Free Step Dodge

You just realised that?

In what way? I know they can be cheap but I'm curious what the connection is

I always realized that but the difference in tools compared to others makes it clearer.

Christie hardly has to work to control the match.

She certainly is difficult. Free canceling is more important and she doesn't have a bunch of low trips or string manipulation.

Safety is gunna be an issue with Phase-4. You should be able to teleport even if the move gets blocked as long as you hit the right timing.

I'm surprised they didn't do something like that with her 66K since Kasumi has 66K~K on block. Her 66PP GB, as far as I know the only instance you can teleport without hitting someone.

Yeah, if 66K gets blocked for Phase-4 she's fucked. She doesn't seem to have a whole lot of range on her pokes and she's not as evasive as Kasumi. Phase-4 pretty much needs to hit her opponent to start her offense, whereas Kasumi can get people to open up much better.

To open up opponents with Kasumi might be easier, however, it's surely not cheap. She also has to use free-canceling and is still one of the most unsafe characters in the game, and even if she opens her opponent up, she's not getting damage in the 80's just from stun > launch like Phase-4.

I know what Kasumi is capable of and know that she's a balanced, fair and well-designed character, however after exploring Phase-4 a bit, it puts into perspective how relatively easy quite a bit of characters get off in terms of utilization and management of gameplay. I personally think there should be a few more characters like Phase-4 that force you to way risks more severely on the fly.

*weigh

I always though Kasumi is already one of the characters that were you have to weight risks quite carefully, that's why I was wondering why were referring epecially to her in your status. I'm not sure about Christie, but she feels indeed like she just can PPP out of everything. I haven't seen anything from P4 by myself yet, but I'm sure you are right with your feelings about her.

Tokyo- she needs that damage because it is so hard to launch someone. The damage is your reward for doing it.

We should get a couple matches in with me using her if online cooperates.

Of course she needs that damage.
Kasumi: easier but less reward
Phase-4: harder but more reward
= almost equal from my point of view

Ok, in general, P4 might still be more difficult to play (online) due to the fact that you also need to perform the juggles correctly if you are able to get one

Don't get me wrong, I don't in any way think that Kasumi is a cheap character but it is quite possible to be cheesy with her thanks to her lows and tick-throws. I actually think Kasumi is a well-designed character but can be a little mashy at times. You mash with Phase-4 and you're being punished for it. KKK, PKKK, 1PP, etc. can only get you so far. I'm not even talking about the difficulty of her juggles yet.

The word "cheap" almost made me to think so, but I got you, no worries^^