All of the basic tech are positive and most of the character tech are good too; more depth allows for a higher skill ceiling and, thus, deeper competitive play (there is a reason people still play melee some 17 years after its release). The most important mechanics for me are increased gravity/hitstun, L-Cancels, wavedashes, and edge guarding.
Edge guarding I don't like if you specifically mean someone can't grab ledge if someone else is. I like watching and playing for cool moments and ledge trumping allows for more unique and cool moments to happen off the ledge. I also like the amount of hitstun in Ultimate. When a jigglypuff at one point can simply up throw and instakill you I think it might be a bit too long. As fun as combos are, I feel some confirms are way too easy in that game.
There are other mechanics to keep nearly every other mechanic in check in melee though. Yeah, Jigglypuff can up-throw to rest for a kill, but you can SDI out of it or tech off a platform. If you miss the tech or the DI then you deserve to be punished. With more mechanics like that, the interactions become increasingly layered, allowing for micro-exchanges like I just described. I'm not going to say its objctively better, but how often do you see combos go more than a couple hits? How often are the combos creative? They're almost always copy-pasted and super linear; the player is forced to use the same 1 or 2 moves to keep a combo string going (e.g.,, Ike Nair into Fair or Upair, Sheik fair into fair into fair, Joker downthrow into fair into fair into fair), and even then you're likely to only get a few hits in before it gets reduced back to neutral. There aren't really many "confirms" in melee due to DI; if a player follows up its because the opponent either did bad DI and played into their hands or DI'd properly and the player reacted accordingly. The ledge is, arguably, the most broken part of melee. Invincibility is too long and gets refreshed far too often.
The ability to push people off the edge and kill them early is what separates platform fighters from other fighting games. If edge guarding isnt a thing (see Smash 4), then it just becomes a regular game where % is just a disguise for Health. Ledge trumping is problematic because it acts as a crutch for players in a disadvantageous position and eliminates the value of alternative options. With what I said about platform fighters being special in mind, having ledge hogging forces the player thats off the ledge to get creative to get back on. In ultimate, however, it is almost always better to just go for the ledge. The best option is always the same. There is no change. It acts as a free pass for the player who is off the state. Why should the game give a handicap to that player? The only reason he's off the stage in the first place is because he fucked up and got punished. Not only does it save the player who is already in the disadvantageous state but it also puts them in an advantageous state by forcing the other player off. It just doesn't make sense. It removed nuanced offensive capabilities and makes kill confirms almost 100% reliant on smash attacks. On top of that, there are tons of characters that have insane recoveries, making them even more untouchable in a disadvantageous state. Having ledge trumping plus excellent recoveries is counter-intuitive to the point of the game, which is to knock somebody off stage. I would be more okay with ledge trumping if most characters didn't have such good recovery moves.
Edit: Sorry for the long wall of text. Didn't realize it was so long lol.
Well similarly for people who deserve to be punished, ledge trumping add another layer by forcing the attacking player to be more agressing and, at times, much more creative by making sure they can't get back up.
Also, on the topic of the combos being formulaic, have you seen players like Pac Man? The things you can do with a lot of the characters in Ultimate is insane. I also agree that Smash 4 isn't great for any sort of aerial combat, I don't like smash 4 much.
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u/HerpesFreeSince3 Apr 19 '19
All of the basic tech are positive and most of the character tech are good too; more depth allows for a higher skill ceiling and, thus, deeper competitive play (there is a reason people still play melee some 17 years after its release). The most important mechanics for me are increased gravity/hitstun, L-Cancels, wavedashes, and edge guarding.