How Do You Learn To Play Characters in Fighting Games?

SwOJester

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Jul 9, 2012
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When I get on a new game, I just go with the most evil looking dude from the get go and see if someone else strike my fancy from there. Most of the times, the bad guys are always my best characters anyway, even when I'm not aware they are. >_>

'Sides, they're always the ones with the most style.
 

Lord Beautiful

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Aug 13, 2008
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I go to the game's training mode.

I pick out my character(s) and get used to their movements. Then I spend hours thinking up combos and stuff.

Then when I've done enough combo stuff, I set the computer dummy to its highest difficulty and exit the training mode when I can thoroughly kick its ass.

Assuming the game is new to me. If it's a game I'm already familiar with, I just pick my new character, get used to its movements, piece together a few combos, and jump into gameplay.
 

Sirron Kcuch

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Jan 3, 2012
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Yoshimitsu all the way. No matter the game.
Then, I learn a variety of moves (a 10 hit combo, and some useful moves) and try to mix and match during combat.

Then, my opponent (my friend, usually) just mashes buttons and pwns me.

Yay
 

Razentsu

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Fappy said:
I'm sure there is some kind of common practice among pros that requires a rigorous training regiment, but I am not interested in that. I want to know what the common folk do to learn characters and combos.

I've been playing BlazBlue as my exclusive fighter for a few years now (playing on and off with long gaps in-between) and found that I have a pretty basic system for learning characters. I usually start with tutorial in-case I need a refresher on the basics, then I move on to Story Mode/Arcade mode. Generally I play those to get the basics down for all of the characters and what-not, but I have found that practicing against AI isn't all that useful.

Most good fighters have some kind of challenge mode that teaches you combos which I do with every character I intend to play. I get as far as I can until the combos get too impractical and then I go back and try to do the practical ones a few times more to get them down.

Then the most important part: Practice Mode against another player. I feel like doing practice mode matches (infinite life and what-not) against another human player is probably the most useful thing you can do. Not only do you learn how to fight against certain opponents as select characters, but the infinite life and varied nature of what your opponent is doing allows you to be experimental in a way you normally couldn't. There's nothing cooler about this than figuring out a new combo through experimentation. Bonus benefit: two people are learning to play characters for the price of one. Me and my buddy did a 1 1/2 hour practice match last night and I figured out all kinds of stuff with Noel that I had never know was possible (and I have played her a lot already) as did he with Hakumen.

So I ask you people of the Escapist, how do you learn new characters in your fighters of choice?
I can attest to playing with live players to be the quickest and best way to learn a character. It's important to learn combos and setups in training mode, but it is even more important that you learn how to play your character. You need to learn what strategies are strong for your character, how to use his/her defensive options in the midst of pressure, and you need to learn about the tools you have for creating pressure. It's the quickest way to learn your character's moveset. Plus, you gain some match-up experience.

I learned how to play Yun in AE pretty much off of a couple of hours of playing against my friends.

Though it's recommended for most games to dedicate a few minutes to learning BnBs before doing any fighting.
 

krazykidd

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Mar 22, 2008
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Fappy said:
I'm sure there is some kind of common practice among pros that requires a rigorous training regiment, but I am not interested in that. I want to know what the common folk do to learn characters and combos.

I've been playing BlazBlue as my exclusive fighter for a few years now (playing on and off with long gaps in-between) and found that I have a pretty basic system for learning characters. I usually start with tutorial in-case I need a refresher on the basics, then I move on to Story Mode/Arcade mode. Generally I play those to get the basics down for all of the characters and what-not, but I have found that practicing against AI isn't all that useful.

Most good fighters have some kind of challenge mode that teaches you combos which I do with every character I intend to play. I get as far as I can until the combos get too impractical and then I go back and try to do the practical ones a few times more to get them down.

Then the most important part: Practice Mode against another player. I feel like doing practice mode matches (infinite life and what-not) against another human player is probably the most useful thing you can do. Not only do you learn how to fight against certain opponents as select characters, but the infinite life and varied nature of what your opponent is doing allows you to be experimental in a way you normally couldn't. There's nothing cooler about this than figuring out a new combo through experimentation. Bonus benefit: two people are learning to play characters for the price of one. Me and my buddy did a 1 1/2 hour practice match last night and I figured out all kinds of stuff with Noel that I had never know was possible (and I have played her a lot already) as did he with Hakumen.

So I ask you people of the Escapist, how do you learn new characters in your fighters of choice?
The problem i have with playing against someone in practice mode is that most people would take it less seriously than a real match . Kinda like playing poker without real money vs playing with real money . When there are actual stakes , you play differently when they aren't . Not to say it's impossible , but it's usually the mindset people ( including myself ) have .

As for me .

1:I play through every character once ( really long in UMVC3) in arcade mode while button mashing to get a feel of who i like and want to potentially play as.
2: play through arcade mode again with only the people i like to make sure i still like them .
3:go into training and check out their move sets.
4: chose 2 people whos movesets tickle my fancy
5: go into challenge mode and go through as many as i can
6: practice the most practical combos
7: go online and lose A LOT
8: understand why i am losing and try to improve on that ( usually it's my defense )
9: go back into training mode and figure out what moves i can use in what situation
10: go back online and lose more but by a smaller margin
11:repeat steps 9 and 10 until i get a win/lose ratio of 1
12: try out trickier things
13: find out a way to perfect my opponent
14: sit back and be amazed at my progress

This is the exact process that i used in UMVC3 . And i can now perfect my opponents if they get sloppy and everything goes my way .
 

shadyh8er

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Apr 28, 2010
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My fighter of choice is Tekken.

It took me a long time, but I realized that I prefer characters who can pull off quick pokes to annoy your opponent, and ones with simple button commands (i.e. no quarter circles). I started with Asuka but found her to be a bit too slow. So I switched to Alisa and I'm contemplating taking up Dragunov or Law.

My brother chose Paul because he's a heavy hitter. My brother is spoiled by the amount of damage he takes down that using other characters frustrates him (although he has a pretty mean Miguel).

EDIT: Of course, a couple episodes of Level Up Your Game helps too. Seriously, look them up on Youtube if you want to learn Tekken as they start from the bare basics.
 

dimensional

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Jun 13, 2011
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I dont play fighting games seriously well not at an expert level I mean I do play them properly and not just button mash.

The only three fighting games I got any good at were SF2 Turbo and Soul Calibur 1/2 with SF I just used to play against the computer constantly like ridiculous amounts and when possible other players but I played it so much I became pretty proficient with every character but I could never take it to the next level as it were.

With SC I was lucky enough to have a friend who was pretty damn good at the game and we used to play a lot for ages he would beat me and when he did something that I didnt know how to I would ask him how he did it and he would show me then I would go away and practice eventually we used to teach each other new stuff and techniques and got pretty good, but of course without practice my skills faded pretty badly.

These days I tend to use practice mode a lot more mainly because the last boss in arcade (in most fighting games this gen) is absolute crap and annoying as hell to fight (in SF2 T I used to play arcade constantly). So yeah after getting a feel for the character and learning a few combos I then take it to arcade and try stuff out if it seems to work try online if possible if not go back to the lab and practice some more, I also check youtube vids and various forums to learn about what characters can do and try and incorporate it into my play.

When deciding on my main, move execution rarely factors into my choice its all down to whether I actually like the character as they are portrayed i.e aesthetics in how they look and whether their moves look cool and what their lines/quotes are in game. I find I tend to do a lot better with slow but heavy hitting characters although they are usually not what I end up playing but that just means I end up having to practice more with my chosen character(s) to adapt to the way they need to be played to be effective.

I do wish all fighters had a quest mode like Virtua Fighter 4 and 5 though that was great for learning how to play the game at least to a certain level anyway if you really want to take it to a high level you have to get out there and face good players and lose until you get good enough to win.

Recently I have watched a lot of this guys stuff http://www.youtube.com/user/miles923?feature=results_main

and have found it quite entertaining as well as useful in many ways to compare playstyles and take tips from what I see where applicable plus the assist me series is great fun to watch and helped me break into Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 although I dont practice enough to be any good (damn this lack of time).
 

piinyouri

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I tend to pick a character based on looks, do some playing around and if I like them, I continue using them and my skill level usually rises.
 

JeffBergGold

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1) Determine my abilities as a player. As a fighting game junkie over the years I've learned that I'm not a technician. Since I'm not a technician I stick to characters that have easy commands and rely more on traps and set ups rather than elaborate combos.

2) Determine the characters play style. I like rush down characters like SF2T Rog or high damaging characters like Cody in SF4 or Zangief. So when picking up a new game I find which character fits my preferred archetype and also has good synergy with my play style.

3) Learn Matchups: This is best done with someone who's a veteran in the game and is really good with their character of choice. This way I can learn other characters mechanics, strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies. Once I'm pretty familiar with the match up I can determine the best way to counter or stuff certain characters. This part is the most time consuming since you need to find someone who plays their selected character to the best of their ability

4)Learn "Broken" Mechanics: Some people call it cheap, I don't really believe in cheap in fighting games though. If a character has a move that has a good hitbox, comes out fast, and has good recovery. Use the skill as often as possible. Learning frame traps and little tricks to manipulate the match into your favor. MVC2 is a good example of broken mechanics, infinite combos animation traps etc. Some people said it's cheap but it's part of the game, use it!

5) Learn a back up character or my mains hard counter: This just lets me stay flexible and play even better with my main, learning a hard counter can really give insight into how to optimize play as your main. It also gives insight into that characters weakness.

6) Mind games: Once I've mastered everything else a fighting game becomes more like chess and the objective is not so much to pull off the best combos but to bait the opponent into making mistakes or frustrating them into abandoning their game plan.
 

Ljs1121

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Mar 17, 2011
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I don't learn. I find a move or two that look cool and pretty much spam them with some random button mashing mixed in here or there.

I'm a complete and total n00blet, but I don't play fighting games very often at all so that's my excuse.
 

The_Blue_Rider

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Sep 4, 2009
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In Tekken I just go Ghost Battle and play with one character for a while, trying out different moves and seeing if it feels good. The only problem is I dont really have anyone to play with since none of my friends are into fighters, and Tekken 6 has horrible online play
 

lapan

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Jan 23, 2009
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I only play fighters for fun. At most i look up specials, then i'm learning the rest by doing.