing aside any thoughts on Seth’s actual character design).

Before we get to all that, though (whether it is presented in podcast or text form), I still owe that “Collector’s Edition” closer look that I promised last time around. I finished up the scans last night, so look forward to that in the relative near future. I’ll wear my headband while I write it. Promise.


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6 responses to ““Street Fighter IV”: Seth Can Shove It”

  1. Timo Avatar

    I had no problems with Seth on easiest, no matter which character. But I think I beat the game with all characters, before the patch was there.

    Even now I have no big problems with the game on the hardest setting. Sure, Seth is unfair and pretty tough, but after 3 or 4 tries, I beat (usual) him.

    However, with Zangief it’s pretty simple, even on the hardest setting. Do ONLY the Lariat. Works perfect, no matter which opponent.

  2. Dowlingusa Avatar
    Dowlingusa

    I know exactly what you mean! I spent 2 1/2 hours trying to beat Seth. Once I figured out any easy way to beat him, then I was fine. I beat him by going to the very corner of a stage and blocking until he jumped at me, and then kicked him mid-air. He repeats a cycle of jumping, being knocked down, punching a bit, and then jumping again.

  3. Bussani Avatar
    Bussani

    I haven’t done the partial install on my PS3…at least, I don’t think so. Unless my brother did it. How do you do it, anyway?

    Even on easy, Seth can be a prick. Teleport’s behind you, unblockable Zangief throw; ugh. Like Timo suggested, I just lariated him to death all cheap like.

    The character I -really- had trouble beating Seth with was El Maskedo Wrestler (forget his name right now). His special moves are so…argh! I ended up doing it just by spamming his body flop.

  4. m121 Avatar
    m121

    I actually think Gief is the anti-Seth, myself. Lariats go through is crouching fierce Dhalsim-esque BS. I unlocked almost everyone except Seth first day on Easiest, but it’s on 360. Don’t know anything about any difficulty glitch there. I agree that unlocking characters in this fashion is bs. Hell, I think unlocking characters in itself is pretty stupid. With the advent of online play, we don’t need silly ways of extending single player play. Unlocking colors, taunts, and titles is all fine, but unlocking characters just feels like needlessly dragging out and delaying the real game. Still, if ya gotta do it, do it like Soul Calibur IV. I had everyone except the bonus characters within an hour.

    At the end of the day, the only problem I really have with the game though is the fact that everyone online plays Ken. EVERYONE. He’s not top tier by any means (Upper mid-high at best), but for some reason everyone plays him.

  5. Brett Avatar
    Brett

    @m121

    I know how you feel; probably 9 out of 10 matches I play on PSN, it’s versus Ken.

    My usual choice is Ryu. I’ve been using him for what’s basically turned into a decade of playing Street Fighter. With this game, though, I’ve tried a different choice, which seems to be my anti-Ken: Sagat. Those Tiger Knees and Tiger Shots can really put ‘ol blondie in his place. Not to mention that punishing Ultra Combo.

    I don’t pay attention to who’s on what tier. I play what I know with the characters I can use, and most of the time I can yank out a win, as long as somebody’s not being incredibly cheap (see: everyone online), and using nothing but Hadokens and Shoryukens.

    I’d try using Chun-Li if I could look at her after seeing her movie. *shudders*

  6. Dizrythmia Avatar

    Pain in the ass unlockable characters. Sounds like SNK vs Capcom for the Neo Geo Pocket.

    In that you had a grid of 9 squares (I think it was 9), & every time you clocked the game a random square would be uncovered showing a part of the hidden character. The problem was that the random square would more often than not be one that was already unlocked. Imagine the pain in the ass it was to uncover that final square & every time you clocked the game it would choose any other square but the one you needed.

    That took a lot of the fun out of that game for me. Now they’re all unlocked I go back to it every now & again for a quick play. But I was “over it” for a long time…

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