I've taken the time to translate and articulate Reiketsu's thoughts on the character, but the original Japanese statements are available as well

Note: My entire conversation with Reiketsu about Vega was conducted in Japanese, all quotes by him within this article have been personally translated from Japanese to English by me.

There was a very strong response to our previous collaboration pieces, the first being with Tempo|Alex Myers regarding Cammy, and the second with IND|Ixion regarding Nash.

Of course, both of those articles were made before Street Fighter 5: Arcade Edition was out, and focused on what these players were hoping to see their characters gain in the upcoming new version, so this piece is a little bit different.

This time, since I'm friends with Reiketsu and he told me that he's back to playing Vega again despite not liking his AE changes, I decided that continunig this article series with people weighing in on their characters might be a good idea for the future after all.

After asking Reiketsu if he'd be interested in doing a collaboration piece for us here at EventHubs, he was thrilled at the prospect, and we sat down to talk about what exactly he thinks is wrong with Vega as a character and how Capcom could fix it.

Much like the previous two articles, though even more in this instance since our talks were conducted in Japanese rather than English, this piece will be written with my words, but using Reiketsu's opinions and justifications without changing any of their meanings.

So, without further ado, let's have a look at Vega in AE and what Reiketsu has to say about him.

Frames on his normals need to be adjusted When we start talking about Vega, Reiketsu first wants to make something abundantly clear. "I didn't start playing Vega again in Arcade Edition because I thought his changes were good or anything like that," he clarifies. "I just really started feeling again that I wanted to win with the character Vega, after all," alluding to his turbulent time during the game's second season where he originally switched to Cammy, and later Menat. Continuing, he says "I think it's easiest if we start from why I stopped playing Vega in Season 2 to begin with." He brings up that many of Vega's medium attacks got slower at startup in Season 2, a somewhat universal change that happened to most characters in the game. Reiketsu, aware of this, notes that "This happened to Ken, too, but in his case they also adjusted the frames on his light attacks so that there was barely any change to his combos or pressure." "In Vega's case, though, they didn't account for this at all, and not only took away most of his combos, but on top of that they removed his ability to counter 3-frame mashing as well." He explains that Vega could no longer combo from 3 frame moves, and he couldn't stand up against opponent's 3-framers either. He mentions that an important aspect of Vega in Season 1 was the ability in his barehanded stance to land a standing light kick on counter hit and go into standing medium punch, something which was made impossible to do from any light button counter hit after Season 1. He notes that it's still possible to connect to his crouching medium punch, though the possibilites from that move are much lesser than they are for the standing button. He also notes that something he personally finds boring is that you can't land a standing medium punch off of a counter hit crouching medium punch anymore, either. Removing Vega's combo capabilities like this put a big damper on the character, and Reiketsu explains that Vega used to be a very technical character where you had to make split-second decisions based on whether your opponent was standing or crouching, whether you got a counter hit or not, and express yourself in the moment, which is no longer the case. He says that he wants Capcom to either revert Vega's medium attacks to how they used to be, or adjust the frames on his light and medium normals on hit and block so that he can still use them effectively. "For example, Ed who came out in Season 2, similarily to Vega his quickest medium attack has 6 frames of startup. But, Capcom made sure to make it fair to him by having light attacks that are +3 on block, which means he can do his light attack into a medium on block and won't lose to mashed 3-frames," Reiketsu explains. He concludes this part of Vega's problems with "Vega has too few combo options right now," lamenting the absence of the more expressive character he used to be in the game's early days.

His lack of a tick throw After a short period of us talking past eachother because I wasn't sure if "atenage" means "tick throw" or not, and he didn't understand the terminology "tick throw," Reiketsu goes into detail as to why this is a big problem for Vega. "The difference between characters who have a tick throw and those who don't is huge in this game," he begins. "The difference has gotten even bigger in Arcade Edition, since they increased the active frames on throws from 2 frames to 3 frames." He states his position clearly that either all characters should have tick throws, or no characters should, adding that his personal opinion is that every character should have the ability to do it. Reiketsu notes that Capcom have put extra emphasis on that the answer to a throw should be to input a throw of your own, citing their removal of option selects that let you avoid throws in this game. "But againsst characters who aren't able to tick throw, you don't have to do that. Since they need to walk forward, all you need to do is press a normal and you'll beat them before they even have a chance." He elaborates that characters who have tick throws are able to input throw right after pressing a light button, while characters who don't have to walk forward in between, leaving them vulnerable to counterattack. "This goes against Capcom's intention of having teching be the natural response to an enemy's throw," Reiketsu explains. He finishes by saying "Of course, this problem isn't exclusive to just Vega."

His normals in Claw Stance are not up to par "This next point is pretty simple - Vega's standing heavy punch in Claw Stance had its range greatly reduced between Season 1 and Season 2, and I think it should be brought back to what it was," Reiketsu says. He notes that since it's the only move besides light attacks that Vega can actually special cancel in his Claw Stance, having its range robbed away like that just isn't acceptable. Elaborating further upon Vega's Claw Stance woes, he notes that Vega in that particular stance is the only character in the game who doesn't have a medium normal he's allowed to cancel from. "Even Dhalsim or super heavy characters get that, so I think it's strange that Claw Stance Vega is the only one left out." Here, I brought up the counterpoint that Vega is a stance character after all, and that might be why, but Reiketsu doesn't accept this reasoning. He says "I could agree with that if his Claw Stance moves were efficient and didn't lose to other characters, but when there are characters with further range and better qualities on their normals that on top of that actually are cancellable, I really can't accept that explanation." To close out this part of our talk, he shows me a picture of the hitbox and hurtbox for one of Vega's jumping attacks in his Claw Stance, showing that the only thing Vega's claw actually seems to do in this game is give him an extended hurtbox.

The problems facing his EX Barcelona Attacks and its followups The next point of irritation is Vega's EX Barcelona Attack. "Back in the vanilla version of Street Fighter 4, this move would not hit crouching opponents, but they fixed the move so it would in Super Street Fighter 4," Reiketsu explains. "So why is it back to not hitting crouchers again in Street Fighter 5?" Another problem he brings up with the move is that there are situations where Vega simply can not hit his opponents with the followup attacks from EX Barcelona Attack, neither the Claw Attack nor the Izuna Drop will connect. In some quickly recorded videos Reiketsu shows me, Vega will indeed be unable to land his followups after cancelling into EX Barcelona Attack on a heavy punch target combo, and similarily if he anti-airs with a heavy Aurora Spin Edge, and connects the first part of the EX Barcelona Attack afterwards, the followup will not land. In response to my shock at seeing this, Reiketsu explains "This is a level of pain only Vega mains can truly understand."

The AE nerfs to his light Crimson Terror "Something a lot of other Japanese Vega players have brought up is the changes to his light Crimson Terror," Reiketsu notes, referring to the Arcade Edition change where Vega will now be further away from his opponent after landing this special move. Reiketsu points out that with this new change, the match gets put back into a neutral state after Vega lands it since he can't reach with a throw or a 3-frame attack after it. "I personally don't really mind it, since I don't think Vega is supposed to be that kind of character anyway," he continues. With that said, he elaborates that even though he doesn't think that aspect of it is too bad, that Capcom should have at least given him something in exchange when they nerfed it, such as increasing its damage making it possible to combo into it from ranges where Vega players are currently not able to. He gives me a quick clip which shows Claw Stance Vega doing crouching light punch, standing light kick, crouching light punch and the Crimson Terror at the end not connecting, and the same thing happening when he does crouching light punch, crouching light punch, standing light punch into it. "It just won't connect unless you're that close," he concludes.

V-System woes and Critical Art mishaps As we move on to talk about Vega's V-Trigger and its changes, Reiketsu first shows me a brief clip that if the opponent is standing in the corner, Vega's Critical Art, which is supposed to home in on the opponent's current position, will not do so even against a still opponent, but will drop down quite some distance in front of them instead. He chalks this up to yet another general issue among a myriad of problems with Vega, and decides to move on with what the problems on his V-Trigger techniques are, an area I wanted to talk about since we began. "At first, I thought finally - Vega's got a real V-Trigger!," Reiketsu recalls, saying that in Season 2 he believes Vega's V-Trigger was the weakest in the game. Unfortunately, this joy didn't last long, as once he got his hands on Arcade Edition, he actually found that Vega's V-Trigger had gotten even worse. The changes to Vega's V-Trigger for Arcade Edition were quite extensive, making it a move that can now connect to other moves than his Critical Art after activation, but lowering its damage to compensate. Of course, this damage got even further lowered circumstancially because of the universal nerf to V-Trigger cancels in this new version. He explains that the changes to let him combo from the rose are not significant because of the low damage output it inevitably gives, and that his old technique of doing V-Trigger into Critical Art now does a great deal less damage. "Even though that was its one and only saving grace"; he laments. He continues to say "It makes me sad to see Ibuki's V-Trigger 2, which is similar to Vega's V-Trigger 1 in many ways, but is probably 10 times better." Moving on to the newly obtained V-Trigger 2, he says that this one gets clearly overshadowed as well. "As far as counters go, Ryu's and Karin's new V-Triggers are much better. They are active from the 2nd frame, while Vega's isn't active until the 3rd." He further explains the difference between Vega and these two by pointing out that Ryu and Karin can both attempt their counter a total of four times during their V-Trigger duration, and it won't go down if they successfully pull of a counter. Vega, on the other hand, only gets two tries, and the whole V-Gauge disappears from a successful counter. "I know that Vega can use his as a combo move and not just a counter, but even still. That's only once, too," he elaborates. "The difference is V-Triggers among the cast is really staggering." Ending on a positive note, though, Reiketsu remarks "Though, I will say that having a brand new V-Trigger does give a sense of freshness, and I'm having fun using it... As long as I don't compare it to what other characters have, everything is good, haha." Moving on from V-Trigger, though, Reiketsu has a bit more to say about the rest of Vega's V-System. He notes that while Vega's V-Trigger is weak, it's actually more of a problem that Vega's entire V-System is weak. "His V-Skill was considered one of the worst in the game in Season 1, yet in Season 2 the unthinkable happened and it became even worse." Reiketsu says that he'd at least expect the fireball and upper body invincibility on the move to last until the actual attack comes out. "It's -13 on block, so that's the least they could do, right?" he concludes. Finally, Vega's V-Reversal is unique in that it does absolutely nothing if you're stuck in the corner. "Corner offense and pressure is extremely strong in this game, and playing Vega who has no invincible moves and can't even rely on his V-Reversal is, quite frankly, hell, haha," he finishes.

There you have it, Reiketsu's honest thoughts on Vega's current place in the Street Fighter 5 meta and what he needs to become more viable again. Do you agree? Disagree? Let us know in the comments.

We've also included a cleaned up version of my and Reiketsu's original conversation in Japanese which Reiketsu put together, which you can find below.

魔人T: やぁ。

今回はバルログについての問題点について聞かせてもらうよ。

まず、アーケードエディションになってからのバルログは日本ではどんな評価なんだ？ 冷血: 是空やさくらと並んで弱キャラと言われることが多いね。

season2でバルログを使い続けてきた日本人のほとんどがAEになってからはバルログを辞めたりバルログの辛いことをツイートしながら苦行のようにゲームを続けてる。

俺はseason2でやめてからAEで戻った珍しいケースだけど、これは別にAEバルログの調整が面白かったから戻ったとかいうわけじゃないよ。

ただ単に「やっぱりバルログで勝ちたい」という気持ちがあったからだね。 魔人T: 確かに今あまり見かけないな。

じゃあ、問題点に移動しようか。

バルログの悪いところは? 冷血: まず最初に俺がseason2でバルログをやめる理由にもなった点から話そうか。 season2になってからバルログの様々な中攻撃の発生が遅くなったんだ。

中足、立中P、しゃがみ中Pとかだね。 同じような調整がケンにもなされた。

けれどもケンは発生が遅くなったことを考慮されて弱攻撃や中攻撃のヒット時のフレームも微調整された。そのおかげでコンボや固めにはそこまで影響がなかったんだ。 バルログはその辺りを一切考慮されなかったせいで今までできていたコンボを奪われて、尚且つこのゲームで何よりも大事な3f暴れを潰す固めの連携まで奪われてしまった。 魔人T: ということは3fからのコンボが繋がらなくなった？ 冷血: 3F技から繋がる大事なコンボも無くなってしまったし、相手の3f暴れを潰して繋ぐコンボもできなくなったね。

例えばseason1では素手の時に立弱Kのカウンターヒットから立中pに繋ぐのが大事だったんだよね。

もちろん立弱kだけじゃなく、他の弱攻撃のどれからもカウンターヒットから立中pに繋いでいたんだ。 魔人T: でもseason2になって立中Pが遅くなったためにもう出来なくなった 冷血: そう。

屈中Pに繋ぐことはできるけれど、屈中Pと立中pでは次に繋げられる技に大きな差が出る。

それどころか何も繋げられない状況も多い。

弱攻撃からという話をしたけれど、屈中Pカウンターヒットから立中Pに繋げなくなったのも個人的にはかなりつまらなくなった点だね。

細かく書いたらきりがないけど沢山のコンボができなくなってしまった。 俺の中でseason1のバルログは技が当たった時に「相手が【立ち状態】or【しゃがみ状態】、【ノーマルヒット】or【カウンターヒット】」などを瞬時に判断してコンボを選択するテクニカルなキャラクターだったんだ。 魔人T: 立ち中Pの変化によってバルログのコンボ能力と暴れに反撃するポテンシャルが弱くなってしまった

だから立ち中Pを元に戻したいということかい 冷血: 中攻撃の発生を元に戻すか、若しくは弱攻撃や中攻撃のガード時とヒット時の有利フレームを調整してもらいたいね。

例えばseason2で登場したエド。

彼もバルログ同様に一番発生が早い中攻撃が6fなんだ。

けれどもエドはそこをちゃんと考慮されていて弱攻撃や中攻撃をガードさせた時のフレームは+3になっている。

だから弱攻撃→中攻撃という連携をしても相手の3f暴れには負けないんだ。 魔人T: なるほど。

この立ち中Pに纏わる問題が分かった気がする。

弱攻撃や中攻撃のフレームを調査して、カウンターとガードの時の選択肢が増えたほうがいい。

今のバルログでは攻撃の選択肢がほとんどないし、他のキャラに比べると物足りないみたいな。 では、他に大きな問題点はありますか？ 冷血: 次は当て投げが無いことだね。

これはバルログに限った話ではないけどね。

このゲームでは当て投げの有無による格差がとても大きいんだ。

なぜなら当て投げが可能なキャラクターは弱攻撃をガードさせた後に相手が暴れていても投げが成立する。

けれども当て投げができないキャラクターは少し前に歩く必要があるから相手の暴れを食らってしまうんだ。

そしてその格差はAEになってさらに広がってしまった。

投げの持続が2から3に増えたからね。

以前は弱攻撃から当て投げをした時に、弱攻撃がヒットして4F以上有利になってしまうと投げがスカっていた。

けれども持続が増えたことにより攻撃が当たって4F有利の状況となっても投げが成立するようになったんだ。

カプコンはスト5では様々な複合グラップを削除して、投げには投げ抜けで対応させることを重視してきた。

それなのに当て投げが無いキャラクターの投げに対しては打撃で勝ててしまうのは、投げ抜けをさせたいカプコンの意図とは噛み合っていないんじゃないかと思う。

今後調整が入るなら全キャラクターが平等に当て投げを出来るようにして欲しいね。 次の問題点はとてもシンプルだね。

爪装着時の立強Pのリーチをseason1に戻して欲しい。

season2での調整でカプコンは立強Pの軸ズレを直す為に後ろに下がらないように調整した。

それに合わせて攻撃判定も調整したと書いてあったんだけれど、実際にはseason1よりかなり短くされてしまったんだ。 爪装着時のバルログには必殺技でキャンセルできるのは弱攻撃以外ではその技しかないのに、それまで短くされてしまったんだからたまったもんじゃないよね。 そもそもの問題点として必殺技キャンセルできる中攻撃を一つも持っていないのは爪装着時のバルログだけなんだ。 魔人T: それはスタンスキャラだからかもしれないな。 冷血: でもダルシムやメナトのようなバルログよりもリーチの長いキャラですら許されているよ。

そしてザンギやアビゲイルのような重量級キャラでも許されている。

バルログの爪が他のキャラの牽制に負けない優秀な技ならまだわかるんだけどね。 魔人T: 確かにスト５の通常技自体がわけ分からないな。

いろんなキャラの攻撃判定が見た目的におかしい。

自分のキャラの足が相手の体を擦り抜けて当たらないとか。 冷血: かなり多いね。

バルログの爪なんてあってないようなもんだしね。 これ見たことある？

爪どころか指先にすら攻撃判定が無いんだよ笑 魔人T: これはわけがわからんw 冷血: 衝撃的だよね。 次の問題点はEXバルセロナについて。

スト4vanillaでは立っている相手にしか当たらなかったけれど、スーパーストリートファイター4になってからしゃがみの相手にも当たるようになった。

それなのに何故スト5になってから再び立っている相手にしか当たらないようにしてしまったのか。 魔人T: あ、全然気づかなかったけどそういえば...

バルセロナにそれ以外の問題がありますか？ 冷血: 爪派生やイズナ派生等の追撃が絶対に当たらない場面があることだね 魔人T: 絶対に当たらない場面？ 魔人T: ええええ 冷血: これはバルログを使ってる人だけにしかわからない問題だね 些細な部分だけれど、CAにも問題があるね。

相手にホーミングするはずのCAがホーミングしないんだ。 それと日本のバルログ使いで嘆いてる人が多いのは弱ゴロ(クリムゾンテラー)が弱体化したことだね。 魔人T: ヒットの時に相手との距離が離れるようになったこと？ 冷血: そうだね。

投げも3F技も届かない仕切り直しの形になった。 魔人T: ああ、分かった。

確かにひどいな、コンボ後にプレッシャーがかけられなくなるね。 冷血: そこに関してはバルログはそういうキャラじゃ無いと思ってるから別に良いとは思ってるけれど、ただ弱くするだけじゃなくて代わりに何か強化点が欲しいよね。

ダメージを上げるとか、今よりも遠目の攻撃から繋がるようにするとか。

クリムゾンテラーは少し離れてると繋がらないからね。 あとニコラスからの質問はトリガーについてだったね。 魔人T: そうそう、あれはかなり大きな変化に見えるけど、実際どうなんだ？ 冷血: 最初は「バルログにもようやくVトリガーがきた！」って思ったんだ。

バルログの薔薇はseason2まで間違いなく最弱のトリガーだったからね。

でも蓋を開けてみたらAEでさらに弱くなってしまった薔薇よりはマシ程度のもので、他のキャラクターのVトリガーと比較するとあまりにも弱かった。 魔人T: AEでさらに弱くなったのか？

ダメージが低くなったのは知ってるけど、それはコンボに繋げるために調整したんだろう？ 冷血: CA以外のコンボに繋がるようになったといっても繋がる技も少ないし補正もキツくてあまり減らないんだよね。

そして薔薇で唯一の強さを見せられるのが薔薇からのCAだったのに、そのダメージが激減してしまったんだ。 魔人T: んん... 確かにそうだな...

そしてまだ何故か薔薇は一つだけに限られてるしな。 冷血: それでいて薔薇にそっくりで薔薇よりも何倍強いいぶきのVT2が出てきたからなお悲しいよ。 新たに追加されたVT2の当身も同時に実装されているカリンやリュウの方が強いんだ。

カリンやリュウは当身を入力してから2F目に当身の判定が出る。

けれどもバルログは3F目からしか当身の判定は現れない。

そしてカリンとリュウは4回当身の構えを出せるんだ。

けれどもバルログは2回しか出せない。

さらにカリンとリュウは当身が成功してもVタイマーは減らずその後も当身が使える。

なのにバルログは一度当身が成立するとVタイマーが0になってしまって再びVゲージをMAXまで溜めない限り当身は使えない。

一応バルログのVT2は当身以外の技を1回だけ撃つことができるんだけれども、それも1回出したら終わりだしガードされたらもちろん反撃確定。

でも弱いとはいえ新しいトリガーで新鮮味があるから今は楽しく使ってるよ笑 新たに追加されたVT2の当身も同時に実装されているカリンやリュウの方が強いんだ。カリンやリュウは当身を入力してから2F目に当身の判定が出る。けれどもバルログは3F目からしか当身の判定は現れない。そしてカリンとリュウは4回当身の構えを出せるんだ。けれどもバルログは2回しか出せない。さらにカリンとリュウは当身が成功してもVタイマーは減らずその後も当身が使える。なのにバルログは一度当身が成立するとVタイマーが0になってしまって再びVゲージをMAXまで溜めない限り当身は使えない。一応バルログのVT2は当身以外の技を1回だけ撃つことができるんだけれども、それも1回出したら終わりだしガードされたらもちろん反撃確定。でも弱いとはいえ新しいトリガーで新鮮味があるから今は楽しく使ってるよ笑 Vトリガーについては大体こんなところかな。 Vトリガーが弱いという話をしたけれど、そもそもバルログはVシステムが全部弱いんだ。 Vスキルはseason1で最も弱いVスキルの１つと言われていたのにseason2でまさかの弱体化という調整をされてしまったんだ。 せめて攻撃が発生するまで弾無敵と上半身無敵が続くようにして相打ちくらいさせて欲しいな。

ガードされたら13Fも隙を晒す技なんだからそれくらい許して欲しい。 Vリバーサルは画面端に追い詰められた時に何の役にも立たないのが厳しいね。

スト5は画面端の攻めがとても強いからなんとか切り替えしたいんだけれど、バルログには無敵技がないのにVリバーサルに頼ることもできないから地獄だね笑 魔人T: 今日はスト５のバルログについて聞かせてくれてありがとうございます。 バルログ使いの悲しさがちょっと分かった気がするなw

魔人Tと冷血のバルログについての会話［纏めた版］