I haven't been playing much lately, on the count of my controller being 'broken'; that is, it still works, but the left and right on the D-Pad are now extremely unresponsive. Rather than piss and moan about it (which I feel the compulsion to do a lot, every time I play), I'm just staying away from the game.
So, instead of my usual posts about Talbain theory, I want to discuss a hypothetical: What would I change about Talbain if VS was rebalanced?
Here's my very detailed thoughts on the matter. If you want to just read the change-list I'd implement, scroll down to the bottom:
A. General Ideas on Balancing:
I think my changes would be poorly received and controversial with the rest of the VS community, and for one reason: I would probably not nerf Talbain at all.
My reasoning is that Talbain only seems overpowered in lower level play. I think, as you reach the upper echelons of competitive Vampire Savior, it takes an awful lot of work to win with Talbain in most matches. Yes, there are definitely some matches where he completely dominates. Bishamon can't do much. Anakaris is as good as dead in many situations. Almost anything Morrigan can attempt against Talbain is unsafe unless she lands a knockdown.
However, my thoughts are that Talbain should not be nerfed for this, as it's very difficult to create opportunities for damage against good players. Lowering his power or taking away his methods for creating opportunities would just make Talbain awful. Instead, I would much sooner see characters who have intrinsically difficult problems to overcome against Talbain receive buffs - whether it be helpful across the board or mainly helpful against Talbain himself.
I'd rather see Talbain become more versatile. He has a lot of really powerful attacks that players want to use often, and a lot of attacks that players (rightfully) avoid like the plague. I wouldn't mind seeing these abilities get changed in a way that sees more use, or, in a worst-case scenario, remove it if there's no way to improve upon it. Thus, my changes for Talbain have moveset versatility in mind. Oh, and removing unblockables, which I disagree with on principle.
B. Normals
My goal here is to mainly change moves that need help or see infrequent use. Fortunately, Talbain's repertoire of normals is very good; there's almost no moves that I don't use. This list ultimately includes all three, plus one normal I already use that could use a boost.
1. Close S.Lk
- This move could be really good for Talbain. IF, we could control when we do it. Normal S.Lk is also a very powerful move that I don't think should be sacrificed. I would, in all likelihood, change this move from being a 'close' version to being a command normal, activated with B+Lp. Now Talbain has one more anti-air option to choose from that could honestly help him in a few situations.
Barring that, I would remove it from the game entirely.
2. S.Mp
- I honestly don't know what I'd do with this attack. Its only function at the moment is to bait Guard Cancels, and it's not even that good at it. I would probably reduce the cooldown of the move, while changing the hitstun and blockstun advantage accordingly, to make sure the move isn't used for anything else unexpected. As for the actual numbers? I think that would be hard for me to predict without being able to actually try it!
I might also shrink Talbain's hitbox for the move just a smidge, as the hitbox on his arm extends to almost the same length as the attack box. I have a hard time judging the priority of hitboxes in Vampire Savior, though; since I'm used to ST hitboxes, virtually every move in this game looks like it has extremely low priority, so hitbox editing is something I would experiment with very carefully.
3. S.Hk
- I don't even know, dude. My first thought that comes to mind is to revert this move to the animation of Talbain's old HKs in Vampire or Vampire Hunter. This would require a bit of thought, though, as the ramifications could be huge. I wonder if there would be any merit in changing this move to resemble just one of Talbain's three different hitboxes for the current iteration? All three of the kicks that make up S.Hk have different hitboxes as it stands. This would be one of the biggest challenges, in my opinion.
4. T+Mk
- I would grant this move the exact same startup frames as S.Mk. Why not? This move's only important function is to try and dissuade people from jumping out of your pressure string, and it's extremely slow for that purpose. Naturally, the hit and block advantage would need to be changed accordingly, but I don't think this is bad. This is one of the few things that Talbain lacks, and I don't think it makes him more interesting or adds to his specific flavor; it's just fucking obnoxious. Since you can't link anything afterwards, or even combo it into an attack, I think this would be a fair and just change.
C. Special Moves
1. Beast Cannon
First off, I would not make any changes to the normal Beast Cannon. I think its damage, range, movement, advantages, and disadvantages are right on point, and it's an integral part of Talbain's flavor.
More controversially, I probably would not change anything about the ES version, save for removing the unblockable situation. This move is the bane of a lot of people; however, I can tell you that against good players, I never get silly full-screen ramalamadingdong roflmao ES BCs. I only get to pull that kind of shit off on people who are seriously doing things they should NOT be doing, be it against Talbain or in general. And, against good players, each Beast Cannon landed is definitely earned. Thus, I don't feel like I would change anything.
If I were to change anything, I would possibly make the damage scale in such a way that if you landed the entire thing, the final hit would not do very much damage. This would cause the last hit to function mainly as a way of positioning yourself. Still, I doubt I would make this change. Talbain doesn't have a whole hell of a lot of options for closing in on his opponent; ES BC is his one and only means of keeping his opponents honest.
2. Climb Razor
My main concern with Climb Razor is that the normal version isn't good for attacking. I use Climb Razor to build meter in rare situations, but I feel like the main reason that Climb Razor exists is so that I can use ES Climb Razor.
The only problem is...what do you do with Climb Razor? It's an anti-air with shitty priority, preventing it from being effectively used as an anti-air I suppose you could buff the move, but that would be waaaay too strong, in my opinion. When you're talking about a character with some of the most powerful rushdown in the game, it begs the point, "Does he really need a bitchin' AA, too?" (As an aside, if I were to ever be in charge of rebalancing VS, you bet your ass I would remove Sas's Big Towers and Rapter's Death Voltage from the game.) One of the things that helps keep Talbain from being overpowered is that he has a hard time defending against aerial assaults. He has a lot of anti-airs, but they are only good in very specific situations, and it's up to the Talbain player to be able to quickly and intelligently judge which one to use at that time. He definitely doesn't need an anti-air that's ALWAYS a good idea. Forget it.
Another idea is to allow the normal versions of Climb Razor to juggle too, but reduce the damage of the normal versions. This seems kind of stupid, though; for one, you'd virtually always try it, whereas having to spend meter to attempt the juggle forces us to use some discretion. For two, this would be powerful unless we lowered the damage by a lot. And if we did that, what's the point? It would basically be like getting two Pursuit Attacks after landing an Air BC. Laaaaame.
My best idea is to change the motion of Climb Razor to DP+K. You'd still be able to do everything you did with it before, but it would be a lot easier to combo into when you're on the ground. The only thing preventing me from doing this more (besides the fact that missing this against a grounded opponent is very bad) is that comboing into Climb Razor is extremely awkward. In theory, it's probably one of the best things you can do, as it does more red damage than Beast Cannons, and the white damage isn't too shabby, either.
This also prevents a really ridiculous Option Select that you can set up on pads: if your button configuration has you pressing two or three kicks in a row when you AG, you can sweep the pad from "1" to "8" or "9" as you begin the AG. If you block the attack, you AG (obviously). If the first button of your AG lands as an attack, you'll get something like C.Lp XX Climb Razor.
In the end, changing the motion allows the normal version to be more useful, and prevents that ridiculous OS.
3. Million Flicker
Rebalancing the ES Version would be incredibly easy: reduce the duration so that it ends after six hits (instead of them being pushed out of the move after the 6th hit), and make the final attack knock down. If it turns out to be a powerful AA option, make sure the active hitboxes are lowered or shrunk.
The tougher challenge, here, is what to do with the normal version. It would be too beastly - no pun intended - to allow the normal version of Million Flicker to knockdown on hit. You could lower the cooldown on the move, making it possible to link normal attacks afterward. But, I'm already imagining horrendous shit like [C.Lp xx Million Flicker, C.Lp XX ES BC] , C.Lp xx Million Flicker, C.Lp XX Moment Slice), or even [C.Lp xx HP Million Flicker x N]. Without knowing how the engine is programmed, I'd be willing to be it'd be too much work to make it impossible to combo another special move afterward. I would not try to buff its anti-air properties for the same reason I wouldn't buff Climb Razor as an anti-air.
Thus...I'd probably just remove Million Flicker from the game. As it stands, there's no situation where Talbain would use Million Flicker instead of a different attack. He probably doesn't need ES Million Flicker to be such an extremely easy knockdown, and that's about the only way to make it effective. There's really nothing to be done with this attack that wouldn't make it too powerful. It seems to me like it can only be useless or broken...So, Million Flicker takes the walk.
D. EX Moves
1. Dragon Cannon
I *swear* this move is just a hair bit faster in Vampire Hunter 2. ...And, that's what I'd do with it. Allowing it to be a faster move helps twofold; Talbain could reasonably chain into it if he's closer to the edge of the screen, and this move might see a little more use outside of cheesing an opponent. On the flipside, characters who have a tough time jumping over it will be able to breathe a little easier, as the projectile would more quickly pass under them as they jumped. I like this idea.
2. Moment Slice
The only thing necessary to do with this move is extend the active hitbox all the way to the floor. That's right - fuck you, Q-Bee. If you're playing like an idiot, you've earned a Moment Slice, you smelly fuck.
3. Dark Force (Mirage Body)
Keeping in line with removing unblockables, the unblockable setup with Mirage Body would be removed.
E. Movement
1. Dash
Talbain's dash has GOT to change. I see the best Talbain players in the world fuck up execution on his dash attacks; it is simply too hard to use effectively. Thus, I would shorten the recovery frames Talbain has after landing, making it easier to transition from the dash into the ground combo.
F. Final Changelist
+ Close S.Lk changed to B+Lk.
+ S.Mp cooldown lowered; hit/block advantage changed to give the same advantage as before.
+ S.Hk reverted to old S.Hk from Vampire.
+ T+MK reduced by 4 frames; hit/block advantage changed to give the same advantage as before.
- ES Beast Cannon Unblockable removed from the game.
+ Climb Razor motion changed to DP+K.
+ Million Flicker removed from the game.
+/- Dragon Cannon trajectory speed increased slightly.
+ Moment Slice hitbox now reaches the ground.
- Mirage Body Unblockable removed from the game.
+ Dash landing frames decreased.
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