DjangoReinhardt said:
I think the long-term problem will be that there is simply too much for any player to reasonably learn. Five gems per character with varying effects and conditions for activation is a ton of permutations, particularly when coupled with a tag-team game.
I really don't think of this as a problem. It's like saying we fighting games players have a mental cap that we can't go above in what information we can acquire, process, evaluate, and act on.
I mean, for me personally, I don't think it too much. It's just 5 Gem slots at a time, and a pool of maybe 150 after all said and done? I carry tons of useless information in my head, NBA/NFL scores/player going back 20 years, Simpsons quotes, Transformer names, math equations, capitols of each state.
I really don't think memorizing and applying the affects of even 200 Gems is too much. If anything, it will give the game extra life if there are no overpowered Gems. Things just will take time, that's all.
This appeals to me. But then again, stuff like MagicTG appeals to me. I like the thought of customization before the match.
Maybe the general fighting game player will think it's too much. We shall see when it comes out.
This is testing the waters at it's finest.