>>54191512>>54191585as somebody who plays competitively, I think this would undermine a lot of what makes pokken interesting and fun and actually make the game have less depth
Firstly, the game, at it's core, IS a traditional 2d fighter: the 2d phase is where most of the match and most of the game's systems take place in, and in that each character has a unique movelist with different command inputs, there's a height system (though it works differently), there are cancels, just-frames, etc.
The shift system at a basic level acts as an anti-infinite system for the 2d phase (since 2d>3d shifts occur when the hidden PSP guage is filled) that also forces a return to neutral, and the 3d phase itself acts as a second layer of neutral on top of the 2d phase's (since any heavy hit will cause a 3d>2d shift) But because different moves on hit will add more or less PSP, it's also a mechanic to discourage flowcharting and add risk-reward, resource management, adding to the mental stack, and adaptational skillgaps: you'd ideally be changing up your combo routes/composition at all times so your combo ends right when the gauges is filled so the combo isn't interrupted by the shift before your ender, for example. So depending on the current PSP guage value when you land your starter, you'd change the resulting combo.
You can also intentionally go for a combo that maybe does less damage or is less safe but builds up less PSP, say if you wanna not cause a shift to keep the other player in pressure in the corner or as a sort of combo reset for more long-term-damage within that 2d phase instance if you can win another interaction; OR a combo that builds up more PSP to shift faster, if you wanna get the meter/health regen causing a shift brings, or say if you got a reversal and want to break back to neutral fast. Some moves/tech can also reduce or reset PSP
