2002 E3 Gathering - Reports

I wish I was good at writing reports, but the problem is that I'm typically just slow at getting around to them. However, I do think a reports thread for the E3 Gathering is in order. As for previous reports, I will put links at the bottom of this message.

Here is what went on (more like a schedule than a report):

THE E3 VF4 GATHERING - May 24th, 2002
The official gathering took place at Spotlite's house (the official location for the last two years).

-Arrival Entertainment: NBA Game - Lakers vs Sacramento on the big Vega.

-Pre-Game Entertainment: Viewing of the exhibition and competitive matches found on the VF4 Strategy(?) Revolution DVD, courtesy of Spotlite.

-Tournament: Everyone eventually arrived, some being fitted into the tournament as it started a bit before them. Tournament was double elimination with seeding based on random matchups (with an emphasis to reduce the chance of fighting your own local opponents in the first elimination round). Tournament was conducted and supervised by Feixaq.

-Gathering: Started during the tournament (on two other stations) as sort of a side warmup arena. It wasn't until halfway through the tournament that more and more players got into the gathering matches. After the tournament, some people had to go, while others played on throughout the night (until a handful of players finally stopped playing at around 6am).

-Top 3 Finishers in Tournament
1) Ice-9 (Singapore)
2) Spotlite (LA)
3) Feixaq (San Francisco)
* More details to come eventually.

The Mini After-Gathering
This event was only played out by a few people who were still in LA during Saturday, May 25th. It was planned last second at the end of the gathering phase at the official gathering.

-Part 1, UCLA Arcade: Mostly played VF4(b) on UCLA's setup, but also played some Street Fighter 3: Third Strike, Virtua Tennis, and Street Fighter 2 Turbo.

-Part 2, Private Battles: The attendees found a place to setup a TV and PS2 and sticks for quite a few hours of more VF4 battles. We just couldn't get enough.

-Participants of the Mini After-Gathering were:
*Andy (LA)
*VF4Akira (San Diego)
*Mike????? (San Diego) -- Sorry, can't remember the real handle...
*Ice-9 (Singapore)
*Chanchai (Portland)

I had a wonderful time at this gathering and hope that sometime, I can write at least about some of the players at the gathering. I didn't get to play against everyone, sadly.

SPECIAL THANKS go to Ice-9, Sile-Pai, and Spotlite for making this trip so wonderful by far (I'm still on the trip as of this message)

-Chanchai

OTHER REPORTS
<a target="_blank" href=http://virtuafighter.com/versuscity/printthread.php?Cat=&Board=jamboree&main=41283&type=post>Plague's Impression</a>
<a target="_blank" href=http://virtuafighter.com/versuscity/printthread.php?Cat=&Board=jamboree&main=41288&type=post>Brisal73's Impression</a>
<a target="_blank" href=http://virtuafighter.com/versuscity/printthread.php?Cat=&Board=jamboree&main=41289&type=post>jhky's Impression</a>

 

Another report, in another thread. Hope this doesn't get redundant. BTW, I'm looking forward to playing you too, Tragic! I guess I held off on pushing for matches between us because I'm planning to play you on Monday night in the SJ area!

<a target="_blank" href=http://virtuafighter.com/versuscity/printthread.php?Cat=&Board=jamboree&main=41311&type=post>Tragic's Report</a>
<a target="_blank" href=http://virtuafighter.com/versuscity/printthread.php?Cat=&Board=jamboree&main=41316&type=post>Solfiz's Report</a>

-Chanchai

 

The matches in the strategy DVD rocks aye!

Most memorable match was Kyasao raping Bun Bun with Jeffry in 6 secs, Bun Bun screaming n shaking the machine n Kyasao laffing...UZE UZE UZE! /versus/images/icons/laugh.gif. I for one, don't get how ppl percieve Jeff to be weaker than wolf...or pai n sarah being weak. The DVD n BT tapes proves all nay sayers wrong.

The Lei fei player u saw in the DVD ( vs Kyasao's Kage) is Joe...extremely SU GEH!


I actually tried the shinsodan trick on Aoi n it works n funny as hell too!

 

Thanks to everyone who showed up for the VF4 gathering/tournament! Also, special thanks goes out to Bryan (Spotlite) for hosting the event... /versus/images/icons/smile.gif

Just got back from LA late last night, and am heading out to Napa/Sonoma in half an hour, so the full details of the tournament won't be available till I get back tomorrow night and type it out. But, here's the list of participants:



and the summary results are:

#1 Ice-9 (Jeff)
#2 Spotlite (Bryan)
#3 FeixaQ (Chris)

Congrats to Jeff for winning the tournament!

Tomorrow, I'll have the time to post the results of the preliminaries, and the double elimination bracket results...

 

Hey guys, I'm at an Internet cafe posting this and have only 10 minutes left, so I just want to get a quick message in to thank Bryan for hosting us again this year. I also want to thank Andy for hosting us on Saturday at UCLA. Thanks guys, it was definitely an awesome gathering.

 

puhhahaha.... just ignore my name in any of the brackets. I don't play this game yet. Reflexes are on extended vacation. But hey, I had fun laughing at myself! Watch Jen or tragic. yeah.......

 

How 'bout this? I'll be a good gurl by working out and practicing my forms if you train hard to get your SPoD back with Akira? That sounds pretty fair right siLE? Then after that we can watch Yu Yu Hakusho @_@

 

I can SPoD in VF3 just fine. I just haven't practiced it in VF4 (or setting it up) =*(

But eh, I've got some other things to do for the next 2-3 months at least. By then, I'll buy my PS2.

 

Hey guys,

while I still haven't found time to write a full report on my impressions of the tourney, I just wanted to post quickly that I had a blast, thanks everyone for coming, and thanks to Chris for organizing everything (sacrificing chances to practice/warm up to make sure everything ran smoothly, and explaining it all to idiots like me).

While I've played in a few tournaments before, this was the first time I've ever put in anything above pathetic, play-wise. Still, it wasn't enough to shut down the Blue Devil (practice those b+P+G throw escapes people, and watch for that dodge attack!) Congratulations to Jeff, I'm glad I helped create your first tournament win, in more ways (and fights... doh!) than one.

I'll post more when I get a chance. I'm still wanting to hear gameplay impressions from everyone else, so keep the reports coming!

Spotlite

 

My circumlocutious E3 tourney/gathering impressions!

Hey guys, here I am typing away on Hiro`s computer, having only 1 hour of sleep. It`s 11:30 in the morning and Hiro is still playing Kumite. My goodness this guy is an item fiend! I am far too tired to feel sleepy.

I made a promise to write something substantial about the tourney/gathering, so here I am before I forget or get lazy.

First, I must compliment Bryan and Chris for how well the tourney ran. The E3 tournament is my third: my first tournament was in Singapore and in VF2, lost in the second round to the eventual champ, Zeng Zi; my second was during the Chicago Gathering in VF3, where I came in second. So I can`t say I speak from experience, but the E3 tourney was about as efficient as I can possibly imagine.

Chris had the whole thing organized--he had brackets printed, how to get the filled up, the order of play, and he basically directed the whole thing. Bryan had the perfect set up--the main tournament was held on the big screen Wega and there were two "warm up" stations where people can play pick up games. Kudos to these two guys for being responsible for such a successful event. I don`t know how it could`ve been better!

The main tournament station had a perfect set up: the stools that provided the base for the sticks to play on were of good height and weighed down firmly, the TV was directly in front, the sofa comfortable, and enough sticks to accomodate everyone. I remember seeing the FT2 stick, Tekken Tag stick, Tekken 4 stick, the yellow/gray Namco stick, and of course the VF4 stick. Luckily for me, there were one or two sticks that I found absolutely perfect--never missed a TFT knee--and I think I played through the entire tourney with the same stick.

As for the tournament itself, I was quite surprised to see so many Akira players and NO Lau players. Whaaaat?? Also, Shun was not represented but I suppose that is at least understandable. No Jeffry though. Otherwise, I thought there was a good distribution of characters at the tournament.

I guess I`ll just go into my impressions of some of the players I got to play with...sorry for the disjointed flow, but my brain is only half working right now, heh heh.

The first guy I should talk about is our gracious host Bryan, whom most of you here know as spotlite. I should begin with Bryan, not only because he`s the runner up, but also because I ended up playing him four times in the tourney!! The first match was in the seeding / warm up round; I played Bryan again in the second round; our third match came with Bryan coming out as the champ of the loser`s bracket; and our last match was the championship game. Bryan plays a great Akira and I was lucky that he missed a few combos throughout our matches. One thing I really liked was how particularly good Bryan was in nailing TRs in the back with the doublepalm. He was also really adept at using the DJK to interrupt rising kicks. Bryan`s solid flowcharts definitely gave me some headache, and I was one nervous mofo when he defeated me in our third match. "Just having fun" is what the bastard said when I asked him if he was anywhere near as nervous as I was. =) Great playing you again man, and thanks for being such an awesome host.

Chris, aka FeixaQ, is probably the guy I was most nervous about in the tournament. I played Chris before during the winter holiday in Singapore, and needless to say, he is one helluva player and definitely one of the elite VFers in the U.S. I had some experience with his Lei Fei and only a little with his Kage, but that was five months ago and I had no idea how his playing style had changed since then, given the great competition he gets from Howard and Yusuke. Fortunately, he was on the opposite side of the bracket, so I didn`t have to worry about losing to him until the finals of the winner`s bracket. To be honest, I was waaay too nervous to remember how our match went--what stuff he and I used in our game. All I remember is that he killed me in the first match, the second match was close, and...err, I don`t remember how our third match went. Heh heh, so I was quite lucky to escape with the victory. Either way, we`re on the same team, representing Singapore and Kage. Woo hoo!

Insert --> The spotlite vs FeixaQ match to determine the winner of the loser`s bracket was probably the most tense match in the whole tourney! I think it was saved as a replay and hopefully it will be available for download soon.

My match up in the third round was with Eric, aka Shou-sama, who defeated Chanchai`s Lion. Thank goodness too, because I greatly prefer playing against Akiras to Lions! I didn`t know much about how Eric played at all...I didn`t get the chance to see him play except one or two rounds in his game with Chanchai, and I only played him once in a pick up game with my Jeffry. Like Chris` match...I must say I don`t remember at all what happened! Two things I do remember about Eric`s Akira is that he liked to use Akira`s DA more than I am used to, and also that it was offensively minded. Anyway, great to have played you man--are you in NYC right now? Send Adam or me a PM!

My first round match up was with Paul, SoL_Fizz. Prior to the tourney, I of course had no idea who Paul was or how he played, and since it was my first match up, Paul was actually the player I scouted out the most, heh heh. I was quite sneaky, watching out for him to play on the two warm up stations. However, I must apologize to Paul for having played such a scrubby Kage. You should`ve seen all the P,P,Ps and P,P,P,Ks in the match...would`ve done the folks over at EGM proud. I was a true ninja with all my R.O.s and EGM tactics. Paul plays a solid if unorthodox Sarah, and takes some big risks with big moves. Paul, you should definitely use Flamingo more!

Overall, I probably played against Chanchai the most during the mini-gathering after the tourney. Chanchai`s main man is Lion but he also has a nice Aoi. I have never been hit so many times by Lion`s DA...I must say Nick has really opened my eyes to the utility of this move. Nick has a varied Lion, using a wide variety of his moves, and has nice flowcharts. He loves to gamble on the getting the extra pounce for more damage, and he also loves the multiple throw escapes / defensive techniques. Nick, it was great playing and talking with you again.

Andy, an LA resident, was our gracious host for the mini-tourney. Andy plays a solid Pai and a variety of other characters and was the winner of a recent LA gathering/tourney. I think it was his Aoi whom I remember as being quite good as well. Unfortunately, I didn`t get to play against Andy as much as I liked, since I had to leave early on Saturday`s mini-gathering. Thanks for driving us around and my apologies for having been such a pain!

David (vf4akira) played Akira in the tournament, and if I remember right, got quite far. I remember that he was Chris` match up in the third round of the winner`s bracket. David actually lived in Okinawa for a few years, has fluent Japanese, and has solid fundamentals with his Akira.

David, Paul, and Mike make up the San Diego crew. Mike (Mike92123) played Wolf in the tournament, but I think he also plays Jacky and Lion. I wish I had the chance to play more with these guys! When I try to think back on the matches played on the Saturday, most of my matches seem to be near-death match length series with Chanchai?? Sorry for having hogged the machine guys...

Outside the tourney and the Saturday mini-gathering, I got to a chance to play with Ben (tragic). Unfortunately, I don`t remember if I played against his Sarah, but his two games with Bryan`s Akira in the tourney were certainly quite good. (I swear, Bryan had the most difficult route ever in the tourney: Andy in the first round, Ben in the bye round, yours truly in the third, a lot of people in the loser`s bracket, and Chris in the loser`s final). Four things I remember distinctly about Ben`s Sarah: he likes her b,b+P, d+K; d/f+K+G sweep for okizeme; FL K (MC) > P,d+K; and a TON of hopping around for okizeme. I played against his Jacky a lot and he actually got me twice with the TT P+K back stagger combo!! Wow, didn`t know it was possible to get it in a real match, and they didn`t come from the P+G throw set up either. Of course, Ben had to hop about nine hundred times to get the two successful hits, but man, the feeling must`ve been great to nail me with it. Hell, I almost didn`t mind getting nailed with it just to get the chance to see it in live play. Definitely one heck of a flashy player!

Another player I remember is Ray (RayBladeX) from Portland who plays Vanessa. I remember getting nailed with his Vanessa`s dodge punches a lot, but I also remember connecting with sweeps and crescents a lot later on, heh heh. One really cool thing I copied from his Vanessa is switching from MT to DS as the opponent is TR/QRing and throwing with a 270.

I`m not sure who else I played with during the pick up games of the tournament...I was always focusing on my next match and so I was always tryig to get quick games to keep warm and watch tourney games at the same time. Overall, I can`t say if I played particularly well or bad in the tourney. Of course, the way I played is a lot more boring than usual, when I play "for fun"...I pretty much stuck to the basics and avoided fancy stuff. I was a little worried at first as I hadn`t touched VF at all for nearly three weeks prior to E3, but this may have turned out to be a good thing as I felt fresh every time I played. I was definitely nervous, but not as nervous as I was in the VF3 Chicago tournament, and still had some of the adrenaline boost you get only in tourney games. I guess experience does make a difference.

OK, I think this is quite enough for one post! Hopefully I`ve inspired some of the other folks at the tourney to write up their impressions and thoughts, as I`ve always found these types of things enjoyable to read. Once again, a big thanks to our host Bryan and Andy and to our tourney director Chris!


P.S. Oh yeah, my quick and dirty E3 convention impressions:

PLUSES

Shinobi - My pick of the show, and definitely my type of game. Looks to retain the goodness of its 2D predecessors` gameplay in 3D, and highly stylin`.

Panzer Dragoon - Oh my, playing with the music and sounds makes a BIG difference. Highly cinematic and much more interesting gameplay-wise than the first two on the Saturn.

Zelda - My definition of great visuals! Clean, high rez graphics, excellent lighting, solid and smooth framerate. I am going to get the Gamecube for VF RPG, but seeing/playing Zelda bagged Nintendo for me.

Mario Sunshine - Graphics are unremarkable, but gameplay stuff looking mighty fine.

Tekken 4 - A lot of kiosks and competition, not many very high, however. Public debut of my cheap and boring Paul...but with control pad??

Kentia Hall - Actually most of the really cool things in terms of peripherals and stuff are found here!

NEUTRAL

Gungrave - This game has smokin` style! Despite having slowdown, this cell-shaded game looks exactly like an animated comic book. If you like Trigun, you`ll like Gungrave--same designer. This game gets a neutral because unfortunately the gameplay is slow and boring right now.

Metroid Prime - Nice graphics, but doesn`t seem all that special to me.

Quantum Redshift - This game has fantastic graphics...rock solid 60 fps framerate, high rez, great textures, etc. etc. Unfortunately the game feels very blah when you play it.

NBA2K3 - I had a really great game with a guy, going into triple overtime (my 76ers lost when Iversen missed a buzzer-beating, potential game winning dunk???), but the game was allowing way too many reach-ins and steal attempts.

X-arcade - The only place to play versus VF4 with sticks, which propels it to at least neutral. However, the sticks they were selling aren`t that great AND they cost $150 (demo price) for a unit of two. Gyah. A lot of people bought one too, idiots.

MINUSES

Starfox - OK, this game gave me a huge headache.

Sega booth - Most of it again closed off to the general public. No VF4 kiosks, no VF RPG, no VF Evolution. Booo. Nice sports section though.

Capcom booth - Nothing special to play, unlike last year.

 

Full results now available in PDF format: <a target="_blank" href=http://www.feixaq.com/bavf/tourney_052402_e3.pdf>VF4 @ E3 2002</a>

 

Top 12 Finishers (Up to 9th Place)

Woohoo! Both Portland representatives were in the top 10! /versus/images/icons/tongue.gif
Chanchai - 7th
RaybladeX - 9th

Unless I misread the chart of course.

Oh yeah, additional mucho congrats to:
-4th Place: Tragic
-5th Place: Shou Sama and VF4Akira
-7th Place: Mike92123 and Chanchai
-9th Place: Plague, Almaci, Rayblade X, and Brisal

And of course, Ice-9, Spotlite, and Feixaq already received many, well-deserved props/versus/images/icons/wink.gif The "Top 3 Wars" were by far the most intense VF4 Tournament matches I've seen in the US by far. Lots of "oohs!" and "aaahhs!" and even "Oh Shit!" moments--from start to finish.

Some match-ending moments off the top of my head

Feixaq vs. Ice-9: Okizeme situation with Chris getting up and both players down to almost no health. Chris does df+P (I believe he intended to get fc, DF+P, but got df+P instead) and Jeff nails him with a low kick. Might sound weird, but seeing it happen live was crazy (especially when my assumption is that Chris intended to use the chop, not the slap).

Feixaq vs. Spotlite: Another deciding moment for the match. Feixaq goes for Kage's good old dodge attack, but Spotlite's Akira unexpectedly interrupts the attack (probably by a single frame). I can't remember the attack being used, except I can remember seeing the dodge attack about to hit and deciding that Spotlite lost the match until Kage got hit out of the DA.

-Chanchai

 

Re: Top 12 Finishers (Up to 9th Place)

Id like to thank everyone at the gathering, twas great guys ( and girls )

 

"-Pre-Game Entertainment: Viewing of the exhibition and competitive matches found on the VF4 Strategy(?) Revolution DVD, courtesy of Spotlite."

Where can I find this DVD?

 

U can find it on ebay...its very expensive though, around $70

 

You can get it from CDJapan as well. Keep in mind that it's Region 2.