playing the game... :)

[KluddKalle]

It's getting more and more painful to watch all these vids now...

Anyone from Sweden who knows how to get a hold of the game early? I used to have a great contact in a store and played TS3 about a week before release. But unfortunately that contact is gone...

Anyway, why are they so hard on the release dates (not the stores, the publishers)? I mean, if a game is in stock and ready to be sold, whats the harm in selling it early? I've never understood this. Couldn't that be a way to prevent some of the piracy??

[o Sinna o]

Couldn't that be a way to prevent some of the piracy??

For example yes. But seriously if somebody wants a pirated Copy he will get it so or so and if somebody wants to buy the Game he will do it so or so. If a few Days earlier or later plays not a big Role.

[djarvik]

I think you Guys are wrong and underestimate the Balance. Djarvik you had the Information first Hand from Francois Giuntini.

I only played with Rafa once but couldn't see that this big Speed is so overpowered that such a Setup would dominate the ITST. To the Contrary I played with Rafa like a Noob and owned the CPU easy as I switched back to Ferderer again.

I'll still believe the Statement from FG and say everything is possible.

I know you Guys already searching for the big Setup but you could get disappointed with the Results and Facts so soon you test your wannabe owerpowered defensive Baseline Creations against Humans.

We'll see.

You have no idea how I wish you were right. Time will tell.

[o Sinna o]

I think you Guys are wrong and underestimate the Balance. Djarvik you had the Information first Hand from Francois Giuntini.

I only played with Rafa once but couldn't see that this big Speed is so overpowered that such a Setup would dominate the ITST. To the Contrary I played with Rafa like a Noob and owned the CPU easy as I switched back to Ferderer again.

I'll still believe the Statement from FG and say everything is possible.

I know you Guys already searching for the big Setup but you could get disappointed with the Results and Facts so soon you test your wannabe owerpowered defensive Baseline Creations against Humans.

We'll see.

You have no idea how I wish you were right. Time will tell.

Yeah and you have no Idea how I fear you are right. *hehe*

No if I think about it realistic I still believe Francois Giuntini's words.

I believe on a strong Balance that every Setup has his Chances but I don't really believe on THE godlike Balance that all Styles created to the extreme are absolutely equal.

But we'll see.

[djarvik]

...I know for me, personally, I will play with the weakest play style. I love the challenge and prove the opposition wrong!

may take me a year thou

[KluddKalle]

Couldn't that be a way to prevent some of the piracy??

For example yes. But seriously if somebody wants a pirated Copy he will get it so or so and if somebody wants to buy the Game he will do it so or so. If a few Days earlier or later plays not a big Role.

Yeah, thats why I wrote some piracy. There are som people that will do it no matter what, but there is alot of people who do it because they're out of patience. For intance, here in Sweden whe sometimes have to wait months and even more than a year for the latest seasons of tv-shows (from USA) to reach us. And with movies it can be everything from weeks and months to some movies never ever showing up.

And I have never understood the release dates of games. USA always get games at least a few days before europe (I'm not being bitter or jealous, I just dont understand it)? What's the reason behind that? Because games like Halo have showed that it workes just as well with a simultaneus world wide release.

[tenjintenkai]

I dont have the answer to this question... we are just doing asumptions based on our impressions with the game, that's all.
As for F. Giuntini i would say that the guy has no clue at all. The only people who will know that for sure will be us at ITST. We are the freaks who will get the most out of the game, better than the guys who worked on it.
When you create a game it doesnt mean that you know everything about it. I don't mean that a game is "alive" but there are lots of factors that are beyond control so in the end it would be VERY surprising if the game is perfectly balanced and all play styles have equivalent potential. That would be nearly impossible. Isn't that obvious?

[DMG100]

Personally once I played the demo, I knew a defensive player would be a good setup. There is little discretion between defensive and offensive play in TS4 unlike in TS3, even though I played someone in TS3 who was an awesome defender, even better than players here.

High groundstrokes and considerable speed and stamina will dominate. Can probably add an "okay" serve with that set up as well.

A Serena-like set up will work also, but I know for sure i don't finish points fast and the awesome topspin shots in this game can really take away from an offensive baseliner. Serena's setup isn't bad, along with the low speed and stamina she has the instant rocket special skill which gives her good reaction to possible wrong-footing or sending her wide (not to mention she can make great angles as well). So those special skills can make a good impact in your player's game.

A defensive player maybe the way to go but I think it's too early to rule out other playing styles, especially all-round.

--so a summary of what's been said, I just had to add my two cents.

[DRII]

I'll show you a Picture of my Copy if I am really luck and get my Copy tomorrow anyway. The Gameshop I called really told me that it's possible they get the Shipment of Top Spin 4 at Monday or at least at Tuesday here in Germany and I really believe that.

Many Gameshops have the Games four to five Days ealier but not all sell them so soon they are in store and that's the Point. You just have to find a Shop which is not so strict with the Releasedates. And by the Way are many Shops often more strict with really big Games like Halo or Fable if they got a special strict Order to not sell the Game earlier.

Yea I'm pretty sure the game store franchises like gameshop in Europe or gamestop here in the states are much more strict with the really big name titles as far as selling them early.

I know for a fact my local gamestop where I did my preorder has the game in stock already but I couldn't get them to sell it to me today, I have to wait till Tuesday. And trust me I can be persuasive, but it didn't work this time.

Those bastards lol !!!

[djarvik]

I dont have the answer to this question... we are just doing asumptions based on our impressions with the game, that's all.
As for F. Giuntini i would say that the guy has no clue at all. The only people who will know that for sure will be us at ITST. We are the freaks who will get the most out of the game, better than the guys who worked on it.
When you create a game it doesnt mean that you know everything about it. I don't mean that a game is "alive" but there are lots of factors that are beyond control so in the end it would be VERY surprising if the game is perfectly balanced and all play styles have equivalent potential. That would be nearly impossible. Isn't that obvious?

I agree with this 100%. We will expose the "winning" setups rather fast and we WILL do it. I don't believe there is a plausible way to make a completely balanced game, I just hope it is somewhat balanced. For example, I would be happy if ITST top 10 looked like this:

1. Defensive Baseliner
2. Offensive Basliner
3. Defensive Basliner
4. SV
5. All around
6. All around
7. Defensive Baseliner
8. Defensive Baseliner
9. Offensive Basliner
10. Defensive Baseliner

Basically, only truly good players will make it to top 10 with any other style besides Defensive Baseliner.

Now, even within a Defensive Basliner + coaches + skills, we can have TONS of variety. We can have DB with accent on Volley, with accent on serve, with one strong one weak side, both similar sides and so on....

.... but the main accent will no longer be with power, rather speed.

I for one - welcome such development. It means more rallies, more fun, and only truly good Power Players will make it - not anyone who automatically maxes out the power stat.

[ANILTJE]

here are two gameplay video (wawrinka/nole, murray/roddick) from a guy i know more or less from a jv.com forum :

http://www.youtube.com/user/bulletofmydrum

I am happy to see Wawrinka beat Djoko.

[Hawkeye Miihawk]

Thank you Tenjin

cue hawkeye in ..3...2...1

I gave up a long time ago . Btw i wasn't trying to change your mind, but rather discuss.

Also, the reason why I've been saying "no style looks powerful right now", is because I have been looking at things from a created character's perspective. After I put up how much points each male pro had, I realized that everyone would pick nadal, and assumed pros would be banned after the Nadal tourn....Warm up Tourny A and B.
Remember the created player with 545 points? The pros all have different points, and Nadal is a special case at 566. If all created players max out at 545, then defensive baseliners would be 21 points less than nadal. Take away 21 points from nadal stats. That's a huge difference.

Even if 1 style ended up being the strongest, as long as the dominance is not the likes of TS3's offensive baseliner, then that'll be fine. You can have a strong style that can be challenged by other styles. Hopefully the created characters are more balanced than the pros.

Right now I want to play with defensive baseliner/all-rounder/king of aces so if one of those styles ends up dominating, then I'll move to the other. I love a challenge. People thought I was crazy for using only custom in the sea of dukes/kings/rafas/roddicks in VT3

[jayl0ve]

Guarantee you I'd beat you with any of the pros that I used in VT3, mainly Monfils and Rafa. I am 100% sure. I don't even need to see you play.

I am not exaggerating when I say that nobody (NOBODY) using a custom character ever beat me in VT3 and I played that game for like 2 years.

I'm not trying to talk trash I'm just saying you must not have ran into any top players

[TomBs]

Can't wait until it's friday, just a long week first, and a really busy period finishing my study

Good reads all though! But I'm not sure if I can read anymore until I've got the game in my hands, just getting painful.

[Hawkeye Miihawk]

Guarantee you I'd beat you with any of the pros that I used in VT3, mainly Monfils and Rafa. I am 100% sure. I don't even need to see you play.

I am not exaggerating when I say that nobody (NOBODY) using a custom character ever beat me in VT3 and I played that game for like 2 years.

I'm not trying to talk trash I'm just saying you must not have ran into any top players

hahaha, I knew if there was one person on here who would respond to that VT3 part it would be you jay .
I did run into a lot of really good players. Won some, lost some. I had a 63.(something)% win rate when I stopped playing, after thousands of games. I was shocked it was that high considering how many good players I ran into and that I was using custom. 99% of my matches were against pros, while the other 1% were against other customs. You had to run into the right custom players. Even then they still had a high chance of losing. Custom players were terribly bad in VT3, but I loved the challenge they presented.
You never know jay. If I had run into you anything could have happened
The only person I remember from on here that I played was TheHoff. He might remember me. Probably not cause it was so long ago.