SFV ~ The Problem That is Ed

Let us talk about the glaring pink elephant in the room. The pink elephant that is Ed from Street Fighter V. After hearing online that Ed wasn't going to adhere to Capcom's standards for motion inputs I was intrigued. I thought maybe Ed was going to be an interesting game changer. A character who might influence future fighting game character designs for the better. That is until I found out simply pressing combinations of face buttons without directional motions would deliver instant specials, supers, and ultras. The problem with that is this. There are modded controllers for both the PS4, and PC with single button mapping functions. There are also controller adapters with single button mapping capabilities built in. Devices which can have such special attacks mapped to a single button press. As a result cheesing, and exploiting the already highly exploitable Ed is much easier done. It's as if he was built for this very purpose.

For those of you who have yet to see Ed in action you'll find he has a buttload of bullshit going on. He has an overly extended sweep, a full screen reaching Urien style projectile, a mid-range Scorpion style grappling hook, and a position swap transition that can catch unsuspecting players off guard. With these tools along with his anti-airs, and combo centered aerial specials Ed is the epitome of an exploit. Couple this with the problem that is mapping controls, and you have Ed in a nutshell.

Why Capcom chose to design Ed in this manner could be speculated, but I do have my own theory. As I said earlier I think Capcom took their desperation, and their drive to reach a larger audience for profit sake one step further, and created the ultimate exploitable fighting game character for the largest audience fighting games currently have. That audience being the modders, mappers, and cheaters looking for an easy win. In essence Capcom's Ed is what Stylish is in BlazBlue's. It's a means to pacify those gamers wanting to look like pros, but who are unwilling to dedicate the time to properly learning them like everyone else. That is a theory though, and you can take it however you like it. I'm merely pointing out what I think with credible evidence in hand.

In closing I think the inclusion of Ed in his current easy click build will annoy, and run off many oldschool Street Fighter Players. While it may very well attract the modders, mappers, and lagswitchers Capcom fails to see that it's these types of gamers who often times do not pay for their games. They steal them. Thus Ed will be the final nail in the SFV coffin. That is my prediction. I hope to god no other fighting game developer creates a character like Ed. Fingers crossed ...