Choosing a character

Ok, i guess by now it's pretty established that in VF4: Evolution (as in most games in the series) all the characters are pretty well balanced that top tiers don't really exist (unlike in many other fighting games where there can be huge gaps). However, I'm curious to know what influences people's choice in choosing to learn a character(s). For me, physical appearance plays a big role. Maybe 75%. I'd say the remaing 25% is in the fighting style and play mechanics. Also, I've played Virtua Fighter since 1 came out in the arcades back in 1993. I used Kage back then. Then when 2 came out, I decided to learn Kage and Sarah. And ever since, I've been comfortable using them. Their moves and performing them have not changed much as the series progressed. Don't really have the patience to learn some other character all over from scratch especially since it takes so much time to master each one.

How about you guys? What influences the choice of character you have mastered? And, have you ever made a switch?

 

I would have to say low maintenance. I've played Jacky over the years because he fits both ends of the spectrum very well. Beginners can get into his movelist quickly without demanding motions, yet veterans (har har) have to deal with being able to fool other high level opponents.

Jacky's popularity is a double edge sword in that everyone will learn to play against him eventually as opposed to the common "I've never played a good [insert rarely used character here] before..."

Note: I don't condone anyone using that as an excuse to blame others for losing matches. If you have character holes then it is a problem with your game, not theirs.

 

Upon cracking open VF4E (having experience solely with VFR beforehand, although it was 8 years of experience ^_^ ) I faced that very daunting task of indeed having to break in a VF character from the ground up.

After using Sarah to dig through the general gameplay I dropped back to my usual means of choosing characters, pure esthetics.

Ergo, I ended up with Goh and Vanessa since I love their no nonsense style of fighting. Vane especially strikes me as a rarity among fighting game girls with very damaging strikes while not having to rely on kicks. Goh has this same bone-crunching appeal, and besides I've been a Judo practicioner myself so I simply had to give him a go.

After playing the game a heck of a lot and swapping about across the entire spectrum, apart from Kage and Lion (for some reason they don't appeal to me at all), I've adopted Lau as my main powerhouse. With Goh and Vane as backups.

aside:
I've taken a fancy to relearning Sarah a week ago. This has been hard on me after messing my game with her up badly by picking up bad habits while first starting out in the game with her. This is mainly to understand why I'm having such a hard time beating her sometimes but might end up as a permanent shift, I'll have to see where I am in a month.

 

I've played Tekken and Soul Calibur for 2 years before I got Virtua Fighter 4 Evo. I tried everyone but eventually settled for Lee (in Tekken) are playing Brian to boredom (playing the Top is soo lame). Before I bought VF I saw on Tekken Zaibatsu an analogy comparing Lee to a Bryant, and I've only heard good things of the game from the more literate members of the board (super rare). I later bought the game and tried out the Bryants (didn't know which one). Sarah was cool but didn't fight my style and Jacky... eh no.

I messed around with all characters, ending up with Vanessa and Jeffry (mixed martial arts is awesome). I grew frustrated with Vanessa (unable to complete every combo, unable to incorporate OFF, etc.) so I turned into a full time Jeffry player.

After 2000+ games, he redefined what I look for in characters= High damage (combo/throw) but high risk, very steppable, unsafe and slow. Though it feels like an uphill battle sometimes playing as such a character but landing a MC 6K PKP (wall) 43P_PP or a 1111 (whiff) 3K (wall) *insert something awesome here*... great feeling. Plus he has a Taunt = P+K+G. Jeffry kicks ass.

Of course true to my tradition of unable to stick to just one character I just mess around with Vanessa (still), Sarah, Lau... everyone but Kage, Jackie and Lion as those are the only characters I want nothing to do with. But liking 80% of the cast of a fighting game is impossible for other titles.

 

Style is a big factor! I'm playing Kage full-time, learning atm Aoi. Back to style: thats why i tried Goh, but he dosn't fit with my gameplay-style i think like akira, but maybe i didn't tried him long enough :/

 

I picked Jacky in VF2 days cos he was real simple (important to fumble-fingered newbies like me) and partly because he was a showoff (dance when connecting a MC Back-Turn , hip gyrate with a MC +).

In VF3, I picked Jeffrey and Pai after wanting to experiment on throws (and reversals too in Pai's case). Pai became my 2nd primary char; I liked her old pre-Evo + and + and missed them sorely with the change. I also yearned for Jeffrey's VF3 Back-to-Wall + wall throw, in which he would pull the victim's head into the wall and drag the face along a couple of meters before kneeing them in the back of the head ... hurts to just look at the animation.

I wanna try out Kage's TFTs in VF4 (plus he came with a comprehensive FAQ), and soon he became my 3rd primary. I also tries out Aoi to expand on my reversal game (and try her multi-throw for kicks) and she is earmarked as a potential 4th primary, once I get more of her movelist down. I'm still not fast enough with Jeffrey to play him against any decent player ...

P. S.: I must have a thing for asian girls. I largely ignored Sarah and Vanessa, save for drooling over VF4 Vanessa's *drum roll* six pack stomach! (I really liked her ready-to-kick-butt look in VF4 and am very saddened when they "softened" her in VF5) And before you wonder, yes, I wanna have a go at playing Eileen .... guess I have to scrimp and save somehow for a PS3.

 

I played all of the other games from the Soul Caliburs to the Street Fighters and found them all to be too lacking in the AI department. When I first started playing VF I started out with lion on VF 2 and I was just playing with him I never really took him seriously. The first character I thought about fighting for real was Pai when I played VF4 and I continued to use her in VF4 Evolution. Her quick hits and her exceptional defensive abilities to go along with her ability to turn people around and give them headaches but smacking them when they can't recover in time made her an easy favorite of mine. I found out the hard way just how limited she is and yet I stuck with her and found a way to make it work and now I can play just about every type of character with Pai and give them fits without hitting them with their back turned all the time. I also learned my other 2 really good people Vannessa and Aoi for their defensive moves and low throws at first and found their offensive games to be very game as a whole as well

 

Mmmh... I started off as an ok Jacky/terrible Akira player back in VF2 years ago.
Missed VF3...
When VF4 came around, I wasted a ton of money relearning Akira... at the arcade. Didn't get anywhere at all.

So when I picked up VF4:Evo on PS2, my old instinct said to go & try Akira & Jacky, see which one I could get to grips with. Akira is *still* not the character for me; I preferred dancing around with Jacky, messing up my friend's concentration & timing with taunts & deceptive moves leading into big combos.

Now my friends (decent VF partners that they are) just can't take this style of mine; and they've come to label it "cheap", "annoying" & "gay" (altho I do admit that Jacky sounds very, VERY gay /versus/images/graemlins/laugh.gif ).
So I decided to stick it to 'em.
I retreated for a week to my den, learning Aoi -- her defensive game especially.

When I came back, I told them this: they can beat on the lightweight character. They can get the big, insane combos from the highest floats. They can beat me into submission in 10 seconds, in 2-3 combos.
That is, if they get a single hit in.

Oooh, Aoi is evil! /versus/images/graemlins/wink.gif YY stance, full reversal repetoire & a sweet stagger/throw game means that my VF pals have learned to fear every move they make - they can't use big attacks anymore. They can't turtle anymore. And they can't relax, since I WILL switch from Yin (defensive, waiting for mistakes) to Yang (aggressive, pushy & G-cancel goading) at a frame's notice.

And that's my story.


(ps: I have also found that spending a good 1-2 weeks focused purely on 1 character is very helpful in learning)

 

I've been playing VF since part 1 and I took a liking to Jacky and Sarah cuz they both practiced Jeet Kune Do and I've always been a huge Bruce Lee Fan and they seemed cool (except for Jacky's outfit, overalls?).

Then for VF2 I still liked Jacky, his taunts after counter hitting with , + and back-turned but I was blown away by Shun, THE fighting-game drunken master. The opening cut-scenes with him in it were awesome, his style, his moves, his look were and are still cool. This is back before he had to drink to do moves and before Lion came out of the closet /versus/images/graemlins/tongue.gif. But Shun was my secondary cuz my main fighter was still Jacky.

For VF3 I didnt take to any of the new characters, didnt really like the game mechanics as much, I'd prefer to play VF2 instead of 3 even though I loved the graphics and the fact that Kage's facemask could come off /versus/images/graemlins/cool.gif but when I did play I stuck to my main 2, Jacky and Shun.

When VF4 hit the shelves I was making a killing with the advantageous Jacky but he got too silly with the "Yeaaaaaaahs" and the little kid voice (you'd think he would have grown up by now, he sounds like Lion sometimes). I started to really get into my Shun tactics and he became my #1. Loved the new guys BTW, just couldnt find myself playing with them, yet.

Now for Evo, I have always loved Muay Thai, it's one of the reasons why I considered Vanessa in part 4, but this ass-kicking machine called Brad debuted and I was there, I love the juggles, the style, the cockiness, his speed, his moves (even though he didnt have that many) I even liked the voice that Sega gave him, I finally found the perfect character for me. Shun #2 and a very weak Lei #3(love his Shaolin style though).

After seeing VF5 Brad vids, all I can say is DAAAMN /versus/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
Sega did an awesome job on improving on an already kick ass fighter, they even improved his voice and his dialogue. He has the least corniest English phrases in the whole game.
Cant wait to get my PS3 VF5 so I can work on the awesomely new and improved Shun and Lei (in Howard Dean voice) BIIAAAAAH!!!

 

a big part of getting to know a character short-term, for me, is maneuverability. I started off VF4: Evo using Kage, Brad and Jacky, and I got along pretty easy with them, until I got to the higher tier ranks, when I started to find it difficult to be consistent with them. so I turned to some slower, more methodical players and experimented with them. I was intrigued by how 'unapproachable' Goh seemed, and it made me want to master him, to an extent. also, after fighting quest mode characters such as Ohsu Akira and Homestay A, I was determined to learn how to use Akira proficiently.

 

good post titanic. when you start off using quick characters you think only attack attack attack, and don't think about when or why.

when you use characters like jeff, akira, wolf, goh, you learn you have to pick your attacks.

when you apply this to other characters the game begins to make much more sense.

 

Well said one has to use the full game a person has and many people just want to attack and only that. My main person Pai, became a favorite of mine because of her defensive skills and set ups. Her attacks weren't the first thing I focused on. I use the same basic tactics since they fight alike to a certain extent for Aoi and Vanessa focusing on their defensive skills ,set ups, and throws. There is nothing wrong with picking people just to attack but one has to learn to use what the character really has to attack most effectively