Hiya!

So, Ingrid was just let loose in Street Fighter 6 around a week ago. I have been playing the goddess/alien/code holder for quite a bit now and I do think I’ve gotten the hang of her. I will be giving my thoughts on Ingrid shortly. Before I do, however, Capcom released a whole bunch of other stuff when they did make her playable in Street Fighter 6. They gave us the Outfit 3 costumes for the Season 3 characters, which I kind of did a review of already. They also gave each character a new fit with the DriveTech sport outfits, which I assume are going to be used during some Capcom events like the Street Fighter League team matches.

However, Capcom also added 2 new modes in Street Fighter 6 called Random Avatar Match and Avatar Arcade. In these modes, you get to control your created Avatar and face off either against other created Avatars online or against all of the denizens you meet in Street Fighter 6’s World Tour mode. Additionally, if you go through the Avatar Arcade, you can earn new gear for your Avatar and learn the special moves and Super Arts of the actual Street Fighter 6 roster by leveling up when you fight them.

Now, you may be asking why Capcom put this mode in when you already have World Tour. After all, World Tour is where you go through your Avatar’s story mode, get new gear, meet the Street Fighter characters, learn their special moves and whatnot. Well, that appears this will not be the case anymore, at least starting with Season 4. Capcom recently announced Ingrid will be the last character who will be getting any new World Tour story updates. This means World Tour is pretty much concluded.

As someone who has sunk more than 100 hours into World Tour mode, refining my Avatar into the woman she’s become, I’m kind of sad. World Tour, for me, has been one of the better single player fighting game experiences I’ve had. Yes, I know the complaints about how you’re just controlling a nobody and, ultimately, his story doesn’t affect the Street Fighter universe in any meaningful way. Even so, it’s just fun to go around and interacting with the Street Fighter characters. After all, who wouldn’t want to be given the chance to compliment Chun-Li on her magical, magnificent thighs?

I’m also quite disappointed since we won’t get to interact with the Season 4 characters in World Tour now. My first Street Fighter main was Vega. While I only picked him because he was the only character with charge moves who looked like a girl, and I do love my charge characters, I have grown very attached to Vega. So, I really do hope the rumors are true and he is one of the incoming Season 4 characters for Street Fighter 6. It would be rather bittersweet, though, as I would have loved to be able to have my character talk to him and bask in his beauty. Well, with World Tour ending, that’s not going to happen now, is it?

On the other hand, I actually think the Ingrid patch is a good time to end World Tour updates. Like I said, I have put in more than 100 hours into the game mode. Honestly, I feel a little tapped out. I do still think is fantastic you get to mingle with the official cast and learn their moves. However, the process of bonding with them, such as giving them gifts, doing missions for them, leveling up with their fighting style, does feel a little repetitive. As Street Fighter 6 already has a somewhat massive roster at 30 playable fighters, imagine having to do all of that with one character… and then having to do all of that again 29 more times. Oh, it’s fun for, like, the first 10 times or so. After that, the bit becomes rather old.

Besides, World Tour is generally meant for beginners and I do think it does a good job of tangentially teaching newbies the fundamentals of how to play Street Fighter 6. It eases players into the mechanics and how to execute special moves and the like. The thing is, if you’re a newbie, it’s going to be a little intimidating as you are learning the controls of a new game. Now, imagine if Capcom keeps adding and adding World Tour content. Wouldn’t newbies just jumping into the world of Street Fighter 6 feel overwhelmed will all of this content? As someone who feels compelled to complete everything, I know I would!

I also think Capcom has gotten a bit lazy when it comes to adding the new characters in World Tour mode. Before, they would pop up on the world map as a new character you can talk to. They would pretty much act like any other Street Fighter 6 character you run into in World Tour mode. Things changed, however, starting with Terry as this is when they just used the One Fateful Day gimmick.

When Terry was added to Street Fighter 6’s roster, he didn’t pop up in the World Tour map. Instead, you have to go to your home base and then select the One Fateful Day option. This will load up a totally separate story for Terry where you can only explore certain parts of Metro City. Now, when this came out, I really loved this because it kind of made sense. Terry isn’t a Capcom character. He’s a guest character from SNK. So, having him just mingle with the “regular” Street Fighter characters in Metro City would have felt odd.

The thing is, they kept doing this for the rest of the new DLC characters! Even Capcom stalwarts like Sagat, Elena, C. Viper, Alex and, yes, even Ingrid, were all shuttered to the One Fateful Day section of World Tour. So, now none of the new characters felt like a part of World Tour anymore. They’re more like an afterthought and kept in the One Fateful Day section.

However, the biggest reason why I do think Capcom should stop adding content to World Tour is because, with the Ingrid update, they also finally gave it a satisfying conclusion. I know there are going to be a lot of Street Fighter 6 players who haven’t touched World Tour so let me explain in this huge SPOILER section of World Tour’s story.

In World Tour, your Avatar wants to learn what “true strength” is. So, he joins something like a fight club in Metro City led by Luke. Luke then pairs you up with another new trainee, Bosch. He’s kind of a hot-head and, when Luke mentions it’ll take time to build up to becoming a powerful fighter, Bosch quits as he needs great power right now to help his people. You run across Bosch a few more times as your Avatar explores the world. Eventually, you travel to the country of Nayshall and this is when you learn Bosch is part of a resistance group of the country trying to overthrow JP. He gets infused with Psycho Power and becomes the Cardboard Combatant (long story). You also meet Bosch’s younger sister, Yua, who pleads with you to find him.

Anyway, JP holds a big tournament and Bosch joins and wins it all. This is all part of the resistance group’s plan as they have planted a bomb in the championship belt. The idea is, when JP hands over the belt to the champion, Bosch will trigger the bomb and take out JP. However, JP already knows about this and activates the bomb before he sends Yua to deliver the belt instead. Bosch, wanting to save his sister takes the bomb and tries to toss is but he’s still caught in the explosion. Bosch dies and you face off against JP. However, when you do defeat him, JP gloats, saying it doesn’t matter if he loses as Bosch is still dead. So, the fight was all for nothing.

So, after all of that, World Tour ends on a bad note. As more fighters were added, both in actual World Tour and the One Fateful Day, nothing really changes… that is, until Ingrid came along.

In Ingrid’s World Tour story, you help Ingrid with a problem she’s having with another Ingrid (another long story). As a reward for the assist, Ingrid rewards you with a chance to rewrite history. She then transports you to the many different times you encounter Bosch and, in the end, because you did things differently, Bosch is alive and with Yua. However, the cost is, as you’ve changed the timeline, he doesn’t remember you. Even so, Bosch is back in the land of the living so, yeah. This is a much better ending to World Tour.

At this point, because of the rather happy ending, I don’t think there’s really a whole lot more to add to World Tour. While I will miss exploring both Metro City and Nayshall trying to find Street Fighter characters to talk to, I think Capcom doesn’t really need to add anymore content here. Yeah, it sucks we’re not getting more stuff… but at least we get a satisfying conclusion to it all.

Byee!

Do you think Capcom should still update Street Fighter 6’s World Tour mode? Let me know in the comments section below!