Im just curious how often this happens to people im not talking about slowly improving at a game everyone does that overtime, im talking about the times you are really struggling one moment then something clicks inside (I imagine it like a metaphorical ding sound for a level up) and the next thing you know not only can you play the game but you can play it to a much much higher level than you were before (maybe even a few minutes ago).
Im not sure what causes this maybe its just crashing against an invisible wall enough times until it breaks and you surge onwards quite a distance to the next wall.
What specifically brought this to mind was me playing Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition last night now I have never really fully embraced SF4s new systems much and really just played it as if I would SF2 (but with ultras and EX moves) and although I had quite a bit of success doing this with characters I have been playing since SF2 namely Blanka (main) and Ryu (sub) (70% win record after 200 matches which was when I stopped) I have always found it hard to adapt to new characters effectively.
The character I have been dabbling with for a while is Makoto for the simple reason she does karate and so do I (different style but thats not important) and so I recognise some of her moves in what I practice (in its own exaggerated way) which is fun. However the problem is as anyone who has played her in SSF4 and or AE will tell you she doesnt play like the old vanguard characters i.e the ones I am used to seriously the first time I pressed down and heavy sweep and she did an anti air kick it totally threw me.
As for her specials well I thought yeah dash punch (not using proper terminology here btw) thats cool so I try and lo and behold the comp blocks and hammers me her dragon punch variation seemed useless (only hits person in air not next to you what use is that) her chop move didnt seem that handy either and dont get me started on her axe kick and command grab. In short I would try and use her as I would Blanka and Ryu and be absolutely destroyed everytime and as such I gave up.
Now lately I have for some reason been watching a lot of SF4 matches between top ranked players i.e Daigo,Poongkyo,Haitani,Shiro,Uryo etc and thats what got me to go out and buy SSF4AE and give it another go (also I recently bought a fightstick as I play a lot of fighting games...badly) so I go back in and try Makoto again annnnnd same old problem but after struggling for about an hour something just clicked and I actually got the hand of buffering and linking her moves which completely changed everything it might not sound a big deal but it makes a huge difference with her game she can actually pressurise opponents now and dish out the damage. After I managed to geta few simple links down and improved my buffering game I tried the arcade mode and damn what a difference. Admittedly I am only playing on easy but before the computer would still kick my ass when I tried her after a few matches (especially Fei Long and Seth) but now I can absolutely destroy them to the point where it wasnt even a challenge hell I even toyed with Seth so I could finish him with a chain linked ultra (I call it payback goddamn Seth I hate you so much).
My game still needs a lot of work of course but its a a great feeling to finally just get something and be able to think yeah now this is more like it. This isnt the first time it has happened either but just one of the more memorable and happier times as I was having so much trouble before and never making any progress.
Other games I remember this happening to me were Gitaroo Man on PS2 the first three songs were really really difficult for me in fact I actually put it away because I could not do the third song then a few weeks later I thought I would give it a go and it all seemed clearer and not only did I complete the third song but went onto finish the entire game without failing once or even breaking a sweat.
The other one of note was also a rhythm action game this time on the PSP K-on! Hougako teatime
(japanese import) its different to Gitaroo man imagine an updated parappa that is actually responsive for rough idea, anyway same thing I am struggling to even finish some songs and when I did my rating was terrible but I thought ah well lets try hard for a laugh so I switched the difficulty and it all came together I absolutely blasted it getting A ranked on almost all songs with my one character then later S rank on all hard with everybody and am still improving my scores it was like suddenly everything makes sense I can actually see whats going on in those fast tricky sequences actually I always crank up the difficulty even more with the special item you get when you perfect a song on hard just so it offers a challenge.
Ok this post has been longer than I anticipated so I apologise for that but I am sure many have had similar experiences so feel free to share.
Im not sure what causes this maybe its just crashing against an invisible wall enough times until it breaks and you surge onwards quite a distance to the next wall.
What specifically brought this to mind was me playing Street Fighter 4 Arcade Edition last night now I have never really fully embraced SF4s new systems much and really just played it as if I would SF2 (but with ultras and EX moves) and although I had quite a bit of success doing this with characters I have been playing since SF2 namely Blanka (main) and Ryu (sub) (70% win record after 200 matches which was when I stopped) I have always found it hard to adapt to new characters effectively.
The character I have been dabbling with for a while is Makoto for the simple reason she does karate and so do I (different style but thats not important) and so I recognise some of her moves in what I practice (in its own exaggerated way) which is fun. However the problem is as anyone who has played her in SSF4 and or AE will tell you she doesnt play like the old vanguard characters i.e the ones I am used to seriously the first time I pressed down and heavy sweep and she did an anti air kick it totally threw me.
As for her specials well I thought yeah dash punch (not using proper terminology here btw) thats cool so I try and lo and behold the comp blocks and hammers me her dragon punch variation seemed useless (only hits person in air not next to you what use is that) her chop move didnt seem that handy either and dont get me started on her axe kick and command grab. In short I would try and use her as I would Blanka and Ryu and be absolutely destroyed everytime and as such I gave up.
Now lately I have for some reason been watching a lot of SF4 matches between top ranked players i.e Daigo,Poongkyo,Haitani,Shiro,Uryo etc and thats what got me to go out and buy SSF4AE and give it another go (also I recently bought a fightstick as I play a lot of fighting games...badly) so I go back in and try Makoto again annnnnd same old problem but after struggling for about an hour something just clicked and I actually got the hand of buffering and linking her moves which completely changed everything it might not sound a big deal but it makes a huge difference with her game she can actually pressurise opponents now and dish out the damage. After I managed to geta few simple links down and improved my buffering game I tried the arcade mode and damn what a difference. Admittedly I am only playing on easy but before the computer would still kick my ass when I tried her after a few matches (especially Fei Long and Seth) but now I can absolutely destroy them to the point where it wasnt even a challenge hell I even toyed with Seth so I could finish him with a chain linked ultra (I call it payback goddamn Seth I hate you so much).
My game still needs a lot of work of course but its a a great feeling to finally just get something and be able to think yeah now this is more like it. This isnt the first time it has happened either but just one of the more memorable and happier times as I was having so much trouble before and never making any progress.
Other games I remember this happening to me were Gitaroo Man on PS2 the first three songs were really really difficult for me in fact I actually put it away because I could not do the third song then a few weeks later I thought I would give it a go and it all seemed clearer and not only did I complete the third song but went onto finish the entire game without failing once or even breaking a sweat.
The other one of note was also a rhythm action game this time on the PSP K-on! Hougako teatime
(japanese import) its different to Gitaroo man imagine an updated parappa that is actually responsive for rough idea, anyway same thing I am struggling to even finish some songs and when I did my rating was terrible but I thought ah well lets try hard for a laugh so I switched the difficulty and it all came together I absolutely blasted it getting A ranked on almost all songs with my one character then later S rank on all hard with everybody and am still improving my scores it was like suddenly everything makes sense I can actually see whats going on in those fast tricky sequences actually I always crank up the difficulty even more with the special item you get when you perfect a song on hard just so it offers a challenge.
Ok this post has been longer than I anticipated so I apologise for that but I am sure many have had similar experiences so feel free to share.
