"Sentinel is cheap and broken."
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Sentinel is all the talk on the streets right now for MvC3, and he looks soooooo good. Maybe a lil' TOO good. Solid movement, flight, awesome assists (sent droids are still good), awesome zoning tools (JUMPING S!). He's one of the few characters that looks like he can anything and everything. But others like Dante can do that too... so where is this "too strong?" coming from?
X Factor.
A lot of people, from nobodies all the way up to "The Gods" are saying that Sentinel is looking a little too good right now with X Factor. Why? Because HE IS LITERALLY A TANK. One shots galore, a naked S takes 'bout 1/4th of ANYBODY's bar, it's just sentinel running over entire teams by himself. Right now, it's almost looking like "well if you're not going to play Sentinel, you're trying to be the 1 legged guy in the ass kicking contest." But is it REALLY enough to cause people to already throw in the towel?
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The first time this caught my eye is when Mr. Marvelous, Justin Wong, made a facebook comment. In turn, all of the Wong fanboys lined up to have discussions with him (me included, I'm not gunna front.) "Is it really that bad?" "You sure you're not jumping the gun?" "You said Adon was ass and look what happened to you!"
(sidenote: I could go on and on about people giving JWong crap for saying "Adon is trash" then getting destroyed by Gamerbee. Lemme just note this, if Adon is amazing and JWong is wrong, why is Gamerbee the only Adon in existence?)
In short, some people were already putting Sentinel BACK on top like MvC2 just got a few tweaks and nothing happened. With my short hands-on experience, I asked "Well, he can't dominate through flight, that's not crisp anymore. So...... how does Sentinel bring for the pain?" Fired a few questions around to some people, all fell on deaf ears. And rightfully so, I mean, who am I outside of Melee? Nobody. If I want to know the truth, I have to go find it myself. Regardless of what's happening, MvC3 is the next big thing, and people aren't going to just feed you everything you want to know.
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Fast forward one day, today. Wake up, early morning youtube check. No thought what-so-ever, just doin' normal rounds, and what do I see? Spooky holding it down. Streamed an online FT10 between NerdJosh and Marn, then uploaded to youtube like a champ. I'm totally expecting something of Nerdjosh vs Team "Marn, you're an awesome guy, so we're gunna put all your mains in 1 game" (Zero/Viper/Dante). BUT NO! TO MY SURPRISE, WHAT DO I SEE?
***x***x Sent vs ***x***xSent.
(part 2 and 3 are on Team Spooky's youtube)
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What's the big thing to note from that vid? It's not just that Sentinel is a jack of all trades, but how do most matches dissolve? A lot of it winds up being people fighting, then Sentinel coming in, turning on God mode, and wrecking shop. It kinda reminds me of CvS2's ratio system. It's not that your 1s aren't important, but the major point of the match is how fast you get to your opponent's 2 before they get to your 2.
Sentinel just happens to be like... a 3 or a 4 instead of a 2. XD Kinda like a K-Sagat2 or A-Blanka2, when it happens it's GOING to hurt.
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Now obviously, Sentinel is a force to be reckoned with (... Pun intended). But seriously, ask yourself; does he straight BREAK the game? Does he do stuff that NOBODY else can do? Can he attack points nobody else can or defend stuff nobody else can? No. He does have easy damage, and he's GOOD at a lot of stuff , but it's not to the point of where he's literally breaking the "rules" of the game.
Yeah, not playing him might seem like a handicap to yourself, but if you come from another community (or even from MvC2) think about this. Isn't this what... ALWAYS happens? If you're a (SF)4 player, what'd you say about Sagat and Ryu? Tekken, how do you guys feel about Steve right now? How's Hilde lookin' for you Soul Calibur Folks? 3S Chun (2I Sean, lol).
My point is that this isn't a new event, and it's not the end of the world. This happens time and time again. Either two things are going to happen; people will figure out how to deal with it and Sentinel will fall down into "That hard guy to deal with", or he's gunna be "too good" and 90% of the people will disappear (Where's everybody gunna go? Roll dice on MK9?)
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For everybody who's strictly saying "wow everybody's whining, he's just good deal with it (i.e., like me ATM), here's something you need to think about on the other side of the coin. In situations like this (in good games), when you see a character like this, don't they tend to have something to keep them in check?
Take MvC2 Sentinel, just for a good reference. He pretty much followed the same mold as MvC3, but he had no X Factor, better flight, and unblockable setups. So why isn't he the (main) thing everybody left MvC2 for? Well... he was big, everybody in the world had their own personal Sentinel Infinites.
He drops some relatively easy combos on you, he takes half your bar, dances around and makes you miss. You get mad, catch him one good time, blow him up. That's to some degree fair, right? But what about MvC3 Sent (right now)?
The same flaw isn't there for him. Sure, he's still a huuuuuuuge target, but he's not getting hit with a whole lot more than Arthur's getting hit with. He's getting all the perks of his character, being able to sit in blind spots, tagging people from full screen or bombin' 'em up close, and even if you get THE PERFECT SHOT on him, it's probably nothing more than what you'd normally get in your ideal situation. To top it off, he's got more health than the average character.
Basically, it makes sense for sharp eyes to call this out. Sentinel is strong. With the way he's built, there really isn't anything that he would call a "bad situation" (Right now, I honestly don't think he has ANY blind spots or weak points). A lot of people are looking for diversity, and it's present. But when you're expected to pick THREE characters, why in the world would one of them NOT be Sentinel?
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If it's not your cup of tea, you're perfectly right in your decision and entitled to every right to leave. It's called having an opinion. When it's all said and done, if you don't enjoy the game (and you're not obligated to play for money), then why cram something you don't like down your throat? This is WHY many Tekken players don't bat an eye at Street Fighter, it's why many Melee players have nothing but a middle finger for Brawl, and why nobody seriously plays Mighty Morphing Power Rangers.
Opinion. Preference. Choice.
Pretty much everybody and their mom was (still "is" at this point) excited for MvC3. That doesn't mean you've GOT to stick with it if you don't like it. There's no monopoly on competitive fighters at the moment. If you don't like it, please try something else! (Not being a troll. I'm serious, that's how greats from other games develop. Finding something they love). But you have to understand this; MvC3 Sentinel is not some new technology created from the depths of Capcom's lab. He's a good, relatively easy character. He's happened before, and he'll happen again. It's what happens when you try to have a vast number of ideas in one game, some of them wind up being REALLY good.
So yes, sit and wait for KoFXIII, K` will open the door and show you the way in. Or you can go back and try any other established and developed game where people go have been through this process. If you don't like it, you're right to do as you please; but don't be surprised if you run into the same problem in another form.
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At the end of the day, Sentinel is good. Like, real good. Like "wooooooooooow really?" good. It's right to say something, it's right to complain, and it's right to be mad. But it's not like he's broken. He's just really amazing. Sugoi.
If you're not trying to have that in your game, it perfectly fine for you to already be upset, pack up shop, and move somewhere else. He just might be too good. But if you're staying, then I can safely say this is going to be the first wall in the meta.
And I don't see any stairs to climb.
-Dogysamich
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