Practice

[SuperSuperSuperGuy]

I've never had the reflexes or finger strength to play fighting games. However, I enjoy them immensely. I've been playing BlazBlue: Continuum Shift a lot lately, and I've been trying to get better at it, one step at a time. However, the jump between the lowest difficulty, where enemies can be beaten rather easily, and the second lowest, which requires some dexterity with I don't have, is a bit too great. I can't get past a certain tutorial because I'm not dexterous to get the hang of dash cancelling. I like having a sparring partner, especially a beginner (who doesn't button-mash, that's no fun), to practice with when I can, but none of my friends really like fighting games very much. I'm hoping my piano lessons will help with the finger strength issue.

How do YOU like to practice your favourite games? Are there any tips you would give someone like me who isn't dexterous enough to play the games that they want to play which are more specific than just "practice more"? I can't stand it when people give that answer. Practicing is a given. I'm looking for tips on HOW to practice!

I'm not exactly asking for advice, I'm just wondering how you like to practice.

*EDIT* Fixed the misspelling, thanks to everyone who noticed!

 

[emeraldrafael]

Well first, its practiCe with a c. XD sorry.

anyway, I just play the games. you eventually get better through doing.

 

[lacktheknack]

Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

That's how you learn a fighting game. Sorry, but it's true. It's like learning mathematics.

Piano should help as well, but to get better at that, guess how you learn tricky sections? That's right, repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

 

[MrTwo]

Yeah, sorry but when I saw the thread title I just assumed it was a rant on how people misuse the word. And your constant misuse made my brain hurt...
OT: Well, I don't play fighting games much (apart from button mashing with friends), but that sounds just like me with RTS's. I play on easy, smash everything, move up to normal and get rushed. And I agree with emeraldrafael, just play the games a lot, you will eventually get better.

 

[SuperSuperSuperGuy]

Well first, its practiCe with a c. XD sorry.

anyway, I just play the games. you eventually get better through doing.

Yeah, sorry but when I saw the thread title I just assumed it was a rant on how people misuse the word. And your constant misuse made my brain hurt...
OT: Well, I don't play fighting games much (apart from button mashing with friends), but that sounds just like me with RTS's. I play on easy, smash everything, move up to normal and get rushed. And I agree with emeraldrafael, just play the games a lot, you will eventually get better.

Fixed it! Thanks, guys!

 

[thePyro_13]

Their's no trick to get better.

For games you need to learn the mechanics, and then just practice the shit out of it. Hell that probably applies to most things in life.

For me, I just start on one of the harder difficulties. I get toasted, but you force yourself to become better faster, and don't get stuck at the super easy difficulty(since their is such a large gap between your opponent doing practically nothing, and actually doing something, it's easy to get stuck their and not improve).

You won't get better by playing someone you can beat. Find some one better or play a higher difficulty.

 

[Lord Beautiful]

Every time I get a new fighting game, I get on Training Mode and set my CPU opponent to its highest difficulty and keep playing against it until it stops beating my ass. It only takes a few days and it works every time.

 

[Tselis]

I just go to the dungeons/monster places and fight until I've gotten the hang of the controls, proper strategy/tactics, and other things.

 

[Danceofmasks]

Blazblue is a tough one to learn, since there's so much "muscle memory" combos.

If you're trying to pick up fundamentals, I'd recommend street fighter.
You don't really need more than 1 simple combo to do damage with, and you can work on the skills that'll transfer to other fighting games:

Particularly, defence.
Every game you lose starts with getting hurt. Get hit less, and you're half way there.

Once you're half decent at defending, you'll start to notice stuff like "when he does this move he's in the air for ages and I can do whatever I want."
That's when you start figuring out basic frame data, so when he's busy recovering hit 'em as hard as you can.

If you then find that you're barely losing though you've exploited several openings, that's the time to learn how to deal 50% damage when you're offered the chance.