Street Fighter and Tekken fans have expressed great concern over the Street Fighter X Tekken gem system. Capcom has come out defending the system, claiming that gamers do not fully understand the new feature, but the company has also confirmed a free post-launch patch for the tournament mode. In doing so, Capcom is sending mixed signals to their fan-base in an effort to please them.
The gem system allows players to pick three gems out of an available 57, which will be attributed to their fighters. There are two types of gems: Assist gems, which are always on and assist during battle, and Boost gems, activated gems that improve certain attributes when needed. Hardcore players claim that the gem system will lead to unbalanced gameplay and unfair matches. Capcom completely disagrees with this line of thought.
“They're not power-up items. That's not how we see them,” Street Fighter producer Yoshinori Ono recently told Eurogamer. “We put gems into the game which are default. As long as you have these default ones you'll be fine. If you want to get more gems down the road from the pre-order bonuses, you can definitely do that, but it doesn't make you stronger, it doesn't make you a better player, it doesn't mean you'll have an advantage.”
"In terms of DLC gems, we don't have any set plans on selling gems like this or like that," Ono explained. "We're waiting to see what the user reaction is first, because we think a lot of users still don't understand the gem system completely.” Ono is basically saying that the company has no plans to sell these gems, which assist a player’s gameplay, unless the gems are found to be popular. The contradiction would continue when Ono confirmed a post-launch Tournament Support Mode patch.
"Hopefully it will alleviate a lot of the concerns the community has," Ono said, referring to the post-launch patch. “Hopefully we can start to build a closer relationship with the fans, and we can hear their concerns and implement any support or tools. It'll be the start of a really close relationship, we hope, with the community." Ono deserves credit, as he has been placed in a tough position. On the one hand, the producer needs to defend his product, but on the other hand, he needs to satisfy his customers. Unfortunately, he tried doing both at the same time and ended up sending mixed messages. Street Fighter X Tekken will be available on the Xbox 360 and PS3 on March 6th, 2012.
