Northwest VF (Pacific NW, North America)

It's kinda weird because the stuff I should be applying more, I can just apply with El Blaze instead of using a new character, however, by swithing to a another character I'm forced to do it, which for me is what I need. I find I was just going over board with situational setups, that I wasn't paying attention to the things I needed such as fundamentals.

Things like hit-checking and movement are things I practice but don't hammer down, which leads me to do so-so at the recent tournies and end up getting me down because I don't hammer those things consistently like I should've been doing. So I feel this is a step I should take.

I've been flip-flopping between him, Akira and Jean, but the JKD style, Pak Sao and Iaigeri seal the deal for me as Jacky's combos (because of Iai) have that execution barrier aspect to get the most out of him. Being able to fire off Iai at anytime us just awesome to me, and I love watching players do it.

Also, Seattle needs top-tiers.

 

Stil won't stop me from blowing you up!

But I'd agree with Nick. You play pretty straightforward for the most part and you'd probably get way more mileage out of someone like Akira, Jacky, or Jean. You got a lot more in close pressure than Blaze really allows you to do. so having someone with better strings overall will allow you to lay it on.

 

I think Blaze can do lots of great in-close pressure, but it's tempting to use his other tools. However, I admit, the things that so far scare me when I fight against Blaze:

* Some half-circular and force side-turns (I think) have often put me in difficult situations in the poke war. I'm actually most afraid of fighting El Blaze close-up and hand-to-hand. Especially with moves like his 4K.

* His throw game is good enough to be frustrating to deal with. I'm just glad that at Northwest Majors I was able to feel out the throws Shouta was going for, made a huge difference! But on average, I hate getting thrown by Blaze.

* Blaze's okizeme really scares me. Especially with Femto's okizeme where he mixes in the ground throw enough to make me want to tech more than I should. I really should just stay down and throw escape until Blaze shows me he can combo me big time on the bounce.

* AyuFanb0y's Blaze is really, really scary for me because it's based on Shironoku and confuses me when we go hand-to-hand, really sets me up and so far outpokes me at close to midrange.

And I agree that Femto can use Blaze to do the things he wants, but I definitely understand using a character to force him to just focus on fundamentals of attack and spacing, and Jacky is damn good at that. But I hope to see an upgraded Blaze in the future too

 

yessssss join the dark side Femto

 

I actually don't think Blaze's strings and single strikes are super good for the way that Mike sets up his pressure. While Blaze has some solid ones and some really good setups for correctly reading with them, the benefits of of similar equivalents for other characters are even more potent.The throws and other stuff makes him Blaze dangerous in close, certainly, but Mike's style would be even fiercer with a character that gives him more advantages for his buck, IMO.

Not to say he should stop playing Blaze but I think I agree with his sentiment about keeping him as a pocket character until he gets the areas he's lacking down then he can do the situational stuff that he enjoys finding.

He can always go back after he's really trained those areas as well. =o

 

Everyone here still around?

 

Nah. FB, son.

How you been?

 

Been all right. Took some time to jump on that Marvel game a bit. Feel like I should probably get back into VF again at some point soon.

 

Started getting back into it myself recently. Taking a break feels good. Think I'm going to get into SFIV proper this time as well, or KOF XIII.

 

We're all still here ^_^

Let me (or David) know what days are good for you for weeklies. Panda's working on something for competitive Portland VF and he'll need to know what night works best for everyone!

 

hit me up on XBL (or send me a text) if you want to play. I'm usually down most evenings.

 

GGs to AJS tonight! It was great playing with you and helping you polish off some rust, I'm so glad you're back!

I'm excited for the rest of this summer's VF in Portland ^_^

 

I would like to announce

For your gaming pleasure

Northwest Virtua Fighter Ranbats!
(NWVFR)

"Ranbats" is an untranslatable Japanese term that roughly means Ranking Battles. I would like to run an on-going ranking system with weekly *free* *single game* *single elimination* tournaments hosted out of my home in downtown Portland. NWVFR will consist of two month (8 week) seasons, with six seasons a year. Every tournament you participate in will net you Ranking Points determined by placement (see: http://goo.gl/0MdXP) , and the player with the most RP at the end of the season will be crowned the Season Champion and will receive a custom NWVFR t-shirt and top seed for the entire following season. More and better prizes may be available down the road, if you come out to support our fledgling venture.

In addition to the Ranking Points, for every tournament in which you get 1st place you will receive one Gold Point. GP are exclusive to tournament winners and Gold players will be listed by GP on a Gold List. Beyond the prestige, Gold players will be eligible for an exclusive tournament for the best Portland has to offer, a tournament that I am calling...

The Golden Invitational!

This is an eight man semi-annual double elimination tournament with invites sent out according to GP (and then RP, if we lack eight Gold players). A Golden Invitational will happen every three seasons and will have a higher quality prize compared to the ranbat rewards, though the specifics will be detailed at a later date. These are going to be exciting, high-profile tournaments, and I can't wait to show the rest of the English-speaking VF community what we have to offer!

How can we show off the talent our budding scene has cultivated since Final Showdown's release, you ask? Without further ado, I would like to announce a brand new Pacific Northwest fighting game stream and YouTube channel, Northwest Gentlemen's Fight Club! A classy stream for classy games, this is a joint venture between myself and Alex Kelly (aka Digital Watches) to provide the world with the best Portland has to offer in games like Virtua Fighter and Guilty Gear. While we are currently waiting on certain recording components, feel free to follow us already at Twitch.tv/NWGFC, and at the YouTube channel here: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSv-R1_FupxLz9GzQ5VtGcw/feed.

NWVFR, the Golden Invitational, and Northwest Gentlemen's Fight Club are all exciting opportunities to expand the gaming scene, exposure and skill level in the Portland metropolitan area, and I hope y'all can join me in revitalizing the interests of your friends, rivals and yourselves with these new events and media. We still have the official day to discuss (my availablity is currently Mondays, Tuesdays, and late Sundays, like it was with the amateur events), but I hope to begin the first Season within a few weeks. Thanks for taking the time to read all of this, and let me know any questions or concerns you might have.

PORTLAND DAPPER FIGHTING

 

Link recap
Twitch: www.Twitch.tv/NWGFC
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSv-R1_FupxLz9GzQ5VtGcw/feed
Ranking Points System: http://goo.gl/0MdXP

Would everyone be OK with this going down on Tuesdays? That's definitely the most consistent and packed day for my house based on past attendance. Starting not this Tuesday, but a week after?

 

Had a great time on Tuesday!

The battles with David tonight were really interesting for me, because I felt that for both of us, some things were sharp tonight, while others weren't... and it wouldn't be a stable set of areas that were sharp, it often switched up....

It was very fun and there were interesting react and mindgame moments in our battles. There was a lot of slop too (especially on my end), but... all out matches combined, we both had interesting "phases" that we went through...

For example, around the middle of our long set, there were times when we just went for straight up close-up poke exchanges with evasive moves weaving in and out, and while I wasn't really doing elbow after blocking a low punch (we both seemed obsessed with using high and low jabs and then moves that were not elbow), there were a lot of areas of reacting well for other options.

And then later in the evening, as we got more sloppy on this sort of battling, we were both trying to work on our post-evade reaction and proper selection of attacks (something David has been way stronger than me at since the start of this year).

David also had a strong run of punishing me for evading a lot by going full on strings without delays, which further forced me to try to deal with and better learn my options at each situation.

Fun stuff.

It seemed like David's main focus of the night was on improving his reaction to low attacks, to not just guess, but to properly react to them and he did that pretty well on low attacks that were slower than, my guess, 17 frames. I had to really pressure and distract him if I wanted to open him up to low attacks (the hard part about fighting David is if he knows your character's movelist and he plays patiently, his reactions drive me insane... been this way for a year but it's still improving and I have to evolve with it).

Also got to play with Guilty Gear Alex and it is great seeing his progress! Gave him Taka practice too ^_^ His Vanessa is still improving, though I ran him through vs. Taka training I think it's a good way to get a person to feel out their abare moments by forcing them to play more moral. That said, Taka's throw game is scary enough that it'll force you to always Yutori and attacka throw if you have the reflexes for it.

I still very much like watching how Alex seriously works on observing and reading opponents in early rounds.

I should mention that reading the opponent is a tricky thing, because it can often lead to a dance... and usually I play off on this aspect of the reading game, which is... if I know you're reacting on some level to certain things that I am doing, I'll try to lead you in the dance by trying to dictate the direction you go with it. Bad habits are tricky for me because sometimes they can be useful in this dance, but sometimes they just leave me wide open.

That said, the player who has been really scary in leading me in this dance has been Fat Bear on the day after Northwest Majors. He outread me and was always the one who was a step or two ahead. David does this well often, but sometimes seems to drop the lead if he gets complacent or seems to feel he's settled on the right plan to beat me.

With experience, you learn to cycle through your character's Plan A, B, C, D, etc... and this allows you to either break from the dancing pattern or take over it well, and it especially helps you when leading the dance.

As Alex grasps the nuances of evading in VF more, he'll get a lot stronger too. He's absorbing it well though, already, I think it's just a matter of time/experience.

 

Yeah, I agree with everything you've said, and I had a great time fighting you last night.

I really don't know how to keep that lead though. It's a problem.

 

NWVFR0102 is happening this Tuesday at 7pm! PM me for an address, or join nwvf on fb, honestly.

Come join us for VF and GG training, along with the weekly single elimination tournament. Free entry, just show up!

See how the last Ranbat turned out here:
http://challonge.com/nwvfr0101
Sign up for the next one here:
http://challonge.com/nwvfr0102 (http://challonge.com/tournaments/signup/4uALqjGpGu...)
See how the RP is stacking up here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...dEZCNXI4NnUwNFhtbDItN2pPTC1vT2c&usp=drive_web

A few sticks and two stations, one for VF and GG a piece. Byoc when possible. Tournament at 8pm, call/text if you'll be late.

 

Hello Northwest VF @ VFDC!

Despite a lack of posting activity, Northwest VF has been active and things have gotten interesting!

Tuesday (TONIGHT) Night is: NORTHWEST VF RANBATS 0104 (Season 1, #4)!
When: Tuesday 8/20/13 @ Approx. 7pm
Where: The Downtown Dojo in Portland, OR (PM R Panda for details)
That's right, R Panda has been hosting these Ranbats weekly and they are going well! Tonight should be great! For specific details for the Ranbat, contact R Panda.

Here are some brackets for people to check out:
NWVF Ranbats 0101: http://challonge.com/nwvfr0101
NWVF Ranbats 0102: http://challonge.com/nwvfr0102
NWVF Ranbats 0103: http://challonge.com/nwvfr0103

Team Panda is currently working on video capture and streaming for these Ranbats. More information will come later.

I have to say, I am very happy about what R Panda is doing with the weekly training and Ranbats. It's what Portland needs and he's keeping it going! This summer has kept my hands full with family and work, but I have always had every intention of participating in the ranbats!

CONGRATULATIONS: GOGGLES!
Congratulations to Goggles for his strong performance in the 3rd Ranbat! In fact, he has been doing well in all of the Ranbats! Goggles is a newcomer to VF who brings with him some good sense, an ability to observe and analyze opponents, to see and remember the match, and good execution. He probably brings even more than those things, but those are the things I see when I fight him or watch him fight. My advantage in experience is shrinking against him as his understanding of VF deepens. A truly one-of-a-kind guy, I'm still looking forward to his continued growth!

Team Seattle Training
Team Seattle is indeed still active and training & experimenting. While it might not be as visible on VFDC, it's created some great discussions in our private Northwest VF Facebook Group (Pacific Northwest Players--Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, West Canada, Alaska--only). I won't go into detail but some of the topics have included fighting with restricted options and even expanding into other characters (one expansion that's created a lot of great discussion is Zass learning Akira). Great stuff, and wonderful to see the Seattle crew also making great pushes in VF! If you're interested in Seattle VF, contact Zass by Private Message or on Xbox Live!

More to Come
As Summer approaches its final stretch and Autumn lingers on the horizon, Northwest VF continues to be very active! Furthermore, there are a few things likely to happen to keep the scene active and growing--building to another strong Fall & Winter! Projects are in the works, we will see if they reach Prime Time ^_^

 

Had a good time at Ranbat Night!

David, I really enjoyed our final! Grats on the win, I'm glad it was at least down to the final round and the final hit! Very tense, glad people got into our match!

Hellsap, great fighting your Taka before the tournament and during! Keep bringing the fight forward, I know your Taka can push people (including me) around! You have strong mixups, you're maximizing damage more (though I know you still feel there's more consistency to go for), and you are mixing up throws too. Overall, your mixups are better and you're finding more opportunity. I think the area that is improving, but probably can improve even more is VF-style in-fighting. I think this will make your Taka a bigger force. Because of Taka's design, he's a bit awkward with spacing and creating a zone of safety (however, you make up for this with some well-timed long range launching, just don't get baited into doing it). So keep being brave, keep bringing the fight, keep moving forward--I think your Taka's gonna get crazy strong if you push in that direction.

Alex, thanks for the casual games! I wish I knew how to give proper Vanessa advice. Keep working on defense. Defense in VF is tricky, imo, because you want to make your defense more precise, but you can really pad it with option selects (Guard-Throw-Escape, Evade-Throw-Escape, Fuzzy Guard, Evade Cancels, etc...). That said, I think I get a lot of free damage on you when you attack out of turn. Attacking out of turn is okay, but it has to be super precise--however, solid defense is always reliable and still gives you the initiative.

Hollis, good to see you man! We have often shown up on different weeks so it has been awhile and I have not kept tabs on your Sarah. It has improved a lot, it has a stronger sense of where danger is and when opportunities come. That said, I do think your game is based maybe too much on spacing right now, which isn't bad, but I think greater confidence and practice in up-close decision making will excel your game forward. Also, backdashing too much is very dangerous unless you are evade-cancelling it. I really like Sarah's Okizeme game and your flamingo pressure still drives me nuts. That said, I'll tell you the same thing I told Mark above, work on fighting forward and in-fighting. I know it's a gamble with Sarah because of damage risk, but I know you can get stronger in this area and it should help you in your matches in many ways!

I had so much fun fighting with Chris tonight, I like how Chris is really not afraid to go toe-to-toe and fight in your face and try to absorb the good options and mistakes through experience. The exchanges were often intense and just really, really fun! Looking forward to more intense battles with you!

 

I had an awesome time at the small VF Session I held on Friday Night (PAX Day One)!

It was wonderful to see and play with @Femto (Mike B.), @steelbaz (yep, he was there!), @Zero-chan , Hien, and @MasaRED !

Mike B. was the first to arrive and he brought a setup, which was greatly appreciated! I think it's good that he's working on Jacky and trying to both clean up his game and sharpen it. I'm still not crazy about using VF4: Evo to train (seriously, I think the FS Dojo is awesome for training and the most relevant option for FS). You can setup situations really well in the FS Dojo. So one of my recommendations is to use the FS Dojo. It looks like you know what you have to work on and what can be better, and that you are still improving on those things too. I'm glad to see that you hit check Jacky's elbow more than Blaze's elbow. As you already know, hit/whiff check everything you can and get used to responding well to all of that. Too bad I'm still bad at guard-checking But get good at Guard-Checking too, regardless of how bad my guard-checks are.

Steelbaz can really play offline and it is really fun to fight him in offline! I do like how quickly Steelbaz spots patterns or bad tendencies. I also want to thank you (Steelbaz) a lot for bringing both Sarah and Vanessa to this session, I really wanted Masa and I to train more in those matchups and I think it was very fun! I really need to acknowledge Sarah's long range mid kick and train my options when fighting flamingo, I do all the bad stuff against Flamingo lol. I was experimenting with different options to deal with it (in a hard-counter kinda way) and you kept hitting me hard with all of that. While the score looked good for me, it wasn't about score, we were both training the matchups and it was really fun and the rounds were usually pretty close ^_^ I want to play again with you, offline, soon!

Zero-Chan is always fun to see and hang out with! Good guard-checking (good punishing on block!), excellent use of 1P to drive my Lion insane, excellent use of the sabaki attacks to drive my Lion really insane! I'm glad you were able to join us on Friday and I always look forward to the matches and chats!

Hien was my roommate that weekend and I'm always glad to play VF with him and let others play VF with him. I was always playing a match on the other setup when Hien was playing so I didn't get to watch his play.

It's no secret that every time I go to Seattle I try to get Masa to come out and play and I'm so glad he joined us on Friday night! Thanks a lot, Masa! You are a friend and you are also one of my favorite people to fight against in VF! Great games on Friday, I could not control myself enough to level the difference between you and me on Friday, but I had a blast and I'm glad we had some very exciting fights! Hopefully next time I will adjust more and see where that takes us, but it is always 100% pure fun! The biggest trap of playing Lion against Shun is thinking that Lion's spacing (which is good against everyone else) is even with Shun's. It is not, it is comparable, but it is not Shun's spacing game--Lion must admit this and sometimes just fight forward ^_^

Again, thanks so much to everyone! And thanks so much to my roommates Victor and Hien for putting up with the VF Crew that night and letting us extend as long as we did!

(P.S. Awesome news - Juicebox Abel has moved to Oregon and I am hearing word that he is quite interested in VF and would like to train ^_^)