Quote from RaptorAlright, let me rephrase myself. Do you think Brawl being defensively orientated is a good or bad thing?
You're attempting to catch me making a contradiction that I don't think I'm really making by trying to get me to delimit black and white definition of good vs bad with a presumptuous question. When I defended brawl I don't remember claiming that the defensively rewarding game engine or slower pace was necessarily a strength to the gameplay, instead arguing that just because it isn't exactly like melee doesn't make the game terrible and that it's still fun to play. If that isn't the case, then let me set the score straight right now. The truth is that I'm ambivalent about the defensive gameplay vs offensive gameplay argument, dependent on whether or not the game is actually good. There's plenty of offensively oriented games that suck harder than a black hole because what is good in concept isn't always good in execution.
I didn't want this to be about smash vs street fighter but the parallels you did draw aren't totally inaccurate. Brawl is a little slow, it is a little defensive. Is it as slow and defensive SSF4? Hell no. Does being slow and defensive make a bad game? It depends on the game. If I'm being forced at gun point to make a statement about my opinion on offensive vs defensive game play I'd say striking a balance between defense and offense is probably for the best.
Besides, pooling a small list of perceived parallels between the two games is irrelevant to my point. Especially considering the equal if not greater differences between the two games and the main difference betwixt the two games that actually matters to me; brawl was a fun game for me to play while SSF4 was not.
