A msg of hope for my fellow new players.

hello! greeting and all that amazing jazz to each and every one of us trying to climb the hill that is VF. i've been playing sense FS release a few weeks back now and i keep seeing something being said by new players, such as my self. As well as people thinking of picking up the game. It goes something like this.

"the game is just to hard" " its far to deep for me i will do nothing but lose"

Fear of losing and fear of not being able to understand the game is something i feel is holding a lot of people back. however that fear is something i feel should not be there. the fear is not based on truth. It is based on what someone has heard.

Is VF deep? sure it is. deep as an ocean if you want it to be. however at its core its basic. BASIC. i can't say or stress that enough and i will use me as an example.

Before i started playing this game a few weeks back i played mostly 2d fighters. in fact i had not touched a 3d fighter sense tekken tag 1. Street fighter 4, third strike, super turbo, even a bit of Mortal kombat 9.

Most of my time online went to those games. even now i still think of myself as a street fighter man. my skill level in all those games varies. honestly i am just some guy who has a basic understanding. i will mostly block when i have to. i will sometimes hit my combo. i understand spacing [at least in the 2d form of it] and i am ok at playing mind games. [ something i feel is a big part of any fighting game]

the point is at best i am average. no one will ever play me and go "wow, great player" but i feel at the very least i can play a basic game and compete on a basic level. that has been my goal in those games. maybe a low goal but a goal all my own and i feel some small pride about.

Its the same goal i have placed on myself for VF. BASICS can carry you past a lot of people. the great thing is basics are easy to learn and anyone can learn them. so what are the basics to VF?

speaking as a new player i feel the basics to help us new players are as follows.

1. Keep it simple stupid! I feel the big mistake a lot of us make is we see the list of moves for our characters and right away we feel hopeless. "this is too much for me" is often said. however that list is not something that should make you fall back.

i've basically taken a handful of moves, easy things to remember and 1 or 2 combos. and used those in my play so far, nothing else. i am not even trying to use my stances right yet. not trying to evade much. not trying to put on a combo video. just keeping it simple.

a couple good pokes, something to help control far and close space, and 1 or two combos to hit off a juggle. you can find those easy in that big list trust me.

2.Hey bro its ok to block! this might be a silly thing to say but its true. i find this in any fighting game. a lot of people get hit by things cause they are pressing buttons to much. that block button is your best friend in VF give it a lot of hugs and kisses.

3. Make simple reads, its not rocket science! i think reading an opponent has some kind of mystic air about it to most people, and perhaps that holds true on higher and tip top levels however on a basic level its just watching what your opponent does and killing them for it later.

do they wake up attack a lot? will they go for evade and attack after their first attack? are they blocking mostly high, or mostly low? do they ever tech roll?

a little tip i have for the common person you will run into online is this. a lot of people, and i mean a LOT will always attack on wake up, no matter your position on screen. with pai i will mostly just stand right outside any wake up attack range and watch, if they wake up attack i 66 p and get a easy hit in. every character can do something like this test it out.

and speaking of techrolling most people will not techroll or quick rise. on a hard knockdown do a follow up attack. its free damage on a low level. just be sure you keep reading that can if they ever do start to tech they can punish you hard for this.

in review. learn just a few moves, you can add more stuff later but for now keep it simple! Remember that its ok to block! and make simple reads.

this is all i have done and right now on ranked i have a winning record. does ranked really matter? no, and i know anyone with a deeper understanding will rip me apart but i feel my basic game gives me a chance with a lot of the people i face online and its giving me something to build on.

please trust me when i say i am not a good player. and if i can do ok online so can you. and now i will stop with the bad writing and English skills and end this post. I hope it can help some of my fellow new players. i like to think of it like this. if a little bit of work can lead to so much, just imagine how much a lot of work can lead too.

thank you all for reading, peace out.

 

Great post spiron. I think most people are so impatient that they forget about the key basics to most fighting games. Learning some of these core mechanics is like having a solid foundation for a home. I, too, am new to this franchise but having a mastery of the basics have allowed me to progress quite nicely. We all may have our own idea of what may be more important, but one can't disregard the understanding of the block button and expect to reach a high level in this game. Let me be clear: my opinion of high level has nothing to do with your online rank. It's your ability to challenge players whose skill level is far superior to the vast majority of the community as a whole. I have a long way to go as I expect many of us do. See you on the canvas. Rip-Ridah *PSN

 

Good advice. Thank you very much, I'll make sure to keep it in mind.

 

Thanks man

 

I think this theory pretty much applies with all fighting games! And also, what you have given is sound advice! Good Job with this topic!

 

Can not agree more.
Friend of my is pretty decent SF player (speaking on international level), and he did not play any 3D fighting game seriously since ever. He was mashing his way through T4 and T5, but nothing more.

He bought FS week ago. After like 40 hours in practice, some online consultation and explanation and like 15 hours of intense playing we had yesterday I can say only WOW. He is good. Ofc, he will not win against any skilled player. But he is good enough now to fight players like that and not be ashamed. After a WEEK of playing.

Honestly, I feel that trsnsition to FS from 2D is actually easier that transition from 3D. Why? In VF, Tekken and SF players face game which is visually (and theoretically) very similar to what thay know, yet tons of basic concepts are completely different here. Movement. Okizeme. 2P. Trun based system of initiative. Throwing. Actually, whole meta game is completely different.
They come to VF and they see game similar to their previous games. And they play it like this. And they fail. And they do not know why. They just think the game is stupid and borken, or stupid and not funn. And all this only because they need to learn tons of things they think they already know, but they do not.

But I can see very decent progress even in game of our long-time tekken players, so there definitelly IS hope for them

 

just wanted to say thank you all for the kind words about my post. i hope more of us post and help each other yet! fighting games to me is something very personal. it mirrors life i feel.

what you put in is in general what you get out.
It can be very fair.
it can be very unfair.
it will give ya huge highs.
it will give you breath taking lows.

 

I can not agree with this MORE! Great advice. These were rules I learned early on in fighting games with Street Fighter II and with the original Virtua Fighter. I want to stress that blocking is the most important thing in the world. I know it's fun to rushdown people, but learning to block and to read players moves are really important.

It isn't rocket science with reading opponents. You have around 3-6 rounds to do it and at an early level of play you will find a LOT of people doing the same thing over and over again. If you don't know how to counter what those people do, save the replay, input the combos in the dojo and try to counter it until you do. Somewhere along the line you will see that situation happen more than once.

Use the Dojo not just to learn the moves, but how to use the moves. Experiment with what combos into what, keep things basic at first. Learn to juggle and you will win a lot of games.

Most important though is to not give up. Get involved in the community. You will find that the enthusiasts tend to be more welcoming than the randoms online. Just have the willingness to get better if you really enjoy the game.

once again, awesome post and thanks for putting it up!

 

thank you for the kind words man, and hell yes all you you said. its so easy and to start making reads. at least upon lower level players [ like myself] just a quick dirty memory can make reads cake. "oh hes doing that on wake up every time!"

i hope a lot of us people new to the scene keep grinding it out and posting. i've already felt so welcomed by everyone here and i hope every one new is getting that vibe.

 

I posted this on SRK's 3rd Strike board today and I thought I'd share it here.

To beginners like me: Don't take losses hard at all. I get beat all the time especially on LIVE (as opposed to PSN). But every beatdown teaches me the rhythm of the game. I think in a game like this, knowing the rhythm is crucial.

EDIT: I liked VF and Tekken since I was a kid. Honestly I always liked VF more for some reasons. I lost interest in 3D but then VF5 for 360 looked like the coolest game ever so I bought a 360 and the game. I played almost 1000 matches and ended up with about 33.3% win rate. And then I gave it up. Of course when Final Showdown came out I got it. Now I dodge foos left and right (actually I dodge "up" 99% of the time lol). It also helps that my character got buffed like crazy. Anyways, I hope this helps you. (Imma switch characters in VF btw).


Btw, I wouldn't say I'm a beginner in VF. I am a 3rd Strike beginner though. LIVE is actually stronger in that game as well. I'm blessed to have both systems.

 

Great topic. I think being relaxed about losing is a really important part of getting better as jongoo wrote. We usually learn more from a loss than a win in life as well as in VF! (At least, I tell myself this when repeatedly beaten ha I find the desire to win causes tension and leads to me falling back on using proven moves that 'work' ...but without allowing other moves / techniques to be built in to my game. So, play the game without worrying too much about the outcome is my advice.