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The Fighting Game Noob Thread: From Scrub to Master

I wonder if I'm too old to play and enjoy fighters competitively. I'm 25 going onto 26.

You sure age doesn't matter? I mean not to sound defeatist, but if you want to be competitive in a competitive game to the point where you do well in local tournaments, aren't you gonna have to be as good as or even better than some middle schooler who spends all his days playing the same game?
To ease your worries: age isn't as big of an influence as you're thinking. There are numerous renown players or experts held in high regard, that are in their mid-30's or sometimes even in their 40's that still play competitively at the highest level to this day. Daigo, with multiple EVO championships (where thousands participate) under his belt, is nearing 35. Alex Valle is 37 and still puts forth some amazing matches against the cream of the crop. Sako, who IIRC is even older than these two, is famous for his impeccable execution to the point he even has strict combos named after him. Gamerbee's fighting game career blew up at the age of 30+ because of this match and ultimately placed 5th when virtually no one knew of the guy prior. He almost won EVO 2015 too.

There's more examples too. Point being: age didn't matter to them and you don't need to attain their level of skill in order to hold your own in fighting games either. Plus there's plenty of documentation out there nowadays to help fill in the gaps.

So I noticed a lot of people don't seem to be punishing these moves. At least not when I've done them. Even better players than plain mashers only seem to be getting a jab or so in.

I did that video because of that.
This is a good idea.
 
Making SFV username spreadsheet.

So I noticed a lot of people don't seem to be punishing these moves. At least not when I've done them. Even better players than plain mashers only seem to be getting a jab or so in.

I did that video because of that.

Will also have match analyses once I'll get ranked matches more often than every 45 minutes. I do those for Tekken so might as well do it for the new game as well.

This video is great.
 

Freshmaker

I am Korean.
Win

Loss

What am I doing wrong scrub gaf?

I know I'm trying to hit crhk waaaaay too much. So that's already in the back of my head

In the loss, you had a tendency to hit buttons while you were at disadvantage. That cost you the second round.

Final round, you kept trying to punish with a slow sweep. It'd get blocked and punished repeatedly.

So patience and better punishment there.

In the win, you generally just applied wake up pressure better with Ryu. Your wake up strategy with Karin generally amounted to walk back and give Vega room to breathe.
 

pizzacat

Banned
In the loss, you had a tendency to hit buttons while you were at disadvantage. That cost you the second round.

Final round, you kept trying to punish with a slow sweep. It'd get blocked and punished repeatedly.

So patience and better punishment there.

In the win, you generally just applied wake up pressure better with Ryu. Your wake up strategy with Karin generally amounted to walk back and give Vega room to breathe.
What are good wakeup pressures for Karin? Crmp?

Thanks btw
 

pizzacat

Banned
Yo I can't access my computer but my psn id is peetzacat and my capcom is is KanyeWest, I main ryu and Karin.

If anyone can do me the favor and add me to the list
 

Kinsei

Banned
I have so much trouble figuring out when it's safe for me to counter when I'm stuck in a block string. Any advice, or is this just something that will come naturally the more I play?
 
GUYS I DID IT I WON MY FIRST MATCH

It took 8 tries but I finally won a round. Even was afk for a few seconds which cost me half my health in round 1

I mean I could tell the guy I was playing was not good but it still felt good to get a victory. I felt in control most of the time which is more important to me than the win. He was the first person I played who wasn't constantly up in my face so I actually had time to think and react
 

Kinsei

Banned
GUYS I DID IT I WON MY FIRST MATCH

It took 8 tries but I finally won a round. Even was afk for a few seconds which cost me half my health in round 1

I mean I could tell the guy I was playing was not good but it still felt good to get a victory. I felt in control most of the time which is more important to me than the win. He was the first person I played who wasn't constantly up in my face so I actually had time to think and react

Congrats!
 

Josh5890

Member
So I linked my Youtube account to my PS4. I played a match. I trimmed the video clip to less than 3 minutes. I went to upload and the notification came up saying I couldn't upload. Anyone know why that would be?

Edit: I figured it out. I had a ton of notifications in Uploads that I needed to delete.
 
https://youtu.be/C7lGfEXxSeo

Get in, y'all.

I love this game.
At its core, your gameplan during this match was fine. You played a very grounded game against a (pseudo-)grappler as Chun-Li and that's good! However, in this particular match it also ended up being your detriment in the long run for a number of reasons.

For starters: you had trouble opening him up because of this. Chun-Li doesn't really have a quick overhead and the couple of times you attempted to pressure Birdie with it, he happened to be pressing buttons at that very time. Risky stunt to pull against him considering how high his damage output is in conjunction with Chun-Li's comparatively low health pool, so that's something you want to tone down until you're confident someone like him is hesitant to stick something out thanks to your conditioning. In essence, this isn't too difficult to perform on Birdie, because Chun-Li's ranged normals generally speaking come out faster than Birdie's. This is something that he in particular struggles with: nothing he has for the distance game is (relatively) quick if someone else possesses similar options and even up close his tools are tad slower than other characters'. His V-Reversal has a long wind-up, his standing / crouching jab + (I think?) short kick are a tad slower than most, no solid innate reversal with or without meter, his command grabs have short reach et cetera. This is in conjunction with his sluggish movement speed without V-Trigger activated, so Chun-Li has the potential easily dancing around him if it comes down to chipping away at each other until there's an opening.

So what's the glaring flaw of sticking the ground here? You've rarely jumped on him. In fact, you never did when you were up close and personal. Birdie admittedly has a good anti-air at close range with crouching MP... but you never tested his ability to react with it. With how the match was paced, you could've certainly landed some good results with a select few neutral jumps at the right time to change his blocking rhythm or outright whiff punish if he tries to have this turn in between your aggression, and alternatively you could've employed cross-ups since said anti-air has been toned down a little for those. It would've helped make your forward movement (like when you dashed) less transparent. By extension, you could've also followed through with some wake-up shenanigans after you knocked him down; got him with Chun-Li's sweep Crush Counter? Ambiguous set-up right there (at the correct distance) with her V-Skill + down MK stomps due to his height, to give an example. Examine if you can get more damage out of this, otherwise savour it for when he's low on health. The second reason why being glued to the ground had an adverse effect: Birdie's can. Every time he threw it out, you put yourself on the defensive and that gave him breathing room. Jumping isn't a wise decision per sé 'cause of his options once it's rolling out, but as mentioned previously you hadn't tested the waters so you might've been able to get around it one way or another. Perhaps even IAT lightning legs!

Other random notes that crossed my mind: Chun-Li's standing medium + heavy kick and fierce punch at first glance seem solid for gradually poking him down. Her palm thrust (back FP for clarity) could maybe be useful for Crush Counter traps too given the slow nature of Birdie's moves. Anti-airing him with back HK (or any anti-air really) shouldn't be difficult given his slow and high jumping arc, something Zangief also shares. Utilize Chun's standing HK more often: this seems to land on big characters from half a screen away, if not more if Birdie decides to throw out a longer poke of his own, with something like his standing FP moving himself forward.

Of course not everything can be viewed black-and-white, it's all contextual, but hopefully this'll change your awareness against the big guys.
 
sorry, was busy. had time to play one round and it lagged on me :/

did capture the one I did do regardless

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXX7IB_-5Yg

Alright.

Acronym denotions in this post:

cr - crouching
st - standing
j. - jumping
xx - cancel
, - link or chain
CA - critical art
fb - fireball
legs - Hyakuretsukyaku (lightning legs)
normals/buttons - regular face button move
BNB - bread and butter combo, which means a basic combo
SBK - spinning bird kick

First thing I want you to work on is staying grounded. Don't jump so much. Chun Li has one of the fastest walk speeds in the game. Use this as an asset. Of course, if you read Crab Milk's critique of my last match, you'll see that sometimes jumping too little is also bad. Know when to balance.

Take a look at her dash. Her dash is in insane. Don't overuse it, but it's a good asset to be aware of, not that it's too useful in this match up because the Cammy is the one that's going to want to get in.

Another thing, Chun Li is a mid-range character. Her normals have range and length. So you can poke people from afar with pressure.

Let's take a look at her standing HP. Note, this is from Street Fighter III but still applies.

OOeNncP.gif


Look at the length of that. Look at its range. It's also pretty fast and can apply pressure, and in V it's almost as long..

Her standing medium kick has excellent range and is decent in terms of speed.

Her standing hard kick has excellent range and can hit people (mostly big characters like Gief) from afar.

Again, LOOK AT THIS RANGE! Imagine if someone was walking towards that.

rjjqwz.gif


Her st LK is a fantastic anti-air. Her back+HK and st HK are also great if necessary (like on whiffed dragon punches).

Chun Li is a wall. Think of her as a wall with long spikes moving towards you. That's Chun Li.

4TESa15.jpg


Look at how long her range is:

https://youtu.be/wmrfpnO7Yq0

See how I'm using back + MP? Look how LONG that is - 00:20
Look at cr MP. Look at how LONG it is - 00:29

So here's what I want you to do: adjust to her normals. Go to training mode and use every single one of her normals and pay attention to their ranges. Try and see the further away you can hit the dummy with just regular moves, nothing fancy. Familiarize yourself with ALL of your buttons because Chun Li is a buttons character.

Things to consider:

Some moves are really slow, like her cr HK. In my latest video, you'll see I lose a round (and ultimately the fight) because I use a stray cr HK which is blocked and then punished. That doesn't mean don't use it, but don't ABUSE it. cr MK or even cr LK are safer. If you get a hit there, use cr HK after for a sweep.

Another thing, you're abusing her overhead (move that goes above opponent's head, which hits crouchers) FAR too much. It's not a safe move. Think of moves in terms of safety. It's really slow and though it looks cool, it's not the best tool in the drawer for Chun. It's at its best when used in tangent with an LP fireball for cover. That doesn't mean people will necessarily fall for it, so it's still risky but has much more strategic value there. Another use is in the corner, but at a safe distance.

I want you to work on your combos.

Chun Li's basic BNB is cr LP, st MP, cr MK xx MK legs. You can see it here: https://youtu.be/ZHalXSwWLzI?t=1m

Chun Li has a great way to practice charging as well. As I've said, her Back/Forward + MP has amazing range. But it also pushes her back. She is no reasonable reason to use Forward + MP version because that doesn't allow you to charge, although I still need to test to see if it pushes her forward, but as a general rule you should be using the back version to build charge. ALWAYS KEEP A CHARGE. Back + MP is FAST and can combo. Try back + MP x 2 xx HP FB. Start the charge on the second back + MP. You can see it in my latest Birdie fight. This allows incredible pressure, and if I recall, and if they try to jab out of your back + MP, they'll get hit with move priority anyways, in all likeliness.

Another Chun Li BNB is cr LP, st MP, cr MK xx MK SBK. It's harder to do but that's exactly why you should learn how to do it. Start the charge right after st MP.

Another bnb, that is a lot easier is cr HP xx LK legs, cr LP xx LK SBK or alternatively HP Kikoken.

You throw out a lot of cr MK and cr LK's but few legs. You need more LEGS. However, as the video about punishing that Fraeon posted showed, you need to hit confirm when doing legs so you're not hit and dealt major damage. That's what the cr mk is for. A hit confirm is essentially confirming the hit before continuing the move. If they block, drop the combo. If they get hit, continue your onslaught or pay the price. Sometimes you'll get lucky, but it's not worth it and even I fuck up sometimes.

Speaking of legs, another pressure tool is instant air legs. You can see that, again, on my Birdie fight. One fun thing to do is to wait for them wake up and right when they stand up do it. Great pressure and keeps them on their guard. Watch this to see how to do it and its application: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=317zk60Hy9k

Learn to use her v-trigger. Apply the combos I listed above. One great way to apply v trigger, besides when the opponent is knocked down, is st HP xx v trigger. Do a combo like back+mp x 2 xx kikoken, or st MP, cr MK xx EX legs.

Match up:

Next I want you to practice your zoning. Your goal with Cammy is to KEEP HER THE FUCK OUT. Cammy is a rushdown character. Rushdown essentially means a character whose goal is to get in and be on the offensive. Cammy as a rule is a character that capitalizes on mistakes to get in for huge damage. Chun has tools to keep her out and keep her under pressure.

One thing to consider is using your fireball more. Cammy's v-skill, spinning back knuckle, goes through fireballs. That doesn't mean you SHOULDN'T use fireballs. At match start against a Cammy never make the first move. Wait and see what they do. They might start with a cannon drill. Block low. They might start with a spinning back knuckle, block high and keep on blocking because that move is fast in V in case they do anything else. Another tactic with Cammy is to bait, pretending you're going to do an fb. Throw out a st LP or st MP and see how they react. Be ready to block.

Practice using your fireball as a tool. After you release a fireball, be prepared to charge for another one immediately. In the mean time, if they recognize you're charging, be prepared to press buttons to keep them out. Watch the Dhalsim fight and you'll see that's what I'm doing. I manage to get some hits in between fireballs. Against a Cammy, this is a great tool to keep her out, but you have to use your fireballs MINDFULLY.

Your homework:

1. Try to play grounded with as little jumping as possible.
2. Get used to your normals and their ranges.
3. Practice the Cammy match up in training mode. I'll be making a training mode tutorial on how to use it tomorrow.
4. Learn your combos.
5. Concentrate on being a wall with poison spikes that's always moving toward bit by bit.
6. Watch high level Chun play. Jwong is great for this and probably has one of the best Chun in the world now. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz8akn51udQ
 
At its core, your gameplan during this match was fine. You played a very grounded game against a (pseudo-)grappler as Chun-Li and that's good! However, in this particular match it also ended up being your detriment in the long run for a number of reasons.

For starters: you had trouble opening him up because of this. Chun-Li doesn't really have a quick overhead and the couple of times you attempted to pressure Birdie with it, he happened to be pressing buttons at that very time. Risky stunt to pull against him considering how high his damage output is in conjunction with Chun-Li's comparatively low health pool, so that's something you want to tone down until you're confident someone like him is hesitant to stick something out thanks to your conditioning. In essence, this isn't too difficult to perform on Birdie, because Chun-Li's ranged normals generally speaking come out faster than Birdie's. This is something that he in particular struggles with: nothing he has for the distance game is (relatively) quick if someone else possesses similar options and even up close his tools are tad slower than other characters'. His V-Reversal has a long wind-up, his standing / crouching jab + (I think?) short kick are a tad slower than most, no solid innate reversal with or without meter, his command grabs have short reach et cetera. This is in conjunction with his sluggish movement speed without V-Trigger activated, so Chun-Li has the potential easily dancing around him if it comes down to chipping away at each other until there's an opening.

So what's the glaring flaw of sticking the ground here? You've rarely jumped on him. In fact, you never did when you were up close and personal. Birdie admittedly has a good anti-air at close range with crouching MP... but you never tested his ability to react with it. With how the match was paced, you could've certainly landed some good results with a select few neutral jumps at the right time to change his blocking rhythm or outright whiff punish if he tries to have this turn in between your aggression, and alternatively you could've employed cross-ups since said anti-air has been toned down a little for those. It would've helped make your forward movement (like when you dashed) less transparent. By extension, you could've also followed through with some wake-up shenanigans after you knocked him down; got him with Chun-Li's sweep Crush Counter? Ambiguous set-up right there (at the correct distance) with her V-Skill + down MK stomps due to his height, to give an example. Examine if you can get more damage out of this, otherwise savour it for when he's low on health. The second reason why being glued to the ground had an adverse effect: Birdie's can. Every time he threw it out, you put yourself on the defensive and that gave him breathing room. Jumping isn't a wise decision per sé 'cause of his options once it's rolling out, but as mentioned previously you hadn't tested the waters so you might've been able to get around it one way or another. Perhaps even IAT lightning legs!

Other random notes that crossed my mind: Chun-Li's standing medium + heavy kick and fierce punch at first glance seem solid for gradually poking him down. Her palm thrust (back FP for clarity) could maybe be useful for Crush Counter traps too given the slow nature of Birdie's moves. Anti-airing him with back HK (or any anti-air really) shouldn't be difficult given his slow and high jumping arc, something Zangief also shares. Utilize Chun's standing HK more often: this seems to land on big characters from half a screen away, if not more if Birdie decides to throw out a longer poke of his own, with something like his standing FP moving himself forward.

Of course not everything can be viewed black-and-white, it's all contextual, but hopefully this'll change your awareness against the big guys.

This isn't the first time fighting that Birdie. We were playing in a set.

I didn't jump in because that player is so consistent with AA-ing me. I didn't jump when they tossed the can because they had previously nailed me with the air chain with a set up. To be fair, I should have waited for them to throw it up and then punish after. That I notice on the replay, but it's a tough situation if the player is as consistent as this one of keeping you out with that play.

cr LP, st MP, b+MP is a frame trap which can also crush counter. So I tried using that for pressure at times. st MP, st HP is good too. I should have mixed it up.

You're right in that I didn't utilize st HK enough. I use that a lot on Gief and big characters, but I guess I forgot about it. Heh.
 
So, I was only able to upload 2/3 fights, hopefully i can get some good feedback off of these

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMVzabYiSzs
(Cammy Fight where I was outclassed, yet still somehow won. ignore my playfulness in the vid :p) in cammy with Best Buy costume

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1Pj7X0YjB0
(Ryu v Karin) I'm ryu

Anyway, I never play cammy, so that was my first time. How is she generally played? What did I do wrong? What did I do right (assuming I did anything right)?

My Ryu fight was better, however I do struggle with my timing on attacks and combos. I tend to rush my attacks and always fuck up my commands. I pretty much have terrible control over my fingers, and slow reaction time.

I would be grateful for any tips on what I should work on :D
 
Note: Very long post. Last two paragraphs are where my questions are. Sorry...ㅠㅠ

So, I've never played Street Fighter before. I played a few fighting games like the two newest Mortal Kombats and Persona, but just for their story mode and then quit. But after Bloodborne taught me to love a genre I was bad at through hard work, I decided I wanted to do the same with Street Fighter.

I'm bad. Really bad. Like lost at easy survival mode bad. But I kept trying, and "losing faster and better," like the ads keep telling me, and you know what? I think I am getting better. I still legitimately do not know how combos actually work and only did my first ever dragon punch just last night (but am having trouble doing it consistently), but going from zero to one actually feels pretty great^^

Right now I have a system of playing training mode with a character until I can do each move at least once (trying for three in a row) and then doing their story and then survival easy mode. Rashid was my first and took me 48 minutes in training, 10 for story, and 5 attempts at survival. In total, about 2 hours. I feared that all of them would be like this, but Chun-li took only 30 minutes or so for her moves training and only 3 attemps at survival! Next, Cammy and Nash less than 15 minutes of training and both first attemp clears for easy survival!^^

So, this is where I am at, with four characters down and me eyeing the next two I want to try tonight. Is this a good way to get in the very basics? I feel like I am making some progress in some universal skills (quarter circles are feeling really easy now, compared with the first hour with Rashid) and easy level AI is starting to feel more manageable, but there are so manny questions about basic skills and techniques that I still have that I am not sure will be clear if I just keep doing this.

Such as combos. I still am not sure if I am pulling off a combo when I create opportunities. I often end up getting in two or three hits and then doing a move that knocks them on the ground. Is there a way to keep a combo going longer? Am I not linking my moves together correctly? How do you know which ones to link together? What about blocking? How do I punish or even know what to punish?

I know this is like hour 100 stuff I am asking to know with so little experience, but I want to avoid bad habbits and start learning good ones from the begining. Like not jumping around, which I know not to do and won't have that bad habit. What are other bad and good ones I need to be mindful of? A lot of these videos you all have posted are great, but most feel like steps 3 or 4 of a process that I need step two of, if that makes sense. Sorry for the novel, but am really excited about my first steps into a fighting game for real^^
 

Cyros

Member
Beyond Technical did a really good guide on this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blgY5D8-rnM

Since there is no Balrog or Guile in this yet, I suggest playing Necalli or Bison as good introductions to playing charge.

Fang and Chun are a bit more technical. I'd suggest Necalli for any newcomer hoping to learn charge since he's all about getting in your face and doesn't rely on charge.

Oh, and by the way, welcome to the Charge Gang. You are initiated.

tom-cruise-sunglasses.gif

Thanks for the link.
 

johnhandy

Member
Welp day 3 and I feel like I'm all over the place with my play. I win 1 and lose 3. I feel like my problem is being rushed down, blocking cross ups correctly, and forgetting the 15min of training room practice before I hop online. I think I need to spend a session or two where I only focus on blocking and punishing unsafe stuff. Offense be damned for now. :(
 

Guru-Guru

Banned
Anybody down to play right now? I'm a complete scrub (no fight game experience, only played an hour or so in training mode so far), so you can get some easy wins over me! My PSN is charlie_lun and my ID on SFV is Charlie_JP
 
So, I was only able to upload 2/3 fights, hopefully i can get some good feedback off of these

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMVzabYiSzs
(Cammy Fight where I was outclassed, yet still somehow won. ignore my playfulness in the vid :p) in cammy with Best Buy costume

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1Pj7X0YjB0
(Ryu v Karin) I'm ryu

Anyway, I never play cammy, so that was my first time. How is she generally played? What did I do wrong? What did I do right (assuming I did anything right)?

No a pro so take what I say with some salt, but I basically only play as Cammy right now. First, I'm really shocked that guy lost, it feels like rather than play his game he'd rather try and out special move you. Because he seemed to got a lot of what I'm about to say down.

Things I've learned about Cammy in the past few days:
Her crouching and standing medium punch are amazing, and are great pokes for keeping people honest and out of her face. It also links easily to the cannon drill for a lot of easy 2-3 hit combos.

It's easy to be too aggressive with her so I try to repeat a mantra to myself: "block and punish" which has helped me not always be in their face because sometimes with Cammy you can afford to be a little patient (so far). Sometimes I'll just stay crouched and wait on them to come to me and then try to frustrate them with pokes (which leads to those easy 2-3 hit combos I mentioned.)

Her v skill is great for closing the gap, don't be afraid to use it. Sometimes I use it just to get away from someone trying to get me from the air, mostly I'll use it to get back in someone's face after I knock them down/back. If you do manage to connect it stuns them briefly allowing you to link to another attack. I like following it up with Forward HK, crouching MP and cannon drill (which sometimes is just a sweep because execution is my major weakness.)

Easy peas combos I've got down for her are
Cr. Lp, St. MP, cannon drill/spike (either is fine, and like I said sometimes this just ends in a sweep which is still pretty good if not disappointing.)
St MP, St hp, cannon drill/spike

Don't be afraid to jump in, just not to much with her. Her jumping medium punch is a pretty good anti air and can also set up combos nicely.

I posted vids earlier in the thread, these were my first 4 matches of the day and was still feeling her out:

http://m.neogaf.com/showpost.php?p=195660689

And these two are after a few hours, I'd gotten more comfortable and actually started winning matches

http://m.neogaf.com/showpost.php?p=195691991

She's a ton of fun to use so far.
 

McNum

Member
Well, the server ate most of yesterday's replays, so the matches I did want feedback on are gone to the ether. Well, except one, where a Ken much better than me obliged me in a fireball defense 101 course for the entire first round. How nice of him.

So these aren't the replays I need, but they're the ones I have. As usual, I'm Karin.

Match 1: Fireball Defense 101 vs. Ken
I do need to thank this Ken, as he demonstrates in the second round that yes, he could easily just rush me down and end the match right then and there. But he played along and I got some livefire experience with fireballs. Karin's V-Skill is too slow to react with. At least for anything but the slowest fireballs, could probably stop Laura's.

Match 2: Matchmaking server says... what? vs Nash
0 LP, Ranked match. Bronze opponent? And he was pretty good. I got a couple of hits in, so I denied the perfects, but... what just happened?

Match 3: Shenanigans vs. Dhalsim
The one I won. Honestly, I was going to leave this one out, but... not many replays survived. That said, what was he up to? Did he set teleport traps that I evaded due to not knowing they were supposed to be traps? That last hit was him defeating himself, I was going to Ressenha at him, but he teleported and got a Guren-Ken to the face instead. Mirrored inputs FTW! Literally, in this case. Also, cr. HP is a Crush Counter? Huh, neat.

I kind of feel like I'm taking more than giving in this thread, I wish I was good enough to help the rest of you, but I don't know. Need more practice.
 
I can't beat dhalsim, at all
I could give you a video with a couple of Karins I fought if that may or may not do you any good, but I'm also learning so they might not be too helpful regardless of match quality. A few basic pointers though:

- All of Dhalsim's slides are unsafe, sometimes even on hit. They require precise spacing, which many (myself included) are not yet consistent with, so punish accordingly.
- Yoga Drills are also pretty unsafe if not aimed at a character's feet, so that's definitely exploitable if one of them gets carried away with it.
- Raw teleports can be jabbed on reaction.
- Speaking of teleport shenanigans: his jab Yoga Flame is -3 on block, MP -2 and FP +3 IIRC. EX Flame is also safe (+4?) and instant-air Yoga Gale is mad safe on block.
- Learn how to whiff punish his limbs. Her standing and crouching medium are also effective up-close:

ifefoo.gif
eiuxca.gif


Right now I have a system of playing training mode with a character until I can do each move at least once (trying for three in a row) and then doing their story and then survival easy mode. Rashid was my first and took me 48 minutes in training, 10 for story, and 5 attempts at survival. In total, about 2 hours. I feared that all of them would be like this, but Chun-li took only 30 minutes or so for her moves training and only 3 attemps at survival! Next, Cammy and Nash less than 15 minutes of training and both first attemp clears for easy survival!^^

So, this is where I am at, with four characters down and me eyeing the next two I want to try tonight. Is this a good way to get in the very basics? I feel like I am making some progress in some universal skills (quarter circles are feeling really easy now, compared with the first hour with Rashid) and easy level AI is starting to feel more manageable, but there are so manny questions about basic skills and techniques that I still have that I am not sure will be clear if I just keep doing this.

Such as combos. I still am not sure if I am pulling off a combo when I create opportunities. I often end up getting in two or three hits and then doing a move that knocks them on the ground. Is there a way to keep a combo going longer? Am I not linking my moves together correctly? How do you know which ones to link together? What about blocking? How do I punish or even know what to punish?

I know this is like hour 100 stuff I am asking to know with so little experience, but I want to avoid bad habbits and start learning good ones from the begining. Like not jumping around, which I know not to do and won't have that bad habit. What are other bad and good ones I need to be mindful of? A lot of these videos you all have posted are great, but most feel like steps 3 or 4 of a process that I need step two of, if that makes sense. Sorry for the novel, but am really excited about my first steps into a fighting game for real^^
I'll chime in.

Normally if you already had an understanding about the basics of fighting games, giving a multitude of characters a short spin in order to have a simple concept of what they are capable of would indeed be the right thing to do, and kind of still is in your position if you took mental notes of what stuck out about x or y character. Something akin to "Chun-Li has good normals" or "Rashid has fast-paced shenanigans via his special attacks," to give some shallow examples. However because you're new to the genre, there's a good chance you don't know what to keep an eye out for yet for these kind of deductions, but on the flipside at least you're alternating and maybe even stumbling into a character that suits your preferences, whatever they may be. If nothing else though, at least you're getting more and more comfortable with the systems and how to move yourself around, so there's no harm in continuing as you are. However if you want to fast-forward a bit in knowing who does what, Viscant wrote some excellent columns covering all 16 characters (here and here), discussing the learning process and how to set goals for yourself. Definitely worth a read if you have the time.

Now if you want to start drawing valuable lessons though, eventually you're going to 'have' to pick a character that on a surface level gels with you the most or someone you found the most enjoyable so you can have a consistent frame of reference when preparing yourself for actual fights. There's plenty of resources in the OP and elsewhere in the thread that cover a variety of subjects, be it videos or lengthy articles, so definitely check those links out if you're uncertain about particular elements. In your position, I'd recommend watching this video series which starts at around the 4 minute mark: it's very informative on a fundamental level and the guy being taught is (much like yourself) starting from scratch with Street Fighter V as a "casual" fighting game player. Through there you'll also pick up what the general good or bad habits are, but you are correct about some already like not wanting to jump around all that often. If you want an elaborate list of combos per character, there's this fairly extensive page, although some character pages aren't as fleshed out as others over there and some of them are also outdated due to the different beta builds SFV went through.

Speaking of combos: it's obvious when you're correctly linking something thanks to the counter on the side of the screen, but the game doesn't explicitly state which moves can be linked or when there's an opening as you're blocking. It's something you're going to have to get a feel for through more playtime. Two things I will immediately clear up though: by its very nature the combos in Street Fighter V are deliberately kept concise and there are a lot of moves in this game that are unsafe by design, forcing people to commit to their button presses. Some are visually obvious like for example Ryu's hard kick sweep (the one that knocks the player down) with how there's an altered animation upon block - something all characters have to a minor degree - while others are more subtle in comparison. With the latter category is something you'll have to 'study' to which extent your character can actually punish a variety of unsafe moves, but again, thankfully there are sufficient resources out there to help you or you can just plain ask in this thread. You can also record actions in Training Mode for the A.I. dummy, so if for example you want to examine for yourself how to get around Chun-Li multi-hit special move Hyakuretsukyaku (nicknamed lightning legs), there's your window!

There's more game-specific mechanics to delve into like the whole V-Meter aspect in all its choices, how to utilize EX Attacks or your Critical Arts (super move) and more, but take one step at a time. Hopefully this clears things up.
 

ACE 1991

Member
So whenever ya'll hop on the sticks to play some ranked SFV, do you have a gameplan or sorts in terms of what you want to work on? If so, what kinds of things do you go into the game wanting to work on? Got my first matches in since dicking around in the beta and got whooped pretty good. I did start to win some matches solely on whiff punishing wake up DPs (or at least not being caught by them) and punishing blocked cr.HK's. I REALLY need to break the habit of spamming j.HK into cr.HK if the first kick doesn't connect, it's so easy to punish but it's such a good button. Maining Ryu at the moment because he's so straight forward, but I really like Nash and will eventually move on to him.
 
Well, the server ate most of yesterday's replays, so the matches I did want feedback on are gone to the ether. Well, except one, where a Ken much better than me obliged me in a fireball defense 101 course for the entire first round. How nice of him.

So these aren't the replays I need, but they're the ones I have. As usual, I'm Karin.

Match 3: Shenanigans vs. Dhalsim
The one I won. Honestly, I was going to leave this one out, but... not many replays survived. That said, what was he up to? Did he set teleport traps that I evaded due to not knowing they were supposed to be traps? That last hit was him defeating himself, I was going to Ressenha at him, but he teleported and got a Guren-Ken to the face instead. Mirrored inputs FTW! Literally, in this case. Also, cr. HP is a Crush Counter? Huh, neat.

I kind of feel like I'm taking more than giving in this thread, I wish I was good enough to help the rest of you, but I don't know. Need more practice.
I don't think the Dhalsim really knew what to do himself! Actual constructive feedback though:

- Karin's Ressenha requires a different approach against Dhalsim. A couple of his limbs slap it out of the air no problem and it's ineffective against his fireballs because of their unusual trajectory.
- You left yourself open to possible teleport mix-ups with how you let him chuck fireballs scot-free. You displayed no pressure.
- What you should be doing instead: moving or even dashing forwards if another Dhalsim is as careless as that guy. His fireballs are slow to come out after all and Karin has good movement speed.
- He used his V-Skill a lot in your match, but the way he applied it was very ineffective and wildly unsafe. There was nothing to worry about here.

Look two posts up as well for more general advice.

So whenever ya'll hop on the sticks to play some ranked SFV, do you have a gameplan or sorts in terms of what you want to work on? If so, what kinds of things do you go into the game wanting to work on? Got my first matches in since dicking around in the beta and got whooped pretty good. I did start to win some matches solely on whiff punishing wake up DPs (or at least not being caught by them) and punishing blocked cr.HK's. I REALLY need to break the habit of spamming j.HK into cr.HK if the first kick doesn't connect, it's so easy to punish but it's such a good button. Maining Ryu at the moment because he's so straight forward, but I really like Nash and will eventually move on to him.
I tend to look at replays of past matches and investigate what did me in against skilled players, how I may have lost a close match or how the tides were turned in a round I initially had control in. Broadly speaking, this is usually due to my own match-up inexperience, so I make mental notes of what to look out for against specific characters or when x button didn't work in y scenario.

Outside of that, I learn differently from person-to-person with how Street Fighter V also highlights fighting against the player. I look at someone's mannerisms in the first round, adapt accordingly for the next like for example increasing presence of mind to anti-air if someone really likes (neutral) jumping and then change gears if he/she starts reacting to this come round 3. Situational awareness like this taught me a lot of universal lessons too.
 
So whenever ya'll hop on the sticks to play some ranked SFV, do you have a gameplan or sorts in terms of what you want to work on? If so, what kinds of things do you go into the game wanting to work on? Got my first matches in since dicking around in the beta and got whooped pretty good. I did start to win some matches solely on whiff punishing wake up DPs (or at least not being caught by them) and punishing blocked cr.HK's. I REALLY need to break the habit of spamming j.HK into cr.HK if the first kick doesn't connect, it's so easy to punish but it's such a good button. Maining Ryu at the moment because he's so straight forward, but I really like Nash and will eventually move on to him.

It's the opposite.

When I hop on I'm thinking of matches from the day before and what I want to work on in training mode. I don't initially work on things on ranked first. I practice concepts in training and then put it to the test online in casual matches or lobbies and then go to ranked. Ranked isn't end all be all.

So today when I load up the game tonight the first thing I'm going to be working on are Critical Art Combos, my bnbs for execution, and practicing a set up with Birdie to train against a specific situation. I'm also going to continue watching and dissecting a replay against a really good Cammy to figure out what they did to me. Then, when I'm comfortable with my progress, I'm going to ranked. It's good to set goals and today's goal for me is to get out of rookie league. Perhaps one of your goals today should be to play Fight Lounge with a friend so you two can help each other level up? Outside research helps with this during the day to help think of things you want to work on that day. Also peruse sites like r/streetfighter and SRK for the days newly discovered tech (techniques).

Since you're new j highly suggest keeping things simple for now and merely concentrate on learning your character. Pay attention to new tech other characters are getting so you can defend against it but right now you and everyone else are concentrating on learning their character and taking match up notes.

Since your character is Ryu work on small things each day. Make it your goal today to properly space with fireballs. You can use multiple tutorials for this to watch online to do this. Alternatively play me or someone more advanced so we can give suggestions on how to improve your spacing game.

For now concentrate on your character and how they interact with all the other characters and your weaknesses. You said you need to work on hit confirming, go to the lab and set the dummy to random block. Practice that set up for 10-15 minutes. If they block the first hit. Don't continue. If the hit connects, continue. Use the dummy to build muscle memory and reflex. Sometimes training is better than fighting when wanting to work on a core concept. THEN go online with a goal in mind.
 
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