I want to first say I'm ok with whatever Kayne decides the format should be. I'm only arguing to make a point, not for the rules of the tournament.
Karlina wrote:
Yes, items add a random element, but part of the skill is being able to adapt.
Not really. Not anymore skill than it takes to adapt to wild cards in Poker. You don't adapt to the invincibility star, you simply abuse it. You don't adapt to exploding barrels that spawn in the middle of your attack, they're completely random. You don't attack to an easy 100-200% fan damage, you simply take it.
It's easy to pick up items, you just press a. It's easy to use most items, you either run into the opponent (curry or hammer) or you throw/shoot it at him (the guns, and most any item can be thrown usefully).
Items are a dice roll. It's like playing a basketball game, and then stopping every five minutes to roll a die, whoever rolls higher gets 10 bonus points.
Jinte wrote:
most final smashes are easy enough to avoid if you play intelligently, nasty ones are like, luigi's or peach's, which if you get caught in, you're basically @#%^ed.
Not really. Only the smashes where a player has no control (such as d3's or ness/lucas) are really avoidable. Most of the others are not.
You can't dodge them, but you can be missed. What I mean by this is that while technically someone can use a final smash and you not be hit, it has very little to do with you dodging well and entirely to do with your opponent simply missing. Being hit with a final smash is entirely out of your control, hopefully your opponent is just terrible at using it. And that's the problem with final smashes.
All the final smashes you mentioned Jinte, like Lucario's, Sonic's, all of the player controlled ones, they are undodgeable. Lucario's beam moves slowly, but you can start the beam anywhere within a 60 degree angle below him and then move it around from there. This means you can hit whichever side your opponent runs to. One cannot dodge or roll through it. I think pit might be able to avoid it by using all his jumps and up^, but I've never seen someone do it successfully. Sonic's and Pikachu are fast enough that you cannot dodge or avoid them, the only way for you to not get hit is for the user to be really terrible at controlling them, but you cannot dodge.
Additionally the smash balls themselves are imbalanced for many characters. It takes 3-4 fairs from metaknight to break a smash ball, each knocking it away from him, whereas other characters like Snake can one hit the smash ball.
No items are competitive. They all detract from the core gameplay. Essential it turns a brawl into a scavenger hunt. The more items are included the closer games are brought to a 50% win chance for each player, because victories become more based on random elements.
Items can be fun, and there is nothing wrong with playing with them. But a game won through picking up a golden hammer that spawned right next to you doesn't reflect player ability.
Edited, Mar 21st 2008 12:17pm by Allegory