Do you know what the definition of efficiency is? The ratio of the useful work performed by a machine or person in a process or task to the total energy expended and you are telling me that it takes less energy to input 3 simultaneous commands to just the 1. If you had a machine that requires 3 arms to fold envelopes and one that can do it with 1 with the same degree of aptitude which would you say is the more efficient?
I know what total efficiency and apparent efficiency means, and you are telling me that it takes less energy to program an extra button into the game files and make that work with the control scheme and then have the controller utilize that button, and force the player to find the button and press it while that same action could have be performed with a combination of direction input(a button already the player has the thumb on) and lock on(crucial to the combat) and jumping?
Your analogy also works in a different way:
If you have a machine that had a fifty separate buttons for each types of folding procedure with all buttons consuming energy and one that simply allowed better control over folding movement using a combination of directional inputs and orientation using five buttons which one would be more efficient?
There was never any 'genius' to have to input 3 commands to avoid attacks, it was just never intrusive.
Why are you convinced that they CREATED three commands just to implement dodging? Anyone can create a dodge button these days. But to create a system that ties in targeting, movement, and jumping into one function that still don’t have an input command while being accessible as any dodge button is a genius mechanic.
The enemies were never so fast or aggressive nor versatile that one needed more precision than simply jumping away
Nope, they were. This was especially evident in DMC3(the best in the series). Jumping puts you in a different spacial position relative to the enemy than dodging. This precision in choice was crucial in avoiding attacks while maximizing the damage you could deal.
The games were build with that mobility in mind. But now games are faster, have better AI, more attack variety and if DMC5 is so simple and the enemies so unthreatening that a simple jump is enough to get away from every attack in the game I fear for the worst.
What games are you talking about? Also what you say is self conflicting.
First of all, you claim that enemies are unthreatening when their attacks can be avoided with single skills. Which is false because look at DMC3, you could avoid damage with jumping but that did not make the enemies unthreating in any way and it was the hardest game in the series.
Next is your entire point of having a manual dodge skill, well then if they implemented a manual dodge and enemies are so unthreatening that a manual dodge would avoid all attacks, then would you not fear for DMC5 as well?
Next is what you expect of the game. DMC is about giving player freedom, you can avoid attacks in any way you prefer. If say an enemy would attack through dodging because the devs decided that, then dodging would be worthless against that enemy, turning it into another form of color coded enemy scenario.
So yes a simple jump is enough to avoid damage, but the myriad of tactical scenarios that jump would result in, and the act of deciding the specific evasion skill to use within 2 seconds is the depth of the combat.
Yes, it is. If you had a dedicated dodge you could use those other 2 fingers to do other things while you dodge but instead you have one thumb on the analog stick, another on the jump button and your finger on the lock-on instead of one finger tapping dodge, one thumb shooting wildly and the other switching weapons. See? Doing two more things with the same amount of inputs.
But you can already do many things with this setup.
Stay locked on for different attack skills and shooting,
Supplemented by the thumb on the stick ready to input directional commands, while continuing movement.
While being ready to jump, because you do it on the same button. Now the tactical difference between jumping and dodging was already explained earlier.
If you had a dedicated dodge button, and lock on and direction input, you would have to remove the finger from the jump button and press dodge, in DMC’s setting as the jump button doubles as the dodge button you don’t have to bother with another button.
This is what I mean by efficiency.
Not always. Some systems have left/right/up/down layout
Some systems as in referring to the control scheme or the dimensionality of the weapon select system? Weapon switching can have two inputs:
Select next weapon.
Select previous weapon.
Now you can use two buttons to do this or you can use one button and a directional modifier.
Or you can map each weapon to each button. Which is highly inefficient because if you have more then 4 weapons you would tax other controller functions.
No, that's what I'm arguing against, that to perform a simple or basic action there should be a single, dedicated input. Taunting shouldn't be RT+Select, it should be one or the other. Shooting shouldn't have to be a 3 button deal. Jumping. Melee attack, These are basic things and should be single inputs. Stinger, High Time, Caliber. These are a bit more specific and require more inputs to perform. Second tier moves if you will. Not complex but do require more actions.
Yes taunt is a one dimensional skill. There is no ‘right taunt’ of ‘left taunt’ and thus one button is enough.
Shooting:Basic shooting is one dimensional, but it has different functions that different input modifiers can utilize.
Attacking a basic skill, but has the highest number of modifiers resulting in different skills.
The context is this is the buttons assigned to each action, would you like a stinger, launcher, helm breaker button? would you like lots of buttons taking up controller space? would that be efficient? or you can have fewer buttons accessing all the skills through different orientations. The former was used by Ninja Theory and people criticized them for exactly that.
Dodge shouldn't be a second tier function.
And this is what the entire argument boils down to:
Shouldn't
YOU don’t want dodge to be a second tier function. Its not about simplicity and efficiency, its just your personal comfort to dodge with one button as opposed to using 3 skills.
First of all, manual dodging already exists in DMC in the form of Trickster.
Next, DMC fans like it slightly complicated, it has been the staple of the series and that’s how the series has been.
And then, how many games utilize dodge the way DMC does? None. This gives DMC a sense of uniqueness that you cant find in any games. If DMC were to add manual dodging it would just look like the rest of the hack and slashers in the market.
