Tips for Fighting Games

[Ihateregistering1]

Someone has pretty much already touched on most of the advice, but to re-iterate:

-Don't be afraid to lose.

-Practice practice practice. You should get to the point where you just execute a combo without really thinking about it. So basically you need to practice to the point where muscle memory kicks in.

-Your 'favorite' character isn't necessarily your best character, so you may have to suck it up and use someone else if you really want to be competitive. For example, my favorite character in "Injustice" was Solomun Grundy since, well, he's a giant immortal super-strong Zombie, and that's awesome. Unfortunately, I'm awful with grappling characters, so while he was certainly my favorite character, he definitely wasn't my best character.

 

[hazabaza1]

Give up and softly cry into your pillow, letting the fabric absorb the nutrients as you come to terms with the futility of life.

Or just practice a lot. Once you learn most if not all of the moves with a single character you're qualified to go online and maybe win a few matches, if matchmaking is decent. It worked for me with P4A.

 

[Username Redacted]

The best tip that I can give: get good as Ken, he's the best character. =P

Seriously though, I've seen some people suggesting trying out Marvel vs Capcom...I'd recommend against it. It's not exactly forgiving towards people who aren't experienced with fighting games. There's a LOT to learn about it to get even decent at the game. Personally I'd suggest Dead or Alive, and no...not for the reason you're thinking. Personally I enjoy the fight mechanics in the DoA series more than anything else due to it's simplicity (I've never been huge into the fighting genre myself). Hit beats Throw, Throw beats Counter, Counter beats Hit. That's pretty much all you have to know. Now each character has their own combos and special moves and such, but in general every attack boils down to either a hit, a throw, or a counter.

Agree on, if the person is looking to get into 3-D games, DoA being a decent entry into that as, and I don't mean this as an insult, it really is baby's first 3-D fighting game as it's basically a greatly simplified/stripped down Virtua Fighter. It also enjoys at least decent tournament support. Not as much (for some reason) as Tekken Tag Tournament 2 but definitely more than Virtua Fighter 5. That said 2-D and 3-D fighting games are very different beasts in terms of how they play and the skillset they emphasize.

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Regarding arcade sticks I would recommend the Qanba/Eightarc sticks as they are PS3/360/PC compatible and don't cost much more than single console sticks (due to China giving exactly zero fucks about licensing issues).

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Regarding Persona 4: Arena and similar games. If you're looking for a fast paced air-dash type fighter I might suggest holding off on P4A as 1) it's getting an update/new version soon and 2) Guilty Gear Xrd is coming out soon too.

 

[Maximum Bert]

DoA being a decent entry into that as, and I don't mean this as an insult, it really is baby's first 3-D fighting game as it's basically a greatly simplified/stripped down Virtua Fighter. It also enjoys at least decent tournament support. Not as much (for some reason) as Tekken Tag Tournament 2 but definitely more than Virtua Fighter 5. That said 2-D and 3-D fighting games are very different beasts in terms of how they play and the skillset they emphasize.

I agree with DOA being a good starting point for 3D fighters just like SF4 being good for 2D fighters both are very accessible but also deep enough to actually make it worthwhile to invest time into and improve if thats what you wanted. I wouldnt call it babys first fighting game (that sounds patronising and derogatory even if you dont mean it like that)it may not be as complex as Virtua Fighter however it has a system that works well and is easy to get your head around but difficult to master. You are more likely to score a victory against a better opponent in DOA and SF than you are in VF and KOF but it dosent mean KOF or VF is better or worse than SF or DOA although of course everyone has their opinions and favourites myself included.

One things I forgot to mention that happens to most new players and turns many away is that they go from mashing to learning a few moves or even a combo or two then feeling good about themselves they fight someone a beginner say who knows nothing and they lose because they get it in their head they are going to do X move or Y combo basically they are trying to force the situation dont do that you have to flow with the match if you can do that you will get better if you cant you will likely get frustrated and think its broken or what you learnt is useless because its beaten by people doing random stuff when really you are just not applying what you learnt effectively.

An easy example is dont try mindgames on people who dont understand what you are doing its like trying to bluff in poker against someone who dosent know the game they are just going to do what they are going to do they dont care about your bluff because they didnt realise you were doing it. Just let them do what they are going to do then hit them. For SF you will often see mashed DPs on wakeup by beginners and in DOA you will often see players get up with middle kick both are easy to punish if you see the patterns.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Hey there, I'm your guy for all things arcsys related. Blazblue is my main fighter, here's me playing my main (Bang) so that you know you can trust what you hear :



Ok so, like you I started with sf4 back in 2008 but then BBCT came out and stole my heart. The story is so good that it makes you care about the chars and that char love is great motivation for improving. I've mained Bang in all BBs ever since! My advice would be to find a char that you NEVER get tired of using cause you'll have to use them a lot. I'm not exaggerating when I say I must have used him over 20.000 times over the years and he's still fun.


After that, learn EVERYTHING. Nothing you know is ever gonna hurt you. The more you know the better. Use youtube and google searches. Use wikis. Go to dustloop.com. Do all that and slowly you'll improve.

First, forget about combos and learn your character (I only play one or two characters in any fighting game, Mu-12 represent) combos mean nothing if you don't know how to get in and hit the guy first.

What is your character's range? Does she have any projectiles? Invincibility frames to exploit? How good are her normals? What is horribly unsafe? What can you cancel? For example you cancel Mu-12's insanely unsafe forward heavy into gun placement if it hits while blocking but straight whiffs you can't. Just press buttons/mash your dash while doing her moves you'll figure it out

Yes 99% of my characters end up being female, how could you tell? Male characters are so boring for some reason... Aside from our lord and saviour Hazama of course.



[sub][sub] Hi, i'm Ragna! I'm a very unique main anime character with a sword! This is my brother Jin who is also a main anime character with a sword![/sub][/sub]

Learn to input your supers perfectly since they're going to be important. Especially if you have a multi stage super like BlazBlue's Makoto. You can freaking drop Particle Flare after you've already hit it and the damage disappears...

Oh and you might want to pick up the newest addition(s) to BlazBlue. Either BlazBlue Continuum Shift: Extend or Chrono Phantasma which is the very newest one (PS3 only though otherwise I would already be playing it T_T)

The online will end up being dead by the time I get it, I can feel it. At least PS3s are relatively cheap after the PS4 release I suppose.

I have a question about the Blazblue franchise. I'm playing Calamity Trigger, and I like the mechanics, but do the sequels use the same story structure? These conditions for unlocking all the different endings are starting to annoy me. It doesn't even seem like a challenge, since the story mode fights are so easy.

CSEX has individual routes per character along with a recap of Calamity Trigger to start with. You get dialogue paths towards the neutral, bad and comedy endings (seriously, the comedy endings are funny) I never got far with CT either, you need a flowchart to get to the true ending. I've heard you need to lose some on purpose, win with a Distortion and other obscure stuff.

I believe Chrono Phantasma is more linear? At least it's not as sprawling as CSEX because the Continuum Shift has ended by that point so time has stablised or whatever. Nobody said BB's story mechanics were simple. Can you beat the challenge to make sense of where Hazama makes a speech towards the end of everyone's routes and smashes all the plot words together at once? So I stuck the Azure into her Murokumo Unit until she acquires her Kisaragifrom the Cauldron.



I'm still dismayed that Mu-12 never had a route to herself. So what if she's the final boss? She needs more love.

You're thinking of Kusanagi. Kisaragi is Jin's adoptive family name.

 

[The Wykydtron]

Hey there, I'm your guy for all things arcsys related. Blazblue is my main fighter, here's me playing my main (Bang) so that you know you can trust what you hear :



Ok so, like you I started with sf4 back in 2008 but then BBCT came out and stole my heart. The story is so good that it makes you care about the chars and that char love is great motivation for improving. I've mained Bang in all BBs ever since! My advice would be to find a char that you NEVER get tired of using cause you'll have to use them a lot. I'm not exaggerating when I say I must have used him over 20.000 times over the years and he's still fun.


After that, learn EVERYTHING. Nothing you know is ever gonna hurt you. The more you know the better. Use youtube and google searches. Use wikis. Go to dustloop.com. Do all that and slowly you'll improve.

I'm still dismayed that Mu-12 never had a route to herself. So what if she's the final boss? She needs more love.

You're thinking of Kusanagi. Kisaragi is Jin's adoptive family name.

FUCK! How could I get that wrong, Mu is my main gal and everything! I feel like I should rerun some of the story mode tomorrow to refresh myself of the story before I bite the bullet and buy a PS3 for CP. Noel was a plot informative one I think, she's closest to Mu aside from Lambda anyway. It's not like I have to play Arakune or Tager...

Funny how I originally dismissed Mu as a copy of Lambda just with guns replacing swords. I suppose I found her unrelenting hatred of everything and anything including her own existence somehow alluring to me. I like the more unique seeming characters, see also Makoto or even Shadow Labrys in Persona 4 Arena. A permanent partner that isn't ridiculously technical to control (Carl pls, Y U so hard? Nirvana why are you on the other side of the screen?! God you're so useless!) now that's interesting. It's nice to have something to blame when things don't work out so well. Not to mention that Shabrys has some cool animations, one of her win screens is her laughing uncontrollably while Asterius rips the stage to pieces. If I wasn't already set to main her on launch anyway that would have made me pick her up on its own.

"Asterius! Don't you break on me now, I have to cheese him with ridiculous Shabrys mixups and-WHAT THE FUCK THERE'S NO ARMOUR ON THAT MOVE?! Move into the classic random Titanomachina > three random moves > full button mash rushdown strat instead, that never fails."

Oh and never try to play both Shabrys and Labrys at around the same time. Their cancels and how quick some of their moves are change completely and all Labrys combos rely on Ariadne for decent damage (unless you have stacks on your axe that is, then one super takes half their health) so you learn almost completely new combos for each.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Mu is basically Noel with control over her powers in CP. She even shily exclaims to Ragna not to oogle her in their intro. Oh and she has a new astral animation which is sweet.