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FIRE PRO WRESTLING RETURNS: WRESTLER EDIT CREATION GUIDE

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for Sony PlayStation 2 (U.S.)
Version 1.5
by Bill Wood (billwood661@ca.rr.com)
Last modified: 1/10/08
Fire Pro Wrestling Returns (c) 2005 Spike (c) 2007 Agetec
NOTE: This guide views and prints best with a monospace typeface.
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
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==VERSION HISTORY==
===================
1.5 - Added a section on parameter assignment.
Added "Fight Styles, Movesets and Affinity Ratings".
Minor additions and corrections.
1.4 - Minor additions and corrections.
1.3 - First update in over two years! Mainly updated for the North
American release, with a few key additions and corrections as well,
including expanded sections on Movesets and CPU Logic.
1.2 - Added "Critical!" ability section. Other corrections and additions.
1.1 - Some typos fixed.
1.0 - Initial release of the guide.
=====================
==TABLE OF CONTENTS==
=====================
SECTION 1:
INTRODUCTION
SECTION 2:
OVERALL POINT TOTAL ASSIGNMENT
SECTION 3:
"CRITICAL!" ABILITIES (And Where They Don't Belong)
SECTION 4:
SPECIAL SKILL ASSIGNMENT
SECTION 5:
PARAMETER ASSIGNMENT
5a...9's and 10's
5b...Overall (Is NOT Overall!)
5c...Entertainment
SECTION 6: MOVESET ASSIGNMENT
6a...Creating a Moveset in Fire Pro
6b...Fight Styles, Movesets and Affinity Ratings
6c...Big Freakin' Move Syndrome
SECTION 7: CPU LOGIC ASSIGNMENT
7a...CPU Logic and Fire Pro
7b...What the Damage Percentages Mean
7c...What Are 'Priority Attacks'?
7d...What is 'Ukemi'?
7e...CPU Logic Tips and Tricks
SECTION 8: CLOSING
===========================
==SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION==
===========================
There's no arguing that Fire Pro Returns' Wrestler Edit Mode is by far the
deepest to be found in a wrestling game. Not only do players have the
ability to edit a wrestler's visual features and moveset, but also more
finite details such as a wrestler's breathing, stamina, and even his or
her ring psychology. But with the seemingly endless amount of options
available to edit makers (and the ability to share these edits via save
transfer devices), there comes a question; is there a "right" way to make
an edit? Are there rules which shouldn't be broken, boundaries which
shouldn't be crossed? And is there any such thing as a bad edit?
The answer is both yes and no. If you're creating edits for your own
personal use and aren't really concerned with balancing out your work in
relationship to the rest of the Fire Pro roster (as well as other edits),
the answer is "no". But if you want to create a more accurate wrestler,
one that can be realistically competitive in a variety of situations, then
the answer is "yes".
Which brings us to the purpose of this guide, which is to provide some
very general guidelines for edit creation. By following some of the more
basic rules, edit creators can create and share edits that instantly seem
at home within the Fire Pro Wrestling universe. So is this guide the "be
all to end all" when it comes to making edits? Absolutely not, there are a
ton of scenarios where your own judgment and preference will come into
play when making edits. This guide is nothing more than a set of
suggestions, and therefore should be regarded as such.
It should be noted that this guide pertains mainly to the creation of
real-life wrestlers in Fire Pro R, although there is also some mention of
superhuman-type characters. And if you're creating a custom character for
one of the many superb Fire Pro e-feds out there, you need to check with
the e-fed administrator for rules regarding your edit.
Before we delve too deeply, it should be stated that this guide assumes
you're familiar with navigating through Fire Pro R's Wrestler Edit Mode.
If not, you should familiarize yourself with the Fire Pro R General FAQ
and Translation Guide, which has full details on this mode.
One final thing; special thanks go out to the people out there who have
gone out of their way to figure a lot of this Fire Pro edit creation
stuff out. In many cases, what you're about to read isn't coming solely
from my own experiences with Fire Pro, but also guys like Lord Vermin,
Spunk, Orochigeese, Dave Fairbairn, and of course, Jason Blackhart. Fire
Pro is an incredibly deep and complex game, especially when it comes to
the edit creation process, and without the aid and advice of the above
individuals, a document like this surely would not exist.
=============================================
==SECTION 2: OVERALL POINT TOTAL ASSIGNMENT==
=============================================
An edit's point totals affect a wide variety of areas; Special Skills,
stamina, breathing, spirit, body endurance, mobility, and individualized
offensive and defensive parameters. As you might guess, skill point
assignment plays a HUGE role in the overall effectiveness of your edit.
Before getting started with an edit, you should ask yourself a few basic
questions; what type of wrestler or fighter am I trying to create? Do I
want to make an edit that fits in nicely with the rest of the FPR roster,
or do I even care about how accurate he is in comparison? Is he supposed
to win every match he's involved in, or should he be competitive at a
certain level? If you want to create a superhero or other character with
above-average abilities (which you CAN do here), then the sky's the limit.
You have a total of 380 skill points to allocate to your edit, and a
fighter of superheroic strength would probably be somewhere in the 320-380
region. Knock yourself out with point assignment.
But if you're creating a more down-to-earth grappler -- say, an indy
wrestler or an established junior -- you'll want to be much more
conservative with your point allocation. Remember, these point totals
should reflect a wrestler or fighter's likelihood of success, not his
actual skill level. For example, even if a Christopher Daniels in miles
ahead of a Great Khali in terms of actual wrestling talent, considering
their respective careers to date, how would things fare if they actually
squared off in the ring? The point here is that booking can (and should)
play a huge role in how many points you assign your edit, if you want to
make him accurate that is.
As another example, let's say you really like C.M. Punk, and you want to
make an edit of him. You consider him to be a super-terrific worker in the
ring, so you assign him lots of skill points, somewhere in the 300 region.
Now look at FPR's Jumbo Tsuruta, one of wrestling's more legendary
figures, and one of Fire Pro's mightiest combatants. His point total is
312, second only to Antonio Inoki. Congratulations, you've instantly
catapulted Mr. Punk to uber-legendary status. =P
Below I've listed a very loose outline for point assignment in Fire Pro
Returns. It is by no means absolute, and is merely intended as a general
guideline to consider when making edits:
000-110 - JOBBER
A wrestler (or manager) who has a very small likelihood of ever
actually winning a match, usually portrayed as a loser. Also,
lesser known figures on the American/Japanese indy circuits may
fall into this category, not because they are "bad wrestlers"
per se, but because they they are lesser known talents lacking
a wide amount of exposure and/or experience.
111-170 - MID-CARDER (also INDY, JUNIOR)
A wrestler with a relatively decent chance of success, depending
on the scenario. Many indy/junior wrestlers fall into this
category, as despite their talents, they would have a small
chance of success against the following groups.
171-250 - MAIN EVENTER
A wrestler who regularly headlines wrestling events, and has
likely held a major title for some period of time. Also, many
legendary juniors (Dynamite Kid, Tiger Mask) may fall into this
category, as their skills are well above those of other juniors,
yet lesser than most heavyweight legends.
251-320 - LEGEND
A wrestler of legendary status. A multi-time title holder, and a
person who has made a significant impact on the sport of pro
wrestling and has been a huge main event draw for an extended
period of time. This wrestler would not lose to most other
wrestlers in most scenarios.
321-380 - SUPERHUMAN
An inhuman fighter with colossal strengths and attributes. This
character has no real weaknesses to capitalize on in a wrestling
match, and is not likely to lose to a professional wrestler
 under any circumstances.
Again, the above outline comes from my personal experience and is merely
an approximation. Your mileage may vary.
==================================================================
==SECTION 3: "CRITICAL!" ABILITIES (AND WHERE THEY DON'T BELONG)==
==================================================================
When recreating real-life pro wrestlers in Fire Pro R, unique "Critical!"
abilities should be assigned very conservatively, if at all. Sure, there a
few wrestlers in the game with special skills in this area (ex: Misawa =
striking; Vader = power), but they are definitely exceptions to the rule.
Why are they exceptions? Because those wrestlers have inadvertently ended
matches with those types of moves (i.e. Misawa flattening Tamon Honda with
a stiff elbow that legitimately knocked him out of a six-man tag match).
So even though Misawa does not have a striking move as his Finisher, he
DOES have the ability in cut a match short with a stiff elbow. On the
average, this is a MUCH different philosophy than the standard American
main event style of wrestling, where the workers are usually protected as
much as possible. Therefore, these wrestlers would not have a unique
"Critical!" style.
Let's use Kurt Angle as another example. Kurt is portrayed as a shooter
type character on TV, a dangerous wrestler who knows his share of
submissions. His finisher, the Angle Lock, is also a submission move. So
should he get the Submission "Critical!" ability? Probably not, because
how many matches has he finished with a submission other than his
finisher? In other words, the default "Finisher" ability should work just
fine for Kurt.
=======================================
==SECTION 4: SPECIAL SKILL ASSIGNMENT==
=======================================
Special Skills are specific traits a wrestler may exhibit in the ring. For
example, not submitting easily, getting a boost early in the match, or
getting fired up at the sight of blood. As you can guess, these skills --
some of which are definitely more potent than others -- can ultimately
affect the outcome of a match.
Much like point assignment, Special Skill assignment (which requires
points and therefore is linked to point totals) should be logically
assigned. Just because TNA's Abyss is touted as a monster, that doesn't
necessarily mean he gets the "Monster" Special Skill. Study the skills as
they are listed in the General Guide; learn what they mean, how they
actually affect a wrestler's ring performance, then go from there.
Many Fire Pro wrestlers have no Special Skill at all, which is perfectly
fine for most pro wrestlers. As a general rule of thumb, when creating WWE
wrestlers, you may want to assign them the "Stardom", "Finish" (upper
midcarder) or "Superstar" (main eventer) Special Skill, as these skills
seem to tie in well with the way they are presented on television.
Below I've listed a few real-life American wrestlers with a few suggested
Special Skill assignments for Fire Pro Returns:
Abyss (TNA)...................Finish, Start Dash
The Sandman (ECW)................Hardcore, Blood
Shawn Michaels (WWE)..........Stardom, Superstar
Undertaker (WWE).........................Monster
===================================
==SECTION 5: PARAMETER ASSIGNMENT==
===================================
From reading various posts and checking out certain edits, it seems there
is some confusion about offensive and defensive parameter assignment in
Fire Pro. Hopefully I can shed a bit of light on the subject.
First off (and this is extremely important to comprehend), offensive and
defensive parameters only pertain to effectiveness when dealing with the
moves that are defined by those specific parameters, they do NOT represent
a generic overall skill rating. For example, Fire Pro's deadly "Big Fire"
attack has a Main and Sub Attack parameter of Rough, so ONLY this
parameter will determine the effectiveness of that particular move.
Having a high Body defense will not protect you.
If you consider your wrestler to be a good striker, giving him high Punch
and Kick stats isn't a bad idea, but you should also know which moves
take advantage of those parameters. In most cases the attack parameters
are common sense (ex. a Punch having "Punch" attack parameters), but in
some cases the results may surprise you. The Main and Sub attack values
are always listed at the bottom of the Edit Moveset screen.
For a comprehensive list moves of Fire Pro Returns as well as their Main
and Sub Attack parameters, I'll refer to you Jason Blackhart's excellent
move data list:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/ps2/file/927675/41246
------------
9's AND 10's
------------
9 and 10 ratings should be placed VERY sparingly on most edits. Even Jumbo
Tsuruta (notice you're hearing his name mentioned quite frequently in this
guide) has only two 10's in offense and two in defense. Sting -- an icon
in American wrestling and multi-time World Champion -- has nothing higher
than an 8 in any category except Entertainment defense (which will be
covered in further detail shortly). Think of it this way; a 10 rating in
Fire Pro represents the absolute pinnacle of perfection in that category,
so unless you consider your character to be flawless in a certain area,
hold off on assigning those 10's.
-------------------------
OVERALL (IS NOT OVERALL!)
-------------------------
The "Overall" parameter has been mistranslated in the North American
version of Fire Pro Returns, and has absolutely nothing to do with your
wrestler's overall wrestling ability. These parameters should read as
"Ground", or more specifically, "MMA Overall", as they only pertain to
moves that fall into the MMA classification. If your character is not a
good shooter or has no MMA experience, the Overall stat should be low
in both offense and defense.
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ENTERTAINMENT
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Entertainment does NOT dictate how entertaining your wrestler is! Instead
it dictates his offensive and defensive effectiveness when dealing with a
handful of moves in the game (I believe seven total), most of which you'll
never see unless you're playing as Danshoku Dino (in fact, it seems the
Entertainment category was created specifically for him). For most modern
professional wrestlers, Entertainment offense should be quite low and
defense quite high, at least a 7. For MMAs and old-school pro wrestlers
(Lou Thesz), both stats should be low, not because they are necessarily
vulnerable to these moves, but because it provides a sort of balancing
system for the characters that do have them. (Most wrestlers that focus
on Entertainment are extremely weak in other areas.)
=================================
==SECTION 6: MOVESET ASSIGNMENT==
=================================
------------------------------
CREATING A MOVESET IN FIRE PRO
------------------------------
Of course, a moveset is a set of attacks that define a wrestler's arsenal.
Fire Pro Returns allows you to assign a wide array of moves for a variety
of in-ring scenarios, as well as four Special moves and a Finisher. When
it comes to grapples, you start with your more basic (weaker) grapple
moves ([] button) and work your way up to your signature (strongest)
grapples (O button).
Movesets are perhaps the easiest part of edit creation; you know which
moves a wrestler has in his or her real-life arsenal, you assign them in
the game... it's that simple. But one major mistake in moveset creation
is to assign moves which look cool, or moves that one feels a real-life
wrestler SHOULD be able to perform. A unique move here or there is fine
(and in many cases, necessary to fill a moveset), but too many of these
will definitely lessen the realism of your edit.
Let's use Poison Sawada JULIE's "Spell" as an example. You know, the move
where he points his fingers at the opponent and you hear the snake rattle?
Cool move, right? But it is JULIE's signature move and his alone, you
wouldn't see a WWE worker using this in a million years (watch, now that I
say that someone will start using it on TV =P). In other words, this is
NOT a good move for your Carlito edit. On the other hand, if you're
creating a fantasy edit, the only limit to moveset assignment is your own
imagination.
And although it is not an absolute rule, there are several moves that
nearly every FPR wrestler has in common at certain places in their
moveset. For example, nearly every pro wrestler's "Up + []" grapple move
is a Body Slam (High Angle Body Slam for bigger wrestlers); nearly every
pro wrestler's "Up + X" grapple move is a Brainbuster of some sort. Does
this mean you have to keep these types of moves assigned to these
commands? Not at all, but if most Fire Pro wrestlers have a Body Slam or
Brainbuster in their arsenal in these locations, it might be a good idea
to keep your edits consistent with the default wrestlers.
-------------------------------------------
FIGHT STYLES, MOVESETS AND AFFINITY RATINGS
-------------------------------------------
If you've ever worked with moveset editing in Fire Pro, I'm sure you've
noticed those letter ratings that go along with each individual move.
Those are "affinity ratings", and basically represent how compatible a
certain move is with your wrestler. An "A" represents a high affinity
rating, while an "E" is the lowest rating. Compatibility is measured in
breath consumption; the lower the affinity rating, the more difficult it
is for the wrestler to perform the move, therefore the more effort that
is required to attempt it.
While all of this might lead you to believe that affinity should play an
important role in choosing a moveset, it really shouldn't. First off, if
your Fight and Return skills are set properly, a lot of the affinities
will more than likely fall into place anyway. Secondly, moveset
authenticity should ALWAYS come before affinity. For example, Vader's a
purely power-based wrestler in Fire Pro (Power Fight and Return skills),
yet he has a moonsault, a move which is anything but a power move. But
the fact is that Vader's actually performed the move in real life,
therefore he has it in Fire Pro, no matter what the affinity rating.
--------------------------
BIG FREAKIN' MOVE SYNDROME
--------------------------
One more thing to keep in mind when it comes to movesets in Fire Pro; it
has been suggested by several longtime vets (I'm pretty sure Spunk was
the first) to avoid what is commonly referred to as "Big Freakin' Move
Syndrome." B.F.M.S. (I'm not typing that out again!) usually consists of
stacking your wrestler's Strong Grapple set with absurdly powerful and/or
unique moves. For example, if your wrestler's Strong Grapple set looks
something like this...
Grapple (O)..............................Muscle Buster
Grapple (O) + Up......................Emerald Flowsion
Grapple (O) + Left/Right..............Tiger Driver '91
Grapple (O) + Down................Tombstone Piledriver
Grapple ([]) + (X)....................Triple Powerbomb
...you may want to consider subbing a couple of those moves for a standard
DDT or a powerbomb. Sure they're great and impressive moves, but there are
very few wrestlers that would use ALL of those moves ALL of the time, or
even during the course of a single match. If you stick to one or two
really sweet grapple moves in your strong grapple set, it will make those
moves that much more special when your wrestler pulls them off. Again,
this is only applies toward making a well-balanced and somewhat realistic
edit. If you're into making over-the-top grapplers with tons of eye
popping moves, it's your prerogative.
===================================
==SECTION 7: CPU LOGIC ASSIGNMENT==
===================================
----------------------
CPU LOGIC AND FIRE PRO
----------------------
What more can be said about logic? It's still the defining feature of the
Fire Pro series, and a feature that hasn't been touched with a ten-foot
pole by any American wrestling game producer as of this writing. But Fire
Pro logic has also taken something of a bum rap over the years; it's too
tough to learn, it's too time intensive, it's not worth the effort, etc.
To which I say "nonsense". After all, this is Fire Pro we're talking here,
so why not take a bit of time to understand what really sets this series
apart from its peers?
But why not just stick with FPR's default logic? Is it really that bad?
More or less, yeah, it is. One of the worst things about default CPU Logic
is that many of the key behavioral settings are 50/50, which is direct
contrast to the logic of the default wrestlers themselves. For this reason
alone, you may want to make logic assignment a priority for your edit.
With a small bit of studying (yes, I know, a horrible word to use in the
context of videogaming, but nonetheless), you will be rewarded with an
edit that not only looks and moves just the way you want him to, but also
BEHAVES the way you want to. No other wrestling game can boast this.
Fire Pro wrestler logic can basically be divided into two distinct
categories (please note that specific logic parameters are outlined in
the FPR General Guide):
MOVESET LOGIC - Determines which moves a wrestler will attempt at
certain points in the match. For example, how often a wrestler decides
to attempt his "big" moves depending on his opponent's health status.
Tweaking these parameters can ultimately make your edit more reckless
or conservative in the ring, depending on the settings.
BEHAVIORIAL LOGIC - Determines the wrestler's general characteristics
and tendencies inside the ring. For example, does he try to entertain
the audience, or does he only care about winning? If he has a tag
partner, is he cooperative? Tweaking these parameters will greatly
affect your edit's overall in-ring psychology.
As you can imagine, all of this makes a tremendous difference in how your
edit will be handled by the CPU when not controlled by a human player.
Yes, it does take time to get things tweaked just how you like them. You
may find yourself simming a match with your edit, going back into Edit
Mode to make adjustments, then going back to simming again. But in the
end, you'll end up with the best edit possible this way.
--------------------------------
WHAT THE DAMAGE PERCENTAGES MEAN
--------------------------------
When you first enter the CPU Logic setup menu, you'll see a list of your
wrestler's moves, along with editable fields for things such as Small
Damage and Large Damage. The damage fields represent your OPPONENT'S
damage, while the percentages represent the likelihood of your wrestler
attempting certain moves in his moveset while the opponent is in that
damage range.
Of course there are no onscreen damage indicators in Fire Pro, so a bit of
trial and error will undoubtedly come into play in order to get these
percentages nailed down. This is where simming comes in handy (letting
the CPU control your wrestler in a match). By switching back and forth
between logic tweaking and match simming, you will naturally learn what
type of logic works best for your edit, and by association learn how to
properly edit CPU Logic in Fire Pro.
----------------------------
WHAT ARE 'PRIORITY ATTACKS'?
----------------------------
Priority is an all-new option to Fire Pro CPU Logic, and it basically
denotes two moves a wrestler may attempt in sequence. The first move is
usually a grapple move and the second is an "opponent down" move, such as
a pin. This way you can ensure that your Triple H edit will always go for
the pin attempt after nailing The Pedigree. You can also use this feature
to force a character to perform a submission after a certain move, since
any type of ground move can be used as a followup.
----------------
WHAT IS 'UKEMI'?
----------------
Using Ukemi basically means disabling your character's ability to counter
his opponent's moves during a match. Note that Ukemi does NOT disable
your character's ability to win a grapple in any way, only his ability to
auto-counter in the instance that the opponent wins the grapple. A perfect
example of this would be the opponent going for a Strong Grapple too
early in a match, which almost always results in an auto-counter. If Ukemi
is used, the auto-counter does not happen.
At first glance, using Ukemi seem like a nonsensical thing to do. After
all, why would you want to intentionally inhibit your wrestler? The reason
is that there is actually a very distinct benefit to using Ukemi. Because
while your wrestler does take health damage from being on the receiving
end of his opponent's move(s), he may also receive a healthy boost of
spirit once his spirit meter is depleted! So in effect, using Ukemi wisely
could produce a sort of "hulking up" effect, where your wrestler takes a
certain amount of punishment, then receives a huge spirit boost late in
the match in order to make his big comeback.
-------------------------
CPU LOGIC TIPS AND TRICKS
-------------------------
If the task of assigning CPU Logic to your wrestler just seems like too
big a hassle, there are ways to make it easier on yourself:
A) FOCUS SOLELY ON BEHAVIOR: Once familiar with the menus, it literally
takes less than a minute to fully adjust a wrestler's four main behavior
patterns; Personal Traits, Discretion, Flexibility and Cooperation. Other
behavior patterns such as frequency of weapon usage and tag touchwork can
also be adjusted with a minimum amount of input.
B) COPY LOGIC FROM A DEFAULT WRESTLER: Let's say you want to make ECW's
Sandman, but you don't want to go through all of the rigamorale of CPU
Logic adjustment. You can always start by making a new wrestler using Sabu
as a template, this way you will be using Sabu's logic instead of default
logic. Is it a perfect solution? Maybe not, but it's certainly better than
Fire Pro's 50/50 logic.
======================
==SECTION 8: CLOSING==
======================
In closing, I would like to remind all of the novice Fire Pro Returns edit
creators out there that all of the above suggestions are exactly that...
suggestions, nothing more. This guide isn't meant to "set the record
straight" or become your new bible when it comes to creating wrestlers,
it's only a compilation of advice based on experience and research. Take
this as what you will.
Most importantly, remember that this is supposed to be FUN. As long as
you're happy with your results, that's what is most important. Pleasing
others comes second. ^_^
Are you a Fire Pro edit guru with a different opinion? Then by all means,
contact me and add your input. It is always appreciated, and hopefully it
will make sharing edits a better experience for everyone involved.
I would like to thank Jason Blackhart, Dave Fairbairn, Spunk and Lord
Vermin for sharing their Fire Pro knowledge with the rest of us. I would
also like to thank anyone who has ever contributed a template or edit pack
to the community of Fire Pro players. Know that your contributions have
made Fire Pro a better experience for myself and many others!
I would also recommend a visit to Lord Vermin's site for tons of in-depth
info on Fire Pro edit creation. I can tell you I've learned a lot from it:
http://www.sickosonparade.com/fpinfo/
Fire Pro Wrestling Returns: Wrestler Edit Creation Guide
(c)2008 Bill Wood